1. |
Throwing Diamonds Down
06:38
|
|||
Woke up past midnight from a restless sleep
Streetlights and the wind echo through my heart
Thinking how I showed my hand and where we almost went
But like a rock that skips away everything just skidded apart
In the last year every joke is awkward
Those radiant eyes keep driving me backward
Remembering what should’ve come after
But it all went too complex once we got back to town
Throwing diamonds down
Steam rises off the street the birds come out one by one
No amount of talking was going to end this night
I just couldn't face knowing the words we said
Sometimes you’ve got to barrel through the storms you dread
So I headed downtown half asleep half awake
Waiting for any kind of sign of what it’s going to take
I thought someone behind me had made a mistake
But it was just the wind in the rushes no one was around
Throwing diamonds down
Once I could wait for the train at the crossing
A panorama of questions that never needed answers
Spent our nights together like shipwrecked strangers
Sometimes we tried to forget or just fed off the danger
I headed down the highway to the last exit I could find
Checked into the first motel with a vacancy sign
I met her at the market where she worked for a while
We were kindred spirits just trying not to drown
Throwing diamonds down
I got myself a room around the corner from that store
We could never get rid of the squeaky floors
We met every day and shared some cheap vodka
And dreamed of a way of escaping this drama
She was still married but had lost her kids
And everything she told me was to keep her sanity
I guess I should be happy she shook off her destiny
But being a savior is no comfort when you’ve lost your crown
Throwing diamonds down
Now I wait for a quick glance or some conversation
The voice of reason is never too far behind
Experiences that seemed forever are compressed to one moment
I stop myself mid-thought and wait for the stars to shine
Everything I've given you is stuffed in a drawer
Songs, poems, trinkets, history, myths
A vision of certainty beginning to slip
A love we know we won’t share here and now
Throwing diamonds down
|
||||
2. |
The Man Who Nearly
07:18
|
|||
To wake from a thousand dreams
Leaves fall on the river
Where's the evening we spent
It melts into a whisper
There's a spark that flickers
In and out of the fog it shimmers
Maybe the other shoe won't fall
Another memory grows dimmer
One by one we follow the sun
Were we ever here
Our heroes they've disappeared
And what if I’ve been wrong all this time
Watching dust gather on the shelf
Who’ll save me from myself
A silent smile and a worn book
Close enough to hear you breathe
So hard to get the right words out
I'll just trace the shapes in the steam
Contemplating the dusty air
Among the still blue sparrows
Talking on a swaying wire
Every insight shrinks and narrows
One by one we follow the sun
Were we ever here
Our heroes they've disappeared
And what if I’ve been wrong all this time
Watching dust gather on the shelf
Who’ll save me from myself
Again the wind whistles in the trees
Elegies for an abandoned mystery
Unable to span the great divide
Another moment lost to history
The sky is deeper than blue
A phantom target passes
Through a point of seeing
Variations on a theme of absence
One by one we follow the sun
Were we ever here
Our heroes they've disappeared
And what if I’ve been wrong all this time
Watching dust gather on the shelf
Who’ll save me from myself
And the birds keep singing their song
But they never change their tune
Or even care to consider
What happened much too soon
Another mountain and I think of you
What seemed so important then
Coaxing back the silence again
To wake with you in a slow descent
One by one we follow the sun
Were we ever here
Our heroes they've disappeared
And what if I’ve been wrong all this time
Watching dust gather on the shelf
Who’ll save me from myself
|
||||
3. |
Tablecloths
05:37
|
|||
(Instrumental)
|
||||
4. |
Dust and Dreams
03:45
|
|||
The dream is still away
So far beyond today
Together in the mist
Alone against the drift
Given that the sun belongs
To the existing world
Airborne and mysteriously
The fog yields slowly
Anything you get for free
Will be dust and dreams
Dust and dreams
Comes apart at the seams
The watcher in the tower
Do you know the hour
When they'll come
Out that door and undone
Silver sky and painted faces
There's no place to hide
And even less of a trace
The thinking that stems the tide
Anything you get for free
Will be dust and dreams
Dust and dreams
Comes apart at the seams
Overloaded on the way
About half past never
Searching for one note
That brings it all together
Anything you get for free
Will be dust and dreams
Dust and dreams
Comes apart at the seams
|
||||
5. |
||||
Another day has ended
With a falling star and a flat tire
Like a vision in the back of my mind
The sky starts a fire
Take me to that hidden place
Where dancers sit this one out
Where the air stands still
And evaporates any doubt
I feel like I'm walking on foreign ground
The surroundings are so strange
I can't even hear a sound
Walking on foreign ground
Every footstep is a sigh
Here at the lost and found
What was once know long ago
Is forgotten and slow
I walk without the sense
And try to remember a minute ago
This drink leaves a bitter aftertaste
Silencing any progress I've found
I feel like I'm walking on foreign ground
The surroundings are so strange
I can't even hear a sound
Walking on foreign ground
Every footstep is a sigh
Here at the lost and found
I'm to the point where I should just shut out the light
And push it all far from my sight
But someone's tapping lightly at the door
And I can't remember which way is right
I feel like I'm walking on foreign ground
The surroundings are so strange
I can't even hear a sound
Walking on foreign ground
Every footstep is a sigh
Here at the lost and found
|
||||
6. |
All That You Say
04:37
|
|||
Standing in the shade of your door
Listening to reasons and rhymes
Everything moves farther than tomorrow
What do we think we’re going to find
Am I the planner or the plan
Is there a window once again
How many times do I have to tell myself
You'd better open your eyes or else
Wood from the trees
Ghost in the machine
The past was once new
Is that the best you can do
The world’s on fire
Preaching to the choir
The truth it’s not always true
Is that the best you can do
The wires are cut
Drop into the slipstream
Falling out my hands
Sleepwalking through the scene
Can’t see the new refrain
Or contemplate the next
Scattered to the corners
Always too complex
Wood from the trees
Ghost in the machine
The past was once new
Is that the best you can do
The world’s on fire
Preaching to the choir
The truth it’s not always true
Is that the best you can do
Looking for something
That’s already there
Will the sheer momentum of time
Make the future clear
Is it a false sense of urgency
Or are we really nearing the end
Time seems to spin faster now
We’re losing the ability to comprehend
Wood from the trees
Ghost in the machine
The past was once new
Is that the best you can do
The world’s on fire
Preaching to the choir
The truth it’s not always true
Is that the best you can do
|
||||
7. |
Off the Beaten Path
04:34
|
|||
I wonder what this is doing
To our sense of the universe
Caught in a loop stretched out
The constant pull of clouds
Ancient fragments appear
Tuning the air
In a perpetual high noon
Too far and too near
Crossing the current
Never where you think you are
Half past the half
Off the beaten path
No matter how many years
Can’t shake you off my mind
Or sidestep the concept
A thought that’s out of time
History will wear us down
The inevitable returning
As visions slip into dreams
With both ends burning
Crossing the current
Never where you think you are
Half past the half
Off the beaten path
Elsewhere, words ring clear
There’s more to this than meets the ear
Stop me if you’ve heard this before
This world has got a lot to answer for
Stop me if you’ve heard this before
This world has got a lot to answer for
Crossing the current
Never where you think you are
Half past the half
Off the beaten path
|
||||
8. |
Moving Targets
06:41
|
|||
The rain kept falling from the morning
Tears of a different warning
Left out under the moonlight
Rising up to catch the dawning
Steps filled with discontent
Dragging and slagging until the hours are spent
Then the silent fire transforms me
It’s frightening how real life can be
It's always too that or this
A moving target you're always going to miss
Moving targets into another slice of time
A moving target without any reason or rhyme
Moving targets
Why does the story keep changing
I find out the ending too late
The signals I get keep rearranging
It's hard to keep the facts straight
Standing by an open window
As she passes by in the darkness
I've heard the night move to silence
Whenever the sky is starless
It's always too that or this
A moving target you're always going to miss
Moving targets into another slice of time
A moving target without any reason or rhyme
Moving targets
Wake up for another day
Chattering at the break of dawn
Out of the fire and out of your own
Always taking it too far gone
Up from sleep
There’s just a wall between us
But there might as well be
Half the world between us
It's always too that or this
A moving target you're always going to miss
Moving targets into another slice of time
A moving target without any reason or rhyme
Moving targets
|
||||
9. |
And How
04:40
|
|||
(Instrumental)
|
||||
10. |
Eyes Closed
07:23
|
|||
The warming air dries the night rain
I hear you calling
Still unsure of which way to go
The stars start falling
It was the wind not mystery that passed through
And kept those shadows moving
Living through accelerated days
The words just get in the way
It felt like walking into a wall
Walking into a wall with my eyes closed
Grinding tires against the sand
Running the same track
As realities stretch across the hill
Never sure which one will come back
Temperature’s up 20 degrees
Senses spinning way too fast
People walk by as your voice recedes
Never even thinking to ask
It felt like walking into a wall
Walking into a wall with my eyes closed
Still nothing but sunlight on the table
Again the spirit denied
Rearranging the pieces won’t focus the blur
Just point me at the sky
We’ll have to start again and again
Now’s not the time to ask why
Just recall the faintest glimpse
In high places standing by
It felt like walking into a wall
Walking into a wall with my eyes closed
|
||||
11. |
The Enemy Within
04:28
|
|||
Hey, the enemy's within us
So tell me who can you trust
The enemy's within us
Hey, turning wheels won't rust
The enemy's within us
The enemy's within us
Hey, the enemy's within us
Are you going to turn to dust
The enemy's within us
Hey, point your finger if you must
The enemy's within us
The enemy's within us
|
||||
12. |
||||
I'll look as far forward as it takes
Divine the future, read the leaves
Resolve to notice the smallest need
And stop looking for something else to believe
Like the sun lights the rusty dome
Another chance to go way beyond
Can't help but wonder how many lines
Our lives cross in this lifetime
Sometimes it’s simply either or
For to next and never to be
Make the best of the situation
There's more to this than we see
Another time, another place
How many moments must we wait
To find heaven here on earth
Another time, another place
It’ll pass soon enough
And I'll just have to laugh
At the time that's been lost
At the energy that’s halved
But there's a light on the horizon
A beacon far from shore
Some dreams you face alone
A glimmer of hope or is it something more
Sometimes it’s simply either or
For to next and never to be
Make the best of the situation
There's more to this than we see
Another time, another place
How many moments must we wait
To find heaven here on earth
Another time, another place
Just keep walking the wire
So much is still unwritten
Keep a grin on your face
No matter how much you’re questioned
Sometimes it’s simply either or
For to next and never to be
Make the best of the situation
There's more to this than we see
Another time, another place
How many moments must we wait
To find heaven here on earth
Another time, another place
|
||||
13. |
Stones of Infinity
04:28
|
|||
Another early morning
Up like clockwork
Different day but not by much
Irrelevant and out of luck
And what if it all was different
What if everything had changed
Stumbling around this life
So much still out of range
Just like that there it went
A perception of moments
Into another void willingly
The stones of infinity
Cut to the truth
A little less obtuse
That sliver of life you share
Bounces off the morning air
Wandering the world
Like clouds and water
Watching leaves blow by
The passage of wind in a vast sky
Just like that there it went
A perception of moments
Into another void willingly
The stones of infinity
|
||||
14. |
Nothing More or Less
07:00
|
|||
This far into the country
The boundaries are barely defined
The last 10 years pass in 10 minutes
And here am I trying to make sense of just one time
A stalemate in communication
Just another way to say goodbye
A future script unwritten or unfinished
A life the length of a sigh
No matter what I do
I find you’re back in my head
There's no laughter or tears
So much left unsaid
Without your compass
I don't know where to next
Tell me what's left to expect
Nothing more nothing less
And to see you smile
I'd wait a thousand years
Another glimmer of hope
It's as far as it’s near
No sense of what’s real
Caught in another mess
Just one more chance
Nothing more nothing less
Nothing but darkness banging around my pockets
Whatever sunshine left it’s still bright in my heart
The whole universe collapses to this instant
We quarrel beautifully it’s a symphony set apart
A stalemate in communication
Just another way to say goodbye
A future script unwritten or unfinished
A life the length of a sigh
No matter what I do
I find you’re back in my head
There's no laughter or tears
So much left unsaid
Without your compass
I don't know where to next
Tell me what's left to expect
Nothing more nothing less
And to see you smile
I'd wait a thousand years
Another glimmer of hope
It's as far as it’s near
No sense of what’s real
Caught in another mess
Just one more chance
Nothing more nothing less
So this is how the story finally ends
I think of you as gone it’s better that way
The space between tomorrow stretches exhales
Without knowing the difference or the right words to say
|
||||
15. |
King of Corners
03:41
|
|||
I drink my water from a rusty can
Nobody even knows who I am
You better mind the weather
Or you'll be stuck here forever
I've got a theory that the world's still flat
Tight as a drum still on the run
Is the answer there's no answer
When the answer is no answer
King of corners
Every move a sound
King of corners
Even up is down
King of corners
Coming back around
Her eyes as brilliant as the sun
Close enough to clear the rain
A thought and thinking a thought
Are never quite the same
But there's always carrying water
There's always chopping wood
But there's always carrying water
There's always chopping wood
King of corners
No one to relate
King of corners
History is what you make
King of corners
In the shadows all it takes
I drink my water from a rusty can
Nobody even knows who I am
I drink my water from a rusty can
Nobody even knows who I am
I drink my water from a rusty can
|
||||
16. |
Across the Borderline
05:30
|
|||
Dancing on the precipice
Way past hit or miss
Can't tell what’s real
And what's just wishful thinking
But that perception is short-lived
Some moments never come to pass
Watching as the birds fly past
Just a signpost fading fast
Illusions, delusions, confusion
Keep those thoughts in seclusion
It's getting harder all the time
Not to cross the line
Across the borderline
Pay the calm no mind
The water is getting rough
The other shoe falls
This life often just isn't enough
Still waiting for the breakthrough
With time on my hands
Running closer to empty
Looking for a clearing to land
Illusions, delusions, confusion
Keep those thoughts in seclusion
It's getting harder all the time
Not to cross the line
Across the borderline
The jewels of kings and queens
Mean nothing
It's going to take more than riches
To make me turn my back and leave
You're as essential as air
And it's getting hard to breathe
You've got your hooks in me
But I don't want to break free
Illusions, delusions, confusion
Keep those thoughts in seclusion
It's getting harder all the time
Not to cross the line
Across the borderline
|
||||
17. |
Welcome to the Unknown
05:43
|
|||
I woke up with a snap from a dream
And found 30 years had passed
The guardian angel I'd abandoned
Is back in this forest of glass
Just another season gone
The leaves crisp and the sky late
A train whistle blows in the distance
The valley is still and waits
Time passes slow
Can't crack the code
No place to go
Welcome to the unknown
Out there in the anywhere
Shimmering dawn on silent seas
Still the same or just enough
Never is never was never will be
All my life you’ve been just out of reach
Tonight you're farther away than ever
When two's a crowd the absence so loud
Another twilight pulls back forever
Time passes slow
Can't crack the code
No place to go
Welcome to the unknown
|
||||
18. |
What Gives?
03:47
|
|||
The sun shines warm and it peeks through the trees
Time stands still there's a sweet peaceful breeze
The sun shines warm and it peeks through the trees
Time stands still there's a sweet peaceful breeze
Since you've been gone I've lost the will to live
You stand on the corner with some flowers in your hand
You found someone new I'm just another grain of sand
You stand on the corner with some flowers in your hand
You found someone new I'm just another grain of sand
Since you've been gone I've lost the will to live
I'm getting on that train, I don’t think I’m ever coming back
It’s better out there on a different set of tracks
I'm getting on the train, I don’t think I’m ever coming back
It’s better out there on a different set of tracks
Since you've been gone I've lost the will to live?
|
||||
19. |
Surface Tension
06:35
|
|||
Thought patterns hit a wall
Dissolve eventually
So far from any semblance
That could be called reality
Just another breakdown
The tearing of the cloth
A hand to touch
I've said too little I've said too much
Surface tension
It's all surface tension
Fills every passing minute
With no added dimension
Can’t dig any deeper
A one-sided vision
Surface tension
It’s all surface tension
No chance is acted upon
It sets off every alarm
The willows bend as if to say
Catch your breath and find some calm
Every gate is closed
Each feeling merely a trace
The only comfort your gaze
Another time another place
Surface tension
It's all surface tension
Fills every passing minute
With no added dimension
Can’t dig any deeper
A one-sided vision
Surface tension
It’s all surface tension
The willows bend as if to say
Catch your breath and find some calm
A hand to touch
I've said too little I've said too much
Surface tension
It's all surface tension
Fills every passing minute
With no added dimension
Can’t dig any deeper
A one-sided vision
Surface tension
It’s all surface tension
|
||||
20. |
Close to Inevitable
05:12
|
|||
Sitting alone at the water’s edge
Trying to remember everything you’ve seen
You look to the future but can't get beyond today
Nothing’s what you thought it would be
The induced anxiety of tomorrow
Rings in a hollow stomach
Seconds smash seconds
Falling over each other
Still in the trees and undercover
Some of us look into the darkness
Others stare straight into the sun
Some of us are lost in the madness
Others don’t know which way to run
Turn around and face the inevitable
Take a walk along an edge so steep
Nothing wrong with complete abandon
Just don't fall in too deep
An insatiable thirst for tomorrow
The infinite calm is as far as it’s near
Out of perspective and nearly out of time
So much has passed me by unaware
The induced anxiety of tomorrow
Rings in a hollow stomach
Seconds smash seconds
Falling over each other
Still in the trees and undercover
Some of us look into the darkness
Others stare straight into the sun
Some of us are lost in the madness
Others don’t know which way to run
Turn around and face the inevitable
Take a walk along an edge so steep
Nothing wrong with complete abandon
Just don't fall in too deep
And now you’re sitting back at the water’s edge
Trying to remember everything you’ve seen
You look to the future but can't get beyond today
Nothing’s what you thought it would be
The induced anxiety of tomorrow
Rings in a hollow stomach
Seconds smash seconds
Falling over each other
Still in the trees and undercover
Some of us look into the darkness
Others stare straight into the sun
Some of us are lost in the madness
Others don’t know which way to run
Turn around and face the inevitable
Take a walk along an edge so steep
Nothing wrong with complete abandon
Just don't fall apart too deep
|
||||
21. |
Where Now
04:19
|
|||
There’s no face
Just fog over a gray sea
There’s no body
Just a trace of what used to be
Nothing comes back
At least not this time
The morning the rain
Anything could be a sign
Where are you now
Where did it happen
Who did the calling
How was it phrased
What were they wearing
Besides all that
There are no questions
The picture’s soft focus
Half asleep half awake
Where are you now
No more buying back
Old pictures on the wall
Dusty dried flowers
Crumble and fall
Finally in the here and now
Every day starts to look the same
Something stirs somewhere
Someone calls my name
|
||||
22. |
Trapped on a Wheel
04:24
|
|||
I feel like I’ve passed through this scene a thousand times before
Am I just a casual observer or is this a chance once more
To break out of this cycle and move one step forward
To see something in a different light life is its own reward
Trapped on a wheel
I keep spinning around and around
Trapped on a wheel
Finding answers I’ve already found
I’ve lived through this moment and it all seems as real as before
And I’ve thought these same thoughts as I’ve passed by these very same doors
We’ve shared these word they echo through my memory
And I know I can find the escape if I could just let myself see
Trapped on a wheel
I keep walking the same ground
Trapped on a wheel
Finding answers I’ve already found
I’d go back again many have chosen that course
But I wouldn’t be any better prepared and I’d probably make it worse
So I’ll keep trying to straighten out the paths of my life that have bent
And I’ll learn to be a little more wiser when it happens again
Trapped on a wheel
I keep spinning around and around
Trapped on a wheel
I keep walking the same ground
Trapped on a wheel
Finding answers I’ve already found
|
Jonathan Block Connecticut
Jonathan Block performs jazz, folk and electronic music with a progressive edge. His music has been released by labels such as Hypnos, Gears of Sand and Mindspore. Block is also a poet whose poems have been published in journals around the world.
Streaming and Download help
If you like Jonathan Block, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp