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1.
BONE SOLDIERS Don’t you know I tried to please you with courage, my companion, and the cunning of my absence? Don't you know I tried to please you? And I know that you were hungry for beauty and for truth, but everyone’s got to chew and everyone’s got to eat to live. I got a mouth full of trouble. I got a mouth full of trouble. I got 16 bone soldiers lined up in a row. Money's like a crooked tooth, I want to see it smile when I'm buying what's been discounted for the rot. I want to see you, snaggletooth. I want to see you smile, naked, underneath those restaurant lights. I got a mouth full of trouble. I got 16 bone soldiers lined up in a row.
2.
STRANGE BODIES Maybe we don't want to live together anymore. Strange body in the bed beside me. She’s dressed in coyote skin and I can't make heads or tails of all these woman's things: scraps of hanging cloth, kitchen knives in the bathroom sink (oh no!), something in the darkness with the staggers and the shakes (oh no!). She’s dressed in a coyote skin at the table saying grace and chewing on a thighbone. Stagger and shake. Something in the distance couples and quakes. We approach a holy age! Come to me, come to me, come to me, my love, and break the bones in my face under a natural light (oh no!). Dress me in a coyote skin and make sense for me of all these wild things. Stagger and shake. Interplanetary bodies couple and quake. It's a strange couple we make.
3.
Brave Women (free) 02:36
BRAVE WOMEN What did you decide to do with that job that they offered you? Money clanging in your pocket like a meteor shower. Money clanging, sign or measure of blind motion through the darkness. Two-room apartment where we don't see each other around much anymore and brave women bother my dreams. Something perfect in the darkness: the slit above the iris, the flaw that's in the eye. Sign or measure. All sorts of spinning wonders. A thousand nails that hold the darkness to the sky. And something in my pocket is clanging like a meteor shower. Law of nature. Sign or measure. Just like you. Just like you and me. Brave women bother my dreams.
4.
Rebel Crimes 03:19
REBEL CRIMES I admit now to the usual crimes; drunk and disorderly behaviour, swaggering in uniform, impersonation of a soldier with bullet wounds and a faith in duty. I've come to serve you, darling, loyal in body, but not in mind. I saw a pattern in the soup and murmuring in the rice, too. Strange visions in the Russian tea. I took it as a warning, a punishment for a mutinous mind and intestinal worms. I drowned the parasites in bleach. Loyal in body, but not in mind. It’s the usual crime of a military man. And the women sing softly and the men sing slow, when I go. When I go, send my old work clothes to the hall of fame because the lies that I told you will turn to gold. I was not a soldier executed for my crimes. Loyal in body, but not in mind.
5.
Old Punks 03:00
OLD PUNKS I came to you dressed like some military reject, kicking up the bone dust and slouching at salute. It's not what it seems; it’s just a memory. Snow was falling by the kitchen door like a blessing on an old tribe. I wore a Shotmaker patch sewn on my dead man's jacket bought at the surplus store. Now it's tearing at the seams. Something common in our memory. That's the way it goes, old soldier, like a footprint in the snow. We'll disappear with the wind or the spring come shining. It's not what it seems; it’s just a memory.
6.
GOOD TIMES/BAD TIMES I was cleaning house for a woman, she was a friend of mine. Yeah, she was a friend of mine. I swept the dust from the door. I washed the blood from the knives, because she was a friend of mine. Burnt almonds and rainwater to keep her clear and satisfied, because she was a friend of mine. She salt the corpse of the fallen and the wounds of the wounded. Oh, she was a friend of mine. And then I read it in the stars like it was prophesized (and I was terrified!): mixed results and the madness of the second daughter, a catch in my voice, a flaw that's in the eye. I was terrified! Me and my baby, we're like the sun and moon. She's midnight and I'm noon. I was terrified! There’s something wicked in the birth sign, it’s coming down the father’s side. I was terrified!
7.
MARCHING ORDERS The roots of weeds unsettle the stones. The world blooms feverfew and mouse bones. And I see laundered sheets and hanging clothes marching in the wind like soldiers of a different army (or someone coming after me!). She’s on a strong dose that slurs the speech and mumbles the nerves. She’s in the bed murmuring “Goodnight, and goodbye my companion. Please go on without me. Soldier in a different army, marching with a purity of duty.” But we know love is a mongrel thing; a mix of chance and cross spirits. It fills the world with a cool breeze and the marching sound of soldiers, marching without marching orders.
8.
PEACE ON EARTH Disorder in the mirror, a mess of snarling teeth speaking in all things are change. And my face a kind of proof-beast whose nature’s jumped its chain. And I could fill the sink with all of my blood and error. Blood red like a beetroot. A drop of blood in the ocean of god’s green earth. So sing, “Peace! Holy Peace on Earth!” like a curse of peace. An old man looks back at me with no eyes or blood or teeth, and he says, “Brother, we are both so young!” So sing “Peace! Holy Peace on Earth!” like a curse of Peace! Holy Peace on Earth!
9.
Hard Truths 03:29
HARD TRUTHS These old jeans are too damn slim, like all of the places we tried to fit in. The mint is crowding out the garden. A perfect world at my finger tips. A bloody bird the cat dragged in, hard truth flapping at the wing. I watched the garden's bumbling bees. I heard them crack the rock beneath our feet. I woke up numb in the extremities in a resource economy. All told, it's just the way of things; every man does what's right for him. But nature comes up, bubbling. So light a match, we're burning at the taps. Light a match, we're burning at the taps.
10.
HURRICANE WEATHER We're building houses in hurricane weather. My mouth is full of wind and rum. My belly floats upon the sea. Look at me now: the body of a builder and the skin of a leper. I'm missing a piece of every wagging finger. I hold them up to measure out the pour. I dealt myself the winning hand: the lizard and the bleating goat, the eight of bones. But if I could choose the type of beast that I would most happy be, I’d be a man, my love. I'd be a man: short, fat and strong. So, make no claims against my mother. We’re building houses in hurricane weather. Look at me now: a hanging shark tooth around my neck and one buried deep inside my leg. Bones across a bloody sea.

credits

released March 6, 2012

Recorded and Mixed by Jeff McMurrich at 6 Nassau St, Toronto, ON, Oct 24-27th, 2011
Mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering, Montreal, QC
Layout and Design by Paul Henderson

Proud Mothers: Steve Lambke, Ian Kehoe, Nick Ferrio, Will Kidman, Spencer Burton

Love to all the other Mothers: Matt Charlton, Shotgun Jimmie, Paul Henderson, Vish Khanna, Ilse Kramer, Adrian Teacher, Daniel Romano, David Treneman, Colleen Collins, Bucky Buckler.

All Songs by Steven Lambke (SOCAN 2012)

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You've Changed Records Toronto, Ontario

You've Changed Records is an artist run label established in 2009.

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