1. |
French Cinema
02:53
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we left the old theater
singing Serge Gainsbourg songs
poorly and out of key
we left the old theater
throwing beer bottles
at the freshly painted white wall
and then I kissed you
and said I was drunk
Sorry I'm sorry
a few weeks later
We left the old theater
you took the bus back home
you left the old theater
then I drank beer
and threw bottles at the tracks
why did I kiss you
why did I say I was drunk
Sorry I'm sorry
The old theater closed down
Pierre Le Fou on the last night
Can’t keep the past alive
I left singing some french song
poorly and out of key
and then I missed you
and I felt sorry for myself
Sorry I'm sorry
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2. |
Red Wasp
02:27
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3. |
Earthworm
02:29
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his back tattoos of jawbones and fiddles
move in chords when he leaves my bed
but truth be told I'm still at sea
still in a cornfield north of carbondale
away from here
lizard eyes follow in the dark carpet
my heart's an earthworm in your yard
red and pulsing with fire ants
away from here
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4. |
Dylan
01:18
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5. |
Vagabond
02:04
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the vicious ink ribbon vagabond wades
into the waves of the daydream page
and drinks the foam from the silent haze
till he feels the hunger
of 21 years without a single line
that could hook a vowel to a rhyme
without stuttering like a broken neon sign
but what does it matter?
When the prairie fire tattooed typewriter teeth
pulled the pommegranet petals from the poisoned streets
he felt a flash of fevered floods flutter beneath his feet
like feathers of water
and how the world shook from the butterfly bells
that rang out like lavender shrapnel shells
and echoed in a electric arabesque swell
of switchblade letters
Now the blood-clots vibrate like bright pillars
of light bulb vertebrae thunderous rivers
and the tongue spills out droplets of sunflowers
upon the pulsating skin
and now every hour is a bower of sparrows
that carries in the fragments of pastel yellows
and burrows it into the lilac marrow
like blood into a violin
The vicious ink ribbon vagabond wades
into the waves of the daydream page
and drinks the foam from the silent haze
till he feels no hunger
and those 21 years without a single line
will vanish as each vowel turns into a rhyme
that trembles in awe like a broken neon sign
but does it really matter?
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6. |
Trust
03:24
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Death stands in the corner
holding a porcelain
bowl brimming with hyacinths
and rain water.
"Are you afraid
to put your trust
in me?"
Death moves from the corner
and sits on my chest
and kisses my breath
while bathing me with flowers.
"Are you afraid
to put your trust
in me?"
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7. |
Radio
02:14
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you've become a frequency
chiming thin in the fillings of my teeth
and I've become a radio
sleepless and playing you low
over and over again
over and over again
and in the morning I'll become
weightless and undone
and you'll be there catching me
if I was some frequency
over and over again
over and over again
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8. |
Dinner
01:57
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I am an old woman now.
I look in the mirror
and I see my mother
and I laugh. I turn
the bathroom light off
and begin to cry
and I slap myself
until I stop.
I turn the light
back on and
I wash my face
then I go downstairs
to prepare dinner
and wait for my
family to arrive.
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9. |
Blue
01:47
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and you,
with hummingbird hues
you dry the blue
out of the night
and I
weave out a scythe
from the dead rye
we wrapped ourselves in
and the
towering dead
baritones red
wet histories
of how
I needed you
how you came to me in hues
of hummingbird blue
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10. |
Winter
02:40
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Then my lungs sting from the cold
and the gilded night moves about
and the radio plays Ravel
but silence is still so loud.
We keep to ourselves
cause any words would roam
in the darkness like a ghost
in a motel bathroom.
Then the stars shines
like bible pages rarely opened
and you touch the lines around me eyes
with your cold cracked hands.
The past is an ocean
brilliant with voices
slowly vanishing
into the void.
So we hang onto each other.
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11. |
French Pin-Up Girl
03:06
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I should know french by now
and how to talk with a cigarette in my mouth
and how to shoot 10 shots
with a five shot revolver
but I don't
but I do know how to change a reel
and keep the place from burning down
to keep the past alive and in stereo
so I'm singing this song for you
french pin up girl from 1962
you're going down with the ship
but I can't go with you
I should know film by now
how to explain the last scene from Breathless
and how to explain mis en scene to you
and why it matters
but I don't
but I do know how to beg for films
to be borrowed from other theaters
and how they hold a world always new
so I'm singing this song for you
french pin up girl from 1962
you're going down with the ship
and I want to go with you
There's no big finale or twist
just me cleaning out the old projection room
after we all watch our favorite films
5 times over again
I try to take you down
but you start to crumble
behind you in small cursive
"Time destroys everything"
so I'm singing this song for you
french pin up girl from 1962
in the end were you right?
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Duchess recommends:
There Are AMERICAS Beyond This America
by Greg Mullen and The Cosmic American Band
"I know, I know, it sounds like a country song. The truth so often does." <3
go to albumIf you like Duchess, you may also like:
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Boulder blues
by staraya derevnya
Marvelous experimental music from this Tel Aviv musician that fuses outré noise with almost folk-like arrangements.
go to album
These banjo instrumentals were recorded outside at night, so the backdrop is full of cricket songs—the perfect accompaniment.
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Grilled Cheese EP
by the soft form dissolves
Vulnerable, reflective, bedroom pop, inspired by a series of breakups and a desire to recapture a sense of self.
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The mix of shoegaze, punk, and noise from this Seattle band is notable for its urgency and bright, foregrounded vocals.
go to album
