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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Joy My Love EP, Little Blue Egg, American Noel, Seven Is the Number, drum hat buddha, Tanglewood Tree, and When I Go. , and , .

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about

© 2000 David Robert Carter (BMI), administered by Tracy Grammer Music

lyrics

love is a tanglewood tree in a bower of green
in a forest at dawn
fair while the mockingbird sings, but she soon lifts her wings
and the music is gone

young lovers in the tall grass with their hearts open wide
when the red summer poppies bloom
but love is a trackless domain and the rumor of rain
in the late afternoon

love is an old root that creeps through the meadows of sleep
when the long shadows cast
thin as a vagrant young vine, it encircles and twines
and it holds the heart fast
catches dreamers in the wildwood with the stars in their eyes
and the moon in their tousled hair
but love is a light in the sky, and an unspoken lie
and a half-whispered prayer

i'm walkin down a bone-dry river where the cool mirage runs true
i'm bankin on the fables of the far, far better things we do
i'm livin for the day of reck'nin countin down the hours
i yearn away, i burn away, i turn away the fairest flower of love, 'cause darlin

love is a garden of thorns, and a crow in the corn
and the brake growing wild
cold when the summer is spent in the jade heart's lament
for the faith of a child
my body has a number and my face has a name
and each day looks the same to me
but love is a voice on the wind, and the wages of sin
and a tanglewood tree

[counterpoint]
love's garden of thorns, how it grows
black crow in the corn hummin low
brake nettle so pretty and wild
and thistles surround the edge of the
dim dark hour as the sun moves away
lamenting a lost summer day
who nurtures the faith of a child
when nothing remains to cover her eyes

my body has a number, maybe my face has a name
each hour like each hour before
this longing is a voice on the wind
she cultivates the wages of sin
in a tanglewood tree

credits

from Tanglewood Tree, released January 1, 2000

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Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer image

Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer Portland, Oregon

American folk duo Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer blend tradition and
innovation into a potent musical elixir. They transcend singer/songwriter stereotypes, delivering evocative, clear-eyed ruminations on death and life, love and ruin, that result in "music of haunting beauty and uncommon intelligence" (The
Oregonian). Carter died in 2002; Grammer curates their legacy and now performs solo. ... more

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