Folly
by PREE
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital AlbumPree's 'Folly' on CD
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1. |
Songs of Promise
03:49
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I’ve songs of promise for your tongue and ropes
and ladders to the sun and heaven knows
they’ll come undone
One day we’ll drop our mourning clothes and build
our fortunes on the snow and fashion
statues made of gold
It doesn’t follow, the news I heard
You kept them staring anywhere but down
Am I the only thing that
calls you, calls you?
You’ve got’em swinging from every word
you’ve thrown upon a ladder, high and proud
Is that the only thing that calls you, calls you, calls you, calls
you, calls you, calls you, calls you, calls you?
We plot our courses from a grave and pick
the flowers where we lay and heaven
knows they’re out of place
We’re only left to stop and stare
at faces old and faces new
It must be something in the air
that makes them look the way they do
We'll watch them limp into a run
Let's you and i have all the fun
We'll drive them out before we're done, we're done, we're done, we're
done, we're done, we're done, we're done, we're done
Oh, I've seen their shape before
It's fitting that they take a quiet form
I'm not the only thing that calls you, calls you
And nothing draws the blood-- no, draws the blood
so like a half-closed door,
and it's the only thing that calls you, calls you, calls you, calls
you, calls you, calls you, calls you, calls you
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2. |
Fortune
04:59
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You've made it clear, your intentions
nearly breaking every tooth
that's rattled long in a grin that's gone
and fallen out of use
Short of making an arrow-straight escape
below a cough
I couldn't say that you've found yourself a gait
for walking off
There's a reason to stay in the weeds
and as long as you're laughing
and seeking them out
You can come and go as you please
and know that you're only
as tall as you sound
Put your shovels down now and tell me what you're worth
by beating blue
every inch of too-forgiving earth
for giving through
He's happy being a nickel to your purse
and living to, and living to
see the day that you count yourself for worse
and send him deep
into the water
They never keep, the faces that you seek
and you can hardly calm them or tease a smile
out of what will never hold a crease
(though it couldn't hurt to palm them
the smallest while)
I could try and round up the darlings
that we sent to play
but they're only ours when
they're far away
It's a lying tongue that lifts you high
It's only as strong as you are light
and eager to buy
what's yours to take
(I heard foolish girls
grow shorter
by the
day)
There's a saying that sounds in the deep
You know, you know
but you want to be told
what was playing that drew you to sleep
but nothing to speak of has pulled on your lobes,
and nothing to speak of has left you alone
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3. |
Lemon Tree
03:26
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The pastor stood at odds with every
sermon read, and once he learned
to speak in knots, he never had
to wear his share of scarlet- what a shame
they caught a word he said
You shouldn't live to second-guess
but certain thoughts, they think they ought
to roam the sheets before you dress
and drag you down the stairway, raring
open-mouthed to down the morning spread
I’ll pile their plates as high as towers
if they’ll just go back to bed
I took you for a sailing boat,
a steady-calm, parading float
I sent with laughing waves until I saw
what I was made of-- shabby coat
to throw upon a lake of mud and thinning ice
a hollow tone, an echo dry that wouldn’t fall
from any body but a stone
Now I’m giving only what I’ve found
I hear you’re living deep inside the ground
A walking sore to clean and dress,
a mess to sweep below the feet
He’s sure to take a pound of flesh
if he would only show some teeth
and meet you where you came to grow
a lemon tree and hoped to live it down
A rope’s an awful thing to give
to someone happy on the ground
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4. |
Old Form
03:32
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You know I’m almost sure I saw them creep up through the floor
with their hands around a waist that had graced my doors
but it was you and me and nothing more
A better fare for the plate and to sate your bones
Sure to share, sure to share but you can make it known
they’ve all but swallowed everything they own
You’re here to claim a parting gift
a waste to leave with what you started with
There’s little that a weight will shift
in anything your arms can lift
Cut your teeth and you’re a flag born waving
Dare to speak, but I’m a breath worth saving
If there’s a plan, then it's lost on me
and they took a hand that they meant to keep
What a pair and proud they’ll be,
to hold riches far as eyes, eyes can see
Riches far as eyes can see
Gave the gods quite a scare, and now they’ll spare no stone
‘til they cast off the glare from your waking throne
and leave a shadow fallen where it shone
An old friend came to call, and now we bear his grin
And it’s never going to fall-- you see, he’s always been
so patient waiting for the lights to dim
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5. |
Fresh Paint
03:26
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No need to raise a hand. I’ll sit
as long as I can stand
A pose is all I need to plan-- a pose
is all I need
If less is more, then pour to break. I’ll wait
to sleep and sleep to wake
A move is all you need to make-- a move
is all you need
And it can’t hurt, swallowing just a little pride
No wishes well your eyes--
they are bone dry
You know I’d never spare a seed to grow
knowing what a weed would start to show
I never leave well enough alone
Fresh paint to brace a smile-- a smile
is hardly worth your while. It's simply not
a welcome child-- it's simply not (oh well)
Keep a grin to pin on whom you’d like
(Oh, splendor red as sin
and wedding-white)
Sorry only comes when folly goes
and makes a habit out of
leaving on the light
Once more, to pry the mouth. A glass is all
you ask about
I’ve half a mind to stain the walls
and half a tongue to drink it down
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6. |
Made Of Straw
03:22
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You spoke it plain and speak it still
how once they moved across the sill
and left it stripped and fit to crack,
but now they’ve fallen further back
You count yourself a fragile hem
to hang until you're taken in
or sewn into a feathered throw,
forever sleeping, sheet to chin
You can swallow all you need to keep around
They will follow when the sun goes down
You were hollow when they made their rounds and, oh
you were hollow when the sun went down
you were hollow when the sun went down
Set out to drown the weeks, but now
they’re bound to drag their feet, face down
and fast asleep,
forgotten, how
they came to meet
From a curtain made of straw
and twine that cut the frosted air,
I know exactly what I saw--
I saw what simply wasn’t there
No name for what you want
You kept it safe, it kept too long,
tripped a vein and stepped upon
a worry I had left for gone
You can swallow all you need to keep around
They will follow when the sun goes down
You were hollow when they made their rounds, and oh,
you were hollow when the sun went down
you were hollow when the sun went down
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7. |
No Fable
02:18
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Did you labor to pay for the lace
you wore?
One day, they will stop and stare no more
So careful, a guard for a gaping door
Where no fable will scrape its way to shore
Do you know what they’ll say
when we’re older--
when it’s colder and harder
to prove?
No lover will ever come over
to cradle your shoulder
You and me both, we know the truth
You’re allowed to say
what’s on your mind
Clever hands, they're not
the feral kind,
meant to run their courses
in the yard-- they will never learn
to play inside
God forbid it has an end, or worse--
a rocky, rough descent
faster than the getting in, and less
forgiving
going
down
familiar paths that you forgot
(Your legs were shorter
than you thought)
You know what they’ll say
when we’re older--
when it’s colder and harder
to prove?
No lover will ever come over
to cradle your shoulder
You and me both, we know the truth
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8. |
Shelf Life
04:04
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Well, as he slept upon her lap
she took it as a sign her life
was less a dream and more a nap
that only promised longer nights
and muffled steps
She fumbled for the words
to pray the banister to give
It only gave us quite a stir--
have you forgotten where you live?
Letters on the way won’t send her
(A face, up and down,
is a lot to remember)
She once set a place in the center
(It tempted the ground
to collect what it lent her)
And soon you’ll see that time is not
a willing hand to seek to wed
You hear they’ve set the dowry high
She’s laughing at you from the bed
you climbed only to find yourself alone
She paces round,
you tell her, "Dear
I took a lover, not a guard"
(but she is not
allowed to hear)
One night, I dreamt I heard you say
that love is not an end to meet
(too quick to catch a roaming eye,
too slow to set it down to sleep)
And now, you swore you’d never call his name
but still, he’s waiting on the stairs!
A suitor’s welcome, all the same--
you know it better than you share
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9. |
Te Koop / A Vendre
02:23
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I’ve dropped a batch of seedlings, see
they’ve set up shop upon the lawn
I’ll rake them into quiet piles and scratch
the earth until they’re gone
Oh darling, it’s not mine to know,
what son will strike a lighter blow
and leave you better off to show
Don’t do me kind, don’t let me call
upon a tongue I drew before
I came to rest a bitter guest--
best show me kindly to the door
I left a mark upon their wall
Don’t ask me where (I can’t recall)
No great escape was ever made
to sit cross-legged in a grave,
to wait for dark, to pray for rain
I’ll spare the print to speak it plain:
we’ve long since lost a plot to claim
The bells are pealing out our names
(to smoke them out the way they came)
It left its mark upon my wall
Don't ask me where (I can't recall)
10. Salt
You should be scared
And what’s a wife that’s never there?
And I am one to share
what I have come to bear
Suffer what they will not speak
and they want naught to do with me
Quite a scene, a chance for ready eyes
to carve a name to prize and send
no breath to sting the air
The wall will sing the lion’s share
It’s not hard-- it’s hard to stop
A stack of smoke that spills a mouth
Found you once, I found you out
A stack of smoke that kills a mouth
Suffer what they will not speak
and they want naught to do with me
Borrowed things are nothing had, and now
it’s made him something sad
to shadow when he’s walking slow
no matter now-- they know, they know
In the summer, long ago
we gave the winter quite a blow
fell asleep, and don’t you know,
we fell asleep and woke to snow
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10. |
Crow
03:39
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Best to post a guard upon the yard you take as yours
I know the art, the drill, the door, and how
to make a welcome sore
It's sure to spill, and still it’s warm
from every hand that draped its form
Laid a claim on a cold frontier
and aren’t you one to scoff and sneer
I’ll be a stone and a path to clear
for every craft that gathers here
Now, you see, I’ve built this garden,
fallen ‘long the way
overgrown and poorly guarded
Darling-- finish what you started
May I suggest a jester clown
to pick you up when ups are down
I’ll be the first to drag him ‘round
(He lives with me across the town)
Charmed their way from out the cold
to run their hands along the fold
and I have seen the shadows roll
across they eyes of every soul
and linger
long enough to pull
a liar from his hiding hole
No shame in scratching where
we've picked them to the bone
Four legs have made an easy chair,
but two will see you home. If you
were sorry when we made them share
what wouldn't go around,
it didn't show, though you were always
loathe to give it sound
And now you see, I’ve built this garden,
fallen ‘long the way
overgrown and poorly guarded
Darling, finish what you started
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11. |
Salt
04:13
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Salt
You should be scared
And what’s a wife that’s never there?
And I am one to share
what I have come to bear
Suffer what they will not speak
and they want naught to do with me
Quite a scene, a chance for ready eyes
to carve a name to prize and send
no breath to sting the air
The wall will sing the lion’s share
It’s not hard-- it’s hard to stop
A stack of smoke that spills a mouth
Found you once, I found you out
A stack of smoke that kills a mouth
Suffer what they will not speak
and they want naught to do with me
Borrowed things are nothing had, and now
it’s made him something sad
to shadow when he’s walking slow
no matter now-- they know, they know
In the summer, long ago
we gave the winter quite a blow
fell asleep, and don’t you know,
we fell asleep and woke to snow
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12. |
Nocchio
04:57
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Nocchio
We will see, if they are
who they say they are
Aim, aim to please, if they are
who they say they are
Hands meet the knees, if you can’t
speak to save your heart
from believing we’ve labored to keep it so
dark and still, unassuming,
a sleight of the eyes
laying into a knot in a pine
growing colder the moment
I pulled it aside,
well arranged in a fold they’ll never find
It rang as clear as day, but they'll never see the house in the light
Sure as not they came, happy craning for the house in the light
What you hold, I'm afraid
it will tether you down
don’t you know, we can swim
where the others have drowned?
Better spoken what struggles to not
make a sound
are you broken in places
you’ve yet to have found?
Well, she put forth a scream and a like-minded child
as he took to the corners and kept
busy cracking his lips in the shape of a smile,
quiet watching whenever they slept
It rang as clear as day, but they'll never see the house in the light
Sure as not they came, happy craning for the house in the light
Come to knots, and I’ve caught
every word they’ve been saying
Clever pots, they let on
that our gardens were failing
and strung from the boards
where no welcome is waiting
Only worth what I’ve wrought, and it’s all
for the taking
And I’ve searched for a song that you can’t
sing alone, steady-traveling moth (for a flame),
meant to carry the weight of our faltering bones
Heaven knows if we’d greet it, if it came.
It’s harder still to place
anything that’s only seen in the passing,
and you’ll never taste sweet
letters for a chain, hanging quiet
deaf and dumb to the asking,
a name for a face
I used to call it mine
but as of late,
it’s up and gone too many times,
gone too many times
strangled on a vine, fit for leaving bare
but they’ll never mind,
they'll never mind
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about
Folly was written and recorded over the course of several heat waves and snow storms by May and her cohorts in a rotating cast of bedrooms, basements, and attics across the District, bearing witness to two foreclosures, a bit of squatting, a larger bit of eviction, and a subsequent life shuffle that would rival that of a wind-addled gypsy moth. The patchwork, guerilla style of recording which grew out of necessity ultimately served to instill a sense of tension throughout the record, leaving one hanging on despite the imminence of something so delicate falling apart.
credits
released October 18, 2011
may tabol, vanessa degrassi, ben usie, christopher seiter dewitt, eethn brasseaux, david a. klinger
may tabol, vanessa degrassi, ben usie, christopher seiter dewitt, eethn brasseaux, david a. klinger
license
all rights reserved
tags
about
PREE Atlanta, Georgia
photos: garrett coyte
HMU: jamie kimbrough
discography
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Aug 2022 -
Apr 2019 -
Nov 2016 -
Dec 2015 -
May 2015 -
Mar 2015 -
Oct 2011 -
May 2009