Get all 6 the young novelists releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of in city & country, made us strangers, in the year you were born, live at dublin st. church, a small town eulogy, and goodnight, young novelist.
1. |
i was a young man's son
03:40
|
|
||
I WAS A YOUNG MAN'S SON
verse(6 count): C G
pre-chorus: (Am Em) x2 Am C
chorus: G Bdim C C
bridge: G G D D Em Em C C (G D Em Em) x2 G D Em C
kentucky stole my soul & nothing can bring it back
you give me everything you owe. you owe me a second act
[pre-chorus]
oh someday they will sell my grave
another acre they will pave & i need somebody to save me
[chorus]
oh i was a young man's son x2
the river, like the heart you break
forever takes the same old path
mistakes any man could make my father couldn't do the math
[pre]
& someday they will sell my name
every acre stays the same. i don't need anyone to blame me
[chorus]
oh i was a young man's son x2
the work here is never done
[bridge]
& we will stay true & pay all our dues
but if our best can't make it last
well my old man's already passed
i hope my children never ask
why their old man is always living in the past
[chorus]
oh i was a young man's son x2
the work here is never done
we work through the setting sun
these fields never get full grown
but i've got a son of my own
|
||||
2. |
in your defence
04:10
|
|
||
IN YOUR DEFENSE
capo III
verse/chorus: G [G C] G G
pre-chorus: (Em Em D C) x4
outro: G C
trapped behind blue eyes without a word
the engine of your heart a broken bird
that drives your only hope off the rails
& breaks each small success, it never fails
don't spare details...full-blown the sails
[pre]
& take apart his eminence
the officers, the evidence
the ones who came to speak
[ch]
in your defense
in your defense
the lens refracts the light until it burns
your common cause was never taking turns
all praise a verb...you don't deserve
[pre]
when friends exchange with enemies
the ghosts inside your family
& hold you back to speak
[ch]
in your defense
in your defense...
[outro]
|
||||
3. |
standing still
03:11
|
|
||
STANDING STILL
verse: C Am x4 F Fm
pre-chorus: C G Am F
chorus: C Am
the day may come when i do not recall
the little push, the tumble or the fall
but twice i looked & twice i saw you
twice i looked & twice i saw you
twice i looked...& you looked too
& did you sing me note for note?
or see my heart was in my throat?
[pre]
oh i have never been the type
to take a chance, the moment ripe
i'm locked inside, i try to try
i had to watch you pass me by & i...
[ch]
i'm standing still...i'm standing still
when all we had was new we knew at last
we'll build upon the ruins of the past
& once i spoke & once you held me
once i spoke & once you held me
once i spoke...& then i knew
that words would always come between
what was said & what it means
[pre]
oh i could hardly stand the break
& watch you make the same mistake
you don't recall you made at all
i'll never let you see me fall cause i...
[ch]
the day may come when i do not recall
|
||||
4. |
small-town hymns
03:26
|
|
||
SMALL-TOWN HYMNS
capo I
verse: Am Em F C
chorus: F C F C F C Am Em F C
bridge: (C Em) x4 (F C) x2 Am Em F C
these telephone wires sing over the fields
the man of the hour, the only shield
an instant addiction has been revealed
moments you share in moments you steal
[ch]
& it begins with these small-town hymns
carrying through your heart & all your limbs
a parade of wrongs will serve you right
like the moth has a choice when it sees the light
& word has spread like a forest fire
all the voices forming a small-town choir
[ch]
& it begins in these small-town hymns
judging them over & over & over again
[br] (instr. w/harmonies)
[repeat 1st ch]
...through your heart & all your limbs
through your heart & all your limbs
|
||||
5. |
make the same mistakes
02:31
|
|
||
MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE
capo III
verse: F C Dm F
chorus: Bb Dm C C
broken by her hand, cradled in your arms
sirens in your head – all five alarms
& the city is the perfect confidante
it gives you what you need, never what you want
[ch]
& the lie you're sold is the same as every one you told
& whatever it takes you need another break
or a chance to make the same mistake
your broken baggage now heavy in your chest
the feeling that you lost all you possessed
all of your demands made without a voice
the fire in your head never had a choice
& artificial sympathies
dividing all your friends & enemies
[ch]
& all you've been is a ghost in someone else's dream
& now that they're awak you only know the ache
& the need to make the same mistake
forgetting what you save, all your common grounds
a king is what you kept, wearing other crowns
[1st ch]
[2nd ch]
|
||||
6. |
it takes all kinds
02:55
|
|
||
IT TAKES ALL KINDS
verse: (G D D D) x3 G A Asus4 A
chorus: (D A Bm Bm) x3 A Asus4 A
outro: (G A Asus4 A) x3 G D
caught in my head my one foolish friend
getting ahead by playing pretend
you left us for dead we were just at the end
of the verse of the song
when i come along...come along x3
& do everything wrong
you felt like you[tacit] belonged
like a harmony sung
[chorus]
break these ties as restless as
two young lies between us
it takes all kinds
we know what it takes
[solo over verse]
you're [tacit]here in my mind
so easy to find
i just look down or behind to make sure
to make sure to make sure you're not scared
oh i know you so well don't say that i don't
& i put you through hell as you already know
oh i meant well, but i guess that don't
make it easy to bear
[chorus] x2
[outro] ...we know what it takes x3
|
||||
7. |
left behind
05:41
|
|
||
LEFT BEHIND
capo II
verse: (E E A E E) x2 (E E A A F#m E E) x2
chorus: (Bm Bm F#m E E E E) x2
Bm Bm F#m E A A Adim Adim E (hold)
bridge: (E E A E E) x4 (E E A A) x4
(E E F#m/A A) to drum crash out
Adim: [01210x]
F#m/A: [00240x]
oh dear why won't you try?
new year's when you said goodbye
& down here there's a crowd they're young &
they're proud tonight
& one tear for each mistake, you're wrong & you
can't make it right
[ch]
& i can't understand
& now you can't defend
how you could end your life
& i am left behind
oh dear what does it take?
right here there's an endless ache
& small hurts that i made but i am afraid to break
what words? they're only part. the sound that my
heart still makes
[ch]
[instr. bridge]
[repeat last verse]
|
||||
8. |
you're on your own
04:22
|
|
||
YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN
verse: G Em G Bm C G Am (Am D)
chorus: G G G D C C C D
bridge: C C G D
the rose is the lion of blooms
these singers will fill up a room
but every note they throw your way is false
you change how a room takes a sound
& measure a man by the pound
& the weight of his mistakes can give you pause
[ch]
don't you see that you're on your own? x2
you've never been so alone
don't you see that you're on your own
the night has the stars in its eyes
cause the depth of the dark terrifies
but the strange is commonplace when you bring it home
they will prove what can never have proof
they will scare you by telling the truth
but the truth is all that you have when you're alone
[ch]
G Em...
[bridge]
[ch] x2
|
||||
9. |
the way it was
03:07
|
|
||
THE WAY IT WAS
verse: A [riff] A A F#m E
chorus: D D D E A A A E D D D E A A E E
everyone here is a candidate
to break the record or set the record straight
you'll come out the other side in a couple years
& wash your hands of all of this with all your tears
oh don't you leave me, don't you believe me?
& don't you wanna come down & grieve me?
i'm doing damage in all my anguish
you're saying sorry in every language, yeah
[ch]
tell me nothing's changed; it never does
everything remains the way it was...the way it was
now everyone wants to be popular
so she copies you & you copy her
& no one's going anywhere
with the hint of disaster in the air
oh don't you know it, don't you show it
don't back down & don't you blow it
i'm on my knees in a farmer's field
only a momma's boy would ever yield
[ch]
well everyone's got a different take
there's the truth you know & the truth you make
& every word down from the rumour mill
is a stab in the back or a look that kills
& somehow...you weather the shake up
'til i say...i think we should break up
[ch]
don't you wish it was the way it was
you can't go back because
the way it was is the way it was
|
||||
10. |
for what it's worth
04:36
|
|
||
FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH
verse: C C G Am Am Am Am Am Am F C C C C
chorus: F C G Am F C G G
bridge: Dm [Dm F] G G Am [Am /B] C C
have a little faith in what you make
stop keeping track of your mistakes
oh you wrote a ghost there in the words
about another pain that you endured
& if you're lonely now well still you're young
getting older with every song you've sung
'til your voice is broke & your heart is played
well a star is born but a man is made
[chorus]
the heart string is breaking like you rehearsed
centuries in the making, for what it's worth
you're trapped in the amber of your flaws
& you soldier on where others pause
accused until you can't succeed
well you cut yourself 'til you can't bleed
& the strings will play to name your fear
if only you could disappear
[ch]
alarms sing the break-in & the fifth becomes the first
centuries in the making, for what it's worth
[br]
every lonely one you take them on
& nothing's easy for you don't belong...
you don't belong
(instr. verse)
have a little faith in what you make
stop keeping track of your mistakes
cause your voice is broke & your heart is played
well a star is born but a man is made
[1st chorus]
|
||||
11. |
long long long
06:00
|
|
||
LONG LONG LONG
verse: D# D# Cm G#
chorus: D# (D# Bb) G# (G# Bb)
only the constant survive
not the weak with their lies
letting the ocean tides
yet they never decide
the permanent storm / has human form
exacting a terrible price
come on open your eyes / once they were closed...
[chorus]
long long long
never convinced / someone has since
told you the evidence
all you need is an inch
next to the end / trying to mend
suffering discipline
until nobody wins / really it's been...
[chorus]
[solo over verse]
violent lives / if we survive
vacate the constant past
each one will last...
[chorus out]
|
||||
12. |
waste of time
03:11
|
|
||
WASTE OF TIME
verse: G G C G Em Em C G
chorus: Em Em C G
bridge: Em C G G Em C D D Em C G D Em C...G
i was born in your town / seems a hundred years ago
the shadow that's behind me / ain't the only one i know
i left you once before, oh / but i am here to stay
[ch]
i can promise you tomorrow
i can't give you much today
i went through the canyon / & came out by the lake
i was thinking of forgiveness
can i make one more mistake?
i am still a poor man / & that's not my only crime
[ch]
you deserve a better offer
am i just a waste of time?
[br]
& change is just a product of regret
& so i've changed & i'm not finished yet
but i can't change the past, & i can't change your mind
i can only pray...i'm not a waste of time
i've been down new orleans
& through the carolines
i've gambled with my virtue
& lost every time
& you would never say it
but i have drawn the line
[ch] x3
oh i do not deserve you
i am a waste of time
|
the young novelists Toronto, Ontario
Exclaim! dubbed their first EP “unpretentious brilliance” and this Toronto-based folk-roots band has won critical acclaim ever since. Stephen Fearing described them as having “tight arrangements, great dynamics, and good songs with beautiful harmonies” and their live shows capture audiences with both barnstorming singalongs and heartbreaking folk ballads. ... more
Streaming and Download help
If you like the young novelists, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp