We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Living by the Light

by Peter Oren

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a wallet case with credits.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Living by the Light via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 60 days

      $12 USD or more 

     

1.
I met my love on a mountain beach At Lake Crescent west of Port Angeles I stopped my car to stretch my legs I found her eating a hard-boiled egg Like me she was traveling alone Heading south on 101 She showed me where she'd been cooking And had her bike stashed in the bushes We shared some food and talked till dark Swam with the sun high, took a traveler's day off That night we slept under the stars In the morning I had a ticket on my car She told me she couldn't join me Despite the fact I'd been profusely imploring So we parted ways in the low light's rays I was pierced through to so soon leave her gaze
2.
In a Bind 02:59
I can see into the strangers As I can see into the stores They don't care what I came for They're just showing me the door Lord I'm in danger Sliver moon and I'm in a bind (seems) this erratic behavior Ain't worthy of treatment kind I know my place and yours ain't right But I've gotta find myself Someplace to spend the night I don't want to sleep in the gutter I don't want to sleep in the gutter Forty-five miles from my hometown It's been some time since I've been around Don't expect they'd know me if I've returned All of my bridges are washed out or burned I know my place and yours ain't right But I've gotta find myself Someplace to spend the night I don't want to sleep in the gutter I don't want to sleep in the gutter I can see into the strangers As I can see into the stores They don't care what I came for They're just showing me the door
3.
CAFO 04:24
This white picket cage feels like a CAFO Without so much smell It's rigor-mortgage and what's more is My house is just one of these cancer cells No the skyline is not benign I'm making remission my mission But how could I hope that this growth could slowly abate I'm loosing ties with noosed neckties Not drying ink on too many dotted lines Well if I'm holding a golden ticket Do I use it, burn it, or let it slip away Their avenues I can't leave of lose Asphalt atop cobblestone was a power play With the people like soybeans When factory farms constitute our means Fit into rows in flat fields, Drug 'em right and watch 'em yield See, everybody's got their own phone in their cars heading home Seems aircraft aren't quite the only drones At the pump and at the polls We're shackled and chained to the spectacle Well if I'm holding a golden ticket Do I use it, burn it, or let it slip away Their avenues I can't leave of lose The buzz in this hive leaves no room for debate So then, is it our fate to conflate freedom with credit cards To I've our lives in boxes in manicured yard Then it seems we are just living things With sleeves getting caught in our own machines We are deceived, we are diseased We are too hesitant to seize the means Why hope for a tour of the factory When we could have the whole damn thing Well if I'm holding a golden ticket Do I use it, burn it, or let it slip away Their avenues I can't leave of lose I'd live as a hermit but then how would I get laid Well if I'm holding a golden ticket Do I use it, burn it, or let it slip away
4.
Snake Flag 04:23
Law of the land, I'll never understand None written by my hand I don't speak their language Born(e) by war never learned what peace was for In times when bloodied tides are justified when televised But rarely reach our shores There's a snake flag flying under the stars and stripes Up at the rich man's mansion in a city on a hill tonight Still it's the poor soul dying under the badged boot Down in Fruitvale Station, the whole world to look What's wild is abandoned all for that profit advantage It's taken for granted, there always must be some collateral damage Law of the land I'll never understand None written by my hand, I don't speak their language Can't read the master's plan I don't speak his language
5.
Leviathan 02:52
Never seen you running so low Like you didn't have any air pressure in your tires But you still had to go Out to haul that chain in the rain Cold toes in your shoes Hollows in your cheeks and you're half confused There's pain in your eyes Wind in your ear whispering that banshee cry And you can't sleep After overnight another morning in your work week You ain't free Leviathan's dragging you into the sea No use for the details in the sand Maybe hope in seeing where the water meets the land Treading water is the only plan Left in the tool belt of the modern human This prison's plush with faux-freedom They'll still kill you for crossing the street and Won't hear your words, they don't care for reason Now disobedience is tantamount to treason Truth it, god hates flags Mark of the trade when draped over a casket Markets left in the aftermath Bet your ass the business class from war get cash back
6.
French Press 03:01
Plunge the french press slow Tell me you ain't gotta go Morning sweet with turbinado In rainy San Francisco Quoting rap songs in bed While I'm giving you head Laughter wrinkling your eyelids Was it something I said Something I said Tell me now why are you reaching in your closet? Hope not for work clothes C'mob now don't do that just stop it Get back in this bed Would you come back to bed? Plunge the french press slow Tell me you ain't gotta go Morning sweet with turbinado In rainy San Francisco
7.
I've been living by the light of each day Sleeping the soft nights slowly away I've been keeping to the backwoods as much as I can A thousand acres ain't enough space for one man With a fishing pole and a frying pan It's been good to be under only my own weight And losing lures in some mountain state 'round here it's cool, warm when the sun's high Back home it's hot and the corn's chest-high For keeping an eye, I'll bake my homies pie These days I tend to wind my way with the wind like dust that settles in just to get pulled off again Where did I come from? Where will I go? How'd I end up in this grove of madrone It's been days since I thought of home I'm single and I smell, thumbing my way from here to the next watering well But if I had a housey honey, I could shit shower and shave without spending money But as that ain't quite the way it is I'll content myself to this tent under the bridge I've got a whole lot of who knows what left to find Been clearing out my mind, time for redesign I've set myself towards liberation Traveling as living and not just vacation I'm seeing for myself this sedation nation I'm seeing for myself this sedation nation
8.
Wilderness 04:45
You, woman Are a wilderness A high-mountain view Void of tenderness Unconquered despite the climb With shadowed roads on the horizon line My gardens would be Ones with flowering trees But such seeds will not cling to the mountainside So to you I may go for thin air and big skies Don't need my flag on your peak To enjoy the view To prove to myself I ain't too weak To see something new Clear water drawn away Some snowcaps do not stay The summer under the sun Oh how the river runs She said you look thin How long has it been? With a beard on your chin... Good to see you again Seems seasons have their reasons And we must abide The oceans have their motions The moon makes the tide
9.
Indecision 03:11
I don't plan too much in advance Keep it low in athletic stance But chance at times buries bullets, shouts dance Rather die under fire than live in a trance So I risked her gaze Stepped into the maze and was lost for days Came out bearded and in a haze Oh but now the question remains: Who's gonna be my one? So it seems she still wants me But she couldn't keep her hands out that honey And I reckon I can rustle up Something a little cleaner than this cluster fuck Who's gonna be my one? Don't you bring em indecision Help me sharpen up my vision And I'll do the same for you You can count on me to be true Who's gonna be my one? ... Who's gonna be my one? Am I gonna have anyone?
10.
I wish I were a tree So I wouldn't have to wander Catch the sun on my leaves Put root to the earth that birthed me Strive only to stand a bit taller Been perched precariously Like the shopping cart on the hilltop down the street I am beholden to the breeze On this now wind I am seed And for the soil I hunger I feel as old as love Old as the ocean in the clouds above I quit my patience for youth And I caught the caboose, so I'm leaving much of me you won't be seeing Now I stand before the judge Before my peers and my own love My only answer is just because Maybe I don't know too much And seems finding out usually ain't easy Been too long a gear on the grind Wasting my time and my mind When my movements are not mine This intelligent design ain't divine It's why I'm depressed and a heathen So if I knock please open up Please give me bread and fill my cup Don't want cash I've had enough I'd work for food and a place to touch My head for a night of deep sleeping I wish I were a tree So I wouldn't have to wander

credits

released February 15, 2016

Lake Crescent- Recorded at Native Sound by David Beeman. Strings recorded at The Dome by Peter
In a Bind- Recorded at Native Sound. Additional guitar by Buddy Hughen in Nashville.
CAFO- Recorded at Blockhouse except vocals at Native Sound.
Snake Flag- Recorded at Blockhouse except vocals and additional guitars at NS and except guitars by Buddy in Nashville.
Leviathan- Recorded at Blockhouse (rhythm), finished at NS
French Press- Recorded at The Dome by Peter with Charlie and Chip. Vocals at NS.
Living By the Light- Recorded at NS except strings at The Dome.
Wilderness- Recorded at NS. Cello at The Dome.
Indecision- Recorded at NS.
I Wish I Were a Tree- Recorded at NS

All songs mixed by David Beeman. All songs written by Peter Oren.

David Beeman- drums tracks 1, 2, 9, 10
Ben Lumsdaine- drums tracks 3, 4, 5
Chip Readrin- drums track 6
Glenn Myers- bass tracks 3, 4, 5
Kevin Bachman- bass tracks 2, 9, 10, aux percussion track 9
Diederik van Wassenauer- strings (violin+viola) tracks 1, 3, 6, 7,
Shannon Hayden- cello tracks 1,8
Buddy Hughen- electric guitars tracks 2, 4, 5
Drake Ritter- electric/ slide guitars track 4
Mike Wehlings- electric guitar tracks 4, 5
Kristian Baarsvik- flute tracks 2, 8, 10, sax track 9
Charlie Jesseph- aux vocals tracks 6, 9
Nathan Jatcko- piano, organ 2, 5, 8, 9, 10

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Peter Oren Bloomington, Indiana

Reach out: peter@peteroren.com

contact / help

Contact Peter Oren

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Peter Oren, you may also like: