1. |
Precipice
04:06
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It’s been a weird year
With everything all slowed down
I can see how weird it is
That I’ve never stepped off this merry-go-round
The illusion of moving
Imagined because of the speed
Promised that it would get me there
It never took me to where I need
But at least the path was known
That’s how running in circles goes
This is the year that we found out
We’ve been living on a precipice
We can’t afford to slip
And so we don’t, we don’t look down
We fix our eyes on the sky
Our arms and our hearts open wide
This is how we’ve always survived
Making me dizzy
Suddenly still for a change
And I can see with widened eyes
The precarious landscape of this place
The imminent danger
The fragile existence of life
The catalyst to becoming something new
Like it’s been since the dawn of time
We’re always leaving what came before
And reaching out for something more
This is the year that we found out
We’ve been living on a precipice
We can’t afford to slip
And so we don’t, we don’t look down
We fix our eyes on the sky
Our arms and our hearts open wide
This is how we’ve always survived
We’re not going back to normal
All that came before has died
We know that our path goes forward
This is how we’ve always
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2. |
Through the Window
03:43
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Permission came too late to get inside
You slipped away, a stranger by your side
We came back the next day to collect your things
I’ll keep them safe for you — your shoes, your rings
I’ll keep them safe for you
I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to you
If we had known that that was the very last time
You, through the window, and I
Was trying to make you smile
I play that last scene over in my mind
Like being stuck on both pause and rewind
The world is chaos but that’s second to
This empty space that still belongs to you
This empty space for you
I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to you
If we had known that that was the very last time
You, through the window, and I
Was trying to make you smile
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3. |
Extraordinary People
03:38
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In little and beautiful ways
Against the backdrop of a world that’s gone sideways
Some kindness can make us feel less like strangers
In putting it all on the line
Suiting up to save somebody’s life
Some goodness requires a step into danger
People, we’ve been through the fire
And we know who’ll run in when the building is burning
People, we’re coming through the other side
We are holding on tight, we will keep the world turning
Look at us: we are extraordinary people
Look at us: we are extraordinary
With time itself falling apart
All the days stretching out into dark
We found out that the only thing real is this moment
The flowers, the birds, and the trees
Exist in perpetual uncertainty
And so do we; now we can say that we own it
And look at this little one here
Unaware of what there is to fear
Crawling, then walking, and reaching toward life
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4. |
Digging That Hole
04:33
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I don’t know whether to scream or cry
Hearing you parroting lie after lie
You’re digging that hole
I don’t know, I counted on more from you
It’s killing me, you looking out for just you
You’re digging that hole
And it’s so deep
But you keep digging like you’re gonna reach a reason
But you’ve dug beyond the light
It’s so wide
Growing like an appetite
It’s swallowing all of us in
Swallowing all of us inside
I don’t know how to get through to you
It’s your denial, but all of us stand to lose
You’re digging that hole
And it’s so deep
But you keep digging like you’re gonna reach a reason
But you’ve dug beyond the light
And it’s so wide
Growing like an appetite
It’s swallowing all of us in
Swallowing all of us inside
It’s so deep
But you’ve dug beyond the light
It’s so wide
Like an appetite
It’s swallowing all of us in
Swallowing all of us inside
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5. |
These Four Walls
03:45
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I can see that you’re sad
Stuck inside and detached
Wish that I had good advice to give
Truth is we’re all winging this
Watching as a year goes
Missing all the milestones
I’d replace all you have lost, but god
For the young, when time is gone it’s gone
The time is gone
Here we are, together in these four walls
None of this is going how it’s supposed to
And I don’t have a precedent to point to
Here we are, making the best of it all
Suddenly the world reduced in size
But everything that matters fits inside
These four walls
Barely room for moving
Here under one roof with
All our big feelings exposed and no
Other place for them to go
Laughter in the kitchen
Riding out the whirlwind
We’re a ship sailing uncharted seas
Treasure from this trek is ours to keep
What we found in the deep
Is ours to keep
Here we are, together in these four walls
You’re my everything, but this is tough when
We don’t get a break, and none is coming
Here we are, making the best of it all
We won’t forget this strange and sacred time
When everything that matters fit inside
These four walls
These four walls
Here we are, together in these four walls
This isn’t how we planned it
We have everything that matters
Here we are, making the best of it all
This isn’t how we planned it
We have everything that matters
In these four walls
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6. |
Breaking Ground
03:56
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The whole damn world is burning down
But you and I are breaking ground
To see if we can’t get something to grow
Falling in love is worth giving a go
The glowing flicker sets a mood
What do we really have to lose?
A growing sense of running out of time
Maybe an everlasting dream will rise
Maybe an everlasting dream will rise
As the world burns
This is the moment, it’s now (or never)
Braving the odds, breaking ground (together)
Bury a seed like a vow to forever as the world burns
As the world burns
Don’t want another day to pass
When any one could be our last
To say to you “until death do us part”
There is a future and today it starts
There is a future and today it starts
As the world burns
This is the moment, it’s now (or never)
Braving the odds, breaking ground (together)
Bury a seed like a vow to forever as the world burns
No certainty this will stand (as ever)
Let’s take a chance and dig in (together)
Bury a seed like a vow to forever as the world burns
The whole damn world is burning down
But you and I are breaking ground
These little hands and these little feet
Will make the world whatever it will be
They’ll make the world whatever it will be
After the world burns
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7. |
One Thread
03:07
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I just pulled one string
It was hanging loose
But when I pulled the whole thing unraveled in my hands
And it’s a stupid little thing
But I just stood there and cried
Over a stupid little thing
The reservoir was deep
Wind and waves thrashing for release
From the unrelenting anguish of this time
This time
I don’t know how we’re gonna survive
Hanging on by this one thread in my hands
Keeping me tethered to something
I’m out in the wind hanging on
I do realize that I’m talking to myself
It’s not like I haven’t been alone before
It’s just I didn’t know emptiness could get emptier
Like this pit in my gut
That’s craving touch, and laughter, and casual conversation
To break up the echo that’s bouncing off the walls
I’m just so tired
So tired of it all
Hanging on by this one thread in my hands
Keeping me tethered to something
I’m out in the wind hanging on
By this one thread
I’m sorry, I keep talking about myself
And I know there are bigger burdens out there
And that’s the thing: I try to carry those, too
Stuffed in my pack
Along with the powerlessness to do anything
I can’t do anything
But try to make it through the day
Do that again tomorrow
I’ll crawl across the line
I’m not gonna win any prize
But damn if I won’t survive
Hanging on by this one thread in my hands
Keeping me tethered to something
I’m out in the wind hanging on
By this one thread
In my hands
Keeping me tethered to something
I’m out in the wind hanging on
By this one thread
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8. |
The Shadows
04:11
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Nobody ever comes down here
The dust has collected for four hundred years
Dark rooms make the foundation of this house
Yeah, they were built by someone else
But all the contents are ours
Because we live here now
Old ships in bottles keep the score
Which one carried your ancestors and predestined your course?
Redacted pages, the record of our collective shame
Just names and names and names
Rubbed out of their early graves
Now ready fuel for the flames
The shadows
Conceal the webs
Spun to hold captives
And bleed them to death
They still hang from every scaffold of american life
I’ve given them cover in the corners
Of my own mind
The shadows keep me blind
Time to flood this place with light
Nothing is new here under this sun
What’s illuminated takes the breath out of my lungs
I’ve been far too comfortable living in the lavish home
Built upon these bones
This edifice has to go
Once you know you can’t unknow
The shadows
Conceal the webs
Spun to hold captives
And bleed them to death
They still hang from every scaffold of american life
I’ve given them cover in the corners
Of my own mind
The shadows keep me blind
My beating heart cannot abide it
I am so late to get right-sided
Time to flood this place with light
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9. |
That Happy Day
03:58
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Do you remember the day
When everybody danced in the streets
A spontaneous sigh of relief
We pulled ourselves from the brink
Do you remember that night
How sleep came just a bit easier
And maybe for the first time in years
We felt our dreams start to flicker
Felt a dream start to flicker
That happy day
It isn’t something that we waited for
That happy day
It only happened ‘cause we made it
That happy day
We don’t arrive at any future, no
You can’t find hope
If you crave it, you show up, and make it
Do you remember the moment
You knew you had to get in the ring
Stepped off of the sideline to speak
And there would be no returning
Do you remember the hours
Battling with voices and pens
Never knowing if we could win
So we just pushed through the finish
That happy day
It isn’t something that we waited for
That happy day
It only happened ‘cause we made it
That happy day
We don’t arrive at any future, no
You can’t find hope
If you crave it, you show up, and make it
Hope is not something to be found, it is something to be built
By our own actions, as we show up to work
Toward the lives and the world we want to inhabit
The future is not something we will arrive at
It is something we will create
It is not a fixed destiny, it is entirely dependent upon our actions today
Will you wake up on that day and be satisfied
With what you’ve done to make it?
That happy day
It isn’t something that we waited for
That happy day
It only happened ‘cause we made it
That happy day
We don’t arrive at any future, no
You can’t find hope
If you crave it, you show up, and make it
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10. |
Something Out of Nothing
04:17
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These are the days
When the days slip like hours
And the weeks swell like years
It’s an elastic countdown
When every moment
Stretches into eternity
Stretches out onto an empty sea
That’s given birth to everything
Like the birth
When I pick up my pen
My brush, my instrument
And make something out of nothing
Something out of nothing
I dive in the center of this moment
That’s holding all of existence
And make something out of nothing
Something out of nothing
Something out of nothing
When I am here
The war outside recedes for a time
And all the chaos I cannot control
Quietly exits my mind
And from this silence
Comes creation bursting into being
Let there be light, I hear my own voice speaking
This reaction fallout is peace
The reaction fallout
When I pick up my pen
My brush, my instrument
And make something out of nothing
Something out of nothing
I dive in the center of this moment
That’s holding all of existence
And make something out of nothing
Something out of nothing
Something out of nothing
My mind at ease for a while
In the eye of the storm
Making something beautiful
This corner of the universe transforms
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11. |
Before / After
03:51
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Well, I guess this is it, then
We’ve come to the part where I let go
Because going on from here
Requires a lighter load
I thought that I needed
This to be what I’m supposed to be
But I have changed my mind, in fact
It’s changing everything
And I’m letting go
I’m letting go
I’m letting go
So I can say hello
I can say hello
So I can say hello
It may look like nothing (May look like nothing)
But the fundamental structure of belief
Under all I do and say and make
Is changing now, you’ll see
‘Cause history came here
And didn’t she throw a spoke into the wheel?
I straightened up from grinding
And felt a weight I could no longer wield
And so I’m letting go
I’m letting go
I’m letting go
So I can say hello
I can say hello
So I can say hello
There was a time before (There was a time)
And there will be a time after
(My whole perspective has changed)
(Total transformation)
(I got inside myself)
One thing I know, if I’m to get there (One thing I know)
I must shed the old masters
(What really matters?)
(If I continue on like this, what will my life look like?)
From before
(Old patterns that no longer serve me)
(Goodbye to people-pleasing)
(Old beliefs that held me back for too long)
To welcome the after
(I’m taking my own power back)
(Listen closer to my instincts)
Say goodbye
(I am enough)
(I’m welcoming abundance)
To before
(What do I have to lose? Only what needs to be let go)
I’m letting go
I’m letting go
I’m letting go
So I can say hello
I can say hello
So I can say hello
Well, I guess this is it, then
We’ve come to the part where I let go
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Shannon Curtis Tacoma, Washington
Shannon Curtis is a Tacoma-based artist hailing from California.
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