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Head & Foot of the Stairs

from Attic & Cellar by aeroplane, 1929

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lyrics

Head & Foot of the Stairs

A breathless sprint into sable night.
The dogs were out and beams
were scraping the ground.
An uproar at the citadel—
searching shadows, the doom downcome.

And I had meant to make east (retrograde)
but the weathervane was whirling,
and my compass was busted,
and I was all in a panic
like the time our horse broke her leg
and had to be shot.

And I had paused on the threshold—
the head and foot of the stairs.
Inbetween in the vestibule,
I’d spent a moment too long there.
And I was writing down the first line,
taking a last look at that old house,
and “Heaven” and “Hell” didn’t
seem the right terms to use at all.

I’d lived so long in all that pomp and loft
with all those lights on for fear of the dark—
a hawk’s perch exalted above,
a fortress to keep the peasants out
(and to veil the fertile soil soaked with blood).
And I’d ingested all that binary bunkum,
patted my belly fat and carefree and full;
but that night I wretched by the roadside
and threw no final fleeting backward look.

This is an honest attempt to bespeak myself
in this slipshod and bankrupt tongue
in the fading light of a dying empire
on the lam from what I’d become.

My mind was making like an engine.
My legs were pumping like pistons
(amid all those bones rounding out of the dirt).
A voice inside said to be brave
as I split the town
and so I chanted a new psalm,
“...up for down, heel for crown.”

_________________________________________

Credit

Frédérique Gnaman – violin
Jacob Eli Goldman – bass guitar
Michael Ljungh – cello
Alex Mazzaferro – voice, acoustic guitar, piano, mellotron, rhodes, electic guitar, keyboards, shaker
Wil Mulhern – drums

credits

from Attic & Cellar, released July 1, 2010

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aeroplane, 1929 Springfield, Massachusetts

aeroplane, 1929 was a band from New England. Between 2005 & 2010, they released two albums & two EP's on Topshelf Records. The band consisted of Alex Mazzaferro (vocals/guitar/keys/lyrics), Jacob Goldman (bass/keys/recording/arrangements), Noah Goldman (guitar/pedal steel/keys), & Wil Mulhern (drums), plus friends like Julian Veronesi, Chad Jewett, Dave Van Witt, Alex Syner, & Peter Federman. ... more

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