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Salt River Bed

by Biddy Healey

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1.
Lyrics: I was led here to a planet in decline, growing prickles and spines, where the searing heat burns you up on entry, under stars that are not mine. Bruised with purple, growing prickles and spines and shallow roots searching for contact, where the water goes to rest in the Salt River Bed. Your blood is wet and mine is salty, but this river is dry. And we all know why. Yes, I could tell you why. Some days the black dog is whining at my door, just hanging around hoping I'll leave this town. But my heart found a home in the acid-wash sunset, when the desert starts to glow and the loneliness goes and the cactus turns black against the sky, and you can tell it's alive. But if these hills could walk the would march us away. Superstition has its place. We were left here with a planet in decline, growing prickles and spines and shallow roots searching for water in the places where it rests in the Salt River Bed. Your blood is wet and mine is salty but this river is dry, and we all know why. Yes, I could tell you why. If these hills could walk they would march us away. Superstition has its place.
2.
Lyrics: Grey cold, ground floor, basement lights too bright. Concrete walls and iron bones fed by steel tubes. No place like home. Same old mix tape switched on for you to shoo the gloom. Smells like death and disinfectant. No floral spray could make it go away. No wonder you don't come here anymore. Been a while since you tore up the floor or wove the patterns of your mind. I go inside with Danny Boy. You cling to him and I reel you in. As I haul you to the life raft's edge I reach for you and your face swims into view, And for a brief burst you know my face. You strain your eyes to the cracks in the dark, and there's the woman with the cackling laugh and the clever hands and the eyes that spark. You hardly come here anymore. Been a while since you tore up the floor or wove the patterns of your mind. I was too late that day, but you were long gone anyway. You left waxy skin and a mischievous smile. We stood around not talking for a while, Then we went inside with Danny Boy. We clung to him and you reeled us in. As you hauled us to the life raft's edge we reached for you and your face swam into view But you don't come here anymore or break into song, you held on for so long. Never one to let things go to waste or miss a chance to sing. And I miss your clever hands and the eyes that sparked and that cackle of a laugh but you don't come here anymore, no you don't come here anymore... You don't come here anymore or break into song, you held on for so long. Never one to let things go to waste or miss a chance to sing.
3.
Some Moments 04:37
Lyrics: Some moments have the clarity of your own exposed teeth and bones. You lie broken and wide awake under the bulls breath.
4.
Lyrics: Hope... I hope... I hope... I hope that you feel the heat. Hope... I hope... I hope... I hope that you panic.
5.
Lyrics: Why the look of shame? You know this. You chose this. By the way you came the darkness concealed how you got here. Why the look of shame? You know this. You chose this. You liked it. By the way you came the darkness concealed your elation.
6.
The Birds 06:17
Lyrics: The were the last ones. They should already be here but there was nowhere to land. It was the hot nights that blew them off course. 'Cause the currents are running. The air streams have changed. They were the last ones. They were the last ones. They should already be here but there was nowhere to land. It was a good night to look at the sky on fire. 'Cause the currents are running. The air streams have changed. They were the last ones. Never was a good night to say goodbye. Never was a good night.
7.
I am told that if I wait the world will roll at my feet, if I wait right here and sit still. I've been told that my heart is made of ice. So I drank my fill until my sides began to burst and my skin was crackling in the sun. But I came down hard when you took away my fun. I was told that if I sit quite still until my dreams are fulfilled. I was told that the world would come to me. I guess we'll see. Borne aloft a ship without a sail, dreaming on the words I couldn't say, I am rising with the waves. I'm going slow. I'm the one I love. Show me how strange you are, funny toes all elbows. I know you pretty well, and yet, it's you I can't forget. If I stay still I can put a stop to time, and the world will be mine. Today I found the peace that wouldn't come. Tired body sleeping in the sun, borne aloft a ship without a sail I'm going slow. I'm the one I love.
8.
Lyrics: I am careful not to look so I never have to know that I'm alone. Your weight in my imagination a taught water balloon.
9.
Lyrics: I send the sun to where you are. Night after night it leaves me burning in the dark. I can only see you in your morning and my night. We are ten thousand miles and a planet apart. But I can see you in my dreams, and it's never quite as far as in the daylight it seems. I can always hold you in the corners of my mind but when I go away I leave you behind.
10.
Here to Stay 03:53
Lyrics: Darling, tell me you're here to stay. Darling, tell me that when you go away we'll go together facing whatever. I want to be with you. Say you'll be here for my tomorrows. Say you'll hold me through any sorrow and When it's quiet and there's nothing to do I won't mind if I'm with you. And if you go away you know that I will be fine, but I will never leave you. I won't deceive you, So say you'll be mine. Love I know we've said it all before but each time I say it I mean it the more: you're my best friend and the one I love, and I want to be with you.
11.
Lyrics: Come down from the ledge into your warm bed. Look the monster in the eye. Face him down, speak his name, and when you do you can watch him fade. So come down from the ledge, and lie beside me, baby, in this warm bed. Don't feed the monster in the night. But if you do I'll hold your hand in the dark with all my might. And you go tell that monster that I know his fucking name, to go back whence he came.

about

The music on this album was written on the ancestral lands of the Hohokam and Tohono O'odham people in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona, and Wudawurrung and Wurundjeri lands in Australia.

credits

released September 17, 2020

All music and lyrics written and arranged by Biddy Healey, except track 03, Some Moments, whose words are from Dorothy Porter's poem, Direst Need.

Biddy Healey (voice, cavaquinho)
Sara Caswell (violin)
Alexis Cuadrado (bass)
Martha Kato (piano)
Susan Mandel (cello)
Nadje Noordhuis (trumpet, flugel horn)
Chris Stover (trombone)
Chris Stromquist (drums, percussion)
Benni von Gutzeit (viola)

Produced by Biddy Healey
Recorded and mixed by Chris Benham at Big Orange Sheep, Brooklyn NY
Mastered by Dave Darlington
Photography by Bethany Brown

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Biddy Healey Australia

Biddy Healey is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and composer/arranger. Based in Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia.

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