bonnie prince billy, by Bonnie "Prince" Billy

bonnie prince billy

by Bonnie "Prince" Billy

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Jonathan Neve Bonnie Prince Billy's timeless songwriting is shown here I think, could be a song to sit around a fire and sing. Favorite track: bad man.

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1.	ending it all (as I do) 03:26	lyrics	buy track
ENDING IT ALL Are we square? I wouldn’t like to go Knowing there is something Crucial that I owe No light in my pocket No trust up my sleeve A devil is calling And I take my leave And take a look at the back of my hand The last thing you see as it falls away And try to remember the light on the land Ending it all (as I do) every day Home from work The sounds are immense Knowing there is something That will never make sense No fun in my wardrobe No moon in my view Turn and listen to god As I turn from you And take a look at the light on the land The last thing you see as it falls away Try to remember the taste of my hand Ending it all as I do every day One day the task Will be taken over and won The beginning of ending Is already done
2.	royal quiet deluxe 03:18	lyrics	buy track
ROYAL QUIET DELUXE I-64 goes from someplace bad To someplace better Better ‘cause it’s far Far away from where I met her And because it’s unknown Life is worth nothing All of my love is in a hole And is dead There is no heaven for love It simply dies The hills of West Virginia Offer respite for my eyes But like Utah, and all things lovely The loveliness is lies We learn that she who screams the loudest Makes he who fears most run And who is ruled by fear Is oft ignored by fun Still there is A way to be If we die many times Then let death come to me This is the last song of its kind. Now you can be. Now you can be all that all your weakest love can find Ain’t it the best? Ain’t it the best?
3.	bad man 02:22	lyrics	buy track
BAD MAN I try to stay quiet because I am a bad man I try to stay quiet because I am a bad man If you hear my mind You know how bad I am Mind your own business and stay seven feet back Mind your own business and stay seven feet back Get any closer and I’m bound to attack Don’t you believe that I don’t want you here With all of my bone I want you right close and near Don’t say I told you that there’s nothing to fear
4.	the spotted pig 02:22	lyrics	buy track
THE SPOTTED PIG Hidden in the chest At the foot of my bed Is the filthy spotted pig I’ve owned for so long You’ve heard its noises And cried while I slept Thinking that you wailing Resembles the spotted pig’s song Your modesty I love Your beauty I cherish Your fear of death I envy Your vanity I punish Humility I welcome For to live with the pig You should have no pride Little hairs from your swimsuit Sprouting from the sty Where can I put my fingers That will make you weep? Tonight with windows open My little beast and I Will betray our watch And disturb your sleep
5.	this is my cocktail 02:32	lyrics	buy track
THIS IS MY COCKTAIL This is my cocktail And I drink it cause I love it This is how I don’t feel And make friend of trouble I fear two things: Losing my mind Losing my body When you find your skin Has been broke in By thousand worms who Cannot wait for you to be gone Then you count to ten And she looks upon your skin And so begin to compose a vow: Never hold a gun, nor a sign It isn’t fun , and fun is how you should define One’s way to be Bedding down with twins And hoping god will walk right in And take a picture of This holy group of three It is enough to cry It pays for all before you die And kills the yearn to justify I need two things: Keeping my mind Keeping my body
6.	i will be born again (again) 02:43	lyrics	buy track
I WILL BE BORN AGAIN AGAIN It ain’t enough To have been stripped And re-evaluated Time is rough And scales are tipped And the loved becomes the hated Weird has come And life defined I am dumb I am not kind And I will be born again again (I will be born again/we will/must be…) when you have done all of the things you said you’ never do and all acts of treason ring and you do not know you Weird has come And life defined I am dumb I am not kind And I will be born again again (I will be born again/we will/must be…) then every girl who thought you fine steps from you in the street knowing where there’s left to go is not an easy feat
7.	make it not an evil mark 03:06	lyrics	buy track
MAKE IT NOT AN EVIL MARK All our hearts are stained And every love is tainted And over every red hole A black door is painted You would take colors all away If it was in your power And cut a hole To mar your skin And shit on every flower Make it good Make it silly Make it lessened by the dark Make it come Onto her face And make it not an evil mark Laugh about it We sing in a tradition After all, it’s song It is not an action Only the singing is deed And the listening complicit You’ll die in the dark with me And we’ll sing for the sun’s visit
8.	lessons from stony 02:55	lyrics	buy track
LESSONS FROM STONEY I got screwed by the ones Who put me in your path “Now it’s just you and me,” I whisper, and you laugh. Half-hearts, full mouths I see you go on And I go too, but not with you I go with me Carolina finds me Not knowing north from west Lessons learned from Stoney Have suited my heart best When I close my windows I see you go on And I go too, but not with you I go with me Not enough time to be honest Let’s hope that there’s no final tally Quietly, Stoney said he’d be My loud and ornery ally When you learn I’m half-woman I see you go on And I go too, but not with you I go with me
9.	triumph of will 02:49	lyrics	buy track
TRIUMPH OF WILL You prepare our food I bought it, why shouldn’t you? I declared it good And fold myself around you We’re never lost together... Wouldn’t that be fun? We are two separate people And we never will be one Except through a triumph of our will In which what came before we met Is fully gone And yes I love you still And need to know that I can get lost fully in our song I rub the sides of your head Hear the sounds your mouth makes We are in our unmade bed As all the early light breaks We’re never lost together... Wouldn’t that be fun? We are two separate people We never will be one Except through a triumph of our will In which what came before we met Is fully gone And yes I love you still And need to know that I can get lost fully in our song I have stopped my marching And you have stopped your singing Our story over-arching Our bell of faith is ringing
10.	i heard of a source 02:44	lyrics	buy track
I HEARD OF A SOURCE I heard of a source down far in the east Forbidden, of course, to all but the least And I heard of a spring from someone who drank Holes in my mind, I forgot who to thank Wash my ends! Clean my tongue! I don’t want to go to hell anymore My dad was a bear, my mom was a skunk My brother exploded the thoughts that he thunk We lived on a hill where all we could see Was the routes and the eyes that were all closed to me Anything can end suddenly! I still want some love for me

about

the proper sequence is:

I heard of a source
lessons from stony
triumph of will
i will be born again (again)
make it not an evil mark
the spotted pig
this is my cocktail
bad man
ending it all (as I do)
royal quiet deluxe

credits

released November 27, 2017

mastered by timothy stollenwerk

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about

Bonnie "Prince" Billy Louisville, Kentucky

The man who sings and composes under the name Bonnie "Prince" Billy and acts under the name Will Oldham has, over the past three-plus decades, made an idiosyncratic journey through, and an indelible mark on, the worlds of indie rock and independent cinema. ... more