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. |
Strip It Bare
03:37
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Strip it Bare
Cast the line out
Reel it round
Float down the stream way down
Feel surrender ain't it fine
The meter is mine
Lay your palms out in the dirt
A little mud won't hurt
See it tremble see it crawl
The rise and the fall
Follow crackle in the trees
Red lines criss-cross your knees
Wide wings stir a hidden sound
My shadow is found
Climb a mountain push the wheel
The itch of sweat you feel
Satisfaction in the grind
Empty out your mind
No need to go anywhere
Sunlight cloudflow
Lay your head back stare at the sky
Time will ride low
Strip it bare
Here we stay
Another day
Called to action by the clouds
The thunder rumbles loud
Craft a castle 'gainst the rain
The drops never came
Watch the sky it darkens down
All jagged edges round
Melt ambition in the flame
And breathe in my name
No need to go anywhere
Sunlight cloudflow
Lay your head back stare at the sky
Time will ride low
Strip it bare
Here we stay
Lay your head back stare at the sky
No need to go anywhere
Sunlight cloudflow
Lay your head back stare at the sky
Time will ride low
Strip it bare
Here we stay
Another day
Here we stay
Another day
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2. |
To the New
04:56
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To The New
No cheap painted promises
No barter with jewels
This structure is earthbound by butterfly rules
Such architect wisdom
Such poetic plan
For floating as mountains
For sturdy as sand
The dangers and warnings
Have crowded the door
We brush off their chilling
So far from this core
The warmness of corners
You’ve so skillfully laid
Unshaken foundations
unshakable
Now we open to the newness
One devotion
Grows past two
Watch the world
Look out for trueness
Wondrous window
Such a view
Join in with the playtime
You tickle and tease
Humility gliding
In joyful degrees
I’ll play you a concert
Groove with blinkers and cans
Sing foolish in April
Pluck slack rubber bands
Witness to the changes
Come lay by my side
Such gratitude growing
These blessings confide
Pile up all our kindling
This fire will grow
Relentless relearning
Of what we know
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3. |
Scream Laugh Cry
04:25
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Scream Laugh Cry
The tape runs out
And the tide rolls in
Everything is changing but the circles that you run in
Clock stops still
Still it speeds you by
Spectator’s watching but we’ve stopped asking why
Why not make a choice?
It’s hard to understand?
How it’s easier to be a slave than be a man?
Wild is the luscious
Life crashing by
Grab it by the ankles
Scream laugh and cry
The glacial stride to the yellow door
Taste a bite of promise
Then you spit it to the floor
Spiral words fill the flat dry day
Look up from the paper
Take one step
Come away
Why not make a choice?
It’s hard to understand?
How it’s easier to be a slave than be a man?
Wild is the luscious
Life crashing by
Grab it by the ankles
Scream laugh and cry
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4. |
Ready
04:54
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Ready
he walked in and a voice came to me said
“slow down girl and be steady
take your time to get ready”
I could see he’s got adventure written all over his body
but then he smiled and I had to say to myself
“oh you gotta sit down and think straight
find self-control gotta learn to wait
because this one could take it all away”
for this man well he looked right there through me now
I don’t wanna call it danger but there’s something about this
stranger to think that I should know it
I’m sure stranger things go on
but this I wouldn’t know
in the moment I was frightened by your power
in this moment I think I’m ready now
I’m ready
ready for you to reach me
ready
ready for you to teach me
I’m ready
ready for you to reach me
ready
ready for you to teach me
weary days passed taste of bitter would run over my lips
I had hunger and I let it seep in so deep
let my body do some stand-in work for my soul
my insides became stiff with cold
but now I feel new heat rise up rise up rise up
from the coreof my body I was silent
to the core all the music had died down
now the time you come to hammer at my quiet
well the time has come I think I’m ready now
ready
turn my world sideways then right side up again
ready
for you to rock me ‘til the dawn then start again
ready
burn your power through me that I know you can do
oh do your thing
and get ready
cause I’m ready for you
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5. |
Goodbye
04:00
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Goodbye
Once I climbed up an elephant tree
Sewed purses of pine needle finery
Goodbye
Goodbye
Through a forest of bamboo
I carved out my lair
Furnished rooms with fresh flowers
And a plastic bag chair
Goodbye
Raced pages of stallions
with after-school sweets
Sweet stories repeat
Repeat
Once I dined in a palace of barnacle walls
Would climb with the snails over seaweed
And never would fall
goodbye
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6. |
Let it Show
03:35
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Let it Show
Little man little man I can see
You are not such a mystery to me
Little questions little highs little lows
In a row
Senses overflow
I've been thinking 'bout this sad sad world
About survival and the one thing you should know
Is find your joy and let it show
Will you be bumpy like a pine cone
Cover your soft heart
Try to be alone?
Will you be smooth like sanded timber
Wood grain winding
Graceful and limber?
I've been thinking 'bout this way processed world
Of authenticity and the one thing you should know
Is find your joy and let it show
All the slick faces on the TV
They tell us be fearful
We are warned very soberly
Don't you listen turn away turn away
There's a different melody to play
I've been thinking 'bout this sad sad world
About survival and the one thing you should know
I've been thinking on this fascinating world
About survival and the one thing you should know
Is find your joy and let it show
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7. |
NYC
02:58
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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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8. |
Election Day
04:56
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Election Day
We drive west on Route 80
We join in the parade
Block-printed placards, purpose
Ghosts of barricades
The highway seems hopeful
The numbers loom tall
Past coal mines and strip malls
We'll deliver them all
Neutered by cold clean process
And our clipboard costume
Shared sport talk, shared sandwiches
The roles we all assume
Respectful flirtations
One white plastic folding chair
The crispness of the brown leaves
The pale wilted air
Here is our geometry of wait and see
Don't you wonder what it means
Waiting lines and touch-go screens
Complicity
French fries football comfortable
Simplicity
Love or leave or curse or pray
But be careful what you say
We fuse all our illusions
To these long lolling hours
To dreams of new sneakers
And memories of funeral flowers
To each distracting handout
And styrofoam meal
Leave chanting to the children
Our fury we conceal
Vast temples promise dollars
Quaint churches built on truce
The classrooms of Darwin
The fishes of the truth
Unquestioned contagion
The cult of a simple man
We settle our stomachs
We do what we can
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9. |
Time
04:40
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Time
I was kicking back in a purple chair
but then I saw you there
I was in a groove no need to speak or move
then you sucked up all my air
now I'm wandering through the streets all day
just in case you walk my way
well you seem to know just when to stay or go
while my time wastes away
well I'm grateful for the distraction
but I don't think I have the time
the other night you left me at the door
my body crying out for more
without a doubt you pulled my insides out
then you picked them off the floor
how is it you know just what to say
to make my armor melt away
you see a raw spot you take a shot
into my weakness on display
well you've captured my imagination
but I don't think I have the time
I just don't think I have the time
to wait around for you
there's so much I still have to do
but you're jamming my brain
now all I want is you
you're not so bad to have as a hobby
but I don't think I have the time
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10. |
Go On
04:32
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Go On
silver fades
and leaves the sky to sparkle lonely
the river curls up its fingers
holds its breath and waits to die
but I think that this current will continue to guide us
flow its water here beside us
and go on
Holy men
heavy burdened by the answers
duty-bound to crown the martyrs
then decide who will burn in hell
but I think that their fury will just melt away to laughter
that we'll smile about it after
and go on
little boys
squatting on the beach with buckets
build their castles ever higher
then they rush to crush them down
but I think that we'll learn to see how nice it is to let things be
dancing toes along the ocean
and go on
little men
and all their talk of evil
look through the fun house mirror
see the cartoon figures there
but I think that our monsters grow from seeds we plant and water
we stand witness to the slaughter
and go on
Do you think
that all our footsteps follow circles?
that our choosing will offer nothing new
but the latest shiny toy?
well I think that this current will continue on to guide us
flow its water there beside us
and go on
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11. |
Skin
03:31
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Skin
satin shadows
silken air
hands on eyes
I feel you there
fingers folding
round my waist
I know nothing but the taste of
skin
we are nothing but skin
wrinkled forehead
won’t allow
me to rest in
your soft now
trusting trusting
I’ll let go
into secrets that you know
in your skin
we are nothing but skin
in the dim light from the bar
I can see you not so far
I can watch you lost in your song
then I remember you belong
to my skin
we are nothing but
skin
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