Get all 12 Ethan Andrews releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Year of the Squirrel, Bandmaster, Gold, Sapphire & Plum, The Hoxca, I'll do it my damn self, Little Rapture, The Romance of Vagues, Well/Gone, and 4 more.
1. |
Secondliner
04:00
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Six parts water and half of a man
I was standing all night on the bus
You can leave me with a smoke and song in a brownfield
Where nobody ever bothers to look
I’ve been this less wicked and that less well
Always for somebody else.
What’s left, I keep to myself.
Stunned bee stung and West sun fed
I was only laughing to cover up
What was written on the top of your head
In that slanted script of lust
I’ve been laid back, skipping my weight in stones,
Trying to put a spin on the rest of what’s there.
Get your money roll out, make it bend
Forward from 2:00 and back to 10:00 'til the end.
But time can’t stop.
The phase, the cops, this capital feeling of doubt.
If the weather’s finer in Carolina
Will the landed rents say it’s on account of them?
You can count on it.
We’ve been blowing from the second line for so long
That we’re spent.
Take the money and rent.
That’s all I needed.
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2. |
Flatworms
01:42
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Sat down in my place
Said I hated space
Let the old models rust
Got no trouble in mind, no feeling in my head for pairing words
Slip into a skull to get out of the light of daylight dimming.
In the afternoon strimming
All around the sound of cutting grass
Oh, let me get there last.
Black gold digger, semi-pro slinger
What do you want to know?
That it’s lucky to die as to be born
I’d have never said it so.
In streets run white with salt
Go gold with black ice
Come white as snow.
No haven in farms or medicine.
So, sing so sweet the next time we meet
Like you know which one of us has it better.
(Wasted, spaced, unwilling to race like a broken clock)
Put my ashes in my shadows for now
Watch the vines climb up the stairs
Talk a lot of sass, burn a lot of gas, count on another chance
To come back from the dead as an eel instead of the sponges and flatworms
And push into the noisy scene
When the clear moment comes finally
It’s easy as it’s ever been.
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3. |
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Don’t stand by the woodpile, baby
We could have fun tonight
Don’t lie on the ground, waiting
We could have fun tonight
And if the music’s right,
You’re gonna move your leg
And if the music’s right,
You’re gonna move your head
This is the time for warmer weather
When we could wear different shoes together
Between us there will always be a pair
Don’t stand with one hand on the door
And the other on the cord of my headphones
That ain’t fair
Gimme a little room to stare
These burns are barely a smudge
Mark me up like a hearth glove I won’t budge
I’m used to it
It’s just a little trip we take
Don’t let the sound of the coolers make you afraid
This, too, is stupid
No reason to make a promise
I’m not looking for a serial thing, just a pause when nobody saw us
We could have a word or two
I saw you outside of the dance
I had a child in each of my hands
You were doing your own thing
And it was good, I must confess.
Sometimes I do my best
And now might be a time to notice
Should we roll our bones in the snow
And forget about where they go, if winter is so upon us
Some of us dance alone
Some of us dance like somebody told us
There are so many fools
Let in no bearings that the magnets in your mind oppose
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4. |
Mosquitoes
03:28
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Falling in and out of sleep, I’ve heard the rest of the world awake
When I get up the feeling is always the same, I wonder how much can I take.
Do I have a mind for anything else? Do I have choices and spies?
There’s only one way that I look at the world. I see it with my regular eyes.
Look at the rake in his middle age, aping the gravitas
Look at my teeth and the spaces between and tell me what kind of ice cream I love.
You and me, and the three of we, and the oligarchs
And the dogs that bark and the dogs that mark, we all have something that gets us up.
We’re the mosquitoes. We’re sucking your blood by the hour
We’re the mosquitoes. We have no respect for your power
Couples are made and corners are stained in living sweat and grace
With broken wings and broken eyes and everything else put in its place
Oh, I’m out
‘Tis as luck to be born as to lay down
And look up at the stars
We all have clouds coming out of our mouths
And guts between the two
On a perfect moonlit night, you can hear a party far away
If only one of us can make up our minds, then maybe it should stay that way
Or dip our bills and say in voices shrill, “There is no other way.”
And toss away convention for the better, the worse, or the same.
Am I the kind of this who that?
If you knew it before then it’s a matter of fact.
The leather slapped around the last. I never saw it coming.
You can lie you can cheat and you can rob,
But don’t give a flying fuck like me a job.
I can feel your lifeblood coursing through your keys.
When you feel a pinch just slap your knee and say…
Oh, I’m lucky
I haven’t got a thing
When he came around and asked for money
I bleeped him with my key ring
Do I bother?
I do what I do to win
Ommatidia
Lay down your collars and let us in
We’re the mosquitoes. We’re sucking your blood by the hour
We’re the mosquitoes. We have no respect for your je ne sais quoi
I’ve got one little thing on my tiny mind,
I want to get a little taste before I die
Thin our ranks as you might; in the end we shall be multiplied.
So, shade our tiny bodies from the sky.
I haven’t got a thing in mind
Cover from the stars and sleep among the stings.
Just as you are, and will be again.
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5. |
Go to Heaven if You Want
02:15
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6. |
When the Conomy Grows
04:04
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When the ‘conomy grows, it will be right on time
And the squares will turn to diamonds all across the bottom line.
When the ‘conomy grows, I’m gonna hang out my shingle
And all the bad thoughts and memories will mingle with match smoke in my nose
And when the new jobs grow, they will cover the old
And our cups will overflow, and we will need no sugar.
Grabbed my jeans and tried to run. You can’t stop it.
My middle finger flipped out like a gun in my pocket
With eyes like two white dots
Do you like this city or what?
Can you separate the high from low?
In this scene, you just can’t know
The things I said for free when I thought it didn’t matter
When the ‘conomy grows, it will make a nice smell.
There will be beatings and the losers will be receiving them well.
When the ‘comony grows, I’m gonna wear it.
Count your fingers and toes, hold your sniffling nose if you think I’m gonna share.
When the milk lets down on the pork loin of progress
Many pans will brown, and the contrast will complement our faces.
Grabbed my jeans and tried to run. You can’t stop it.
My middle finger flipped out like a gun in my pocket
With eyes like two white dots
Do you like this city or what?
Can you separate the high from low?
In this scene, you just can’t know
The things I said for free when I thought it didn’t matter.
Grabbed my jeans and tried to run, I can’t stop it.
My middle finger flipped out like a gun in my pocket
With eyes like two white dots
Am I camera-ready or what?
Well I never made it, but I can say that I got real clothes.
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7. |
Triple Down
01:49
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8. |
Sharm el-Sheikh
02:34
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When the bats come out, I slide down to the floor and steal away.
Light outside a map where I could not erase the lines.
I stuck around see what rose from the ashes of the states.
From away, every day’s uncertain.
May, there’s only so many ways to draw the curtain down.
Kiss back a bit of my worry.
Toss out the names I’ve wanted to get rid of.
I wanted to see my eyes explode.
The coin breaks, no matter what you take en route.
Am I small, is it you, am I far, far away, getting closer?
A lamplight in one eye, the moon and an ash in the other.
Before the shadow of a tree. Before long when I float in the water.
The other side of the gulf is quiet
Or just new, with less people lying, and you…
Kiss back a bit of my worry.
Toss out the names I’ve wanted to get rid of.
I wanted to see my eyes explode.
The coin breaks the moment that you take it.
Your sad and your no-crying hate keeps breaking through.
Lord, you wore me down.
I didn’t mean to show you up.
After the body’s gone.
Only stars are left.
Kiss back a bit of my worry.
Toss out the names I’ve wanted to get rid of.
I wanted to see my eyes explode.
The coin breaks, no matter what you take.
I’ll ride the warm winds back to Sharm el-Sheikh
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9. |
The Octopus
04:53
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I’m gonna take it from the top, just when you thought I was done
I’m coming up like a baby, sitting astride the rising sun.
Gold and sapphire, black as the sand
If I came back in plum, would you know who I am?
If I had rings on my fingers and toes?
It’s a well-worn bluff, didn’t you know?
Who can define what isn’t known yet
From a place that has no precedent?
Keep it like a popsicle cool on your lip (As it slips through your fingers)
Like a candle that has no body or wick (Who would have figured?)
And the octopus cobbles from cuttles he kept
He waiting for it, he’s waiting for you, coconut.
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10. |
Half of the Days
04:46
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I haven’t been long enough to know
Heavenly days I am dying
Half of the days I’m gold
Sun-beat, lazy or I’m half lying
I run the maze of the town
They were selling up while I was lying down
Between the failures I know
There’s you and me and maybe mine.
Come away from the floor
When the wind blows cold
Half awake I might slide over
From nothing left to no more
This disposition of mine
A picture of a flame from the behind
There’s something in the mail, I know
With you in mind.
Tell me the sympathies of man
Quietly, so I can understand
Between the setbacks lie
What’s left of my love and demand
Come out the door, there’s nothing left of you inside.
Old restless friend of mine, where have you gone?
Slide over soft, There’s nothing left of the stars at dawn.
Moreoverly…
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11. |
Rich Man
05:06
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Try to keep that rich man on your mind
He was there when you were born and he will be there when you die.
In his time he may seem clever, on his terms he will be kind
So try to keep that rich man on your mind
He’ll champion education. From afar he’ll raise the bar.
He may keep a congregation, but you won’t see him in the choir.
Throw his Roman coin your way, but when it hits your palm
The edges will be clipped and he’ll be gone.
Senator Black
How easy you tack
How do you sail by and large at once?
Register blue
Whatever you do
The word no sooner given than gone
You can shave with month-old razors
You can drive on balding tires
In the end you will have nothing
And your nothing will be fired
You can sweat to make a nest and in your old age still aspire
With no net, and nothing left to bet, or burn.
So try to keep that rich man on your mind
He was there when you were born, and he will be there when you die
In his time he may go quiet, but his children won’t be kind
So try to keep that rich man on your mind.
Armchair firebrand
You tipped your hand
So raise your arms in the air
Like this is the last dance.
On the ground, or in the sky
Somewhere there’s a guy
You may think you are the bomb
But you are the weapon he will not buy
(I’ve got to hand it to you, But you’ve got to hand it to him.)
In debt from the first breath
Indebted in death
You may think yourself a little ray of sunshine
But you are the exposure he will not accept
So come on
I could have it all wrong
I could be a liar
I could be a rich man who just wants you to call
Believe me, I’ve never told a lie
Or maybe I did, and maybe you figured it out,
But so what
This is the last dance
So, put your hands in the air.
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Ethan Andrews Belfast, Maine
Looks good in a coonskin cap, but then you can't just wear one of those all the time without having to answer a lot of questions.
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