Desert Tortoise

by Matt Zeltzer

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    A high-quality compact disc of Desert Tortoise encased in an organic sleeve with artwork by Emy Reynolds. Includes a digital copy of the album upon purchase (available on the date of release).

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    edition of 50 
1.
02:42
lyrics
2.
03:51
lyrics
3.
04:28
lyrics
4.
04:32
lyrics
5.
02:45
lyrics

credits

released 30 September 2011
Produced by Joe Baugh
Co-produced by Matt Zeltzer
Engineered by Miles Ferrell
Recorded at Transmitter Studios in Ventura, CA
Mastered by Sean Ingoldsby in Ojai, Ca

Musicians:

Matt Zeltzer- lead vocals, guitars
Joe Baugh- guitars
Bill Flores- pedal steel guitar
Sam Bolle- bass
Chris Stites- drums

Backup vocals:
Mark Iris (Grecian Isle & Portrait)
Cindy Kalmenson (Murder Pays it Forward & Delilah)
Hunter Paye and Laura Jean Binkley (Run Me Over)

tags

tags: folk indie ojai ryan adams wilco alt-country indie rock rock roots-rock singer-songwriter songwriter Ojai

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about

Zeltzer and the Tortoise is a project led by California songwriter Matt Zeltzer. Described as alt-country meet folk infused indie-rock, Zeltzer's 2011 release, "Desert Tortoise," has been followed by relentless touring up and down the west coast, finally culminating in the formation of Zeltzer and the Tortoise in the fall of 2012. ... more

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Track Name: Grecian Isle
Grecian Isle

I want to live on a lonely hill
on an ancient Grecian Isle
Surrounded by the hills and the sea
with the sails glistening in my eyes

I want to drink wine from noon to dawn
and lay my head in the sand
Forget about this busy life, just for a while

Cut like glass and hewn of sand, yellow as the blistering sun
Dark eyed girls dance in the streets, a new life just begun, just begun

I want to sleep on an abandoned beach
‘neith the ruins of a fishing boat
I want to find another name
and get lost in my dreams for a while

I want to taste the lips of fire
and be engulfed in your smoke
I want to meet my match on a Grecian Isle

Cast the nets and hope for a catch
Old hands weary from a thousand years
Bring ‘em home when the cross winds blow
Or you’re going home alone
Track Name: Portrait
Blown away by the streets,
even branches have no home
Slow collapsing paper mills loom giant

Billiard balls drift slowly to sleep,
Wonderlusting waitress sings herself to sleep
All the air drawn out into a cool beginning.

Throw your shoes in the back of the truck,
Its time to go, don’t pray for luck,
It’s a lonesome road when you’re running from your fate

Pallid as the midnight heat,
the innkeeper hounds her clock
Vaccuums blare into the deadly silence
Calling into the desert sky
It’s a golden, desperate lullaby
You’re only a victim if you can’t help yourself

Ive been sweatin’ through my teeth
Breathin’ through a sheet- I can’t take it

I’ve been kicked around and left for dead
I might not be ahead, but I’m not finished

As the branches turn to the east,
each one bows before the other
Rustling slow in the lightless border town.
Juanita tugging at her golden chain
Searching for a portrait in an empty frame
All the air drawn out into a cool beginning

Feather broken – lying in the dirt— ain’t no dying bird
Its only a portrait and it will fade in time
Track Name: Murder Pays It Forward
Murder Pays it Forward

murder pays it forward with a burning cigarette
dying slow beneath october wind.
murder walks the boulevard in khakis & a coat
staring through to all those pretty scenes.

they said he was a quiet boy
never showed the signs of joy
enlisted just to get away from home.

momma said he ain’t the same
but he never talked much anyways
just hid around the house and watched T.V.
he never meant that much to me

cold as ash left out the night before
murder passes one last steely gaze
darts into a railcar and drops down in a seat
a drop of sweat between his shaky knees

they said he was a quiet boy
never showed the signs of joy
enlisted just to get away from home.
momma said he ain’t the same
but he never talked much anyways
just hid around the house and watched T.V.
he never meant that much to me

he darts into a shopping mart,
shatters the glass case apart
and grabs the nearest shotgun he can find.
loads the shells in one, two, three-
an automated symphony
and one, two, three, he slips into the night.

they said he was a quiet boy
never showed the signs of joy
enlisted just to get away from home.
but fighting ate his mind away
exposed the cracks inside his brain
the desert whipped that boy into a man.
and I’ve got to kill him when I can

i know that it’s my destiny to bring him in
i’ve replayed scene for oh so many years
cuz when I stare into his eyes real slow
and look beyond the darkened woe
i swear to god I see the shit that we’re all in.

they said he was a quiet boy
never showed the signs of joy
enlisted just to get away from home

but the pills rotted his nerves away
and filled the cracks inside his brain
and sealed the damage tight into a jar.

well, momma said he ain’t the same
but he never talked much anyways
just hid around the house and watched T.V.
he was a brother to me
Track Name: Delilah
Delilah:

Delilah lives in tragedy
Walking down sidewalks of fear
Tries to count the laughter
She just falls back to tears
She just falls back to tears

Delilah loves to play the victim
She knows that role all too well.
She’s just the victim of her own mind
She’s the only one that can tell.
She’s the only one that can tell.

We used to dance
All through the night
And she sung along,
While we swayed
And though I never
Could learn the moves
She never looked away.

Delilah raised herself on ramen,
Cigarettes, and grief.
Her childhood friends were a razorblade,
And an old Bob Dylan LP.
An old Bob Dylan LP

Chorus

And though she never talked that much
She always told the truth
Between the space between our eyes
But there was nothing we could do.
Nothing we could do.

Chorus
Track Name: Run Me Over (Vampire Song)
you run me over,
you run me over,
run me over again
and its all your fault

you turned me over
but the blood was dripping, too late

you told me before,
to heed your advice
i never think twice,
i never think twice

i'm starting over,
i'm starting over
starting over again
and i'll make it count
i'm turning over
but the blood is dripping
too late

i told you before
don't cross me twice
i’m done playin nice,
done playing nice

and i’ve got bones to pick,
and stones to throw
but i don’t have the strength to
tear down that wall when I get home

i ran you over
i ran you over,
ran you over again
and it’s all my fault
i turned you over,
but the blood was dripping- too late!

and it’s all my fault