Get all 8 Justin Wiles releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Burning of Los Angeles, Our Children Became Islands, Reticent Alien, The Old Balladeer, Songs From Iowa & Lime, Climbing Up Slides, Tomorrow's New Year, and A New Familiar Place.
1. |
One Little Island
02:52
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One little island, one sinking boat
One little secret too impure to float
One little eager lover, one little evil brother
And into the old we go
If you have love for me, hold out your hand
I may never let it go
One little garden that doesn't grow
One little person too unknown to know
Another distant lover, another unwed mother
And into the cold we go
If you have love for me, hold out your hand
I may never let it go
Another mystery I may never solve
Pieces of history too taurus to evolve
One little eager lover, denizen of the gutter
Watching the doors revolve
If you have love for me, hold out your hand
I may never let it go
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2. |
After the Wars
03:53
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After the wars settled our scores
And we were forced to collaborate in our new fate
Then came the noise and beat-belting voice
To prod at the poise our backs would break to cultivate
Arming the catapults decades too late
The line holds and finally folds
When we let enough of the past in
Bombing and blasting and breaking us up
Open the doors, take us, we're yours
All in due course, first we'll take you straight to the magistrate
Who'll see you up close, who'll take off your clothes
Who'll look down his nose
And nightly compensate for your dowdy dead weight
With ingenue animals lying in wait
The line holds and finally folds
When we let enough of the past in
Bombing and blasting and breaking us up
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3. |
Trottin' Song
08:44
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On a freight train bound for Rodeo, retired balladeer
With half a mind to save some time and end the ride right here
A little blue, a little blue, I was humming this here tune
And I stared the face of death down
Yeah but death, he didn't move
So I caught the stop on Rodeo and tumbled from the train
A mist of beer and whiskey fleeing foully from my veins
If the accusal is sedition and the penalty is pain
Oh you members of the jury, please permit me to explain
That I don't need another song
I don't need another song
I don't need another God damn Trottin' Song
I am done
Well, in shambles I resurfaced to a gang of arsonists
Offering me to a posse who slapped handcuffs 'round my wrists
"It was you, it was you!" they with ashen face accused
Then they dragged me to the church house
Where the fire first was loosed
And in pure collective odium they hurled me into hell
The preacher at the podium a rhythmic burning bell
And with each deafening strike, an offer to absolve and quell
All these famished flames of sin, I swear the devil's been expelled
And I don't need another song
I don't need another song
I don't need another God damn Trottin' Song
No, I don't need another song
I don't need another song
I don't need another God damn Trottin' Song
I am done
So I loaded all my demons onto less fortunate souls
And though I've vomited the feeling I still taste it in my throat
In the flesh, in the ghosts, in the tearing of my clothes
In the breasts of fifty women and in the fetuses that grow
In the wombs of fifty mothers on the trot to fifty shows
And so I lock arms with my family before they've all let go
I sink in faceless agony as I already know
That each one sees just the bad in me, the alley calico
So quick and careless with his lovers
Brothers, sisters, children
No, I do not need another song
I don't need another song
I don't need another God damn Trottin' Song
No, I don't need another song
I don't need another song
I don't need another God damn Trottin' Song
I am done
Sotted, staggering, slovenly sequestered in this bar
On my right a spoony siren, on my left loyal guitar
And in this booze, in this booze, the influence to confuse
Soft and sweet spurious verses with a veridical muse
So we ambled down the avenue that led to the motel
Not only was I seeing double, I was believing it as well
A little screw, a little screw, another biopic to sell
The day my breath just left me and the axe finally fell
Well, some call me a troubadour, some claim I lack a soul
Because I've buried all my politics in dusty desert holes
More control, more control, hefting heavy loads of goal
I am content I never spent time bent in venture to keep hold
Framed in febrile footlights, crooned an unobtrusive ode
Just a few lines once forgotten, now pronounced in brazen bold
"Is it you, is it you?" in a canticle they cooed
And their eyes bled with compassion as I passed out of their view
And a few maintain my last refrain still meanders in this room
And to a cluster of companions left abandoned to no end
I impart an explanation, tandem never was my trend
Oh, you magnanimous beauties, ever constant to defend
The memory of this vicious lover, this insidious has-been
I'll never need another song
I don't need another song
I don't need another God damn Trottin' Song
No, I don't need another song
I don't need another song
I don't need another God damn song
No, I don't need another song
I don't need another song
I don't need another God damn Trottin' Song
I am done
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4. |
Unless You're Leaving
02:58
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If you were a different person with a different name
Would your situation worsen, improve or stay the same?
Sign in nearly perfect cursive, live a life of fame
If you were a different person with a different name
With a different name
You can have it all, pay the price
Never without thinking twice
Any doubts will suffice for disbelieving
Calling on flashing lights
To make men out of mere mice
Disregard the advice you are receiving
'Cause you're all you've got
You're all you've got
You're all you've got unless you're leaving
If you start a new existence in another place
Could your memory be by distance totally erased?
Propaganda's pumping pistons powering your pace
If you start a new existence in another place
In another place
You can have it all, pay the price
Never without thinking twice
Any doubts will suffice for disbelieving
Calling on flashing lights
To make men out of mere mice
Disregard the advice you are receiving
'Cause you're all you've got
You're all you've got
You're all you've got unless you're leaving
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5. |
Waterloo
02:42
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Well, I was just a caller who aspired to be all that you desired
When desirous thoughts occurred to you
And you had your admirers to inspire or set afire
Or reduce to servile squires who do nice things for you
Still I was determined to convert you via sermon
Proud professions how I'd burn in hell to be with you
But you had reservations, self affected fascinations
Immature infatuations vindicating you
Oh Waterloo, oh Waterloo
I am falling through, I am falling through you
Waterloo, oh Waterloo
I am falling through, I am falling through
You were the occasion, you commanded my invasion
I began to grow impatient in my lust for you
Sensing your pretenses, circumventing your defenses
I proceed somehow to put the fear of God in you
Drawing my conclusions, I'm erasing your delusions
Writing off my sad intrusions as some quest for you
Yet under these impressions I'm above your indiscretions
Sunday matinee confessions, all concerning you
Oh Waterloo, oh Waterloo
I am falling through, I am falling through you
Waterloo, oh Waterloo
I am falling through, I am falling through you
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6. |
New Faces in Hollywood
04:39
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Preying on every word you're saying, all is heard
We're waiting, standing where you've stood
New faces in Hollywood
We're taking bows, clapping hands
Open mouths making dumb demands
As we pin you up in a godlike stance
Fire at your feet and insist that you dance
'Cause we're your biggest fans
We're your biggest fans...
There is no way to resist this airbrushed loveliness
Wearing my insatiable kiss, you'll look like happiness
We're making rows, clapping hands
Open mouths making dumb demands
As we pin you up in a godlike stance
Wire all your phones in a fit of romance
'Cause we're your biggest fans
We're your biggest fans...
We're taking bows, clapping hands
Open mouths making dumb demands
As we pin you up in a godlike stance
Fire at your feet and insist that you dance
'Cause we're your biggest fans
We're your biggest fans...
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7. |
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Come see the show
Everyone you know is gonna go
Move to the sun
Sell your sadly sagging soul to anyone who pays for your time
Now and then a few on your own dime
Just to get to the top
You heard it was no ordinary drop
And the road's laid out ahead of us
And the fare's been paid, we're on the bus
With a fearful-faced evangelist
For the burning of Los Angeles
Wear your disguise
Smiles for the faces you despise
Tear into your head
Fall in with the ranks of the walking dead who've come to reside
Who heard this was no ordinary ride
On your first spiral down
You'll know this is no ordinary town
And the road's laid out ahead of us
And the fare's been paid, we're on the bus
With a fearful-faced evangelist
And the road's laud out ahead of us
And the rioters are ravenous
In the burning of Los Angeles...
(We'll burn it down)
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8. |
At the End of the Story
03:41
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At the end of the story there's a new one to be told
One that springs forth from the old, so don't you worry
At the end of the story there's a villain to defeat
Or force into retreat with no returning
At the end of the story...
At the end of the story there are friends who must depart
And find a brand new start in an awful hurry
For at the end of the story there are tears that must be shed
As we trek off to find a bed and turn in early
At the end of the story...
You know I loved you from the moment that I met you
But I bet you that from there it's only downhill
I expect to be rejected 'fore I hear the words "the end"
And a brand new disappointment can begin, oh yeah
And a brand new disappointment can begin
At the end of the story there's a lesson to be learned
Aggression overturned, so don't you worry
For at the end of the story there's a new one to be told
One that springs forth from the old, so don't you worry
At the end of the story...
You know I loved you from the moment that I met you
But I bet you that from there it's only downhill
I expect to be rejected 'fore I hear the words "the end"
And a brand new disappointment can begin, oh yeah
And a brand new disappointment can begin, oh my
And a brand new disappointment can begin, ah shit
And a brand new disappointment can begin
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Justin Wiles
Justin Wiles is a singer-songwriter whose compositions are centered around intricate, delicate, melodic guitars and poetic lyrics. His DIY recording style often includes dense musical arrangements and many layered vocals.
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