Get all 5 National Steel releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Anemoia, Hiraeth, Threnody, Anomie, and Anhedonia.
1. |
N.O.W.
02:27
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The time is here and it's now
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2. |
Yellow Roses
03:34
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You take all the life out of your days
when you reach for the sky
it just seems farther away
Paint yellow roses on your door
one day you'll find
that you don't want this anymore
You're not feeling it
so you sing...
Sha la la la la
Like rivers that crawl over rocks they've made
you're no more lost
than lonesome stars left unnamed
Now you've got your guns loaded with thoughts
Pull the trigger
but it never goes off
You're not feeling it
so you sing...
Sha la la la la
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3. |
We All Forgot
04:21
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Wrapped in a velvet night
under the light of a fallen moon
A stoned grief only so few know
claiming its own as I
utter a prayer for the knowing
We wade in an endless stream
the rains few and far between
The pain is in letting go
rolling out with the tide
drowning in prayers that they sold for life
Some day the sky will open up and let us in
to gaze
upon the crystal shores of times long gone
we all forgot
Behind mercurial eyes they died
under the neon lights they cried
At times I feel like a sentinel
asleep at the gates of dawn
with the holy spirit all around me
This anorexic morality
breeds solipsistic apathy
the rivers all flow with tears
under a fading sun
into the heart of dead galaxies
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4. |
F Train
03:19
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Honest like a mid-month's moon
with nothing to lose
it's like a mirror on your soul
Subway tunnels stretch like veins
you're the blood in the trains
of a city dead to rights
Can't hide its darkness with flashing lights
Rainy days always break my heart
moonlight's tearing dead nights apart
I'm going down
you're going on
The light of a star long gone
is still shining on
like the memory of God himself
I won't give in or give up
I won't stand on no crutch
and when I finally leave this town
I'll stop and lay my burden down
Rainy days always break my heart
moonlight's tearing dead nights apart
I'm going down
you're going on
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5. |
Those Days
04:35
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Live in dreams sleep in starlight
I don't know who's at the wheel anymore
Given back what I take in time
dwelled inside of a California sky not coming down
I've been ready to go
and given what I know
about being down so low
I'm leaving for much better times
than I'll leave behind
Locked inside of a racing mind
whats left to lose if I show my cards this time
If there was a chance that I could sweep away
all the losses from the skin of yesterday
then you know I would
take blame now for it all
with the writing on the wall
I won't be there when you call
cause I'm leaving for much better times
than I'll leave behind
Lose control on a rainy night July
taking your dead along
The feeling it comes for to give me light
and then I'm moving on
those days are gone
We're all alone on the inside
the roads are paved with the bones of the innocent
Apathy's behind the nightfall
in the dusted glaze of a moon long out of tune
with me and you
I can't even keep away
I can't consecrate the day
I cant force myself to stay
so I'm leaving for much better times
than I'll leave behind
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6. |
Find You Tonite
03:55
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I'll gather the strength that is left in my name
Let the heavens demand me to change
somewhere a cold bed awaits
Old lanterns burn dim with decay in the air
A stare that will leave your soul bare
creation is still everywhere
Stars rise to find you tonight
days they come and they're gone
Heavenly moonbeams should fail not to come
to the graves of a thousand dead sons
and leave warnings there for everyone
I still hear your voice calling me from the end
of windblown streets desolate
on the eve of winter's ascent
Stars rise to find you tonight
days they come and they're gone
Every day
I'm wasting my time
losing my mind
I trust everything will be all right
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7. |
Smiles of Chrome
04:13
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Wait to see the past is born
and the light is yesterday's to warn
Peeking through the clouds again
take its hand as you call the end your friend
Columns time their fall for you
in the path the righteous take
Cast the world aside (they'll get over you)
say your last goodbye (the old days are through)
and
when the storm clouds fade
we'll leave the way we came
I'm resigned to fight it off
when distant rays of hope and fate are crossed
I get along with you in kind
and I can't help but to live inside my mind
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8. |
All I Could
03:56
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Take your time babe
getting where your going
don't get lost on the way
I'll give you back some
piece of mind dear
you wouldn't care anyway
Don't you think that
it's all over
your wheels are starting to roll
You can't love
anyone darling
when your heart's already been sold
I did all I could
Feel the wind
upon your face
shift its breeze as you go
Don't you take it
for what it looks like
if you don't already know
The world don't stop cause
you're sad and lonely
you're scared and so far from home
listen up dear
let me give you a word
to help you lighten your load
I did all I could
Start to shake
start to go
watch your days slip away
give it up
don't give it away
I did all I could
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9. |
I'll Make It Up To You
03:07
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I'll ride the wave and follow my soul
I write these songs dear to lighten my load
I'll take whatever's coming my way
and my make my peace by the end of the day
it's all these things that keep me from you
I'm disconnected in whatever I do
I feel like I'm just going along
I'll be around to lend you a hand
if the sun don't rise to strike me down where I stand
I'll leave a trail long wherever I go
and gather smiles at the end of the road
through the window watch the rain coming down
Follow each drop from the cloud to the ground
Sometimes I feel like floating away
Just give me some time
I promise I'll make it up to you
It takes an engine to keep rolling along
through long night's of breathless waiting for dawn
Those at the mercy of the clock's gilded hand
Praise the heart that's both simple and grand
In all this dreaming now the rain's gone soft
I fail you as the nighttime sky's gone raw
The dream only briefly seemed real
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10. |
Return
04:49
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Lick the wounds that time can only heal
Read the stories of distant past unreal
Raise the martyrs who died in front of your eyes
Free the bluebird bound by the chains of the sky
There's no been comfort here for to find
leave aside your foolish heart
Days they are breaking long
I will return
Make a path off this dark and empty road
Left to waste like seeds that are never sown
My soul was graced once long ago before we'd broken the seal
when your days are falling down it never seems to be real
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11. |
Chelsea Bars
04:21
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Faucets leak days going by
what's to come is already gone
I'll be forsaken knowing I won't go along
The saddened heart of beauty blind
All night long in a dive Chelsea bar
you see them dying outside under dim streetlights
Hoping it comes before the feeling dies
drowning in love but never feeling it
these eyes are there for hiding behind
The smell of beer in the morning just
keeps reminding you nothing's new
Its all been seen out here, its all been done before
The candy eyes and moonful whims
of pleated skirts in a Cheshire wind
My desire was long ago colonized
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12. |
EveryThing
03:49
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Every day is rolling by
every night disappears
Every fear's like the moon to the tide
and I'm dead tired inside
Every look in your eye
every tear born in a sigh
Rainbow blues and grey cathedrals rise
like they stabbed the heart of the sky
The writing's there on the wall
At times its hard to get along
They'll be times when you don't understand
Don't hide your head in the sand
Every train, a different thought
at every stop along the way
every station sells their tickets for dreams
and rides to destinations unseen
The writing's there on the wall
at times its hard to get along
They'll be times when you don't understand
Don't hide your head in the sand
One day we'll all start again
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13. |
On Your Way (Coda)
03:25
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Visions of light that rise all through the morning
reflect through themselves into dead afternoons
Rusty old trumpets that call out their warning
they leave you with feelings uneasy yet true
When you can see
the stars in the night
falling out of the sky
Crazy and free
they all seem to say
Don't be afraid to be on your way
[voice:] well I finally got around to making this, uh, record
and I find I don't know what to say
you know I miss you an awful lot
matter of fact I miss you so much I can't put it into words
you probably don't believe that though.
Say how about...
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National Steel Galesburg, Illinois
National Steel is the retro lo-fi Americana/Indie Pop recording project of Michael Hattem, who, in addition to writing the songs and playing almost all of the instruments, self-produces the records. Referred to as "cosmological freak-out Americana" by one reviewer, National Steel melds indie folk songwriting with retro pop instrumental and production sensibilities. ... more
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