Get all 4 Disappearing Ink releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Charm of Abstraction, Recount, Surprises, and There Is No Time and Nothing's Been.
1. |
Sweet Melodies
03:19
|
|||
I used to sing sweet melodies.
I never had to wait too long
To find the next note.
Sometimes the note came to me.
Now I can try all through the night
And all I get are aches and fears.
They ring in my ears
And settle inside of me.
All these flimsy shells of who I used to be—
I keep them hoping something will remind me who I am.
I’m an old dog, teach me new tricks.
Everything I thought I knew was just a self-serving scam.
Water on a hill, rock in the sea:
When looking back means looking up,
There’s no slowing down.
Where are you, Eurydice?
Blue phlox in bloom, thrushes and bees.
The wind took down the tallest trees.
At least I can see
The valley in front of me.
Children talking—listen how they notice things,
The world’s so gripping they don’t even realize you’re gone.
Maybe it’s because they’re so close to the ground,
I think I’ll lie down. Now I can carry on.
|
||||
2. |
Surprises
04:04
|
|||
CHORUS
We were singing in harmony
And you changed the key
You wanted to surprise me
I don’t like surprises baby
I was a person before I met the person who is you
You don’t know what I’ve been through
Don’t let it keep you up at night
Just bum my smokes and laugh at my jokes
And everything will be alright.
CHORUS
When I’m driving the car
And you fall asleep
I take you through the backstreets
And each turn is a change in my mind
It’s a chance I take, and when you awaken
Everything is always alright.
CHORUS
You are my Poseidon, and I am your Medusa
It’s a shame these days, you know,
They don’t make love like they useta
If you’d have been there, you’d do just like I do
I’m saving you!
Why don’t you want me to?
We split the bar at three a.m.
And spill onto Avenue C
And you turn to look at me
You wanna see something that’s true
Keep on walking, just because I ain’t talking
Doesn’t mean I ain’t thinking of you.
CHORUS
|
||||
3. |
What to Say
04:45
|
|||
Look in my eyes.
I am capable of all I despise.
Will I hurt you
Again? Well, that’s the last thing I’d do.
How can you know for sure,
Is what you ask of me.
I asked myself that, too,
And I’ll ask it everyday.
And I’ll answer it, too,
I will show you
In a million ways.
Still I don’t know what to say.
My words won’t do.
Words just move the air in front of you.
You can hear what’s true,
But you’re gonna need to feel it, too.
How can you know for sure,
Is what you ask of me.
I asked myself that, too,
And I’ll ask it everyday.
And I’ll answer it, too,
I will show you
In a million ways.
Here’s what I have to say.
I’ll say it loud, I’ll scream and shout.
I’ll do it till you feel it in your bones.
I’ll show you everything I’ve got, I’ll let you take your best shot.
Hit me where it hurts the most, till nothing’s left unknown.
Till you know I love you, till you know for sure.
Look in my eyes.
I am capable of reaching the skies,
And so are you.
There’s nothing we can’t do.
How can you know for sure,
Is what you ask of me.
I asked myself that, too,
And I’ll ask it everyday.
And I’ll answer it, too,
I will show you
In a million ways.
That’s what I had to say.
I guess that’s what I had to say.
|
||||
4. |
Two Towers
04:07
|
|||
Two towers tall and thin
Blinking at the sky:
I spent so much of my life
Beneath their loving eyes.
Who, who will watch me now,
Eleven, thirteen, and forty-five?
Who will tell me nothing’s changed?
Who will tell me I’m alive?
I’ve seen them from the north.
I’ve seen them from the west.
They’ve seen everything I’ve done,
At my worst and at my best.
Walk a circle around them:
They embrace then part as friends.
Once they are out of sight,
I start my life again.
What is old
Once was new.
Some will go
And make you blue!
Where we are meant to be
Is never where we are.
And if that wasn’t true
We’d never get too far.
But look at us right now,
Heads tilted back and standing still,
Searching all around the sky
From atop the highest hill.
|
||||
5. |
All Some None
02:07
|
|||
All of us
Some of us
None of us
|
||||
6. |
Your Face
06:46
|
|||
There is a mole
On the corner of your chin, or, no,
Now it’s closer to your left ear, sorry, but
Your face is blurry.
It had two hairs.
One was wiry, one was angel-thin.
They would tangle with my stubble when I
Kissed you goodnight.
Goodnight, goodnight.
Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve seen your face.
Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve seen your face.
Oh, it’s been so lonnnnnnnnng.
And you, you would curse me
When I passed you on my walk to work,
Lunging, growling, “Try me, motherfucker,”
While shadow boxing.
Each time I forgave you,
But I never did forgive myself
For looking askance, hoarding pity, fearing
While your eyes spilled mercury.
Mercury…
Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve seen your face.
Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve seen your face.
Oh, it’s been so lonnnnnnnnng.
What face is this?
Mother, father, brother, sister, friend,
Shape and features shifting, spinning, diving
Like a Picasso.
A crescent descends
On the forehead, sinking past the nose,
Curtain falling, darkness like a casket,
Darkness like a womb.
Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve seen your face.
Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve seen your face.
Oh, it’s been so lonnnnnnnnng.
In the darkness,
Wet and throbbing, I would feel around
And clutch if I thought I felt a nose or ear
From the only face I’d known
Which had faded
At the moment when my halves crashed whole.
Now I see it fading back into view
All these years later.
All these years…
Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve seen your face.
Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve seen your face.
Oh, it’s been so lonnnnnnnnng.
|
||||
7. |
||||
Louie’s isn’t Louie’s anymore
No, Louie’s isn’t Louie’s anymore
It wasn’t Louie’s when they first opened the door and now
Louie’s isn’t Louie’s anymore.
There’s a man in shackles and a Johnny Cash t-shirt
On the front page of the New York Times on the Fourth of July.
Well, there but for the grace of God go I.
He burned his brief Babylonian lover
And now he’s gonna fry
Under the watchman’s eye.
Well, his momma’s gonna cry
And I’ll probably just sigh.
Cuz Louie’s isn’t Louie’s anymore
No, Louie’s isn’t Louie’s anymore
It wasn’t Louie’s when they first opened the door
And now Louie’s isn’t Louie’s anymore.
Well the old redneck’s house in Hampden is a handbag shop now.
But five rebel flags fly from a crane over Interstate Ninety-Five.
There used to be just one, there must be somethin’ going on.
But I ain’t figured it out in the time that I drove by.
I’m just gettin’ my toll money out with the A/C on high
And staring at the storm clouds in the west wondering how I’m gonna die
And I ain’t even got a flag to fly.
Cuz Louie’s isn’t Louie’s anymore
No, Louie’s isn’t Louie’s anymore
It wasn’t Louie’s when they first opened the door
And now Louie’s isn’t Louie’s anymore.
Well Johnny puts on a grey suit and ties up his brown shoes
Every morning around 7:15
While I’m still in a dream about
Hidin’ in a latrine while the bullets scream,
Mmmmm.
But Johnny used to put his fist through a plate glass window
Just because he could,
And I never understood then
But I do now.
And now I wake up around 9 or 10,
But I can still remember when
Johnny’d look me in the eye
And we’d think the same thing, he and I
And everything was worth a try
And days were years and I knew that I…oh, well…
But Louie’s isn’t Louie’s anymore
No, Louie’s isn’t Louie’s anymore
It wasn’t Louie’s when they first opened the door
And now Louie’s isn’t Louie’s anymore.
|
||||
8. |
Future Memories
03:50
|
|||
Je dis ce que je veux dire…it seems.
How did I get here?
Leaning out the window,
Blowing smoke on the Champs de Mars,
I watched the tower blink itself to sleep.
Tu dormis, Paris, same for me.
Tomorrow’s more than just another day
When you know that you can’t stay.
That’s the thing about fantasies.
When they become reality,
They’re just future memories.
The present’s so bright I gotta wear shades.
I got it made – got it made for a while.
I’m so high, it looks all downhill
As far as I can see.
Tu dormis, Paris, same for me.
Oh, what have you done to me? What have you done to me?
Oh, what have you done to me? What have you done to me?
Paris?
Oh, who will come along with a siren song?
Who’ll tempt me to madness?
And I wonder what I can dream
In the city that never sleeps
In the city that never sleeps…
|
||||
9. |
Cop To Your Id
02:49
|
|||
Cop to your id
The truth is not about your ideals
Or even what you did
Your darkest thoughts
Say more about you than your heart
Or something that you bought
You think you’re better than them
What if you’re not?
What if they know how far they’ve fallen
And you think that you still have a shot
At being good
Or at least doing better
Than the worst ever could?
You watch them fall
Your aim is true, you close one eye
You stand so tall
|
||||
10. |
You Can Have It All
03:14
|
Disappearing Ink Baltimore, Maryland
New album 6/1/23 from Baltimore songwriter/producer Lawrence Lanahan's band Disappearing Ink! On The Charm of Abstraction, Lanahan abandons guitar for mesmerizing synths, intricately programmed beats, imaginative sampling, and occasional rhymes. Even with a new sound, his core songwriting voice--“melodic and lyrical invention,” “chilling chord progressions,” “rare honesty and power"- remains. ... more
Streaming and Download help
Disappearing Ink recommends:
If you like Disappearing Ink, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp