Get all 29 Bob Gaulke releases available on Bandcamp and save 40%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Better Of, Warm Blue Noise, Studies in Transgression, One Last Shot, Strawberry Fields, The Humanities (Part 2), The Humanities (Part 1), Inappropriate, and 21 more.
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1. |
1. Drawing Circles
03:30
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Drawing Circles
She's calling you from faraway
from the place that doesn't change
on the border of dreams and memories
where everything decays
you miss sundays on the beach
weekdays on tv
nothing then seems boring now
in a so-so pizza place
with a magnet in her hand
drawing circles in the sand
changing the air
with her moods
feelings come in waves
pulling you
through her hair
deeper into solitude
collecting roots and reeds
making talismen from seeds
she's working you into her art
as her passion burns the sea
checking under the bed
smoke rings around your neck
a moment free's all you need
to feel just what she meant
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2. |
2. Rain On The Beach
03:15
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Rain on the Beach
sky's the color of sand
tide's gone out we're emptying cans
now it's starting to rain
we're far from done yet
taking the long way home
over paths of lime and sandstone
around the way TVs go on
sun sets to the sound of applause
Rain on the beach
finding the space we need
Rain on the beach
you and I taste like the sea
ice cream or a video to rent
feeling the impending dread
world outside’s creeping in
people are coming–how do we hide from them?
tide's swirling green and brown
umbrellas fold up, vendors go home
time collapses to the sound
of blown radios and carnival drums
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3. |
3. Swimming Lessons
03:23
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Swimming Lessons
I need water around me
I drown everyday
chasing desire below
without holding my breath
to the bottom of the day
with a belly flop
the pool is filled with fish
they're all your color
with the right motion I'll swim
through oceans and aquariums
one night I'll live following
dreams into the morning
a floating bag
muscles ache
a kid splashes by me
a man with seventy years
below the surface
with a little grace
me I'm on my back
against your waves
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4. |
4. Your Hair
03:41
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Your Hair
is it long in front like a seventies teenager
tied in a bun like a crabby teacher's
done in waves gold in the sun
spread in the sand on the lap of someone
between your fingers twirled mindlessly
brushed in anger when you think of me
cut short talking to your mother
sticking straight up, a barometer of pleasure
it was the softest wool I ever pulled
perfect cover for facial manoeuvres
a hiding place for my hands to frame your face
a curtain between me and your neck
defiantly gray against your black sweater
free on the wind of someone's motorcycle
bleached on a trip to nyc
dipped in wine with the book you're reading
caught in a net in a cannery
done in a bob with nineties irony
free from chemicals matted down
or frizzed out like an indian chief
do you miss the way we played in that tent
fate seems more like an accident
you treated mine like it was your own
I don't get those feelings on my own
I've combed the world back to front
clogging sinks with frustrations
years go by hair falls out
just like love it's gone it's done
I've never found anything as thrilling
as waking up next to you in the morning
where is your hair?
what is it doing?
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5. |
5. Semi-Sweet
02:27
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Semi Sweet
four courses served on broken plates
wine bought with next month's rent
my blue shirt and clean pants
and the biggest mango the vendor had
you were half-consumed from a day spent
on your knees at the world's behest
you took twenty minutes for yourself
then gave me everything you had left
the fishes turn in their bowl
the ocean waves through holes in the wall
we forget phones and our plans
stopping time with our bare hands
in that blue room removed in time
something came to define
all I've lived for, can achieve
is just a flavor, semi-sweet
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6. |
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Local Architecture
curves are beautiful
easy to follow
their absence
reveals something our values
in a neighborhood
full of right angles
monotony presses on
nerves and muscles
kiss you in a tunnel let the elevator go
you're the attraction on this roadπ
city's ours do we need it?
a kiss lasts longer than glass and cement
curves are expensive
take up space
hold myself against yours
for sanity's sake
lines of sight go on forever
through construction sites
and important people
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7. |
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Summer of Thinking Too Much
Summer didn't end
It just kept on melting
We swam in pools of sweat
Licked off sugar coatings
We eventually went in
There was air conditioning
But didn't dry ourselves
We were just too thirsty
(instrumental bridge)
In the summer of thinking too much
I just wanted to be touched
I felt so lost
would've given my mind for another heart
You looked at my shelf
found books missing
We pencilled in ourselves
On paper colored bodies
The sun got more intense
You left burnt through the curtains
I'm rummaging through myself
And these overthought intentions
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8. |
8. Parade Structures
05:02
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Parade Structures
my pleasures are very small
sometimes they can't be measured at all
a wisp of smoke, a pound of a drum
the smell of the sea or a look just caught
men working all day long
building what they'll soon take down
their sweat evaporates
before it falls to the ground
the bus takes us where it wants
the driver's not paid enough
under flickering lights
a city shoots its cinema
you love dislocation
extended as a song
ducking the procession
into a sand-castle bar
over the sea under the stars
into the blue burning
eyes catching time
as it goes by, passing
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Bob Gaulke
SInger/Songwriter/
Rootless cosmopolitan. I sometimes produce others.
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