Get all 8 Me Like Bees releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Heartbeats, RUN - single, Feel the Heat - single, Bedlam - single, Songs From The REALM - EP, There Will Be Time, The Ides (Full Album), and Naked Trees.
1. |
Brand New Fall
03:40
|
|||
We watched the sunset
With faces as long as the wind
The old world swallowed in the void left from tidings sinking in
We watched the sunrise
The world brought forth as newly born
And with our hair and tears we mopped hospital floors
And with our brand new world came a brand new fall of man
Prepare thou for the Ides
Sharpen your holy knives
Because you can’t keep the wolves out with a pile of sticks And you can’t build a house from a pile of broken bricks
Prepare thou for the Ides coming for your life
Welcome kids, this is it
Our brand new fall of man
|
||||
2. |
The Fifteenth Day
03:27
|
|||
I was a son and I still am
I wanna tell you that
I gave up more than I intended
But I won’t give no more
Oh, they ask for it and I said no
Oh, as convinced a man you’ll know
How was this supposed to go?
Stuck on the if’s the and’s the although’s
Was I still yours, how could I know
When my fiber first began to unwind
And when I couldn’t pretend that the if’s and then’s
Weren’t taking quarter in the back of my mind
Well from out so far they seem to raise the bar
So what now? How many days till I get back to par?
Till the ghost gives up
Till the ghost gives up
Till the ghost gives up
Oh, they ask for it and I said no
Oh, as convinced a man you’ll know
Was I still yours? I didn’t know
In my asking like an orphan for more
On the car ride up, on the fifteenth day
I made my asking with my head on the door
I offered my insides, up into the skies
Unto an after-fact altar where no offering is wise
Where I expected that which would not be done
Where I missed the meaning of what it was to be a son
Where I asked amiss in a selfishness
Where I saw in my hand a snake what was really a fish
Where the measure I held spread a little too thin
I tried to bulk it up with talk but it was all talk to begin with
So the morning brought about a brand new fall of man
And I woke a son asunder just trying to measure up again
Till the ghost gives up
Till the ghost gives up
Till the ghost gives up
Oh I know, it wasn’t easy for me It wasn’t easy for you to let go
Oh I know, it wasn’t easy for me It wasn’t easy for you to let go
So let go
I was a son and I still am I want to tell you that
|
||||
3. |
The Ides
03:20
|
|||
I’m questioning what’s been testing me
Might be my best years have bested me
And what most call prime
For me, was decline
And I’m just now recovering
I fell apart during the middle of the month
On the fifteenth day my roots came up
And so the ides in spring
Caused themselves to cling
To every chamber I had left beating
Even in the depths of our bones
We can feel effects of the ides we’ve faced alone
Through long nights and changing tides we wonder If we’re even worth healing now
And so I
I grit my teeth with the solstice grind
Cling like a leaf to a drying vine
And hope for the time
That I shake the ides and be up and on with it
I can hear the voice as it’s calling out
From the waking hours in the darkness now
And I can’t be sure, but outside my door I think I hear Martha crying
Even in the depths of our bones
We can feel effects of the ides we face alone
Through long nights and changing tides we wonder If we’re even worth healing now
Even if Christ’s hand touched us all
Wouldn’t we remain to be creatures of the fall?
Insomuch that he was touched
Lazarus got old and died and he’s buried now
|
||||
4. |
Naked Trees
04:32
|
|||
Hey, we'll inch out all these miles
All our friends' houses in piles
Either side they're forming aisles
We'll breathe those fallen walls in till we choke
Amongst the naked trees we'll bear the yoke
I was north helping an old friend park his tired soul
And while a song to help his belle along was due
My town down south cut in with its own tune
But I couldn't make it out, those phones were dead
That didn't stop the whole world from feeling it
Bared its snout, the sky opened its mouth and showed its teeth
I heard you heard your house get chewed through from underneath
Everyone was screaming
Loup! Le Loup! Le Loup! Le Loup!
And so now you can't sleep when you hear rain
Your mind keeps bracing for that howl again
Hey, let's look this in the eye
Fear causes only divide
Don't feel guilt for troubled skies
For by the hair of our collective chin
Lord knows it wasn't we who let it in
De nulle part le Loup souffla et le Loup souffle!
Miracles! Miracles! Wind and grace, wrath and mercy!
Heroes and suitors, villains and looters sifted out in the scrum!
But it’s not done
It’s still at home on every tongue
I was north heading a southward course when you first called
When I arrived, I found you all despite the wreck
That was all that you all had ever owned
Good Lord, we sang it
Loup! Le Loup! Le Loup! Le Loup!
Hey, let's look this in the eye
Cease this mind-wrapping of why
Don't feel guilt for troubled skies
I know it seems for miles the world's at end
But even in all this are naked trees greening again
|
||||
5. |
Kids in the Kitchen
04:12
|
|||
Better wait till morning
Bet they’re all in bed
And better off dreaming
I’m betting forty winks
You would trade a leg
To not be alone
Because the dark enough
Is food for thought
In the early morn
When you’re who you are
Cause you’re all alone
Well, I have been there too
With my mind scattered like some untied balloon
Though I know I’m not the first to sit alone in the dark
Blinking little colon
You’re a metronome that separates digits
And you’re doing me no favors
Thanks a lot, I can count on my own
So on you toss and fidget
Like a kid in the kitchen
Who refuses to eat all his peas
No matter the way you stir it
It’s not going away
Well, I have been there too
With my mind scattered like some untied balloon
As I entertained the thought
That God himself relates
For before there was time
There were waters shaping eternal night
And my God, who thought amongst Himself
It’s not good to be alone
I sat long in the night, a thrall to my questions
A clock for my light, and a colon to play metronome
Rhythmical blight, as my fiber unwound
And tangled and tangled till my hands were all bound
In myself I knotted and gnashed and I writhed
And I cried to the Father who whispered so quiet
That until a seed gives up its shell and it dies
That it’s only as good as the measure of its size
Well, I have been there too
With my mind scattered like some untied balloon
Though I have entertained the thought
That God just might relate
For before there was time
There were waters shaping eternal night
And God, who thought amongst Himself
It’s not good to be alone
Until the seed gives up its shell and it dies
It’s only as good as the measure of its size
|
||||
6. |
Rolodex
03:27
|
|||
Static in the ears
Leftovers from lesser years
Sleepless in the vex
Bed's a mess from restless legs
Cut back to the scene
This, then that, but what between?
Minds eye, rolodex
Each passage lacking context
All those day behind, fragmented swept up blind
Some stored, some omitted
Misplaced calendar boxes
And who would read a tale so incomplete,
Or who would care to ever sum it's fractioning?
Could you be the one to lift the knee
The one to stretch the last corner and place the fitted sheet?
That's not how it's done, you need someone else there.
Rolodex in my bed, I couldn't help myself
No, seriously I mean I needed some help
Diggin' up bones from then, I found it ain't much help.
I found the deepest holes are ones I dug myself
That's not how it's done, you need someone else there.
|
||||
7. |
Ra Ra Etc.
03:24
|
|||
I fought tooth and nail through the billows grey
To some deeper pit of my converging self
A humid locker where I pile my guilt
And where I often pluck the first lines for myself
I fought tooth and nail for the right I had just to be myself and she
Well she empties out upon this caricature’s smiling brow
But deep in the morning I’m taut and rough
Here in the morning I’m fine enough
Ra Ra Ra etcetera I sing it
Deep in the morning I lash back the curtains fold
Take in the few sure truths I hold
Though sorrow came and root got choked
Green thing dead now dead thing grows
Though deep in the morning I’m taut and rough
Here in the morning I’m fine enough
Ra Ra Ra Etcetera
Muttered softly coffee mantra
Pretty close call though I’ve seen closer were the words that no one said at all
When the Lord went up to Lazarus’ tomb for an encore to his swan song
Maybe then a chatter and a conversation after
With a joke and then a laughter about a curtain call
Maybe then the matter was the death that came thereafter
And the point was that the result hadn’t changed at all
Deep in the morning
I sift through my clearest thoughts
Separate haves out from have-not’s
Wager out those decent shots
The math is always slap-dashed
Deep in the morning I’m taut and rough
Here in the morning I’m well enough
Ra Ra Ra Etcetera
Nothing more than a tune to hang on
Deep in the morning I lash back them curtains fold
Take in the few sure things I know
Like nothing ever seems to go the way I meant and etc.
Deep in the morning I’m taut and rough
Here in the morning like Lazarus
Ra ra ra etcetera
Marching on to the tune of what now
Ra ra ra etcetera
|
||||
8. |
Comet & The Snail
02:35
|
|||
It’s slick
My shoe against the walk
My hair against the comb
My word against the ear
My dream against my fear
The oil is barreling down through the drum
It’s nice
A well fixtured machine
Chews paper by the ream
A record output salt
I’m gonna break them all
I’m revving and I’m hissing like a snail
And I’m hot on history’s tail
The wait is over
The wait is over
The wait is over
What gall
What ball-breaking approach
They’ll take your hat and broach
I take your hand and shake
I spit against your sake
The ladies gasp, I’m slicker all the more
Don’t stare
And don’t speak out of turn
The room is mine you’ll learn
Down to your fancy shoes
I read that handbook too
I’m feasting on your clavicles and cuffs
Ain’t that housewarming enough
You’re tasting older
You’re tasting older
You’re tasting older
Man, you’re slower than you look
Just think of all the geese you’ve cooked
You’re getting older
You’re getting older
You’re getting older
So slick
The narrow sparkly trail
The comet and the snail
You like to watch them both
Don’t lecture me about growth
That’s no star in that shell
|
||||
9. |
Joseph Jones
03:10
|
|||
Have you met the man Joseph Jones?
Black man, rides a rundown bike
You might have seen him downtown when you stepped outside
Well I saw him just the other day
In a parking lot just down the way
He said hello, how are you, could you guess my age?
And I thought I don’t know
But by your looks, I’d say not far from the grave
Joseph says do you like my bike
It gets me round most anyplace
I say "Joe are you outdoors?"
He says "I’m on my way back to my place"
But I know, that’s it’s cold
And Joe means just any place
Joseph Jones knows the boys are rough when they play outside when they play outside
I say "Joe, well that’s just swell
Be warm, be fed, be on your way"
I say "Joe, does it warm you up
When I wrap your arms with blanket statements?"
Later on when I’m back at home
And the Lord is sitting by my bed
He says "Hey, do you like my friend?
The inheritor of my kingdom"
And I say Lord surely not
Cuz he looks like hell And he reeks of pot
And he asked for money But I just refused
Cause he’d probably just spend it on booze
But I hope on earth your kingdom come
When I sing this song, your will be done
He said "Look outside on the ground! Behold my kingdom comes!"
Joseph Jones knows the boys are rough when they play outside when they play outside
|
||||
10. |
Well Enough Alone
04:09
|
|||
Truth told I don’t care for cold, itgets stuck to the inner bone
One thing to be left alone is well enough, when it’s well enough
Pray tell, in the rut you fell did you break bread out of stone?
What had you left had you just left well enough alone
From heights akin to kites I surveyed the mess below
A voice belt from the helter-skelt of two winds that came to blows
Said picking fights is like picking scabs
It just leaves a bloody mess, now look where we’re at
How the flesh is always in a scream, fainter spirit whispering
When we afford the former’s every plea, we divide in tragedy
Hey sister, say, are you well. She said “well enough alone”
A clever line, but the first design concluded two per home
So I corrected her on the phone
There never was a one well enough alone
How the flesh is always in a scream, fainter spirit whispering
When we afford the former’s every plea, we define fair selfishly
And then we begin to speak of sudden ends
Like a voucher good for eighty years got taken from our hands
Now if it were up to me, and you know it really isn’t
Cuz it wasn’t my idea and it wasn’t my decision
This wouldn’t be the story of the tares and the wheat
Where the Lord was being patient for when he separates and reaps
It’d be a Lennonesque figment that was talked up in Imagine
Everybody holding hands, just a singing and a clappin
But it isn’t like that song, it’s a lot more like Get Back
Now imagine that, imagine that, imagine that, imagine that
In my universe each would have their own planet and a sun
Where they would rule over land and creature with no need for anyone
But I didn’t make all this you know
Some thoughts are better left well enough alone
|
||||
11. |
Solstice Grind
03:26
|
|||
Parched with no water
And no shade to hide in
The solstice was grinding
The day was so long I was seared
I suffered one horrific day
In a subpar week
In the makings of what was a pretty good year
Troubles turned fetters, the day clung and tethered
The ledger got redder
Each day thereafter burnt the same
And when I think
Concerning those who’ve seen the sun
And of the troubles for each one, on and on
Toiling solstice grind
Tolling their ever bronzing rind
More so tolling their minds, and my mind, and I mind
Then I recalled one perfect day
In a pretty good week
In the makings of what was a typical year
And when I think
Concerning those who’ve seen the sun
And of the troubles for each one, on and on
Toiling solstice grind
Tolling their ever bronzing rind
More so tolling their minds, and my mind, and I mind
And then I think
How if the rain finds each of us
Both for the just and the unjust
It must only mean one thing
The basis for what’s fair is vain
An invention of the mind, your mind, my mind
You’ll make your living, then shriveled and thinning
You’ll dish it to your kids, and never see how it all fared
Kind of seems silly, to think it fulfilling
Filling then spilling
Each generation just the same
And when I think
Concerning those who’ve seen the sun
And of the troubles for each one, on and on
Toiling solstice grind
Tolling their ever bronzing rind
More so tolling their minds, and my mind, and I mind
And then I think
How we in tragic days do tend
To be short sighted and then forget
He who made the one
Also appointed days gone right
Both having purpose in their time
|
||||
12. |
||||
Lazarus, Lazarus
What's the point of coming out
What was the point of coming out
Lazarus, Lazarus
What's the point of coming out
What's the point of coming out
Lazarus, Lazarus
Who is staying in your house?
|
||||
13. |
Foxhole Down
03:01
|
|||
Roundest moon flutters on the river
Night bird song coasting through heat
Hangs for a moment there
Cascades slowly down the thick air
Landing somewhere by my feet
Waking up bugs try to repeat
A fine night to feel light
A fine time to feel right so I do
You feel it too
What would it take to unknow it
Knowledge soaked in from the wrong tree
Bad seed sunk deep
Fruit bite tidings unsavory
Picking anew from the old tree
Ate up something not for me
The moment in my head
Ingesting not what was said
But what under lied that tongue so tied
Foxhole digging learned the wrong way
Bleeding out cold beneath the old tree
My ugly heart, my ugly heart and me
I set out to unknot, to unknow a thing
I sought out little lies worth unbelieving
Some things sink in beyond quarrying
Some need let die and then reforming
I’m on top of the plot dug for covering
I am just on the cusp of discovering
Foxhole digging and grave digging
Sure look something like the same thing
The moments that I dread
Reconciling what was dead
Through the gap so wide, a tongue so tied
Foxhole digging learned the wrong way
Bleeding out cold beneath the old tree
My ugly heart, my ugly heart and me
|
||||
14. |
Pneumonia
08:31
|
|||
I have this problem where
I’m already measuring how you’ll react
Before I even finish what I was gonna say
I dance around my thoughts like they’re a fire
And if I order my steps
In just the right sequence I could make it rain
And it isn’t a joke, or some poem I wrote
It’s the shadow tracing back to every word I have spoke
Burn brighter
If you can’t fix the house that you were born into
Well, put a match to work and see what fire can do
Cut cleaner
If the hanging fray causes you to cling to the old
Ways and means and methods then the knife was too dull
And so the lesson becomes
How you fix a problem
Can yield a grimmer consequence than what you kept from
I have found this I have found this
A full measure shaken down, spilled over
Was the cup I had drawn
Took me one little tumble and the thing was half gone
Half full is a fool’s assessment when the ledger is red
And the deficit is only ever making ahead
And though a slow motion spill
Looks real cool in a film
In either case the result is typically a mess
I have found this
My soul held a measure and the ledger was null
My feet found a dry place to count in the cold
It’s all coming due now
I felt my sorrow pulling in on the fabric of days
All of time bunched up, converging like a Senator’s blade
And my mind raced over all of everything that happened then
But it halted at the thought of things about to begin
Cause my heart held a ledger and my credits were full
When my feet set to walking out all too alone
My heart held a ledger and my credits were full
When my feet found a soap box to stand in the cold
Now about how one goes on one’s own
Saying hey babe, this place ain’t so cold
Well don’t you know there’s only one of ya
You just might end up with pneumonia
And about how one might slow one’s roll
To an amount down to faking control
Well I guess that would depend on it
The kind of time you want to spend on it
Stand-offing often pays off, but I am pondering
Well, might be stepping down wasn’t really so low
When my feet found a soapbox to stand in the cold
And my lungs were full
Praise be to the Father forever
Who can take a dead thing and make it green
Only ever restoring
My soul held a ledger and he paid it in full
When my root was a dead snag left in the cold
Then the drums kicked in
And I was spilling out some feverish thing
But the amps were cranked up so loud
Well, I didn’t think you’d hear
How about them something or others I had seemed to say
Well maybe listen closer
And I’ll try to sing clear
My tongue held a ledger and my credits were full
When my feet found a soapbox to stand in the cold
My tongue held a ledger and my credits were full
Consequences of grandstanding out in the cold
Now about how one goes on one’s own
Saying hey babe, this place ain’t so cold
Well don’t you know there’s only one of ya
You just might end up with pneumonia
And about how one might slow one’s roll
To an amount down to faking control
Well I guess that would depend on it
The kind of time you want to spend on it
And when it comes to gallows humor it’s a slippery slope
You see you never ask a hangman to show you the ropes
I know you meant it as a “ha ha ha”
You just might end up with a twiney collar
Now about how one goes on one’s own
Saying hey babe, this place ain’t so cold
Well don’t you know there’s only one of ya
You’ll only end up with pneumonia
|
Me Like Bees Joplin, Missouri
Me Like Bees is an indie/alternative rock band from Joplin Missouri and is made up of Pete Burton (lead guitar), Jake Bennett (bass), Luke Sheafer (vocals/guitar), and Lewis Brossman (drums).
Streaming and Download help
If you like Me Like Bees, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp