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Spine Adagio

by Joplin Rice

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1.
Jelly Prince 03:18
jelly prince your legs have no bones tied in knots as you wrap around the throne karma rinse this sin from my soul I should’ve noticed by the way you held the rope jelly prince my soul to keep you will stutter & step into the deep we’ll be friends & one day you’ll weep over roses that blistered & bubbled for me jelly prince the guilt will remain though you could not have known she was insane you will bend through your “love without pain” holding your breath because breathing’s so hard to explain jelly prince I still need to know how’s your family? tell Father that I said hello
2.
I watched the evidence run spirals through the water & I know I should’ve stopped her but I’m just one Jelly Prince I turned back the events to birth & then before from the grass until the floor & on my arms your fingerprints I know that explosions will roll through me soon enough pooled around your feet in the release of aching love I promised I would think before the moment swept me up serendipitous And Faking faces to escape the cruel bondage But there never was a hostage just one tiny part of me & is it so obscene if I never tell a soul? will my innocence stay whole or will it bleed out in the heat? will you lay me down into a hole without a key/I’ll reach inside & twist to see you will scream & promise me/ everything that I believe your hands will find me wet & weak/ your breath will stop so you can squeeze the chair you sat in patiently/& it won’t be over ‘till you speak & I married you inside a lucid dream put the ring around your finger then you disappeared from me the carefully drawn rival that all will shove to see is awaiting the arrival of the one she will defeat will you lay me down into a hole I cannot see don’t you wish that you could be just as beautiful as me?
3.
Glasscatcher 04:27
the sweaterless seasons pass by with reason or rhyme & the calico mimes all start breathing symmetrical motions will cause my emotions to shrink all the while you will think they are growing so pull on you strings to tighten the lace push out your chest ‘till it strangles your waist & when your dress starts to tear & decay let it fall to your feet, I’ll come find where you lay Unmasking the flowers will cause you to cower in fear I’ll be near when the years start to tower my final timidity longs to be rid of me now & it’s begging out loud for lucidity holiday visions will end in decisions of love spilling down from above your religion now we live in a dream but the image still seems so alive stretching, ripping outside through the seams now I’m an infant all covered in glass will you hold out your arms as I tumble through ash? between your breath lies the unholy gash that will bleed in the heat as it slowly attracts
4.
she decorates her walls with magazine pages five hundred feet tall but still sleeping in cages & I always called her wrong to deliver on my words with one hand on her tongue and the other with birds the grass was made of butterflies that flew away into her eyes forgiving her for her transgressions eating her alive I want rain in the summer time snow when it’s cold I won’t forget the times we said (you’d ask me why & I’d reply) I hate everyone that I know the Princess of Strangers in nativity scenes raging describing the dangers & the sound of bottles breaking & she found the fire first and licked the fire to taste her anger as it burned and left its finger on her face the riverwater’s filled with trash that forks like lightning down her back forgiving her for her transgressions feeding through the gash
5.
Depersonal 02:25
depersonal & disappear I know it seems like I’m not here that’s only because I am not I want to be but I cannot I know you think I’m playing games but everything just feels the same I can’t remember anything & I don’t know what’s happening memories & dreams collide the border shakes & then subsides I’m sorry if I’m hurting you I just think I’m in another room please realize that life is fragile find someone to fight your battles save yourself & you’ll go on you’ll ache forever when I’m gone
6.
how can you say that it’s all in my head when you’ll love me one day & the next you’ll be dead but I’ll find a way to hear what you said when you left this parade & sought out the needle and thread oh shame you protect me so well oh shame don’t blame or expect me to tell say my name terrible lies that spill out and stain our clean black insides will show up again the and last time will not be the same but your needs all rely on protecting the secrets and shame your nervous cat’s smile will rot through your teeth with the thoughtless denial what you’re spitting at me I’m coughing up smiles that’ll bleed in the heat the punishment’s mild but the crime begs to twist inside me
7.
loosened lips my mouth is full like a feather from a mountaintop dropped too fast to float all the way to St. Peter’s Square from Ohio all the way to St. Peter’s Square from I don’t know smooth like milk & roses broken seal and tell me who this is doors stuffed in the corner stacked like bodies the carpenter let in all the way to St. Peter’s Square from Ohio all the way to St. Peter’s Square & I’m comatose your head is full your day is soon my head is full it hangs and climbs into you
8.
if I’m sick & seeking shelter will you bathe me in your voice? clean with words to yell her pretty name into the noise if there ever was a choice then why would I fail you? fuck the hungry boys who always said that they would tell you cause nobody knew but the birds & all the branches & a couple lonely pillheads who were tripping over trances treating all their tables just like beds unto themselves nailing through the walls and pulling down all of their shelves when they slowly attracted you I could not believe what happened to the faithfulness? Furious friends will need someone they can scream at to vent all their frustrations & I will be here waiting for them guarding the station locking all the doors & throwing away the keys but only throwing far enough so that I can still reach because no one likes to lose what they only still keep & then 20 years later hold it close to them & weep & after the first hits the ground there will be two more coming down why are you waiting for the man who will bring down his heel on your shaking, sorry hand while he’s watching you still? as you reach up for the shutters to let in some fresh blue air while your lungs collapse & sputter like you’re swallowing your hair & you may as well be with your lips always so loosened I thought that I was thinking over mysteries disproven they turned out to be some lies just everything else & the truth is still a whisper through your whistles & your bells your pleas for my attention oh my God, you’re so pathetic I’m throwing up just thinking of your face for one slow second but you always steal my feelings even though I don’t know how you’re just sleeping on my bed & you won’t let me kick you out beause you know I’ll lie down with you right underneath this mattress I don’t care if it’s illegal I’ll count out the fifty lashes & smile with every one softly squeezing on your fingers the pain will slowly leave us but the scars will always linger what I see when the sun hits the sheets will be what I remember when the dirt buries me curious on Maple Street, her ghost will sit & tend to the memories that I conceived still sad enough to send pushing out the fragments & filling in the holes outwards making patterns that all decorate her soul the rings around her eyes are growing darker by the day unfolding, making lines that stand to try & spell her name while the bells outside keep ringing & the telephone bites down I will be hanging from the ceiling when your birthday comes around in the moment when you think you’re spitting fire my lips will melt away trying to call you a liar & shattered glass won’t make a sound ‘till I lie down on the floor and start rolling around
9.
Coda 04:36
it’s a random display of a child’s memories caressed by decay & sewn up at the seams on a desk clean and cracked that drove dogs to bark & the puddles contracted to swallow the yard where you played as a kid making bruises and scars staining purple & red skin so white when it formed in a mother of three though she never looked down at the last to be freed from her own silky gown that was cream-laden soft and boiling to fly into steam to float off like she did when she died even royalty burns and the child turns away in anger & hurt & angry and hurt he will stay so pull to tighten the lace so that nothing’s spilling out & keep your ankles straight because your bones grow soft and fall onto the ground & if your mother cries dry the tears away so our babies won’t drown beautiful son of mine don’t look down please find yourself a throne to wrap around you were robbed of your breath when she shuffled her feet as you pounded her legs like they were piano keys & your stomach felt fire as you slept on the floor your dry eyes perspired to leave out through the door one floating face brought it all back to hear of the secrets and shame that proceeded the cheers & guilty’s not right oh but neither is pure a wonderful sight could still make you feel sure but it won’t come to you it will run far away & beg to be used but not led off astray I know that you’ll collapse and find a new home but you’ll always be trapped by your legs with no bones

credits

released June 23, 2012

Written/Performed/Recorded by Joplin Rice

Special Thanks to Nathaniel Tharpe

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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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