1. |
Wildest Dreams
03:12
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In my wildest dreams you come back as a raven
Waiting still as glass out on my windowsill
And your shining feathers beckon me to follow
But I wake up knowing that I never will
There's a clearing in this forest where a soul can breathe alone
I wandered into on a day just like today
And I thought I'd seen the future, and I thought I'd found my home
But I knew I had to turn and walk away
'Cause there's a promise that I've lived by since I lost you
That the one who tastes the wine should drain the glass
I've been given life and used it, now I'm bound to use it all
Even if I never chose what came to pass
In the roaring night I clutch the cloths of heaven
Feel the ragged branches tangled in their seams
But there's a clearing out there somewhere
and I'll find it 'fore I'm done
Even if it's only in my wildest dreams.
© 2019 by David Conrad
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2. |
Still Can't Find You
03:00
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With the shadows on your face you looked like someone I once saw
in a dream I lost the moment before waking
You asked how far I’d had traveled to this place
I said I’d been here all along
That made you laugh
The ice had turned my drink to smoky water
The barman’s smile was running out of steam
You took my hand like it meant less than nothing
Then we stayed that way for all these years ‘till now
And I still can’t find you.
A man was playing rock and roll guitar all by himself
and no one else but you and me were listening
You told me you just moved here
but you didn’t seem to want to say from where
Just far away
The music for some reason took me back to that cafe in Rumorosa
A place we wouldn’t get to for another seven lifetimes side by side
Another thousand miles of all-night driving toward that blazing lit-up
border
And I still can’t find you.
The neon beacon flickered like a candle blowing out
in the shadows of the dusty tavern window
We danced like time had ended long ago
Our steps were out of time
There was a kiss
But now I can’t remember how it started
We paid the tab and stumbled out in laughter
To ruined streets and never-ending summer
And I thought I heard the door lock shut behind us
but it might have been my heart
And I still can’t find you
I still can’t find you
I still can’t find you.
© 2019 by David Conrad
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3. |
Growing Time
03:31
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There's a place just off the interstate where there used to be a town
You can see the traces of it there like shadows through the trees
One or two old stone foundations are all that's still around
Where those lives played out like ballads in some long-gone century
We don't have to chop the wood these days, or read by candle light
And we get through frozen winters without fearing for our lives
But the weather of the heart still makes us run in search of shelter
And we still hold on for spring and pray the seeds of love survive
Sweet communion when the evenings are long
Gold and crimson when the summer is gone
Love sleeping silent under hard-frozen ground
Waits there for the growing time to come back around
Well I told you when I met you that I'd crossed some burning bridges
and I hadn't always found my way to walk the golden line
You'd read all the books of virtue, studied mercy and forgiveness
But you couldn't find them in your heart even after all that time...
Tonight we'll change the clocks, as if time was ours to play with
Like the circling of the seasons happened under our command
But the daylight passes quickly now, and the nights are getting colder
and the diamond light of autumn slides like water through our hands
Sweet communion when the evenings are long
Gold and crimson when the summer is gone
Love sleeping silent under hard-frozen ground
Dreaming of sunlight and the cool kiss of rain
Up from the darkness toward the open sky again
Through the cracks in the pavement of that old ghost town
Love waits for the growing time to come back around
Love waits there for the growing time to come back around.
© 2019 by David Conrad
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4. |
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Tonight we’re closer on our barstools
Our eyes in the mirror almost meet
But it’s been such a while, since we even shared a smile
It’ll be with separate strangers that we leave.
We couldn’t keep ourselves from roaming
We took our turns at which of us would cry
Then suddenly we found, with all that sleeping around,
Separate homes in the blinking of an eye.
Now my arms are reaching, for someone new
Each night to someone else I’ll be untrue
I know you do the same, it’s our lonely barroom game
And I’m cheating my way back to you.
I hardly remember how it started
I can’t say which of us was the first to stray
I just remember the pain of watching you kiss in the rain
After you I’m loving purely out of shame.
Now my arms are reaching, for someone new
Each night to someone else I’ll be untrue
I know you do the same, it’s our lonely barroom game
And I’m cheating my way back to you.
The odds are getting better every evening
As we move down the bar from different ends
It’s just a matter of time, till each of us’ll find
Next in line is going to be you and me again.
And then my arms will be reaching
like you’re someone new
Each night to you, my darling, I’ll be untrue
I know you’ll do the same, it’s our mixed-up barroom game
And I’m cheating my way back to you
Yes I’m cheating my way back to you.
© 2012 by Rebecca Weiner Tompkins
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5. |
Hard Hard Labor
02:31
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They never tell you what it costs to get what you dream of
Get what you dream of in your heart’s sweet dream
They tell you you can get everything that you dream of
True love is hard hard labor
But I’ll never give it up ‘till I’m in the ground
Or maybe they told you but you just weren’t listening
You couldn’t hear the words over your heart’s sweet song
They told you how it works but you just weren’t listening
That true love is hard hard labor
But I’ll never give it up ‘till I’m in the ground
They tell you first comes love and the rest will follow
The marriage and the family and the sweet tomorrow
They tell you all you got to do is follow your heart
And you’ll be walking in the right direction
But they don’t tell you that the heart is a wild creature
A soaring raven that can never be tamed
The maps don’t show where its flight will lead you
And true love is hard hard labor
But I’ll never give it up ‘till I’m in the ground
You’ve got to feel your way down that long dark tunnel
To the diamond caverns where the angels hide
And if the powder don’t blow and the walls don’t crumble
You might just carry one out alive
And then you might just learn that your heart’s not playing
Didn’t travel these miles just to turn around
The door’s wide open but you’re going to be staying
And true love is hard hard labor
But I’ll never give it up ‘till I’m in the ground
No, I’ll never give it up ‘till I’m in the ground.
© 2019 by David Conrad
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6. |
La Perdida
03:14
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I lit out on La Perdida when the world was burning down
And I feared all hope was up in smoke
and I walked on blackened ground
All I wanted was the distance, all I had to lose was pain
But La Perdida led me right back down again.
There’s no signs on La Perdida, no white line to guide you on
You can drive away forever, no one even knows you’re gone
The objects in the mirror are more lost than they appear
And that bright light up ahead’s just a reflection in your tears.
And this is where the map runs out
and the trickster makes his play
‘Cause there’s four directions and a thousand roads
But there’s only La Perdida when you’re trying to run away.
Every town I pass through now I wonder what if I stopped running?
Gave myself another name, made a righteous new beginning
Found some sweet and easy love, washed away my reputation
But that’s just my mind at play, I’ve still got a child’s imagination.
But sometimes the child knows things the man’s forgotten how to see
Like that glow on the horizon where the darkness used to be
And this is where the sun rolls in on the bright steel rails of day
‘Cause there’s a fast train running when you’re bound for glory
But there’s only La Perdida when you’re trying to run away
Yes there’s only La Perdida when you’re trying to run away.
© 2019 by David Conrad
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7. |
Much About Love
02:58
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First day of school she walked in late and took a seat
And the teacher’s words turned meaningless,
drowned out by my heartbeat
Some kind of crazy hunger took control
But I was much too small to understand what I was hungry for
Then the kissing came, and the fireworks and tears
And we swore romantic promises much bigger than our years
We knew all about the future, and those fools we’d never be,
But we didn’t know much about love
I saw her singing at the Fleur de Lis
And her voice tore through my heart just like a childhood memory
She sang straight to me like she knew me well
And that night went on forever back at her cheap hotel
Then we sang down every road and every town
And we drank and loved and battled ‘til it all came crashing down
We knew Your Cheatin’ Heart, and that waltz from Tennessee
But we didn’t know much about love
The ancients had some wise things to say
But the wisest one was Help me Lord, ‘cause I can’t find my way
Now we pray into the wild and open blue
But we’re much too small to understand just who we’re praying to
So we hold on to each other in the night
And hope before the bell tolls we’ll learn to get it right
And we’re still down here waiting for those answers from above
But we still don’t know much about love
We keep searching, but we still don’t know much about love.
© 2019 by David Conrad
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8. |
The Moment Before Waking
02:22
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9. |
Driving Too Late
05:28
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Winter comes early where I came to be
Born prematurely under ice-covered trees
Mother a child with one foot out the door
Father a soldier in a throwaway war
I took off early to make my own way
And none of the older folks had much to say
The beds of kind strangers and the couches of friends
Brief shelters I'd claim as a home
I was never—and always—alone.
The taste of fast pleasure is easy to find
And it found me early, 'fore I knew my own mind
A whispered suggestion, a come-hither look
And I'd snap without thought like a fish at the hook
And love was a fruit to be picked in the sun
Then dropped in the dirt when the sweet parts were done
Sometimes it was them and sometimes it was me
But someone had to swallow the pain
So the dance could start over again.
Now it's early to bed and it's early to rise
Too early to drive with this light in my eyes
But the highway keeps crying there's no time to wait
And there's nobody else here to open the gate
I just pray I'm not driving too late.
Icicles melting in dawn's early light
Sun drifting up from the ashes of night
Tires on the blacktop like a bow on the strings
Playing hymns to the god of impossible things
I'll get there early but you may be long gone
No reason to think you'd have waited this long
Except for the sound of your voice on the line
Look me up if you're ever in town...
Could it be I'm at last homeward bound?
Now it's early to bed and it's early to rise
Too early to drive with this light in my eyes
But the highway keeps crying there's no time to wait
And there's nobody else here to shake me awake
And it's easy to come and it's easy to go
But it’s hard to admit that you just never know
But the highway refuses to tell me my fate
And there's no one else here to shoulder the weight
I just pray I'm not driving too late.
© 2019 by David Conrad
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Conrad y Skordalia Nashville, Tennessee
David Conrad and Rebecca Weiner Tompkins began performing as Conrad y Skordalia in 2012 in New York City. Their first
record, A Silo Filled With Birds, was released in 2016. Their music incorporates rock, country/folk and soul, with traces of traditional Celtic music and modern classical.
They have been based in Nashville since 2017, and perform regularly in the area both as duo and full band.
... more
Conrad y Skordalia recommends:
Rebecca Weiner Tompkins played violin on this amazing album.
go to album
Grown-Up Things
by Maynard and the Musties
Rebecca Weiner Tompkins and David Conrad both played on this great collection, and have performed as members of Maynard and the Musties in New York City and Nashville.
go to album
Turquoise & Silver
by Davis Raines and the Band of a Thousand Names
Davis Raines writes and sings true country soul music. David Conrad is honored to be a member of the Band of a Thousand Names.
go to albumIf you like Conrad y Skordalia, you may also like:
The Belgian duo use violin, banjo, gongs and bird calls to create looping, gentle songs that mimic the ambience of the natural world.
go to album
With cameos by Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Kate Stables of This is the Kit, the latest from Cabane is elegant and moving.
go to album
A new single from David Luximon is mesmerizing and atmospheric, soulful vocals alternating with heartfelt spoken word.
go to album
