FIVE: Tica Douglas / November 13, 2015 by Tica Douglas

i stayed in the sun for too long
the salt water turned my hair blonde
and you were so sweet
how you stared at your feet
until you finally turned your eyes to see me.

it would take me too long
to tell you all the good I come from
that made me like this
soft as mist
and how i learned the pain of too much tenderness

Tica Douglas is from Portland, Maine and now lives in Brooklyn. After years of releasing bedroom recordings, Tica took a collection of songs to a farm in Maine and recorded Joey in a week during the summer of 2014.

FOUR: Tica Douglas / November 12, 2015 by Tica Douglas

i heard it all, i heard it from my friends
they spared no detail, from beginning to end
there was a party last night where you used to live
and i wanted to go
but i didn’t

the birds started singing, i didn’t sleep tonight
how late it is in the early morning light
and i’m thinking those slow, dripping thoughts
and i could have made sense of them
but i did not

i made my escape, i’m lying in tall grass
i’m staring into space, the sun is coming fast
and i’m taken by the gentlest thing
and i wish i had stayed with you until morning
but i didn’t

i like the way that the tall buildings look, oh oh
from the traffic on the bridge
it gives me the chance to sit, be still, and think
of things that i didn’t

THREE: Tica Douglas / November 11, 2015 by Tica Douglas

you close your eyes at the end of your night
surprised that you find it alright
as for sleep, as for you, there’s not much i can do
but i’m here so that maybe you might

if you promise not to dream in black and white
i promise to still be here when there’s light

you wake up late for the second year straight
dazed by the days and the days
that roll on ahead, you can sleep when you’re dead
at least that’s what my dad used to say

if you promise not to dream in black and white
i promise to still be here when there’s light

i know you like to see it coming
i know you like to see it through
but don’t you think it’s rather stunning, darling
running for the hills when everything you know falls through

you gotta know that i love love love you so
and i’m sorry for making this hard

if you promise not to dream in black and white
i promise not to leave you in the night

i promise to still be here when there’s light
if you promise not to dream in black and white

TWO: Tica Douglas / November 10, 2015 by Tica Douglas

forty-four more sunsets
until you and me baby
we make it out west

where people go to see mountains
i’ve been promising you this day
since the day we met

oh late have i loved you
beauty ever ancient
and ever new

early will i seek thee
you can tell me all the things
you’re dying for me to do

the hours slip past
and the years move fast

it’s hard to see your friends change
you see it happen
in the smallest ways

and only then do you realize
the small things are all the things
you miss these days

so all meanness be gone now
you ain’t got nothing
to do with me

my weakness is my own
my own to hold
my own to keep

the hours slip past
and the years go fast

i remember the morning
he said that he realized
where you must start

you don’t have to be injured
to still feel the tearing
you love in your heart

it’s okay not to suffer
you don’t have to be broken
to make heartbreaking art

the hours go fast
and the years slip past

ONE: Tica Douglas / November 9, 2015 by Tica Douglas

if I were born a boy, they were gonna call me joey
once they got to know me
they all called me joey

i would watch the lovers, to see which one i was
the boy puts his arm round the girl on the couch
so that’s what i’d dream of

a love i could touch
that could touch me

i hope i don’t exhaust you, like i exhaust myself
with the changing and the shifting
and becoming someone else

see that’s the wrong me
not joey, and not me.

these long summer days
i'm old enough to love them
i’m lying on my back
and you are there above me

these short summer nights
i’m old enough to love them
i’m lying on my back
i try to let you come in

this is what she told me
it’s me and it’s me only
who could be this kind of holy
mix of me and joey

so I grew up believing
the world was meant for me
and now i’m old enough to love
these fleeting summer evenings.