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Weights And Measures

by Prairie Rehab

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1.
When You Became A Ghost When you became a ghost, you Did not haunt those you’d been close to But you hung around the pigeons Let the sun in Let the wind blow through Observing men and women Children dressed in crème and lemon Couples strolling afterhours Wilting flowers Loves that should have been There had been some sort of error An oversight, you guess: But you hadn’t been allowed Up amongst the choiring crowd With the Cloud of Witnesses The ground was parched; the air, dry When you woke under a sharp sky With the stillness of a watched clock And the slow shock Of a long goodbye Free of all desire and doubt All credibility and clout Breathless and insubstantial As a man’s soul When he’s been burned-out When you became a ghost, you Did not haunt those you’d been close to But you hung around the pigeons Let the sun in Let the wind blow-- Let the sun in Let the wind blow through © 2012 Lacie Mangels (Filament Glow Music ASCAP)
2.
Wait For It 04:17
Wait For It Not very long ago It was too cold to move Now it’s too hot to even breathe The grasses strain to grow The brittle’s pushed to break The sparrows sigh; cicadas seethe Despite my trembling Despite my dread I can say, with everything but certainty: There’s a morning still ahead That is, unless the earth Begins to melt away Unless we all are swallowed-up But now, for what it’s worth I’ll hold on tight to you Like you’re a hard-won loving-cup Despite my trembling Despite my dread I can say, with everything but certainty: There’s a morning still ahead I am so full of waste And empty little wants For Things have swayed me with their song I like the way they taste The way they satiate As they come running down my tongue Despite my trembling Despite my dread I can say, with everything but certainty: There’s a morning still ahead It’s been too dry to hope for anything But even I can still admit There’s a respite, there's a breath If you’ll only wait for it So, wait for it, wait for it, wait for it… © 2012 Lacie Mangels / Scott Swartz (Filament Glow Music ASCAP)
3.
Infinite Improvement Lovely, lovely, lovely: if you'll notice I said it three times-- that means you're lovelier than anyone And I know I don't know much, but I know this: You'd be perfectly just to leave me languishing and all alone But only stay...But only stay... I came, I saw, I took you for granted I turned your romantics into a Herculean chore Now I feel, I fear you've been disenchanted You've got one foot keeping time, you've got the other out the door But only stay...But only stay... But only stay, I'll give you ten percent And that's an infinite improvement Over nothing Have pity on a ne'er-do-well I've knocked on windows Called on stairwells No one would let me in I don't deserve a thing I've been handed And I've demanded blessing when I should have been accurst But, Lovely, O, please don't leave me here stranded And if I haven't any best maybe you can suppress my worst And only stay..And only stay..And only stay And only stay, I'll give you ten percent And that's an infinite improvement Over nothing © 2012 Lacie Mangels / Scott Swartz (Filament Glow Music ASCAP)
4.
Natal Star 03:24
Natal Star All's beauteous and bright On this Night of all Nights But I'm tired and torn Thread-bare and care-worn Uncomfortable in my own skin Plebeians and princes Crossed great distances Bound for David's City And a Nativity That's yet to be born in my heart Over-head, hovering Sweetly cherubim sing From their realm in the sky So impossibly high That no tidings will light on my ears Still the Mystics divine Still the Natal Star shines And though the sky's full and low She refuses to snow I refuse to open up my eyes All's diluted and pale In this achromic vale But you follow the charts And the greyness departs From you, slowly but assuredly I've been promised this, too I've been promised this, too I've been promised: why don't I believe? © 2012 Lacie Mangels (Filament Glow Music ASCAP)
5.
Augustine - I. Pear Tree Before the nimbus-crown Before the Beatific Vision There's the falling down And the perdition There was a pear tree out on the Algiers plain (The Empire was still strong then) Before the crucible and the labor-pains Before the being born-again The Serpent was a crafty devil indeed Tempting you with what you'd always wanted But you were already a bad, bad seed Self-made and hellfire-haunted Before the nimbus-crown Before the Beatific Vision There's the falling down And the perdition Trace it all back to that garden Mischief and metaphor Fatal slip and allegory Or a pear tree, nothing more Before the nimbus-crown Before the Beatific Vision There's the falling down And the perdition © 2012 Lacie Mangels / Scott Swartz (Filament Glow Music ASCAP)
6.
Augustine - II. Abyssinia to Rome Augustine was a mama's boy She followed him most everywhere Over the barren desert Upon the salty foam But her Gus was such a wild child And so easily beguiled By all the lusty gals from Abyssinia to Rome He ate, drank, and was merry Till he joined the monastery And never came back again And never came back again Augustine had a paramour Who bore for him his only son But Mama said to marry And he couldn’t tell her no So, he put away his mistress And sent her, with a last kiss Packing back to Africa Her shattered heart in tow He ate, drank, and was merry Till he joined the monastery And never came back again And never came back again He had one prayer to his God Betwixt the femmes fatales And coy coquettes: Lord, make me chaste-- but, O, not yet... The wenches wept And the barmaids mourned But the mother welcomed The prodigal back home He ate, drank, and was merry Till he joined the monastery And never came back again And never came back again © 2012 Lacie Mangels / Scott Swartz (Filament Glow Music ASCAP)
7.
III. Salted Earth Don't put me away I've stayed with you all this time What have I done to you? What is my crime? Once I was your flower Once I was your branch and root Now I'm the bitter taste And the forbidden fruit I'm not your wife I'm not respectable But you were my only one Bone of my very bone Don't put me a-way To Carthage you came Burning, but not consumed: Pomegranate tongues of flame Saffron acacia blooms And I was that fire I held you within my arms Like imperfect matter Melded with flawless form I'm not your wife I'm not respectable But I gave the whole of me All of my flesh and blood Don't put me a-way A man sees a good thing Carefully weighs its worth Tears it asunder Plunders and salts the earth Leaves it laid open Arid and bare and browned I was your good thing I was your fertile ground Don't put me a-way Don't put me a-way © 2012 Lacie Mangels / Scott Swartz (Filament Glow Music ASCAP)
8.
Augustine - IV. Fall Every empire falls And the strong grow frail Spirit rises-up But the corpus fails Vandals breach the gate Penetrate the wall Laying waste to all That's perishable Melt away the dross But the Good remains This, the crucible These, the purgatorial flames Well, it doesn't work And it isn't sure Myth and paradox Make the path obscure Every empire falls And the strong grow frail Spirit rises-up But the corpus fails Mortify the flesh Burn away the shame This, the crucible These, the purgatorial flames Jilted companion Blest mother and lost son I have loved myself More than anyone I have loved myself More than anyone Before the nimbus-crown Before the Beatific Vision There's the falling down And the perdition © 2012 Lacie Mangels / Scott Swartz (Filament Glow Music ASCAP)
9.
Scarce 03:07
Scarce Someone’s locked me in my own heart And swallowed the key Vestigial chambers beating still, but futilely And you’ve become a vacant stare A vanishing man A fragile thing deprived of light and oxygen Making yourself so scarce Barely heard, rarely seen I’m tired of the slow ascent The letting of blood This sublimating baseness into outward good I’ve been waiting on a new self To crawl out of me And into you, to know you through and thoroughly But you make yourself so scarce Barely heard, rarely seen So scarce I can discern only The partway and the in-between Should I make myself a lamb? A blemishless dove? A docile paragon of sacrificial love? But is it even possible to live on martyrdom? To give and to give without taking some? To give and to give without taking some? To give and to give? So, you’ve become a vacant stare A vanishing man A fragile thing deprived of light and oxygen Making yourself so scarce Barely heard, rarely seen So scarce I can discern only The partway and the in-between Only the partway and the in-between © 2012 Lacie Mangels (Filament Glow Music ASCAP)
10.
Stay, Genevieve It began with a kiss from her sister Beatrice He had driven her home at Genevieve's own insistence But pent-up tensions, common complaints The lilt of her laugh to the radio's strains Crescendoed on to passions' confluence And the inevitable consequence He had sworn to himself, on the skies and on the seas But the promise he made was no less mutable than these He couldn't quit it for goodness' sake Couldn't break free of the insatiable ache Still, it's a reason if it's no excuse We choose only what we cannot refuse Gen kept the porch-light dimly lit Met him, winsome at the door And quieted her questions She had little indiscretions of her very own But Beatrice broke, packed her bags, resolved to leave Penned a penitent note for her sister Genevieve He stood licking his wounds under the courthouse colonnade Wishing Beatrice well; wishing Genevieve had stayed He stood licking his wounds under the courthouse colonnade Wishing Beatrice well; wishing Genevieve had stayed © 2012 Lacie Mangels / Scott Swartz (Filament Glow Music ASCAP)
11.
The Curse Of Remembrance The book on the bed-stand The creak of the stair The burl of the headboard The lay of her hair The circling thoughts Enclosing your brain The click of the deadbolt Pulsing in your veins A whisper, a gesture The slightest resemblance A last look, a first kiss The curse of remembrance An opening iris A warbling wren The scent, the sensation Of skin against skin The nape of her neck on The crook of your arm And piercing unrest of The ringing alarm A whisper, a gesture The slightest resemblance A last look, a first kiss The curse of remembrance Wake-up, wake-up: You can never go back The moment it's pictured The memory wanes The imagery fades and cracks The woman beside you Stretches and stirs The motions may move you But the body’s not Hers You listen for day-sound As swift-shifting shapes Fall, shadowing over Your way of escape A whisper, a gesture The slightest resemblance A last look, a first kiss— A last look, a first kiss The curse of remembrance © 2012 Lacie Mangels / Scott Swartz (Filament Glow Music ASCAP)
12.
A Little Sad 04:33
A Little Sad Everything is just a little sad There in Berlin, out here in Leningrad Shuddering and starved; twenty-below Burned-out, beleaguered; barefooted in the snow I'd give-up the fight; quit this damned war Find me a bed, a girl, and an open door We'd have a drink, or maybe two or three But it could not be as it used to be They set me to march, gave me a pair of boots And hateful ideas, spewed-out in absolutes I need a reason not to be gone And I need a cause to hang my life upon I'd give-up the fight; quit this damned war Find me a bed, a girl, and an open door We'd have a drink, or maybe two or three But it could not be as it used to be Have I missed the day? Have I missed the trumpet-sound When we'll be raised Up from the foetid ground To sing a new song, make reverie from regret? Water to good wine, plowshares from bayonets? What have we done? What has become of us? Nothing is bright; nothing's euphonious I'd give-up the fight; quit this damned war Find me a bed, a girl, and an open door We'd have a drink, or maybe two or three But it could not be as it used to be We’d sing a new song, make reverie from regret Water to good wine, plowshares from bayonets Everything is just a little— Everything is just a little sad A little sad, a little sad © 2012 Lacie Mangels / Scott Swartz (Filament Glow Music ASCAP)
13.
Player Piano 03:22
Player Piano Clear your head; dry your tears When you're older, have a beer Sometimes that's all it takes to cure a case of woe Baby, I'm at your beck and call Oh, no, it's no trouble at all: I'll be your dumb waiter and your player piano I hear the future's looking grand Just what we'd always imagined: Cryogenics, flying cars, and Esperanto There'll be no aggression or guns No bureaucrats or bad intentions We'll all have dumb waiters and player pianos Conception on to terminus Proto- to Palingenesis I loved you when I love you now I'll love you then I can't say what tomorrow holds You may die young: you may grow old But, either way, you'll fade and flourish, ebb and flow You'll take a chance; you'll make a wish You'll be lit-up and then extinguished And where it goes from there, well, Heaven only knows But, Babe, I'm at your beck and call Oh, no, it's no trouble at all: I'll be your dumb waiter and your player piano © 2012 Lacie Mangels (Filament Glow Music ASCAP)

about

Weights And Measures is the sophomore release from Prairie Rehab. It expands on the folk/rock/country sound of Philology with layered vocals, strings, crafted yet catchy song structures, and lyrics of great depth..

credits

released February 3, 2013

-
Prairie Rehab is:

Lacie Mangels - Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Scott Swartz - Pedal Steel, Guitars, Violin, Background Vocals
John Baldus - Drums, Percussion
Greg Lamb - Bass

All Songs © 2012 Lacie Mangels / Scott Swartz (Filament Glow Music ASCAP), except When You Became A Ghost, Natal Star, Scarce, Player Piano © 2012 Lacie Mangels (Filament Glow Music ASCAP)

Recorded and Mixed by Scott Swartz at Filament Glow Recording, St. Louis, MO

Art Direction by Brian Clever

Illustrations By Mike Reed

Special thanks to our amazing guest musicians

Dave Grelle - B3, Rhodes, Piano on Tracks 1 - 8, 11 – 13

Ben Reece - Tenor Saxophone on Tracks 2, 13

Adam Hucke - Trumpet on Tracks 2, 13

Aaron Chandler - Trombone on Tracks 2, 13

Noel Kaletsky - Clarinet on Track 12

Thanks to

Ryan, Nina, Phoebe, Susan, and all of our friends and families, Roy Kasten, Chris Bay, Jeff Corbin, and everyone at KDHX FM88.1, Brett Underwood, Steve Pohlman, Isaac and Elyse (studio dogs and mix supervision)

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