Lyrics

When I Went Down

[Recording: The Assassination of Julius Caesar and its Barbarous Aftermath (EP)]

I went down to find my girl and
I saw her standing there in the snow, oh I shoulda known
Her eyes shot through with blood, the blue was gone
With dawn behind her trembling hands, oh, damn the king
Of this cursed land!

Here they come: their horses run, crashing through the woods
Run, run, run, but don't be scared, your tears won't do no good
Come, come, come, girl, home is there, why would you be lured?
Oh, I thought I had the cure

I went down to find my girl and
She saw me standing there trembling, oh, love is a funny thing
Her red dress swayed as she shook her head, she said
"He's got more gold than god himself"
Oh, the tears I shed

Here they come: their horses run, crashing through the woods
I won't run 'cause I ain't scared, runnin' ain't no good
Damn you, girl, I thought you cared, and though I'm often poor,
Oh I thought I had the cure

Pray tell, d'y' find
The tireless workmen in lines
Hustling lovers down riverbeds?
Well one day you'll smell
The spray of the falls that flow down the well
And under the foam
Skeletons dashing their heads on the stone

The Assassination of Julius Caesar and its Barbarous Aftermath

[Recording: The Assassination of Julius Caesar and its Barbarous Aftermath (EP)]

I. Lend Me Your Ears

Lovers and friends and countrymen
Lend me your ears and I'll
Tell you a story about a man
Old in years, but now he's just a story
Dead at the door of the Senate floor
With Brutus looking on

And what will become of his wife
And young Octavian
And who will lead us now
'gainst the Gauls?

II. Marcus Antonius

This man of war
Lives by the sword
His truth, his truth is marching on

From many one,
The Imperial son,
His truth, his truth is marching on

III. March of the Ragged Armies

The rumble of the drums comes thundering from across the sea
The men of all the towns and their women all dismayed, they gaze wave-ward
And suddenly a sail on the distant seething of the silv'ry swells
Oh, the knells toll sweet like the whispers of a fleet as Rome awaits him

From Apollonia the boy will come ashore
The will of Caesar read aloud to crashing oars
His father's honor robbed, Octavian comes for eyes
The mad thieves' anxious truce unravels at its ties

IV. Aftermath / Octavian Reprise

The war is over; the battle’s done,
And Pompey’s lost, and Antony’s won.
These fields of green are red with blood.
These Roman roads are wrecked with mud.

But the fields of Philippi
Will be green again.
And peace will come unto this land.

My brother’s son, a legionnaire,
A Britannic man with ruddy hair

Died by the lance, fell to the ground
‘twas no romance when he died without a sound

But the fields of Philippi
Will be green again.
And peace will come unto this land.

And what will become of his wife
And young Octavian,
And who will lead us now?
It’s young Octavian.
Who will lead us now
Against the Gauls?

Metropolis

[Recording: Not recorded]

Here where we stand,
here the metropolis spans.
Here it has grown,
grown to be everything we've known.
Grown for the growing.

In the imperial city,
in the footsteps of all,
in the heart of the beating,
in the ring of the call,
you are not you.

In future days that are distant,
in the end of the end,
in the life you are missing,
in the nature you bend,
you are not you.

Time flew away,
still the metropolis stayed.
Green overgrown,
grown over everything we've known.
Was it for nothing?

The Matador's Cancer

[Recording: Not recorded]

I dig holes just to bury soil, sweating and frozen
Threadbare coats and we dance around the latitude's answers

Loud and dumb are the rituals sung these days
Shout enough and you're drowning out the groan of your creaking

Ice wide, forgo

Wonder of the magic hail that rains
dashing forward I encounter glass

Sapphire glow keeps our eyes low whispering snow hymns
The frost will last ‘til the pilgrims learn to fast
If you're running from the addict then the addict'll follow you

Wonder of the magic sun is love
Bends become a bleeding royal sash
Wonder of the blackest void below
Horns will grow from beaten skulls at last

Little Boat

[Recording: Not recorded]

Little boat on the river
Out floating on the water
Little boat out floating
Red sky showing
Small craft warning
Big storm coming
You better sheet your main in
You better reef that sail in
It appears that Noah's flood is comin

Hiker out on the mountain
Miles up and counting
Hiker gone out trekking
No trouble expecting
Chill winds blowing
It starts snowing
Do not lose your footing
You get what you put in
God helps he who helps himself

Lobo loose on the villa
In the manzanitas
Howling at a full moon
Out behind a tall dune
Little boy walking
Big dog stalking
The growling of a canine
Should scare a young mind
But he just grabs the stick that he is packing

This Motion

[Recording: Not recorded]

To lie below the ocean.
To hide and be unbroken.
To ride and pay no token.
To lie below the ocean.

Cause you feel just like an enemy,
And you feel just like a part of me.
And I'm feeling like there's nowhere to be,
but with this motion.

To lie below the ocean.
To feel and go unspoken.
To heal and then reopen.
To lie below the ocean.

Cause you feel just like an enemy,
and you feel just like a part of me,
and I'm feeling like there's nowhere to be
but with this motion.

To lie below the ocean.
To rise and then be floating.
Two eyes that I'm beholding.
To lie below the ocean.

Cause you feel just like an enemy,
and you feel just like a part of me,
and I'm feeling like there's nowhere to be
but with this motion.
With this motion.

The Court of the Dead King

[Recording: Not recorded]

War child, spiteful of war, spits lies through his teeth
(a medic, dancing through tracers, sings to the guns)

Like Janus or Gemini, sundered, I become brothers
The bones of a crumbling house are set in disorder

But too poor to feed two mouths I depart for the border
Distance smothers the history that burned there between us

This is the day the faithless ache and sag forlorn
But I will find a tongue to make my psalms of children's stories
There is a way, hateful and uncovered soul:
You will find a word to transmutate the snake into the womb

One night, with prophets a-wailing, I'm jolted from sleep
The angels carry me home and we meet again

Now sagging, the mice have undone him; he wanders the fields
“Wind us: loose without guidance, we tick towards our end”

Wings clipped, an albatross sinking, he circles the grave:
And grave hymns spew through his teeth like a messenger dead

Jesters and lords are carousing with skeletal grins
All Hell's souls have alighted to see the young prince

I sing to the court of the dead king, draw him from the sea
By eel light, a derelict hull emerges at last

Sewing the wounds of the wounded: will he stand again?
Hug now the walls of the fishbowl and raise up your lids

Patches the Pirate

[Recording: Not recorded]

Let us shake the timbers
Of the skeletal remains
Of our old and leaking sailing ship
Though she bears no name

The company is looking for
Our kind and all our ilk
But we sail low and silently
In search of gold and silk

Piracy in these high seas
Is treason to the crown
Still many flock to join our ranks
The outnumbered and the down

How far, How far must we row?
How far, how far do we go?
How long, long do we roam?
How far, how far is home?

I came aboard at seventeen
And now that I'm a man
I know all the stars that lead the way
From Bermuda to Ireland

If the company should find me here
I'll hang for all my crimes
But stealing is the only way
It's the spirit of the times

Wire

[Recording: Not recorded]

Lover of mine, it's been such a lonely climb up this tower
The watchman's inside, now I think I have to hide another hour
A hole in the floor, a hundred stories, more, to the earth again
But I must be here, suspended in the air, a floating wireman

Wire!

Lover of mine, it took so much lonely time to plan this offering
The tension, the step, the sway, the bated breath, my gift is hovering
In front of the world, now I'm sorry you're my girl, sad to see you
Cause strong is desire, but I need to walk this wire more than I need you

Wire!

Protect Your Star

[Recording: Not recorded]

to the river to the river i went
i was gone for a minute only gone for a minute away
the stars were blossoming i came back sauntering slow
to find that he was nowhere he was nowhere near the fire
only wolves made of dust, only snakes made of water and ice

down and under the plains went wandering where the yaguaras kiss
down and under to spirits talkin bout everyone they miss
and then a thunder-cry like an elephant, my brother came beckoning
they took us in like immigrants to live until the end to live until the end of our days

but a voice came:
protect your star
protect your star
protect your star

love all you can
but don't go blind
protect your star

to the river to the river i went
i was gone for a night only gone for a night but there
appeared a pair of green eyes and a girl wrapped in leaves and vines
she stared, her star was blossoming my star was flowering fire
but i, oh i wanted her too much so i stared at the blackening sky

as it turned out i was winter and i coughed with a windy tongue
soon i saw that she was summer like a sailor on the molten sun
down and under to find my persephone bodiless and full of wind
but i felt that heat and i knew that i couldn't go running, i couldn't go running again

and a voice came:
project your star
project your star
project your star

love all you can
but don't go blind
project your star