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The Long Way Home

by Christopher Nollett

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1.
Sources 02:38
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2.
Pick It Up 05:36
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Frantic Moments, Stolen Time, Regrettable Incident The wall of expectation inside myself Can we make it the end or will it land back on the shelf Life and death struggle to get to the finish And yet the only one watching is the power of resistance Pulse of life running through us Like the leading light that helps me through a dark and dreary night Energy of existence that keeps me going Waning fast as we swallow up all that is sustaining Pattern of expression, a familiar refrain The only great vernacular I was able to form into coherence Tension of the moment meant to impart meaning But the meaning is the scheming and the parting of ways Release of anxiety meant to express relief When we no longer can hold on to all these failing beliefs I move through the crowd with a sense of urgency Need to make my finish to prove my brilliance Or am I too dull to be taken seriously Must overcome diminished expectations Destined to fail cannot be my destiny Strive beyond the sword to remove the fear Of only being so much when I could be so many If I only I can make it through the thistle in my way
3.
Mintons 05:40
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4.
In Violence 06:39
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Tensions building around the hardened battle lines Carved out so long ago, violence You who get up in the morning and hang with us, violence This hunt is over when the lightning strikes Hope and pain divide us all the same Punctuated in the moment we are kicked into overdrive, violence Driving hard on the trail with hardship Tired by the dust and bristled by the sun Suffering the most to usurp the best, violence Relentless recklessness persists A vulgar display perpetuating animosity Perpetuating the spirit of violence
5.
Blue Machinery 03:14
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6.
Other Plans 03:45
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Walking the long way home On cobbles in the dust of delirium To watch the sun go down gently and the moon inch away into a sliver Tracking the past back through the heavens And never the present to lay to waste in our midst Other plans in which we cast our blame And lay our claims on the embodiment of what it is That which will redeem us from the river That could overcome us if we submit to the ideals of others Ways in which to spend our Saturday afternoons To be groomed for another calling Not of our making but of another’s expectations I don’t want it I will be taking another route Finding another path away from the prison At the end of the street block I will walk past the signs that say walk no further I will go off the beaten path with my other plans Not under the thumb of someone so foolish As to have expectations outside of leaving the victim To be the victim of chance Just give it a chance Other plans At last a change, a chance to break the mold
7.
Spirit Condemned 07:26
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8.
No Cards On The Farm 07:00
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Angel I thought you wanted some help Go on and get the carriage wheel fixed And the boy I will pass the time it takes to get repaired in this saloon Until temptation from a familiar old world gets the better of me I tried to settle down but that deck, it was always stacked against me The well that keeps on wishing for it to rain Lay fourth the spoils of your labors contentment Built the burden of a life so full of resentment But if I just had one more chance I could draw that winning hand And instead of settling down merely on this meager land We can rule the range all the cattle having our brand Be the masters of the open land and command It seems better than treading through a poor creatures sand But my vice is wearing the walls of my heart so thin That I collapse in the moment when I need to rise again Take the reins of hope now that the wheel is fixed And if you play my hand for me we just might win If you my love can transform my sin into hope We will be able to harness the rope And pull in the spoils I had always promised But could never pretend I could deliver Inch by inch towards that beautiful spot on the river It can be ours honey, it can be
9.
Cards Dealt 07:49
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10.
Run If You Are For Dinner 03:11
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11.
Mystery Lady 03:28
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Believing something that isn’t real Outward color in the face of rapture The rock they built science out of This stone has got a bone with the way your shaman sees things The miracle that walks the streets that you won’t believe She moves from room to room not so discrete But I cannot put my finger on what it is about her Her elegant dark hair and stunning allure Makes me not care if I become seduced and caught totally unawares For although I can feel the fire I just resist the chance to get burned by her wayward desires And be caught the fool in her trap For the elusive chance to have her right here in my lap The way she makes me feel The coolness of steel and yet her body heat draws me in Like we have the potential to make perfect synergy A common lust as the law binding energy Or a sad tax on the mind bringing the anguish of injury The temptations are all to high And the attraction of separate bodies all too great To wake from the dream and the darkness still of the night And here sweet silhouette is cast against the rainy street But is it an aberration or has she been watching my window From the adjacent roof top
12.
Roadshow Prophet 03:22
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Selling the word, Swindling the populous, Deceiving the devout, Boisterous Orations, Subtle Bullying Spiritual renewal as mass conversion from a peasant prophet Came into the town on the heels of a dream Words of inspiration reset of your spiritual sense Making the lesson and word at the peoples expense Laughing and ridiculing the meager in anticipation of the scheme Mobile Church as Roving Temple in a Plastic Church Hall Far-fetched concepts indoctrinating the gullible masses who dream The cynical taking of the hope of the audience crafted into fire, obscene The self-appointed shaman of the vulnerable and weak will speak Leaving just trail of smoke behind for them to rely on Nothing tangible just the cruel machinations of a wicked facade Storefront as Church as Temple as Church Hall, Chapter and verse The old prayers find foreign company in such haunting passages Turning the holy of holies into a sideshow of the circus Delivering a messiah who is really a clown in rude clothing
13.
Powerful Idiot 05:17
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Oh burning furnace of pain Your bright burden brilliance has cost us comfort and brought us pain We may have walked an icy waste praying for a forest to replace a desert But you followed a mighty scent through the trail to another lost voyage And found a harbinger of perpetual chaos Someone to even the score in a world carved out of fear Seeking to bring you before the mightiest of judges He has left the impression that the only suffering can come from your flame Two weeks with no food or water to speak of would be solace For your bitter heart proof There is no god damn point in criticizing reactionary things The golden token of one voice, one choice The cynical side ways slice of the moment Considering the cake walk you concocted Sacrifices must sometimes be made for the sake of the vengeful Some days you have to give a little more to those who deserve less But for a powerful idiot the power is always more than deserved The reaction always far worse than the reactionary The visionary always be caustic than the vision brought forth in the history The historian always more corrupt than the truth of actual events A moron forges a path for fools yet to come And writes the tone poems for the sentiment Held so dear by the creatures in fear Who have not dulled their senses enough with beer
14.
Talking And Walking Alone 05:20
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Returning to this place, the loneliest of places Where one can be lost in yourself without losing yourself Introspection of his own behavior in hours of contemplation and practicing the craft Fearing that the light may never come again Sorrow over the being passed over yet again Finding solace on the canvas of life and the unshaped sound of quiet Gifts found through time and honing a craft by persistent and relentless effort Yet doubting that he will rise to the moment when the moment needs him the most Leaving his nights so restless and his days so very full of regret Darkness in the day and light somehow in the moonless night Nourishment of the basic need by playing the notes and choosing the moments of impact carefully Between the quiet lonesome excursions and the somber strolls of a melancholy melody And the beating of the drums, a march to go forward and carry on To the intimate conversations of passions plea for understanding and redemption The words to himself why don’t people try to understand me The notes he plays to the ghosts why can’t they take me as I’am Walking carefully throughout the quite house using the void to fill his frustrations To vent about being treated so very unfairly Perhaps he can trap a bit of this sorrows energy Trying to distill the positive and break away from all the negativity Higher purpose and deeper meaning must come from his toiling Not the cheap surrender to the fleeting marketplace or the fickle female A bride may simply never come to the artist who has to continue to believe he is one
15.
Burn The Wire 06:43
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Burn the wire At the front of a stone age stage show Finding a way through the weightless wanderings Losing control in hapless hauntings Should have known getting on with life in theatre would be this daunting It only spoke to me when drama became dharma Made a shrine to the making of a scene And thought I could glean some reason of season from my past Through the creative energy of performance art Instead in proved to be the star of all my troubles And from there I burst the bubbles of my ladies who wanted a hero Where a pedestal had merely been placed underneath an irresponsible upstart To chart the meteoric rise of my all too not so private lives Would have been a task insurmountable in itself So glad I left my heart and wallet on the shelf It would have proved too costly a wager to have And the moments so awkward I could not savor As my business was extricating myself from one lonely heart into another I quietly waited before they became sheep to bring lambs to the slaughter I made my exit stage left on the final night And disappeared down the dark alley way Leaving the broken hearts for another dynamo To bring his bravado to still this show
16.
To A New Home 06:28
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Change of location from home to the far and wide In search of something new to carve a life from A tribe of travelers bound by a need to flee Out a brave new world provided those who join have it to match The wilderness is sanctuary and isolation for the beleaguered mass A place emerging from the unknown and foreboding land Destination the aim or purpose for a brand new start Somewhere for shelter from the elements from all around Response to stimuli thrown at you quickly Have to think fast in a realm that only leaves with guesses Creating the way of working as part of a new tool kit Walking the very fault line of invention where no one has ventured All new things to broaden one’s horizons We share in this drink together to quench the thirst for the new Forged through common cause and adversity Moving forward and rising above Working hard to acquire a skill Individual development to make your mark Redeeming personality to carve out your niche Conscience changes you into a brand new kid Through years of struggle Autonomy to make or break success riding high Experience the what it is what we do
17.
Stranger In A Familiar Place 04:09
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Feeling anxious, Feeling lonely, Feeling isolated, Distracted, Hurting Alienation, Disillusion, Comfort juxtaposed with Discomfort Absent feeling, Looking blankly Diversionary Tactics, Outside Element, False Impression, Unwanted Attention Emotional scars from years of torment Trauma of the mind from hurtful things done and said Fighting off the provocateur who wants to make you the enemy Those appointed by position and standing through avarice Narcissism of the moment for instant gratification Of being unwanted by your childhood peers Repentance of going against the conformist trend Escape from peoples bullshit Sacrificing pleasures that bring you contentment Away from society at large Unwanted by a public of the mainstream movers and shakers Outcast of the world that pulls the switches Fleeing from your place of origination The world you know through thick and thin Banishment from your next of kin Shunned by the public, the judge, jury, and executioner
18.
Best Not Wake Him 05:12
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19.
Old Friends 09:45
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Believing in who we really are Sanctuary from the nay sayers, the passerbys in cars Speaking, Connecting instantly Reliable confidence, Familiar voice, Inherit Sense Like family from the years of being connected Horizons and an experience that runs so deep Sympathy when needed the most in times of personal turmoil Somewhere to go when the wheels come off a car painted the color of an elusive rainbow Empathy of the highest quality cultivated through the years Never running from the sun and embracing all those old fears That we came across long ago when we were too young to know Brutal honesty from having your best interest As compensation for returning every favor Understanding all too well at every moment Even the ones that pain us to much to go there When life is getting you down There is room to let go in this faith Fulfillment of being connected by the familiar and the trusted Not thrusted to the cruel side of this world Trust unrivaled by relentless defense and consistent devotion Independent of judgment when all have discarded you and judged you Open to all that is said when objectivity is key About the wrongs of the past through guilt and redemption
20.
Song For Todd 02:11
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released June 1, 2014

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Christopher Nollett image

Christopher Nollett Lincoln, Nebraska

I started playing guitar at age 13 which got the ball rolling with music as a creative endeavor. There is a wealth of respected musicians cultivating appreciations of established work and things derived from such, my current interest is in advancing my guitar work, developing my drumming, and continued work on crafting textures with synthesizers to expand rhythmic and harmonic possibilities. ... more

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