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The Great Make Believer

by Chris Robley

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pjacks All great tracks but this is the stand out one for me. Great melody and sound. Favorite track: Evangeline.
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1.
Eden 04:52
If you can imagine a boy Who imagines a girl And they both know how to perfectly love In their imaginary world Then imagine a man And pretend that he’s me Though I know that there’s no perfect love And that nothing is meant to be I watched you walk through the gates like it’s fate Not a minute too see or a minute too late Expelled for our sins Now our love can begin And there’s so many things I’ve been wanting to say To the ones that we both left behind in the garden And the ones God sent away But they can’t understand They won’t forgive or agree With how we both chose in our limited time to believe In an improbability But I know that nothing that lasts can be great Without a couple of flaws and a few bad mistakes And I’d make them again So our love can begin And if this imaginary world Is like heaven on earth I think that people would be just as bad to each other ‘cause we wouldn’t know what it’s worth If it wasn’t so fiercely fought If it wasn’t so wickedly won I think that we would forget all the prices we’d paid And why the battle had even begun But I know that this love has been worth the wait We’re both a little bit crooked and a little bit straight But I’m willing to bend in the end So our love can begin Now that we’ve both been set free to create Some kind of imperfect paradise With this clean slate Then please come take my hand And my love, let’s begin
2.
Anonymous 03:05
I crowded out your better nature I couldn’t outright break your heart I couldn’t leave you or forsake you So I waited till you fell apart But now that I’m on your side again Do you think we can still be friends Now that we’ve made amends Do you remember when you were mine Maybe love doesn’t have to end sometimes I wanna go where I’m anonymous Where no one that we know will call upon us and Goodbye and hello are synonymous Well I wanna go there, I wanna go there
3.
1973 03:56
I knew your mother She knew me too We danced in a Brooklyn bar back in 1972 And when the DJ played Ma Belle Amie I took her home and woke up alone And you were born in ‘73 But if you were me Then you would see Why I just had to let things be I couldn’t go on singing a song Knowing the words were wrong I knew your mother She knew me too Not very well as you can probably tell But that’s the tale of how we made you We danced in a Brooklyn bar back in 1972
4.
Evangeline 04:49
I count the walls I’m counting sheep I’m counting on the pills to get me back to sleep ‘cause that tired voice is on repeat I hear it speak the vows I spoke but couldn’t keep And when it’s late I say your name The old familiar song’s refrain, Evangeline Could you forgive a man who finally broke you in the places Where you always seemed to bend While I’m still awake on my side of the silence we both must endure And you’re only there when I dream But I can’t fall asleep anymore So I leave the TV on at night It’s nice to hear the voices and I like the light Oh come what may and come what might From all that might’ve been and what I can’t rewrite And on and on with what remains Of bitter ends but all the same, Evangeline I’ll always wish the best for you I hope you know I hope that every wish you make comes true While I’m still awake on my side of the silence we both must endure And you’re only there when I dream But I can’t fall asleep anymore I can’t sleep at all anymore The water’s deep but I’m stuck on the shore Sometimes all my best intentions leave me at my worst I went and wished upon a star that’s falling in reverse
5.
One early Sunday morning we both felt the spark So we snuck back in the churchyard after dark There beneath the silent stars we drank white wine from mason jars and you told me that you had a hundred ways to break my heart Well you picked the lock and I opened up the door And we laid a blanket down upon the floor It’s not so much that I didn’t choose when you took what I could not refuse but how I wanted what you wouldn’t give until I’d hurt some more Now can you hear the church choir sing As it’s mixing with the mission bell ringing a long way off I remember how I miss your touch I miss your kiss, I miss so much about you I miss almost everything about you I lost a little of my innocence to you So when you took the rest it felt like déjà vu I thought I could hold fast to faith and grace and hope and chastity But you wanted every little bit of that last virtue too Now can you hear the church choir sing As it’s mixing with the mission bell ringing a long way off I remember how I miss your touch I miss your kiss, I miss so much about you I miss almost everything about you I thought I knew what love was at the start But you just knew the lines and played your part And all the sweet things we’d rehearsed You memorized them all in reverse And you proved that you still had a hundred ways to break my heart
6.
Lonely people don’t ya cry Lonely people don’t ya cry ‘cause even crippled birds can teach themselves to fly lonely people don’t ya cry Heartsick people, don’t give up Heartsick people, don’t give up ‘cuase the rain that’s falling now could fill your empty cup heartsick people don’t give up when you finally learn to love the lady luck has laid beside ya and you finally promise to be true you might find in time that life can still surprise ya she’s no longer loving you ‘cause you turned and walked away one too many times when you thought her love was always hear to stay so hopeless people, dry your eyes hopeless people, dry your eyes ‘cause every ending’s a new beginning in disguise hopeless people dry your eyes ‘cause even crippled birds can teach themselves to fly lonely people don’t ya cry
7.
Fisher King 05:22
Have you heard the tale of the king Who was wounded by some betrayal And how wasting away in the darkness he guards the grail While everything good seems to fade Despite all the plans that he’d made But he won’t let it go or forgive The one awful thing that he most needs to live Well, he’s empty and cold But at least he’s got the cup And his fisher king wound is the thing he won’t give up Now I’ve heard it said so much it sounds cliché That you can’t know true love until you have thrown it away Now that I’ve broken your heart Now that I’ve torn us apart Do I want you back ‘cause you’re gone? Do I want you back ‘cause you’re moving on? I thought we were through, but now I feel it too, How my fisher king wound is the one I gave to you If you know that inside me there’s doubt and fear and pain Then I’m guessing for you it’s probably the same Well, I know we both were betrayed The moment I first felt afraid that something so strong can’t be true So to hide from myself and from you I withdrew Now my fisher king wound’s the kind I can’t conceal ‘cause I feel it cut deeper the more that your heart heals and I thought we were through but now I feel it too how my fisher king wound was the one I gave to you
8.
Veterans Day 04:35
The Red & Gray were marching in the Veterans Day parade And the old guys wore their Stetson hats and the soldiers wore berets And you wore that blue dress you knew I liked so much And the color guard were twirling their batons of tasseled gold The girls doubled up on nylon tights ‘cause the morning air was cold And you wore that blue dress you knew I liked so much How better able to love are the faithful and young “Let there be nothing in the world but light,” we hear them pray every night till the morning is there again like some kind of answered prayer and our imaginary friend is there We danced to Stars & Stripes Forever, the Salvation Army Band And the snow was melting in the streets as the remembrances began And you wore that blue dress you knew I like do much I’ve done things that I can’t undo, said things I can’t unsay But believe I love you just as much as I did on that day when you wore that blue dress you knew I liked so much
9.
I woke up and the house was rearranged I woke up from the strangest dream and everything had changed What happened to the life that I once knew What happened to the life that I Had tried to build with you I know I threw it all away but I want you back ‘cause no matter what I do living without you hurts like a heart attack Yellow orange red and royal blue It sounds like every word I’ve said Is too long overdue But you know how the light comes through the glass It has to lose a little strength Before the light can pass I know I threw it all away but I want you back ‘cause no matter what I do living without you hurts like a heart attack I called to beg you, baby, come on home ‘cause no one else can teach me how to learn to live alone If I could somehow make things up to you I would find a way to say A thousand times, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do
10.
Silently 03:57
Now I recall when you would first confide in me how all of the world was singing its song inside of me Only three words, and the melody lifts surprisingly How the blue of your eyes was the same as the clear summer skies In my mind they conspire silently Then came the day I couldn’t recall when first we kissed It seems the memory’d strayed, but hadn’t we both been quite remiss? Love went away, I’ll never know what becomes of bliss How the heat of desire is akin to a warm winter fire that burns bright Then expires silently We’re holding on To holding on Too long But it’s always enough to say we’ll stay today How the things we denied were the same as the things we relied upon But required silently

about

"Chris Robley is at the top of his game with his new work." - KCRW

"Beatlesy goodness featuring deft wordplay delivered through McCartneyish melodies with a Lennonesque rasp... What a welcome return." - Willamette Week

"This is one of those albums that will undoubtedly hold up well over time.” - babysue


With his 5th album THE GREAT MAKE BELIEVER, award-winning poet and songwriter Chris Robley breaks five years of musical silence with a collection of raw, indie-pop and Americana songs for guilty-hearted heartbreakers.

The production is a departure from the densely layered arrangements of Robley's past albums, and THE GREAT MAKE BELIEVER was recorded mostly live in the living room of a seaside house in Oregon.

credits

released March 11, 2016

All songs performed and arranged by:

Anders Bergstrom – drums
Paul Brainard – pedal steel
Bob Dunham – electric guitar
Naomi Hooley - vocals
Arthur Parker – bass
Chris Robley – vocals, acoustic guitar, piano and keyboards
Rob Stroup – vocals and percussion

All songs written by Chris Robley
© 2016 Bite My Tongue Music, Ltd. (ASCAP)
Cutthroat Pop Records 01-017
www.chrisrobley.com

Recorded by Rob Stroup at the Salt Works (Seaside, OR) and 8 Ball Studio (Portland, OR)
Mixed by Rob Stroup at KBC Records (Portland, OR)
Mastered by Jeff Stuart Saltzman at Mysterious Beard (Portland, OR)

Album cover design by Chicken 3000.

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Chris Robley Lewiston, Maine

"Chris Robley is at the top of his game with his new work." - KCRW

Maine-based singer/songwriter and award-winning poet Chris Robley (formerly from Portland, Oregon) performs orchestral indie-pop and fractured folk reminiscent of John Lennon, John Vanderslice, Harry Nilsson, and Joe Henry.

His poetry has appeared in POETRY Magazine, Prairie Schooner, and many other journals.
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