Get all 4 Yellowbelly releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Birds of Plenty, Left with the Skies, Reach of the Sun, and Sealegs.
1. |
Sealegs
03:52
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Man in the crows nest, there for days
Thinks it’s the sky not the sea that sways
Keep this old hen as long as she lays
Sail hard on the wind as long as it pays
Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall
But the trade winds don’t stop blowin
Nothing you can learn on the cold cruel land
That’s really ever worth the knowin
I’ve found my sealegs
Now I can stand again
I’ve found my sealegs
Won’t see land again
I’ve found my sealegs
Till I see sand again
Blisters scurvy overboard
Where no man says his prayers
Ain’t no secret when the wound it bleeds
We all be wise to a drowned man’s needs
Down in the deep with the cold green weeds
Follow me aft to where the dog star leads
Every man aboard knows Queequeg’s curse
Ain’t no deal says you get reimbursed
Worms or the fishes tell me which one’s worse
Salt water never slake a dead man’s thirst
Lost for years on the Persian run
Grew an empire in a Bombay slum
Don’t need a map with the barrel of a gun
Sea don’t care what any man’s done
Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall
But the trade winds don’t stop blowing
Nothing you can learn on the cold cruel land
That’s really ever worth the knowing
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2. |
Curbing my Tongue
04:11
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haywire and me
we’re as close as we can be
got that flypaper mind
sticks to everything it finds
hear the tolling of the bell
boy’s head poisoning the well
aint that a sight to see
curbing my tongue
though it was dusted and done
biting my lip
though I cannot see the sense in it
earshot and you
about as far as gets you through
watch as easystreet burns
because profit never learns
gated community retires
someone disconnect the wires
aint that a sight to see
And all the bycatch is thrown nothing ours it’s all on loan
All just pellets and oil now you scorched up all the soil
I took a child upon my knee spoke of things he’ll never see
I didn’t dare to meet his eye a pillaged land from sea to sky aint that a sight to see
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3. |
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Sat in the sun Gobi road
Did rhetoric with Cicero
Neath an olive branch on Aegean seas
Got stoical with Diogenes
And all the things she taught me to fit in a life where no-one cries
In the distillery of wisdom I refined a brew to clear the skies
On the prow Eric the red
Nailed sagas deep inside my head
Vestal virgins wailed away
what they told I could not say
took my time on the Bakerloo
so I finished catch 22
like yossarian I sailed away
don’t want to fight another day
you can go ahead any fly without me
You can go ahead I’m happy here
You can go ahead and test the waters
Just don’t forget the way back home
At the pequod helm saw the great white whale
Crown of thorns and a bleeding nail
I left him dive and I took the wheel
But in the headlights sometimes I get that feel
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4. |
Mrs Chippy
03:38
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5. |
Broken Mule
05:16
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Bummers gone siezing all around Midgedville
Tack it was dry as the Wisconsin sand
I fell miles behind with the freed folks and turncoats
if I live for tomorrow I’ll live off the land
She’d not cross the pontoons we’d stray from the road
idle a while in the sun
and I’ll take my chances if jonny reb find me
but I’ll not sell this broken mule
Hood pulled his troops out and we took Atlanta
Carriages loaded with silver and ham
We tore out the pews at Oconee river
I could not pull my bayonet from the chest of a man
I’d use the whip but she’d not budge an inch
idle a while in the sun
and I’ll take my chances if jonny reb find me
but I’ll keep this broken mule boys
I’ll not trade this broken mule
Kilpatrick rode north drew fire from 12 pounders
100s went down in a day
Cape fear on one flank black creek on the other
Outnumbered they all stole way
No feed for the packhorses can’t eat the dead
Who’ve idled a while in the sun
and I’ll take my chances if jonny reb find me
but I’ll not leave this broken mule boys
I’ll not trade this broken mule
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6. |
Company of Cain
03:46
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Attuned myself to the comfort of a stranger
Turned my face to light from distant star
Planted love
But your love outgrew me
and now I know who all those strangers are
Aligned myself to the fortunes of the lowly
and now I keep the company of Cain
Took my stand
but my stand outstood me
still a man keeps standing, just the same
Had a lot of of love
and a lot of love she took
like the river take a child
like the flames will take a book
had a lot of love
and a lot of love I gave
a black star taking light
and a battlefield the brave
Resigned myself to callow creature comforts
Staring at the axe I’ll never grind
Took my time til my time outran me
Now I search for something I can’t find
Now I keep the company of cain
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Yellowbelly Nuremberg, Germany
Yellowbelly are Lawrence, Stefan, Markus, Boris and Kathi. They play guitars, violins, drums, a double bass, a banjo, a mandolin, a lap steel, an oud and other instruments, but not all at the same time. Yellowbelly play in pubs, churches, barns, internists's surgeries, fields, living rooms, stages and castles. Yellowbelly play songs about forgotten space probes, trains, cicadas and ratcatchers. ... more
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