The Life of The World in Flux

Cover of Life of the World in Flux Back of Life of the World in Flux

Title: The Life of The World in Flux
Released: 2009
Label: 4AD

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Lyrics only — sorry!

Apologies, but I haven't had the chance to annotate this album yet — if you'd like to help, please email me! This page is just a placeholder so that you can read the lyrics, and full annotations, liner notes, and the rest will come when the page is fully annotated.

Liner notes

'original sketches & abandoned drafty hallways drawn in the writing & forming of the album "the life of the world to come".

recorded in hotels, buses, living rooms and small studios in colorado, massachusetts, utah, and north carolina.

all levels left intact as chance intended.'

john darnielle: 8th sept, 2009.

The Life of the World in Flux is the bonus EP that came with early preorders of The Life of the World to Come.

Table of contents

  1. Deuteronomy 2:10
  2. Daniel 12:8 (third)
  3. Matthew 25:21
  4. 1 John 4:16
  5. Isaiah 45:23
  6. Hebrews 11:40
  7. Psalms 40:2
  8. Philippians 30:20 – 21
  9. Genesis 3:23
  10. Proverbs 6:27
  11. Romans 10:9
  12. Matthew 11:14 – 19
  13. Enoch 18:14

Deuteronomy 2:10

Deuteronomy 2:10 is annotated with The Life of the World to Come.

Daniel 12:8 (third)

Walk in the darkness, bump into things all night
Get dizzy and angry searching for some source of light
Unknown alphabets in spray paint on the street
Seek out their source and find it and fall down at his feet

Get some aspirin powders to rub into my gums
Wait for the pain to hit me, buckle when it comes
Feel it drill in like a corkscrew
Avert my eyes when the cause comes into view

Feel the fear in my chest all day
Praise you anyway

Feel the fear in my chest all day
Praise you anyway

See the road rise to the summit up ahead
Remember an old friend with a pistol to his head
When it comes my time for the laying on of hands
Let me feel the blow when it lands

Look for the secrets half-buried like trinkets in a field
Hope that the hidden things someday will be revealed
Stumble through the darkness, can't see anything at all
Whimper like a whipped dog when I fall

Feel the fear in my chest all day
Praise you anyway

Feel the fear in my chest all day
Praise you anyway

Matthew 25:21

Matthew 25:21 is annotated with The Life of the World to Come.

1 John 4:16

1 John 4:16 is annotated with The Life of the World to Come.

Isaiah 45:23

Isaiah 45:23 is annotated with The Life of the World to Come.

Hebrews 11:40

Hebrews 11:40 is annotated with The Life of the World to Come.

Psalms 40:2

Psalms 40:2 is annotated with The Life of the World to Come.

Philippians 30:20 – 21

Philippians 30:20–21 is annotated with The Life of the World to Come.

Genesis 3:23

Genesis 3:23 is annotated with The Life of the World to Come.

Proverbs 6:27

Proverbs 6:27 is annotated with The Life of the World to Come.

Romans 10:9

Romans 10:9 is annotated with The Life of the World to Come.

Matthew 11:14 – 19

"This is Matthew 11:14 – 19, alternate version. Two, three, four."

He who casts the stone can't ever do so on his own
It takes a crowd to drown a witch
Or so he said to us when he'd wriggled free and got the gun from me
Standing before us, his cracking voice rising in pitch

And then the blood that's been spilling from his eyes
Soaks through the bandages that are wrapped around his face
And just before he walks backwards through the wall
He pivots forty-five degrees to face us all
And he says, let him who has eyes to see
Take a good look at me
I'm a Mylar sheet hanging in the sun

Claude Rains in all his glory
Is not arrayed like these
Who have come to walk before us
Rising from their knees

Fighting back against their captors
Calling down the curse
Like this man whose substance is malleable
Screaming out chapter and verse

And then the blood that's been spilling from his eyes
Soaks through the bandages that are wrapped around his face
And just before he walks backwards through the wall
He pivots forty-five degrees to face us all
And he says, let him who has eyes to see
Take a good look at me
I'm a Mylar sheet hanging in the sun

Enoch 18:14

Enoch 18:14 is annotated with The Life of the World to Come.

Credits

Thanks to the inestimable Caliclimber, whose Flickr page provided the album art.

The stellar Wil Hall transcribed this entire album and is the sole reason this excellent bonus EP managed to get posted while I was overwhelmed elsewhere.

Footnotes

someday soon