Get all 27 Adeem the Artist releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of ANNIVERSARY, What If We Stayed?, I C U, Home Recordings Vol. 2, White Trash Revelry, Home Recordings Vol. 1, Cast-Iron Pansexual, Merry Christmas, Urgent Care, and 19 more.
1. |
A Light In Carolina
03:19
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I started out as a light in my father's eye at a Texaco
My mama was working overnights on Sam Wilson Road
She was a madcap teenage runaway- a year past graduation
She was new in town
and he was burning down the place with infatuation
She fired red-hot buckshot distress calls across the parking lot
A rebel reeling from the feeling of rooting around for a little repose
They chased sunrise with moonshine
after tussling and muttering secrets all night
I started out as a light in Carolina
I started out as a light in my mother's eye
many years ago
in the numbing fires of live wires loose in foster homes
From my grand-dad's grip to my mothers lip,
there's an ancestral impression
and there are bullet sounds in the Tennessee ground
from things I forgot to mention
She fired red-hot buckshot distress calls across the parking lot
A rebel reeling from the feeling of rooting around for a little repose
They chased sunrise with moonshine
after tussling and muttering secrets all night
I started out as a light in Carolina
From the birth canal to the whistle of emergency sirens,
You've got a lot of skins to wear as you try to figure out who you are
and it ain't easy
and it ain't fair
You might change your friends
and dye your hair from time to time
but you're gonna be fine
It don't matter what people say-
don't expect them to undersand
Ain't nobody someone else's mistake;
life is not always the things you plan.
You may veer left when you meant to steer right
but you're doing alright
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2. |
Chicken Scratch Love
03:33
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I need a cigarette and a raincoat and a roadtrip to the west coast
'cause I've been drowning in the bummers of hot, heavy summers,
and buskers full of covers on the square
I need to drink from this flask,
to take off this mask that I wear in the bar rooms and rodeos
'cause these flickering lights that say, "Music Tonight!"
sound so vague and insincere
I need a long kiss at sunset
with hair matted in sweat
I need a long hike up the deep side
of a mountain that ain't got a name
I need a deep sleep, need a big dream
one with new colours that I ain't seen
I need to feel your soft, silky skin like milk in the bowl
when I wake in your arms
I need to scream loud where the echo sounds
like a scream back from the storm clouds
God damn, I need to sing out a song that ain't never been sung
I need a long kiss at sunset
with hair matted in sweat
I need a long hike up the deep side
of a mountain that ain't got a name
I need to hold you 'till the deep hue of the sunset explodes
like a nuclear blast
and I ask you one last question
it's wordless
and feels like ice in my lungs
I need a heavy rain
and a warm gin
and your chicken scratch love
and a good pen
I need a heavy rain
and a warm gin
and your chicken scratch love
every now and then, I need a good pen
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3. |
Canvas To The Frame
03:36
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I was on a downward spiral for several months of shows
lashing out at listeners in the catacombs below
and in the vast and present darkness,
you were a flickering light casting out love
like signals from a satellite
and I am not a sentimental man these days
I am a mass of blood and passion
I am not a well-designed maze
I am not who I thought I'd be at 28
I'm stumbling blindly from the canvas to the frame
I could tell you were introspective in the letters you wrote
didn't care for America- or a promissory note
and out there on the ocean, we were both drifting along
on rafts made of our elders as they fled from Babylon
you are not a sentimental soul these days
you are a mess of stars and poetry rising from the clay
you are not all of these self-ascribed names
you are art stumbling blindly from the canvas to the frame
all these photographs of artifacts
hiding life beyond the glass
it is our task to find the cracks
and make our way through
I found life in high-definition
beyond the prison of a timeline I was given
our life is not some public exhibition
We are throwing off the weight of given names
stumbling blindly from the canvas to the frame
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4. |
California
02:42
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Somebody warned us in California,
"things here are going to change"
So, we tossed a suitcase beside of my guitar
decided to live on spare change
and we're free, love, we are free
free as two birds flying inside a cage
and we're free
love, we are free
my freedoms, my shackles, and me
by a cafe in Weedsport, there is this antique shop
where history's gathering dust
and in a mirror, I saw my reflection
pale and not what I once was
but the radio sang me a song of redemption
and distracted me from my eyes
an old man reflecting on a life of mistakes
it was me in an alternate life
and we're free, love, we are free
as free as the wind as it kisses the trees
and we're free, love, we are free
my freedom, my shackles, and me
and I'll play the part of the wind,
and you play the trees
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5. |
Asheville Blues
02:16
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There's a kid at the front in a bowlers cap
combat boots and a felt red sash
got a jacket sewn together with some pieces of trash
and a unicycle parked out back
and there's a table full of communists
talking real fast
on a lip gloss, table saw, red county tax
got a bottle rocket, pick-pocket, boot knocking socket wrench
and real short bangs I suppose
and I never felt quite like this before
honey, I don't think we're in Boone anymore
there's an awful lot of zine's here- that's for sure
honey, I don't think we're in Boone anymore
There's rice on my burger and aioli spread
with a vegan mayonnaise and a cabbage head
and I asked for "hooch" but they must've heard "booch"
so I'm drinking vinegar instead
and there's a radio singing out a gypsy folk band
with a catholic choir singing in Italian
and there's a jazz sax too- he's sitting in the room with me
his buddy's got opinions on the palm of my hand
and I've never felt quite like this before
honey, I don't think we're in Boone anymore
they got six different tarot spreads mapped on the floor
honey, I don't think we're in Boone anymore
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6. |
I Suppose
02:52
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We had a good run
I changed your contact name to mom from Elizabeth in my phone
I've been known to change my mind
about the people that I love from time to time
and it's time, I suppose
Your sponsor says all the things I want her to say
She says your sober and that I owe you all my gratitude
for making me this way
and I am grateful, I suppose
There's a reason to keep breathing
That's the prayer I keep repeating in the moments when
I don't believe it's true
and I occasionally test it when I'm alone and I am breathless
like I get when my reflection looks a little bit like you
What am I to do
when I am lost and listless
and tired of soaking bridges you set fire to
we might have had a couple good days
but I need to get away, I suppose
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7. |
My Kinda Lady
02:06
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she's got a body like a submarine
periscope, propellers, and other shiny things
she's my kinda lady
oh yeah
she's my kinda lady-
she runs on gasoline
early in the morning with her firecracker hair
gears grinding, sparks flying off and everywhere
she's my kinda lady
yeah, she's my kinda lady
she's my kinda lady from the piston slaps
to the fan belt screams
she's my kinda lady
I'm sick with the love
she's my kinda lady-
intolerant of my casual affection (she doesn't engage me at all)
she's my kinda lady
she don't wear socks
she's my kinda lady
she groans like an ox and she moves like an ox
(she might be an ox?)
she's my kinda lady
she's my kinda lady
she's my kinda lady
I've told you that many times
she's my kinda lady
she's a vintage machine
oh, she's got a body like a submarine
she's my kinda lady
she drinks straight gasoline
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8. |
I Was Born In A Weigel's
02:01
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I was born in a Weigel's in the middle of the store
While my daddy pumped gas, mom was pumping more
She squeezed me out in the middle of the store
and I did a little dance for the overnight cashier
She said, "Good morning. Oh lordy! There's an awful lot of fluid in here."
So, I looked down the aisle and I looked at my mother
And I grabbed a little jar of creamy peanut butter
I scooped it out with my tiny, wet hands
Balanced on a tower of pringles cans to reach the shelf all by myself
I was 32 seconds old
I was born in a Weigel's off Western avenue
I gummed a little brittle in the middle of the gas hospital
But I knew it'll be a little bitter to chew
And I was slamming milk silk and sweeter than my mama built
I was swaddled in a corn dog quilt underneath a W moon
Well, the years went by and I got a little higher
(plus, my height grew too)
and I never got tired
I was keener than the sheen of an Icee machine
Producing more power than gasoline
A wild little bean on a trampoline; a pre-teen Adeem
And I was married in a Weigel's and we skipped champagne
Had a fountain of milk 'cause we couldn't abstain
Bought a plot of land near the mountain range and put a little cabin in Strawberry Plains
Found ourselves a Weigel's parking lot
made a little spark 'till the car got hot
Let it erupt and sure enough we did the whole thing over again
I was born in a Weigel's off Western Avenue
I gummed a little brittle in the middle of the gas hospital
But I knew it'll be a little better to chew
And when the time came, I chewed it 'till I give myself a migraine
I didn't stutter- I love peanut butter
And another thing- I don't have another thing to say
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9. |
Books & Records
04:43
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We've been selling off our books and records,
instruments our grandparents played
We've been selling off our books and records,
but we're gonna buy them back some day
For the last two years the rent keeps getting higher
and our neighbors all have cars we can't afford
I'm working two jobs now and, brother, I stay tired
but we could always stand to make a little more
The way it goes I doubt we'll be here by December
We both know there's gonna have to be a break
I priced my blood to try and turn back on our power
Oh, Lord, there's got to be a better way
We've been selling off our books and records,
instruments our grandparents played
We've been selling off our books and records,
but we're gonna buy them back some day
These past few winters have been harder than expected
Unknown numbers call us all hours of the day
Both been learning how to cook our suppers cheaper
and stretch it out until we get paid
The way it goes, I doubt we ever will retire
but the cast iron will be seasoned well by then
And if we're lucky we'll have moments by the fire
put some records on and read a book again
We've been selling off our books and records,
instruments our grandparents played
We've been selling off our books and records,
but we're gonna buy them back some day
and down at Tommy's Pawn, there's an unheard song
buried in my grandpa's guitar
by a box of antique photos I got when granny Marie passed on
We learned hard to take it on the chin
Get our bills caught up in time to fall behind again
We've been selling off our books and records,
instruments our grandparents played
We've been selling off our books and records,
but we're gonna buy them back some day
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Adeem the Artist Tennessee
Adeem is a seventh-generation Carolinian, a makeshift poet, singer-songwriter, storyteller, and blue-collar Artist.
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