1. |
The Map
05:06
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THE MAP
Graduation day
we looked our best, you wore that dress
you took my breath away
We threw our caps high in the air
but not as high as our dreams or as high as we got when the sun went down
and we rode downtown in our limousines
Twenty, on the beach
there on the sand she took my hand
as lovely as a peach
And she cried out against my neck
but not as loud as my heart and my hands were like ice, her hair like flame
but I forget her name
it's out of reach
And they all moved on
but I stayed here
It's a failed experiment, someday I'll disappear
And can you see the map
it's written on my skin
but the tears and the years and my fears
have made it hard to read where the map might lead
where it begins
Look at me and you
we make these charts here on our hearts
they tell us what to do
And most of you went far away
but not as far as our dreams, they dissolved in divorce and kids and jobs
and cars and bars
the everyday
It's a snapshot fading on the fridge, it's a half-remembered name
It's the buildings in my neighbourhood that someone set aflame
It's as sweet as the ice creams that we shared those summers long ago
It's as bitter as the things I lost, I had to let them go
Now everywhere I go
I see what came before
It's a failed experiment, don't want it anymore
And can you see the map
it's written on my skin
but the tears and the years and my fears
have made it hard to read where the map might lead
where it begins
Walking down the street
a simple act becomes a pact between my brain and feet
And I can get there if I'm slow
but not as slow as the years or as low as I get when the sun goes down
and I see downtown through my windowpane
Now everywhere I go
I see what came before
It's a failed experiment, don't want it anymore
and can you see me now
or did I disappear
in the tears and the years and my fears
they slammed the door behind us but they remind us
every year
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2. |
Asylum
06:24
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Asylum - A.J. Jenkins
Now we wait
’til night is quickening, thickening all around
See the gate
just a few short steps over open ground
Silent walls
The living wind whispers of dead things
Bird calls
Long-gone voices in the notes they sing
And we’re inside now
The damp could chill you to the bone
And you once at how
a few hundred souls could have called this home
Loneliness
A bed, a chair, a strap hangs beckoning
Emptiness
take a photograph, a record, a reckoning
Can you stay to taste the dreams of the mad
Run away, back to the same life you always had
Full moon
A lock swings where it’s been broken
So soon
you’ll come back for some small token
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3. |
Uncharted Intro
00:41
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4. |
Uncharted
03:53
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Uncharted - A.J. Jenkins 2021
A ship in harbour’s far too safe, oh but I am lost at sea
And I can find no rescue here in the way you look at me
Oh give me your hand ’til I reach dry land
I would climb a mountain high just to get a better view
Balanced where the earth meets sky oh but all I see is you
Oh and if I fall I won’t care at all
Through the desert sand and arctic snow
When the seas command and rivers flow
Optimistic, openhearted, setting off for worlds uncharted
I don’t know which way to go, I can’t see around the bends
But I don’t need a map too know just exactly how this ends
Will I live and learn, will I crash and burn
“Here be dragons” warn the maps of old
Still the fleet set sail to search for gold
And if they lost a few along the way
would it be too big a price to pay
Now there aren’t many places left that haven’t been explored
And I don’t want to spend my life where so many were before
So I make my plans to find distant lands
But the paths I choose all lead back to you
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5. |
Dead Drop
02:47
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Dead Drop - Alison Jenkins 2021
I leave a message for someone I never see
Spies like you, spies like me
We're making contact with words on a printed page
And what's written here might be read in another age
We tell lies, compartmentalize
We keep secrets from our lovers and our wives
We can't talk about what we do
And that's what ties me to you
The other side of this bad penny
Nothing special, you're just one of many
A life governed by secrets and fear
You could get ahead, or you could disappear
Who knows about the things we do
Spies like me, spies like you
We're like ripples on the deepest pond
A tiny act that goes on and on
And when you get to the checkpoint
Just keep looking straight ahead
You know the gun is trained right between your shoulder blades
No sudden moves or you could be dead
I leave a message for someone I never see
Someone new, a spy like me
I'm losing heart, still I make the drop
'Til they tell me that it's safe to stop
Keep turning up like a bad penny
Nothing special I'm just one of many
A life governed by secrets and fear
I could make it out or I could disappear
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6. |
Desire Lines
03:28
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Desire Lines - A.J. Jenkins [2021]
We walk these desire lines
the dirt underneath our feet
the distance between two places
the track leading from the street
The City is waiting, watching
as these paths are born unplanned
and sometimes it tries to stop us
but sometimes it understands
And if we walk them oh so often
we will make the shortest way
Home
Sometimes I go out exploring
where nobody else will go
and sometimes it ends in heartache
but oh how I love it so
I’m making up my own path
a goat track, a bootleg trail
a scar or an artery
but will it succeed or fail
Sending tendrils through tall grasses
powerlines and overpasses
Cutting corners, never minding
We’re wayfaring, we’re wayfinding
If you’ve spied me, walk beside me
and I’ll show you the shortest way
Home
The heart has desire lines
the path that my fingers trace
The secrets that only we share
the way that I know your face
And you were not on any map, but
you’ve become my shortest way
Home
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LittleFox Vancouver, British Columbia
LittleFox is a Vancouver-based band featuring the music of singer/multi-instrumentalist Alison Jenkins. Her first EP,
Desire Lines, was released in 2022 and her second EP, Ghost In This House, is coming May 2023.
Ranging from folk to bluegrass to blues, her original songs are about love, longing, and finding your way in strange times.
... more
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