We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Troubadour

by Mark Schirmacher

supported by
Amy Overby
Amy Overby thumbnail
/
1.
Satisfied 04:51
lyrics
buy track
Satisfied It’s one of those nights when a man could die, so satisfied sirens wail, we shared a plate, saw behind the veil, now we wait The night air, it has a chill the candles, they burn down to nothing Sleep comes on easy our love has been satisfied The reed-man calls us to STOP as the cars run the streets We find our space in the dark and our quiet eyes try to meet The troubles that follow us have no good hold on us anymore Looking through keyholes jealous as we twist behind this closed door We’re Satisfied, Satisfied Keep it tight in your dreams, with the yellow sun trapped inbetween ‘cuz I’ll crash your machine with my wild heart stitched out to the seams ‘Cuz I’ve got a plan & I’ll spend it all in one place I’ve got a thousand ways - I can find a thousand ways to kiss your face ‘til you’re Satisfied, Satisfied INSTRUMENTAL verse & chorus It’s one of those nights when a man could die, so satisfied Sure as the dawn kills my sleep, the wolf eats my sheep and I’m still satisfied I’m Satisfied, Satisfied
2.
Crazy Fool 04:20
lyrics
buy track
Crazy Fool I work to pay the bills a little bit dies every day it gets reborn as a song that ends up choking the killer LPs and whole notes gonna line my grave As I fall asleep next to you the blanket breathes up and down The snow fills up the streets, can I tell you the truth I hope we never, ever get to town crazy fool I never knew you dance just like Madonna - crazy fool This shiny world wears thin find a new reason to smile that isn’t some TV show or some god-forsaken device and I’ll stay with you for a long, long while crazy fool One brush with death and you’ve ascended to the mountain I still love you like a crazy fool and you’ll wake up soon if I don’t kill this light But for now you’re asleep, we see eye-to-eye and you’re still mine and that makes almost everything alright crazy fool I never knew you dance just like Madonna - crazy fool
3.
Epic Love 03:17
lyrics
buy track
Epic love Honey and love, this one’s gonna last when others have gone wandering Wicks are gone, painting black streaks on the summer walls Cold again, the weather has snapped Spring can be so heartless Later on I’ll touch your back Our love defines the darkness (Chorus) We got the epic love (We learned to dance the year we got married) We got the epic love (I’ve been thinking we should dance again) We got an epic love The shoe may drop and the dream may come undone - So darlin’ hold on to that epic love (Bridge) We take each other to a new place Lined with old newspapers The wild wind blows through the cracks in the walls Just another reason to get closer - Music plays, we drift away Kind of Blue and Eternal All the Money’s Gone, we’ve been stone cold in the summer field (Chorus) Honey and love, this one’s gonna last when others have gone wandering...
4.
I Still Miss Someone 02:55
lyrics
buy track
I Still Miss Someone - J. Cash D G A At my door the leaves are falling G A D a cold, wild wind has come D G A Sweethearts walk by together G A D And I still miss someone I go out on a party and look for a little fun but I find a darkened corner ‘cuz I still miss someone G A D Well, I never got over those blue eyes G A D I see them everywhere G A D I miss those arms that held me G A D when all the love was there I wonder if she’s sorry for leaving what we’d begun There’s someone for me somewhere and I still miss someone
5.
Travel By Love 04:47
lyrics
buy track
Travel by Love (The Rose version) I travel by wind, I travel by train I travel by sunshine, I travel by rain I travel with the blessing of the wind at my back and a phone call home keeping my heart on track I travel by woman, I travel by man I travel by Sea, I travel by Land to a distant country where I laid on the floor I waited for my echo come bouncing on back to shore (Chorus) I travel by love where forgiveness grows Where the colors run and the teardrops roll And the engineer and the porter know Gonna lose a little blood when you travel by love I travel by needle, I travel by pill I travel by the upside of a downside hill I woke up sober all night on the stone Had the early morning, alleyway blues walking all the way home (Bridge) These boots were made for walking and I was made to stroll Bruce was born to run and Elvis to Rock & Roll We were born for each other I do believe it’s true Well, one of these days I’m gonna travel by love and find my way to you I travel by starlight, I travel by moon I travel by forest and I travel by dune I travel by Greg Brown and his hot, flat field And Lord, when he’s singin it, don’t he make it feel so real (Chorus) When the night has been too lonely And the road has been too long And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows Lies the seed, that with the sun’s love, In the springtime becomes The Rose I travel by love and you light my path I chase the sunset as the seagulls laugh My body needs slumber, or so it seems Gonna close my eyes, get ready to travel by dreams (Chorus to out)
6.
Bird In Your Tree 05:01
lyrics
buy track
Bird in your tree I love you like the maple tree red and orange from summer green Soon after icy winter snows springtime sap begins to flow I’m happy, like a bird in your tree I love you like the scrabbly pine towering rest for freeloaders and vines In your shade the owl spits her bones and fearful birds create their homes I’m happy, like a bird in your tree I love you like the Aspen Quakes in the wind, the leaves, they celebrate They raise their faces to the sky Silver hands flutter like your eyes - when you see me All things have their time to live and grow Deadwood warms the fireglow loved ones gather ‘round leaping flames Children, tears, and rings, we count the days I’m happy, like a bird in your tree
7.
Study Of Love 02:49
lyrics
buy track
Study of Love Key of Bb Bb Bb/Ab Gm Bb Love makes people do crazy things Bb Bb/Ab Gm Bb make you buy a gun, it’ll make you buy a ring Bb Bb/Ab Gm Bb Ab Eb Bb make you pick a headstone or a parakeet that sings V.2 Love let the baby cry in the dead of night sometimes throws a punch and sometimes throws the fight Love make the Jailor pay a visit to the Judge Love, give that envelope a nudge (Instrumental Verse) (Chorus ) Gm Bb Gm Bb Now, men in this world wrap their hearts in steel Gm Bb Gm Bb liquor, lights, and pages trying not to feel Ab Cm Ab Cm But somewhere in a blanket, a shivering memory F F7 F/D F/C the seed of love was planted in you and in me V.3 Love mends fences and presses grapes to wine torches the earth after harvest time cuts to the bone just to save another breath Love ain’t afraid of a mess
8.
White Clay 03:38
lyrics
buy track
White Clay Border town I saw it, men without a home wet leaves pressed underneath a hundred years of heavy snow A people robbed of purpose, drinking from the barrel of a gun Who’s gonna shine a light on them, stand alone with me in the hot, hot sun I pray, I pray for White Clay (3x) I’ve seen a million ways to keep a good man down 40 hours and brand new showers and fancy parades that take the edge off the days and clog up the streets downtown But in this border country the struggle is for real The liquor’s cheap and DIGNITY is buried deep inside the spinning wheel And as I lay my head inside my stolen bed I hear the children wailing for their daddies’ love all spent on border’s bread I pray, I pray for White Clay (4x) As I send this song up into the starry night all my relatives surround me - red and yellow, black and white I aim to change one heart, that would be enough ‘cuz somewhere in Nebraska life is just too tough I pray, I pray for White Clay (4x)
9.
Old Man (Laughter in the Lines) 05:56
lyrics
buy track
Old Man (Laughter in the Lines) My old man acts like a young man puts this young man’s heart in the race His eyes are bad, his spirit is glad he’s got laughter in the lines of his face He’s an old man with working hands likes to put ‘em in the land, build up his place Now, this young man loves this old man With laughter in the lines of his face (Chorus) Young man, don’t you make plans - you’re too busy doin’ Old man, keep making plans - teeth too old for chewin’, heart too full for bluin’ world too full of ruin to get caught up in the chase - Laughter in the lines of your face I’m a sleepy man with calloused hands and a brain shaped like a guitar. I’ll find my own path in the aftermath of a good woman’s love and a falling star I’m a simple man suckin’ on rhubarb jam that I growed from plants in my backyard Got ‘em from an old man, family in his hands he’s left this world, he worked so hard (Chorus) I’m a spoiled man with a purple crayon tryin’ to draw my way outta this room With my good wife, gonna live a favored life layin’ out underneath the howling moon I’m not a young man, more like an old man and when I’m an old man, I’m gonna laugh Gonna laugh long and loud, like the belly of a thundercloud like a papa sunburned and proud in a photograph (Chorus to out)
10.
Cheap Oil 04:45
lyrics
buy track
Ooh, Trains at night, trains in the day and they don’t stop Ooh, Bringing me sweet relief by the penny at the gas pump We’re making a big mistake To take all that we can take Our spinning Mother’s back is gonna break - for Cheap Oil Ooh, We’re pouring it out by the barrel in the green fields Ooh, Mile by mile we’re snuffing out life around the steel wheels There’s a fire in the vast wetland Where the trestles cross the land & we’ve all gone to sleep in our beds with blood on our hands - Cheap oil (Chorus) Cheap oil, cheap oil We’re barking up the wrong tree, brother (2x) We pay and we pay just to roll along today We give it all away, How’re our babies gonna pay For this cheap oil? Ooh, in the middle of the night I hear the rumble of the long train Ooh, a job’s a job and a man’s gotta eat but it’s not the same We’re stealing from future mouths while the pipeline gouges South our children’s children turn as we curse the soil - Cheap oil Our future children cry as the birds fall from the sky and the tanker trucks roll by full of tar sands spoil - God damn this Cheap Oil
11.
4 Walls 04:25
lyrics
buy track
4 Walls another perfect ending to another perfect day tomorrow’s found me waiting, expecting it that way you may want 4 walls, well, I need a place to stay but when the birds are singing, it’s hard to keep away I sit among the music of nature’s finest band symphony of earth life is trembling in our hands take me, oh half moon, sheer glass and diving duck bring me through the mist and drop me like a rock (Bridge) I’ll soar downward through water grey and calm land on the bottom wash the blood off of my palms you still want 4 walls, I guess I need them too If I leave these 4 walls I’d be leaving you - I’ll swim with you, oh beaver, the geese will ask me south to winter in the sunshine, snowflakes in my mouth I surface to the cold world, I gasp and look around In the blooming of the dogwood ertinity is found (Bridge) soaking up last moments, another perfect day all the mess and heartache, I’ve got tears to give away I’m waiting for a voice, I’ve heard it here before this sparkling winter water holds me to its shore

about

Troubadour is a collection of folk songs that were recorded LIVE on April 9, 2016 by Chris Frymire at Cedar Cultural Center.

It was a overcast afternoon and Chris wanted to test out some mics, see which ones he wanted to keep and so forth, so he invited me to the vast open space of the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis Minnesota, where he was running sound later for a show. I set up my guitar, harmonicas, and a chair up on stage, and he surrounded my in various microphones, wanting to capture a live musician to test out his array of recording gear.

Chris and I worked together on my 2015 Broken Hearts Shine album, and we were thinking about working on another project, so he also wanted to hear what other songs I'd been working on. I played these songs, one after the other, w/o a break, and just got into the mood, happy to have the amazing space to work in and delighted that Chris was helping capture these songs.

I played for about 2 hours (it was cold in there), and most of what I recorded that afternoon is on this collection. A few I left off because they were either crap, or interrupted by some performance/tech snafu, and the remaining 11 songs is a intimate insight into my writing process and a fairly decent representation of my live performance modus operandi. I like to enunciate when I sing, I like to vary my strumming/picking patterns up, I like to have clean, concise versions of songs ready to go, and I also like to leave some sections open for rambling, excess music to be made on the fly - it's all in here.

Huge thanks to Chris Frymire for recording these - and especially for holding on to them until 2024, when I reached out to him asking if he still had them anywhere and that I wanted to release them as is. Thank you, Chris!

Many of these songs made it onto the next record I would make, 2018's Bird In Your Tree, and then 2019's Losing Things. The other songs were passed over, rejected, or just plain "weren't ready" for the bigtime exposure that I was gonna give 'em, you know? After all, I'm a big freakin deal and my little songs better have the steel and strength to put up with a lot of wear-n-tear out there in the real world - fact.

haha

Am I serious? Well, yes. Usually too much so. And never so much as on a few of these cuts: White Clay and Cheap Oil are especially topical (former about U.S. Indian Reservation policy & subsequent alcoholism and latter about the over-reach & greed of oil companies & consumers to pay down our price of gasoline in favor of ecological destruction for us and our future generations. A little light listening, eh? Sorry, can't help you.

Some good ol' love songs in here, too: Satisfied (a live favorite of mine, calms my nerves and gets my mind in proper focus), Bird In Your Tree (my mom's favorite song of mine), and Old Man (Laughter in the LInes) about my dear old dad and a lovely neighbor I had once. These are solid, clear-feeling odes to a love that is evident and true. No wiggle room. I will sing these as long as I can.

A few confused love songs in here, too. Love is a complex, layered emotion (reality? time zone? state of being?) and I like writing about the different moods of true love, forget the lovey-dovey shit...sometimes. Crazy Fool is about my lifelong baby, and how I'm crazy to love her (first captivated by her Madonna imitation in a high school drama class) and how I'm even crazier in love with her now than ever. Epic Love is how two people can make it through rough times to come out...pretty ok.

Then, there are some contemplations: One is Study Of Love, a multi-angled look at the different sorts of love out there and what they'll make you do - buy a ring/buy a gun/buy a parakeet that sings/pick a gravestone/lets the baby cry in the middle of the night - just a bunch of visuals detailing what someone does for love. And then the most contemplative song of all, 4 Walls. When I was low, so low, I took a walk by a local lake and wondered at the calm, grey fall water, knowing at the bottom of that lake lay other poor souls who'd lost hope, and I didn't want to be one of them. Or I did, but I didn't. All the while, knowing that I needed a home to live in (four walls), but feeling more at home with the rushes, dogwood trees, lapping water...A song full of longing, that's for sure.

I love a lot of other songwriters, and buried inside 2 of my songs here (Travel By Love and Bird In Your Tree) are a few songs that felt "right" tucked in there, so 'thank you' Lionel Ritchie for your masterpiece Stuck On You and Amanda McBroom for the lovely The Rose, I couldn't have written Bird In Your Tree and Travel By Love w/o you.

Finally, the great Johnny Cash wrote I Still Miss Someone in the 1950's and it stands as one of my favorite forlorn love songs of all time, had to sing it that day in April, 2016, as it was a standard in my sets then - and now. Thanks, Mr. Cash for the splendid emotional stew on this one.

I hope you enjoy this album and keep your eye open for the CD, I think I'm gonna press a few.

See you at a show and thanks for listening,
Mark

credits

released March 15, 2024

Recorded LIVE at Cedar Cultural Center on April 9, 2016 by Chris Frymire.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Mark Schirmacher image

Mark Schirmacher Minneapolis, Minnesota

Mark Schirmacher is an American songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. For information on bookings or collaborations, visit www.markschirmacher.com.

contact / help

Contact Mark Schirmacher

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Mark Schirmacher recommends:

If you like Mark Schirmacher, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Beans joins the show to discuss his album release, "ZWAARD".

listen now