Get all 146 Bill White releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of State of the Heart 4, Human Music, radio art -sightlines, Songs for Kelly, Footprints, Brothers and Sisters, BROTHERS, SISTERS, and 138 more.
1. |
Human Music
02:26
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Human music is nothing new
Ive been making it since I was two
And Ill keep doing it until Im through
Why does music from the past
Last and last and last and last?
It's because humans are a blast
Human music will set you free
Hearts beat across the centuries
From John Dowland to Morrissey
human music speaks to me
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2. |
Whirlpool
02:46
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i got a little house on the lake
built a dock to tie my boats
i rent to strangers who come my way
make a little talk sell a little bait
there is a river crosses close by
i go there sometimes
no reason why
but lately i been noticing a girl
shes got eyes that pull me in
like a whirlpool
im swimmin with the rush of the river
wanna see how close i can get
without getting pulled in
straight ahead i see the whirlpool
gonna get as close as i can
without gettin pulled down
she lives on the bank of the river
shes always sittting on the rocks
with her radio blastin
like a regular little juke box
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3. |
Woman on the Pier
03:09
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after a decade at sea
i stood on the upper deck
pierced by a sword of the moon
as the land appeared
Once I did believe
There was a woman on the pier
Who had been waiting there for me
For many many a year
Now I stare back to the shore
My eyes esconded in mist
Because the woman on the pier
Does not exist
perhaps she was never there
it was some siren made flesh
as i sailed off on my way
to the edge of the world
Once I did believe
There was a woman on the pier
Who had been waiting there for me
For many many a year
Now I stare back to the shore
My eyes esconded in mist
Because the woman on the pier
Does not exist
i cannot forget how she
trembled at my approach
fever glistened in her eyes...
Once I did believe
There was a woman on the pier
Who had been waiting there for me
For many many a year
Now I stare back to the shore
My eyes esconded in mist
Because the woman on the pier
Does not exist
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4. |
Who the Hell Was She?
02:24
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i was watching a movie
on teevee
just before the end
i started falling asleep
sometimes i feel
im just wasting away
nothing more to do,
nothing left to say
there once was a woman
who meant the world to me
,,but who the hell was she?
used to talk to her at night
in the telephone
it made me feel
like i was not so alone
she sent presents through the mail
for my holiday tree
...but who the hell was she?
we never slept together
we never even broke bread
but she kept my picture
next to her bed
she liked chinese chicken
and apple crumbly
..but who the hell was she?
i sit here wearing nothing
but a pair of mold mittins
i put on a record
but the record keeps on skippin
someone is knocking at my door
but my door it will not open
im hopin it is her
although there is no use in hopin
i call her up and ask her why
she answers just because
and i just cant stop wondering
just who the hell she was
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5. |
Frankenstein's Daughter
02:08
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i like what i do
i dont like what i am
if i dont speak
you wont have to tell me to shut up
if i keep my thought to myself
i keep my thoughts
nobody is alone
as long as they are alive
but as long as i live
i will be lonely
eat the flesh of docile beasts
drink the blood of evil priests
its hard to get by on bread and water
when you are in love
with frankensteins daughter
its not so bad
as long as you stay busy
even if no one gets it
at least your parts are working
and your thoughts are tangible
even if you cannot communicate them to others
you can communicate them to yourself
eat the flesh of docile beasts
drink the blood of evil priests
its hard to get by on bread and water
when you are in love
with frankensteins daughter
it is not true
that artists are bad human beings
although the definiton
of a good human being
sometimes escapes me
i know that people who do not eat meat
have a higher consciousness
because when i was forced
to eat the meat of beasts
i became a beast myself
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6. |
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i did not come to this stupid planet
to gawk at the pyramids, to climb the peaks of everest
to climb down into a volcano
or gaze out from the heights of machu piccu
i did not come here to surf a 50 foot wave
blow my mind on a hundred micrograms of LSD
or to geek out in front of 75,000 people
on a fifty foot high stage
littlered with instruments and amplifiers
i did not come to this stupid planet
to repeat shit i heard on television
or read in newspapers
i did not come to buy and sell houses
to enrich myself through inflation
or tp write books that stultify the minds
of their readers
no
i did what i could
but it wasnt much
but i walked away from the wreck
without a crutch
even the fastest race car
ends up sputtering down a cul de sac
and the biggest, loudest blowhard
eventually runs out of gas
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7. |
Interstate Five
03:56
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the way my dad would know
all the turns to make
to get from one neighborhood
to the next
i thought he had a genius memory
then interstate five
cut through the city
and my dad no longer
drove through neighborhoods
it was a straight line
with no views
just exit signs
to tell you when to get off
even an idiot
could navigate the city
without getting lost
i hate interstate five
people drive
without knowing where they are
all they know
is they are sitting in a car
space does not exist
only time
and distance is determined
by speed
i hate interstate five
and i take the back roads
but to take the back roads
you have to know how to go
and how to get
where you are going
my dad used to know
where he was going
how to get
from bryn mawr to boeing
what tunnel to take
to the floating bridge
when he drove from renton
to mercer island
where the grandparents lived
i hated interstate five
so much that i never learned to drive
and always took the bus
and i left seattle in 1975
returned after twenty years
and coudnt find my way
to the park where i used to play
because all the bus routes changed
interstates are okay
if you are travelling from state to state
but they should circumvent the cities
remove their straight lines of concrete
and give us back our streets
today the interstate
is an endless traffic jam
they should have known
before they started to construct
those stupid urban planners
should tear it up with jackhammers
then they can all go fuck a duck
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8. |
Wake-Up Call
03:56
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You can bullshit the world with good deeds
cleaning dirty money through charities
you lived by the law of civilzation and decay
and you will get a wake up call on judgement day
that habitat for the homeless who didnt appreciate it
because you built them a house but you forgot to paint it
you became a holy joe because the devil wouldnt pay
and you will get a wake up call on judgement day
you got a rock band to play at your coronation
but that doesnt make you a rock and roll sensation
you gave sanctuary to the worst criminal of the day
and you will get a wake up call on judgement day
your sleazy deals with arabs left our cars dead without gas
you filled neighborhood theaters up with filthy porno trash
the price of peanut butter was tripled from what we used to pay
and you will get a wake up call on judgement day
while the bodies of the just rise in repose
the furies will follow where your spirit goes
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9. |
We Never Had A God
02:46
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the sun rises
at the same time
on the valley of contentment
on the battlefield of woe
so dont tell me this planet
has been forgotten and is lost
in the corner of an empty sky
we never were a people
we never had a god
our land was never holy
our cities a facade
the cast offs and the castaways
From random tribes of euro-whites
To the judges who were fast to slay
the brightness from the eye
we never were a people
we never had a god
our land was never holy
our cities a facade
inside our walled off neighborhoods
there was no sense of brotherhood
even the fruit of the family tree
when it fell was never free
and the fruit was never free
im standing on the edge of a state line
picking up some fallen peaches
like hansel and his breadcrumbs
or the turtles on the beaches
there is a trail that takes me home
and im trying to find the pieces
but with every step i take
the print quality decreases
we never were a people
we never had a god
our land was never holy
our cities a facade
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10. |
My Little Country
02:16
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Dublin lost her poet
streets full of song and tears
The whole world was singing
his songs of hope and fears
we too lost a singer
Who sang his songs of love so humbly
but no one cares about
My little country
Two legions of evil
Divide a united state
Two shades of hypocrisy
Disguise the politics of hate
We too have no choices
But we dont pretend that we are free
besides, no one gives a damn
About my little country
Big bad mother russia
Chinese on the rise
Who rules the world order
Before its demise
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11. |
Let Me Watch the Stars
03:44
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from a distance
this looked like the perfect world
so i came down from the stars
and made my home here
from the stars to the sewer
i could not climb the ladder to the street
And what am i doing in this idiotic world?
telling fred flintstone that just because he saw interstellar
doesnt mean he understands quantum physics
what am i doing in this idiotic world
where people lie to escape the blame
and murder is legal
but only on your own property
those who have not known war
find it easy to take a side
some stand with israel
some with palestine
but the enemy is not the arab
the enemy is not the jew
the enemy is war itself
the victims..me and you
the beast stands on four legs
atop the mansion of mankind
the beast with twenty fingers
and two heads
one head will incinerate the world with factory smoke
one head will incinerate the world with the wind
my legs are like crab legs
the beast cracks them open
and sucks out their flesh
take me out of the city
spread me out on the grass
and let me watch the stars
as i lay dying
those who die
surrounded
and held by loving arms
die a death for every kiss
received
while those who die
alone
do not say goodbye
they simply watch
the moon
passing across the sun
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