After Janelle Monáe’s democracy-themed Turntables, two extraordinary new songs by the American singer-songwriter from his forthcoming album The Ascension, the first described as "a protest song against the sickness of American culture … a 12-minute rumination on disillusionment, suffering, and loss of faith in the nation”, the second its B-side, is more a questioning of cult practice on the supposed path of enlightenment, where the cult leader, “my Rajneesh”, promises more than he can deliver. This clearly reverberates back into figures in politics and popular culture. These songs, floating somewhere between folk, electronica and classical, including a strange, stormy coda section on America, were written around the same time as Stevens’ acclaimed album Carrie & Lowell. His music is released on the Asthmatic Kitty Records label.
Is it love you’re after?
A sign of the flood or one more disaster
Don’t do to me what you did to America
Don’t do to me what you did to America
I have loved you, I have grieved
I’m ashamed to admit I no longer believe
I have loved you, I received
I have traded my life
For a picture of the scenery
Don’t do to me what you did to America
Don’t do to me what you did to America
I give it all up in laughter
The sign of the cross awaiting disaster
The dove flew to me like a vision of paranoia
The dove flew to me like a vision of paranoia
I have loved you like a dream
I have kissed your lips like a Judas in heat
I have worshipped, I believed
I have broke your bread for a splendor of machinery
Don’t look at me like I’m acting hysterical
Don’t look at me like I’m acting hysterical
I have worshipped, I have cried
I have put my hands in the wounds on your side
I have tasted of your blood
I have choked on the waters, I abated the flood
I am broken, I am beat
But I will find my way like a Judas in heat
I am fortune, I am free
I’m like a fever of light in the land of opportunity
Don’t do to me what you did to America
(Don’t do to me what you do to yourself)
Don’t do to me what you did to America
(Don’t do to me what you do to yourself …
After the storm, we shaved our legs to the skin
Into the snow, our footprints showed where we'd been
They gave us names, they said my name means war
Dwelling in song, the lion and the lamb were restored
Illumination, accede my need, my Rajneesh
Hallucination, accede my need, my Rajneesh
I lit a fire and drank off the breath of his kiss
My tambourine affirmed by the dance of his wrist
Mystical star, burn bright like the tail of a dog
And now we are blessed with the righteousness of the Lord
Illumination, accede my need, my Rajneesh
Hallucination, accede my need, my Rajneesh
Illumination, accede my need, my Rajneesh
Hallucination, accede my need, my Rajneesh
Illumination, accede my need, my Rajneesh
Hallucination, accede my need, my Rajneesh
I'm on the path of love, I'm on a parrot
Possess me with prayer on the bluff
I'm on a task for God
Entheogen, you lift me within Upanishad
Bright as a thunderbird, singing
You stare at the sun to see the sublime
Forgetting the light that makes you go blind
Osho you ask of us singing
If courage is love of the unknown
Consider the powers parading you home
I'm on the path of love saying
You stand in the shade to feel it was blessed
Obscuring from light the seeds you possess
I'm on the path of trust, singing
Whatever it takes, receive of the light
Terror will take whatever it likes
(In your favour)
Stare at the sun to see the sublime
Forgetting the light that makes you go blind
(In your favour)
Whatever it takes receive of the light
Terror will take whatever it likes
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