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For the Birds

by Matt Lenny & The Breakdown

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1.
We will walk under a cloudless sky In the garden, the garden on high Alien sun Shining in our eyes It takes everyone together It takes everyone all together This ridiculous world Sister, try to sleep Though the earth may quake We’re sailing into the deep We will walk under a cloudless sky In the garden, the garden on high Alien sun Shining in our eyes There'll be no pain and no hunger And the nightingales will all sing A song of the mud-earth Drifting like dust No feather of doubt No needle to rust We will walk under a cloudless sky In the garden, the garden on high Alien sun Shining in our eyes Alien sun Shining in our eyes
2.
True Things 03:54
Movies on a Saturday night Sunday morning got the shades pulled tight Make a little love above Havermeyer street Then go get coffee and something to eat With my baby Monday I don't wanna go to work By Wednesday, everything starts to hurt Shoulders so tight, but we keep staring at a screen Until the Friday happy hour scene Tastes like freedom I don't know what to do You got me all kinds of blue I miss walking around And talking about the true things With you Oh Meg, (please) don't leave You got me down on my knees I don't wanna cry, but I can't see The forest for the trees And I'm lonely I don't know what to do You got me all kinds of blue I miss walking around And talking about the true things With you Oh babe, it'll be alright I know it'll all work out (x2) I don't know what to do You got me all kinds of blue I miss walking around And talking about the true things With you
3.
Baby, put on that party dress and get your makeup right I think you forgot that you're a pretty thing so I'm taking you out tonight I ain't no cowboy, but I'm putting on my boots Let's go get lost in something good just like we used to do So we'll Find your gold Find your gold Find your golden maze And get lost in it Find your gold Find your gold Find your golden maze And get lost in it Nothing you can do to make it all turn out right Flying away is just for the birds so you gotta stand and fight Put on your best boots you're gonna walk that mile alone every man is a vagabond whether or not he knows it So, you Find your gold Find your gold Find your golden maze And get lost in it Find your gold Find your gold Find your golden maze And get lost in it All that we can ever ask in life is something to do something to while the days away with a happy attitude we're staring into oblivion whether or not we like it our only taste of infinity is the timelessness of trying To Find your gold Find your gold Find your golden maze And get lost in it Find your gold Find your gold Find your golden maze And get lost in it
4.
Today and tomorrow Sometimes feel the same I don’t how I got myself in this situation I've been on the sidelines With no one else to blame But now it's time I got myself back in the conversation How do I tell you What I had to learn? I don’t know how I lived so long in quiet desperation I told myself I was nothing Had nowhere to turn Losing all the beautiful things in pointless isolation Now I've got a strength I will never spend Trying to hold something down for too long Good times are coming my way again Now that the wrong time's gone Thank god for the wrong time gone Pick it up, baby There’s no time like the now though everything you find today defies your expectation I'm gonna build that tower Though nobody taught me how Love, just love, love is the foundation And I've got a strength I will never spend Trying to hold something down for too long Good times are coming my way again Now that the wrong time's gone Thank god for the wrong time gone
5.
He waits for her like a kid waiting on a train Leaning into the fear Certain of magic when she draws near He waits for a like a kid waiting on a train See her picking up speed from the awful weight of the past Thundering behind her If she never stops, it’ll never define her See her picking up speed from the weight of the past Molly dear go easy on the boy, he don’t know Sam my son go easy, she’s on the run When sensitive emotions meet compulsive motion There’ll be blood on the train tracks of love One night he gets home late and he forgets to text Slamming the bathroom door Crying her eyes out and crying some more One night he gets home late and he forgets text She just echoing back to being left alone Her mama decided to split Her dad would go out and get so lit She just echoing back to being left alone Molly dear go easy on the boy, he don’t know Sam my son go easy, she’s on the run When sensitive emotions meet compulsive motion There’ll be blood on the train tracks of love Coffee's getting cold while they're talking on the balcony Holding hands, trying to make sense of the night Bleary eyes nursing a new kind of hangover Suddenly down when you thought you were on the upside Molly dear go easy on the boy, he don’t know Sam my son go easy, she’s on the run When sensitive emotions meet compulsive motion There’ll be blood on the train tracks of love
6.
See them spinning bells Pinned to a circle of wood It’s a silver spray of melody A melody in the blood And I rise up It’s the memory of a quickened pulse It’s a waking dream of love You go under it And you go home See them younger men Playing that tambourine And every note is a battleground Keeping up with the drum To fire it up It’s the memory of a quickened pulse It’s a waking dream of love You go under it And you go home See them nickel strings Pinned to thinnest of wood It’s a silver spray of melody It’s the fire inside my blood And I light up It’s the memory of a quickened pulse It’s a waking dream of love You go under it And you go home
7.
On Your Own 02:44
The party's over and the people are gone A big ol' stack of dishes now to do And he told you things no one should ever have to hear Cleaning up this mess is up to you You got those kids and they're gonna need you To make a shelter from the shards of a broken home The water runs and the time stands still Gone is the life that you've known Oh gal, hang on to yourself Oh gal, hang on Now's the time I know you'll find Some way to be on your own There is a hole and there is a hunger In the heart of a man who can't be true I don't know why he has no faith in anything Please don't let him take yours, too Oh gal, hang on to yourself Oh gal, hang on Now's the time I know you'll find Some way to be on your own Oh gal, hang on to yourself Oh gal, hang on Now's the time I know you'll find Some way to be on your own Some way to be on your own
8.
Doubt 03:19
A woman in mind and a dream set away A man sits behind a desk in the day And all through the night Doubt All through the night He asked for this while he was dreaming of that Sealed it with a kiss and he put on his hat And all through the night Doubt All through the night Baby don't you leave me Even if I ask you to go Be a rock in a rushing stream A channel in the wild flow He up and he quit her to follow his heart Found it was bitter and he fell apart And all through the night Doubt All through the night As the days fly by and the strange winds blow A plan is a kite and hope is a crow And all through the night Doubt All through the night Baby don't you leave me Even if I ask you to go Be a rock in a rushing stream A channel in the wild flow Baby don't you leave me Even if I ask you to go Be a rock in a rushing stream A channel in the wild flow
9.
It Adds Up 03:35
How am I gonna know if you don't call me up? How am I gonna change if you don't bring it up? I know you're mad, but you don't let it out Just another subject we don't talk about I know your daddy wasn't the best of men So, how could I think that you would let me in? You built an altar to your precious pain And every time there's someone else to blame Stack up all your promises And all your grievances Yeah, it adds up to nothing Yeah, your loving In a good book, you don't just skip to the end And in a real love, you wouldn't just unfriend me Heaven knows I'm not a perfect man A coward will run, but my heart don't understand Stack up all your promises And all your grievances Yeah, it adds up to nothing Yeah, your loving And I thought that I could know you And I thought that you would stand by me And I thought I could love you But I was wrong How am I gonna know if you don't call me up? How am I gonna change if you don't bring it up? I know you're mad, but you don't let it out Just another subject we don't talk about Stack up all your promises And all your grievances Yeah, it adds up to nothing Yeah, your loving
10.
Sun on the door and the sound of water And I don’t know where I am An old purple quilt in a room simply built But I don’t know where I am It seems to be morning In some sort of cabin I don’t know where I am Then I hear the voices of both of my children But I don’t know where I am Oh mom You’re walking through the door Nobody knows what’s on the other side I don’t think we’re ready and I can’t say goodbye But you are half on the other side Half on the other side A place on the river Where we always gather Every august for years Come with our children and now with their children While the gray slipped into my beard But my wife is changing Time rearranging Itself so she doesn’t know when It takes her a moment to gather the present We never know when it’ll slip away again Oh dad She’s walking through the door Nobody knows what’s on the other side I don’t think we’re ready and we can’t say goodbye But she’s half on the other side
11.
Apples 03:57
I don’t know which way to go And I don’t know why I don’t know For a man with a whole lot of blessings I sure do make a lot of messes So if you wanna know which way to go Come join me under the tree I’ll be waiting for an apple to fall I bought the house with the gray front door It's all beige and gray except the floor I guess the color was inconsequential In the face of the almighty eventual If death is dragging your style down Come join me under the tree I’ll be waiting for an apple to fall Someday the sun will rise And I won’t be here to rub my eyes I’ll be blinking at the father and the son I’ll be blushing for the things I done Until they tell me that it’s time to go Come join me under the tree I’ll be shaking it free I ain’t waiting for an apple to fall Come join me under the tree I’ll be shaking it free I ain’t waiting for an apple to fall

about

For the Birds. New music by Matt Lenny & The Breakdown.

Have you felt it? You’ve felt it. That excitement when a door opens on a room you’ve dreamt of but never seen. That charge, that crackle, the sweet hurt of life as it cuts you. That’s this album.

Matt Lenny got lost in guitar as a kid. Kept him sane. Sort of saved him. He’s made albums before, loud ones, soft ones, rock and country and blues, but none like this.

He blew out his voice last year. Had to learn to sing again. Spent time writing. Hearing new tunes. Dreaming of the room where he and The Breakdown could not just play the songs but bring them to life. What does coming to life sound like? This.

The Breakdown is scattered all over these days: they have separate lives in Chicago and Michigan and out East, but they came together for three days to follow a path to a sound Matt only faintly heard.

Three days means no time for doubt. Fewer hours placing mikes and turning dials and punching vocal lines and perfecting perfect: more time fast tracking and finger picking and letting the music lead.

This is the sound of a band of brothers cutting through new terrain. Learning the path through songs while playing the songs. The sound of doors opening to new rooms and the joy of filling all that new space. The good life as it’s celebrated and lived. As familiar but rare as the shape birds trace in the air.
-Bryan VanDyke, NYC, Fall 2022

credits

released April 21, 2023

Matt Lenny & the Breakdown is:

Matt Lenny - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar
Dave Méndez - Electric Guitar, Dobro, Vocals
David Jamison - Drums, Vocals
Erik Vaveris - Bass, Vocals
Bryan Trenis - Piano, Hammond, Rhodes, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Bucky Hayes - Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Sonny Ratcliff - Banjo
Anthony Gravino - Percussion, Guitar
Kait Rose - Vocals on tracks 2 & 4
Laura Neuroth - Vocals on track 5

All songs written by Matt Lenny and published by Harmon Street Songs, ASCAP
Recorded by J Kaufman at Local Legend Recording
Additional recording by Matt Lenny, Bryan Trenis, and Anthony Gravino
Mixed and mastered by Anthony Gravino at High Cross Sound
Produced by Matt Lenny with big assists from Josh and Anthony
Graphic design by Dan Spielman, Cover photo by Joshua Woroniecki
This album is dedicated to Laura, Archer, and Bowie. Thanks for giving me the space, time, and support I needed to create these songs. Thanks beyond words to my amazing band for making them a reality, and to their loved ones for letting me steal them away for a long weekend. Thanks to Jim Carson for giving me back my voice. - ML

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Matt Lenny & The Breakdown Stevensville, Michigan

Inspired by a chance encounter with country legend Steve Earle, who showed him that a single chord can often have more power than anything else, Michigan-based guitarist and songwriter Matt Lenny writes songs that fall on the rock & roll side of Americana. ... more

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