The Burn The Truth The Lies

by Vanessa Peters

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agutterfan Fine collection of alt-country swing songs based around metaphors of travel (especially the road and by air) on the subject of hearts broken, hearts lost, and hearts mislaid. Cello adds flavour to two songs. Plus two radio edits. Favorite track: Favorite Day.

Štefan Valica I think this is the best song sang by Vanessa of this album and I think absolutely the best song sang by Vanessa so far. Favorite track: Grateful.

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Packaged in thin eco-friendly sleeve, this CD has the *radio edited versions* of "A Good Judge" and "Favorite Day." The only difference is that the outros are edited to be slightly shorter in both cases. This CD does not come with liner notes, but when you buy this, you will receive a PDF version of the artwork/liner notes, as well as a digital download of the album with the full-length versions of these songs.

We made a limited number of these for radio promotional purposes; these are the extras!

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Modern Age, Mixtape, Foxhole Prayers, Last Night Bus (single), The Burden of Unshakeable Proof, With The Sentimentals, The Burn The Truth The Lies, The Christmas We Hoped For, and 4 more. , and , .
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1.	A Good Judge 04:43	lyrics	buy track
find and replace the words that do not work with the ones that will it’s no small task, the wrong words lurk in corners and they do not get their fill of being used as weapons, of being used to hurt someone you used to love sometimes the pain just tumbles out and we don't always say the things we should but I know you to be good I know you to be fair and I hope you’ll be a good judge of me now that I’m no longer there and the trouble was you never had that many words for me I was left to guess how you felt and if you wanted me to leave and not wanting me to leave is not the same thing as wanting me to stay so I had the great debate between me and me and then I walked away but I know you to be good I know you to be fair and I hope you’ll be a good judge of me now that I’m no longer there and to the victor goes the spoils, but what if there’s no clear winner? and what if spoils are just things that are spoilt? in grammar as in life, the line becomes thinner but I know you to be good I know you to be fair and I hope you’ll be a good judge of me now that I’m no longer there
2.	Bright Red 04:26	lyrics	buy track
the sun just spiked its way out of the white sky pierced my eyes like a thorn it was the hottest summer in 30 years since before I was born my shoulders turned freckled and brown and my favorite pair of shoes melted into the ground and we drove around with the windows down and our bodies drenched in sweat that's a year I will never forget and I can't remember why but I bought a box of dye and painted my hair bright red I guess that I was just papering over the cracks in the sidewalks running through my head and that was the year I was safe from all the lies they were new enough not to haunt me yet i'm not even sure they knew it was me they were hunting for but they were just dim enough to forget and I can't remember why but I bought a box of dye and painted my hair bright red I guess that I was just papering over the cracks in the sidewalks running through my head and there were still the white stripes of skin where we never let the sunshine in and they glowed brightly in the dark and my red hair looked kind of like a spark and then the sky turned a comfortable blue it was fall again, summer was through and there was just the faded orange of my once-red hair and the hint of winter coming into view and I can't remember why but I bought a box of dye and painted my hair bright red I guess that I was just papering over the cracks in the sidewalks running through my head
3.	The State I'm Living In 03:41	lyrics	buy track
the audacity of calling me to ask how I am the capacity you have for telling me that if I put my mind to it then I can when it was a simple, post-marked letter you dropped one morning in the mail as easy as finding a stamp and sending us a fond farewell the ferocity of the big bad wolf disguised as a little lamb the monstrosity of how easily you said to me you certainly hoped i'd understand and it was a simple, foolish attempt at getting me to see the light as easy as kissing my cheek then telling me goodnight the generosity of you telling me I wasn't just an also-ran is tempered by the animosity that I feel when I realize I was just your back-up plan these are the cities these are the cities and this is the state I'm living in the curiosity of you telling me I'd always be your best friend and the tenacity required of me to grit my teeth and let go of your hand these are the cities these are the cities and this is the state I'm living in
4.	No Decision 04:57	lyrics	buy track
the billboard says love never fails so I guess that it’s just people that do and there are people failing left and right every night on the 10 o’clock news and every night there’s a story that I just can’t comprehend so I'll turn out all the lights now it’s darker than it’s ever been and the downtown traffic, the corner stores the streets all slick with gritty rain I could swear I’ve been here before cause every city looks the same now that everything’s changed late night diner down on ross sitting in a corner booth I’d like to chat up the waitress but she’s got too much to lose they’re understaffed, she’s overworked but her boss says it means more tips her brow is creased in concentration and I watch her chew a hole in her bottom lip and the downtown traffic, the corner stores the streets are slick with gritty rain I could swear I’ve been here before cause every city looks the same now that everything’s changed and I remember when you told me it was me that you called home and I remember when I told you I wanted to be alone and I couldn’t see how to stay I couldn’t see how to go so I made no decision and I killed it in doing so and the downtown traffic, the corner stores the streets all slick with gritty rain I could swear I’ve been here before cause every city looks the same but everything’s changed
5.	Grateful 03:45	lyrics	buy track
you can ask the pilot if he can pull the plane out of a dive and he will tell you every time we are lucky just to fly and we should be grateful to be like the birds even they fall from the sky sometimes we should be grateful to be like the birds spread your wings and cast your fears aside and you can ask the surgeon if he can pry your heart out of your mind and he will tell you with dry eyes there’s a reason they’re entwined and you should be grateful to feel so much most people just bury it inside you should be grateful to be on this course where reason and empathy collide and you can ask the preacher if he can pull the man out of his slide and he will tell you with bright eyes man's a victim of his pride we should be grateful to just be alive dig your heels in, get through the day we should be grateful to just be alive your armor’s heavy, but try to be brave
6.	Favorite Day 04:11	lyrics	buy track
have you ever bit your tongue and made it bleed? has your voice trailed off in mid-story trying not to speak of me? and when she asks about the picture I wonder what you'll tell her 'cause the world's gone public, and you can't hide me forever and you could cover the tracks we left in the sand the pictures you took only show my feet, long & skinny & tan and that was my favorite day warm and bright and grand and full of hopes about to dash on the shores of lake michigan it would be easy enough to smile and say I was just a good friend and if you give me at least that much then I'll understand 'cause those were younger actors playing our parts we wouldn't know our lines now, but once we, we knew them by heart sometimes we danced around the lines, sometimes they shifted in the dirt sometimes the weight was on my side, sometimes you carried the hurt but will you be as honest as you can or dismiss me with a sideways glance and pray I'll understand? 'cause that was my favorite day warm & bright & grand and full of hopes about to dash on the shores of lake michigan it would be easy enough to smile and say she was just a good friend and if you give me at least that much then I'll understand
7.	The Sting 03:20	lyrics	buy track
it’s a natural instinct fighting for your life and you were fighting to save us both I was fighting for the flight and I tried to carry your weight but I could barely float my own and we went down down down like a stone and the waves kept crashing over and the salt, it stung my eyes but I don’t know if the sting is from the salt or the lies this day in a snow globe I’m all upside down I look around but I don’t recognize the streets of my hometown covered in these snowflakes like tiny missives from outer space but the ink’s run off and the words just melt away and the snow keeps swirling round me and the bitter wind, it stings my eyes and I don’t know if the sting is from the cold or the lies and I always try to tell the truth I always try to do what’s right but I cannot hide from this one when all around me there is so much light so much light and the world keeps moving around me and the bright bright sun it burns my eyes and I don’t know if the burn is from the truth or the lies I don't know if the burn is from the truth or the lies
8.	Copilot 05:14	lyrics	buy track
you tried to hold my gaze but I just looked away watched a hail mary pass on the screen it's the first day of the new year it's the perfect day to finally say what I mean and man that quarterback’s off to a great start he’s a hero now, he’s won the nation’s heart and I wish I had a throwing arm, I wish I had better aim I wish I could convince you to stay in the game but Hail Mary, Mother of God I’m hitting the road, could you come along? I've been writing love letters out on the blacktop and later on I can barely read what I wrote and I could use a copilot maybe you could help me take notes so I turned off my brain, I turned off my heart I turned off the porch light and I turned off the stars I packed a suitcase of regret to take with me I closed the front door, threw it into the backseat I keep my eye on them in the rearview they’re always there to see me through but Hail Mary, Mother of God I’m hitting the road, could you come along? I've been writing love letters out on the blacktop and later on I can barely read what I wrote and I could use a copilot maybe you could help me take note I turn off my car back in the drive I’m kind of lucky I made it home alive not sure how much of this I’ve got left but I know that I can’t do it by myself
9.	String Too Short To Use 03:50	lyrics	buy track
string too short to use I can’t bind me to you I’ve studied all the knots of my heart but you keep on falling through and I can't tie it tightly I cannot get a grip on string too short to use and knots that always slip and I never learned how to hold on I only know how to let go and I never learned how to be strong and I just thought you should know lone wolf, lone wolf do you ever feel that great big gulf that stands between you and everything that you could be if only you weren’t so lonely? and I never learned how to hold on I only know how to let go and I never learned how to be strong and I just thought you should know and sometimes when I look up at the sky blue just seems like another shade of gray and sometimes when I look into your eyes I have to close my own and then look away string too short to use I can’t bind me to you I’ve studied all the knots of my heart but you keep on falling through and I can't tie it tightly I cannot get a grip on string too short to use and knots that always slip and I never learned how to hold on I only know how to let go and I never learned how to be strong I just thought you should know
10.	Good and Ready 04:08	lyrics	buy track
I’m gonna bury my thoughts down in a hole 'til they can no longer breathe choke the life right out of them, make them see what they do to me they’ll be begging for mercy I’m gonna bury my heart down in a hole 'til it can no longer beat smother the life right out of it, make it feel what it does to me it’ll be crying for clemency and I’ll consider requests for forgiveness but only on my time and when I’m good and ready I’m gonna hide away your voice inside my head deep in the darkest part I’ve made a special place for it Where it can't tear me apart Where I can't hear it plead for a new start and I’ll consider requests for forgiveness but only on my time and when I’m good and ready once I was afraid to put these things in their right place but I’ve made my choice and I don’t need thoughts, don’t need a heart and I can do without your voice and I’ll consider requests for forgiveness but only on my time and when I’m good and ready
11.	This Could Go Well 04:31	lyrics	buy track
the history of you is fraught with hearts not loving you enough and the history of me is riddled with hearts I guess I loved too much and the history of me is made up of dead-end roads and endless waving seas and the history of you has never quite shaped up to one you'd like save in memory but it seems like this could go well it seems like it though it's too soon to tell it seems like this could go well and it's hard for me to trust in things I can't see especially up here at 30,000 feet it's hard to believe there ever was a you somewhere down there on a street but things look different down here on the ground and there you are at baggage claim you take my bag and you take my hand and I don't even hesitate but it seems like this could go well it seems like it though it's too soon to tell it seems like this could go well such a doubting Thomas as me I'd have to say there never was someone so terrified of a little thing called love yet it seems like this could go well it seems like it though it's too soon to tell it seems like this could go well
12.	A Good Judge (Radio Edit) 04:00		buy track
13.	Favorite Day (Radio Edit) 03:12		buy track

credits

released July 17, 2012

Vanessa Peters: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Joe Reyes: guitar
John Dufilho: drums
Jason Garner: bass
Rip Rowan: keys, drums
Buffi Jacobs: cello on "Favorite Day" and "Good and Ready"

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about

Vanessa Peters Austin, Texas

Indie singer/songwriter from Texas. Musician, Italophile, Virgo, coffee nerd, food lover, bossy-pants, big ol' softie.
I've released 10+ albums and played over 1000 shows in 11 countries. I'm not done yet.