Blind Pilot is an American indie folk band based in Portland, Oregon. Their debut album, 3 Rounds and a Sound, reached number 13 on the Billboard Top Digital Albums chart.
The band completed a bicycle tour in 2008, biking from Bellingham, Washington to San Diego, California, carrying their instruments on custom bicycle trailers they fashioned themselves. They made more than two dozen stops along the way, including Port Townsend, Seattle, Olympia, Portland, Corvallis, Eugene, Coos Bay, Arcata and Santa Cruz.
In 2009, Blind Pilot added four more touring members, Luke Ydstie (upright bass, backing vocals), Kati Claborn (banjo, dulcimer, backing vocals), Ian Krist (vibraphones), and Dave Jorgensen (keyboards, trumpet), to match the sound of their album, 3 Rounds and a Sound. The group started a new U.S. tour in March 2009, the first with the six-member lineup. They headlined in clubs across the country. The band also filled support slots for Langhorne Slim and Gomez on a handful of dates during this tour. In May 2009, the band traveled to Europe for a series of gigs opening for Counting Crows and The Hold Steady. Blind Pilot returned to the U.S. in June to join The Decemberists on the road as their opening act. They followed this run with another tour of clubs in the Northeast, Mid-West and Canada.
I hope you never change
I hope you never go
I hope you always keep
Our little secrets though
But how'd we get here
At this height
And what's this talk of
Dead weight
I know we always drink
But we don't always fight
The landing lights are on
But we're just out of sight
Cos this thing's mobile
There's still wheels
And I'm not done yet
So hang on
You came along to change the grade
To raise the bar I'd made of late
You came along to raise the stakes
To tend to me and my mistakes
I can't pretend that I could be
The man you said you saw in me
But hang around and I'll try and land this thing
Noone came
Noone saw
Someone pass the manual
And soon I'll go away
I'll see you at the door
So go put David on
Read about the war
We're just blind pilots
In strange planes
Back seat drivers
In dead cars
You came along to change the grade
To raise the bar I'd made of late
You came along to raise the stakes
To tend to me and my mistakes
I can't pretend that I could be
The man you said you saw in me
But hang around and I'll try and land this thing
Yeah I made a list of all the things
That I could change how I could win
I can't and I refuse to say
The wheels have slowly come away
I pray to God my soul to keep
Cos I could never stand the heat
But hang around and I'll try and land this thing
Noone came
Noone saw
Someone pass the manual
In shadow, in dark,
In cold wind, open up your heart.
'Cause time brushes your face
And one loved them - every new shape.
One loved them for what could not get left behind or washed away.
Some were seasons, some just days.
I'm bringing nothing with me I mean to save:
This faint sweetness, this wick of light,
This white apple full of bites.
A white apple full of what has slipped away from me;
Full of flesh sweet as memory;
Full of hope grown from a fallen tree;
Full of a life I can't just let myself believe.
So if I haunt you, if I do,
If my shadow leans up on you to,
No good intentions or ways I talk.
I'll just leave a light lit for you to walk.
It was a wild idea to start
We were lost in an hour, every thinking part
In the middle of nowhere
Oh man hey look where we are
I know your teeth are shut and proud
But there are rhythms in the city make your head feel loud
Uh-huh so get it out, get it out
You are a long ways up river from home
Right here this water is mean but its the same as your own
You better swim for your life
It's both at the same time
It was a wild idea to start
A drip on the head got it wet in the heart
And it looked just like a river but was a freeway in the dark
Oh in the dark
Oh you're always so damn ready oh
Oh were you always so damn ready oh
I never want to call it off
I never want to call it off oh
Never been that ready
I never want to call it off
I never want to call it off oh
I've never been this ready
Let all things be as they should.
Let my heart just drift like wood.
And will I break and will I bow,
if I cannot let it go?
Feel that sun just hold you right,
leave you burning down the night.
Feel that wind lap up your soul
if you cannot let it go.
If I cannot let it go.
Born in with a reason,
blown out like a ghost.
We came with our best lines,
told them like jokes.
If I could have known then
we were dying to get gone...
I can't believe we get just one.
And when your thirst can come to me
I am a river for the sea.
When you can hold me in your sway,
I'll give myself away.
Will I give myself away?
Born in with a reason,
blown out like a ghost.
We came with our best lines,
told them like jokes.
If I could have known then
we were dying to get gone...
I can't believe we get just one.
I can't believe we get just one.
I can't believe we get just one.
I can't believe we get just one.
Let all things be as they will.
if ever you should die I know I'll shave my head
its not a morbid thought, I mean it out of love
come back daddy
come back to the bitter end
come back daddy
hounds-tooth coats and vitamins.
if ever the sea claims the cities on the coast
before the last bridge blows I know I will propose
come back baby
armed with paddles in your hands
come back baby
come back to the bitter end
the soil on the spade will be my love and hurt
the cellphone satellites will hurl to the earth
to the earth
but in the moon
there is half of our shadow on
from in the womb
there are strange sounds on the water front
and it takes a monk
to lose it all
come back baby
come back to the bitter end
come back everything that caught up in the plans
come back baby
come back to the bitter end
Oh from the first that the line got drawn
It was poisoning the land it was on
One red thread through the middle of a song
My only one, my only one
I can remember the age that I was
But not that story that pumped in my blood
When you were the savior
And I was the taker of
Oh where I was
Oh but man, oh man, you can do what you want
Oh man, oh man, you can do what you want
The only line that is true is the line you're from
I have to say there was a mile or two
I had the itch to fly and I flew
Now at best we would make our dreams
With something used
With something used
From the minute that the line got drawn
I couldn't see straight to you for nothing
Now me, I'm the poisoning one
Yeah I'm the one
I am the...
Oh but man, oh man, you can do what you want
Oh man, oh man, you can do what you want
The only line that is true is the line you're-
Oh man, oh man, you can do what you want
Oh man, oh man, you can do what you want
The only line that is true is the line you're from
In your old room
Where we caught you
Stepping through some old song
You said came from
Where your going
A lady read it in you palm
Down at the 12th Avenue market
Now promise you will not forget
You are going
'Til it's gone
Screen went blue
Before I touched you
And my ride went home
All the photos came out lonely
But we're not alone
Talking of everything we could not hold
I was stupid of thinking of east coast already.
Now it's gone.
There are things I cannot forget
I wish none had happened yet
There are some things I cannot forget
We were stronger than the preachers
We were wiser than the law
We took off sleeping by the river
And the beaches in your car
Up where you taught me how to drive a stick
And told me your family secret
You were scared
I was caught.
Why'd you stay behind
Packing for the trip?
Why'd you ask me to be the one
First through your lips?
I was awkward and I could not hear
Your body through my body's fear,
We were going to hell
There are things I cannot recall
There are some things that would risk it all.
Now these are the things we cannot recall on.
I buried a bone
and darling you don't know him
darling you don't know him
darling you don't know
and just where you are
might be the right place
it might be that sweet space
but you don't know
now look me in the head
I've got nothing on my mind
I've been waiting for you
all this time
and I'd seen a path turn to an old road
but the secret's too slow
and we're too fast
look me in the mouth
I've got nothing in my smile
I've been waiting for you
you're just my style
look me in the gut
I've got fear for my own name
I'd dig it up for you
if you'd do the same
I buried a bone
and darling you don't know him
darling you don't know him
Remember the world
Living in the half
That you cannot see
Been walking a line
The thinning tide
And stepping in too deep
Watching water thread my sleeve
What did I pull from underneath
We'll tie it down
Wait it out
Hope our memories hold
A lead-white nail
Driven down
A hundred years ago
Feeling wheels on my old road
Feeling bought for what I sold
I had a dream you were two towns from me
Got to sleep, spent the whole night running
Diving gulls
Wet their breath
And live in between
Hollow bones
Knowing both
What they want and what they need
How I want that mystery
Let me dive 'til I believe
I had a dream you were two towns from me
Got to sleep, spent the whole night, whole night
Had a dream we were nothing more than
Picking up sound on the interstate
I am my breath
letting in waves.
there will be time when the sleep I'm in
covers me whole
covers me thin
I know I'll wake up old,
forgetting which box this is in.
How I will keep you,
just how I left you.
Our daughter once told me I know a lot
now I'm strutting off with more than I've got
A hitchhiker told me I don't talk a lot
It made me feel fine,
made me quiet.
If you'd have said it right
instead of painting words white...
How I would keep you
just how I left you.
Holy road we are on tonight
Catch as catch can till we get it right
Always... in this dark light
Always.
Tell me more than what you can guess
Feel like thunder then quick to forget
Always looking for what is not yet
Always.
Oooohh...
Lock the keys in my house tonight
Hit the steps for the morning light
Always looking for a new light
The stars wash over me, so far away that I can barely breathe, from where I lay
Never have I been so far from home o'er the years I was cut from sound and rain
I'm calling through ebb and flow; I'm calling whichever way it goes
Desert rock and rose in road dairy dry blood this on the breeze, make me new
Lower through my face and then go between the bones that shake and knock me through and through
I've been away so long and lost you my love the song inside
You give me anything you want to I'm bound to keep you right
Ooohhh to keep you right
The heart longs for too much, mine eyes have hardly seen enough to know it's me
Never does it stop or slow I press my ear against the ground to know the song it sings
I'm calling, fear running through; I'm calling what more can I do
Tell me what more can I do
I've been away so long and lost you my love, the song inside
You give me anything you want to now I'm bound to keep you right
You give me anything you want to now I'm bound to keep you right
Don't move an inch
listen for a singing
hitting in your bones like they were forks
If you hear what I hear
Don't just sit there.
We are only strumming water
on this most unlikely chord.
You got blown shore to shore,
Not quite sailing
Riding on the trade-winds of age.
Things blow in
Don't just cast them
You say it now, what you want to stay
I was once on a long boat
star mapping the night roots
lightening the load
just in case
Things float in to be taken.
if you don't know by now, what will stay?
So don't move an inch.
Don't move a single second,
until the shade behind your thoughts is not confused.
'Cause I felt your itch.
I know the scent as well as any,
clotting your garden
of paint or pollen,
brick in your mortar,
petals to soak in,
on the cracks,
thicker or finer,
milk in your water,
black in your primer,
wood in your brush,
now I am your cloth,
whatever you want-
the best is upon us.
Its a finicky muse
with only potential
Salting the silence,
boiling my blood.
Giving and honest
is not thick enough.
And now have you gone easy,
let your lines get caught?
Some sink and some carry
and you will not -
no you will not know
if its hold you
'till your set straight
where you're going to.
You'll not know 'till it breaks us,
pulls you under,
if you'll give up.
You'll not know.
For what is is this comfort?
Is it asking too much,
when you hold me in hunger
and I feel your touch?
When I feel your touch,
I know where the day ends.
All my lines meet the horizons.
I know, I know, I know,
I can do this,
And the hard days I won't miss.
I know, I know, I know, I know
like it's scarred in,
where my place is;
where I'm going.
I know, I know, I know,
I'm a lost one.
And its too late.
The thrill here is quicker than you'd think
The way some jet-lagged bar kept pouring the wine
From over their heads then sit back down again
Four times is once too much for luck
And that's how many times the clock struck
I wandered home saying your name
The arches here were built 'cause they don't fall,
The cathedrals to make you feel small,
That you might find your small soul.
But leave the preaching to the president.
The crowd cheers. His eyes get wet.
I'm full as it is, I'm full as it is
So don't feed me more.
You'll be having my head, big as a birthday
'Cause I left all my doubts on the airplane.
I didn't know, I didn't know I'm not in control
I didn't know, I'm not invincible.
Now maybe some things are better left unsaid
But if you wanted to test that out, well, yeah, I guess, I could've said.
But there were nights in bars that I recall
Your breath was courage laced with alcohol
You leaned in, you said,
"Make music with the chatter in here
And whisper all the notes in my ears."
I didn't know, I didn't know the weight of my tongue
I didn't know, I didn't know what I'd done.
The lights here are softer than you'd think
The dim lit peacocks in the trees,
Are hiding their eyes and their beauty, like me.
But if my eyes were on my back
I know what I'd be looking at
Through every shade of browns and greens.
I didn't know, I didn't know it was nothing new
I was in between.
I wasn't offering.
I was a burnin' branch.
Close to feeling tall.
Almost afraid to fall.
I was made of chance.
And when the colours bleed,
Mix of my memories,
When I ride the moon.
I'll just be a sound you heard.
I'll be a foreign word.
It's me and your type of blue,
And I leave that here with you.
Ohhh
Lines wither,
And you got a face like no other,
I'll keep it where I see things right.
Ohhh
Darkness comes,
But you got a way like no other one,
I'll keep it where my black keeps light.
Make me a mirror of,
All that I cannot love.
Let me hold the cast,
Of my favourite years,
The truth how they gave me here,
And that that they last,
Let that be my last.
Ohhh
Lines wither,
And you got a face like no other,
I'll keep it where I see things right.
Ohhh
Darkness comes,
But you got a way like no other one,
I'll keep it where my black keeps light.
Ohhh
And a darkness I do not know.
If it takes me I feel you glow,
In a darkness I do not know.
Ohhh
Lines wither,
And you got a face like no other,
I'll keep it where I see things right.
Ohhh
Darkness comes,
But you got a way like no other one,
Poor boy
Why don't you try getting water?
Poor boy
Why don't you try getting sleep?
I think if one of us is going to suffer
Why shouldn't it be me?
Poor boy
Your wife is in hard labor
The rhythm you know
Is pulsing and drifting to the grave
When you come to
You'll be asking yourself just one question
Was I always this way?
Was I always this way?
Think back a year
When everything stood at the surface
But bandage you cuts 'cause you don't know what swims underneath
Hold tight
The bondage of this life is slipping
Why shouldn't it be me?
Why shouldn't it be me?
When I come back
You'll be the brightest star
In the black
When there are days
That you want the call we're all waiting for
Think back
Poor boy
Your wife is in hard labor
Go buy the flowers you'll leave on its grave
You went with the goal of movement,
Now one thing is different:
You don't want to change.
Hey you Jojo,
Yeah I know your name.
I thought I saw you,
Jump a Utah train,
But I could not say,
I could not say.
Heard you tried to
Keep your hat on a shelf.
Married a woman,
Went off and loved someone else.
It could be as well,
I cannot tell
Oh, no I cannot tell.
Hey you Jojo,
Don't you forget your name.
They might try to keep you,
From the man you have been.
So don't go that way,
Don't go that way.
The story I heard,
Is that people are bored,
And the measures you take,
To wrestle with your Lord.
All the money you take,
All the memories you spill,
Will He measure your time,
Will He measure your will,
Oh now.
One of these mornings,
Will be the loudest you hear.
You'll write your story on firecracker paper,
And disappear.
The story I heard,
Is that people are bored,
And the measures you take,
To wrestle with your Lord.
Are the measures you fake,
Whether you're dead or just still,
Will He measure your time,
Will He measure your will,
Oh now.
One of these mornings,
We'll be, We'll be.
One of these mornings,
Our time is ever on the road,
The ride is in what we make.
I walked a year to hear a howl in this give and take.
But hear it this way- hear it this way.
Alright!
And war is in our hearts,
And blood is in the land we love.
We keep breaking our backs,
Hoping that it gives enough.
Oh! But what do you need?
What do you need?
Oh man, it's ladders to the sky,
Building up a high-rise.
Oh man, we won't last long,
But we're giving it our best try.
Don't you know you're alive? (ahhh)
You know you're alive.
And none of us stay, (ahhh)
The day we're born 'till then we-
And tonight I'm in love with everybody on the city bus.
I feel the push and pull,
Keep saying that it doesn't mean much.
Oh! But what do you see?
What do you see?
And everybody on the street is singing like it's Sunday.
But we keep inside and our looks stay at bay.
Ahhh, ahhh,
And we don't know what's left,
But we feel it's coming back soon.
And so we're standing in the street staring at a blood-red moon.
We are the tide. (ahhh)
We are the tide, and none of us stay, (ahhh)
I hear the train all night
Sound of its wind blowing through our subtle lives
And I have a job to do walking these cars
Walking all asleep to get to you
But I don't feel your stir beside me
And your not in my morning hour
Some ties are made to break
Some stalks grow high and green to run away
And feel the wake
And these lines tell the truth
These city veins answer all you do
So could you keep me in the pulses
Could you keep me in the sound
I got wise and I got old
Not once, not once did I fall
So don't you know
Maybe you bet on me
While we were still young enough to know
Or to believe
For every year you took
For every soft breathe or loving look
Believe me
And don't keep me like you have me
And don't kiss me like you don't
I got wise and I got old
Not once, not once did I fall
So don't you now
Some land holds a home
Some of my years only hold me to Rome
But I tell myself its true
You see a home you see a man
You see it too
And I say don't you know you have her
Go on kiss her now you boy
I got wise and I got old
Not once, not once did I fall
So don't you now
I got wise and I got old
Not once, not once did I fall
They're playing our song
They're playing our song
Can you see the lights?
Can you hear the hum,
of our song?
I hope they get it right
I hope we dance tonight
Before we, get it wrong
And the seasons
Will change us new
But you're the best I've known
and you know me
I could not be stuck on you
If it weren't true
I was swimming
My eyes were dark
'til you woke me
And told me that opening
is just the start
It was
Now I see you, 'til kingdom come
You're the one I want
to see me for all
the stupid shit I've done
Soil and six feet under,
Kept just like we were
Before you knew you'd know me
and you know me
Blooming up from the ground
3 rounds and a sound
Like whispering "you know me.
You know me."
So this was our song
This was our song.
I still see the lights
I can see them
And the crisscross
Of what is true, won't get to us
'Cause you know me-
I could not give up on you...
And the fog of
what is right
Won't cover us
'cause you know me-
I could not give up a fight...
Soil and six feet under
(Crisscross of what is true, won't get to us)
Kept just like we were
(Cause you know me. I could not give up on you)
Before you knew you'd know me
(But you feel the truth)
And you know me
Blooming up from the ground
(And the fog of what is right won't cover us)
3 rounds and a sound
(Cause you know me, I could not give up a fight)
Like whispering "you know me
(But you feel right)