Times are rough, but your fun times with us shouldn't be negelcted! Our show on Dec 30th with Slim Cessna is gonna be awesome! For a limited time you can get YOUR tickets at a ridiculously cheap price..... $10 bones!! Get em now before they're gone! http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1E004321BD6..F613A?brand=aeglive

Even better, come spend your New Year's Eve with us, These United States, and The Dovekins at Hi Dive! Get your tickets here before the sell out! http://www.hi-dive.com/show/detail/23988

We are so excited about our segment from NPR this past weekend (11/7/09). Thanks a ton to NPR for having us on their great program and we hope we get the chance to go on air with them again! If you didn't get a chance to listen, here's the link NPR.org

Hey there folks!
 We are really looking forward to the show at Boulder Theater on Oct 2! Not only will we be playing, but so will The Wheel and Dry River Yacht Club....two acts not to be missed!  For more info and to get your tickets check out www.bouldertheater.com.

Heck yeah,
Paper Bird

what an incredible community of talented and inspirational musicians we have in Denver!

So, we've gotten some requests for copies of the lyrics to the songs on Anything Nameless and Joymaking.
FYI, each physical copy of the album contains an insert with all of the lyrics written out by hand.
Seeing as how we love you all a bunch, here are the lyrics in electronic form:

ST LOUIS music by Summeril, DeHaven, Anderson, E. Patterson.  lyrics by DeHaven, Hecker
I started singing on the streets of St Louis, but they couldn't hold me long,
so i found myself a guitar man and i rambled on.
chorus:
We picked up change in our guitar case and we moved from town to town,
seeking shade under summer city bricks and kept warm in each other's arms.
Snow fell down on us in Union Square where we met and artist and a dancer,
but the painter only painted in still life, so we went on to find another answer.
We met an actress down in San Diego who moved her hips to every single song,
so i took the cash, bought a bus ticket, and i rambled on.
I picked up change in my guitar case and moved from town to town,
seeking shade under summer city bricks and kept warm in the arms that i found.

BLUEBELLS music and lyrics by E. Patterson
Starry-eyed and fresh i fell into the bluebells,
with sentiments belonging to the arrows aimed a ribs,
all the while i loved your teeth, over your lower lip,
a nervous habit that drove me mad.
If ever i made promises to constellations dripping across your skin,
i would ask for a square of calico and
in the corner your initials would be added to mine.
Starry-eyed and cool i fell into the bluebells
and loved without knowing how or why under blueing stars,
The city's bleeding bells, and sparking ice drinks, oh if
i could...just...    but now i've lost my appetite, because
the girl sitting next to me at the bar is singing Ave Maria.
If you knew me when i fell, lies and emeralds in my mouth,
you'd feel the pull of the waning moon in your veins.
Starry-eyed and free i fell into the blue bells
and loved you beneath bridges and streetlights,
oh the city's bleeding bells and sparking ice drinks, oh
i wish i could just sit up here and rest and be kind,
but if you knew me when i fell, lies and emeralds in my mouth,
you'd feel the pull of the waning moon in your veins, too.

MOTOWN MAN music and lyrics by S. Anderson
The winds are blowing, time's stopping 'cause
the motown man's got his bucket drum again.
He's got nothing, but you know he's got it all:
a heart to share and a beat to breathe.
He sees so many faces i truly don't see but
i am capable, so capable, motown man.
He asks me my name, i say i just changed it to complexity.
didn't ask about the weather or stay on the surface,
he just sang me a song and goes something like this:
"sugarpie honeybunch", oh motown man.
Sees so many faces i truly don't see,
but i am capable, so capable, oh motown man.

PENNIES music and lyrics by E. Patterson
I was washing my hands in the bathroom in a diner,
when i walked out you had gone to chase down the sea.
How will you stay warm, sleeping in your car all alone?
chorus: Oh next time the answers will fall into our hands just like
pennies, but we won't be so hasty to spend them.
So i stuck out my thumb and my boots filled with sand,
no one picked me up for miles.
My only company was that desert moon, is it so
hard to give your brother a hand?
chorus
We burned the jasmine leaves under the cedar trees and
felt the ripples of the promises that we couldn't keep.
I want you to know me, i want  you to say that you had
always imagined that love would fall this way:
like a feather, like a footstep, like the rain.
You sit with your legs crossed up in that tree and speak
in paper cranes, i let them float past me and
i watch the stars.
chorus

IF AND WHEN A YES OR NO music and lyrics by P. DeHaven
I feign holiness in the morning with hymns, i'm a devil by the evening with gin,
hope the lord don't see my sins, and if he does, there's no telling when.
My left fist fights against the wind, but my right arm has all but given in,
hope the lord don't count my sins against me, if and when i come back to him.
chorus: When the sun hits my face, i rise out of bed, and
the sparrow sings to me the songs of a friend, it's so tricky when i step outside
into this world of men, and my head's back on the pillow by the end.
On a telephone made of string and tin i am calling my old lover again,
lord knows if this one is a loss or a win, or just another mess i'm getting in.
My mind wades through the heavy din of this world of gavels and spin,
hope i can find my way out again, cause i fear this might be the end.
chorus

LIVIN' LUCKY music and lyrics by C. Summeril
Well, we swam across the ocean and we took off to the moon,
we're standing out here on the corner again, i'll be on my way real soon.
And for some that clock keeps ticking, holding on while it slips away,
others just smile and reach out their hands with no troubles in their heads today.
chorus: If you put the music on wax and relax in the fast lane,
the sun shines in your hand,
if you're keeping it tight when it's wrong, it's your right to lay back.
If you go, take it slow, if you don't then you'll know that this tune has slipped on by, if you're snoozing and yawning to wake up in the morning again.
The sun sits up there shining, and we laugh all through the night,
singing out loud when it comes back again making all our days so bright.
And if you're stuck inside that office always dreaming of another day, well take a deep breath and hold out your hand 'cause we'll show you a better way.
chorus
Now it's time to take a moment, stretch that grin from ear to ear,
take a deep breath, now it's time to unwind 'cause the good times are always here
so go move that damn piano, go and help push that broke-down car,
whistle or hum til that good deed is done, cause livin' lucky's what you are!
chorus

THE TRAIN SONG music by Summeril, DeHaven, Anderson, E. Patterson. lyrics by DeHaven
My dear grandfather and his father before him lived in a shack in a switchyard,
so i'll take the next train to where the next train takes me, screamin, breathin,
chorus: so i'll take the next train to where the next train takes me, screamin, breathin, you may be ok with what you believe, but for me it's either scream or breathe.
My mother is sleeping inside herself, marking the end of her time,
and it's not just wearing red, but pushing the blood inside to scream and bleed.
chorus
Making the most of our powers to save ourselves we sing these songs for our health, and it's not what you're given , but what you make that screams and breathes.
chorus

THE STRUCTURE OF LOVE music and lyric by E. Patterson
If i sewed together all my illusions of youth i could make a coat
that would keep me warm in December. if we laid all of our
desires side by side we'd be walking on broken glass for miles.
chorus: if i ask enough questions with no hope for reply would i
understand the structure of love? i'd like to understand the structure of love.
if i hold a lily in my palm for long enough would it take root and
grow from my skin? and if i could make plants grow, would i be a better lover,
just be still and turn with the seasons?
chorus
if i build a temple to each day you're alive and patiently keep the fires lit,
would our whole house be filled with prayers, written on ribbons that
tangled in my hair?
chorus

BLUE SPARKS music by DeHaven, E. Patterson. lyrics by E. Patterson
I dreamt of blue sparks in a blue field and when i awoke you asked what i saw.
I said, "the best that can do is tell you i was dreaming in circles".
chorus: and i walked down crumbling stairs into the sea, and the waves crashed over my feet, and the stone was no match for the waves.
I dreamt us running green into the woods and when i awoke i laid down in the sand, oh and just like everything it fell right through my hands.
chorus 2x

THE DOLDRUMS music by DeHaven, Summeril, Anderson, G. Patterson, E. Patterson. lyrics by E. Patterson
The doldrums, baby, they're draggin me down, oh and it works slow.
That restlessness of wind and rain is coaxing me to go.
I was walking the snowsilent  valley, thinking, i was thinking of you,
searching the sky, the paths of birds, for something, anything true.
The frozen river: true, all in my canvas shoes.
True: my heartbeats, soft like snowflakes, falling, falling for you.

BUMBLEBEE music and lyrics by DeHaven
If i were a bumblebee i'd sting you on the kisser,
and if i were a ladybug you'd say to me no, mister.
That's the way with bugs and lovers.
And if you were a flower in spring i'd come to dig your pollen,
and if we were walking the park and all the leaves had fallen, oh,
That's the way with parks and flowers.
If ever you're a little blue i'll swing by with some colors,
i'll sing to you and you'll sing too, and there'll be no need for others, oh,
that's the way with you and me.

JESUS AND ARIZONA music by DeHaven, Summeril, Anderson, E. Patterson. verses by Anderson, E. Patterson, Hecker, chorus lyrics derived from a poem by Brian Andreas
I was walking down the road, saw a church off the side,
resting in the arms of the pines, so i opened the door and
i raised my voice, "can anyone answer me a question?".
chorus: He told me about jesus and arizona and the best way to make beer,
and i said "you're a funny kind of preacher" and he said "it's a funny kind of world" and i still remember his eyes, clear as a desert morning, and
i still remember his eyes when i find myself alone.
Crowned by a streetlight i met a man made of whiskey with holes in his shoes.
I asked him for a drink, he said "if you sit a while and answer me a question",
chorus
Eyes heavy with sleep, i laid down my head and awoke to the voice of my father.
I had a bad dream, there were monsters in my sleep, won't you please tell me a story?
chorus

COFFEE BLACK music and lyrics by DeHaven
Take a sip of coffee black, pull a record from the stack,
spin around the room with me, see the colors start to bleed.
Everybody's got a little bit of worry, come closer, there's no hurry.
Watch the snow fall down in flurries, come closer, darling, please.
Make a wish upon the waves, watch the fade of day to day.
Tally moments to make a life, play this one right and i'll be your wife.
Everybody's got a little bit of heartache, love's a game now raise the stakes.
Feel the wind pass through the trees, come closer, darling, please.

SACRIFICE music by DeHaven, E. Patterson lyrics by DeHaven
I fight the sands chasing a cadence in the distance 200,000 miles away.
Stars taunt in the moonlight, winking in the darkness, having watched for lightyears
how she torments me, oblivious.
Requite me, oh i'll push to your pull (2x)
I recede in defeat, gather defenses at the poles 200,000 miles away.
Swimming in the daylight, masts sway in the harbor, boats rise against the docks and still she torments my oblivion.
Requite me, oh i'll push to your pull (2x)
I concede, i am clumsy, will you consider this boy a sacrifice to love?

GREY AND BLUE music and lyrics by Archuletta
Without you i find my view to be quite awfully drab
the sudden hue reminds me you were carrying
a flag of grey and blue

whew!
not to worry, we have cds a-plenty.
come 2009, you can find them at your friendly local retailers:
twist and shout (denver)
wax trax (denver)
bart's cd cellar (boulder)
albums on the hill (boulder)

thanks for your gratiousness and patience!

and speaking of cds... we are now recording our NEW one! so, look out for it this spring! hooray!

love,
paper bird

well,
we've had a bit of bad luck with the company that was duplicating our cds,
and they can't get them to us in time for the holidays.

we will have some by our new years shows:
29th with the Flobots at the Gothic
30th and 31st with Rose Hill Drive at the Boulder Theater

and will have them back in local stores as soon as possible.

Apologies for the confusion. don't use the company DiscMakers if you can help it!

we and ours wish you and yours a warm, bright holiday.

love,
paper bird

small crisis: the shipment of our cds was delayed, and that is why you haven't been able to purchase it from your favorite local retailers!
However, we promise it will be healthily stocked in:

Twist and Shout, Denver, CO
Albums on the Hill, Boulder, CO
Bart's CD Cellar, Boulder, CO
Wax Trax, Denver, CO
Buffalo Exchange, Boulder AND Denver, CO

before the holidays commence!

we expect the shipment on monday (december 22) at the latest, so let us know if you need us to mail one somewhere or any such thing.

thanks so much for your gracious kindness, patience and support!

happy december!

love,
paper bird