Digital Booklet - The People's Key

BR IGH T E Y ES The People’s Key

1. Firewall 2. Shell Games 3. Jejune Stars 4. Approximate Sunlight 5. Haile Selassie 6. A Machine Spiritual (In the People’s Key) 7. Triple Spiral 8. Beginner’s Mind 9. Ladder Song 10. One for You, One for Me 11. Singularity (bonus track)

Firewall I do my best to sleep through the caterwaul The classicists, the posturing avant-garde I bought a grey macaw named him Jules Verne He’ll probably outlive me he’s a bright bird Keeps me company I teach him new words I saw a hologram at the theme park She looked as real as me through the white fog Then she melted down to her ankles Turned into a million-watt candle If I knew where she went I would follow Walking through the land of tomorrow Martian trinkets, plastic Apollos In the sunshine try to act normal My veins are full of flat cherry-cola Slept on a bench by the rollercoaster Dreamt I was riding on a motorbike Lion of Judah painted on the side I’m doing fine, I’m back in the Palisades Life’s a wash, a pastoral school play China shops and cold ivory towers I and I make toasts to the Caesars Forcing down the dregs of Decembers Madeline she spins in a slow bang All through the house the strong smell of burnt sage Let’s make it clean and run out the spirits I know a diving bell when I hear it We’re going down now under the surface Light to dark can shift in an instant

Feeling close but keeping my distance On all fours she’s just so insistent Fills my mind with jump ropes and slit wrists Bust through the Firewall into heaven Then I’m standing in that blinding light Crooked crosses falling from the sky Seen yeah seen by I and I

Shell Games Took the fireworks and the vanity The circuit board and the city streets Shooting star, swaying palm tree Laid them at the Arbiter’s feet If I could change my mind, change the paradigm Prepare myself for another life Forgive myself for the many times I was cruel to something helpless and weak Here it comes that heavy love I’m never gonna move it alone Here it comes that heavy love Tag it on a tenement wall Here it comes that heavy love Someone’s got to share in the load Here it comes that heavy love I’m never gonna move it alone I was dressed in white, touched by something pure Death-obsessed like a teenager Sold my tortured youth, piss and vinegar I’m still angry with no reason to be

At the Architect who imagined this For the Everyman, blessed Sisyphus Slipping steadily into madness Now that’s the only place to be free Here it comes that heavy love You’re never gonna move it alone Here it comes that heavy love Tattooed on a criminal’s arm Here it comes that heavy love Someone’s got to share in the load Here it comes that heavy love You’re never gonna move it alone No I don’t want to play It’s a shell game It’s a shell game Distorted sounds on oscilloscopes Distorted facts I could never cope My private life is an inside joke No one will explain it to me We’ll be everything that we’ll ever need Everyone on the count of three Everyone on the count of three All together now Here it comes that heavy love We’re never gonna move it alone Here it comes that heavy love Playing as the cylinder rolls Here it comes that heavy love I only want to share in the load Here it comes that heavy love I’m never gonna move it alone

Jejune Stars Every new day is a gift; it’s a song of redemption Any expression of love is a way to return To that place that I think of so often but now never mention The one the voice in the back of my head says that I don’t deserve Come fire, come water, come karma, we’re all in transition The Wheel of Becoming erases the physical mind Till all that remains is a staircase of misinformation And the code we inherit, the basis, the essence of life So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar How did it get so dark in the day? It’s just so bizarre, is it true what we’re made of? Why do I hide from the rain? Inside some cloudy nostalgia where there are no features We look at ourselves through a porthole, the passage of time See that sunny day that we snuck down, hid under the bleachers Kissed as the band marched, everything fell into line So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar How did I get so lost? I’m amazed It’s just so bizarre all the things I’m afraid of Why do I hide from the rain? Sure I had my doubts But I know it now We are jejune stars So it starts again At our childhood’s end I’ll die young at heart So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar How did it get so dark in the day?

It’s just so bizarre if it true what we’re made of Why do I hide from the rain?

Approximate Sunlight I used to dream of time machines Now it’s been said we’re post-everything As a child imagining Neck ties and Coast lines I seen the show man, what a sight Drenched us in approximated sunlight The crowd was small and mostly blind But kind, you’re too kind Now you are how you were when you were real Now you are how you were when you were real There you go again on that circular trip Lick the solar plexus of some L.A. shaman I’m out of breath I’d better sit Been living, hard living All I do is follow you around I wouldn’t waste another thought On what is fair and what is not The quinceañera dress she bought Was unstitched with bullets All the guests in the garden screamed Women and tires squealing Such opulence, such misery Unwinding, unwinding All I do is follow you around All I do is follow you around

Now you are how you were when you were real

Haile Selassie Pilgrim across the water We are the same brother Hitchhiking back to Zion Hold in our tears as we flip the album What if this leads to ruin? You got a soul, use it All this despair forgiven Rolling away on a Wheel of Sevens She sings like the Queen of Sheba Voice through a blown speaker One drop and bubbling Leslie Calling me home like Haile Selassie Pilgrim beside the fire It’s been a long winter We got a lot in common Cover our heads as they split the atom All of our days are numbered I’ve taken some comfort In knowing the wave has crested Knowing I don’t have to be an exception Children they fill the bleachers One is the next Caesar Keep all their minds collected Until he comes, until he comes Hide the Omega Day in plain sight Too good to be true I’ve seen stranger things I’ve seen that tree of smoke

I’ve seen stranger things happen before

Someone is out to know

Pilgrim up on the mountain Barefoot and still climbing Filling the Book of Hours Day after day in the filth and squalor We are the chosen people Safe from the next evil One Love, magnetic memory Reel after reel spinning within me

Papa Hobo don’t hide your eyes Mother Mountain don’t kill your unborn child His day is coming His day is coming

I had the wildest dream last night I was swimming with you In that cenote the heavens made with black fire Just woke up too soon I’ve seen stranger things I’ve seen those daytime ghosts I’ve seen stranger things happen before I’ve seen stranger things I’ve seen that tree of smoke I’ve seen stranger things happen before

A Machine Spiritual (In the People’s Key) The People’s Key ringing through arena seats The black machine played it all from memory A fever dream, well, I’ll come back eventually To wade into the water, another and another we go Form some kind of code The bodies float And form some kind of code The bodies float

A question burns beneath the centuries of dirt That voice you’ve heard, well, every head is a different world Where mine is concerned, I boarded up the windows A catatonic plateau, a backwards, black-faced minstrel show So just let me go The prisoner moans Oh just let me go The prisoner moans No one has to know Eva Braun went to dye her hair Little Hitler sat in his giant’s chair And dreamed of nowhere And dreamed and dreamed and dreamed The People’s Key ringing filling everything The theme repeats, thinner than the galaxy Impart to me your wisdom and eventually I’ll float into the ether, another from another we grow Form some kind of code Of flesh and bone We form some kind of code Of flesh and bone No, you are not alone History bows and it steps aside In the jungle there are columns of purple light

We are starting over We are starting We are starting

I fill it up with everything that is missing from my life Where did you come from? You fated sign Spinning through the centuries expanding all the time

Triple Spiral

Three worlds at once that blend together Three times I cried for us but I felt better then

I loved a Triple Spiral, my maiden-mother-crone I folded my devotion into an origami rose Stood at her Tiffany window, she said to look below Could I see the town was burning? Could I see the broken prison? Could I see that it was time for me to go? They looted the museum and took all that they could hold A motorcade of flatbed trucks made off with quite a haul That’s when I heard someone shout, “In with the new! Out with the old!” A dusty box of letters A rusting suit of armor A casket made of fourteen karat gold That’s the problem No sense of time She is shaped just like an hourglass there laying on her side I loved you Triple Spiral–father, son and ghost But you left me in my darkest hour when I needed you, when I needed you Now that the dream is over I want it to be known That I never saw it coming Through my little human prism How sad it is to know I’m in control That’s the problem An empty sky

I loved you Triple Spiral, my maiden-mother-crone You found me in this fallow state, my mind was off and stowed I heard your strange commotion and wished I could go home To live a little longer A full Indian summer Long enough to carve you into stone

Beginner’s Mind Hold on tight Beginner’s Mind The wheel is spinning too Fast to make your move The worst must be assumed Oh how they will try To pull and to pry Away what you know now Beat and beat it out Leave a drum that makes no sound A snuff film on a JumboTron for all the world to see A cocktail napkin epitaph A psychobabble telegram Message written in the sand The tide rolls in Swear you’ll do the opposite

Of all those tangled hypocrites Who say that the experiment has failed Don’t go there You’re getting nowhere You’re getting nowhere Stay awhile my Inner Child I’d like to learn your trick To know what makes you tick To nurse you when you’re sick Oh how you’ve grown so cynical Hard lines carved in your face The sunshine is so cliché Just like love and pain You tried your best on the Rorschach test but there is just nothing to see Heard terabytes of perfect pitch Some universal elegance Stack the seventh and the fifth Along the grid Swear you’ll be the opposite Of all those stilted hypocrites You know what made you infamous to them, don’t you? You keep starting over You keep starting over You keep starting over You keep starting over Hold on tight Beginner’s Mind The current is far too strong It will carry you along Till you’re just like everyone Stay awhile my Inner Child

I’d like to learn your trick To know what makes you tick To nurse you when you’re sick

Ladder Song No one knows where the ladder goes You’re gonna lose what you love the most You’re not alone in anything You’re not unique in dying I feel estranged every now and then Fall asleep reading science fiction I want to fly in your silver ship Let Jesus hang and Buddha sit It’s on now The days are long now The ups and the sundowns And a twisting mind If I got to go first I’ll do it on my terms I’m tired of traitors Always changing sides They were friends of mine Don’t hang around once the promise breaks Or you’ll be there when the next one’s made Kiss the feet of a charlatan Some imagined freedom All the rest is predictable You can say you’re the first to know Bought a mantra to concentrate

Car alarm or hissing snake I know now How its gonna turn out You’ve got to calm down Or I’ll lose my place Got to get to the center Got to get to the concert Run off with a dancer Gonna celebrate We’ll welcome the New Age Covered in warrior paint Lights from the jungle to the sky See now a star is born Looks just like a blood orange Don’t it just make you want to cry? Precious friend of mine Will I know when it’s finally done? This whole life is a hallucination You’re not alone in anything You’re not alone in trying to be

One for You, One for Me One for the righteous One for the ruling class One for the tyrant One for the slaughtered lamb One for the struggle One for the lasting peace One for you and One for me

One for the Führer One for his child bride One for the wedding One for the suicide One for the bunker One for the broadcast booth One for me, now One for you How did we get so far away from us? How did we get so far away? One for the people One for the parliament One for the weary One for the malcontent One for the master One for the protégée One for you and One for me One for the breadlines One for the billionaires One for the for the missing One for the barely there One for the certain One for the real confused One for me, okay, now One for you Now that we’ve come so far away from us Now that we’ve come too far to say You and Me, You and Me That is an awful lie You and Me, You and Me That is an awful lie It’s I and I It’s I and I It’s I and I It’s I and I

Bright Eyes is Conor Oberst Vocals Guitars Pianos Keyboards Mike Mogis Guitars Pedal Steel Effects Programming Percussion Nathaniel Walcott Synthesizers Pianos Organs Mellotron

Additional Musicians Andy LeMaster Vocals on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 Bass on track 10 Guitar on tracks 4, 10 Matt Maginn Bass on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Carla Azar Drums and Percussion on tracks 2, 6, 8 Clark Baechle Drums on tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 Shane Aspegren Drums on tracks 3, 10 Percussion on track 2

The People’s Key was Produced, Arranged and Performed by Bright Eyes Mixed by Mike Mogis Engineered by Mike Mogis and Andy LeMaster Recorded at ARC Studios in Omaha, Nebraska in the year 2010 Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering in Portland, Maine All songs written by Conor Oberst © 2011. All songs exclusively published and administered by Songs Music Publishing LLC o/b/o Songs for Beans (BMI), Bedrooms; Bedrooms and Spiders (BMI). Except “Approximate Sunlight” by C. Oberst/N. Walcott N Walcott Music (ASCAP)

Laura Burhenn Vocals on tracks 4, 7, 8 Denny Brewer Shamanic Vocals Artwork and layout by Zack Nipper

Thank You!!! and Thank you Tony Rancich at Sonic Ranch for his friendship and for recording the Brewers. Thank you to Denny and Josh Brewer for their friendship and knowledge. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the making of this album. Many thanks to all of our friends and families and to all who have supported us over the years and continue to do so in spite of everything. We’d be lost without you. Love and Light!! – Conor, Mike and Nate

Singularity (bonus track) Learning on the fly How to gather and analyze Nothing is living if nothing dies What an exception to make Roundly rejecting our fate When singularity comes We will be fully revealed Wander in limitless fields When singularity comes We will be abstraction then We will be buried within All will be balanced We will be one Now we’re on our way All our instincts accelerate Nothing you imagine Could keep this pace We will know freedom at last Finally make up for the past When singularity comes We will be faster than light Whistling and skipping through time When singularity comes We will be children again We will be cradled within We will be perfect We will be one When singularity comes Living in one mind Every pin drop is amplified

Every outcome before it’s tried We’ll make a rag doll of God Wind up our new music box When singularity comes We will be fully revealed Wander in limitless fields When singularity comes We’ll be completely awake Neophyte make no mistake We’re in this together We will be one When singularity comes When singularity comes

Conor Oberst Vocals Mike Mogis Guitar Nathaniel Walcott Synthesizers Andy LeMaster Vocals Drums Bass Programming

2011 Saddle Creek PO Box 8554 Omaha, NE 68108-0554 www.saddle-creek.com