House of Eternal Return
Album Details
this song was co-written by amanda palmer & jason webley insipred by – and in honor of – Meow Wolf’s “House of Eternal Return”, a “unique art experience featuring a wild new form of non-linear storytelling which unfolds through exploration, discovery and 21st century interactivity”, in Santa Fe New Mexico.
“The House is a 20,000 square foot art exhibit designed by the Meow Wolf collective. There are dozens of rooms, secret passages and interactive light and musical objects with which guests can play for hours or investigate the mystery of the Selig family, who disappeared one night after conducting a forbidden experiment inside their Victorian mansion. Who were the Seligs? Where did they go? and why is their home overrun by figures in white lab coats?”
learn more about the house HERE.
meowwolf.com/santa-fe/
this song was powered by over 11,000 patrons supporting us on patreon.com/amandapalmer. join the community and help us make more art…it’s an amazing group and WE. ARE. THE. MEDIA.
lyrics
LYRICS
millions of us standing atop
millions of snow covered mountains
planting our flags, thrusting them in
waving our arms to be counted
but who is the woman alone in the kitchen
frozen in front of an easel
she looks like a portrait
of somebody’s grandmother
still frame image retrieval
standing there still
house on a hill
after so many transmissions
telephone wires tangle the roof
but the origin story is missing
the origin story is missing
she hasn’t gone out in twenty-five years
caged under plaster and ivy
her eyes fix on something out on the horizon
a mountain of leaves gathered drying
to burn to burn to burn
look at this view, look all around
tied to the deck that our dad made
there’s no room to move and we’re so proud
yes they made ‘em like that in the old days
they made em like that in the old days
retracing patterns
with new coats of paint
fenced in by albums and journals
and they’re pulling her back
they keep drawing her in
into the house of eternal
return, return, return
house of eternal return
house of eternal return
house of eternal return
retracing patterns
the path to the door
she thinks of the hands of her father
laying down floor joists
framing up walls
one board after the other
one board after the other
there’s nowhere to rest in this cumbersome cavity
crushed under mortalness sadness and gravity
peeling off layers of skin cracked and blistering
scattering seeds, making scratches on history
head shoulders knees and toes, only the prophet knows
why we were planned obsolescent with vertigo
ridden like animals, flailing our tentacles
searching for shelter in derelict ventricles
she crosses the threshold, runs up the stairs
races through bedrooms and hallways
she stops at the canvas, a faithful depiction
the house she’s been entering always
the house she’s been entering always
circling round heavenward bound,
a hundred and forty four thousand
this flesh isn’t right, the fit is too tight
this can’t be our permanent housing
this can’t be our permanent housing
this can’t be our permanent housing
house of eternal return
house of eternal return
house of eternal return
house of eternal return
credits
House of Eternal Return
By Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley
(C) 2018 by Eight Foot Music (ASCAP) and Music That Tears Itself Apart (SESAC).Amanda Palmer: Vocals, Wurlitzer
Jason Webley: Vocals, wine glasses, Rhodes, percussion
Additional vocals and whispers by the Electric-Blanket-Video-Shoot-Wrap-Party ChoirBasic tracks engineered by Chris Bittner at Applehead Studio in Woodstock, NY.
Additional recording and mixing by Jason Webley.
Mixed and mastered by Jherek Bischoff
Special thanks to Ken Bogdanowicz, Chris Poage, Hoku Uchiyama, Matt Miller, and Vanishing Angle Film Studio
Original watercolor painting by Bayla Arietta
www.baylaart.com