music
Welcome to the Cruel World
Beautiful and meandering live version of title track off his greatest album:
Caught a Long Wind
Little bird have you got a key?
Unlock the lock inside of me
Where will you go?
Keep yourself afloat
Feeling old until the wings unfolded
Caught me a long wind
Where will we go?
Keep ourselves afloatI caught a long wind
A long life wind
I got to know the sky
But it didn’t know me
Got to see the light
And land on top of the sea
And be the bird, be the key
And now the current tells
What the wave withheld
And then the lightning say
Oh where light will lay
Where will you go?
Keep yourself afloatI caught a long wind
A long life wind
Like a swallow
A night owl
A little chickadee
Sad sparrow
Good morning bird
Good nightingale
I took a deep breath
And caught a long wind
Anticipating the Arrival of Mr. Bird
I love this man, born and raised here, and he is coming home very, very soon – thanks for stopping by our fair city, Mr. Bird:
Rock to Sleep
This stuff is AMAZING. For babies, for growed-ups, listen to Radiohead, Pink Floyd, and more legendary music in lullabye mode. Say what you want. Every elevator on the planet should play this stuff. Mellow us out.
Tin Foil
Andrew Bird does Tin Foil even better than the Handsome Family:
Late New Years Eve paper hat on your head
It was hard to believe that you’d ever be dead
And that dream that you’re falling you’ve had since you’re five
Is a bird on your shoulder that whispers goodbyeWhat is moving will be still
What has gathered will disperse
What has been built up will collapse
All of your dreams
are fulfilledEvil Knievel shot up from dead grass
And I loved him better each time that he crashed
And Liza Minnelli spent a month in her bed
She was certain that Skylab would fall on her headWhat is moving will be still
What has gathered will disperse
What’s been built up will collapse
All of your dreams
are fulfilledLast night I dreamed that I dug my own grave
And I climbed down inside there to patiently wait
And down in the ground while I breathed the cold air
The blackbirds came down there to nest in my hairWhat’s moving will be still
What has gathered will disperse
What has been built up will collapse
All of your dreams
All of your dreams are fulfilled
Are fulfilled
Are fulfilled
Are fulfilled
Improvised Deconstruction
A few clicks is all it takes
The kooks you don’t love me
From the bottom of my heart from the wasteland you’ve got everything going to plan man
De-de-duh-duh-duh-duh-de-de-duh-duh
Pigs on the Wing
Part 1
If you didn’t care what happened to me,
And I didn’t care for you,
We would zig zag our way through the boredom and pain
Occasionally glancing up through the rain.
Wondering which of the buggars to blame
And watching for pigs on the wing.
Part 2
You know that I care what happens to you,
And I know that you care for me, too.
So I don’t feel alone,
Or the weight of the stone,
Now that I’ve found somewhere safe
To bury my bone.
And any fool knows a dog needs a home,
A shelter from pigs on the wing.
Swim Until You Can’t See Land
We salute at the threshold of the North Sea
in my mind
And a nod to the boredom that drove me here
to face the tide and swim
(Whoaaaa) I swim (Whoaaa) oh swim (Whoaaa)
Dip the toe in the ocean. Oh how it hardens and it numbs.
And the rest of me is a version of man
built to collapse into crumbs
And if I hadn’t come down
To the coast to disappear
I may have died in a land-slide
Of the rocks, the hopes and fears.
So swim until you can’t see land.
Swim until you can’t see land.
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
Up to my knees now, do I wait? Do I dive?
The sea has seen my like before though it’s my first
And perhaps last time.
Let’s call me a baptist, call this the drowning of the past
She’s there on the shoreline
Throwing stones at my back
So swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
Now the water’s taller than me
And the land is a marker line
All I am is a body adrift in water, salt and sky
So swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
City of Music: Charlie Parr
thinfilms helped MPLS.tv shoot a music video featuring Charlie Parr for City Pages’ Gimme Noise. Here’s the final edit:
Down to the River
Filming the Charlie Parr video last weekend
As I mentioned earlier, last weekend I went down to the river with a bunch of gear to help Dan Huiting shoot a music video featuring Charlie Parr for City of Music and the video is premiering this coming Monday on the site.
See more stills from the shoot and read the article in City Pages
10 second Charlie
It’s 20 seconds, actually, but it goes by fast as my new pal, Charlie Parr, plays his National while sitting along the mighty Mississippi River:
Charlie Parr
Charlie Parr in Minneapolis this morning
Amidst such a perfect backdrop for his sound, the morning flew by listening to him sing and play his National down there along the river while we did our three-camera shoot. He has a new album out soon, too, so keep an eye peeled for it.
I’ll be sure to post the final edit here but, meanwhile, please enjoy this clip taken in ’09 while Charlie played Cheap Wine at the Victoria Pub in Birmingham, UK:
Beg Steal or Borrow
There’s no video in that there below thingy but I like it just fine with only the new single that plays from Ray LaMontagne’s forthcoming self-produced album, God Willin’ & The Creek Don’t Rise, being released, well, like it says, August 17:
So your home town’s bringing you down
Are you drowning in the small talk
and the chatter?Are you gonna step into line like your daddy done
Punching the time and climbing life’s long ladder?You’ve been howling at the moon like a slack jawed fool
And breaking every rule they can throw on
But one of these days it’s gonna be right soon
You’ll find your legs and go and stay goneYoung man full of big plans and thinking about tomorrow
Young man gonna make a stand
You beg steal you borrow
You beg you steal you borrowWell all the friends that you knew in school
They used to be so cool now they just bore youWell look at them now, already pulling the plow
So quick to take to grain like some old muleYoung man full of big plans and thinking about tomorrow
Young man gonna make a stand
You beg steal you borrow
You beg you steal you borrowDreaming of the day
You’re gonna pack your bags
Put the miles away
Oh, just grab your girl and go
Where no one knows you
What will all the old folks say?So the home town’s bringing you down
Are you drowning in the small talk and the chatter?
Are you gonna step into line like your daddy done
Punching the time and climbing life’s long ladder?Young man full of big plans and thinking about tomorrow
Young man gonna make a stand
You beg steal you borrow
You beg you steal you borrow
