Get all 13 Short Hand releases available on Bandcamp.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of stir that mule up, Fourth Peter, Third Peter, Short Life, ill fish, The Leaves, Head Full, Punk Heart, and 5 more.
1. |
Hopefully
03:11
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You have the facts but use the facts to change your mind
Because nothing is right when the light changes
You have the lack of all you know, you know, you know, you know
Growing like orphans in orphan cages
But hopefully, in a house beneath the leaves, we don't have to think
You've got your losses, we've all got losses by the ton
A pile of them in the corner room
You’ve got your crosses, we've all got crosses by the score
Causing more or less a real sense of doom
And in between we breathe, hopefully
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2. |
In Summertime
04:01
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It turns out time is no joke
The days roll by like a wheel down a slope
And what you think you know it turns out you don't
In summertime
The birds in the air flight away
More or less like arguments I wanted to make
It's better not to say what you better not say
In summertime
In summertime, when school is out
And the kids come home
In summertime, whatever goes on
Just goes on and on and on and on
And the truth of ever-fading youth
Turns up in the mirror like a drunken tattoo
You stare at it ‘cause it stares at you
In summertime
Sometimes words feel funny in your mouth
So you try not to say them to yourself or out loud
You used to say something you wouldn't say now
In summertime
It turns out time is a joke
The days push by like a wheel up a slope
And what used to fit suddenly won't
In summertime
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3. |
Trees In The Woods
04:13
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Driving down to one point
Or another on a map
Sound for sound the smallest ounce
Of worry like a trap
Like trees in the woods
Towns and towns roaring
Like a motorcycle gang
The face in the mirror contorts
And it always looks the same
Like trees in the woods
Storm on the highway
The family is huddled in the car
Windshield wipers wipe your eyes
Clouds beneath the stars
Like trees in the woods
The map of the past
The skeleton key in the clock
The person you were a lucky fossil
In a lucky rock
Like trees in the woods
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4. |
Son House
03:36
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Don't mind people grinning in your face
Don't mind what they say or they may not say
Don't mind that they won't give you a place to stay
But bear this in mind:
Gotta do like Son House
Gotta do like Sun House all the time
Don't mind people passing by your door
Don't mind when that won't leave you alone
Don't mind when they pretend they’ve never known
You can brush the dust from your shoulders and shoes
You can let the dust slip right past you
You can dust for love in the future
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5. |
People Talk
04:17
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Are you going to change
What are you gonna stay the same?
People talk
People talk for hours and hours (days, years)
And yea you're getting ideas
Like wind in a field
And yea you're blurring treetops
When the world just stops
And yea you're a memory
From a still distant future
And yea you're getting by
Till you turn off the light
A shadow situation
Is a shady solution
Some night made of bone
That you grow from a stone
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6. |
10,000 Miles
07:55
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First as suffer you go looking for an answer
Because you know without an answer
You don't stand a chance
And you get gone 10,000 miles away or more
Sure as a lover of trust and hope you're open
To understanding something
Blowing in the wind
And you get gone 10,000 miles away or more
Looking through an e-mail a brother in the forest
hacking out a highway
With Paula in a room
And you get gone 10,000 miles away or more
A weird little luster shines off cobwebs in the window
In the corner of the kitchen
You're not distracted by the sun
And you get gone 10,000 miles away from more
Flat on your back in darkness staring at the ceiling
A flicker from the TV
Like a kite about to fly
And you get gone 10,000 miles away or more
The more you try to move the more you see you’re sleeping
The more your dreams are leaving
Concrete in the leaves
And you get gone 10,000 miles away or more
A fierce little beating in the sky like a heathen
A quickness in the breathing
Like some soldiers you’ve seen
And you get gone 10,000 miles away or more
Sure there's a moment, a pattern on a green street
A motion from the doorway
That satisfies the eye
And you get gone 10,000 miles away or more
First when she answers there's nothing much to speak of
But it doesn't last forever
And soon a switch turns on
And you get gone 10,000 miles away or more
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7. |
The Leaves
03:10
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If you were my girl in 1984
With hair-sprayed hair and legwarmers
Pleated pants and penny loafers
We’d go together to the dance
In your basement we'd watch TV
I'd brush your face and touch your knee
With soft pink cheeks and glossy lips
We’d kiss and kiss and kiss and kiss
And when it's past curfew
We’d talk on the phone, barely whispering
I tell you my secrets and
You’d to move through me
Like the wind through the leaves
It was good enough in 1995
To leave flowers underneath your windshield wipers
To hold your hand on the airplane
To touch waste and breathe your name
And in case we forget
Before the kids and
All the work that comes with them
Our Doc Martins and nights drinking
The houses we made love in beneath the leaves
Time moves fast, a slippery sled
I play guitar, you slide in bed
Our children hum with excitement
Each creeping toward their own basements
And making sense of making out
Changes as you change and the feelings mount
And what is not guaranteed
Is the shadows on the house from the leads
Me and you, the teenagers,
A dog, a job, a car, and a neighborhood
What couldn't be in memories
Happens in a future through the leaves
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8. |
So Far Off
03:10
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I'm praying (my hands in the air)
Like crazy (‘cause I'm just a kid)
But what else is there to do
With your mojo except voodoo?
I'm faking (I’m so bad)
And fading (it's all past)
But what else is there to youth
Except everything that you lose?
Hanging in the darkness
Above the lost car
The imperfect parent in
The incomplete stars
But o god, so far, it's so far off
I'm waiting (o why not)
I'm saying (o please now)
But what else is there to truth
Except hearing what you want to?
And plowing toward nowhere
In the lost car
The imperfect instinct
In the incomplete heart
But o god, so far, it's so far off
And the water parting
For the lost car
The imperfect eyesight
In the incomplete dark
But o god, so far, it's so far off
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9. |
Even Harder This Time
03:10
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The storms of change in the storms of same
The rains that went and the famines that came
Beloved times past from a long time past
Could've passed by fast but they last and last
I couldn't give up if I tried
So I'm gonna try even harder this time
The man you are in the man you forgot
Both of them eyeing the man you are not
That human that's painted deep in the cave
Is 4-legged form with a sapiens face
I couldn't quit if I tried
So I'm gonna try even harder this time
When I was bred the moon went red
The dead rose up and the rest played dead
What little I was and what little I knew
Got littler still the more that I grew
I couldn't forget if I tried
So I'm gonna try even harder this time
The sky turns black and the grey fades away
The stars are alone in a great star-scape
Pulled from the heart like a sock from a shoe
A history that's false and a future that's true
I couldn't forget if I tried
So I'm gonna try even harder this time
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10. |
Almost Effortlessly
02:56
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I had the luck to fall in love
With a girl straight from a dream
I had the luck that some how she
Also fell in love with me
And it happened easily
And too quickly
Like leaves from the trees and fall
We had the love, in other words,
Children we couldn't believe
We had the luck to watch them grow
Wings as wide as the sea
Almost too easily
And too quickly
Like leaves from the trees in fall
Almost too simply
Effortlessly
Like leaves in the trees in fall
All the darkness in the past
All falls away in a dream
And all the hurt and all the work,
Everything falls, everything leaves
Like leaves from the trees in fall
I had the luck to get old enough
And get some therapy
I've had the luck again and again
And more love then I need
Almost too easily
And too quickly
Almost too simply
Effortlessly
Almost nothing
But really something
Like leaves from the trees in fall
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11. |
Some Dark Matter
03:46
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I wanna fly a checkered flag and sale around the world
But O, some dark star pulls on my hurt heart forcing some dark matter
I wanna trace a perfect lace and see what is an space
But O, some dark star pulls on my hurt heart forcing some dark matter
I wanna throw a certain dart that always hits the mark
But O, some dark star pulls on my hurt heart forcing some dark matter
And O, it seems too far to pool so hard forcing some dark matter
I wanna guide a purple kite through every single night
But O, some dark star pulls on my hurt heart forcing some dark matter
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12. |
Mr. Williamson
02:46
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But one thing can go wrong
A lifetime of heartache
In a 3 minute song
I haven't rode the rails
With anybody named Slim
But I’d still like a friend now and again
I can't be satisfied
Or become what you are
I can't breathe for your lungs
Or pump for your heart
Floodwaters rise
In the basement
But I’d still like a friend now and again
Now and again Sonny Boy Williamson
Is nobody's friend, just Mr. Williamson
But I’d still like a friend now and again
A light in the eye
A tooth in the dark
The start is a bite
And the end is a bark
The fruit of the tree in time
Will fall from the limb
But I’d still like a friend now and again
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13. |
A New Someone
02:52
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When traveling a highway filled like bones with marrow
When opening the window you breathe in new air
While tires spin tirelessly the horizon reinvents itself
Your blood changes color and you become a new someone
When traveling a high road filled like bones with sorrow
When opening the door you breathe in new air
As life spins lifelessly the horizon reinvents itself
Your love changes others and you become a new someone
When traveling a highway filled like love with bones
When opening a window you breathe in new hope
As tires spin tirelessly the road reinvents itself
Your love takes courage and you become a new someone
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14. |
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The idea is that you rise up out of the fog
The cars in the city, tucked up under the darkness
With Harry Houdini escaping
A small piece of string in Houdini's shirt sleeve
A hat in your hand you disappear into a dot
The storm through the window, the water, the clock
With Harry Houdini escaping
From a locked milk can come Houdini's fingers
The idea is that everything old was once knew
Into the classroom the teacher, the distance, the students
With Harry Houdini escaping
The problem of history, ta-da! Harry Houdini
The idea is that truth is something you choose
You cut through the jungle, the foot you slip into the loop
With Harry Houdini escaping
In a moment of weakness, Harry Houdini
The idea is a nightlight, a nightmare, and a trapdoor
The past you imagine, a mirror, a bathroom, a bathrobe
With Harry Houdini escaping
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15. |
Here Comes Winter
02:22
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A friend on the phone blares like a car alarm
His words like yards of yarn, the going, the gone
Fall whimpers, here comes winter
At first you think your veins have turned into snakes
Your eyes light fires around the room and your leg shakes
It's November, here comes winter
Death ain't no friend you want to visit again and again
You can't rattle death like a baby with a tin can
Kick the fender, here comes winter
What happens in this world happens to happen without fail
In the dirt the devil takes up roots with his tail
You remember, here comes winter
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16. |
Wallflower
02:15
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I'm a fool to want you
I'm a fool to think you might care
Spend my whole life thinking about you
And now I find your not even there
I'm a fool to care but I am a wallflower
I'm a fool to need you
I'm a fool to write your name on my wall
Spent my whole life looking for you
And now I find you're not there at all
I'm a fool to call but I am a wallflower
And what do you suppose,
I will ever grow out of these clothes?
I'm a fool to love you
I'm a fool to dream of your bed
Spend my whole life making wishes
And you're gone when I turn my head
It's my fault, after all, I'm a wallflower
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17. |
Sliver In Time
03:28
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The kids all show up, like they've got no other choice
And their parents all get old just like the rolling stones
And a sliver in time flashes in their eye
All the miles you've forgot, though you've walked and walked and walked
It's really mostly not a very interesting plot
A sliver in time, all the kids roll their eyes
The girls in junior high, they still cheer on the guys
When the coach on the sideline he crouches like a tiger
Just a sliver in time to him doesn’t seem right
The kids all show up, like a feeling in the gut
And their parents all stay quiet like stones around a fire
Just a sliver in time that you toss onto the pile
In the mirror you see a beard, in a child something near
In an instant you can fear year after year after year
And sliver in time slices right through this life
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18. |
Pony Ann
04:13
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I've always been a stones throw
From what I needed to know
Always rowing a row boat
And never reaching dry land
I've never been any good
At quitting when I should
Or saying what I could about Pony Ann
In the midst of a still night
With a moon like a stop light
With a heart like a car I
Drive as far as I can
I've always been sure of who I was
Known the effect and cause
I've been a man but I could've been Pony Ann
Pony Ann, Pony Ann
In another world that's exactly who I am
Though I always answer to Short Hand
I sometimes hear the name Pony Ann
I could always pull the windows shut
Leave the curtain so just a cut
Of sunlight bounces off the ceiling fan
Or somewhere on a distant train
With my head on the window pane
I could close my eyes
And dream of Pony Ann
I'm just a human being
Got no way of seeing the past
Or the future or what is at hand
But I'm also and artist
So I'm good at faking it
And I'm faking it good for Pony Ann
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19. |
She Didn't Win
03:32
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She was an artist, she could paint and she could write
She hope to win an NEA or a Guggenheim
She submitted her best work again and again
But each letter that came back told her she didn't win.
She was poor but not in spirit, the world's not easy on an artist
She tried twice as hard as anyone and her work was among the finest
The odds just didn't matter, she knew her ship would come in
But all that ever happened was she didn't win
The more it seemed that others won, the more it seemed she lost
The more it seemed she wanted it, the more it seemed to cost
Application fees alone made her head swim
She seemed to drown every time she didn't win
One day she said forget it, I'm not applying any more
She kicked the chair beneath her feet and swung about the floor
The MacArthur that she dreamed of would never ever be sent
And as she died she wondered why she didn't win
Every artist is an island and every island must survive
Every storm that blows in from the sea want to leave with a life
All of us our face-forward in a vicious wind
All but her she's gone away because she didn't win
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20. |
Face The Day
04:48
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There’s a train that swims through this town like a fish
Everybody know which side they're on, everybody gets it
And the wind that blows my hair around,
The rain that falls on these streets
Hands in my pockets and feet getting wet,
Concrete sitting inside my head and yet
I'm going to face the day
I'm going to get up and face the day again
Every year a new way of disappearing begins
Every day a new fear looks in the mirror and grins
And even stone statues lining the bridge that I strolled
Across with Scott in Paris, have a way of living
It's hard to describe, there's no life at first
And then there is
I'm going to face the day
I'm going to get up and face the day again
There's danger in the ocean and danger in the air
There's danger in the future and danger everywhere
Sirens in the nighttime are just reminders
That danger’s not afraid to crawl
Danger’s not afraid of getting ground up into gravel
Danger’s not afraid of nothing at all
I'm going to face the day
I'm going to get up and face the day again
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Short Hand Muncie, Indiana
Short Hand figures that it's easier to learn to play an instrument than it is to find someone who can play it. He also figures that it's easier for him to do the writing, recording, mixing, artwork, and anything else that might need to be done. In the end, a set of sounds collect themselves into different shapes one might call "albums." Some sound like this and some sound like that. ... more
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