Get all 15 Tom Alter releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Dispatch from the Lesser Middle, Last Season in the Lesser Middle, Love and All That Comes With It, Chaos in the USA, Poetry and Protest, One Year in the Lesser Middle, Songs For An American Hero, Wading in the Lesser Middle, and 7 more.
1. |
Poetry and Protest
02:55
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Take your time
Take your times to take in all the beauty
Take your time
Take the time to stand against the ugly
Because it's alright, alright
Taking time just sharing in some laughter
But it is not right, not right
If the joke is at the expense of another
There's more to this life than filling all your needs
There's more to the story than your diary
Take some time getting out of your own head
Take some time for poetry and protest
There's a song
Waiting for your voice to amplify
There are wrongs
You may right if you open up your eyes
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2. |
Space Junk
03:44
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Spec of dust
In a whirlwind
Split from the flock with a broken wing
Jettisoned
Floating alone
A remnant lost
Only fragment of bone
Tens of millions just like me
Searching for a sheltered place to be
A private wave in a tranquil sea
For particles in infinity
Cast adrift
At such high speed
A fleck of paint
A shard of steel
Once forgotten
A simple stone
Untll collision makes us known
Tens of millions just like me
Searching for a sheltered place to be
A private wave in a tranquil sea
We're particles in infinity
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3. |
Killers on the Run
04:49
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He keeps quiet, he keeps to himself
He has always lived alone
He could argue with an empty room
He is a hard man to pin down
Three down by the side of the road
The things people are capable of you never know
Carries his hatred in the darkness
Carries a bible in the sun
With some drink in him anything could happen
He was always an emotional one
Three down by the side of the road
The things people are capable of you never know
Everybody has a motive
Everybody's come undone
Everybody is a suspect
Everybody has a gun
Check for prints
There's a killer on the run
They were only seventeen years old
They were only twenty one
It seems always so unexpected
But why should it be?
Everybody has a gun.
Three down by the side of the road
The things people are capable of you never know
Everybody has a motive
Everybody's come undone
Everybody is a suspect
Everybody has a gun
Check for prints
There's a killer on the run
And haunting music plays in the background
There are killers, many killers on the run
Haunting music plays in the background
There are killers, so many killers, oh my God
Oh my God
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4. |
Four Blue Horses
04:11
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Mary takes on step and one more
Enters into vibrant color field
Four blue horses greet her calmly
Four blue horses listening
Mary tells them of their creator
How he made them canvas and oil
How his body strife with shrapnel
How his body bled into soil
And they agitate in wonder
Shake their heads as they mourn
Why with so much work to wander
Men would fight and die at Verdun
Franz Marc's brushes lie on a palette
Multi-color pigment dry
More blue horses, trapped within him
More creation, yet to live
One horse asks for explanation
Why man's his own predator
What's the purpose? What is the reason?
Snuffing out a creator
And they agitate in wonder
Shake their heads as they mourn
Why with so much work to wander
Men would fight and die at Verdun
Mary turns away from four horses
With a tear she waves farewell
Four blue horses inanimated
Four blue horses forever stilled
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5. |
Anne at Night
04:39
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Only in blackout
Can I look beyond these walls
And gaze in contemplation
At the vastness of the stars
Knowing that a time will come
Beyond this wretched age
A time when cruelty ends
And peace returns again
And I hold on
To my best ideals
And try to erase all doubt
And I cling to
My highest ideals
And wait for the day
When I can carry them out
And I will carry them out
The world is a wilderness
And approaching thunder rolls
In the light of day time
I feel a tragic toll
When all the world's in darkness
And the moon's unseen
The stars still bring me hope
For some humanity
And I hold on
To my best ideals
And try to erase all doubt
And I cling to
My highest ideals
And wait for the day
When I can carry them out
And I will carry them out
And even as I share
The suffering of millions
I can still raise up
And gaze into the heavens
And I hold on
To my best ideals
And try to erase all doubt
And I cling to
My highest ideals
And wait for the day
When I can carry them out
And I will carry them out
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6. |
Hudson Bay
03:31
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Crossed the bridge from Michigan
Entered into Canada again
Take straight the road into Ontario
Heading east, intention north
If we reach the Hudson Bay
Before we even know our way
And if we reach the highway's end
Either way, we'll be okay
Don't know what we're escaping from
But I know that this has stopped being fun
It's probably that we met so young
That we stayed together for this long
If we reach the Hudson Bay
Before we even know our way
And if we reach the highway's end
Either way, we'll be okay
If we meet the water's edge does it prove there's something left
Or have we traveled far enough
Even if we make it through the northern point we're heading to
Haven't we traveled far enough
It was only by an accident
That you haven't already left
So I'll be the one to take the step
I'll be the one you can tag as bad
And if we reached the Hudson Bay
Before we even knew our way
And if we reached the highway's end
Either way, we'll be okay
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7. |
Defiance GA
04:11
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Well it's true that we have shared some good times
And it's true that those moments melted away
But when I think my place is to be near you
You indicate you'd rather I don't stay
Should I now just move on from Savannah
Should I stop and quietly take my leave
And even though this city's the prettiest place I've ever seen
I'm feeling Georgia's not the place for me
No I can't say it's just about the water
Or the red clay that I feel in my bones
It's the hurting if I granted you your wishes
I would be leaving the only home I've known
Should I now just move on to Atlanta
Should I blend in on those city streets
And even though the city's the biggest place I've ever been
I get the feeling Georgia has no place for me
I've done my best to try to live together
And I get the message you want me to read
Still every time you turn around s corner
You'll stand the chance you'll see the likes of me
No I will not just move on from Savannah
I will not just quietly take my leave
And even though defiance is not a thing you want to see
Get used to it you're seeing it from me
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8. |
A Coping Mechanism
03:16
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The coping mechanism I employ each time you take away my joy
Is another secret kept from you
My nervous mechanism can't control how I feel when we're alone
But that's something that I'll not reveal to you
And so I wrote this work song
To be my tool from going wrong
You know I've tied my fate to getting along with you
Yes I've tied my fate to getting along with you
The rabid dog that's sleeping in my head bears his teeth when awakened
Yes it is one more defense I keep from you
And so my dear the art of acceptance is one great skill I've mastered since
The day I took a leap of faith in you
And so I wrote this work song
To be my tool from going wrong
You know I've tied my fate to getting along with you
Yes I've tied my fate to getting along with you
It's a thin line from reality to disassociation
So I make denial my philosophy foundation
A coping mechanism I'll employ when I am triggered and annoyed
By uncovered secrets you keep from me
And so I wrote this work song
To be my tool from going wrong
You know I've tied my fate to getting along with you
Yes I've tied my fate to getting along with you
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9. |
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Walk and walk, talk and talk
Houses not quite yards apart
Dodge the cars on narrow streets
No ballparks or empty lots
I'm a stranger but there's no danger
Visit from suburbia
Dropped into this urban dream
It's a new diversity
In the streets with rising steam
I feel this city claiming me
Conversations about me in a language I can't understand
From a distant country
And yet they called you Jane
Block to block not dot to dot
Through the alleys we would cut
And through the wash on hanging lines
In a world alien to me
I could see this country through your eyes
Having gone on ahead are you waiting for me
Having gone on ahead are you waiting for me
'Cause really all that I have are these memories
It's a language I can't understand
From a distant country
And yet they called you Jane
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10. |
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Here's a miniature model of a jail cell bed
And a tee shirt saying I visited
And all I got was this lousy tee shirt and ten years
There's a wooden carving of the old guard shack
A license plate ash tray hot off the press
And a prison number on a key chain with my name
And the sign on the wall is beckoning me
To the gift shop of the state penitentiary
There's a little museum out in the back
With pictures of residents from the past
But I'm not that eager 'cause I might see one of me
A sweatshirt has a message telling me
I've been living in a gated community
I'll attest that it was never quite that fine doing time
And the sign on the wall is beckoning me
To the gift shop of the state penitentiary
And there's a shot glass with words that read
"I shot the sheriff not the deputy"
But that's the charge they had to pin on me
And here's a special opportunity
Spend two minutes in solitary
But I don't have the buck and I already know how that feels
Their profits are high and their prices are best
Due to no labor costs and low overhead
Every item you see has been made by inmates
But there's no cash in these cheap suit pockets
And they ain't trading anything for cigarettes
And I'm not eating in your cafe, no way
And the sign on the wall is beckoning me
To the gift shop of the state penitentiary
Yes the sign on the wall is beckoning me
To the gift shop of the state penitentiary
And I don't think I'm gonna buy anything
From the gift shop of the state penitentiary
No no
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Tom Alter Detroit, Michigan
Tom Alter is a singer-songwriter based in Detroit. The influences of jazz, folk, pop, and Latin genres are found in his
original compositions. Tom's lyrics mix world events with the affect on his personal ideals. He has released 3 EPs and 2 albums since 2019. His work can be found on digital and streaming music platforms. He is also a member of the duo After Blue.
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