Get all 7 Jen Chapin releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Reckoning, Five Songs, Light Of Mine, Ready, Linger, Open Wide, and Live at the Bitter End.
1. |
Hurry Up Sky
04:36
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Hurry Up Sky
once we had laughed about
a discount store and a diamond ring
back when a flame was a friend –
a comfort, a delicate dancing thing
back when my window held a shelter of sky
and we would watch the planes go by
please hurry us back to that sweet time
hurry up time speed us away
to the day when the sky doesn’t rain
with the why and the pain
hurry up sky carry them home
then carry our eyes to your blue and your calm
and away from that one black cloud
hurry hurry up now
once we were strangers bumping past other lives in a focused fog
now all our stories have melted into two vivid hours
maybe we’re better now –
stronger, with a deeper soul
and we’ll be whole again in a different way
and this time will teach for a new day
hurry up time speed us away
to the day when the sky doesn’t rain with the why and the pain
hurry up sky carry them home
then carry our eyes to your blue and your calm
and away from that one black cloud
hurry hurry up now
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2. |
Open Wide
03:04
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Open Wide
I left the disco before midnight came
before my eyes got smoked up
and my interest waned
I’d been fired up to party but my body wouldn’t play
I was recovering from the battles in my head that day
that day
threw out the window all desires and dreams
then they rose like steam
clouding up the glass
I ran to catch them it was not too late
I found my hopes there napping
on a subway grate
so I begged them to forgive me for my faithless display
we wiped the mud off from our trousers
then went on our way
a way
to ask the questions that tear at my smile
I know it will be a while
‘til I find a way
I read the paper it had been some time
to let those words lie waiting
seemed to be a crime
so I dove into those stories as I never had before
and the sadness almost trapped me in the subway doors
a door
opens my heart up to the world outside
if I let it open wide
then I will survive
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3. |
Way
03:44
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Way
There is a way that you’re looking at me baby
like you’re caught between heaven and hell
there was a day when that look could have tamed me
when my affection wasn’t mine to sell
there was a way you decided to tantalize me
for a while I decided to let you stay
a way you conspired to strategize me
I played that for a day
there was a way that you slid right up sideways to me
maybe I’ll wait awhile ‘fore I slide
a way that you’re thinking you got me figured out
I let you think that way
It’s so easy to play when the doors are closed behind us baby
and I like to do my playin’ when I can
some voices well they tell me to stay others tell me to go now
but those voices never had themselves no kind of man
well there’s a way you decided to tantalize me
for a while I decided to let you stay
a way you conspired to strategize me
I played that for a day
there was a day when sweet talking would satisfy me
or a way I’d allow myself to pretend
a day when I’d settle for your cheap candy
that day is at its end
I feel today
there’s a rhythm rising round me baby
and its hittin’ me
and going over your head
well I’ve got to say
I got to say that it’s time that you go now
if it isn’t something that I already said
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4. |
Portrait
03:48
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Portrait
you paint a picture of yourself
and you hang it on the wall
for all to see
including me
your bold and clashing color portrait
meant to make the critics frown
I pull it down
put it in my gallery
I’d like to wash your colors down
please
pour them on me
‘til I drown
don’t apologize anymore
invite me in then you turn me out
you paint my canvas shades of doubt
I don’t mind
I could say that this time is only madness
that someday your portrait will fade to grey
I don’t know
for now I’ll say
I’d like to wash your colors down
please
pour them on me
‘til I drown
don’t apologize any more
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5. |
Gold
04:28
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Gold
An old lady once said to me
she said: “You see what I got?”
so I turned to see
she was sitting empty-handed with a secret smile
and she said:
“I got gold and it shines in dark places”
so I thought about this lady
and what she had to say
and I try to put all my life in one day
try to look for that gold in everything I do
and I think I see a little in you
wherever I go
I got gold
so let’s see what we can put into today
I wanna go hear my man Fred Wesley play
the trombone
just one note a piece of gold
that he has inside that’ll never be sold
wanna stir up some trouble
everywhere I go
wanna suck in the sunshine
and roll in the snow
there are so many things that I wanna do
and I think I wanna do ‘em with you
wherever we go
we got gold
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6. |
Don't Miss You
02:32
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Don’t Miss You
I don’t miss you, no
not in normal ways
instead the missing is my friend
who teases me and plays
we have our little rituals
we have our subtle signs
our dances round the lack of you
each of which combines
to tell me I don’t miss you
no, not at least these days
No I don’t really miss you
except when you close the door behind
then all the mocking moments point and grin
just to remind me that they will be my company
for all the time that you’re away
they’ll fatten up and multiply
they’ll fill up the whole day
how then could I miss you
when you’ve left me so much time
There’s no way I could miss you
when you’re everything I touch
an icy glass of ginger ale
a beach, bow tie, brown bread and such
a yapping noise your absense makes
when I try to sleep alone
so I hold on tightly to the void
and claim the missing as my own
no impossible to miss you
I don’t miss you that much
no impossible to miss you
I don’t miss you that much
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7. |
Passive People
04:16
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Passive People
Another day slips away
Like a baby from a chair
I watch the fall
No one seems to care at all
Not at all
Another crime joins the line
That stretches all the way to the sea
But I’m glad it didn’t happen to me
Not to me
We are passive people at the end of the day
We let the outrage melt away
It seems that life is so much easier that way
We are passive people there’s a lot that we can take
Our hearts will dry up before they break
No questions asked
Just invisible ache
The riches climb dime by dime
So happy that weve finally got it made
So the dollars aren’t so evenly sprayed around
Maybe – yes – I’m sure they’ll trickle down
We have heaven-sent good intent
We cry for lonely people at the movies
We feel their pain
We storm the streets but then it starts to rain
It begins to rain
We are passive people at the end of the day
We let the outrage melt away
It seems that life is so much easier that way
We are passive people there’s a lot that we can take
Our hearts will dry up before they break
No questions asked
Just invisible ache
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8. |
I'll Take You With Me
03:53
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I’ll Take You With Me
Will you come stand next to me?
I’ve got a lot to ask you
a lot that I can’t see
You left so suddenly
now I’m trying to find my way
well maybe I’ve got no claim to you
no responsibility
but I’ll do anything you want
I’ll feel any way you want me to feel
for as far as I can see
I will take you with me
I’m one who can keep moving
is that ok with you?
I’m not sure just what you mean to me
or what I meant to you
so I’ll just try to count myself lucky
for the little that I knew
and I’ll do anything you want
I’ll feel any way you want me to feel
for as far as I can see
I will take you with me
You shone light with no shadows
so you’ve left no shadows behind
it makes no sense to have you rest
in dark corners of my mind
so I’ll ask you to come with me
burn your light along my way
and I’ll do anything you want
I’ll feel any way you want me to feel
for as far as I can see
I will take you with me
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9. |
NYC
03:43
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NYC
this morning I woke up
felt like a truck outside was driving over my head
but hey if I wanna have street traffic in my bed
I’d rather it be the real thing
the real NYC thing
this town is not so bad
if you have a taste for college boy beer
but the trains have no graffiti
and the river’s too clear
I want that dirty
that dirty real thing
the real NYC thing
take me back I wanna go back
I wanna go back to NYC
I came hoping that I’d trust again
thought that the child I knew
could be brought out to play
thought maybe I could send those soldiers guarding
to be on their way
but I haven’t found the real thing
I haven’t found the real thing
wandering in search of music
I must admit that I’ve got music here to spare
but I wanna be where rhythm’s not on paper
it’s in the air
maybe I’ll find the real thing
maybe I’ll find the real thing
but I don’t know
take me back I wanna go back
I want to go back to NYC
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10. |
Slow Tide
05:45
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Slow Tide
so I walk home
with some small adjustments to my mask
of security
and the rain that smells of pavement
threatens to make my life a cliché
and I never stumble as I do
when I’m plowing through life
short-term view
so my mask stays on
so I walk home
with bruises only I can see
and the toe I stubbed on romance well it laughs
and tells me, “It’s ok”
so I pause to put my toe on ice
and I ponder human sacrifice
and I walk on home
I’m walking home
savoring water of quiet storms
tides washing over wash bruises and memory
so I’m clean now and I stand
bring no bruises
bring no love demands
so now I rise
from a dream I fell into
unchaperoned
so gently I leave now
on a slow tide to morning
now I’m washed up on the shore
I walk on home then come back for more
I’ll be back for more
I’ll be back
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