Get all 5 Illiteratty releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of It's Getting Late, Perfection At It's Best, Through the Mirror, Go For a Walk, and Is This My Life?.
1. |
After the War
05:00
|
|||
|
After the war my limbs were sore I couldn't dance to the fiddle
My father lay down in his bed and didn't rise for thirteen years til he died
All the crops were stunted and brown, we couldn't drink from the wells
We had to go down to the gorge and carry up our buckets from the riverside
And is that enough?
Do you want some more?
Do you remember what all the anger was for?
We have lost the stars while keeping score
Can I convince you we don't need another war?
Our son was born without any eyes, we took the train to the city
And waited in line with a thousand families grieving out the door
The doctor's eyes were tired and grey, she said they poisoned the bombs
And every day I see a hundred children broken like yours
And is that enough?
Do you want some more?
Do you remember what all the anger was for?
We have lost the stars while keeping score
Can I convince you we don't need another war?
Some day, some day, some day we'll know
You will touch your bow to the fiddle string
And our child will know how to dance and sing
Now November rolls around, we wear our coats in the kitchen
We walled off a room and abandoned the rest of the house to winter tides
Hassan plays the violin, he has the voice of an angel
And sings with a group of traditional musicians from both sides
And is that enough?
Do you want some more?
Do you remember what all the anger was for?
We have lost the stars while keeping score
Can I convince you we don't need another war?
Can I convince you we don't want another war?
|
||||
2. |
Cornflower
04:51
|
|||
|
As I stepped in the river
I turned around and what did I see
I saw the black hole of my suspicion
I saw the monster of my own jealousy
Coming in after me
Cornflower you protect me from myself
Cornflower I don't trust nobody else
I am mean and unpredictable
I can bite the hand that's feeding me
I can even hurt you my friend
Because I can't seem to let things be
There's a demon inside of me
Cornflower you make me humble to my bones
Cornflower I'm afraid to be alone
I can't ask you to be my friend
I don't expect you to be there till the end
'Cause I can't guarantee my love wont hurt you
All the trouble I've been through
It's a wall between me and you
Even though it kills me to desert you
Cornflower I just want to do what's right
Cornflower I'll be leaving here tonight
|
||||
3. |
For Mikis
03:51
|
|||
4. |
Hook Line & Sinker
03:20
|
|||
5. |
I Can't Help Myself
03:39
|
|||
|
I'm doing better than ever before
Thanks to my diet of rattler gall
I have to duck when I walk through in door
I've sprouted wings and I'm seven feet tall
I'm exercising every day
Sleeping like a baby every night
Don't really need anyone anyway
I feel good so it's gotta be right
I can't help myself (I can't help myself)
I can't help myself (I can't help myself)
I'm so in love with me
I can't help myself (I can't help myself)
I can't help myself (I can't help myself)
I'm so in love with me
Sometimes you just know something's right when you try it
Failing that there's always Dr So-and-so and his miracle diet
I hear the planet is going to hell
But that doesn't really concern me at all
As long as someone has something to sell
I'm immortal and the world is small
I can't help myself (I can't help myself)
I can't help myself (I can't help myself)
I'm so in love with me
I can't help myself (I can't help myself)
I can't help myself (I can't help myself)
I'm so in love with me
I can't help myself (I can't help myself)
I can't help myself (I can't help myself)
I'm so in love with me
I can't help myself
|
||||
6. |
||||
|
Well I can't find my sweetheart because she's gone away
Because she's gone away
No I can't find my sweetheart because she's gone away
I don't want no strangers in this life
I don't want no strangers
I don't want no strangers
I don't want no strangers in this life
I don't want no strangers
I don't want no strangers
I don't want no strangers in this life
And she left me no blessing before she went away
Before she went away
And she left me no blessing before she went away
I don't want no strangers in this life
I don't want no strangers
I don't want no strangers
I don't want no strangers in this life
I don't want no strangers
I don't want no strangers
I don't want no strangers in this life
And my days have been empty ever since she went away
Ever since she went away
And my days have been empty ever since she went away
I don't want no strangers in this life
I don't want no strangers
I don't want no strangers
I don't want no strangers in this life
I don't want no strangers
I don't want no strangers
I don't want no strangers in this life
|
||||
7. |
I See the Changes
04:43
|
|||
|
Heraclitus said The river twice
You may not step within
It will not be the same
But I began to think like Parmenides
Who said that nothing moves
Except perhaps in name because
I see the changes
They cannot reach us
I see that change has
Nothing to teach us
But that we are like the river
You and I we’ve seen so much in our time
It almost boggles the mind
How could we be the same
But when I look at you
I see the true shining identity
That lies beyond a name
I see the changes
They cannot touch us
I see that change shows
Nothing so much as
That we are like the river
We are like the river
We are like the river in our continuity
Nothing can deliver us from flowing to the sea
I see the changes
They cause confusion
I see that change is
Just an illusion because
|
||||
8. |
||||
|
I’ve got a robin’s egg on my head
I have to walk super carefully
Or else that little bird will be an omelette instead
I’ve got a robin’s egg on my head
Everybody asks me why I’m this way
I don’t know what to say
It’s not because I’m blue, not because I’m grey
It’s not because I’m sad, not because I’m gay
I’ve got a robin’s egg on my head
I have to walk super carefully
Or else that little bird will be an omelette instead
I’ve got a robin’s egg on my head
It’s not because someone was mean to me
It’s not because my shirt is as green as the sea
It’s not because I’m Larry, Moe, Curly, or Fred
It’s not because I’m a genius I got an egg on my head
I’ve got a robin’s egg on my head
I have to walk super carefully
Or else that little bird will be an omelette instead
I’ve got a robin’s egg on my head
It’s not because I’m messy, not because I’m neat
Not because I’m looking for a word that rhymes with paraclete
It’s not because I’m dull, not because I’m bright
Although it’s true I have trouble sleeping at night
I’ve got a robin’s egg on my head
I have to walk super carefully
Or else that little bird will be an omelette instead because
I’ve got a robin’s egg on my
I’ve got a robin’s egg on my
I’ve got a robin’s egg on my head
|
||||
9. |
Knot Reel
02:08
|
|||
10. |
||||
11. |
My Sense of Sin
03:22
|
|||
|
My sense of sin has done me in
My life of crime hurts me all the time
I yell at other drivers and I curse myself
I eat way more sugar than is good for my health
I put library books back on the wrong shelf
I'm a nickel plated jerk
I'm a regular piece of work
That's how I'm built
Manifest in guilt
My sense of sin has done me in
And it gets much worse in the second verse
I was rude to a waitress the other day
When she came to take my dishes away
I said "What's the matter honey, do you think i won't pay?"
She responded with a frown
So I bolted my coffee down
I left no tip
What a selfish drip
I dream of redemption or of grace
Some days I can even clean my place
But the misery of life is written deep on my face
And every day (every day)
I'm as grey (I'm as grey)
As a rat in some race
Oh tell me please the cause of my disease
Who deserves the thanks for my pain and angst
I can never relax and look up to the sky
I struggle to be just a regular guy
I'd like to lie in the sun and watch the world go by
With the good earth under my head
But I'm under the earth instead
Buried within
My sense of sin
|
||||
12. |
Polska Samba
04:03
|
|||
13. |
||||
14. |
||||
|
She had cheeks like a rose but everybody knows
That Sonia was a wild child
Sonia was a wild child
So her transgressions were compiled
You know she had to make amends cause when she hugged her friends
She didn’t want to let em go
No she didn’t want to let em go
Until her mama told her no
She said look at Richard he’s the perfect little picture
Of the way a child ought to be
Yeah he’s the way a child ought to be
And he doesn’t make trouble for me
She said Sonia oh Sonia can’t you see
You gotta learn to act decently
Or they’re never gonna let you be
And Sonia why do you do these things to yourself?
Why can’t you act like everybody else?
What’s the matter with you?
What’s the matter with you?
So then Sonia was cool til she saw him after school
Then she threw Richard in the bay
Yeah she threw Richard in the bay
Now Sonia has to go away
The judge said “I understand she’s completely out of hand
So we got to do what we should
Yeah we gotta do what we should
Cause she’s a danger to the public good”
So then Sonia was in juve but she made an angry move
So they threw her in a padded cell
Yeah they threw her in a padded cell
It was a tiny perfect hell
They said Sonia oh Sonia can’t you see
You got to learn to act decently
Or they’re never gonna set you free
Sonia, why do you do these things to yourself?
Why can’t you act like everybody else?
What’s the matter with you?
What’s the matter with you?
Everybody said when they found her dead
That Sonia was a wild child
Yeah Sonia was a wild child
So her transgressions were compiled
And they said Sonia oh Sonia can’t you see
You got to learn to act decently
Or they’re never gonna let you be
Sonia why do you do these things to yourself?
Why can’t you act like everybody else?
What’s the matter with you?
What’s the matter with you?
What’s the matter with you?
|
||||
15. |
||||
|
I Don’t Need to Cry For You
Since you’ve gone we don’t walk past your apple tree any more
Or if we do we stop & say hello
& sometimes when it rains I stand outside the kitchen door
& down my face I let the raindrops flow
I pretend that they’re messengers from you
Somehow it seems like something you might do
So if you observe that my cheeks are both wet
It’s just ‘cause I’ve been standing in the rain
It doesn’t mean that I’m likely to forget
But I don’t need to cry for you again
I don’t need to cry for you
And when the end came everything seemed so absurd
Like a scene from a movie or a play
And when the tears came it felt so good to feel again
And we sang as we watched you pass away
We pretended we knew what to do
While outside the rain painted the world blue
So if you observe that my cheeks are both wet
It’s just ‘cause I’ve been standing in the rain
It doesn’t mean that I’m likely to forget
But I don’t need to cry for you again
I don’t need to cry for you
written by Earle Peach
|
||||
Illiteratty Vancouver, British Columbia
We play metafolk… meaning, original swing, European cabaret, celtic, rockabilly, a cappella, folk, world, pop, with sharp
lyrics and up to five-part vocals.
Our instrumentation is for three to six musicians, and our full complement includes guitar, mandolin, violin, keys/accordion, upright bass and small percussion. Our music is funny, angry, idiosyncratic, intelligent, and extremely varied.
... more
If you like Illiteratty, you may also like:
Would the Light Hold Me
by Oceanique
Celtic-inspired instrumentation, delicate harmonies, and reflective lyrics abound on the sisterly indie-folk duo's debut album.
go to album
Introspective pop songs with transcendent melodies offer a joyful meditation on staying present in a world that often moves too fast.
go to album
Feel The Ground You Walk Upon
by Lewis McLaughlin
Old-fashioned fiddles harmonize with rippling synths on the Scottish singer-songwriter's latest collection of original folk songs.
go to album
A new record from Danish outfit SUNDAYS is replete with melodic hooks and punchy vocals.
go to album
Phototherapy EP
by Fahim Rahman
A collection of twinkling bedroom folk-pop demos from Fahim Rahman that arcs from hushed intimacy to sweeping cinematic emotionality.
go to album
Nippon Acid Folk 1970-1980
by Time Capsule
The experimental spirit permeating this collection of Japanese acid folk foreshadowed the arrivals of city pop, the psych revival, and folktronica.
go to album
Beautifully played and full of moving vocal performances, the Bay Area singer/songwriter's latest is a stellar work of art.
go to album
