Get all 8 Deborah Crooks releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Twin Lakes, The Department of the West, Adding Water to the Ashes Remix (10th Anniversary Edition), Be Your Own Bird, Beauty Everywhere, Something Special EP, Little Bird, and It's All Up to You (EP).
1. |
Lit by the Mystery
02:27
|
|||
|
I don’t want to see a ghost
I got plenty on my mind for this one lifetime
Don’t think I‘m not haunted,
Don’t think I take for granted
All those I carry in my bones
Some days I’m heavy with history
Some days I’m lit by the mystery of it all
Forest trees, a symphony
A new arrangement every year
First the aspen, then the fir
Changing color, growing clear
Clouds build their way into a storm
A daily matinee
lightning, thunderclap, paint the flyway
Some days I’m heavy with history
Some days I’m lit by the mystery of it all
I don’t want to see a ghost
I don’t want to see a ghost
I got plenty on my mind for this one lifetime
|
||||
2. |
||||
|
The horse is still in its corral
The swallow pauses on the roof
February’s snow might not ever melt this year
Love will have to find its own proof
We can laugh or cry about time
How it moves too fast how slow it bends
From one angle it looks hopeless
From the other heaven sent
Let the river do the running
Let the river take its course
Let the river rage and calm
Gravity times force
I'm still finding my way toward center
Move past this idea of something more
Some days you know I feel five years old
Crying over that fake teapot that wouldn't pour
No this isn’t child's play
Gravity can bring us together or tear us apart
Only we can decide
To turn toward an open heart
Let the river do the running
Let the river take its course
Let the river rage and calm
Gravity times force
Your heart has all the answers
Just like the earth has all the water it will ever need
The weight of it all can bring us down
Or give us the ground we need
|
||||
3. |
Honey
03:30
|
|||
|
Dreaming of bees, honey on the comb
the way they swarmed and flew on their way to a new home
One big whir, queen and drone, making honey
Fill up the Folgers cans, under skies bright and sunny
Trading fruit no exchange of money
Grapes on the vine, meant for white wine
Apples, pear tree, so much honey
Then the neighbors came apart and filed for divorce
Built a big road and buried their horse
Put up that long fence across from the pond and field of clover
One day you come home, find its all over
Stolen honey, no longer true
Stolen honey, can happen to you
Some things are sweet, but you don't really know it
Until what was once plenty is no more
The world turns and turns, the planets they line up
We rise at dawn, pour coffee into a favorite cup
Hoping for honey, hoping for honey, hoping for something sweet
|
||||
4. |
All Signs
03:56
|
|||
|
In the night I hear the rain
Think of how she said my name
Something about the sound of falling water
How I never felt quite her daughter
All signs lead back to mother
To remind and recover
More to a book than its cover
If I only turn the page
Don’t go in past your knees
Tide might take you away
Ota sin svetog duha
The words we learned to pray
Caution was her superpower
After all she couldn’t swim
Fear a shield of protection
Hope’s dark twin
All signs lead back to mother
I couldn’t help but reflect her
But a mirror could not protect her
And a frame can be a cage
Tejee graja mala
All us bad little girls
Just might grow into women
Who can heal the whole wide world
All signs lead back to mother
To remind and recover
Choose to resent or forgive her
Go ahead now, turn the page
|
||||
5. |
A Garden
03:48
|
|||
|
There are different ways to read the stars
those that are near and those that are far
Watch them shoot across the sky
I wonder where you are
I didn’t smoke, I didn’t drink
but darkness carries you down a dusty road
Broken wheels, misplaced hope, a heavy load to carry
The stars are blinking lives once true
once we were all brand new
And oh how our garden grew
Pull a card from a deck
Chips are down I place my bet
On a second chance, a third with you
Remind me what we once knew
Oh how our garden grew
It’s dark now, what will the stars tell
I’ll make a wish, wish you well
Clear skies, a pure heart, a light in the dark
The stars are blinking lives once true
Remind me what we once knew
Oh how our garden grew
When we were all brand new
|
||||
6. |
Department of the West
03:10
|
|||
|
Lost the job now you’re losing the house
Gonna put one last log on the fire
From a tree planted long ago
Finally cut it down after decades watching it grow
Great Grandpa’s rifle on the hearth
Apache’s called him Chief Wolf
Not a hater still a fighter Indian War guide
Time to smoke out this misplaced family pride
Here we stand but this land was never ours
No matter who spoke truth or who lied
Settled scores, this land was never ours
In a war there are always two sides
Yeah your made of Irish a little Cherokee
That’s what you were always told
But no one said who ventured into that squaw’s teepee
How honor can be bought, taken and sold
Split the wood, split it again,
roll it down the hill, dad used to give you ten
Ten cents for every log, eucalyptus, Monterey Pine
Now you see so many things were never yours, never mine
Here we stand but this land was never ours
No matter who spoke truth or who lied
Settled scores, this land was never ours
In a war there are always two sides
Throw another log on the fire
Oak burns best long and slow
Your heart maybe breaking
But it’s our turn, our turn to go
Here we stand but this land was never ours
No matter who spoke truth or who lied
Settled scores, this land was never ours
In a war there are always two sides
|
||||
7. |
My New Sweet
03:52
|
|||
|
I’m done with the sweet, the sugar on my teeth
The ache of too much too soon
Syrupy come-ons, oh come on
I’m ready for something new in my spoon
Complexity not simplicity
A whole new depth a different degree
Yea bitter, yes bitter is my new sweet
Enough of the saccharine ruin
It’s a different phase of the moon
I’m after substance not just a treat
Keep the fluff, I’ll take the heat
Integrity my indemnity
A strong blend of profundity
Yea bitter, yes bitter is my new sweet
Call it remaking the rules
No more suffering fools
Done wasting time on simple minds
Careless words, those unkind
Integrity my indemnity
A strong blend of profundity
Yea bitter, yes bitter is my new sweet
Complexity not simplicity
A whole new depth a different degree
Yea bitter, yes bitter is my new sweet
Yea bitter, yes bitter is my new sweet
|
||||
8. |
Long Roads
04:27
|
|||
|
Yeah that was me you saw when you were drinking at the bar
I almost came up to say hi but you were already heading for the car
Maybe not trusting your eyes, but yeah that was me
Setting up the microphone, pulling out the guitar
Been round the world but when you come back home doesn’t look like you’ve gone far
But that don’t mean you can’t be proud of who you are
Long roads, dark roads, loose ends riverbends
Happy to just be walking around,
no longer afraid to stand up and make a sound
Not like back when you thought you knew me and i barely said a word
Your hand up my skirt didn’t even bother to flirt
And I thought that was OK I got in my head and went far away
Pretended it wasn’t happening so yea back then I sure didn’t sing
Long roads, dark roads, dead ends, misspent
A little jazz, a little blues, song about the joy of finding new shoes
That fit you perfectly who cares how they look
So go ahead judge all you like
You can’t touch me now and I’ve got the mic
And I know to name things exactly as I see them
Low roads, high roads, truth, freedom
Long roads, dark roads
|
||||
9. |
The Other Side
04:37
|
|||
|
To get from San Francisco to Marin
You must cross a bridge or board a boat
Ferry ride to the other side of the Bay
Embarcadero to Sausalito
Houseboats bobbing, No Name bar
You could pull to the curb in your car
Come pick me up
Come meet me on the other side
But you weren't that kind, not ever
Instead you wrote me letters
With perfect handwriting
Handmade paper at the post office
Five blocks from horse hill
Turn a key, sit on a bench, cry to start my day
All I wanted you to say
Come meet me on the other side
Maple trees going from green to red
Time passing before our eyes
To get from then to now I don’t know how
We did it
To get from Marin to Oakland
You must cross a bridge or board a boat
Ferry ride to the other side
Larkspur, Jack London Square
Sailboats listing, Last Chance Saloon, I’ll wait for you there
Come pick me up
Come meet me on the other side
Come pick me up
I’ll meet you on the other side
|
||||
10. |
River Stones
03:43
|
|||
|
Mountain holds us steady and strong
Earth rumble moves us along
First a boulder then a rock
Falling turning, knock knock
We’re just river stones
Finding our way home
Together and alone
We’re just river stones
Into the water/ we fall
Resist the stream or heed the call?
Surrender to the currents spell
Where we land is for time to tell
We’re just river stones
Finding our way home
Together and alone
We’re just river stones
We lean against each other
We get carried away
Break each other down
Hold each other sway
Rough and edgy, smooth and light
Do you go with flow or hold on tight?
All different centers of gravity
Current comes sets us free
We’re just river stones
Finding our way home
Together and alone
We’re just river stones
|
||||
11. |
||||
|
Snow dusts the hill there’s frost on the grass
Mergansers diving without a gasp
There’s so much we all can say
But listen harder
To what the land will tell you
What the land will tell you
River valley where the bears did roam
Pronghorn hoof prints lead to the unknown
Sage as far as the eye can see
Will you believe?
What the land will tell you
What the land will tell you
Get the sleep out of your eye
Might be we all need to cry
Once we listen
To what the land will tell you
Winter has broken onto the day
It’s cold now but we’ll find our way
Just a trace left of who used to call this home
You thing you're first but you’ll never be alone
If you listen
To what the land will tell you
What the land will tell you
|
||||
Deborah Crooks Alameda, California
"Deborah Crooks makes the case for a return to the roots of rock"- Consequence of Sound
California-based
songwriter Deborah Crooks' music draws on folk, rock, and the Blues. Her diverse, ever-evolving artistic path has included studying writing and poetics at The Naropa Institute, voice in India, co-founding the band Bay Station, and gigging throughout the Western US.
... more
Deborah Crooks recommends:
Go Out and Make Some
by Bay Station
Literate songs imbued with aspects of Americana, blues, jazz and rock and roll.
go to album
Aluminum Oasis
by Michael McNevin
Michael's one of the finest songwriters in the Bay Area
go to album
Western Addition
by The Vivants
Toe-tapping goodness with excellent vocals by Emily Bonn
go to albumIf you like Deborah Crooks, you may also like:
you can reach me if you try
by Kindelan
Yorkshire songwriter and guitarist Kindelan explores life's in-between moments on a debut EP of soulful and sweet jazz.
go to album
Johanna Samuels writes introspective and empathetic songs that explore authenticity with lovely, low-key pop melodies.
go to album
George Cosby's rich voice is the center of these cinematic pop songs that thrum with the ache of longing.
go to album
