1. |
First Things First FFS
04:00
|
|
||
The first thing she said was 'I can't feel my heartbeat,’
and all downhill from there
I put my hand to her chest and lied that I could
and double-checked with my ear
She shook her head and turned over in bed
I said, 'Can we get affectionate?'
Not expecting sadness, much less tears
What else, can you dig up, in a strangers dirt
but the old, the lost, and the delicate?
High Noon but who knew at Palmer's Bar
we hung up her photos of low-lifes and graveyards
The first shift alcoholics talked on the job,
told us not move the pictures up on the wall
'Those were our friends who came here and died,
how many last calls til we join them?'
I swore I'd never drink again until tonight
Cuz there's no such thing as no strings attached
This big city's just a small town in drag
Check out librarians between the stacks
Neck surveillance cameras in a sleeping bag
Behind locked doors on the 13th floor they keep the ancient swords
that'll cut the crap
Midnight arrives at the Liquor Lounge,
it's the 1st of December in the year of the frown
I paid 5 bux to watch her ex sing her a song,
5 times that to act like I don't give a fuck
I got allies and old flames to tend,
and a new gang of acquaintances
I'll hide in their shadows til this dump closes up
|
||||
2. |
Not Precious
03:45
|
|
||
The way I see it every night’s a full moon,
We don’t know what we’re getting into but I do
How can it be in the stars if I’m drinking in this bar
thinking of someone who ain’t you
They oughta sell postcards at the exit off your bed
For fuckers like me who live in their head
For truckers to see whose number I gave them
to call you and say what I shoulda said
Stop seeing someone if you’re going blind
Try looking elsewhere if you think I’m a find
I ain’t a blood diamond but to mine me is reckless
Dig me or don’t just know I’m not precious
|
||||
3. |
(Love In) Low-Key Hell
04:00
|
|
||
Your hair was blue when I first saw you
You were on the go walking on your toes
You turned around wearing a frown
I turned away and unstrapped my bowling shoes
You looked at me as I tied up my old boots
Do I need another beer you ask gee how can you tell?
It’s the least someone can do in this low key hell
I know you’re gettin paid to wait but put my order through
I don’t want nothin else tonight baby I want you
Your hair was red I wished I was dead
We had a fight, it took all night
We both attacked, and took it back
You thought I got myself a wandering eye
Dontcha know without you I might die
Do I need another smoke you ask gee how can you tell?
It’s the least someone can do in this low key hell
I know you’re gettin paid to wait but spare a little trust
I ain’t trying to gamble baby, cuz it's you or bust
It ain't all or nothing, it ain’t black and white,
when it comes to loving, sometimes it’s better to be happy than right
When your hair is gray don’t look away
I’ll still be here sipping on a beer
I hope you’ll laugh on our thin raft
Cuz that’s all we’ll have as our world comes down
We can’t waste a moment on our frowns
Do I need another lifetime with ya gee how can you tell?
It’s the least someone can do in this low key hell
You ain't gettin paid to wait but listen to my truth
I ain’t going nowhere baby, unless it’s with you
|
||||
4. |
|
|||
I was still a country boy when I moved to this big city
things were a lot nicer then by that I mean shitty
a warehouse space and a basement show and a church we called The Church
you could find a place to get weird with no Google search
Then I guess some kid at the Shit Biscuit told his friends from Orono
they all got jobs at US Bank and moms co-signed the loan
the next thing you know, you can't find a home for under 200k
they even got unreal estate on Chicago and Lake
Had enough?
Burn it down
It can happen in your town
the city council ain't got solutions
in their steel and glass delusions
besides Frey the market up and run us into the ground
you can say that's how it goes, but I just wanna know
who invited all them bros into those fuckin condos
meanwhile down the road
A hundred people are living in tents
cuz they can't pay the fuckin rent
So let's burn it down
Let’s burn it down
Let’s burn it down
Burn it all night like the Hexagon, by dawn by God I’m moving on
Burn it all right like the 3rd Precinct, the tear gas stared and we didn’t blink
Burn it so bright that the world can see, what pain can do when it’s set free,
Til they hear us, alll night longgg
|
||||
5. |
New Year's Grieve
04:36
|
|
||
I don’t think we're getting back our damage deposit
we're too broke to move out anyway
They want a thousand bux a month for a glorified closet
Got no job and no idea how we’d even pay
Stayed up late again with my head upon the window
listening to the wind from Manitoba blow
looking at the swirling snow
I sure as hell know
Simply fogging up this single pane I’ll take it every day
over the creeping quiet lockdown nights at the end of May
with Proud Boys in the Ivy
convoys in the street
the same one I walked up and down for eternity
whiskeydrunk in love with everyone but me
bending over backwards for the music scene
stumbling past a bank and school and the store I worked that day
then the park where I would play pickup baseball on Sundays
then up the stairs and hall maybe with some willing doll
didn’t have much but had it all
oh I know I had it all
I don’t think we're getting back our damage deposit
we're too broken now to wanna stay
They just let it play when we begged them to pause it
Minnesota Niced itself into decay
And we won’t be surprised how this true crime drama ends
when the murderer wears a badge the law don’t break it bends
and the town will burn again
unless 12 fine specimens
have the guts to send
away the backwards demon that denies the right to breathe
There’s no crying in a system that denies the right to grieve
all that’s left is rage to put you in a cage
but how can you do justice for the dying of young age?
how bout pay the living a living wage for fuck’s sake
For a guy they call the Drifter, the irony ain’t lost
All the rainy days I’ve saved for have ignored the cost
still got choppers in the box fan
and sirens in my ears
A bug out bag ready for the 4 ams of fear
Silent rubble where we made some noise and plenty of good friends
but shitty bosses salt the wound and ruin remembrance
And now pigs are in the park
bulldozing the tents
when I get home I feel lucky for the roof over my head
crack a beer and feel guilty for not being dead
Then I look down the hallway and I swear I see my friend
oh poor Ben
Yeah it’s time I got out of the Pirate Haus
It’s no place to raise a family
When it’s 10 below or pouring I’ll miss my room for smokes
I should quit and make some kid inherit my in-jokes
cuz my folks are getting old
we all got our share of mold
when I cough it’s just a cold I hope
|
||||
6. |
For Da Birds
02:17
|
|
||
7. |
Trauma Tried
04:55
|
|
||
I’m trying to drink lots of water
I’m trying to let my hair grow
I’m trying to swallow my medicine
I’m trying to go with the flow
I'm trying to breathe through my triggers
I'm trying to not be so sure
I'm trying to check my privilege
I'm trying not to mourn the end of old worlds
I tried to think only nice things about me
I tried to keep only good folks around me
But trauma tried harder to fuck up the show
And I thought I loved me
But what did I know
I’m trying to get up in the morning
I’m trying to make lots of art
I’m trying to tell buds they're not bad
I’m trying to take care of my bipolar heart
I'm trying to be a good partner
I'm trying to be a sweet man
I'm trying to buttress my boundaries
I'm trying to be who my mom thinks I am
I tried to think only good things about me
I tried to keep only good folks around me
But trauma tried harder to fuck up the show
And I thought I loved me
But what did I know
Now a lot of white boys like to exercise their voice
Can't say much for mine, but if nothing else I apologize,
most folks don't have the choice to whine.
I’m eating cold pizza for breakfast
And putting out smokes on a plate
I’m staying up late watching old Simpsons
Or drinking with people that I kinda hate
It don’t matter much what I’m trying to do
I tried to get over but I'm still going through
Cuz trauma tries harder to fuck up the show
But I'll try to love me
And we'll see how it goes
|
||||
8. |
|
|||
Up for rent, our love was heaven-sent
all of those words I meant with different meanings.
And your room felt like a mother's womb,
inside we sway and swoon like we are siblings
When you see my call don't push that red button
pick up and say something, anything at all,
When you hear my voice all doubt will be banished,
all guilt will have vanished, and you'll have no choice
but to come to my door and I'll let you in
and again we'll begin, and start where we left off before.
I miss the way your feet wrinkled my dirty sheets,
December snow on the streets, us under covers
Maybe I drink too much, you recoiled at my touch,
I knew that things were such it was over
Oh when you arrive I'll be outside counting stars in the yard
|
||||
9. |
Done Again
06:02
|
|
||
It's hard to start a new day right with last night still in the walls
This bed without ya is empty as a bottle, colder than twenty missed calls
I’m doin my best through viral unrest but I know that you deserve more
Oh anxiety, it's enough for me, to turn around and walk out the door
We pinky swear that we will do better
But the rest of our fingers are pointing out the blame
Or flipping the bird when we've run out of words
Baby it's a cryin-ass shame
We're done again
Done again
Stick a fork in me and claim your victory
They say two wrongs don't make a right but two rights can make a wrong
You gotta right to say how you feel and I gotta write me a song
Since I can’t put the right words in my mouth, some body out there will do
Oh anxiety, it’s enough for me, to take what I'm saying as true
Stick a fork in this and seal it with a kiss
They say behind every great man is a great woman rolling her eyes
And I say behind people like that are mean folks like you and I
Trying to make themselves understood and translate the language of pain
But you’ll find in the ears of silence and tears, ‘I’m sorry’ sounds just the same
We pinky swear that we will do better
And the rest of our fingers are folded in prayer
When we laugh at God’s plans then it’s all in our hands
Hold onto mine til we’re there
As one again
One again
Stick a fork in fear and we'll make it through the years
|
||||
10. |
January Song
04:18
|
|
||
Work called to say come in early
The boss had me stay past three
My head gasket’s cracked, No brakes left in back
I could drive myself into a tree
I been here once, been here twice
Been here ten thousand times
Is it now? Is it then? Below zero again
I wish I could thaw out my dang mind
I wish I could take my life and hit rewind
All my coulda-beens and used-ta-bes hitched a ride
And they sure know how to change my tunes
It was too loud to slow down when I saw you in South
Walking your wiped-out bike on Portland Avenue
Remember it snowed like this last year
Or was that two thousand seven
I screwed it up then and I’d screw it up again
I wouldn’t be here now if I’d learned my lesson
Remember it froze like this last year
or was that twenty fourteen
another old soldier that wouldn’t start for me
another cold shoulder from Kansas City
Got no one to ride shotgun now but I leave the heat on
Just in case I'm dealt a better hand
So my smokes and my in-jokes keep me company tonight
I hope this year don’t suck as much as January has
|
||||
11. |
Sweep Me Up, Fletcher
06:50
|
|
||
Do you believe in ghosts, I never thought I would
But then again I didn't believe in love
Something or one stands your hair on-end
Just passing through until they've had enough
Now here I am in this old basement,
shaking a tune from this guitar
heartbroken lonesome cold and wasted
sending all my blues to where you are
Sweep me up, Fletcher Coulee
Sweep me up into the sky
Or put me in the garbage can I just wanna die
Cuz the red-brained woman of my dreams got me walking the floor
So sweep me up ol Fletcher, just as long as I ain't here no more
They say you swept the halls, a gray custodian,
now you're pushing buttons like you pushed your broom
What did those children do, or what'd you do them,
to be circled in those yearbooks in your room
Telling me secrets through the silence
Sending me outside without boots
Making my escape from nice island
Maybe all of you were in cahoots
I don't remember when I saw my spirit leave,
out of all them sighs how could there be just one
Did I meet your ghost or just my memories
haunting me with how happy I was
Don't we all hurt the ones who love us
To see how far their hearts will go
To beg the ones who leave us in dust
To say something when they don't know?
|
||||
12. |
There A Guy Goes
02:23
|
|
||
There a guy goes and there a guy is
There a guy goes to take a whizz
There a guy goes to take a shit
There a guy’s got no place to sit
There a guy goes and there a guy was
There a guy hides to get a buzz
There a guys gone and the other guy’s not
There a guy's here and taking his spot
There a guy goes and there a guy stays
There a guy’s gotta take a load off hey
There a guy shows and the other guy’s there
There a guy says Hey that’s my chair.. shit ain't fair
It’s not much to ask, when you find a place to put your ass
If you return in good form, it should be to what you made warm
There a guy goes and there a guy quacks
There a guy knows a guy's coming back
There a guy grins and the other guy’s mad
There a guy spins and the other guy’s sad
Everyone sees and everyone knows, but there a guy goes
|
Fletcher Coulee Minneapolis, Minnesota
Banished to the land of wind and ghosts, Fletcher Coulee spent 2020 holed up in the hull of a ship wrecked by stupidity and prejudice. Voices came from behind closed doors, even light had to knock. After a year, they emerged with long gray hair and a button on their face that said, "PLAY." Everybody had lost so much. No one asked them to, but Fletcher went looking anyway. ... more
Streaming and Download help
If you like Fletcher Coulee, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp