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By The Back Stair

by Banded Stilts

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1.
we were lovers in the autumn dead leaves in your hair embers dancing with the stars on the trails of the air forest oh forest protect me in your giving arms lure me into majesty with your humbling charm maybe i'm right i've been wrong many times before the future seems bright we're staring straight at a fiery sun you were just a common stranger looking for a ride I was looking for someone to hide in came to branching paths in the wood we broke out in a run took the one less travelled just for fun
2.
Full Swing 05:00
we were setting up for the river gold rush wade in to our knees bend and drop your pan, wash it from the sand thankful for a breeze the strikes came on fast folks said this would last the rush was in full swing you got sick that year and we shed our tears when you didn't see spring began walking that lonesome road Many have been there but have never come home i cried real hard then first time since I was ten and my father died he worked in an age when work meant something strange unknown in most our lives pillars of the earth shifted in the earth can wear a body down after our dying days will we wander as strays never to be found walking that lonesome road many have been there but have never come home please come home must be forty degrees sun lifts above the trees trying to get the best of me and I cannot shake this fiery, burning ache that's risen in my chest "oh please.." all the gold on this claim could not return the pain that's rattling through my bones somewhere in my mind i begin to climb that dark and lonesome roam walking that lonesome road many have been there but have never come home please come home
3.
you like to start your swim at the bottom where your body can swim across the oceans bed i don't really care where I end up so long as it's in over my head you tried to give your heart away but no one wanted it because it had two legs of its own and it walked the other way towards somebody's home it don't speak to living things the walk is draining its weary eyes swollen knees you like to start your falls from the tops of trees dive in to a blanket of fallen leaves i like jumping from building to building so i don't have to walk below where i don't have to speak to living things the walk is draining my weary eyes swollen knees you tried to give your heart away but no one wanted it cause it had two legs of its own
4.
The Owls 04:18
i grew up around the woods like anyone here did the same things get odd dark comes creeping through a town seems insane it's like walking streets inside a dream where the owls are not what they seem go to work, do as I'm told i drive my car, I want to scream i will try to fly before my days are over i will leave this all behind and in the shadow of those wings you will sing we would sing the night away birds would join in we'd drink till' day to the hillside, to the moon we knew it had to happen soon transported out on a beam and the owls are not what they seem questioning folks that I know and all of the talk on the screens i will try to fly before my days are over i will leave this all behind and in the shadow of those wings you will sing it is time to go pray for hollow bones light enough for the wind to carry me light enough to hold heading towards my home heading towards those cliffs and shores where I spent hours and hours..
5.
humid summer's day you're thinking of leaving this townin your dust you pack up your bags call a friend eastward you're bound to be leaving by noon before your folks come home so you're leaving a note to tell them why you're walking away "because I can and I am like anything with legs, i will write when I'm doing okay" i fell asleep on the bus as it turned onto the highway i dreamed that I saw you at every stop that we made you were selling white roses to all the passerby' s reading your lips you were speaking my name the city is cold the city is hard but it warms with a heat all its own that melts every flake falling on the pavement before they have time to comform the musical streets are keeping you rooted have planted you firm where you stand at a drunk irish pub you're reminded of home so you leave without holding a hand when my head hit the pillow I was gone from my room i dreamed that i saw you on a nice afternoon you were sharing your stories and drinking the time the night came to fast you were gone from my sight i fell asleep on the bus as it turned onto the highway i dreamed that I saw you at every stop that we made you were selling white roses to all the passerby' s reading your lips you were speaking my name
6.
a wintry storm in the middle of march the bones need to rid the cold people will sit and freeze on their front steps waiting to do as they're told i'll make my way to a bar across town to see what the night drags in a room full of bores but the whiskey pours it's the way that it's always been the kitchen is full of rosy cheeked companions who'll sing until their throats are hoarse people nod off, others openly retire the night has to run its course i'll take my time with this bottle of wine toast to their sleeping heads that i might get mine before yo get yours i'll let you know how it's been the dew of the morning creeps under my skin scares all the warmth away i step on the leaves, dead under my feet the seasons will turn again unchanging dreams are a dangerous thing like running with anything sharp but run i can try and with no peering eyes i'll flee into the autumn dark

about

"By The Back Stair" was recorded with Don Mackay at Spaces Between Studios in Halifax, NS, March 2011.

credits

released June 9, 2011

Steve Haley - guitar, piano, harmonica, vocals
Brad Lannon - mandolin, piano, vocals
Marc Fagan - guitar, banjo, vocals
Travis Hatcher - bass and vocals
Reid Shepherd - percussion and vocals

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Banded Stilts

"Banded Stilts reach back to the grand old folk traditions within a contemporary alt-roots sound" (Toronto.com) and utilize a variety of instruments including guitars, accordion and violin to tell stories of ghost towns, gold rushes and goners. The group has showcased at Sappyfest, Halifax POP Explosion, the ECMA's and have toured the country by train. "Little Village" is the bands debut LP. ... more

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