Get all 9 W.C. Beck releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of First Flight, Waiting for the Dawn, Wandering Into The Open, This Year, Quivira, Sapling, Kansawyer, high hopes and sweet dreams, and 1 more.
1. |
Steel Bird
04:11
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Sunset on the Atlantic
on a steel bird flying east
got a head full of dreams
a heart full of hope
a new world over the sea
see the young man standing in a tunnel
not knowing where it might lead
not knowing what’s outside
or what he’s got
deep inside that he ain’t seen
a picture of me
wild and free
Chorus:
‘Cause there might not be
trumpets to play
or bright lights to guide the way
they might not build
an arch in your name
oh, but Lord, let ‘em know that you came
and lived for a while
I’m gonna run until I can’t
gonna fly until I fall
gonna find my way back again
even if I have to crawl
oh, ‘cause every at bat can’t be a home run
not every girl can be the one
oh, but when you’re down in the trenches, friend
you find out where you’re from
and what you’ve become
and then you dream along
Chorus
I spend my days walking about
streets paved in cobblestone
statues making gods of men
they just keep on shining that throne
I spend my nights worrying ‘bout
these puzzles that won’t leave me
I keep finding clues
in everything I do
the answers bringing questions too
baby, what’ll I do
without you
Chorus
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2. |
Colosseum
04:37
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Hear the drummers
a-thundering fast
the crowd beginning to grow
a little more restless
a bloodthirsty mass
it must be time to go
watch the lights grow dim
in that lion’s den
where the fear’s so much
larger than death
take the steps that lead
to a dirt floor that bleeds
the only way out of this mess
Chorus:
‘cause it’s a long walk at dawn
a strange feeling coming on
‘cause when you’ve dreamed it
enough
all you’ve got to do
is trust
Hear the angels
clearing their throats
the archangels rosin their bows
for a victory song
or a funeral march
all depends upon
how this one goes
well, down in the dungeon
it’s easy to find
distractions so simple and strange
grab a sword and shield
and then take to the field
for the band’s tuning up to play
Chorus
Hear the drummers
a-thundering fast
the crowd beginning to grow
a little more restless
a bloodthirsty mass
it must be time to go
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3. |
The Long Way Home
04:36
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Up on this mountain
I’m searching for something
that I cannot hold
Up in my mind
I’m hoping to find
something I cannot know
Chorus:
I’ll take the long way home
to see how far I’ve gone
and how much
there still is to know
Far from the place
I was born and raised
I find myself
searching for a home
Further along
that old country song
is gonna call me
back to all I’ve known
Chorus
After all this time
there’s still one thing
etched in my mind
just a passing phrase
may you live your days
my child
Close to me you sleep
your restless heartbeat
the rhythm of
this song for you
Close to me I pray
sweet mama, you’ll stay
so that I might
grow old with you
Chorus
Chorus
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4. |
Unknown Bust
03:54
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Gazing at an unknown bust
wondering just how much
his life must resemble mine
just a man living in his prime
just one trying to make his mark
before them lights all grow dark
start something and watch it change
hope them history books remember your name
when it’s all wrote
and it’s said and done
well I’m lighting candles, baby
in cathedrals hoping maybe
you might change your mind
oh, but praying don’t turn back time
and the worry just make me sick
yeah, the booze and the pills they don’t fix
this hurt and this hole in my heart
but I’ve learned that there ain’t no dark
‘til something shines
and paints them diamonds on your eyes
Chorus:
It makes me wonder how a heart
could ever come back from a wound like this
turn back from the black abyss
oh and learn to love again
and when I hear the thunder of an old soul song
and the way we were back then
just kids in the city
searching for pretty things
I’m riding east on that Empire Line
the click-clack of the track keeping time
across mountain, prairie and coast
and everywhere I see the ghost
Lord, of a smile in the summer sun
though seasons change and colors run
owning up to what I’ve become
letting go of all that’s done
surrendering
a bright leaf floating high in the wind
Chorus
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5. |
A Place to Land
03:45
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Take off from a world that’s lost
and find you another
skinny smokestacks
a thousand soft packs
a cigarette skyline
and float on a heart with wings
fly on straight at your dreams
until you find
a place to land
our love fit like a glove
but you wanted another
your eyes, a pale sunrise
couldn’t hide the lies they told
now a country home
burned to ashes
Icarus heart
falling fast
broken, searching
for a place to land
I watched you for a little while
just to see how far you’d fall
a bursting sun
burning up both great and small
now every breath or step you take
away from one and toward another
leading role, another piece of the whole
a story partway told
and all you’ve loved, lost and won
all you are becoming one
finding strength, setting sights on
a place to land
I watched it for a little while
just to see how far it fell
a shooting star
burning up its former self
well now I’ll
take a plane, a boat or a train
far away and find another
wishing well, another tale to tell
a place you will be from
and float on a heart with wings
fly on straight at your dreams
until you find
a place to land
a place to land
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6. |
Powder Blue
04:22
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I’m gonna hit like
George Brett and Frank White
in 1985
Powder Blue
Darling put on your glasses
oh, and read ‘bout Manassas
words smooth as molasses
from Major Ballou
oh oh oh
oh oh
see them lights
fade to blue
Chorus:
And when the world’s got you down
and you’re all alone
you’ve been telling yourself
you ain’t good enough, remember
the darkest shadows come from blinding lights
the biggest hearts come from learning to fight
so don’t let that
setback get you down
no, turn it around
Don’t ever let ‘em turn your heart black
Skywalker in a Vader mask
Coop and Bob sharing a laugh
no, that ain’t no good
‘Cause it don’t matter how far you’re down
I’ll take Balboa in the 15th round
Lasse Viren after falling down
coming on through
oh oh oh
oh oh
see them lights fade to blue
Chorus
Chorus
No those darkest shadows come from blinding lights
the biggest hearts come from learning to fight
so don’t let that
setback get you down
baby, turn it around
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7. |
Grey
04:59
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Oh last night
my lady and I
fought over grey
and whether it
was black or white
and when we awoke
in separate beds
with separate dreams
in separating hearts and heads
the morning light
felt black and cold as night
and the noises all were white
so I took the time to write
down the words that I heard
that sounded like a horn
for my world it was not torn
no, like a little baby I was born
new again
in twisted dreams of genocide
I tried to close my eyes
or at least look away
from my own darkness
deep inside
but the black was thick
and my judgment come too quick
for it’s hard as hell to stand
when it means your life
if you don’t sit
and the images alarm
the piles of legs and arms
people just like you and me
running death factories and farms
and from Dachau to Darfur
by now we should have learned for sure
oh, that each and every one of us
holds things evil and pure
deep within
I’m always stuck here in between
oh, the dark night and the bright light in me
growing older
moving on
looking up to see the breaking dawn
so I set off on a trip
sailing on books and clipper ships
spinning tales and chasing whales
and finding words to fit
in the spaces that I
hid my darkest fears and lies
and the oceans swallowed me
just like the day’s devoured by night
and when at last
I stopped trying to change the past
all the things I thought I’d lost
came crawling back
and a child was born
in the black before the morn
and an old frail woman in white
slipped off into
the blinding light
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8. |
(Holding on) To a Coast
04:14
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Holding onto a coast
is where I spend most
of my time
on the border between me
and what I cannot define
and when I leave that fragile turf
I get swallowed by the surf
doing hard work on my mind
I’m learning to stand on my own
from time to time
oh, from time to time
well, half of my life’s been spent
paying off the rent
on a building that I’ve always owned
I don’t know where that time goes
darling, but I suppose
time’s telling me to pay attention
to what works
so I don’t spend the second half
trying to fix the first
trying to fix the first
The breakers rising high and falling fast
I’m trying to hold on to something that will last
the moon tides pulling my heart back and forth
in between what I was and what I hope
suppose I’ll never know
I’ll never know
Holding onto a coast
is where I spend most
of my time
on the border between me
and what I cannot define
and when I leave that fragile turf
I get swallowed by the surf
doing hard work on my mind
I’m learning to stand on my own
from time to time
oh, from time to time
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9. |
Among the Waves
04:23
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I’m a sea among the waves
fading in and out
weaving myself in between
your dusk and your dawn
your chorus and verse
the sleeping song
and the waking dream
Chorus:
I don’t mind giving
‘cause I’m a-living
a gift I could never repay
and if I lose a piece or two
I’ll gain some along the way
so tell me
just why
my heart ain’t
ever satisfied
Waiting for the storm to hit
waiting ‘round to die
wondering what the wind
will bring this time
Leaving clues all about
for a future heart to find
I’m picking up the pieces
a little at a time
Chorus
sing me an infinite country, baby
paint me what a blind man sees
dream up a thing the world’s never seen
put your heart on display
and watch it bring some light
into the dark, black night
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10. |
Cathy Jo
04:51
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A slender envelope
an aching heart
filled with things
built to tear us apart
a soul too good to have to go this way
I saw you shine like a thousand suns that day
I saw you float on as the wind called your name
so I asked the stone men
that I came across
that were richer in wisdom, wealth and loss
just what I might find before winter’s end
they said son, seek to find the love that you give
seek to find the love that you give
Chorus
hey...I
toss and turn
with a belly of fire
sometimes you get burned
hey...lately
what has it shown
between the dusk and the dawn
the ebb and the flow
we live up the days
‘til we go
now I’m waking early before the dawn
a chorus of bottles and birds sing along
to this song in my heart
a bright mourning dove
and Cathy Jo may you shine
forever above
may you live on in all that we love
Chorus
yeah, we live up the days
‘til we’re gone
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W.C. Beck New York
W.C. Beck is an itinerant singer/songwriter from KS who now calls New York home after long stints in Portland, OR and Paris, France. Beck’s songs span from indie folk to classic country and tell of the American heartland and a forgotten epoch. With catchy melodies and sophisticated compositions, most songs find their depth in the personal, moving narrative. ... more
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