Get all 15 Allysen Callery releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Witch's Hand, Lost Children-demos & unfinished songs, Allysen Callery- Covers, Ghost Folk, Allysen Callery - Live at Silencio , Paris, Allysen Callery- Live at The Stone Church, Brattleboro , VT, Prince's Pine, The Song the Songbird Sings, and 7 more.
1. |
Tiny Armageddon
03:55
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1.Tiny Armageddon
Tiny Armageddon small enough
to fit inside your mouth
almost never
talk about it
there's a certain kind of forgiveness
reserve
for the soldier
given his eyes are appropriately weary
given that his body's burdened & broken
you don't ask questions
What did you see while standing
surrounded by death
curious to step
between the bodies & find
your own self laid out amongst them
I will see my own startled face
each day, when I awake
as each morning you must
breathe
place each foot carefully
in sock, in oxblood
leather
rise up slowly, comb your gold
thinning hair
walk into the world once more
Step outside into the world once more
Tiny Armageddon small enough
to fit inside your mouth
almost never
talk about it
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2. |
Jack Jumps Back
03:09
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2. Jack Jumps Back
Jack jumped back
from the ledge we had met
when his lips had been humid
we walked in step
past the deer by the ocean
singing of sweet mead & selkies
& a touch on my forehead
meant a kiss
or it’s shadow
Jack jumped back
every word was a flower
he was heaping them deep
past my perfumed knees
were bruised by the blush
It was a rush
of blood
So I’d said walk it don’t run
but I’d weep for the loss
of what we’d begun
Jack jump back
through the bittersweet
nightshade
remember your dreams &
when you’re done
remember me
I swear on my life
No, I’ll stay still & quiet
velvet dusk brings you twilight
velvet dusk brings you twilight
remember me
singing sweet mead & selkies
remember me
Bruised by the blush it was
a rush of blood
Bruised by the blush it was
a rush of blood
Bruised by the blush it was
everything you ever wanted
Bruised by the blush it was
nothing much
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3. |
Hobgoblin's Hat
04:05
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3.Hobgoblin’s Hat
You came into our valley
One Midsummer’s Day
or was it night
the children found your Hobgoblin’s Hat
floating in the water
The children found your Hobgoblin’s Hat
& they took it home
of course there were some
magical changes
mostly we enjoyed them
the drawing room became a jungle
where
I was a tiger there
We denied our own best friend
the King of California
& we made him cry
but then his mother knew him by his eyes
they were small
& kind
Up there on the moon,
what did it look like to you?
Riding on the back of a panther
with ruby red eyes
It was the most beautiful sight
If I could give you anything
I’d give
a queen for your king
If I could wish for anything
I’d wish
a king for your queen
Up there on the moon
what did it look like to you
we thought you thought
because it was so much
that it was just because
but it was just
the most beautiful sight
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4. |
Vincenzo Part II
03:07
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4.Vincenzo Part II
Weep or willow you’ll taste my tears tonight
whatever breath I have flies helpless behind you
whatever light I’d find
dances in the dark mosaic pattern of your eyes
my house won’t home my heart
walks an empty street at night
sleeping in doorways without you
Vincenzo hold your wife tonight you have a happy home
flowers line the driveway die
to rise up in Spring
I won’t mention this again
it was just a dream roll over
roll it over go back to sleep
Weep or willow you’ll taste my tears tonight
whatever breath I have flies helpless behind you
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5. |
Button Boots
04:35
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5.Button Boots
They whisper with
the heads together
wearing black in the Winter
brown in the Summer
Pomegranates & alabaster
behind a cupped hand
trickled laughter
the great
hooded snake
slithered hither
to taste
the soft place
behind an ankle…
he was soon crushed underfoot,
one of them was wearing
buttoned boots
They’d whisper with
their heads together
stiff as a board
light as a feather
lighting candles with wooden matches
red is the color of desire
green for wealth & blue
communion
If there was a wolf
they didn’t know him
If ever was a bear
they’d never own him
One found a silver mirror
given by an old friend
it was then they’d never
speak again…..
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6. |
Vincenzo Part I
04:12
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6.Vincenzo Part I
Vincenzo come to me
without your necktie
do you think you’re fooling
anyone (that is not your real name)
when you were a baby they stole
your name they held it shining in the light
deciding it too beautiful too bright
they wrapped it tight in rushes & reeds
pushed it in dark waters
Somewhere a prince plays with your name
he doesn’t know you & will never know you
like I do, I hardly know you at all
Once in a million years we fall
once in a million years too late
too late I fall
& I’d fall again
So I watch you through the glass as Tantalus
& you are all the world to me
all the wine the bread the flesh & sweet
sweet these things I’ve never tasted
& I’d say Oh my nameless one
tragedy is beautiful under the stars
under your breath whisper to me
so she can’t hear you
Vincenzo come to me without your necktie
I’ll come to you in shadow
across all stars & roses come to you
across a million years
& in each life I’ll love you without trying
simple as breathing long to kiss you
until I was dead
it’s there in that fleeting instance between
the darkness and the light
I will learn your name then forget
everything
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7. |
Little Star
02:26
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7.Little Star
Shine down little star
show me where you
want to go
over the hillside
& through the woods we will go
listen little star
tell me what you want to know
there it was a red red rose
there it was the red red fox
where he goes
& the red red heart
how it broke
seemed like rain but the snow it came
instead
in the dead of dark
a guiding light,
that’s bright
& my candle hands will
fill with light
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8. |
Mr. Moonlight
03:44
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8. Mr. Moonlight
Oh I should be sleeping
but you keep on speaking
to me Mr. Moonlight
I can’t close my eyes
I can’t close my mind
to you Mr. Moonlight
1 AM I stumble to bed
the ivy makes shadows that crawl across the ceiling
your voice in my head & all left unsaid
still what I’d heard was not quite what I’d wanted
Mr. Moonlight I can’t close my mind to you
3:00 I can see in the dark
we play cat & mouse now
but I hold the phone call
your voice in my head & all left unsaid
everyone on my street will have troubled dreams tonight
Mr. Moonlight you push me pull me look right through me
& never care to care about me
5 AM & I take a ride
I tell myself I’m going looking for the sunrise
see your car parked where it should be
& for that one moment I’m almost happy
turn off the road I turn on the dial
& it’s Patsy Cline singing I’m crazy
Crazy for feeling so lonely crazy for feeling so blue
It’s always the same sometimes
got a different name always a different face
but it’s always you
Mr. Moonlight
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9. |
Grey Wolf
03:47
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9. Grey Wolf
I don’t know exactly when
I met the grey wolf
came loping in sideways
from the empty night
empty but for one quiet star
in the sky
& the grey wolf he sang to me
by the song he sang I knew him intrinsically
& when I looked into his eyes I saw
that he knew me very well
Within the empty night with it’s one quiet star
in the sky
I stroked the grey wolf
& he leaned in close to me
Now the birds have stopped their scolding
& the dumbstruck sun surrenders
not to greyness or to night
but into nothing
I don’t know exactly when
I met the grey wolf
came loping in sideways
from the empty night
empty but for one quiet star
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10. |
A Ring Around The Moon
03:57
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10.A Ring Around The Moon
When you awake read the letters they’d sent
only to wait for the rose
from the only One
standing barefoot in the sunlit room
polish the silver amulet
or the moonstone earrings but never a ring
say rings make your fingers ache
rings make the heart constrict but
a ring around the moon means
I love you
where you lay your head
it’s your chest I am breathing in
the sleep of little children in the woods
A ring around the moon
& I love you
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Allysen Callery Rhode Island
" Her lilting voice and heartfelt lyrics are eerily close to the work of the late British songstress Sandy Denny, the
highest compliment I could hand down to this brilliant artist."- Paste Magazine
Allysen Callery is a self-taught folk artist from Bristol, Rhode Island. Growing up she was heavily influenced by her parent's British Isles Folk Revival records of the late 60′s early 70′s .
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