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small goals

by vaughn montgomery

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1.
the red day 01:32
2.
small goals 04:11
i’m a man of small goals. i haven’t changed much. i look up to curious georges & raggedy annes. i want a rooster & hens; a spot on a beach without plans. i want to stand up, dancin’ with a form that’s changin’ as it comes & breaks & goes; on until it’s foam & on until it’s wind that’s blowin’. i got a fully grown frame. i got undeveloped film. i still don’t know what’s with my carburetor, but what’s with my car is with baton rouge. i’m a bum on the way. i’m in other people’s jeans. i’m happiest fallin’ asleep, but i want to want to wake, leave the dreamin’ world, climb out the window & jump on the hill. i want to stand still on a changin’ form.
3.
casual karen 04:25
hey there casual karen, i just want to tell you already i love you. i guess i left my mouth open, you jumped in & said i love you. eyes for sharin’ light & realizing all our years were right. we live to die, but long enough in your eyes & i can see more; see some seeds are slowly growin’. karen, karen, yeffa shelli; yeffa shalom shelli. hey there, now you’re the first girl & every woman i ever loved; somehow already you’re more; already you’re more: each creature of the earth; planets under water & higher. i could lose more; lose my seagull eyes & whorin’. karen, karen, yeffa shelli; yeffa shalom shelli. .
4.
pigeons, circlin’, soar before the rain clouds, & great white & grey metal whales shoot slow & vacuum loud, people from places to places, the earth & the wires shake; & the sky looms. & the wind has cleared a light. my lady runs into the kitchen light. & the sky shines. found it, you found it, the lost little pig’s back among kin; to trotter & sider down in the cork forest yonder; with lady odetta, the driftwoods & wine colored hills & valleys; & the sky looms. & bird wails change. & dizzy easy tumbles it. & roy & tommy take it dancin’. & bud with a smile crumbles it. & the sky... pigeons circlin’ more before the clearing closes. & i can’t remember the summit.
5.
dear daniel 05:37
dear daniel, easy angel, water rider, of the wind. tending urchin off the island. tending hearts of the land. i offer you hands to end the branches, holding leaves that could be friends. & a bird song to the same old still young sun. will as you will, daniel. & while while you while. there’s a tide for every sorrow, & a turn for every smile. in the mid-day mail, in a tube from you, there’s more than bulk green tea: a holy cardboard story, & a little tangerine, & a little look-hole rock, & a little genie house with a red door knob. emma wood if she could. you offer me one fin, two fins, four fins, five. 83 fins if it keeps me alive. & a black and white, from the fish’s side, of your no fin glide. give as you give, daniel, & go. here’s a song for the long train, whistlin’ through the snow.
6.
i set out a ramblin’ one day. across the ocean i did go. why i left a no one can say, except the girl who laid me low. i set out a ramblin’ one day. i grabbed my hat & old blue coat. for my soul my momma pray, & i hope the good lord take a note. got out a ramblin’, found me italy. got a meal & some leather shoes. lost one on the shore of tripoli, & i got those one shoe ramblin’ blues. tell me momma, what’s the other half? should i go back for that other shoe? should i come home to you? should i go on from you? she said something strange: there aint no other half to the blues.
7.
active day 02:33
active day for the squirrels, up & down the ladder, between their ceiling home & the landlord’s winter garden. perhaps the sound of him fiddlin’ with the water pipes; perhaps the ghostly light; perhaps a scrap to glean from a thrown out christmas tree. on the last day of the year, it’s just about the shortest day. it’s an active day. it isn’t quite the longest night. not quite, but it’s here.
8.
“it doesn’t break my heart, but it aches a little, to hear you talk about the way the hours fleet & fade, & gain & pass, yes, even lovely you some day. electric thunder rains beat any fireworks. i’m cleaning up & messin’ round with your wine in my grape juice; but even when the sun is on the rain it’s hard to find a rainbow in this city. we kissed beside the car. i asked you to take care of karen for me. we waved through the tinted glass. & only then began the inner, welling sea of anything.”
9.
a ship i’ve got in the north country; it goes by the name of the golden vanity; & i fear she’ll be taken by a spanish galilee; as she sails by the lowlands low... to the captain then upspake the little cabin boy; said what is my fee if the galley i destroy? the spanish galilee, if no more it shall annoy; as she sails by the lowlands low... of silver & of gold i will give to thee a store, & my pretty little daughter that dwelleth on the shore; of treasure & of fee as well, i’ll give to thee galore; as she sails by the lowlands low... then the cabin boy did swim all to the starboard side; saying messmates take me in i’m drifting with the tide; & they laid him on the deck & he closed his eyes & died; as they sailed by the lowlands low...
10.
11.
i used to go to the mountains with violet, rose & iris. i’d watch them bloom for hours, violet, rose & iris. have you ever felt a night in the mountains with violet, rose & iris? have you ever heard the pine trees cry like fountains? i love all mountain flowers, violet, rose & iris. they make me smile for hours, violet, rose & iris. but joy like this dies with the embers, violet, rose & iris. girls grow weary under their blossoms. now i sing the old songs about violet, rose & iris. now i sing the whole night along about violet, rose & iris. & sometimes i catch the breezes full of violet, rose & iris. & sometimes i cry like the pine trees... violet, rose & iris.

about

a group of songs, mostly from my time in new york, that i started recording in austin in 2007. then i took them back to brooklyn & added some sounds, moved back to california with casual karen, who was quite uncasual on the long road home. my el camino became an icy thrift store on wheels. i spent way too many hours editing some of the overdubs, got married & had a baby, got busy & uninspired about the idea of turning on a hard drive, added more sounds in venice & ojai, edited more, moved again, mixed more, got sick enough of telling people that it was almost done for five years to finally get it all set for the final mixing session. that happened about six times & my uncle almost killed me, but the album was done. now our family's been blessed with another baby, & have kicked out the 5 year old monkey named "small goals" that was stuck to my back. he's here & there on the world wild web, hoping you'll hear him & toss him a dime. thanks for reading & listening. soul long. vaughn

credits

released August 24, 2012

produced by vaughn montgomery & emile millar.
mixed by michael lennon & vaughn montgomery
all songs were written by vaughn montgomery,
except "one shoe blues" (words: jacob berman & vaughn montgomery, music: vaughn montomery),
"the golden vanity" (words: traditional, music: vaughn montgomery)
& "violet, rose & iris" (words: teddy macker, music: vaughn montgomery & robert stillman)
all songs published by little big here music (ascap) 2012

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vaughn montgomery Ojai, California

i'm not sure if i know who i am. or maybe it's just strange to try to say. i guess the songs can tell you better than i can. thanks for every thing.

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