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Perfect House

by The Awkward South

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1.
Your treaty didn’t convince me, So I chased a fast train To the all-night picture house I know Smiled like Houdini But then without thinking I traced your name on the window My breath held so long in the air I could’ve penned a novel there As I thought of all the reasons I had for Turning my back on you Turning my back Turning my back on you I canonized convincing parallels Our love was like a carousel Up and down and going nowhere But halfway through Eternal Sunshine I was wishing that I could rewind I missed the point, I know So I told myself the reasons I had for Turning my back on you Turning my back Turning my back on you You’re such a stubborn secret You’ve got Victorian vaults Where you hide your defects Like it’s a sin to have faults But if you can’t live with yourself Then you can’t love someone else And it drove me back to the reasons I had for Turning my back on you Turning my back Turning my back on you And by the end of my picture show The sun was smiling on infant snow In the quiet I let you go
2.
From the night on night of endless fighting through the wall To the week on week of making meek and shrinking small When the bad words flow I wonder where my memories go – Down a big black hole? Somewhere the walls are thick enough To gird for every blow? Beneath the empty promises there’s subtext in the eye: “Drop a hint of that sass boy, and I’ll beat you till you die” When the bad words flow I wonder where my memories go – Down a big black hole? Somewhere the walls are thick enough To gird for every blow? Just a step away from heaven if you notice me Just a step away from heaven if you notice me Just a step away When the bad words flow I wonder where my memories go – Down a big black hole? Somewhere the walls are thick enough, Are high enough, Are old enough to survive every blow?
3.
I found the perfect house for you Two sinks in the kitchen where the light runs down the hall No shadows there at all And the mugs hang line in sentry on the flour-faded rack To wait the morning ritual And the earth is solid oak And the oak is set in stone And it’s fair to say this house could be your one forever home And the earth is solid oak And the oak is set in stone Though I can’t make this house a home for you no more That don’t mean you should lock your hope behind its door I ain’t saying that you have to forget about me All the same I think you could use the company There’s more than one for you I know I am dying in the back of a crumpled car I’ll bleed forever more On the way home you will find me and you’ll cradle my poor head Upon your lap until I’m dead Tell your grandkids so they know That the knowing sets you free Then live together in the house I found so happily Where the earth is made of oak And the oak is set in stone Though I can’t make this house a home for you no more That don’t mean you should lock your heart behind its door I ain’t sayin that you have to forget about me All the same I think you could use the company I beg you darling please, move on for me Well I beg you darling, please
4.
Slide Away 04:50
Do you think you could forgive me For the lead of my mistakes? Vespers on my knees knees knees About as long as I can take I’m so far east I can’t see the Garden Blinded by doubt and nothing could be worse Don’t let me slide away Say you’d kiss new life into me After I’ve been eating dirt Lord I have been begging begging begging You’ve been silent and inert I’m so far east I can’t see the Garden My fingernails till a wasteland Of fallow earth Don’t let me slide away We’ve all been hurt We are still hurtin Haven’t we suffered long enough? Now keep your word and come back to Earth Please don’t let us slide away
5.
I navigate by moonshine Get blinded by the sun And take an oath to walk the line Until my days are done This old heart was torn and tough The flame burned without heating This callous tongue raw and rough Till bitterness sweetened When too much faith in tuneless time Sold me up the flow Good love graced my fading mind Goodness why who knows? All my demons burn through I accept that fate ‘Cause it never concerns you You shake that old cross off You share the weight I dreamed a world of breathless height Where the penniless were preaching That anyone who braved a fight For doing right would reach them But my dream became a seamless night Lit by fiery rain Dark enveloping the lightning Till no flash remained And that’s when you came All my demons... In thirty years we’ll reminisce Wedged up on the sofa This tattered pic of our first kiss Snapped in Barcelona If only all that’s left of time Lay along our row, I could say how right the way Gratitude will show: I love you more than you’ll ever know All my demons... A man who walks by moonshine Is blinded at the dawn And takes an oath to travel light Until the light is gone
6.
Tuck in tight little dreamer Don’t worry about the world beyond your bed I know your mind is all full up With dreams that haunt The things you must become when you get older than you want Little dreamer Be still inside little dreamer Don’t worry about the world yet to come You’ll have time to figure out And streets to run And friends to help you hold a steady hand up to the sun Little dreamer Is this our mistake: Holding on to crumbs of light When darkness fills our plate? But I am a dreamer Lord knows, I am a dreamer Don’t be frightened little dreamer What’s under-lit is only unknown Don’t you stop to watch the woods Fill with snow The spring is coming though you’ve many miles and miles to go Little dreamer

about

many thanks to my talented friends for helping to make this record possible

credits

released December 31, 2015

all words and music by steve hatch

all tracks recorded and produced by steve hatch

vocals, guitars, harmonica, bass, keys, mandolin, accordion, cornet, and sexy robot minions - steve hatch

banjo (perfect house, little dreamer) - matt young

trumpet (turning my back, all my demons) - luke thorpe

fiddle (little dreamer) - anton patzner

artwork by the lovely liz pope (ej_pope@hotmail.co.uk)

fbook: www.facebook.com/theawkwardsouth

contact us: theawkwardsouth@gmail.com

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The Awkward South Bath, UK

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