From the recording What I Heard, What I Saw
"What I Heard, What I Saw" was born from nearly a decade of wrestling with, and re-discovering, some of the stories which fed Kristen’s youth. Pulled from the pages of the gospel of Mark, these songs render flesh and bone, ache and longing to the outcasts, prophets and would-be followers that inhabit those ancient stories. More than that, the album is a confessional: a candid retelling of Kristen’s own journey stumbling through hard questions towards faith, finding meaning in the grit and dust of roads unknown. Collaborating with award-winning producer/guitarist Murray Pulver (The Bros. Landreth, Steve Bell, Red Moon Road), Kristen offers a folk meditation on these challenging narratives which have informed deep conviction and creativity among the religious and non-religious alike for generations.
Lyrics
Nineteen years we knew him
Man amongst the caves
House him with the dead
Lock him up and tuck away
Still we never saw it coming
How he’d shatter every chain
If you can’t manage to contain it
Leave it outside of the town
We always say
We always say
First thing in the morning
The men had raised the town
“We’ve never seen the dogs like this
And every stock is drowned”
So we got us armed and ready
Sure as hell what did we find
Well now he’s got up out his cave
And now he’s talking like a man
Who’s come to life
Who’s come to life
We got a dead man walking
Now he’s out and good and brave
What will it cost this town
Now that everything has changed?
With so much waiting to get out
Is anybody safe?
We always say
Did you get lost or something,
Magic-man from Galilee?
It’s like you just showed up
To shake our darkness by the teeth
Oh you know we had it covered
We had locks and gates and keys
We don’t need your kind to help us
Running business in this town
No we don’t need
Oh we don’t need
We got a dead man walking
Now he’s out and good and brave
What will it cost this town
Now that everything has changed?
With so much waiting to get out
Is anybody safe?
We always say
With so much waiting to get out
Is anybody safe?
We always say