Get all 8 Kye Alfred Hillig releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of In All Colors Singing Back, The Dog Lying Down, Fossil, Great Falls Memorial Interchange, The Buddhist, Real Snow, Together Through It All, and Aurora.
1. |
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I was on my way to you
I was almost there
I could almost feel your breath as I climbed the stairs
And as I reached the top I could almost see
I was on my way to you when something intervened
I was on my way to you
You were in my reach
Wild strands of your hair strewn across the beach
I thought if I followed them I knew where they’d lead
I was on my way to you when something intervened
You think you know where you’re going?
I thought I did too
But then something happened on my way to you
I wish I had got there
It wouldn’t let me through
Oh, sometimes it’s fate that turns and points at you
I was on my way to you
There was nothing else
But a starving hunger there (it was all I felt)
I don’t want to wake up
Oh, please let me dream
I was on my way to you when something intervened
I was on my way to you
Like a love-sick dog
Your scent was all I knew come through the fog
And then I felt the tug of my ending leash
I was on my way to you when something intervened
You think you know where you’re going?
I thought I did too
But then something happened on my way to you
I wish I had got there
It wouldn’t let me through
Oh, sometimes it’s fate that turns and points at you
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2. |
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A coal mining town- back when I was young
Followed a trail of crumbs to get to know someone
Like if I said my prayers I could raise belief
But the castles’ flies just crushed beneath my feet
And on Church Street you asked for the truth
Well ok, I grew up and I grew out of you
And I’m too tired to lend a hand
Or raise a trumpet in your marching band
But go on raise your baton again
Drank the cooler clean- stumbled up the stairs
Listening for a clue- it was never there
And when the curtain fell it landed on me
Not that you would have seen (No, not that you wold have seen)
And on Church Street you asked for the truth
Well ok, I grew up and I grew out of you
And I’m too tired to lend a hand
Or raise a trumpet in your marching band
But go on raise your baton again
And now your door unlocks for almost any key
You put the birds in a cage- now all they do is scream
You’re the decade’s ghost who’s only here-
To shake a finger at love before you disappear
And on Church Street you asked for the truth
Well ok, I grew up and I grew out of you
And I’m too tired to lend a hand
Or raise a trumpet in your marching band
But go on raise your baton again
And in your room of mirrors I saw a million Me’s
Oh! What a sad army (Oh, what a sad army)
But they don’t throw parades for the way I think
They just hang me high or they sit and blink
And on Church Street you asked for the truth
Well ok, I grew up and I grew out of you
And I’m too tired to lend a hand
Or raise a trumpet in your marching band
But go on raise your baton again
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3. |
To Be Good
04:04
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Just cause you’ve lied does that make you a liar for the rest of your days?
Like it don’t matter what you say or do you’re incapable of the truth?
Did you hurt someone?
Did you break them down?
Did you turn your back on a friend?
Well, we’ve all done wrong
Even if we hid it like it is gone
Even if we’d never do it again
Well, ‘to be good’ what does that mean?
Can you explain it to me?
Like this whole world can be just split in two
Like there’s the others and then there’s you
Like to be you is to be good
Like to be good is to be you is to be good
Just cause you’ve killed does that make you a killer like some badge you can’t erase?
Like you should be strung up from the nearest tree
Like you should never be free
Did you steal from love?
Did you make a mistake?
Did you say something you can’t withdraw?
Well, we’ve all been there
Even if we acted like we didn’t care
Even if we slept inside the mob
Well, ‘to be good’ what does that mean?
Can you explain it to me?
Like this whole world can be just split in two
Like there’s the others and then there’s you
Like to be you is to be good
Like to be good is to be you is to be good
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4. |
Throwing Up
03:21
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And can you still believe in love?
Even though it’s shown no God above you?
Can you still find truth?
And can you still feel me, dear?
Even though you go out with other men?
Can you still find me in them?
And could you find the kindling in the cold?
Did you use the loose letters from our college years?
Oh, if you could only burn tears
This Earth’s a crypt of a once beautiful song
And I’m walking through it harmonizing with a voice that is gone
They say, “chin up”, but I swallow it down
But it ain’t enough…I just throw up
And can you still walk the house?
And settle down for dinner?
Oh, is there someone there?
Who sits in my chair?
And did you see the head hung on the Wall?
Does it gasp or laugh or do you pay it no mind?
Dust it off sometime
And did you bury deep in a strangers eyes the evidence of better times?
Did it cover well or did it start to smell?
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5. |
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Out in the darkness (we’re out in the darkness) where hands can reach no light
Our holy bodies yearn crucified
And who knew that only touching could break?
You two twisted up in the wreckage of lust born new
I was only waiting on you
(I was only waiting on the face of death to grin too)
Do you want her to drink you back to life?
And if you please her the darkness needs her to cum for hell unwinds
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6. |
In Tandem
03:00
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This old park bench that I’m sitting on
Is so much lonelier since you’ve been gone
And I’m saving a spot for somebody new
And it’s a world built for two
The telephone is a dusty machine
‘Cause someone has to call if it’s ever to ring
And it’s a testament to an ugly truth
And it’s a world built for two
And in tandem it’s an easier ride
Someone helps peddle when you’re tired of life
It’s all up hill now and I can’t get home
This world is much harder alone
Making love and nobody is there
I keep on dreaming back to some beautiful affair
And it’s getting harder to imagine it’s you
And it’s a world built for two
Eating Dinner in a restaurant
And I can’t digest the food I bought
And a couple is feeding each other in the next booth
And it’s a world built for two
And in tandem it’s an easier ride
Someone helps peddle when you’re tired of life
It’s all up hill now and I can’t get home
This world is much harder alone
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7. |
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And if you can’t keep the lights on they say, “Work harder”
And if you try and give your love away they say, “Don’t bother”
But Heaven knows we’ve tried all of our lives to stand up tall
Like a hammer to the soul we all know they’d rather see us crawl
And if you ever start to cry they say that “You’re a victim”
And if you try and liberate your mind they say that “You’re against (them)”
But Heaven knows we’ve tried all of our lives to stand up tall
Like a hammer to the soul we all know they’d rather see us crawl
And I know as time goes
That we stand on quicksand
It gets harder to pick us up
But how can we just give up?
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8. |
Louder Blonde
03:30
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Turn off the car/ close up the door
Ain’t it a crying shame the way you don’t love me anymore
I reached for your face, but there was nothing there
Come back with a fist full of rotten hair
They’re tying my hands
They’re tying my feet
They’re tying me up so that we never can meet
If this is making love then I wanna to have some sex
Wanna talk to the girl in the wedding dress
This heart of mine, it refuses to die
But oh Marie Goddamn these things
I love you more than he
Sixteen years old, my body and soul
My heart wanted more than my life could afford
If I’m not home by dusk I found love out in the night
Lock up the door/ Turn out the light
It’s a Chinese bar
It’s a darkened booth
It’s a man I used to know waiting like a fool
He goes to take a drink, and spills beer on his clothes
So hard to say where the loving goes
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9. |
Whitney Houston
04:22
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I will always love you, Whitney Houston
Your song was dedicated to me by my middle school girlfriend
And I don’t think that she followed through, but it was a virgin world
Your voice rang true to me, old girl
You went to the bathtub like a grave
And your poor daughter did the same
It’s not that I knew you, but I always thought you would stay
I sure hope your family’s ok
And what a gift is to sing and make people change,
But we all need a bodyguard to lift us up and carry us away
The dark glasses you hid behind
Whether it was Winter or Summertime
And people always questioned your sexuality,
But, Whitney, it never mattered much to me
And I’ll be sitting in some bar
Talking sarcastic, the way that people are
And your song comes on and my heart begins to change
And all of the sudden I’m back in seventh grade
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10. |
Ancient Burial Ground
02:48
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What’s going on here?
Things have been so strange
It’s like it’s raining from the sky
It’s like it came in through the drains
We were long gone, left behind the pain
We turned around and right back in it came
Weren’t we quiet?
I swear we didn’t make a sound
Did we summon evil?
Did we build a house on an ancient burial ground?
What’s going on here?
Is there no where we can hide?
It’s like it lives inside our blood
It’s like it snuck up from behind
To cut us ear to ear, a smile of its own kind
We opened up the door
What did we expect to find?
I don’t wanna be strangers
Why are they pushing us around?
Did we summon evil?
Did we build a house on an ancient burial ground?
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11. |
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I’m sure you have a pair of angel wings
And a designer purse to carry all your things
I’m sure your hand could hold a heart
And I’m positive it could please me as we start
But I’m just not ready for love
I’ve got a million parasites to drink my blood
I’ve got pages in my diary that I need to fill up
‘Cause I’m just not ready for love
All of your words are deep and full of wit
As you talk about the places you’d love to live
All of your poems and chasing dreams
A gorgeous smile and the body of a queen
But I’m just not ready for love
So let’s hold off on moving in your stuff
I might try to please you and only fuck you up
‘Cause I’m just not ready for love
Someday I’ll be ready for love
And you’ll be the first one I’m thinking of
Darling, I know you love me, but please shut up
‘Cause I’m just not ready for love
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12. |
Big Sleeping Nowhere
03:38
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Drinking all night
Man, you can’t even remember when you got home
The bathroom mirror shattered when the opera singer sang
You kiss like a butcher (that’s not a complaint)
You’ve got a claw for a hand and a sensitive way
I’ve been building a burning home
‘Cause you’re sixteen and then you’re forty-two
You’ve got a family now and they look after you
Somehow you learn to turn the page
You’ve got a cast to sign and a heart to pursue
You keep the carpets clean inside the waiting room
Oh, the sick and thickened mange…
It finds a way
Sat on the 6-speed too broke to go home
Blacker than water I drank and I drove,
Yet somehow the flowers grow
Oh, I’ve got a big hand
I break a big piece
Just ‘cause I call your name don’t mean you’re coming with me
But it’s “fortune that favors the bold”
‘Cause you’re sixteen and then you’re forty-two
You’ve got a family now and they look after you
Somehow you learn to turn the page
You’ve got a cast to sign and a heart to pursue
You keep the carpets clean inside the waiting room
Oh, the sick and thickened mange…
It finds a way
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Kye Alfred Hillig Tacoma, Washington
Lost his family in a house fire, but saved his guitar. Plays songs his family’s never heard. (Tacoma, WA Singer-Songwriter)
Kye Alfred Hillig recommends:
Land of the living
by Rhoderic Land
One of the greatest living songwriters. Hands down.
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Played with these folks a while back and was completely spellbound.
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A sonic pleasure. My favorite guitarist continues to push his craft to the limits.
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My Christmas Plea
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Portland singer/songwriter delivers a gorgeous Christmas EP, fashioned in the lush style of classics by Bing Crosby and Johnny Mathis.
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Wealth of Sorrow
by Cahalen Morrison
Bright and skipping songs that foreground the sound of the banjo and fingerstyle guitar in music that feels timeless.
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I Need to Start a Garden
by Haley Heynderickx
featured on Bandcamp Radio Apr 10, 2018
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