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Conventions

by Ugly Purple Sweater

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  • These limited-edition download cards double as picture frames. They were hand printed by Amelia Bird and feature the linocut artwork of Dave Buchen. The one-page insert includes the lyrics to the song Ba Ba Ba. Album credits and track list are printed inside the card stock frame.

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1.
Roatan (free) 03:38
My easy life, there’s no hustle or strife Just a silence as big as you want it. I leave the house and the reveller’s shouts And I sing by myself to the water There’s time and a place to go dancing I’ll stay here and drink myself to sleep The girl in the white comes out into the night And she tells me she likes how I whistle We call to the boats, and it seems to remote How my girlfriend is sleeping back stateside God knows that I , I would never There’s too many ways to be alone Then when we’re walking alone on the boulevard Then, when we’re standing alone on the portico When were you planning on Mentioning that?
2.
Ba Ba Ba 03:25
Let me tell you what, she looks just like my mother. And let me tell you what, is it weird that doesn’t scare me? And if we can play the part, we can see the end even before the start. We started staying in, I started sleeping over. We wanted to feel close, we battened down the hatches. And if we can play the part we can see the end even before the start. We had the best sex of all our friends, even if we never talk to them Why, why do we sleep so much? ‘Cause if we go out, talk with our friends, We might see that we’re wrong, and we can’t be wrong, like a song, with a chorus that bores us at first but as soon as you learn it’s determined, It’s determined. We finally emerge later in the summer. She says she’s going out, be back in time for supper. And if I can hold her hand, all of the world will then understand. We’ll take it out of the neighborhood showing everyone that we know it’s good.
3.
You took a big breath ‘fore you went down It won’t last long, nonononono But good god, it’s good to stay down You look back up at the surface now There’s a storm above, but you stay so still Good god, it’s good to stay down When your blood is blue and you come up with a gasp You’ve drifted far from shore Even though the water’s edge is far away from here You know it’ll be alright You know it’ll be just fine There’s seagulls circling above Now you’ve got water in your brain If you turn fast it’ll slosh around Good god, you have to get it out You start to swim with your head held high Your limbs are stiff cuz you’ve been so still Good god, it’s good to go back You took a big breath ‘fore you went down It won’t last long, nonononono But good god, it’s good to stay down
4.
Have a little heart my dear, you’ve made your sell Don’t know what you mean to say, but you sing it so well Drive for several days to stand before us and still so far away This is how it feels Starting off with something new, the crowd goes wild Don’t know what you mean to say, but you say it so snide They brought their boyfriends here, breathless from your voice, frozen by your sneer This is how it feels What do you have to believe in when You’ve sung all your songs from the bottom of your heart And then still you’re alone backstage What do you have to believe inm when You’ve sung all your songs from the bottom of your heart And then still you’re alone backstage
5.
Blue Crab 03:50
Blue Crab I saw the blue of a crab in the sand He scurried off when I reached out my hand. He scurried away, he scurried away just driftwood and gulls on Chesapeake bay. I fell in with a believer in ghosts She showed me all of her photos as proof. I wanted to see, I wanted to see, but her camera was blurred their spirits are free. But you never have given up on me. I’m blurry, but you don’t seem to need to see. I fell in love with a woman like you I held her close and then tore her in two I scurried away, I scurries away still possessed by her breath, I stowed her away. But you never have given up on me. I’m blurry, but you don’t seem to need to see.
6.
Wounds 04:36
Hey there my babe you know I’ve left my wounds wide open for you. They cut a hole in my side to excise a piece for you. Oh, so deep and so numb that we nearly succumbed. Oh, you’re cleaning my wounds, growing larger and Oh, so deep and so numb that we nearly succumbed Oh, keep tending your heart, it’s a wound from the start. With death on the sill, there is soil to till, there’s sun to spend. You planted a tree in the sunniest spot behind our house. Oh, you planted a tree and you fed my IV. Oh, keep cleaning my wounds growing larger and Oh, you kept us alive for the shade we provide. Oh, keep tending your heart, it’s a wound from the start. I see you cringe at the state that I’m in like it’s you in the bed you see me flinch at the cringe on your lips like it’s me in the chair blood flowing through flowing out flowing back flowing round and around.
7.
Stars 03:25
With the sun already set We pulled on over to the wide overlook We know it’s there somewhere But like a joke you’re not supposed to get The lake way down in the crater beneath Had disappeared somehow And like a part you were not meant to play (oh oh) Like a joke you were not meant to get (oh oh) And we were left with less than we’d expect (oh oh) When we’re 50 miles away I looked over at my comrade in arms She was asleep at the wheel And I was too fucked up to drive So she slept in the back of the car I stormed out into the night I can’t do anything right Then the sky turned so bright Like a gift you were not meant to get (oh oh) Like a part you were not meant to play (oh oh) And we don’t need any more than this (oh no) Stars stars stars burning in the night...
8.
She looks over at poor old me I’m still asleep till I hear her speak And she takes me down to stream I am slipshod slapdash overwrought underexposed She exposes her leg to me She retracts when she sees me flinch She’s offended, I double back, I say I want to do it, I do, I’m just don’t know how She’s so close you cannot see her, You forget yourself in your desire. Laid out like a sprawling city, Infinite unbounded hide and seek. Wash your little face and won’t you come back There are things that you need to know, How to guess when the moment’s close, How to get it out of her clothes, How to seem like you’ve done it before while you shake with joy. And we lie in her parent’s bed, Trying to pretend that it’s ours instead. They come in with their face turned red, They say “daughter of mine, think of all that you could have been.” She’s so close you cannot see her, You forget yourself in your desire. Laid out like a sprawling city, Infinite unbounded hide and seek. Wash your little face And why don’t you believe her when she says Please come back, please come back. But both of your cocoons begin to fray Please come back, won’t come back Your skin it is harder now It does not belong to you She’s not what she said she was And neither are you She’s so close you cannot see her, You forget yourself in your desire. Laid out like a sprawling city, Infinite unbounded hide and seek. Wash your little face
9.
Willow 04:09
Take all you can you the wide-eyed believer there in the back of your mouth. Way, way up high In the treetops above us, There's a sound breaking clear, There's another one lept from the burl. This very year, you turned four and quarter past the time you was hoping to be. Now you are late, you are late you are late now, There's no turning around, You will always be late, don't you see. And you're biding your time. And you're biding your time. Gazing out as the day winds down. You're looking good You've had time to catch up on your sleep And your magazine stack, growing taller But you couldn't catch it no matter your running You've been swimming around But the surf and chop suck you in And you're biding your time. And you're biding your time. Gazing out as the day winds down. Back in the woods where there’s no one around for miles and miles Singing out loud to the willows above. You’re changing the words so they’ll fit to the tune you’ve set them to Sing so the words might seem bigger and true, oh.
10.
The Badger 03:25
You recognize my face but you don’t know my name. You haven’t seen me since we were both way up state You would have guessed that you would never ever see me again I’m not your type but you are new to town, you don’t have too many friends I buy you breakfast, it’s not expensive We make arrangements, I’m getting closer I meet your parents, they’re getting older I want you badly, I’m getting closer With eyes upon what happens to Every single tiny living thing And then I’m moving in, it happened all so fast I watch you face light up, you know the truth at last You find a letter it’s from your sister It’s in my luggage, you’d never seen it And yes I broke into your little one-bedroom Just to be close to you just to be close to I am the badger, I am the badger.... with eyes upon what happens to Every single tiny living thing
11.
She got married far too young, and had a baby Was never gonna look back. But there was something not quite right. He would never breathe alone The little baby Notochord misfolded Tiny little baby. She said, “stay still, Stay still as you can. That’s what you’re here for He ran off with someone young And had a baby. What’s she gonna look like? What’s she gonna look like? And you stay still you stay still as you can And he keeps you up all night It’s not what you had in mind But you stay.... And you’re sucking up his bile You caress what you revile But you stay....
12.
Four in the morning I fetch my list and l leave it open by the sink I keep a book of secret sins that would make you leave me if you read I’d take a job out west , I’d finally get some rest, oh, I don’t know what I’d do, If you were gone. Then when you wake up I’m downstairs you call for coffee, I abide you are not a notion you’re my love return my list to its hiding spot I’d stay up way to late, I never would concentrate, oh I don’t know what I’d do, if you were gone.
13.

credits

released November 12, 2011

Sam McCormally plays guitar, keyboard, and sings. Rachel Lord plays banjo, keyboard, melodical, guitar, and sings. Will McKindley-Ward plays guitar and sings. Mike Tasevoli plays drums. Rishi Chakrabarty plays bass.

Roatan and Stars recorded at Asparagus Media Studio, engineered by Kyle Downes, and mixed by Kyle Downes.

All other tracks recorded at Inner Ear Studio, engineered by Ivan Basauri, and mixed by Ivan Basauri.

Mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music.

Linocut cover art by Dave Buchen.

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Ugly Purple Sweater Washington, D.C.

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