Music and lyrics by Damon Waitkus

Lyrics

I want more than I can rightly take.
The form of hunger is awful hard to break.
It’s hypnotizing,
watching the almond trees go by.

It’s a long, long valley.
I drove through it all day
and passed my likeness
going back the other way.
All my ambitions,
like a carapace, cracked and fell away.

I’m leaving California.
I never meant to get so drunk—
I meant to pass the cup.
And with her sails so full of wind,
I thought for sure I’d live to see
a passage open up.

Almond leaves dusty to the touch.
Sunlight reigns here—
water, not so much.
Pine beetle blight:
copper upon the Western slope,
aching for fire.
Rifles and gas stations,
In-N-Out and Nation’s—
the future’s never been a blanker wall,
and I miss my people, even in depravity.
They’re not saints but they have a certain gravity.
All of this craving and what is it for?
Switch on some tunes, I ain’t talking no more.

I’m leaving California.
I never meant to get so drunk—
I meant to pass the cup.
And with her sails so full of wind,
I thought for sure I’d live to see
a passage open up.

Personnel

Damon Waitkus – lead and backing vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, piano, percussion, electric taishogoto
Emily Packard – violin
Jason Hoopes – bass
Jordan Glenn – drums
Thea Kelley – backing vocals
Myles Boisen – pedal steel