We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Serpentine

by Gillian Grassie

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

1.
No Answer 03:00
There it is - that hollow sound no footsteps falling on the ground no rainstorm, no thunderclouds nothing to write home about sometimes silence is all there is it's just difficult to sit with no answer is an answer, it's just not the one you were waiting for oh the weight of those three small words and the echo still heavier silence in return waiting by the telephone got much easier since cellular, still comes a time you've got to draw the line I think I'm giving up tonight sometimes silence is all there is it's just difficult to sit with no answer is an answer, it's just not the one you were waiting for oh the weight of those three small words and the echo still heavier silence in return it's a classic scenario standing here with the gameshow doors open one and the rest stay closed their secrets left untold so much you just can't know it's not the one you were waiting for oh the weight of those three small words and the echo still heavier silence in return no answer
2.
There was a man he was a tall man but he never stood up tall and he hid thick books behind the cash register at work to make the time pass better and the bells clattered when I opened the door and he picked up his head as I walked in the store I could see the sweat falling down his face in the heat like beads on a silken string I was waiting for a ride so we chose to pass the time sharing words and coffee and as he told me his story I could feel something funny like my reason was deserting me Oh I'm in love with a man from the North country He's got hair like a bear it grows wild and free I can feel myself slipping like a kid with new skis like beads on a silken string Nobody knows where the time it goes so I hope you'll follow me Nobody knows when love will show inconveniently My friend drove up in a black Ford truck and said, "C'mon - I'm sorry" So I turned and said, "Goodbye, sir," and "Thank you for your time, sir," he said, "I'll be seeing you later." oh I'm in love with a man from the North country he's got hair like a bear it grows wild and free I can feel myself slipping like a bird on the breeze like beads on a silken string
3.
Fear tastes like rust sucked inside your mouth a sweet metallic you can't spit out You just can't plan for this kind of thing but what were we expecting? We can't stay, can't leave, can't force the peace we can't make our gods do anything Men stand like tall white stones lined in a thousand tidy rows see we dwell in a house of cedar no fear here, no love either But there's a woman sitting there on a hard kitchen chair scared to death of the knock on her doorway "Don't let him be gone I can't do this alone we've got three kids, got a family" You know this used to be our home it wasn't much but it was our own but the waters kept on rising up and no one came to save us We heard, "Bye, Bye, Blackbird" from the edge of a stern that was pulling away see, we've built ourselves on unity and a land of opportunity and shame, shame, shame Fear tastes like rust sucked inside your mouth a sweet metallic you can't spit out
4.
Nothing tastes quite the same as relationships gone stale Nothing lies as heavy on the tongue as empty smiles and words A thousand 'I love you's paper-winged and set to soar reduced to habit and course nothing feels so bored And where are all the answers? The things that we should know of one another? Bared so much shared so much stared so starry-eyed so much we're losing touch why do we even bother? A thousand 'I love you's words written down in ink weathered and feathering A thousand 'I love you's a thousand but not enough to make the pigeon more a dove A thousand 'I love you's breathed heavy and soft and sweet catch and choke and prick at throats behind the eyes too they don't ring true
5.
Tell Me 03:41
There was that time I got nauseous at a party when the wine didn't mix with my medication and I stepped outside for a breath of fresh air and my sister brought me a piece of bread and before I could eat it I was throwing up and she held my hair while I wiped my mouth with that spongey crust and she got a bucket to wash it all up Tell me, tell me, tell me why'd you do that to yourself? Seemed as good a thing to do as anything else You were maybe six and trying to quit sucking your thumb so you'd painted your fingers with that bitter stuff We were lying on the bottom bunk and you said you couldn't sleep and would I lend you one? so I reached over my hand and I gave you my thumb you said it didn't taste as good but it got the job done Tell me, tell me, tell me why'd you smash that old guitar? Sometimes you just can't feel your art 'till it's laying on the ground in shards I remember the years when we had nothing to prove we went running around in our birthday suits When I was a child and I'd lash out in fits and my mom would make me sit on the stairs in time-out and I'd cry and cry and say it wasn't my fault there was this dragon inside making me do wrong and I look back now to see what has changed and remark instead at all that's stayed the same we sit high on our horses and hold tight the reins praying a bit in the mouth's what makes the beast tame Tell me, tell me, tell me why'd you do that to yourself? Seemed as good a thing to do as anything else Tell me, tell me, tell me how'd you let it go so far? Sometimes you just can't feel your heart 'till it's laying on the ground in shards
6.
Pulse 03:20
They say, "Watch out for the new, you never know what it might do to you." But I find it's this old home of mine I'm having trouble getting used to Every time I open my mouth my words fall just a little too north or south don't know when or what to eat I am living the life of a syncopated beat I can't find the pulse of this town is it in the car horns or the feet falling down on the ground? I don't know what to do anymore well it's one thing to leave and another to try and return Feel as though I'm going 'round stoned and the whole world knows it question is, "Well if the shoe fits..." oh but what if it doesn't? I can't shake this feeling inside that I've left a part of me behind Hour for five-sixty miles, I can't reconcile the distance and the time I can't find the pulse of this town is it in the car horns or the feet falling down on the ground? I don't know what to do anymore well it's one thing to leave and another to try and return I dropped a cup - it should have broken when it crashed down to the floor thing's ain't behaving like they're s'posed to glass ain't fragile anymore Oh my love, I am the sin that is swollen thick with good intentions oh I know the trouble I'm in I keep filling my napsack with rocks and Bombay gin I can't find the pulse of this town is it in the car horns or the feet falling down on the ground? I don't know what to do anymore well it's one thing to leave and another, another I can't find the pulse of this town I can't find the pulse
7.
So Funny 03:42
If you don't love me you should just go on and leave - I'll find someone who can I don't know why you think your just hanging around here is making you anything more of a man I guess I could see why you'd think it'd be noble, yeah my daddy, he left too I just think we should give some long hard thoughts 'bout what it is we're trying to prove 'cause you only ever think of me in terms of what I'm not I'm sick and tired of being measured up by the things that I ain't got It's so funny, you know being with you is just like being alone it's so funny, oh it makes me weep it's so funny I can hardly speak I don't know what it was I was looking for when I came up to your door but I know it sure as hell wasn't so I could sit around here being ignored 'cause you only ever think of me in terms of what I'm not I'm sick and tired of being measured up by the things that I ain't got It's so funny, you know being with you is just like being alone it's so funny, oh it makes me weep it's so funny I can hardly speak You were always telling me to try harder and see more of the humor well, how's this for a laugh for you mon vieux cheri amour? It's so funny, you know being with you is just like being alone it's so funny, oh it makes me weak it's so funny I can hardly speak
8.
Momma, Papa, please come quickly there's something in my room It's creeping in all four corners and I'm too afraid to move Now it's you who've got me quaking my lord this house is shaking and I don't fit under my bed Is it better or worse to know it's been like this since we first left that garden of Eden? I don't blame the woman or the fruit or the serpent they are gifts and tools and we need them My parents they never made much sense as a married couple they were pretty ridiculous they jumped off the deep end and they held their breath and they hoped for the best Well I've had a partner or two and I've learned like you it can be harder than hell to hack it we open our mouths we sigh love, we cry foul and we can't always seem to back it Oh is it better or worse to know it's been like this since we first left that garden of Eden? I don't blame the woman who took fruit from the serpent they are gifts and tools and we need them Of all of nature's laws, you know inertia is the worst 'cause once you've chosen to start in motion you can't stop alone or reverse and sometimes in my dreams I follow the length of an outstretched arm and see the gloss of a shiny red apple yet unbitten in the palm Oh is it better or worse to know it's been like this since we first left that garden of Eden? I don't blame the woman or the fruit or the serpent they are gifts and tools and we need them
9.
Tamlin 05:05
I hate this Halloween party with its posh freaks and zombies can't find your face in the parade I know I don't really belong but last night you scared me on the phone and so I came My swollen tongue is flopping 'round the inside of my mouth I hear the clumsy words it's spitting out I am a chignon come undone I am a silken stocking run and I am drunk You said, "Do you ever get that feeling of being infinite and small? Like you're everything and nothing at all?" I could dress you up in white try to lend you some kind of grace but the shadows only gather in the hollows of your face something 'bout the black light or the fog machine maybe it's just the gin but you look like you're shape-shifting Do you ever get that feeling of being infinite and small? Like you're everything and nothing at all? My love has become a burning coal I am not sure I can hold I'm losing you to that bitch, Queen Mab I don't know how to save you I'm not sure that I can Here, take my coat, you know it's cold outside I want to go home, c'mon let's call it a night You turn and walk into the bathroom brushing off your nose when you don't come out I follow You're lying there on the hard tiles I call your name and you don't answer Do you ever get that feeling of being infinite and small? Like you're everything and nothing at all? My love has become a burning coal I am not sure I can hold My love, he's become a glowing coal and he burns me and I hold
10.
The Train 04:06
My lies are as transparent as a white T-shirt in the rain and I blush with the revealing all my intentions made plain and I could run for cover or I could stand my ground or take just three steps forward and have a look around If I ran my fingers down the length of your spine would you shudder, quiver, then go all still and kind? Would you lay there open for me to read just like a book? Or would you exhale slowly and sink me with a hook The train roles by my window I smile at the sound of all that heavy cargo being pulled from town to town are we transient in nature or are we of firmer stuff? or what? How can I stop this spinning? Is it only the red wine? Or am I simply feeling some cosmic-scaled design?

about

This is Gillian's debut album, written, recorded, and released while she was a student at Bryn Mawr College in 2007.

credits

released October 30, 2007

all songs written by Gillian Grassie
produced by Tim Sonnefeld and Gillian Grassie
engineered by Tim Sonnefeld & assistant Engineer Joel Metzler
recorded at Milky Recording in Ardmore, PA
Mastered by Dave McNair at Scott Hull Mastering
CD illustrations and design by Tom Kennedy

Gillian Grassie - harp & vocals
Tim Sonnefeld - drums, guitar, banjo, melatrone, rhodes (except "Silken String"), synths, bass (except "The Train")
Luke Brandon - trumpet ("Sweet Metallic")
Earnest Stuart - trombone ("Sweet Metallic")
Chris Coyle - bass ("The Train")
Jon Coyle - rhodes ("Silken String")
Rob Bell - cello ("No Answer", "So Funny", and "The Train")
Debby Messick - viola ("No Answer", "So Funny", and "The Train")
Inez Suhardjo - violin ("No Answer", "So Funny", and "The Train")

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Gillian Grassie Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Gillian Grassie is an American singer-songwriter and harpist who splits her time between Philadelphia and Berlin.

"It’s rare to hear a young singer with such control and understated soulfulness, and even more rare to hear a harp provide such a deep percussive groove. I was immediately captivated by her sound.” - Grammy-winner Marc Cohn
... more

contact / help

Contact Gillian Grassie

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like Gillian Grassie, you may also like: