We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

A ring around the Atlantic

by Peter Maybarduk

supported by
/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $8 USD  or more

     

  • Advance order your choice of CD or vinyl LP with full art. $12 for CD or vinyl, $16 for both. $20 for CD or vinyl plus "No Hay Pueblo Vencido" CD. $24 for everything.

    Includes unlimited streaming of A ring around the Atlantic via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD or more 

     

1.
Lyrics Dear, silence hides in your throat. Here, sirens sound but no one takes note. We hide in a shroud. Say it out loud. I don’t know, I don’t know. Dear, violins quiver and quote. Here violence gets out the vote. Tigers and tyrants alight All men are tied. I don’t know, I don’t know. Even the smallest thing ruins a life. Even the greatest thing matters but little in time. Even the greatest thing might not save your life Even the smallest thing might measure greatly in time. Even the smallest thing might save a life Even the greatest thing matters but little in long enough time. I don’t know, I don’t know how this ends. Dear, silence hides in your throat. Here, sirens sound But no one takes note.
2.
3.
We live a ring around the Atlantic, coast-to-coast. And we see right through the static, don’t you know? And the end of all our travels* Unveils a pattern of control For the first time we will know A ring around the Atlantic, coast-to-coast. We live a ring around the Atlantic, and its lows Through markets the drug companies control. And the interests of interest in Capital clothes William Hearst has a ghost. And he’s writing again at the Post. A ring around the Atlantic A ring ‘round the Atlantic A ring around the Atlantic, coast-to-coast. We live a ring around the Atlantic, coast-to-coast Economies of knowledge enclosed And movements for access. Gather; oppose Citizens of control A ring around the Atlantic coast-to-coast. A ring around the Atlantic We see right through the static A ring around the Atlantic, coast-to-coast. * See T.S. Eliot, “Little Gidding”
4.
Sound 03:02
*Lyrics* Light; looking from Lisbon late at night And not a guide shall you find. Rise with a most uncommon life At the inquiry -- take pride. Hey sister, if you’re a prisoner Of a system that tears you down I’ll be right here, I’ll be right here With the sound when you hit the ground. Hey sister, if you’re a prisoner Making your way out I’ll be right here, we’ll be right here With the sound when you hit the ground. Time; looking for purpose for our lives In reports, in the lines. Strike with unaverted eyes Appear at the inquiry an unquiet mind. Hey sister, if you’re a prisoner Of a system that tears you down I’ll be right here, I’ll be right here With the sound when you hit the ground. Hey sister, if you’re a prisoner Listen and let it out I’ll be right here, we’ll be right here With the sound when you hit the ground.
5.
Lyrics I said – she is touched by fire, the dead and the divine. Broken wings across the wire, she’s clipped and then she climbs. And I’m the idiot-for-hire, saddled at her side. [I can’t shut the door! I can’t shut it off! I can’t take it off! I can’t take it!] Touched by fire. Across the wire. A toolbox, a screw and set of wires, she’ll take apart all time. She’s got - a chaos theory mind, she’s capital for crime. We all stand right by her side And bathe in blinding light. [I’m taking off! I’m risking all! I’m running all! I’m running!] She’s touched by fire. We stand beside her. *Title taken from the book by Kay Jamison on the artistic and scientific contributions of manic depressives.
6.
*Lyrics* I may feel at last in privacy of night. A stoic failing on a trans Atlantic flight. And I dream of mortality and light In the Sea of Tranquility tonight. For I passed up a rose, and lying in repose Await the ends I chose. Gray regime presses on my spine. Boys of Bogotá brandishing their knife. And I dream of mortality and light. In a sea of tranquility tonight. For the ends I chose are lying in repose Await, awake I know.
7.
8.
*Lyrics* After the end of leave, fumbling with her fatigue And little time for talk with my lover in Iraq. Under the eagle’s beak, let’s live creatively. Why do we fall for speech and easy talk of peace? And in the law, a low, where all the killers go We follow. Far down the hard path to peace Are we so quickly appeased? We wait, we hold to belief Far down the hard path to peace. A new tour and no end over Afghanistan We give a prize for peace while the eagles eat. And every perfect speech works to our conceit. And each idea’s end we lost as we slept. And in this high terrain might you escape The refrain? Far down the hard path to peace Are we so quickly appeased? Once more, love, unto the breach Far down the hard path to peace. Far down the hard path to peace. New disabilities, folding up her fatigues We keep a reverent peace ‘til the laying of the wreath. I’ll deal with my grief, but can’t we choose Not to believe? Far down the hard path to peace. Are we so quickly appeased? I waste ‘til I lose belief Far down the hard path to peace.
9.
*Lyrics* In cold lines they celebrate the rites. And souls try to conjure a light. And I stand outside with unbelieving mind But I’d like to stand in line If the conjure were right. And now it’s hard to have you in my city As I question the conjured lights. Set apart here in my city Do you come to remind? Old eyes, a face with familiar lines. So right but distant as time and political ties. I can’t just go along, much as I might want. I know I’m different -- but I don’t think I’m wrong. And now it’s hard to have you in my city As I question the conjured lights. Set apart here in my city Do you come to remind? Do you come to remind? Do you come to remind? If could make my peace with you I could make my peace with all. To each their only call, to each their lonely call. And now it’s hard to have you in my city As I question the conjured lights. Set apart, but with you in my city Could we conjure something right?
10.
When we wake up as fragments in some cubist painter’s mind And form & function fail and no purpose to our lines. Maybe we won’t find faith, maybe we won’t find God Maybe we won’t find beauty or a particular cause. Still we need – something to believe. And we need – something to believe. We sleep & sleep for we believe the pictures in our heads Might be the only peace we’ll find in lands of cardboard lids.* Maybe we won’t find truth, maybe we won’t find love Maybe we won’t find duty -- not in Bentham or in Kant. Still we need – something to believe. And we need…. We’re fragments now, finally breaking out, out loud. The logic lost comes ‘round. Living without faith, we are unafraid And there is still a purpose in the gray. If there’s no design, no function to our lines There is still a purpose to our times. Let us write a purpose to these lines. There will be a purpose to our times Still we need – something to believe. And we need – something to believe. And we need… *This verse adapted from “River”, a poem by Rachel Lewis.
11.
*Lyrics* I've no ambition when I come back from afar I only want to sleep and hold you in my arms And sink into my father's garden And sleep 'til everything's forgotten. You're deeply in your books, carrying your charge Captive & captivated by Russian writers' yarns. And I will sink into my father's garden And sink 'til everything's forgotten. It's far too late, far too late -- for God and all his charms. It's far too late, far too late -- to hold you in these arms. Entropy's arrow we follow fast Everyone integrated in elegant math. And everything plays to a plan When I'm quiet I can almost understand. It's far too late -- sinking in, sinking in [For God and all his charms] And everything is what we made And cannot make again. You will walk with your husbands in the park The Russian writers tucked under your arm. And I'll sink in the garden in contempt and contemplation Sink in the garden in some dire meditation Sink in my father's garden gone With God and all his charms.
12.
*Lyrics* Hey, I’m always combing Lumley Beach For abalones, artifacts and more And I watch the tides the way I’ve watched your mood swing And their constancy is comfort on the shore. I’m living a ring around the Atlantic in rounds And you’re living a life that’s too erratic to be sound. And you ask me, “Are there ever second chances for two?” Certainly, for those who do not mind to take a few. Hey, I’m always culling Chincoteague For taffy, shark teeth and things I should have seen you long ago in the sea In the secrets low tide reveals and the gifts high tide brings. Good tidings, I’m a ring around the Atlantic And we are bound to intersect It’s a matter of mathematics, we’ll be found. Every person is a song who waits to be written, written down And you’ve waited long for this duet Because your judgment was never sound. In the second round… Are there ever, are there ever second chances in this life? Certainly, for those who come to the coast another night. Every person is a song who waits to be written, written down Wait a bit longer for the coda; I’ll come back around. In the second round…
13.
Mixing drinks in unmixed company For men who are all mixed up and yet no more than me And I can try to understand, but I’ve always been your straight man, it’s all I know to be. In the great state of Maine You still got silence all inside, I get scared for you, brother, won’t you find some northern lights? Behind the bar, working bareback, a thing of beauty, a thing. The ones and fives are tucked in deep, and you’ve tucked yourself way down as well, too deep too reach. In the great state of Maine You’re the standard, stand-up, we all wait for your sign You’ve learned how to fight back, but some times you’d rather hide. You still got silence all inside I get scared for you, brother, won’t you find some northern lights? I walked you hand in hand down to school on your first day, call it a promise, so hard to keep And there’s much I might have done differently, it’s hard to see you hardened and hard to reach. I’d still like to hold your hand But it’s not my life to lead In the great state of Maine There are no billboards to read. In the great state of Maine.

credits

released December 1, 2011

A Ring Around the Atlantic

Songs by Peter Maybarduk

Except “A ring around the Atlantic (round two)” written by Garrett Wright and Peter Maybarduk.

Produced by J. Robbins

Arrangements by Peter Maybarduk, J. Robbins, and the musicians represented on each song

“The great state of Maine” and “A ring around the Atlantic (round two)” first arranged and performed by Last Clear Chance: Steve Mason, Garrett Wright and Peter Maybarduk.

“En La Habana” features Odyson performing “Mi eterna enamorada,” written by Fernando Garcia Parra, recorded August 12, 2009 in Havana, Cuba.

----

A Ring Around the Atlantic

Darren Zentek – Drums
Shawna Potter – Vocals (tracks 1,3,4,5,8,9,10,13)
Gordon Withers – Cello
Heidi Boas – Vocals (tracks 6,12,13)
Ellen Kittredge – French horn on “My father’s garden”

J. Robbins – Bass, guitars, synth and drum patterns.
Also: tambourine, vocals, mbira, talking drum, baritone guitar, chimes.

Peter Maybarduk – Vocals, guitars, piano and keys.
Also: glockenspiel, drum samples and synth patterns, typewriter, mbira, piano slaps, talking drum, bass, gourd, tambourine, clave.

And The Greater Waverly Liberal Humanist Choir (track 11): Heidi Boas, Shawna Potter, Sarah Thompson, J. Robbins, Peter Maybarduk and Gary Maybarduk humming away in his garden.

----

A Ring Around the Atlantic

Recorded and mixed by J. Robbins at Magpie Cage, Baltimore, MD. Grand piano recorded at Sheffield Academy, Phoenix, MD.

Mastered by Dan Coutant at Sun Room Audio, Cornwall, NY.

Art by Daumantas Každailis and Ieva Každailienė, Vilnius, Lithuania, www.daumantas.eu, info@bookdesign.lt.

Assistant engineers : Martin MacAlister and Justin Fogelman (Magpie Cage), Jake Mossman (Sheffield)

Field recordings by Peter Maybarduk.

“Very very suffer” features Pa Abu Kamara in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Peter Maybarduk playing guitar in Guatemala City.

“Atlantic in languages” features conversations in Havana, Cuba, in Kyiv, Ukraine, and by telephone, with Raminta Stuikyte, Jean-Baptiste Sankara, Joy Spencer, Stephanie Rosenberg and Sarah Thompson, among others.

-----

Special thanks to:
Raminta Stuikyte
T.J. Lipple
Elizabeth Bast
Gary and Sharon Maybarduk
and
Pa Abu Kamara.

Thank you:

Michael Alguire, Howard The Actor Brown & Clarissa Mays, Linsay Rousseau Burnett, Matthew Dayton, Lara Eilhardt, Brooks Harlan, Brendan Hoffman, Avery Lanier, Rachel Lewis, Dave Mann, Peter Reppert, Jamie Northrup, Simon with the upright bass, Luz Marina Umbasia.

license

tags

about

Peter Maybarduk Washington, D.C.

Peter Maybarduk is a Washington, D.C.-based songwriter and director of Public Citizen's global access to medicines program.

contact / help

Contact Peter Maybarduk

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Peter Maybarduk recommends:

If you like Peter Maybarduk, you may also like: