Get all 8 A Metropolitan Guide releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The One That Isn't Burned, The Girls You Sang to Sleep, Alternate Histories Vol. I, These Hills Are Gonna Rise, The Grand Revolution of Lakeside, Simulation Avenue, Pioneering, and Lesser Tragedies.
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These Illinois and Iowa fields I want to leave behind
They may be home but today I’ve something else in mind
I’m heading out to the plains hoping to see
Those Black Hills rising slowly to me
All the singers go “da da da” and the speed limits fall away
And the Wall-Drug signs –they’re like some viral plague
Soon enough these hills are gonna rise
And with ‘em darling, you and I
We walked deep into the hills, where silence reigned supreme
Stood in shadows of the spots that felt more like a dream
Gazed up at the stars and wondered what it all means
And if that magpie over yonder has got a better idea than me
All the guides go “da da da” and tourists trek the ground
History changes based on who’s around
But soon enough these hills are gonna rise
And with ‘em darling, you and I
Presidents and tribal chiefs stood toe-to-toe in line
As if they might go start a war if given the place and time
But the latter pointed firmly to the path that lies ahead
And the former stared solemnly in honor of the dead
All the playlists go “da da da” and the mountains fade away
And complex history gives way to change
But soon enough these hills are gonna rise
And with ‘em darling, you and I
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2. |
Revolutionary Skies
03:16
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I think the cause of liberty would be just fine without me
And there are days I wish to be on a ship in the Royal Navy
Aboard a Man-O-War, never wanting more
Just taking orders as a soldier bound to the throne
But that’s just that lack of confidence that’s got you asking why
From Duquesne and Necessity to revolutionary skies
It’s the magic in the potion to make the whole thing go around
And lets you shake the moral balance just by cutting cherry trees down
We just fought our way away from the talons of a king
And already they’re all cheering me like they’ve forgotten what it means
The voting booths they say one thing, but the crowds don’t say the same
They’re calling for an emperor no matter what he brings
There’s nothing all that special about your talents or your goals
It’s not like we don’t have a reputation to uphold
Despite popular conception about the Devil buying souls
We don’t need his help because in this hell everybody’s already sold
So, we’ll watch our revolution fall, shrug our shoulders in dismay
Accepting that it’s all just part of some inevitable decay
But that emperor is calling asking if you want to be free
Then, son, place the flame here at the base of this pesky cherry tree
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3. |
Badlands
02:08
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4. |
Two Brothers
04:30
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Two brothers went a-wandering to the edge of the fields, crossed a stream with the pebbles on their feet
Cast their bows at the antelope as the night was coming down
But as they turned around to find the town there was nothing to be seen, so they stopped and slept beneath some ancient tree
After some time had passed, the earth began to quake, a giant bear came clutching to their feet
“Run!” the boy said, “find a place to hide”
As the bear tried to satisfy his appetite’s demands, he chased the boys further from their lands
“Oh, brother, my brother, if this is to be our end, let the stars watch over our demise
For our spirits will surely find their way home, if our flesh falters here and dies”
The brothers threw their hands out, began to pray to the spirits invested in these things
The earth, it shook again, and the ground began to rise
1000 feet into the sky the brothers safely rose, and watched the bear’s agitation grow
The bear tried to climb the tower, scratched at the rock, leaving the claw marks down the sides
The brothers prayed again with their hands held high
“Where can we hide if not the sky?” they cried aloud, “we’d be better off down on the ground”
“Oh, brother, my brother, if this is to be our end, let the stars watch over our demise
For our spirits will surely find their way home, if our flesh falters here and dies.”
With the predator approaching up the tower’s face, the brothers tightly closed their eyes
But out from the clouds an eagle passed overhead
With its wings spread, it turned and said “come with me, my boys, for this one here does nothing but destroy”
“Oh, children, my children, if this is to be your end, let the stars and the tower rise
Let these wings carry you safely home and never let this story die.”
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5. |
The Hilltop Killers
04:08
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The killers had carved their names into the wood on a hilltop on the edge of town
We stood looking out as you laughed and proclaimed that “it’s a pirate’s life for me
It’s not all that different from a world full of laws; people take what’s not theirs and ignore the laws that are there”
As the sun goes down over Nassau
Those back-alley jewelers that came out at night, they said “$10 each if you please”
When we begged off, started walking away, they said “$10 each if you don’t
We’re making a living even if it’s hard to see, it’s a modest career but the tourists need souvenirs
And that’s how it’s done here in Nassau”
In the old Spanish fort we kissed and we heard that the killers had long gone away
“That was just an old legend,” they said, “you kids should go find something better
for we don’t have time here for fancies of flight, so go and take your dreams, go and drown them in the sea
And leave this world of Nassau”
When I said this place was so far from home you smiled and said “that’s the point”
You turned and gave the driver a few bucks and said “hey, buddy take us somewhere new”
If Atlantis can rise here from the crashing waves, then a story can rise through the lens of a lullaby
And save our world of Nassau”
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6. |
Deadwood Gold
03:59
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Deadwood, 1874, there’s a gold rush underway
We’re all gonna be rich as thieves if you’ll just follow me
Hill City and Pactola, we are leaving them behind
That was just some child’s play before the coming tide
This land may not be ours, boys, but it might as well be
It wasn’t us who spoke the words down in Laramie
So, saddle up the horses, and the tradesmen and miners, too
Let the gold come flowing down the riverbeds and wash away the truth
Don’t worry about the means, boys, the future, or your souls
You can buy yourself whatever you need with some of that Deadwood gold
General Terry’s sent our orders out, we’re gonna’ travel in a little style
And chase the Sioux out of these hills, play a little exile
Add some presidential blood to this winding caravan
We’ll own this place by the end of the year –that’ll be the gameplan
Up at French Creek, we found our prize, got what we came for
And if anyone wants to say it isn’t ours, come, try, start a war
Send the word back to the coast that the gold is flowing free
And I’m betting that these savage tribes aren’t ever gonna stop me
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7. |
Carolina Mountain Girl
05:06
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Maybe we’d settle down in a cabin, far from anywhere we’re supposed to be
Maybe my hands could brush her cheeks and her hair could blow in the breeze
In the spirit of the poets and the troubadours our voices echo as they’d fade away
And we’d lay at night below the mountains and the moonlight until the darkness breaks
With my Caroline
With my Caroline
With my Carolina mountain girl
With my Carolina mountain girl
I know what you must be thinking, maybe even what you want to say
Like living life for the here and now, and letting old fantasies fade
I’m not gonna’ say that you aren’t right, but there’s one thing you can be assured
That whatever fantasies befall me, I’d choose to spend them with her
I know I’m not worthy of such salvation to come and rain down from on high
Maybe I’m wrong about that too, and asking for my brand of paradise
Only I’ve served my sentence on the wheel of time, which has gone and given me the nerve
To dream tonight, not of the valleys or the oceanside, but of the only thing that matters in the world
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8. |
Morning Mist
04:23
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A cabin in the wilderness, a respite from the wilds
Watch the sun go down, but it might be coming up, it’s a little hard to tell
You don’t need any water pressure; you’re not getting it out here
You don’t want civilization following when you’re trying to disappear
But the deer will crash the parking lot; the cats will crash the bed
But I’ll be gone in the morning
All the stories that I’ve heard, the legends and the myths
They’re just a little more believable through this morning mist
Giant bears and eagles, and carved up mountainsides
Hilltop killer warnings, kisses under stars, the wild dreams of ours
I’ll take these stories any way I can, like some battle cry
And I’ll shout ‘em from the hilltops as you’re passing by
But the deer will crash the parking lot; the cats will crash the bed
But I’ll be gone in the morning
All the stories that I’ve heard, the legends and the myths
They’re just a little more believable through this morning mist
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