Guitars & Grievances

by Brandon Anderson

Guitars & Grievances cover art
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02:59
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04:27
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03:11
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02:36
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03:04
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02:53
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02:36
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03:32
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9.
04:05
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about

Inspired by stories and experience from the road, Guitars & Grievances reflects the hardships, grievances, and the spirit of the American people. With just his guitar and voice as a guide, he was captured by peoples need to share their stories and find connections. Drawn to the poets and storytellers of the 60's and 70's and how they became a voice for a generation faced with similar feelings of isolation and discord. A protest album, Guitars & Grievances also reflects the incredible level of community and compassion that he found while sharing music from coast to coast.

credits

released 20 December 2011
All songs written and recorded by Brandon Anderson
Mastered by Will Hensley
Photos by Alan Cohn
Cover Design by Brandon Anderson

tags

tags: folk alternative folk rock protest songs singer-songwriter New York

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all rights reserved

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about

Brandon is an ASCAP award winning singer/songwriter whose unique blend of piano rock with folk and alternative influences ... more create an unforgettable sonic experience. Sometimes blistering, sometimes mellow, his infective melodies and piercing lyrics hit strong chords in topics ranging from love to current social issues. less

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Track Name: Wake Up
They pack us tightly onto trains
Give us a number to replace our names
Work us till we're skin and bones
Then bury us in our debts and loans

A T.V. in every home
Two cars and a telephone
We become what we own
Never felt so alone

Wake Up
The truth is out there and it wants to be found
Wake Up
And their lies will scatter all over the ground

They tell us what we need to fear
The dangers close, but the threats not clear
Could be a plague, a bomb, a flu
Or the person next to you

Chorus

Well they bought us out and they bought us cheap
Then told us to go back to sleep
And it's easier just to obey
Then face the fact that we live this way
Track Name: Guitars & Grievances
Seems we're all crying out for something
But we don't know what we need
We've been sold a lie
So we live and die under it's weight
We isolate to escape the hate
That we see in our own eyes

So we look to prophets and politicians
Painted whores who try and sell us their American pie
"You can have your way as long as they are pushed away"
"So grab a gun
And make 'em run
Or you wont be getting none"

When once we cried for compassion
Once we cried for unity
Once we cried for liberty
And justice for all
Justice for all

And these guitars and grievances
Used to mobilize the youth
But they've been subdued by auto-tune and starlit eyes
A shaking ass
To appease the mass
And keep them under glass

When once they cried for compassion
Once they cried for community
Once they cried for liberty
And justice for all
Justice for all

Cause united we stand
And divided we fall
Cause the more that we hate
The more we separate
And the more that we need
The more we succumb to greed
But the more that we love
The more we're free of
And the more that we share
The more we're able to spare

So let us cry for compassion
Let us cry for unity
Let us cry for liberty
And justice for all
Justice for all
Track Name: Shadows
There is something in the darkness
Thats keeping me from you
It's got thunder, it's got lightning
And I can't see through

But I can hear the whistles blowing
As those trains go rolling through
But those tracks are going nowhere
If I'm nothing without you

So mercy me
Shed the light of certainty
Down upon me
And set me free
Set me free

And they say nothing lasts forever
Not the sun and not the sea
But we are here in this moment
And I need you to remind me

Of love
Cause I am broken
And all that I can see is the frailty
Of these moments
That are flying by
And I try, I try
But mercy me

I'm seeing doubts in everything we do
And the shadows fall
Track Name: Blood Blind
We divide, insight, and arm
Pretend it ain't doing any harm
Cause the money's rolling in
Enough to cover up our sins
So we stay blood blind

The prophets try to make us see
We're high on complacency
Cause this society
Is fueled by violence, blood, and greed

And we're crying, No not me
Cause the lie runs so damn deep
That we try to scream
But we're chocking on hypocrisy
Why can't we see
It all comes back to me
Cause this hatred in my heart
Is where we need to start

It's a lie that we all tell
A white lie that paves the road to hell
Cause these words they sure do kill
A cost of our free will

But we're crying

CHORUS

Cause we all play the victim
And we all shift the blame
Fill in our alibi
Find a reason for the treason
That won't name our name

CHORUS
Track Name: Ode To The Rapture
I've got these six strings humming
Each one anticipating your second coming
They tell me you are love
And that fire will rain down from above

There's something in that dichotomy
That's really got a hold on me
Cause I'm not one for believing
In more that what I'm seeing
But now they've picked a date
And they guarantee you wont be late
Not this time

So I strap on my guitar and sing another song
While they say another prayer and strap on a bomb
In the streets of Jerusalem
Where the faithful are the first to condemn

CHORUS

To rain down love
Like a cold steel glove
Your love
Divine retribution from above
Your love

So I'll keep these six strings humming
Anxiously awaiting your second coming
And you love
Your love
Track Name: Sinking Slowly
We've got our exits planned
Each misstep covered
A cushioned fall beneath it all
To keep us safe

We're in our heads
Never our bodies
A simple touch becomes to much
To understand

What about you and what about me
We're sinking slowly or can't you see
What about you and what about me
We're sinking slowly
Slowly

We say our lines
And tell our stories
A pantomime to pass the time
And keep us blind

CHORUS

Hold on
Please hold on to me
Put your arms around me
Please hold on to me

CHORUS
Track Name: Violent Legacy
City in revelry
Midnight surge into the streets
Fades to morning memories
Then back to reality
Of heightened security to replace
A threat we could not see
Just another body
Another dead man to avenge

In this remedy
This remedy to a violent legacy

I woke up today
And things still felt the same
And the vengeance in my veins
Fades like some fickle flame
And the embers left behind
Only serve to remind me
Of the emptiness you find
In this remedy

In revelry
In revelry of a violent legacy

And I can not see a way out of this
Violent legacy
Track Name: So Much For Love
I can't take another step without you
I can't take a single breath, I'm broken
Cause without you, who am I?
A single path in these woods
That we planted together
When we said forever
And we watched them grow
I don't want to know

Where does love go?
Where does love go when it's gone?

Kept building up, Kept building up
Till it all crashed down
And your voice was constant
Then it was gone at the speed our sound
And now when I try your name
There's no reply and the words just fall into pieces
And my heart it ceases
To see that grace from above
So much for love

Where does love go?
Where does love go when it's gone?

Cause now it's gone
Now it's gone

Without you, who am I?
Without you, who am I?
Track Name: I'll Keep Driving
There's a stolen car in the driveway
The engine is running
And I'm going to run right along with it

I'm not sure where I'm heading
There's no map that could show me
Where I should be
Cause where could I be?

The city's growing wider everyday
And there's no place left for a man
To truly be free

So I'll keep driving
I'll keep driving

There's no soil unturned
No land untamed
No landscape unspoiled or unclaimed
No honor left in a name

I need a rain to come and wash this all away
All this history repeating and keeping us at bay

One more liberty
One more guarantee taken away
One more human heart
Viciously torn apart cause it wont obey
And there's no place left to run
When you live your life at the end of a gun
And they decide how you live and die
And you look around and see your whole life's a lie

So I'll keep driving
I'll keep driving