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West of Elsewhere

by the leastaways

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1.
Train 02:26
"One by one, nearly every Southern State has passed separate car laws with a penalty against their infringement. My race is penned into stifling partitions, cut off from the luxury of smoking cars. All the while, the butcheries of black men, women, and children show 728 Afro-Americans lynched during the past eight years." — Ida B. Wells, "Southern Horror: Lynch Law in all its Phases" (1892) "The times are revolutionary. The energies of mankind in our day are immense. There is an extraordinary activity of the powers of line in our age. The world seems to be whirling more rapidly than ever before. Vast changes have been brought about in our generation; others are in progress; yet others are impending. There is a new spirit across the continent, and its manifestations are everywhere. Questions from which there can be no escape are before us." — John Swinton, "Striking for Life: Labor's Side of the Labor Question" (1894) "Beside not being able to ‘give account of himself,’ if it can be proven that he ‘slept in the open air’ the night before his arrest, and that, being hungry, he asked for food, both counts are construed against him as a proof of his guilt. The state legally regards him as a criminal, and being such, the state has the right to confiscate his labor. The taking of food by force to satisfy the demands of hunger is not a crime, but the asking for food is. Hunger in the United States of America, is crime." — Elbert Hubbard, "The Rights of Tramps" (1894)
2.
Tempest Tost 01:02
Give me your tired (give me your tired) Give me your poor (give me your poor) Wretched refuse of your teeming shore Send me the homeless tempest-tost ‘Cause nobody wants them anymore I had you beside me the whole time I had you beside me the whole time I had you to try me the whole time I had you, I had you, I had you I had you beside me the whole time I had you beside me the whole time I had you to try me the whole time (Fades)
3.
Night 01:23
HENRY: Oh, you’re awake. So what do you think? Should we go back tomorrow? Lila? LILA: When we get out of town, we’ll ask around for some paper, so we can post letters home. So they know where we’ve gone. HENRY: All right. LILA: Henry? Do you want to go back? HENRY: No.
4.
Lewisburg 01:23
Twenty-one years ago rain was falling On the last bricks that I walked on Saint Catherine Street It felt clear Lewisburg always would stay with me Seventeen years ago snow was falling On the last postcard I sent to Saint Catherine Street It seems strange Lewisburg ever could stay with me
5.
We were born under gray skies When we ran I thought we were running toward something The sky is only as big as you dream it The sky is only as blue as you breathe it Breathe in, breathe out Coal in, coal out The sky is only as big as you dream it The sky is only as blue as you breathe it The sky won’t change colors anymore
6.
PINSTRIPE: And finally, my suit. My suit goes with me. My suit stays with me until I’m gone. My suit is my skin. So if any of you buzzards has the guts to skin my corpse, if any of you has the gall to take the last thing a man has, to take his name, I will have you know… ...the corpse I took it off of wasn’t half the looker I am. Racin’ the freight ‘til it slows in its tracks Leavin’ the leaps of your heart in suspension And catchin’ the air in your hands gives ya reason (gives ya reason) This train of time and unearthin’ is my med’cine ‘Cause there ain’t no other place to be Oh no ain’t no other place to be Oh no ain’t no other place to be Oh no ain’t no other place to be (Repeat x4) Bein’ stopped by the blue-bloods and the feds Is what gets me angry But keeps me going And keeps me angry Makes me mad mad mad So hop on board and don’t stop Catch the air in your hands Leave your heart in the sky Hear the choo choo scream The choo choo scream ‘Cause there ain’t no other place to be Oh no ain’t no other place to be Oh no ain’t no other place to be Oh no ain’t no other place to be (Repeat x3)
7.
Ask me what I’ve seen I can’t answer (I can’t answer) Open my mouth wide The miles miles miles (miles miles miles) Come pouring out (pouring out) pouring out I breathe in time And exhale distance (exhale distance) Baton Rouge to Boise We go flying flying flying (flying flying flying) Noses to the sky (to the sky) to the sky I sing songs from home But I make up new words ‘Cause I lost the old ones somewhere Ask me what I’ve seen I can’t answer (I can’t answer) Open my mouth wide The miles miles miles (miles miles miles) Come pouring out (pouring out) pouring out
8.
Post Party 01:06
PINSTRIPE: Do you ever wonder what it would be like if dead who should be alive and all the living who should be dead traded places? Would the other half of us have gotten it right, done better? Are we on the wrong team?
9.
I got them bad I got them bad I got them bad Black lung coal miner’s blues I got them bad I got them bad I got them bad Rotten fruit no pickin’ Black lung coal miner blues I got them bad I got them bad I got them bad No vagrants jail cell (repeat) Rotten fruit no pickin’ (repeat) Black lung coal miner (repeat) I ain’t got no home I ain’t got no friends I got them bad I got them bad I got them bad Black lung, rotten fruit, no vagrant blues
10.
Out 01:36
HENRY: Somehow this boxcar has the feeling of being dusty and damp at the same time, and our mouths taste like the grit of too many miles, passed without seeing. LILA: One. Run your fingers along the ridge of bumps behind your left hip--there are still four. HENRY: And in the waiting, in the absence of light, I suddenly become aware of the collected sounds of breathing--Lila’s staccato syncopated with the long, slow draws on my left, a heavy sigh there, the sound of someone shifting their weight from one tired bone to another. LILA: Two. Remember the way the sun lit the leaves on the white birches by the stream where we washed our faces. Somewhere in Minnesota, I think, although maybe it was later. Three. Remember the freckles on my father’s face.
11.
I had you beside me the whole time I had you beside me the whole time I had you to try me the whole time I had you, I had you, I had you (Repeat x3) Give me your tired (give me your tired) Give me your poor (give me your poor) Wretched refuse of your teeming shore Send me the homeless tempest-tost ‘Cause nobody wants them anymore
12.
Go with Me 01:51
It’s a long (it’s a long) way To a place where I can lay my head But if you (but if you) go Go with me my feet won’t fail me yet (Repeat) I ain’t got no home I ain’t got no friends (Repeat) Ain’t no other place to be (Repeat) I’ve got my own bridge to build (Repeat)

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released October 30, 2016

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the leastaways New York, New York

a traveling theater ensemble performing plays and music in homes and public spaces. We toured our first original play West of Elsewhere across the country in the summer of 2016.

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