Get all 19 James Dean Cotton releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Waterfall, Good Water Safe Camp (Remastered), Cascadia, Ain’t No Money In It, The Same Boat (ver2), Criminal, The Same Boat (single), Basement Songs (2019-2021), and 11 more.
1. |
Songs
03:37
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How many songs can there really be?
This one must be a hundred for me.
It’s a need to resonate and share a common truth.
Or hide it in a metaphor and paint it with my youth.
Oh, how many songs can there really be?
How many stars have I really seen?
Shimmering in shattered shades of pink and water green.
Though all are doomed to fade away long eons after me.
How many stars can there really be?
To think that I could get up here and send you something new.
Or wrap it in a story that you'll never know is true.
Guess I’m throwing out a life line, Not sure who is pulling who.
All I know is I keep writing and it’s like I’m always fighting. These
Little songs don't last for long so I’m sending them to you.
Hey, thanks to you for listening. That is, if you’re still here.
I understand that you just came to talk an’ have a beer.
But if we dare to keep it down, ain’t fooling anyone...
How many songs have we never sung?
To think that I could get up here and send you something new.
Or wrap it in a story that you’ll never know is true.
Guess I’m throwing out a life line, Not sure who is foolin’ who.
All I know is I keep writing and it’s like I’m always fighting. These
little songs don't last for long so I’m sending them to you.
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2. |
Requiem for a Forest
04:49
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We're tearing down the hills
Just feeding foreign mills
Pulling down the shingles
And the shelter in the way
Just digging in the dark
Leaving one last mark
Just salt within the wound
Clear cut away...
Goodbye to love
Goodbye to home
Goodbye to wings that carried you up all along
Goodbye to love
Goodbye to home
Goodbye to everything and still you let it go
Goodbye to love
Like windows on a ridge,
They’re bending like a bridge,
And holding out a cup
To catch the water in the way
And we’re barely keeping track, of the
The bones that broke your back
Just salt within a wound,
Clear cut away...
Goodbye to love
Goodbye to home
Goodbye to winds that carried you up all along
Goodbye to love
Goodbye to home
Goodbye to everything and still you let it go
Goodbye to Love
Instrumental...
Goodbye to love
Goodbye to home
Goodbye to winds that carried you up all along
Goodbye to love
Goodbye to home
Goodbye to everything and still you let it go
Goodbye to Love
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3. |
As Bad As You
03:57
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Though I have tried my best to find my way,
I have made a mess of everything to date.
Despite all the promises of good I’d do,
Oh, the best that I could hope for was to be as bad as you.
Thought I was finally free and full of light.
Thought I’d cut it all away with an imaginary knife.
But this blood is thicker than a wish that never will come true.
Oh, the best that I could hope for was to be as bad as you.
I have never found
A lightness of the heart that keeps your feet set on the ground
I may never lose
All the injury that seems to be perpetually reviewed.
These colors only grew from grey to blue, and
The little bird I loved she turned and flew.
What the travelers I trusted never knew, is that
The best that I could hope for was to be as bad as you.
I have never found
A lightness of the heart that keeps your feet set on the ground
I may never lose
All the injury that seems to be perpetually reviewed.
Though I have tried my best to find my way,
I have made a mess of everything to date.
Despite all the promises of good I’d do,
All the best that I could hope for was to be as bad as you.
Despite all the promises of every bit of good I’d do,
All the best that I could hope for was to be as bad as you.
Oh, the best that I could hope for was to be as bad as you.
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4. |
Tiny Houses
04:26
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I know you.
You used to be me.
Draw a distinction, but
Upon this one thing agree.
I know you.
You made the deal.
Somebody’s little boy
Flying low-down in The Field.
Some are unlucky and others are broken or sick,
Addicted to chasing the sky, or living too quick.
They say, till you lose everything nobody is free.
But, these tiny houses hold tinier pieces of me.
And I know her,
Veronica Jane,
Feeding the shadows of freeways
With nowhere to to stay.
I know us.
Dare you to dream,
Looking away while
Trying to say what you mean.
Some are unlucky and others are broken or sick,
Addicted to chasing the sky, or living too quick.
They say, till you lose everything nobody is free.
But, these tiny houses hold tinier pieces of me.
Not too far from the couch here to the camp.
Blue tarp, billowing breeze of the trucks on the ramp.
Not too far from the couch here to the camp!
Oh, anyone, anyone, anyone could wake up like that!
Some are unlucky and others are broken or sick,
Addicted to chasing the sky, or living too quick.
They say, till you lose everything nobody really is free.
But, these tiny houses hold tinier pieces of me.
These tiny houses hold tinier pieces of me.
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5. |
Insomnia
05:22
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Well, I know that you come here from Columbia
And you think that you're all that.
Through all the warm-water towns they would pass you around
Like a street-show Saturday hat.
But it started out breezy, if a little bit greasy,
That little cup shaken and stirred.
Now, it's three times daily, a barista named Bailey,
Hanging on my every word.
'Cause loving you's insomnia,
A bittersweet amour.
A natural phenomenon.
I'm coming back for more.
The cost don't matter, when you're always up, batter
And a buzz in your head, like a crown.
'Cause it's the smell of your skin, it's the tannin and tin,
Keepin' me coming around.
‘Cause loving you's insomnia,
A bittersweet amour.
A natural phenomenon.
I'm coming back for more.
Instrumental
But you're kind of an addiction, a fair-trade affliction,
And I know I'm going to get burned.
Still, you're good for me baby, everybody says, "maybe"
To sugar-sweet tingle and churn.
‘Cause loving you's insomnia,
A bittersweet amour.
A natural phenomenon.
I'm coming back for more.
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6. |
Song for Everyone
03:53
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Everyone's a writer.
We sing of all the rights that were wronged.
Yeah, everyone's a writer,
Praying for the pilgrims to be strong.
They were thrown upon the shore.
And we don't see them anymore.
Everyone's a lover.
Looking for the place where they belong.
Yeah, everyone's a lover.
Memories all stapled in a song.
They were thrown upon the shore.
And we don't see them anymore. Yeah..
We're all in this together, funny birds all of feather,
Raise a glass to mom, and lets wait out the weather , cause
We're all in this together, funny birds all of feather, in the
World.
Everyone's a person.
Color or persuasion, if you've got the DNA.
Yeah, everyone's a person.
Though you may disagree with what they do or what they say.
They are thrown upon the shore.
And we won't see them anymore. Yeah...
We're all in this together, funny birds all of feather,
Raise a glass to mom, and let's wait out the weather , cause
We're all in this together, funny birds all of feather, in the
World.
Everyone's a critic,
If you're not a lover or a writer otherwise.
Yeah, everyone's a critic.
But, what the hell, just as well cry and criticize.
You were thrown upon the shore.
And we don't see you anymore. Yeah...
We're all in this together, funny birds all of feather,
Raise a glass to mom, and huddle out the weather , cause
We're all in this together, funny birds all of feather, in the
World.
Birds all of feather, in the World.
Birds all of feather, in the World.
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7. |
Faces on the Wall
03:35
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I went down to say goodbye to Annie today,
But she didn't meet me at the door.
There were people around, throwing their stories all down
But all I could hear was wheels upon the floor.
The faces on the wall told it all.
'Cause in every one you were standing tall.
Couldn't see it all, but I can still recall
The faces on the wall.
Took a 20 year run, and you're finally done
In a garden that bloomed for a day.
People loved you with pride,
in an old school vibe,
A still life living for the day.
The faces on the wall told it all.
'Cause in every one you were standing tall.
Didn't know it all, but I can still recall
The faces on the wall.
The faces on the wall.
And the dust will settle on the windowsill.
Leaves come down in the fall.
People and homes, everybody's on loan
And goes sailing out to sea, and that's all.
Last time I saw you alive,
it was mid oh-one-five.
But you let me help you to the door.
Of the 122. You were pushing on through.
And all I could hear was your feet upon the floor.
The faces on the wall told it all.
'Cause in every one you were standing tall.
Didn't know it all, but I can still recall
The faces on the wall.
The faces on the wall.
The faces on the wall.
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8. |
Tongue-Tied
03:03
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Sometimes I don't know what to say.
And sometimes I can't say enough.
So sometimes I don't say anything.
It's a crazy game and a shame to rush.
Saw your red light flashing on Queen Anne,
Dancers laughing in the bars below.
Sit here thinking 'bout this stuff too much.
Probably make you laugh; sure hope so.
Mmm... I'm tongue-tied...mmm
Tell me what you think, where you're bound.
What's that gypsy heart tell you to do?
I come up with a thousand things to say,
'Til I finally sit in front of you.
Mmm... I'm tongue-tied...mmm
Sometimes I don't know what to say...
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9. |
Life in Hawaii is a Song
04:28
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Life in Hawaii is a song.
A breeze that plays among the palms.
A lullaby you hum along.
Life in Hawaii is a song.
While the sun set on Lanai,
Bought everything that I could buy,
Kissed a girl and made her cry,
While the sun set on Lanai.
Climbed Haleakala today,
While Pele’s fire burned away,
All the things I didn’t say.
Climbed Haleakala today.
While rain fell from the sky,
We cut the cane and waved goodbye.
And mothers wept for Molokai,
While rain fell from the sky.
Life in Hawaii is a song.
A breeze that plays among the palms.
A lullaby you hum along.
Life in Hawaii is a song.
Outro:
Instrumental (tune of ‘Aloha oe’)
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James Dean Cotton Seattle, Washington
James Dean Cotton hails from the Missouri Ozarks where bluegrass and Americana infused an easy, 70's acoustic style. He writes and performs solo and with the acoustic duo, American Sons, in the Seattle area.
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