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By Grace of Water

by Mitch Allen

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1.
Dear Ms. Allen 03:19
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Dear Ms. Allen We are calling you to let you know There's been an accident at 1340 Tully Road And we would like some supplementary information on your son We'll need you input on what may be done Dear Ms. Allen Notify the ones you think should know You've punched your ticket front and center to this horror show We open scene with the protagonist who's in a sticky spot We're here to see if we can play deus ex machina Start the drip and turn the lights out Close the curtains, keep the guests out Cleave the arm for circulation Subcutaneous irrigation Treatment herein is unforgiving Plan your visits for Thanksgiving Have you seen the doctor lately? You would think we'd have heard something by now Now and then I reconnect my cognizance of time But I've forgotten what it was that left me wrapped in white Can we find some strength together? I'm adrift in stormy weather Bid the lifeboats come and find me Send an SOS on my behalf I'm in need of information All I get is intonation Just how long have I been sleeping? Really wish somebody would explain One by one please, form a line We'll take you in one at a time
2.
I am the Cobra 03:19
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I don't know why I get lonely all the time, I don't know why I can't sleep all through the night, I don't know why Doctor said to take this pill She heard that you're not feeling well With 20mg of syrupy sweet, you can finally grab a few hours of sleep Cadaver! Cadaver! I am the cobra Peel off my diamondback skin Cadaver! Cadaver! Blind acupuncturists Stick me with needles and pins I don't know why I slip in and out of mind It's weird that I cannot discern a place or time I don't know why Allografts need donor skin A dozen dead folks pitching in With damage to the arms, chest, hands and the face We'll need eighty-seven staples to hold them in place Cadaver! Cadaver! I am the cobra Peel off my diamondback skin Cadaver! Cadaver! Blind acupuncturists Stick me with needles and pins We heard your grandmother pry about the car keys yesterday You might be preoccupied, but did you have something to say? The OSHA man has grown insistent That you should contact his assistant We saw your parents put your pictures on the wall Do you identify with the images at all? And will you speak now with the lawyers Who are advising your employer? Cadaver, Cadaver, I am the cobra lying in wait for my meal Cadaver, Cadaver, Man of Vitruvius—come see my layers revealed Cadaver! Cadaver! I am the cobra Peel off my diamondback skin Cadaver! Cadaver! Blind acupuncturists Stick me with needles and pins
3.
Continia 04:46
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Drifting I awaken undersea Basslet and idol surrounding me Columns of coral as far as the eye can see And a radiant mermaid dressed all in green Waxing melodic she beckons me Diamond tiara and golden rings Dancing and flourishing as the wind through the trees With her sapphire iris dismantling me Men in arms and marching drummers adorn her grand parade In honor of her royal family's name A palace set in crystal coral, aglow with silver flame A sanctuary lost beneath the waves Meet the crown of sunken towns of rock Fairy tales and sailor fables come to me in dream And I hear her softly sing “In Continia, you don't have to be anyone or anything at all You need only be one of the millions who make the ocean their home” Dazed and drunken that I'd consider a mermaid princess' rule But I'm 500 feet under the water and all my dreams have come true. Once as a man and yet never free Fighting for victories in between Disordered and fragmented as the rocks on the beach From the unending quarrel of shore and sea Yet suddenly I find myself revived in a new embrace Cast aside from the world outside as a hopeless case To live out my days with the mythical divers of Ys Enraptured by sirens who promise an unbroken peace Peace Roam about the castle grounds until you feel at home Forever on you're no longer alone The golden rays of sun touch down for miles across the sea A realm of which I'm soon to be the queen Meet the crown of sunken towns of rock Fairy tales and sailor fables come to me in dream And I hear her softly sing “In Continia, you don't have to be anyone or anything at all You need only be one of the millions who make the ocean their home” Dazed and drunken that I'd consider a mermaid princess' rule But I'm 500 feet under the water and all my dreams have come true
4.
Val'ira 03:57
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I had studied all the chemistry Aand I wrote the book on law Self-assured in my security I would rise above it all When it all came crashing down on me Who was left to hold the debt I would default? Pay the piper, dermis and all Half a dozen nurses wait on me In a room with four gray walls All my friends and family weep for me As they put their lives on hold I'm a burden to society and I've burned a hole a million and a half Where I've landed no one comes back Now Val'ira, she who rescued me Is an heiress to the throne She was born a child of destiny And she'll teach me what she knows That the only path from wickedness is to vest myself in things outside of me And commit continuously Now her father serves as emperor And protector of the land And he doubles as the magistrate He conducts the marching band He's a large and bulbous scaly thing but his smile conveys a fondness in his heart For a sun-folk meek and unwashed Now the tyranny of oxygen Is a fight to overcome So Val'ira sings me lullabies As I open up my lungs Let the healing waters conquer me as they wash away the sins I have committed In my past restlessness I am a martyr of her cold and gentle ways And I have decided to devote my waking days To a prophecy of paradise: we have heard the elders say “Sit on the throne, our goddess of water Drown in the ocean sins of our fathers Offer her hand to a man who has fallen Sea and the sun that day will be one” While I still believe in entropy And I've borrowed most I know Curiosity being what it is I have stumbled down this hole I am Alice through the looking glass, and I'll claw the dirt to see how far it goes ‘Til I hear my casket lid close
5.
Gravity 04:08
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One by one please form a line While tax collectors search your mind For hopes and fears served soaked in brine For royals to dine One by one please form a line And try your best to recall this time There ain't no grass on the other side But you're dying to try We don't show forgiveness We've got none to spare We don't serve in secret ‘Cause we're everywhere If you've got something to say, better say it to our face We got authority to tread on snakes and the power to erase It's in your name: It's what the doctor ordered They delivered me from evil with a dripping through my vein And they left me in a gutter with no record of a name By Newton's many theories, I am weightless in the sea But gravity is catching up with me But gravity is catching up with me The state condemns disloyalty And criminal delinquency There's just one game in the deep blue sea And we're charging a fee We're not repossessers, and we're not the cops But if you're still withholding we'll take all you've got This is what the funding's for It's time you learned the score It don't matter who's prescribing, we'll be knocking down your door It's all in vain, but your tab is open They delivered me from evil with a dripping through my vein and they left me in a gutter with no record of a name By Newton's many theories, I am weightless in the sea But gravity is catching up with me But gravity is catching up with me Gravity Gravity You're saving up, we'll take it You're acting tough, we'll break it You've had enough, we'll change your mind We're right on time When you were young you lived in fear Of governments and secret spheres But we respect your liberty And guiding flocks will keep them free We're not regulators, and we don't conspire So don't play the victim; we didn't start the fire We don't register complaints, you've got yourself to blame We're the reason you're behaving, not the reason that you came We'll dull the pain but it's self-inflicted They delivered me from evil with a dripping through my vein And they left me in a gutter with no record of a name By Newton's many theories, I am weightless in the sea But gravity is catching up with me But gravity is catching up with me Gravity Gravity Gravity
6.
NASA 04:01
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NASA, oh NASA, plotting underhand To harvest all my organs for the Man NASA, oh NASA, patient to a thrall Drugged on Fentanyl and Propofol Floating out in space My mind can't find a foothold in this scheme you've put in place NASA, oh NASA, shadows in my eye Watercolor doctors sent to spy NASA, oh NASA, biopsy the brain Clone me in a Petri dish and say that I'm the same 'Cause I can hear all your nefarious plans for the operating stage And I've no will to defy them I'm paralyzed by these splints that keep my arms in place Well I guess it could only be me and you The darker side of all I wanted to do It doesn't matter how you build your walls The paranoia lives within us all If Continia is naught but kelp and bones I'd rather be patching the Titanic than toasting Davy Jones NASA, oh NASA, satellite in chrome Set your navigation bring me home ‘Cause I can hear them coming ‘round here again with that damn heparin shot So please don't undermine my strength of mind—by God, it's all I've got
7.
A Woman Scorned 03:55
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I welcomed you with only one condition Of your undying love and loyalty Don't speak to me of fear and premonition Then ask that I allow you to be free Your sad sap story won't buy one ounce of my sympathy But here's the part where I put you out of your misery And if you've never seen lightning under the ocean Then here's where I snap and lose my composure Arrest him, and take him to the mermaid king! The notion that you're in a position to barter Speaks to your duplicity and greed It's bad enough that you spit on the name of my father But now you've scorned my hospitality Had I known better, I'd have left your body for the vulture's maw You'll fair no better under subjugation from the rule of law But if you're dying to witness smoke on the water You might be impressed when you visit my father Arrest him, and take him to the mermaid king! Try speaking out, or have you realized that no one that you call Can hear a word that you've said? Try standing up, or should I call upon a team of therapists To get you out of your bed? Try reaching out, or do you even have the skin To raise your arms above and over your head anymore? You'll never be what you were before But if you're willing to miss next Fourth of July You can sleep with the fish while I light up the sky Arrest him, and take him to the mermaid king!
8.
Master of the Universe 01:59
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When the horde of Antillia laid siege upon Continia's walls Who was it then that brought the fight to bear? Who saw it fit to unify the seven kingdoms of Undine And commandeer the fortune of Ophir? Should I then suffer heretics, or miscreants who make my daughter cry? The Master of the Universe, the Master of the Universe am I You stand accused yet ask that I, by royal edict, nullify This charge of treason of the third degree You wear a sympathetic guise, but don't expect that teary eyes Will sway the court to pity you your grief Would I not forfeit providence should I ever see that justice is denied? The master of the universe, the master of the universe am I So I sentence you to fever dreams and misery until the day you die The naster of the universe, the master of the universe am I The master of the universe, the master of the universe am I
9.
Hello, It's Me 03:34
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Beneath machinery I saw him Contamination in the cogs His mind was scattered on a fractal scene That I could not define The stars were misaligned and out of phase Behind the smoke and moving glass I thought for once that I could see his face But I could never call it mine Hello, it's me I've been away and I can't answer the phone right now I doubt I'll be around for anyone to reach me at home here on out Oh, won't you please speak to me? The weight of mercury ran through his veins The taste of iron in his lungs The dread kaleidoscope, its spinning ways That I could not defy Beneath machinery I saw him Partitioned into here and gone I understood him through a shattered screen But I could never recognize Hello, it's me I've been away and I can't answer the phone right now I doubt I'll be around to share a life with you in the sun
10.
Fever Waltz 04:49
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Seasick and fevered, my feet leave the ground Glued to this suicide merry-go-round Faster and faster the wind catches me To burn on a pyre of my fragility Visions of madness and urban decay This cityscape echoes the fate of Pompeii These are the images hung on a rope To live out my days in a kinetoscope Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee Count all the little things up there to see Screeching wheels, scraping heels Burning concrete, and grinding steel It's a head-on collision I'll never survive This nightmare is 102 Fahrenheit This nightmare is 102 Fahrenheit Goblins and ghouls in their sordid soiree A Halloween ball for the wrong kind of fay Higher and higher the actor is thrown From this sick cul-de-sac at the end of the road Rosin your bow and join in with the band See how much cacophony you can withstand Screeching wheels, scraping heels Burning concrete, and grinding steel It's a head-on collision I'll never survive This nightmare is 102 Fahrenheit This nightmare is 102 Fahrenheit Blood of the father and light of the sun Orange is the fire to cleanse what we've done Blood of the father and light of the sun Orange is the fire to cleanse what we've done Blood of the father and light of the sun Orange is the fire to cleanse what we've done Blood of the father and light of the sun Orange is the color of all that's to come
11.
Flotsam 06:45
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Alone in the dark when no one's trying to find you No one knows you're gone Alone with the facts you tried to put behind you It's not your fault Alone on the edge of something far too deep to Jump ship and swim Adrift with no light above to navigate to You'll never win, so tell me Where's our story of modern glory? Our heroes are all relics of rewritten pasts I'm uninspired This is not a tale of redemption Tides in their effortless ascension Only are we ever survivors of modern life Never to be such as Poseidon to any waters We are the flotsam, only leaving trails behind Mother Mary, full of grace Have you preserved a higher space? The human brain's far too convoluted for the weight of air And we're in despair, so tell me Where's our story of modern glory? These pages are unwritten, but the ink is dry And I am tired This is not a tale of redemption Tides in their effortless ascension Only are we ever survivors of modern life Never to be such as Poseidon to any waters We are the flotsam, only leaving trails behind The darkness of the coming year, and everything I've come to fear Are self-projected shadows on the wall These echoes on the stagnant air, and everything I've come to bear Are far beyond and outside my control Should I then carry grievances for all the pain and sorrow I forgot? The master of the universe, the master of the universe I'm not The master of the universe, the master of the universe I'm not
12.
Lighthouse 05:29
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She came in through the window, over the skyline Said, “Babe, why don't we go outside to soak in the sunlight?” We checked out at the lobby, cold in the hallway Went out by the balcony to see folks on their way I hadn't seen sky in nineteen days She's my lighthouse, she's my lighthouse And she's truer than the northern star and bright as day She dispels the illusions and casts her own magic She excels at the elusive art of transforming the tragic If her love is a floodlight, mine is a mirror There's a lens in the twilight through which to witness her clearer And cherish her dearer She's my lighthouse, she's my lighthouse And she's truer than the northern star and bright as day Now when I'm at the point where I can't take much more She comes streaming in on sunbeams, my lighthouse on the shore And when I'm getting tired of life out on the bay She comes back again and troubles in this world just melt away So, as long as the sailor is blinded and starless There's a spire on the shoreline illuminating the darkness I've been cold, I've been distant, and I am astounded It's been met with resistance, and beauty and light that's unbounded And look where I've found it She's my lighthouse, she's my lighthouse And she's truer than the northern star and bright as day Now when I'm at the point where I can't take much more She comes streaming in on sunbeams, my lighthouse on the shore And when I'm getting tired of life out on the bay She comes back and troubles in this world just melt away Somewhere beyond the sea, she's there waiting for me
13.
Porcelain Atlas 03:34
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The first time I cried in the hospital bed Got sick after eating half my lunch Later unable to carry a tune Trying to sing Bowie's “Life on Mars” But nothing goes down and nothing comes out When you're singing the feeding tube blues And I cast myself a porcelain Atlas Shattered and cracked from the weight of the world And I cried and cried as I crumbled to pieces And sat as the shower head washed it out of me Down in a hole where you bury your pain Deep where you can forget your name And fill up the trenches with grief and with fear And ego that cannot be repaired But all that goes down must somehow come out After four weeks alone in a room And I cast myself a porcelain Atlas Shattered and cracked from the weight of the world And I cried and cried as I crumbled to pieces And sat as the shower head washed it out of me I had one conversation with the doctor yesterday And I had two trays for breakfast, and I put ‘em both away And I had three nurses testify: the doctors have conferred And I got four days more ‘til they open the door And I cast myself a porcelain Atlas Shattered and cracked from the weight of the world And I cried and cried as I crumbled to pieces Just look at the mess I've made We'll start on this another day
14.
November's Over 05:01
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I know a girl who is in over her head But she tries her best to comfort when I slip into despair Don't imagine it was easy on her own Staying up to watch the telephone with nobody home After dark We're coming home to a mountain at our feet But it doesn't help to argue if we'll ever reach the peak And so we learn to take these steps in our own time We'll never understand the reasons why, but it's alright After all We don't have to be the ones living in fear and dismay We don't have to be the ones who would let this go to waste November's over November's over November's over November's over and done You asked me then if I had found a takeaway And though I tried my best to answer, I had nothing new to say And so I had to take some time and write it down It's nothing really magical I found But since we're here now We'd better run for our lives while we're still living And we'd better take from the world what it's still giving And if, by grace of water, the tide stays out a little longer We'll build another sandcastle for ourselves further down the shore

about

By Grace of Water is an acoustic concept album, based on a true story, about a young man's voyage to the bottom of the sea; to a magical underwater kingdom called Continia.

The story begins in a hospital bed with our protagonist in dire staits; semiconscious and subjected to arduous medical procedures he is unable to rationalize, he attempts escape from the world he knows at the tip of a syringe. Deep under the ocean, he discovers the sunken kingdom of Continia, and meets its princess, the mermaid Val'ira, who hails him as an article of prophecy. Enamored by the cult of Val'ira, the protagonist is adored and unburdened within Continia's walls, so long as he pays tribute to the princess and her father, the king. However, he soon discovers the cost of tribute to be too high; finding himself beset by paranoia and amnesia, he pleads to be returned home, whereupon he is promptly arrested. Imprisoned within his own mind, he begins his struggle to return to the surface.

This fantasy serves as an allegory for the allure of narcotics, and the journey of grief, dependence, recovery, and acceptance. Singer-songwriter Mitch Allen wrote By Grace of Water about his own experience recovering from traumatic injury, after an industrial chemical fire on Halloween of 2016 left him hospitalized with third-degree burns across nearly half of his body. Interspersed with the fantasy, you'll find powerful autobiographical accounts of Mitch's month-long stay in the burn ward.

credits

released October 31, 2019

Written and performed by Mitch Allen
Recorded and produced by Pete Shimshock

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Mitch Allen San Francisco, California

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