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Sigh Semaphore

by Myshkin's Ruby Warblers

/
1.
Lied 02:04
the first time that i saw your bastard faces you masters of your master race there on the television, after your revision of the manhattan landscape had taken place i knew you lied, i knew you lied i knew you knew just what was going on inside i knew you murdered and deceived all just to lead us to believe that you could save us from some evil but you're it personified i knew you lied some will find it impossible to hear over the roar of propaganda and that deafening tone of fear but the story's slipping out, the whispers turn to shouts and like me they'll lay awake all night tha day that it comes clear they'll know you lied, they'll know you lied they'll know you took the whole world for a ride they'll know you murdered and deceived all just to lead us to believe that you could save us from some evil but you're it, personified they'll know you lied for all your backroom business deals for all the power that you wield for all your money in your banks for all your troops at your command still nothing will protect you once the facts are all revealed and we know you lied, we know you lied as you so like to say there won't be a hole deep enough to hide we know you lied your way to war against the protest of the world how many will you sacrifice so you can play at your empire we know you lied, we know you lied we know you took the whole world for a ride we know you murdered and deceived all just to lead us to believe that you could save us from some evil but you're it, personified
2.
Sky above New York 15 aeroplanes circling through storms like a tiered wedding cake of waste we celebrate the union of bad timing and greedy hands wedding band kicks up the tune and the punchbowl is filled by the best man with a thousand gallons of gas put on your party hat and dance Lake Charles Louisiana Has a beach and big hotels You can gamble on the water With a lovely view of hell It’s the mouth of cancer alley Oil refineries and chemical plants Built in the poorest communities Where they’ll only be too grateful for the chance To make a thousand gallons of gas Put on their party hats and dance Sky above Baghdad 50 aeroplanes Rain poison on the land On order of those who live comfortably far away Takeover and occupation It’s a story that’s as old as the rule of men We all see through the lie emancipation But most of us seem willing to pretend All for a thousand gallons of gas We’ll put on our party hats and dance Underneath a thin skin She’s as cranky as a woman twice her age Drained of lubrication Now every tremble turns into a rage And her skies are getting thinner And her balance has been thrown all out of grace Next man that sticks a flagpole in her Might just cut the whole thing to the chase All for a thousand gallons of gas And she’ll put on her party hat and dance
3.
Moonwater 02:50
If the moon were full of water Frozen up into her soil We’d send up our digging toys To carve lines into her face And soon there’d be resorts And it would be fashionable to go And the lowest of the low Would work those water mines in space And if the world could run on water Want you can’t hold in your hand Like what runs through you like sand You could run through like a fall Soon there would be wars for water Like there are now wars for land Even barren desert sand Not good for anything at all Not so very long ago Starving held the right To steal enough food To keep herself alive But the richer we become The harder are our hides Now I can watch thirsty die Sitting on my well With the law on my side Now we’ve gone and auctioned water What we thought could not be sold Like a photograph a fingerprint a genetic code And we’ll find a way to make you pay But still we can not stop the rain Maybe that’s the next plan
4.
Jenny 03:00
The lights go down and the air goes wet The big headed clowns begin to sweat And the big haired girls begin to shriek jenny we love you, jenny you freak she climbs onstage and it doesn’t look easy she begins her striptease first a shoe and then a glove and then the whole damn coverup and so reveals a three inch waist imbedded in it’s steel bar cage steel ribs are all that hold her up since her muscles all got liposucked first one breast and then the other come unscrewed from their mother the big headed clowns whistle and cheer they’re begging jenny for a souvenier then one leg and then it’s two and they push closer for abetter view and the big haired girls begin to swoon as jenny shakes off an arm and unscrews an ear the finale of the show the place goes silent she tugs a chain with her chin that runs to her vagina and she starts to turn inside out as the curtain drops and the devout solicit the crowd for donations jenny needs just one more more operation she’s tired of watching the audience writhe she’s gonna get some of them there pop out eyes and in the dressing room they crowd and drool all the big haired girls that made fun of her in school they love her now since she began to dismember for the lust of their big headed men and jenny doesn't say a word as the chatter and gasp as they screw her back together ans they buckle her straps she hasn't spoken for years, she still wonders which one of them big haired girls it was that stole her tongue?
5.
Holy Holy 02:53
Tear your holy buildings down, you’d do better sitting on the ground You care more for bricks and mortar than your ma and all her daughters Holy holy are you feeling holy yet holy holy your plowshares bent into bayonettes Everybodys got to believe in something so they give you a rope and away you swing But take a quiet minute and look inside see how you’ve been cheated on that 10 cent ride Holy holy are you feeling holy still holy holy someone pushing all your buttons for their power thrill Only taught to memorize now we can’t tell the truth from lies Trained to run and jump and hide perfect little soldiers for whosever side Everybody’s got to believe in something the great hereafter of the big brass ring But you care more for obedience than for love or common sense Holy holy are you feeling holier holy holy ain’t nobody righteous in a holy war I’ve felt peace in a Muezin’s call I’ve felt peace in a Christian hall I’ve felt peace in a grove of trees ain’t no peace in bringing someone to their knees Holy holy peace is only real when we give more than take Holy holy that’s what all the radical prophets say – didn’t they?
6.
Horses 03:12
Hide your horses in the barn Kings come buying for his armies The deal he’ll make it isn’t fair He’ll steal them or he’ll slay them there Hold on, hold on, long ride till the dawn Hide your silver beneath the floor Kings come taxing for his wars Take from you he’ll take from me Waste it making misery Hold on, hold on, long ride till the dawn Hide your cries and hide your labors Kings made spies out of your neighbors A war lords lust is never sated Is this the world to which we’re fated? Oh no, hold on, long ride till the dawn And hide your children cross the border Kings come shopping for his soldiers It isn’t much the price he’ll offer A flag to pretty up their coffin Hold on, hold on, long ride till the dawn
7.
Bywater 03:42
It hasn’t rained all summer here in Oregon, now the sky is crying thru the sunshine Crying diamond tears for you New Orleans, storm has passed by bad news is just arriving Bodies floating down the Bywater my bodies floating down the Bywater I feel like a traitor a prodigal daughter and I ain’t ever going home How can you leave a place that breaks so big and hard Her tomboy face is smudged with dirt her chest is stuck out like a schoolyard bully But her shins are shaking in the wind Here comes another one take her one more round again When the going gets rough the restless split That’s what I always done I fear that’s what I always Will you grab me by the ankle wrap around my thigh Plant my feet in fertile soil I get that faraway look in my eye Is is blessed is it the life that never had to leave her village Never had life given and never had to kill it never had all these choices Or heard all these voices or had a car or a highway could take her far so far away We call ourselves wealthy to be footloose and free But what we are that’s you and me I don’t never ever want to leave Will you grab me by the ankle wrap around my thigh Plant my feet in fertile soil I get that faraway look in my Body is floating down the Bywater my bodies floating down the Bywater I feel like a traitor a prodigal daughter and I ain’t never going home

about

recorded in the week after hurricane katrina flooded new orleans, a quietly furious album.

credits

released January 1, 2006

Myshkin: guitar, vocals
Sailor Banks: upright bass, guitar, beats
Leila Chieko: drums
Skip vonKuske: cello
Enion Pelta Tiller: violin
Lara Michell: guitar
Marissa Bega: french horn
Squish: musical saw

Recorded and mixed by Sugar Short Wave
at Tectonic Shift, Portland, OR
Mastered by Tony Orlander
at Mississippi Studios, Portland, OR
Produced by Sugar Short Wave & Myshkin
Artwork found / re-created by Myshkin

all songs © and p Myshkin 2006
Sigh Semaphore © DoubleSalt 2006

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about

Myshkin Warbler Astoria, Oregon

Myshkin and an ever-evolving crew of restless gamblers—string, horn, drum, key, and and wave players. Passions range from tango to electronica, folk-noir to gypsy-swing to modern classical to rocknroll. Literate & spooky. Myshkin mostly plays guitars. When warm, she sings like a shiver down your chakras. Like a heart breaking all wide open. Like one in utter control of uncontrollable things. ... more

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