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GENERALS

by The Mynabirds

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1.
Karma Debt 03:11
Here we are in the orchestra A bullet in our breath We hold our horns like credit cards And hope to pay the rent But when the war is done And we’ve finished all our songs Will they offset the colossal karma debt? The ebony and the ivory Talked politics again Then they sat and chewed the scenery Til there was nothing left But will all their peace accords Amount to something more or something less Than wasted breath? I’d give it all For a legacy of love Here we are in the orchestra A bullet in our breath We hold our horns like credit cards And hope to pay the rent But when the war is done And we’ve finished all our songs Will they offset the colossal karma debt?
2.
Wolf Mother 03:14
Don’t do much these days Keep the wolves at bay Don’t do much to ease the pain Heaven’s hell, I say It gets in the way If we’re never gonna reach the top Why would we even try? Oh we’re tumbling down We’re tumbling down Cause your ideal is not mine Yes, we’re tumbling down We’re tumbling down Tumbling, tumbling I wanna know Who lets the wolves in And can I see him tonight I wanna know That man in sheepskin Cause I owe him a fight In the valley below Oh a red river flows It ain’t right I’m gonna add him below To that river of souls Tonight
3.
Generals 03:43
I need a political job In a blue collar town So I can pay my rent When the music is on I get my best blood drawn But I haven’t made a dollar yet Haven’t I paid my dues yet? Calling all my Generals My Daughters My Revolutionists We got strength in numbers And they’re gon’ to pay for it We burn the money in our homes Oh our books and bones Are breaking down so fast But they keep putting all our cash Into the next bloodbath Honey, tell you I am sick of it Haven’t we paid our dues yet? Hey all my sisters [YEAH] What you want [LOVE] And all my brothers [YEAH] What you got [LOVE] You wanna fix it [YEAH] Or fuck it up Come on fix it Cause it’s been fucked Calling all my Generals My Daughters My Revolutionists We got strength in numbers And they’re gon’ to pay Get your black boots on Beat your marching drum We’re gonna make ‘em run We’re gonna get ‘em on the run So get your warpaint on Let ‘em know we’re out for blood
4.
She’s a radiator sister Oh boys, I’ll tell you what I mean Her mind’s a nest of firecrackers She needs to blow off some steam I’ll tell you right now You will get burned So watch out There’s a poison in the harbor It’s looking deadly in the seas And yet they’re handing out blue ribbons To the killing companies I’ll tell you right now You will get burned So watch out Yes I’ll tell you once more You have been warned Oh watch out Radiator Radiator Radiator Watch out You’re a radiator brother You know exactly what I mean You see ‘em dying in the breadlines But turning profits on the street They build the walls around each other And keep the suburbs clean But they cannot burn the bridges Between you and me I’ll tell you once more You have been warned Oh watch out Yes, we’ll tell them once more Karma comes round Oh watch out Radiator Radiator Radiator Watch out
5.
Disaster 03:16
Hold on hold on hold on Just a minute longer I got I got your back I promise to keep you from going under The walls the walls caved in And the sky came tumbling after And the minute we thought we were out of the wreck Came another great Disaster, collision All of the world is tearing at the seams Disaster, division What we’re turning into I cannot say I cannot say The sky the sky turned black And the sea the sea turned blacker But I got I got your back I promise to keep you from going under
6.
You’re not alone in anything So listen up, my love A tiny town can tear you down But the right word can build you up I know their razor blade names Cut into your arms And opened your veins And you think, There’s nothing you could do They haven’t already done to you It’s hard enough in your bedroom calm To fend off the hungry birds of prey And it’s a fresh assault when the news comes on Another one gone today You study the lines in his face He looked just like you Your story’s the same Is there anything I could say To make you stay Love who you love No matter what No matter how hard it may come And I promise You’ll be loved, my love No matter what You’re mightier than Their sword sharp tongues Oh I promise You are loved Yes I promise You are loved So don’t give up When you forget the words I will sing them for you When I forget the words Will you sing them for me? When you forget the words I will sing them for you
7.
Body of Work 03:00
Before you get out I want you to know You get so many lives in just this one Sometimes you’re a roller Sometimes you’re the stone Sometimes you’re an avalanche in whole But you can be wild horses on that hill You can be wild horses You can stop at will And you will Before you get out on your one way I’ve got a ticket waiting for you under any name You can be holy or a roller, oh anything But whatever you choose — stay Yesterday happened just exactly as it did You can’t go back and undo it You’re not a knot you’re not a dead end Don’t ever forget You’re a living thing “Freedom is what you do with what With what’s been done to you” Before you lay down in this place Remember you can see a blackbird A thousand ways You can be a soldier You can be the snow Under the boots of an army with miles to go And you can be white horses on that hill You can be white horses You can carry heaven until Yesterday happened just exactly as it did You can’t go back and undo it You’re not a knot you’re not a dead end Don’t ever forget You are a body of work — Edit it You are electric — So sing it “Freedom is what you do with what With what’s been done to you”
8.
Disarm 04:05
My baby does so much panicking around And lately I cannot talk her down My love, what are you fighting for? My love, you’ll never even the score Cause there’s always one more War in the waiting War in the waiting With your arms up War in the waiting War in the waiting Give it up My love, aren’t you tired of arguing? My love, you won’t surrender a thing By disarming My baby, there’s so much panic in these days Enemies made out of brothers down the way My love, you and I are a siamese form My love, so what are we fighting for? War in the waiting War in the waiting With your arms up War in the waiting War in the waiting Give it up My love, I’m so tired of arguing My love, we won’t surrender a thing By disarming If you can’t remember The good in your brother Ask another, ask another
9.
So we go down to the red to the river Dig our hands deep in the banks of the sand Loose all the black of the souls buried there Forgive every man Moving uptown, gonna clear the air Moving uptown, then we’ll go everywhere Buffalo flower My queen of the plains When the bully winds Push on your shoulder You show them who’s king Oh the man of the hour Is another pretty young buck Pinstripes and a tongue Like a fresh cut flower Promises sure to wither up Oh my man, your hour’s up So we’ll march up out the road out the valley Build a town tall at the top of the hill If we don’t start one foot in front of the other We never will Can’t change the weather But we sure can change our shoes Can’t change what we weather But we can change what we do Buffalo flower My queen of the plains When the bully winds Push on your shoulder You show them who’s king Gonna do what I can Right where I stand I’m gonna do what I can
10.
All along the avenues The soldiers make their way While lovers reap the revenue Of a cold September day Kiss me, darling kiss me Like we’ll never kiss again And love me won’t you love me Like it’s our greatest revenge No one knows how much it means The pundit wars, rag magazines Battle fronts and beauty queens Making love in the headlines I feel for all their progeny How will they know what freedom means When it’s forged to every cause and claim On the fear assembly lines Oh the American machine What happened to our chivalry Now pork is fed to the fattest beasts And the women and the babies Are starving on the ship And the water’s coming in so fast It’s hard to know how long we’ll last When you take in more than you give back Oh you’ll drown under the debt Oh the American greed Oh the American greed It’s not me I’m gonna give what I can Come, come feed the promise that’s inside of me With a little love, we’ll raise a brand new army up Of the surest doves with the hearts that gleam like golden guns With nothing in their arsenal but love I’d give it all for a legacy of love

credits

released May 29, 2012

2012 Saddle Creek

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The Mynabirds Los Angeles, California

American singer-songwriter Laura Burhenn is a shape-shifter who can’t sit still. Since 2010 she’s worked under the moniker The Mynabirds, releasing three critically acclaimed and stylistically different albums on Saddle Creek: What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood (2010) and GENERALS (2012), both produced by Richard Swift, and Lovers Know (2015). ... more

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