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From a Limb

by The Study Band

supported by
Joseph Grice
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Quince
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Ty Warner-Yee
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  • Streaming + Download

    The Study Band's Debut LP
    Purchasable with gift card

      $5 USD

     

1.
Prologue 03:42
lyrics
Women wearing dresses in the rain Stones line these narrow walkways And black cars still waiting at the gates Peacefully displayed Flowers perched on weathered granite Some tended and some abandoned Sure signs of how a life was managed Or thrown away The clouds sit dark as night Green hills soft and wet as eyes Rolling on for silent miles As the sky cries and cries and cries There's a picture resting in its frame Beads of water streak down a familiar youthful face They softly speak his name And sing of leaving this world for a better place It's a somber event A beginning and an end All seeming so unfortunate Weighing tragic With nothing certain to expect Our bodies less than permanent Should we grow bitter calluses Lose ourselves in sadness Every cruel word that was said And this blood upon our hands Is it all adding up against us Or is it just breath and water Every moment that we exist Is it all just leading up to this Life crescendos to our death And baby now it's curtains Baby, it's time for rest Shovels scarring plots of sodden ground An intricate bed, an intimate crowd Trembling words cross a delicate mouth Sleep now child, please sleep sound
2.
A Relative Argument 02:54
lyrics
The way the seasons change Am I just passing Conversation as you drift away A couple lines, a sordid note, briefly stated I am no reason to stay Sail off through the morning haze and I'm stranded right here As our father's done You're running out on me And older brother Outside the weather is getting cold The colors are turning On me It couldn't be a worse time to leave Listen to the voice on the radio Are you planning to be A necklace When you come home The way the streetlights hang Am I just observing An actor spot lit on the promenade Reciting lines, slightly staged, you must be playing So set on casting blame Like stones against the crashing waves from some rotting, old pier But if that levy breaks Swept out to sea And younger brother, what have you become Don't think I haven't seen it You lie to pretty girls just for fun Oh how you make them yours You say I'm like our father, that I'm on the run You seem to forget how he used our mother And left her such a wreck she couldn't care for us To father's sin you sing along While that bottle wets your lying tongue Every night a different bird to keep you warm Deceptions are fleeting You'll see It couldn't be a more obvious plea Listen to the sound of your practiced voice Are you planning to be A puppet When I get home Be on your way If this is how I'm figured out Your hands are free for abandoning Your little brother now To call her mother is a stretch She had a choice to make And me I'll make my own So tonight I drink alone
3.
Dearest Sophie, I'm Sorry 03:43
lyrics
You're locked up in your house Your pictures packed in boxes Your sons have both moved out And left you to fend for your own And after all you've done With your body growing old But tell me, tell me Did you ever sing to them Or did work have you so tired You would just send them to bed How easily we forget Your days spent in a chair That window your obsession You watch the frantic rush Of life as it passes you by Friends with city lights Converse with neon signs But tell, now tell me Were you ever there for them Or did grief and self pity Take all that you had left Oh lord, what a mess And what of the father figure Where has he been She takes out that slip of paper she's read and reread Decipher each word it said Never really sure What the hell he meant That son of a bitch She'd never see again But don't blame it on the blues Your sorrow gets the best of you So dry your crying eyes I'll give you the awful truth You probably should have moved on with your life Tell me, did you even try Or perhaps I'm not looking at this right True love's not that easy to come by
4.
Margery's Off-Key Temperament 03:14
lyrics
In a high-rise on the south side Taller than the tallest tree Perched upon a piano bench Little song bird won't you sing for me But she's sitting real still No, not a single peep Weeks drag past as this episode Repeat repeat repeats And the silence is filled with such tension The floor wouldn't chance a creak And her shape held in such rigid form The walls seem to breathe And the sun appears at the window Slowly setting beneath the frame Gone to rise on a small lonesome town That she left far away We hear a rapping at the door Her roommate enters with a tray The meal is left like an offering Juxtaposed against the empty space Though that body must be starving She doesn't turn her hollow face Eyes dead set on the faded paint In search of something lost, long lost, gone, misplaced Her joints snap to the rhythm As she's stamping those delicate feet Sounding loud on the hard wooden planks Sending aches through her knees And the strings sound with a bang From her pounding on the keys Hitting hard no discernible tune Just to make her hands bleed She sings to herself I feel like I'm lost at sea She sings to herself I think I need a drink
5.
Shipwreck in a Bottle 05:17
lyrics
Take another drag from your cigarette With your body propped up like a marionette A glass in hand, drink on your breath You drown the sorrows out It's another night of loneliness With a barstool as your only friend I think the ship's going down Bail out the water Man the starboard side Here comes another Your head tilts back with a snap of the neck The barmaids outline; silhouette Your inside shakes, it's trembling You barely hear the sound That pretty girl and what she said You're both feeling desperate The tunnel's closing now The light's getting softer There's a blackout up ahead We'd better find her a lover And he sings to himself I only wanted him to stay home And she sings to herself I only wanted to sing songs So, keep the breathing loud She takes your hand and leads you down To the crowded floor you speak in shouts You hold her close and kiss her mouth With a practiced routine charm In these chemicals you're nearly drown But she's all yours now The vessel's creaking loud The mast snaps from the pressure Waves pouring over the bow There's been no break in the weather You hold the door and lead her out The silent air's a welcomed sound Two shadows in an empty town Walking arm and arm A smile for endearing words And a solemn loving vow This trek has left you both cold Your bed has so much to offer But be careful lonely boy You know that's somebody's daughter And she sings to herself I think I've finally found what I've longed for And he sings to himself At least tonight I'll stay warm Oh, you should feel so ashamed And now she's right where you want her You've turned out just like your father
6.
Secondhand Affection 03:23
lyrics
Just in the door I see you shake to shed the cold I take your hand to calm you down And I take your coat Those bitter drinks Have you convinced You remove your clothes I speak so soft, my words are sweet And I kiss you slow To cover up My true intention And the feeling plays Oh, pretty boy, where have you been I was so alone So many nights, I tried to sing And couldn't clear my throat Your soothing voice has me convinced that I've found a home I'm seeing spots, my words are slurred, so I'm moving slow To cover up my imperfections And the feeling plays You taste of smoke my dear That's just the secondhand affection Come morning I shall disappear Wrapped securely in your blankets You say I'm beautiful Another doll in my collection The feeling is (in)sincere Clenched teeth holding back my thoughts I scream for your attention You know I do And I don't Love Love Love Love you My tongue is taking all you've got I offer no objection The feeling is ringing in my ear
7.
Untitled 04:07
lyrics
So you're in love with the idea of being in love Where is she now Your head's filled up with thoughts of a quote end quote us So where is she now Pictured in a room Skin stretched over his frame This Pollock mind and unreal city lights Keep the moon and I at bay A mask of bone wore under fleshy tone In only the deepest shades Transfixed in time, the stillest life Stars fill this flooded grave The artist's life's a dangerous one So fragile and over dramatic On red sky the passion of a lover's embrace Nearly burns right through the canvas In another time you imagine her face With her body as the Violin of Ingress For a kiss wrapped tight in a blanket of gold So soft she'd close her eyelids So you feel stuck in a pose for that girl you can't touch So why hang around Well if you must, come on and find the nerve "enough is enough" Now, here's something I can't figure out Pallid as a ghost Hands pressed hard against his face These Dali eye's lost in Edvard skies Skew the village that I create A vase is thrown filled with orange and gold Though the silence never breaks Empty reservoirs like canon fire The biggest splash that he could make The artist life's a dangerous one So prone to delusions and madness Through a desert he roams bound by lashes of rope In a body that some sickness has ravaged In another time you imagine the greats Who suffered for the prized Galatea A man alone in a cave and a soul Ascetic for one beautiful idea
8.
Margery's Blood-Red Ivory 04:32
lyrics
Stranded in his bedroom The only sound a constant beat As her heart keeps time With the melody Soft hands pressed down On invisible keys Her passion, her joy, her misery You see that night her mind had worked As her tired body slept Composing, singing, screaming Pianos dancing through her head Now still tangled up in sheets Long since abandoned there she lay But he had fixed this broken record That for months had repeatedly sang This three room, two windowed apartment Has become a prison with a mattress on the floor That's become your nine to five You sleep off this building frustration And wake up just to find there's only more Quickly walking home From her vacated lover's bed Replaying all those words she never meant Up twelve flights of stairs And through a familiar door Barely paying mind to broken glass Reflecting brilliance from the floor Her body starts aching for the touch Of ivory to her skin The feel of tiny hammers raining down Like bombs on the innocent Poised so gently at the rail Instrument love and hate Polished wood and brass Fingers run all eighty eight Just keep pounding on those keys You've got to make that piano bleed The pain you feel You've got to live with this disease Just keep pounding on those keys You've got to bend those strings until they scream Oh mercy Oh mercy, Mama, please
9.
Let's All Sin Along 04:46
lyrics
Mother How have you been getting by Oh, dearest Mother Are you still locked away inside Because I've been needing To find a place to hide Far, far away from this world So ugly, so cold and unkind That and I miss you You and your pretty eyes Oh, young lover I'm not who you were hoping to find Sweet little lover I've done this a thousand times And I wish that I could stop But oh, how I've tried And it kills me to think How each girl must have cried So I'll give you the truth The truth is I lied Older Brother They tell me we're winning the fight Lost older brother Please, please come home alive And I've been thinking of you These past couple nights And as much as it hurts to see you go You've got to do what you feel is right But I want you here Here by my side
10.
Losing Battles, Winning Wars 03:28
lyrics
Eyes raised like curtains on opening night Transfixed by the scene of bombs painting the sky With God's voice a boom In postlude to a brilliant flash of light And bricks from the buildings are falling like leaves They blanket the bodies as they drift off to sleep What is all this for, Oh, a glamourous war Such a clever deceit Listen: Cold creeps like a ghost through the cracks in the door And clings to the breath at every mouth that it forms The living must confess, while the listless Lie neglected on the floor Ears tuned to drummers that march in the street And one always stops dead when two drummers meet They're playing to the tune the Of better you than me Baby brother, I hope this finds you well And as much as the city tends to bring you down, do try and behave yourself Oh Momma, I hope this makes it's way into your cell Though i doubt it will Well, what's done is done No no no I won't dwell I've seen enough of that in you To be quite certain it's of little help So won't you stop Listen: Stop But I'm sure the chance is thin You've been deafened in what you've lost And the world still spins Our bodies step in time And I know you were you only ever seeing him I know I have that bastard's eyes Like dust settles on the floor I've fallen still in this abandoned place Keep a careful eye on that window pane Just because you hide doesn't make it safe Shhh Wait No
11.
Epilogue 02:29
lyrics
Women wear a calming air of grace Stones scrawled with countless birth dates Those moments nothing could replace Not time nor change Small birds perched on steady branches Sing soft in sweet abandon Sure signs of why this life was granted In spite of pain Old friends stand side by side Known before those creeping lines Children grasping mothers tight Avert their eyes, as they hide and hide and hide No glance of useless blame Not a word of unjust fate Leave tired bodies where they lay And clear the stage If life feels different it's the same It's the same In a constant state of change We're the same Though we've seen better days And understand we're all as desperate to explain But it doesn't always work that way Just see the night sky for the stars if you're still awake

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released July 1, 2008

All Songs Written By Eric Morelli

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