Get all 20 Norine Braun releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Ascending Lullaby, Hunting Buffalo, Quest Before Me, Songs For Trees, Mother Tree, Red Maple, Sex In The Forest, THE BURNING, and 12 more.
1. |
Sleeping Buffalo
03:57
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Sleeping Buffalo
Sleeping Buffalo
Won’t you tell me where to go
See deep within my heart
How the winds have torn apart the pain
Time has blown away
I got old since yesterday
Ambling up the sacred path
No one knows where I’m at
I’ve been here before
Humbled to ask for more
Climbed to a leap of faith
A gust begins to shape the way
Clouds receded the valley is in view
Raven’s crowing she’s battled and blue
Over crescents withstanding
Deep ridges hold truth
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2. |
I'm Going Home
03:10
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I’m Going Home
I’m lonely, lonely in this world of sin
And there’s no one, no one sees the shape I’m in
So I keep on walking down this long hard road
And I pray I get there ‘fore the night turns cold
I’m going home I’m going home
I’m going home I’m going home
My head held high
The sweat runs slow
Breathe in deep
As I lift my load
Set my sights
To save my soul
When I reach the shores of my second sight
I will see the pearls bathed in earthly light
The hand of grace will hold me tight
My heart will open like the lotus white
I’m going home I’m going home …
©Norine Braun an Alice Fraser 2018
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3. |
Jerkwater Town
02:54
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JERKWATER TOWN
Born beside a whistle stop
The Metis man became a carman top
For forty years he rode those rails
Said telegraph lines could tell us some tales
Jerkwater town on horizon
Jerkwater town we’re arriving
Life was good with a one track mind
He passed through dead ends to the end of the line
Never got sidetracked with his nose to the grind
Drooping poles lean departure of time
Blew off steam with a cold brew
Had some laughs and a tear or two it’s true
The real McCoy won’t fool you
On the right track with the whole 9 yards of view
The whole 9 yards of view, whole 9 yards
That’s the ticket to keep chugging along
See tunnel’s end light my lifelong song
Don’t sabotage or get derailed
Streamline and focus this hell on wheels
©Norine Braun
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4. |
Exhale
04:45
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EXHALE
Closer now
Lean into me
Exhale
The breath of dreams
And wonderment
The pale
Is whiter now
The filament
The veil
Swooshes past
The frailty
The grail
It lifts you to sight the feathery sky
Give in to me
The precious one
The male
Indigo
The coloured one
The rail
Is wiser now
The brutish son
The gale
Lifts you to sight the feathery sky
Climb aboard serendipity
Muse upon synchronicity
Heed the lore
©Norine Braun
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5. |
Climbing Table Mountain
03:42
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CLIMBING TABLE MOUNTAIN
I am climbing Table Mountain
The wind swept rage is truly pounding
All the deeds undone I’m counting
All the words that stung are mounting
I have reached the top
I want to make it stop I’m howling
My horse is watered and eyes me coldly
He’ll take me down I will go boldly
We’ll descend the glyphs
I’ll fall and break my ribs
I’m holy
All the wounds I’ve held forever
Get dispersed like they are feathers
I saw the golden lights
I heard their voices bright
They were calling
I am climbing Table Mountain …
©Norine Braun
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6. |
Heading Up North
03:57
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Heading Up North
Heading up north
Near Moose River
Leave today
Read the note
Tucked under the wiper blade
Snow dusted and entrusted
I’ll see you someday
Heading up North
On the Polar Bear Express Railway
Heading up north
In orange autumn by the bay
Like the wild birds migrating
They never stay
Winter’s coming
On these wetlands
Rivers freezing on up
Heading up north
To watch the flyway
And get away
Heading up north Heading up north
Heading up north
Summer’s sunshine
Begins to fade
Packed my long johns
Got a wool toque
Winter shades
Grandma’s duvet with her brocade
Guaranteed to keep warm
Heading up north
Before the ice storms close the way
Heading up north
With my stories
For company
On the cold nights
When the frost bites
Chilblains bleed
Unforgiving is the landscape
I will muse the days
Heading up north
Where I’m stardust and silver grey
Heading up north Heading up north
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7. |
I'm Moving On
03:39
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Moving On
I’m a seeker here in the lonesome dawn
Winding ever in the storm or calm
Looking out the window for a sign or song
Rumbling rails of a heart held strong
I’m Moving On, I’m Moving On
Water and fire flow to let it be
I don’t have to do it under my own steam
I will ask the agent if the pass is free
To change my journey and arrive in peace
I’m Moving On, I’m Moving On
I’m Moving On, I’m Moving On
Sun sinks slow as the twilight rounds
Memories weave through long distant towns
From sea to sea to sea is where I’m bound
I’m Moving On, I’m Moving On
I’m Moving On, I’m Moving On
The station’s empty watchmen pulling freight
Who climbs aboard must await their fate
Trust in something that will make me well
Tracks guiding onward will likely tell
I’m Moving On, I’m Moving On
I’m Moving On, I’m Moving On….
©Norine Braun
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8. |
Rock The Rolling
03:56
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Rock The Rolling
I get lonely on a Sunday night
These itchy feet got to get it right yeah
Take the train so I’ll get there slow you know
Rock the rolling and we’ll smoke the flow
Gonna find it, gonna ride the swell
Uninvited but I’m a guest ouzel
Traversed wide the great plain
Took the dark pains
Hid them inside
The curtained wall
You fooled them all
Despite the insight
Equal and appalled
The dripping brow
Lends a meaning for the tears
Miles from here
The conductor
Enlightened us all
The landmark
Like a bulbous scar
Thick and coarse
Strangely a stranger on my own land
You give me your weathered hand
Gonna find it, gonna ride the swell
Uninvited but I’m a guest ouzel
Around Sioux Lookout
The stories they told us
How to run away from the freezing rain
Down Tamarack lane
You the only one
To lose your leaves
Off the page
Falling, drifting, calling
My name
A thousand times
I find myself
Here back again
Watching through windows
Looking for friends
Someone who sees me as I am
And tells me that I can
That my place here has a reason
My time here is the season
For letting go
And this train I ride, this train I ride
Is gonna find it
©Norine Braun
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9. |
Oh Canada
02:42
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OH CANADA
Oh Canada the land where children dream
Of the oceans, prairies, mountain streams
Where their voices are seen and heard
The stories of the first ones learned
A healing of the heart
For all who call her home
How we get around to be perfectly clear
Is that we’re often saying sorry when we do
Transgress against
We’re not the ones we once thought we were long ago
We see our shadow through the cracks
We’re owning up to the truths we found packed away
Reconciling toward the light
Longing to be peacekeeping co-operants
Protect earth, air and life
©Norine Braun
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10. |
Rue St. Jean
03:34
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RUE ST. JEAN
We will fly up to the sky tonight
Up the funiculaire where we’ll delight
In making music that will change our lives
A drink with Lily and we’ll be alright
Or maybe over at La Sacrilege
They’ll play our music on the radio
Our newfound friends make us feel at home
Our broken French endears the francophone
Walking on la Rue St. Jean
Celebrating all night long
Walking on la Rue St. Jean
A quaff of Caribou and we’ll feel strong
We strolled outside the old stone walls
Heard the laughter join the minstrel calls
We sang, cast in a golden light
Our treasured moments passed into the night
At the gateway to old Quebec
Plains of Abraham takes us back
Home fires burning alder black
Inspires the dawn
Marcher sur la Rue St. Jean…..
© Norine Braun and ALice Fraser
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11. |
Crosses and Sweetgrass
05:03
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Crosses and Sweetgrass (Salvation)
You say you came to show me
How to keep me safe from harm
Stole embraces from a future
Wrenched from mother’s loving arms
Yet still you’ll find me
Your black robe swirling round
Amid the sin and consequences
You are rendered defenseless
Crosses and sweetgrass
I lie between them
Watching distant clouds
Roll on by and whisper gently
The sages weren’t so saintly after all
And this knowing now
Is my salvation, salvation
I ask you who is served here
How to find unending love
Mysteries we’ve yet to fathom
Imponderable and far away
And in the quiet moments
A faceless grace will restore me somehow
Enter a transmutation
Your deliverance for the faithless
Crosses and sweetgrass
I lie between them
Watching distant clouds
Roll on by and whisper gently
The sages weren’t so saintly after all
And this knowing now
Is my salvation, salvation …..
©Norine Braun and Russell Wallace
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12. |
Heaven Only Knows
03:49
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Heaven Only Knows
How would it have been had I not been there
Or maybe somewhere else at the time
How would Mom and Dad have liked it
Had I been a boy or just a man
Heaven only knows the reason it ended up this way
Heaven only know the answer our fears aren’t here to stay
Nothing last forever we all learn that
Sorrows can be castles in the dark
Abandoned and alone falling earthbound
Our destiny we forge here for ourselves
Heaven only knows the reason it ended up this way
Heaven only know the answer our fears get in the way
Clouds float away
They are no longer carrying rain
Instead an array
Of reds brush the skies
Of the setting sun
My setting sun
The setting sun
How would it have been had I not been there
Maybe somewhere else at the time
Nothing last forever we all learn that
Our destiny we forge here for ourselves
Heaven only knows the reason it ended up this way
Heaven only know the answer our fears aren’t here to stay
©Norine Braun
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13. |
Through Train Windows
03:47
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Through Train Windows
Through train windows riding
Through train windows ride the steel
Through Train windows rolling
Through train windows roll the wheels
On this journey what will steal the show?
Will you be first or the last to know?
Leave them guessing when you have to go
Itinerant, itinerant
On this voyage will you sacrifice?
For love or beauty you must name your price
Built for comfort not for speed that’s right
Magnificent, magnificent
Panoramic odyssey delights
From simple pleasures to the grand excites
Leave them wanting more when you ignite
Don’t say goodbye, Let’s sing all night
Take the trek to where you want to be
Don’t wait too long you won’t miss misery
Time is now I know that you’ll agree
It’s cosmic sent, Divine Intent
On Citadel hill I found the will
Demoiselle still I lifted the resting laurels
Compelled by morals the paradox quarrels
Thinking, shrinking how my life is a choral coral
Foolproof hypothesis has built this acropolis
Through disproof and self-confidence I see oppositeness
Playing The Carleton a charlatan steeped in sub-consciousness
Finding meaning our hearts convening
Insightful blinding not seeing yet speaking while twisted tongues
Let out air of gasping lungs watching the self outrun
This uncertainty
That no one knows for sure
The ones who think they do perverse
For I can never know all of me
Consciously
But this third class relic will play, dance, learn, live and love
Keep my innocence above
And ride the wheels of destiny
©Norine Braun
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Norine Braun Vancouver, British Columbia
Her signature funky folk-blues sound simply cannot be matched. Best listened to as loud as your neighbours will tolerate.
Abortmag
Her music sounds like the union of Nick Cave with Patti Smith & City and Colour deep in the Canadian forests.
MTM
An imaginative display of fine musicianship, potent vocals and heartfelt lyrics, talent like hers doesn't exactly come around too often. Music Emission
... more
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