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The Dreamkeeper and a Gun

by Laura Dunn with the Ghosts of Xmas Past

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1.
When I was a soldier no one saw me and I was a mother I blew up the house we made and I was made from the oil in the ocean not good at love just good at burning up Little plastic soldiers. I can't feel you. I had a battalion. A sea gnawing its cliff. You know that force, that Molotov ghost-- you can call it wind, you'll still get carried away. Little plastic soldiers, I'll follow you. I was safe with you for awhile. I saw my love in the ocean and I had my mission that you'd live, if you didn't see me. The wind would stop-- nothing would stir the sea for awhile, for awhile.
2.
The Dreamkeeper and a gun-- He keeps you far away I sleep as you run The Dreamkeeper and a gun-- now I sleep with whiskey on my tongue to taste you-- And in the land of what I want armed guards spy through the slatted gates of your eyes, your thumbs are bullets that wont go in straight lines The Dreamkeeper and a gun-- you're now as near as the vision of sleep like looking through sandstorm at a memory And in the land of desire sandstone desert of your skin our love a dry lake, all gone when I'm awake The Dreamkeeper and a gun-- will you always be the only one I want?
3.
I'd be a fish if I could be canned with you I'd be a model citizen if your city would let me in I'd be an eclipse if you'd always shine I'd be the mountain's body where you mine Boyswan, I don't float don't migrate when the seasons get cold I'm always hanging out in pool halls anywhere you go Boyswan, take these bones too heavy for your bed of seafoam Boyswan, Boyswan, these arms could be your pond When the weather is cool I'll protect you from the Zeus in you He wouldn't touch a feather if in this world we could protect each other In this world you lift my eyes-- a honk from the traffic in the sky In this world, you shine but go south-- I don't have to say you're mine Boyswan, I'd be your stream, so you'd swim through me on your journey.
4.
5.
6.
He sleeps in the park and the sky has no lid-- he sleeps in the park because I can't live with him, O love But I made it stop raining forever I made us stop being lazy together O love, I left you with no roof and that's how I feel without you Now that park is mostly straw and my throat is too dry to sing and the world is all kindling when I can't be with him I made it stop raining forever the world shrinks to a raisin when I can't be with him I made it stop raining forever now the world is all burning and fire is our weather Through this burning world we go but if we never struggled alone our souls would be couch potatoes I made it stop raining forever
7.
We walked the streets of Montreal in the rain-- your eyes were stone blue like the walls in the china town lanes. My phone drowned in my purse, our clothes became clear, blue skin. Clear as the water that walls this island town in. I said this feels like a french film but it felt like more than that-- thinking of your skin I ran my hand down a store front's glass. If this were a film, we'd have ended up in love. In a letter, later, you said "I should have kissed you in that storm." If I'd have wrote back, I'd have said "what is a kiss for?" Remember I reached out my hand but not drop can pass through the skin. If each of us is an island how do we let more than the cold in? If this were a film, we'd have ended up in love. If this were a novel, we'd have ended up dead. If this were a music video, I'd have got you in to bed. But this is a song, so I guess I'll tell the truth. Nothing happened with us, I still think about you. If this were a film, we'd have ended up in love. We walked the streets of Montreal in the rain and I wonder if I'll ever see you again.
8.
Montreal 04:34
We walked the streets of Montreal in the rain-- your eyes were stone blue like the walls in the china town lanes. My phone drowned in my purse, our clothes became clear, blue skin. Clear as the water that walls this island town in. I said this feels like a french film but it felt like more than that-- thinking of your skin I ran my hand down a store front's glass. If this were a film, we'd have ended up in love. In a letter, later, you said "I should have kissed you in that storm." If I'd have wrote back, I'd have said "what is a kiss for?" Remember I reached out my hand but not drop can pass through the skin. If each of us is an island how do we let more than the cold in? If this were a film, we'd have ended up in love. If this were a novel, we'd have ended up dead. If this were a music video, I'd have got you in to bed. But this is a song, so I guess I'll tell the truth. Nothing happened with us, I still think about you. If this were a film, we'd have ended up in love. We walked the streets of Montreal in the rain and I wonder if I'll ever see you again.
9.
Seafoam 04:54
10.

about

Brian Rady, vocals, guitar, percussion
Christian Appel, vocals, toy piano
Sarah Baum, accordion
Catherine Brookman, vocals, cello on Nightblind
Mike Savino, double bass on The Dreamkeeper and a Gun
Harry Einhorn, keyboards, vocals on Apocalypse Love Song
Michael Cerveris, vocals on Nightblind

credits

released May 22, 2011

© 2011 Laura Dunn
words and music Laura Dunn
Produced by Laura Dunn
Engineered and mixed by Carlos Fonseca
Mastered by Aady Pandit

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all rights reserved

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about

Laura Dunn and the Ghosts of Xmas Past Portland, Oregon

with Bjorkish runaway melodies and surreal lyricism, Laura Dunn and the Ghosts of Xmas Past combine banjo-driven creepy folk music with opera singers, toy pianos and rattling chains.
She sounds like "Emmylou Harris singing in a haunted house" --James Duval, Virginia Omnivore
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