1. |
The Architect's Son
03:29
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The Architect’s Son
Icarus climbs an unseeable string to a sun that shines the way
The architect turns; he can do nothing but say
‘I am an architect; I made a minotaur’s maze
Oh I not protect you from the monster that was your curious ways
What could I do when you flew too close to the sun?
Why should it be that an architect’s son
Will build the same kind of building as his father has done?’
Icarus knows like the back of his hand the promises he has made
Oh, but the sky is unmappable land; Icarus is not afraid
He says, ‘You are an architect, you’ve got an architect’s mind
I cannot do what you do, when there’s so much to look for, so much to find
I wanted to feel the heat and the light on my skin
Why should it be that an architect’s son
Will build the same kind of building as his father has done?’
There’s a shepherd who stands on the rocks unaware as Icarus falls to the sea
Why should he notice; why should he care
Why should it, why should it, why should it, why should it be?
Icarus finds an unfindable grave
The smile of the sun does not change
The feathers dissolve in the salt and the waves
And the architect flies on alone, and nothing remains
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2. |
The Hunter
04:39
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The Hunter
Child of the wind, he’s a child of the rain
God of all warriors unties him again
Tempest is rising out over the bay
Thunder of drums in the bed where I lay
Strings of my heart resound to the tune
Of a dark day coming, oh,
A dark day coming so soon
He came at the start of winter
As the storm subsided
And when I held my arms out to the hunter
I was undivided
Out in the open he fights with no fear
Swift as a wolf, strong as a bear
Frost on the hills silvergrey in the moon
There is a dark day coming, oh
A dark day coming so soon
There’s a man that I love, and a man that I know
Heaven forbid I should marry the two
Skywide divide between my blood and my head
I can never be right, I can never forget
The beat of his boots, the heat of the room
There’s a dark day coming, oh
A dark day coming so soon
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3. |
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My First, Last and Greatest Love
My first, last and greatest love
Was nobody’s idea of, nobody’s idea of
My next, best and brightest move
They did not approve, oh they did not agree
Sometimes, there is a colour just two pairs of eyes can see
Sometimes, it’s not how they say it will be
Love found me in a lonely way
Hiding at a party I hadn’t been invited to
In the company of silent graves
The dear and the departed, the brave and brokenhearted
When love came, the scenery was brighter than it had been before
Love came; I opened my eyes and was sure
My first, last and greatest love
Only stayed a moment, a moment was enough
To show there was more than death
As my love surrendered, I promised to remember
That sometimes there is a colour just two pairs of eyes can see
Sometimes, it’s more than they say it will be
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4. |
You Were No Good
04:23
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You Were No Good
Here is my table, so square in my kitchen
I can, when I want to, revise every flaw
I wish that they leylines of my condition
Could be as stable, could be as sure
This morning I sat at that other table
(Saturday mornings find me there)
The face that faced me was made out of marble
I looked for the leylines; but nothing appeared
World it goes white, world it goes red
World it goes dark inside of my head
No-one lives there, no-one should
Nothing from nothing, you were no good
What of your father, his plastic resistance
To all of my instincts, so badly described
What of your sister, the first of your victims,
The lines of your fire you waved her inside
What of the anger that seeps from the rends
In the tearless veneers of the families you tore
Out the hearts of, now, darling, they ask me again
What was he doing that for?
What were you doing that for?
I bore you then; I still bore you now,
No light lights up in those eyes
I tried and I tried, but I couldn’t work out
The vandalized map of your mind
Now they promise me Jesus, promise me saints
All kinds of forgiveness or fires of hell
But I tell them something: nothing from nothing
And I expect nothing else
How do you find love
How do you find grace
How do you find hope in so hopeless a place
Tell me, how do I live here
No-one should
Nothing from nothing
You were no good
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5. |
Blue Roses
05:11
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Blue Roses
Here I embroider my vision
From ornery needle and thread
Going to take up my fabric and fashion
An artefact out of my head
Going to paint it with all my acquaintance
The photographs I have stored
Who gave a value to judgement
Who said a word is sword
Oh the writing grew like blue roses
Bright as a morning for the people who noticed
When the rains came
They fell like a wall
And the people were waiting for something more
Here I collect my convictions
Arrange them in cases of steel
Lady you came with your comments
Was all I could do not to feel
But see here these arrowheads gleaming
Fishhooks whittled from bone
You’ll never stop me dreaming
You’ll never get blood from this stone
Here I design my intentions
Assemble my quilt piece by piece
A marriage of thoughts is a sentence
And I draw form the west and the east
And my needle is all out of shape now
My fingers are swollen and sore
But I still will not bend to your judgments
What are you judging me for
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6. |
Long December
04:31
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Long December
Time will always try to change the colour of his shoes before he tails you
One of these autumnal days you’ll turn around and find him face to face with you
You never saw the man in the army coat and jeans
Lines along his hands, and a shade of nicotine around his eyes
Oh Time will always take you by surprise
Consonants and vowels have made the vows that I have tried to set in stone
Mortar for my meaning oh but Time will make it nothing more than styrofoam
It’s coming like a current from a source up in the hills
Everyone’s a prisoner and no-one’s going to get him to stand still
Oh Time will always make you sleep alone
How am I going to cross the river
How am I going to build a boat
It’s going to be a long December
It’s going to be a long way to go
Somewhere in the Underworld, where lanterns fade and shadows swallow you
I am bargaining with Time cause all I want to do is come and follow you
He’s waiting at the gate for your money and your hand,
I’m standing on the other side and looking out along a no man’s land
Time will always come to take you home
All that we could say before when we had time
Is the road is always longer for the one that’s left behind
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7. |
Robber Bride
04:53
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Robber Bride
She was no match for no she was no match for me
All she believed in were patterns and poetry
She had an illusion about the goodness of humankind
She made no provision for my untidy mind
I swept him out from under her, how could she compete
A cat with nine lives lands upon its feet - I do believe
I was a robber bride, I stole the world,
All in the dead of night, Like milk from your doorstep
I was an open flame, I stole the world
I didn’t feel ashamed, I made my own footsteps
Oh thieves don’t wear black and white stripes
No thieves don’t care less
All you need to be a robber bride are your gauntlets
She was no match for no she was no match for me
All she cared for was a kind of accountancy
Money is nice, but it’s men that are fun to steal
The thrill of the chase is always the main appeal
I catch them off their guard; they catch me like a cold
I sell a story endless ages old - were you never told
You are no match for no you are no match for me
All you consider are figures from history
See these are my armies, my modern-day spoils of war
Don’t start a fight you don’t have the stomach for
And don’t start believing I repent me all my sins
I will still protest my innocence as another one begins
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8. |
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Home Is Where The Heart Is
He stood in the doorway between the done and the undone
I rose on my pillow; he answered my question
Home is where the heart is
When there’s no place left to go
Home is where the heart is
I used to think so
She needed a favour
She gave me an errand to run
The world altered for ever
When I held out the gun
He lay down beside me/ We live in a minefield
Oh, but he looked at the air /And we love as best we can
I went to make coffee / But the blood the brands me guilty
Oh, and I left him there /It belongs on her hands
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9. |
Death Be Not Proud
03:37
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Death Be Not Proud Words by John Donne
Death be not proud
Though some have called thee mighty and dreadful
Thou art not so
And those whom thou thinkst thou dost overthrow
Die not (poor death) nor yet canst thou kill me
From rest and sleep which but thy pictures be
Much pleasure; then from thee much more will flow
Soonest our best men with thee do go
Rest of their bones and soul’s delivery
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men
And dost with poison, war and sickness dwell
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke
Why swellst thou then?
One short sleep past, and we wake eternally
And death shall be no more
Death thou shalt die
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10. |
The Architect's Son
03:29
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Julia Gray London, UK
Julia Gray is an author and contemporary singer-songwriter based in London. To date she has released five albums - three with the trip-hop collective Second Person and two solo albums. Influenced by the singer-songwriters of the 1970s onwards, such as Kate Bush, Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell and Carole King, she places a focus on complex, nuanced lyrics and subtle, emotive storytelling. ... more
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