1. |
Hudson
04:20
|
|||
Down by the concrete banks of the Hudson
By the west side river I cried so my tears would be lost
I could have sat there just about forever
Emptying my eyes into the water
Into the mud
Head scraping the curb on the corner
In the gutter a broken bottle cut my hand
Only an oily rag for a bandage
Just empty my lifeblood into the sewer
Under the ground
I’m lost and I’m found again
Beneath the scraper-lined skies
And if I live or I die
The city decides
I couldn’t have lived here forever
Nobody can map it out anyway
If everyone knew how to plan it
The wallpaper would fall, the edges would vanish
Fall from our eyes
And I’m calling out your name again
But it feels like a lie
So I take the train down to the tide
To let the city decide
|
||||
2. |
The Knave
04:14
|
|||
A cloud of smoke hung motionless about my head
Rooted in the air
In the form of my grandpa's chair
Or my great great grandfather's cage
I couldn't move for minutes or lives or days
Every particle stood stock-still
Waiting patiently until the haze ripened into a sage
Now I’ll try to live much better
But sometimes it just comes down to the weather
I used to think that they didn’t really mean it
But now I’ve lived long enough to have seen it
And nobody’s a joke but everybody’s a clown
The condensation on my glass was shaped like Jesus
Or maybe Mick Fleetwood
I was thinking that it could be just about any bearded man
Every drop held a beauty of its own
Each a miniature world
But the sweating cup was hurled from my great great grandfather's hand
Now I’ll try to live much better
But sometimes it just comes down to the weather
I used to think that they didn’t really mean it
But now I’ve lived long enough to have seen it
And nobody’s a joke but everybody’s a clown
And everybody acting brave like the caveman
Discovered fire and lit it
Everybody on their face got that burning sheen
And everybody behaves like a tidal wave
The fire washed away with it
Everybody’s getaway nice and neat and clean
And everybody's depraved like the knave
Who stole the fire and hid it
Slipping by swift, silent and unseen
|
||||
3. |
Noah Complex
03:53
|
|||
Oh a light comes down
Through the pouring rain
And I can see what it’ll be like
And I won’t go out
Until that rain
Brings a change
I tried to telephone
But it seemed you weren’t home
And I knew you wouldn’t be there
And I’d kill not to care
I can only go so far
Because it’s raining pretty hard
And I knew you wouldn’t be there
You could only last so long
And the lights go down
On a windy plain
So you can’t see all the people
And I won’t go out
Until that plain
Is washed of its billboards
And stripped of its strip malls
I tried to telegraph
But these puddles in my path
Are causing me to stumble
Bumble and trip up
I can only go so far
Because it’s raining pretty hard
And I knew you wouldn’t be there
You could only last so long
Oh a light comes down
And we can see the rain
In the beam where the drops hang like planets
And I won’t go out
Until that rain
Breaks my fever
|
||||
4. |
Salmon and Sun
03:25
|
|||
I want to be like the river
I want to be like the stones
I want see like the mirror
Polished by the crashing waves
Don’t want to live like a sinner
Don’t want to die in a war
Just want to sit through the winter
Polished by the icy wind
I had a loved one for dinner
She came to me incomplete
I threw my lettuce around her
I laughed at her stocking feet
Money’s never been thinner
Nothing’s different from that
And love has never been bigger
Polished by the Romeos
I’d give my neck for a trigger
I’d live my life for a song
I want to be like the river
Polished by the salmon and sun
I want to be like the river
I want to be like the stones
|
||||
5. |
Matter
04:15
|
|||
Everybody’s living in a dream
And everyone is innocent
How can we be everything we seem
When everything is relative
I’ve been thinking way too much
How sub-atomic particles don’t touch
Walk down the sidewalk singing in a dream
Subject to a stream of chemicals
Feeling love not knowing what it means
But knowing that it seems like everything
Love and hate are more than enough
More than just electrical impulse
And none of this matters a bit
As long as I got shoes that fit
And my baby by my side
Because there’s nowhere in the world to hide from love
There’s nowhere in the world to hide
All our fears can just be washed away
Only have to pay attention to
Every moment every single day
Walk each step in your own shoe
Words of love are empty like the sun
Uncage all your thoughts and let them run
And none of this matters a bit
As long as I got shoes that fit
And my baby by my side
Because there’s nowhere in the world to hide from love
There’s nowhere in the world to hide
Even if you try
And you can try but you can’t hide
So why would you want to try
And none of this matters a bit
Just be yourself where you sit
And be kind to the one at your side
Because there’s nowhere in the world to hide from love
There’s nowhere in the world to hide
Even if you try
|
||||
6. |
Gone Missing
03:21
|
|||
When you’re down and your mind’s wandering
Turn around, bring it on back to me
I’m a clown and time is illusion
And this moment is precious, you see
And me, I keep on wondering
If you’ll be coming around
Come on down to my place, to my level
I’m around and I’ll wait here for you
In the sound of my voice, in the asking
Can’t you hear something clear and true
I keep on wondering
If you’ll be coming around
I keep wondering
What’s keeping you from coming around
If you’re down and your mind is grasping
Look around, bring it on back to me
If this town with all it’s nightmares
Gets you down, you know just how to be
And me, I’m still wondering
If you’ll be coming around
|
||||
7. |
Annalie
04:06
|
|||
She would never let me get her alone
I could never see her home
And on the phone
She was cold as stone
You wouldn’t believe me when I told you
I would never make you cry
Or at least I would try
Most of the time
Annalie’s been calling me
And texting me from right next to me
How can I resist
This hypnotist
She couldn’t conceive of grasses greener
I was on the other side
Although I cried
Thousands of times
You were so believable as someone
I was never sure you were
Now you’re a blur
Turning into her
Annalie used to be right next to me
Now she’s testing me
How can I resist
This hypnotist
And you were right
That awful night
The light went out her eyes
It was quite a sight
The spark just died
And I was cut down to size
Annalie used to be right next to me
Now she’s testing me
How can I resist
This hypnotist
|
||||
8. |
Shipwrecked
03:20
|
|||
Feeling our way across the deck
We climbed around an old shipwreck
I had been missing you
and I'm still missing you like heck
I climbed to see you wave in time
I climbed the sea wave blind
Peering around the rusty rail
We said goodbye through mouths of seaweed
Moving like a shark without a tail
We couldn't change our course
By the time you'd gone I'd gone behind
Bide your time and ride the sea wave blind
|
||||
9. |
Port of Tortuga
03:28
|
|||
Bring in the anchor boys
Let’s let the wind take us home
Enough of the churning sea
I’m tired of life on the roam
I feel so weakened
Get my feet on dry land
I need to feel solid ground
Where I know I can stand
I’ve got a baby boy
Back in Tortuga I'm told
And seeing him and his mother
Would be worth more than gold treasure to me
Let’s get off of the sea
Before our ship is debris
Thought I knew what it was to be free
Now freedom to me
Is my family
Look at the shaking
Of my once steady hand
Back to Tortuga
And the soul-soothing safety of land
I may be sick and so tired
But that doesn’t mean
That anyone here has more sense
They’ve not seen what I’ve seen
You young and adventurous souls
Yes, I still can recall
The feeling of life on the sea
When there’s nothing at all
To hold you to the ground
The desire to sail the world round
Is strong in your mind
And the feeling of being left behind
Is death to the bold
But the ocean is colder than death
And eventually nothing is left
You young and adventurous souls
Yes, I still can recall
The feeling of life on the sea
When there’s nothing at all
And I’ve got a baby boy
Back in Tortuga weeks old
And seeing him and his mother
would be worth more than gold treasure to me
Let’s get off of the sea
Before our ship is debris
Thought I knew what it was to be free
Now freedom to me
Is my family
|
||||
10. |
Lost Road
04:32
|
|||
A torrent of emotion
Like an icy rain comes down
Pain soaking through
The pavement of this town
Walls of brick and mortar
Might as well be paper sheets
With a numb and leaden water
Filling up the streets
Can you hear that bird who sings out
Only once or twice a night
Less and less and less
She puts up her sweet fight
Memories of quiet
Underneath the tracks and tires
Or strung up like a kite
All torn and caught in electric wires
Harder every day
It’s coming down, coming down
Bolstered by the January chill
Flowing ever faster
Down this old lost road
Moving past my door and down the hill
Nothing hinders progress
And we surely will prevail
Don’t you ever mind
This saddened angry hail
I can feel the touches
Of the spirits in the way
And see their twisted staring faces
Even during the day
Harder every day
It’s coming down, coming down
Bolstered by the January chill
Flowing ever faster
Down this old lost road
Moving past my door and down the hill
I can feel the droplets fall
And mingle with my own
Sharing distant stories never told
The ground beneath the city
Wants to bend and creak and groan
How long will it bear it’s shouldered load
Harder every day
It’s coming down, coming down
Bolstered by the January chill
Flowing ever faster
Down this old lost road
Moving past my door and down the hill
|
||||
11. |
Undergrowth
03:34
|
|||
We’ve lived in this town all our lives
Me and my dogs and my wives
Half a million children we can call our own
They were great when they were young
But never should have grown
I’ve been looking forward all my life
But the future is distant like a kite
Kind of looks like the present
Is there a change at all
No one can see nothing
When the weeds have grown this tall
I’ll turn into a bird and then fly
Above the covering clouds
Gliding by on the opening sky
And you can follow the sound
I can see myself drive to the light
But the image is on the edge of a knife
Look at just the right angle
And you can hardly see the line
But shift your gaze a little bit
And you can see it shine
I’ll turn into a bird and then fly
Above the covering clouds
Gliding by on the opening sky
And you can follow the sound
|
||||
12. |
Sixth of the Sixteen
04:37
|
|||
Gazing out the window
I was thinking it’s a sin
Though I could tell that you’d made up your troubled mind
Can’t just wish away
All the hard and lonely days
All the alcohol and tears and words unkind
You were never truer
But you didn’t know who you were
Until you were enlightened by a lie
Now words just don’t matter
Since I came home late last Saturday
And we began this tearful kiss goodbye
And all that I can think
As I stand here with my drink
And I watch you turn around and close the gate
Is could I have done better
And did I ever get her
And when did it suddenly become too late to change
And love is strange
I would give a hell of a lot
If I could tell what I got
But it's like I see like a stone
Ever get the feeling
That your heart's done too much healing
And it's time enough already to leave it alone
And all that I can do
As I stand and stare at you
And everything we’ve been is about to pass
Is tip my pained head back
And scorch my throat with Jack
And make damn sure that the whiskey glass is drained
And love is pain
Love is strange
You’d think that there’d be learning
From a heart with all this hurting
Like a suffering monk becoming aware
But all the deeper meaning
Has been hidden by the leaning
of the room against my mind like a folding chair
Now everything has changed
And you’re walking out of range of my blurry sight
Into a better life
And as I watch you go
I can’t help but know
That love rests on the edge of a knife
Love is pain
Love is strange
|
||||
13. |
A Lot of Lightning
02:43
|
|||
It takes a lot of lightning
To power up my heart
I forget to say the right thing
And then we fall apart
But we should be together
Cause baby you know it’s true
It takes a lot of lightning
And our love’s electric through and through
Energy runs through my veins
Every time we kiss
And I believe in miracles
And chemicals like this
Our hearts are thunderclaps
Booming in the air
Pulsing waves connected through
The rhythm that they share
It takes a lot of lightning
To power up my heart
I know sometimes it’s frightening
And then our light goes dark
But we should be together
Cause baby you know it’s true
It takes a lot of lightning
And our love’s electric through and through
|
||||
14. |
Dog Ditty
02:07
|
|||
15. |
Nine Pound Hammer
04:13
|
Schwartzer Brooklyn, New York
Schwartzer is a singer/songwriter from Brooklyn NY. After fronting the NYC indie rock band Jonas Grumby through the late 90's & early 00's, Schwartzer took a hiatus from original music for several years, and then in 2011 released his debut solo album "In the Offing," an eclectic collection of carefully-crafted rock/pop songs, tinged with hints of folk and country music. ... more
Streaming and Download help
If you like Schwartzer, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp