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mothers would awake to feed their children
our brothers would awake to mend their nets and sails
mothers would awake to feed their children
our brothers would awake to mend their nets and sails
they had the boundless light of a new day dawning
and a burning living driving will
they had the light of a boundless new day dawning
they had a burning living driving will
meanwhile the old men sit on the top of a hill
waiting through your legislation
wading trudging through your debate
about whether or not to send
another hundred thousand young men and women
off
into the hurricane
no taxation without representation
we will not pay a toll in blood
the old men were sitting on top of the hill
while the younger
ushered a place for both down by the creek
singing they are following
cold and fishing to their marked graves
the old men sit on top of the hill
of 58,000
walking
walking across the plain i am descending
six feet underground
you send me here
every name
every name
upon this wall
you send me here
six feet under
why don't you take a short walk
walk out of your oval office
walk out of the state house
take a short walk across the lawn
and descend to six feet under and read those names
you're debating still debating whether or not to send me here
you're debating you're debating whether or not to send more over there
six feet under
you really do carry my weight
bats grazing
in the lighted sky above our houses
lightning bugs rising higher and higher
bats grazing in the sky
in the night sky above our houses
lightning bugs rising higher and higher
as the sun leaves behind
as the sun leaves behind
this valley
this waking valley song
a memorial
oh six feet to be under you really did
carry my weight
the earth i confess is not made to our unhappy state
and you're still debating
debate
debate
what is this?
a voice in his head
a voice comes quick and it fades on
it is this waking valley song
archaic and bent with time
it is this memory
it is his memory.
our brothers would awake to mend their nets and sails
mothers would awake to feed their children
our brothers would awake to mend their nets and sails
they had the boundless light of a new day dawning
and a burning living driving will
they had the light of a boundless new day dawning
they had a burning living driving will
meanwhile the old men sit on the top of a hill
waiting through your legislation
wading trudging through your debate
about whether or not to send
another hundred thousand young men and women
off
into the hurricane
no taxation without representation
we will not pay a toll in blood
the old men were sitting on top of the hill
while the younger
ushered a place for both down by the creek
singing they are following
cold and fishing to their marked graves
the old men sit on top of the hill
of 58,000
walking
walking across the plain i am descending
six feet underground
you send me here
every name
every name
upon this wall
you send me here
six feet under
why don't you take a short walk
walk out of your oval office
walk out of the state house
take a short walk across the lawn
and descend to six feet under and read those names
you're debating still debating whether or not to send me here
you're debating you're debating whether or not to send more over there
six feet under
you really do carry my weight
bats grazing
in the lighted sky above our houses
lightning bugs rising higher and higher
bats grazing in the sky
in the night sky above our houses
lightning bugs rising higher and higher
as the sun leaves behind
as the sun leaves behind
this valley
this waking valley song
a memorial
oh six feet to be under you really did
carry my weight
the earth i confess is not made to our unhappy state
and you're still debating
debate
debate
what is this?
a voice in his head
a voice comes quick and it fades on
it is this waking valley song
archaic and bent with time
it is this memory
it is his memory.
Lyrics submitted by omae_
Track duration: 05:36
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marcus ( x-moss icon member)
"older stuff was more refined" meaning 'emo' stuff in general? i'd definitely agree. i have the feeling that people made music then really trying to get away from lyrical and musical cliches (which, then, in punk/hardcore, was being 'hard' and the usual suburban alienation/anger). so doing something different than that sometimes meant songs about deeper seated personal/psychological issues. sometimes it meant dealing with political issues without the heavy handed 'fuck the government' style prevalent then.
the whole 'emo' style itself has become so cliche and used up now that its come all the way back around but instead applied to the same corny issues that standard pop songs address... girlfriends, breakups, high school romance and heartbreaks. a sad inversion.
in the end, the music needs to be more than something for skinny emo kids to lie in bed at night and cry over in carefully chosen ipod playlists.
enough bs out of me.
a voice in his head
a voice comes quick and it fades on
it is this waking valley song
archaic and bent with time
is this memory
it is this memory.
is what i think he says. i love john's vocals in this song.
all the of the older stuff was a lot more refined, and i like it a lot more.
WARNING *long winded editorial* unlike most 'emo' bands, and part of what made moss icon so great and hard to define by this generic term, is that as time went on, instead of getting more introspectively personal and obtuse, they widened their scope musically and lyrically to move from suburban middle-class 'emo' cliche issues like alienation, hating your parents and/or friends, feeling bad after a breakup, etc. to issues of *real* substance. touching on things like the environment, native peoples, dare i say even "spirituality," etc. without going the way of laughable new age-ism or the even-then already worn out punk rock standard musical styles. all this with an amazing lyricism... look at sioux day, cornflower blue, lyburnum wits end, memorial, etc. for examples of this. instead of the accusatory 'you' in most emo/punk/alternative music that attempts to be revolutionary or political, the voice in their later songs changed entirely to narrative, or putting the 'you' into a wholly different context.