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Balletesque (2009)

by The Young Republic

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1.
Introduction 00:26
2.
The Alchemist 05:30
lyrics
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Round white tables line gymnasiums Your wife dances with the weight of a decade on Depressed by diamonds, anniversaries Class reunions mark another few years gone Slipper-creak-steps once she's gone to sleep Basement lights stock your poetry like arms Holding glasses for the theatre crowd You are a salesman who knows nothing but dead lawns The path you blazed was paved over as soon as you began Glass-eyed lovers so polite to fuck Like shaking hands, she used to shake you to the bone At the cross streets, eyes reflected red Broken ballets in the violence of smoke In the arches of a burning bank Ideas of power charred down to a corner stone A memorandum in the face of flames Save your symphony before you end up a drone You trapped yourself inside The house of a villain, eating from the enemy's hands Crawl back to your side Reclaim your battle cry And swing until those fiends are up and off of your land Flail until they meet all your demands Charge until their blood is on your hands But you've never been so bold Years took some tread off the wheels You could shake the snow but where could you go Not any place around here Say we leave tonight See those Northern Lights Starving sunrise doesn't break your gaze Bleeding steady for the first time in the light Sign your transfer, mark and empty stage Blocking scenes that will take you across state lines Intimate strangers agreed to kiss the same Inclinations that this is a last goodbye Girl on the platform, smiling in the rain The train is leaving at the same time you arrive
3.
Black Duck Blues 03:24
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Bay State runner talk easy speak Wear your pirate halo, your heart pumps gasoline The fastest ship ever set to sea Coast Guard cutters, sail right out of their league In low light In dead night Old rum runner Black Duck on the sea Cheap bootlegging, that's the crime Ditch that bathtub gin, toss that dandelion wine New Year's Eve 1929 Pump the blood of New England's finest In low light In dead night OPEN FIRE! Black Duck on the sea Shout no warning, flash no lights Machine gun fire like hail into our side A hundred rounds, maybe, two or three I jumped overboard or they would have gotten me In low light In dead night Old rum runner Black Duck on the sea
4.
Napoleon Roses 03:39
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Napoleon roses caught in your eyelids Strung on your overcoat, rescind Chariot cardinals, blue jays and hymnals Delivered to your post enfin Blue tinted ruby, I'm watching what you see The war of industry on men Nobody knows this like you do No one is better than you Betrayed by the service, lost in the forest Borders and ancient walls, there is Nothing beyond this, wandering lawless A steady hand, a careful miss Napoleon roses grow in your garden Give me time I beg your pardon Nobody knows him like you do No one is better than you I watched from the tower, the cardinal in power Turn his back on you and say Lovely Melinda, burnt to a cinder I will be with your someday A shot on the mark, consumed by a spark Dignified until the end Napoleon roses climb up the tower in tens Nobody knows me like you do No one was better than you
5.
Rose Parade 03:12
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Go march in the Rose Parade Head west to California Burn all your business suits Leave the ashes in the foyer Run until the fiction slows you down You may not find your way tomorrow You may not open your eyes again And if I do not wake in the morning There is no soul to keep There is nothing There are simply two things I know One, you die, two, I'll never tell ya Fake your death, change your name, buy a pork pie hat Make love to a young black woman Run until the fiction slows you down Go march in the deepest south Dust off your Holy Bible Shake your legs, grip your fingers round a snake Hot faith in a tent revival Run until the fiction slows you down Chorus Sir, if your path goes through Richmond Take this ring and smile for me Scrawl a story in the earth Dance upon the Devil's ceiling Run until the fiction slows you down
6.
Sam Clemens 03:57
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The crackling of leaves Building things that just shouldn't be All in the name of discovering how you end Cooking the calf (golden) Swallowed things that you shouldn't have Now you're feeling so awful bad Hysterical lines I stand in Burning the leaves Boy saw things that no one should see Pa's so focused on economy The bears, the rats No maybe he'll focus back How much longer til we shake Everything back into place Awake, awake Penny for your wicked thoughts Do you reckon we'll get caught I sure hope not But I think we ought to The crackling of leaves What will you dress as for Halloween When there's already such scary things In life it seems Maybe I'll be Sam Clemens
7.
Balletesque 01:56
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Stranded out in the Texas dirt Last stand 'fore you did desert Coward, nave, oh, I should have known Looked away and the levee broke You let it go Waved goodbye as we almost drowned White trash from a mountain town I pulled you up and your threw me down God bled in your hands Waiting tables or so I heard Still go your leash on idiot girl Your shaky groove, no, we do not miss Selfish fool, yeah, you do exist We'll call you Smith Look up here child as you fall Lord made me a wrecking ball And I will crack you the worst of all God bled in your hands You're many things, one is not a man You are nothing without this band I forgave all those words you said Washed my hands of your psycho head You're less that dead Turned around and I was betrayed Faced up to a tidal wave Broke my legs but it made me brave God bled in your hands
8.
The Wolf 04:23
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Moneymen are talking, saying all sorts of things Moneymen talk cause the suits don't swing That's where I come in, dress me up and send me from town to town I see the wolf on the grounds I crossed a potion peddler with perfume in her stare I said, "I'm coming from the city" She said, "I'm heading there. My boy wrote me said troubles coming tomorrow, high noon" I got no time, red eyes on the moon It hasn't been this bad since my grandpa was a kid He made it through, he never told us what he did The Cumberland is rising, the wind blew out both of our candles I hear the wolf at the handle I seen a big black dog and a big black cat A big black bear swing a big black bat Come across my path, the river knows my time is coming soon I got no time, red eyes on the moon Bare feet and bleeding running through the corn Even that stalwart old scarecrow's taken cover from the storm All I head growing up was more, more, more, more, more Now I hear the wolf at the door The king is raising panic, orders from the company clout Don't listen to a word of the speaker of the house I met Miss Nancy once, she was working upstairs at the saloon I got no time, red eyes on the moon When all the world is sleeping I think about my wife I can't stand the woman but she's the love of my life If I get out alive I'm gonna get to a farm house and call her I hear the wolf in the parlor Numbers knockin everybody off of their feet But numbers can't fight, can't bite, can't eat Your house ain't made of numbers, ain't no bottom line in your spoon I got no time, red eyes on the moon Some slick white boys up in New York City Did a greedy little jig now the world ain't so pretty But ain't nothin' changed, ain't there wheat still growin' out in the fields? I tell the wolf he must yield
9.
Bows In Your Arms 03:01
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Mama, come here I'm seeing ghosts Gold eyes and paper thin souls We broke this ground with clean hands When we were done we took the Capital But I like the way you say my name A rich kid'll pick you up again "Just close your eyes! Close your eyes!" You want money, you can taste the fame Bows in your arms I had no part in this Blood in your eyes This white face, it's the last thing you'll kiss I turned it down It must be good when it makes you sense I turned around I traded culture for convenience The farm is burning and your banging keys You are dead and you are coming with me But I'm alive, I'm alive!" And I am right! Oh no, I sold those rights Bows in your arms I had no part in this Blood in your eyes This white face, it's the last thing you'll kiss Deny all you want But you were a part of this Bows in your arms And numbers in your fist Bows in your arms I had no part in this Blood in your eyes This white face, it's the last thing you'll kiss Deny all you want But you were a part of this Bows in your arms And numbers in your fists I said, No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Bows in your arms And numbers in your fists
10.
Tidal Wave 03:35
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Tidal Wave... Tidal Wave... Blessed are the ones who take to heart the words they hear The old cowboy quartet will sing for now the end is near Pour the wine from seven cups, Do that Armageddon swing Seven trumpets wailing down in New Orleans Dance the brimstone boogie, take your faith to higher ground I will stay and take the wave for in my head I have no seal Even big black Ceberus has run into the hills Tidal Wave... Tidal Wave...
11.
Autumn's In The Trees 04:28
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Autumn's in the trees It's good to see something wearier than me I hope I turn red Before I'm dead Love is on the scene You might not think but this is serious to me I've broken the locks You could tear me apart You're a babe with a knife A pounding heart and a vampire for a wife She's kissing your neck Please get out my friend Have you seen the spring With open eyes, now lift yourself and see The world on your own Don't follow no ghost Autumn's in the trees You might not think but this is serious to me To live your whole life For the sunshine
12.
Tough Year (Hard Waltz) 05:40
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I got hard legs from wandering Hard troubles from North and South Hard doubts about everything I once held dear It's getting cold again It's been a hard, tough year I made a fortune in New England Took it back to the place I was born That beautiful state I sang songs about She changed on me She let me down So I kept on southern bound Lost my mind in a tent Screamed into the gulf And then I turned around I spent miles and months recovering From the wounds of weaker spines Discovered two traitors on my payroll this whole time It made me dizzy with pain It's been so hard pulling out the blades Two in my back, about six on my mind I got hard scratches from those rats Hard legs from coming back Hard doubts from the money men I just want my head clear It's getting cold again It's been a hard, tough year I was weak and I wanted my old woman Made it back to the county line But when I got to my old street Put my hand on my old car It didn't feel right I stared up through the branches Saw champagne on my windowsill The coldest wind ripped across my face I knew she hadn't stood still To give up and bow out hurts a man's pride And how can you quit the love of your life? But when I loved you darling I was never alive I got hard scratches from that girl Hard lessons from the world Hard doubts from expectation I just want my head clear It's getting cold again It's been a hard, tough year I sold ambition to a sailor I sold a life raft to a saint Who gave it back to me straight away I sold Bibles in Nevada I sold whiskey in Vermont I sold her memory to my conscience at three times the cost And her ghost keeps dragging me on I saw a Mustang on the tracks Too wild for its skin I felt fire in my fingers I tasted blood in my gin I got hard legs from wandering down Hard troubles from North and South Hard doubts about everything I once held dear It's getting cold again It's been a hard, tough year

about

BBC Music Review of Balletesque
by Michael Quinn

"Balletesque pirouettes with an almost nonchalant ease through shadow-cast, menace-edged tales of errant salesmen, bootleggers, preachers, outlaws and assorted misfits, all of whom are brought to flesh-and-blood life against a pointedly assembled backdrop of musical references.

Dotted with jazz-like details and classically-accented interludes – the overture-like Introduction; the operatic intensity of Tidal Wave; the razor-edged violin in The Alchemist – it’s an offering of Dickensian dimensions, richly populated, ripely moral and redolently delineated in Julian Saporiti’s lyrical, narrative-driven novellas-in-song.

As skilfully stitched together as 2008’s 12 Tales From Winter City, this new offering is no less smoothly executed although the edges are deliberately rougher – Rose Parade’s stabbing percussion and slicing guitar chords; the take-no-prisoners assault of the title track – and, in the deceptively languid Autumns in the Trees, also noticeably rawer.

Embracing old and new influences – from Dylan and late, Lennon-led Beatles to Pixies and Arcade Fire, with The Wolf conjuring up the sort of combustible commotion you might expect from The Raconteurs – The Young Republic’s subtle borrowings and hidden homages play out against a larger, intricately designed canvas that makes significant claims for a band whose time has come."

---------------------------

credits

released September 21, 2007

The Players:
Julian Saporiti: Vocals, Guitars, Piano, Percussion
Kristin Weber: Violin, Harmony Vocals
Bob Merkl: Guitars
Chris Miller: Bass
Nate Underkuffler: Viola, Piano, Organ, Percussion
Logan Linning: Drums


The Orchestra was composed of students from the Vanderbilt Blair School of Music and additional friends

Special Thanks to:
Hamilton Berry
Katherine Neis
MJ Kim
Jon Lee
Jeremy Harris
Wes Langlois

Written and produced by Julian Saporiti
Published by West Meade Music (ASCAP)
Arranged by The Young Republic
Recorded at Sky Mountain Studios in Nashville, TN
Engineered by Morgan Hobbs and The Young Republic
Mixed by Stuart Sikes at The Track, Plano, TX
Mastered by Andrew Mendelson at Georgetown Masters, Nashville, TN
Cover Photograph: "The Old Accordionist" by Andre Kertesz, 1916

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Julian Saporiti Portland, Oregon

Songs from the good old days.

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