Marshweed in the Garden

ALBUM CREDITS
All words and music by Heather Lockie. Copyright Hairless Music (ASCAP)
Produced by Clay Chaplin and Heather Lockie
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Clay Chaplin at the Dizzy Gillespie Studios @ CalArts and Studio Ahhhh in Los Angeles, CA
Cover art by Heather Lockie

01-When You’re Young
Heather Lockie – vocals, viola, percussion
Clay Chaplin – organ
Laura Steenberge – acoustic bass, vocals
Sarah Hodges – flute
Shawn Lockie – vocals
Joe Berardi – drums
Max Kutner – electric guitar

02-The Man Behind the Big Mulch Pile
Heather Lockie – vocals, viola, percussion
Clay Chaplin – synths, drum programming, organ, piano
Max Kutner – electric guitar
Joe Berardi – drums

03-Blame it on the Rain
Heather Lockie – vocals, viola, banjo, percussion, rain
Clay Chaplin – synths, organ
Steven van Betten – acoustic guitar, additional vocals
Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir – additional vocals

04-Genius Machine
Heather Lockie – vocals, viola, banjo, percussion, Juno
Clay Chaplin – synths, organ, Juno, mockingbirds
Jake Rosenzweig – acoustic bass
Laura Steenberge – additional acoustic bass

05-Gearin’ Up
Heather Lockie – vocals, viola
Clay Chaplin – wurlitzer, synths
Max Kutner – electric guitar
Joe Berardi – percussion

06-Findr/Keepr
Heather Lockie – vocals, banjo, percussion, Juno
Clay Chaplin – synths, treatments

07-Sad Place
Heather Lockie – vocals, banjo
Clay Chaplin – synths, piano, treatments
Max Kutner – electric guitar

08-Lanterns
Heather Lockie – vocals, viola, piano
Clay Chaplin – synths, treatments
Maggie Hasspacher – acoustic bass
Jenica Anderson – marimba
Joe Berardi – drums

09-Depression
Heather Lockie – vocals, viola, piano
Clay Chaplin – wurlitzer, synths
Maggie Hasspacher – acoustic bass

10-Pink Goodbye
Heather Lockie – vocals, viola, banjo
Clay Chaplin – wurlitzer, synths
Maggie Hasspacher – acoustic bass
Alex Wand – classical guitar
Jenica Anderson – vibraphone
Joe Berardi – drums

11-I Drive East at Sunset
Heather Lockie – vocals, piano, microcassette
Clay Chaplin – synths, treatments
Maggie Hasspacher – acoustic bass
Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir – additional vocals

 

ALBUM LYRICS

When You’re Young
When you’re young but there’s no more growing left to do
Get in your car and drive along the way, and do what grownups do
And when you see a sign it means you’ve forgotten how to read
It means to stop and step into the heat

In the dark we drink some lemonade and coffee
And watch the weeds as they weave around our feet
They shine with soft starlight; they make me crazy with patterns
I never knew, I never knew

The lines are soft, they are parallel
And it is good; the lines connect the people in every other town
To my home, to my home

We ride all night, we speak hardly anything at all
I love you so, i may never speak to you again
In the dark we drink lemonade and coffee
And feel the spark, the endless motion of this journey
We cry all night for what can never ever be again
‘Til dusty light confirms the truth of our position

 

The Man Behind the Big Mulch Pile
Behind the big mulch pile down by the river, under the freeway, that number 5
There lives a man by a chain-link fence, his nightly shelter the LA sky

What does he eat? What does he drink? What does he do to stay alive?
But the bigger question in my mind is: how does he tolerate the noise of the 5?
Doo Doo…

Now I did see him when Clay and I went to shovel mulch from the big mulch pile
To make a garden and grow tomatoes and purple carrots under the LA sky

Now I did see him bringing water, like men have done since the dawn of time
I had to wonder does he have a garden made up of mulch from the big mulch pile?
Doo Doo…

Paper and plastic camouflage the chain link walls of his living room
Just like a brown bird on a branch, I could not see him when he moved

I have a bit of thought to give to what it takes to be alive
Without a heater, no running water, when every night you hide and hide

The plight of man is something more than training water down the path we want
There’s not much more after food and love that I desire that I don’t got
Doo doo…

 

Blame it on the Rain
Hello hello hello hello young growing thing
What did you do to the crack in the rock?
Once so small, now so tall, I hardly know ya.

And I did and I did and I did forget myself
There’s no one else to tend to you
But here you are, a fiery star, and almost blooming.
And you say, “Blame it on the rain.”

And the light and the light and the light and the power to
Promote your growth, invest in you
Takes a heart, it takes art, and it takes time
But mostly, mostly it takes sun.

-PSA-

…and then, someday, you can sing:
“Hello hello hello hello young growing thing
What did you do to the crack in the rock?
Once so small, now so tall, I hardly know ya.”

And I did and I did and I did recognize you when
You were a seed; you grew for me.
Your nutrients will help me too, and my family.

And we sing, “Blame it on the rain”
(“Water when seed is sprouting.
Water first and feed with sun and soil.”)

 

Genius Machine
There’s a machine -chine -chine that farmers have have have
It cleans the seeds seeds seeds before they plant plant plant
And there are men who come in black black black
In black of night to say they can’t.

And this machine -chine -chine is very old old old
Made in eighteen teen teen hundred and twelve twelve twelve
It’s full of cogs and wheels and rotating things
When it was made it was a gene genius machine.

And the men men men, the men in black black black
Have confiscated -ated -ated their own device -vice -vice
Now there’re but six in Illinois -nois -nois
There used to be countless machines.

You see a cor- cor- corporation made made made
A special seed seed seed in a science lab lab lab
This special seed had special properties
Some say this seed, it was a gene genius machine.

“I am the lonely seed. Look at my position now.
Unable to grow, molding in this silo.”

“We are the lonely seeds, impotent next to our brothers.
We don’t care about your food, or laws.
Our power lies in the sun, soil and rain.”

“I dream of the sun.”
“I, the earth and the worms.”
“I, a droplet of water.”
“Plant us.”

Meanwhile villages need in their famine and drought
A release for the hungry who’ve long gone without.
Their children cry, and many die.
It makes no sense that they go without.

A hungry mouth does not cry past a point; he will lie quiet.
We don’t experience this much over here.
We have good roads, we have technology
We have so much to shield us from reality.

Back to the men men men and that machine -chine -chine:
It complicated -ated -ated this whole damn scene scene scene.
It should be helping, not politicizing things that should just grow,
Like nature’s gene genius machines.

Now the gene gene gene in the small genius muh-
Chine is valuable to the industry won’t let the small
Farmers clean the small genius machines
With the seed cleaning genius machines

Now the genius machine cannot clean the genius machine
Now the genius machine cannot clean the genius machine
Cannot clean the genius machine cannot clean the genius
Muh she she she muh muh muh she muh she muh she
Muh she muh she muh muh she muh she she she she
Me me muh she me me etc.

 

Gearin’ Up
I’m gearin’ up to drink that water
That will help me make it through the night
There’s one hour that’s more lonely
Than any should have a right

Today I saw a figure
A beauty on the shore
Ripplin’ in a heatwave
But the lake was nevermore

And I’m gearin’ up to drink that water
That will help me make it through the night
There’s one hour that’s more lonely
Than any should have a right

Sickness is a blessing
It makes your love sublime
But the wing of this little birdie
Is flappin’ quarter-time

Oh my life is a droplet
I have so many drops
But this fever is burning goblets
If I could reach you, help me make it stop

For you, you’re a cold glass of water
You could help me make it through the night
In this hour that’s more lonely . . .

 

Findr/Keepr
I am a finder and a keeper of lost things
A seed blows on the wind, and its random course brings
A new vine where I may have stepped
But now avoid, string and stick prepped to tie and
To tend until it’s crept from sprout to heavy
Blossoming of fruit.

I’ve found creatures wingéd and clawed. Even some men,
Floundering and flawed. I kept them ’til they got re-lost.
A key, a rusty necklace, unhatched egg, a ring.
Half-a-heart charm with a silvery thing dangling from it:
I’ve kept them all. But of the bunch, what I recall-

The wing- the wing- the wingéd thing has been the most
Heartrending. Though it was meant to fly, freedom wouldn’t
Feed it. It was blind and would die, so I took it.
Now on my shoulder, it will sit, when I have time
To spend with it. Because it’s mine.

 

Sad Place
Everybody has a sad place
in their little hearts
and I know what made yours
so sad today. I’m sorry
I couldn’t fix it
for I love you tremendously.

Everybody has a stopwatch
in this blasted town
and I know, mine’s broken too.
And I would fix it
if I knew how.

But just because I don’t know how
to fix a broken watch, doesn’t mean
I can’t tell time. I think it’s time
to take some fresh air for a minute
of this hour. Now wait a second
here on the roof,
you touch my hand so silently.
Away from all the rooms with all the ticking
and the watchful eyes,
out here we can banish all the
sadness from our lives.
In the heat, in the dark,
for my best behavior’s doffed
her azure gown,
we can generate the only
saving labour.

Kiss me dear, there’s no one looking,
Kiss me darling, kiss me now.
Oh my heart is fibrillating; kiss me darling,
Kiss me darling, kiss me now.

 

Lanterns
I chase lanterns in the air
I chase visions through the park
I make love by candlelight
I burn love, a candle bright
I have empires in my blood
I have feelings like a flood
There were some who called your name
There were some who called your name

Can you see through me?
We lit candles in the dark
When there’s fear through me?
Running circles round the park
I know a girl who says she’s strong
Been a woman for so long
A woman for so long

I saw a boy behind a truck
Who wanted nothing less than life
What a mess that whole thing was
I could see for him no god
He had empires in his blood
He had feelings like a flood
There were some who called your name
There were some who called your name

And the man up at the head
Says he wants nothing less than “life”
And the Bible in his hand grants him
God’s grace and given right
He has empires in his blood
He has feelings like a flood
There were some who called your name
There were some who called your name

 

Depression
You’re cheating on me with Depression
I’ve seen her evil way, and I know
Her deception and ability to linger on
And stultify one’s mind.

Insidious is her occupation
I never saw a craft so finely honed
But her mystifying aptitude can quickly
Become tight and overwhelming.

Why won’t you leave her tomorrow?
I’ll give her one more night to have her way.
But I miss you and I love you
And when you come back, I’ll know just what to say.

If you won’t go I’ll have to kill her
I’ll leave her bloody corpse for all the rest.
So that Anger and Jealousy, Dejection and Bewilderment
Can witness the consequence.

 

Pink Goodbye
In the dead of night
We could see the light
Begin to sigh in the sky beyond the trees

With the pink goodbye,
The love that would not cease
To give the fruits of our labours to our hearts is good to
See; that beyond language is a thing, is a thing is a
Real thing

And I say, “Honey, honey, honey.
Honey, honey, honey, you ‘n’ me are like
Honey….”

Right about now, you will be walking down that flagged path
Right about now, you will be talking to uniformed man
At the kiosk at the gate and
Right about now, it will be daylight in the side street
Past the smokestacks and the windows and the sidewalks and the
Fruit stands, with all the things upon them

Right about now, you will be taking out your papers,
And your compass and your ruler, and all the tools you need
To document the data from the glowing screen above you

Right about now, you will be smoking in your break time,
And a thought will light upon you, and you’ll go inside to make a note,
Nah nah nah….

Right about now, I wish that I could be there with you
But I’m glad that you’re gone, leaving me here to stare and wonder
At what happened before dawn, when in the dead of night
We could see the light begin to sigh in the sky beyond the trees.
When with the pink goodbye – the love that would not cease –
The fruits of our labours

 

I Drive East at Sunset
I drive east at sunset.
I do it all the time.
Nuthin’ not to like.

The hills are soft and velvet.
The orange – a gentle sun.
Against my back, my pathway’s lit.

Ahead of me, a blue wash of empty sky.
I drive into sky,
the wind upon my skin.