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The Ides (Full Album)

by Me Like Bees

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1.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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

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released July 9, 2013

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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).

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