| Disc 1 | ||||||
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| 1. |
| 4:28 | 
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( music: Dennis Drew/lyric: Natalie Merchant )
science is truth for life watch religion fall obsolete science will be truth for life technology as nature science truth for life in fortran tongue the answer with wealth and prominence man so near perfection possession it's an absence of interim secure no demurrer defense against divine defense against his true image human conflict number five discovery dissolved all illusion mystery destroyed with conclusion and illusion never restored any modern man can see that religion is obsolete piety obsolete ritual obsolete martyrdom obsolete prophetic vision obsolete mysticism obsolete commitment obsolete sacrament obsolete revelation obsolete |
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| 2. |
| 2:59 |
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( lyrics: Wilfred Owen/music: J.C. Lombardo )
bent double like old beggars in sacks knockkneed and cursing or coughing like hags men marched on sleeping some without boots fatigue drunken deaf still to the hoots of breaking gas shells dropping softly behind but limped on bloodshod all went lame all went blind gas gas quick boys fumbling helmets in time someone still screaming a man in fire or lime under a grey cloud dim dark through green light in all my dreaming before my helpless sight he plunges at me choking guttering drowning put in a wagon he had to keep pace as his eyes melt to his face if you could hear blood gurgling from ruptured lungs if you could witness vile sores on innocent tongues you would not tell me not with such pride and such zest the lies of history dulce et decorum est pro patria mori some desperate glory pro patria mori as witness disturbs the story pro patria mori stand firm boys breathe the glory |
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| 3. |
| 2:57 |
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( lyrics: Natalie Merchant/music: Robert Buck )
greta's cedar hope chest is full of pamphlets glass shelves of romantic vignettes a journal laced with sedimentary prose norma gathers and collects vintage photoplays hair combs valentines lillian allows the animals to scratch leather crack mail collect in the box coatings peel agnes veiled cathedral dweller smiles with benevolent pain it's katrina's fair tuesday morning as she with caution unlatches the flat door she alone cascades to the basement careful not to spoil her calico printed pinafore composite traits mannerists all others dissipate margauritte vigilant dwells upon frigid casements sarah's thoughts in the velocity accusations always pierce and pass clara abandons her passions for distastes miss lenora p. sinclair early for coffee in the pool "i'm resituating all your words" capital space colon paragraph sylvia keeps beasts in jars labeled kingdom phylum class order family genus species |
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| 4. |
| 3:09 |
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Oh my dear friend
My dear friend Giorgio How has this time Breton Discouraged your liaison with the Eye styled metaphysical Incongruous scenarios Dauntly jaunt about through nostalgic despair Within childlike renderings Of a nightmarish recall "All my images Fragments I've shored upon my ruins Pictor classicus sum I am pure" Step solemn with the Air of reluctant manes As rod and hoop shadow children Scatter through a henna arcade Figures indentured to a windless landscape Enduring silence and flame Da Da da No loyalty to the nonsensical Scorned their nihilist pageantry |
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| 5. |
| 2:59 |
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( lyrics: Natalie Merchant/music: J.C.Lombardo & Robert Buck )
there was light and atomic fission swelling wind rising ash tide of black rain cement seared shawdow traces reminiscent of their last commands instantly one thousand flames arising ill scent the burning hides surrounding a settlement debased entirely enola gay had made a casual delivery please build a future, darling with our bomb cherish and love it for the sake of earth bound kingdom come the undersides of fallen metal trusses evil debris of human bodies each window's glass shards pelted secure confines brittle collapse neighbors lay beside each other unknowing faces scorched of all familiar bearing too few hands many wounds for closing marred by thirsting anguish fear lamenting here we stand at the door to gold atomic age don't spoil your face with worry trust in earth bound kingdom come |
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| 6. |
| 2:47 |
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( lyrics: Natalie Merchant/music: Dennis Drew )
honor salute and speak to the corner standing flag do you remember how the days of school were indivisible separate worlds compare contrast these dreams absurd placid classroom faces breathe in the features of a demographics death map trilogy children read them well not to bury 3 of 4 sons as the likes of chivalry not to take 6 of 30 bills to manufacture corpus christi and so you think it can be so serene history's most intolerable famine has clutched our global tranquility reaped the lives of children maladies collaborate with cyclic despair infanticide clamors to 20 times more in 4th and 5th Worlds the poor have always been beside us amid us death has always been as million cease 15 million that's an annual reap add divide multiply sum 41 thousand! |
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| 7. |
| 3:53 |
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( lyrics: Natalie Merchant/music: J.C. Lombardo )
there were women holding rosaries on the day manolete died teenage girls in soft white dresses standing silent peace respecting groups of boys held in their hands the fragments of a shattered idol the old men with their traditions challenged refrained from tears neck neck hook poles of wood the picadores stood eyes ablaze to view brutal contest in the vale of years courage unfailing agility exhausted youth entered challenge reached for title shelved patrons in attendance to disarm a common myth homage played to the victor of immortality cloaked in bold tones in the stockyard the beasts did climb their barriers bid by a frenzied ring bred for one purpose only to die in man's sport dash against his spindle an instant fell to wounding on the day swords penetrating on the day torches igniting on the day flower wreaths encircling the day on the day |
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| 8. |
| 2:23 |
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( music: John Lombardo/lyric: Natalie Merchant )
lineage closed dissolved in its birth tragedy prelude a balance is a synergy of reason malicious hope as techno atrocities lapse their effects associate these ends their clarity demands your revenge please compensate not deny jungle revenge infanticide crosses very thin walls latent casualties arrive from fatal initiation no longer recessive genetic aliens abandoned plain deceit in the mirage of a just one time cause we'd all changed the clocks no ladies auxiliary to kiss their blistered cheeks gone |
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| 9. |
| 3:31 |
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frail hinges pivot
on a cases door commemorative souvenirs from places containers change with each occasion cellophane encased displaying paper certificate credit years of service a tool of central enterprises the early hope for permanence the words the rings consistency and social security the miracles high tragedy a thought mistaken for a memory dress lenghts assassinations fractured family ties christenings local posts they list your friends in order of disappearance lawn scattered tins feed birds the portion baked for absent guests mass edition icon god sent comfort is your salvation but who grants absolution for sins that never were committed tension makes a tangle of each thought becomes inconvenience sound never penetrate as servile edges break and faint a thought mistaken for a memory clear the dust from smiles in boxes cross a patterned floor recall the voices |
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| 10. |
| 2:48 |
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( music: John Lombardo/lyric: John Lombardo adapts Wilfred Owen )
for whom the bells toll when sentenced to die the stuttering rifles will stifle the cry the monstrous anger the fear's rapid rattle a desert inferno kids dying like cattle don't tell me we're not prepared i've seen today's marine he's eighteen and he's eager he can be quite mean no mock'ries for them no prayers or bells the demented choirs the wailing of shells the boys holding candles on untraveled roads the fear spreads like fire as shrapnel explodes i think it's wrong to conscript our youth against their will when plenty of our citizenry really like to kill what sign posts will lead to armageddon's fires what bugles will call them from crowded grey shires the women sit quiet with death on their minds a slow dusk descending the drawing of blinds make the hunters all line up it's their idea of fun and let those be forgiven who never owned a gun was it him or me or the wailing of the dead the laughing soldiers cast their lots and you can cut the dread |
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| 11. |
| 4:11 |
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( lyrics: Natalie Merchant & J.C. Lombardo/music: J.C. Lombardo )
like a weasel in the clover you tilt toss pop turn over sit down! tremble and weave like a moth by flame deceived sit down! spill with your words caught up dance in your room slide like you're buttered up roll back the tomb sit down! bolt scuff jilt chase circle riddle shake in haste sit down! when the thunderclouds sound ants scatter to high ground |
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| 12. |
| 3:19 |
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( music: John Lombardo/lyric: Natalie Merchant )
imitate that soured old song there is no individuality only guises shades of nonconformity there is no individuality selling vantage points low rate there is no individuality questions ancient no words claimed perform motions borrowed thoughts following ima tima ima tima intima dation respected head-he-go-round-men gesture display customer limits appeal media dictates the latest role totalitarian motions borrowed selling vantage points low rate for you media begged suffered numbers pain |
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| 13. |
| 3:51 |
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( lyrics: Natalie Merchant/music: Steve Gustafson )
in the cruel garrison of affection if worth of lore is true you know the face of a temptress pit viper a witch or enchantress pit viper with the malign venom of conceit she tries civil men conceal fear misgivings when night entreats them a greater chill sustains stains her darkness shall not inhibit death blow know this skin does not restrict her tear and shed the coil fall of garland leaves below the soil |
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| 14. |
| 3:31 |
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( lyrics: Natalie Merchant & Michael Walsh/music: J.C.Lombardo )
she borders the pavement flanks avenues parades pass white glove attended by my mother the war she'll raise a shaft lift a banner toss a rose my mother the war she's made every effort to salvage the few bought fourteen liberty bonds my mother the war mother the war she knows every neighbor chats at their doors compare econosize electric appliances my mother the war share tea and a seat by my cradle with my mother the war mother the war caressing the globe touch on his isle she wrings hands in pensive waiting my mother the war haunts her doorway begs her postman is there word for my mother the war momentos of distant vigil three years each tour "hands of god enfold him" prayed my mother the war mother the war in bitter defiance she's spitting the corps she's wet a brood short league for combat my mother the war well acquainted with sorrow left millions in grief my mother the war fold laced carrion blood soaked robes mother the war |
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