1. |
Introduce the Players
03:48
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Introduce the players, set the stage
Don’t you know by now you’re all the rage? The crowd goes wild, you sweet summer child
How they long to see you!
Introduce the players, name the game
They came in their thousands to watch you play, the odds are slim, you better fight to win
Or else it ain’t winning
Introduce the players, to my left, to my right
Here to entertain them for the rest of the night, we know the tune, we read the room
Then we touch fire to petrol and go
Oh oh oh oh oh
How long the bow! how deep the note!
Of hair on gut like a medieval potion
The strum and pick, now slow, now quick
Soundwaves imitating the sensation of motion, of emotion, and that sweet, fleeting devotion
To the essence of all things
Introduce the players, lights are dimmed
The movers and the shakers ushered in, take a seat, put up your feet
And we'll get to carving
Introduce the players, read the lines
The ringmaster assures us we'll be fine, that having fun is easily done
The shows just beginning
The shows just beginning
The starlet starts up singing
With all that sweet, fleeting devotion to the essence of all things
La la la la la la
Chop chop, chop chop chop goes the axe on the tree
Curve and carve and string and pin it with delicacy
And something once thwarted then contorted becomes melody
Ten strings at my fingertips to the left and right of me
To breathe motion into the essence of all things
Introduce the players, bah bah bah!
Introduce the players, bah bah bah!
Introduce the players, soothsayers, blood bayers, naysayers, taxpayers
The bet is won, the deed is done, the shows begun
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2. |
The Hippos Took France
02:43
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The hippos took France in the last of the animals wars
And then all we wondered was why they never took France before
They like the wine and the cheeses
And the Mediterranean breezes
All along the banks of what we learnt in school was called the riviere
We went as tourists, they know that they live there
We were only fleeting
Hollow wallows to cool their feet in
Do they long for eastward expansion?
Hippo villas, hippo mansions
Do they crave the Danube and the Volga?
Will they ex pat their mud pats when they get older?
If you please, sir, I’ll take a visa to le pays hippopotame
Though its surrounds have grown quite swampy I want to see the Notre Dame
They won’t let us in, they don’t want to
They won fair and square or as fair as wars do
Will they make the most of their victory?
Hippo equality, hippo liberty
Or will they bask in the sun-sparkled sea
And decline our attempt to realign their defences and engage them in multinational democracy?
The hippos took France in the last of the animals wars
And then all we wondered was why they never took France before
They like the wine and the cheeses
And the Mediterranean breezes
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3. |
Disappear in the Heat
04:22
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It’s too hot, I can't sleep
Next door’s TV keeps blaring out
The same old shows on repeat
Suburban feedback loop
So many rhythms in my head
So many rivers in my bed
Out of the window, into the night
I can hear the engines talking
They say don’t forget where you’re going
Don’t disappear in the heat
Don’t unknow what you’re knowing
Don’t melt into the street
It’s been afternoon for days
My head begins to pound
As I stare out at the haze
The sky is wearing thinner
If I stood up, I could fall
Maybe I can’t stand up at all
The city buildings are full of people
And the people won’t stop talking
They say don’t forget where you’re going
Don’t disappear in the heat
Don’t unknow what you’re knowing
Don’t melt into the street
But would you reach out a hand for me to cling to?
But would you wipe the sweat from my skin?
But would you even know the way the concrete pulls me to you?
But would you even tell me where to begin?
There’s a jet plane in the sky
Leaving vapour trails I follow
For some reason in my mind
They’re always headed somewhere golden
And I am suddenly aware
How far away I am from there
I press my feet into the street
I feel the beat and I start walking
Hmm hmm hmm
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4. |
By the Moon
03:29
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Hello old friend I've come around again
I haven't seen much of you lately
I've been courting in the quiet hours
Singing love songs to the sea
Hello old friend we've been here so long
Though you are older than I
I like to sit beside you but sometimes when I arrive
I'm alone; you've already left the sky
Have you heard the songs they sing about us?
You so steady, I am flighty, but still we both remain
Spinning circles around each other
Even though I love another I still return to say
Hello old friend I'm back in town again
For all my absences forgive me
Tell me what's been going on while I've been away
Singing love songs to the sea
Hello old friend I know this pattern well
We've danced this dance a thousand times before
Let me tell you the stories of the night
What friend could do more?
Have you seen the stars sprawl in the heavens?
Or the way the shadows swallow the trees?
Have you heard the quiet hush of dreaming
As the world follows you into sleep?
I am a nomad and a wanderer
When they speak about me I am changeable and strange
You are the one that they adore
You give them life and give them light and you always stay the same
Hello old friend I want to take the chance
Before the centuries pass us by
To tell you what a friend you have been to me
And how much I'll miss you when you die
Hello old friend I hope it's fair to say
We keep each other in good company
Though one day soon I will surely leave to go
Singing love songs to the sea
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5. |
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I don't know if there are planets up there
Somebody told me there are, that's all
Drew a colourful diagram
Is that what it's based on, man?
All my knowledge is just people saying stuff to me
On the TV
And the radio too, old fashioned
And what I read
On the web and in books, old fashioned
I don't know if Kampala exists
Peru or Wellington or wherever you come from
I can’t just go everywhere
Just to see what’s really there
All my knowledge is just people saying stuff to me
More has happened than you could believe
Cause before you were born there was history
Cuban Missile Crisis and the French Revolution
Boudicca’s revolt and human evolution
All my knowledge is just people saying stuff to me
On the TV
And the radio too, old fashioned
And what I read
On the web and in books, old fashioned
But I know some types of trees
Lavender attracts bees
The wind makes the leaves start shaking
The sun makes the earth start baking
The blankets feel warm
The birds sing at dawn
There’s a town over there
There's sand in the air
From the Sahara
Apparently
Now it’s on my car
And the TV
And the radio too
And I read
The web and them books
On the TV
And on the radio too
And what I read
On the web and in books
Old fashioned, old fashioned, old fashioned, woah
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6. |
Skeletons Into Sand
04:41
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To all my friends who live now far away
I hope you remember me
And the people that speak to you and the words they say
I hope they’re what you need
Isn’t anybody gonna tell us
It’s too far to go to Mars?
There’s not enough fuel to propel us
The many watch the few depart
Isn’t anybody going to move us
Before the ocean eats the land?
Or is it a simple way to remove us
Turn our skeletons into sand?
Into sand
Do we dream our creativity will cure us?
We will build a way out in time?
Too many builders came before us
It’s not the answer, it’s the crime
Do we know that every small excess will haunt us?
Every meal, every needless delight
The scorched earth will come back to taunt us
If there’s any kind of afterlife
To all my friends who live now far away
I hope you remember me
And the people that speak to you and the words they say
I hope they’re what you need
To all the ones who come behind us
We will be the ones who went ahead
Is that all we need to remind us
How liable we are after we’re dead?
To all the ones who will recall us
We’ll be the monkeys who tried to flee to space
Perhaps the etymology fooled us
We tried to win the human race
To all my friends who live now far away
I hope you remember me
And the people that speak to you and the words they say
I hope they’re what you need
To all my friends who live now far away
I hope you remember me
And the people that speak to you and the words they say
I hope they’re what you need
Isn’t anybody gonna tell us
It’s too far to go to Mars?
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7. |
Telling the Bees
02:59
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Tell Pilar and tell the bees
Tell Ms Atwood if you please
That I have been inspired and I’ve been left out in the rain
And i have been fired up and I’ve been flattened down again
And I have come to see the words and all the spaces left between
And it isn’t what it means not what it seems - it is just the ritual
It is just the ritual
Petroglyphs on cliffs unseen for more years than my brain can hold
I can only think of seven things before my mind begins to fold
Denied seven times I’m twice as cursed as the sacrifice
Who didn’t need to die, no reason why - it is just the ritual
It is just the ritual
Tell Pilar and tell the bees
Tell Ms Atwood if you please
That we’ll be coming home for dying, home for winter, home for something
They should prepare the sun to rise in time so we know when we’re coming
Spiralling for gravity, the gasping sea or cows or beetles
All in time will fail all that prevails - is the ritual
It is just the ritual
All the stones and bones and words I’ve heard and tunes I will half remem
Need no further meaning they are only what it was to make them
Ten by ten under the sun and we’ll be lost like all the rest
So tell the bees, if you please, the best of all - is just the ritual
It is just the ritual
I cannot rewrite the lines you didn’t like so please forgive me
I must write and you must hear and someone better tell the bees
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8. |
Put the Coffee On
02:58
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How long this peculiar segment, a day?
Hours enclosed and measured this way
How many days will I get?
How many days will I regret
From feeling lazy or feeling sad
Or feeling indistinctly bad?
I don’t want to regret a day
I’m tired of musing this way
Oh! Put the coffee on
Put it on then sit down with me
The trees are misty it’ll be hot later
Oh! Pour the coffee out
You know what, I’ll have a tea
The trees are shady we’ll go out later
All it is is waking up then going back to sleep
I’ve done it almost every night since I was three
If we ignore all the clocks
Resist the ticks and the tocks
Watch the tide as it declines
To align with the sunrise
I’d forget the days of the week
Just go out walking till I need to sleep
Oh! Put the coffee on
I want to watch the morning steam
Grow your hair as long as summertime
Oh! Pour the coffee out
Pour it out and sit real close to me
Grow your hair half as long as mine
Oh! Put the coffee on
I want to sit here for a spell
I want to watch the buzzards free wheeling
Oh! Pour the coffee out
Pass the cup, I want a smell
I want to exist not in thought but feeling
Oh! Put the coffee on
Put it on and turn off all the time
Trust our noses and the percolator
Oh! Pour the coffee out
Pour your drink and then won’t you pour mine
The trees are misty it’ll be hot later
The trees are misty it’ll be hot later
The trees are misty it’ll be hot later
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9. |
The Priestess & the Pict
04:28
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I'd give up eternally
My desire for ceremony
To be in the woods with you
I'd give up the city nights
Red wine and candlelight
To be in the woods with you
What would you say, babe?
If I said let's run away?
Like so many before us said they would
Did they follow through or falter? It ain’t that easy
Between would and should lies a great expanse of rushing water
Jump over with me
Would you deny the high priestess?
And if it came to it, the empress
Just to be in the woods with me?
Would you declare that I'm your man
A runaway fighter from a border clan
Just to be in the woods with me?
What would I say babe?
If you said, let's run away?
Like you always dreamed that we might
If I tell you it won't be easy
That out there there's only us to keep us safe at night
Would you jump over with me?
Jump over with me
Have you seen the wolves that roam?
They're bigger than the puppies at home
The lap dogs of Roman ladies
Guarding many societal Hades
They'll eat you up as a little snack
And won't send your mangled bones on back
To be buried along the Appian Way
If we live in the woods, we live the woods way
Ain't you seen the way you fight?
No wolves are gonna give me a fright
I’ll scare them back with firelight
I know how to keep the branches bright
Besides I've sacrificed to the gods
So much I must've improved my odds
And if I don't get out of the city quick
All this imperial living's gonna make me sick
So babe what would you say
If I asked you to run away?
Like so many said that they would
Knew they should, believed they could
If you could be anywhere you wanted to be
would you be in the woods with me?
If you could be anywhere you wanted to be
Would you be in the woods with me?
If I could do anything I wanted to do
I would be in the woods with you
If I could do anything I wanted to do
I would be in the woods with you
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10. |
Mudboots
04:16
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It’s been good weather for so long
You’ve forgotten where your mudboots have gone
You’ve forgotten how it feels to put ‘em on
It’s been a dry summer, a gentle breeze
The orchard’s full of heavy trees
You’ve forgotten how it feels to fear a storm
I’ve been away
And you’ve been sitting in my halls, as the old heroes would say
Thinkin’ if you sat statue still maybe you could stay
But
The wind’s shifted, the forest’s on fire
The rivers too low, the sea’s too high
You’ve forgotten what it means to be alive
Your blood’s thinned with cool beer
It’s been a fine finale to a grand old year
You’ve forgotten how it feels to have me here
I’ve been away
And you’ve been dancing with the girls like you had all the merry day
As though you didn’t know that the piper has to be paid
Well
You can look back and recall
How fine things were before the fall
When you forgot the night that ends it all
But I’m back and I proclaim
In my own sorry worn-out name
That when you forgot I did not do the same
I’ve been away
And you’ve been underneath the willows watching farmers gather hay
Forgetting that time turns all hair grey
Oh
You’ve had good weather for so long
You’ve forgotten where your mudboots have gone
You’ve forgotten how it feels to put ‘em on.
So walk some miles in your summer shoes
It won’t take far for your feet to bruise
You’ve forgotten why the singers wrote the blues
I’ve been away
And you’ve been living it up like you had many games to play
But I come in, I’m a wind and darlin you’re a bud of May
So
The winter bites, the summer asks why
It’s that same old truth the poets cry
All it is to live is to fear to die
The green leaves slip from the trees
All men grow crooked with aching knees
Anyone who tells you otherwise is telling a lie
I’ve been away
I’ve been away
I’ve been away
I’ve been away
I’ve been away
I’ve been away
It’s been good weather… it’s been good weather… it’s been good weather
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Bethan Le Mas England, UK
I am a British singer-songwriter, playing piano, guitar, cello,Celtic harp, ukulele, and whatever else I can get my hands on. Livestreaming on twitch.tv/cornyears
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