Get all 5 Black Bear (Sam Beebe) releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of the dreaming's what carries you through, Such Great Heights (feat. Viki Peitchev), Overflow The Borders, Black Bear, Pts. I & II (The New Dawn), and The Cinnamon Phase.
1. |
Black Bear
04:29
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in the woods, in the mountains
is a good place to begin
a song about a black bear
living in his black bear den
doing all the black bear things
a black bear just might do
I hope in my next lifetime
I could be a black bear too
and here comes black bear now
crashing through the brush
unfazed by thorns and branches
that would hurt me to the touch
in pursuit of some small animal
the food chain is a truth
and the bear has the advantage
of the massive claw and tooth
but he'll also stop for berries
or honey from the bees
or nuts that he can shake down
from the canopy of trees
and afterwards he'll have his choice
from any stream to drink
while I'll fill up another cup
from my old kitchen sink
and if he wants he'll have a nap
and dream his black bear dreams
that I could only dream of
like I dream to drink from streams
and as he sleeps he hears the breeze
and knows that he is safe
while I'm sleeping with the fan on
to drown out my lack of faith
the simplicity of solitude
is a hard thing to perfect
stealing happiness from loneliness
is not a simple theft
but the black bear has it figured out
and gets what he deserves
and the fur that he is wearing
is the fur that he prefers
and when he stared across the river
into my eyes it made me shiver
and I knew that it was lovely
to have a black bear thinking of me
and when he thinks
he is thoughtful
and when he rests
he is restful
and when he runs
he runs the fastest
and spins the earth right on its axis
and that's his gift to all
showing us the sun
keeping time for everyone
a steady beating drum
and all the dirt he bounds upon
he'd leave his heavy track
that is deep when he is young and blue
but deepest when he's black
because color for the black bear
is a synonym for age
if I were one then I'd be in my
cinnamon phase
instead I am a 22
and the decades weight a ton
this new century's essentially
a bullet from the gun
it takes coffee pots that cost a lot
just to stay abreast
but the coffee hits my sense of loss
and makes a nervous wreck
the simplicity of solitude
is a hard thing to perfect
stealing happiness from loneliness
is not a simple theft
but the black bear has it figured out
and gets what he deserves
and the fur that he is wearing
is the fur that he prefers
and when he stared across the river
into my eyes it made me shiver
and I knew that it was lovely
to have a black bear thinking of me
and when he thinks
he is thoughtful
and when he rests
he is restful
and when he runs
he runs the fastest
and spins the earth right on its axis
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2. |
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I wrote a letter
To my ex-lover's
Mother to thank her
For learning to like me
Seeing as I was
An unlikely suitor
Your princess is priceless
I hope that you know that
I'll write a letter
To my next lover's
Father to tell of
One hell of a daughter
His beautiful baby
That makes me so happy
Your princess is priceless
I'm so glad you know that
I look at pictures
Of my ex-lover's
Summer that she lived
With me and my parents
Wearing our clothes
In the pool from the puddle
Stomping that we did
We could have gone naked
I will take pictures
Of my next lover and
Color my walls with
The face of another
Beautiful baby
That makes me so happy
A princess is priceless
I promise I know that
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3. |
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My stomach becomes hollower
The more I eat alone
I can hardly stomach
Getting you on the phone
I feel like an idiot
Every time I see you
And I feel like you're an idiot too
I say you look great
I've lost a lot of weight you say
My old clothes don't even fit
Remember my denim jacket
Of course I do
You wore it all three years
Through camping trips and irrational fears
Australia
Olympia
Poughkeepsie
Oh Poughkeepsie
I'm sick and I'm tired
I shouldn't be singing
I'm gonna lose my voice
But it doesn't really matter
Because I've got no one
To talk to
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4. |
Those Rusty Drums
04:02
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I sing of things I see past wings
And from the plane, and in passing
I understand expansive land
Better than I can as a grounded man
And I think of dying in the blink of an eye
And of sinking feelings from a pinkened sky
And I wonder what comes under us
And over me
In wanderlust
And I trust the thunder busting up
Those rusty drums drop just enough
And something subtly reminds me of
What it's like to fly in times of love
And it seems like a dream that is weakening
As the clouds surround like a steam machine
The significance of distance hits
In one instant I'm different
And down to Earth I birth a plan
To find an imperfect person and
Let her sweep these feet beneath
Bequeath to me some new belief
And the details will reveal themselves
As I field the female feelings felt
Someone to push up against
I'll welcome healthy arguments
'Cause making up and making love
And waking up to a naked hug
Is exactly what I badly want
So, bluntly, let me bear the brunt
And the human heart is the hardest part
The softest spot for the sharpest dart
But nothing, and I mean nothing, will
Feel as real as when it's filled
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5. |
Whistler's Mother's Day
02:49
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6. |
In The Arboretum
01:46
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Everything is wet
In the arboretum
Everything is wet
In the arboretum
I am wet
In the arboretum
It's the middle of June
The end of rainy season
It's been a year since I made love to you
It's been a year since I made love to anyone
Everything is wet
In the arboretum
Everything is wet
In the arboretum
Oh I got it got it got it bad
This time
If I ever get you get you back
It's gonna be for good
Everything is wet
In the arboretum
Everything is wet
In the arboretum
I am wet
In the arboretum
It's the middle of June
The end of rainy season
Everything is quiet
In the end of evening
Everything is quiet
In the end of evening
I am quiet
In the end of evening
I don't really want her back
It's just the effects of grieving
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7. |
I Believe in Immediacy
01:56
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I believe in immediacy
I believe that immediately
No need to mediate me
Impede expediency
Everyone makes history
Look back on it wistfully
Fuck all that misery
Gotta maintain my mystery
I believe in immediacy
I say that immediately
Gotta feed my deviancy
If I'm really gonna make history
I'm not gonna go peacefully
Dig deep to indignity
Achieve indecency
Kiss my mischief blissfully
I believe in immediacy
I believe that immediately
No need to mediate me
Impede expediency
Everyone makes history
Look back on it wistfully
Fuck all that misery
Gotta maintain my mystery
I believe in immediacy
I say that immediately
Gotta feed my deviancy
If I'm really gonna make history
I'm not gonna go peacefully
Dig deep to indignity
Achieve indecency
Kiss my mischief blissfully
I believe in immediacy
Kiss, kiss, kiss my mischief blissfully
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8. |
I Knew What I Was
02:57
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9. |
Eve of the Fall
03:02
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I saw her first soft in
A fleet of metal hearts
I ached to see her in the greenhouse light
And feel her size
Here we go
Fresh-faced freedom
Eve of the fall
New smell season
A combustible concoction
Erupts and we both fall backwards
I'm sorry but I am reeling from what she says she thought I thought
Here we go
Fresh-faced freedom
Eve of the fall
New smell season
It comes down to the fabric from which we are cut
The strength of the stitch with which we sew ourselves up
It's a matter of fact no patterns perfectly match
So for betterment become a veteran of the clash
She bears the weight of what her parents will think
She inherits the jinx of having different instincts
I'm not superstitious but when she faces west
I'll make wishes on the nape of her neck
From the crossroads of hope and regret
I'll go out where the skyscrapers are scraping the sky
And make just enough paper to pay for supplies
We'll build camps on the coast to clear my head and my hands
Answer only to the grandmother ghost of the lands
We share the weight of a whale in our arms
As we wait for a failure that never-fail comes
Life is complicated, awesome and so inexact
Sometimes it's so good I almost could crack
Sometimes it knots up the small of my back
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10. |
I Want A Flying DeLorean
03:17
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I want a flying DeLorean
With a flux-capacitor
So I can go back to the future
And see what comes afterwards
I would spy in my window at my family
And catch the eye of my wife-to-be
And after dinner I could watch, with joy
Myself play catch with my baby boy
And I'd come barreling back
To 2005
And rest easy now
For the rest of my life
And as a gesture I'll bring back
X-ray glasses
Just for us to see past
The latest fashions
I want a flying DeLorean
With a flux-capacitor
So I can return to Wisconsin
And go back to the pasture
I'd spy with my little eye
My family
Mom and Dad
And my sister, Casey
And we'd fill up the horse trough
With a garden's hose
And play race car
In the tiger-lily rows
And I'd come barreling back
To the here and now
Glowing and innocent
The taste of milk in my mouth
And as a gesture I'll bring back
Some crabapples
For us to feed to the
Birds of Seattle
And we could quit our jobs as
Part-time actors
And write a chapter book
As co-authors
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11. |
Flicker Wings
03:07
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The leaves were off the hardwoods
I could see into the trees
And there I spotted Flicker Wings
And back she spotted me
Feeling bold against the colder months
I nodded to her glow
We showed each other what we held
Yielding what we know
And she is a rare bird
And I am a bird caller
Soon I'd call her my lover
'cause birds of the same feather
Flock with each other
And now I can identify her
By the colors in her chest
Identify with the melodies
She builds within her breast
And simply by example
Of the lines that draw her face
She gives me daily lessons
On the grace of organic shape
And she is a rare bird
And I am a bird watcher
I could watch her for hours
In a birdbath
Under a downpour of autumnal showers
I saw in Flicker Wings
and she saw in me:
The miss and the mister
of love's mystery
We could talk for forever
And between the sheets
We're a heroic couplet
of poetic feats
But November be tender
We all have some cuts
To attend to ourselves
We must fend for or bust
But the vigor and verve
That you gain from a flame
Can cast warmth to help melt
Through the ice chest of pain
I can see her in the meadow
Perched upon her favorite horse
That she named after the feeling
He wells up inside her heart
Temperature is dropping
Mare of winter rears its head
I'll invite her swift migration
To the quilt-fold of my bed
She is a rare bird
And I am a bird caller
Soon I'd call her my lover
'cause birds of the same feather
Flock with each other
You know this and she knows this
Been said before for sure
In poetry and dreams
The bird's a metaphor for girl
And I know her given name
We speak the same in native tongue
Jamie, my love, I love you as you are
Untame and young
And she is a rare bird
And I am a bird watcher
I could watch her for hours
In a bird bath
Under a downpour of autumnal showers
She is a rare bird
Thank God I'm a bird watcher
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12. |
Like Venice
01:42
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Today I visited the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and jumped in.
I was very certainly not supposed to do that.
Lake Union is separated from the Puget Sound by a waterway. In this waterway there is a locks system to negotiate a change in water levels. I'm not positive because I didn't read the placards, but I imagine this is necessary because otherwise the canal would be a currented river that flowed out to sea, and boats would be hard-pressed to make it east, back into the Lake Union, and in turn, Lake Washington.
I could be totally wrong though.
Regardless, the locks are one of the strangest of man made phenomena I have ever seen in action. The boats are channeled into a sort of holding tank; large metal doors shut behind them, watertight. Then some bells begin to ring, and quicker than you might imagine, the boats float upwards towards you.
Whenever I take a bath, which these days is not often enough, I enjoy sitting in the tub as it is filling up, and even more when the water is draining out, and some layer of my body is going down the pipes with it.
I jumped over the railing today because I wanted to feel what it was like to swim in water that was rising. Aside from being difficult, in my jeans and hooded sweatshirt, and shockingly cold, the feeling was no different than swimming in a stable body of water
The pay off, though, was when the bells stopped ringing and the door opened, and I felt like I had been ushered through by some sentry, to a new city, like Venice, that floats on water.
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Black Bear (Sam Beebe) Munich, Germany
Black Bear is emerging from hibernation into a new dawn, beginning with the release of a new chapter in the story that began with the beloved track "Black Bear," from the 2006 debut album, The Cinnamon Phase. Buy "Black Bear, Pt. II" along with a remaster of "BB"! Support Black Bear on Patreon (www.patreon.com/blackbearsambeebe) and follow on social platforms to stay up to date! ... more
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