The Novelists

Chapter 10 // October 2013 // Main Street Five and Dime // Set Ourselves Free

Joel Ackerson – vocals, guitars, and banjo
Eric Andersen – vocals and piano
Megan Slankard – vocals, guitars, mandolin, kazoo, and percussion
Zack Teran – vocals, upright, electric bass, and percussion

“Main Street Five and Dime” and “Set Ourselves Free”

Produced by The Novelists // “Main Street Five and Dime” was engineered by Megan Slankard at Frankengoose // Additional Engineering by Zack Teran, Joel Ackerson, and Eric Andersen // Percussion for “Main Street Five and Dime” was arranged and recorded by Zack Teran and Megan Slankard // “Set Ourselves Free” was engineered by Joel Ackerson at True Story Records // Additional Engineering by Eric Andersen, Megan Slankard, and Zack Teran // Piano for “Set Ourselves Free” was recorded and engineered by Tom Gordon at Imirage Sound Lab //“Main Street Five and Dime” and “Set Ourselves Free” were mixed by JJ Wiesler at Decibel.

Guest musician on “Set Ourselves Free”

Jason Thomas – Drums

“Main Street Five and Dime” ©℗ 2013 Megan Slankard and Amy Slankard

“Set Ourselves Free” ©℗ 2013 Eric Andersen

 

 

LYRICS

MAIN STREET FIVE AND DIME  (the big plastic island)

(A. Slankard/M. Slankard)

I’ll bring you little toy soldiers
Wreaths of feathers and bones
Heads of dolls made in prison-like walls

A thousand miles from home

Oh, a thousand miles from home

 

There are plenty of nurdles for turtles

And pantyhose pickled and brined

Lacquer and nails and handles for pails

For many a Five and Dime

Oh, for many a Five and Dime

 

You know I will love you forever
A love that’s truly sublime
Meet me in May, and it’s a sunny day

At the Main Street Five and Dime

 

I’ll bring you white china and bottles
A lighter and a syringe
Curtain rings and many other things

And a bag to put them in

And a bag to put them in

I’ll bring you the tears of a mermaid

Of blue, red, yellow, and green

Tangles of floss on an albatross

Full bellied and serene

Oh, full bellied and serene

 

You know I will love you forever
A love that’s truly sublime
Meet me in May, and it’s a sunny day

At the Main Street Five and Dime

At the Main Street Five and Dime

At the Main Street Five and Dime (yup!)

At the Main Street Five and Dime

(Sung in a round)

I think I will love you forever
A love that is truly sublime
Meet me in May and it’s a sunny day

At the Main Street Five and Dime

 

 

 

 

SET OURSELVES FREE (Andersen)

The taste of your mouth and the smell of your skin

Constant reminders of all that we’ve been

In love’s what got us here, now it’s all we’ve got

Clinging to dreams that won’t let us fall out

 

You say need space, some time to go round

I hear the worst and I drown in your doubt

Sometimes I wonder too if it’s for the best

This love alone it won’t write us the rest

 

And it’s cold, and it’s dark

I won’t let them know yet

I won’t let you go yet

But how old will we be

When we finally find enough courage to set ourselves free?

 

Lately you shy away, put up a fence

Lost in yourself and so scared of what’s next

In love’s what got us here, but was it all for naught?

Fragile’s the life that so hard for we’ve fought

 

And I know, that you’re scared

You won’t let me know yet

But you won’t let me go yet

If you leave, try someone new

Will you call him my name, will he answer the way that I do?

 

It’s so cold, but there’s light

We wont’ bare our souls yet

Till we do we won’t own this

So how old will we be

When we finally find enough courage to set ourselves free?

 

Yes, how old will we be

When we finally find enough courage to set ourselves free?