Life & Death, Love & War combines lush string arrangements with raw poetic beauty to create an astonishingly brilliant album for such a young artist. Poet/songwriter Matt Diff evokes images of Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen in this modern-folk masterpiece.

10 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Modern Folk, FOLK: Political



Details:
A MESSAGE FROM MATT DIFFâ¦

â¦This is Volume IIIâ¦(a personal favorite). Itâs a bit heavyâ¦but itâs goodâ¦itâs mellowâ¦(itâs got depth). I really enjoyed making it.

Life & Death, Love & Warâ¦is about just that. Thereâs less life than death, but more love than warâ¦(funny how that works out).

â¦Iâm sticking with the poetryâ¦Here are the liner notesâ¦




LIFE & DEATH, LOVE & WAR

Life is a dream.
      A vision of the mind.
Death is the waking of that dream
      A transition between this dream and the next.
Love and War are the same.
      Emotion over mindâ¦
      In an endless rage of heart.

PART ONE:

(Life.)

Life is man and machine. Brilliant cosmos-color chrome
   against pale-faced flesh. Exploring windows to the skull
   and doorways to the soul. Whispering facts and phrases.
   Seeking illumination under hollow-eyed cemetery
   moonlight. Waking nightmares and winter dawns analyzed
   and answered. Political geography and rantings on socio
   -economical conditions. Explaining universe/ star/ God/
   animal. Opium oddessies and Zen-like revelations
   disguised as post-war coverage in the New York Times.
Life is hysteria. Naked fixes in the back-streets of The
   Negro Dawn. A Caucasian Christmas and A Supernatural
   Pilgrimage to the promised land of Love-Lost Choirboys.
   Conversing on eternity with visionary space-cowboys.
   Declaring war on Jews/ Muslims/ Buddhists/ Atheists/
   Christians and Christ himself. Breathing heavy darkness
   and growing old on Madison Avenue. Commiting all crimes
   or none at all. Gardens on rooftops/ Roses in closets.
   Cooking animal fat and feeding the vegetable-earth to
   the ghosts of tomorrow.
Life is intelligent advertiving. Pre-war insurance rights
   and The Final Apocalypse via Hurricane Anne Frank.
   Decoding the secrets of perverted teenage-sex with
   binoculars and infra-red-glass-eyes. An atomic energy
   car crash on the Golden Gate Bridge when two off duty
   officers mistake the reincarnation of Hitler for an
   ambitious rush hour commuter.
Life is madhouse humor and The Imaginary Space Time
   Continuum. Angry heads shaved in an endless quest for
   false humility specially formulated to escape Communist
   Government Spies. Minding invisible fences and rabid-dog
   women who eat children and arrest anyone foolish enough
   to submit faulty tax reports. The screaming dead poets
   of the 20th century who were ignored in life, ignored in
   death and despised by all but undertakers. Morphine
   midnights at the Roadhouse with Cesar Chavez and the
   Three Tenors singing âGod Bless Americaâ to a standing
   -room-only audience never once rejecting the popular
   demand of an encore by performing a fiery rendition
   of âGive Peace a Chance/ Manic Mondayâ all sung in
   perfect pitch and harmony.
Life is a serious medical condition reported by radio/
   television caused by radio/ television. Ancient warlord
   prophecies declaring âAll men are equal in thought and
   theory aloneâ. Imitations of murder and plastic-surgery
   -resurrections reducing ugliness to a face found only in
   history and south of the Mason Dixon. Angelic explosions
   and internal peace sent from extraterrestrial
   intelligence beyond our known universe. Junkie journies
   to the Supernova calling on Gandhi or Joseph Smith of
   The Holy Mormon Alliance to save us now or save us
   never.
Life is the cure for cancer available only to the citizens
   of the Wealthy Western World. Bird-Flu and Chicken Soup
   served in the collasal dinning hall of the now forgotten
   Grand Central Station. Trillions of rejected dollars
   deemed unfit for circulation by the Department of
   Treasury only to be reissued during the Global Great
   Depression in the year 2023. The Superhuman Miss America
   who is certain she âbroke-the-boxâ on the hood of a
   Cadillac or in a crusty gas station restroom and is now
   telepathically sending goodwill to half a billion
   citizens of these United States.

PART TWO:

(Death.)

Death is a lie.
Death is fictionâ¦â¦
      A figment of imaginationâ¦
            (It does not exist!)
The silence before dawn.
The darkness before day.
      This is death.
            No pain.
            No fear.
            No end.
Death is a new beginning .
      The beauty of morning...
            (We awake endless and inspired.)

We live on in mind and spirit.
      Illuminating light and angelic gospel.
      Ever pure.
      Ever knowing.
The revelation of unspeakable knowledgeâ¦.
            The secret of Godâ¦
            The folly of Man...
            The pain of Flesh...
            The pride of Soulâ¦
We live on in waves.
      Forever crashing over shores of forgotten worlds.
      Washing clean all thoughts of judgmentâ¦
            All thoughts of selfâ¦
            All thoughts of death.
We become one:
      One in mindâ¦
      One in bodyâ¦
      One in soulâ¦
      One in spirit.

PART THREE:

(Love.)

Purity of soul.
      Untouched by emotion of mind of body.
      Unmolested by common cancer of hate of fear
      Unharmed by death of pomp death of pride death of
         jealousy
The eternal song of loveâ¦
      Sung with love â¦
      Sung for love.
      Sung by the ages in the darkest hour of the yellow
         moon:

Yellow moon in black star sky.
      (Yellow moon in black star sky).
Love is you and love is I .
      (Love is you and love is I).
Yellow moon you too shall fall.
      (Yellow moon you too shall fall).
Love is one and love is all
      (Love is one and love is all).

The heart of loveâ¦
      Beating for the Lost Minds of Indiaâ¦
      Beating for the Wandering Americaâ¦
      Beating for the Rising Asian Empireâ¦
The lungs of loveâ¦
      Breathing for the Holy Prince of Englandâ¦
      Breathing for the Harlem Ghetto Queenâ¦
      Breathing for the Saudi Oil Kingâ¦
The mind of loveâ¦
      Thinking for the Kansas City Councilâ¦
      Thinking for the North Korean Madmanâ¦
      Thinking for the Dying German Poetsâ¦
The hands of loveâ¦
      Reaching for the soul of Subway Killerâ¦
      Reaching for the mind of Baghdad Babyâ¦
      Reaching for the sex of Paris Dancer.
The eyes of loveâ¦
      Watching the Village Whores of Midnightâ¦
      Watching the Infected Project Junkiesâ¦
      Watching the Sons of Drunken Rage.
The soul of loveâ¦
      Laughing for the Omni-Present Chinaâ¦
      Laughing for the North Dakota Sleeperâ¦
      Laughing for the Suicide Torontoâ¦
The skin of loveâ¦
      Burning for the Drowning-Eyes of Floridaâ¦
      Burning for the Empty-Heads of Georgiaâ¦
      Burning for the Kansas City Sweetheart.
The legs of loveâ¦
      Walking toward the Seven Seas of Persiaâ¦
      Walking toward the Salty Spanish Watersâ¦
      Walking toward the Burning Congo Ocean.
The voice of loveâ¦
      Speaking to the Lost and Weary Roadsmanâ¦
      Speaking to the Aging Wounded Bodyâ¦
      Speaking to the Song of Human Spirit.

The voice of love speaking in song singing in lifeâ¦
      Song of endless hopeâ¦
      Song of streaming lightâ¦
      Song of morning sunâ¦

Morning sun in yellow sky.
      (Morning sun in yellow sky).
Love is you and love is I.
      (Love is you and love is I).
Morning sun you too shall fall.
      (Morning sun you too shall fall).
Love is one and love is all
      (Love is one and love is all).

PART FOUR:

(War.)

War!
War!
WAR! WAR!! WAR!!!
War in Gaza!
War in Palestine!
War in India!
War in China/ Korea/ Japan!
War in America!
War in England!
War in Iraq/ Iran/ Afghanistan/ Pakistan!
War in Nebraska/ Kansas/ Oregon/ Maine!
War on The River Thames!
War on the Mississippi!
War in the subway!
War on the airplane!
War at the bus stop!
War in the factory!
War in the field!
Men at war!
Women at war!
Children/ cat/ dog/ machine at war!
War on TV!
War on radio!
War in the paper/ magazine/ movie!
War in the school!
War in the suburb!
War on the highway/ tunnel/ bridge!
War in the East!
War in the West!
Congress at war!
Court at war!
President at war!
Mother Nature/ Father Time/ Child Unborn! War/ war/ war!

All Hail The God-Of-War!
Twenty-First Century Citizen obey His law.
King of the bomb.
King of the gun.
King of the Great Muslim Terror.
King of the Cowboy-Killer.
King of the Right wing/ Left wing/ Extreme and undecided.
King of media.
King of mind.
King of conspiracy.
King of truth/ lie/ half-truth.
King of civilian.
King of soldier.
King of life.
King of death.
King of young.
King of old.
King of fear!
King of fear!
King of fear!
All Hail The God-Of-War!

PART FIVE:

(The End.)

We are angel and animalâ¦
            Fused as flesh.
      We are life before death.
      We are love before war.

We are ghosts.
      We are the eyes of our creator.
We are the sighs of the livingâ¦
      We are the songs of the dead.

We are Ten Billion Souls under common sun and sky.
      We are one in lifeâ¦
      We are one in death.
      We are one in loveâ¦
      We are one in war.



â¦Thanks for reading (this one flies). I hope you enjoyed the music. You can always hear/see/read more at mattdiff.com. Volume IV is in the worksâ¦see you then.