1. |
The Lake
05:45
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I used to love the lake just there
Beyond the crooked pines.
Its rocky shore, its sunlit glare
The days beside it, mine.
They told me not to go with him.
They told me not to fall
.
But if you saw the eyes on him,
You’d hear their siren call.
He took me to the lake one night,
The moon transfixed in place.
His voice so soft I thought I might
Be bold and touch his face.
I floated then, so wild and free
.
I saw him on the shore.
His love was there: look, just see!
A stone in hand to answer for.
The sky closed then above my head
,
The waves did gently rock.
I stopped to kiss the dark lake bed,
Finally unlocked.
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2. |
A Woman or a Gun
04:07
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I never met a woman or gun I didn’t love
Right at the moment of reflection
That gleam of the barrel, so reminiscent of
A certain kind of affection
When the two come together, there’s really nothing like it
The soft and the cold, the warmth and the pain
Like the bed of a lake the moon has long lit
That once felt the wrath of the rain
I met a woman with a face like a child
Her eyes looked down into my soul
I wanted to take her down into the wild
I wanted to swallow her whole
Her tears were like metal, I swear this is true
The gun shuddered once in my hand
I aimed like a bird released into the blue
That sweet crack like a split wedding band
I didn’t have her before, see now this is the thing
She wouldn’t be mine otherwise
The barrel when looked down becomes like a ring
Like a song we at once recognize
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3. |
The Forest
04:24
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I took her to the dark forest to see if she would light the way
Her hair so red as to be in flame
I wanted to touch it, to hold it for myself
I followed her fire through the trees
She opened a path where there was no path
She parted trees that grew as one
I watched her make a home in danger
But I felt the darkness close around me
The night seeped deeper into my veins
I couldn’t touch her
But I wanted to touch her
Wanted to feel that warmth in my hands
I reached out to her through the density
Caught a red curl in my hand
Felt its bright heat, its soft and tempting promise
Enclosed in my cold palm
I grasped the wick, meant to snuff the flame
She turned to me, the fire in her eyes
I felt the heat, the light a sharp pain
I held on until darkness entered her hair
She became the forest then, the paths obscured
The trees grew denser and the night a weight
But I had seen the way, it had been lit
I lay down beside her, finally warm
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4. |
Heartbreak
03:26
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Well aren’t you a heartbreak there,
Just standing in the sun
.
Your shining hair, your dark gray eyes:
One look and I am done.
I have to have you, can’t you see?
There’s nothing to be said.
But then I see your lover there
.
Soon I’ll see her dead.
You think you know, ‘cause you’re so smart.
You think you know my soul.,
But watch and see, man of my heart
.
There’s nothing like control.
Well aren’t you a heartbreak there,
There’s nothing to be said
.
But watch and see, man of my heart
.
Soon you’ll see her dead
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5. |
Thorns All Over
05:04
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I tell you: there’s nothing I could have wanted more
From his heels to the base of his skull
His face and sweet head like a soft blooming rose
While I was all thorns all over, thorns all over
We used to walk together, we used to take lingering drives
Down the cliffs to the sea where the caves filled with the tides
Wild roses grew up through the sand
We would walk hand in hand and
I would hide my thorns, hide my thorns
It was no special day, no lingering moon
The tide was between high and low
I had heard in the days before
That he had found a girl with no thorns, no thorns
I found her down by the sea cave that juts black from the shore
She stood watching the waves, face tipped just so in
the gleam
I pictured her with him, not a thorn between them
I knelt to the sand, closed my hand ‘round a rose branch
I tore it from the sand; it was woody and paled
I caught her fair throat from behind
The thorns painted her flesh
She grasped at the rose
I held on like a drowning thing
Until she could wash out to sea
Embedded with thorns
So now I walk with him hand and hand down the shore
And I coil the stems where he cannot see
I look at his sweet throat and imagine studding there
Thorns, thorns like sparks of light on the waves
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6. |
The Night We Met
06:36
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Take me through the night we met
The rain on the leaves and a slow mist rising
The moon a cat’s eye opening through the dark clouds
Your smile like a beacon on a distant shore
I walked toward you like a soul possessed
Here was the love I always sought
But you turned to me as a cloud crossed the moon
And I saw there was no room in your heart
Take me through that night again
Do you remember what I said to you
When all was possibility and hope
Do you remember my hands on your throat
Take me through it
Take me through you
The night we met lasted my lifetime
You finally swam toward me
We met, we met, we met
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Jay Vilnai New York
"the missing link between Rasputina and Bernard Herrmann"
A composer and performer with
versatile abilities, Vilnai’s music draws on everything from Balkan music, blues, a plethora of jazz styles and Western concert music. Whether writing for chamber ensembles, performing, or producing his own recordings, his music deals with ritual and social activity, folk music elements and a sense of song.
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