Barnfire
(B. Mosley)
appears on Light & Blood
This song was written as a birthday present to my inceptive muse—the person who knew I’d been a ranch hand, ballet dancer, stockbroker, actor, computer programmer, Pilates instructor, then art handler—who heard me play the guitar and sing a song after we had finished rehearsing a scene for an acting showcase, and immediately said, “Oh…THAT’S what you do.” Seeing me much more clearly than I could at the time, she pointed me in the direction of who I was.
I first recorded it using a Sony Walkman DAT recorder in an old classroom of the old P.S. 64 building in the East Village in NYC – when Charas/El Bohio Community & Cultural Center squatted there and hired out the space for rehearsals and such. I dubbed that recording to a cassette and gave it to her as a gift. Years later, I located that demo recording on a hard drive—it is slated for a future release of basement tapes & embryonic/previously-unreleased material.
The title, and the lyrics referring to a barn, come from a poem by 17th Century samurai and poet Mizuta Masahide. After watching his barn burn to the ground, he wrote:
“Barn’s burnt down—
now
I can see the moon.”
•
I’m gonna jump on the raw side
Gonna break my clock, I swan
I’m on fire in a rain storm
Chokin’ while I’m shinin’
The way I fly by
Figured the same gone time
On my way in the window
Got a handjob and a stop sign
Get away from that slobbering father
And farm out all those listen to me’s
Set my blood on fire and burn the barn down
Turn the whole thing lose
I’m gonna get it all but said
And if the words are gonna fail me
I’ll just sail along this lonesome road alone
Either way gonna be really fine really soon
Since the barn burned down
Now I can see the moon
Before my big alone time
I seen a way for it to come to something
My own picture show
Worried waste afraid to thump on it
Begin to sop up the real-born
Chalk up and spot your cue
Get on top and make room
For the shot that we know we’re due
Get away from that slobbering father
And farm out all those listen to me’s
Set my blood on fire and burn the barn down
Turn the whole thing lose
I’m gonna get it all but said
And if the words are gonna fail me
I’ll just sail along this lonesome road alone
Either way gonna be really fine really soon
Since the barn burned down
Now I can see the moon
She’s up in the air where I found her
Crying for trying
Firing right into the ground
Hanging off the time
I’m not about a piece of pie
See how shy I get
Bust open my bubble just to hear it
Suppose there’s no telling yet
Get away from that slobbering father
And farm out all those listen to me’s
Set my blood on fire and burn the barn down
Turn the whole thing lose
I’m gonna get it all but said
And if the words are gonna fail me
I’ll just sail along this lonesome road alone
Either way gonna be really fine really soon
Since the barn burned down
Now I can see the moon