Get all 9 Cornelius Eady releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Withstand EP, Withstand (single), THE STERLING BROWN PROJECT: CORNELIUS EADY & ROUGH MAGIC with Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Threnody, WHEN YOU GO TO SLEEP, DO YOU THINK YOU'LL WAKE UP IN AMERICA?, DECEMBER, CHEAP HOTEL EP, Seven Songs EP, and 1 more.
1. |
Night On The Town
02:35
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Night On The Town
Words and Music: Cornelius Eady
I’ve procured some money
And a brand new suit.
C’mon, baby let’s play this night
As sweet as a flute.
Just you and me, baby,
It’s past time to shake and sin.
Cmon, baby let’s find out
What mood the bouncer is in.
Night on the town.
I’ve procured some money
And a brand new hat.
I wanna see your body
Moving under that.
Call up central casting
Tell the electricians to keep
The house lights dim.
Hey, Mr. Bartender,
It looks like your ship come in.
Night on the town.
And if someone don’t like it,
We’ll just turn the other cheek.
You’re bound to be a little wired
After tamping it down all week,
Bound to be a little angry
Watching your life float up the creek.
I’ve procured some money
And a brand new tie.
I wanna see it flying on a dance floor
And that’s no lie.
Sweet, sweet night,
Monday morning just far enough away.
Got the coin of the realm,
Got the home truths at bay.
Night on the town
CE: Acoustic Guitar, Vocal
Charlie Rauh: Lead Acoustic Guitar
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2. |
Twilight Is The Hour
03:15
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Twilight Is The Hour
Words and Music: Cornelius Eady
The lamps in Bryant Park glow like fireflies
Duende floats under the trees.
A group of poets sing the blues
To fill in the space where you ought to be
Twilight is the hour of the Motherless Child
Another man gone, gone down that lonesome mile.
Twilight is the hour.
There’s a tongue we use to let things go
There’s a song that we shake at danger.
There’s a way to wash a body down,
Even if he’s a stranger.
Twilight is the hour of the Motherless Child
Another man gone, gone down that lonesome mile
Twilight is the hour.
There are words that we use to follow a hearse,
A prayer to un-jumble the mad universe.
The poets breathe Trayvon into the wind.
It could happen to you like it happened to him.
For Trayvon Martin
CE: Acoustic Guitar, Vocal
Lisa Liu: Lead Acoustic Guitar
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3. |
A Poor Boy's Tune
01:55
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A Poor Boy’s Tune
Words and Music: Cornelius Eady
I want something to eat,
Shoes on my feet,
Take my eyes from the floor.
I want some smarts in my head,
A roof and a bed,
Cold cash, and a lock on the door.
Is this asking for the moon?
Is this world so ruined
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?
Well, it’s a poor boy’s tune,
Politely asking you
A legal way out of this fix.
I want a clean shirt on my back,
To drive a Cadillac,
I’m not going to tell you that I don’t.
Brush this life like dust from my shoes,
Give me a break, and see if I won’t.
Well, it’s a poor boy’s tune,
Politely asking you
A legal way out of this fix.
Is this asking for the moon,
Is this world so ruined
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?
CE: Acoustic Guitar, Vocal
Charlie Rauh: Lead Electric Guitar
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4. |
Markin' Time
02:37
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Markin’ Time
Words and Music: Cornelius Eady
I was walkin’ down Lonely Street
Checkin’ out the empty storefronts
When this woman walked up to me
She said “It’s heaven or it’s hell, and what’s the difference?
This world ain’t gonna rhyme
It’s a big DEAD-END sign
You think you’re doing so fine
But you’re just markin’ time.”
I said, “lady, it ain’t my fault,
This mess was around when I got here.”
Well, she looked me over from head to toe
Then run me down with a voice so clear
She said, “if I had a mop,
Well, I’d just wipe you up,
If I had a broom,
I’d sweep you out the room.”
We were loitering on Lonely Street,
Two romantic fools at the oven’s door.
The sky overhead was billowing red,
Money and oil on the killing floor.
She said “the authentic muse
Wears bright ballroom shoes.”
We tap danced down the street,
As the horns got ready to sound the retreat.
CE: Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica, Vocal
Lisa Liu: Lead Acoustic Gutar
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5. |
The Old Married Couple
04:30
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The Old Married Couple
Words and Music: Cornelius Eady
The old married couple
Was sitting out on the stoop,
Above their heads the ozone hole,
The stars arced in bright,
Indifferent loops.
She gave him a kiss,
A tiny headline
The news was sure to miss.
A quiet moment in the scuffle
Just an old married couple.
This is the way the real life goes
A coffee cup, a mailbox filled with bills.
This is the real life, heaven knows,
Holes in your socks, and a
Secret war of wills.
He gave her a kiss
For all the other times he knew he’d surely miss
Coming up in the struggle
Just an old married couple.
The old married couple
Was dreaming in their bed,
Their bodies contradicting
All the angry words they’ve said.
Their bodies spooned into a kiss,
A small detail the untrained eye would miss.
A confession under covers
Just an old married couple.
CE: Acoustic Guitar, Hamonica, Vocal
Lisa Liu: Lead Acoustic Guitar (left channel)
Charlie Rauh: Lead Acoustic Guitar (right channel)
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6. |
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Mose
Poem: Sterling A. Brown
Music: Cornelius Eady
Mose is black and evil
And damns his luck
Driving Mister Schwartz’s
Big coal truck.
He’s got no gal,
He’s got no jack.
No fancy silk shirts
For his back.
But summer evenings
Hard Luck Mose
Goes in for all
The fun he knows.
On the corner kerb
With a sad quartette
His tenor peals
Like a clarinet
O hit it Moses
Sing att thing
But Mose’s mind
Goes wandering---
And to the stars
Over the town
Floats, from a good man
Way, way down ---
A soft song, filled
With a misery
Older than Mose
Will ever be.
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Cornelius Eady New York, New York
Cornelius Eady is the author of 8 books of poetry, lives in NYC and is the co-founder of Cave Canem. The band Rough Magic came out of the sessions for his CD/Chapbook BOOK OF HOOKS. (Kattywompus Press, Jan. 2013)
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