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Sunburned

by Lt. Frank Dickens

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1.
Sweeping under blue moon, wearing my new blue suite. You say 'this is too cute', but I know you believe in the pretty tunes. Working to buy you flowers, long in the blue dew hours, we live the old anew. Shining, round doll hairs jingle in my pocket, hang in damp air. Bossman says 'missed a spot there', but you know I believe in what isn't there. Working to buy you flowers, long in the blue dew hours, we live the old anew. Sweep ashes from the roof, clear enough till next harvest moon, when I'll be lovin' you the way I do, clock out at around about two, so we can live the old anew. A yellow bouquet for you, a crimson bouquet for you, a rainbow bouquet for you... We're living.
2.
Sunburned 03:08
Glittered in the golden light of an afternoon, magically poisoned, entranced in her room- Sunburned. Wanted to be young again, to ash away the years, to never wonder 'What is golden?', to gleam without the tears- Sunburned. Lessons perpetually learned, The laugh lines in your stare linger in the buzzing air. Fingertips are melted candles when we're done, marooned by tides we should have known would come- Sunburned. Wanted to be older, to laugh off all the tears, to know our dust was never golden, burning lovers drown in years- Sunburned. Lessons perpetually unlearned, With the worry in your smile I smoke in solar fire. (Yesterday there was no sun. Instead, there were sparkling lights on cranes, the reflections bright in the black puddles on the road, the same world with different symptoms. I have got to transform this obsession, trapped in a hotel, a scorched body waiting to play, the setting blank and ambiguous, the laugh track the waves I drown in each foggy night)- Sunburned.
3.
They may be coming but I'm the one who wants you. I'm only saying- We don't have to lie. Locked away in my room, we can turn our backs and still shun the past- We don't have to lie. My mother, she's in the wind, her voice hangs in the cosmos and fills me in turn- We don't have to lie. I'm devoted to loneliness as a facet of this world, we may die alone- We don't have to lie. Longing for a world that has never been, the spaces in between us. (Every ancient vine is wrapped around my heart as I get older, all the choking lovers holding hands, their dreams all growing over) We don't know what's healthy, but we do know that they don't, so why go with them? We don't have to lie. Notes rot when they ring out shrivelled sweetly in the sun, we must shun the past- We don't have to lie. Love is still in the wind, and soft in the bark of trees; we may forage again- We don't have to lie. Though light flows through humid nights, we are powerless, unloved, we should be drunk again. We don't have to lie. Longing for a world that has never been, the spaces in between. (Every ancient vine is wrapped around my heart as I get older, all the choking lovers holding hands, their dreams all growing over) Where only the wind may go, where only the wind may be.
4.
Remember when I was a door to door salesman, and you were a restless woman? I was covered in a sparkling kind of rust and soon I had sold you a pretty speck of dust- and of course I had done you harm. We ranged through the nights and the holes in the wall, and though I always wanted you to stay, I never blamed you for abandoning me. But through each smoky back lane I chased your ashen name, until I knew it was true, you were bright and new. Away, gone bright and new. Remember when I was a hansome young singer, and you were a dazzling bartender? I could make old songs seem new and there was something in the tune that just had to be the truth- and of course I had done you harm. We ranged throught the nights and the holes in the wall, and though I always wanted you to stay, I never blamed you for abandoning me. But through each smoky back lane I chased your ashen name, until I knew it was true, you were bright and new. Away, gone bright and new.
5.
Wanderer, you're making noise when you drink your rain with a violent force. I was in trouble too, I knew we were both blue, In the city that I dreamed you did appear. Conjuror, you still laugh while you're singing the notes that make me sad. With lips a demon red, I knew we were both dead, In the city that I dreamed you did appear. Life in a nest, for you, was not best. You don't believe in bad luck. We've got to calm down, go back to work, we've got to carve our names into the dirt, we've got to live with hurt. In the city that I dreamed you did appear. I can feel you, I can feel you hiding near here. A skinny man may still eat, instead we jittered around deserted streets. I was in trouble too, but I knew you were most blue, In the city that I dreamed you did appear. A shiny hook might float past, you might get caught up and start feeling bad. But mixed up kind of love might be the lone kind, In the city that I dreamed you did appear. Life in a nest, for you, was not best. You don't believe in bad luck, and that's just your luck. We've got to calm down, go back to work, we've got to carve our names into the dirt, we've got to live with hurt. In the city that I dreamed you did appear. I can feel you, I can feel you hiding near here. Somewhere, there is a switch in the darkened room that we live. We reach out in the void. In the city that I dreamed you did appear.
6.
Melting all the day away, clear, with real live ghosts. Wilting in the naked sun, we slip into a permanent haze. But at night we fall awake, dream a life up in the trees, a double waking. The brightness of the night blinds, in a diamond hurricane. Shattered glass in morning light, obscures the memories of moon. Broken in a funhouse mirror, we drift into a voluntary daze. But at night we fall awake, pleased to live up in the trees, a double waking. The brightness of the night blinds, in a diamond hurricane.
7.
A note rots as it rings, or ages and grows sweeter. I want this note to swell. Until then, the light grows warm and dim in the bar, the pen, the girl, the real ghosts, all live in a time long gone, time always long gone. My head wrapped around my mind, my mind that dredged up notes, pulled fish aboard a boat, the daily quota for a unique success, producing new work while cruising past New York, hawking brittle, golden shame. The urge to turn away, my love, is strong, tonight in the fog. I sit on the balcony, staring down at the block, where you are invisible, rare and beautiful shining jewel, I will find you again. And we are in danger, separated for a moment. We arrange to meet on the beach in hard weather, to alight on the wind. The urge to turn away, my love, is strong, an unforgivable sin. Driving through traffic jams, on this invisible night, you are my lucky prize, rare and beautiful shining friend, I will find you again. And we are in danger, separated for a moment. We arrange to meet on the beach in hard weather, to unite in the end. I will find you again. We don't know what we're running from, babe. But you know who I am. We will alight on the wind.
8.
Exhale 03:30
Although I keep quiet at night, I'll speak to fill a leaking look you gave to me. I'm blue, oh love take me alone, today. The dirt, it looms too close to fly away. Although I'm keeping quiet, I sing all day. I used to poison all my heat away. Oh kiss me drug, I'm climbing above the dirt. To the showering stars, gone when you look that way. Oh pumping blood, it moves without the wind. I'm just trying to breathe with you again. With actual spells I pray to no true breeze. I'm keeping every breath you give to me. Exhale the life I need to live one smile.
9.
Romance 02:55
Romance is belief, like religion, or art, or science, or wisdom. I don't believe in those things, but I believe in my dreams. I don't believe in the unknown anymore, but what is this magic behind your dancing crooked teeth? Now, girl, I'm not afraid, I don't believe. Now, girl, I'm not afraid, even if you are my dream. Now, girl, I'm not afraid, I've been alone. Now, girl, I'm not afraid, of the unknown.
10.
I think I'm in trouble. I'm back on cigarettes. Remembered you're beautiful, (radiant blue) but that just made me sad. (eternally blue) You said you'd written so many love songs but you would never fall in love. And as a joke, that's pretty funny- until you know too well. I wanna go back, but I can't. While I just stood there waiting I was losing what I had. (My life's work is doggerel, piled high. I am tired, take pleasure in the most secret joy of the ordinary, Do not give in to an explosion of heavenly light. I need the warm dreary days to survive. I drink the rain. And my only reality blooms in the construction of cut-up notes addressed to a nineteen year old protagonist. The language suites the tale. I stare out from a screen. )
11.
I woke on a bed of blues, said 'My heart's a moon that revolves around you'. She said 'Wake up, shake off your dust, and go if you will and stay on if you must'. She knows I move in an orbit she can trust. So take that reverie this is the stranger sleep I float by nightmares on every pretty street. Happy as a satellite caught in her solar light I look to the other medallions in the sky, wish upon them that they last forever. So days pass the way they do, I'm still lit up with her cosmic burning hue. She says 'wander far and wide I am the sky if you live in me tonight'. She knows I'll do what it takes to burn alive. Space bares simple blues fit for me and her lost together, happy in our universe. We don't need reverie, we live on stranger streets. I am the moon she is the planet I shine to, icy light that only lasts forever. Phasing eternal.
12.
Glide 04:32
I have watched some bright birds but feathers such as yours I have never seen. Don't fly away from me. Don't glide on a seasonal breeze. Stay on my trajectory and we can breathe free. If I was born a bird I would be an ostrich digging in the sand. Don't fly away from me. Don't glide on a seasonal breeze. Stay on my trajectory and we can breathe free. I've never lived in the trees. I've never tasted the leaves. I've never ridden the breeze. I've never been free. I've never been me.

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BUY THE SUNBURNED LP NOW AT www.jazrecords.com

'Sunburned' is the debut album by Lt. Frank Dickens, originally released on cassette in 2015, and reissued on LP through Jaz Records in October of 2016.

credits

released October 7, 2016

Lt Frank Dickens- Guitars, Vocals, Bass, Drums, Chimes, Tapes, Glockenspiel
Connor Mayer- Bass, Piano, Drums
Jen Smyth- Drums
Colin McKill- Violin

All songs written by Lt. Frank Dickens.

Recorded by Josh Stevenson at Otic Sound
Mastered by Jordan Koop at The Noise Floor

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Lt. Frank Dickens

Lt Frank Dickens is the alter ego of Daniel Geddes, a musician. BUY THE LPs AT www.jazrecords.com

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