Days
Title: Days
Released: 2026
Label: Cadmean Dawn
Liner Notes / Physical Release Text
(inside of CD wallet):
This album began life as Grunges, a sequel to Goths, after I made a joke on social media about writing a song called "Contemplating Pearl Jam in the Carolina Dawn.” A few months later my wife left town for a two week residency in Virginia. My wife leaving town to play hockey in Banff is how All Hail West Texas happened. These songs are loosely about the 70s, 80s, and 90s, which is to say they’re about the accumulation of days, each one a little further back than the next, sometimes miraculously seeming clearer as they recede and sometimes blurring into unrecognizable shapes which are sometimes pleasant and sometimes troubling. Most songs here are in major keys but don’t let that fool you. If you do let that fool you I have a bridge to sell you; there is nothing on the other side of the bridge. Still, you shouldn’t let that deter you. Who am I to tell you what kind of bridge you need, or where the bridge you need should lead? Nobody, really. Nobody at all.
Sear Sound is owned by Roberta Findlay, who was gracious enough to talk with me about her work for an hour while we were in the studio. Thanks to Roberta and all who run Sear for one of the best studio experiences we've ever had.
Janis Siegel happened to be in the building while we were tracking, which I learned after mentioning to our assistant Steven that I loved the Manhattan Transfer; he asked her if she'd come say hi to a fan, and that's how "Hidden Majesty of Later Venom Albums" came to be enveloped in her gorgeous vocal arrangement. To say that I am honored to have Janis on a record is a severe understatement. Thanks.
First time with John Congleton since All Eternals Deck: the perfect man for this record. What a thrill to spend a perfect autumn week in New York with you, friend. Thanks for your time & your groove & your ears.
Thanks to Ryan Matteson and Kevin O'Hallo ran at Ten Atoms for making it all happen, and without whon it just wouldn't have happened.
Finally, while I was writing these songs I kept texting them to Matt Nathanson. You would not be reading this, nor hearing these songs, if not for the open mic night Matt ran at Pitzer in the 90s. Few debts are deeper than the one I owe you, Matt, and this album is for you.
John Darnielle
Durham, North Carolina
January 2026
Table of Contents
- Song for Layne Staley
- Charlie Sheen Reaches Out to the Feds
- Shallow Grave
- Candlebox
- Annie Haslam Imperial Phase
- Crying on Eddie Nash's Grave
- Days
- Best Hard Rock Albums 2013
- Going to Fennario
- Woodstock '99
- Hidden Majesty of Later Venom Albums
- Last Day
Song for Layne Staley 1
I was on the prowl
For something good to do
Started up a rock band
Wouldn't you?
Everybody needs
His own space on the floor
Everybody needs
Something to be on guard for
I don't want this
I don't need this
I don't want this
I don't need this
I was on the TV
Maybe you saw me there
I was in my designer shades
Nationwide, live on the air
This is what you wanted
When you were a kid
Not everybody found the pocket
But you did
I don't want this
I don't need this
I don't want this
I don't need this
I'm not gonna keep this
I'm gonna throw it into the trash
I'm gonna find a sharp turn
You're not gonna hear the crash
Out here on my own now
Only come out at night
Only call my new friends
Just trying to get straight
Everybody needs
A peephole in the door
Everybody needs
Something to be on guard for
I don't want this
I don't need this
I don't want this
I don't need this
I don't want this
I don't need this
I don't want this
I don't need this
I don't want this
I don't need this
I don't want this
I don't need this
I don't want this
I don't need this
I don't want this
I don't need this
Charlie Sheen Reaches Out to the Feds 2
Everybody's making money, everybody's flying high
Who among my brethren is more beautiful than I?
Who puts out on the carpet? Who knows ahead of time
Which camera he should turn to when it's time to say his line?
I'm watching movies, heart pounding like a drum
Call out in the dark for somebody to come
Do you see what I see? There's no way all that's fake!
Only so much a good man can take
But you can't fight evil all alone
Please, James: get the director on the phone
I will rise to this occasion
I will rise to this occasion
I will rise to this occasion
I will rise to this occasion
I lead the agents back to the screening room
And in the dark we watch the blood flowers bloom
And then the credits seem to roll on forever
I know people who can find out who put this thing together
After a while, one of them said:
"Listen, Charlie, you're from Hollywood,
And the moving pictures aren't what they used to be, it's true,
But I'm not sure what you think the Bureau can do"
Gentlemen! The camera doesn't lie!
How many more innocent women must die?
I will rise to this occasion
I will rise to this occasion
I will rise, rise to this occasion
I will rise, rise, rise, rise, rise to this occasion
Rise!
Shallow Grave
Bury me in a shallow grave
Out behind the warehouse rave
And while you're having a smoke back there, you can
Think of me while you fix your hair
As you are, so once was I
Stealing time and trying to find the shapes in the night sky
Shallow grave
Shallow grave
Bury me so the rain reveals
What the earth sought to conceal
Bones that hurt, well, they were down here
Flesh that waited 'til the coast was clear
Fingers poking up through the ground in the dawn
Like Carrie White's mom 3
Shallow grave
Shallow grave
Shallow grave
Shallow grave
Shallow grave, out in the middle of things
Shallow grave, go get a bucket of chicken wings
Shallow grave, and when you throw down the bones
Listen for the dial tone
[Dial tone-like vocalizations]
When I've assumed my final form
Bury me while I'm still warm
Check the scene for prying eyes
You know the edges live forever but the camera never lies
Just so we're perfectly clear
I was never here
Shallow grave
Shallow grave
Shallow grave
Shallow grave
Candlebox
Three years on the local circuit
Played twice at the county fair
And the second time, Ben,
Our friend who worked the business end,
Said a guy from a label was there
There were two more like him at the next show
Staring us down like hawks
And there was love in the air,
And all the money was there,
And we were going on tour
With Candlebox
All the free acid-washed blue jeans you could ever want
Underneath the bus
Sound guy, schedule guy, driver
Three bunks left for us
You sleep like a baby when you're still young
And dumber than a bag of rocks
Twenty-five tight minutes seven nights a week
Eight weeks without a break
For Candlebox
Together in the tents at the festivals
Running out of things to say
This is how we build the fanbase, fellas
We'll be in the headline slot someday
Whole team full of Roman accountants
At their desks the day Hannibal crossed:
You wouldn't even believe me
If I told you what the video cost
Windswept silence at the henhouse
Nobody's catching up with the fox
But if we ever find Ben, we'll prob'ly do it again
Like we were young men
As we were then
With Candlebox
Annie Haslam Imperial Phase
Six years hard labor on the heavy blues
They haggled and bargained when we gave them the news
One more long shift, then free to do as we please
Stay home and stare at the trees
Crystal clear transmission
In January ‘71 at the audition
Maybe you don’t recall,
But Renaissance played at Carnegie Hall
Maybe you don’t recall,
But Renaissance played at Carnegie Hall
Can’t have the heavy drinking, there’s bills to be paid
Money to be made
And no, before you ask, it isn’t all about greed
But you can’t do what you like if you can’t get what you need
Find where you fit in, make some wishes
Maybe get a little ambitious
Maybe you don’t recall,
But Renaissance played at Carnegie Hall
Maybe you don’t recall,
But Renaissance played at Carnegie Hall
I don’t know if any footage survives,
But I can picture Annie Haslam onstage
They played their most popular song
And then another one that was twenty-nine minutes long
Maybe you don’t recall,
But Renaissance played at Carnegie Hall
Maybe you don’t recall,
But Renaissance played at Carnegie Hall
Maybe you don’t recall,
But Renaissance played at Carnegie Hall
Maybe you don’t recall,
But Renaissance played at Carnegie Hall
Crying on Eddie Nash's Grave
Interstate 10 to 57 to 60
Come in on the underside
Cast a line around for a memory
Of some heavy days gone by
Swallow what the sunlight feeds you
Where every little whisper leads you
And find me
Crying on Eddie Nash's grave
Crying on Eddie Nash's grave
Pleasure crafts at the marina
Set up where the timber drifts
In your sandals down at the liquor store
Take you through the morning shift
Inside, a creature you could be kind to
Notice how the sunlight binds you
And find me
Crying on Eddie Nash's grave
Crying on Eddie Nash's grave
Too late to save anybody
That's what I say to you,
And it's true
Sobbing for the hopeless wrecks down here
Waiting til the coast is clear
And find me
Crying on Eddie Nash's grave
Crying on Eddie Nash's grave
Days
Prizefighters when they're still in their prime
Russian novels when you find the time
Cats sleeping in a patch of sun
Go buy candy and a currant bun
Do you know how short the days are?
Do you know how short the days are?
Shot-stopping in the five-on-four
House speakers pumping four to the floor
The scene right before the surface cracks
Dusty paperbacks
Do you know how short the days are? No, you don't
When they're gone, will you be ready? No, you won't
Knuckleballers when they're deep in the zone
Loosening the sword from the stone
Three notes and I can name that tune
Ice cream tastes good in the afternoon
Do you know how short the days are?
Do you know how short the days are?
Do you know how short the days are?
Best Hard Rock Albums 2013
The sky in the morning when you catch a minute to breathe
The sun on the grass, the wind in your sleeve
The dream that climbs the curtains as soon as you open your eyes
The unattainable shore of the first time you got high
The best hard rock albums of 2013
The best hard rock albums of 2013
Egrets in the salt marsh seen from a moving car
Motionless and silent, frozen where they are
The childhood friend whose last name you can never get right
Party every day, rock and roll all night
The best hard rock albums of 2013
The best hard rock albums of 2013
Somebody's making a list
So you can check out the ones you missed
Days of idle pleasure in which nothing much occured
The look on your father's face the day you said your first word
The days it felt like all of this was really just pretend
The earlier parts of the tunnel before you could see through to the end
The best hard rock albums of 2013
The best hard rock albums of 2013
Going to Fennario 4
Now children, gather 'round, as we lay Sweet William down
To sing him to his final shore
And sing a song for me, and for these men, forever free
To sail without a captain evermore
To sail without a captain evermore
Now when he left this country,
He had one thing on his mind
To wipe away the memory
Of everything he left behind
No cost too great to shoulder
No burden too high to bear
I'm going to Fennario
If they have to carry my body there
Now children, gather 'round, as we lay Sweet William down
To sing him to his final shore
And sing a song for me, and for these men, forever free
To sail without a captain evermore
To sail without a captain evermore
Out on the wild blue ocean
In the company of thieves
Every man on this planet
Hopes it knows his name before he leave
Try to leave a big impression
In the mind of every man he meets
I'm going to Fennario
If they have to drag me through the streets
Now children, gather 'round, as we lay Sweet William down
To sing him to his final shore
And sing a song for me, and for these men, forever free
To sail without a captain evermore
To sail without a captain evermore
And sing for the night that lasts forever
And sing for that man who's gone today
Who for his true love's sake left burnt cities in his wake
And killed every good man in his way
They're cutting down the timber
Soon all of this will be a memory
But there'll just be an empty cabin
When the wolf comes by for me
Pour out liquor for the captain
Sing around the fire until the dawn
I'm going to Fennario
Let everybody know I'm gone
Woodstock '99 5
Not the 60's Woodstock but the one much later on
Let the poisoned fledglings come and gather in the dawn
Behold the heavy century, buckling with the strain
Young man with a microphone hollering "cocaine"
Major label contract, stoned out of his mind
Pants comped by Levi-Strauss, full mouth of teeth to grind
Wasn't there a mighty flood? Yes, didn't it rain?
Stand before the people, yell about cocaine
Cocaine
Yell about cocaine
Stand before the people
Yell about cocaine
Let the party people come to feel my aimless wrath
Salt the earth behind me as I wander down the path
No light but the spent light, just the lab assistant's brain
To lie beneath the lightning and yell about cocaine
Full phalanx of cameramen to document the scene
See the mass of starlings throbbing forward on the green
I've heard it said it's hard to tell when all your love's in vain
Shirtless before God, yell about cocaine
Cocaine
Yell about cocaine
Shirtless before God
Yell about cocaine
Hidden Majesty of Later Venom Albums
Only the die-hards left to bear witness
Guys from the downtown scene back to minding their business
Just a little more bass in the wedge, if it's not too much hassle
Thank you for coming -- we're from Newcastle
Free
In the total absence of vocal harmony
Free
Free within the majesty
Last man living inside, don't you forget it
Old cracked leather, chrome-studded
Ride from Lincoln, Nebraska to the Canada border
Wake from a hard sleep just to show them my passport
Free
In the throb and the cacophony
Free
Free inside the legacy
Free
Someday you'll see the last of me
Free
Free within the majesty
Last Day
The last day of your life will be sweet
The last day of your life will be sweet
Whether you go down crying, or if you welcome the time
The last day of your life will be sweet
The last message you get will be clear
The last message you get will be clear
It's been foggy of late, but just you wait,
'Cause on the last day -- well, you know what the prophets say:
Keep a good thought in your mind
Don't leave anybody behind
The last day of your life, you'll be whole
The last day of your life, you'll be whole
And what was broken will then be put together again
Then you'll be totally free, and that's a guarantee
And if we go by the text
We can't really say what's next
The last day will be lighter than air
The last day will be lighter than air
You're going to head for the light, and then you'll be all right,
And maybe just then you'll meet up with the prophets again
Keep a good thought in your mind
They won't leave anybody behind
Album Credits
Recorded October 21-28, Sear Sound, New York City
Produces, engineered, and mixed by John Congleton
Assistant: Steven Sacco
2nd assistant: Jasper Leach
2nd assistant: Maximilian Troppe
John Darnielle: vocals, guitars, keyboards
Matt Douglas: guitars, keyboards, woodwinds
Jon Wurster: drums, percussion, lap
Rob Jost: bass, french horn
Mikaela Davis: harp
Ben Loughran: synth
All horns & horn arrangements by Matt Douglas
Harmonies by Caroline Leonhart, Jamie Leonhart, and Catherine Russell. Harmonies on "Candlebox" by Matt Nathanson. Harmonies on "Hidden Majesty of Later Venom Albums" by Janis Siegel.
Good harmony vocals take a good song and make it better and my gratitude to Carolyn, Jamie, Catherine, and Matt is endless: thank you all so much for carrying these songs where they wanted to go.
Art and design by Rob Carmichael, SEEN
All songs published by Cadmean Dawn (ASCAP) administered by Me Gusta Music
Footnotes
- Layne Staley was the lead vocalist of prominent grunge band Alice in Chains. ↩
- This song has an official music video. ↩
- Carrie White is the name of the protagonist of Stephen King's 1974 novel Carrie. This line is sometimes sung live as "Like Carrie White's arm." ↩
- This song was digitally released as a single on January 16th, 2026, in honor of Grateful Dead member Bob Weir. ↩
- This song's title is the subject of some confusion: various sources list it as "Woodstock," "Woodstock 99," or "Woodstock '99." This site has chosen to use "Woodstock '99" as that is how the title appears on Bandcamp and in the CD lyric booklet. ↩