Get all 8 howard markman releases available on Bandcamp and save 60%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Almost Home 2021, Putting It Away, Please, Astronomy Lesson, Little Red Corvette, Another Day, Welcome To Smalltimore, and half smiles, blue skies.
1. |
If I Were A Poet
02:55
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If I were a poet , I'd write mysterious verse
they’d end with first line and the middle'd come first
When I went to a reading The whole room would swoon
And if I read for 2 hours they’d say I ended too soon
When a poem is the forest and a word is a tree
If I were a poet, that’s the poet I’d be
If I were a poet, I’d be misunderstood
No one would get me, I would be that good
Iambic pentameter is for sissies and hacks
three quatrains and a couplet and this sonnet ain’t turning back
When a poem is the forest and a word is a tree
If I were a poet, that’s the poet I’d be
I’d rebel against rebels and only drink to excess
out of beauty & order I’d birth this unholy mess
I’d curse and I’d spit Grovel & growl
shout would be whisper whisper be howl
If I were a poet, I'd brag and cry
About how rich and how famous I’ll be when I die
Academics and rockstars I taught them all that they learned
The whole world would marvel at every phase that I turned
When a poem is the forest and a word is a tree
If I were a poet, that’s the poet I’d be
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2. |
I Would Too
03:52
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I Would Too
music and lyrics Howard Markman © BMI 2016
She's slept with half the men in town
no scarlet letter no thorny crown
Her love life reads like a bad chain letter, you'd think by now that she'd know better
Know better what she shouldn't do
You'd think by know that I would too
She can talk some trash she can dish some dirt
She says she likes the pain but not the hurt
She hides here scares under skin tight leather, you'd think by now that she'd know better
Know better what she shouldn't do
You'd think by now that I would too
You'd think by now that she could read the writing on the wall
You'd think by now she'd realize what's down that long dark hall
I bet she don't recall my name
After a while we all look the same
I knew the score when I first met her, you'd think by now that I'd know better Know better what I shouldn't do
You'd think by now that she would too
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3. |
New Old Man
03:06
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New Old Man
he still wears jeans and they’re still blue
they look worn in, but they’re brand new
for that kind of style, you’re gonna pay
but he can’t wait to tell you, back in the day....
he joined the SDS, he rallied and marched
now he collects vinyl as a investment art
he’s got a pony tail and a retirement plan
let me introduce you to the new old man
he liked marriage so much he tried it three times
now he pays alimony for all of his crimes
at least for the ones where he got caught
I guess there are some things that just can’t be taught
So he dates a lot now, he’s a man about town
he can still get it up and still get way down
Thanks to a little blue pill and a caribbean tan
let me introduce you to the new old man
his watch cost more then my car
and is car cost more than my house
the drugs he takes are all legal now
but they all leave a very bitter taste in his mouth
no one calls him grandpa, well not to his face
and he knows more about denial then he knows about grace
still he keeps on pushing like he can make the sun rise
now there bags underneath, but no stars in his eyes
set out to change the world and set things right
now he changes the channel in the middle of the night
when the news reminds him what became of his plan
let me introduce you to the new old man
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4. |
Giving Up The Ghost
03:08
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Giving Up The Ghost
listen to the trains, they haunt you in dreams
life seems like another unraveling seam
the ghost of what you were, unable to leave
you’ve run out of excuses to believe
walk down to the station, the station isn’t there
kick the dirt, just pacing below sun’s heartless glare
tracks rusted and broken, useless as a missing part
it’s got no answers or fresh starts
come to me, oh come to me
cry like absent rain
come to me and stop wasting time
listening to trains
clouds descend, like a murder of crows
ways you’ve failed, lies you’ve been told
wild and stuck inside of something you can’t tame
it’ll keep taunting until you learn its name
come to me, oh come to me
come out of the rain
come to me and stop wasting time
listening to trains
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5. |
Another Day
02:26
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Another Day
His glasses fall right off his face and disappear without a trace
He stands up to sit back down & what’s been lost cannot be found
The nurse comes in she pokes & prods
The test comes back what were the odds
of unintended consequence
all the facts they don’t make sense
And so it seems he’ll stay Another day
The room is bright, but he can’t see he doesn’t know that it’s me
Still he grabs my hand & holds it tight & there’s no way to make this right
So I fill out forms, dot the I’s
That lead to further compromise
Right down the path of most resistance
no matter what was his insistence
Here is where he’ll stay
Another day
His glasses fall right off his face and disappear without a
trace the lines and stoke the ember the smoke forgets
the light remembers
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6. |
Buddha Blue
04:06
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Buddha Blue
Someone’s down in the kitchen
I can hear the smoke through the floor
Someone’s mixing up the rain and the wind
I can smell it beating on the door
I know his coat won’t protect me
sometimes the worst it comes true
so i light the incense with my cigarette
call it Buddha Blue
I was walking through a dream last Friday night
I was tossing and turning all day
All the sights and the sounds, the bark of the hounds
All I could do was to turn away
Tune it out, turn it off, deny and distract
Anything to get me through
Volume and speed is all that i need and you
call it Buddha Blue
Mixing oil and blood, power and place body bags full of denial
while they bully and jeer and sell us more fear a nation’s soul goes on trial
Someone's down in the kitchen
I could laugh and I could cry
Someone's mixing up the wind and the rain
Stirring up the how and why
Been bad before just outside the door
But it's bleak inside here too
Meditate on greed and hate
And call it Buddha Blue
(alternate last verse)
Someone’s down in the kitchen
I could laugh or I could cry
Someone’s mixing up the rain and the wind
They know how but they don’t know why
(Now success is just getting by)
it’s been bad before they’re always at the door
but this is bleaker than I ever knew
meditate on the greed and the hate and you call it Buddha Blue
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7. |
Vodka And Peppermint Tea
04:41
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Vodka And Peppermint Tea
through the rising steam
I can barely see
coming from the vodka and peppermint tea
The night we met time stood still
you were wanted for murder, if looks could kill
let me buy you a drink, you said “the first round’s on me”
she ordered vodka and peppermint tea
As we left the bar, asked my name
I knew my life would never be the same
everything was new, dangerous, and free
I could feel vodka and peppermint tea
through the rising steam
I can barely see
coming from the vodka and peppermint tea
you stopped the car on the railroad tracks
you said enjoy the rush and just relax
you said it’s all about trust, you said baby trust me
on her lips I tasted (the) vodka and peppermint tea
our time was wild our days a blur
tight leather, hot wax, every growl and purr
even your safe word was allons-y
mine became vodka and peppermint tea
through the rising steam
I can barely see
coming from the vodka and peppermint tea
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8. |
Are You Alright
04:03
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Are You Alright
Don’t ask the question, if you don’t what to hear
the fox and the dragon quickly appear
this could be the day, but it’s the heart of the night
with her hand on my chest she asks
baby, are you alright?
The story is warn and too many times told
all of the riches in life are not gold
or silver or dollars and don’t fit in a vault
and none of my bad dreams are ever your fault
and i try hard to hold on and at once let go
this life that i’m leading is mostly for show
to keep it all loose and wrap it up tight
in the bed next to me she says
baby are you alright?
it’s not the thunder it’s the lightening I fear
and all of the kind words and thoughts of good cheer
from well meaning strangers & cherished old friends
still we all know how this story ends
Don’t ask the question, I haven’t a clue
& I’m sorry for all this shit I put you through
some blame the moon & others the stars
& the prison i live in doesn’t have bars
you can see with your eyes or touch with your fingers
long after the fall the memory lingers
and holds me so tight it gets hard to breathe
and it’s up to you if you want to believe
or want to be brave or get lost in the night
with her hand in my hand she asks
baby, are you alright
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9. |
Good On Ya
04:52
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Good On Ya
good on ya good on ya pal
you broke the chains and you broke your vows
so raise your glass then raise another
good on ya pal, good on ya brother
it’s such a feeling, like i can breathe again
some won’t get it, but i’m sure you will my friend
my life got so complicated
she got so old and so jaded
we got mired in the muck
so i changed my life i changed my own luck
good on ya good on ya pal
you broke the chains and you broke your vows
so raise your glass then raise another
good on ya pal, good on ya brother
she makes me feel young almost as young as her
and look at that body, still she’s wise and mature
Don’t call this some mid life fling
i feel it in my heart No this is the real thing
i'll show i've learned a thing or two
i'll do it right with her, all that i did wrong with you
so i changed my life i changed my own luck
good on ya good on ya pal
you broke the chains and you broke your vows
so raise your glass then raise another
good on ya pal, good on ya brother
Now I follow my bliss I follow my heart
and the kid's will know I still care
every other christmas and at summer faire
one day they understand
and in 10 more years when they watch me do it all again
so i changed my life i changed my own luck
good on ya good on ya pal
you broke the chains and you broke your vows
so raise your glass then raise another
good on ya pal, good on ya brother
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10. |
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Between The Glasphalt And The Stars
i remember we were 10 years old, that's when i knew the street was on fire
i could feel it through my bedroom walls, the heartbeat and the desire
or with my nose pressed up against the glass, in the back seat of my parents' car,
eating dinner down at me jan lows, between the glasphalt and the stars
i remember 16 years old, the street was learning our name
from sherman's to ted's every word that was said, burned into my brain.
trying to decide who we would be, not seeing who we already are.
eating dinner down at me jan lows, between the glasphalt and the stars
i remember 21 years old, i thought the streets were mine
from the market to the bay, upstairs in no fish today, the whole city was my valentine
making music, we were just making it up, making love behind the marble bar
still eating dinner down at me jan lows, between the glasphalt and the stars
now these glasses aren't rose,
its as plain as the nose on these good olds of hit and run
still now and again, sitting here with you my friend.
better days are still to come
now i walk these streets that dance to a beat that i can barely recall
or that i never knew, and all that it grew, begins to bend and then fall
as it should be and then there's you and me, and a piano and a guitar
(singing about) eating dinner down at me jan lows, between the glasphalt and the stars
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howard markman recommends:
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Forward, Children: A fundraiser for Durham Public Schools students
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Terms of Surrender
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Psychedelic folkster M.C. Taylor taps Jenny Lewis, Phil Cook, and others for his latest as Hiss Golden Messenger.
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Heart Like a Levee
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Partially funded by a commission at Duke University, Messenger's latest is a robust collection of emotive tunes.
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