Get all 3 Gentle Brontosaurus releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Bees of the Invisible, Gentle Brontosaurus Live: Jurassic Park 'n' Ride Tour 2016, and Names of Things and What They Do.
1. |
Morgan
04:23
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If I could measure the distance between your fingers and mine
Maybe my stuttering fingers would start to march in time
I'd ride to the crossroads and throw off my long coat
Bargain with whoever would have me
Deal with the devil or give up the worn soles of my dancing shoes
Tell the whole world what I'm looking to lose
Hold onto your envy
Wear it like a fox fur coat
It's yours for the using
Lap it up like lemonade
Unwrap it like it's Christmas Day
It's yours
Morgan's so pretty, you don't want to be Yew anymore
If I had it in me, the world would have seen it by now
Mold up my mud horn, keep playing my small songs,
Believe I have something to say--
Dream that they're hearing me, the moon's moving near to me
To pull out the bone from my throat
I kneel at the crossroads
I'll give it all up
Hold onto your envy
Wear it like a fox fur coat
It's yours for the using
Lap it up like lemonade
Unwrap it like it's Christmas Day
It's yours
If I could measure the distance between your fingers and mine
Maybe my mother would hear it when I say that I'm doing fine
Sang to the snow moon and opened some old wounds
Buried my sacrificed sons
Held hands with the devil, wore holes in the soft soles of my dancing shoes
On Abraham's altar, I've got nothing to lose
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2. |
The Hedonist
03:19
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Poison for my body is like food for my soul
So I go on murdering myself with vice and alcohol
And I know that I'm dying and I know that I shouldn't
But I go on doing bad things that make me feel good
Cause they make me feel good
Glasses make you look so much smarter when they're filled with rosé
And you're a fine spectacle when you're filled with champagne
Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker
Yeah, I'm just like Mrs. Parker, only dumber and sicker
I'm a cheap, cheap date
Can't hardly wait!
Tell me, is there more to life than leisure?
Show me all the points beyond pleasure
I'll say this, I am no masochist
Just a hedonist
Looking for a God that knows how to sin
But I keep going back to the one that's made of porcelain
I guess no-one wins
Whiskey drinks, velvet clothes, sex, sleep, and food
Chase away the ticking clock and the existential blues
I'll smoke cigarettes, drink hoppy beer
Until the day that I disappear
How can you miss me when I was hardly even here?
Tell me, is there more to life than leisure?
Show me all the points beyond pleasure
I'll say this, I am no masochist
Just a hedonist
Looking for a God that knows how to sin
But I keep going back to the one that's made of porcelain
I guess no-one wins
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3. |
track1.mp3
03:01
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I had never heard it
Until it came up on shuffle
I sat transfixed at the speaker
It might not be a brilliant song
but it perfectly fit
The mood I was in...
track1.mp3
I only knew you by the sound of your voice
There were no tags on the file
I scoured the Internet for mentions of anything that could have been a title
And found a post on a forum for fans of another band
Who were looking for something similar to listen to
And you offered up a home-recorded demo and nothing else... track1.mp3
By the time I was hooked on your song, you were long dead
A tragic accident in the warehouse where you had lived
But a relative still had video of your very first show
So I finally got to see you perform,
It was such a mess
A work in progress...
track1.mp3
Now I put you on all my playlists and my mixtapes
But I'm no tastemaker, I've got my own product to push
But you'll live on in a file on a flash drive
Or a Russian pirate site
Until the DMCA
Makes them take it down
They'll never find you
Up there in the cloud...
track1.mp3
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4. |
A Shot
03:55
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A shot rings out
From the starting gun
And you're off like an arrow
Run, rabbit, run
And you don't touch the ground
Fly straight as an bullet,
Truer than anyone
Discipline, proportion
Luminous distinctions
You're as lean and holy
As a shining St. Sebastian
While I'm coming apart at the seams
Sketched lines,
A map you drew from memory
And I'm scratching my name out of books
Drinking down the ocean,
Cutting my legs in the dark
Over the hurdles,
Down the curving track
Greyhound, thoroughbred,
You're never coming back
Peel off this town
Like a shedding snake
Rocket to the heavens, white rat shot into outer space
Over the hurdles,
Down the curving track
Greyhound, thoroughbred,
You're never coming back
Peel off this town like a shedding snake
Rocket to the heavens, white rat shot into outer space
You'll get away from here
Shoot the moon
For both of us, my dear
Kick, kick it off now
Let it drown
I'll be waiting for you forever
A rabbit-proof fence in this dirty old town
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5. |
For Emma
03:15
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When you heard the knout in the town square
It must have brought you back
To your mother's second husband
And you saw yourself on the flailing end
And you would burn your fish with your Proust
And no more cut noodles than human skin
But you were never well behaved
Enough for gymnasium
The corset shop was nothing but a job
Until your fateful day at the Sach's Cafe
Rather than build a bomb, you got turned down at the bar
Now you're the one holding the whip
Striking one of your own, but still better than most
And you would take your work with your bread
And throw water back at the detective
You read your way through a year at Blackwell
But you were never well behaved
Enough for gymnasium
After the trial you returned to Mother Earth
And found a doctor cut from the tenderloin
You boarded the Buford and sailed for disillusionment
Only returning for a mismarked grave in Forest Park
It's been a hundred years today, and a hundred dollars you refused to pay
For your clinic in New York, they still try to undo all your work
But you were never well behaved...
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6. |
The World's on Fire
05:53
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Summer night, sticky hot and molten
Setting sun filling me with golden light
Sets the trees on fire
Shield your eyes
The world's on fire
Palm trees, the California coastline
Freeways stretching on for miles and miles
Headlights like fireflies
Shield your eyes
The world's on fire
We pretended that we were movie stars
With my headscarf and a pair of shades
Took off my heels to run by the water's edge
The cold Pacific washing all my doubts away
Away
Away
Here we go, the story of nothing
You decided I wasn't worth loving anymore
But once, I was adored
Venice Beach, the scene of a murder
If not that, the scene of some other crime
Like wasting my time
Shield your eyes
The world's on fire
And if we'd been lovers on the movie screen
I would have found the magic words to make you stay
Held you while the rubble rained around our heads
And kissed you while the world burned away
Away
Away
In my bed, I lie still and think about
Where you are, and if I just concentrate
I can feel you in space
Palm trees filter the moonlight
I know that there's someone in your arms tonight
The world's on fire
The world's on fire
The world's on fire
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7. |
My Ultimate Form
04:01
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Finally I have arrived
This is my ultimate form
I've never been so alive
I've never been so adorned
All that I was before
Is someone I no longer am
The history I can't hide
I would deny on the stand
I know no other name than the last word on my lips
I've cleared my cookies and eaten my chrysalis
I've discarded my textbooks and kept all my wisdom teeth
I know no other name than the last word on my lips
Is that strange? That might be it
Is that strange?
Is that strange?
My predecessor was a hack
But you can trust in the new regime
Forged by fire, the likes of which you've never seen
What I do now is part of my identity
Better take me as I am
Not as I was yesterday
I've cleared my cookies and eaten my chrysalis
I've discarded my textbooks and kept all my wisdom teeth
I know no other name than the last word on my lips
Is that strange? That might be it
I won't live longer than a mayfly
Let my next incarnation be the magpie
I won't chase the shine of the sun, I won't chase
My planned obsolescence is coming to get me soon
What I do now is part of my identity
Better take me as I am
Not as I was yesterday
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8. |
Wicker Park
02:35
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All the little black circles
Of mold on the bathroom door
And all the straight black lines
Of grime in the grout on the floor
I don't mind anymore
I don't care if my house is clean
Pizza boxes by the front door
It is what it is, so it seems
Yeah
Wish I were stranded on a desert island
Eating coconuts by the score
Or in a yurt on the wild tundra
Like Bon Iver, only even more so
Even more so
Even more so
It's better to be alone
Yeah
So that's what you get
When you're a martyr to the Craigslist cause
Take it easy, baby
You're taking this all too serious
Saints wouldn't care
About the slime in the crisper drawer
Joan of Arc was an athlete
With feet that burned like fire
Yeah
Wish I were stranded on a desert island
Eating coconuts by the score
Or in a yurt on the wild tundra
Like Bon Iver, only even more so
Even more so
Even more so
It's better to be alone
Yeah
All the little black circles
Of mold on the bathroom door
And all the straight black lines
Of grime in the grout on the floor
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9. |
Pull the Van Around
03:26
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A call to my cellphone
You need my help again
There's shouting in the background
Whatever the situation is
We'll sort it out
Your other friends may roll their eyes
But I'll pull the van around
I'll pull the van around
It's 3 AM and we're strapping a mattress down
I had pointless hopes
When we were in high school
You left your parents' house
When I helped you move out,
I thought, "now here's my chance"--
I fooled myself, it's not your fault
I deserved less than all I got
A gracious, patient friend
Six months later you were on the move again
Your other friends may roll their eyes
But I'll pull the van around
I'll pull the van around
It's 3 AM and we're strapping a mattress down
What's wrong with your roommates?
You didn't answer the question
Because I had the wrong premise to start with
I went away and learned the cliche you were
College break and six months almost to the day
Your landlord kicks you out
She's a bit of a psycho, you say
I'll take your word for it
Your other friends may roll their eyes
But I'll pull the van around
I'll pull the van around
It's 3 AM and we're strapping a mattress down
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10. |
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I had a speaking role in the extended cut of a snuff film
Of a hack community actor dying of cancer anyway
It was all humane and legal in certain states
I appeared on screen to read his living will and estate
The cast and crew packed up and flew to Cannes for the debut
They were lost en route, never heard from again
I alone am the eighth degree of Kevin Bacon
His office won't stop calling, offering million-dollar roles
I could have taken
But I declined
Because it would make me less than the eighth degree of Kevin Bacon
My client was a seven, his sole connection a six
A snowboarder trying to make it pro, willing to take a risk
She dropped from the helicopter down to the powder below
After the avalanche all they found was her cameraphone
The footage got a posthumous release
With an intro by an uncle now deceased
My first link couldn't hurt me, and my second's behind bars
My third quit cold turkey, but my fourth was still getting parts
She had an audition with Zero but got sick the night before
They kept trying to reschedule, I thought he'd let it go
They say arsenic never leaves a trace
But I got caught with egg on my face
Now in prison
It's a dubious distinction
But it's still pretty rare to be the sixth degree of Kevin Bacon
Now the Oracle has spoken, and her prophecy is grim
The hub has seven acolytes, each eight degrees from him
You can't unmake a link, but you can lower their score
So an agent with my skills would be worth a mil or more
Wouldn't you say,
Kevin Bacon?
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11. |
Jerkface
03:30
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You've got shampoo in your hair
And you show up to work with a smirk
You don't care that you're besmirching your cause
Worse than that yesterday's shirt
I don't fault your actions
It's your attitude I take issue with
You're blazing a pattern
It's not an isolated incident
Maybe you'll find someone to be the butt of your jokes
But you can't expect it from everyone
You've got toothpaste on your pants
A sure sign you brushed behind the wheel
When you made your escape, how much shame did you feel?
This one-night stand isn't an office first
I don't fault your actions
It's your attitude I take issue with
You're blazing a pattern
It's not an isolated incident
Maybe you'll find someone to be the butt of your jokes
But you can't expect it from everyone
We used to have booze at all the office parties
But then you would get drunk and pretend to lose your inhibitions
I think you take pleasure in gaining an advantage
In taking advantage
In making advances
I don't fault your actions
It's your attitude I take issue with
You're blazing a pattern
It's not an isolated incident
Maybe you'll find someone to be the butt of your jokes
But you can't expect it from everyone
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12. |
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I saw you on that TV show
And you looked into my eyes
I saw you wore that red jacket
The one you know I like
And on the wall by the bus stop
I found a message with my name
Well, I know you're out there
And I'll wait
And on your latest album
All the words on track six
Converted into numbers
Form the number of the house where I live
In the basement of the thrift shop
I found a letter with my name
Well, I know you're out there
And I'll wait
And I was the only one
Chosen to save you
Did you see it written in the clouds?
I need you too
I saw you in that magazine
Morse code kerning spelled out my name
I understood what you meant there
We are the same
We are the same
In the leaves in the gutter
I found a golden dove with my name
Well, I know you're coming
And I'll wait
Well, I was the only one
Chosen to save you
Did you see it written in the clouds?
I need you too
I'll wait
I'll wait
I'll wait
I'll wait
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Gentle Brontosaurus Madison, Wisconsin
"Sweet, sunny and just a little bit twee, this indie pop quintet will make you want to dance and hug your friends... With
folk and jangle-pop influences, [Bees of the Invisible] features smart lyrics, thoughtful instrumentation and enchanting songwriting." --Isthmus
"expert-level indie pop... effortless, breezy fun interspersed with harder-edged rockers" --Expansionista! zine
... more
Gentle Brontosaurus recommends:
everything is everything
by red tape diaries
Including Jon and Huan-Hua (and Nick)
go to album
Including Huan-Hua and Nick
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Such a good album with really catchy riffs and lyrics. I put this on and immediately feel happier.
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Fans of Galaxie 500 and Lush are invited to sink into this lovely record of shimmery dream pop from Toronto group Tallies.
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The New Orleans duo use a pastiche of 80’s sounds to create a glittery pop sound all their own.
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