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The Captain's Son

by Dan Lawrence

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Lucas W
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Lucas W All around great CD. It really captures the essence of living in Houghton/Hancock. Favorite track: Hemingway.
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1.
The Copper Sword (free) 02:24
My brothers fled the Peninsula and fell off of the Earth. I remain the guardian of the quiet wintry north. This is a place I can call my own: Houghton city lights. My Elm Street refuge on the hill, 'cross the Portage Lake at night. Winter's almost over now... The hallowed woods, the country of the gods They call to me to sheath the copper sword. The ancients here have mined the spirits dry. This humble village can withstand the test of time. The archer's bow, the anagram and postmodernity: I know my time is measured sharp. And we're all measured deep.
2.
These Roots 03:46
I'm three generations strong, and I'm still kicking on. I won't let these roots die young. I've held my weight before, on maple branches, so I know the way to feel the earth. In times of desperate might, I set my life alight, I won't go back to the sky. That's where the stars will stay, all floating out in space, my feet will be right on these grounds.
3.
So listen up and listen well, of the captain's son, whose story I'll tell. (Mic check one, and mic check two Mic check one, and mic check, mic check, mic check two)
4.
I sailed in on an ancient ship, I cut the cord and carried it, I braved the autumn waves until I won. Well I dug up from an ancient grave I crawled through corridors and there I came rushing out into the hall. I stormed in and killed the king, I watched him weep, I watched him bleed. I carried with me all the weight of god. Don't wait until the world is falling on you. There's time until the seasons change again. Don't wait until the world is falling on you. There's time until the seasons change again. I blew in on an ancient sail. I was the captain's son until I recognized those eyes aren't mine. I swam ashore, I jumped the ship, I swam so far and quickly 'til I saw the distant mountain in my view. I climbed that rocky peak, and the view up there led me to see, there's no more wisdom up in all the clouds. Don't wait until the world is falling on you. There's time until the seasons change again. Don't wait until the world is falling on you. There's time until the seasons change again. Well I stormed in, I killed the king. The captain's son, the autumn leaves, the family name and age that died in me. So there I ran into the night, I ran with fear and ran with fright, the epitaph, the exposition sang: Don't wait until the world is falling on you. There's time until the seasons change again. Don't wait until the world is falling on you. There's time until the seasons change again. I stormed in, I killed the king, the captain's son, the autumn leaves...
5.
Astronomy 02:30
(Instrumental) But you might imagine words, or imagine that no words can explain how small we are and yet so large all at once, and never at all. (Astronomy)
6.
Hemingway 06:14
I don't need no Hemingway, a man of men in many ways. Papa has been dead and gone, missed the millennium and electric storm. Oh Papa, Papa Pour me a drink. I need some time to sit and breathe. Oh Papa, Papa your earnest arms retain a hold on what we've lost. Farewell to the river, to the trees A simple summer's breeze 1914 Farewell to the spark that cooked our bones American lead, and bread and wine and ale. Off of the Cuban coast you sailed, from Havana into Hell. America is dead at last She burned her fuel, she went too fast. So come on boys, pick up your guns. But don't dig their graves until you've won. Just cut your hair and shave your face. 'Cause I don't need no Hemingway. Oh Papa, Papa, let me sing one more tale under your wing. Farewell to the river, to the trees The summer's heavy air, 1918 Farewell to the spark that cooked our bones American lead, and bread and wine and ale. I don't need no Hemingway, a man of men in many ways. Oh Papa, Papa, let me see a life fulfilled sans tragedy.
7.
Broken Words 03:38
I will speak with broken words, and I will sing until it hurts, and I won't let this meaning die in me. Stasis is an illusion here, the shifting of the signs appear and call us back to re-assess the night. I've given up on language, then, the call response and take and send, so arbitrary, cold, and warm, and free. There's so much to life outside, the boundaries and categories, I feel the need to sing, to call, to crow. So I will speak with broken words, and I will sing until it hurts, and I won't let this meaning die in me. I will speak with terse remarks, and I will sing until it hurts, and I won't let these meanings die in me.
8.
Well I don't know where I'm going, and I don't know where I've been, but I know for sure that I can't hold the whole damn world up. Well I sure know where I'm going, and I sure know where I've been. Don't you think that I remember this is not your world for taking? Then you see there are ten thousand valleys, there are places for you to go. There are memories dying in your arms. Well I don't know where I'm going, but I sure know where I've been, it'll seem tomorrow I can't hold the whole damn world up.
9.
I fear my fate is tied in broken dreams and frozen landscapes. I fear my fate is tied in a high heart and skeleton arms. I fear my fate is tied but I will not release my grip on the morning light; it's what I need. But these melodies call out to keep our minds at ease. We need to see reality and all of its time. And when we do die how it will change and re-arrange the meanings... I dropped the anxious act so I can just be a man now navigate the breaking waters of regret. For the bottle was a friend too near, too long and the consequence is aging on my skin. But these soft remarks are just the start. I can't escape the dream of reality, panic, and leave my body and nouns. But these soft remarks are just the start I can't escape the dream of reality, panic, and leave my body and nouns. And no, no.
10.
Flickers 01:54
It's hard to be strong, when the light flickers off and I don't know what's right or what's wrong. So I take what I know and approach what I don't with some caution and thoughtful repose. Where will that lead? It seems to me that I'll find an old road in the dust. It'll head to the north where the cedars are tall and the trail never ends just unwinds. It's hard to be strong, when life's light flickers off and on and off and on and on.
11.
I'm counting the ways home. I'm counting the ways home. Home, home, home.
12.
I'm young, but not for long. I'm free, but there are boundaries. I'm young, but not for long, no. I'm young but not for long. I'm free, but there are boundaries. I'm young, but not for long, oh no. I've seen an open field, street lights and empty cities. I've counted on everyone I know. I've seen an endless sky, dead dreams and floating memories. I've given up on everyone I know. I've seen that colored keep, windmills, pastoral sunrise. That's where my mind is bound to go. I'm young, but not for long. I'm free, but there are boundaries. I'm young, but not for long, no. I'm young but not for long. I'm free, but there are boundaries. I'm young, but not for long, oh no.

about

The Captain's Son

Not quite a concept album, but a timepiece and a set of questions. The human heart is a vessel. What do we carry with us and what is lost when we die? Reflections on mortality and celebrations of living. Waves and autumn leaves but also determinism, technology and hopes toward universality. We're all alive together: that's a place to start.

Inspired by pastoral living in the Upper Peninsula as well as the American landscape and the two-sided American heart, the expansive landscape of sobriety and the clarity of cold. The Captain's Son is as serious as sardonic, as reflective as it is hopeful. Dan Lawrence uses music as a means toward finding meaning, sculpting purpose: why are we here and how do we live? What is the philosophy in the sanguine forsaken chest at the bottom of the stairs or the center of those stars?

The captain has coerced his son to murder. Blood still on his hands, he must escape the boundaries of the patriarch as the rogues become wanted men in a small world where there is no privacy from the law. But he knows somewhere out there, still looming, is his fate. Now must be the time to act. Don't wait until the world is falling on you. Then it will be too late.

credits

released March 16, 2012

All vocals and instruments, physical and digital, by Dan Lawrence. Recorded in a moldy apartment in Hancock, MI using a condenser microphone and a archaic but functional version of Cubase.

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Dan Lawrence Michigan

Dan (W.) Lawrence is a native of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and has been performing in the American Midwest for several years while self-releasing four albums. He is now a faculty member in the English department of Missouri University of Science and Technology. ... more

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