Get all 6 Mark Davis and the Inklings releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Travel Where You Need To, Room By Room, immaculate, you came screaming, because there's nothing outside, and From Back Of Beyond (In Tribute to Duane Jarvis).
1. |
back of beyond
03:57
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from back of beyond i'm shaken/i sit up in my bed/i like to sleep that's how I keep/things simple in my head/the clock screams and the phone yells out/the kettle too and my toast is black/they bother me why can't they see i got problems all my own?/from back of beyond a blast at my back pushes me down the street/it's everywhere it doesn't care it's got its hands on me/hey red red robin bop bop bobbin'/what's he on about?/his knotty tree rains leaves on me and always steals the sun/oh what kind of man do they think i am?/for them i'm unconcerned/they bug me they bleed me but most of all they bore me/i'll tell them all to up and go/from back of beyond the doorbell rings and i freeze in hesitation/it finally did occur to me that someone might be there/from back of beyond
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2. |
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your smile is a blessing/your laugh is a circus/your face is too perfect I've always been too scared to kiss it/yes the thought makes me shudder/i stupidly shiver/wanna find me dark room and hide me and my imperfection/i should tell someone paradise is found but i would not know how to say it/if i had all the words in the world i could not define you/if i had all the hate in the world i could not despise you/yes your way is a mystery/your reach is unending/however i try to forget you always remind me/'cause you're a land with no border/a port with no customs/and wherever i go there is always a flight to your city/if i had my way i'd wear me a mask and love you from a close distance/but if i had all the masks in the world i could not defy you/and if i had all the hate in the world i could not despise you/i know that heaven is priceless/but it won't cost me nothing/your love it is free but that don't mean that i want to take it/'cause when i asked for instructions/i hated your answer/to take off my comfortable shoes and walk like i was meant to/your path is hell/it hurts my feet/but at last i've got a direction/and though it means all the pain in the world i cannot decline you/'cause if i had all the hate in the world i could not despise you
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please let me try again try to tell you my story/but how can i explain?/it came one summer's day with the sounding of thunder/though i saw no flash or rain/without premeditation without moving a step/i felt my soul and body slip into the world next door/i wish you could have been there/how can i explain?/i screwed my head on straight took a long look around me/i said 'i know not what i see'/the air was quiet and still yet it moved within me/then i knew wonder again/oh colors more colorful your eyes have never seen/our daydreams have never come close/ah what a shame/a shame/i wish you could have been there/how can i explain?/like lover's skin laid bare i was stripped of my memory/and knew my own true weight/my flesh turned into clay i was softened caressed and molded into my own true shape/oh art of this kind your eyes have never seen/our fingers have never come close/ah what a shame/a shame/i wish you could have been there/how can i explain/oh music so sweet your head has never dreamed/i promise you we've never come close/and the reason that i've come back is only to tell you that there's room inside the world next door/and though your song still speaks right down to my soul/it's no more than a beautiful shadow of the song from which it came/it came yeah/it came/i wish you could have been there/for how can i explain?/how can i explain?
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4. |
is that right?
05:42
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that was no ordinary cry that you gave/i hurt you well though i shouldn't have had to/it seems the truth is sharper than a blade or brick-laid face/to cut and find you i guess it has to be/is that right that every criminal knows the rotten thing he's done?/is it time to let the judgement come to teach us right from wrong?/is that right that i'm gonna fall when it's you that needs to stand so tall?/is that right that i'm gonna pray when you that's slipped so far away?/is that right?/there is no way that you can stop yourself/within her gaze you see that private little altar built to you/how could i not raise a finger raise a fuss raise your conscience?/it's not my sickness but it kills me just the same/is that right that i just need to lear what can and cannot change?/is it time to let the judgment come?/we'll see if my opinion remains/is that right that i'm gonna fall when it's you that needs to stand so tall?/is that right that i'm gonna pray when you that's slipped so far away?/is that right it's not my game i'm out of place i got no right to play?/it's your turn and yours to win and yours to twist?/that may be true but is that right?/well every man knows only what he knows and nothing more/and all i know is all the shame i feel for you/if it's my mistake can you please please tell me why there is no lightning/there is no big hand from the sky to slap me down?//is that right that every criminal knows the rotten thing he's done?/is it time to let the judgement come to teach us right from wrong?/'cause i am gonna ask my maker just once//is that right that i'm gonna fall when it's you that needs to stand so tall?/is that right that i'm gonna pray when you that's slipped so far away?/is that right?
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5. |
i want you
04:11
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i watch the sky get dark now/the moon won't light this place/the shadows feel at home now/the darkness is their grace/though midnight holds the devil's hand/his is not the presence i feel/i want you/i want you/you are not a waterfall/you are not the sea/but somehow i feel waves and rapids crashing over me/though drowning is the devil's friend/when he pulls me down you raise me again/i want you/i want you/i want you like a north wind blowing behind me/and i want you like a north star shining above/like a high road ahead of me/and when i want to drive that road but there's no solid ground beneath my wheels/i want you/i want you/i want you
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6. |
i'm not strong
03:25
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i'm not strong and i miss you/the familiar lines on your face/it's not right but i trust that you/won't leave me long in this place/if you tell me it's a worthy thing for which my heart must ache/that's a promise that you will not break/it's not right that i miss you/i always knew you couldn't stay in one place/it's not love if i insist that you keep your lips stuck to my face/if it's true that it's the darkest road that lovers have to take/then that's a journey that we're going to make/and so i miss you/i'm not strong/and every time you tell me that you have to take your body from me again/i fumble for a chance to keep it with me again/'cause i can't help but feel that I'll lose you again/but since i never have lost you i guess this is just my own way of finding again and again and again i'm not strong/it's not right that i miss you/but so much of love goes over my head/i'm not strong no i'm not like you/i'm not strong enough to live amongst the dead/but your freedom is a precious thing i don't want to take/and that's a promise that i will not break/i'm not strong and i miss you
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7. |
dream fall true
03:59
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i wanna be your lover with the right love/i wanna be your lover with the right face/but you've been following the wrong line/and you're headed to the wrong place/i don't know what you feel/but i'll be around for a while if you wanna make your dream fall true/you say you're dreaming of a road home/but you keep a distance that no one can take/you walk for days until the days break/and the pieces on the ground they make your soul ache/i don't know what you feel when the night gets long and the dark gets real/i can't tell you what to do/but i'll be around for a while if you wanna make your dream fall true/maybe you need to get your tears flowing/maybe you need to get your head some sense/maybe you need to hear that wind blow/asking you to jump just one last fence/but you were looking for an answer/you were listening at my door/you were trying to find a place to rest your aching feet/i wanna be your lover with the right love/i wanna take you in my arms off this aching street/i don't know what you feel when the night gets long and the dark gets real/i can't tell you what to do/but i'll be around for a while if you wanna make your dream fall true
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8. |
as big as love
04:38
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i'm thinking about the big world / its shape leaves a shadow on my brain / a big shadow of a place i cannot understand / with its promises of pleasure and pain / shall i run shall i move shall i watch it all from here ? / shall i laugh at myself for crying ? / or shall i listen to the lips a-whispering in my ear / ' no shadow is as big as love' ? / a man showed me a picture in his wallet / he said 'this is my girl far away' / he said ' sometimes it's hard living this big life / but it's good to know she's with me anyway' / now do i blush do i turn do i show the way i feel ? / do i laugh and say 'you must be lying' ?/ or do i listen to the lips a-whispering in my ear / 'no distance is as big as love' ?/ not as big as this / a child threw a smile in my direction / it conjured up a picture in my brain / of a flame that never dies / a fire that only burns the big prison doors that jail my innocence / shall i knock shall i dig shall i start a fire in here ? / shall i laugh at myself for trying ? / or shall i listen to the lips a-whispering in my ear / 'no prison is as big as love' ?/ no doubt no pain no shadow on my brain / no distance is as big as love / not as big as this
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9. |
maundy thursday
04:11
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your little war is holy and red is all i see/your little game is vicious/don't you just love your enemy?/your news is like a bombshell made of words and held in hand/but you will never start a revolution 'til you understand/maundy thursday/when he washed our feet/maundy thursday/i know you know his name but do you know it well?/out of a hundred colors how many names there could you tell?/you know a story's ending but forget how it was told/you make a marathon a race of inches/you sacrifice the whole/maundy thursday/when he washed our feet/maundy thursday/if you remember one thing don't keep it high over me/'cause when your love is out of reach it's good as none/and as you judge me now you judge yourself/and heaven leaves us both in hell/if you remember one thing/maundy thursday/if you remember one thing/maundy thursday/what's it to be a king? what's it to be divine?/would you say my soul is lost if i said a throne is mine?/a king was born in a filthy cave no trumpets brought him in/he owned no crown of jewels no lofty palace/yet he was a friend/maundy thursday/when he washed our feet/maundy thursday/not to keep it high/not to keep it high
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10. |
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there is something wrong/where the hell are you?/i wanna give you my all/don't you want me to?/but first we gotta make ends meet/that's yours and mine/if you fly over a pit of depression/it just might be mine/when ya gonna come on down?/i can only look up for so long/now i'm under the ground/and i can't see a i can't see a/must i pull you in for you to pull me out?/if you don't like these funny little devils/must i cast them out?/oh must i lose my goods for good to come my way?/is the answer to this riddle so ridiculously simple?/is my suffering all in vain?/when ya gonna come on down?/i can only look up for so long/now i'm under the ground/and i can't see a i can't see a thing/i know you're around 'cause i hear about you everywhere/when ya gonna come on down/and rid this silly face here of its frown?/now i was indeed in a pitiful plight/stuck in a room with only me inside/at night in my dreams i'd walk the wide open country/but the day took them away and i would cry/so i'd spend each day in disconsolation waiting only for the beauty of my dreams/until one day i was startled by a woman's voice singing/i got up and put my ear against the door/she said 'from the narrow desert oh man of pride/come into the house so high and wide'/hardly knowing what i did i opened the door/why had i never done this before?!/when ya gonna come on down?/i can only look up for so long/now i'm under the ground/and i can't see a i can't see a thing/i know you're around 'cause i hear about you everywhere/when ya gonna come on down/and rid this silly face here of its frown?
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11. |
dove in the snow
03:59
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slept in a cold dark room last night/had a full dose of dreams until the light/you were talking to me telling me we had plenty/i was feeling like we didn't have any/it's not a greeting card sentiment that i know/love slips away like a dove in the snow/walking through the little town where we met/past the tavern where my uncle jack used to bet/past the ships and the shivering pilot boats/standing there shaking wish i'd brought my coat/it's not a greeting card sentiment that i know/it's not a greeting card sentiment that i know/love slips away like a dove in the snow/like a dove in the snow/how it got here i just don't know/while i watch my whole life fade to white/talking to the lady who bought dominic's store/she tells me when i ask she don't see you no more/i fake a smile when i'm asked how i'm doing/how could i tell her my life's in a ruin?/it's not a greeting card sentiment that i know/it's not a greeting card sentiment that i know/it's not a greeting card sentiment that i know/love slips away like a dove in the snow
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Mark Davis and the Inklings Skanderborg, Denmark
"Getting at large truths with songs full of human-scale detail and unsentamentalized beauty.”
-Los Angeles
Times
“Davis is truly a master of his craft… able to lift spirits even while supporting the weight of the world.”
- Orange County Register
towakeyou.com/mark-davis-and-the-inklings
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Beauty In The Smallest Things
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