External Actor [Cambridge, 2019] Songtext
von Okkervil River
External Actor [Cambridge, 2019] Songtext
This next song em
I would, I would like to bring out a very special guest
To play mandolin with us on this next song
None other than my father Paul sheff
Em, so dad actually played mandolin on erm on this song, on the record
And I′m usually like insanely fastidious about keeping note on who played on what record and everything
It's like a whole thing but I completely screwed out l left him out
But he does play on the song on the record
And we′ll rectify that wrong right now
So, this song was requested by erm Andre Micheal and it's called external actor
It's all I′m looking for
These moments of opaque-eyed knocked-out rapture
Helpless as a cow for the capture
Chosen in a frozen instant
Far away from the scabbed-out moment
Far from the flick-flick-flick of the flatscreen
Far from the poison power of cash
Green cash reeking and heating the jetstream
Oh, the shop-sweet breath, she is my daughter
Daughter of the flashing instant
Daughter of watching "Daughters of Darkness"
On your parents′ couch with your high-school boyfriend
Spinning fevered in a hazy ditch
We daughters of long hard skids on the 10-speed
Daughters of July rips of the land speed
Semi-freckled eternal thrasher
Feather-haloed floating hair eye-flasher
Floating like a fire in the distance
Flashing like a flush to the skin
And whispering like the wind through the rushes
Oh no, external actor
External actor
You gotta hoist the high flag
You gotta learn how to hang with the freaks and the hicks
And the heat of the lot
You gotta learn what is and what is not
And you learn what isn't is not a lot
To drain a tin beer
Streaming cold in the fields
Sun is up and the heat is relentless
Dropping the rainbow rain on the canvas
Calls her friends in the capital of cannabis
Where the cops down the block
And they circle and they stop
And they circle and they stop
And they stop and they circle
And they stop, God help cause it′s a lot
And may God have mercy on the polyglot
Oh no, external actor
External actor
A million miles across, the starlight
Skip skip skip
A wide long curve of spacedust melt around a star
Keep shining in the cold
Keep shining in the dark
External actor
Neighbor-loving, brother-loving
Blanketing love of God above
Sigh of the river far from shore
Silence and the voice don't speak any more
Neighbor-loving, brother-loving
Blanketing love of God above
Sigh of the river far from shore
Silence and the voice don′t speak any more
Neighbor-loving, brother-loving
Blanketing love of God above
Sigh of the river far from shore
Silence and the voice don't speak any more
Neighbor-loving, brother-loving
Blanketing love of God above
Sigh of the river far from shore
Silence and the voice don′t speak any more
Neighbor-loving, brother-loving
Blanketing love of God above
Sigh of the river far from shore
Silence and the voice don't speak any more
Neighbor-loving, brother-loving
Blanketing love of God above
Sigh of the river far from shore
Silence and the voice don't speak any more
One more time
Neighbor-loving, brother-loving
Blanketing love of God above
Sigh of the river far from shore
Silence and the voice don′t speak any more
Thank you so much
Paul Sheff on the mandolin
Oh man, so fun
Here we go
I want to tell you a story about what Ben said
Ben′s not on stage and I feel like it will be funnier when Ben's on stage
What is that, what are you talking about?
So we were like sitting in the van and then Ben said "what if your name was Josh and you′re 3 feet tall and you're kind of jacked
But one arm was like way more muscular than the other and your girlfriend was beautiful
But you had to be submerged in water most of the time
Mostly submerged in water
But you get to be thirty-eight years old"
I feel bad that I tell that story
And then he goes, there a silence he goes
"Would you do it?"
I would, I would like to bring out a very special guest
To play mandolin with us on this next song
None other than my father Paul sheff
Em, so dad actually played mandolin on erm on this song, on the record
And I′m usually like insanely fastidious about keeping note on who played on what record and everything
It's like a whole thing but I completely screwed out l left him out
But he does play on the song on the record
And we′ll rectify that wrong right now
So, this song was requested by erm Andre Micheal and it's called external actor
It's all I′m looking for
These moments of opaque-eyed knocked-out rapture
Helpless as a cow for the capture
Chosen in a frozen instant
Far away from the scabbed-out moment
Far from the flick-flick-flick of the flatscreen
Far from the poison power of cash
Green cash reeking and heating the jetstream
Oh, the shop-sweet breath, she is my daughter
Daughter of the flashing instant
Daughter of watching "Daughters of Darkness"
On your parents′ couch with your high-school boyfriend
Spinning fevered in a hazy ditch
We daughters of long hard skids on the 10-speed
Daughters of July rips of the land speed
Semi-freckled eternal thrasher
Feather-haloed floating hair eye-flasher
Floating like a fire in the distance
Flashing like a flush to the skin
And whispering like the wind through the rushes
Oh no, external actor
External actor
You gotta hoist the high flag
You gotta learn how to hang with the freaks and the hicks
And the heat of the lot
You gotta learn what is and what is not
And you learn what isn't is not a lot
To drain a tin beer
Streaming cold in the fields
Sun is up and the heat is relentless
Dropping the rainbow rain on the canvas
Calls her friends in the capital of cannabis
Where the cops down the block
And they circle and they stop
And they circle and they stop
And they stop and they circle
And they stop, God help cause it′s a lot
And may God have mercy on the polyglot
Oh no, external actor
External actor
A million miles across, the starlight
Skip skip skip
A wide long curve of spacedust melt around a star
Keep shining in the cold
Keep shining in the dark
External actor
Neighbor-loving, brother-loving
Blanketing love of God above
Sigh of the river far from shore
Silence and the voice don't speak any more
Neighbor-loving, brother-loving
Blanketing love of God above
Sigh of the river far from shore
Silence and the voice don′t speak any more
Neighbor-loving, brother-loving
Blanketing love of God above
Sigh of the river far from shore
Silence and the voice don't speak any more
Neighbor-loving, brother-loving
Blanketing love of God above
Sigh of the river far from shore
Silence and the voice don′t speak any more
Neighbor-loving, brother-loving
Blanketing love of God above
Sigh of the river far from shore
Silence and the voice don't speak any more
Neighbor-loving, brother-loving
Blanketing love of God above
Sigh of the river far from shore
Silence and the voice don't speak any more
One more time
Neighbor-loving, brother-loving
Blanketing love of God above
Sigh of the river far from shore
Silence and the voice don′t speak any more
Thank you so much
Paul Sheff on the mandolin
Oh man, so fun
Here we go
I want to tell you a story about what Ben said
Ben′s not on stage and I feel like it will be funnier when Ben's on stage
What is that, what are you talking about?
So we were like sitting in the van and then Ben said "what if your name was Josh and you′re 3 feet tall and you're kind of jacked
But one arm was like way more muscular than the other and your girlfriend was beautiful
But you had to be submerged in water most of the time
Mostly submerged in water
But you get to be thirty-eight years old"
I feel bad that I tell that story
And then he goes, there a silence he goes
"Would you do it?"
Writer(s): Will Robinson Sheff Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com
