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JOANNA NEWSOM

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Newsom grew up in the small town of Nevada City, California. As a child, Newsom was not allowed to watch televi-sion or listen to the radio because she was raised by doctors who were “kind of idealists when it came to hoping

they could protect us from bad influences, like violent movies, or stupid stuff”. She was exposed to music from a young age. Her father played the guitar and her mother was a classically trained pianist who played the hammered dulcimer, the autoharp and conga drums. She attended a Waldorf school where she studied theater and learned to memorize and recite long poems. This skill helps her to remember lyrics while on tour.

At the age of 5, Newsom asked her parents if she could play the harp. Her parents eventually agreed to sign her up for harp lessons, but the local harp teacher did not want to take on such a young student and suggested she learn to play the piano first. Starting at the age of four, she began playing the piano and later the harp which she “loved from the first lesson onward.” From her instructor, Joanna learned composition and improvisation. She learned to play on smaller Celtic harps until her parents bought her a full-size pedal harp in the seventh grade. During her teens, she and the instrument became inseparable, and she describes her relationship with the harp as similar to “an artificial limb or a wheelchair. It’s almost part of me, but more to the point, it serves a purpose, and if it wasn’t there I would wonder what was supposed to fit in its place.”

She studied composition and creative writing at Mills College in Oakland, California. While at Mills, she played keyboards in The Pleased. She dropped out of the school in order to focus on her music.

The Milk-Eyed Mender . Drag City (2004)

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The Milk-Eyed Mender is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom, released on March 23, 2004 on the Drag City label (see 2004 in music). Joanna Newsom wrote all the songs on the album except for “Three Little Babes”, a traditional Appalachian song by Texas Gladden. According to the liner notes, Joanna plays “a Lyon & Healy style 15 harp, a wurlitzer electric piano, a harpsichord, and piano.”

A bandmate in San Francisco band The Pleased, Noah Georgeson, produced and recorded the album, as well as contributing guitar to two tracks and backing vocals to one. Cover art embroidery is by Emily Prince and photographs are by Alissa Anderson. Newsom thanks former touring partners Will Oldham, Devendra Banhart, and Vetiver, along with many others.

The album received largely positive reviews upon its release, earning Newsom several accolades that same year and by the end of the decade. In 2009, Pitchfork Media named The Milk-Eyed Mender the 47th greatest album of the 00’s.The website also named “Peach, Plum, Pear” the 197th Greatest Song of the 2000s and “Sprout & The Bean” the 229th. Slant Magazine named the album the 83rd best album of its decade. The Milk-Eyed Mender was also ranked number 76 inside Tiny Mix Tapes’s greatest records of the 2000s list. According to The New York Times The Milk-Eyed Mender has sold more than 200,000 copies in the U.S., despite not charting.

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Bridges and Balloons3:42

We sailed away on a winter’s day with fate as malleable as clay; but ships are fallible, I say, and the nautical, like all things, fades

And I can recall our caravel: a little wicker beetle shell with four fine maste and lateen sails, its bearings on Cair Paravel

O my love, O it was a funny little thing to be the ones to’ve seen.

The sight of bridges and balloons makes calm canaries irritable; they caw and claw all afternoon: “Catenaries and dirigibles brace and buoy the living-room -- a loom of metal, warp - woof - wimble.” And a thimbles worth of milky moon can touch hearts larger than a thimble.

O my love, O is was a funny little thing to be the ones to’ve seen

Sprout and the Bean 4:32

I slept all day awoke with distaste and I railed, and I raved

That the difference between the sprout and the bean is a golden ring, it is a twisted string. And you can ask the counselor; you can ask the king; and they’ll say the same thing; and it’s a funny thing:

Should we go outside? Should we go outside? Should we break some bread? Are y’interested?

And as I said, I slept as though dead dreaming seamless dreams of lead.

When you go away, I am big-boned and fey in the dust of the day, in the dirt of the day.

and Danger! Danger! Drawing near them was a white coat, and Danger! Danger! drawing near them was a broad boat, And the water! water! running clear beneath a white throat, and the hollow chatter of the talking of the Tadpoles,

who know th’outside! Should we go outside? Should we break some bread? Are y’interested?

The book of Right On 4:29

We should shine a light on, a light on. And the book of right-on is right on, it was right on,

I killed my dinner with karate - kick ‘em in the face, taste the body; shallow work is the work that I do.

Do you want to sit at my table? My fighting fame is fabled and fortune finds me fit and able.

And you do say that you do pray and you do say that you’re okay.

Do you want to run with my pack? Do you want to ride on my back? Pray that what you lack does not distract.

And even when you ruin through my mind something else is in front; you’re behind. And I don’t have to remind you to stick with your kind

And you do say (...)

And even when you touch my face you know your place.

We should shine a light on, a light on. (...)

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Sadie 6:02

Sadie, white coat, carry me home. Bury this bone, take this pinecone.

Bury this bone to gnaw on it later; gnaw on the telephone. ‘Till then, we pray & suspend the notion that these lives do never end.

And all day long we talk about mercy: lead me to water lord, I sure am thirsty. Down in the ditch where I nearly served you, up in the clouds where he almost heard you

And all that we built, and all that we breathed, and all that we spilt, or pulled up like weeds is piled up in back; it burns irrevocably. (we spoke up in turns, ‘till the silence crept over me)

Bless you and I deeply do no longer resolute and I call to you

But the water go so cold, and you do lose what you don’t hold.

This is an old song, these are old blues. This is not my tune, but it’s mine to use. And the seabirds where the fear once grew will flock with a fury, and they will bury what’d come for you

Down where I darn with the milk-eyed mender you and I, and a love so tender, is stretched-on the hoop where I stitch-this adage: “Bless this house and its heart so savage.”

And all that I want, and all that I need and all that I’ve got is scattered like seed. And all that I knew is moving away from me. (and all that I know is blowing like tumbleweed)

And the mealy worms in the brine will burn in a salty pyre, among the fauns and ferns.

And the love we hold, and the love we spurn, will never grow cold only taciturn.

And I’ll tell you tomorrow. Sadie, go on home now. Bless those who’ve sickened below; bless us who’ve chosen so.

And all that I’ve got and all that I need I tie in a knot that I lay at your feet. I have not forgot, but a silence crept over me. (So dig up your bone, exhume your pinecone, my sadie)

Inflammatory Writ 2:50

Oh, where is your inflammatory writ? Your text that would incite a light, “Be lit”? Our music deserving devotion unswerving - cry “Do I deserve her?” with unflagging fervor. (Well, no you do not, if you cannot get over it)

And what’s it mean when suddenly we’re spent? Ambition came and reared its head, and went. Even mollusks have weddings, though solemn and leaden but you dirge for the dead, take no jam on your bread - just a supper of salt and a waltz through your empty bed.

And all at once it came to me, and i wrote and hunched ‘till four-thirty But that vestal light, it burns out with the night in spite of all the time that we spent on it: one bedraggled ghost of a sonnet! While outside, the wild boars root without bending a bough underfoot- O it breaks my heart; I don’t know how they do’t.

And as for my inflammatory writ? Well, I wrote it and I was not inflamed one bit. Advice from the master derailed that disaster; he said “Hand that pen over to ME, poetaster!” While across the great plains, keening lovely & awful, ululate the last Great American Novels - An unlawful lot, left to stutter and freeze, floodlit. (But at least they didn’t run, to their undying credit.)

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This Side of the Blue 5:21

Svetlana sucks lemons across from me, and I am progressing abominably. And I do not know my own way to the sea but the saltiest sea knows its own way to me.

The city that turns, turns protracted and slow and I find myself toeing th’embarcadero and I find myself knowing the things that I knew which is all that you can know on this side of the blue

And Jaime has eyes black and shiny as boots and they march at you, two-by-two (re - loo - re - loo); when she looks at you, you know she’s nowhere near through: it’s the hardest heart beating this side of the blue.

And the signifieds butt heads with the signifiers, and we all fall down slack-jawed to marvel at words! While across the sky sheet the impossible birds, in a steady, illiterate movement homewards.

And Gabriel stands beneath forest and moon. See them rattle & boo, see them shake, see them loom. See him fashion a cap from a page of Camus; see him navigate deftly this side of the blue.

And the rest of our lives will the moments accrue when the shape of their goneness will flare up anew. hen we do what we have to do (re - loo - re -loo), which is all you can do on this side of the blue.

“En Gallop” 5:07

This place is damp and ghostly I am already gone. And the halls were lined with the disembodied and dustly wings, which fell from flesh gasplessly.

And I go where the trees go, and I walk from a higher education (for now, for hire)

And it beats me, but I do not know.

Palaces and stormclouds the rough, straggly sage, and the smoke and the way it will all come together (in quietness, in time)

And you laws of property you free economy you unending afterthoughts, you could’ve told me before -

Never get so attached to a poem you forget truth that lacks lyricism; never draw so close to the heat that you forget that you must eat.

Cassiopeia 3:20

Feel the mattress tense beneath me like the muscle of nonsleepy; Feathers flexing will defeat me, and it vexes me completely.

And the hexes heat covertly like a slow low-flying turkey like a Texan drying jerky but his meaty mitts can’t hurt me

With my steely will compounded in a mighty mound that’s hounded by the SNAP my steel string sounded, just before your snores unwound it.

And in store are dreams so daring that the night can’t stop from staring. I’ll swim sweetly as a herring through the ether, not despairing.

Go to sleep, you stunning sky; gently creep cunning by: A quiet hum is amplified by your thumb, that you suck dry.

Hundred raging waters snare the lonely sigh. Hold your breath and clasp at Cassiopiea.

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Peach, Plum, Pear 3:34

We speak in the store I’m a sensitive bore and you’re markedly more and I’m oozing surprise

But it’s late in the day and you’re well on your way what was golden went gray and I’m suddenly shy

And the gathering floozies afford to be choosy and all sneezing darkly in the dimming divide

I have read the right books to interpret your looks you were knocking me down with the palm of your eye

This was unlike the story it was written to be I was riding its back when it used to ride me

We were galloping manic to the mouth of the source we were swallowing panic in the face of its force

I was blue and unwell, made me belt like a horse.

Now it’s done. Watch it go. You’ve changed some. Water ruin from the snow.

Am I so dear? Do I run rare? You’ve changed some: peach, plum, pear.

Swamsea 5:05

If you want to come on down, down with your bones so white, And watch the freight trains pound into the wild, wild night

How I would love to gnaw, gnaw on your bones so white, and watch as the freight trains paw, paw at the wild, wild night.

All these ghost towns, wreathed in old loam (Assateague knee-deep in seafoam)- Ho Swansea! Buttonwillow! Lagunitas! Ho Calico!

And all these beastly bungalows stare, distend, like endless toads - endlessly hop down the road. Borne by wind, we southward blow.

While yonder, wild and blue, the wild blue yonder looms. ‘Till we are wracked with rheum, by roads, by songs entombed.

And all we want to do is chew, and chew, and chew! Dear one, drive on, when all we want to do is chew, and chew, and chew.

And if you want to come on down (...)

Three Little Babies 3:42

There was a knight, and a lady bright and three little babes had she. She sent them away, to a far country, to learn their grammerie.

They hadn’t been gone but a very short time, about three months and a day, when the lark spread o’er this whole wide world and taken those babes away.

It was on a cold, cold Christmas night when everything was still ahe saw her three little babes come running, come running down the hill.

She spread them a table of bread and wine, that they might drink and eat; she spread them a bed of winding sheet, that they might sleep so sweet.

“Take it off, take it off,” cried the eldest one; “take it off, take it off,” cried she, “for I shan’t stay here, in this wicked world when there’s a better one for me.”

“Cold clods, cold clods, inside my bed, cold clods, down at my feet - the tears my dear mother shed for me would wet my winding sheet.”

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Clam, Crab, cockle, Cowrie

4:21where I come from. I am cold, out waiting for the day to come. I chew my lips, and I scratch my nose feels so good to be a rose.

Oh don’t, don’t you life me up like I’m that shy, no no no no no, just five it up - There are bats all dissolving in a row into the wishy-washy dark that can’t let go. I cannot let go, so I thank the lord, and I thank his sword! ‘tho it be mincing up the morning, slightly bored.

O, morning without warning like a hole, and I watch you go. There are some mornings when the sky looks like a road. There are some dragons who were built to have and hold. And some machines are dropped from great heights lovingly. and some bellies ache with many bumblebees. (and they sting so terribly).

I do as I please. Now I’m on my knees. Your skin is something that I stir into my tea. And I am watching you and you are starry, starry, starry and I’m tumbling down, and I check a frown. Well, just look around. It’s why I love this town: just see me serenaded hourly! celebrated sourly! dedicated dourly; waltzing with the open sea - clam, crab, cockle, cowrie : will you just look at me?

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YS . Drag City (2006)

US #134, UK #41

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Ys (pronounced /ˈiˈs/, EESS) is the second album by Joanna Newsom. It was released by Drag City on November 14, 2006 to widespread critical acclaim. The album was named after the city of Ys, which according to myth was built on the coast of Brittany and later swallowed by the ocean. In recent years, the album has been featured on several music publications’ lists of the greatest albums of the 2000s as well as all-time.

PRODUCTIONThe album features full orchestra arrangements by Van Dyke Parks on four of the five tracks. Parks also contributes ac-cordion. Newsom’s harp and vocals were recorded by Steve Albini and the orchestra was recorded by Tim Boyle. Newsom and Parks produced the album and it was mixed by Jim O’Rourke. The recording process was completely analog, on two 24-track tape recorders. The music was mixed to tape and mastered at Abbey Road Studios.

Bass guitar is contributed by Lee Sklar, and electric guitar by jazz guitarist Grant Geissman. Don Heffington played percussion and Matt Cartsonis played mandolin and banjo. Bill Callahan provides backing vocals on the song “Only Skin”, while on “Emily” these are sung by Joanna’s sister Emily Newsom, after whom the song is named.

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The album, particularly the length of the songs and orchestral arrangements, was inspired by the 1971 Roy Harper album Stormcock. In September 2007, Harper supported Joanna Newsom at her Royal Albert Hall performance, playing Stormcock in its entirety. Newsom was also impressed by Van Dyke Parks’ 1968 album Song Cycle, and asked him to collaborate on Ys after listening to that record.

On her fall 2007 tour, Newsom performed the album in its entirety, backed by a 29-piece orchestra.

RECEPTION

The album leaked onto the Internet over two months in advance of its release when it was left unprotected on servers belonging to music criticism website Pitchfork Media.

Ys is Newsom’s first album to chart on the U.S. music charts and it has sold more than 250,000 copies. The album entered the Irish Album Chart at #50, and was also nominated for a 2007 Shortlist Music Prize. The track “Emily” was ranked #9 in Pitchfork Media’s Top 100 Tracks 2006.

Since its release on November 14, 2006, Ys has received widespread critical acclaim, including a #1 ranking in Tiny Mix Tapes’ Top 25 Albums of 2006, and CHARTbeat’s Top 100 Albums of 2006 a #3 ranking on Pitchfork Media’s Top 50 Albums of 2006, and a #7 ranking Time magazine’s 10 Best Albums of 2006. It currently has a score of 85 out of 100, the 15th highest scoring album of 2006 on Metacritic. By the end of 2006 Ys appeared in more than 50 year-end lists, placing inside the top 10 in 35 of them. Despite a negative review by the US Rolling Stone, the German version of the magazine named the album the second greatest of the year. According to Acclaimedmusic.net Ys is the third best album of 2006, and so far is the 27th greatest record released this decade and the 271st greatest of all-time. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

In 2009, the album started to appear in many “best of the decade” lists. Pitchfork Media named Ys the 83rd greatest album of the 2000s. Calling Newsom “unlike anyone else” aside calling the album “the most artistically ambitious indie rock enterprise of the decade” Ys is one of two Joanna Newsom albums placed inside the top 100, the other being The Milk-Eyed Mender . UK magazine Uncut placed the album inside their “150 greatest album of the decade” list, at number 21. Gigwise named Ys the 32nd greatest album of the 2000s commenting that “the record rightly received blanket ac-claim upon its initial release and is already sounding better with age. Whether she’ll ever top this new-folk masterpiece remains to be seen.” The Times placed the album at number 26 in their top 100 albums of the decade list, while The Guardian named it one of the ‘1000 Albums To Hear Before You Die’. British magazine Clash placed Ys at number 13 in their ‘50 Greatest Albums Of Our Lifetime’ list. German magazine Musikexpress named Ys the 92nd greatest album of the last four decades (1969–2009). Two Spanish magazines, Playground and Rock de Lux, have respectively named Ys their 83rd and 15th greatest album of the 2000s. About placed Ys at number one inside their greatest album of the decade list. In 2010, Tiny Mix Tapes named the album the 18th greatest of the 2000s and Cokemachineglow.com the 81st. Rhapsody named it the 46th best album of the 00s.

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Emily12:07

The meadowlark and the chim-choo-ree and the sparrowSet to the sky in a flying spree, for the sport over the pharaohA little while later the Pharisees dragged comb through the meadowDo you remember what they called up to you and me, in our window?

There is a rusty light on the pines tonightSun pouring wine, lord, or marrowDown into the bones of the birchesAnd the spires of the churchesJutting out from the shadowsThe yoke, and the axe, and the old smokestacks and the bale and the barrowAnd everything sloped like it was dragged from a ropeIn the mouth of the south below

We’ve seen those mountains kneeling, felten and greyWe thought our very hearts would up and melt awayFrom that snow in the night timeJust goingAnd going And the stirring of wind chimesIn the morningIn the morningHelps me find my way back inFrom the place where I have been

And, Emily - I saw you last night by the riverI dreamed you were skipping little stones across the surface of the waterFrowning at the angle where they were lost, and slipped under forever,In a mud-cloud, mica-spangled, like the sky’d been breathing on a mirror

Anyhow - I sat by your side, by the waterYou taught me the names of the stars overhead that I wrote down in my ledgerThough all I knew of the rote universe were those pleiades loosed in decemberI promised you I‘d set them to verse so I’d always remember

That the meteorite is a source of the lightAnd the meteor’s just what we seeAnd the meteoroid is a stone that’s devoid of the fire that propelled it to thee

And the meteorite’s just what causes the lightAnd the meteor’s how it’s perceivedAnd the meteoroid’s a bone thrown from the void that lies quiet in offering to thee

You came and lay a cold compress upon the mess I’m inThrew the window wide and cried; Amen! Amen! Amen!The whole world - stopped - to hear you holleringYou looked down and saw now what was happening

The lines are fadin’ in my kingdomThough I have never known the way to border ‘em inSo the muddy mouths of baboons and sows and the grouse and the horse and the henGrope at the gate of the looming lake that was once a tidy penAnd the mail is late and the great estates are not lit from withinThe talk in town’s becoming downright sickening

In due time we will see the far butte lit by a flareI’ve seen your bravery, and I will follow you thereAnd row through the night timeGone healthyGone healthy all of a suddenIn search of the midwifeWho could help meWho could help meHelp me find my way back inThere are worries where I’ve been

Say, say, say in the lee of the bay; don’t be botheredLeave your troubles here where the tugboats shear the water from the waterFlanked by furrows, curling back, like a match held up to a newspaperEmily, they’ll follow your lead by the letterAnd I make this claim, and I’m not ashamed to say I know you betterWhat they’ve seen is just a beam of your sun that banishes winter

Let us go! Though we know it’s a hopeless endeavorThe ties that bind, they are barbed and spined and hold us close foreverThough there is nothing would help me come to grips with a sky that is gaping and yawningThere is a song I woke with on my lips as you sailed your great ship towards the morning

Come on home, the poppies are all grown knee-deep by nowBlossoms all have fallen, and the pollen ruins the plowPeonies nod in the breeze and while they wetly bow, withHydrocephalitic listlessness ants mop up-a their brow

And everything with wings is restless, aimless, drunk and dourThe butterflies and birds collide at hot, ungodly hoursAnd my clay-colored motherlessness rangily reclinesCome on home, now! All my bones are dolorous with vines

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Pa pointed out to me, for the hundredth time tonightThe way the ladle leads to a dirt-red bullet of lightSquint skyward and listen -Loving him, we move within his borders:Just asterisms in the stars’ set order

We could stand for a centuryStarin’With our heads cockedIn the broad daylight at this thingJoyLandlockedIn bodies that don’t keepDumbstruck with the sweetness of beingTill we don’t beTold; take thisEat this

Told, the meteorite is the source of the lightAnd the meteor’s just what we seeAnd the meteoroid is a stone that’s devoid of the fire that propelled it to thee

And the meteorite’s just what causes the lightAnd the meteor’s how it’s perceivedAnd the meteoroid’s a bone thrown from the void that lies quiet in offering to theeBridges and Balloons

Monkey & Bear9:29

Down in the green hayWhere monkey and bear usually layThey woke from a stable-boy’s cry

He said; someone come quick!The horses got loose, got grass-sick!They’ll founder! Fain, they’ll die

What is now known by the sorrel and the roan?By the chestnut, and the bay, and the gelding grey?

It is: stay by the gate you are givenAnd remain in your place, for your seasonAnd had the overfed dead but listenedTo that high-fence, horse-sense, wisdom...

Did you hear that, Bear? Said monkeyWe’ll get out of here, fair and squareThey’ve left the gate open wide!

SoMy brideHere is my hand, where is your paw?Try and understand my plan, UrsalaMy heart is a furnaceFull of love that’s just, and earnestNow; you know that we must unlearn thisAllegiance to a life of serviceAnd no longer answer to that heartless

Hay-monger, nor be his accomplice(that charlatan, with artless hustling!)But; Ursala, we’ve got to eat somethingAnd earn our keep, while still withinThe borders of the land that man has girded(all double-bolted and tight-fisted!)Until we reach the open countryA-steeped in milk and honey

Will you keep your fancy clothes on, for me?Can you bear a little longer to wear that leash?My love, I swear by the air I breathe:Sooner or later, you’ll bare your teeth

But for now, just dance, darlingC’mon, will you dance, my darling?Darling, there’s a place for usCan we go, before I turn to dust?Oh my darling, there’s a place for usOh darlingC’mon will you dance, my darling?Oh, the hills are groaning with excessLike a table ceaselessly being setOh my darling, we will get there yet

They trooped past the guards,Past the coops, and the fields, and the farmyardsAll night, till finally:

The space they gained grewMuch farther than the stone that bear threwTo mark where they’d stop for tea

But walk a little fasterAnd don’t look backwardsYour feast is to the East, which lies a little past the pasture

When the blackbirds hear tea whistling, they rise and clapAnd their applause caws the kettle blackAnd we can’t have none of that!

Move along, Bear; there, there; that’s thatThough cast in plasterOur Ursala’s heart beat fasterThan monkey’s ever will

But still;They have got to pay the billsHadn’t they?That is what the monkey’d say

So, with the courage of a clown, or a curOr a kite, jerking tight at its tetherIn her dun-brown gown of furAnd her jerkin’ of swansdown and leather

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Bear would sway on her hind legs;The organ would grind dregs of song, for the pleasureOf the children, who’d shriekThrowing coins at her feetThen recoiling in terror

Sing, dance, darlingC’mon, will you dance, my darling?Oh darling, there’s a place for usCan we go, before I turn to dust?Oh my darling, there’s a place for us

Oh darlingC’mon, will you dance, my darling?You keep your eyes fixed on the highest hillWhere you’ll ever-after eat your fillOh my darling, dear, mineIf you danceDance, darling, and I love you still

Deep in the nightShone a weak and miserly lightWhere the monkey shouldered his lamp

Someone had told himThe bear had been wanderingA fair piece away from where they were camped

Someone had told himThe bear’d been sneaking awayTo the seaside caverns, to bathe

And the thought troubled the monkeyFor he was afraid of spelunking down in those caves

Also afraid what the village people would sayIf they saw the bear in that state;

Lolling and splashing obscenelyWell, it seemed irrational, really; washing that face

Washing that matted and flea-bit peltIn some sea-spit-shine, old kelp dripping with brine

But monkey just laughed, and he muttered;When she comes back, Ursala will be bursting with pride

Till I jump up!Saying: you’ve been rolling in muck!Saying: you smell of garbage and grime!

But far outFar outBy nowBy nowFar out, by now, Bear ploughed‘Cause she would not drown:

First the outside-legs of the bearUp and fell down, in the water, like knobby garters

Then the outside-arms of the bearFell off, as easy as if sloughed from boiled tomatoes

Low’red in a genteel curtsyBear shed the mantle of her diluvian shoulders;

And, with a sigh,She allowed the burden of belly to drop like an apron full of boulders

If you could hold up her threadbareCoat to the light where it’s worn translucent in places

You’d see spots whereAlmost every night of the year Bear had been mend-ing suspending that baseness

Now her coat drags through the waterBagging, with a life’s-worth of hunger, limitless minnows;

In the magnetic embraceBalletic and glacial of Bear’s insatiable shadow;

Left there!Left there!When Bear left BearLeft there!Left there!When Bear stepped clear of Bear

Sooner or later you’ll bury your teeth

Sawdust & Diamonds9:54

From the top of the flightOf the wide, white stairsThrough the rest of my lifeDo you wait for me there?

There’s a bell in my earsThere’s a wide white roarDrop a bell down the stairsHear it fall forevermore

Drop a bell off of the dockBlot it out in the seaDrowning mute as a rock;Sounding mutiny

There’s a light in the wingsHits this system of stringsFrom the side while they swing;See the wires, the wires, the wires

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And the articulationIn our elbows and kneesMakes us buckle as we couple in endless increaseAs the audience admires

And the little white doveMade with love, made with love:Made with glue, and a glove, and some pliers

Swings a low sickle arcFrom its perch in the darkSettle downSettle down my desire

And the moment I slept I was swept up in a terrible tremorThough no longer bereft, how I shook and I couldn’t remember

Then the furthermost shake drove a murdering stake inAnd cleft me right down through my centerAnd I shouldn’t say so, but I know that it was then, or never

Push me back into a treeBind my buttons with saltFill my long ears with beesPraying: please, please, please,Love, you ought not!No you ought not!

Then the system of strings tugs on the tip of my wings(cut from cardboard and old magazines)Makes me warble and rise like a sparrowAnd in the place where I stood, there is a circle of woodA cord or two, which you chop and you stack in your barrow

It is terribly good to carry water and chop woodStreaked with soot, heavy booted and wild-eyed;As I crash through the raftersAnd the ropes and pulleys trail afterAnd the holiest belfry burns sky-high

Then the slow lip of fire moves across the prairie with precisionWhile, somewhere, with your pliers and glue you make your first incisionAnd in a moment of almost-unbearable visionDoubled over with the hunger of lions‘Hold me close’, cooed the doveWho was stuffed, now, with sawdust and diamonds

I wanted to say: why the long face?Sparrow, perch and play songs of long faceBurro, buck and bray songs of long face!Sing: I will swallow your sadness and eat your cold clay

Just to lift your long face

And though it may be madness, I will take to the graveYour precious longfaceAnd though our bones they may break, and our souls separate- why the long face?And though our bodies recoil from the grip of the soil- why the long face?

In the trough of the wavesWhich are pawing like dogsPitch we, pale-faced and grave,As I write in my log

Then I hear a noise from the hullSeven days out to seaAnd it is the damnable bell!

And it tolls - well, I believe, that it tolls - for me!It tolls for me!

Though my wrists and my waist seemed so easy to breakStill, my dear, I would have walked you to the very edge of the waterAnd they will recognise all the lines of your faceIn the face of the daughter of the daughter of my daughter

Darling, we will be fine, but what was yours and mineAppears to be a sandcastle that the gibbering wave takesBut if it’s all just the same, then will you say my name:Say my name in the morning, so I know when the wave breaks?

I wasn’t born of a whistle or milked from a thistle at twilightNo, I was all horns and thorns, sprung out fully formed, knock-kneed and uprightSo: enough of this terrorWe deserve to know lightAnd grow evermore lighter and lighterYou would have seen me throughBut I could not undo that desire

Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh desireOh-oh, oh-oh-oh desireOh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh desire

From the top of the flightOf the wide, white stairsThrough the rest of my lifeDo you wait for me there

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Only Skin16:53

And there was a booming above youThat night, black airplanes flew over the seaAnd they were lowing and shifting likeBeached whalesShelled snailsAs you strained and you squinted to seeThe retreat of their hairless and blind cavalry

You froze in your sand shoalPrayed for your poor soulSky was a bread roll, soaking in a milk-bowlAnd when the bread broke, fell in bricks of wet smokeMy sleeping heart woke, and my waking heart spoke

Then there was a silence you took to mean something:Mean, run, singFor alive you will evermore beAnd the plague of the greasy black engines a-skulkin’Has gone east While you’re left to explain them to meReleased from their hairless and blind cavalry

With your hands in your pockets, stubbily runningTo where I’m unfresh, undressed and yawningWell, what is this craziness? This crazy talking?You caught some small death when you were sleepwalking

It was a dark dream, darlin’, it’s overThe firebreather is beneath the cloverBeneath his breathing there is cold clay, foreverA toothless hound-dog choking on a feather

But I took my fishingpole (fearing your fever)Down to the swimminghole, where there grows bitter herbThat blooms but one day a year by the riverside - i’d bring it here:Apply it gentlyTo the love you’ve lent me

While the river was twisting and braiding, the bait bobbedAnd the string sobbed, as it cut through the hustling breezeAnd I watched how the water was kneading so neatlyGone treaclyNearly slowed to a stop in this heat- frenzy coiling flush along the muscles beneath

Press on me: we are restless thingsWebs of seaweed are swaddlingYou call upon the duskOf the musk of a squidShot full of ink, until you sink into your crib

Rowing along, among the reeds, among the rushesI heard your song, before my heart had time to hush it!Smell of a stone fruit being cut and being openedSmell of a low and of a lazy cinder smoking

And when the fire moves awayFire moves away, sonWhy would you sayI was the last one?

Scrape your knee; it is only skinMakes the sound of violinsWhen you cut my hair, and leave the birds the trimmingsI am the happiest woman among all women

And the shallowWaterStretches as far as I can seeKnee-deep, trudging alongA seagull weeps; ‘so long’

I’m humming a threshing songUntil the night is overHold on!Hold on!Hold your horses back from the fickle dawn

I have got some business out at the edge of townCandy weighing both of my pockets down‘Til I can hardly stay afloat, from the weight of them(and knowing how the common-folk condemnWhat it is I do, to you, to keep you warmBeing a woman, being a woman)

But always up the mountainside you’re clamberingGroping blindly, hungry for anything:Picking through your pocket linings - well, what is this?Scrap of sassafras, eh sisyphus?

I see the blossoms broke and wet after the rainLittle sister, he will be back againI have washed a thousand spiders down the drainSpiders ghosts hang soaked and dangelin’Silently from all the blooming cherry treesIn tiny nooses, safe from everyone- nothing but a nuisance; gone now, dead and doneBe a woman, be a woman!

Though we felt the spray of the wavesWe decided to stay till the tide rose too farWe weren’t afraid, cause we know what you areAnd you know that we know what you are

Awful atollO, incalculable indiscreetness and sorrow!Bawl, bellow:Sibyl sea-cow, all done up in a bow

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Toddle and roll;Teeth an impalpable bit of leatherWhile yarrow, heather and hollyhockAwkwardly molt along the shore

Are you mine?My heart?Mine anymore?

Stay with me for awhileThat’s an awfully real gunI know life will lay you downAs the lightning has lately done

Failing this, failing this,Follow me, my sweetest friendTo see what you anointed in pointing your gun there

Lay it down! Nice and slow!There is nowhere to go, save upUp where the light, undiluted, is weaving in a drunk dreamAt the sight of my baby, out back:Back on the patio watching the bats bring night in- while, elsewhere, estuaries of wax-whiteWend, endlessly, towards seashores unmapped

Last week our picture window produced a half-wordHeavy and hollow, hit by a brown birdWe stood and watched her gape like a rattlesnakeAnd pant and labour over every intake

I said a sort of prayer for some sort of rare graceThen thought I ought to take her to a higher placeSaid: ‘dog nor vulture nor cat shall toy with youAnd though you die, bird, you will have a fine view’

Then in my hot handShe slumped her sick weightWe tramped through the poison oakHeartbroke and inchoate

The dogs were snappingSo you cuffed their collarsWhile I climbed the tree-houseThen how I hollered!Cause she’d lain, as still as a stone, in my palm, for a lifetime or two

Then, saw the treetops, cocked her head and up and flew(while, back in the world that moves, oftenAccording to the hoarding of these cluesDogs still run roughly aroundLittle tufts of finch-down)

The cities we passed were a flickering wastelandBut his hand in my hand made them hale and harmlessWhile down in the lowlands the crops are all coming;We have everything

Life is thundering blissful towards deathIn a stampede of his fumbling green gentleness

You stopped by, I was all aliveIn my doorway, we shucked and jivedAnd when you wept, I was gone:See, I got gone when I got wiseBut I can’t with certainty say we survived

Then down, and downAnd down, and downAnd down, and deeperStoke without soundThe blameless flamesYou endless sleeper

Through fire below, and fire above, and fire withinSleeped through the things that couldn’t have been if you hadn’t have been

And when the fire moves awayFire moves away, sonWhy would you sayI was the last one?

All my bones they are gone, gone, goneTake my bones, I don’t need noneCold, cold cupboard, lord, nothing to chew on!Suck all day on a cherry stone

Dig a little hole, not three inches roundSpit your pit in the hole in the groundWeep upon the spot for the starving of me!Till up grow a fine young cherry tree

Well when the bough breaks, what’ll you make for me?A little willow cabin to rest on your kneeWhat’ll I do with a trinket such as this?Think of your woman, who’s gone to the west

But I’m starving and freezing in my measly old bed!Then i’ll crawl across the salt flats to stroke your sweet headCome across the desert with no shoes on!I love you truly, or I love no-one

FireMovesAway

Fire moves away, sonWhy would you sayI was the last one?

Clear the room! There’s a fire, a fire, a fireGet going, and I’m going to be right behind youAnd if the love of a woman or two, dear,Couldn’t move you to such heights, then all I can doIs do, my darling, right by you

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Cosmia7:15

When you ate I saw your eyelashesSaw them shake like wind on rushesIn the corn field when she called meMoths surround me, thought they’d drown me

And I miss your precious heartAnd I miss your precious heart

Dried rose petal, red brown circlesFramed your eyes and stained your knucklesDried rose petal, red brown circlesFramed your eyes and stained your knuckles

And all those lonely nights down by the riverBrought me bread and water, water inBut though I tried so hard my little darlingI couldn’t keep the night from coming in

And all those lonely nights down by the river I was brought my bread and water by the kith and the kinNow in the quiet hour when I am sleepin’I cannot keep the night from comin’ in

Why’ve you gone awayGone away againI’ll sleep through the rest of my daysIf you’ve gone away againI sleep through the rest of my daysAnd I sleep through the rest of my daysAnd I sleep through the rest of my days

Why’ve you gone away, awaySeven suns, seven sunsAway, away, away, away

Can you hear me, will you listenDon’t come near me, don’t go missingIn the lissome light of eveningHelp me, Cosmia, I’m grieving

And all those lonely nights down by the riverBrought me bread and water, water inBut though I tried so hard my little darlingI couldn’t keep the night from coming in

And all those lonely nights down by the riverI was brought my bread and water by the kith and the kinNow in the quiet hour when I am sleepin’I cannot keep the night from comin’ in

Beneath the porch light we’ve all been circlingBeat our dust hearts, singe our flour wingsBut in the corner, something is happeningWild Cosmia, what have you seen

Water were your limbs, and the fire was her hairAnd then the moonlight caught your eyeAnd you rose through the airWell, if you’ve seen true light, then this is my prayerWill you call me when you get there

And I miss your precious heartAnd miss, and miss, and missAnd miss, and miss, and miss, and miss, and miss your heartBut release your precious heartTo its feast, for precious hearts

Have One on Me . Drag City (2010)

US #75, UK #28

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Have One on Me is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom, released on February 23, 2010 via Drag City as the official follow up to the harpist’s highly acclaimed second studio release, 2006’s Ys. It is a triple album produced by herself and mixed by long-time collaborators Jim O’Rourke and Noah Georgeson, with the accompanying arrangements by Ryan Francesconi.

Have One on Me is considered to be Newsom’s most accessible work. The lyrics have been described as more straight-forward than those of previous releases, though still cryptic. The albums also shows a further progression of elements of her sound such as the orchestral accompaniment and the arrangements - with the inclusion of diverse instruments like the tambura, the harpsichord and the kaval. The production also flirts with genres such as jazz and blues in some of the tracks, while adding drums and the electric guitar in others. The album is also her first since The Milk-Eyed Mender to include songs played on the piano instead of the harp. Because of health problems, Newsom’s voice was damaged during the sessions consequently affecting the overall recording process and forcing the harpist to change her singing manners.The title of the album and its official release date were officially announced on January 12, 2010, through a comic strip. Otherwise, information about Have One on Me surfaced slowly, mostly being kept secret by the press and Drag City. Advance copies of the album were only sent to music critics a few weeks before its release in an attempt to prevent a leak, since Newsom’s previous leaked months ahead of its original release date after it was left unprotected on servers belonging to music review website Pitchfork Media. It ultimately leaked on February 18, 2010.

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Have One on Me received largely positive reviews by music critics upon its release earning Joanna Newsom several accolades and favorable comparisons to previous singer-songwriters such as Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, Rickie Lee Jones and Kate Bush.. In contrast, like her previous releases before it, the album has received its share of criticism. The majority of them were made towards its triple disc format - described by some critics as overly ambitious - and some of its tracks length.

Commercially the album earned Newsom her best chart positions yet and fared well. In the U.S. Have One on Me debuted and peaked at number 75 on the Billboard 200 and number 16 on the Top Digital Albums, selling more than 7,000 copies in its first week. It also spent four consecutive weeks atop of the Folk Albums chart and peaked inside the top 10 of the Independent Albums chart. In the UK it peaked at number 28, becoming her second album to reach the top 50. Additionally, Have One On Me is her first chart appearance in Canada.

RECORDINGOn March 28, 2009, Newsom performed over two hours of new material at a “secret” concert at the Fernwood Resort in Big Sur, California with fellow Nevada City singer-songwriter Mariee Sioux, under the pseudonym The Beatles’s. Those in attendance reported that about one-third of her new material was played primarily on piano, with a backing arrangement of banjo, violin, guitar and drums. Plans of recording an album appeared earlier that year with the help of Francesconi and Neal Morgan, who did the percussion on the album. According to an interview made by TIME, the three of them crawled through the songs bar by bar, talking about each of their “meaning, mood and thematic stuff”. During the recording of the album, especially when she went to lay the basic vocal tracks, it was discovered that she had lost her voice. This put a freeze on making the record, although she continued to record all of the piano and the harp. By the end of the year she had since completed the album and mastered it in Tokyo.

RELEASEOn January 12, 2010, an entry cryptically titled “@!?*(%$#!!” was posted on the Drag City website where it contained a link leading to a short comic strip titled “Joanna Newsom ‘Have One on Me’” with a date of February 23, 2010. It was later confirmed by Spunk, Newsom’s Australian label, that the title and date represented the title and release date of Newsom’s upcoming album. The album was reportedly to be released in Australia on February 19, 2010, but it was later postponed to February 22. A week later ClashMusic reported that Newsom’s upcoming album would contain the four following tracks: “Jack Rabbits”, “Ribbon Bows”, “Autumn” and “In California”. Newsom also described the album as a “cross between her last two” On January 22 of that same month, less than three days after the interview, ClashMusic removed the article and the interview, citing that “the information given was not part of any exclusive interview with, or authorized, by Joanna Newsom and that the words expressed were solely those of the writer.” Also, according to the magazine, “none of the quotes should be credited to Ms. Newsom”. They concluded by apologizing to “Ms. Newsom and her record company for any distress caused by the article.” That same day, NME had reported that the album would contain three discs.

On January 26, the album was made available for pre-order. Pitchfork Media also reported that Drag City revealed the album cover, which the webzine described as an “utilitarian cover art, a far cry from the fancy portrait that adorned Ys”. It was also confirmed that Have One on Me would be a triple album. At last it was reported that Have One on Me would be released worldwide from February 23, including Australia. Less than a week later, Drag City revealed a new album cover, confirming rumors that the black one released before containing only Joanna’s name and the album title was only provisory and not the final design. Pitchfork Media described it as a “picture of Ms. Newsom lounging amidst too many antiques and animal prints. She looks comfortable.”

On February 8, Japanese website Metropolis reported that Have One on Me would be released in Japan on March 4. Also according to the article although “details and samples of the new album have been kept closely under wraps”, there was “an invite-only listening party for press last week” that “revealed Have One on Me to be Newsom’s magnum opus”.Advance copies were not sent to critics in an effort to avoid a leak of the album according to Uncut; Newsom’s previous album, Ys was leaked two months before its original release when it was left unprotected on servers belonging to music review website Pitchfork Media; However, Have One on Me leaked and became available on P2P networks and BitTorrent on February 18, just days before its official release date.

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PROMOTION AND TOURINGTo promote the album, Drag City streamed three tracks, starting January 26 and ending on February 15, with each one of them being streamed during seven days. “’81” was the first to be streamed at the label’s website and the resulting wave of web traffic overloaded their website. On February 2, the label streamed another new track via its website, “Good Intentions Paving Company”. Pitchfork Media awarded the song a grade of 9 out of 10, and it received the “Best New Music” tag. The reviewer compared Newsom favorably to Rickie Lee Jones and suggested that the song “may be the most humanizing song we’ve heard from Newsom”, aside calling it a “rare thing, then-- an unapologetic love song that feels, you know, new.”. On February 9, the nine-minute “Kingfisher” became the last one released. Aside this and touring in support of the album, Joanna Newsom performed “Soft as Chalk” at Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on March 6, 2010. Newsom performed “81” and “Jackrabbits” on Later with Jools Holland on May 4, 2010. Newsom also appeared on the cover of Under the Radar magazine for its May 2010 issue and in the August 2010 issue of Mojo Magazine. On August 12, Newsom performed “You and Me, Bess” and “81” on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The performance of “You and Me, Bess” was filmed in black-and-white. In support of the album, she also performed in festivals such as the Green Man Festival and All Tomorrow Parties, the latter curated by Matt Groening also earned her a Simpsons cartoon by the cartoonist himself. During the tour, Newsom alongside Fleet Foxes’s Robin Pecknold performed a cover of Kid Rock’s Picture to critical acclaim. Also, her song “On a Good Day” was covered by Pecknold and by punk-rock icon Billy Bragg for The Voice Project. Joanna Newsom also performed this song, incorporating a new instrumental section, in December of the same year on the The Late Show with David Letterman.

COMMERCIAL PERFORMANCEIn the week it was released, Have One on Me reached the top 10 of online music stores such as Amazon and the iTunes in the U.S.. As a consequence, the album debuted and peaked at number 16 on the Top Digital Albums chart and at number 7 on the Independent Albums chart. On the Billboard 200 it debuted and peaked at number 75, selling more than five thousand copies, making it not only her highest charting album, but also her best first week sales yet. It also debuted and peaked atop of the Folk Albums, making Have One on Me her second album to reach the top spot of a Billboard chart. A week later it fell to number 104 at the first and stayed another week at the top of the latter, becoming, so far, her most successful chart performance. On its third week, the album fell to number 140, though it continued to top the Folk albums chart. Have One on Me spent a total of four weeks inside the Billboard 200 and it charted inside of the top 40 and the top 5 of the Independent albums and Folk albums charts, respectively for a few more weeks. By the end of the year it had sold more than 50,000 copies in the U.S. alone. The album also became her first chart appearance in Canada, debuting and peaking at number 80.In Europe, the album also became Newsom’s highest chart appearance to date in the majority of the territories, where it peaked at number 46 on the continent’s overall chart. In the UK it debuted and peaked at number 28, her second album to chart inside the top 50, since Ys peaked at number 41 back in 2006. In Ireland, it debuted and peaked at number 24, falling to number 32 a week after its debut. The album peaked inside the top 20 of the Norwegian Album Charts, and reached the top 100 of others such as the Swiss’s, Netherlands’s and the Belgium’s albums chart. The album charted lower than its predecessor in France, where it debuted and peaked at number 171.

CRITICAL RESPONSEHave One on Me received positive reviews upon its release based on an aggregate score of 85 out of 100 at Metacritic, indicating “Universal Acclaim”. Most of the reviews made note of the sprawling nature of, and the varied styles present in the album, and that whilst a longer album than Ys the orchestral arrangements are scaled-back and less ornate in comparison to Van Dyke Parks’ arrangements on that album. The Observer noted that just as Ys was a considerately more ambitious album than The Milk-Eyed Mender, Have One on Me represented a “correspondingly Knievel-like vault”. The Wire magazine as well as several other reviews noted the expansion of Newsom’s musical palette to include instruments such as tambura and kaval, whilst other critics including Pitchfork Media drew comparison to Joni Mitchell’s 1970s material. They also made note of the maturing of Newsom’s voice, particularly Ann Powers’ review in the Los Angeles Times and Simon Vozick-Levinson in Entertainment Weekly.Anthony Carew of About.com gave the album 5 stars calling Have One on Me “colossal” and “all of the tremors and squeaks of her original screech have been smoothed out, her polished-stone voice rolling syllables into honeyed slurs”, aside concluding that “armed with more beautiful singing, more rich orchestration, and more open emotion, there’s not

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a difficult note on here; it’s two hours amounting to a staggering portrait of an artist defiantly staking her claim as one of the greatest of the 21st century.” Philip Cosores of Consequence of Sound also gave the album a perfect score claiming that “records like Have One on Me are why [perfect scores] exist”. The reviewer also wrote favorably about its production and songwriting referring to them as “emotional moments, moments you can’t help but imagine being moved to tears, even if you are not actually moved to do so”. John Mulvey of Uncut gone even further writing that Have One on Me “sounds very much like a second masterpiece: a different kind of epic to Ys, and one with enough hooks and charms to ensnare at least a few Newsom agnostics” whist Louis Pattison of BBC felt that “as an album, it is huge, sometimes overwhelming – but such is the strength and individuality of Newsom’s vision, it seems almost inconceivable she could produce anything unremarkable”. The New York Times’s Jon Pareles pointed that she “has discovered how to open up her music: to let it whisper and swell, to be swept into the purely musical pleasures of an ingenious arrangement or to let simplicity and silence speak for her.” The Irish Times gave the album 5 stars assuming that although “triple albums are a risk, Newsom pulls this off beautifully.”

Allison Stewart of The Washington Post called Have One on Me “her magnum opus, a three-disc set being likened to a freak-folk Sandinista!, though it feels more like a musical Ulysses.” musicOMHs Darren Harvey awarded the album 5 stars recognized that it is “winding, long-winded, densely poetic, and often challenging”, but “never tedious or self-indulgent”, an opinion also shared by Dan Cairns of The Times. James Reed of the Boston Globe wrote favorably about its production stating that “she could have easily overstuffed these songs, like the dizzying album cover, but instead Newsom keeps a tight grip on the music’s dramatic arcs. Songs tend to open with a simple melody on harp or piano before plummeting into countless rabbit holes”.

Mark Richardson of Pitchfork gave the album 9.2 out of 10 claiming that it was “striking how much Have One on Me feels like its own thing” in comparison to previous works. Paste Magazine’s Jeff Vrabel referred to it as a “panoramic dreamworld” and wrote that “Have One on Me is packed with magic.” Jim Scott of Under the Radar awarded the album 9 out of 10 stating that Newsom “has never been one of those artists who leave the listener wanting more, knowing that there’s more to give.” To him “the massive amount of material contained in Have One on Me will take a long time to digest. Perhaps as long as it takes her to produce another album”. Drowned In Sound also gave the same rating and praised Newsom’s vocals and lyrics, while the former being described as “winsome and technically much improved” and the latter being pointed as “one of her strongest points.” To the reviewer the album is “for now, a stunning and ambitious piece of work; one for the ages”. Sputnikmusic rated the album 4½ stars out of 5 commenting that “it’s been a long time since an album like this was released: an album that is intensely personal even if you can’t relate to the lyrics, even if you’ve never been in love, even if you’ve never lost something, even if you’ve never really felt alive.” To Chris Parkin of Yahoo! Have One on Me is “nothing short of remarkable”, while No Ripcord awarded the album a full score, a second for Newsom, referring to it as “one of the finest albums of this, or any, year.” Renowned Music critic Piero Scaruffi affirmed that “exhausting and exhilarating, this album pushed Newsom to a higher orbit than any of her contemporary singer-songwriter”; Ultimately awarding the record an eight and a half out of ten rating.

Spin’s Andy Beta expressed that Newsom “gives what few artists can deliver: a self-contained world of warmth, crystal-line detail, and intimacy that lies far beyond a Twitter feed.” in his 4 star review. Q Magazine gave the same rating and shared a similar opinion commenting that “Have One on Me is a record so richly involving that it promises to throw up fresh delights weeks, or even months, down the line.” NME stated in its 8/10 review that “most bands don’t make that many great songs in their whole darned career.” Simmy Richman of The Independent described it as “a monumental work in more ways than one.” Will Dean of The Guardian pointed that “at two-hours-plus, it’s a record that demands concentration to appreciate its splatterings of beauty. But pour yourself a glass and listen, because they don’t make them like this too often.” Will Hermes of Rolling Stone awarded the album 3½ stars out of 5 praising the lyrics and believing that it “firmly establishes her as a singer-songwriter to be reckoned with”, while the German version of the same magazine gave Have One on Me 4½ stars and placed Newsom as the cover story of its march issue. Giving it 3½ stars, Heather Phares of Allmusic commented that “the first disc presents Newsom’s biggest departures”, but that “the album’s cross between The Milk-Eyed Mender and Ys isn’t always greater than the sum of its parts”. Andy Battaglia of The A.V. Club gave it a B grade and wrote that “Have One on Me doesn’t hold out any clear organizational structure to cinch it all together. Or at least it hasn’t yet”, while Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune in his 2½ out of 4 stars review commented that “history tells us that most triple albums could’ve benefited from some pruning, and Have One on Me is no exception.”

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As with Newsom’s other studio albums, Have One on Me has received criticism and mixed to negative reviews. Slant Magazine’s Matthew Cole rated it 2 stars out of 5. Cole said it was “remarkable how little narrative arc develops either within or between songs,” and that most of the album plays out with “moments of inspired performance scattered haphazardly throughout tracks that just don’t feel like they’ve been thought through.” He went on to call the record “a strange, and strangely pretentious mess: an album pitted deep in the psychic world of stories that nonetheless can’t figure out when it should begin, when it should end, or which parts are even worth the audience’s attention.” Matthew Fiander of PopMatters gave the album 4 out of 10 points and described the songs as “formless”, although he recognized that there were standout tracks, and some of them came at least close of others songs by Newsom such as Only Skin. He also expressed disappointment, commenting that “it’s too bad really, that Have One on Me is so overdone because there’s a decent album hidden somewhere in there. It’s an album the Newsom we saw in 2006 would have found, formed, and made shine”. In contrast, Zach Schonfeld of the same website has been more positive towards the album while reviewing one of her concerts, describing it as “the closest Newsom will come to a Blood on the Tracks — a confessional opus, straight from the gut.”

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DISC1Easy

6:04Easy, easyMy man and meWe could rest and remain here, easily

We are tested and pained byWhat’s beyond our bedWe are blessed and sustainedBy what is not said

No-one knows what is comingOr who will harvest what we have sewnOr how I’ve been dulling and dumbingIn the service of the heart alone

Or how I am worn to the boneBy the riverAnd in the river made of lightI’m your little life-giverI will give my life

Haven’t you seen what I’ve seenDon’t you know what you ought to doI was born to loveAnd I intend to love you

Down in the valley Where the fields are green,Watch my luck turn, fro and to pluckEvery last daisy cleanTill only I may love you

I am easyEasy to keepHoney, you please meEven in your sleepBut my arms want to carryMy heart wants to holdTell me your worriesI want to be told

Sit and see how the fogFrom the port in the bayLays like snowAt the foot of the Roanoke

Hear the frog going courtingTill the day he croaksSaying even thenHow there is light in the riverAnd there’s a river made of lightCome on you little life-giverGive your life

Who asked youWho asked you

If you want to be loved by meWho died and made you in chargeOf who loves whoAll the livelong dayIf I have my way, I will love you

But One can’t carry the weightOr change the fate of TwoI’ve been waiting for a breakHow long’s it gonna takeLet me love you

How about itHow about what I have to sayHow about that livelong dayHow am I gonna stayHere without you

Easy, easyYou must not fearYou must meet me, to see meI am barely hereBut, like a Bloody MarySeen in the mirrorSpeak my nameAnd I appearSpeak my nameAnd I appearSpeakAnd I appear

Have One on Me11:02

From the courtyard I floated inAnd watched it go downHeard the cup dropThought, “Well, that’s why they keep them around”The blackguard sat hard, downWith no head on him nowAnd I felt so bad‘Cause I didn’t know howTo feel bad enoughTo make him proud

By the time you read thisI will be so far awayDaddy longlegs, how in the worldAm I to be expected to stayIn the nightIn the night, you may hear me callPa, stay your handAnd steel your resolveStay where you areSo long and tall

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Here’s Lola, ta da!, to doHer famous Spider Dance for youLighten up your pocketsShake her skirts and scatter, thereA shrieking six-legged millionaireWith a blight in his sockets

Miss MontezThe Countess of LansfeldAppealed to the King of BavariaSaying, “Pretty papa if you are my friendMister daddy longlegs, they are at it againCan I see you”

Poor Lola, a tarantula’s mountingCountess Lansfeld’s handsome brassiereWhile they all cheer

And the old king fell from graceWhile Lola fledTo save face and her career

You caught a fly, floating byWait for him to drown in the dustDrown in the dust of other fliesWhereby the machine is runAnd the deed is doneHeaven has no wordFor the way you and your friendsHave treated poor LouisMay God save your poor soul, LolaBut there is nothing I adoreApart from that whore’s black heart

Well, doesn’t that just beat allMiss GilbertCalled to CastlemaineBy the silver dollarAnd the gold glitter

Well, I’ve seen lotsBut never, in a million yearsWould think to see you, here

Though the long roadBegins and ends with youI cannot seem to make amends with you, LouisWhen we go outThey’re bound to see you with me

At night, I walk in the park with a whipBetween the lines of the whispering JesuitsWho are poisoning you against meThere’s a big black spider hanging over my doorCan’t go anywhere, anymoreTell me, are you with me

I called to you, several timesWhile the change took placeAnd then arrived, all nightAnd I died

But all these songsWhen you and I are long goneWill carry onMud in your eye

You asked my handHired a band“In your heart is all that you needAsk and you will receive” it is saidI threw my bouquetAnd I knocked ‘em dead

Bottle of white, bottle of redHelpless as a childWhen you held me in your armsAnd I knew that no otherCould ever love me as you lovedLove me as you lovedBut help me I’m leaving

I remember everythingDown to the sound of you shavingThe scrape of your razorThe dully-abrading black hairThat remainedWhen you clutched at meThat night I came upstairs, half-deadAnd, in your kindness you put me straightawayIn the cupboard with a bottle of champagneAnd then, later on a trainIt was dark out, I was half-deadI saw a star fall into the skyLike a chunk of thrown coalAs if god himself spat like a cornered ratI really want you to do this for meWill you have one on me

It was dark, I was drunk and half-deadAnd we slept, knocking headsSitting up in the star-smoking airKnocking heads like buoysDon’t you worry for meWill you have one on meMeanwhile, I will raise my own glassTo how you made me fast and expendableAnd I will drink to your excellent healthAnd your crueltyWill you have one on meHelpless as a childWhen you held me in your armsAnd I knew that no other could ever love me

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From the courtyard, I floated inAnd then I watched it go downHeard the cup dropThought, “Well, that’s why they keep them around”The blackguard sat hardDown with no head on him nowAnd I felt so bad‘Cause I didn’t know how to feel bad enoughTo make him proud

Well daddy longlegs, are youDaddy longlegs, are youDaddy longlegs, are you proud

813:51

I found a little plot of landIn the garden of EdenIt was dirt, and dirt is all the same

I tilled it with my two handsAnd I called it my very ownThere was no one to dispute my claim

Well, you’d be shocked at the state of thingsThe whole place had just cleared right outIt was hotter than hell, so I laid me by a springFor a spell as naked as a trout

The wandering eye that I have caughtIs as hot as a wandering sunBut I will want for nothing more, in my gardenStart again, in my hardening to every heart but one

Meet me in the garden of EdenBring a friendWe are gonna have ourselves a timeWe are gonna have a garden partyIt’s on me, no, sirree, it’s my dime

We broke our hearts in the war betweenSt. George and the dragonBut both, in equal part are welcome to come alongI’m inviting everyone

Farewell to loves that I have knownEven muddiest waters runTell me, what is meant by sin, or none in a gardenSeceded from the union in the year of A.D. 1

The unending amends you’ve madeAre enough for one lifeBe doneI believe in innocence, little darlingStart againI believe in everyoneI believe, regardlessI believe in everyone

Good Intentions Paving Company

7:02Twenty miles left to the showHello, my old country, helloStars are just beginning to appearAnd I have never in my life before been here

And it’s my heart, not me, who cannot driveAt which conclusion you arrivedWatching me sit here, bolt uprightAnd cry for no good reason at the Eastering sky

And the tilt of this strange nationAnd the will to remain for the durationWaving the flagFeeling it drag

Like a bump on a bump on a log, babyLike I’m in a fistfight with the fog, babyStep, ball-change, and a pirouette

And I regret, I regretHow I said to you, honey, just open your heartWhen I’ve got trouble even opening a honey jarAnd that, right there, is where we are

And I’ve been ‘fessing, double-fastAddressing questions nobody askedI’ll get this joy off of my chest, at lastAnd I will love you till the noise has long since passed

I did not mean to shout, just driveJust get us out, dead or aliveThe road’s too long to mentionLord, it’s something to seeLaid down by the Good Intentions Paving Company

All the way to the thing we’ve been playing at, darlingI can see that you’re wearing your staying-hat, darlingFor the time being, all is wellWon’t you love me a spell

This is blindness, beyond all conceivingWhile behind us, the road is leavingAnd leaving, and falling backLike a rope gone slack

Well, I saw straightaway that the lay was steepBut I fell for you, honey, easy as falling asleepAnd that, right there is the course I keep

And no amount of talkingIs going to soften the fallBut, like after the rain Step out of the overhang, that’s all

It had a nice ring to it

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When the old opry house rangSo with a solemn auld lang syneSealed, delivered, I sang

And there is hesitationAnd it always remainsConcerning you, meAnd the rest of the gang

And in our quiet hourI feel I see everythingAnd am in love with the hookUpon which everyone hangs

And I know you meant to show the extentTo which you gave a goddangYou ranged real hot and real coldBut I’m soldI am at home on that rangeAnd I do hate to foldRight here, at the top of my gameWhen I’ve been trying with my whole heart and soulTo stay right here, in the right laneBut it can make you feel over and oldLord, you know it’s a shameWhen I only want for you to pull over and hold meTill I can’t remember my own name

No Provenance6:25

Allelu, alleluI have died happyAnd lived to tell the tale to youI have slept for forty yearsAnd woke to find me goneI woke safe and warm in your armsIn your arms, your arms, in your arms

Not informed of the natural lawSquatting, lordly, on a stool, in a stallWe spun gold clear out of strawAnd, when our bales of bullion were storedYou burned me like a barnI burned safe and warm in your armsIn your arms, your arms

I’m afraid of the Big ReturnThere’s a certain conversation lostAnd that loss incurredWith nobody remainingTo register who had passed this wayIn the night, in the middle of the nightNegating their grace and their sightTill only I remember, or markHow we had our talk

We took our ride

So that there was no-one homeAnd the lights of RomeFlickered and diedAnd, what’s more I believe that you knew it, tooI think you saw their flaresAnd kept me safely unawaresIn your arms, your arms, in your arms

The grass was tall, and strung with burrsI essayed that high sashayWhich in my mind, was my wayYou hung behind, in yoursAnyhow, she did not neighI do not knowWhat drew our eyes to hersThat little black mare did not stirTill I lay down in your arms

Poor old dirty little dog-size horseSwaying and wheezingAs a matter of courseSwaying and wheezingAs a matter of prideThat poor old nagNot four palms wideHad waited a long time

Coated in saltBuckled like a shipRun foul of the fenceIn the middle of the nightShe’d sprung upNo provenanceBearing the whites of her eyesAnd you, with your ‘arrangement’ with FateNodded sadly at her lame assaultOn that steady old gateHer faultlessly etiolated fishbelly-faceThe muzzle of a ghostAnd, pretty Johnny AppleseedVia satellite feedTell us, who was it that you then loved the mostPretty Johnny AppleseedLeave a trail that leadsStraight back down to the farmLay me down safe and warm in your armsIn your arms

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Baby Birch9:30

This is the song for Baby BirchOh I will never know youAnd at the back of what we’ve doneThere is the knowledge of you

Well I wish we could take every pathI could spend a hundred years adoring youYes, I wish we could take every pathBecause I hated to close the door on you

Do you remember staring up at the starsSo far away in their bulletproof carsWhen we heard the rushing, slow intakeOf the dark, dark water, and the engine breaks

And I saidHow about them engine breaksAnd, if I should die before I wakeWill you keep an eye on Baby BirchBecause I’d hate to see her make the same mistakes

When it was darkI called and you cameWhen it was darkI saw shapesWhen I see starsI feel, in your handAnd I see starsAnd I reel, again

Well mercy me, I’ll be goddamnedIt’s been a long, long timeSince I last saw you

And I have never known the planIt’s been a long, long timeHow are you

Your eyes are greenYour hair is goldYour hair is blackYour eyes are blue

I closed the ranks, and I doubled backBut, you know, I hated to close the dog-gone door on you

We take a walk along the dirty lakeHear the goose cussing at me over her eggsYou poor little cousin, I don’t want your dregsA little baby fussing all over my legs

There is a blacksmithAnd there is a shepherdAnd there is a butcher boyAnd there is a barber, who’s cuttingAnd cutting away at my only joy

I saw a rabbitAs slick as a knifeAnd as pale as a candlestickAnd I had thought it’d be harder to doBut I caught her, and skinned her quickHeld her thereKicking and mewlingUpending, unspooling, unsung and blueTold her “wherever you goLittle runaway bunnyI will find you”And then she ranAs they’re liable to do

Be at peace, babyAnd be goneBe at peace, babyAnd be gone

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DISC2On a Good Day

1:48Hey hey hey, the end is nearOn a good day you can see the end from hereBut I won’t turn back, now, though the way is clearI will stay for the remainder

I saw a life, and I called it mineI saw it, drawn so sweet and fineAnd I had begun to fill in all the linesRight down to what we’d name her

Our nature does not change by willIn the winter, ‘round the ruined millThe creek is lying, flat and stillIt is water though it’s frozen

So across the years and miles, and throughOn a good day, you can feel my love for youWill you leave me be, so that we can stay trueTo the path that you have chosen

You And Me Bess7:12

We picked our wayDown to the beachWatching the wavesDragging out of our reachTangling tailsLike a sodden sheetDangling entrailsFrom the gut of the sea

Hoarding our mealsAlfalfa and rollsTrying not to catchThe cold eyes of the gullsI hope Mother Nature has not overheardThough, she doles out hurt like a puking bird

We stayed for the winterNo-one told usAbout the laws of the landI hold my ownBut you, with your hungerYou, on the other handMake yourself known

And when we were foundI know we both grievedMy heart made the soundOf snow falling from eavesYou and me, BessWe were as thick as thievesSo I swore, nonetheless

Up and down, it was only me

So they took me awayAnd after some timeStudying my caseMust have made up their mindsBy the time you realized I was dyingIt must have been too lateI believe you were not lying

It is the dayI wake with my earsCocked up like a gunLike every day, of courseYanked by my wristsTo the sugar-front courtyardNow tell me, what have I doneIt seems I have stolen a horseI step to the gallows

Who do you think you areArching your hooves like a craneIn the shallow gutterThat lines the boulevardsCrowded with folksWho just stare as I hangIt’s all the sameKindness comes over meWhat was your nameIt makes no differenceI’m glad that you cameForever, I’ll listen to your glad neighing

In California8:41

My heart became a drunken runtOn the day I sunk in this shuntTo tap me cleanOf all the wonderAnd the sorrow I have seenSince I left my home

My home, on the old Milk LakeWhere the darkness does fall so fastIt feels like some kind of mistakeJust like they told you it wouldJust like the Tulgeywood

When I came into my landI did not understandNeither dry rot, nor the burn pileNor the bark-beetle, nor the dry wellNor the black bear

But there is anotherWho is a little olderWhen I broke my boneHe carried me up from the riversideTo spend my life

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In spitting-distanceOf the love that I have knownI must stay here, in an endless eventide

And if you come and see meYou will upset the orderYou cannot come and see meFor I set myself apartBut when you come and see meIn CaliforniaYou cross the border of my heart

Well, I have sown untidy furrowsAcross my soulBut I am still a cowardContent to see my garden growSo sweet and fullOf someone else’s flowers

Sometimes I can almost feel the powerSometimes I am so in love with youLike a little clock that trembles on the edge of the hourOnly ever calling out “Cuckoo, cuckoo”

When I called youYou, little oneIn a bad wayDid you love meDo you spite meTime will tell if I can be wellAnd rise to meet you rightlyWhile, moving across my landBrandishing themselvesLike a burning branchAdvance the tallow-colored walleyed deerQuiet as gondoliersWhile I wait all night, for you in CaliforniaWatching the fox pick off my goldfishFrom their sorry, golden stateAnd I am no longerAfraid of anythingSave the life that, here, awaits

I don’t belong to anyoneMy heart is heavy as an oil drumAnd I don’t want to be aloneMy heart is yellow as an ear of cornAnd I have torn my soul apartFrom pulling artlessly with fool commandsSome nights I just never go to sleep at allAnd I standShaking in my doorway like a sentinelAll aloneBracing like the bow upon a shipAnd fully abandoningAny thought of anywhereBut home, my homeSometimes I can almost feel the powerAnd I do love youIs it only timing that has made it such a dark hour

Only ever chiming out “Cuckoo, cuckoo”

My heart, I wear you downI know, gotta think straightKeep a clean plateKeep from wearing downIf I lose my headJust where am I going to lay it

For it has half-ruined me to be hanging aroundHere, among the daphne blooming out of the big brownI am native to it, but I’m overgrownI have choked my roots on the earth, as rich as roeHere, down in California

Jackrabbits4:23

I was tired of being drunkMy face cracked like a jokeSo I swung through hereLike a brace of jackrabbitsWith their necks all broke

I stumbled at the door with my bootI knocked against the jambI scrabbled at your chest, like a muteWith my fists of hamTrying to tell youThat I am telling, I canI can love you againLove you again

I’m squinting towards the EastMy faith makes me a dopeBut you can take my hand in the darkness, darlingLike a length of ropeI shaped up overnight, you knowThe day after she diedWhen I saw my heartAnd I’ll tell you, darling, it was open wideWhat with telling you I amTelling you I canI can love you againLove you again

And it can have no bounds, you knowIt can have no endYou can take my hand in the darkness, darlingWhen you need a friendAnd it can change in shape, or formBut never change in sizeThe water, it runs deep, my darlingWhere it don’t run wide

37

The feather of a hawk was boundBound around my neckA poultice made of figThe eager little vultures peckedAnd a verse I read in jestIn Matthew, spoke to meSaid “There’s a flame that movesLike a low-down pest”And says “You will be free”

Only, tell me that I canTell me that I canI can love you againLove you again

Love you againLove you againLove you again…

Go Long8:02

Last night again you were in my dreamSeveral expendable limbs were at stakeYou were a prince, spinning rimsAll sentiments Indian-given and half-baked

I was brought in on a palanquinMade of the many bodies of beautiful womenBrought to this place, to be examinedSwaying on an elephant, a princess of India

We both want the very same thingWe are praying I am the one to save youBut you don’t even own your own violenceRun away from home, your heard is still blue

With the loneliness of you mighty menWith your jaws, and fists, and guitars and pensAnd your sugarlip, but I’ve never been to the firepitsWith you mighty men

Who made you this wayWho made you this wayWho is going to bear your beautiful childrenDo you think you can just stopWhen you’re ready for a changeWho will take care of youWhen you’re old and dying

You burn in the MekongTo prove your worthGo long, go longRight over the edge of the earthYou have been wrongedTore up since birthYou have done harmOthers have done worse

Will you tuck your shirtWill you leave it looseYou are badly hurtYou’re a silly goose

You are caked in mudAnd in blood, and worseChew your bitter cudGrope your little nurse

Do you know why my ankles are bound in gauzeSickly dressage, a princess of KentuckyIn the middle of the woods which were the probable causeWe danced in the lodge like two panting monkeys

I will give you a call, for one last hurrahAnd if this tale is tall, forgive my scramblingBut you keep palming along the wallMoving at a blind crawl, but always rambling

Wolf-spider, crouch in your funnel nestIf I knew you, once, now I know you lessIn the sinking sand, where we’ve come to restHave I had a hand in your loneliness

When you leave me alone in this old palace of yoursIt starts to get to me, I take to walkingWhat a woman does is open doorsAnd it is not a question of locking or unlocking

Well, I have never seen such a terrible roomGilded with the gold teeth of the women who loved youNow, though I die, Magpie, this I bequeathBy any other name, a Jay is still blue

With the loneliness of you mighty menWith your mighty kiss that might never never endWhile, so far away, in the seat of the WestBurns the fount of the heat of that loneliness

There’s a man who only will speak in codeBacking slowly, slowly down the roadMay he master everythingThat such men may knowAbout loving, and then letting go

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Occident5:37

Mercy me, the night is longTake my pen to write you this songLord, is it harder to carry onOr to know when you are done

All my life, I’ve felt as thoughI’m inside a beautiful memoryReplaying with the sound turned down low

Long-life, show your faceSlow-heart, curb your tasteSmoke me out of my hiding placeLong-life, state your case

What in the world are we waiting forBuilding glowing cities along the shoreWhere the wind batters inBaiting my kin like a matador

So much value, placed uponWhat lies just beyond our plansWaving my handkerchiefRunning along, till the end of the sand

Long-life, speak your nameI’m so tired of the guessing gameBut, something is movingJust out of frameSlow-heart, brace and aim

Breaching slowly, across the seaOne mast, a flash, like the stinger of a beeTo take you awayA swarming fleetIs gonna take you from me

The universe is getting looseSodden spread from some leaden disuseRushing, unhinged, toward diminishing lightsLike a headless caboose

I’ll wait for you alongside the oceanAnd make do with my no-skinBut then, Long-life, will you let me inAnd then, Slow-heart, are you gonna know him

Long-life, speak your nameI wait, while I decry the waitAnd when I die, may I relateSlow heart, congregate

To leave your home and your familyFor some distortion of propertyWell, darling, I can’t goBut you may stayHere, with me

DISC3Soft as Chalk

6:29So, so long agoAnd so far awayWhen time was just a lineThat you fed meWhen you wanted to stay

We’d talk as soft as chalkTill morning came, as pale as a pearlNo time, no, no timeNow, I have got all the time in the world

Say, honey, did you belong to meTell me, honey, was your heart at rest when, darlingAll the mourning doves were howling usA song of love’s oh god-awful lawlessness, lawless-nessSay, honey, did you belong to meTell me, honey, did I pass your testI lay, as still as death, until the dawnWhereupon I wrested from your god-awful lawless-ness, lawlessness

I roam around the tidy groundsOf my dappled sanatoriumCoatless, I sit amongst the moles, adriftAnd I dote upon my pinesap gumAnd the light, through the pines in brassy tinesLays over me, dim as rumAnd thick as molasses, and so time passesAnd so, my heart, tomorrow comes

I feel you, leaningOut back with the cricketsLoyal heart marking the soon-ness darknessTonight, still the mourning dovesWill summon us their songOf love’s neverdoneing lawlessness, lawlessness

While, over and overRear up, stand down, lay roundTrying to sound-out or guess the reasonsTo sleep like a soldier, without restBut there is no treasonWhere there is only lawlessness, lawlessness

In the last weekOf the last year I was awareI took a blind shot, across the creekAt the black bearWhen he roused me in the nightAnd left me cowering with my lightCalling outWho is thereWho is there

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I watched you sleepRepeating my prayerGive love a little shoveAnd it becomes terrorAnd now I am callingIn a sadness beyond angerAnd beyond fearWho is thereWho’s thereWho is there

I glare and nodLike the character, GodBearing down upon the houses and lawnsI knew a little bit,But, darling, you were itAnd, darling, now it is long goneSweetheart, in your clean, bright startBack there, behind a hill, and a dellAnd a state line or two, I’ll be thinking of youYes, I’ll be thinking and be wishing you wellWe land, I stand, but I wait for the sound of the bellI have to catch a cab and my bags are at the carouselAnd then Lord, just then, time alone will only tellYou morning dove

Esme7:56

I can feel a differenceToday, a differenceAll of us, in our tentsFearing god like a mistress

We lay on the rocks, in the sunWatching you and your mama row inI sat up and blinked when you appearedSo pale you were nearly clear

Later, I stumbled to my bedAll alone in the branchesI laid in the darkThinking about all of my friends and their changes

And I do not know if you knowJust what you have doneYou are the sweetest oneI have ever laid my eyes upon

It’s a beautiful townWith the rain coming downBlackberry, rosemaryJimmy-crack-corn

You’ve got the run of the placeNow that you’re running aroundAnd may kindnessKindness, kindness aboundIn this hour of our lives

Hour of effortless plentyHow do we know which parts of our heartsWant what with such base generosity

Taking so many photographs, so amazedWe’ve never seen a baby so newly bornAnd, when the bulbs do flash as bright as morningThe crowd keeps on gathering like an electric storm

The phantom of loveMoves among us at willEach phantom-limb lostHas got an angelSo confusedLike the wagging bobbed-tail of a bulldogKindness, kindness prevails.

Kindness prevailsTies and railsTies and rails fall into line bearing kindnessWhere will you go, if not hereWhat will you say when you write to us

And this is a world of terrible hardship, everywhereAnd I search for words to set you at easeBut there, in the looking-glass, a kite is soaringStilling my warring heart and my trembling knees

Clean as a breezeBright as the dayAll of the people gather to say“Sweet Esme!Sweet Esme!Oh, oh, oh!”

I believe love will always surround youBrave as a bear with a heart rare and trueBut if you are scared, if you are blueI have prepared this small song for you

“Sweet Esme!Sweet Esme!Oh, oh, oh!”

“Sweet Esme!Sweet Esme!Oh, oh, oh!”

“Sweet Esme!Esme!

“Sweet Esme!Sweet Esme!Oh, oh, oh!”

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Autumn8:01

Driven through by her own swordSummer died last night, aloneEven the ghosts huddled up for warmthAutumn has come to my hometown

Friendly voices, dead and gone,Singing, Star of the country downEven the ghosts help raise the barnHere, now, in my hometown

When, out of the massing that bodes and bides in the cold westFlew a waxwing, who froze and died against my breastAnd all the while, rain, like a weed in the tideSwans and lists, down on the gossiping lawnsSaying tsk tsk tsk

I may have changed, it’s hard to gaugeTime won’t account for how I’ve agedWould I could tie your lying tongueWho says that leaving keeps you young

I have got no controlOver my heart, over my mindOver the hills, the rainclouds rollI’ll winter here, wait for a sign

To cast myself out, over the waterRiven like a wishboneYou’d hardly guessI was my own mother’s daughterI ain’t naturally given to roamAnd I lay low, when I returnAnd I move like a gurneyWhose wheels are squeaking

Alone, here in my homeAnd I laugh when you speak of my pleasure-seekingAmong the tall pines, along the lay-linesHere, where the loon keensThere, where the moon leansThere, where I know my violent love laysDown in a row of silent, dove-gray daysHere, in a row of silent, dove-gray days

Wherever I go, I am snowboundBy thoughts of him whom I would shunI loved them all, one by oneCannot gain ground, cannot outrun

But time marches alongYou can’t always stick aroundBut, when the final count is doneI will be in my hometownI will be in my hometown

Ribbon Bows6:10

There is a spring, not far from hereThe water runs both sweet and clearBoth sweet and clear, and coldCould crack your bones with veins of gold

I stood, a-wagging, at the tapJust a-waiting on the lagging, rising sapI held the cold tin ladle to my lipAt the Shrine of the Thousand ArmsI lowered my eyes to sip

What a beautiful day to catch my driftOr be caught up in itYou want your love, LoveCome and get your loveI only took it backBecause I thought you didn’t

How my ears did ringAt the municipal poundFrom that old hangdogTo which I was boundCurled ‘round the bottom rungDoesn’t anybody want youWell, come on, darlingI could use someone like you around

I am not like you, I ain’t from this placeAnd I do reserve the rightTo repeat all my same mistakesAnd, in the night, like youI certainly bite and chewWhat I can find and never seem to lose the taste

What a horrible faceI feel me make For Pete’s sakeWhat you have told me, I cannot eraseThough I keep on sayingAnd I do believe, it is not too late

All day, you’re hassling me with triflesBlack nose of the dog, as cold as a rifleIndicating, with a nudgeGod, no God. God, no GodSweet, appraising eye of the dogBlink once if God, twice if no god

My mama may be ashamed of meWith all of my fineryCarrying onWhooping it up till the early mornLost and lornAmong the madding revelry

41

Sure, I can passHoney, I can passParticularly when I start to tip my glassI’ll be a sport and have a go at that old songSinging unabashed, about “Them city girls,With their ribbon bows, and their fancy sash”

But, though I get so sadCould swear the night makes a motion to claim meAround that second verseI reckon I’ve felt worse and still held fast

But, later on, when I am aloneAlone at lastWell I take my god to taskI take my doggone god to task

King Fisher9:11

Whose is the hand that I will holdWhose is the face I will seeWhose is the name that I will callWhen I am called to meet thee

In this life, who did you loveBeneath the drifting ashesBeneath the sheeting banks of airThat barrenly bore our rations

When I could speak, it was too lateDidn’t you hear me callingDidn’t you see my heart leapLike a pup in the constant barley

In this life, where did you crouchWhen the sky had set to boilingBurning within, seen from withoutAnd your gut was a serpent, coiling

And, for the sake of that pit of snakesFor whom did you allay your shynessAnd spend all your mercy and madness, and graceIn a day, beneath the bending cypress

It was not on principalShow, Pro-heart, that you have got gallA miracle, I can bear a lot, but not that pall

I can bear a lot, but not that pall!Kingfisher, sound the alarmSay, “Sweet little darling, now,Come to my arms;Tell me all about the loveYou left on the farm”

He was a kind, unhurried manWith a heavy lip and a steady handBut he loved me just like a little childLike a little child loves a little lamb

Thrown to the ground by something down thereBitten by the bad air, while the clouds tickTrying to read all the signsPreparing for when the bombs hit

Hung from the underbelly of the earthWhile the stars skid away, belowGormless and brakeless, gravel-looseFalling silent as gavels in the snow

I lay back and spit my chawWrapped in the long arm of the LawWho has seen it allI can bear a lot, but not that pall

I can bear a lot, but not that pallKingfisher, cast your flyOh, Lord, it happens without even tryingWhen I sling a low look from my shuttering eye

Blows rain upon the one you lovedAnd, though you were only sparringThere’s blood on the eye, unlace the gloveSay, honey I am not sorry

Stand here and name the one you lovedBeneath the drifting ashesAnd, in naming, rise above timeAs it, flashing, passes

We came by the boatloadAnd were immobilizedWorshipping volcanoesCharting the loping skiesThe tides of the earthLeft us bound, and calcifiedAnd made as obstinate as obsidianUnmoving, save our eyesJust mooning and blinkingFrom faces marked with coalAsh cooling and shrinkingCracks loud as thunder rollingI swear I know you, you know meWhere have we met beforeTell me trueTo whose authorityDo you consign your soul

I had a dream you came to meSaid you shall not do me harm anymoreAnd with your knife, you evicted my lifeFrom its little lighthouse on the seashore

42

And I saw that my blood had no boundsSpreading in a circle like an atom bombSoaking and felling everything in its pathAnd welling in my heart like a birdbath

It is too short, the day we are bornWe commence with our dyingTrying to serve with the heart of a childKingfisher, lie with the lion

Does Not Suffice6:44

I will pack up my pretty dressesI will box up my high-heeled shoesA sparkling ring, for every fingerI’ll put away, and hide from view

Coats of boucle, jacquard and cashmereCartouche and tweed, all silver shotAnd everything that could remind youOf how easy I was not

I’ll tuck away my gilded buttonsI’ll bind my silks in shapeless balesI’ll wrap it all on up, in reams of tissueAnd then I’ll kiss you, sweet farewell

You saw me rise to our occasionAnd so deny the evidenceYou caused me to burn, and twistAnd grimace against youLike something caughtOn a barbed-wire fence

Now, you can see me fallBack here redoubledFull bewildered and amazedI have gotten into some terrible troubleBeneath your blank and rinsing gaze

It does not sufficeFor you to say I am a sweet girlOr to say you hate to see me sadBecause of youIt does not sufficeTo merely lie beside each otherAs those who love each other do

I picture you, rising up in the morningStretching out on your boundless bedBeating a clear path to the showerScouring yourself red

The tap of hangersSwaying in the closetUnburdened hooksAnd empty drawersAnd everywhere I tried to love youIs yours againAnd only yours

While across the great plains, keening lovely & awful, ululate the last Great American Novels - An unlawful lot, left to stutter and freeze, floodlit. (But at least they didn’t run, to their undying credit.) Are y’interested?