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Soundkeeper Recordings

Jason Vitelli: Confluence

American Reflection

I pick up a small token and now can remember
We made it rain whenever we wanted it to
Those mystic clouds ran in sheets of whitest heaven
We thought they washed away the blood from bruise

But empty houses instead lie in pledges of allegiance
With pitted roofs sinking deeper every year
The faded newsstand still sits near our old cement stoop
Front of Sammy’s Pool, full of the same old fools

We’ve risen on but are drifting aground
Falling in the shoes they thought that we could fill
But I look inside, see those tossed candy wrappers and rhymes
And the burnt fuse that tore us apart in two

A clearing shows itself as the western front peals on through
Throwing silver moon upon all those dusty old bar stools
The forgotten parlor briefly becomes a disco lit haven
But tall, tangled weeds soon entomb that view

I run that track all the way back from the Pine Hollows
I fly past all the fights, all the games, all the laughs we could have ever made
And I push myself so hard that I fall to my knees
Start coughing up years of reality
Knowing who had lit up that fuse

We’ve risen on but are drifting aground
Falling in the shoes they thought that we could fill
But I look inside, see those tossed candy wrappers and rhymes
And the burnt fuse that tore us apart in two

I sit down on the curb and turn halfway around
See your American reflection dancing on the ground
Scorning and taunting, so bereft of hope
Your shadow's falling over miles of stone

But we had lost each other long ago
While riding the back trails that borne our former suburban home
Never to be seen again
So shall I extinguish your spectral grin?

We’ve risen on but are drifting aground
Falling in the shoes they thought that we could fill
But I look inside, see those tossed candy wrappers and rhymes
And the burnt fuse that tore us apart in two


Words and music by Jason Vitelli
©2011 Maquiladora Music, ASCAP
Jason Vitelli: vocal, piano

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