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Heart EP

by Andrew Osenga

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1.
No Heart Beats Alone the heart is a precious thing tender and strong and able to break you've got to keep it safe the heart is a sitting duck beating and needing to love someone who's going to fail but let me give my heart away don't let me try to keep it cause no heart beats for just one soul no heart beats for just one soul we are heart and soul and flesh and bone and no heart can beat alone he'd had a fever for a couple weeks the doctors said they had to cut him open they hooked him up to a machine they fixed and then they closed him he gave me five sealed letters in case the worst arrived and I was glad to give them back sometimes I wish it was that easy, I'd just close my eyes and wake with scars, healed at last let me give my heart away don't let me try to keep it cause no heart beats for just one soul no heart beats for just one soul we are heart and soul and flesh and bone and no heart can beat alone she's been hurting for a long long time built those walls just to survive but the earth keeps shifting and the cracks are clear oh, what beauty lies beneath the fear oh, what beauty lies beyond the fear let us give our hearts away don't let us try to keep them cause no heart beats for just one soul no heart beats for just one soul we are heart and soul and flesh and bone and no heart beat alone
2.
Belle Isle 04:50
Belle Isle Dear Evelyn it's been eight months, two weeks, three days since I've been home now I'm in the middle of the old James River and it's getting cold and there ain't much hope I can't begin to tell you how I miss the life that could have been to feel you close, the smell, the warmth desire fed but you'd best get moving on cause Lee might have lost the battle there at Gettysburg but he captured me they packed us, tattered, shattered all on a belching train for the capital of the confederacy now I can see Richmond from the smooth stone shore here on Belle Isle prison and it looms like an old white devil out for heaven making this place hell where your brothers will steal your only blanket while you're sleeping sell it to you in the morning for your scrap of rations ain't no way to win cause we might have won the battle there at Gettysburg but we lost ourselves this evil rock was once so beautiful, but look around what man will do, with his conscience quelled Dear Evelyn my horizons hemmed by cannons aimed by grey old men five steps towards the dead line and I'll beat them in to the arms of our Lord and I plan to ask him then where he is when men treat men like rats in filth when folks can freeze to death a mile from unearned wealth though it ain't my place no, my place is in your arms on our farm in Rochester raising up some boys with your green eyes if I die tonight under the frozen moon your name will walk the bridge of my last sigh Dear Evelyn
3.
Until You Provide doesn’t seem to be much work this year in this town, anywhere he learned from his Dad to make it clear that he’d do an honest days work and then some he tries to keep his sweetheart in the dark not that she can’t handle it she just shouldn’t have to with all those children running round the yard he’d carry this one on his own he votes because he’s supposed to, it doesn’t change a thing he wants the boss to trust him so he missed his son’s big game it was all for nothing, now that’s all they have and Jesus, this burden just ain’t light Lord, we’re not giving up the fight but how long? how long until you provide? it’s tearing at them though they try their best they used to be young lovers now they watch the other and wonder if they’ll ever get some rest and if they’ll find it in each other’s arms, again they go to church because they’re supposed to, but they don’t feel a thing he wants her to trust him, but he’s blowing every scene was it all for nothing? cause now that’s all they have and Jesus, this burden just ain’t light Still, we’re not giving up the fight but how long? how long until you provide? He used to dream that he could be a painter colors danced and wouldn’t him sleep but folks like him can’t afford to dream when they’re trying to keep this thing alive we’re all trying to keep something alive someday he’ll finally close his eyes to see an azure Van Gogh sky golden streets and gates a mile high gazing at the wonder, he’ll have no tears left to cry will it be that long, will it be that long until you provide?
4.
Out of Town 04:10
Out of Town we were out of town when the ceiling caved in the waters rose and we lost everything the neighbors came and did what they could got the photos dry saved what was still good people told us it would work out for the best maybe we just haven't seen it yet and you were there when we'd given up there when we tried to run from you there though we didn't know in the moment open up our eyes to really see our hearts to just believe that you care when we can't feel past the moment and you feel out of town it was 93, I felt all on my own and I ended up at a YoungLife club someone looked for me and remembered my name I kept coming back, I was not the same cause you were there when I'd given up there when I tried to run from you there though I didn't know in the moment open up my eyes to really see my heart to just believe that you care when I can't feel past the moment where were you when the ones I looked to turned their backs? where were you when our vows were taking their worst attack? were you there somewhere? are you here? help me remember help me remember that you were there when I'd given up there when I tried to run from you there though I didn't know in the moment open up my eyes to really see my heart to just believe that you care when I can't feel past the moment
5.
She is a Foreign Country I was shipwrecked on uncharted shore offering shelter and hope it was wild and new and as I explored something within me awoke I was struck when I saw her horizons beyond what ten lifetimes could reach she is a foreign country she is ancient trees and freshwater springs miles of uncharted plains she is crystal lakes of compassion deep tender and fierce just the same and I'm standing high on a mountain there is beauty as far as I see she is a foreign country she is wild and free and she stands by me skies of blue and flame and she wears my name she is a foreign country and she bears my name she is a foreign country
6.
The House Where No One Spoke I had a dream that I woke from my sleep in a house where no one spoke it lay on the border between two great nations at war there were land mines and barbwire, flags shot to pieces a staircase of ancient white oak one word could unravel the cease-fire so words were no more the fight had raged so long that no one remembered the way it had begun and all those Decembered sad years ache for the words that would let the war be done what a dream, what a scene, now a crowd filled the streets so desperate to have some control they burned their own buildings, drank their own poisons, and still still they clung to their vices; their beds, wine and dice, yes, the lovers who'd never say no while the demons just lapped up the sadness till they had their fill a heart can grow so old from taking its beatings that hope is hard to hold and if love's just a feeling, the fear is that there are no words that would let the war be done the people craved peace, the people craved rest but all of the things that they'd done had left them buried by shame in the rubble of fear angry at what they'd become but in the smoke of the ashes at the cross of the great divide there appeared brave men and women who dared to break the silence with kindness words of kindness real, true kindness with its healing touch risking forgiveness and trust kindness it was kindness, after all sweet fruit of the spirit where love threw seeds to fall and gave ears to hear it's sweet song that spoke the words and let the war be done

about

This is the first of four EPs from the "Heart & Soul, Flesh & Bone" collection of 2014. Each individual project is an exploration of a different genre.

"Heart" is a stripped down singer/songwriter affair. The kind of thing people seem to expect from me, no matter how loud my rock shows are or how cool my spacesuit looks during a guitar solo.

I thought it would be an easy project. After hundreds and hundreds of songs, how hard can it be to write six more?

Turns out it was incredibly hard. Maybe the hardest I've ever had to work writing.

After my last record, an interstellar concept album about marriage and family and death, I'd sort of written every deep thought I had.

I probably wrote fifteen songs to get these six. Recorded most of those, some of them with a complete band arrangement.

It just took a long time to find out what else I had to offer, what possible other thoughts I could have had worth sharing.

At the end of the day, I'm incredibly proud of these songs. They're some of my favorites.

Hope you enjoy them half as much as I enjoyed digging them out of the dirt and polishing them off for you.

credits

released March 18, 2014

Produced, Written and Recorded by Andrew Osenga

Mixed and Mastered by Stephen Gause for Invertigo Productions

Paul Eckberg played most of the drums, except for "Belle Isle". Andrew played everything else, for better or worse.

Evan Redwine engineered the drums that Paul played.

Most songs were recorded on the road, in dressing rooms, hotels, sunday school classrooms and often on stage after soundcheck. Sorry, Harold. And thanks. "The House Where No One Spoke" was recorded at my daughter's art table in our basement, which used to be the studio, but is now a playroom.


Artwork by Zach McNair
Photography by Jamie Clayton
PDF layout by Nathan Johnson


If you'd like to talk with me about producing or playing on your record, writing some songs together, or having me come play a show in your town, please give me a shout. Andrew@andrewosenga.com

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Andrew Osenga Nashville, Tennessee

Artist, Producer, Writer, Player.
Husband, Father, Friend.

I make music that I want to hear.

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