Get all 7 Nathan Xander releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Coney Island Vacation, Three Waltzes, French Creek Flood, Blue House, Nathan Xander, The Fear, and Swiftly, Surely.
1. |
Take Care
03:56
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Draw yourself a map from dark to dawn,
The line’s never straight but it’s the only line you’ll ever be on
Remember that a picture always lies,
Beware of any man that can tell you the same story the same way twice
If you ever feel like there’s nothing that you can do,
Take care of yourself before you let anything else take care of you
Take a good look back at all you’ve seen, think what you want to see twice,
Pull it out of the darkness and drag it to a smiling shoreline
Now that it’s all here, it’s lost all that mystery,
Becomes clear to see you had to make peace with heart ache and a little history
If you ever feel like there’s nothing that you can do,
Take care of yourself before you let anything else take care of you
It’s not all that bad to believe in the voices of night, it’s not bad to believe
They can help you make your dreams, at least until the day time
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2. |
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Boy you must’ve smoked up all your short-term memory
You were told you could fall in love with almost anyone you see
50 years of rock and roll been telling lies to me
They said the dream goes on forever, long as I still have the need
Waking up in the morning, dread kicks in without warning
Tempting fate is better than disobeying destiny,
We can call ourselves the winners, see what people might believe
Put on your nice jacket, put some champagne on some ice
We’ll make believe this evening that we’re living in paradise
The world outside’s confusing, almost too weird to believe
I can’t talk to my own family about the world I want to see
Walking out in the nighttime, can almost taste what will never be mine
Tempting fate is better than disobeying destiny,
We can call ourselves the winners, see what people might believe
When every fact is buried and no ones left to tell the truth,
You’ll get white lies from your mother, your TV’s misguided too
I want the best for everyone who can’t write their own damn song,
If we keep going on like this, then we won’t last too long
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3. |
Other Side
03:58
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I used to be kind of crazy but now I’m on the other side
Of a world full of trouble, bad memories, and poltergeist
You know this world is haunted and you’re only passing by
I used to be kind of crazy but now I’m on the other side
I used to be pretty nasty, a real pain about half the time
I was looking for salvation, a good friend, and some real good wine
I’d look down on anybody that didn’t feed into my lie
I used to be pretty nasty, a real pain about half the time
Can’t anyone help me please?
Take these chains away from me
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4. |
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They’re playing softball in the park in the sun, on Saturday, and I’m smiling
They’re sharing wine and having lunch, playing catch and two hand touch and I’m smiling
Never thought winter would end, never thought I’d see the sun again and I’m smiling
Oh my God I’m feeling good, walking around the neighborhood on Saturday
I drag an old dog down this block about a thousand times a week but I’m smiling
At a million little weeds, poking up through cracked concrete out there today
I had forgotten spring would come, thought my last song had been sung, and I’m smiling
Oh my God I’m feeling good, walking around the neighborhood on Saturday
They’re tying on their dancing shoes, shaking off those worried blues and I’m smiling
Taking in this busy scene’s doing a world of good for me and I’m smiling
Never thought winter would end, never thought I’d see the sun again and I’m smiling
Everybody’s feeling good, walking around the neighborhood on Saturday
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5. |
Tide Rolls Back
04:23
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I’m only writing this song to feed the obsession
or else I’d relax and keep my big mouth shut.
I can’t shake the solitude, anxiety, depression
feel like life’s been on hold deep down in this rut.
But there’s a group hanging out down at the corner bar
dumb with stunned amazement they’ve made it this far.
You can shrink from this world or rise up and attack
or you can go with the flow until the tide rolls back
Half my friends are laid off, a few work from home
some reach out for your hand, some go through it alone.
Some are out in the street, all day and all night
chanting “you’ll have no peace til you value black lives”.
The tide has been rising around the world it seems
the age-old fight for freedom never stops happening.
If you come up on the bottom, better learn how to scrap
you can fight in the surf until the tide rolls back
Never been to Australia, never seen Spain,
never heard the church bells in no Italian rain.
But all the places I’ve been, even just for the night,
still mean the world to me if I remember it right.
If I had some wheels, I’d be out on the road
but I’ll be in New York City, if anyone wants to know.
I feel lucky enough, there aint much that I lack
and I can go with the flow until the tide rolls back.
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6. |
Progress of Man
05:16
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At best you’ll walk on with a good story to tell
The nights last forever, some days are pure hell
Scatter the ashes of the progress of man
I just can wait to have you in my arms again
I sure miss the nightlife, sure miss all of my friends
At least they sell margaritas in geaux cups again
I lost the satisfaction I got from sleeping in late
So weird to be thankful for a job that I hate
And the least they can promise me is to deal with me honestly
This sure aint how I thought the empire would end
The Hollywood screenplay oversold it again
The new world’s too quiet, to say the very least
I heard it would be louder when they conjured the beast
And the least they can promise me is to deal with me honestly
The new world that’s coming won’t be the same as before
Lord, I hope we can make it but I can’t say for sure
Scatter the ashes of the progress of man
I just can’t wait to have you in my arms again
And the least they can promise me is to deal with me honestly
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7. |
Drive My Car
03:30
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He’s a big man, got no feeling below the knee
When he goes down, getting back up sure aint easy
The woman he loves irritates the hell out of me
But there’s someone for everyone, or so we’re led to believe
Some folks drink, some folks smoke
Tonight, we’ll do a little of both
And if we die, at heaven’s door,
Please don’t tell them I let you drive my car
Of the brothers he’s got, one’s dying and the second’s dead
That don’t keep him from bringing them up when thoughts get to his head
I wish I could say I picked it up somewhere else instead
When I talk crazy and wake up wondering just what I said
I said some folks drink, some folks smoke
Tonight, we’ll do a little of both
And if we die, at heaven’s door,
Please don’t tell them I let you drive my car
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8. |
Sitting In The Corner
03:43
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Hey what you doing, over there at the table?
Tell me what song is playing in the background, in your head.
I’m just thinking that I love you
And I just couldn’t sit still until those little words were said.
Wish I could put such grand thoughts into rhyme
And give you more than a simple song,
Asking you to be mine all mine.
You know baby, simple songs don’t lie.
I’m starting to see day break, down here in the dungeon,
There’s a few little cracks starting to let the world through.
I’m still learning, forgive me if I stumble
I’ll do my best to not put darkness between me and you.
When I trip on the trail in the dark of night,
When I fall, I’ll find a way to climb up right back by your side.
You know baby, simple songs don’t lie.
I’m sitting in the corner, just staring out the window
And if feels so good to have you there across the room.
I cant see the future, got no crystal vision
But as the days tumble on I wanna spend them with your face in view.
Wish I could put such grand thoughts into rhyme
And give you more than a simple song,
Asking you to be mine all mine.
You know baby, simple songs don’t lie.
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9. |
Hot Ball of Chaos
03:13
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Still an unknown rhymer but I have many friends.
Since I’m doing this living, I’ll probably have to do it again.
How will I shut it down this time? Will I lose, will I win?
Will I die with my boots on, or by the stroke of the pen?
Got a lot of emotion and often spend my days,
Blown away by the sunrise, tripping on endless waves.
Still the rhymer inside me holds peace five feet away,
Kicked ahead toward the nighttime, you’ll swear you hear yourself say…
This earthly living aint easy to do,
You get real used to playing and have to boot up disc two.
You might feel all forgotten, sometimes baby that’s true.
This earthly living aint easy to do.
I don’t want to explain it and I don’t know if I can,
All the ways Mother Nature has to screw up a man.
Seems too apologetic to say its all part of God’s plan
To want a hot ball of chaos burning a hole in her hand.
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10. |
BFE
03:12
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Whenever I look at the clock lately, it’s 11:11 or 3:33.
I’m no scientist and it keeps happening and I don’t know what’s going on.
Maybe aliens are trying to contact me, through digital clocks, using telepathy.
Before I’m scooped up in a tractor beam, thought I’d write down the words to this song
It’d be surprising if aliens showed up in the places I get my kicks
They’re always abducting yokels and drawing crop circles
Way out in the sticks.
If the mothership hovered over New York City, they might be confused by all the madness they see.
From old men in the gutter, to the penthouse, baby, somehow all of us down here belong.
We could send them on back to their planet with this old 5 Borough-centric parting gift.
It’s a good slice of pizza, a bodega coffee, and a bootleg Louis Vuitton.
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Nathan Xander New York, New York
Nathan Xander writes songs that are steeped in the quiet, restrained tension of what Greil Marcus called the 'Old, Weird America'.
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