An ode to innocence. A lullaby about the loss and nostalgia for innocence - for having your whole future in front of you. The fifth single from The Art of Tactful Procrastination.
Release Date: October 15, 2021
Addie Addie
Once upon a time
Shadows stretching
From the coconut trees we've climbed
Baby Addie
Jungle walls
And fireflies
Count the zebras
In the skies
While I tuck you in
Tonight
Addie Addie
A moment is not enough
Slow is steady
Promise you won’t grow up
Beautiful Addie
As the day begins to wane
There’s no need to be afraid
When you’re whispering my name
When twilight’s gone
Feel the room become your world
Turn the moonlight on
And let the stars twirl
Addie Addie
It’s getting darking now
The sun is setting
Time to lay your head down
Darling Addie
When the thunder starts to creep
I’ll be there to help you sleep
Snuggled up, your soul to keep
Dream who you may one day be
While the night bends to your will
Time goes by so easily
When your heartbeat won’t keep still
Addie Addie
My little Adita
When you wake up
To the birds
Sing a song
They’ve never heard
They'll hang on your
Every word
And they'll remind you
Who you were
There's nobody here
And the names are forgotten
The silence is clear
And the shambles are rotten
All the lines you thought you'd toed
Come to find they're on this road
Oh what you leave out
When you won't think out loud
There's nobody here
Not a shadow is walking
There's nothing to fear
When the angels are talking
Every lie that scars the ground
Comes from someone else's mouth
When you have no doubts
That’s when the knives come out
There's nobody here
And the sky is done falling
The stillness is near
And it moves without stalling
Through the wake of whispered breeze
Just to kiss the tombstone trees
When you figure out
What you can't stop now
There's nobody here
And the wounds will not heal
There's nary a tear
When the fallen don't feel
You can run until you crawl
But you can't rise if you can't fall
Until you figure out
What you can live without
There's nobody here
And the echoes are knocking
But there's nothing to fear
When the angels are talking
All those lines you thought you'd toed
Come to linger on this road
Oh what you leave out
When you don't think out loud
Ender Bowen's long-awaited album The Art of Tactful Procrastination!
RELEASED NOVEMBER 5, 2021
Tracklisting
This started out as a little lullaby melody I had in my head one night while rocking baby Addie to sleep in the rocking chair in her room. This might have even started, then, before demo work for the album began, in summer of 2014. I even had the main "Addie, Addie" idea right away.
"Addie" in a lot of ways is supposed to be the "clarity" moment of the album. Earlier, in "Still No Closer To Tomorrow", and in "The Art of Tactful Procrastination", the singer laments that nobody knows his name. But in this song the line that he sings, "there's no need to be afraid, when you're whispering my name", implies that in fact someone does know his name, and that is a clue to what really matters.
Similarly, there's a line "when the thunder starts to creep", which foreshadows "The Storm" later on.
I also wanted this to be a kind of love letter to my daughter. So when she gets older there's some time stamps and some "moment" stamps. Things like "count the zebras in the skies" and "the coconut trees we've climbed" reference her stuffed zebra (which she always had on her) and one of her favorite books "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom", respectively. Whereas "turn the moonlight on and let the stars twirl" reference this glowing moon light that would hang on her wall, and a twirling star light that would sit on her dresser.