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Family Album

by Dusty Stray

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1.
Gone 04:14
They say that you’re stepping down Giving away your crown Well that’s astounding Your reign tangled up in crime But you’re not doing time Well that’s confounding In your kingdom change is in the air Dancing singing parties everywhere Now that you’re gone Gone gone gone Though you kissed amphibians Never transformations – none All that you touch turns to trash Burning up all that cash – in a heartbeat In your kingdom monuments will fall Like you’ve never been there at all Already gone Gone gone gone
2.
Your father’s voice was breaking when he said to me He’d seen drowning horses off the coast of Sicily Nobody could save them as farther out they’d go All those drowning horses caught up in the undertow
3.
Midwife 04:45
Baby bird with broken wing Cannot fly and he doesn’t wanna sing About anything No goddess reaching down To the place on the ground He lay But you told me a story When I’d had enough We heard frogs a’ courting Then we saw them You were a midwife to the strangers in my head Being born just as I was being dead Being born just as I was being dead Cups my head in her hands I don’t get how she understands me now I’m told not to say a word Of my thoughts about the bird I found And you told me a story When I’d had enough We heard frogs a’ courting Then we saw them You were a midwife to the strangers in my head Being born just as I was being dead Being born just as I was being dead Baby bird with broken wing Cannot fly and he doesn’t wanna sing About anything
4.
Away 01:48
5.
Family Album 02:58
This is a song about Morton Bartlett He was an orphan and he never did wed He wanted children oh so desperately And so he built a fantasy family Bartlett was a self-taught artist it seems Always determined to follow his dreams Each day for thirty years he’d sculpt without fail His plaster children with obsessive detail He’d make clothes for them And he would put them on Their anatomically correct little bodies He’d take pictures and Then he would put them in What he referred to as his Family Album Bartlett clearly was the upper-class type He went to Harvard and he smoked a nice pipe He said his sculpting was a proper hobby A way to let one’s certain urges go free He was a loner with no need of a friend He kept his secret right up until the end When he died his family was discovered at last 15 girls, 3 boys and stacks of their photographs He’d make clothes for them And he would put them on Their anatomically correct little bodies He’d take pictures and Then he would put them in What he referred to as his Family Album
6.
In Albuquerque You let it all out You were crying You’d shiver and you’d shout Bouncing off the mountains there Parts of you were everywhere In Albuquerque The snow was landing down On hair and noses Softening your frown Something made you smile and say, “This was our last getaway” Albuquerque You were beautiful and strange Why are we singing Home Home On The Range We never did like that song But we’d always sing along
7.
I Ran 04:22
Oh what I wanted oh what I needed Everyone said that I was mistreated I ran from you and back again I ran from you and back again What was I feeling what was I thinking Walking and tripping swimming and sinking I ran from you and back again I ran from you and back again
8.
A strange plane took her away Small twenty-seater Landing in a far away place No one to greet her Didn’t she tell you why she was leaving No I’m afraid she didn’t say much Didn’t she tell you what she was up to She and I really fell out of touch This is a picture of her departure I was so nervous, that’s why it’s blurry She cut in line in front of some children Waved without looking, left in a hurry A strange plane took her away Small twenty-seater Landing in a far away place No one to greet her
9.
This one’s got spunk this one’s got style You get a fever when you see her smile And all at once you’re feeling fine You get a chill or two right through your spine And then you know that this time it’s really love Brought to you by angels above You hear them starting to sing cause it’s the real thing You’ve been so lost so many years So many women but so many tears And now there’s one who makes you cry But tears of happiness now fill your eyes And then you know that this time it’s really love Brought to you by angels above You hear them starting to sing cause it’s the real thing You thought that it could never happen to you And now you think it’s just too good to be true Hand in hand you are as one and her apparel a barrel of fun Can’t kiss her once must kiss her twice When you’re together the weather is nice And then you know that this time it’s really love Brought to you by angels above You hear them starting to sing cause it’s the real thing
10.
Holy rollers Praying for their Lord to hover over them They shall see him Riding on a mighty fiery stone Tucked and tied into their beds Visions of heaven in their heads Poison fills their blood tonight Gates begin to open wide
11.
My little baby sleeps all day Opens her eyes as if to say Haven’t I been here before And then she closes them once more My little baby cries all night Nothing I do seems to be right And in the morning as she dreams I can still here those baby screams
12.
No One 01:24
All I wanted to say to you I could never say Then your winter came Now you’re cold to me though you used to be Warm and bright fiery light flickering in the wind You were my friend You were my friend You were my friend But in the end it was beginning to be clear That you were no one to me No one

about

“A singer-songwriter with a good eye for the musical heritage of his country, along with a pleasant twist of the mind” OOR

“Dusty Stray's forays into the unknown deserve attention” Americana UK

“Fragile voices, dreamy songs and freaky instruments...strong lyrics and a crystal clear production with chilling effects” Trouw

“Astonishingly beautiful songs that everyone in the world should hear” Kramer

credits

released April 23, 2013

Family Album

ORDER CD HERE: www.musicglue.com/dusty-stray/products/family-album-cd/

Music and words by Jonathan Brown
Performed and recorded by Jonathan Brown at home in Amsterdam
Produced, mixed and mastered by Kramer at Noise Miami
Executively produced by Jeroen van der Schaaf

Design by Sonja van Hamel – www.sonjavanhamel.nl
Photos from Jonathan’s found photo collection

Jonathan Brown – voices, guitars, banjo, mandolin-banjo,
banjo uke, ukulele, violin, melodica, omnichord, sheng,
bulbul tarang, Chinese flute, zither, jawharp, kazoo,
slide whistle, baby rattle, kalimba, percussion

Kramer – organ, piano, guitar, bass

Marc Driessen – bass

Nina Brown – voice on “My Little Baby”

A special thanks to Kramer
This album is dedicated to family

All titles © J. F. Brown, 2013
Published by Basta Music
www.bastamusic.com

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Dusty Stray Amsterdam, Netherlands

DUSTY STRAY features the alt-folk repertoire of Texan expat Jonathan Brown. He delves into universal themes of heartbreak, loneliness and death with a twisted sense of humor and a soothing touch.

New album FIRE PLACE out now!
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