1. |
Same Bones:New Body
03:39
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Everyday starts the same
don’t know my strength
don’t know my name
Who is the figure I ask
some sort of demon
some sort of mask
Every choice I made
was all for them
for every step they take
I really couldn’t feel
how empty and hollow
as cold as steel
Look in the mirror it’s not your face
Can’t find yourself, no single trace
Everything changes but the structure remains
I was a woman made man
I fit the picture in their mind
Everyday they like it better
But it isn’t mine
Same bones—New body
Everyday I’m not the same
I’ve bounded my strength
I’ve now found my name
Who this figure is I’ve learned
Cast out the demon
The mask has been burned
Every choice I make
Is all for me
With every step I take
All the things I feel
Are tangible, solid
As sure a steel
I look in the mirror I can see my face
A little more gentle a little more grace
Everything changes but the structure remains.
Now a man-made woman
I fit the picture in my mind
Every day it is different
But it’s way more mine
Now I’m a self made human
With emotions and a mind
Everyday my life get’s better
Because it’s finally mine
Same bones—new body
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2. |
For Who I Am
02:29
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I had dreams of a little girl, a perfect thing in a crooked world
seems I’ve strayed far from the plan. It's made me feel like a confidence man.
Yes I have lied before, but that just isn't me any more.
I couldn't pick a rougher way, I'd rather fight to live than be held at bay
I’m making changes, I’m resetting the score. Now I can tell you who I’m living life for.
I’ve got to spend my whole life with me—when I was younger this was too hard to see.
They said this was a Phase, they tried to tell me I got lost in a maze.
This ain't a phase, this is who I am. you don’t like it? Well I don’t give a damn!
I'm not gonna grin and bear it
Not gonna hide this anymore
If you can't hold me for who I am
Then let me go.
Live your own life, and let me have mine. You think you own me? Then you've crossed a line.
I'm not your man, I'm not your woman. I'm not your man, I'm not your woman.
That choice is all my own. A bombshell bettie or a working jo.
If I’ve got, then I’m gonna flaunt. I’ll be what I need: what ever I want.
I'm not gonna grin and bear it
Not gonna hide this anymore
If you can't hold me for who I am
Then let me go.
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3. |
Travel
02:59
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Your hair in the wind and your eyes on the road
It never matters much where we go.
We’re far from trouble that we have at home
A sort of freedom which I’ve never known
The summer starts suddenly unemployed
But we can skip town so I’m overjoyed
You’re driving I’m spying the smile in your lovely eyes
And I’m just falling deeper and I’m surprised
All the stress of the day to day
The travel takes it all away
The landscape fades and it’s just you.
How the forest goes and frames your face
You couldn’t be in a more perfect place
I’m sure the nature outside the window is a lovely view
But I can’t pull away from staring up at you
All the stress of the day to day
The travel takes it all away
The landscape fades and it’s just you.
<<Solo>>
All the stress of the day to day
The travel takes it all away
And while our cares are few
I remember how I fell for you
All the stress of the day to day
Your face takes it all away
The landscape fades and it’s just you.
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4. |
Sink Hole
03:58
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I was raised here
But I still don’t own dirt
These twenty-two years
Just made me sweat through my shirt
But when the fall comes it falls a little harder every day
And the barricades keep moving till the river has been paved.
You keep building it up till the earth swallows it all
And Tabor erupts, as we give into the sink hole.
You rode here on Armisen’s back
And you kicked us while we were down
Now all the folks who laid the tracks
Have moved out so they won’t drown.
and buildings just get taller and the sky is getting small
and the traffic becomes madness when the rain begins to fall.
You keep building it up till the earth swallows it all
and tabor erupts, as we give into the sink hole
You keep building it up
You keep building it up
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5. |
Miss Me
02:51
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I know..
It’s hard to keep on, when your love’s are long.
But right now, while I’m here, don’t you shed a lonesome tear.
I’ve traveled a long mile just to sit and see you smile.
So let’s not spend the evening thinking about leaving.
Just miss me when I’m gone
Just miss me when I’m gone
Just miss me when I’m gone
And not when I am standing in front of you.
I know when I leave you’ll be blue
But there’s so much here to do
And I plan on coming back here for many years to come.
So don’t you be worried about it or make yourself lonesome.
Just promise me this.
Just miss me when I’m gone
Just miss me when I’m gone
Just miss me when I’m gone
And not when I am standing in front of you.
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6. |
Frost
04:42
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I found you upside down in the grass
You made a face that would always last
In the back of an eye
Can’t escape it if you try.
And we fall to what we thought was random
A frost that we cannot fathom
And time wears down our bones
Wind rends you thread by thread till you’re bare
From strand to root by which you’re insnared
And they will pull you deeper down
As your life becomes their crown
Stand forgotten are your ways
You disappear beneath the things that you’ve raised
But are you ever truly gone?
As you are passed on anon
And we fall to what we thought was random
A frost that we cannot fathom
And time wears down our bones
Beware the words you say—they’re likely to betray
Beware the words you say—they might come back to you one day
Be you kind or filled with hate; be you malicious; be you great
Watch your mouth you’re tempting fate.
And we fall to what we thought was random
A frost that we cannot fathom
And time—it stops for no one
A flawless force, that we can’t out run.
And time wears down our bones.
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7. |
No Sudden Movements
02:38
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Stop no sudden movements is a common greeting here
Don’t turn around to quickly
And it’s not even a guarantee and the shot may be all you hear
The violence has me sickly
Take a way rights and you take away lives.
Its just a clumsy coup and were all too slow to stop it
Don’t dare call it a police state
It’s really sanctioned genocide, you’re a number in the pits
And the rest of us are useless as we spectate
The casualties build a wall—the euphemism's getting tall
There’s no death now, only perpetrators
there’s no death now, only wrong place wrong time
There’s no death now, only questions later
and if you survive they’ll give you time
They have no respect for life or the effort that it takes, they take it away with no reasonable cause
Some broken form of justice they’ve contrived and bastardized that's built on centuries of flaws
We're all just humans trying to make our way
Seems like good will and compassion went holiday
We're taught to distrust difference and chaos
But there is beauty there that we’ve lost.
There’s no death now, only perpetrators
there’s no death now, only wrong place wrong time
There’s no death now, only questions later
and if you survive they’ll give you time
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8. |
Your Gaze
03:59
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You're holdin on to me
You've got eyes where I can't see
Trying to catch me now
Trying to take me down
You’re barkin’ up the wrong tree
And you don’t know me, don’t try to know me
trying to catch my eye
you keep that up I’ll rend you wide
staying out of view
so I don’t threaten you
You’re barkin’ up the wrong tree
And you don’t know me, don’t try to know me
I feel your gaze in every place
Though you still think you've left no trace
I can't breathe. I can't breathe.
It’s not polite to stare
I don’t want what you will share
you think I wanna fuck
but you don’t know me, you don’t try to know me.
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9. |
Gender Bender
02:19
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I wear the words on me every day
They and them isn’t hard to say
I wear them proud I keep them in plain sight
But no one ever seems to get it right
What did I expect? The world won’t instantly change,
but still I shout
I’m not a man!
But you continue to call me sir
You’ll never understand
What I mean by Gender Bender
I don’t try to hide my rack
So I’m surprised when you can overlook that
I’m sure you are confused
But I can’t call that a solid excuse
I try to remember that you don’t mean harm
But you’ve taken this a little too far
You only think in terms of two
So tell me when exactly you first felt “Cis” fit you.
I’ve changed somehow
I’m exactly who I though I’d be now
You’ll never understand
What I mean by Gender Bender
I’m not a man!
But you continue to call me sir
You’ll never understand
What I mean by Gender Bender
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The Variants Portland, Oregon
The Variants are a transwoman lead five-piece rock band from Portland, OR. They have been creating danceable, socially minded music since 2016. Last year, NPRmusic called them “the most Pacific Northwest band” and “punk rock”, but their music fiercely refuses to be easily described—Genre, like gender, is a palate to use, rather than a lane to ride in. ... more
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