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. |
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A roach got caught in the kitchen
Old transmission died
Tax man well he’s taking us
Takin’ us for a ride
Half of my face ain’t workin’
It wont’ move on one side
Gravity pulling me pulling me
Deep down
Deep down and wide
Will we get any sleep tonight?
I don’t know
Bouncing checks and another fight
I don’t think so
All things grow toward the light
This I know
Through this wall on the other side
It’s all right
Plump drops fall from the ceiling
Dripping down on our bed
Curling up on the bathroom floor
Knees wrapped round my head
Call off the show
repack the bag
Drink scotch whiskey down
Time to find a new religion
Maybe a new resolve
No frowning
Will we get any sleep tonight?
I don’t know
Bouncing checks and another fight
I don’t think so
All things grow toward the light
This I know
Through this wall on the other side
It’s all right
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2. |
Insatiable
03:39
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She is insatiable
She is she is
He didn't really know her
He loved her just the same
Star-trapped in her Latin words
And the glitter of her name
Her rediscovered taste for secrets
Camouflage and wire
tapping trumpets, stifling rooms
Self-detonating fire
She is insatiable
She is she is
She had been a trusting girl
No one had ever done her wrong
Now vengeance is the drone
Toughness is the tone
The same note in every song
Daylight visible through iron bars
Daylight swallowed up by cash
Now vengeance is the drone
Bluster is the tone
Contracts up in smoke and ash
She is insatiable
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do now?
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3. |
Let it Show
03:47
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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 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
let it show
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4. |
Don't Talk
04:25
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I know I know I know I know
we're such a cliché
the lady tries to talk it through
while the gentleman tries to wish it away
the floor is piled with wasted words
scorecards discarded
fortresses unguarded
we couldn't keep track
of who's winning
cease fire
let's stop go back to the beginning
then we won't talk anymore
you laughed out loud
interrupting my breakfast and making my day
finally it's you with something burning
something you just had to stay
so we shook off the schedule
off of our shoulders
the clock ticking bolder
we kept it at bay
let's lose track
of the hours
the silence here
the evening is ours
then we won't talk anymore
outside
there's no clutter
sentences well they don't sputter
they just float into the sky
washed clean by days of rain
they all complain about the wet
you and me we get it
we just let it cool us down
now we won't talk anymore
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5. |
Feed Your Baby
03:45
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city shut down the B84
was our only good ride to the grocery store
paycheck goes to the glucose strip
patience goes to the 95 minute bus trip
30 hour week -- I wish they'd give me more
and I wonder what it's all for
when I can't feed my baby no more
worry worry work and cry
full warm breast goes limp and dry
wilted leaves still priced too high
too hard feed my baby
Granma grew her yams in the yard
in the Carib sun chile it's not so hard
but she traded that sun for the cold and the cash
strong hands picking up office trash
you never dig dirt with a new green card
but her fingers still ache for the yard
now that feeding her baby's so hard
worry worry work and cry
full warm breast goes limp and dry
wilted leaves still priced too high
too hard feed my baby
junk food minefield on the tv
dinnertime battle him against me
change the channel try not to see
starvation
still starvation
in the 21st century
worry worry work and cry
full warm breast goes limp and dry
wilted leaves still priced too high
red raw fingers fill the sack
raid the trailers send them back
silos rotting still I lack
enough to feed my baby
its tough to feed my baby
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6. |
Paris
03:42
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That we were four
By the rainbow
At the Tour Eiffel
Watered coffee
It was just as well
To stay earthbound
Not to ascend with the multitudes
That we were four
Venturing four
That we were four
Racing up the grimy serpentine
To the metro past the tightrope line
We walked a long time
Along the banks with the ducks and the dreamers
That we were four
Lingering four
That we were four
Lazy mornings
Behind lush green
Windows framing balcony scenes
Of many-hued lives
Bringing us into belonging
Here is where the whole world wants to be
Here we promenade
Over castles
Over centuries
I've got no heavy bags
I'm free to be tongue-tied
I'm free to write new history
And I'm just glad to be here
That we were four
Magical four
That we were four
Plotting just how he might ask his turn
On new playgrounds there's so much to learn
He's such a brave boy
Qu'est que c'est quatre
On fait la maison sur la place Crimée
C'est juste le faite de nous
L'espace pour jouer
Pour jouer ensemble
Together we four are belonging here
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7. |
Go Away
04:25
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I love when you go away
Then I get to clean up the mess you made
Stare through the streaks in the glass all day
Here with the boredom I've begged for begged for
I'm happy you get to play
I'm glad that I get to stay here with my fantasies
They might be small but
OK
Don't want a thing but to finish my coffee
I love when you go away
My patience returns like a long-lost friend
The furies they fly out the window
Their sovereignty at its end
I need you to go away
For a minute for an hour for a blessed day
Pack up your mirror
take that ugly woman away
Do I feel guilty?
Not really
I watch your breath rise and fall in your sleep at night
Each morning
I'm reeling from
Any kiss, any touch, any smile, any kindnesses
You are willing to bestow
I love to take a walk unencumbered
I love to read and read and read and read
Anything in front of my face except you
Do I feel guilty?
Not really
I watch your breath rise and fall in your sleep each night
Each morning
I'm reeling from
Any smile, any touch, any kiss any kindnesses
You are willing to bestow
Polysyllabic words that you say
I say them back
We talk all the time
Time flies it stops it goes in a circle
I look at my watch through each story time
Some stories I love
I revel in rhyme
They fall off my lips
They drip down like wine
I'm drinking you in
I'm spitting you out
I'm trying to learn
What it's all about
I'm trying to learn
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8. |
Spare Love (Not Fair)
04:16
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I like the way you love to be here
unblinking eyes so wide and so clear
no need for you to ever know fear
in this favored place filled with smiling faces
check out the way you work to break free
stretch out your arms
such activity
nothing you do will ever keep me
from holding on holding on
so tightly
not fair - that every mama doesn't have a baby like you
not fair - that every baby doesn't have a mama like you do
not fair - that every mama doesn't have a baby like you
not fair - that everybody doesn't have spare love
brave is the way you wake with a smile
let's keep this scene around for awhile
everyone falls in love with your style
how you open up all the shut tight places
gentle your fingers follow my skin
through day and night such dreams we move in
so soft your power to make the earth spin
and your story has only just begun
not fair - that every mama doesn't have a baby like you
not fair - that every baby doesn't have a mama like you do
not fair - that every mama doesn't have a baby like you
not fair - that everybody doesn't have spare love to chew on
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9. |
Reckoning
03:23
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I'm weary in so many ways
too tired to keep on trying
too wired to settle down
my fight has gone and run away
too stubborn to let go
the reckoning
I know
will have to wait another day
these blues are comfortable
surrender's not so new
my time is full enough
I've lots of work to do
half-opened envelopes
pile up between my ears
while unloved melodies
amplify my fears
that my song will not be sung
that my doing comes undone
the world looks different today
more contrast
black and white
no longer shades of grey
no final verdict if I stay
or hang it up for good
too stubborn to let go
the reckoning
I know
will have to wait another day
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10. |
Don't Rush Me
03:46
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All as it should be
I’m lost in a land
Without counting
Without the mounting measurements
And dilations
From this small
Drop of the sea
I reach out my hand
To hold the shore
The waves surging more on the inside
Than what you can see
There is no
Emergency
It’s all as it should be
There is no
Need to rush me
Suspended over the fire
We witches conspire
To let it burn
As tighter they turn the screws
On all the new machines
Crazy reckless and not all there
It’s just hysteria
C’mon
Get on with the show
But they know
We’re in the chapel of god
Ha ha
The goddess
There is no
Emergency
It’s all as it should be
There is no
Need to rush me
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11. |
Gospel
05:31
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I was very far away
When the cardboard sign called out to the world
“the beginning is near”
opened up my lips to say something
something then swept high in the gorgeous tide
so blue so clear
clear eyes on the prize before us
clear eyes on the path laid down
from Memphis to Madison
Cairo to NYC
Here amid the law and lawless
Here where you finally saw us
Now reborn
solitary voices become one
building of a new world has begun
shopworn gospel brought back in the sun
human evolution never done
new accountability
with a new old fashioned sense of justice
justice I said justice
corporate personality
with a motive built on more than profit
justice we said justice
clear eyes on the far horizon
clear lines of connection
between water planet future and history
here amid this ugly beauty
here where all ego disappears
in true democracy
solitary voices become one
building of a new world has begun
shopworn gospel brought back in the sun
human evolution never done
It’s gonna take a long time but we’re not going away..
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