1. |
Dear Jack
03:07
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Dear Jack:
Why didn’t you come to my birthday?
It was a really good time.
I saw you with Jill on the bleachers.
Which I guess is fine.
I even made pink invitations.
I sent one to you in the mail.
Maybe you lost your invitation.
Maybe I’m not as cool as Jill.
Dear Jack, I wrote you this letter. I know you better than your own mother.
We’ve been friends since the 1st grade.
Seems like every day, you’re getting farther and farther.
I thought we had it made.
I saw you kiss Jill in the dugout.
I wish so badly that were me.
Now I better use my white out.
I don’t want that to be seen.
Dear Jack, I wish you would have told me
you couldn’t make it this weekend.
Then I wouldn’t have wasted recess writing
this letter that I’ll never send.
And If you and I were older I think
I’d know exactly how this would end.
But since I don’t want to waste your favorite blue ink,
Signed: sincerely, -Your friend
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2. |
Walking Slow
03:10
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Walking slowly
Smell the Lily
If you know me
You know
Feeling Lonely
Eyes for you only
Talking softly
And slow
You’re talking to me
Like I’m your best friend
Your windows start to fog
The night is getting thin
And we’re talking slow
We head back to your house
We disrobe and de-louse
On the Sidewalk there’s snow
Quiet as a mouse
Don’t wanna get your roommates out
We’re talking softly
And slow
You’re talking to me
Like I’m your best friend
Your windows start to fog
The night is getting thin
No! I say. Don’t bring the dawn of day I
Don’t want April to step on into May I
Hold your gaze, I won’t let you go If
Only you and I had known
And I had known
We like talking slow
I met you on the swing-set
I guess it hasn’t hit me yet
I thought I’d lost you in the glow
You ask if we can get
Walking towards our betterment
I ask where you’d like to go
And we’re walking slow
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3. |
Year and a Day
03:13
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Year and a Day:
Oh, I wish that you were here so you could see the people cheer,
So you could know that you were loved for a year and a day.
But he shot you through the brain with his heart full of pain.
‘Cause you rattled his chain, he took your memories away
I wish I knew what to say
You always knew how to pray and who to pray to
Oh, I know that I could write a better poem tonight,
one that captures the beauty and the pain.
But I’m running out of time cause they're killing me at nine.
They won’t let me live my life. They think I took yours away.
I wish I knew what to say
You always knew how to pray and who to pray to
Oh, and why can I cry those big elephant tears,
those big silvery tears to the moon.
“Don't worry love,” says your voice from above.
“You'll be with me soon you'll be with me soon.”
You always knew what to say
I wish I knew how to pray and who to pray to
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4. |
Barn Song
01:19
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Music and lyrics: Jonathan Townley
Sound engineer: Neil Harvey
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5. |
Silent Spring
04:23
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Silent Spring:
When crocus broke the earth this year, they knew something was wrong.
The people who had gawked at them were hiding or gone.
I myself had shut myself right where I belonged.
Caring for my Grandfather who lived 80 years long.
In the silent spring
Silent Spring
In the Silent Spring
When loved ones give the call, we always hear the ring.
Each year the weather turns the wood from brown to green to gold.
My grandpa farm the berries to grow just as their told.
Each year he’d water prune and harvest, but when his bones grew old.
He’d sit and talk with all his heart, his stories filled the cold.
In the Silent Spring
In the Silent Spring
In the Silent Spring
When loved ones call to us, we always hear the ring.
In all your years of ministry you touched so many people.
You’d gather loved ones to your heart underneath steeple.
And so for 7 days this spring as you lay weak and feeble,
We feared that you might pass without a service of your people.
In the Silent Spring
In the Silent Spring
In Silent Spring
When loved ones call to us, we always hear the ring.
On the morning of your death we gathered round in prayer.
Your brothers filled the driveway wind swept through their hair.
We drove you through the blueberries you always loved it there.
We passed the church lot full of cars. Your people really cared.
In the Silent Spring
In the Silent Spring
In Silent Spring
When loved ones call to us, we always hear the ring.
When loved ones call to us, compassion we will bring.
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6. |
Seven Days
03:30
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Seven Days:
I don’t know if I can tell him
maybe it’s the antebellum
Furniture by the door.
It’s too late a wicked snake
Has made me make my first mistake
I’ll be lowered by drapes to the floor.
A perfect world
A perfect paradise
Made in seven days
It melts away like ice.
But You might not know my wrongs
You never hit that gong
You always said that I belonged to you
So as the bell of judgement rings
Ill tie fast with little strings
The angel wings you sat and set so true
A perfect world
A perfect paradise
Made in seven days
It melts away like ice.
I’m running out of time
I’m running out of time
I wasted all my time
I wasted, wasted all of mine
I’m running out of time
I’m running out of time
I wasted all my time
I wasted, wasted all of mine
Don’t forget you didn’t waste
Every touch and every taste
You’re not too late it doesn’t end today
As we get into the car
we wave goodbye it feels bazar
The peaks of joy are never meant to stay
A perfect world
the perfect paradise
Made in seven days
It melts away like ice.
You never had to know
I always knew you’d understand
I don’t know, no I know
But I catch myself in love and grief
I don’t know, no I know
But I hold your hand your memory
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7. |
Sunset Song
03:34
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Sunset Song:
When I die, I hope that I can see the sunset one more time
Can see the colors melt and fade away
When I die, I hope that I can see the moon rise one more time
Can see can see that friendly face on its way
One more chance to feel done
One more night has begun
One more starry sky above
To see with the ones I love
One more setting of the sun
When I die, I hope that I can see a shooting star one time
Just like me a flash then fade away
When I die, I hope that I can see the water still one time
A broken branch before it’s blown away
One more chance to feel done
One more night has begun
One more starry sky above
To see with the ones I love
One more setting of the sun
But most of all. when I die, I know that you’ll be by my side
Even if you’re somehow far away
Most of all, when I die, I know that you’ll be by my side
You’ll be there to see me on my way
One more chance to feel done
One more night begun
One more starry sky above
To see with the ones I love
One more setting of the sun
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8. |
Ruined Canoe
04:08
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Ruined Canoe:
I’ve been thinking about when you taught me how to paddle
I’ve been thinking about heading down that stream
I’ve been thinking about how it’s an uphill battle
I’ve been thinking about opening that seam
It will be me
It will be you
We will be free
In my ruined canoe
There’s so many ways they tell us we are different
There’s so many ways that we are just the same
There’s so many lies packed inside that shipment
There’s so many eyes that watched you as you came
We feel our suffering
We feel our glee
There is such thing as buffering
There’s no such thing as purity
On the lake
Water’s still
You reach out
I reach out
It will be me
It will be you
We will be free
In my ruined canoe
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9. |
August (Eight)
01:22
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Jonathan Townley Kalamazoo, Michigan
Jonathan is a journalist and songwriter.He blends storytelling and gentle acoustic guitar with a casual performance style. Check out his Instagram @jonathan.townley for more music updates.
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