Get all 8 Wes Weddell releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Pushing Forward, Somewhere in the Middle, Nobody's Flag, The Bushwick Book Club Demos, Vol. 1, By the Side of the Lake, Songs to Get You From Here to There, My Northwest Home, and Battlefields and Broken Deals.
1. |
Pushing Forward
02:54
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Grandma’s grandma wrote in a volume of her notes
That city life was wearing her down
The year was ’52, and the telegraph was new,
And she longed for less than what she’d found
The family headed west on that age-old dreamer’s quest
Looking for a little space and time
The year was ’94, and the frontier was no more,
Still they found no mercy from the grind
Pushing forward, looking back through the clouds
Taking your word this is worth what we’re layin’ out
Some went off to war, some would hold the door,
Some would try to take it as it came
By the year of ’69 we had got the moon in line,
But we held few answers to our name
From the gates of Babylon to the shores of Walden Pond
We build it out and wish to run away
The years will come and go, and the years will let us know
That for all we age we stay the same
The years will come and go, and the years will let us know
That for all we age we stay the same
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2. |
Voyage of the Robert C
03:05
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There was a man from Oyster Bay whose life was of the sea
The fish his friends, the seals defend, a scientist was he
He sailed around the Puget Sound to study the marine
This salty soul at home on Salish Sea
One dark night a storm blew in with swells fifteen feet high
The sails were down at 3am, the wind was whipping by
A vessel speeding straight ahead with nothing there in sight
None onboard would sleep a wink that night
On the sea, bound away, raise the sails, seize the day
On the sea, bound away, raise your sails up high and seize the day
The builders of the Robert C knew she was meant to work
With three-inch portlights peeking through the steel from stem to stern
But Lady Sea is strong and fierce and none can beat her play
When she wants you, she will have her way
All at once a shudder and the ship did roll no more
As if her course had run her up upon a rocky shore
Down below lay shattered glass and water to the knee
None could fathom what the cause could be
It was no rock nor derelict nor any beast at all
A bandit wave, the sea herself had made a giant wall
A frozen ship and frantic crew who thought this was the end
Slowly raised her sails up once again
So if you’re out upon the sea and waves begin to roar
Strike the main and point your vessel far away from shore
Trust unto your trys’l, mates, whatever lies beyond
Chasing your horizon through the dawn
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3. |
Mother of the Trail
03:08
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She walked in the glow of the alpine
As she followed the sky
A long winding path was the vision
She offered with pride
The mountains are forever her home
And though she’d never know the world would see her
As the mother of the trail
Her footsteps still fell in mossy shadow
Her light would prevail
“To know her is to love her
So say we
For just and true and kind of heart
is she”
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4. |
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FAREWELL
Farewell my dear brothers,
Until we meet again
The sweetest songs that we have sung
Will live with us till then
Do not weep when parting, for that I cannot bear
But hold my hand until you know
My love is always there
Farewell my dear sisters
Until we meet again
Our road is long, but we are strong
On that we can depend
If in time we meet no more
Forever to be apart
The bond we share is always there
And know we’re joined at heart
NO ONE CAN SAY
The time is upon us to say fare thee well
Until we meet again
Our moments together still hang in the air
To carry around the bend
Our road is ever winding, and heavy can be the load
No one can say what might come our way
As we set out on our own
Look to the morning, fear not the night
One turns the other around
Take in the wonder, take in the pain
Neither can hold you down
Our road is ever winding, and heavy can be the load
No one can say what might come our way
As we set out on our own
Our song is ever changing, but heavy can be the chord
No one can say what might come our way
As we set out on our own
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5. |
The Valley
05:03
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At daybreak in the valley the flowers start stirring,
The trees stretch their limbs, and the dew fades away
The water runs through it, the people get to it
Season by season, page after page
Some come and some go, some hope and some know
Some count the years past, some look ahead
I came to this valley with little of value
And not much to show me what I’d need to find
Many here taught me, others here fought me,
Some turn up new ways of changing my mind
The rain offers promise, the wind keeps us honest
The sun likes to run up the score sans regrets
The kinship takes tending, the work’s never ending,
And I wouldn’t dare ask for anything less
At day’s end in the valley the sun climbs the hillside
The breeze falls away, and the evening is still
I think of the time when I wanted it easy
Thankful am I that has gone unfulfilled
The more that I weather, the deeper the tether
Some count the years past, some look ahead
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6. |
Thanksgiving
04:15
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We walk on starry fields of white
And do not see the daisies;
For blessings common in our sight
We rarely offer praises.
We sigh for some supreme delight
To crown our lives with splendor,
And quite ignore our daily store
Of pleasures sweet and tender.
Our cares are bold and push their way
Upon our thought and feeling.
They hang about us all the day,
Our time from pleasure stealing.
So unobtrusive many a joy
We pass by and forget it,
But worry strives to own our lives
And conquers if we let it.
There's not a day in all the year
But holds some hidden pleasure,
And looking back, joys oft appear
To brim the past's wide measure.
But blessings are like friends, I hold,
Who love and labor near us.
We ought to raise our notes of praise
While living hearts can hear us.
Full many a blessing wears the guise
Of worry or of trouble.
Farseeing is the soul and wise
Who knows the mask is double.
But he who has the faith and strength
To thank his God for sorrow
Has found a joy without alloy
To gladden every morrow.
We ought to make the moments notes
Of happy, glad Thanksgiving;
The hours and days a silent phrase
Of music we are living.
And so the theme should swell and grow
As weeks and months pass o'er us,
And rise sublime at this good time,
A grand Thanksgiving chorus.
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7. |
The Songs of Spring
03:18
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The songs of spring will always bring
That newborn feel to everything
The days extend, begin again
And maybe this time will go better
The smoke appears the end of June
It makes the sun look like the moon
A heavy haze, the end of days
We used to hold out for our summers
But the seasons change just like we do
They shed their old skins and they leave us behind
We think of it all as a circle
Maybe it’s better to draw your own line
The rains return with autumn breeze
To wash away anomalies
The leaves descend, we pack it in
Try to steer life back to comfort
And when December’s through the door
You can count on the dark and not much more
Our candles burn, we sing, we yearn,
And hope to skate by on tradition
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Wes Weddell Seattle, Washington
For the past twenty years, Wes Weddell has worked multiple shifts in the engine room of Seattle’s roots music scene as frontman, sideman, writer, teacher, and community-builder. "Always heartfelt and well-constructed" ("Seattle Weekly"), listeners have come to expect Weddell's songs to "speak for themselves" ("No Depression"). ... more
Wes Weddell recommends:
The Bushwick Book Club Seattle Volume I
by The Bushwick Book Club Seattle
My fellow Book Club cohorts!
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