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Bird Machine

by Sparklehorse

supported by
Yer Mom
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Yer Mom I remember sitting at a table with Vic at The 40 Watt, watching Sparklehorse. Then trying to talk Vic into going to Ashville to The Grey Eagle, where I filmed the show after getting permission. I gave the tape to Charles to transfer and he put it on YouTube years later. I really miss you guys. It's great to hear your voice again. I really, really miss you and Vic. I finally stopped crying every Christmas back in 2019. I wish my daughter could've seen you both play. She turns 14 this year. 💔 ✌❤ Favorite track: The Scull of Lucia.
Pete
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Pete An absolute treasure for those of us who thought we’d never get to hear another album from Mark Linkous. Favorite track: Kind Ghosts.
wilall138
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wilall138 Such a talent!! Who succumbed to Demons
Rest In Peace

Lovely record! Favorite track: I Fucked It Up.
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1.
It’ll never stop The crows with their arrows and their little bows The rabbits with their carrots and their piccolos Oh please don’t go away Captain blowed me astray Oh please don’t vaporize into the sun my love It’ll never stop The winged know it’s migration time The roots and the leaves know mission blind Oh please don’t go away Howdy blowed me astray I stared down the sun but the big old sun won my love
2.
Kind Ghosts 02:52
I hung my wolves up high in the pine trees Like cannonball sails they wouldn’t stay hung Somewhere somebody’s scarecrow is cryin’ How could I’ve not noticed the hammers that did me in Oh where were you My kind ghosts When I needed you I came to drink more whiskey than water Nailed up and confused like a horse on a highway Come to me my lamb, I’ll wait in the magnolia I’ve swallowed a phantom and I forgot how to breathe Oh where were you My kind ghosts When I needed you
3.
Well I kicked and I screamed from zero to four And I still don’t know what for, maybe gored from matadorin Or dreaming on the rails of angels dead drunk in the snow And a train that never blowed, took my legs and I bled out slow Evening, Evening Star Supercharger Even, though she’s dying getting larger Peace without pill, gun or needle or prayer appear Never found sometimes near but too fleet to be clear Never roam never flown raked the tracks of my fears And the grinding metal gears from a carnival of tears Evening, Evening Star Supercharger Even, though she’s dying getting larger To the sea to the roan to the cloud yet unflown To the tone to the stone to the seed yet ungrown A flag unblown Evening, Evening Star Supercharger Even, though she’s dying getting larger Evening, Evening Star Supercharger Even, though she’s dying getting larger To be in babies mothers and fathers
4.
O Child 04:19
O Child I know it can be bad O Child sometimes you’ll be sad But here comes the sun And morning’s levelled guns Here comes the run O Child I know it can be true O Child sometimes it can be all new Here comes the sun And morning’s levelled guns Here comes the run
5.
Falling Down 03:34
Before a record of a sunset After the fires before the celeste Had keyed and rung her chimey two-step A from the mountain sprung the forest Spirit wings for flight is all wound Language from a lip yet unfound The hour drowned, the leaves have sped their rounds Before the boarders ever knew ground Keep on falling down So lo in crept to infect As they wept and slept then ingest Things that men prefer to forget Than peer into a glass of reflect Am I seen to all my dead kin When death floats near are they the ones Who shout in my ear Confederate river ghosts come lie down Inhale the earth’s breath, that’s your bed now You’re of hummingbird and quasar The cannonball has flown its arc now To be found by the plow, years from now Keep on falling down
6.
Well I coulda been a business man But I am a somnambulist Well I coulda discovered some cures But I fucked it up real good Well I coulda had the homecoming queen But I drove my minibike into a tree Well I think she woulda let me kiss her But I fucked it up real good And I paid and paid and paid and paid for it Well I coulda discovered a planet But I didn’t wanna hurt nobody’s feelings Well I coulda been a rock and roll star But I fucked it up real good
7.
Hello Lord 04:08
I don’t want to hurt no body I don’t want to kill no one I just want to see my baby Whose face is like the sun I’m so far from Carolina But I still can see her smile And when I dream it almost seems Like I’ve been with her awhile Hello Lord, How’s your children Do they still fuss and fight With all these guns we’ve given them And ship them off to fight I don’t know if you’ve noticed It’s become an awful sight Hello Lord, How’s your children tonight I don’t know what I’m doing here I’m not sure if this is right All’s I know I’m a soldier boy And a soldier’s job’s to fight Here I lay in this cruel sun I’ve never seen such smoke and fire And I’ve never seen so much blood Lyin’ here in the mire Hello Lord, How’s your children Do they still fuss and fight With all these guns we’ve given them And then send ‘em off to fight I don’t know if you’ve noticed It’s become an awful sight Hello Lord, How’s your children tonight Please please Come for me Please oh please Come for me Hello Lord, How’s your children Do they still fuss and fight With all them guns we’ve given them And send them off to fight I don’t know if you’ve noticed It’s become an awful sight Hello Lord, How’s your children tonight
8.
Daddy's Gone 02:49
Daddy’s gone, Daddy’s gone to go to work today To make a little money, you gotta get paid Bake a cake, bake a cake and set it on a plate Up high where the dogs can’t get it, so it don’t get ate When you lay your head on your pillow I’ll be gone When you breathe your dreams into your pillow breathe them strong I woke up and all my yesterdays were gone Close your eyes, close your eyes until your dreams arrive And keep them tight where the hounds can’t get ‘em So they don’t get ate When you raise your head from your pillow don’t delay, as people decay When you let the rays of the sun help you along I woke up and all my yesterdays were gone
9.
Chaos of the universe Here you are in the very first verse Light sweet on my black-haired nurse Never your father nor your mother Sing among young’uns Never your sister, it wouldn’t kiss her Ring strong her longs Cranes and shallows trapped inside Their chests swollen with light Rise up and lose sight of your heights Sweet dreams in your measureless flights Never your father nor your mother Sing among young’uns Even your sister, they wouldn’t kiss her Oh to belong Don’t you let it get you down
10.
Lucifer in Frognal Listening to the Higsons One night in November And I thought I heard them singing I gotta let this hen out And give this hen some eyeballs I’m running out of living Won’t you see to me Won’t you see to me Whoah oh Listening to the Higsons One night in November And I thought I heard them singing Sing “I gotta let this hen out” The Higsons come from Norwich But I prefer porridge I’m running out of living Won’t you see to me Won’t you see to me Listening to the Higsons
11.
Closed my eyes and all the colors Of the leaves already bled In the vapors of the slumber Fled the orange and the red Now the beaver moon has shown us Her enormous glowing bloom All your sticks and earth are sewn up You may retire to your rooms Everybody’s gone to sleep I don’t know where you are And the hawk I used to talk to And watch him spiral in the vents Found a wife and then there was two And away and off they went Now the bed is feeling cold now In the vacuum of the snow here ain’t no one here to hold now As the winter’s razors blow Everybody’s gone to sleep I don’t know where you are
12.
Don’t hold my hand across the sand Never had no father Showed me to water For you to drink Like that old thing Some are born To sweet the light And some are born To endless night The skull, the old skull of Lucia With me, she will never see ya In the days or in the light Like stars being born Or time being torn It could have all ended Right then and there And be ghosts in the morn The sea I wade And tried to fade Spat me aground Got found undrowned And so I stayed Dry but slightly torn and frayed The crown around her head it played And it spun, made from the sun
13.
Blue 01:23
14.
Stay 01:41
Stay today Stay for the day Oh it’s gonna get brighter Stay for the day Oh it’s gonna get brighter Stay Stay Stay for the day

credits

released September 8, 2023

Recorded by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio, Mark Linkous at Static King, Matt Linkous and Alan Weatherhead at Montrose Recording
Mixed by Joel Hamilton at Studio G, Brooklyn, New York
Produced by Matt Linkous, Alan Weatherhead, and Melissa Moore Linkous
Mastered by Greg Calbi and Steve Fallone at Sterling Sound, New Jersey

All songs written by Mark Linkous except "Daddy’s Gone" written by Mark Linkous and Brian Burton and "Listening to the Higsons" written by Robyn Hitchcock

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