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Like a Bird: An Alex Schaaf Anthology (2010-2021) coming out on March 26th.
The Mistress Deluxe Edition out now, get the vinyl here
CAROUSELS EP
release date: May 12, 2009
as: Yellow Ostrich
on: self-released
format: digital
SONGS
Time Machines, pt. 1
Happy Birthday
Strings That Tie to You (Jon Brion)
Paper Dress
In the Garden
LYRICS
Time Machines, pt. 1
This is how the story ends
You and I are riding on an elephant
Someone calls your name
You jump off and I never see you again
Sitting in his study with a
quickly fading whiskey glass
Our author found a way to end his
stories with the truth at last
He always tried to end
with a happy song
and let the hero win
But no one played along
everyone knows that winners
aren’t the best of men
But on this night
the dark truth beckoned
him to where he never planned
the time had come
to see his hero
off without his lover’s hand
I was going to build you a motorcycle
We can’t be friends
We can’t be friends
I was going to take you to the ocean
We can’t be friends
We can’t be friends
Take the man into the next room
make him build you time machines
and ferris wheels
We’ll go back to when we had
not met and then we’ll meet again
and you will see
What a perfect life we’d lead
Happy Birthday
Tell your parents that
you have moved to Italy
Send your car off cliffs
throw your fears up in a tree
Send away for all the things
you never needed
Apologize to all the people
you defeated
It’s your birthday now
you are closer to the end
Life is made a joy
when you know one day you’ll be dead
Blow the candles once
and let them gracefully expire
One day you will remember how
you burned a secret fire
They don’t have to know
that you’re in our head
Paper Dress
Crossing lines in the tunnel
you are there with your brother
you are faint, you are whispers
Michael says go and kiss her
You are soft like the forest
burn it down, says the chorus
I protest, you are naked
I don’t think you will make it
Demons have taken over
you are dry, you are sober
paper dress, ghost of sorrow
you are not here tomorrow
Here we are awakened
with a sound that never stops
You are on the floor
the preacher sings and then he drops
And we say “Amen”
When you have departed
you are as you were before
were you ever here
the answer’s waiting at the door
but I have locked it out
In the Garden
In the garden, in the hall
Will you be there when they call
Birds will swim and mice will fly
You will never, ever die
If you were walking, walking slowly
You would find in lights of holy
There would be a sound
And as you listened, clouds would gather
Ghosts would come and soak in laughter
There would be a bell
In the garden, in the hall
Will you be there when they call
Birds will swim and mice will fly
You will never, ever die
And you would ask your favorite lover
if she would ever find another
You would stand and cry
You would beg and plead for mercy
What you feared the most was the lonely
There would be a sound
In the garden, in the hall
Will you be there when they call
Birds will swim and mice will fly
You will never, ever die
CREDITS
Matt Lenz - trombone
Someone I can’t remember - cello