1. |
Conversationalist
06:03
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You walked in like an angel saying “Do not be afraid”
I told you I’m not scared I just don’t know what to say
You said “That’s rare”
I said “I know”
Neither of us heard the last bus go
So you walked home down King Street on your own
Am I speaking another language?
Am I miming things you can’t see?
This feels like nodding over the telephone
Almost funny, only because of how much we can’t see
I’m not a perfect conversationalist
I don’t know how to be a thing you’ll miss
I don’t know how to want you like you want me
I learnt my lines from better poets than me
Did you build your own crooked highway?
Did you follow the boys from the E Street to the promised land?
Did you cross the ocean with those bugs and make it to Ohio?
Can you tell that I want to hold your hand?
And do you think of us as lace and leather?
Would I call myself emotionally yours?
Is this a love to last through all four seasons?
Are you as tired as I am of metaphors?
Because above it all
I wanna know;
Where do you go and how can I find you?
Where do you go and how can I find you?
Where do you go and how can I find you?
Where do you go? Where do you go?
Where do you go and how can I reach you?
Where do you go and how can I reach you?
Where do you go and how can I reach you?
I’ve got a new game
You pretend I’m something special
And I’ll read you the poetry I’ve written on my phone
Some things just don’t change
I know that I cry so easily
But I don’t need to earn that part of me
I reckon it runs in my family
I’m not a perfect conversationalist
And we both wish it hadn’t come to this
We both wish our heads had started out more clearly
I’m not a perfect conversationalist
I don’t know how to be a thing you’ll miss
I don’t know how to want you like you want me
But where do you go and how can I reach you?
Where do you go and how can I reach you?
Where do you go and how can I reach you?
Where do you go? Where do you go?
Where do you go and how can I find you?
Where do you go and how can I find you?
Where do you go and how can I find you?
Where do you go? Where do you go?
Where do you...?
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2. |
Here Now
03:13
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The flight was late
And so was the train
The wheels broke on my case
So yes, I’ll apologise again
I don’t have the ten dollars
No rideshare money left
I flushed my rating for my friends
So yeah, maybe it’s for the best
The train trip seemed to go for hours
The rain hit, soaked the city to the skin
And I’ve got no idea how much is different
Got no idea exactly how long it’s been
But I’m here now
I’m here now
And you’re here now
Oh I’m here now
I’m here now
And you’re here now
I’m so glad you’re here now
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3. |
Start Again
04:06
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I’ve got great news for you darling
I’m not the girl you thought I was back then
It’s not a problem
I took all the things we misspoke and misread
I’ve gone and forgot them
I washed them off with sea water and soap
And one day I’ll have a body that your hands have never touched
Every seven years a new cell sits where each old one was
I’ve got a feeling that however something ends
In our bodies down to our souls we were built to start again (hmmm, hmmm)
I’ve got great news for you darling
I’m sure you’re more than what I’ve got stored in my head
It’s not a problem
We could be bitter or we could grow instead
If we forgive, there’s no need to forget
Not yet
But one day I’ll have a body that your hands have never touched
Every seven years a new cell sits where each old one was
I’ve got a feeling that however something ends
In our bodies down to our souls we were built to start again
There’s room here for forgiveness
Things grow and change and people can as well
I’m sorry I didn’t say Hi
When I saw you on the street with someone else
I guess I just got shy
You looked so unsure
My body felt like hell
(So I guess it’s just as well)
That one day our lives little circles are barely gonna touch
Every seven years I might wake up not who I was
I’ve got a feeling that wherever something ends
In our bodies down to our souls
If we start before we get too old
With a bit of patience and a steady hand
I really do believe we can
Start again
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4. |
Kitchen Table
03:46
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We sit around the kitchen table
Like everything’s fine as if every timeline
Leads us to this moment
As if anything’s promised at all
But still, the question hangs in the air
What if one thing had gone slightly different in there?
My Dad put it succinctly;
This would have been a very different evening for our family.
I can still hear the back windows shatter
Still feel everything that matters
Racing round my head
We don’t scream, we look at one another instead
I reach across the car to you and look you in the eye
And both of us are wondering
Is this how we die?
I’ll probably forget how the glass sparkled that day
How it glittered in piles all over the highway
As the safety bubble I didn’t realise I had
Was shattered once again
I don’t think I’ll forget
How time seemed to freeze as the car spun a hundred and eighty degrees
And we lay there for ten seconds
Just glad to be and breathe
And sit around the kitchen table
As I hope to do again, as many times as I’m able
Don’t take them from me Lord, I know I couldn’t bear it
Feeling so blessed to sit round this table and share it with you
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5. |
Everything You Touch
02:50
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I bled a heart-shaped stain onto the best bed sheets
I wish that was the metaphor that’d be less embarrassing
I scrubbed and scrubbed in the bathroom sink but it wouldn’t wash away
I guess some marks we make upon the world can’t help but stay
I’ve got ink on my hands
I’ve got blood on my tongue
I don’t know if I’ll grow out of it, is this just what it’s like being young?
To leave a stain on everything you touch
To leave a stain on everything you touch
I watched my parents brew coffee in the same pot every weekend as a kid
That thing came to our Sunday service whenever we did
10am would roll around and they’d put the kettle on
The coffee stain love left behind stayed though that church is gone
Yeah the coffee stain love left behind stayed though that church is gone
I’ve got ink on my hands
I’ve got blood on my tongue
I don’t think we grow out of it, it’s not about being young
Love leaves a stain on everything you touch
Yes love leaves a stain on everything you touch
Love, you leave a stain on everything you touch
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6. |
Song For Woody
03:17
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This is a song for Woody and the family that he loved
Ma and Papa, Roy and Clara in the Okemah sun
Round the state of Oklahoma running wild as they come
This song’s for Woodrow Guthrie and the family that he loved
And I know what you lost in the fire
I couldn’t bear to lose
And I know that in all of my wandering
I never walked half the miles that you did in your beat up shoes
So this is a song for the poet
Writing sweet songs of the dustbowl as a child
In oil towns and Grandma’s house
On trains across the South
Yes this song’s for the poet living hand and song to mouth
Writing songs for peace and rabble-rousing
Who dared to stand up straight and stare the power down
I wrote a song for Woody because he told the truth
What a brave and beautiful thing to do
And I know what you lost in the fire
I couldn’t bear to lose
And I know that in all of my wandering
I never walked half the miles that you did in your beat-up shoes
But I wrote a song for Woody because he told the truth
And I want to do that too
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7. |
We Build
04:29
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You showed up on a Tuesday
With a suitcase and your thousand-watt smile
You said it’d been a hard week
And it had been that way for a while
We talk for several hours
And fall asleep on the floor
I think we’re both kind of mourning
The way we’ve been before
But we build each other’s energy
Make a thousand plans to half-complete
We try our best to just be honest
Burning ourselves out
Telling each other to rest
Hey, babe, what are you making?
Does your head still feel the same?
Me too, oh man I’m still so lonely
I’m tired of my body; it’s been months and I’m still in pain
I called and told you how I once threw up beside the fanciest car I’d ever seen
It was a vintage Jag in gleaming black
The interiors looked pristine
I was kneeling in the rain after throwing myself out of an Uber pool
The perfect moment to abandon any last pretences of being cool
You said hey babe haven’t we all been there?
Well I have, so at least you’re not alone
You can have a key to my place
We’ll talk it over when and if I make it home
Thank God we build each other’s energy
Make a thousand plans to half complete
Both got sky-high expectations that we’re terrified we won’t meet
Drinking cheap champagne and crying in a filthy Sydney back street
We build each other’s energy
Make a thousand plans to half complete
Both got sky high expectations that we’re terrified we won’t meet
Dancing til we’re falling asleep on our feet
Drinking cheap champagne and crying in a filthy Sydney back street
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8. |
Still Know Your Heart
03:11
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On a bus speeding out of Massachusetts
If you could go back would you still choose this?
Are you still scared of the same things you were when you whispered to me in the dark?
So much has changed but I still know your heart
(I carry it in my heart)
We’re not the same but I still know your heart
(I carry it in my heart)
Haven’t been like this in months
Not since she called you to talk it all out
You’re shaking and breathing way too fast
Don’t know how to write it all down
We don’t talk about it enough
Grabbing tissues from the bathroom in the dark
Big highway crash outside of the city
Still making jokes between the nitty gritty
I was nervous that we’d be distant but here we are
So much has changed but you still know my heart
(You carry it in your heart)
We’re not the same but you still know my heart
(You carry it in your heart)
And I stood beside you all those years
In the pews in our mini skirts
I’m glad we can talk about it now
Even though it hurts
When you were little we were walking home one night
A car followed us under the street lights
I held your hand tight
Said “Come on, we’re gonna run in 3, 2, 1…”
So much has changed but I still know your heart
(I carry it in my heart)
We’re not the same but I still know your heart
(I carry it in my heart)
So much has changed but you still know my heart
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9. |
Reservoir
03:34
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I don’t want to cause any more pain
But I walked around the reservoir and it was like I heard your name
From the plants growing through the ice in this endless frozen Boston January
I know with what I’ve done and said I should be ashamed
And you know me; you know I am, I know exactly who’s to blame
It doesn’t help but I never meant any of it to hurt you like it did
(But it did)
The water’s frozen solid
And I’m alone again quite naturally
And I never really got it
I never really saw what you saw in me
And I’ve gotta tell you
None of this turned out the way I hoped it would
I don’t want to pour salt on the same raw skin
But I walked around the reservoir
And thought of you again;
Those flowers growing through the ice, like not everything that gets cold dies
In a place like this
In a place like this
Where I don’t feel the fears that stop me
I don’t let the current drop me
I know it’s too late to take anything back
I want to give you better than that
But I’ll settle for getting
Settle for getting
Settle for getting older
And wiser
At the same time
At the same time
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10. |
Visions
06:41
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I see visions of it all the time;
A car hits me at pace and my whole body goes flying
In my mind there’s this extra moment as I’m thrown towards the sky
I swear it’s a dream about floating, not a dream about dying
I had this vision of a time other than now
Your little flat needs painting and all of us are in town
The day is nothing special we just paint and mooch around
But time has passed and we’re all together
That one stuck, I wrote it down
I see visions of it every once in a while
Things un-break themselves and when you see me you smile
We meet in a strange city and we fit just like we did
I think you’re finally happy
We’ve forgiven everything
That’s what I meant
That’s what I meant
When I told you I get lost in my own head
That’s what I meant (I see visions of it)
That’s what I meant (I see visions)
When I said I wanted to be one of your old friends
I had this time of dreaming only of violent accidents
Nobody’s fault, no ill intent
I’d wake up feeling like I’d slept on stones
Twisted, heart and body, hopelessly alone
But the dreams that I have where the future’s bright
Are the dreams where you’re happy and I’m in your life
And I can’t say I love you much clearer than that can I?
I had this vision of a baby in your arms
Little curly-headed angel
Your place has a view of central park
You’re barefoot in the kitchen
Still making us all laugh
Mum and Dad entertain your baby
We baked that damn cherry pie at last
And that’s what I meant (I see visions of it)
That’s what I meant (I see visions)
When I said I reckon it could turn out alright in the end
That’s what I meant (I see visions of it)
That’s what I meant (I see visions)
When I said I’ve got spare optimism and I’m willing to lend
That’s what I meant (I see visions of it)
That’s what I meant (I see visions)
When I said I reckon it could turn out alright in the end
That’s what I meant (I see visions of it)
That’s what I meant (I see visions)
When I said if you can’t see it you can have these visions in my head
Because I reckon it’s gonna be alright (I see visions of it, I see visions)
It’s gonna be alright (I see visions of it, I see visions)
I reckon it’s gonna be alright (I see visions of it, I see visions)
It’s gonna be alright (I see visions of it, I see visions)
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Isobel Knight Sydney, Australia
Heart-on-sleeve alt-folk. Isobel wields razor-sharp lyrics and voice that ranges from gentle storytelling to soulful smoothness. Her sophomore album "Here Now" came out in 2021, debuting at number 5 on the independent album charts.
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