Petra Jean Phillipson Lyrics, Photos, Pictures, Paroles, Letras, Text for every songs

B i o g r a p h y
(by label Press)

Although she laughs as she says it, Petra Jean Phillipson isn’t joking when she says she “wants to pull people all over the place emotionally” with her music. Listening to Notes On Love, this 32-year-old singer-songwriter’s exceptional debut album, you can see what she means. Records this honest and affecting are rare, but records which ensnare you from the start and leave you craving more, as this one does, are rarer still. Make no mistake; Notes On Love is a dark and bewitching album from a major new talent set for great things. Petra is the first to admit it’s a “heavy” record, not just because of its intimate, defiant tone and deeply personal lyrics, but because she’s had plenty of experiences to draw from. Music was her first love and at 8 she formed a band at school in Ashford, Kent. Over the years she’s honed her craft in countless combos across the country, providing vocals for like-minded musicians such as Martina Topley-Bird, The Beta Band, Mad Professor, David Holmes, Marc Almond, Grand Drive and assorted hip hop acts in New York and London. “I’ve always been around really interesting people who are good at what they do.” Writing constantly and determined to one day carve a solo career, Petra has built up a stunning body of songs which form Notes On Love. Recorded at the end of last year in London’s Mayfair Studios with her pal Si Tong, once guitarist in The Verve, the album closes an eventful chapter in Petra’s life. “When I started writing this record eight years ago, the same time I moved to London, it was just voice and guitar with another guitar… and that was it”.

If her soul-rich purr sounds familiar (there are shades of Billie Holiday) that’s because three years ago she found a kind of fame fronting The Free Association, that psychedelic punk-funk ensemble helmed by her producer friend, David Holmes, who lately scored Ocean’s Twelve. She met him through Martina Topley-Bird, a close friend who lived round the corner from her London home. One day he phoned her to ask if she fancied recording some vocals in LA with him. She went for a week and ended up staying three months. The Free Association didn’t sell stacks of records but the group promoted the LP heavily on TV and the road. Petra appeared on Later… With Jools Holland and played Glastonbury and football stadia in Europe. As much as she enjoyed the attention, after a while it sent her loopy. “You’re in this bubble, getting driven everywhere and you’re not treated like a human being because people think you’re a pop star. Your family goes weird, your friends go weird, they fall out with you. Everyone goes weird.” In-between touring and still suffering the effects, Petra retreated to a studio in Devon with producers Rob Ellis and Head to record a version of her album, however, she wasn’t happy with the results and the sessions were aborted. Ellis came to prominence as the drummer and producer of Polly Harvey’s debut, Dry, a record that some might propose shares certain qualities with Notes On Love: a raw, bluesy, confrontational approach to song writing, for one. "The most important thing I learnt at the time was that no one gave P J Harvey that sound apart from Polly. It taught me that I needed to play more of the instruments myself. It was the only way I was to find my authentic sound and Si really helped me do that."

In her childhood Petra lived for a spell in Australia, on returning to Ashford, she found she didn’t fit in with the kids she’d grown up with. As a teenager into hip hop – KRS-1 was a favourite – she’d nip up to London to check out what was going on in the clubs and who was wearing what, then catch the milk train home. “I think music really saved me in my teens. It takes you out of yourself, it’s a great distraction.” Mainly, like most inquisitive teens, she just wanted to escape her hometown. She took a year’s art foundation course at St. Martin’s but loathed her pretentious peers, then enrolled in an art degree in Bath where she produced and installations. Today she works as a conservator at St. Paul’s Cathedral. While in Bath she ran a hip hop night called The Swamp where she would play a difficult mix of music, from Hazel O’Connor and the Beastie Boys to Blondie and The Specials, then going back to America for a Horse with No Name. She then learnt her trade in “all girl punk funk line ups” attracting interest from Fierce Panda, nailing vocals in one take and perfecting her guitar playing while travelling across the globe.

Falling particularly in love with New York, she tried to move there in order to make a record with the credible indie label Mush records, however, it wasn’t to be and her adventures across the Atlantic only fuelled her desire to write her own material. Once, on her 23rd birthday, she asked a stranger for directions to a restaurant for a celebratory meal. That person turned out to be that quintessential Englishman, Quentin Crisp, whom she adored. Five years on in the same city, she decided to ring him up and take him to lunch, as was customary for Crisp aficionados during his penurious twilight years. “I got his number from the phone book. Hello my name’s Petra, would you like to have lunch? And he’s like, ‘Oh my dear darling!’ and then gave me the diner address and said, ‘I’ll be on parade like a Dutch prostitute!’ He goes to the same place every day and you just pay for his lunch, very cheap. He was really humble and lovely.” Ask Petra why she thinks other artists like working with her, she says: “Because I just get really excited and enthusiastic. I like work, I love music and film, all those things, I really love them. And I love making things and I’m a bit crazy. I have to keep doing things otherwise I go totally mad, which means a lot gets made.” Now, with Notes On Love, a record that easily eclipses all she’s done before, Petra can finally enjoy success on her own terms.

I Want The Impossible

I wanna write a book that sings
I wanna ride a horse with wings
I wanna walk on water
I wanna hold my unborn daughter

But these few things could never happen
But I can't help want for them
Maybe it's just my nature
Time rolls over again

I wanna squeeze a man till he was dead
I want money makers mean what they say
I wanna know the answers to all the questions
I wanna vomit out ill thought like drunken poison

But these few things could never happen
But I can't help want for them
Maybe it's just my nature
Time rolls over again

I wanna float above the bed when I have sex
I wanna taste the milk of human kindness
I wanna have a penis for a day
I wanna skip round the world and play

But these few things could never happen
But I can't help want for them
Maybe it's just my nature
Time rolls over
Time rolls over time rolls over again

One Day

One day in your life
Just sitting around waiting in time
For my glory to arrive

One day in your life
I'm working it out
And I don't give a fuck if it's wrong or right

And I know right now
Never before I know
I know I know just how
And I know right now
Glory will come as long
As I recognize its frown
And I know right now
To catch it when it comes and ride it into the ground
And I know it sounds absurd
When you're kicked to the curb
But it's what you deserve to see
It's what you deserve to see

Sometimes in your stride
You take it too far
You’re testing the edge
And you see the rise

Sometimes in your mind
You make it seem real
You can't loose hope
That you can't hide

Starting a game
Back and forth, up and down life slide
You grab and I twist
You pull with your fist
Do you know you're right

And I know right now
Never before I know
I know I know just how
And I know right now
Glory will come as long
As I recognize its frown
And I know right now
To catch it when it comes and ride it into the ground
And I know it sounds absurd
When you're kicked to the curb
But it's what you deserve to see
It's what you deserve to see

And I said hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on

Independent Woman

Independent woman don't need a child
Independent woman she's running wild
Independent woman she ain't too kind
Independent woman her mouth she can't hide, oh

Independent woman she watches time
Independent woman no mountain she can't climb
Independent woman she's also mean
Independent woman like you've never seen, oh

Never should've been left alone
Now it's too late to wander home
Packed her bags and now she's gone
Independent woman will make her own

Independent woman counts love that's gone
Independent woman makes all her own
Independent woman could make a man
Independent woman run as fast as he can, oh

Never should've been left alone
It's too late to wander home
Packed her bags and now she's gone
Independent woman will make her own

Oh, independent woman, well, she's just fine
Independent woman take apart your mind
Independent woman oh, she can cry
Independent woman, just don't ask why

Independent woman don't need a man
Independent woman can't hold her hand
Independent woman will strut and glide
Independent woman now watch her slide
Now watch her slide
Now watch her slide

Billy Steaks

Where have you been
My dear sweet Billy boy
Cause I've something to confess to you
And I don't know where you are?

Where have you been
My dear sweet Billy boy
Cause I hear young Nancy
Said you gonna make her your wife

And I'll die and I'll cry
If you don't come back and see me soon
And I'll die and I'll cry
If you don't come back and marry me too

Where have you been
My dear sweet Billy boy
Cause I've something to confess to you
And I don't know where you are?

My hair ain't fair
But my big heart is true
So won't you please come back and see me soon

And I'll die and I'll cry
If you don't come back and see me soon
Yes, I'll die and I'll cry
If you don't come back and marry me too

Nothing If Not Writing Time

Funny how all the moments in time
Just turn into memories
Although times passes
Memories never leave
They always come back
That is

God ain't even on my side
He doesn't even know that I'm alive
I'm alive

God ain't even on my side
He doesn't even know that I'm alive
I'm alive

Nothing if not writing time
I'll take a piece and I'll hide it away
To make sense of another time

Nothing if not writing time
I'll take a piece and I'll hide it away
To make sense of another time

I feel so much even what dead people could feel
I lie so much can't remember your touch
Disappeared in a puff of smoke to choke me

God ain't even on my side
He doesn't even know that I'm alive
I'm alive

God ain't even on my side
He doesn't even know that I'm alive
I'm alive

Nothing if not writing time
I'll take a piece and I'll hide it away
To make sense of another time

Nothing if not writing time
I'll take a piece and I'll hide it away
To make sense of another time

Nothing if not writing time
I'll take a piece and I'll hide it away
To make sense of another time

Nothing if not writing time
I'll take a piece and I'll hide it away
To make sense of another time

I'm Lying

The sky is black and turns into red
Like I never saw before and like I'll never forget
And rivers wiggle like wet worms left out to dry
So watch me sip the bubbles down
To keep me loose to keep me in mind

And I'm lying every breath that's mine
Shallow souls ride across the line
Turn your back on morals
Use insight still lying
I'm lying every breath that's mine
No taste no future still lying

There's no saccharin substitute sweet enough
To reduce the hurt I'm feeling now
And another few little hours
I'll turn tears into hate somehow

And I'm lying every breath that's mine
Shallow souls ride across the line
Turn your back on morals
Use insight still lying
I'm lying every breath that's mine
No taste no future still lying

Little truth will come good
It'll come back to you now
I'm looking for some good
To come out of me
Don't leave me now

And I'm lying every breath that's mine
Shallow souls ride across the line
Turn your back on morals
Use insight still lying
I'm lying through every breath that's mine
No taste no future still lying

And I'm lying every breath that's mine
Shallow souls ride across the line
Turn your back on morals
Use insight still lying
I‘m lying every breath that's mine
No taste no future still lying

Play Play

Turn me down break me round
Far from the big city
I'm looking for some charm
Not in a charmless city

Place my face in a magazine
It could change society
There's only place I wanna be
Is sitting on the sea
Only place I wanna be
Is sitting on the sea

Play oh play all the concrete falls away
Just stay oh stay out here on a dark day

Play play all the concrete falls away
Just stay oh stay out here on a dark day

Take me down and wash me round
My soul into the sea
Clean or dirty water
It's where I wanna be

Take me down and wash me round
My soul into the sea
Can't see through walls of water
Crashing over me
See through walls of water
Crashing over me

Play play all the concrete falls away
Just stay oh stay out here on a dark day

Play play all the concrete falls away
Just stay oh stay out here on a dark day

Into My Arms

(Nick Cave's cover)

I don't believe in an interventionist God
But I know darling that you do
But if I did I would kneel down and ask him
Not to intervene when it came to you
Not to touch a hair on your head
Leave you as you are
And if he felt he had to direct you
Then direct you into my arms

Into my arms oh Lord into my arms
Into my arms oh Lord into my arms

And I don't believe in the existence of angels
But looking at you I wonder if that‘s true
But if I did I would summon them together
Ask them to watch over you
To each burn a candle for you
To make bright and clear your path
And to walk, like Christ, in grace and love
And guide you into my arms

Into my arms oh Lord into my arms
Into my arms oh Lord into my arms

But I believe in love
And I know that you do too
And I believe in some kind of path
That we can walk down, me and you
So keep your candles burning
And make a journey bright and pure
That he'll keep returning
Always and evermore

Into my arms oh Lord into my arms
Into my arms oh Lord into my arms

Into my arms oh Lord into my arms
Into my arms oh Lord into my arms

Into my arms oh Lord into my arms
Into my arms oh Lord into my arms

Into my arms oh Lord into my arms
Into my arms oh Lord into my arms

On Me Jack

You seem so distant
I can‘t hardly hear you

Close your eyes Jack begged

I'm building an image of me
Lying on top of you

Close your eyes Jack begged
Close your eyes Jack begged
You're too far away and the pain is distracting
My mind tricks my heart
Are you lying or acting

The wheels roll for miles
And still I can not see you
Close your eyes Jack begged

I'm drinking as fast as I can
It ain‘t healing
Close your eyes Jack begged
Close your eyes Jack begged
Close your eyes Jack begged

The colour you left in the flowers is falling
(hmm hmm)
You told me you'd be back by sun's dawning
(hmm hmm)
You're making promises that you're not keeping
(hmm hmm)
The willow is weeping tears of mourning
(hmm hmm)

Close your eyes Jack begged
Soon be back in your hand
So call your invisible land (?)
Now drown all your tears in my bed

Close your eyes Jack begged
Soon be back in your hand
So call your invisible land (?)
Now drown all your tears in my bed
Drown all your tears in my bed
Drown all your tears in my bed
Drown all your tears in my bed

Wild Fire

One, two, three, four

He believes in his fingertips
That's where he keeps his love
And even though mind says he's no good for you
Caution just run of luck

Need as I'm being (?)
?? a world since you fall as he let you touch (?)
It's too late to guide your heart
Against his gentle crouch

You see they say we live and learn
I say wild fire gets you burned
You see they say we live and learn
I say wild fire gets you burned

Only birds could sing a love song
To tell of his milk soft skin
The beauty of his eyes when closed
His lungs when he breaths in
The vastness of the lonely heart
Not worthy to let in
Eyes don't see the one that watches them
While they're asleep
Limbs don't feel the hands that
Hold them close
His visions blurred by dreams of oblivion
Visions blurred by dreams of oblivion

You see they say we live and learn
I say wild fire gets you burned
You see there's much to learn
I say wild fire gets you burned
You see there's much to learn
I say wild fire gets you burned

Cradle Of Your Smile

Be near silence sings to me
Been alone too long
Without a tiny glimpse of he
Share your luck for one day
And I'll carry on through dark mornings without you

I‘m kissing lonesome in the face
Every night he sits with me
And tells me of forgotten grace
Plundered through another phase
Barricades are down
So what can you bring me

The push becomes a shove
For the love that never comes
But the thing we all await
We all await
I long to be nowhere
But in the cradle of your smile
In the cradle of your smile

I'm missing somewhere else to go
Where nothing else exists
I'm looking to be outside my soul
Pictured love in many ways
Tried my hand at tricks and played
But the talents of ten men can‘t keep me

I'm walking a path that‘s very fine
Though Solis is here
On the ladder that I climb
I‘m swimming in the purple haze
Gathering stories along the way
Soft side come please me

The push becomes a shove
For the love that never comes
But the thing we all await
We all await
I long to be nowhere
The push becomes a shove

Still I cannot tell
Still I cannot tell
Still I hold my tongue
Still I hold my tongue
The push becomes a shove
Love that never comes
But the thing we all await
We all await
I long to be nowhere
But in the cradle of your smile
In the cradle of your smile

(Freestylers feat. Petra / Pressure Point LP)

Excuse the smirk on my face
I find it hard to erase
When you said, you said you were leaving

Wasn't funny at the time
But I knew baby in my mind
Was yourself that you were deceiving

Didn't I tell you
You'd be coming back
Didn't I tell you
I ain't having that, no, no
Now you wanna come on back to me
Talking about the way it used to be now

I hate to say I told you so
I hate to say I told you so
What you reap is what you sow
What goes around comes around
Now you know
And I hate to say I told you so

What we had was bonafide
Saw green grass from the other side
Then you said you said you were leaving
I feel a cliche coming on
Don't know a good thing when it's gone
Well so long but who you deceiving

Didn't I tell you
You'd be coming back
Didn't I tell you
I ain't having that, no, no
Now you wanna come on back to me
Talking about the way it used to be now

I hate to say I told you so
I hate to say I told you so
What you reap is what you sow
What goes around comes around
Now you know
And I hate to say I told you so

Why Can't We Live Together

( Timmy Thomas cover / Nickodemus And Osiris feat. Petra Phillipson )

Tell me why, tell me why, tell me why
Why can't we live together
Tell me why, tell me why
Why can't we live together

Everybody wants to live together
Why can't we be together

No more war, no more war, no more war
Just a little peace in this world
No more war, no more war, no more war
Just a little peace in this world

Well everybody wants to live together
Why can't we be together

No matter, no matter what colour
You are still my brother
I said no matter, no matter what colour
No, no, you are still my brother

Everybody wants to live together
Why can't we be together
Everybody wants to live
Everybody's got to be together

We got, we want to live together
Oh we want, a little peace
A little peace, a little peace...

All we want is a little peace