No Moon, by Spoon Jackson

No Moon

by Spoon Jackson

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Only 70 copies of first edition! Listen to this lo-fi masterpiece on cassette! With j-card featuring lyrics.

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1.	Look Away 01:07	lyrics	buy track
It took a life sentence to show me how to love today It took a life sentence to show me how to look away So close your eyes if you don’t like the color of my skin Close your eyes if you are not willing to look within It used to bother me what you had to say I would meet hate for hate It took a life sentence to show me how to forgive It took a life sentence to show me how to live So close your ears if you don’t like my voice Close your heart if you don’t like my love It took a life sentence to show me how to give It took a life sentence to show me how to love Look away if you don’t like the color of my skin Better yet, look within, for I will love you anyways
2.	Sag 02:22	lyrics	buy track
How do I hold my temper in keeping my grace How do I hold my temper in keeping my grace And not become bitter and stuck in this infamous place I remember even at seven I dreamed of a better place A better race than a human race Stuck in this infamous place without a trace Only a history of misery and indentured slavery I pledge no allegiance to this flag And free I let my pants sag (Free, I let my pants sag) I am the little black boy’s soul, taken from his mother’s bosom and sold While the old ones still linked to Africa kill The white ones with their heads down and eyes closed Stuck in this infamous place without a trace Only a history of misery and indentured slavery I pledge no allegiance to this flag and free, I let my pants sag (I let my pants sag) I am John Lennon who spoke of one race and of one place I am Mother Teresa who came to death row (I am Mother Teresa who came to death row) Unafraid of any gunner I am Martin Luther King Jr. Shot down on the balcony in the midst of his dream I am Malcolm X betrayed by the beastly and burnt surreptitiously Stuck in this infamous place without a trace Only a history of misery and indentured slavery (I pledge no allegiance to this flag and free, I let my pants sag) I am the one not mentioned in your constitution as human Not allowed to vote until it made no difference Job is just a two thousand and three year old metaphor A true warrior was a slave, and John brown the true hero of the brave I am Emmett Till, hung from a old beautiful southern willow tree Stuck in this infamous place without a trace Only a history of misery and indentured slavery I pledge no allegiance to this flag and free, I let my pants sag Free, I let my pants sag
3.	Hard But True 02:19	lyrics	buy track
Hard but true I had just turned twenty, a first termer, Who had never been in any major trouble before I sat in a jail cell and waited months on an all-white jury to decide on a death sentence or life in prison I could not relate to either one The jury could not decide between a slow death Or a quick one I am being killed by a slower execution than the people on death row It’s like I was covered in sugar syrup and layed out on an anthill In essence, people on death row and life sentences both await death After a few years, death row prisoners are given an execution date A certified notice of when they will be killed I had a hung jury and a judge gave me life in prison without parole Looking back decades later there had been no second chance for me Even though that kid I was who did the crime died more than forty years ago And I’m here I’m not on death row, cuz I know that after ten or twenty years of waiting The person being executed most of the time is not the same man or woman who did the crime The killing of that prisoner results in just one less mouth to feed in prison But there has been no justice served Most likely that lost soul who may have been guilty or not Has found and transformed themselves into a thinking, caring, and deeper human being
4.	Dance 02:52	lyrics	buy track
Well ah most of my girlfriends been bi And I try to encourage them to get another girl before If you’re not strong enough to accept her life that’s on you You shouldn’t even be with her, that’s the way I feel Baby you held my hand, and I held yours back And you told me that I was a good man and that I’d understand My girlfriend has a girlfriend and that’s okay, ‘cause I’m freaky that way My girlfriend has a girlfriend and that’s okay, ‘cause I’m freaky that way The sun flares, the wind’s gust, it’s natural for gulls to make a fuss You are my girl and when I dream of you, you rock my world My girlfriend has a girlfriend and that’s okay, ‘cause I’m freaky that way You are my girl, and we you dance I can see you together, in your own world The world stands still I saw you hug, I saw you kiss, I saw you dance together in the mist You still have my heart because I love you, and wouldn’t do nothing to pull you apart My girlfriend has a girlfriend and I don’t care how far down they go My girlfriend has a girlfriend and that’s okay, ‘cause I’m freaky that way And I see you together in a spectacular way [This call and your telephone number will be monitored and recorded] Computer lady, getting down, dirty, funky Some fish could change sex at will Others can make babies on their own And when my girl spreads her wings and fly That’s okay because we touch the sky And I don’t care what people think, I don’t care what they say, I don’t care what they feel If you want me to stay I will The moon beckons you to dance Sometimes pulling you into a trance My girlfriend has a girlfriend and that’s okay, ‘cause I’m freaky that way Baby I’m freaky that way, So dance baby dance, Dance baby dance Dance baby dance Dance baby dance
5.	Computer Lady 02:46	lyrics	buy track
This call, this call will be monitored and recorded This call, this call will be monitored and recorded This call, this call will be monitored and recorded This call, this call will be monitored and recorded You have anything to do with prison, you know… Computer woman wants to be treated like a lady But her voice is so cold, rude, and shady She will cut you off and the middle of grieving In the middle of loving, in the middle of leaving This call, this call will be monitored and recorded GTL, your computer daddy, can go straight to hell Unfeeling, uncaring, no human in your voice 60 seconds is your choice Computer woman wants to be treated like a lady But her voice is so cold, rude, and shady This call, this call will be monitored and recorded Will be monitored – Invading conversations like weeds to a flower party And recorded. You have no real concept of time, how flexible it could be, Just a figment of the imagination that cannot be bought or sold There’s nothing more important to the computer lady than to tell you, You have sixty seconds to love She will cut you off and the middle of grieving In the middle of loving, in the middle of leaving This call, this call will be monitored and recorded Computer lady and your daddy GTL can go straight to hell Invading conversations like weeds to a flower party So be ready, because the computer lady is quite rude, distant, and shady And your daddy GTL can go straight to hell This call, this call will be monitored and recorded This call, this call will be monitored and recorded
6.	No Moon 02:11	lyrics	buy track
I was afraid this would happen The way that night looks with no moon The way the wind whistles off the back porch You want to love me How can I tell you I have life but I don’t have a life? What can I tell you? Shall I tell you about the bars that don’t speak? Or the razor wires that long to sever the throat? Or the cold winds that bounce off the emptiness? Should I tell you about the trees two hundred yards away Across the river of electric wire How the trees haunt me, Like the smell of barbecue Like the scent of a mountain meadow Like the sight of crimson painted toes Across the river, across the hills, There’s wine that belongs to no one What can I tell you? Should I tell you about all the lovely women I never had? Should I tell you about the moon Fading away like a piece of hard, round candy I was afraid this would happen the way the night feels with no moon The way the wind whistles off the back porch Pushing on the screen door Like ten cats, like ten mad men, fighting Like ten mad men fighting
7.	Gypsy Woman 02:01	lyrics	buy track
Gypsy woman, no one can tame Rippling waters, dancing leaves, no one can hold There’s magic in the ways you unfold I wonder how many trails you have set on fire Your sweet toes breaking new ground Gypsy woman, rippling waters, Dancing leaves, no one can hold There’s fire in your eyes, fire in your soul I wonder how you are flowing, Deep music, sweet sounds pounce, invites my soul to life There’s kindness wisdom in your verse, and blessings in your touch Visionary, simple and dynamic Deep and organic Real to the bone Your found spirit, ageless and boundless and round Gypsy woman, no one came tame Fantasy free to roam land, air, and sea If the moon flows and the wind blows Your candy apple toes on warm sands haunts me, And takes me to dreamland Just love me for a moment No strings or unholy things Hold me like a bear in fall (No strings or unholy things) Me and your love, juicy like a peach Hold me like a bear in heat And I’ll be all a better for it My heart is big and bold enough to absorb all the love To break my heart is to heal my heart (To break my heart is to heal my heart) To break my heart over and over and engulf me in your dreams Juicy like a peach Gypsy woman, rippling waters, dancing leaves, no one can hold There’s magic in your ways you unfold
8.	Love Poem 01:55	lyrics	buy track
The thought of not holding you for a moment Or a thousand years could kill me I cannot stand it, you being there When my eyes can taste you Not holding you for a moment Or a thousand years could kill I cannot stand it, you being there When my eyes can taste you Or a thousand years could I cannot stand it, you being there When my eyes can taste you The thought of not holding you for a moment Or a thousand years could kill me I cannot stand it, you being there When my eyes can taste you The thought of not holding you for a moment Or a thousand years could kill me I cannot stand it, you being there When my eyes can taste you
9.	Murder Poem 02:18	lyrics	buy track
Murder no game, You can handle the fame, but can you handle the shame The pain that never goes away A dark endless cloud, never there You think it’s some gangster fairytale The godfather, cold killer, the king of hell Swag comes from a well deep within And not from a fake, or real kill I don’t listen to hip-hop and its fake references to kill Because murder being murder is no thrill Some cold blooded killers who have never killed because Swag comes from a well deep within And not from a fake, or real kill Don’t spit to your words like killing someone is just a dream For some day you’ll wake up in prison or dead in a stream No murder is hip or cool, you a damn fool There’s no badge of honor No good feeling to kill a mother, a brother, a sister, a father The blood will never leave your hands and you’ll have bloody dreams You cats preach murder, you confessed to murder you never done You want to be hard, fake murderer, know real murder is not the way Take it from a murderer who has been dead since that day Mortality will set in one day and Karma will wake you up You can pay for a robbery You can pay for stealing You can pay for a beat down You can pay for a burglary But there is no way to fix any killing You cannot pay for murder And there is no healing No bringing back your son, you daughter, your mother, your father Murder is never okay, no matter how you spin it, or what you say You may not feel it now, but you will, someday, some way
10.	Tumbleweed 02:12	lyrics	buy track
Just a tumbleweed baby, just a tumbleweed Just a tumbleweed baby Just a tumbleweed baby, just a tumbleweed Just a tumbleweed baby Just a tumbleweed baby I know it seems cold, but for now I’m just a tumbleweed baby, meant to roam I could have stayed longer, From sun to moon And shared the last dance at the saloon But I’m just a tumbleweed, staying for just a moment to drop seed at the oasis And move on down the road That is the desert code Just a tumbleweed baby, just a tumbleweed Just a tumbleweed baby Just a tumbleweed baby, just a tumbleweed Just a tumbleweed baby I tried to stay, to be stable, but I’m not able And by nature I must roll and tumble down the road I should miss you, and dream of you Someday I’ll be back, For the road is a mandala of love Just a tumbleweed baby, just a tumbleweed But by nature the four winds unfold me And leads where I must go For now baby, I’m just a tumbleweed, standing just a moment, to drop seed Just a tumbleweed baby, just a tumbleweed Just a tumbleweed baby, Just a tumbleweed baby, just a tumbleweed Just a tumbleweed baby
11.	Touch and Go 01:49	lyrics	buy track
I’ve only been from my mom’s house to the big house I want to cut more audio and do more radio And see the New Orleans trees I want to see the railroad tracks in Arkansas That Maya Angelo still would not cross It was touch and go, IV’ed out and needled out like being stung Over and over again by healer bees I dreamed about each of my brothers that have passed on I saw angels and other cool beings Colors of rainbows It was touch and go I’ve only been from my mom’s house to the big house I want to see more of the world, and eat more good food The illness kept my body still, shackled to the bed like a dog and steel pole The illness kept my heart climbing up a hill I told my brothers, I was not yet ready to cross over Although it seemed like a delightful place If I came only to visit, please don’t make a nest for me yet I’ve only been from my mom’s house to the big house And my love ones surrounded me like heavy clouds Protecting the heart of my soul And my love once circled me like magic, as I fly above and sway with the sea The nights of illness, the nights of stillness, The moon and sun heal me The albatross, the Knight of Realness
12.	Empty Places 01:48	lyrics	buy track
At night the lights went out, The whole world turned dark Back to its original form The sun rose, Darkness was light Light darkness Airplanes crashed into each other Trains had no eyes People ran and hid They dived out of hotel windows They shot their neighbors Their sons and daughters Their husbands and wives People thought everyone else Was a thief who stole the light Hell is the empty places between the head Paradise is what was once when we were kids Sometimes the world doesn’t care what we think
13.	Turning Point 02:26	lyrics	buy track
I’ll release the past because forgiveness springs forward And hate falls back I’ll never forget what I’ve done But I cannot go back and peel back the sun I released the past and push on the gas And I’ll keep moving forward because the future will last What’s done is done, and I cannot go back and peel back the sun I’ll blaze a new trail, and I’ll never get derailed Even if hope has no wind in its sails I am not my worst act, nor will I forget the past for forgiveness springs forward And hate falls back I am not my worst act, nor will I forget the past, And I must accept it and release it for only the future lasts And I cannot go back and peel back the sun No matter what I’ve done, I cannot keep running from the past I’ll blaze a new trail, that an instant by change, peace, and love I'll blaze a new trail, and never get derailed Even when hope seems like a distant memory Passing in the night I cannot roll back time and make it right I cannot roll back the clock and go back Because the future is always forward, always in front of me No matter what I’ve done, I cannot keep running from the past I must accept it to release it Because only the future lasts And I must push on the gas And keep moving forward Because I am not my worst act Nor will I forget the past I must accept it and release it for only the future lasts And I cannot go back And peel back the sun
14.	Calla Lily 02:42	lyrics	buy track
Walking tonight, watching the plants, Sharing moments in space with them I looked inside a calla lily Saw a fat, yellow stripe, black bumblebee, Curled around the heart of the flower She is sleeping I didn’t know they slept in flowers Didn’t know they slept at all I wanted to awaken her She’s a harvest moon inside a calla lily I wanted to awaken her But I didn’t It wouldn’t be right Besides as she sleeps in peace with the sky as her blanket And cotton petals as her pillows As she sleeps undisturbed We are one The little bee sits on the window sill She is so lovely there with her big licorice black eyes Orange candy cane stripes around her sweet robust bottom She sits there with her angelic wings pinned against her body She sits there in stillness frozen by a frigid world Too cold and dark now for travel I wonder, has she gathered too much honey to make home She must be gathering warmth from the window light She must be in love She didn’t freeze, she’s moving her antennae to the beat of the morning Soon she will fly away again to go home Soon she will fly away again to gather honey Soon she will fly away again to be with someone else Soon she will fly away

about

No Moon is internationally acclaimed poet Spoon Jackson’s American magnum opus. A sprawling, spiritual soundscape which he co-created from prison, where he has been incarcerated since 1977.

Beautiful, harsh, cosmic, uplifting and hypnotic, No Moon is a collection of 14 songs, all under 3 minutes, which combine to create a compelling electronic ambient dreamland.

In the Fall of 2020, composer, filmmaker and visual artist Nicolas Snyder began speaking to Jackson through outreach from FREER Records. Spoon Jackson was a pivotal inspiration, and one of the first creative contributors to the Die Jim Crow / FREER Records project, contributing poetry, lyrics and visual art since 2014.

Snyder had a personal empathy to those doing time inside, as his father had spent two years in prison and benefited greatly from access to music.

“We spent the next two years getting to know each other and throughout that time I recorded Spoon reciting over 20 poems, which turned 14 into songs," shares Snyder. “The quality of the recordings, through a prison phone and then recorded onto an app in my phone, was very lo-fi so I leaned further into that, a bit like the quality of Alan Lomax’s Negro Prison Songs from the Mississippi State Penitentiary, where you seemingly hear the pain echoing through the cold concrete walls. I wanted to create a similar kind of atmosphere.”

The resulting record No Moon is a testament to the endless freedom of imagination, even from behind prison walls. Featuring Native American flute played by Spoon on "Turning Point" and "No Moon," as well as Jackson’s visionary recited poetry, the album is a profound musical journey which recalls the works of fiery prophetic poets throughout history such as Allen Ginsberg and Langston Hughes.

credits

released April 17, 2024

Vocals and Words by Spoon Jackson
All songs produced by Nicolas Snyder
Flute on "No Moon" and "Turning Point" by Spoon Jackson
All other samples and instruments played by Nicolas Snyder at Robincroft Studios, Los Angeles CA.
Spoon's vocals recorded over the phone from Solano Valley Prison, Vacaville CA.
Mixed by Matthew Cullen at The Catch Ranch. Catskill NY.
Mastered by Dan Millice at Dan Millice Mastering, New York NY.

Executive Produced by Fury Young
Cover photo by Albin Biblom
No Moon typeface by Kyna Payawal
Cover design by Nicolas Snyder, Kyna Payawal, and Fury Young

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about

Spoon Jackson Barstow, California

Born into a family of 15 boys in Barstow CA, Spoon Jackson was sentenced to LWOP when he was 20.
Spoon discovered himself as a writer at San Quentin; played Pozzo in the prison's production of Waiting for Godot; and has written and received awards for plays, poetry, fairy tales, short stories, essays, and a memoir during the 45+ years he has been behind bars.
No Moon is his first LP. Out 4/17/24. ... more

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