1. |
Just Once
02:26
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I can’t shake it
that buzz of unrest
ghost of a hand at the waist
breath at the back of the neck
I’ll wager
whatever comes next
we’re going to be taken
way out of context
the wolf in my blood is starting to howl
whatever madness you dare me to now
I want to say, I want to say yes
I’m gonna say, I’m gonna say yes
screws loosen
tumblers unlock
there’s a new kind of dervish
whirling loose on the block
the trees are a frantic mob in the wind
delirious rave in the moonlight
throw open the windows, my love
and let in the night
℗ and © copyright 2020 Curlock & Jalaiso Music,
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2. |
Back Up The Hill
04:31
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rolling the stone back up the hill
some days this love only lives by brute force of will
and the bit may chafe and sting
but you take it still
rolling the stone back up the slope
steep work, forgiveness,
but worth it you hope
provided you reach the end of your years
before the end of your rope
some people walk away
when the daydream goes up in smoke
some people don’t
rolling the stone back to the crest
this love’s been nothing if not put to the test
lord knows it’s been the scene of enough crimes
to warrant arrest
some days you can almost feel
the light going out in your chest
but you still find the strength to say yes
℗ and © copyright 2020 Curlock & Jalaiso Music
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3. |
Choose Now
03:40
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no tricks, no riddles couched in poetry
just look me in the eye and say it plainly
it takes a charlatan to disappear in a puff of smoke
it takes a lifetime to remain as the scenario
plays out its final complications
our bodies overlaid with the filigree of age
I’m done balancing the ache of longing
and the fear of wondering if you’ll stay
so choose now
choose now
I’m done with waiting
choose now
no brandishing your jagged shards of wit to intimidate
no soft and clever words to hide the truth
you’ve always been playful
but the time for games is through
your love’s like handcuffs and bruises
I can’t free myself or draw a breath without pain
but I won’t be a prisoner
of wondering our fate
℗ and © copyright 2020 Curlock & Jalaiso Music
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4. |
Chocolate and Cherries
05:21
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surprise, consolation, and sometimes a hint
of chocolate, mischief, or cherries
some secret, impatient, some matter-of-course
some in hunger, in hunger, in hunger
some charged with the force of
shared memories and promise
some slow as the first week of August
twenty-five years of your kisses
no two alike as yet
redrawing my heart
on the traces of a young love’s palimpsest
I’ve had a full quarter-century of learning the pace
of your footsteps, laughter, and your breathing
I’ve grown fluent in the language
of the grace that manifests
when the day sheds its vastness
and the evening constricts
down to a light on the pages you turn
and the fridge sings its faint but persistent B-flat
℗ and © copyright 2020 Curlock & Jalaiso Music
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5. |
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the last embers of your kisses
have long since burned to ash on my lips
and the fragrant softness of your hair
been forgotten by my fingertips
no second guesses murmur to me in the night
I’m losing your memory, but that’s all right
the nights we spent together don’t wind like Bougainvillea
through the branches of my wonderings and wants
time has worn that crimson splash of heartbreak
down to the faintest faded stain of afterthought
I’m not trying to exorcise an old desire
or make a mountain of a misfire
I don’t really wonder who you’re with or where you are
just running my finger along the scar
it isn’t quite nostalgia, it’s not regret
not bitterness that brings you back to mind
more like the echo of a song I heard
another singer sing in another lifetime
I don’t really wonder who you’re with or where you are
just running my finger along the scar
℗ and © copyright 2020 Curlock & Jalaiso Music
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6. |
Midnight Parking Lot
04:08
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gone midnight in the parking lot
I’m waiting to meet you
shifts change, passing in the dark
and call out a greeting
quick shadow darting past the lights
bright voice too clear and sweet for bats
skylarking, playing in the dark
oh, what kind of bird is that?
flat silence as I drive you home
no meaning in it but exhaustion
quick shadow playing in the dark
oh, what kind of bird is that?
℗ and © copyright 2020 Curlock & Jalaiso Music
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7. |
Old Habits
03:56
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fall asleep, sign your name, breathe normally
a dozen things the brain does best without you in the way
you concentrate and the commonplace feels strange
strange the things you never stop to question
you feel it first like a breeze on the arm
a door you bolted, then found ajar
doubt begins to chirp away
a furtive cricket hiding in your brain
strange the things you never stop to question
old habits die hard
new questions bite sharply
you know your place, know your side of the aisle
you know which god will look down on your prayers and smile
you celebrate your geography like a virtue
what you don’t know in the land of plausible denial can’t hurt you
auto-pilot long engaged, aiming back to a simpler age
when right was right, and wrong was wrong
you block your ears to stop the siren’s song
but then you find yourself humming along
strange the things you never considered for long
℗ and © copyright 2020 Curlock & Jalaiso Music
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8. |
Old Habits, New Rabbits
00:41
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9. |
The Bill Comes Due
02:48
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the bill comes due, the bill comes due
it always does, and yours will, too
the bill comes due all too soon
it always does, and yours will, too
she let you in, treated you right
and you gave back evil and spite
did you have a good laugh?
did it make you feel clever?
well brace yourself for heavy weather
℗ and © copyright 2020 Curlock & Jalaiso Music
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10. |
Balanced On the Edge
03:57
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I’m balanced on the edge of a love
that has not yet begun
flung weightless at the apogee of anticipation
I know a passing fancy from a thunderbolt
I know a dissertation from an anecdote
I can spot the real McCoy singing from the first note
I know when your heart leaps from the precipice
your head doesn’t get a vote
℗ and © copyright 2020 Curlock & Jalaiso Music
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11. |
April Morning
03:29
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the trail you follow peters out
no fanfare, or any warning
vanished like a white-tail doe
into a cold and brittle April morning
you poured yourself into a task
you took its shape
and you wore its mask
you let it answer on your behalf
and now, suddenly, it’s over
reluctantly the explorer
go find a way, find a way,
find a new way forward
℗ and © copyright 2020 Curlock & Jalaiso Music
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Last Charge of the Light Horse New York
Last Charge of the Light Horse was formed in 2004 as a vehicle for songwriter Jean-Paul Vest's nuanced examinations of the quiet joys and struggles of everyday life.
www.lastcharge.com
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