Shake the Sky

from Absurdity Under by Tim Koehn

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Chorus inspired by the following poem by Sandra Cisneros (via her 15-year-old protagonist, Esperanza, in The House on Mango Street):

I want to be
like the waves on the sea,
like the clouds in the wind,
but I'm me.

One day I'll jump
out of my skin.
I'll shake the sky
like a hundred violins.

lyrics

Yesterday evening we were screaming
and ready to kill
all these blind bastards just for breathing
and honking until

A man on a rickshaw started singing
(we'll take what we get).
Like Esperanza, now we're weeping
in the midst of these bricks.

Something lovely grows loud around me...

Shake the sky, you hundred violins!
Someday I'll be free of me, and I'll jump right out of my skin.
I starts to begin...
Shake the sky, you hundred violins!
Someday I'll be free of me, and I'll jump right out of my skin.
I starts, then it ends...

Coconut palm fronds: great green feathers,
the roof for a pile
of cats on a hot tin roof (they're playing
and making me smile).

Their cradle is secret like the barbet's
on top of the palm:
he makes a tok-tok-tok for no one,
and it's making me calm.

Something lovely grows loud around me...

Shake the sky, you hundred violins!
Someday I'll be free of me, and I'll jump right out of my skin.
I starts to begin...
Shake the sky, you hundred violins!
Someday I'll be free of me, and I'll jump right out of my skin.
I starts, then it ends...

credits

from Absurdity Under, released March 12, 2015
Tim Koehn: vocals, guitars, percussion
Simon Cooke: piano
Ross Bradley: trumpet

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about

Tim Koehn Nicosia, Cyprus

Tim Koehn, currently based in Cyprus, teaches for a living but writes and makes music any chance he gets.

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