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Smelling Salts

by Death and The Poetess

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1.
SMELLING SALTS: So tired Couldn't sleep From the ghosts keeping me awake No rest, can't explain Why we're stuck here On this plane (CHORUS) I'm so worn out Haunting my own house I'm so worn out Haunting my own house So tired Couldn't sleep From the ghosts keeping me awake Ring of salt Sprig of sage Smelling salts for the day (CHORUS) I'm so worn out Haunting my own house I'm so worn out Haunting my own house [I don't cook I don't clean But let me tell you I got them... ...Smelling Salts.] (CHORUS) I'm so worn out Haunting my own house I'm so worn out Haunting my own house . (...is it ghosts'sss? or ghosts'?)
2.
TOMB-BUILDERS' TOMBS: Beneath the sands of thousands of years Dearest, Deir el-Medina Tombs of the painters Pharoah’s spells and fears Hieroglyphs, you gotta see ‘em! Tombs of the painters Pharoah’s spells and fears Canopic jars, gonna need ‘em Horus and his scales Hawthor, Bastet Painted on the walls My book of the dead In Black, White, and Red Tomb builders’ tombs We’ll sleep / (so deep) We’ll wake to the even deeper Beneath the sands of thousands of years Dearest, Deir el-Medina Tombs of the painters Pharoah’s prayers and beers Hieroglyphs, you gotta see ‘em Tombs of the painters Pharoah’s spells and fears Canopic jars, gonna need ‘em (Like ten) Horus and his scales Hawthor, Bastet Painted on the walls (for you, my dear) (Our very own) Book of the dead
3.
Farid ud-Din Attar: “To enter the valley of love, one must plunge wholly into fire. Yes, we must become one with the fire itself, for otherwise one cannot live there. (One) that truly loves must resemble fire, (her) countenance aflame, burning and impetuous like fire.” [Ram Dass: "Now let me show you where the problem is..."] Hazrat Inayat Khan: “The lover who leans upon the beloved’s response, his love is like the flame that needs oil to live; but the lover who stands on his own feet, is like the lantern of the sun that burns without oil.” . Quoted from a Ram Dass lecture, now taken-down YT video called "Love Everyone"
4.
NEPTUNE KNOWS / L'appel du vide: Days on the ocean Ten without food Wind catches sail whenever it choose Certainly moving to where Neptune knows Fed by the moonlight, giddy we roam Days on the ocean Or has it been years? Stuck in the doldrums A lingering fear No longer mortal we've gone beyond time Fed by the moonlight, giddy we roam To where the Gods chose (Siren: "Qu'est-ce que tu veux? Qu'entends-tu? L'appel du vide?") Days on the ocean Or has it been years Stuck in the doldrums A lingering fear Certainly moving to where Neptune knows Fed by the moonlight, giddy we roam To where the Gods chose (Where Neptune knows)
5.
Salacia 03:08
SALACIA: Close to shore Then suddenly too far in The sea, Neptune’s depths Preying on me What’s to fear? There’s enchantment / and magic here, A tragic paredrae Salacia is the deity The motion of the sea. Venilia bring the waves to me Salacia take back / what you need Close to shore Then suddenly too far in Salty ghouls, creatures circling Underneath What’s the ocean? Horizons that repeat (and repeat) When you can’t see the shore Venilia bring the waves to me Salacia take back / what you need
6.
Dang Emily 01:03
EMILY DICKINSON, "I measure every Grief I meet": I measure every Grief I meet With narrow, probing, eyes – I wonder if It weighs like Mine – Or has an Easier size. I wonder if They bore it long – Or did it just begin – I could not tell the Date of Mine – It feels so old a pain – I wonder if it hurts to live – And if They have to try – And whether – could They choose between – It would not be – to die – I note that Some – gone patient long – At length, renew their smile – An imitation of a Light That has so little Oil – I wonder if when Years have piled – Some Thousands – on the Harm – That hurt them early. . .
7.
Zounds! 03:00
ZOUNDS! : What remains, of a song From long ago Sounds and swords No longer heard What did you once sing? Your cries of war And in times of peace Did you sing of dreams? Ballads of love Dripping with blood In the halls of Queens Ruins of majesty Notes for Royalty Jesters, bards and fools That once were bold Gone now, melted into history Jesters, bards and fools That once spoke bold Their jobs, mockery and subtlety Jesters, bards and fools That once spun gold What remains, of a song From long ago Zounds! and words What did you once sing? Of your knights to war Your ships to sea Did you sing of dreams? Did you fight the beast? Did you feel the heat? Did you eat its meat? (Was it a nice cut of a beast?) Did you drink real deep? Did you lose the keep? I heard jesters, bards and fools making fun of your feats Court was in stitches Throwing favors and treats For the laughs you bring and the songs you sing Jesters, bards and fools That once spun gold!

about

Your fav Elizabethan creepers are back! Death and The Poetess's 3rd RPM Challenge tips its chapeau to Weezer's Blue album, among other 1990s ghosts and Pumpkins. "Smelling Salts," a Jane Austen-esque title for a time-traveling mixtape full of Emily Dickinson worthy gallows humor (and a song from one of her poems). This record features some Princess Bride jokes alongside the mythology/archaeology-laden tunes you've come to expect from these cryptorian punks that watch too many history documentaries.

This year's contribution to the tomb-triptych of: Necropolis by the Sea (2019), and Red Skeleton (2020) is "Tomb-builders' Tombs," a love song about Deir el-Medina, Egypt. "Smelling Salts" the single is about social isolation and the character(s) and spirits one's home might now be inhabited by.

Smelling Salts: Implying one has been unconscious/faint, and one is waking to the liminal space of this record as astral time (restorative psychedelic). Or perhaps 2020 had you in the doldrums, your own personal non-linear oubliette. We welcome you warmly to - now. Have a whiff, slow exhale, peel yourself off your fainting chaise. Do please re-join the cosmic ball with us.

-jojo
2/28/21

credits

released March 1, 2021

Blake Girndt: vocals, synths, guitar, 12-string, bass, production, and finalizing album art.
jojo Lazar: vocals, flute, ukuleles (soprano and concert), additional guitar on Shankar-ing, and album art paintings.

Recorded at Ghost 'n' Bones
Created for RPM challenge Feb 2021: www.rpmchallenge.com

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Death and The Poetess Boston, Massachusetts

Blake Girndt (The I Want You, AxeMunkee, With Uncle Bones) and jojo Lazar (Burlesque Poetess, Army of Toys) bringing you crypt-folk tunes & spare bones for your spare change.

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