I Will Miss The Trumpets And The Drums – lyrics and notes

OBSIDIAN (Steve Dawson)
You should know by now
Everything you say will be misinterpreted
Turn around right now
Every step you take leads you furthur from the good

Chorus:
Come on, now, obsidian
Soften your skin, let the change begin
Come on, now, the soft clay of your heart
Is a place to start
I pray that you can

You should see yourself
Contorting into shapes to try and re-explain yourself
We would all just laugh
If it wasn’t such a shame
This time it’s a matter of life and death

Repeat chorus twice

Come on, now!
Joel Paterson: pedal steel, Steve Dawson: acoustic guitars, electric guitars, organ, bass, drums, vocals

LONG OVERDUE (Steve Dawson)
Break the skin, medicine
Fill this fever dream with hope
Steel the blood, make it good
Keep a reason clear to cope
It is long overdue it is long overdue

Pack your books, meet the train
You are gonna have to run
There’s a shadown on your face
Your eyelids crave the sun
It is long overdue it is long overdue

Between breaths you will forget
This is how you’re supposed to live
Wait a minute, don’t you panic
There is time now to forgive
It is long overdue it is long overdue
Steve Dawson: guitars, vocals

A CONVERSATION WITH NO ONE (Steve Dawson)
My mind is reeling,
moderately with feeling
I’m sorry
But tonight I’m really trying,
I won’t be the one supplying
The worry
Can you hear me?

It’s a conversation It’s a conversation with no one
No one

Now I’m setting up my charts and graphs
Lining up the photographs
You’re drifting
And gravity holds us in place
While the earth around your face
Keeps turning
I am learning

It’s a conversation, it’s a conversation with no one

One day I’ll be just like you wish I was
And every door will open from the inside
And all the words you speak will be just
Because you are the one who spoke them

So keep your hidden messages
All the empty packages
You send me
And if it seems like I’m lying
It’s only because I was trying
To be friendly
Can you hear me?

It’s a conversation, it’s a conversation with no one
Steve Dawson: guitars, bass, drums, vocals, piano

MASTADONS (Steve Dawson)
It came from outer space it seems
And dropped it’s seeds in the rows of your dreams
Then the vines set in to grow
In the place in your heart where you grieve
And with a blackness you cannot describe
The tendrils pull the vessels collide
Muscle memory sluggish and dull
No will left to sort or divide

And yet the rush of gravity beams
The smell of the river after it rains
The feel of your feet touching the earth
The chance that love will someday return

Out in the brambles the tar and the weeds
Visitors come visitors leave
Bracing for winter you harden your bones
Mercury drops by degrees
And all you can hear is the rushing of blood
As it pushes past your ears up into your head
Filling your dreams with snakes and drums
And mastodons stuck in the mud

But somehow moments still break through
Despite the dying inside of you
And lift you up like the warmth of the sun
And radiate out toward everyone
And, oh, the rush of gravity beams
The smell of the river after it rains
The feel of your feet touching the earth
The chance that love will someday return
Jason Roebke: acoustic bass, Jason Adasiewicz: vibraphone, Frank Rosaly: drums, Steve Dawson: guitar / vocal, Zack Kline: strings

TODAY SHE FOUND THE WAY TO BREAK MY HEART
(Steve Dawson)
well, it’s my own fault for letting down my guard
I guess I never expected to get hit so hard
She’s still standing in the corner
She’s beautiful, she’s smart
And today she found the way to break my heart

Everybody tells me I was distant and cold
Until she came along and filled my head with hope
Yeah, she threw her arms around me
She kept me from falling apart
Now today she’s found the way to break my heart

I don’t know why she turned so cold so fast
I only know I won’t survive another day like this

I’m stumbling around side to side
Where the aftershocks and the fault lines collide
I never wanted to face this kind of loneliness
But I guess I’m gonna have to start
Because today she found a way
Yeah today she found a way
Oh, today she found a way to break my heart
C’mon, baby, why you gotta break my heart!
Steve Dawson: guitars, drums, bass, organ, electric piano, vocals

PREACHING TO THE CHOIR (Steve Dawson)
Your face glows like a firefly as you lean into the screen
One million tapping fingertips call out through the machine
But no one will ever hear you
How can anyone ever hear you?

Chorus 1:
Preaching to the choir
Feeding your voice down a copper wire
Breathing like gasoline
Memory clear, conscience clean
No knowledge required
Preaching to the choir

You know time is moving faster now
Faster than anyone can conceive
There’s no time for you to write it down
No time to think, to blink, to breathe
And no one will ever hear you
How could anyone ever hear you?

Chorus 2:
Preaching to the choir
Feeding your voice down a copper wire
Breathing back gasoline
Memory full, conscience clean
Raging and inspired
Preaching to the choir
Steve Dawson: guitars, drums, bass, piano, vocals

WORRY WORRY WORRY (Steve Dawson)
It’s gonna be alright this time
It’s gonna be alright I’m sure
You worry too much
You worry too much
It’s gonna be alright this time

You were down on your hands and knees
Praying hard for something unnamed
But that’s all over now
That’s all over now
It’s gonna be alright this time

I’m not gonna leave you alone

You worry too much
You worry too much
It’s gonna be alright this time
Joel Paterson: pedal steel, Frank Rosaly: drums, Steve Dawson: guitars, electric piano, vocals, bass
I WISH THAT I COULD BELIEVE IN YOU AGAIN
(Steve Dawson)
I wish that I
I wish that I
I wish that I could believe in you
I wish that I could believe in you again

I miss the light
I miss the light
I miss the light I felt with you, my friend
And I wish that I could believe in you again
Steve Dawson: vocals

KNOW NOW (Steve Dawson)
Back and forth across the county line
School bus headlights shooting down the stars
Past the drive-thru and the junior high
Days crawled by like years
And I know now what I didn’t know then
I know now

When the talking turned to chemicals
I was caught halfway between
Staring into giant speaker cones
Until the slamming of the screen
And I know now what I didn’t know then
I know now

Now the cardboard case I was carrying
Bursts right into flames in your front yard
Trying to outrun all the hollering
I didn’t get too far
But I know now what I didn’t know then
Jason Roebke: acoustic bass, Frank Rosaly: drums, Tom Murray: violins, Steve Dawson: guitars, vocals

I WILL MISS THE TRUMPETS AND THE DRUMS
(Steve Dawson)
you are cruel, you are cold
you are only getting worse as you grow old
and I have been here far too long

like a drunk in the mud
grown tired of waking to the taste of his own blood
I have been here far too long

I will miss the reassuring kicks in the back on my head
I’ll rehearse words enough to speak
When they find you cold and dead

So goodbye, bitter clown
I have burned up all the evidence
Now I’m leaving town
I have been here far too long

I will miss the trumpets and the drums
And the tacks in my mouth
I confess I didn’t think that I could leave
But somehow I found a way out

you are cruel, you are cold
you are only getting worse as you grow old
and I have been here far too long
Keefe Jackson: clarinet and bass clarinet, Steve Dawson: guitars, drums, bass, baritone guitar, regular guitars, vocals

WAITING (Steve Dawson)
Here I am once again
Pacing the room, end to end
I will always be waiting

In the bed, by the phone
In a crowd, all alone
I will always be waiting

Do you remember the promise you gave me?
I will always be waiting

Well I know, I’m a fool
But I don’t know what else to do
I will always be waiting
I will always be waiting
Steve Dawson: guitars, lap steel, bass, drums, vocals

GOODBYE (Steve Dawson)
I’m not gonna lie, it’s not gonna be easy
You’re gonna cry, you’re gonna curse me
But someday you’ll find
I’m the one who’s always been on your side
Until then it’s goodbye

You’re hypnotized by gossip and here-say
The salt from your eyes has burnt up in your brain
Someday you’ll realize
No one’s ever gonna love you as much as I do
Until then it’s goodbye to you

If you ever change your mind
My door is always open wide for you
But I’m not gonna lie

One day you’ll realize
I’m the one who’s always been on your side
Until then it’s goodbye
Frank Rosaly: drums, Jason Roebke: electric bass, Jason Adasiewicz: vibraphone, Tom Murray: violins, Steve Dawson: guitars, organ, vocals

IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK (Steve Dawson)
There is no poker face for me
Despite my best attempts
You read me obviously
But it’s not what you think

Travelers lost inside their cars
Sing to their dashboards
while they roll away the hours
But it’s not what you think
It’s not what you think

I know I could explain away everything
If I had the heart or the time
And I’m so close to it now and it all seems so clear
But when I try to hold on it’s gone again
Like a dream

Sometimes memory disapears
And I pound on the front door
With straight spine and shoulders
But it’s not what you think

And my jaw is fixed into a grin
As I stumble down the street
Strangers smile with caution
But it’s not what you think
No, it’s not what you think

There is no poker face for me
Despite my best attempts
You read me obviously
But it’s not what you think
It’s not what you think
Cornet solo: Josh Berman, pedal steel: Joel Paterson, vibraphone: Jason Adasiewicz, Steve Dawson: guitars, drums, bass, melodica, vocals