Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Sherree Chamberlain

I am forever indebted to Jason (of Eyes Made Ready fame) for sending this to his sister (Rümmi) so she could send it to me. It is so wonderfulness....

This is an artist that if you EVER get the chance to hear her, DO IT. I got her album a while back and I absolutely love it. I went to Pandora her and when I couldn't find her I was confused. After some checking, I found out that she's local, and that's why she wasn't on there. I went to this amazing show the other night with Robert Deeble, New Plains, and Sherree Chamberlain. It was the most flawless live show I have ever attended.


Birdsong - Sherree Chamberlain




Quick, running up the stairs, do you see what I see
out through the window pane, past the leaves into the trees
Birds fly, birds fly, two, three, four, five
one stays, one stays there

And my sisters laugh at him, "Do you see what he is doing?
It looks like he's talking to the branches."
"Oh come down, right now, don't dilly dally," mother's calling
"Children, it's time for supper."

But I stay up to it, I lock myself inside my bedroom
Thinking about what I was seeing.
Nobody watching, so I pressed my ear up to the glass
To see if I could hear what he was saying.

He said,
It's concrete and stone,
and this old skin's just a bag of bones,
all life is is a simple breath
blood through veins air to our heads,

We have something more than this.

Oh he is an old one with feathers falling, colors greying
Voice is tired from his song
and look in his black eyes, and your proudest stories are worth telling
I know I'll never get to hear them.

'Cause days pass, weeks pass, nights are long and days get shorter
Cold wind blows from the east
And my brothers speculate that he's lost his marbles, he's gone crazy
I heard a much different story

He said,

I lost my mother when I was much younger
to a cat with big paws and big claws.
And my daddy left me when I was a baby
for worms, and caterpillars and warmer places.

We have something more than this.

So snow falls, snow falls, fingers curling, noses icy
we all go out to fetch him
and snow falls, snow falls, a cardboard casket, kerchief on it
Now I know, I know, I know

Snow falls, snow falls, I am crying, mother's calling
I know I must go
And snow falls, snow falls, I am crying, mother's calling
I go, I go, I go

Springs comes, children play, babies born and flowers blooming
I will never forget him

Concrete and stone,
and this old skin's just a bag of bones,
all life is is a simple breath
blood through veins air to our heads,


We had something more than this.



The song sounds fantastic, but I find that the words actually make a huge difference. I just transcribed them as best as I could; it's hard to hear some of it, but you'll get the gist with what I have here, I hope. If you find any errors, please let me know! Enjoy!

4 comments:

V43_of_ii_dim said...

"The Wasp in the Room" is a perfect album. Seriously. And that's ME saying that.

Also, I hear "Quick, running up the stairs" and "Voice is tired from his song." There's some other stuff that's tough to make out due to (charming & disarming) lack of enunciation, but you put forth WAY more effort in this than I would ever think to do. Well done.

Unknown said...

Ahhhh, yes. Yours make sense. I shall go with them.

Unknown said...

Also, this is something you should be saying on your blog...... :)


Future post, perhaps?

V43_of_ii_dim said...

future, yes. i will do this.