1. |
A Thousand Things
03:24
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You act so certain and so sure
You even fool yourself sometimes
Know how to weave a story right
And I get caught inside it
Until the spell is broken
And then I’m jolted back to life
You held it back, you held it tight
You wasted everything in sight
I told myself a thousand things
In order not to have to feel
That change was coming down the line
And I carefully constructed
a shelter for myself
So I wouldn’t have to face the night
But who’s got the last word now
I’m gonna have to stare it down
Well, maybe love will meet us
Somewhere out on the road again
And we’ll get the chance to get it right
It’s never simple is it?
Things get so tangled in the years
I needed to untangle mine
But when I was all done
I looked around to find you
Only to find that you were gone
I held it back, I held it tight
I wasted everything in sight
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2. |
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Blackbird sitting on the line
My lover’s gone again, he left me without a dime
And just when I thought that things were going fine
Blackbird sitting on the line
Blackbird sitting on the line
I was so cold to him, I was so unkind
He was the best man I thought I’d ever find
Blackbird sitting on the line
Tell me, what do I do this time?
What do I do this time?
You’re out there singing your song
while I’m in here crying
Blackbird sitting on the line
Blackbird sitting on the line
I’ve been so careless, I’ve been so blind
I told him I was sorry, told him I was trying
Blackbird sitting on the line
Blackbird sitting on the line
Now I’m so lonesome, so broke up inside
How do I get me a little peace of mind?
Blackbird sitting on the line
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3. |
Windows
04:24
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It is winter in the prairies
Drifts of snow across the lawn
I am thinking of the summer
When we walked on Corydon
Did we stumble, did we falter?
Did we never learn the way?
It is snowing, it is blowing
I could never make you stay
Hey hey hey
Oh, and do you, do you remember?
How the garden bloomed that June?
And we opened all the windows
And the summer wind came through?
Was it winter that took over?
Did my heart just close up tight
Like the windows of that winter
Frozen up against the night?
Hey hey hey
It is raining and I miss you
It is April by the sea
I have gathered all the feathers
That have fallen at my feet
I am lonely now for summer
I am lonely for the wind
That blew in through open windows
Will it ever blow again?
Will it ever blow again?
Did we stumble, did we falter?
Did we never learn the way?
I did not know how to stay
Hey hey hey
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4. |
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Oh, you want to hold late December
And not let it get away
Everything has been moving so fast here
Even the trees look frayed
Something tangled around you
Back when the summer sky was aflame
You got lost in that light
You thought it was meant to stay
Where have you been gone?
Where have you been gone so long?
Everything is a circle
That’s what she told you then
You dream full moons and carousels
When the light gets thin
Where have you been gone?
Where have you been gone so long?
Something loosened around you
after you left that place
Tiny cracks where the light pours in
And across your face
And across your face
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5. |
Little Morning Song
02:48
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Light on the creaky floor
It’s a morning with open skies
and me at the kitchen counter.
I take a breath and reach for you
Where are the poets who write about happiness?
They make it seem like life is such a mess.
But it’s enough to be right here
while the sun slips down and across your hair
I want to remember this:
every light-stilled room and your hair askew
and the place you sit on the kitchen stool
swinging little legs while you hum a tune
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6. |
The Beekeeper
03:23
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The beekeeper said, “Look up.”
Showed us the Linden flowers
He tore a branch off for me
And later, back at home
The fragrance filled the house
Mixing with the warm wind off the sea
All summer long the sweetness lingered on and on
The bees seemed so kind
Still, we stood back and kept real quiet
Drowsy on the music of their wings
The beekeeper sent us home
With a jam jar of honeycomb
We dripped the golden liquid on our tongues
All summer long the sweetness lingered on and on
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7. |
Cold Spell
03:17
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Was it the lure of the cool wind after such a long, hot August?
Or maybe it was the need to test what all of our mothers had taught us
But you were a January winter storm
And I almost didn’t make it in the door
That wind took so much, almost everything
You had my heart on a string, my heart on a string
I think of you when the summer goes
And I think of you when the winter comes
And I think of you with equal amounts
Of relief and love
You were a January winter storm
And I almost didn’t make it in the door
Well, I wish you luck and I wish you well
But I could’ve done without that cold spell
Had my heart on a string
Had my heart on a string
Had my heart on a string
Had my heart on a string
Almost took everything
Almost took everything
But not everything, no not everything
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8. |
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Boy, that was quite a rain last night
Did you hear that thunder?
Tomatoes pulled right from their vines
And the corn blew over
My sister’s buried in a little grave
Just South of Oliver
We used to visit there on Sundays
But now we don’t talk much about her
But sometimes for no reason at all
I think of how my mother used to place wild roses in the window
I saw you walking past the churchyard
I like the yellow dress you wore that day
The summer’s been so hot and dry
If the mill would let me I’d get away
When I was twelve years old
My father bet the family farm in a poker game
He’s still out working in Saskatchewan
And probably will until his dying day
I haven’t seen my mother in a long, long time
I sent her postcards from the places where I stopped along the line
I think I’d like to have a little house
With good light and a garden plot
I’d make some curtains and a tablecloth
Take slow walks around the block
I’d greet the neighbors in their yards
And maybe stop to pick a handful of wild roses for the window
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9. |
Hillary
03:51
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I watch from the window
Watch as the seasons come and go
Watch spring turn to summer
And summer to autumn, then the winter cold
I watch the smoke trails from the chimneys
Up and down our road
My lover used to light the fire
While I cooked at the stove
I watch from the window
First green of leaves on all the trees
Watch kids with their coats off
People out walking in the streets
I know what time the school lets out
And when the buses go
I used to put the kettle on
When I heard him get home
Everybody knows
The days, they come and go
But some of them go so slow
So I pour me a glass full
It helps with the sorrow and the aches
If I get the dose right
I sleep from twilight into day
But sometimes I wake in the dead of night
And stare out at the dark
My lover used to find me here
And take me in his arms
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10. |
Meditation
04:39
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Once I was sky, a wide sheet of blue
And all the clouds passed by on their way through
Once I was soil deep in the ground
I pushed up marigolds, asters and poplars without a sound
Once I was light on the surface of water
Once I was river clay held in the hands of a potter
Once I was shadows in the depths of the sea
Once I was breakers and whitecaps and tides washing up on the beach
Once I was ashes on a current of air
The breeze came and took me and scattered me everywhere
Once I was falling and then I did spin
I was a maple key borne on the back of a late August wind
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Kim June Johnson British Columbia
Singer-songwriter & poet living on the west coast of Canada.
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