Get all 8 Greg Dember releases available on Bandcamp and save 40%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Better, North of the Night Street, Grek Benson: Five From Beck's Song Reader, Water Makes Waves, Ten Thousand Things, I Don't Know I Think I Fell From The Sky, Planets Of Plenty, and Your Dream.
1. |
Andrea Sits
04:04
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Andrea sits and the world disappears.
Eyes full of wine and cottony ears.
Letters and numbers and dreams torn asunder.
People remember her skating on ice.
People remember her sparkling bright.
Slipping and sliding and softly arriving.
Entertain
We’re both the same
Different shades
I’ll bring you home
Her old friend had talent above and below.
Her old friend, he wanted to be in her show.
Swinging and swaying and helplessly making.
He promised he’d watch out for her and her time.
She promised she’d push him but not be unkind.
Promises, promises, only for novices.
Entertain
We’re both the same
Shades of gray
I’ll bring you home
Letters and numbers won’t get you too far.
Letters and numbers can’t see who you are.
Andrea sits and the world disappears.
A moment of quiet, a moment so true
A fullness of breath, a breath full of beauty.
Andrea sits and the world disappears.
Andrea sits and the world disappears.
© Gregory Benson Dember
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2. |
Jack of All Contexts
04:06
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I’m a Jack of all contexts, I’m a master of some.
Eating cake in bed and trying not to leave crumbs.
Wandering through parking lots in search of a car.
I’m a Jack of all contexts wondering which one you are.
Which one do you want me to be?
Which one do you want me to be?
Exactly who should I be?
Which one do you want me to be?
We had each other for an hour downtown.
We broke some rules in our hospital gowns.
I told you that joke that always makes you laugh.
I’ve got it whittled down to just a minute and a half.
Which one do you want me to be?
Which one do you want me to be?
Exactly who should I be?
Which one do you want me to be?
All I see is beautiful — I’m devoted
All I see is beautiful — I can’t control it
I don’t know why I get like this, a self-negating optimist
Change the topic.
I am no drunkard but I’m drunk on love
I once was a member of the Lonely Heart’s Club.
I’ve got no aces or kings in my cards.
I’m just a Jack of all contexts wondering which one you are.
Which one do you want me to be?
Which one do you want me to be?
Exactly who should I be?
Which one do you want me to be?
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3. |
Walk to the Moon
04:49
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You walked across water, you walked to the moon.
You were easy to follow, I caught up with you soon.
I watched you move.
In the dark of the night, you were watching me too.
Tempt me. You sent for me.
I …. try… cry …. fly.
I wrote you a note on the back of my hand.
It was easy to read in the heat of the sand.
Your sweet demand.
In the damp of the mist, did I misunderstand?
Test me. I’m questing.
I… try… cry… fly…..
I am a good person, through thick and through thin.
I do what I can, from outside looking in.
You made me spin.
In the dark of the night, at the edge of the the rim.
Tempt me. You sent for me.
I…. try…. cry…. fly.
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4. |
Star in a Jar
05:02
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In a different light your affliction would probably seem alright.
Not so black and white, more conviction, a little bit less contrite.
They put a star inside a jar and then they handed it to you.
You did everything you could till there was nothing left to do.
In a different light, your affliction would probably seem alright.
Amped but not insane, a secret Santa, giving out gifts all day.
Put a few away, a praying mantis, vacation in old Pompeii.
They put a star inside a jar and you swallowed it sight unseen.
You became everything you could, till there was nothing else left to be.
In a different light, your affliction would probably seem alright.
Five infinities. A private color, a sound no-one else can see.
Triumph and tragedy. A new prescription. To be you or not to be.
Your favorite star inside a jar and you gave all of it away.
Just like it almost always does, the evening came after day.
In a different light, your affliction would probably seem alright.
No cars on the road tonight
People staying home tonight
Something different going on
A new illumination.
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5. |
S O S
03:33
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Take this map, hold it, unfolded in my lap.
I need a guide to give me courage
I went back, the basement door was warped and cracked.
It took me some time to get it open.
I took off my muddy shoes and went in
The walls had gotten crunchy like gingerbread.
S.O.S. — that’s how I spell my name the best.
The letters are vague, and dark and blurry.
I shouldn’t tell you what you still mean to me.
I don’t want to make you cry or worry.
Inscribed there near the top of the stairs.
A heart with our initials and an arrow through it.
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6. |
Those and These
04:56
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You and me, you and me and we. Endlessly.
Those and these — fingers, wrists and knees, please please please.
In the room in the afternoon
and then that same night in the concert light
When the band comes on, with the curtains drawn.
You’ll be in the song that was on the tip of my tongue.
Underground — look at what I found. Upside down.
Make me sweat. I don’t you know yet. Fret fret fret.
You enjoy and you’re like a toy
That I once made up now I want to touch
You appreciate but it gets too late
And I fall asleep and I peek at you in the sun.
I drove my car through several red lights on my way to your neighborhood.
I wasn’t sure if I’d find you at home but I did.
You offered coffee or tea if I preferred. I had the English Breakfast, it was good.
It was kind of cool to see you in action where you lived.
Nobody knows what’s really going on, but I don’t think it matters anyway.
When I saw you smile, I had to find out why you were you.
The secret of existence is the burden that you bear. It’s hidden in a hundred autumn days.
Of course it’s not what we imagined, but of course it could be true.
I know not. What we did or what we thought? Dot dot dot…
Down that path. Future feeling vast. Splash splash splash.
You’re a spark even in the dark.
No I don’t expect this to make much sense.
When you’re back again in a year or ten
I’ll rest willingly in the web, this web we have spun
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7. |
Pretty Song
04:48
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Go away Pretty Song. I'm not very strong.
I can't give you the things that you need, to get on.
Yes, I like how you sound, but if you stay in this town
Believe me, we're not going up, going down.
I am Gepetto and you are wood and the tree
You are the reason that I learned to breathe
You are the waves and I am the storm and I am the sea
You deserve to be heard by more than just me
Goodbye Pretty Song. It's good that you're gone.
There are radios everywhere you can get on.
I will try to forget that we ever met.
When I hear you I'll just say "God damn, that's a good song."
I am Gepetto and you are wood and the tree
You are the reason that I learned to breathe
You are the waves and I am the storm and I am the sea
You deserve to be heard by more than just me
Remember the time, when you gave me that rhyme
And I gave you your name and it rained and you shined.
I don't want to be through, but I want more for you.
Don't you worry; things are good where I am, I'll be fine.
I am Gepetto and you are wood and the tree
You are the reason that I learned to breathe
You are the waves and I am the storm and I am the sea
You deserve to be heard by more than just me
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8. |
Messages to Friends
06:07
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He climbed the flagpole not because of the cause but for the stunt that he couldn’t resist.
He almost got to the top but the metal got so cold and he started to slip.
His brain gave up but his arms and legs came back and he made it safely down to the ground.
He was still trembling when a hundred shoulders lifted him and bodysurfed him over the crowd.
She was there because she really really cared about the problems confronting the world.
She’d never been on stage or had the spotlight on her. Never saw herself that kind of a girl.
The crowd got quiet for a moment, just exactly when her own passion swelled up inside.
She grabbed a megaphone, she climbed some steps, and watched her words
emerge and brightly bounce off the sky.
There’s a way that somehow this all matters. A dollar, dime or nickel you can lend.
From the hillside watch the scoundrels scatter. And send nice messages to friends.
Hank was an officer, a man of the law, he had one purpose that was keeping the peace.
He thought that politics just made people crazy and it wasn’t worth the stress and the grief.
The kids were blocking traffic and endangering their own and other people’s lives.
Handcuffs and pepper spray were the tools at ready for when evening went too long into night.
There’s a way that somehow this all matters. A dollar, dime or nickel you can lend.
From the hillside watch the scoundrels scatter. And send nice messages to friends.
The Flagpole Guy and the Megaphone Girl met each other in the back of Hank’s van.
She told him that she had admired his climb; he explained it wasn’t something he’d planned.
He confessed that he wasn’t up to speed on all the reasons that people had marched.
She was in the middle of filling him in when they were struck by a drunk driving car.
The van rolled over to the side of the road and landed resting up on one side.
Hank climbed out the top and opened up the back and got his charges all out alive.
The driver of the other car was pretty messed up but he hung in there till an ambulance came.
The Flagpole Guy and the Megaphone Girl held hands as they walked away.
There’s a way that somehow this all matters. A dollar, dime or nickel you can lend.
From the hillside watch the scoundrels scatter. And send nice messages to friends.
(Tear it down. Tear it down. Make something good.) X3
Make something better and send nice messages to friends.
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9. |
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A blue gardening glove
And a pink gardening glove
In the garden supplies
With their fingers entwined
In the tool shed they are
With the old mason jars
And the buckets and pails
And some unopened mail
I don’t wanna be the — only one who sees the
rabbit in the clouds. — It’s definitely up there!
When you look at me — I know that probably
It’ll always be the same as When I close my eyes.
A blue gardening glove
And a pink gardening glove
Hidden in weeds
Around the base of a tree
Through Winter and Spring
And Summer again
Through wet and through dry
Through tears and through smiles.
Anything say — Is just another way
To put it in the clouds — That rabbit is up there
When you look at me — I know that probably
It’ll always be the same as as when I close my eyes
A blue gardening glove
And a pink gardening glove
In the garden supplies
With their fingers entwined
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10. |
Time Machine
03:29
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They said you shouldn’t do it, and so you did.
You got a room full of applause.
It’s something I have done before; I’ll do again.
I’ll do it just because.
I found a time machine in my back yard.
The dial was set for fifteen years.
I closed the hatch, and flipped the switch, and pulled the rod.
I didn’t have to steer.
Everybody come here now.
I’ve got something to calm you down.
And I’ve got something else too:
That’s not me. That’s you!
I rode a southbound train like they do in all those songs
Where someone leaves to seek their soul.
We got to New Orleans, but before too long.
I knew I had to go back home.
Everybody come here now.
I’ve got something to help you settle yourself down.
And I’ve got something else too:
That’s not me. That’s you!
They said you shouldn’t do it, and so you did.
You got a room full of applause.
It’s something I have done before; I’ll do again.
I’ll do it just because.
I’ll do it just because.
I’ll do it just because.
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11. |
Unlikely Places
04:11
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The truth will be spoken in unlikely places.
Everything’s a signal and it’s all accelerating
Love is the answer and of course it’s a question.
The rules of the road apply to pedestrians.
And we go so low, and we try to go high.
And we know, and we don’t, and we climb and we climb.
I marched and I marched, to the beat of a drummer.
In my thick winter coat, I dreamed of next Summer.
Plenty of dollars, but nowhere to spend them.
I stuck out like a freak when I wanted to blend in
And we go so low, and we try to go high.
And we know, and we don’t, and we climb and we climb.
Weary of walking I bought a bus ticket
I wasn’t sure who I wanted to sit with.
I closed my eyes and sat down at random.
If I had looked up, I’d have known at a glance
And we go so low, and we try to go high
And we know, and we don’t, and we climb and we climb.
The rules of the road apply to pedestrians.
Love is the answer and there are no exceptions.
There are no more signals and there are no more stations.
The truth will be spoken in unlikely places.
And we go so low, and we try to go high
And we know, and we don’t, and we climb and we climb.
And we go so low, and we try to go high
And we know, and we don’t, and we climb and we climb.
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Greg Dember Seattle, Washington
Greg Dember is a singer-songwriter and musician who lives in Seattle and Vashon Island, WA.
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