Directed and edited by Wade Sharp
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In the photograph you took on our vacation at the lake
We looked invincible, two hearts that might never break
You and I together was the finest thing I’d seen
There’s times I wish we’d stayed just like that picture on the screen
And it can be our secret, what’s happened in between
I only hope you still love what you see
A truer picture of me
I try to show my good side every chance I get
So when you’re looking back the bad days fade just a little bit
We show the world the Christmas lights, all the high times and pretty sights
Like a wish that only this were true
But sometimes a heart’s too heavy to wear upon your sleeve
I only hope you still love what you see
A truer picture of me
What the hell was I thinking with a haircut like that?
Looks like I combed it with a one-eyed wildcat
What I see most clearly is the way that I’m looking at you
You never had to learn me, you just knew
And when you hold me in your eyes I know you will not be deceived
I only hope you still love what you see
A truer picture of me
A truer picture of me
A truer picture of me
A truer picture of me
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2. |
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Down in the basement of an empty house
Selling darkness is an easy pitch
Passing a torch, long-burned out
Hoping nobody flips the switch
Cold cinders in my hands, cinders in my pockets
God help me, I remember the flame
Well, the warmth of the embers was gone when I got it
But I got it just the same
It’s just too far to go in these hand-me-down shoes
Generation blues
Well, my father was a general pain in the ass
And I was a private disgrace
I must’ve huffed a lot of chemicals polishing the brass
‘Cause I never could act my age
Yeah, choir boys, flyboys, look-you-in-the eye-boys
Talkin’ how the war was won
A black and white photo of the soda pop king
Grinning like a son of a gun
And it’s just too far to go in these hand-me-down shoes
Generation blues
Angels fly but a saint’s gotta walk
Gotta wake up in the morning and choose
Take a little sugar, take a little salt
Go make it on the avenue
I got a key in my hand, a key in my pocket
Looking for a room with a view
Well, the doors unhinged and there ain't no lock
And no telling now who’s coming through
It’s just too far to go in these hand-me-down shoes
Generation blues
Well, the trash got tossed while I was sleeping
Look what these kids can do
What’s lost wasn’t worth the cost of keeping
So let’s just start anew
I got nothing in my hands, nothing in my pockets
I threw away the little that’s left
Well, if you ain’t tried it don’t try to knock it
There’s better things up ahead
It’s just too far to go in these hand-me-down shoes
Generation blues
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3. |
Love Yourself
03:45
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The hardest thing is to love yourself
‘Cause nobody else can do it for you
The very first thing is to love yourself
Then there’s nothing that you cannot do
She could not see it any clearer
All the beauty that her soul reveals
But looking into that cold, cold mirror
What she sees just doesn't match the way that she wants to feel
‘Cause the hardest thing is to love yourself
‘Cause nobody else can do it for you
The very first thing is to love yourself
Then there’s nothing that you cannot do
A couple walks with separate burdens
One with grief and one with shame
They hardly recall why they’re hurting
Oh, but they’re hurting just the same
‘Cause the hardest thing is to love yourself
‘Cause nobody else can do it for you
And the very first thing is to love yourself
Then there’s nothing that you cannot do
When fact and fiction fall together
And benediction falters in your throat
When all your connections come untethered
Wrap forgiveness all around you like the warmest winter coat
‘Cause the hardest thing is to love yourself
‘Cause nobody else can do it for you
The very first thing is to love yourself
Then there’s nothing that you cannot do
Nah, there’s nothing that you cannot do
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4. |
North Star
04:13
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The movie that she saw on her first date
Was the typical boy and girl kind
But when he bent down to kiss her goodnight
She’d already left him behind
And she never did know what she wanted
Until she climbed in the passenger seat
With an older man and the top down
And felt the speed of the road ‘neath her feet
And now she’s running away ‘cross the desert
Out of LA, heading south
And out of the arms of all she’s ever known
But they never really knew her anyhow
And maybe she was hoping for too much
But hoping was so easy then
To think that that man who took her away
Could be the one to take her in
And now she’s running away ‘cross the desert
Out of LA, heading south
And out of the arms of all she’s ever known
But they never really knew her anyhow
Now she sends home a card every Christmas
Saying me and your granddaughter’s fine
But there’s always a blank space for the return address
So they gave up knowing her mind
Now she lives all alone like that North Star
So bright and so far gone
And as the heavens go wheeling around her
Finally, she’s feeling at home
Yes, finally, she’s feeling at home
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5. |
Bad Apple
01:34
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Bad apple
Went downtown to speak my mind
One eye forward and one behind
Looking out for a little good trouble
Looking out for that one bad apple
It’s a bad apple
It’s a bad apple
It’s a bad apple
It’s a bad apple
I don’t know but I’ve got a hunch
One bad apple will spoil the bunch
If there’s no love when you plant the seed
It’ll bear a fruit that nobody needs
It’s a bad apple
It’s a bad apple
It’s a bad apple
It’s a bad apple
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6. |
Deeper Family
03:48
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Big trees above
Big trees below my feet
Whispering of love
Whispering they know me
Whispering of a deep
Of a deep
A deeper family
A comfortable chair won’t get you nowhere
You just stare as the view
Turns from the old to the new
And shows you a scene of the secrets it keeps
A secret of a deep
Of a deep
A deeper family
If the story gets told
It’ll never grow old
It just rolls on and on and on and on
Like a leaf in the fall
Doing somersaults down the street in the breeze
Laughing about a deep
Of a deep
A deeper family
Yes, there’s a deep
Of a deep
A deeper family
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7. |
Why We Explode
03:48
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Half-smoked cigarette, lying by the doorstep
Left for me to see I suppose
And I’ve got half a mind to pick it up and finish it
Maybe I’ll taste you there one more time and I’d know
Half-smoked cigarette, still burning where you left it
We should have quit this thing long ago
Stains on my fingertips that you were willing to love
But love’s not the reason we both know
Why we explode
Smoke one more cigarette, I’d rather remember
Than forget you and the hard truth that you told
Maybe it was too much, maybe it was not enough
But it was too hot, it was too hot to hold
Why we explode
Why we explode
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8. |
My Neighborhood
03:01
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I say that’ll never happen in my neighborhood
Well, damn if it can and damned if it could
It already has and it will again
Yeah, my neighborhood’s got the same old sin
Dig ten inches down in this pretty green grass
And there's a layer of cinders and broken glass
Nobody asked who struck that match
When the church house burned down to nothing but ash
Dig another five inches in the cold hard clay
There's arrow heads still draw blood today
They weren’t no use when their rifles blazed
Forgotten on the trail of tears where they lay
I say that’ll never happen in my neighborhood
Well, damn if it can and damned if it could
It already has and it will again
Yeah, my neighborhood’s got the same old sin
Well, Augusta, Georgia’s just a normal town
Eat’s so heavy it’ll hold you down
With a knee on your neck and your face on the ground
I used to trust Augusta but I don’t right now
And I don't trust the history that I learned in school
I don't trust that I'm not just somebody's tool
On the right side of luck when they made the rules
On the wrong side of right made me a fool
I say that’ll never happen in my neighborhood
Well, damn if it can and damned if it could
It already has and it will again
Yeah, my neighborhood’s got the same old sin
Well, that’ll never happen in my neighborhood
Well, damn if it can and damned if it could
It already has and it will again
Yeah, my neighborhood’s got the same, the same old sin
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9. |
Coming Back to Life
02:58
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Coming back to life
My downstairs neighbor stumbling towards his refrigerator door
I can hear his stomach rumbling through his ceiling, through my floor
Sounds just like a two-by-four he’s cutting with a steak knife
It’s a noisy, messy business, this coming back to life
And I'm sitting in my kitchen, hoping for something new
It’s just myself I'm kidding, most anything would do
I blow imaginary smoke rings with my imaginary pipe
Keep my mind on the sweet thing, keep coming back to life
Big crow by my windows got breakfast in his beak
An old man once told me he could teach a crow to speak
He spends his hours on the park bench since he lost his wife
Feeding saltines to the pigeons, he keeps coming back to life
I'm sitting in my pajamas, hoping for something new
It’s just myself I'm kidding, most anything would do
I blow imaginary smoke rings with my imaginary pipe
Keep my mind on the sweet thing, keep coming back to life
When I had to kick the habit of walking in my sleep
I kept a picture in my head that kept me light upon my feet
The reaper right behind me, twirling his scythe
Cursing this old world that keeps coming back to life
And I'm sitting in my kitchen, hoping for something new
It’s just myself I'm kidding, most anything would do
I blow imaginary smoke rings with my imaginary pipe
Keep my mind on the sweet thing, keep coming back to life
Keep my mind on the sweet thing, keep coming back to life
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10. |
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Come visit my island, rest in the silence I’ve made
Beaches I’ve walked where I’ve waited through numberless days
Leave the news from the mainland back where it came from
No need to tell me, it’s always the same
Come visit my island, rest in the silence I’ve made
Friends from the old days have gone their own ways far and wide
Some walked a straight line, some couldn’t walk straight if they tried
So wherever this finds you, let this letter remind you
There‘s always a place to leave it behind
Come visit my island and rest in the silence I’ve made
Come visit my island, rest in the silence I’ve made
Beaches I’ve walked where I’ve waited through numberless days
Leave the news from the mainland back where it came from
No need to tell me, it’s always the same
Come visit my island, rest in the silence I’ve made
Come visit my island and rest in the silence I’ve made
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Steep Canyon Rangers Asheville, North Carolina
Steep Canyon Rangers have spent two decades bending and shaping bluegrass, wedding it to pop, country, folk rock, and more to create something original and all their own. The genre-defying band has developed a remarkable catalog of original music that links them to the past while at the same time, demonstrates their ambitious intent to bring string-based music into contemporary relevance. ... more
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