1. |
A Miracle of Sorts
03:30
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When your face appeared
In the clearing smoke
I feared myself the victim of an impractical joke
It’s an onerous business
Sorting substance from chaff
But when the song of the finches
Fell upon my ears, I had to laugh
At how the audience to my confusion remained rapt
Kept believing when our hero came up short
Finally my reach was tempered by the modesty of my grasp
It’s a miracle of sorts
As if waking up were a feat enough
I recast all the wreckage as a tumble in the rough
But it was more than a trifle
It was hardly a lark
I was never insightful, as a rule
But couldn’t help remark
At how the audience to my confusion had been steadfast
Held their breath when once again I came up short
To think I’d live to grapple with the mysteries of my past
It’s a miracle of sorts
I always wondered whether intervention was a reasonable request
I’d be lying if I said the jury had returned
But if mercy was in question
That’s a lesson that I guess I learned
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2. |
Toward Infinity
03:36
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Waiting for his turn
Another lost boy with foolish hopes to burn
Forlorn for reasons he cannot discern
Deftly walking the straight line
Focused on his task
Eager to find an ever-finer mask
Troubled by questions he forgot to ask
Grim reward losin’ its shine
So he’s calling upon our holy trinity
For a miracle might be
The last remaining avenue to reach
His desperate dream
Staking his last shreds of divinity
For a bite at the apple
Long suspended just beyond the reach of
His tremulous teeth
It’s a lonely path
But better to wander out from under wrath
Let no man squander what his father hath
Wrought for himself, thinly disguised
Calling upon our holy trinity
For a miracle might be
The last remaining avenue to reach
His desperate dream
Staking his last shreds of divinity
For a bite at the apple
Long suspended just beyond his reach..
He’s tipping his cap toward infinity
For a miracle might be
The last remaining avenue to reach
His desperate dream
Forsaking his finely-wrought identity
For a bite at the apple
Long suspended just beyond the reach of
His tremulous teeth
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3. |
Beyond the Threshold
04:20
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Cat got your tongue?
Catch in your throat?
Had you surrendered all hope many months before?
Stamp out your shoes
Slip off your coat
Straighten yourself for a moment - then step through the door
Waiting just beyond the threshold
Is something more than fantasy
It’s not at all like in the pictures
It beats any dream
You let your intuition lead you
To the edge of the fire
While just beyond the threshold
Lay the thing you most desired
Once you were sure
Fate was secure
You thought that love meant suspension of all one’s disbelief
Needless to say
The years have a way
Of stacking trauma on trauma - piling grief upon grief
Waiting just beyond the threshold
Is something more than fantasy
It’s not at all like in the pictures
It beats any dream
Your impaired imagination
Obstructed your view
While just beyond the threshold
Stood a person just like you
Full of trepidation
And grasping for the truth
There’s no easy answer
No satisfaction guaranteed
But just beyond the threshold
Awaits your destiny
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4. |
Lion's Paw
04:01
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To the angel disguised who thought it was wise
To put me into a car
If it weren’t for drink
I’d know who to think you are
These sane-person’s clothes got tight, I suppose
My shackled beast shook off his chains
Delusions were aired for all to be entertained
A lion’s paw, a dragon’s maw
All the same, I know what I saw
Blinding pain to pure disdain
I’d do it all again
Who hasn’t been the hero within
The story they chose to tell?
Who wouldn’t split the moment it went to hell?
Now I’m playing host to indifferent ghosts
Of bliss that I cannot retrieve
Permit me a few and all that I’ll do is grieve
For the lion’s paw, the dragon’s maw
All the same, I know what I saw
Blinding pain to pure disdain
I’d do it all again
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5. |
Only an Idiot
03:04
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Only an idiot
Remains an optimist
In spite of overwhelming disappointment
Stubbornly his hopes persist
What grandiosity
Must gradually accrete
To choose to die upon a magic mountain
Rather than concede defeat?
There’s no accounting
Forfeit the prize
Locked inside a fortress of certainty
Training his eyes
Fast upon the treasure beyond
Consider the price
To dwell in this precarious state
And still hazard an idiot’s fate
When interventions and
Endeavors to dissuade
All fail, what more does there remain to do
Than wallow in the bed you’ve made?
Dare not deride the fool,
Sick and delusion-struck
For taking every tremor as a token
Of his soon-resurgent luck
He must be joking
Forfeit the prize
Locked inside a fortress of certainty
Training his eyes
Fast upon the treasure beyond
Consider the price
To dwell in this precarious state
And still hazard an idiot’s fate
Blissfully ignorant
No matter the event
Eager to fall on his sword
It’s an idiot’s only reward…
Consider the price
To dwell in this precarious state
I’ll hazard an idiot’s fate
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6. |
Safe for Dreaming
04:19
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We’re never past redeeming
In a bed that’s safe for dreaming
I know just where to find you in my dreams
Ever toward
Aft and fore-ward
Who would choose to sail alone?
Danger lurking
All uncertain
But don’t ever think you’re on your own
‘Cos we’re never past redeeming
In a bed that’s safe for dreaming
I know just where to find you in my dreams
We’ll travel unencumbered
Upon the seas of slumber
I know just where to find you in my dreams
Under covers
Opaque lovers
Set their course for ports unknown
Bodies resting
Spirits questing
Scared to forget their way back home
But we’re never past redeeming
In a bed that’s safe for dreaming
I know just where to find you in my dreams
Distance is no matter
And walls around us shatter
I know just where to find you in my dreams
Asleep by your side
Ships adrift cross a vista so wide
To meet again sure as you can time the tide
We’re never past redeeming
In a bed that’s safe for dreaming
I know just where to find you in my dreams
So if you need a hand, man
Go off and see the sandman
You’ll know just where to find her in your dreams
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7. |
Merely Coincidence
02:32
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Shouldering the brunt of sacrificial praise
Every time I couldn’t be bothered
Languishing for want of a sympathetic gaze
What are the odds?
Could it be
Merely coincidence?
Little to be leveraged in our defense
For shame - should we surrender this
Sophistry of courage and cowardice
Are we powerless?
To chart a different course
This late into the game
Damned if we try, and double to wonder
Dutifully forcing fate to take its aim
Reckoning nigh
Could it be
Merely coincidence?
Little to be leveraged in our defense
For shame - should we surrender this
Sophistry of courage and cowardice
Are we powerless?
Fooled into thinking we choose
One party retreats, the other pursues
A careful dance confused
For merely coincidence
Should we surrender this
Sophistry of courage and cowardice
Or claim it’s merely coincidence?
Little to be leveraged in our defense
For shame - should we surrender this
Sophistry of courage and cowardice
Are we powerless?
Particles collide, illuminating grace
What are the odds?
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8. |
You Sentimental Fool
03:18
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You thought that life was fair
You’d get to keep your hair
You sentimental fool
You’d wake up every day
In the love the same old way
You sentimental fool
Now the scales that kept
Your vision so inept
Have taken up address in the bin
You sentimental fool
The doctor is in
You’re a pitiful sight
But try as I might
There’s not a single thing I can do
To make your sentimental dreams come true
An apple every day
Won’t keep the gloom away
You sentimental fool
No one wins a prize
For dotting all their I’s
You sentimental fool
You thought you had the brain
To master your domain
But failed in your accounting for fate
You sentimental fool
Proceed to the gate
You’re hardly alone
In this universal groan
But I wouldn’t change a thing if I could
Your sentimental dreams
Won’t do us any good
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9. |
The Vicissitudes of Art
03:35
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I lit the fuse; I primed the start
I played confused, behaved as if I had no part
I hurled abuse to fell the faint of heart
Then chalked it up to the vicissitudes of art
That might’ve worked; it had before
The similarities were too much to ignore
A wiser man would have anticipated more
If not a war
But precious few have a single clue
Why they act as they do
An object of contempt and the least exempt
Now stands before you
Mine was the hand that tossed the dart
A fellow never thought himself to be so smart
I put my celebration well before the cart
I blamed it all on the vicissitudes of art
That might’ve worked as once it had
I figured that the fallout wouldn’t be so bad
I underestimated you by just a tad
Isn’t that sad?
So here we go, back to the start
How to atone for my mishandling of your heart?
I’ll have to mend the things that once I tore apart
Now whither goest the vicissitudes of art?
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10. |
Hate to Hear You've Gone
04:02
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Look at the clock – I can’t believe
We’re soon to greet another dawn
And though I didn’t see you leave
I hate to hear you’ve gone
I’ve had a bit too much to drink
Among regrets I’ll nurse anon
A shame we didn’t get to speak
I trust we’ll catch up later on
The gall, that time would wait for me
Abundant though it’s said to be
A hundred elbows still to graze
Another olive and I’ll burst
Another evening in a haze
‘Til then, if I don’t see you first
To think that time, in fact, is not
Plentiful as this fellow thought
I’m still in shock – I can’t believe
Your eyes won’t greet another dawn
And though I didn’t see you leave
I hate to hear you’ve gone
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Lincoln Barr Lexington, South Carolina
wounded crooner, song-maker // FORFEIT THE PRIZE out now
Lincoln Barr recommends:
The Moon on the Ceiling & Other Night Hags
by Johnny Sangster
Brilliant solo album from my longtime producer and collaborator Johnny Sangster, also featuring John Convertino on drums
go to album
with Bellerose & Piltch
by Levon Henry
Lovely, intimate live recording of saxophonist and frequent collaborator Levon Henry, with the jaw-dropping rhythm section of Jay Bellerose and David Piltch
go to albumIf you like Lincoln Barr, you may also like:
Out of Time (R.E.M.).
by Quivers
supported by 4 fans who also own “Forfeit the Prize”
It is clearly informed by the original but is its own thing. Fans familiar with the R.E.M. version and folks unfamiliar can enjoy it.
go to album
Sad Box & Other Hits
by Scott The Hoople
supported by 4 fans who also own “Forfeit the Prize”
Hey Scott, thanks for brightening up my world with a timely collection of gems from the dungeon. Stay safe and keep the goodies coming.
go to album
At Scaramouche
by Shabason & Krgovich
Smooth jazz pop with witty slice of life lyricism will bring to mind wandering around the mall in 1987.
go to album
'They Sell Doomsday'
by Ryan Power
Consummate pop songwriting both smart and smooth, with the ability to resonate universally without compromising uniqueness.
go to album
