1. |
Fool's Gold
04:47
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All my friends are overworked and underpaid
Resigned to think that it will always be this way
The storefronts change
But our problems stay the same
And if you stay here long enough
Soon you won't recognize a face
We have been let down
By a place that never promised us a thing
For our wasted loyalty
To a city of thieves
Take it back
Take it all back
You can have your legacy
No one said you had to stay here
You could've left
You wanted this
Your captive audience awaits
But no one stays
No one stays
Borrowed time
We're here on borrowed time
The first to know
But always the last to go
But I can't take anymore
Of this revolving door
This isn't a home
This is fool's gold
We are too far gone
Desperately thought
We could make a change
But it's all too little too late
This town can't be saved
Take it back
Take it all back
You can have your legacy
No one said you had to stay here
You could've left
You wanted this
Your captive audience awaits
But no one stays
No one stays
Take what you can
And leave like all the rest
You'll be replaced
And those who stay
Will continue to bear the weight
In a land of opportunity
Borrowed time
We're all here on borrowed time
We dragged our weight in gold
And tried to call this home
But there's no golden road
And there's no place like home
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2. |
Arm's Reach
04:39
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Arms reach
Keeping you at arms reach
Won’t open my heart again
Won’t open my heart again
Lonely
Afraid of being lonely
But company’s not everything
It’s safer underground
Arms reach
Keeping you at arms reach
Won’t open my heart again
Won’t open my heart again
Trusting
I used to be so trusting
Now I can’t trust in anything again
This world is full of leaches
And open hearts are worse for wear
I’ve learned there’s nothing wrong
With being so withdrawn
I’m running out of pages
Flipped through and frayed by flippant hands
Can’t close an open book
The binding’s been ripped off
So many other people’s thoughts
Forced in my head
I’m getting lost
Which are my own?
Which are my own?
I used to thrive in crowded halls
Now I favor narrow walls of solitude instead
This world is full of leaches
And open hearts are worse for wear
I’ve learned there’s nothing wrong
With being so withdrawn
I’m running out of pages
Flipped through and frayed by flippant hands
Can’t close an open book
The binding’s been ripped off
More alone with company
Than when I was held in isolation
Bloodletting my need for your validation
Drop me back down
Into the hole
That I crawled out of
You have to be
Within arms reach
In order to push someone away
You have to be
Within arms reach
To push away from everything
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3. |
Man, Enough
04:57
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(Malignant code
Stunted growth
A chromosome
Is not an oath)
Tell me all the ways
That I am not a man
Tell me all the ways
So you can help me understand
The value in denying me
My full humanity
Because if that's what makes a man
That's not what I want to be
I'm not giving in to any law
Created by a fraternal cult
I'm not listening to anyone
Who measures others by "man enough"
Malignant code
Breeding sleeper cells
Stunted growth
Taught only violence to express themselves
Is this what you wanted?
Bitter resentment
For what I see in you
I see inside me too
I'm not giving in to any law
Created by a fraternal cult
I'm not listening to anyone
Who measures others by "man enough"
I am the ire
Behind every virile fight
I am the shame
That keeps you up at night
I am the pride
Behind every bloody war
I am the reckoning
That's knocking
Knocking at your door
I am the loneliness
Behind every stoic face
I am the trap you set
That's keeping you in place
I am the child who's been
Neglected from the start
I am the privilege that you embrace
In exchange for your own heart
I am my brother's keeper
You are your father's son
We are forever wounded
Our suppression
Serving no one
Unlearn
Unleash me from the limits
Of the king's right hand
I'll write my own damn definition
Reject
That which serves you not
And reverse the harm
That we all have caused
Can't rebuild
Until you know
What you've lost
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4. |
Cargo Cult
04:16
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That’s what I get
For worshipping false idols
Drunk selfish twenty-somethings
Seem pretty wise
When you’re young and blind
We paid the fines
Blew past the warning signs
To be successors
To the unsuccessful
Peeled back their skin
To stretch over our limbs
But it don’t fit
Don’t feel the way that it should
I tried my best
Not to be a walking cliché
But the carpet was rolled out
In front of me
The life we think we’re owed
Isn’t what we’re led to believe
In spite of what you’re told
This is not where you want to be
Go on
Follow in the footsteps
Of those long gone
This is the way
We are prisoners to integrity
We’re held captive
By a self-fulfilling prophecy
All this time spent
Convincing ourselves
It’ll work out in the end
The life you think you’re owed by now
Isn’t the life you lead
In spite of what you’ve sold
This is not where you want to be
All this time spent
The sunken cost
The lives we’ve lost
All this time spent
Defying odds
How could we throw it away?
How could you throw it all away?
The throne is vacant
So where do we go from here?
The road is changing
So where do we go from here now?
We’ve all been waving
Signaling from dire straits
We’ve all been waiting
Waiting for the clouds to break
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5. |
Wasted Breath
04:26
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What does it say
That I️ only speak of you
In the past tense
What could I say to you
That wouldn’t just be
Wasted breath
You communicate through music
But you never really listen
So what’s the difference
Between another song
And all the words left unsaid?
I wish you the best
But I won’t hold my breath
Sometimes I forget
You’re still out there
Just making ends meet
Feeling more sorry for yourself
Than you’ve ever been to me
But I can’t get blood from a stone
By throwing coins in a well
So I just leave it alone
With all of those
Stories that you tell
I wish you the best
But I won’t hold my breath
I hope you’re relieved
The apple fell far from the tree
Don’t call me up
Just to say nothing
The day I was born
Had a noose ‘round my neck
You feared for my life then
Now each year you forget
But the elephant in the room
Remembers everything
Like when I sent you to bed on my birthday
Eyes bloodshot
Lips babbling
I felt the weight
Of generational pain
And so with that
I vowed to break the chain
Til the rot from the roots
Has been purged from the tree
And all the hurt that he caused you
It ends with me
I hope you’re relieved
The apple fell far from the tree
Don’t call me up
Just to say nothing
Say nothing
The saddest funeral
Was the one that never happened
No sermon, tears or rituals
Just fire and a casket
All we’re left with now
Is the shadow of a man
A catalyst for so much
Yet forgotten in the end
It doesn’t have to end the same for you
It’s in your hands
I’ve tried to find forgiveness
But I don’t know if I can
I don’t know if I can
I don’t know if I can
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6. |
White Mare
04:52
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Tracks mark the snow
Not a car on the road
Sullen moon is hanging low
Over sleeping pastures
Post-disaster
What could it be
That scared the mares and morgans
When all seven of them
Rushed the frozen pond
A cold quiet town
With no witnesses around
Haunted by that fateful night
When all the horses drowned
With a crack of the ice
The fray of hooves and neighing
The desperate plea of beasts
Who roamed too far from home
And the hopes of a girl
Unaware of the accident
Dashed
When her parents told her
That the one they promised her
Had fallen victim
To this wicked world
Tune out the clash of broken silence
Cover your ears to the death and the violence
You can try to deny everything
But they were still finding bodies well into the spring
Families rest their heads on beds made of cotton
Stolen foundations are withered and rotten
While we wait to be devoured by the horsemen
Delivered to the grave in the cradle we were born in
The time of heeding warning has passed
We looked death in the face and we laughed
Now the ice has been breaking
And the plague has been taking
You better hope the next horrid flood is the last
In a clamoring world
Full of fear
May the bastards
Breathe faster
And say their prayers
Gnawing on each other’s throats
To steal the final gasp of air
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7. |
Worry Stone
04:10
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(The weight of your eyes
Growing greater with time
Relax your mind
Fall asleep and be free)
Show me
The bleakest picture
And I’ll give it a frame
Adorned with sweet ribbons
From my mouth
So eloquent
In the art of persuasion
That I fail to notice
The taste of
Snake oil
On my own silver tongue
I’ve always had a way with words
But this time the words have
Got a way with me
Hypnotized in a way that I can’t explain
Have I been lying to myself?
Whatever helps
To keep the dream alive
Sleeping safe and sound
From the world outside
But tell me
Where’s the line
Between hope and denial
Finding truth in delusion
By forcing a smile
Nothing’s getting better
We’re just staying home
This will all blow over
Find your worry stone
Pacing in the kitchen
Talking myself down
Found my new religion
Blocking it all out
Keep on dreaming
This too shall pass
Hypnotized in a way that I can’t explain
Have I been lying to myself?
Whatever helps
To keep the dream alive
Sleeping safe and sound
From the world outside
So tell me where’s the line
Between hope and denial
I’ll bide my time
Til all the wells run dry
Emerging when I am
Not hypnotized anymore
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Actor|Observer Boston, Massachusetts
Actor Observer from Boston, MA have become a well-respected musical force throughout New England. Their dynamic sound and electric live performance are charged with a visceral sincerity and vulnerability that many audience members find refreshing in the current age of post-hardcore. Their newest album "Songs For The Newly Reclusive" may be their most powerful offering yet. ... more
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