Get all 15 Tom Alter releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Dispatch from the Lesser Middle, Last Season in the Lesser Middle, Love and All That Comes With It, Chaos in the USA, Poetry and Protest, One Year in the Lesser Middle, Songs For An American Hero, Wading in the Lesser Middle, and 7 more.
1. |
Prelude
00:40
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2. |
The Lesser Middle
03:26
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Give me oxygen,
I'm the fourth of five children,
I'm the lesser middle.
Like a cat with no home,
I've no place to go,
I'm the lesser middle.
I keep hearing that
Lies ain't lies.
They keep telling me
Lies ain't lies.
You tell me take a side,
That there's no room for compromise.
Get out of the
Lesser middle,
But lies are lies.
Even if you want to believe,
Lies are lies.
Lies are lies
Even if you want to believe.
Lies are lies.
Don't indoctrinate me,
I'll never totally agree
From the lesser middle.
Beyond your black and white
There's plenty of gray that's right
In the lesser middle.
Stop telling me
Your lies ain't lies.
Even if you want to believe,
Your lies are lies.
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3. |
Fringes
04:30
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Grandfather
Remembering
Uncles sit
Arguing
Purgatory and venial sin,
Backroom snits on politics.
In the end, in the end...
Still family.
Democrat and
Delegate
Leaning right
Republicans
Talking rule of law and welfare state
And merits of marginal rates
In the end, in the end...
Still family.
Now Fringes
On the edge.
Fringes
Pull the thread.
And once you start
It's hard to bring it back again.
Once you start
Can't fix it.
This discourse seems to be
No use of listening.
Why should I be listening
If you'll never agree with me?
Is this the end of what we lived?
Waning strength when no one gives.
Now we may as well just draw
A Mason Dixon line across our heart.
In the end, in the end, in the end,
In the end, in the end,
Are we still family?
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4. |
Cathedral Notre Dame
02:48
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Well I've never been to Paris
And strolled the river Seine
But I always hoped to someday.
And it's never been our purpose
To cause each other pain,
But we always seem to do so each day.
Now I watch the flames shoot up
From Cathedral Notre Dame.
Burning from the inside out,
Spires falling from the ground.
I'm reminded of the flag and stone,
We each claim as our own
While community is breaking down
Like Cathedral Notre Dame.
So hard to watch the TV screen,
We've fallen so far down
It's just too sad to think about
Cathedral Notre Dame.
But now the word has changed, they say
500 fighters saved enough
To build her back someday.
And I'm thinking,
How many million
Will it take to turn around?
What will it take to salvage us
Like Cathedral Notre Dame?
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5. |
Corinth
03:17
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This once was a place
This was once a home
A land where family thrived
Working to the bone.
This once was a place and now I stand here alone.
This once was a place
Where travelers met,
A crossroads to a place
To settle in.
This once was a place and now I stand here alone.
This location
So vacated
In time, so outta mind.
Erased heartbreak
Short lived memories
In time, so outta mind.
This once was a place thought worth fighting for.
For reasons seemed to be remembered no more.
This once was a place and now I stand here alone.
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6. |
Interlude
00:44
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7. |
Questions
02:24
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Why does this war go on?
The argument is so far gone.
Year after year, why does this war go on?
Why is your anger strong?
The one you fight has done you no wrong.
As the decades roll, why does this war roll on?
I understand ambivalence,
Fearing an unknown.
But if you let an ignorance
Identify your life,
So much you'll never know.
Centuries carry on
And this ragged old war grows on so long.
Why accept so easily
This pain that could be gone?
Why accept so easily
The pain that could be gone?
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8. |
I Choose To Do
01:26
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I can choose to do.
I can choose to do good.
I can choose to do
What I want to do.
And I choose to feed the birds.
And I choose to feed the birds.
And I choose to feed the birds.
And I choose to do.
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Tom Alter Detroit, Michigan
Tom Alter is a singer-songwriter based in Detroit. The influences of jazz, folk, pop, and Latin genres are found in his
original compositions. Tom's lyrics mix world events with the affect on his personal ideals. He has released 3 EPs and 2 albums since 2019. His work can be found on digital and streaming music platforms. He is also a member of the duo After Blue.
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