1. |
Inland
00:48
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2. |
Time and Motion
04:47
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Think nothing worthwhile of their poetry
At first they may seem charming, but pay them no mind
Keep your back to the wall and your jacket on
Theirs is not a smiling god
-
They are the time and motion men
Wasting away in middle management
Loyal to the cause of the Torch Committee
Far out of reach, beyond reproach
-
Their cadaver dogs will sniff out all your secrets
And they’ll crush your dreams if you still have any
They’ll burn your world and call it art
So grab your kids and run to the car
-
Level the mountains for their riches
Burn the harvests to increase profits
Dam the rivers to keep the lights lit
And part the seas just out of hubris
Keep ‘em busy or someone might notice
Cake some makeup on the bruises
Herd the masses for birth to casket
By the ballot or the bullet
-
It’s innate and prehistoric
Like a whisper in your bloodstream
There’s nothing that we can’t do ourselves
And the law is just an anagram of wealth
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3. |
Mountaineer
04:31
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I met a man on a train who knew just how much he’d ever made
He took a Russian class in town, he said, and asked me for my name and trade
As I answered I could tell he was not impressed, probably not enough like him to pique his interest
Mirrored in me he saw a father’s disappointment, tasting words that are better left unspoken
Where did we go so wrong?
How did we fall so far?
Hadn’t it all seemed so bright?
Like it was gonna be alright?
-
I met a man on a train who knew exactly what his life was worth
He’d put it in numbers to impress his mother
Foreign currencies had made him rich in his youth
“At your age I was a millionaire” he said
The envy of other men now meant everything to him
Proof for all the world to see that he was just as real as them
-
He knew that it was madness but suspected it might also be art
-
Despite his fortune tucked away out in the Caymans, he almost never paid for anything
But he wouldn’t steal what could not easily be carried and therefore did not feel like a thief
He’d built his garden from such collected technicalities - very clever, didn’t I agree?
It had taken him a quarter of a century
He was nearing the end of the line, he said, and spoke of preparations he’d made
For a time when he’d no longer be around and he appeared sincerely unafraid
-
I think his ordering of the world was a quest for permanence
He wanted the stones to keep singing after he was gone
He knew that it was madness but suspected it might also be art
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4. |
Leave the Lights On
08:08
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A long and many times ago, people very much or nothing at all like you and I gave to the world what they had mothered and cared for with every fibre of their being.
They did it despite their realizing that no matter how cleverly they wove their limbs into safety nets or how much they made their bodies into shields, all of the world’s horror and hurt would eventually outrun them and wash over their kids in great, rolling waves.
They must have been so scared.
-
As you devolve and regress, I’ll care for you with all the mercy of youth
Prick my fingers on your wig pins, kiss your mouth sores and just hold you
On a good day, I pretend like we can beat this
On all the other days, I know it will defeat us
But that’s okay
-
The echo of your fury in me both sickens and sustains me, the pride of our love slowly congealing in my veins
Till it’s a black ball of rage in the pit of my gut
You’re much thinner these days, but burning so bright it hurts to look straight at you
And my heart’s a dagger now, honed on your courage
My lover of a million names
-
But I’m holding onto hope that if I just pick the right star to guide me on
Somewhere there’s a road bound for home
Where I can see you again
As the sunlight cools in our bones
-
Your feral hunger and your unquenchable thirst could consume the world and drain all of its oceans
If only you could find the strength to get up and leave this room
You’re tired now and it’s getting late, but don’t worry
I’ll leave the lights on and stay right here until you wake
I’m right here
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5. |
Hard Burn
06:28
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It’s a farewell to arms I thought were mine to keep
the only ones you said I’d ever need
I never thought I’d be the one left behind
but if I race you to the high ground you’d beat me there every time
You were a sweetheart but you made off with my pride
robbed me blind so it must’ve been real, alright
Now I’m sat here trying to think of what I’d say
if I could trade tomorrow for another shot at yesterday
-
Your silent face
says you’re miles and miles away
You’re on a hard burn
far away from here
Your red-shift gaze
is a dead giveaway
You’re on a hard burn
and I can’t come with
-
For a minute there, I almost believed my own lies
that we were the only lovers left alive
But opportunity and circumstance are what made me yours
it’s not romantic but it is what you get, I suppose
My sleeves are a bit bloody now from all the weary hearts I’ve worn
every time a little bit less graceful than before
But by now I’ve learned to take it on the chin without a sound
it gets easier every time around
-
Your silent face
says you’re miles and miles away
You’re on a hard burn
far away from here
Your red-shift gaze
is a dead giveaway
You’re on a hard burn
and I can’t come with
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6. |
||||
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Am I the man who fell to Earth?
Did my bursting into flames as I tore through the sky become a guiding light, or did it just keep you up at night?
Did my crimes warrant such a penance, to be deprived of my rebellion?
I can’t recall a thing at all
-
I thought my debt could be repaid
So I taught myself to cure the sick
But no one came to roll the stone away
And my staff remained a stick
I was the Carpathia’s radio man
I carried stretchers out of no man’s land
Theda Bara called me ravishing
But the stars reflected in my eyes look different and alien
-
I took a guided tour of Calvary
to see if it would stir something in me
inspire greatness or jog a distant memory
of someone you wanted me to be
But I didn’t feel what I’d hoped
so I started poring over every word you ever wrote
and became my generation’s greatest exegetist
searching, feverish, for clues I must have missed
-
Am I someone who used to stand for something?
-
In my distress I felt increasingly like Sisyphus
so I made arrangements with an Austrian psychoanalyst
A petty little man obsessed with dreams and incest
who hid his fear of sex behind misremebered classics
He cleared his throat and said to his reclining patient:
“In my field of study this is what we call displacement.
Inventing enemies is not the way to go -
your failings are your own, yours and yours alone.”
-
Am I to blame for not remembering anything?
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7. |
Body Pact
05:55
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Spit in my mouth
Lean in close enough
to smell the sickness on me
Sing me to sleep
And lick me clean
-
Call me by my low name
On your belly in the dirt
looking for bones to bring home
From the killing fields
And the pet cemeteries
-
And if we’re bleeding, it’s just to prove that we’re still alive
Cut your palm and press your wound to mine
And when we’re falling, we’ll do it with our heads held high
Always in love, never in line
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8. |
Unceded Love
02:57
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In a small town by the sea
With no ground left for my retreat
Caught your scent on the wind
From the east and doubled
Back when I was little
I already knew I’d end up here
Bags packed, running down the fire escape
To disappear
Let’s leave before it’s too late
Lose our faces and our names
Cloak ourselves in night and slip away
-
The weight of our dreams inside
A map of the lands we hide
Two rooms with a breath-taking view
Of something altogether
New names for the constellations
In the night sky
New songs about the rivers running
Down the mountain sides
Burn your passport and lose your watch
I’ll take the bags ‘cause you’re the better shot
They can’t break us if we’re never caught
-
One word from you could make me forget the rest
But the very same risk caving in my chest
Maybe this time, our sins won’t find us out
Maybe this time, we’ll all make it through alive
And maybe no one will
Then I’m content with my choice of hill
|
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Ellen Ripley Gothenburg, Sweden
7" ANARKISTERNA/FRONTEN GÅR GENOM HJÄRTAT
OUT MAY 1
Tim - guitar, vocals
Lisa -
bass
Idun - drums
Emma - keys
ellenripleygbg@gmail.com
First demo tape BODY PACT available at:
neverunderstandgbg.blogspot.com
... more
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