Music and lyrics by Damon Waitkus

Lyrics

Night slams shut on Concord,
the poet’s come undone.
He hasn’t written anything
since burying his son.
Easter waters fell on April
but August brought a drought
and a famished mind is screaming
“time to get the shovel out.”
Come a need to know – take it down below.

Jesus broadcasts sermons
from a tower made of wood
but we can’t hear him when we dig for ore,
the reception’s not so good,
and if you happen down a certain shaft,
you may come upon a shrine.
You will see and hear and do things
but it doesn’t leave the mine.
It’s a whole other show going on down below.

The prison guards at Stanford
to their arbitrary shame
took one tiny dram of power
and forgot it was a game.
Like those sweating stiffs of Milgram’s
dumped their burden on the king,
it takes so little to renege
on absolutely everything.
It takes a rock to say no and leave it down below.

I’d leave today for Mecca
if I thought I could complete the trip
but the surface of the human landscape
is like a moebius strip.
God was hungry when he got here.
He will be hungry when he leaves.
That gaping hole will swallow anything
a fever brain conceives.
Don’t know where else you’re going to go except down below.

Personnel

DW – vocals, hammer dulcimer
EP – baritone violin
KM – vocals
JH – bass
JG – drums
Karl Evangelista – electric guitar