Get all 4 Northern Arms releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of This Thing Called We, Chapel Cabaret, Bridge Ballads and the Throats of Dogs (2004), and Northern Arms.
1. |
Away with Words
03:31
|
|||
The paper burns but the words are free
Maybe, they're not for me
An inch of nothing for your history
Lately, they're coming for me
Another vow without action
A cunning little pitch for your distraction
Now, we don't talk so loud
We don't talk
The longer I can keep you on the beam
Waiting, to break or breathe
What you offer's just beyond my means
I'm shaking, while you water the weeds
Always taking
From the hands that I should be shaking
Now, we don't talk so loud
But we are the ones
Away with words
Away with words
Away with words
You've got a way with words
Be the martyr of my routine
Take me, by air or sea
To the ballroom of your make-believe
Lately, they're coming for me
Always taking
From the hands that I should be shaking
Now we don't talk so loud
But we are the ones
Away with words
Away with words
Away with words
You've got a way with words
|
||||
2. |
Up and Onward
04:40
|
|||
I don't want to break because the wait is on
In the ash of an afterthought the wait is on
Move ahead just a little more
Lay your habit next to mine
In the dust of days withdraw
The walls we’ll climb
Let them be your last words
Up up and onward
Up up and onward
Let them be your last words
The lead that's left and the blood you draw - the wait is on
It won't spend in the place we've gone
Give you all of my possessions
For a moment of time
In the dust of days withdraw the walls we'll climb
Let them be your last words
Up up and onward
Up up and onward
Let them be your last words
|
||||
3. |
Swing Out the Bottom
04:20
|
|||
It's gonna be a long, long day
Last in the valley today
The nail and the rope hold fast
Wrap a ribbon to the pole I pass
It's gone - it's on - it's only half begun
It's only half begun now it's gone - it's gone
Along - the rows - you hold the rope you chose
You hold the rope you chose along the row - the row
Swing out the bottom boys cause we caught the bottom of the low
If you swing out below
If you swing on by - If you swing on by
Down if you're dead to the wide
(When the) light breaks over the hill
Greet the ghosts along the crimson field
Float like driftwood limbs
Like a grain across the eye I swim
It's on - it's gone - it's only half begun
It's only half begun now it's gone - it's gone
Go down - you drown
In a shade of mountain brown
The hand that hold you down and then you drown - you drown
Swing out the bottom boys cause we caught the bottom of the low
Swing out below..
If you swing on by - If you swing on by
Hold what you hide - If you swing on by
|
||||
4. |
Tear Me Away
04:22
|
|||
They’re gonna have to tear me away from you
‘Cause you're the one thing that I can't lose
I gather my memories around me
Because I can't keep holding onto you
I tried, I can't no more
How do you keep it from falling to pieces the guns always bring down the door
You and I
It was always war
How do you keep it from falling to pieces the blood won't come up off the floor
But I'm alright.
They’re gonna have to tear me away from you
‘cause you're the one thing that I can't lose
I gather my memories around me
Because I can't keep holding onto you
Arms hide
Hands restore
How do you keep it from falling to pieces the guns always bring down the door
You and I - it was always war
How do you keep it from falling to pieces the blood won't come up off the floor
As all the days come undone
How the Hell did I ever lose this one
You and I - it was always war
How do you keep it from falling to pieces the guns always bring down the door
But I'm alright
It’s not what they told you, I told you
For half my life
I slept with the dogs outside
I'm alright whenever I hold you
I touch you
I'm alright
They’re gonna to tear me away from you
|
||||
5. |
On the Inside
04:03
|
|||
There's a place to go
There's a place to hide
There's a place I know
I know it from the inside
Face to face we row
For the foreign side
There's a place I know
I know it from the inside
When the brakes have burned
On the wheels we ride
There's a place I know
I know it from the inside
When we face returns
When we brace for fire
There's a place I know
I know it from the inside
Even when darkness comes
Deeper than we can run for light
What's another night
When we've had all our lives
When the brakes have burned
On the wheels we ride
There's a place I know
I know it from the inside
Hand and hand we’ll burn
Through the long goodbye
There's a place I know
I know it from the inside
Even when darkness comes
Deeper than we can run for light
What's another night
Even when darkness comes
Deeper than we can run for light
What's another night
I'll throw you to the flies
|
||||
6. |
Come to Me
05:54
|
|||
Reach, with a failing hand
And I ain't been me
In the place I stand
Laid, at the steps of Man
This is not my home
This is not my home
I will place a house upon this ground
I know you won't I know you can't come down
I will place an X upon this ground
I know you won't I know you can't come down....so
Come to me
These are the things that will never leave
Come to me
These are the reasons
Come to me
These are the scenes that will soon be
Come to me
Upon you and me
Wait, though the waters rise
Though the cedars break
And the fire divides
Laid, at the steps of Man
I am not my own
I am not my own
I will place a house upon this ground
I know you won't I know you can't come down
I will place an X upon this ground
I know you won't I know you can't come down
Come to me
These are the things that will never leave
Come to me
These are the reasons
Come to me
These are the scenes that will soon be
Come to me
Upon you and me
|
||||
7. |
Body Down
02:43
|
|||
I left my lady in the waiting room
Just to keep from falling down
‘cause the breathes I spent on pleasing you
Have broke my body down
September 7th was her first time
I can't remember what she said
Oh, so hard to say
But she kept complaining about her brain and the state I'm in
I'm out, I'm out
Down. Out. Down.
I left my lady in the waiting room
Just to keep from falling down
‘cause the breathes I spent on pleasing you
Have broke my body down
She fell in love and then shut down
Charlie’s the only one that can save you now
Oh, she climbed the stairs
You can think it over but you won't get over this
Not this
Come down
I left my lady in the waiting room
Just to keep from falling down
‘cause the breathes I spent on pleasing you
Have broke my body down
|
||||
8. |
Gal Friday
05:40
|
|||
Oh you fool
You never learn do you
You walk wide - taking it out in stride
Are you bored? Or alone? Has the world just come home?
Give way - to try again, try again
You're someone's nobody, Gal Friday
Cut at the tail again, cut at the tail again, cut at the tail
Oh you fool
Grind you right down through you
Peel away peel away, openly fray & display
Are you bored? Or alone? Has the world just come home?
Give way - to die again, die again
You're someone's nobody, Gal Friday
Cut at the tail again, cut at the tail again, cut at the tail
Change your mind - don't play with mine - I'm holding on too hard for you
|
Northern Arms Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Northern Arms are masters of haunting moods and striking storytelling. Helmed by singer and songwriter Keith Richard Peirce,
the ten-piece band incorporates dark imagery with a musical mystique that hits on jazz, folk, and gospel, and blends it with gothic Americana in the vein of 16th Horsepower, Tom Waits and legendary Austin cult faves Lift to Experience.
- John Vettese, WXPN The Key
... more
Streaming and Download help
If you like Northern Arms, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp