Get all 14 Atwater-Donnelly releases available on Bandcamp and save 10%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Boat You Row Atwater-Donnelly 2022, The World Is Old Tonight, Each Other's Story 2011, The Weaver's Bonny 2009, The Halfway Ground 2007, When Winter Calls 2005, The Blackest Crow 2004, And Then I'm Going Home 2001, and 6 more.
1. |
Look At Me Now
04:03
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When I was a little girl
I hardly went to school
I took care of the younger kids
And worked in the cotton fields
Times I tried to go to school
Were too hard to keep me there
I was thirteen when I went last
But look at me now
I've got reading glasses on
I'm writing simple sentences
With kids of my own
I've done for others
And now it's my time
To find freedom with my eyes
And my heart and my mind
I've done for others
And now it's my time
To find freedom with my eyes and my mind
Many times I thought I wasn't smart
It was hard for me to learn
But when you've got so much to do
How can you expect to read?
And now I'm grown
I've got kids of my own
I thought my chances had disappeared
At first I was shy
To read those books
But now I know I'm smart 'cause I try
And look at me now
I've got reading glasses on
I'm writing simple sentences
With kids of my own
I've done for others
And now it's my time
To find freedom with my eyes
And my heart and my mind
I've done for others
And now it's my time
To find freedom with my eyes
And my heart and my mind
I've done for others
And now it's my time
To find freedom with my eyes
And my heart and my mind
I've done for others
And now it's my time
To find freedom with my eyes
And my mind
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2. |
Silver Foxes
03:41
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It's lonely out here on this cold Autumn night
The leaves rush around me in a fearful flight
There used to be a lot of us roaming these hills
Our silvery tails illuminate still
And in the moonlight we search for the remaining few
Too scared to stay still
We run through the dewy fields
We run through the dewy fields
Instrumental
It's lonely out here on this cold Autumn night
The leaves rush around me in a fearful flight
There used to be a lot of us roaming these hills
Our silvery tails illuminate still
And in the moonlight we search for the remaining few
Too scared to stay still
We run through the dewy fields
We run through the dewy fields
We run through the dewy fields...
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3. |
Birthday Song
04:04
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The snow's falling fast and we've got to get back home
We're driving on the highway, competing with a storm
Another year has passed, another year has passed
Well, this family spans high and this family runs wild
For all its complication, I think there's more love inside
Another year has passed, another year has passed
Chorus:
From Boston and Providence and New York City too
The leaves that have scattered are coming home to you
This is your day, this is your day
Seven babies and teenagers, now your biggest job is done
Except your lifelong friends will always call you on the phone
We'll never go away, we'll never go away...Chorus
So, now this hour in your life belongs to you
You've got free time and a free mind to do what you want to do
With our blessings go, with our blessings go
From Boston and Providence and New York City too
In Colorado and Philadelphia, we're thinking of you
This is your day, this is your day
This is your day, this is your day...
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4. |
S'il Vous Plaît
03:19
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S'il Vous Plaît, ecoutez ma chanson
Et vous compredrez
Il y a une femme dans ma ville
Elle est debout
Au coin de la rue
Dans le seuil d'une porte
D'une construction abandonee
Elle est jeune comme moi
Mais elle est folle
Elle porte des chiffons
Des sacs de plastique
Autour de ses pieds si gonfles
Et quand on la passé
On se demande
Pourquoi nous sommes tous ici
On voit ses yeux qui regardent
Attentivement, un monde insense
Pres du seuil d'une porte
D'une construction abandonee
En hiver elle a froid
Mais elle rejete tous les vetements
Que les gens dans la ville lui offrent
Parce qu'elle prefere porter
Ses propres vetements
Salles, dechires, insuffisants
Elle est morte aujourd'hui
Morte de froid
De faim, d'epuisment
De la manqué de l'amour and des amis
Et personne ne vienne
Quand elle est morte
Personne ne s'est soucie
Et quand je passe la porte
Vide au coin de la rue
Je me demande pourquoi
Je suis
S'il Vous Plaît
Avez-vous ecoutez ma chanson?
Maintenant vous comprenez
Translation
Please, listen to my song and you will understand
There is a woman in my town; she stands on the corner of the street
In the threshold of the door of an abandoned building
She's young like me, but she's crazy
She wears rags; plastic bags around her swollen feet
And when you pass her you ask yourself, 'why we are all here?'
See her eyes that watch attentively, a nonsense world
Near the threshold of the door of the abandoned building
In the winter she's cold but she refuses all the clothes
That the people in the neighborhood offer her
Because she prefers to wear her own clothes
Dirty, torn and insufficient
She died today; died of cold – of hunger, exhaustion
Of the lack of love and friends
And nobody came when she died; nobody seemed to care
And now when I pass that doorway
Empty on the corner of the street
I ask myself why I am
Please, did you listen to my song?
Now you understand.
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5. |
Give the Woman Jewels
02:28
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La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la...
Give the woman jewels to crown her pretty face
Give her great big rooms to supply the needed space
Give her money, fresh food and sun
Introduce her to everyone
Keep her here safe, snug and warm
She will forget to push forward on
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la...
Push the woman down till mud is on her face
Beat her with your fist, but never leave a trace
Make her grovel, crawl and scratch
For every little thing she needs
Give her no power, food or job
And watch her, watch her watch her bleed
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la...
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6. |
Robert
03:29
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Robert pours his whiskey
And settles for the night
Though he never skips a single day
Somehow he knows it isn't right
His wife has threatened repeatedly
To leave him all alone
"He can sit around the house," she cries, "and drown."
I don't think I can take another day,
Watching him drink his senses away.
He's cold, he's passed out,
He's like a distant star
And I'm completely alone."
Still Robert tries and tries each day
To patch up what he's done
He smiles and brings her flowers
And says, "I'm sorry" much too much
And still he never skips a single day
Without drinking his senses away
To the kids it seems so easy and so clear
That he should just simply stop
Still Robert pours his whiskey
And settles for the night
Though he never skips a single day
Still he knows it isn't right
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7. |
Wide Horizon
03:30
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Brilliant blue sky
With white scavenging gulls
Flying overhead
Silk sand
And the waves of the cool green water
Crashing perfectly
On the wide horizon
We eat out
At our favorite restaurant
It's shaped like a horseshoe
On the oceanside
With delicate white plates
And exotic coffee
On the wide horizon
Wide horizon of love and freedom
Wide horizon of love and freedom
I found you
In this big ocean of people
And you pulled me out
Hand by hand
It's so easy
To find yourself in the wrong situation
And I can't believe I found you
In this wide horizon
Wide horizon of chance and fortune
Wide horizon of love and freedom
Brilliant blue sky
With white scavenging gulls
Flying overhead
Silk sand
And the waves of the cool green water
Crashing perfectly
On the wide horizon
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8. |
Vast River
03:28
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In the vast river of people
That flows on either side
I'd forgotten how impossible it is
To look into your eyes
In this constant social gathering
Of seeming human delight
I guess it slipped my mind
How lonesome I could feel
Chorus:
So build me a boat to ride
The conversation waves, the overwhelming tide
Take me in the folds of your sail
This ocean of humanity
Grows rough before my eyes
The fleeting moment of moonlight
Is just not enough to, to satisfy
I don't care about the party
I don't care who I know
I just want to see the shimmer of your face
And deeper in your eyes...Chorus
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9. |
Maria
03:05
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Maria is pretty with a long brown face
In her apartment like an inmate
Watching soap operas
Keeping up with the games
Her boyfriend won't let her escape
She's nineteen, on her third child
Talk about school and she smiles
"I wish I could get my high school degree,
Get a job, get off welfare, and be free."
Chorus:
"Cause I want to learn," she says,
"And get out of this hell.
I want my children to make something of themselves."
It takes guts to break the mold
Her boyfriend says, "I'll beat you up."
And she says, "No, you won't.
I've got to go and do this."...Chorus
See the silhouette of a young woman walking
In the late afternoon sun
The kids are running all crazy around her legs
They're going to the park
'Cause her homework is done
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10. |
Take Me
02:37
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Take me, I want to go
Back to where the sun sinks low
Take me, I want to be
Skipping stones on my daddy's beach
Skipping stones on my daddy's beach
Take me, I want to know
Where did the time go?
I remember dragging sticks on the road
And running in the evening air
'Cause I used to be
A little girl with time on her hands
Catching the falling leaves so innocently
Now it only seems to me
I'm always running but I'm running too fast
Whatever happened to time after school
And wondering what to do with the afternoon?
Take me, I want to go
Back to where the sun sinks low
Take me, I want to be
Skipping stones on my daddy's beach
Skipping stones on my daddy's beach
Take me, I want to know
Where did the time go?
I remember dragging sticks on the road
And running in the evening air
Running in the evening air
Take me, I want to know
Where did all the time go?
Take me, I want to be
Skipping stones on my daddy's beach
Take me, take me, take me
Take me, take me, take me
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11. |
The Melt
04:55
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It's as if the sun is running
on the ice and snow
That have turned dirty and old
There are newspapers and cans
stuck into the banks
And the water is drifting away
It's trying to escape
I'm frightened to see
what the melt will show
After the long cover
of filth and despair
But the rising February sun
Is here to begin
the jubilant dance of Spring
It's as if the sun is running
on the ice and snow
That have turned dirty and old
There are newspapers and cans
stuck into the banks
And the light will shine on the faces
Of the half-rotted people
who are hidden
Like the dirt and the litter
Under the frozen layers of city snow
But the rising February sun
Is here to begin the jubilant dance of Spring
Instrumental
Oh, the rising February sun
Is here to begin the jubilant dance of Spring
The rising February sun
Is here to begin the jubilant dance of Spring
The rising February sun
Is here to begin the jubilant dance of Spring...
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12. |
In the Springtime
05:28
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It's hard when all your friends are gone
You've lived so late and for so long
It's hard to only have the young
for friends and consolation
Here in my soft, white downy chair
I think of my house and my land out there
I remember the pebble roads
We had horses before the cars came
And in the Springtime I'll be ninety-one
I've lived so long; my work is done
I've seen so much;
I's time to move on
This land has been in the family
for seven generations
I was twenty in the first World War
In town we had a single store
And now it seems I've lived so long
I've seen four wars and a son die young
Kids raised in front of the TV
Computers at the bank
In the Springtime I'll be ninety-one
I've lived so long; my work is done
I've seen so much;
I's time to move on
Instrumental
Now, I see myself in this shadowy room
The winter sun will be setting soon
I'm smaller than I used to be
And my face no longer looks like me
I have so little energy
To do the things I've always loved
I'm alone in this old house
The young are too busy
In the Springtime I'll be ninety-one
I've lived so long; my work is done
I've seen so much;
I's time to move on
It's hard when all your friends are gone
You've lived so late and for so long
It's hard to only have the young
for friends and consolation
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13. |
Let My Life
02:48
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Let my life flow like this river
Let my life shine like the sun
Let my life flow like this river
And I'd be satisfied
Let my life flow like this river
Let my life shine like the sun
Let my life flow like this river
And I'd be satisfied
Oo.oo, I'd be satisfied
The sun is hot and burns my shoulders
And the river's deep and cold and fast
The sun is hot, it burns my shoulders
But I'm still satisfied
So, let my life flow like this river
Let my life shine like the sun
Let my life flow like this river
And I'd be satisfied
Oo.oo, I'd be satisfied
The clouds are forming in the eastern sky
And the beavers build their dams
Clouds are forming in the eastern sky
But I'm still satisfied
I'm still satisfied
So, let my life flow like this river
Let my life shine like the sun
Let my life flow like this river
And I'd be satisfied
Oo.oo, I'd be satisfied
Let my life flow like this river
Let my life shine like the sun
Let my life flow like this river
And I'd be satisfied
Oo.oo, I'd be satisfied
Oo.oo, I'd be satisfied
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14. |
Music Is My Lover
02:32
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My lover has no name
No body; no predictable game
Try and try as I might to grasp her ways
She eludes me everytime
Some days are smooth, harmonious and fine
And others; it's like I'm walking a line
Of frustration and discord and wheels off the track
All that I get, she takes right back
Chorus:
Cause my lover has no name
No body; no predictable game
Try and try as I might to grasp her ways
She eludes me every time
Instrumental
In my room the coffee cup's cool
Balls of paper strewn all around
It's an off day; she's lying so smug on the floor
The strings need changing and my fingers are sore…Chorus
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Atwater-Donnelly Warren, Rhode Island
Aubrey Atwater and Elwood Donnelly, present delightful programs of traditional American and Celtic folk songs, a capella pieces, old-time gospel songs, dance tunes, and original works, blending gorgeous harmonies with guitar, Appalachian mountain dulcimer, mandolin, tin whistle, harmonica, banjo, bones, spoons, limberjacks, and Appalachian clog dancing and French Canadian footwork. ... more
If you like Simple Sentences 1992, you may also like:
This album speaks to the continuum of African diasporic culture that is central to the vibrant canon of Americana folk music.
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Sweet Old Religion
by Pharis & Jason Romero
Sweet harmonies & strummed melodies; the duo delve into decades-old folk, jazz, and country to find a timeless kind of love and connection.
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Would the Light Hold Me
by Oceanique
Celtic-inspired instrumentation, delicate harmonies, and reflective lyrics abound on the sisterly indie-folk duo's debut album.
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Scottish harpist and singer Rachel Newton brings an innovative, intensely emotional touch to traditional music on this dreamy LP.
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Wealth of Sorrow
by Cahalen Morrison
Bright and skipping songs that foreground the sound of the banjo and fingerstyle guitar in music that feels timeless.
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Mind, Man, Medicine
by The Secret Sisters
The Alabama duo's fifth album exults in dusty Americana, showcasing rich vocal harmonies alongside blissful folk instrumentation.
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Little Green
by Cara Beth Satalino
Cara Beth Satalino's delicately melodic yet resilient indie folk songs sparkle with lyrical wit and hard-won wisdom.
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