Get all 12 Ryan David Orr releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of New Imperials Unplugged, New Imperials, For Her Wedding Day, Songs From Kaden Hollow: Live at Hushhh Bakehouse, Kaden Hollow, kopascetic, For My Mother, Who Truly Loved The World, More Than Strangers, and 4 more.
1. |
Selfishly
04:13
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V1
Let me start by saying you were always everything to me,
So it doesn’t seem strange if I change your name like in a dream.
I believed there was someone else like you that I could find,
But many years later, although I’ve tried, you’re all that’s on my mind.
You’re all that’s on my mind.
V2
I remember when you lied to your mother and you said you’d be home soon;
The soft touch of your fingers on my arm under the moon;
And in the corner of the funeral home, where the coach sat crying ‘cause our boy was gone
His picture was pasted all over a poster board and I couldn’t hold your hand.
You wouldn’t understand
Ch
If I could make this last for good, I would cling to you selfishly.
And you would know me like you should, and how I want to be.
V3
My house sat on a country road near a little trail through the trees.
I could walk it in the middle of the winter when the wind shook out the leaves.
Meet me over by the telephone lines and sell me on your dreams.
And I will call you “Angel” in a language only seen.
But you’ll know what I mean.
Ch
If I could make this last for good, I would cling to you selfishly.
And you would know me like you should, and how I want to be.
Br
We fall down to learn to stand up taller;
We love so big, all the world seems smaller.
Sweet girl, I never meant to be less than what you needed me to be.
Ch
If I could make this last for good, I would cling to you selfishly.
And you would know me like you should, and how I want to be.
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2. |
Margaret
04:44
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This stuff is so easy, isn’t it, Margaret?
But you might just disappear
Like you were never even here.
And they might not let you dream.
Like a headline printed in a magazine,
You read just like they wanted you to read.
And I had a lover like them, too.
So innocently cruel.
They climb inside of you,
And they never set you free.
And you’re not a lot like me,
Or I’m not a lot like you,
But either way it’s true.
Listen...outside
Hear them calling your name?
Patience...it’s alright
We’re so glad that you came.
Stand up, deep breath,
You’ll be wonderful
The curtain is open...
They got together on Christmas didn’t they, Margaret?
Like I can still recall.
All the kid voices down the hall,
And the clatter of the toys.
It was easier for boys
To shut out all the noise,
We’re not supposed to show anything at all.
And our fathers long before us knew
The bitterness of youth
And how to make it through
When everyone was gone.
Without our weapons drawn,
When we can’t stand up strong,
We smile and play along.
Listen...outside
Hear them calling your name?
Patience...it’s alright
We’re so glad that you came.
Stand up, deep breath,
You’ll be wonderful
The curtain is open...
Soldier...dreamer
Did you mean to be free?
Waiting...hoping
That the world would see.
Head up, calm down,
You’ll be wonderful
The curtain is open.
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3. |
Lucky Is Enough
03:34
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Sophie slips a letter through the ceiling vent heater,
And she never can remember to close with her name.
She looks down from a window up above the bold cathedral,
And a part of her is feeble and the rest of her is lame.
I’ll wish you luck if just lucky is enough,
But shouldn’t you be drinking from a stronger man’s cup?
Forever yours truly and with all of my love,
Just lock your doors.
She couldn’t wake the neighbors with the voice that they gave her,
She would want someone to save her but she’d never impose.
I must have seemed embarrassed when she startled my awareness,
From below her staring, careless as she put on her clothes.
I’ll wish you luck if just lucky is enough,
But shouldn’t you be drinking from a stronger man’s cup?
Forever yours truly and with all of my love,
Who are we fooling?
Sophie plays a game with paper scraps and bits of plastic,
And she swears she doesn’t practice, but she wins every time.
And I don’t know the object, and I think I’m just her project,
Because a part of me is suspect and the rest of me is lying.
I’ll wish you luck if just lucky is enough,
But shouldn’t you be drinking from a stronger man’s cup?
Forever yours truly and with all of my love,
They’re vicious when you’re weak, but they’re worse if you’re tough.
So give me your hand and let this be enough.
Ain’t we just lucky?
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4. |
5 More Days
03:01
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5 more days of rain, she said, it’s almost getting clear.
This won’t hurt that bad she said, there’s nothing quite as near.
5 more days and ways to lay yourself inside and die,
And I don’t care...there’s 5 more days
5 more days of rain, she said, it’s almost time.
I don’t have to wait she said, it’s only in my mind.
Blinding us to everything and teaching us to fight,
It seemed so right...and there’s 5 more days.
Speak softly now, she’s waking up.
It’s times like this that I’m losing sleep.
Speak gently now, she’s fragile, and I don’t know if I’m too loud.
5 more days of rain, she said, I’ve had enough of this.
I’ll be gone before you know it, there ain’t no one here I’m gonna miss.
For all the people I have know and for everyone that stayed I have lost my way
And there’s 5 more days.
Speak softly now, she’s waking up.
It’s times like this that I’m losing sleep.
Speak gently now, she’s fragile, and I don’t know if I’m too loud.
Speak softly now, she’s waking up.
It’s times like this that I’m losing sleep.
Speak gently now, she’s fragile, and I don’t know if I’m too loud.
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5. |
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Had to be enough for the tympani call;
Had to be on two different rivaling walls;
Had to be the father with all of his bulls;
Had to be the mother in shame from the fall;
After you checked and nobody was home,
In between hating and loving the world;
How to be a woman and still be a girl.
How to pretend you don’t need to be told,
And to be told.
Sister was shaking a dagger;
Sister put cracks in the window;
Left all the cash on the table;
Nothing is said that you don’t know;
Didn’t they promise you freedom
From the very first time you could listen?
They tricked you and held their position.
Ariel in graylight, stormy,
We missed you in the list of the chosen.
They said it before, they’ll say it again:
Some of us were made more fortunate people,
And nothing anywhere is easy.
Do you believe you could make it
Without anyone to be there when you fake it?
When you attempt to not fade like a flame;
Judges are wanting of only a name.
Out of the corners we shutter and rise,
Into the indifferent contempt of the sky,
Into the malice of never and why.
They told me the same thing they told you, it wasn’t a lie.
Ariel in graylight, stormy,
We missed you in the list of the chosen.
They said it before, they’ll say it again:
Some of us were made more fortunate people,
And nothing anywhere...
Ariel in graylight, stormy,
We missed you in the list of the chosen.
They said it before, they’ll say it again:
Some of us were made more fortunate people,
And nothing anywhere is easy.
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6. |
More Than Strangers
03:40
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Down a long stretch of highway,
Worn from the storm, weary and lost,
I was stranded outside with the stars looking my way,
And with nothing to hide I grew peaceful and calm.
I can feel my heart is changing now,
I can hear the whole world sing out loud.
I believe we are more than strangers.
When I was a boy, I was searching for wisdom
In the words on a page; in the words of my mother
Who said love doesn’t choose, ‘cause love is the answer
If we won’t refuse in fear and in shame.
I can feel my heart is changing now,
I can hear the whole world sing out loud.
I believe we are more than strangers.
And why should I fear you?
Why should you fear me?
Haven’t we suffered this long enough?
Through countless wars and thousands of lifetimes,
Together we’re still here.
I can feel my heart is changing now,
I can hear the whole world sing out loud.
I believe we are more than strangers.
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7. |
Wheels
06:18
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She’s suddenly, afterwards, smiling in lieu of running away,
‘Cause some of them make you hurt, but some of them love you come what may.
And out amid the stark light after dawn she longs for home.
A curious call to arms for those too terrified to roam.
Oh my soul...
You’ve gotta push it ‘til the wheels come off,
Have courage even when you’re lost,
And break the silence, judgments all be damned.
And I have never known someone like you,
To be a part of it and still see through
This veil we’d all be wise to understand.
A burgeoning brand new strand, pair upon pair of letters climb.
And culminate in an open hand free from the avarice of time.
My dear I long to hold you in my arms so safe and warm.
And into the endlessness our chariot surges evermore.
Oh my soul...
You’ve gotta push it ‘til the wheels come off,
Have courage even when you’re lost,
And break the silence, judgments all be damned.
And I have never known someone like you,
To be a part of it and still see through
This veil we’d all be wise to understand.
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8. |
Reflection of Beauty
06:44
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If we had all of the people surrounded,
Or maybe chained them all down to the floor,
We could believe that in strength love is founded and we are much stronger than any before.
Love is your belief that people change.
And we can’t give the sun our misfortune, and we can’t pay the rain in regret.
It’s too late to be sorry for something that everyone always just seems to forget.
Infected by a hand so close to blame.
Do the words make you high?
Did I say what matters this time?
Will time shade your eyes?
It’s a reflection of beauty, you answer so strong.
Truth or perception, could we be wrong?
Haven’t you taken your time?
We’ve waited so long.
You could swear you were tearing your heart out;
You could lie and tell me you believe
In truly sufficient indifference toward all of this destructive insanity.
Do you think they’d notice? Do you think they’d care?
And are you so sure your life treads heavy on this earth,
And in all your finest moments are you who you envisioned?
Just remember your light.
Do the words make you high?
Did I say what matters this time?
Will time shade your eyes?
It’s a reflection of beauty, you answer so strong.
Truth or perception, could we be wrong?
Haven’t you taken your time?
We’ve drifted so long.
Many a hand as many a feeling, daddy was once a little boy;
Girls in dance and girls in mourning making way for brighter toys,
See the faces of the children in lace and flowing gown,
Shake against the pale of morning, turn your head and then hang it down.
Do the words make you high?
Did I say what matters this time?
Will time shade your eyes?
It’s a reflection of beauty, you answer so strong.
Truth or perception, could we be wrong?
Haven’t you taken your time?
We’ve waited so long.
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9. |
Candlelight Butterflies
05:46
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Upon your deciding you would fly,
the fates stood invisible.
You offered yourself to pay the price
and were satisfied.
Is it better if you don't unravel;
if the edges never fray?
A fighting last impression on the way down.
We make up our excuses for the sake of better days,
Giggling and weeping on the way down.
Never you surrender, and the lady find her way,
leaving every light on on the way down.
Sipping in the bitterness of time,
and hailing the moon from all her rest.
Your dancing was magic on their eyes,
candlelight butterflies.
If you shiver at the sunset on the last day of your life,
I promise I will be there to embrace you.
Who are we to judge this? Who are we to mind?
Shedding our discomfort as we break through.
Sister contemplation, rid me of what blinds;
Brother compassion, let me see you.
I want to leave here a better man
with both of my eyes wide open.
And with the chains all broken.
Into an endless ocean.
Where there is only love,
there is only love,
there is only light...
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10. |
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The city surrenders what the mountains can’t tame.
However uneasy the guilty can’t blame.
You can vanish the voice, but the lips will remain.
Taste my lady like summer rain.
Don’t you be excited, don’t you squeal and don’t you whine,
And don’t you lie about crying and rub your eyes ‘til they shine.
Something so lonely, something so fine.
Wear my lady like sunshine.
Stupid say that you don’t love and crazy say you care.
79 times wave your hands up in the air.
They can see you comin’ kid and they don’t give a damn if you’re scared.
Chase my lady like she’s really there.
The city surrenders what the mountains can’t tame.
However uneasy the guilty can’t blame.
You can vanish the voice, but the lips will remain.
Taste my lady like summer rain.
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11. |
Light Becomes You
04:17
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I felt you shiver in the snow
With beads of moonlight peppered on the road
The fall had left its fingernail scratches all over the trees,
And how this tickle in my skin could pull me light years back to thee;
And the most important moment was when I felt you shiver.
Help me know how to fight
The fading of the day back into night.
The beauty of the air outside this visceral cocoon
Is the illuminated breathing of the cherubim in bloom.
And I still envision your radiant design.
Light becomes you
All I see and all I feel
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Ryan David Orr Arizona
Ryan David Orr is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. For detailed info or contact, go to ryandavidorr.com
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