Get all 6 Robert Leslie releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Halfway Home, Masks & Mirrors, Sunny Kindsa Lies, A Shard of the Mosaic, Sense of Distance (EP), and So long! (EP).
1. |
October Song
03:59
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The raincoat's in the basement
The wash is on the line
But still we're running replays
Of all the days we've left behind
I guess we've come full circle
I guess that it was time
To see you leave without me
And take off on a different line
And now you cry, now you grin
Now you're out and now you're in
And now you're on your own
Hanging out the window in the autumn cold
Tell me does it have to be like this,
have we really got that old?
Hell, I thought we were on a roll
The light comes in the window
The cups steam on the floor
It's just like in the movies
But afterwards there's always more
I want to tell you secrets
I want for you to know
The things I thought about you
Before we had to pack and go
And now you cry, now you grin
Now you're out and now you're in
And now you're on your own
Hanging out the window in the autumn cold
Tell me does it have to be like this,
have we really got that old?
Hell, I thought we were on a roll
I don't know what I'm saying
Or whom I'm talking to
'Cause if you ever hear this
It's bound to be a different you.
So I've been writing postcards
And picking up new songs
I'll spare you all the details
Suffice to say I get along
And now you cry, now you grin
Now you're out and now you're in
And now you're on your own
Hanging out the window in the autumn cold
Tell me does it have to be like this,
have we really got that old?
Hell, I thought we were on a roll
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2. |
Sailor Song
04:08
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Curtains in the morning
Curtains in the breeze
Hours I've been watching them
So silent, such a tease
Shadows in the garden
Sparrows on the line
Forehead to the windowpane
You held me from behind
Then tearing out the pages
Hitching back out east
Raining on the concrete station
Singing in the grease
Holding all the answers
Holding all the time
I felt so certain of myself
The day we said goodbye
Shadows on the cornfields
Flickers in the shacks
I listen to the whale song blowing
From the railroad tracks
A snow globe in an earthquake
A ruin in the air
I can't forget a single thing
Each little thing is there
I think about the windowpane
I think about the breeze
I'm writing letters to myself
And sleeping 'neath the trees
No reason to be somewhere else
No reason to be here
No reason much for reasons
But then that was always clear
But I won't say the bigger words
For you I'll leave them out
'Cause I know you've got your matchstick bridge
To take into account
Not so hard to keep from speaking
When there's never time to breathe
When we live above the deep and love
Like sailors out on shore leave
I've gone back to the city
I'm counting down the days
Sometimes I wake up and think
The feeling's gone away
I've rented an apartment
I've built myself a fort
I thought I'd find another way
It's harder than I thought
If I could make you disappear
I'm not sure if I'd try
If this is how we're gonna live
I want to feel alive
So I'll keep on writing little notes
And I'll drop them in the sea
And if you won't let me in with you
I'll take you out with me
And you won't hear the bigger words
For you I'll leave them out
'Cause I know you've got your matchstick bridge
To take into account
Not so hard to keep from speaking
When there's never time to breathe
When we live above the deep and love
Like sailors out on shore leave
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3. |
So Far
02:44
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So far
It hasn't got too late
I've gone it pretty straight
I've exercised my right
and left behind the open bar
On the whole I've been all right so far
So far
Been harmless as a laugh
No flaming aftermath
Left open all the shutters
Never swept away the shards
I've kept the scene from changing much so far
So burn this night
Never flounder, never fight
Bottled up a thousand stares
Settled on a thousand eyes
Burn the streets and burn the skies
Until you have no notion where
You've ended up so far
So far
Left open all my tabs
I took all kinds of stabs
I listen to the city sounds
The motorbikes and cars
I haven't gotten anywhere so far
So far
I've watched the sky collapse
I've watched the hours lapse
I've languished in the feathers
And I've lumbered through the tar
But nothing yet has stuck to me so far
So burn this night
Never flounder, never fight
Bottled up a thousand stares
Settled on a thousand eyes
Burn the streets and burn the skies
Until you have no notion where
You've ended up so far
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4. |
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They tore apart the streets today
You edge along the cracks
Sand is falling off your shoes
It's time you headed back
You're losing all your sympathy
Your prosody of fleece
Come the black dog, see you barking
Fearful of the beast
You kissed her on her bike last night
You watched her wheel away
You talked about her lovers
And then came another day
Guess you had a thousand wishes
Guess you wished too much
Guess you kept them to yourself
And guess who's out of luck
But oh, what a moon we have now the clouds are gone
Leaning on the balustrade, waiting for the dawn
Oh, what a moon we have now the skies are clear
Making like a refugee, sleeping in the mirror
You led her through the gallery
You said you were all right
All your heroes there with you
Dressed in black and white
You walked her to the waterfront
You buttoned up her coat
And later when you'd said goodbye
You threw away the note
And oh, what a moon we have now the clouds are gone
Leaning on the balustrade, waiting for the dawn
Oh, what a moon we have now the skies are clear
Making like a refugee, sleeping in the mirror
You ask a lot of questions
But you're running out of time
Let it out or let it in
But don't expect a sign
Go running for the ocean, now
Go running for the hills
But don't you wait for time to tell
It isn't standing still
And oh, what a moon we have now the clouds are gone
Leaning on the balustrade, waiting for the dawn
Oh, what a moon we have now the skies are clear
Making like a refugee, sleeping in the mirror
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5. |
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I ride a train too fast to sin
Feel it flimsy in my pocket
A necklace with a cross of tin
That homeless Rusty gave to me
Coat your lips with chocolate cream
Eyes are sinking in their sockets
Every morning the same old dream
And sunrise that I never see
I noticed your latest photograph
Hanging in your fenced-off thicket
In my dreams you tend to laugh
Always stealing, never sinned
Rusty asks you for a dime
But guess who's paying for his ticket
Sense of distance, sense of time
I lost them in the subway wind
Flags are smeared across your cheeks
Windows open till I shiver
Wish you'd drown inside your sheets
Slip in silence, sink away
Misty clouds are rushing by
Moon has shrunken to a sliver
Time to whisper, time to bide
Call it shovel, call it spade
Gasp for water, gasp for breath
Umbrellas one by one catch fire
Just a footstep short of death
You suck the moisture from my shoes
And so we make another tie
By cross of tin, by force of sigh
Rusty never thought things through
Oh, I wish I could escape from you.
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Robert Leslie New York, New York
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