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BR IGH T E Y E SThe Peoples Key
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1. Firewall
2. Shell Games3. Jejune Stars
4. Approximate Sunlight
5. Haile Selassie
6. A Machine Spiritual (In the Peoples Key)
7. Triple Spiral
8. Beginners Mind
9. Ladder Song10. One for You, One for Me
11. Singularity (bonus track)
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Firewall
I do my best to sleep through the caterwaulThe classicists, the posturing avant-gardeI bought a grey macaw named him Jules VerneHell probably outlive me hes a bright birdKeeps me company I teach him new words
I saw a hologram at the theme parkShe looked as real as me through the white fogThen she melted down to her anklesTurned into a million-watt candleIf I knew where she went I would follow
Walking through the land of tomorrowMartian trinkets, plastic Apollos
In the sunshine try to act normalMy veins are full of at cherry-colaSlept on a bench by the rollercoaster
Dreamt I was riding on a motorbikeLion of Judah painted on the side
Im doing ne, Im back in the PalisadesLifes a wash, a pastoral school playChina shops and cold ivory towers
I and I make toasts to the CaesarsForcing down the dregs of Decembers
Madeline she spins in a slow bangAll through the house the strong smell of burnt sageLets make it clean and run out the spiritsI know a diving bell when I hear itWere going down now under the surface
Light to dark can shift in an instant
Feeling close but keeping my distanceOn all fours shes just so insistentFills my mind with jump ropes and slit wristsBust through the Firewall into heaven
Then Im standing in that blinding lightCrooked crosses falling from the sky
Seen yeah seen by I and I
Shell Games
Took the reworks and the vanityThe circuit board and the city streetsShooting star, swaying palm treeLaid them at the Arbiters feet
If I could change my mind, change the paradigmPrepare myself for another lifeForgive myself for the many timesI was cruel to something helpless and weak
Here it comes that heavy loveIm never gonna move it aloneHere it comes that heavy love
Tag it on a tenement wallHere it comes that heavy loveSomeones got to share in the loadHere it comes that heavy loveIm never gonna move it alone
I was dressed in white, touched by something pureDeath-obsessed like a teenagerSold my tortured youth, piss and vinegarIm still angry with no reason to be
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At the Architect who imagined thisFor the Everyman, blessed SisyphusSlipping steadily into madnessNow thats the only place to be free
Here it comes that heavy loveYoure never gonna move it alone
Here it comes that heavy loveTattooed on a criminals armHere it comes that heavy loveSomeones got to share in the loadHere it comes that heavy loveYoure never gonna move it alone
No I dont want to playIts a shell gameIts a shell game
Distorted sounds on oscilloscopesDistorted facts I could never copeMy private life is an inside jokeNo one will explain it to me
Well be everything that well ever needEveryone on the count of threeEveryone on the count of three
All together now
Here it comes that heavy loveWere never gonna move it aloneHere it comes that heavy lovePlaying as the cylinder rollsHere it comes that heavy loveI only want to share in the loadHere it comes that heavy loveIm never gonna move it alone
Jejune Stars
Every new day is a gift; its a song of redemptionAny expression of love is a way to returnTo that place that I think of so often but now never mentionThe one the voice in the back of my head says that I dont deserve
Come re, come water, come karma, were all in transitionThe Wheel of Becoming erases the physical mindTill all that remains is a staircase of misinformationAnd the code we inherit, the basis, the essence of life
So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radarHow did it get so dark in the day?Its just so bizarre, is it true what were made of?Why do I hide from the rain?
Inside some cloudy nostalgia where there are no featuresWe look at ourselves through a porthole, the passage of timeSee that sunny day that we snuck down, hid under the bleachersKissed as the band marched, everything fell into lineSo I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radarHow did I get so lost? Im amazedIts just so bizarre all the things Im afraid ofWhy do I hide from the rain?
Sure I had my doubtsBut I know it nowWe are jejune stars
So it starts againAt our childhoods endIll die young at heart
So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar
How did it get so dark in the day?
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Its just so bizarre if it true what were made ofWhy do I hide from the rain?
Approximate Sunlight
I used to dream of time machines
Now its been said were post-everythingAs a child imaginingNeck ties and Coast linesI seen the show man, what a sightDrenched us in approximated sunlightThe crowd was small and mostly blindBut kind, youre too kind
Now you are how you were when you were real
Now you are how you were when you were real
There you go again on that circular tripLick the solar plexus of some L.A. shamanIm out of breath Id better sitBeen living, hard living
All I do is follow you around
I wouldnt waste another thought
On what is fair and what is notThe quinceaera dress she boughtWas unstitched with bulletsAll the guests in the garden screamedWomen and tires squealingSuch opulence, such miseryUnwinding, unwinding
All I do is follow you around
All I do is follow you around
Now you are how you were when you were real
Haile Selassie
Pilgrim across the waterWe are the same brother
Hitchhiking back to ZionHold in our tears as we ip the albumWhat if this leads to ruin?You got a soul, use itAll this despair forgivenRolling away on a Wheel of SevensShe sings like the Queen of ShebaVoice through a blown speakerOne drop and bubbling Leslie
Calling me home like Haile Selassie
Pilgrim beside the reIts been a long winterWe got a lot in commonCover our heads as they split the atomAll of our days are numberedIve taken some comfortIn knowing the wave has crestedKnowing I dont have to be an exception
Children they ll the bleachersOne is the next CaesarKeep all their minds collectedUntil he comes, until he comes
Hide the Omega Day in plain sightToo good to be true
Ive seen stranger things
Ive seen that tree of smoke
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Ive seen stranger things happen before
Pilgrim up on the mountainBarefoot and still climbingFilling the Book of HoursDay after day in the lth and squalorWe are the chosen people
Safe from the next evilOne Love, magnetic memoryReel after reel spinning within me
I had the wildest dream last nightI was swimming with youIn that cenote the heavens made with black reJust woke up too soon
Ive seen stranger things
Ive seen those daytime ghostsIve seen stranger things happen before
Ive seen stranger thingsIve seen that tree of smokeIve seen stranger things happen before
A Machine Spiritual (In the Peoples Key)
The Peoples Key ringing through arena seatsThe black machine played it all from memoryA fever dream, well, Ill come back eventuallyTo wade into the water, another and another we go
Form some kind of codeThe bodies oatAnd form some kind of code
The bodies oat
Someone is out to know
Papa Hobo dont hide your eyesMother Mountain dont kill your unborn childHis day is comingHis day is coming
A question burns beneath the centuries of dirtThat voice youve heard, well, every head is a different worldWhere mine is concerned, I boarded up the windowsA catatonic plateau, a backwards, black-faced minstrel show
So just let me goThe prisoner moansOh just let me goThe prisoner moansNo one has to know
Eva Braun went to dye her hairLittle Hitler sat in his giants chairAnd dreamed of nowhereAnd dreamed and dreamed and dreamed
The Peoples Key ringing lling everythingThe theme repeats, thinner than the galaxyImpart to me your wisdom and eventually
Ill oat into the ether, another from another we grow
Form some kind of codeOf esh and boneWe form some kind of codeOf esh and boneNo, you are not alone
History bows and it steps asideIn the jungle there are columns of purple light
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We are starting overWe are startingWe are starting
Triple Spiral
I loved a Triple Spiral, my maiden-mother-croneI folded my devotion into an origami roseStood at her Tiffany window, she said to look belowCould I see the town was burning?Could I see the broken prison?Could I see that it was time for me to go?
They looted the museum and took all that they could holdA motorcade of atbed trucks made off with quite a haul
Thats when I heard someone shout,In with the new! Out with the old!A dusty box of lettersA rusting suit of armorA casket made of fourteen karat gold
Thats the problemNo sense of timeShe is shaped just like an hourglass there laying on her side
I loved you Triple Spiralfather, son and ghostBut you left me in my darkest hour when I needed you,when I needed youNow that the dream is over I want it to be knownThat I never saw it comingThrough my little human prismHow sad it is to know Im in control
Thats the problem
An empty sky
I ll it up with everything that is missing from my lifeWhere did you come from?You fated signSpinning through the centuries expanding all the time
Three worlds at once that blend togetherThree times I cried for us but I felt better then
I loved you Triple Spiral, my maiden-mother-croneYou found me in this fallow state, my mind was off and stowedI heard your strange commotion and wished I could go homeTo live a little longerA full Indian summerLong enough to carve you into stone
Beginners MindHold on tight Beginners MindThe wheel is spinning tooFast to make your moveThe worst must be assumedOh how they will tryTo pull and to pryAway what you know nowBeat and beat it out
Leave a drum that makes no sound
A snuff lm on a JumboTron for all the world to see
A cocktail napkin epitaphA psychobabble telegramMessage written in the sandThe tide rolls in
Swear youll do the opposite
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Of all those tangled hypocritesWho say that the experiment has failedDont go thereYoure getting nowhereYoure getting nowhere
Stay awhile my Inner Child
Id like to learn your trickTo know what makes you tickTo nurse you when youre sickOh how youve grown so cynicalHard lines carved in your faceThe sunshine is so clichJust like love and pain
You tried your best on the Rorschach testbut there is just nothing to see
Heard terabytes of perfect pitchSome universal eleganceStack the seventh and the fthAlong the grid
Swear youll be the oppositeOf all those stilted hypocritesYou know what made you infamous to them, dont you?
You keep starting overYou keep starting overYou keep starting overYou keep starting over
Hold on tight Beginners MindThe current is far too strongIt will carry you alongTill youre just like everyoneStay awhile my Inner Child
Id like to learn your trickTo know what makes you tickTo nurse you when youre sick
Ladder Song
No one knows where the ladder goesYoure gonna lose what you love the mostYoure not alone in anythingYoure not unique in dying
I feel estranged every now and thenFall asleep reading science ctionI want to y in your silver shipLet Jesus hang and Buddha sit
Its on nowThe days are long nowThe ups and the sundownsAnd a twisting mind
If I got to go rstIll do it on my termsIm tired of traitorsAlways changing sides
They were friends of mine
Dont hang around once the promise breaksOr youll be there when the next ones madeKiss the feet of a charlatanSome imagined freedom
All the rest is predictableYou can say youre the rst to knowBought a mantra to concentrate
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Car alarm or hissing snake
I know nowHow its gonna turn outYouve got to calm downOr Ill lose my place
Got to get to the centerGot to get to the concertRun off with a dancerGonna celebrate
Well welcome the New AgeCovered in warrior paintLights from the jungle to the skySee now a star is bornLooks just like a blood orange
Dont it just make you want to cry?Precious friend of mine
Will I know when its nally done?This whole life is a hallucinationYoure not alone in anythingYoure not alone in trying to be
One for You, One for MeOne for the righteousOne for the ruling classOne for the tyrantOne for the slaughtered lambOne for the struggleOne for the lasting peaceOne for you and One for me
One for the FhrerOne for his child brideOne for the weddingOne for the suicideOne for the bunkerOne for the broadcast boothOne for me, now One for you
How did we get so far away from us?How did we get so far away?
One for the peopleOne for the parliamentOne for the wearyOne for the malcontentOne for the masterOne for the protge
One for you and One for me
One for the breadlinesOne for the billionairesOne for the for the missingOne for the barely thereOne for the certainOne for the real confusedOne for me, okay, now One for you
Now that weve come so far away from usNow that weve come too far to sayYou and Me, You and MeThat is an awful lieYou and Me, You and MeThat is an awful lieIts I and IIts I and IIts I and I
Its I and I
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Bright Eyesis
Conor OberstVocals Guitars Pianos Keyboards
Mike Mogis
Guitars Pedal Steel Effects Programming Percussion
Nathaniel WalcottSynthesizers Pianos Organs Mellotron
The Peoples Key
was
Produced, Arranged and Performed by Bright Eyes
Mixed by Mike Mogis
Engineered by Mike Mogis and Andy LeMaster
Recorded at ARC Studios in Omaha, Nebraska in the year 2010
Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering in Portland, Maine
All songs written by Conor Oberst 2011.All songs exclusively published and administered by
Songs Music Publishing LLCo/b/o Songs for Beans (BMI),
Bedrooms; Bedrooms and Spiders (BMI).Except Approximate Sunlight by C. Oberst/N. Walcott
N Walcott Music (ASCAP)
Additional MusiciansAndy LeMaster
Vocals on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 Bass on track 10Guitar on tracks 4, 10
Matt MaginnBass on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Carla AzarDrums and Percussion on tracks 2, 6, 8
Clark BaechleDrums on tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 7
Shane AspegrenDrums on tracks 3, 10 Percussion on track 2
Laura BurhennVocals on tracks 4, 7, 8
Denny BrewerShamanic Vocals
Artwork and layout by Zack Nipper
Thank You!!!and
Thank you Tony Rancich at Sonic Ranch for hisfriendship and for recording the Brewers.
Thank you to Denny and Josh Brewer for theirfriendship and knowledge.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the making ofthis album. Many thanks to all of our friends and families
and to all who have supported us over the yearsand continue to do so in spite of everything.
Wed be lost without you. Love and Light!!
Conor, Mike and Nate
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Singularity (bonus track)
Learning on the yHow to gather and analyzeNothing is living if nothing diesWhat an exception to makeRoundly rejecting our fate
When singularity comesWe will be fully revealedWander in limitless eldsWhen singularity comesWe will be abstraction thenWe will be buried withinAll will be balancedWe will be one
Now were on our wayAll our instincts accelerateNothing you imagineCould keep this paceWe will know freedom at lastFinally make up for the past
When singularity comesWe will be faster than light
Whistling and skipping through timeWhen singularity comesWe will be children againWe will be cradled withinWe will be perfectWe will be oneWhen singularity comes
Living in one mindEvery pin drop is amplied
Every outcome before its triedWell make a rag doll of GodWind up our new music box
When singularity comesWe will be fully revealedWander in limitless elds
When singularity comesWell be completely awakeNeophyte make no mistakeWere in this togetherWe will be oneWhen singularity comesWhen singularity comes
Conor OberstVocals
Mike MogisGuitar
Nathaniel Walcott
Synthesizers
Andy LeMasterVocals Drums Bass Programming
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2011 Saddle Creek PO Box 8554 Omaha, NE 68108-0554 www.saddle-creek.com