We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Dark Stars

by Robin Jackson

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    A beautiful 4-panel disc with photography by Zippy Lomax

    Includes unlimited streaming of Dark Stars via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $15 USD or more 

     

1.
LADY WISCONSIN You brought the cold wind, late in September Don’t you remember This was the beginning of the end You caught my heart, I tried to run You shot love through a smoking gun Blood poured out, and I tried to pretend Sometimes It’s beautiful, meant to be Sometimes it’s a beautiful tragedy I guess this time, we’ll just have to wait and see Cause I fell in love with Lady Wisconsin I fell in love with Lady Wisconsin And I’m pretty sure, she fell in love with me We danced in the sun, we laid in the grass I wished that time would never pass These bells were ringing loudly from the start We smoked thunder from a broken bone Rode our bikes the long way home Got lost in the storm, but you couldn’t lose my heart Honey moon, she cried tears You said I’ll see you in 15 years But threads like these don’t break so easily ‘Cause i fell in love with Lady Wisconsin I fell in love with Lady Wisconsin And I’m pretty sure she fell in love with me You said you wanted me to be your man          But you had shackles on your hands The wind on the great lakes cried above our heads You tried to take me to the shore But I couldn't take any more And soon the autumn leaves will all be dead Sometimes It’s a beautiful rhapsody Sometimes it’s a beautiful tragedy I guess this time, we’re just not meant to be Cause I fell in love with Lady Wisconsin I fell in love with Lady Wisconsin And I’m pretty sure she fell in love with me
2.
DRIFTING AT SEA August Winds a-blowing Gust through my door It might as well be snowing You're not here any more Into the desert you've taken A sweet heart of me Please be careful don't break it I'm drifting at sea It's lonely here without you Getting too dark for me No idea how much I'd miss you A-drifting at sea And so this picture is painted In light pinks and blues And for the dawn I am waiting A sunrise of you Oh say hello to the stars Sing a sweet melody And I will listen while drifting A drifting at sea It's lonely here without you Getting too dark for me No idea how much I'd miss you A-drifting at sea Your love's a wave that keeps me from breaking and washing up as debris Without you I can't' find my way in A-drifting at sea
3.
BACK TO YOUR DOOR All around the world and back Our love is like a railroad track We've been through the thick and thin From Santa Cruz to East Berlin I praise the dirt upon my feet From every city street That’s helped us both to come so far Holding you under the stars I've seen you through the darkest nights And in the burning desert lights I've watched you live and lose and die Goodbye my love goodbye And when we part I lay a penny on the track and I know That wherever we may wonder I keep on coming back From Amsterdam to New Orleans I have always know a queen And once you crafted me a crown I have never put it down And there's no rings on our hands We are bonded by a plan That's greater than the alter Ever could compare I'll dance you in a dress of blue Till we're one hundred and two And I’ll be yours as we return To watch the dusty temple burn And when we part I lay a penny on the track and I know That wherever we wonder I keep on coming back All the miles on my shoes I'd walk a thousand more They keep bringing me Bringing me back to your door
4.
YELLOW GARDENIAS I found you in the middle of an Indonesian market place The sun shone diamonds upon your face You drew upon my heart and left a trace And then you sang a sweet refrain Of yellow gardenias in the rain We lost ourselves In the space between the sunset and the wet rice fields Where holy priests, dance among the temples where one they kneeled A kiss as sweet as sugar cane In the yellow gardenias in the rain You gave me your heart Underneath a mango tree Built an altar at my head And pushed my mind into the sea I always knew I'd find you in this crazy land God blew smoke into my soul I found my self within the sand We said a prayer as we looked for ceremonies in the stars above And the crazy wind, whispered of the way we used to love And perhaps we'll find it once again In the yellow gardenias in the rain
5.
GOSPEL AND GRAIN I broke bread upon the plough man’s table Did the good work when I was able Found my way up when it was hard to stand up Never gave up when the going got rough I’ve slipped on rocks made of flint and bone Fell into the darkness, all alone Broken by the highway, living in despair Never thought I’d find my way back from there Not proud of all that I have done Shot poison from the barrel of a smoking gun Made a recipe of cinder and smoke Been caught wearing the devil’s cloak I try to shake my shadow on the daily But it’s a battle, takes me close to crazy Like a snake, trying to shed it’s skin Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever win And you kept me faithful You took me by the hand When I left myself for dying The sweet Summer rain The gospel and the grain You are my church And your love is sanctifying When I was lost, my father told me son You won’t find God on the run Into the rocks of the desert  or the sea When the wind stops truth be waiting there for thee To find the word of a true apostle Step into the river and listen to the gospel All I need is this fire and sky A dusty guitar fashioned from an alibi Pain, she can be a teacher Find your courage and you will learn to love her Every scar that I’ve ever known Takes me closer close to my home Darkness is simply lack of light When I was a fighter I was told to fight But when I love, I gotta let it go That’s the hardest truth that I’ll ever know And you kept me faithful You took me by the hand When I left myself for dying The sweet Summer rain The gospel and the grain You are my church And your love is sanctifying
6.
BRIDGE OF ST JOHNS Oh St Johns With your dirty streets and you grey boots on The wild wind, she grabbed my hand And carried me to your ampersand Broken beers and pushing brooms Old men trade tales in tired saloons We confessed our secrets to the moon And you know she’ll never tell You know she’ll never tell Oh river wide I etched my ache into your side I came here once again to die As I marched across your great divide The queen of Portsmouth built your arch Suspended by a funeral march We wrote our vows at Cathedral Park And this bridge will never tell This bridge will never tell Oh coal black crow We followed your cries down Ivanhoe December swallowed up the day Your love was a train that would not stay It’s hard to leave it all behind I guess you’ll go your way and I’ll go mine And if one day our paths align Only time will tell Only time will tell
7.
TEARS FOR THE SOUL Oh you came so far All alone, only sixteen All alone, mama said be strong You were the one, you were the one Who bade farewell to mother Russia Tolstoy broke your heart and set you free You were the one who carried the torch For your own Mishpoke You brought your courage across the sea Dark was the night Cossacks shook you awake So you took flight mama goodnight, goodnight Light, light on the river black Travel at dawn never to come back You left it all you left it all And found the shores of Boston Where cobblestones and cousins brought you in From brick to bone, you built a home From the ghosts within your hands From Latvia to land we are your Kin A note in your hand you boarded the train Babka in your pocket, your feet so cold Uncle dear uncle let me forget What soap does for the body, tears do for the soul You left it all you left it all And found the shores of Boston Where cobblestones and cousins brought you in From brick to bone, you built a home From the ghosts within your hands   From Latvia to land we are your Kin
8.
SAINT VALENTINE We sat there at the cafe Up on Telegraph Hill The margaritas showed no mercy And love couldn’t foot the bill Your words were like the barrel of a smoking gun I knew right then that this trip was done   We took our tears onto the grass Outside of St. Peter’s church On that holy day in February When my faith turned for the worse And the mariachi band played in the rain And no amount of prayers will cease the pain Saint Valentine I think you broke your promise This wasn’t quite the deal we had made Now I’m out on a line, lost my heart in San Francisco   And your tears are pouring down on my parade We walked on through the city The painted ladies they took pity On this funeral march of many Why did you have to look so pretty? The wind won’t cease the waning of the moon Acceptance is a quiet, empty room In a crack down in the pavement I picked you a broken flower And the barker and the anchorman Sang a dirge outside Coit Tower And Valentine, why is love so hard to keep? The ghost of your kiss burns me in my sleep And once we were close friends Now wearing the clothes of strangers And the streetcar is full of lonely drunks And I didn’t see the danger Of letting you so far back in And the moon over the mission is growing thin I held your hand as we walked to Dolores Park And we said our final rites within the dark    And we watched the silent fog roll into the bay As I we said goodbye to Valentine’s Day
9.
GHOST UNDER MY SKIN It just feels like a minute Since we said farewell I think I’m moving on But I really can’t tell So now what? We just wait for this feeling to pass us by? Might as well wait for the sea to run dry Cause you were my best friend But now you closed the door And that doesn’t keep me from loving you anymore Cause the deeper you go The more it cuts like a knife Sometimes a scar is the sacrifice Last night I held you in my arms for the final time I always thought that love like this could make it through the night I know that you wanted it as much, but you wouldn’t let it in And now you’re just a stranger to me, a ghost under my skin Fool's gold, is easy to find But you showed me something rare, I didn’t know was mine And it ain’t easy, to put this book back on the shelf Cause losing you is really losing a part of myself And I’m tired of this story It’s old now let it burn And with it all the pages we’ll never turn Cause I’m not here to inspire you to join me on the bridge And though I miss your kisses I don’t miss your ambivalence Last night I held you in my arms for the final time I always thought that love like this could make it through the night I know that you wanted it as much, but you wouldn’t let it in And now you’re just a stranger to me, a ghost under my skin
10.
Dark Stars 06:02
DARK STARS I looked into your eyes For the last time This story half written Never to be read And as I closed the book My fingers burned With black soot As this song it slowly bled And the dark stars in your eyes Circled my heart With their beautiful lies That kept me coming back to you And as the sun went down We smoked a wooden cigarette You blew rings Like the hoops you led me through Though your kisses were sweet I said good bye, I said good bye Cause the way you played this game Was running me dry, running me dry This was supposed to be a love song But now the words I guess you’ll never know Cause we were running in circles The only way to save us was to let go You felt like coming home To a place I had forgotten Made of sweet songs And your hands upon my head But there was no moon that shone The doors were locked Secrets unspoken Of ghosts that still lingered in your bed Though your kisses were sweet I said good bye, I said good bye Cause the way you played this game Was running me dry, running me dry This was supposed to be a love song But now the words I guess you’ll never know Cause we were running in circles The only way to save us was to let go And if we meet again I’ll roll up all your kisses in a cigarette And blow smoke rings at the moon

about

Award winning Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Robin Jackson, known for his wild, theatrical contributions to bands like Vagabond Opera and the March Fourth Marching Band, has brought a strong presence to the world of indie folk.  Mr Jackson, often joined by his all-star six piece ensemble of NW musicians The Caravan, draws upon the moody spirit of his rain-soaked, Portland, Or. home to create an eclectic brew of dreamy folk-pop, cinematic indie rock and above all, enigmatic storytelling. 

With a degree in ethnomusicology and an unflagging musical curiosity, Jackson has lived and busked around the world, from an intentional beach community in New Zealand to the streets of Europe. He is a master of a myriad of instruments, from saxophone to mbira and has also performed or recorded with notable acts such as Gregory Allen Isakov, Emancipator, Devotchka, and Amanda Palmer.  An impresario of community and collaboration, Jackson has built on his colorful, bohemian upbringing and dedicated himself to creating and supporting music around Portland, Or where he lives on an urban farm with his cat and a circus. His upcoming album, Dark Stars, was recorded in the legendary Type Foundry Studio.

credits

released November 3, 2017

Released, Nov 3rd, 2017

All songs written and composed by Robin Jackson. All songs registered with ASCAP.

Robin Jackson - vocals, whistling and saxophone
Chet Lyster - Electric and acoustic guitars, backup vocals and percussion
Anders Bergstrom - drums and percussion
David Langenes - Electric and acoustic guitars
Gil Assayas - keyboards, organ, synth and piano
Matt Voth - Bass
Sophie Bloch - Violin and backup vocals
Skip Von Kuske - Cello
Anthony Meade - Trombone
Noah Simpson - Trumpet
Jen Harrison - French horn

Produced by Chet Lyster
Engineered by Chet Lyster at Concordia Station, Portland, OR
Mastered by Justin Phelps at Cloud City, Portland, OR
Album design by Elena Cronin (elenacronin.com)
Photo credits - Zippy Lomax (zippylomax.com)

www.robinjackson.net
© 2017

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Robin Jackson Portland, Oregon

Award winning songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist known for his wild contributions to bands Vagabond Opera and the March Fourth Marching Band, Robin Jackson presents his debut album. The ethnomusicology major has mastery of almost a dozen instruments and played with everyone from Gogol Bordello to The Decembrists. "A catchy and captivating song-crafter... true storyteller." - NPR ... more

contact / help

Contact Robin Jackson

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Robin Jackson, you may also like: