Behind the Screen

from Songs From Iowa & Lime by Justin Wiles

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.

Purchasable with gift card

name your price
Buy the Full Digital Album
Full Digital Discography

8

releases

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. , and , .

Purchasable with gift card

$20.50 USD or more (50% OFF)

lyrics

What’s going on inside this house?
The windows are shut, but there’s light creeping out through the cracks
Tempting the shadows and sharp silhouettes
To enact silent movies in which marionettes
Play the parts they have landed with equitable grace
Picking fights with each other for who gets first space on the bill

And if you’ve a will, you can stop and view
For a story unfolds here that relates back to you
In your house, through your window
Your screen where you act out your role
Like you’d give all you have just to take it all back
And drop the whole damn show

What’s going on behind the screen?
The acting’s convincing and the picture looks clean
And the happiest ending is in store, but I’ve seen it before
It’s like a blanket that won’t keep you warm very long
It gets old, full of holes, as the cold carries on
Then the need is far greater to retrieve what has gone

And if you’re a risk taker, follow me ‘round
To the secrets the curtain protects
And once we’ve found them, I hope we can live them
And proudly return to our homes
Lift the window with grace
To show off the face we lost so long ago
And we will take off the mask, that expressionless cast
And drop the whole damn show

And we will drop the whole damn show
And act no more

credits

from Songs From Iowa & Lime, released February 1, 2005
written/performed by justin wiles

license

about

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.

Recommendations

contact / help

Contact Justin Wiles

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

Justin Wiles recommends:

Mechanical Bride
by One Hundred Flowers

Really excellent experimental chamber pop, for fans of The Olivia Tremor Control, Circulatory System, New Pornographers. Listening pleasure amplified by simultaneous lyric-reading. Justin Wiles
go to album
Collapse The Structure
by The Dark Water Hymnal

Like The National, DWH puts dark ambient twists on folk ballads. My favorites tend to settle into a groove, with layers that ebb and flow, and ultimately swell to crescendo. Justin Wiles
go to album

If you like Justin Wiles, you may also like:

Laughing In My Sleep
by The Cradle

On his latest LP, Paco Cathcart sketches life in Brooklyn in remarkable detail. Bandcamp Album of the Day Aug 14, 2020
go to album
Aromanticism
by Moses Sumney

Moses Sumney’s debut full-length is full of moody, soulful songs, with warm, rich textures and tones. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 10, 2017
go to album
Jewish Unicorn
by Risa Rubin

A female voice that feels out of another century quivers over a folk harp on the 11 tracks that make up this exclusive video album. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 14, 2016
go to album
The Lion's Den
by Twin Oaks

There's a little Mazzy Starr and Beach House in these melancholic yet alluring dreamy folk tunes from LA. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 7, 2014
go to album