Model Cities

by Freeminer Birds

Model Cities cover art
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about

Freeminer Birds are:
Steve Bowen- vocals, acoustic guitar, 12 string guitar, percussion
Emily Brown- vocals, organ, piano, flute, glockenspiel, xylophone, harmonica, percussion
Neil Polanski- electric guitar
Anthony Salotto- bass, percussion, back-up vocals

Special thanks to Lail & Corinne. Many thanks to Gary, Dave, Mom & Dad Bowen for letting us borrow instruments.

All songs were written and recorded by Freeminer Birds.

credits

released 01 July 2008
Bowen/Brown/Polanski/Salotto

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Track Name: Model Cities
The tenements rise
blasted homes subsidized by the state
your dreams are all piss, get it out of your system
we’ll never relate
From city hall to the barrios, man, they don’t know who to blame so they blame god
misdirected for decades, built up and it pops
on and on
We’ll help them out if it helps us out
it’s coming up roses in model cities
Track Name: Termites
All that we are in old letters seems to be saved
We’re holding on, holding on
In your arms like a baby
On kitchen chairs and I’m crying
It’s already done, already done
There are termites in the table legs
Is that you or me thats shaking us?
God rest the shame of the family
Hanging around our necks like an heirloom
We’re holding on, holding on
We fall behind and salvation is far off my brothers and sisters
It’s already done, already done
Track Name: I Can't Find You
Late when i hit the road
couldn’t feel more alone
friends and family like buzzards circling around me
holding strangers so close
take my car keys away
i wish i could confess the lies i’ve told
and tell you face to face
but i can’t find you
Track Name: The Crease
Like ashes melting into the snow
we reach the shutter and live forever
this is our house, it seems in one slow breath it traps us in
you are my kind, you see, i fill you in where my space continues
Those chemicals won’t ever leave your skin
the rain at the center becomes the nectar
this is the drain, it seems, it sucks us back, we hold our breath
we are the type, you see, we’re the example, the solution
everything is small
every tiny piece
anything at all gets folded at the crease
As things develop, the film’s retracted
a carbon copy of haunted wanting
this is our dream, it seems we’re living frozen in the setting
you are my love, you see, i draw you in where you are missing
Track Name: Get Me Home
I got the news like breath on skin
I feel what I can’t see
In every sad dark place I’ve been
I knew you’d get me home alive
But I’ll never see you again
Track Name: Old Line Blues
if it gets any colder the pipes are gonna burst
it’ll rain on us while the debt gets worse
we’ll sell the wedding bands, we’ll sell the stereo but it’s never enough
we’re keeping up the rest, we’re keeping up appearances
but there’s always next meals like we draw our next breath
we’re waiting for reprieve, waiting for support but everybody’s got the old line blues
the revolution aint coming through, not on the radio
parades are gonna stop, the union’s got a plan
we’ve gotta get iraq, gotta get iran
it’s running like a vein, running like a vein
to their cadillac cars
rolling through the streets, rolling through the neighborhoods
we’re scrambling on our hands and knees
scraps from a government warehouse
we take it like communion
we’ve got the old line blues
they say the home is where the heart is
we’ve got those old line blues
heartless and homeless
we’ve got those old line blues
Track Name: Sour Puss
Shut down the factories, the ports, the railroad yards,
but please grant us clemency
we’ll change it all soon as we see
convenience is our enemy, manipulated luxury
but waking up is so hard
Tear down, start again
American lungs breathe out, breathe in
bright minds in bright children
build it up and absolve our sins
dad says he’s a union man but the blade’s hanging over his head
waking up is so hard
baby please have faith in me
better times are coming soon
we’ll fill our pockets and hit the road
better times are coming soon
waking up is so hard
Track Name: Way Down West
The city lets you come home tonight
the gutters swell and my arms open like church doors
they kept you all night again, don’t go back
“my son, please don’t ask me that”
In the beginning, there was more
and you told me I was worth the sacrifice
way down west, there is less
only a hidden key and waiting up for your headlights
A generation raised by strip mall sitters
we’re less than family pets
when in the end all you will get is a pat on the back
for good grades and a made bed
Track Name: Jump In Jump Out
pull over the car you know i’m gonna be sick
it’s the radiation from my t.v.
never thought that the sound could be so bad
it’s just the music we make
chest pains and a ringing in my head
from the poisons we take
with you, darling, i could never tell love from hate
you know divine and toxic are both the same taste
come from the same place
you’ll twist my head for a while dear
jump in jump out
i feel so numb but the pain’s unreal
but it’s not as bleak as it seems
Track Name: Filled In
Get on with it son
He can’t even howl now
It's almost done
One between the eyes
And the body’s still warm as I close up the bag
When life is all done it's all done
Down by the willows two sticks mark the spot
Where the dirt filled in
The shots rang out
Sent my teeth chattering
The sun beat down
Red puddles in the dirt
Track Name: Warm Obedience
Give me medicine, a gun to win you back
Suck the venom and our sin, it fades to black
heal the bite
You’re selling them a song for a wavering return
you think that only you can brave the longing left to burn
so can I
So many tightened arms that drag you in
hear them swell and buzz around your ears
the other side is breaking down the fence
destroy themselves in warm obedience
You say you still believe in him when all of this has passed
what kind of god is your god who sells us out so fast?
who’s laughing last?
(chorus)
It’s easier to forgive when our defense is at rest
I will call and tell you that I always loved you best
we’re phasing out our permanence
bloodletting overnight
when the war is over maybe then we’ll reunite
heal the bite
Track Name: Slum Baby
This life began on railroad ties
Far behind the church, we took in simple gifts from god
I should’ve left you where I found you
Blind boys in a steeplechase
on a dying horse aimed straight at hell
That year you met an awful man
he held you down so long
water filled your nose and lungs
they found him seventeen months later
they knew him by his teeth
and his car at the bottom of the Susquehanna
And I was the wind that blew you in, into their cells
safe within the prison walls
And you don’t read the letters from home
you’ve got people missing you
but to most you might as well be dead
We both knew you would never leave
unless it was to jail or war
we both knew you would never leave
but I’ll never darken your door
Track Name: The End
Dumb luck, state lottery
a pastime, the same since we were ten
now i’m all tongue tied again
i tried so many times to snap these ties
we are forever bound, the end
close as my skin to me
drop out right where we left off
but you’re more my enemy
than you’ve ever been my friend
so deal me in
we are forever bound, the end
Track Name: Between the Rake and Coals
Alone when the leaves are turning
Home when the winter’s coming on so strong
Your letters around the room in piles
My sins that need reconciling still building up
Its a punished soul between the rake and coals sweet one
So I grind my teeth and bleed my eyes and wait
I can tell that you hate seeing me sick-faced
With my bones jutting out of my skin
But I’d give anything to wrap my arms around something beautiful
Like you
For one moment
Track Name: An Empty House
From where I am, I see
nothing to cover us
and even though it’s bright inside
it’s still an empty house
I’m gripping at your knees
in crawl spaces I’ll hide from you
we’ll live without our screens
and you’ll rescue me one day
From where I am, I see
nothing to cover me
and even though it’s bright inside
it’s still an empty house
Track Name: St. Clementine
I’ve come to look for you on these dirty floors
I wake up hollering through my sick and sweat
Half blind, am I alive or dead?
With you screaming in my head in the summer heat
From the living room I hear the Sunday chimes
I’ll drink a toast to you, on the other side
You know I can’t dry out this time
I’ve got a bad weight on my mind St. Clementine
I pray you’ll let me go
But the ambulance light shines
Don’t save what I’ve become
Please just forgive the things I’ve done
But you won’t let me die
You knock the smile off my face
If they just let me go, I’m coming home my love
With the top down headed west
The sun behind the hills
I’m coming home my love
Its lonely everywhere
But I feel you getting close
I’m coming home my love
It puts a smile on my face
Track Name: A Year on a Slow Train
My blood is strange and i can’t sit still
the photo booth strip in my fist
a year on a slow train
come home to the locks changed
driving on a long, slow night
wake up to the brake lights brights
a call from the heartland
loose ends to amend
you said it’s over, over and over again
the service then we fill the cars
a straight line with the hazards on
the sun makes the steering wheel
burn like an oil field