Get all 3 Denise Casey releases available on Bandcamp and save 10%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Come Alive (album), Road to Godavari (EP), and Come Alive (single).
1. |
Hermit Thrush and Me
03:57
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Three days in a bog
with no food or water at all,
it was a raining, hailing storm
kicking up these thoughts I try to ignore.
Now I’m wonderin
if I even know how to pray
it sure does not seem that way.
Cause I came here looking for
something huge that would make me change,
a boulder sized rock or the magic in a midnight parade,
of moose and bear and coyote, something outside of me
I’m beggin spirit
Please help me see
There is heaven, there is heaven
a hermit thrush and me
oh there is heaven, there is heaven
a hermit thrush and me
there is heaven, there is heaven
a hermit thrush and me.
Now between my pride and greed
lives this tiny space of breath,
an opening so slow out my back I can feel it blow.
It was a horse I was driving hard
For too many years
But when I look back...a unicorn appeared!
There is heaven, there is heaven
a hermit thrush and me
oh there is heaven, there is heaven
a hermit thrush and me
there is heaven, there is heaven
a hermit thrush and me
Now I’m learning how to breath
in a place I have forgot
I took the force of a wild horse
and let it graze down upon the earth.
And then from my shoulder blades
lifted these wide and fearsome wings
I am...a bird that sings!
There is heaven/there is heaven
a hermit thrush and me
oh there is heaven, there is heaven
a hermit thrush and me
there is heaven, there is heaven
a hermit thrush and me
oh there is heaven, there is heaven
hermit thrush and me.
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2. |
Lida's Song
03:02
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Oh Miss Lida will you follow me
over the dark river and through a hollow breeze
to a city up north where I was laid to rest
in a coffin filled with songs that were burned on my breast
and pages of printed poems
our fathers never wrote
about the gentle touch of women
and the kindest of each stroke
and the name of an artist I thought I needed to be
but thank god she was killed one night in the cemetery.
Oh Miss Lida, will you follow me?
Oh Miss Lida will you dance for me?
My story has ended
the words they can not breath.
They were shipped up and shaped
to a box beneath my bed and I pray someday
they’ll make it out my head
and be feathers on the ears of lost and hungry souls.
I know when I am one of those
music is my only home, it was my only home.
But in the quiet
of the dark night
the moon spoke clearly,
and said, “please trust this life.”
Oh Miss Lida, it’s time to die!
Oh Miss Lida, teach the world to fly.
Your wings are wide with tattoos from a different
time and place when darkness was your friend
now your light knows no bounds
even when the fear creeps in between the cracks
your spirit is alive
teaching young birds with broken wings how to fly.
You taught me how to fly.
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3. |
The Void
04:20
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This is the desperate call you make
to escape the feelings that you can’t take alone.
Your ears are warned by the incoming sounds
of the silent hollows when no one’s around
and you
feel the void
of helpless wild movements and powerless nights
that cut through the fabric of the devil’s last fight.
Now your body a tattered war flag
that float with the voices of loyal soldiers
from your past.
This is the second call you make
to a friendly voice who makes quiet your wake,
but she’s empty now.
Your heart is gripping for somewhere to stand,
but this shallow breath is the only land
and you
feel the void
of helpless wild movements and powerless nights
that cut through the fabric of the devil’s last fight.
Now your body a tattered war flag
that float with the voices of loyal soldiers
from your past.
Ohhhhhhhh
This is the final call you make
please God tell me this is not my fate,
but there’s not a sound.
The silence around you slows you down
then in comes a voice a gentle sound;
it says, “please choose the void”,
of helpless wild movements and powerless nights
that cut through the fabric of the devil’s last fight.
Now your body a tattered war flag
that float with the voices of loyal soldiers
from your past.
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4. |
Newbury
04:14
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We know how this ends and I’m afraid to speak,
watching you watch this death creep
over his bones,
through his skin,
over your heart
I watch you breaking.
When we first met I asked your mother’s ghost
to teach me how to love you with all of my soul
even in fear
even in doubt
even now
when you wish she were here.
All of my nightmares have stayed in my sleep,
but sitting with you now I beg them to speak.
They say:
“root me down,
hold him up
guide me now,”
so my love it won’t hurt
so my love he won’t hurt
so my love you won’t hurt
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5. |
Sheeba's Throne
06:08
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Don’t you know my name
I’ve been slivered by the moon
tempered by the waves
tired from the noose.
Hold my hand.
Hold my hand.
Hold my hand and lead me to land.
Come walk in the willow shade.
Don’t question these marks of shame.
A curious string you pulled
Now are you ready to see what you lose?
Leave the throne.
Leave the throne.
Leave the throne and trust your not alone.
It’s too heavy to carry in this heat.
A broken back’s got your feet.
Return these gifts of gold
and tell Sheeba to bring only her soul.
Fear no doubt.
Fear no doubt.
Fear no doubt, bring nothing,
not even yourself.
When Solomon asked you to come
did you know who you would become?
A queen without her throne,
a woman waiting to be known
Wear the crown.
Wear the crown.
Wear the crown, hold nothing.
Touch the ground.
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6. |
Come Alive
03:39
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I made myself sick with this cancer inside.
Call it hatred
that I made over a long period of time
It started before me
but I held onto the reins and let it ride.
Now I’m tired of feeding
what does not make me come alive.
Yes I am tired of feeding
what does not make me come alive.
Come alive, come alive
little seeds come alive.
It takes courage just to breath
and to feel all of this life.
Touch the pain,
feel the soil
and let yourself rip through the vine.
Come alive, little seeds come alive.
There was no singing
where I grew up on this earth.
Took me years to find
my voice had any worth,
But I followed the queens
behind me and I rode on their wings.
And in singing they teach me
how to say just what I mean.
And in singing they teach me
how to say just what I mean.
Come alive, come alive
little seeds come alive.
It takes courage just to breath
and to feel all of this life.
Touch the pain,
feel the soil
and let yourself rip through the vine.
Come alive, little seeds come alive.
Come alive, little seeds come alive.
Come alive, little seeds come alive.
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7. |
River Run
01:55
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Ain’t it time to let the river run
Ain’t it time to let the river run
Oh ain’t it time to let the river run.
Ain’t it time to let the river run.
Water from the earth, water from the sky
water from my tears and the river does cry,
They say “please know me.
Please know me.
Please know me.”
There’s a flood in my body, my body gets tight
daming up these waters that hold truth in the light.
There’s light in the river
there’s light in my eyes,
both blood and the water are what we hear cry:
They say, ”please know me
Please know me.
Please know me.
So ain’t it time to let the river run.
Ain’t it time to let the river run.
Oh ain’t it time to let the river run.
Ain’t it time to let the river run.
Please know me.
Please know me.
Please know me.
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8. |
Bury
04:19
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Take me home to the swallowing loam
to the dew wet grass
to the mountains of my past.
And I will walk along this road til the questions turn to gold.
and I’ll keep howling at the moon, like the old coyotes do
and I’ll bury myself in you.
Touch my hair
weave your fingers right on through
to the tangled parts of holding
where my silent body grew.
I will let go of this burden
like the waves of another tide
and I will ask God for the mercy
to remind me of my shine
and I’ll bury myself in you.
Bury, oh bury,
my bones beneath the soil of your soul
Bury, oh bury,
my bones beneath the soil of your soul.
Hold my fear
let my needing need no shame.
Unleash this part of me
and release the one that came.
This shield of piercing violence
will dissolve into the rain
and this wordless rant of suffering,
oh it’ll speak my name again
and I’ll bury myself in you.
Bury, oh bury,
my bones beneath the soil of your soul
Bury, oh bury,
my bones beneath the soil of your soul.
Touch my skin
like you needed to believe
in the human part of aching
that bleeds me into peace.
Don’t despair in trembling fingers
or the way your body moves
when the prison guards are watching
and freedoms on the loose
cause I’ll bury myself in you.
Bury, oh bury,
my bones beneath the soil of your soul
Bury, oh bury,
my bones beneath the soil of your soul.
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9. |
How Many People
05:53
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How many people must see you
before you will learn to believe?
And how many nights must you wander
before you will stand and be free?
Don’t hold tight the reins of nothing
cause horses have plans of their own.
I’ve seen stallions teach young girls the freedom
to gallop and dance on their own.
A black bull sits still and reads Rumi
with closed eyes and open ears.
She shouts to the footsteps above her,
“What you find over there is right here?”
Right here.
Go shower the dirt off your old clothes
and drink water that sold your soul
cause sidewalk cracks hold all the beauty
that wildflower fields won’t ever know.
Take two steps the next time you stand still,
one to live and one to die.
Two more will get you to start dancing
to the music that brings us alive,
Alive!
Well I once ran to the edge of a mountain
where they promised me a feathered nest.
Instead I found eggs that were broken
and a hollow place where I could rest.
So sing what you came here to sing me
ain’t no time for hungry pride
Cause the footprints and tears of our elders
made this way so we could fly.
Fly!
So how many people must see us
before we will learn to believe?
And how many nights must we wonder
before we will stand and be free
before we will stand and be free
before I will stand and be free?
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