From the recording Ocean of Birds - Remaster
Released May 20, 2021
Max Hatt - guitarist, composer
Edda Glass - vocalist, lyricist
Clipper Anderson - upright bass
River Guerguerian - drums, percussion
Patrick Sansone - producer, mixer, musician
Joshua Shapera - producer, mixer, engineer
Gar Ragland - executive producer, A&R
Clay Miller - assistant engineer
Julian Dreyer - assistant engineer
Mastered by Michael Hynes, Nomatic Studios; Asheville, NC
Vinyl Mastering by Jeff Powell, Takeout Vinyl; Memphis, TN
Vinyl Pressed at Citizen Vinyl; Asheville, NC
℗ 2021 NewSong Recordings, Max Hatt / Edda Glass
All compositions © 2021 Max Hatt / Edda Glass
Lyrics
HYMN
And so we stand before your eyes
Sway like wheat from side to side
I was baptized in the Madison
I used to love to sing those hymns
Slipping late thru assembly hall
Flying in our seats
No need to steal looks
No need to keep a lovers nook
For in the hours when people sleep
We pressed signs into their wheat
Circle poems phoning home
Spilling out, they saw it all.
Some hit ground with their knees
Oh, call children inside—
All you women hold tight the blinds
All our friends were questioned
And me I had no guile back then
So by night fall it all came down
T'was the start of years of grief
My friend she straightened out,
While I kept spinning round,
I came of age, I left town,
They asked me ‘fore I flew,
Did I take them all for fools?
I never could make words explain
How that night came to touch my skin
like my river Madison
So black and quick silver,
while I kneeled down the wheat
Yes I made those circle signs,
But I was asking who what why,
Trying to give you back something.
And so we stand, before your eyes,
Sway like wheat from side to side.
I was baptized in the Madison,
I loved to sing those hymns.
℗© 2021 Max Hatt / Edda Glass
Composition: Max Hatt
Lyrics: Edda Glass
