Get all 6 Alex Wise releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Dropped Days, Fog Swamp, Slinkin', Blurred, Front Porch, and The Shreep.
1. |
That Time Of Year
03:28
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Waited on a Sunday borne a lazy afternoon
Written on the footsteps of an old forgotten tune
Listening while the river exploded in my heart
Miracle of thunder with a soulful counterpart
Chorus:
Too late to the window,
Too late in the year
Too late ‘till the summer ends
And the lonely ones appear
A semblance of virtue like the sweet of alcohol
Poisoned by the thimble, just a moan and then a crawl
As the singer stops a-singing, what tune is it you hear?
The new one starts a-shufflin’ and the lonely ones appear
(Chorus)
Covered by the bloodhounds but frozen on the trail
When strangeness walks upon us the sunshine will prevail
If suddenly you’re someone who can’t complete the thought
Just scatter ‘bout your ashes know the search was not for naught
(Chorus)
A fitful case of remorse, it will only go so far
But a uniformed delivery, that’ll show you where you are
From the torn and tattered minstrel to the unsuccessful sleuth
May the wilderness of discourse not eclipse the truth
(Chorus)
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2. |
Touched By The Willow
04:09
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Too dark up in this corner
And I seen much better days
Whose heart has not been damaged
‘Till the lonesomeness decays
Chorus:
I’m touched by the willow and the mockery stings
It’s the hard part of the journey
One hellish fight to mend
Everything ends badly
Or else it’d never end
(Chorus)
Stronger than fear or desire
And your methods are unsound
The queen has fled the kingdom
Now your soul has come uncrowned
(Chorus)
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3. |
Nether Worlds
07:14
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Headin’ for the nether world, all aboard….
Had we lived I’d tell it true
Nothing is ever too late
Plow the sea and work the wind
Learn to labor and to wait
Chorus:
So we go within ourselves
And we hold untruths
Had we lived I’d tell it true
Seated in my silver chair
Not as wonderful as thirst
A bottle of salvation
(Chorus)
Had we lived I’d tell it true
Speak only to conceal thoughts
Shapeless masses stealing steps
The evil of two lessers
(Chorus)
Had we lived I’d tell it true
These times are the ancient ones
Happy highways where I went
Destroyed but not defeated
(Chorus)
Had we lived I’d tell it true
Nothing is ever too late
Poetic souls of today
Learn to labor and to wait
Headin’ for the nether world, all aboard
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4. |
Come What May
03:44
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Sing the hymn of life melodies
Feel the sound from within
Shed the skin of old used-to-bes
Learn to watch from within
Come what may, in clothes that we once wore
Step aside from old routines to breathe again once more
Come what may, still longing to explore
Settle back in easy chairs then open every door
Come what may, what we forgave before
Choosing what we want to see and choosing to ignore
Life and limb, brought to its knees
Answers come from within
Twirl and spin, with grace and with ease
Dance the dance from within
Come what may, down crooked paths once more
Sway the future to the past and find what will endure
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5. |
Muddlin'
04:47
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Drift in my heart can’t pass this way again
Stumbled on a new motif
Deep inside reveals a whole new rig
Keepsake ‘till the well’s run dry
When the compass read it’s out there
And the timepiece said it’s not
Find a place that heads beyond care
But you muddle through along
Chorus:
Standing in a doorway, head on fire
Standing in a doorway with your head on fire
Wrinkle perceives a stone is cast away
Tremblin’ on a crooked shore
Fervent belief in distant here and now
Slightly concealed by yesterday
Every maxim there could conjure it
Just a shock to wake the core
Like a slide upon the quarter-deck
But you muddle through along
(Chorus)
Verse:
Unrecalled by visions reminisced
Neatly bundled memory gaps
Launch a scull and row it over time
Like a sieve but watertight
Under house arrest with ankle brace
Not enough to make you coil
Only dredged beneath Poseidon’s lair
But you muddle through along
(Chorus)
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6. |
Tin Horses
04:48
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Silver night calling, setting sun
Almost time falling, little one
Innocence crawling, then withdrawn
Step aside darlin’, I’ll be gone
Chorus:
Gone astray, tin horses,
They’re always gone astray
Someday, tin horses
They’re always gone astray
Centered backwalking, moving from
’Round and ’round talkin’, hearing none
Inner selves brawling, looming dawn
Hummingbird stalling, dancing on
(Chorus)
Always see-sawing, burdensome
At our heels gnawing, ‘till they’re numb
Hearts that burned thawing, spell begun
Through the web clawing, newly spun
(Chorus)
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7. |
The Slow One
03:23
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As my hands grow busy as the lines on my face
Tend not to notice what the young girls embrace
Will it be silly, or will it be wise?
Tend not to notice through these old weary eyes
Chorus:
The known one is the sown one
The grown one is the slow one
It’s never too early and often too late
Tend not to notice what we don’t elevate
Will it be scuttled, or will it be rhyme?
Tend not to notice through the thin shape of time
Picture yourself as a treasured doubloon
Or a jingle of a lost afternoon
(Chorus)
When you can’t recall days of your last somersault
Tend not to notice that it’s never your fault
Will it be sinful, or will it be right?
Tend not to notice through this world-seasoned sight
Picture yourself as the wings of a loon
Or a jingle of a lost afternoon
(Chorus)
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8. |
Wash It Down
03:32
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Thirsty at the fountain no water there can slake
Dance round in the ring again forgive the new mistake
Conscious of my cheeseburger most mindful of my shake
Suddenly I hear my intuition start to quake
Chorus: So I wash it down, wash it down, wash it down
When the reader is the poem then just leave love alone
In a wink of eternity I find myself a home
Better be my own circumstance to the unknown
Suddenly I hear my intuition start to groan
(Chorus)
Colors seen by candlelight seem different by the day
Have to have been born then to see it that old way
Winter lies too long in hidden hands of those who pray
(Chorus)
Strange when you come to think of it and talk to me
That after all this terra firma was our place to be
Sunburnt by the glare of life still paint what I can see
Suddenly I hear my intuition start to flee
(Chorus)
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9. |
Love In Mind
04:07
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Chorus: Love in your mind, love in your mind
Can’t talk to your best friend
(But) All the world is young again
Not awake not so alive
Soak in it to pass the time
(Chorus)
Weakened by hard rules forgot
(Of) What is real and what is not
Overpraised and underfed
So many times to stand and beg
(Chorus)
Haunted by the ideal of you
(Through) Timid silence of the blue
When only mist is real it’s said
Bread we broke much more than bread
(Chorus)
What beauty will so undermine
(That) Happy hearts can lose their shine
Someday maybe we’ll come around
And understand it’s not profound…
(Chorus)
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Alex Wise San Francisco, California
Fog Swamp is a Bay Area-based assemblage of first-call musicians that performs original swamp rock.
Steeped in genres
ranging from rock, New Orleans funk and blues to bluegrass and jazz, Fog Swamp has headlined venues such as the Sweetwater Music Hall, The Chapel and The Boom Boom Room. The band’s members have shared stages with The Meters, Joan Baez, Wilco, Phil Lesh, and others.
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