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There's A Bluebird In My Heart

by Running Red Lights

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1.
She is bare on my red velvet chair flung out like a rug And though I know she is barbed like a wire I am tempted to touch She's a lady of shipwrecks, my god, how she hurts But as a man I am damned with desire for her For her sweet pheromone skin I am flesh in her sun 'cause I cannot resist her Mulberry Love No I cannot resist her Mulberry Love Oh she leaves and arrives like the skies of a rolling storm And while away she will play planting and watering wars But oh how she molds to my lips like a comfortable shirt And I cannot lie, I would die for a mouthfull of her For her sweet pheromone skin I am flesh in her sun 'cause I cannot resist her Mulberry Love No I cannot resist her Mulberry Love No I cannot resist her Mulberry Love
2.
Melding shapes against a ruby sky That was you and I Unspooled and scarless we were Shatterproof against the wild world God, your smile girl Could silence vanity But life let go just like an avalanche One last dance and our love was vanished Now you're a precious name in my parentheses You'll forever live in the footnotes of my memory You, my love, will always be My favourite apostrophe I'll remember you So remember me In parentheses One sip of gin and I will think of you How you used to get drunk on Tanqueray and Climb on the tavern bar and sing a song We'd all sing along "Baby we were born to run!" You, my love, will always be My favourite apostrophe I'll remember you So remember me In parentheses So if you get a feeling now and then and you're wonderin' Who's thinking of you, know its Somebody fixed in the parentheses of your narrative, in the footnotes of your memory You my love will always be (first moves) My favourite apostrophe (fixed eyes) I'll remember you (drawn out...) So remember me (...goodbyes) In parentheses
3.
I thought my heart had seen its last days I gave up on giving it away 'Cause I was walking down a jilted lover’s road And there was no turning back…so I was told No, there was no going back so I was told Once the grip of hurting had its hold Those cold, shiver girls of stone They crushed my heart and chilled my bones It was burnt ash, black as coal In my broken, high-heel-trampled soul 'Til there you were, like a river, babe You carried all my blues away Oh, your love came in under the wire Drowned in a river of tears I was played out beyond my years The needle moved the record 'round the same old song My body buried in the mud I was almost dead, the trench was dug I was waiting for the darkness to descend on me But, while I was waiting on that goodbye train Umbrella up, you fought the rain You ushered me out of the cold Baby, you saved my soul You know Oh, your love came in under the wire Your love, your love, your love, your love, your love came in under the wire Oh, your love came in under the wire
4.
Dear Liza 05:12
Roll away, roll away your boulder Dear Liza I have turned every stone and damned if I can find you (So where could you be?) Now all the birds singing blue ‘cause I miss you, Dear Liza And these hands on my chest, they don't feel a beat without you, without you There's a hole in my heart, Dear Liza, Dear Liza In the shape of you If the walls of these halls could talk they'd say “Dear Liza There's a fool on the floor and he's crying for the memory of you and what use to be” I forged a future of failures when I hurt you, Dear Liza And who I've been and who I am will be nothing again without you, without you There's a hole in my heart, Dear Liza, Dear Liza In the shape of you Why do clocks carry on? Why does day bring the sun when it hurts so much? Why are birds in the sky? Why are stars shooting by when it hurts so much? Why do lovers in the night still hold each tight when it hurts so much? Why does life play along as if nothing is wrong when it hurts so much? There's a hole in my heart, Dear Liza, Dear Liza In the shape of you
5.
Somewhere in New York City you are lying with new lovers And I'll be sleeping on that thought tonight Somewhere the moon is leaning into your open window Illuminating her in perfect light Tonight I'm drowning in a sea Of crumpled paper memories And my tears, like sour milk, are spilling thick upon these pages of lies of love you wrote and I believed So I'm flyin' love letter airplanes tonight Torn paper love letter airplanes tonight I'm flyin' love letter airplanes tonight Heartbreakin' love letter airplanes tonight 6 months in New York City and I am heavy with contrition And as loveless as the night stand by my bed Down here your stars are dropping like brilliant diamond boulders Unloading all your wishes on my head Tonight I'm drowning in a sea Of blank paper apologies And my words, like dried up milk, are reading stale upon these pages Cause there's nothing I can say that you'll believe So I'm flyin' love letter airplanes tonight Torn paper love letter airplanes tonight I'm flyin' love letter airplanes tonight Heartbreaking love letter airplanes tonight "Your beauty is enduring like the bed beneath the river. Oh, to be a stone along your water's edge." Such sweet words on these pages for my pain to empty over and wonder which of them were truly meant So I'm flyin' love letter airplanes tonight Torn paper love letter airplanes tonight I'm flyin' love letter airplanes tonight Heartbreaking love letter airplanes tonight
6.
Parlour Cafe 04:27
Oh, the mountains have folded The bird is back in its cage I’m back tending bar at The Parlour Cafe Sweeping bottlecap ashtrays, repeat and repeat Patching holes in my sky where my stars used to be And I lose I lose Now the bar is full of ladies for the 2AM draw Who’s getting who, Ms. Lonely or Mr. Loneliest-Of-All In the arms of a stranger, they all sink like a stone ‘cause they’re all scared of dying, or dying alone And they lose Oh, how they lose You take what you can to comfort your blues Cocaine or cowboys, it don’t matter to you All your tenderness is broken ‘cause you’ve been hard on your knees You’ve been swimming in shit, girl, as deep as the sea And you lose Oh, how you lose And we lose Oh, how we lose Oh, the mountains have folded The bird is back in its cage I’m back tending bar at The Parlour Cafe
7.
Warm in this narrow car I lie Spinnin' wheels move me further into night Cold train is rollin' me along Back to the old Queen, 3 times her weight in stone And I don't want to go Back to my city bed to lie Through window square watching bodies speeding by To the poet stirring rackets in my mind Where days empty into winter whiskey nights And I don't want to go, no I don't wanna go So leave me in Yukon mountains to rest my hurried bones Silver Springs wash the fuel of youth that drives me home Cause I don't wanna go No I don't wanna go Home Back far from BC timber lines To inner voices and disapproving eyes From a sea of summer backroad country miles To a grave of unborn concrete piles And I don't wanna go, no I don't wanna go So leave me in Yukon mountains to rest my hurried bones Silver Springs wash the fuel of youth that drives me home Cause I don't wanna go No I don't wanna go The night comes black and forest falls to ash and stone Over iron hills the train begins to slow and I am back once more, Back where I belong But I don't wanna go Home
8.
By Your Side 04:47
Days repeat themselves for those who wait... Wait for stones to roll with nothing more than gravity Like you, you tie yourself to open doors And smile at those who pass, who squint their eyes to see your face Watch them go Seizing lives unknown Leaving you alone Leaving you behind But I'm... I'm gonna stand by your side We, we tried our best to beat the age When one gets comfortable cheating games of solitaire But we're old, we're older than when we were young Closer to the ground and further from the fading sun Now it's almost dark The bluebird in your heart and every ice cold star in the sky Has left you blind but I'm... I'm gonna stand by your side
9.
Run Away 05:05
Run away, lets run away Till this town fades into nothing Run away, lets run away Lets take a chance on something You're the only joy I found In this godforsaken town But I've never seen you laughing So run away, lets run away Cause all that stays is dying, dying, dying I wanna run away I wanna run away I wanna run away with you These high-school glory days, And all these quiet town clichés, And wasted faces down in the gutters It's thickening our skin I feel the hardness setting in We're rotting here just like the others So lets run, run, run away Till all these streets we know by name Will be nothing but a distant memory I wanna run away I wanna run away I wanna run away with you Put your heart on wheels tonight We got one big dream and one headlight Put your heart on wheels tonight We got one big dream and one headlight While our love is young and our blood is wild We're gonna drive this life a million miles Put your heart on wheels tonight Put your heart on wheels tonight and Run away I wanna run away I wanna run away with you Run away, lets run away Lets take a chance on something
10.
Memory Bells 04:49
As I watch the snow fall over Boston, a silver white and blue I drink myself back to my youth and try to summon you And as the radiator hums a grown-up tune A memory, like a radio, is coming through A rose-colored window with a sentimental view You and me high in the burning cold Bottle rockets fired up and ready to go I remember we were paranoid the whole damn world would blow Now every winter sky has tales to tell Every stormy night rings a memory bell Every snow drop soaking through my shoes The memory bells start ringin' and I'm back to you Tonight the sky is black as carbon and the stars are shinin' through The full moon smiles bright polyester, insinuating June And while the radiator hums a grown-up tune A memory, like a radio, is coming through A rose-colored window with a sentimental view Rollin' on a blanket on a hot roof top Drinkin' whiskey out of empty cans of pop Drownin' out the world with your tape deck stereo Now every summer sky has tales to tell Every starry night rings a memory bell Sun kissed sidewalks burnin' through my shoes The memory bells start ringin' and I'm back to First moves and fixed eyes, and drawn-out goodbyes Back to the burn of longing bones When hearts stopped and lungs filled Under half moons on Summer hills Aching bodies and nothing in between Back to suitcase dreams and Friday plans To falling lace in nervous hands My sleeveless flowered dress on canyon floors Back before time turned on us And changed our minds and love to dust Before our wounds were too grown-up to mend Back before the scent of rain and startled memories in my brain Of last goodbyes and looks of soft regret Back before Every teary sky had tales to tell Every lonely night rang a memory bell Every raindrop kindled thoughts of you Before I needed memories to get back, I go back When July summer skies have tales to tell When ocean melodies rang a memory bell Every lazy Sunday afternoon Those memory bells start ringin' and I'm back to you
11.
It's a cold turn when youth decays into a broken rhythm and time is spinning And nothing is racing faster than a clock that's running down So take on your twilight in the distance with resistance And go chasing shadows in the moonlight tonight and Count the stars, steal her heart It's a damn good way to go Dare to dance, take a chance It's a damn good way to go Kiss her porcelain skin down down down down to the bone Throw your cares to the wind It's a damn good way to go I was a man of song too long inside my own head, just dreaming And waiting, I was bottled like a firefly and burning out But too many losses I have carried and buried And out of the dust with cold precision, came the wisdom that Counting stars, stealing hearts It's a damn good way to go Dare to dance, take a chance It's a damn good way to go Kiss her porcelain skin down down down down to the bone Throw your cares to the wind It's a damn good way to go Give it up and let it go All your heart and all your soul Used up and wrung out from the road Its the only way Its a damn good way to go Its a cold turn when life decays into a broken rhythm and time is running out

about

8 long years with a crowded narrative of misguidance, inflated industry promises and no meaningful body of work to stand upon, perhaps Toronto Indie Pop/Folk band Running Red Lights should have simply bent to the supposed will of the world and ceased to continue. However, in the twilight of 2012 RRL found the courage and the fight to try again. Widowed from any industry influence 'There's a Bluebird in My Heart' is the sound of a band surviving and winning. The multiplicity of the album demonstrates a practiced discipline of songwriting and seasoned musicality and yet every song shares a glaring cohesiveness that proves the band has found a definable sound. Produced by Running Red Lights in collaboration with Joshua Van Tassel (Royal Wood, Classified, Meghan Bonnell) and Mike McKyes (Jennifer Kee, Clayton Healey, When Systems Collide) the album’s charm lies in the hard-won exuberance behind its creation.

The leading single 'Mulberry Love' has drawn comparisons as far-ranging as 'Americana' Fleetwood Mac, Jeff Buckley and Chrissie Hynde, while the proposed second single 'Under the Wire' parallels the roots rock sounds of 'The Band' and 'Alabama Shakes'. An overall presence of ethereal softness is showcased in the climatic, Grizzly Bear-esque 'By Your Side', while 'Love Letter Airplanes', 'In Parenthesis,' and 'A Damn Good Way to Go' demonstrate the band’s affection for big pop melody. On the contrary, the undressed and raw 'Parlour Cafe' is perhaps the most stirring gem on the album, candidly recorded in one take, live off the floor to the warmth of analog tape, the song is a powerful ballad illustrating the band’s propensity for the melancholy.

Apart from the harmonious pairing of the blues/folk influenced voice of Scarlett Flynn with the R&B/Jeff Buckley persuaded voice of Kevin Howley, perhaps the most definable element of the album’s sound is in the euphonious backbone of the guitar. RRL's guitarist David Puzak has a melodic quality to his playing that has the combined characteristics of The Edge, James Honeymoon Scott and John Mayer. His unique voice stands alone with the real potential to sway a new generation of guitar players. Lastly and moreover, bass player Jeff Carter and drummer Kevin Howley shape a groove-driven rhythmic foundation that combines the varied stylings of Southern Rock, Country, Pop and R&B.

The band is expected to debut the album via an online live stream Podcast on January 14, 2014 followed by a tour of Southern Ontario & Quebec, ending with a CD launch party at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto on January 31st. For a complete band bio and further information on the release go to runningredlights.com

credits

released January 14, 2014

All songs written/performed by Running Red Lights - Scarlett Flynn/Kevin Howley/David Puzak/Jeff Carter

Produced by Kevin Howley and RRL with loving co-production by Joshua Van Tassel and Mike McKyes

Recorded @ Grove Productions by Mike McKyes in Bright's Grove, Ontario and at The Jamnasium II by Kevin Howley in Toronto, Ontario
-except "Parlour Cafe": Engineered by Joshua Van Tassel and "Love Letter Airplanes": Engineered by Brian Moncarz (drums & piano), Mike McKyes (drums), Vezi Tayyeb (wurlitzer), and Kevin Howley (vocals)

Mixed by Joshua Van Tassel - www.joshuavt.com

Mastered by Reuben Ghose @ Mojito Mastering - mojitomastering.com

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Running Red Lights Toronto, Ontario

Born into a space between the notes of Fleetwood Mac and the words of Sylvia Plath. We are Running Red Lights. Back in 2006 we were on our way to catch a train when we we fell into yesterday's sunset...

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