Jeff Betten – voice, guitar
Joseph Ripple – guitar, banjo, voice
Chris Fazio – violin, trumpet, guitar
Peter Levine – cello
Jason Rafalak – double bass
Sam Buonavolonta – percussion
Recorded by Sam Buonavolonta at his studio in Youngstown, Ohio (save for one or two exceptions)
Music and lyrics for “Wedding Day”, “I've Been Down This Road”, and “Come Home to Me” written by Jeff Betten and Joseph Ripple
Music for “Third Planet” written by Issac Brock, Jeremiah Green, and Eric Judy
Lyrics for “Third Planet” written by Isaac Brock
All songs arranged by Jeff Betten and Joseph Ripple
“Wedding Day”, “I've Been Down This Road”, and “Come Home to Me” published by Fifth of November Music (BMI)
“Third Planet” published by Sony/ATV Harmony/Tschudi Music/Crazy Gnome (ASCAP)
Photography and graphic design by Lennon Dinda
Art direction by Lennon Dinda and Jeff Betten
The band would like to thank David Pokrivňák, André Costello, Melanie Buonavolonta, A.G. Levine, and Jeremy Caywood for their assistance in the planning and production of this album
This album is dedicated to Nina Barone and Damon Lythos for all of their support
That cruelest month, April
Gave my sweetheart her wedding day
Fruit rinds and flowers
Underneath her feet on her wedding day
Lips that have never been painted such a shade of red
At least, as seen by my eyes
O dear First Lady - so elegant, so incandescent
I can't bear the very sight of you, I'm sorry
And all the poets wail at and curse the heavens
Because their gods had the nerve to open their eyes
But I just want to hold you so close, that I could melt into you a little
Leaning and reaching, I am trapped in this eternal state of becoming
I still stay up into all hours of the evening
Waiting to hear from you, waiting to hear that you're alone
Without thinking of good or evil
Show me your original face
Before your mother and father
Were born
"Third Planet"
(Brock/Green/Judy)
Everything that keeps me together is falling apart
I've got this thing that I consider my only art
My boss just quit his job
He says he going out to find blind spots, and he'll do it
The third planet is sure that they're being watched
By an eye in the sky that can't be stopped
When you get to the promised land
You're going to shake that eye's hand
Your heart felt good
It was dripping pitch and made of wood
And your hands and knees
Felt cold and wet on the grass to me
Well, outside naked, shivering, looking blue
From the cold sunlight that's reflected off the moon
And baby cum angels fly around you
Reminding you we used to be three and not just two
And that's how the world began
And that's how the world will end
A third had just been made and we were swimming in the water
Didn't know then - was it a son? Was it a daughter?
When it occurred to me that the animals were swimming
Around in the water in the oceans in our bodies
And another had been found, another ocean on the planet
Given that our blood is just like the Atlantic
And how the universe is shaped exactly like the earth
If you go straight long enough, you'll end up where you were
And how the universe is shaped exactly like the earth
If you go straight long enough, you'll end up where you were
And how the universe is shaped exactly like the earth
Your heart felt good
It was dripping pitch and made of wood
And your hands and knees
Felt cold and wet on the grass to me
Well, outside naked, shivering, looking blue
From the cold sunlight that's reflected off the moon
And baby cum angels fly around you
Reminding you we used to be three and not just two
And that's how the world began
And that's how the world will end
A third had just been made and we were swimming in the water
Didn't know then - was it a son? Was it a daughter?
When it occurred to me that the animals were swimming
Around in the water in the oceans in our bodies
And another had been found, another ocean on the planet
Given that our blood is just like the Atlantic
And how the universe is shaped exactly like the earth
If you go straight long enough, you'll end up where you were
And how the universe is shaped exactly like the earth
If you go straight long enough, you'll end up where you were
And how the universe is shaped exactly like the earth
Everything that keeps me together is falling apart
"I've Been Down This Road"
(Betten/Ripple)
I've been down this road
I get lost sometimes
But it’s all in how we forget that becomes the art
Yet I still recall
How you’d always say
That your eyes, like answers, were colored by a strange sunset
It’s a foolish want
It’s a sucker’s bet
There’s no known salvation to be found in a homesick heart
So we drive through dark
As if under bridges
‘Til the moon bleeds, blighting all, absolutely still
And if it takes all night, then it takes all night
You’re a freckled one
With an unkempt mind
I’m a dime-store, boarded up and barely bearing a load
Tramp your weary soul
Through my broken door
We’re but heads and bones when we’re apart, an un-echoed howl
And as the evening hung
In the trees above
The sounds were soaring, all the cracks and caws
‘Til faint light lurked
And caught you in its lure
Yielding a smile that I had always known, though had never seen
Any given day
Is a work-in-progress
And with infinite origins, it’s hard to tell when it all began
It’s too late to stop now
Because when the world turns to pitch
It’s a frozen rope with no horizon, standing outside of time
So if it takes all night, then it takes all night
If it takes all night, then it takes all night
If you just want love
And you ask for that
Well, there’s so much more to this I wish you to have
I've been down this road
You could be the sky
The winds will wash away the doubts of our former selves
"Come Home to Me"
(Betten/Ripple)
The birds may fly south
But it's never left to doubt
Please just say that you'll come back home to me
There's no ball, there's no chain
I don't know when I'll see you again
Please just say that you'll come back home to me
When the leaves start to turn
When the world has all adjourned
When your heart begins to yearn
Hang your coat next to mine
Travel around as you like
I'll leave the lantern out all night
Please just say that you'll come back home to me
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