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A Century Ago

by Darth Nater

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heptaspud
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heptaspud my new fave <3 Favorite track: Great Fire of Thessaloniki.
littleentropy
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littleentropy The Mountain Goats Shitposting Group sent me here, and I couldn't be happier. I speak incessantly to my friends about this album and play it at every available opportunity, and will do so until my friends have purchased it too or until I have no friends. Favorite track: The Winter Palace.
Darth Nater
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davekillcountysmith
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Zhant
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S
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Curtis Duhn
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1.
The Immigrant 03:55
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I have a friend in Southern California We knew each other back home in Georgia Says if I ever come down to Hollywood He can get me an honest job that pays good So I go to the soundstage End up 10 feet from Charlie Chaplin He starts talking and looks less like a person And more like a ventriloquist dummy Isn't it funny? Isn't it funny? They’re pretending to be immigrants I don’t have to pretend They’re the ones in the spotlight I’m the one plugging it in I’m gaffing They’re laughing I’m biting my tongue They’re having fun faking love But this one scene is taking so many takes They made her eat eight plates of beans She might lose her lunch I’ve got a hunch I’ve got a gnawing suspicion No one here has experienced malnutrition I feel mostly bitter but I feel a little glad that there are people in this world who haven’t hurt the way that I have I’m in a theater 10 rows from Charlie Chaplin He looks more alive with black and white skin He says so much more when he’s completely silent That’s the spell of the silver screen People can’t sit still in their seats They giggle uncontrollably And wriggle till they’re free That’s the spell of the silver screen People can’t sit still in their seats They giggle uncontrollably And wriggle till they’re free Shed straightjackets like Houdini It’s not magic I know how it’s done I know how the light enters the lens and the aperture blinks 24 times a second It’s not magic I know how all the effects are achieved But you pull smiles from the trenches like a rabbit from hat And you could have fooled me It’s not magic I know all the tricks But I see old men smiling like kids and just for a moment I believe it exists Just for a moment I believe it exists Just for a moment I believe it exists I believe it exists
2.
Great Fire of Thessaloniki 04:48
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Great Fire of Thessaloniki Great Fire of Thessaloniki Great Fire of Thessaloniki Like the murder of Franz Ferdinand This spark got quickly out of hand A radiant disease spreading through the streets of Greece I brought you into this world and I can take you out They shout as the flames inflate and bounce from house to house Gluttony, pure gluttony, a blazing beast engorged on dreams Eating everything it sees and leaving only suffering Great Fire of Thessaloniki Great Fire of Thessaloniki Great Fire of Thessaloniki Ashes to ashes Petroleum and matches Green canvas patches stitched on your sleeve Ashes to ashes Irrational rations Flash fractured factions smeared with viscous kitchen grease Great Fire of Thessaloniki Great Fire of Thessaloniki Great Fire of Thessaloniki Tell me what do you get when you mix A pile of straw and a strong-willed wind With a spoonful of healthy ambivalence Ten thousand homes burnt to a crisp Even the water supply was burned to the ground There’s irony here, in the midst of a drought There’s firony here, but no peace to be found Poor portmanteaus can’t lift charred mouths But fill those portmanteaus with clothes Mementos of your lives and homes Say goodbye to all that you know Start over with the ones you love most It’s all Greek to me This kind of tragedy It’s all Greek to me This kind of tragedy It’s all Greek to me This kind of tragedy It’s all Greek to me This kind of tragedy It’s all Greek to me This kind of tragedy It makes me sad to read But not as sad as I would be if I had lived in Greece in 1917 during the Great Fire of Thessaloniki Great Fire of Thessaloniki Great Fire of Thessaloniki Great Fire of Thessaloniki
3.
Smokey Joe Wood 07:06
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Leather glove folded up Launching phantom fastballs from the back of mass Your cork core heart wrapped in yarn Unwound with the sound of each cracking bat From the mound of a mining town From coal to diamond From Ouray to Boston You throw so hard your comet arm nearly flies off your body A shooting star, a meteor, a great big ball of fire And the umpire shouts Out! One of the girls Bloomers and pearls Barnstorming yards from Modesto to Blue Hill Till you make your way to a greater stage It’s 1908 and the world is yours to take You throw so hard your comet arm nearly flies off your body A shooting star, a meteor, a great big ball of fire And the umpire shouts Out! Take me out to the ball game Take me out to the crowd Buy me some peanuts and cracker-jacks Watch out old chap for that patch of wet grass But you slip and you fall and you stay down Your hand's in crippling pain It only takes one strike in this unforgiving life called the old ball game Gasps fly from the stands like they're foul balls Things will never be the same You’ve hit the holy trinity, three strikes in one At the old ball game You can accept your fate but your stats will still tank Cause you're out, you're out of the game You peaked at 22 I’m turning 22 soon I don’t know what to do Help me You peaked at 22 I’m turning 22 soon You're no babe ruth But you're still you So sit out a season and get sold to Cleveland Rise like a Phoenix and hit like a demon You may not make it into the hall of fame But I guarantee we'll remember your name We'll remember your name We'll remember your name We'll remember your name It's not like it was but it's not nothing either It's hard to be a senator when you used to be a caesar You'll never be great but you can be good again You'll never be great but you can be good again You'll never be great again but you can be good Smokey Joe Wood, against all likelihood You burnt your flame out but the embers still sprout smoke Make the most of this joke Make the most of this joke Make the most of this sick, sick joke Make the most of this sick, sick joke Make the most of this sick, sick joke Make the most of this sick, sick joke Make the most of this sick, sick joke Make the most of this sick joke
4.
Lawrence of Tremadog 04:34
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The best fighters make the worst soldiers I’m older than I was last year I’m older than I was when I said “I’m older than I was last year” The worst soldiers make the best foes I’ve shed more blood than you know I’ve reaped more than I’ve sown No messages, no instructions No superiors, no meals, no liquor, no repercussions More wars than not I’m sure are fought on dishonest grounds On dishonest grounds More wars than not I’m sure are fought on dishonest grounds On dishonest grounds The smallest armies have the highest hopes The loosely trained have the tightest hold Some of us lust for blood Some for gold Some for going home The hottest deserts have the coldest nights How can I see if what I did was right When every step I take is erased By wayward breezes Delinquent winds afflicted with helix seizures Spiral to infinity Like the staircases in the library of Alexandria Spires brighter than the sun Oh Alexandria Oh Alexandria The sand blows in our eyes and there’s frightening things on the horizon The sand blows in our eyes and there’s frightening things on the horizon The sand blows in our eyes and there’s frightening things More wars than not I’m sure are fought on dishonest grounds On dishonest grounds More wars than not I’m sure are fought on dishonest grounds On dishonest grounds More wars than not I’m sure are fought on dishonest grounds On dishonest grounds I know where the lines are drawn, I know where the mines are laid But I cannot say I cannot say
5.
Bere Ferrers 06:00
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Captain please We’ve had nothing to eat since 6 this morning The boys won’t admit it But their stomachs are rumbling fiercer than an Albatross engine Bone thin with fish skeleton ribs Singing submerged hymns to Poseidon Hiding train track tridents I survey the brittle troops One paws through a pocket sized bible Another stares at his shoes The former is holy but the latter is too I make a note get him a new pair soon A third boy scribbles nervously in a notebook making sure no one looks No one does We’re all gripping our guns We’re all stuck in our own heads All we see are blurry trees And all we dream of is our beds The weddings that we’ll miss And the funerals we wish we did Innumerable grievances Shove them in the deepest trench pit of your stomach This is the first of many hundred You are one in a million Shed your civilian skin I was sick of home now I'm homesick I was chomping at the bit now I just wanna sit on a Grovetown porch Gorging myself on homemade biscuits and local gossip But I am trapped in a cage filled with whitebait When I was their age I would have swam far away Afraid of the nets that lie in wait Afraid of ending up on a plate garnished with parsley and sage Look before you jump, before you leap Before you cross the street When weaving steel tracks cleave these the foreign grasslands Hit like a heart attack No chance to react Slammed shut in a bear trap The lightning and the thunderclap Like the staccato snap of a dance troupe’s taps Or the snares drums in a marching band Ever so slightly offbeat Too slight to perceive or adjust your feet You are only a human being You are only a human being Shorter than the time between the pitch and the hit When the gas is poured and the match is lit In the time it takes to catch a bullet in your teeth Shorter than the reign of King Louis the 19th Shorter than the time between the pitch and the hit When the gas is poured and the match is lit In the time it takes to catch a bullet in your teeth Shorter than the reign of King Louis the 19th I do not believe in fate I am he of little faith By the time the train made it to Exeter’s gates They were 12 men short and two hours late Give me something to blame Give me something to hate Give my pain a form and shape and let me swing away Give me someone to blame Give me someone to hate Give my pain a face and name and let me swing away
6.
Jeannette Rankin 04:50
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This is a song for Jeannette Rankin This first US congresswoman She jumped a train without a clue where it would end And my story starts on the day she left the station Remote farmyards, street corners, church potluck suppers Unventilated one-room schoolhouses in on the summit of summer They were few yet devout, they came out armed and ready Not with guns or swords but with impassioned support Hands as calloused as their stances Home spun dresses peppered with prairie dust Mud studded and sweaty She spoke to them and she listened But she listened more than she spoke She had one mouth and two ears she used to hear their fears and hopes This one's for you Jeannette Rankin This first US congresswoman This one's for you Jeannette Rankin This first US congresswoman We do the same work We till the same fields We built the kitchens in which we cook their meals We bale the same hay We dig the same holes What do we have to show? We put the suffer in suffrage I know it’s not fair But I'm going down to Washington Won't you follow me there? There's no telling the plateaus you can climb to when the real housewives of rural Montana are behind you There's no telling the plateaus you can climb to when the real housewives of rural Montana are behind you This is a song for Jeannette Rankin I don't care if you're a man or woman A venomous feminist or chauvinist pig It took a lot of courage to do what Jeannette Rankin did This is a song for Jeannette Rankin I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican A gelatinous pacifist or sadistic villain It took a lot of courage to do what Jeannette Rankin did Opposed an otherwise unanimous decision She couldn’t have had a more unpopular opinion Tasked to speak on behalf of half the population Never wavered face to face with Woodrow Wilson's declaration She waited, patient, for her name to be called Stood tall and resigned like a lightning rod on a golf course As it’s starting to downpour I wish to stand for my country but I cannot vote for war No, I cannot vote for war The war to end all war What do you take me for?
7.
Fatima 05:26
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It’s in the tribune again I can’t stop thinking about it I see her in my sleep I dream about her floating in the Portuguese breeze I need to see it for myself I need to see it for myself I need to see it for myself My heart is buoyant but my mind’s weighed down with doubt I need to figure this thing out for myself It’s not that I think that they’re lying but they’re just kids Raised on stories of Saul’s road to Damascus wearing Bram Stoker’s worst nightmares like handcuffs White lies grow like magical beanstalks And spread seeds like Columbus spread smallpox I need to see it for myself I am a man of science I am a man of faith How I contradict myself in a myriad of ways I am a man of science I am a man of faith How I contradict myself in a myriad of ways But show me just one person who’s got it all straight And I’ll jump from Mount Torre and lay prostrate till Judgment Day It’s not that I think that they’re lying but they’re just kids Held hostage by their own imaginations And perhaps prone to exaggerations Stubborn as the rock formations that line the golden coast of Portugal Are their intentions pure? How can I know for sure until I see it for myself? I need to see it for myself I need to see it for myself I need to see it for myself I need to see it for myself I need to see it for myself I need to see it for myself I need to see it for myself I need to see it for myself I’ve watched diseases grow in Petri dishes Blind to the naked eye yet palpable and vicious I believe there is more in existence than scientists could ever witness I need to see it for myself I’m leaving for Fatima on the 12th I’m leaving behind everything else I need to see it for myself I need to see it I am a man of science I am a man of faith How I contradict myself in so many a myriad of ways Like the pyramids of Giza, Egypt Pharaohs’ tombs and desert leeches Refuge in the Nile river Jars of hearts and lungs and livers Turned to dirt by time and pressure Sphinxes guard immortal treasure Overkill by any measure Who would want to live forever? Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Please don’t fool us foolish people The world is good, the world is evil Will revelation have a sequel?
8.
Silvertown 03:35
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Second shift at the factory Hot as all Hell These high-grade explosives Aren’t going to make themselves Jules Verne at the Curzon Made me think of you I know you’re fighting the good fight But do you really have to? We’re strong, sensible and fit We’re out to show our grit Till the khaki soldier boys come marching home I sit beside a window Watching the mangy german shepherds playing in the snow And deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep down i know you’re not returning I can feel the whole earth turning I can smell something awful burning They could see the fires from Guildford They could see the fires from Maidstone They could hear us up in Norfolk and along the Essex coast They could see the fires from Guildford They could see the fires from Maidstone They could hear us up in Norfolk and along the Essex coast Could you see the fires from Belgium? Could you see the fires from the battleground? Could you hear us in the French trenches above the sound of machine guns?
9.
The Winter Palace 05:04
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Threshing discontentment like a farmer after harvest Swarms of starving artists, grandmothers, and Marxists Or a cloud of zealous locusts that leave the pastures ravaged If the Czar will take his time, then we will take advantage Heaping discontentment like an army gathering weapons Hoards of hungry children act as ammunition A young man with a vision boards a billowing locomotive An idealistic look about him Stacks of half-read books surround him Bound for Petrograd Where there’s good times to be had Cause angry mobs of people congregate and curse the winter palace A resolution remains to be seen A revolution is brewing in the streets Nicholas, are you brooding in your keep Nicholas, are you squirming in your seat You should be I would be Let the tsarina speak Nicholas the bloody Your people and your country know not what they need They need the monarchy Let your brother speak Nicholas the second You had more chances than most get And you wrecked it Here come the Bolsheviks Grand duke Michael Alexandrovich, in a letter to his brother: The unrest grows; even the monarchist principle is beginning to totter; and those who defend the idea that Russia cannot exist without a Tsar lose the ground under their feet, since the facts of disorganization and lawlessness are manifest. A situation like this cannot last long. I repeat once more - it is impossible to rule the country without paying attention to the voice of the people, without meeting their needs, without a willingness to admit that the people themselves understand their own needs. You ruled over roughly 15% of the earth’s landmass That must have been a difficult thing to do But not as hard as it was for your daughters Restrained and helpless as Yakov shot you I don’t know what it feels like to have subjects, let alone ones that revolt But I’d imagine it’s something like getting dumped by 100 and some odd million people at once
10.
Love Field 03:08
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Up here my mind head is clear as the air Down there the people look like scuttling insects Indistinguishable from the tiny specs of dust on my windshield Is this how it feels Is this how it feels to be a god? If I had to guess, it’s probably not The fog is rolling in The wind is whistling The beads of sweat that collect on my palms are brightly glistening And I finally understand why the cardinal sings You would sing too if you had two wings I’m not sure of anything But the altitude eases my more morbid inklings When I was a child a bee stung my leg My brother poured apple cider vinegar on it It still hurt like hell but it hurt a little less He did the best he could with what he had to work with It may be the adrenaline or lack of oxygen The whole world collapses into scraps of little consequence All that’s left is the ocean rolling out to infinity I know it ends but it’s infinite to me The closest thing to forever that I’ll ever see The closest thing to forever that I’ll ever see
11.
The First (And Last) Queen of Hawaii 03:38
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Unclear greetings Eyes dry and stinging Our clothes soak up more smoke every second Each dancing tendril returns our investment Someone should tell that moth it's wasting its time Do you wanna do that or should I? Ink and paper Salt and water vapor I can taste the future You can read the cave spurs Tomorrow tastes like lizards and butterflies The stalagmites spell words we’ll never recognize And read like braille descriptions of the ocean floor A vague afterlife no eyes have seen before You played by the rules And got royally screwed You had a whole lot to lose And I still do You played by the rules And got royally screwed You had a whole lot to lose And I still do Goodbye For now, forever Paradise is better off but we’re still draped in black sackcloth Where does the moth go when the flame burns out How far can the wind blow the ashes till they drown Where do we walk when molten rock flows over our old familiar routes What’s left of the crown that they stole and melted down Goodbye For now, forever Paradise is better off but we’re still draped in black sackcloth Goodbye For now, forever Paradise is better off but we’re still draped in black sackcloth
12.
History Repeats 04:06
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Stand up see history repeat Sit down see history repeat Go out see history repeat Stay home see history repeat On the newspaper, radio, tv to galaxy screen Give up, dig in and see history repeat Ink on my fingertips Shooting pain in my wrists Carpal tunnels mining coal Black lung tantrums human moles Pickaxe and you shall receive Get trapped and you shall bleed Dry heave my words when they try to sink deep Tapeworm cassettes form loops and never leave

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12 songs inspired by people, places, and events from the year 1917.

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released March 31, 2018

Written and produced by Nate Noworyta

Ukulelephant - Vocals
Alec Miller - Clarinet & Flute
Matt Broconier - Trumpet
Danusia Beatz - Drums

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Darth Nater Buffalo, New York

Funny songs. Sad songs. Funny, sad songs.

Darth Nater is the solo project of Buffalo-based musician Nate Noworyta.

Lyrically dense story-songs filled with detailed imagery and characters. Musically rooted in folk and indie rock. ... more

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