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Spine Adagio Part II & The Prince

by Joplin Rice

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1.
I want a heart, mean and rusted: pumping pistons covered in chrome iron teeth fit for biting at the ankles of a home I want a map to the graveyard and an arrow in my spine a heavy coat made from matches & tender fingers to close my eyes hello, exploding emptiness I caught your kiss with my brittle fist hello I have no secrets, no belongings: there is no question I have denied I want a spectre, prim & shallow, behind the curtain & in the sky I want a soul without limit bursting forth from my sunken chest ultraviolet lights from those bleeding rings & both my arms bent to the west I am disgusted, horned & angry: re-envision this changing place veil your features, cut your losses, pull your strings, constrict the lace and in the moment when you think you're spitting fire your tongue will tire
2.
what were you wielding inside of me? would you conceal my apology? struggle with seething uncertainty kick it with iron unhurried feet live with a razor beneath your tongue whistles have blown now & bells have rung keep silly speeches inside your lungs forget rhyming couplets we may have sung cast off the mainland in quarantine bandage your abscesses until they cease bruises on fruit weighing down the trees precious to you, precious now to me I see your figure hovering above I hear you breathe elevator hum I don't want to spit on myself for love but I'll push back if I think I feel your shove handle my insolence with a kiss your legs shouldn't be quite as strong as this I can't come up now or I think I'll miss I'll sleep wrapped in plastic to hear your hiss millions of possible ruined lives living alone in the drainage pipes where do they go if their souls don't die? where do they go if their souls don't fly? millions of never-been ruined lives living alone in the drainage pipes where do they go if their souls don't die? will I go there too or just open my eyes and be a baby again stillborn reincarnated again
3.
did you run off to your cabin to get high? to leave me on this island with the president? they shot him in the head beside his wife she tried to put his brains back but they wouldn't fit because you can't reassemble what's been blown away you ought to know from the times you tried to make me pray I dream that you leave me every night we're just straw dogs among ten thousand mighty mysteries you want to spend all of your time with your glass eye I tried it once before but it just made me sick now I'm swallowing white circles to survive you're disappointed because I can't do much on top of it but you can't recreate something that's made of skin or is it better when you're sitting home alone with it? when every word's a trick just to get by and every smile's a secret spelled with muscle movements I dream that you leave me every night I'm aching but there's no one here to try and soothe it I crawled across your aching plains and swollen swells to that sad place where no one ever gets to go now
4.
Carcano 04:04
they both spent seasons overseas they both were built in Italy we both made speeches for prophecies we both were killed when we could not see we both suspected a conspiracy now you have an "X" on that famous street now I have an ex in the big city we both suspected a conspiracy speculation has yet to cease your killer killed on black & white TV my killer still living with her iron teeth my killer still living with her iron teeth walls still decorated with those magazines her chest still rising in nativity scenes masquerading now as royalty while I stuttered & stepped off into the deep they both kept reasons overseas they both were built in Italy they both were built in Italy why do bullets run in your family?
5.
if she were gone I could keep my fingers still if she were gone I would bury myself alive it's not that hard she said, "you're on some serious bullshit." but what doesn't kill me, I can hide behind the key is making sparks before it reaches the heart isn't every life unfinished? am I right? isn't every life unfinished? left soft on the inside if your expectations serve to nurture my frustrations will you throw me in the ditches where the panthers lie? marry me, forget we spoke, forget we met, fly back home be satisfied, live in your bed, let it be gone, let it begin I'm on something serious but it's not that and i fear for us each moment that our fangs stay locked together in a kiss wicked tessellations multiply our precious figurines cry out in delight if death is life and sex is life then what's the life that's left inside? forget the things that I may like take your own desires blow smoke out from your spirit and I'll talk to myself all night
6.
did I never tell you about my friend? you locked him in rooms watching foreign ships he never spoke of those days again working your ways in the bay of pigs he sat me down by the grandfather clock spoke through the seasons of musical walks planted a flagpole when clouds came to fall left me unbraided and pinned to the wall and I don't know how she fits into this I brought you to life so you could hear me hiss I'm still holding her kiss with my brittle fist why are we left by the ones that we should never miss? you never built him a monument a flame for my reckless accomplishments signing his name on a hospital bed shining the bullet inside of his head now he's a stone in a barren yard she's just a name carved into my arm you're a historical bleeding heart I'm a projection of broken parts and I don't know how we fit into this I'm still rattling bones for my soul to fit alone with the ghost & my fake famous friend she's at the airport & I'm floating by the pipes because I still can't admit
7.
Afterkiss 04:28
I loved & I lost it & I thought I would go off It's deep & I'm swimming in your afterkiss are you sleeping? I will return to build my nest to protect those diamonds in your chest from the stronger hawk with a glassy eye who watches when the windows rise and makes sure all is chewed & softened before it reaches those muddy coffins filled with jewelry from old women turned into dust between their linens if the president couldn't live until his death and angels took the other's breath if miracles are monsters, too then why won't you let me talk to you? why we run, I'll never see some just have a longer leash I will leave this place on a mythic beast with storied wings and iron teeth
8.
I can't tell if it's peace or just a pleasant spell I don't know if we're dead or just beyond our bones I don't know don't decide: either way I'll let you do what you like I'm not ashamed, I'm just amazed that I know you never came I'm not ashamed I am constrained I am constrained unrestrained but even so I know but even so, the beast is better than the ghost because the ghost will find you where the beast can't go
9.
Cathedral 02:48
inward
10.
I have a palm full of blood and another facing forward I am a prophet in this flood dissecting devils for the cure we stripped our sheets down to the skin put our pillows in the ditches lost all of our feathers in the wind and held each other for the heat but august was never far behind we shoveled in what was left follow faster past the gate I'll give the wolves my scent I'm better off here in this wasteland I'm better off without my weight I need these nails for kneeling tell me you understand bent by the rail & screaming darling, hide what's in your hands all this will fall onto the ground ruins for the reptiles litter for the holy ghost mysteries for the dogs to make their own we skipped our ceremonies brass belts for discipline and funeral rites that we knew to write before the shame engulfed us: oceans wailing fighting off the motions saving lonely nickels for our suffering bones & breath like hurricanes on islands sinking drowning out the foliage we hid behind in a better time time is all I've got & it's so hard to gain I think I'm losing my restrain before I never trembled in your presence presents for our anniversary take this curse from me make it hurt her, please put your curse on me take these words from me anniversary
11.
Homily 02:15
maybe I just miss your scent my senses spent and tangled could you hold my head again if it begged you to be strangled? is it fun for you to watch? a carnival of skin it's a game that stole my sins though I never wished to win I just want to find your hair on my clothes tell me I can go no one to deceive we can die in peace and be buried beneath
12.
Reliquary 05:18
you stood in front of me brittle as birds' bones ripping ribbons from your reliquarium your gifts would give as much as they could dancing partners made from wire & wood marry me, marionette marry me, marionette march on monuments to our weakness close your cupboards and burn your dresses I feel it breathing inside me the heat is getting through the cracks I feel the stitches tearing open save your needles for the gash they were sleeping with their sisters and they invited me in you're not the only animal I knew but I can't leave what begs to be consumed why are you shaking if it's what you needed? wanted, succeeded, described, & repeated your gifts would give as much as I demanded dancing partners unstrung and unhanded carry me, marionette bury me, marionette in heart-shaped holes through tunnels twisting letcherous labyrinth waiting & wishing I hope it dies inside of me I'll carry it around as my own make your likeness in these bruises live inside another's home they were praying with their eyes closed and I could not relate you were the only honest one I knew I'll die before I give their breath for you kerosene queen my machine disease that I gave you I forgave you too many times don't stay alive for me
13.
when did you get this strong? I watched you walking I admired your shape floating by the pipes I can't make it stop that's why I'm calling I know we needed to die you were tying these knots when I wasn't watching I inspired your escape swallowing fire I can't look down that's why I'm falling catch my bandages: my sky my spine my fear my reckless dependence my mind
14.
dearly deprived, why do we keep doing this? there's no shame in giving up. when we fight, the walls turn inside out. they're sick of yelling. well, I am sick of every sound. we keep our vaults filled up with pity on our islands and guard them with our blades: treasure buried alive. still sincere, after shrugging off the tears… I hope you die. the car is running and I shaved my mane. concubine, you play your role and I'll play mine. or maybe we could switch for a time. fuck the diagrams all drawn to disobey, I mean, sensation full of hatred isn't wrong. holy ghost, your paper roses will not die they will be litter when the wind blows in parades of lost condolences. so let's dig up our grandparents and dance with them like children beneath starlight cemetery chandeliers shattered on this opera that I wrote. the violins put splinters in our mouths.
15.
healing story infinite denial wander worry floating by the pipes breathing pouring swallowed by the sound keep me whore me dreaming underground
16.
Spine Adagio 03:35
the end

about

Tracks 1-8 are "Spine Adagio Part II."
Tracks 9-15 are "The Prince."
Track 16 is the end.

"Watch out for Joplin's future projects!
Recommended!"
-Dying For Bad Music

"[P]olished yet fuzzy pop that reaches toward the high standard set by Merge Records icons like Neutral Milk Hotel, Lambchop, even the lovable melodrama of Arcade Fire. Blend all those bands together with a generous helping of melancholia, and you have the essence of the songs crafted by this Lexington, Kentucky based singer-songwriter."
-Half-Gifts

"joplin rice, a singer/songwriter and bedroom recorder out of lexington, kentucky, brings a lofi miasma of sorrow and lonesome fuzz on his latest album 'spine adagio pt. II & the prince'. unremittingly bleak but beautiful in the tradition of early nineties indie bedroom folk, this lonely homemade tower is what MFOA is all about. sometimes it sounds like the guitar is too sad to strum, other times walls of fuzz, rice's haunting, cry-breaking voice and impressionistic snare hits clatter and wail. i like this one."
-the modern folk music of america

credits

released February 7, 2014

Written, Performed, and Recorded by Joplin Rice.

www.facebook.com/joplinricemusic

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Joplin Rice Lexington, Kentucky

Joplin Rice is a songwriter living in Richmond, Kentucky.
He has released numerous other albums both under his own name and as Ezra Triste.
Every band he forms dies.

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