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lyrics

Dancing Star (No Naked Light)

Back in my work-hour, serious days my dreams were raising bass on a farm.
I booked a pear-sized room beneath Frank,
started catching rats with a broom I had found.
Then when the city got fat off the rare fish they ate
that could only be caught with a mouse,
Game Warden, jailed me for poaching,
swore to his soul I’d have to hang in the square.

Now, I’m thankful for that diamond of light that was shining
through the corner of my eight-point cell,
the one I scratched at with my fingers until I saw the highway
and the world that had thrown me in hell.

And now somewhere in a fly is a piece of my skin
that fell off while I was stuck all that time,
but the rest of me is running free,
now a prisoner of a greater device.

FARE THEE WELL

Now I’ve been in your country for a week
and I’ve been to Wu Dao Kou seventeen times
If you’re trying to hit the bottom, hit the bottom,
don’t let them make you think your alright.

If you’re looking for your love in the streets with good intentions
and keep lying through your teeth just to find her alone,
then from the twenty-seventh floor, the fireworks exploding
will only make you feel older inside.
She said, “You’ve been in my country for a year
but I can speak your language better than you can mine
and you’re not pretty, but you’re able to be loved
as she placed her hand on my thigh.

Some things are taller than a pile of fish in naked light.
Some things get rougher than my rough fingernails.
But still, there’s nothing louder than the sound of the bossa nova rhythms
trapped inside a schoolboy’s hollow mind,
when he’s been stuck in his room for a summer week
dreaming about the contours of parallel lines,
bending over the horizon,
never intersecting,
side by side.

FARE THEE WELL

Oh, the head lights,
shining brighter than the stars,
reflecting off those headlights,
and all the little people in their cars:

Walk it down
Climb that hill.
What time is it?

credits

from I SMILE ALL DAY I SMILE ALL NIGHT, released April 12, 2009
Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Vocals: James Wallace
12 string baritone electric guitar: Miles Price
Slide guitar, Acoustic: Kevin Dailey
Bass: Thomas Samuel
Drums: Dabney Morris
Background Vocals: Row Craven
Trumpet: Kai Welch
Euphonium: Laurel Lane
Gang Vocals: The Mennonite Brethren Hallelujah and Rejoice Choir*

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James Wallace and the Naked Light image

James Wallace and the Naked Light Nashville, Tennessee

They say that to see in the dark, it's best to use the corners of your eyes.

I wish I had known,
I'd have seen so much coming at me.

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