Get all 11 Tawni Marshall releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Deadnamed on Santa's Shitlist, Skeleton Woman, The Perfect Time For Christmas (feat. Jacob Marley), What Were My Bones, You Built the Room 'round the Elephant, The Workingtrans Blues, Queerantine, Aries Moon, and 3 more.
1. |
Health Will Fade
03:52
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If I knew a doctor, I would ask him
if he had a cure for my disease.
My ailments rob my body of a soul.
I don’t know no doctor
so I’m off to ask a priest
if maybe he can tell
the answer to the problems of my dizzy spells.
I don’t know no doctor know how anyway.
But the way that I’ve been living
It seems there’s hell to pay.
I went to the river
tryin’ to wash myself clean,
but the water burned my skin.
Now it seems I’m allergic to anything holy.
So I went to the pharmacy
tryin’ to get a little something for my pain,
but the pills they gave me
took all of my words away.
I don’t know no doctor know how anyway.
But the way that I’ve been living
It seems there’s hell to pay
I went to the factory
tryin’ to work off all my sins
and maybe make some pay,
but the man there said
they shipped all of their jobs away.
So I went to the office
tryin’ to get a little help to come my way,
but the man there said
“There’s no such thing as help these days.”
I don’t know no doctor know how anyway.
But the way that I’ve been living
It seems there’s hell to pay.
I don’t know no doctor know how anyway.
And the only insurance I got
is that my health will fade.
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2. |
What Were My Bones
04:31
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I got a feeling
I lost my belief in a lot.
My wants are all I’ve got.
Tongue-tied and dreaming.
Wide-eyed and reeling from a wind.
A wind that’s made of thought.
From out of the shadows of a graveyard
that holds what were bones
she walks delicate and alone.
Whispering madly,
the tree limbs reach sadly
just to touch her as she goes.
Caught up in words that
don’t seem to add up
to much of anything at all.
The wind tends to drown out
the sounds my heart pounds out
and it beats, it beats against the wall.
I found a comfort
in something I never found at all.
I hid it somewhere I don’t know.
She left me flowers
to tell me she knows that something’s wrong.
I’ll plants them where they belong.
Caught up in words that
don’t seem to add up
to much of anything at all.
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3. |
Your Tired Eyes
04:31
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Open up your eyes.
Your tired eyes.
It’s dark outside.
It’s dark outside.
And when it’s light
it’s too bright
to see.
Had a dream
where you were solid as can be,
and all your pieces disconnected
and roamed free.
You scattered yourself
in all directions you could see.
I felt you rushing through the wind
all around me.
It was light, and you were bright.
Too bright for me.
Open up your eyes.
Your lifeless eyes.
Your nameless guise.
Your nameless guise.
It’s no surprise
that you died
because of me.
Had a dream
where you were solid as can be,
and all your pieces disconnected
and roamed free.
You scattered yourself
in all directions you could see.
I felt you rushing through the wind
all around me.
It was light, and you were bright.
Too bright for me.
but It was light, and you were bright.
Too bright for me.
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4. |
Mop Bucket
03:12
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I can’t decide if I’m pushing this mop
or if the mop is just dragging me along.
I’ll scrub the floor.
I’ll buff it ‘til it shines,
but am I s’posed to feel a sense of pride?
Like an animal on a leash
filled with fear and dread,
but happy there’s a place to lay my head.
I can’t decide what to do with my life
so I’ll just watch it as it passes by.
Livin’ day to day.
Thinkin’ up things to say
and hoping that the good times ain’t a lie.
Like a banshee that can’t scream
frozen in the terrible night
long forgotten by the morning light.
I can’t decide if it would be wise
to just throw my caution to the wind.
Cuz’ I can’t fuck up.
Cuz’ if I do the jig is up and
I’ll never get the chance to fuck up again.
Like a puppet on a string
that’s been tied into a noose.
If you see me hangin’ round
please cut me loose.
I can’t decide if I’m pushing this mop
or if the mop is just dragging me along.
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5. |
In My Own Image
03:43
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I was in the hospital
eyeing through the glass
when I saw my reflection
in a baby carried past.
It was my own image in my own image.
He was in the yard.
He’s a-playin’ in the grass
and the grass is our ghost
and the grass is out past.
It’ll be my own image in my own image.
He’s in the school.
He’s a-learnin’ to read
and a word is a crumb
he’s a-learnin’ to eat.
He’s a growin’ image in my own image.
How he looks a little bit less
like me every day
and a little like himself
In every little way.
He’s his own image.
He’s his own image.
I see the world
in my own little way
and it’s molded and shaped
in the cracks in my face.
It’s my own image in my own image.
I stand before a universe of time
and here in space
and they bend to the will
of the life that I waste.
It’s my own image.
It’s my own image.
He was in the hospital
eyeing through the glass
when he saw his reflection
in a baby carried past.
It was his own image in his own image.
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6. |
It's Night Again
04:26
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I write by your light
in the aimless night.
It keeps me awake…
and I don’t have what it takes
to run away and tame my heart again
and say that it’s not real
or turn my back on what I feel
and make amends with my skeletons
turn my dreams into dreams again
or push these nights
into the back of my mind
only to wait ‘til it’s night again.
Where do you keep your light?
It burns in all that dark.
Is it pouring from your eyes?
Or do you hide it in to your heart?
I…I see a light, and it shines
into the depths of darkest night.
The saddest light I have ever seen -
Oh what a frail and beautiful beam!
and I don’t have what it takes
to run away and tame my heart again
and say that it’s not real
or turn my back on what I feel
and make amends with my skeletons
turn my dreams into dreams again
or push these nights
into the back of my mind
only to wait ‘til it’s night again.
I write by your light
in the aimless night.
It keeps me awake…
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Tawni Marshall Indianapolis, Indiana
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