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Why Do We Want What We Want

by Karen & the Sorrows

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1.
What’s past is past I had a dream that this could be true It didn’t last All of the past bled right through Each cell inside me singing back to that very first sea Will I ever get free? Why do we want what we want When it don’t give a damn if we’re safe? Why do we want what we want When it spits right back in our face? Why do we cry when it’s gone When we know we ought to pray To be saved From what we want I tear it out Deep as I can, down to the root It grows right back Covers me up with its horrible blooms My mama’s mama’s mama’s mama all just like me Am I the one to get free? Why do we want what we want When it don’t give a damn if we’re safe? Why do we want what we want When it spits right back in our face? Why do we cry when it’s gone When we know we ought to pray To be saved From what we want
2.
Emissary 03:46
Why would you bring me here? To this place of fire To this place of tears When I would travel any star but here? If this is where I exist If something tore so deep that it can’t be fixed Help me find the faith to live with it We can’t give you what you won’t give yourself no We can’t give you what you won’t give yourself no We can’t make you into someone else I thought my path was clear I could walk a line through my darkest years Ah but I was only ever here If this is where I exist If something tore so deep that it can’t be fixed Help me find the faith to live with it We can’t give you what you won’t give yourself no We can’t give you what you won’t give yourself no So let this make you into someone else Someone else Let this make you someone else
3.
The Gone 04:41
Down, down down Down beneath where you thought the bottom ends Down where there ain’t even one spec of light Where the weight of the water will give you the bends They say what if the dark is the cave where we’re born? What if the dark is the way we transform? Oh but what if the dark don’t mean nothin’ ‘Cept it ain’t the dawn Why don’t the gone stay gone? Why don’t the gone stay gone? Stay gone Stay gone I bind your book with twine Then go to the river like the witches said I make a sign that means don’t you come back Then I throw it down off of the ledge What if I’m cursed? What if I’m blessed? What if there’s nobody else who comes next? Oh what if this all don’t mean nothin’ ‘Cept there’s nothing left Why don’t the gone stay gone? Why don’t the gone stay gone? Stay gone Stay gone If you ain’t gonna fade Guide my way, guide my way Oh my ghost of the waves Am I drowned or am I saved? Are you my faith? Why don’t the gone stay gone? Why don’t the gone stay gone? Stay gone Stay gone
4.
Well I know what you dreamed That love would keep you warm, make you safe Make you seen And I know how you feel That if you’re hurtin’ and alone It wasn’t real But baby that ain’t part of the deal ‘Cause people love you the way they love you Not the way you need to be loved What they’ve lost What they’ve been through I know you think you have a say But it ain’t true Now that don’t mean that it’s right Or that people never change Well they just might But I know that their hearts Ain’t always got the skill it takes To play their part Sometimes it just ain’t in the cards ‘Cause people love you the way they love you Not the way you need to be loved What they’ve lost What they’ve been through Sometimes to walk away is All that you can do But oh a greater love It’s on its way It’s on its way It’s nothing like you dreamed of But it’s on its way It’s on its way It’s on its way ‘Cause people love you the way they love you Not the way you need to be loved What you’ve lost What you’ve been through Sometimes holding on is all that you can do Sometimes holding on’s the best That you can do
5.
Kol Nidre 04:55
I’m back here again Stuck with this heart That never quite mends But maybe that’s all that I need in the end People will come and they’ll go And you can’t even guess at their pain and their hopes Oh everything’s broke and we don’t even know Why do we want what we want? Does anyone know how to turn this thing off? Its busted pipes rattling like bones all night long Why don’t the gone stay gone? Why do these ghosts keep singing me songs? If nothing lasts why won’t they let me move on? All that you vowed All that you swore All that you promised Ain’t promised no more

credits

released September 19, 2023

All songs written and produced by Karen Pittelman

Recorded by Charles Burst at Studio G Brooklyn, NY

Mixed by Charles Burst and Karen Pittelman

Mastered by Paul Gold at Salt Mastering, Brooklyn, NY

Cover art by Claire Joyce-Johnson

Karen Pittelman: vocals
Charles Burst: drums and percussion
Andrea Asprelli: backing vocals and banjo
Ross Martin: acoustic guitar
Larry Cook: bass
Cole Quest Rotante: dobro
Grant Ziolkowski: mandolin
J.B. Flatt: Hammond and piano
Rima Fand: fiddle

Special thanks to Dave Speranza and Olivia Ellen Lloyd

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©2023 Ocean Born Mary Music (ASCAP)

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Karen & the Sorrows Brooklyn, New York

“Like Gram Parsons, Pittelman peels away the superficiality that much of country music has embraced and looks deep into its soul, its history, and its stories and makes it all her own.”—No Depression

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