Get all 19 Great Lake Swimmers releases available on Bandcamp and save 45%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Uncertain Country (Acoustic) EP, Uncertain Country, The Legend Of Bobby Bird (Art Bergmann Cover), Live At The Redeemer 2007, When We Last Shook Hands: Cover Songs Volume 1, Live In Ottawa At The 27 Club 2019-10-03, Getting To The Heart Of It / Where Are You / Thursday, Getting To The Heart Of It, and 11 more.
1. |
Uncertain Country
04:11
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Real or imagined, it hardens into habit
Stains on a Saturday, watch it burn away
Heart flush with heaviness under the heavens
Hovering above a feeling
Can’t reach it
Uncertain country shifting underneath
Couldn’t see it coming or where it’s coming from
In the air, in the clouds, long gone
Beyond belief
Can’t reach it
Uncertain country
Uncertain country
Rusted machinery, language and battery
Years sitting idle, fading in front of me
Steel fingers in the earth determining its worth
Bones on the surface left to weather
Pulled into the future, now what are you supposed to do
Passed just as fast, the eye to pull the future through
Living in the present, in the moment
Not ahead, not behind, or below
Can’t reach it
Uncertain country
Uncertain country
Heat of the lucky sun against the endless mile
Sweat of the thought, pathways away from here
Break logic, automatic, animal
Dirt, trees, hungry teeth
Sinking in
Thinking out of bounds and what will happen after
With the picture out of focus, blurred and clouded over
Static in the frame, and with a stutter
Not in flight, on the road, on foot
Can’t reach it
Uncertain country
Uncertain country
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2. |
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Big smoke in the rear view
Escape and relief in a packed bag
I’m slipping back to the country
And I won’t come back again
Fast forward, hit rewind
Still rolling in my mind
Take a minute, maybe a few
Open your eyes, now where are you
Where are you
Where are you
When the storm has passed
And they want you to be the same as you are
A thought before dawn
It’s in the eyes, that’s where the weather is
That’s where the weather is
In your eyes, that’s where the weather is
Fast forward, hit rewind
Still rolling in my mind
Take a minute, maybe a few
Open your eyes, now where are you
Things are changing, maybe for good
I would hold on if I could
Take a breath, one or two
Fuel yourself with something true
Something true
Something true
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3. |
I Tried To Reach You
04:28
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I tried to reach you
When heaven came offering
Bearing arrows and blades in the back
Endlessly floating away
And the night dissolves
And the wolves cry out
The Aurora lights up the sky
And the snow still falls
I tried to reach you
So far into the blue
Being rattles headlong
Being battles a breath being drawn
And the night dissolves
And the wolves cry out
The Aurora lights up the sky
And the snow still falls
I tried to reach you
I tried to reach you
I tried to reach you
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4. |
Since January
00:20
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5. |
Swimming Like Flying
03:24
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She said swimming’s like flying
Yeah that’s what she told me
Then she dove in the water
And did the butterfly
I said flying’s like falling
I was being obtuse
When I fell by the lakeside
Near the silver spruce
Swimming like flying like falling
Falling like flying like swimming
I went back to the Hillside
To dry off in the sunlight
I was thinking of flying
And my mind took flight
Fly away over the ocean
Fly away over the sea
Dive and find a blue marble
And bring it back to me
Swimming like flying like falling
Falling like flying like swimming
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6. |
On A Ship
00:15
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7. |
Moonlight, Stay Above
04:14
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Shadows, get behind
Darkness, stay away
And leave me
Leave me alone
Moonlight, stay above
That I might find the way
Don’t strand me
And leave me alone
Has the beast been lost
In a watery fight
To make it right
Or hope to reach
A golden peach
On a gauzy Friday night
Drawing through
The last look that I have
Am I lucid enough
Is it obvious
Right in front
This whole time
Am I looking hard enough
And loving good enough
And rising high enough
To know you this way
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8. |
Riverine
04:09
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Your deep lines, your edges, the way you curve
You pass by crossroads with no return
And come down in springtime to tell you the truth
Your branches, your breakthroughs, you draw me into you
Riverine, riverine, changing into something new
Riverine, riverine, I’ll learn how to swim in you
Riverine, riverine, though I can’t keep up with you
Riverine, riverine, flowing into something new
You wander, meander, and take your time
One moment, expanding, a coursing line
Held in the current of your endless thrum
Impossible to harness and hardly a word said
The surge of your contours, your fluency
You move and you move me, again and again
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9. |
Quiet Before The Storm
04:35
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Far into the woods, I heard the calls
Passageways of rain and drought in the rings
Flashes of light, mighty granite
Incapable, then fixed, hollow and a shelter too
Quiet before the storm, the quiet before the storm
I turn a thought toward the void
The quiet before the storm
I called out and it called back, assuring that it was there
Echoes of identity, endlessly
Trees to rock, and rock to trees, and where it followed
Deep within the undergrowth, eyes blazing out
The steady sun begins again, heavy, ripe, red and full
In slow explosions, all directions, everything in a blur
Where nothing matters, nobody speaks, and nobody answers to a name
Where nothing strikes as wholly as the silence does, with perfect aim
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10. |
Into It
00:12
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11. |
Promise Of Spring
02:53
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You showed up when you said you would
Green as a measure of new breath
Snaking vein of invisible ink
A promise of spring, when the light grew
And I grew too, becoming again
A slip, a shot, a scion
You arrived as a faun from the bramble
Promise of spring, in a new light
Shot spring
Shot spring
Slipping in on the floor of the valley
Slow advance to the vernal
Blooming hands in rushes of fire
From a dream to a new call
Lines collapsing and expanding
We were in sharper relief
A shot in the dark, as a faun from the bramble
Promise of spring, coming back to life
Shot spring
Shot spring
A promise of spring, a promise of spring
A promise of spring, a promise of spring
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12. |
Think, Think
00:24
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13. |
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It’d swallow it all up
Given the chance
And care the least
In the circumstance
Lupine, ursine, leonine
Yellow feral eyes
Feeding back, but not a word
Respect for the pack
And the sleuth, and the flock, and the pride
Respect for all living things, being what they are
Vulpine, oscine, aquiline
Ate the whole world up
And don’t even think why
Heavy scenes in heavy eyes
Respect for the pack
And the sleuth, and the flock, and the pride
Respect for all living things, being what they are
What they are
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14. |
Flight Paths
03:27
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When your orbit swung in close
And words became knots
When they broke loose in a flood
I was with you then
I am with you now
When the pack escaped
From that deep place
The horizon a blur
Of colour and fur
And legs moved on
Carried on beyond
The bridges reached
Under ceilings so low you had to crawl
I was with you then
I am with you now
Refracted light
Glance from your cuts
From your better sides
Your orbit swung out wide
Before it returned
And daylight congealed
Dances danced
Hands won and lost
I was with you then
I am with you now
When the nets came in
And the map was changed
And the targets moved
And the language lost
I was with you then
I am with you now
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15. |
Am I Floating In The Air
03:37
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I don’t mind the hours
I’m thankful for the work
Living on the line
Breaking down my mind
Burning out my arms
Staying on my feet
I don’t mind the sun
I don’t mind the heat
Guess it doesn’t matter
To pay it any mind
The more you move ahead
The more you fall behind
Falling into line
A worn and weary stare
Am I still alive
Am I floating in the air
Double negatives
Positively wrong
Is this all there is
Or is it all a con
Bargain for the night
Try to get to sleep
Wake up in a sweat
Get up and repeat
Guess it doesn’t matter
To have a fit and start
The more you move ahead
The more you fall apart
Falling into line
A worn and weary stare
Am I still alive
Am I floating in the air
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Great Lake Swimmers Toronto, Ontario
Tony Dekker’s music spans two decades as the lead singer and songwriter of Great Lake Swimmers. Over eight albums, multiple EPs, live shows and reissues, the Toronto-based group with a revolving cast of players has established itself as a beloved indie folk act in their native Canada and beyond. Great Lake Swimmers was shortlisted for the Polaris Prize and nominated twice for the Juno Awards. ... more
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