Hallelujah The Hills

Details

• Released on April 8th, 2008
• Recorded March 2007 - February 2008

Download the entire EP for free

• MP3, 192 Kbps, zip file, 33 MB
• WAV, CD quality, zip file, 222 MB
• Liner notes, PDF, 3 MB

Track Listing

1. Nurses 5 Float Past (MP3)
2. Don't Take The Law Into Your Own Hands But Take Mine In Yours (MP3)
3. Let It Wave (MP3)
4. Cataloging Candy's Demise (MP3)
5. When Night Falls (MP3)
6. Monster Eyes (MP3)
7. (You Better Hope You) Die Before Me [Live January 2008] (MP3)

Lyrics

1. Nurses 5 Float Past

   it's the memory you let go
   not the stimuli of the ghost
   injecting opera, in the corridor
   of the queen's latest estate

   and so you slip on past the bazaar
   troubles d.o.a. thus far
   “I'm not so criminal
   in a cathedral”
   you remark as the blimps fade away

   “is this an epilogue?” doc asks
   while the nurses 5 float past
   “we'd like to regulate
   but not aggravate
   and bring this dance to a close”

   and while you sit and think about that
   something invisible falls flat
   and we'll not know today
   what it had to say
   but I'm sure it'll be back

2. Don't Take The Law Into Your Own Hands But Take Mine In Yours

   a bell for the brave Armenian waitress
   outsourced to the heavies in the Texas sway
   something drifts across the soul of September soil
   I used to strip there but now I solemnly swear

   I'm the one to disintegrate into your dreamscape
   pushed into patchwork
   with a mask with eyes cut to keyholes
   believe me I'm trying

   I remember the day machine wept into lakes
   and poets made a plea on live TV
   a semicolon inked on the governor's wrist
   we all claimed we shared but it's worse than we feared

   I'm the one to camp out under the flagpole
   coiled up and dumb
   trashing the haunted mansion
   pushed into patchwork
   to disintegrate into your dreamscape
   with a mask with eyes cut to keyholes
   believe she's lying

3. Let It Wave

   when you come again
   tryst in the treetop
   8 excuses for the mother hen
   I tripped in the hall
   it was a miracle stall
   bought us time and we
   filtered out the feelings again

   we schemed at the built in bar
   townie authority screaming we shouldn't go far
   I copied the key
   the way I mimic disease
   leaving the locksmith hungry,
   debating on his hands and his knees

   bankrupt birdhouse the crow got the word out
   we've seen this all before
   and I am slouching a grown man crouching
   thirty armed men at the door

   the truth and the tooth came out
   one in the paper and the other inside of his mouth
   he left with a limp and a cut on his lip
   hid the morning paper and never told his wife or his kids

   now we're on our own
   cutting coupons 10 dollars off
   a crown and a thrown
   discount royalty
   high horse novelties
   we'll pay full price cuz it's better
   than being alone

   let it wave
   oh let it wave
   let it wave
   oh let it wave

4. Cataloging Candy's Demise

   built by science “the dysphemic alliance”
   we're pumping iron down by the pier
   and we're trimming the fuses on these daily abuses
   there's nobody sober left to steer
   we went down with intentions to climb
   the eighty foot memorial pine
   hey who blew the roof off?
   c'mon get your boots on
   we're cataloging Candy's demise

   the concierge signals it seems we have a single
   are you decent with a map and a flask?
   I found my room and then hallucinated you
   it's so useless if you have to ask
   where I got this punch in the mouth
   he tells the joke about the pole in the south
   we were perfect and passed out when she
   finally got her shout out
   we're cataloging candy's demise

   asleep at the spiel we tried so hard to feel
   until amnesia caught us unawares
   we were pulling from a pill box
   when we ran into the Statie
   and he brought us all in on a whim
   fingerprinted but not afraid
   we told the guys we were back from the grave
   every moment in my life
   is crawling back tonight
   cataloging candy's demise

   sawed off sneakers
   my lifeblood in a beaker
   it's so groovy when you use ESP
   but frankly Rudy your brother's out of juvie
   so you gotta go buy him some weed
   we were absolutely upside down
   when candy's sister rolled back into town
   c'mon with the sportscoat
   polish up the row boat
   we're cataloging candy's demise
   hey who blew the roof off?
   c'mon get your boots on
   we're cataloging candy's demise
   we were perfect and passed out when she
   finally got her shout out
   we're cataloging candy's demise

1. When Night Falls

   outside nature beats the tar out of nature
   an intelligent disease inside a healthy plant
   I heard you were one of those homewrecking truckers, well ain't ya?
   “18 wheels of terror”: the driver's union chant
   turn it up on the vamp

   when night falls
   who picks it up?
   who picks it up?
   who picks it up?

   stitched on the inside of his jacket is a note for the doctor:
   “send my remains to a stranger picked out of a hat”
   he's adept at piano but he never claimed to have rocked her
   then the band took a break and went to get high in the back
   but it's enough if we ask

   when night falls
   who picks it up?
   who picks it up?
   who picks it up?

   a hand comes down and turns the airplane around
   an alarm clock sounds and shakes the unconscious down
   and then the playground hounds sniff out every drug in town
   on a Friday night
   in the middle of the month
   in the preacher's house
   at the mayor's house
   in the policeman's car
   in the teacher's bag
   in the doctor's lab
   it's enough if we ask

   when night falls
   who picks it up?
   who picks it up?
   who picks it up?

2. Monster Eyes

   get you out of range
   of my monster eyes
   best thing I ever did for you
   was get you out of range
   of my monster eyes

   before my eyes destroy you
   you better run

3. (You Better Hope You) Die Before Me [Live January 2008]

   the phone line is broken
   the tapes are all erased
   someone's at the door you know his wares have all been laced
   you better hope you die before me

   if you take it as a compliment
   you're out of your tree
   the horses all are ready
   and they know as well as me
   that you better hope you die before me

   everybody knows you climb a ladder so well
   impressive demonstrations of your speech and your spells
   but you better hope you die before me

   dress me up in wires
   I'll plug into the feed
   of blasted out basement shows
   bursting at the seams
   and you better hope you die before me

   the house is infested
   with pests of every kind
   but at least they had the courtesy
   to stay of my mind
   you're broken, alone, down, and undreamed

   so you can bang on every windchime
   or light a torch for me
   or magnify your tiny soul
   with a microscope from me
   but you better hope you die before me

All songs written by Hallelujah The Hills except “Monster Eyes” (lyrics by Jonathan Lethem, music by Hallelujah The Hills)
© 2008 Reverse The Tape Decks (ASCAP)

• Tracks 1 & 2 recorded and mixed at The Soul Shop, Medford, MA
• Track 7 recorded at Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA
• All other tracks recorded in room 35 of the Sound Museum in Brighton, MA and mixed in Ryan's apartment in Norwood, MA
• Mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering, Newton, MA