Released 17-06-2014. Buy it on Bandcamp. (admin note: no official lyrics are available on the bandcamp; the ones here were transcribed by ear. please do contact me with any corrections)
Bandcamp Description:
"Portland songwriter Anna Tivel is a favorite over at Hearth. She's a deft, clever songwriter with a knack for observing the small, subtle beauties of our lives." – Kithfolk
"Raw yet superbly composed and executed, as well as intelligent and personal and deeply expressive in their experience, observation and storytelling, the fifteen tracks on Before Machines don't just serve as an absorbing and utterly worthwhile listen but as indisputable evidence that the folk scene is in good hands with both its longtime artists and newcomers alike." - No Depression
"To be sure, these are organic songs that freely reveal the poetry of the mind, heart and soul, the sharp imagery of the world translated into sound, and both the simple and complex things represented sentimentally and at length." - Examiner
[spoken] Tiny bit faster than that.
[a capella] We were then sitting tight
I am a rocking chair on the porch outside
[spoken] Yeah. One, two, one two three four
[sung]
We were then sitting tight
I am a rocking chair on the porch outside
I am a stone skipping across the night
I am a five dollar bill, yeah
And it's getting late, I know
But you're still undressing and the window's open
And the crickets hum and the night ends slow
Like the folks never will, ha
And oh man, the neighbour's quiet
And the dogs are sleeping for a little while
And the house is creaking
And the people there with the
Five dollar bill, yeah
And I'm down here looking in
You're a magic spell at the windowpane
You are pulling curtains across the bay
You are tin cans and silk, ha
And you know it's not a lot
It's a porch light on in the dark
It's an old machine that creaks and sings so well
It's boards and rusted wire
It's elbow grease and time
'Cause heaven knows that only time will tell
So I'm moving in
And when the nighttime comes
You're a sleepless dreamer
You're a quiet song
You are a gold watch I will never pawn
For a five dollar bill, yeah
And I'm down here looking up
I am a weary soldier with an old tin cup
I am a lucky fool with a royal flush
I am too high to kill, ha
And you know it's not a lot
It's a porch light on in the dark
It's an old machine that creaks and sings so well
It's boards and rusted wire
It's elbow grease and time
'Cause heaven knows that only time will tell
So I'm moving in
And oh man, you're looking down
With your toothy smile and your hair undone
You are the smooth talker of Bablyon
You are a five dollar bill, yeah
So come on and hang my hat
It's a wooden door and a welcome mat
It's a dusty floor and a mangy cat
And it always will be
And this is just another day in someone else's house
Someone else's cigarettes to smoke
I washed my hands a thousand times to get those circles out
You know I'm staying here but no one's home
And I am just a weathervane in lazy summertime
I'm the bluest bird looking to land
I'm circling the papers for the things that I might buy
If only I could save the ones I had
'Cause trouble, it don't live here anymore
No, trouble, it don't live here anymore
And baby, you can come around and I will leave the door undone
'Cause trouble, it don't live here anymore
And I ran to the apple trees to bury what I know
With nothing but the honey bees to mind
But I don't need a saviour or a lesson on a stone
To dig a hole and lay down in the night
'Cause trouble, it don't live here anymore
No, trouble, it don't live here anymore
Baby, you can come around and I will leave the door undone
'Cause trouble, it don't live here anymore
And this house is made of shiny little things
Like a true-to-scale mapping of the stars
Oh, baby, I wanna fall asleep but all these cities yawn and blink
And they will never lay their heads down in their arms
And I am just a colour in the faded evening sky
Just a worn-out suitcase on the floor
I'm listening to the neighbours call their kids in for the night
A warm and welcome choir of slamming doors
'Cause trouble, it don't live here anymore
No, trouble, it don't live here anymore
Baby, you can come around and I will leave the door undone
'Cause trouble, it don't live here anymore
Yeah, baby, you can come around and I will leave the door undone
'Cause trouble, it don't live here anymore
I am a mission bell, ringing in the dark
Gonna scare these crows, go tuck their heads in someone else's yard
I got a heavy load, gonna lay it out
So if God ain't home, please tell me now before I kneel down
I am a liar's game, I am a shorted fuse
I am the dirty water in the wishing well and the coins you threw
I am a wrecking ball, I am a fighting chance
I am alive, that's all that keeps me sometimes breathing
I am an oil spill, beautiful and not
I am the orange glow of the sun in the hill, I am one last shot
I am the asphalt kid, rolling the yellow lines
Yeah, if you're trying to kill me gonna have to make it a harder try
I am a holy ghost, I am a pounding heart
I am an easy lover even when this loving gets so damn hard
I am asleep I guess, until you come for me
Out in the wilderness in the dark I am lost but I am almost free
I am a fighting chance, I am a wrecking ball
I am a pounding heart, I am alive that's all
I am the water's edge, I am the deepest end
I want a thousand things to be one more than a thousand
The things that broke are rusted now
and leaning on the sides of houses
Peeling paint and older dresses are drying on the line
And this is just a gentle war
A quiet fight, no reason for
The curtains and a funeral this time
And this time, there'll be nothing but the night
A highway built to Evergreen and Pine
So close your eyes, I'll keep us safe
At least until it's light again
And the morning moves along the power lines
We worked in banks and grocery stores and
Sent our hearts in letters home
Where no one's living anymore
But the birds inside the walls
And this is just a gentle dream
A clarinet and the violin
A peach tree and a picket fence, that's all
And this time, there'll be nothing but the night
A highway built to Evergreen and Pine
So close your eyes, I'll keep us safe
At least until it's light again
And the morning moves along the power lines
And it's all right, if we get lost
'Cause we are fighting in a gentle war
When no one wins, and no one dies
And no one will remember us tomorrow
And we are parts of other things
Of someone else's melodies
Of buried gold and broken keys
Just waiting on some grace
And this is just a gentle love
A losing game, then a lucky draw
A pen that knows the miles across the page
And this time, there'll be nothing but the night
A highway built to Evergreen and Pine
So close your eyes, I'll keep us safe
At least until it's light again
And the morning moves along the power lines
And the morning moves along the power lines
You came looking for a telephone, you came looking for a friend
It's about time you headed hom til you got somewhere to head
And people talking crazy 'bout where they're going, where they've been
And always waiting on a little bit of grace
And some gasoline
You got a pocket full of reasons for the ways that things will go
But tellin' stories is never easy if you don't believe what you wrote
And now you're thinking it would be nice if we all just fell asleep
Always waiting on a little bit of grace
And some gasoline
Gasoline
And it's a long and heavy day
Yeah, it's a devil of a time
You're trying hard to stay awake
But you've been dreaming for a while
And it's a whole lot of doubt
But maybe that's just what you need
To find a little bit of grace
And some gasoline
Yeah, some gasoline
Gasoline
This blood is for somebody for keeping someone warm
It's so easy feeling empty, why is it hard to be alone
And now you're coming in the window 'cause you lost the keys again
Always waiting on a little bit of grace
And some gasoline
Gasoline
And it's a long and heavy day
Yeah, it's a devil of a time
You're trying hard to stay awake
But you've been dreaming for a while
And it's a whole lot of doubt
But maybe that's just what you need
To find a little bit of grace
And some gasoline
Yeah, some gasoline
Gasoline
And there underneath the sirens
They're throwing fists and slinging guns
You gotta worry for somebody
You gotta be somebody's hope
Let 'em in and take their jacket
Ask 'em how and where they've been
They're out waiting on a little bit of grace
Always waiting on a little bit of grace
Always waiting on a little bit of grace
And some gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline