Get all 10 David Berkeley releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Oh Quiet World, The Faded Red and Blue, Anna and Argyle (Mi, Feathericci and David Berkeley Dub, Cardboard Boat, The Fire in My Head, Some Kind of Cure, Strange Light, Live from Fez, and 2 more.
1. |
Ash to Ash
04:32
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A child king sits on his throne,
In his tower casting stones,
Counting everything he owns,
But late at night he cries alone.
There’s a village down the hill
With fields to plow and mouths to fill.
Children grow up as they will,
But fuel the fire and blood will spill.
Ash to ash,
Bend the bough,
Run old Rosie around,
Till first is last and lost is found, oh we’ll all fall down.
Some say fear is like the wind,
Hard to say how it begins,
Hard to stop it strengthening,
Hard to blow it back again.
Ash to ash,
Bend the bough,
Run old Rosie around,
Till first is last and lost is found, oh we’ll all fall down.
Come back daughters come back sons.
Don’t believe that this is done,
Even though their rage has run
From shining sea to Washington.
Ash to ash,
Bend the bough,
Run old Rosie around,
Till first is last and lost is found, oh we’ll all fall down.
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2. |
The Faded Red and Blue
03:11
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Have you seen the flag laid out,
The faded red and blue?
One star missing edges torn
It barely made it through.
If we believe the promise
In the fabric still holds true,
Then we must be a harbor
For the weak and weary, too.
I know your heart beats, I do.
My heart beats just like you.
Once I saw the Grand Canyon
It snowed upon the edge.
You were there beside me
You cried and then you said,
“Deep inside this great divide
I know god isn’t dead.
Call it what you will,
Spirit or soul or love instead.”
I know broken hearts can mend,
and hardened hearts can bend.
See, I’m now a father of two boys
I love them so.
With open eyes and open hearts
And minds I hope they grow.
And may we leave a world to them
That’s sacred not all sold,
Remembering where they came from
and where we’re all bound to go.
Oh my heart overflows,
Fear will fade I know.
Cause I have seen the flag laid out, Old Glory red and blue.
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3. |
Throw Down a Line
03:55
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Just before the dawn,
Half a world asleep,
I heard the news,
Heard the newsman weep.
When the earth is quiet,
And autumn’s just begun,
It’s hard to find a fault in anyone.
But now it’s come to this.
You got to wonder why,
From a hotel room
Beneath the desert sky.
Throw down a line, but hold on to the end.
And so the days go by,
Nothing seems to change.
Like nothing can be done
When nothing is to blame.
Then on the lover’s day
While the palm trees bend,
Put your books away
Cause here it comes again.
Throw down a line, but hold on to the end.
Turn back the time, let us start again.
How have we managed to fall so far?
Don’t try to tell me it’s who we are.
What kind of freedom would leave such scars?
Oh, lay down your arms.
Heaven help the child
Who in her darkest hour
She don’t back down
From the fools in power.
And you’re waking now.
And the sky begins to light.
We got another try.
We got to make it right.
Let’s throw down a line and hold on to the end.
I know it’s time, time to start again
Throw down a line, but hold on to the end.
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4. |
Wolves in the Wings
04:53
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There’s a house that stood against the wind
Till the roof gave in, the roof gave
In the door post there
We carved our names
But all that’s changed, all that changed
You left that day, and crossed on through.
I didn’t know. I wish I knew.
How you heard them howl,
Their circling.
There were wolves.
Long before the fall
Of everything,
There are wolves in the wings.
When you sang to me, you changed the words
So I learned, so I learned
The good ones win, they always do
I didn’t know, I wish I knew
How you heard them howl,
Their circling.
There were wolves.
Long before the fall
Of everything,
There are wolves in the wings.
Lay with me in the meadows of my mind
Just one more time, one more time
Could stop a while, and I could say to you
I heard them, too. I hear them, too.
How I hear them howl,
They’re circling.
There are wolves.
Long before the fall
Of everything,
There are wolves in the wings.
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5. |
This Be Dear to Me
04:52
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Oh the water in the stream
Flowing through the centuries
Through the canyons, through the trees.
This be dear to me
And the breezes as they blow
From cross the seas through your window,
Where they come from where they go.
This be dear to me
Oh this be dear to me.
Oh I believe this is what’s worth fighting for.
Oh help us see that there is so much more, Adonai.
Oh the desert vast and wide,
Silent under endless skies,
And then you put your hand in mine,
This be dear to me.
Or when you wake still warm from sleep,
Half a dream your soft lips speak,
Safe and near me you I’ll keep.
This be dear to me.
Oh this be dear to me.
Oh I believe this is what’s worth fighting for.
Oh help us see that there is so much more, Adonai.
Adonai.
Oh the autumn rust and gold,
Winter mornings crisp and cold,
Then in spring the world unfolds.
This be dear to me.
Oh this be dear to me.
Oh the whole world’s whispering.
The morning rains, the prayer bells ring.
The eagles cry, the great whales sing.
This be dear to me.
Oh this be dear to me.
Oh I believe this is what’s worth fighting for.
Oh help us see that there is so much more, Adonai.
Adonai.
If I leave this world too soon,
Far beyond the silver moon,
Live your life with love and truth.
This be dear to me.
Look there’s love in all that’s true.
This be dear to me.
Feel the love surrounding you.
This be dear to me.
Oh this be dear to me.
Yes, you are dear to me.
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David Berkeley Santa Fe, New Mexico
The San Francisco Chronicle calls Santa Fe-based songwriter and author David Berkeley a “musical poet,” and the New York Times praises his “lustrous, melancholy voice with shades of Tim Buckley and Nick Drake.” He was a guest on This American Life, and has released 7 studio albums and 2 books. He is also half of the wildly creative Trans-Atlantic costumed duo Son of Town Hall. ... more
David Berkeley recommends:
Tigers of the New England Forest
by Red Heart the Ticker
Music from the Vermont woods. Earthy. Lush. Heartbreaking.
go to album
The Adventures of Sons of Town Hall
by Sons of Town Hall
Harmony on the high seas by two quite dashing gentlemen.
go to albumIf you like David Berkeley, you may also like:
Guardians Of Our Time
by Edd Donovan and The Wandering Moles
Edd Donovan's day job as a social worker brings a sense of empathy to his elegantly constructed political folk music.
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The latest from the UK’s Chris Brain is a gorgeously wrought album of tender acoustic folk music.
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We are only Sound
by Lucy Farrell
The long-time composer's debut folk album has exuberant and meditative moments.
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I Need to Start a Garden
by Haley Heynderickx
featured on Bandcamp Radio Apr 10, 2018
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