Name: The Awful Rowing
Duration: P00H04M27S
Description: I wrote this song about Anne Sexton and her poem "The Awful Rowing Toward God" and some women I met and some friends I miss and some people who needed some things and didn't know how to ask.

The Awful Rowing

from The Awful Rowing EP by Hardworker

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about

I wrote this song about Anne Sexton and her poem "The Awful Rowing Toward God" and some women I met and some friends I miss and some people who needed some things and didn't know how to ask.

lyrics

Anne took a long slog
Across that wide, grey gulf.
The awful rowing toward God
On the faraway shore
Left everybody else
Took bread and wine
And no one to bless
Took no photographs
So there’s no one to miss.

Forgive me daughter
For I have sinned.
The awful rowing toward God.
Got myself lost
Got myself up a creek
Got into the woods
Got to get myself free.
Can’t worry about you
When I’m worried about me.

She’s sweating blood, but won’t call out for help
Your arms will get tired just from carrying yourself.
Sun in your eyes and the ache in your throat.
There’s nowhere to hide in an open boat.
And for all your precious knowing,
There’s no other life but the awful rowing.

They buried me
And the baby together
The awful rowing toward God.
I grew and I strained
At the choke of the tether,
Made lists and meals
And a show of my best
Found no sleep in the bed
Where they laid me to rest.

She’s sweating blood, but won’t call out for help
Your arms will get tired just from carrying yourself.
Sun in your eyes and the ache in your throat.
There’s nowhere to hide in an open boat.
And for all your precious knowing,
There’s no other life but the awful rowing.

I took a long slog
But my arms are tired
The awful rowing toward God.
The worst part is knowing
I’ll never arrive.
The awful rowing.

credits

from The Awful Rowing EP, released September 11, 2015

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about

Hardworker Durham, North Carolina

Hardworker is a rock band from Durham, North Carolina. The band took its present shape in 2015 when Sus Long and Mike Conner traded in their acoustic folk duo for something a bit louder with guitarist Danny Nowell. Their 2017 release, Go Alone was produced by Alex Bingham and engineered by Mitch Easter at the Fidelitorium in Kernersville, NC. ... more

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