Get all 8 The Henrys releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Shrug, Paydirt, Paydirtier, Quiet Industry, Is This Tomorrow, Atlas Travel, Joyous Porous, and The Yearly Ears.
1. |
Acme Thunderer
04:46
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Acme Thunderer
That’s how the kids were called
down from the hills in fall
and when the group was finely dressed, in the clothes she pressed
they were gone
why does the sparrow fight
its reflection all day and night
there’s little chance to find a truth, in that photo booth
they move on
there may have been a different world
like the hills of Tennessee before the war
where this was all they’d ever need
they could run and swim and sleep on some dirt floor
but how those fat wheels can turn
on a dime as their tires burn
she wanted them to hold the course, til she broke the horse
then let go
now pantheism give me time
I want to taste your homemade wine
I’ve been a poor receptacle, I was skeptical
now I’m fine
great forces were brought to bear
on these people in their prime
and wind that whipped up chimney soot
spread it far across the rolling hills of time
with kids out there now I’m home
hovering like an early-issue drone
to be honest I’m absolved by now, of my faults somehow
this chair’s a throne
I’ve been a poor receptacle, I was skeptical
now I’m home
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2. |
Shrug-a-Lug
03:33
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Shrug-a-Lug
Don’t look at me like that
from your retro porkpie hat
the little pant cuffs that you tweak like that
I said I’d rather stroke your feral cat
let’s take the car out and ride
you should really see the Great Divide
or at least we can tell our friends out there we tried
there’s this trailer has our name on it
with a kitchen and an oven mitt
drapes and plates and that whole trip
and Mounties on the wall
we could outrun our debt
or did you think of that one yet?
on a mountaintop we’ll place a bet
then do the shrug-a-lug
what’s with this hole we dug
when the ‘hole thing’ ends we shrug?
‘cause shrugging’s how we cope with shit
we sweep it under the rug a bit
then do that shrug-a-lug
the view’s not great back here
through this yellowed Wayfair sheer
can we stop and buy a case of Molson beer
would it kill you to say something dear
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3. |
Fault Lines
04:37
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Fault Lines
Icebergs calve, fall and crash
ten thousand years gone at the flick of an ash
somehow the sound of water, reminds me of my father
and this future for our daughter
but what can we say, of tomorrow today
it’s a still life but it’s still life and it might be okay
we could scheme all day and night
you with the key, me, holding the light
plans on our lap, pins in an ancient map
while fault lines crack the thick opaque of a clueless lake we skate
and where hides our son, when the hot winters come
and how are his friends and new family?
it might well turn out just fine
kids now so smart, kids now so kind
that counts for something, doesn’t it? doesn’t it count for something
it’s gotta count for something, doesn’t it
doesn’t it help in the fragile light, of a still summer night
when the sun cooks fruit on the cherry tree
will there be room left for you and merry me
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4. |
Monsieur Cliché
01:47
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Monsieur Cliché
Monsieur Cliché
came to see me today
M. Cliché
came to visité
he said
“It’s not the heat, non.
It’s the ... humidité”
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5. |
Faint of Heart
03:32
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Faint of Heart
You’re board, I’m dart
I’m bored, you’re art
you’re saint, I’m part
I’m cold, you’re heart
I feint, you parry
sound will carry
kids get wary over time
overtime
curry favour, carry freight
go on the card as a featherweight
I’m a has-been, never had a heyday
I still feel young but it got so late
make it matter from the start
you know why, I’m faint of heart
apart together, we’ll carry the weight
the sound and fury, the love and hate
put it on my stone, put it in my cart
put it in my final note, faint of heart
I have to take care of my weaker part
there’s no room to improve, I’m faint of heart
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6. |
A Good Life
04:18
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A Good Life
When I left my home I cried
I was all torn up inside
I thought I’d make a move just to self-improve
or at least give that cause a try
I’d been in tougher spots than this
run with rougher lots I still miss
but then you picked me up off that pickup truck
a call I couldn’t resist
you don’t need to hurt my pride
so I don’t have to sink inside
we don’t like those old school rules
so we don’t follow
we just play the cards we’re dealt
it’s the best I think I’ve felt
the way we try to live, taking less than we give
like some kinda Roosevelt
so point me towards the sun
I’ll insult you just for fun
or push me at those waves, in the suit you gave
I’ll try to swim and be brave
there are better spots for sure, on nicer lots to be poor
but it’s a good life, right?
if we try not to fight
just be happy all day and all night
you don’t want to be denied, ‘cause we can do this side by side
we don’t need their crazy games, so we don’t play them
now I send some mail back home
or I call them on the phone
I tell them life’s not bad, they don’t need to feel sad
when it’s the best kind of living I’ve had
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7. |
Opposite Today
03:03
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Opposite Today
The challenge was
to make a record
that sounded like the tape
it’s just the opposite today
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8. |
Let Me Make This Plane
03:22
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Let Me Make This Plane
Please just let me make this plane
before the overnight milk-run train
your voice, your choice is all I follow
and I know it’s tight, but if I could just get on the evening flight
to tell the truth I know exactly what I should do
but my legs wouldn’t take me there if I asked them to
if this thing we have is not to last
I’ll take the first door please, just help me rip the bandage fast
blind ivy reaches up and pulls itself from underground
the leaves and flowers later fall without a breath of sound
no mind how much I water, and how well I tend the blooms
I deadhead all that’s passed, but a drought’s a drought in any room
and now I face the lonely midnight pain
I will lose in this but you won’t gain
my suitcase is full of things we can’t discuss
so let’s throw that baggage under the Greyhound bus
and lest you need reminding hon
two is better than a weaker one
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9. |
Home Free
02:00
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Home Free
She got carried, carried away
broke free like an inmate on Christmas Day
slipped through the bars hidden from sight
before setting off my solar light
flew at witch’s height
through the coal black forest night
no trace no face
the tracker dogs could not keep pace
through thickets over streams
her house arrest was over
or so it seemed
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10. |
Lord's Test
03:38
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Lord's Test
In this cool and open dark
I’m silent as a spark
the city hums there, a highway runs there
but my boat just floats to see if he cares
I want to prove that if I sink he’ll rise
I hear it takes a hundred hapless tries
to see this guy
I tip, dogs bark
padding back and forth and back
the shoreline park
this pitch, dark as a tar pit
these stars, sucking me up it
this test, maybe I don’t float
black hole, under my own boat
but I have my plan so good we’ll try to seek
and maybe when I jump next time he’ll speak
to me next week?
he could toss the life ring on my hundredth try
if not it proves he may not be alive
enough for me
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11. |
A Night Beyond Repair
04:07
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A Night Beyond Repair
Past southern shrines, made up minds
liquor stores and copper mines
she saw the Angel Oak one day
drove out west but unimpressed, came back home to decompress
said we’re much better than all of this
busy roads, ethylene, little children quarantined
there’s a view from Widow Rock to sea
the lake is down and losing ground, people watching with no sound
say we’re much better than all of this
as light well knows what matters is it shows
on the faces of the workers as they come and go
bringing home a decent pay to picnic on a Saturday
and maybe fly one day to Mexico
life gets away like a mink slips into Shanty Bay, takes a breath and gone
you wait too long to talk, guilty or just scared to balk
as truth shines in like the morning sun
now it’s one more Friday night and soon she can’t talk
and soon he can’t walk, and someone trips the fire door
how we gettin’ home tonight guys, how we gettin’ home
the landscape changed, it’s rearranged
let’s steal a boat and row
moon shines on the bay, they’re coming for us anyway
from Government Dock we’ll sprint the blocks
to home and light of day
you heal, you cry, you burn away inside
no need to say how hard you tried, just carry on
morning calls, evening falls, streets, paths and dim-lit halls
just go until you find your way and work until you’re done
how we gettin’ home tonight, how we gettin’ there
friends are out and all about and it’s like some county fair
how we gettin’ home tonight and do we really care
toss your keys to the summer breeze, the moon will pull us there
we live for this impromptu bliss, a night beyond repair
as candles on the water glow like evening prayer
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12. |
Ascension Day Night
04:10
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Ascension Day Night
If the only one leaving
had done things right
then the only one leaving
would be staying tonight
but the only one staying
has turned from sight
she’s not going to wave
on ascension day night
then a bird lifts him up
in a magical way
his heart’s on the tarmac
his head on the tray
he knows what he did
but not what to do
his choices are many
and now hers are too
get on the red-eye have breakfast in Europe in an open market space you’re a traveling bro now with your country flag in place stained streets cold rain in off the ocean a couple of cops stand and watch the commotion come ocean come watch me ocean come wash the ocean falling falling he disappeared into Russia into the heart of a dark continent and nothing was missing but everything was missing every look every sip all the biting on a worried lip still look at this look around somewhere redwoods brush the sky and a tiny bluebird learns to fly you had a good run with the mirror earth you looked great really great oops
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13. |
Better Hands
01:57
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The Henrys Toronto, Ontario
Toronto Star:
"Old instruments, new sounds’ is the way Rooke describes what The Henrys do -
they extract from a resonator guitar and other plucked acoustic instruments the harmonics, overtones and oblique noises behind the rustic notes to create landscapes that are astonishingly romantic, frightening, sexual, spiritual - and quite beautiful. Brave new music."
... more
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