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B i o g r a p h y Due to a wide range of influences, restless/relentless creative energies, and a supporting cast that's too numerous to list in full, random peeks into the catalog of the Glen Johnson-helmed Piano Magic — from super limited-edition singles on Spanish independents to full-length soundtracks — rarely result in the same thing twice. Started in the mid-'90s by Johnson, Dominic Chennell, and Dick Rance with the intention to base their recordings around a small nucleus and whoever would like to contribute — using 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell's This Mortal Coil as something of a template — the material released by Piano Magic has ranged from arty Baroque pop to childlike electronic knob twiddling and whatever points you can and can't think of in between. The lone thread running through Piano Magic's records, aside from Johnson's presence, is a sense of wistfulness. Johnson has explained his desire to soundtrack memories, and with that, Piano Magic have found their niche. One early hope of Piano Magic was to avoid the live element. However, when their first single, 1996's Wrong French, was awarded Single of the Week in Melody Maker, the initial trio felt obligated to play out in support of it. Along with Paul Tornbohm, the group played their first gig and opted not to play any of the material found on their records. They also made no attempt whatsoever to sound anything like their records, so odds were pretty good that a few curious concert-goers were perplexed after returning from the shops and hearing the studio incarnation of the outfit. "Signed" to Che, the label that released Wrong French, the group kicked out two more singles (with one issued on Wurlitzer Jukebox) prior to releasing their first full record, Popular Mechanics, in November of 1997. Including some of the additional personnel featured on the preceding singles, such as vocalists Raechel Leigh and Hazel Burfitt and instrumentalist Martin Cooper, the record threw together some previously released material along with a clutch of new songs. As uneven as the record is, its mysteriousness provokes replay after replay. The band left Che, having been frustrated with their lack of effort. Not surprisingly, the constant financial flux soon got the best of the label. In 1999, a crazy slew of singles and EPs for labels like Staalplaat, Darla, and Bad Jazz — including a split single with Matmos for Lissy's — surrounded the release of the second album, Low Birth Weight (Rocket Girl). Thanks to just a little more focus and a higher level of quality from beginning to end, the record is often regarded by fans as their best work. In addition to most of the prior suspects, Caroline Potter, Alexander Perls, Matt Simpson, Jen Adam, Simon Rivers (Bitter Springs), David Sheppard (State River Widening), and Peter Astor (the Weather Prophets, the Wisdom of Harry) figured into the process of making it. The following year was one of Piano Magic's least prolific, but it still spawned a remix EP for Germany's Morr Music and the rather conceptual full-length Artists' Rifles, which bases its subject matter in the first World War. It's the group's most consistent work in terms of sound. It features none of the electronics heard on prior releases, instead focusing on delicate interplay between drums, guitars, and the cello work of Adrienne Quartly. At some point prior to its recording, Miguel Marin was added to the group's lineup apparently as a permanent member. In 2001, Piano Magic were commissioned to score Spanish director Bigas Luna's Son de Mar. The director had heard Low Birth Weight in a record shop and was impressed enough to ask them to provide music for the film. Peaceful, lulling, breezy, and completely instrumental, the score demonstrates Piano Magic's astonishing range. Released by 4AD, Son de Mar spawned a deal between the two, and the group began working on the proper follow-up to Low Birth Weight later in the year. To satiate fans and irritate hardcore vinyl collectors, Rocket Girl released Seasonally Affective, an exhaustive double-disc compilation of singles. Writers Without Homes was eventually completed and released in mid-2002. Piano Magic left 4AD soon after, releasing The Troubled Sleep of Piano Magic in 2003 on Spain's Green UFOs label and Disaffected in 2005 on Darla. |
Popular
mechanics
Wintersport / Cross-Country
A Charlie Brown snowstorm for 2.49
Snoopy drops dead in the snow
This is all that I can show for my time with someone I don't really know
I met you in mittens beneath London Bridge
Killing your skateboard, angry like sea
I loved you in minutes, like people love Lucy
We spat in the snow, black coffee
A rollerskate waitress in Littlewoods cafe
A Raleigh bike builder, Pro-Plus and Park Drives
We kissed once - it was like e minor
Things could, I think not, be finer
To Be
Swished / Dream Of The UPS Driver
Your poetry is all blanks to me
Your words pass through courteously
I wish to be swept up, to be swished
I wish to be swept up, to be swished
Your delivery is all wrong
It freezes me
You are no poet
Go home and have a bonfire
Go home and have a bonfire
(Bonfire)
Wrong
French
And there were those films
Made in the Seventies where dolls ran through fields
Late at night, after men
His shirt is my dress
I lost my knees and hands
He drowned my make-up in the white sand
And I'm too tiny for a heart this big
It swells like an ocean
It's breaking the jail of ribs
And he said it won't hurt
And he said it won't hurt
And he said it won't hurt
A lie the size of the sky
And this hotel is dusty and he's locked the door
And the sea's gone so far out I can't see it anymore
I was baking when he kissed me
I put flour in his hair
He rolled me like a bottle, whispering wrong French in my ear
Rain starts on you as your goodbye runs me
through
Goodbye is nothing new but it's last breath when said by you
And this world shrinks to a room - weather inside snowfall soon
No bookcase can rescue a man - only a letter of sorry can
Handle with care if only you dare
I'm sensitive, touch sensitive
Handle with care if only you are
I'm sensitive, touch sensitive
I have a photograph - mid-heaven, post-laughter
Eyes shine ridiculous - illuminate the both of us
In the fold of a camera's eye, in the time it takes to sigh
I open up an ashen heart, pour out a thousand whys
Handle with care if only you dare, etc
Write or i'll die
Handle with care...
Crown
Estate
Look at that rich girl twitch - like me she can't sit still
How would you want it seen?
Just like when you were ill?
When you hear the way they talk - the rosy cheeks of the ruling classes
You can argue all you like - they swear by early nights
Never meant to be like this - a lot colder but the people were warm
If anyone was coming to get you - armed only with a sugar bowl
Used to leave your back doors
Used to leave your back doors open
Used to leave your back doors
Used to leave your back doors open
All the houses on the Crown Estate all look the same
That nut from four doors down wandered in by mistake again
And said to your old mum, "I think it's best that you sit down
I'll make a cup of tea and you can show me what a woman looks like
With her head turned inside out"
Used to leave the backdoors, etc
Bad
Patient
There's rain on the line between his ear and mine
Lost in translation, bad patient
I'm a terrier, a black sheep, half-relation
He's French, a hack, white, Caucasian
We fuck in sadness, a cold frustration
Then we're fine for a while, our hearts adjacent
He types, I read and we clash on the keys
He corrects, I direct the bones of the text
But he's silent, too ill, too fragile
Too still and I'm violent and rash, slow down for the crash
The Fun of
the Century
Could it be that you drove me into your fleet of hand-melt candy
Could it be that you sent me falling off the roof backwards, gently
Do not let my words depress you - I'm here to uplift you now (I'm here to uplift
you now)
Her eyes have gone south - terrible lies she denies
Could it be that you broke me into a sheet of rain swept sideways?
Could it be that you wrote me a dead attempt?
It just plain scares me
Do not let my words distract you from all the fun you demand - from the fun of
the century
No more glistening wet poems in your honour, captain of alienation, New York,
money, compassion
Not Fair
Run away when you see me coming
And I can only say, "Not fair - this is not fair"
Miles away, reading, writing books
Look outside with imagination - I'm here and I'm sad
I' here and I'm sad
Dark
Secrets Look for Light
Get me an ugly wife - no man will look twice
I can fall asleep at night and dream of someone else
I found an ugly wife and she'd led an ugly life
Take my hand, this ray of hope, crawl out of this hole
She weaved her spell on me and I fell hopelessly
I swore to put it right - I blessed her every night
Tried to put the truth away - cruel water finds it's line
Cruel mouths are open wide, dark secrets look for light
I ran back to the flat and found her hanging there
Silk nightdress, fallen chair, I found her hanging there
Wait til the end turns white
I closed my eyelids tight
Here comes the blinding light
This light will guide my life
Snow Drums
Three on the backseat as we drive home from
rehearsal
There's snow on the drums
The snare shudders like a cold ghost between my mittens
in the trunk, guitars slide like dead over dead
It's stopped snowing
We think we see foxes
I breathe a canvas on the window to write your name on the landscape
The sky is a grey flint from coast to coast with birds frozen in
Magic Trees share the dashboard with a Playdoh Jesus
Grapelli and Reinhardt lock horns on the radio
I draw a black skull on my jeans, not thinking, through to the skin
the headlamps come on at five
I miss you bad
I Am the
Sub-Librarian
I am the sub-librarian, come in on the council bus
Chalk Farm to Highgate Woods, sportsbag of borrowed books
A steady diet of Brautigan, 'Tapestry' on the walkman
Paranormal ill-health from dusting off the top shelf
I am the sub-librarian, counter girl, tea-maker
I am the sub-librarian, swan feeder, spectacle breaker
I am the sub-librarian
Artists'
rifles
No Closure
On the forecourts of French libraries from Reignac to Marseilles
the rain rattles small cars, clouds drape over backseats
I am a photograph in your satchel, between a paperback and cigarettes
I am the dead bird on the gravel, neck snapped from last night's Northwesterly
But no peace, no closure
But no peace, no closure
Beside these roads that halt like jetties, beneath circling murders are leafless
trees
Drowning at the knees; some burnt to the fingertips
And here my tracks sink, end, return as I walked in and out of you
And here my tracks sink, end, return as I walked in and out of you
But no peace, no closure
But no peace, no closure
Driving back through the town
The road map-pinned by Pharmacie signs winking up-road
The cars slice the afternoon with a guillotine slush
As it bleeds into a night peppered by stars and planes to Japan
And the changing of gears jilts the cats from the walls
The truth lives with you
The truth lives with you
But no peace, no closure
But no peace, no closure
But no peace, no closure
But no peace, no closure
A Return
To The Sea
We sail on the bad tide
We sail on the bad sea
From your heart to my heart with sails cut from mercy
From your heart to my heart
From Summer to Spring
We row through the Dead Sea to the deader within
You & John
Are Birds
You and John are birds
You and John are ghosts
You and John are genies, guarding my coast
And in my address book, you're depicted as birds
Drawn in, no words
The Index
I have thought about you in your Summer abode
In your lunatic smock, in chronicle mode
The typewriter smack as you nail in the words
and the turntable's drunk reflection occurs
I have thought about you in your grasshopper pose
And the cigarette smoke carving trails through your clothes
Your Spanish guitar pins your bed to the floor
So your dreams can't escape and they're yours evermore
Paris, she bleeds night into her cup
As you index the birds and you label them up
Password
My password is a dead aunt's name
A monument, a testament
My password is a dead aunt's name
A cenotaph, a shallow grave
I'm thirty one and fading fast
Forget the past, repeat the past
I'm thirty two and fading fast
I started last and I finished last
Artists'
Rifles
1914 - 1918
i've got your letter here, i've got your memories
Young men, as us - broken soldiers
i've got your telegram, i've got your souvenirs
1914 - 1918
i've got your photograph, i've got your poetry
Young men, as us - Artists' Rifles
Young men, as us - Artists' Rifles
(Music Won't
Save You From Anything But) Silence
Music won't save you from anything but silence
Not from heartbreak, not from violence
Postal
I was a postal worker from May until July
I left because of allergies - the letters made me cry
8am on Fridays, 6am the rest
Postal for the two months
Coastal for the rest
I kept the last day's letters
Modern
Jupiter
He lived a boy's life
He loved his "Camp Mohawk" on Viele`s Creek
And he loved to work on problems, drifting in his canoe
Lightning days
He hated formalities in dressing
He would welcome also god himself, in his red bathing suit
Lightning days
The doors of his house were usually electrified
The Season
Is Long
The season is long and i've got the chills
The city steps back, replaced by the hills
There's snow on my heart and snow on my pills
The season is long and this season kills
Don't you ever think that you might love me?
The season is long and I'm coming home
I captured your ghost in the throat of the phone
There's snow on my heart and snow on my pills
The season is long and this season kills
Don't you ever think that you might love me?
Certainty
There are more people alive now than have ever lived
I read that somewhere and instantly thought it impossible but if it were to be
true
I wonder that, if we keep living this fast, no-one will have time to die
i've met people whose lovers died in war and i've wondered what this
helplessness could be like
one minute there's a whole life entwined with yours and the next, just a space
and scattered clues
When I watch old films in which animals appear
I get sad because those animals are certainly dead now
And that certainty prompts my private epitaph and I have to say it out loud
"That dog is dead, that cat is dead, that horse is dead..."
It's The
Same Dream That Lasts All Night
It's the same dream that lasts all night but I
can only keep this
It's Halloween and I'm chasing you round the other kids
On a moonlit lawn in a skull mask and a ghost cape
And you are sometimes and sometimes you are just a shadow
Already
Ghosts
In travel, there are traps
When I'm writing in the back
Beneath the rain, between the maps
My diary bears this out but memory has it wrong
I loved you when you loved me and then we were done
There's a silence on the railway
There's a bad curse on the land
And this season writes a rainstorm like a poem in the sand
You told me I depressed you, that I withered in your hand
And that sentence cut my loveline when you left me as you planned
In travel, there are traps when I'm writing in the back
Beneath the rain, between the maps
My diary bears this out but memory has it wrong
I loved you when you loved me and then we were gone
In travel, there are traps when I'm writing in the back
Shot
Through The Fog
Breaking Winter up by shooting numbers from the clock
The cat sleeps on the atlas in Alsace Lorraine, dreaming long grass and birds on
the wire
I have memories no deeper than this glass and some besides that stretch history
twice
In a super 8 film colour haze, a scratched nostalgia that runs through my cogs -
shot through the fog; time taking care of whatever I cared about
So you are lost somewhere in here - your body, a raft,spinning towards the
falls
Your death claimed me too - there were two throats in the noose but mine now
swallows whiskey, mine is not now bruised
The black mouth of this month, bruised lips, black ice, forms a sickly smile
across London's sky
The
troubled sleep of Piano Magic
Saint Marie
Out of season, out of heart, I cross you off
beneath the stars
Autumn leaves a nasty scar and with the leaves, the heart departs
You're off the map, you've left the book
I'm off my head and treading luck
And it's too late to call you up
The heart migrates, it comes unstuck
I light a candle for Saint Marie
In the hope she never brings you back to me
I light a candle for Saint Marie
In the hope she never brings you back to me
The
unwritten law
You turn on your side like you have to face North
Or else you can't sleep : the unwritten law
But how can you sleep with my heart so loud?
Like a scream in a jar, like the sound of a crowd
And way out at sea, the waves and the masts know that they've lost
That they're heading for rocks
But the captain's adrift in dreams of dry land
Of the view from the lighthouse, of my name in the sand
Speed the
road rush the lights
Geography, be kind to me, for the miles apart are killing me
Tonight I would die to be by her side so speed the road, rush the lights
Speed the road, rush the lights
Even bad girls sleep tonight
Even bad girls sleep tonight
Their aspirin white legs, scarred by young lust's overbite
Even bad girls sleep tonight
Even bad girls dream tonight
Their aspirin white legs, scarred by young lust's overbite
The snapped Ratner's chain glints cold in the night
The snapped ankle chain glints cold in the night
Caution is thrown to the wind and it does not blow back
Caution is thrown to the wind and it does not blow back
Geography, please be kind to me for the miles apart are killing me
Tonight I would die to be by her side so speed the road, rush the lights
Speed the road, rush the lights
Help me
warm this frozen heart
Outside, the fairground in snow
Revolves like a waltz, funeral slow
And summer has gone, collapsed like a chair
Like the heart of a bird, a bell on the air
Inside, the wireless in snow
The orchestra drowns, funeral slow
And autumn has gone and with it the bloom
The harvest of stars, like moths to the moon
Help me warm this frozen heart
I am the
teacher´s son
Started mailroom
Moved up through Clerical, now Obituaries
I am the teacher's son
I am the teacher's son
I am the teacher's son
I'm the teacher's son
Never seen a sky so big
Like it's been saving up for years
Clouds from Russia press-ganged in
Until the dateline disappears
I have loved and lost like the river's lost and found
But i've never fought the tide and i've never fucked around
I'm the teacher's son
My favourite sound is churchbells
And my greatest love's the sea though I never learnt to swim
Never trusted it with me
I wrote a novel in my twenties though it never left my head
A thousand words a sitting 'til all the characters were dead
I'm the teacher's son
My father was a poet though he never got the chance
'Cos his words looked like another's if you took them at a glance
But he met a girl so pretty that he asked her to a dance
And there his words they died liked flowers
There his words, they lost all power
i've been told I have his ways
i've been told I have his grace but he left me on my birthday
And the only thing remains
I'm the teacher's son
The end of
the dark, tired year
The end of a dark, tired year
I slept bad, in bad dreams, on bad beer
I tried to get on but you nagged in my ear
And London is fucked - a busted bike with rusted gears
I walk around with a knife in the cuff but that's not gonna be enough
The end of a dark, tired year
I slept bad, in bad dreams, on bad beer
I tried to get on but you nagged in my ear
And London is fucked - a busted bike with rusted gears
It makes me dark, dead in the eyes, a shark
The
tollbooth martyrs
The tollbooth martyrs, 21 - 56
Leave their lives at the gate and beneath the standard issue crucifix
Push their summers to the side of the plate
Live their lives through diaries, can't get jobs in libraries
Live their lives through diaries, can't get jobs in libraries
The calendar model, long-retired, expecting her third, joined a choir
The saucer of coins marks off the years from college to dole to tollbooth
cashier
Live their lives through diaries, can't get jobs in libraries
Live their lives through diaries, can't get jobs in libraries
When I´m
done, this night will fear me
When I'm done, this night will fear me
Ghosts of ghosts of ghosts will hear me
Black just got blacker
Attacked became attacker
When I'm done, this night will fear me
The silent movie extra, left for trash on the set
Asserts his revenge, calls in the debt
And when I'm done, this night will fear me
Ghosts of ghosts of ghosts will hear me
Black just got blacker
Attacked became attacker
And when I'm done, this night will fear me
Black star in a white night, like a blue wave in a black sea
Luxembourg
gardens
Tonight, I can't sleep, the heart's all wires
The moon is widowed, the stars, retired
i'll never travel and I'm always tired but I still love you and I can't lie
Don't you ever go home?
Comets
Came to London to find myself but in ten million people
Where do you start?
Drunk at a party
You asked me if I was someone else and I say
"Yeah, if it helps you, I won't be myself"
Like Japanese poets who capture a Summer in only three lines
With just one kiss
I want to tell you but it takes all night
You just can't wait for the right time because like comets
It could be the last time
You should always tell them you love them
In case you never see them again
Disaffected
You can
hear the room
You can hear the room
On these long, winter nights
If you'd just, if you'd just
If you'd just be quiet
Beneath the word
There's the whisper of pipes
There's the stretch of the wood
There's the chink of the light
And the wires conduct
And the water runs down to the sea
But stay away from the drink
Stay away from the diaries
It doesn't matter
It does not matter
Love &
music
Well, i left home when i was 16
I had no reason, had no rhyme
I did not know where i was going
It did not matter at that time
And there were people on the street, people on the street
The strangest people that you'd ever meet
There were people on the street, people on the street
The strangest people that you'd ever meet
I got a job in the factory
I broke my back, i swept the floor
I met a girl who said she loved me
I hadn't heard those words before
And all i knew was love and music
Love and music got me by
And all i need is love and music
Love and music 'till i die
All i need is love and music
Love and music gets me by
All i need is love and music
Love and music 'till i die
Night of
the hunter
It's the night of the hunter
It's the night of the long knives
It's the night of the hunter
And you can justify all you like
Sleep tight, this snowy night
For spring, you will never see again
Say goodbye to your awful wives
Bid farewell to your awful friends
I'm twenty steps from the jugular
I'm twenty steps from the death
I'm twenty steps from the funeral
I'm twenty steps from your last breath
The shadow falls on the abbatoir gates
As you leave with the stench on your hands
I am here with a cigarette bait
I am here to asphyxiate
It's the night of the hunter
It's the night of the long knives
It's the night of the hunter
And you can justify all you like
The laugh you spew on this landscape
As you erase it of the gentle hare
Will be your last on this landscape
Will be your last anywhere
Matador, bear baiter,
Butcher, hare courser
Value your life while you can
Disaffected
Anything can happen in life
Especially nothing, mainly nothing
Once you know that, you're fine
Once you know that, you can retire
Set your clock by your heart
Work's overrated and it will kill you
Finish nothing you start
And start nothing you think you'll continue
I'm disaffected now
I'm disaffected now
And to this model i've kept
I surface at 3 in the clothes that i slept in
And though i'm drowning in debt
I'm richer through all the things i'm rejecting
And in a rare, certain light
I have a strange charm, i think you'd like me
And the rain brings me out
The rain makes me happy
I'm disaffected now
I'm disaffected now
Set your clock by your heart
Work's overrated and it will kill you
Theory Of
Ghosts
I've a theory of ghosts and i'm a monster to girls
I stick in their heart like a rusty spur
But i've a theory of ghosts:
They're alive and we're all dead;
That they're trying to tell us is that it's this way around
And i've a theory of girls
They always seem to leave in the spring
As if they know that it hurts more
To carry a heartbreak through the summer
In the calender storm, i circled a day and tried to hold on
And in the last powercut,
I whispered her name 'til the lights came on
Smoked my indian pipe
Listened to the static, the snow on the wire
Smoked my indian pipe
Listened to the static, the snow on the wire
I have one photograph that captures her smile
But i don't have a tape of her laugh
Watercolors can't help me
Your Ghost
Your ghost, a white candle in this night
Smile broken, though eyes bright as carnival rides
You wander these streets, punch-drunk on the stars
As the lights are stubbed out in the neighborhood bars
Your voice, thin as smoke, barely exits your mouth
There's blood in your hair and a fire to the south
Your skeleton moves in a waltz with the stairs
And the well of your heart, full of noone who cares
Your words, a white wreath at the cusp of the hill
To mark of the kill, where the blood was spilled
You're the back of the mirror, you're the ghost of the tide
And i would die twice, if you stayed tonight
(don't stay tonight)
I must leave
London
I must leave london
It is bad for my soul
It's making a hole
That will erode me
I cannot subscribe
I cannot tow the line
And robert elms,
You're selectively blind
She shall not miss me
And i care not
Cos she's doing me in
And she's wearing me thin
A last goodbye to the boundary estate
You stole my heart in summer rain
A last goodbye to the boundary estate
You stole my nerve but never again
She shall not miss me
And i care not
Cos she's doing me in
And she's wearing me out
Where the queen makes way
For the burger king
Goodbye to the stench
Goodbye to the din
Deleted
scenes
You're life's like a comic book
All shadows and childhood fantasy
The people you love, disguised
In a velvet glove biography
But i recognize what's going on:
Deleted scenes
And when your eyes go out
You play them back, as broken dreams
I don't get you anymore
I don't get you anymore
I don't get you anymore
I can't respect you anymore
You got a letter from an old friend
Asking why you never spoke again
You leave your lovers cast in amber past
And those times you can't evoke again
I don't get you anymore
I don't get you anymore
I don't get you anymore
I can't respect you anymore
You're in denial, you're not on trial
The
Nostalgist
I can't get on, i can't get on
Because i live in the past
And it's too strong
I can't get on, i can't get on
Because i live in the past
And it's too strong
And the present is imperfect
And the future, well, it's conditional
And the past's a foreign land
That i'm trying to understand
And all the girls are framed
In the order that they came
And the best friends do their worst
To remind me that i'm cursed
And i'd just like to say
That i'm sorry to everyone
That just wants to get on
That just wants to get on
But i...
You Can
Never Get Lost
I know nothing of tides
And i'm confused by the stars
But you can never get lost
When you've nowhere to go
And i've got space in my heart
For the next twenty years
So don't think there's a rush
Just come on over sometime
And i will haunt myself blind
Only sleep when i'm bored
And i will talk into space
And i will worry this house
And i've got space in my heart
For the next twenty years
So don't think there's a rush
Just come on over sometime
(come on over sometime)
England's
always better (as you're pulling away)
Though I love the rain
And I love the grey
And I love the estates
Where the flags decay
England's always better
As you're pulling away
England's always better
As you're pulling away
Though I love the rain
And I love the grey
And I love the estates
Where the flags decay
England's always better
As you're pulling away
England's always better
As you're pulling away
No, you don't back down
As you're driving through town
But control yourself
’Cause this is not our town
A smile and a joke
And then a line of coke
Watch the sun going down
On our rusty crown
All apologies and queues
And bright red people
With ludicrous views
And the last day of summer
Trickles down the drain
Tears for the wedding
And smiles for the funeral
Stay in your car
You know you're not as useful as you were
Oh what now
I came to your school fete
I’m a sucker for a raffle
I couldn't see the trees
But I could smell the rotten apples
Quick, everyone inside
We're wait until the rain ends
Was our year cursed
Another dead school friend burns away
Tears for the weddings
Smiles for the funeral
Stay in the car
You know you're not as useful as you were
Oh, what now
Where ridicule is something to be proud of
Mopeds buzzing by
Like angry wasps in the dying light
Tears for the weddings
And smiles for the funeral
Stay in the car
You know you're not as useful as you were
Oh, what now
See the sun going down on our rusty crown
Feel the blood running down our rusty crown
See the sun going down in our rusty crown
England's always better
As you're pulling away
England's always better
As you're pulling away
The last
engineer
I feel alone in the city
I feel alone in the crowd
I try to listen to reason
But the city's too loud
I took my heart to a doctor
He took one look in my eyes
He told me hearts may be broken
But the love never dies
I tried to follow my father
He was the last engineer
But they'd closed all the factories
And his steps disappeared
I thought I’d follow the train lines
But it started to rain
And everything looked clearer then
Everything was in its place
Saints
preserve us
Kick out this notion that anything goes
You're better off sticking to what you know
You've got the heart but you're missing the soul
You've got the wheel but you're losing control
Keep your hand on the rail if all else fails
‘Cause it's a long way down and you're so frail
Your hands so cold and your face so pale
Keep your hand on the rail if all else fails
You've been living your life like you're fixing to die
You've been living a lie but you never knew why
You've been living your life like you're fixing to die
You've been living a lie but you never knew why
Cities &
factories
Cities and factories
Spread across
The borrowed map
But still I’m lost
Cities and factories
Spread across
The furrowed land
But still I’m lost
And the soil is as cold as the moon
And the trees are as dead as a ghost
And if I never see you again
Well, I was the one who loved you the most
And the birds take a bow to my heart
‘Cause they've never seen quite one of its kind
It may be worn out and wasted
It may be selectively blind
But this heart, it is proud to have loved you
This heart is not cold to the touch
This heart never ran from your kindness
This heart never asked you for much
Cities and factories
Spread across
The borrowed map
But still I’m lost
Soldier song
Poor little soldier, the war is all done
So tug off your medal and empty your gun
They found you a pillow to lay down your head
So hang up your hang-ups and climb into bed
There's a chime on the hour and a light in the hall
And a picture of nothing in a frame on the wall
And there's rain on the rooftops to the north of the shire
And the trains run the coal through the heart of the night
You fought for your country you fought for your queen
Now everyone's happy, now everyone's free
And God help the bastard who says it's not so
And God help the bastard 'cause what does he know?
Sleep in the knowledge that England is brave
For each loss of breath is a life that you saved
The angels will guard you, they'll tend to your brow
Poor little soldier, come lay your head down
There's a chime on the hour and a light in the hall
And a picture of nothing in a frame on the wall
And there's rain on the rooftops to the north of the shire
And the trains run the coal through the heart of the night
Halfway
through
My youth, I could not drag it
I could not bring it with, so I ended up without
The house was razed, the spark was dowsed
The looks have gone but I soldier on
I'm halfway through
I'm halfway through
Oh, where to go and what to do
Well, I came of age then I withdrew
Well, I came of age, then hitherto
Halfway through
Halfway through
Oh, where to go and what to do
Now everything is overdue
The mirror needn't bother
For I’ll never know tomorrow
Well, I came of age then I withdrew
Well, I came of age, then hitherto
Halfway through
Halfway through
Oh, where to go and what to do
Now everything is overdue
The king
cannot be found
I know your story
I looked into your eyes
And everything had died
Time was
You glistened
You had a lot to say
But you threw it all away
And now your silence is just an excuse
And I’m embarrassed by the lies you produce
You start to crack up when you're faced with the truth
You start to crack up when you're faced with the truth
The king cannot be found
The king cannot be found...
I know your story
Your hands are cut to maps
Your heart a photograph
Time was
They loved you
You wore the Golden Fleece
You had them on their knees
But now you're missing from the history
Now you're missing from the tapestry
And there's a shadow where you used to be
There's a shadow where you used to be
The king cannot be found
The king cannot be found...
Black out the windows
It's the start of the plague
Black out the windows
It's the start of the plague...
( Incurable EP )
The doctors shake their heads
They chain around the bed
They’re looking for a reason
To why I’m still not dead
The medicine’s not working
I haven’t sleep for days
The light is shone right through me
The skeleton is weighed
Incurable, I’m helpless
The mind and body weak
I have so much to tell you
But I can’t seem to speak
Incurable, I’m lonely
The city empties out
I live inside the shadow
The shadow of a doubt
The cannons fire across me
I cannot make the trial
The seasons crash around me
The bones are in denial
My temper is a tower
The church will not provide
You closed the drawer upon me
I am unclassified
Incurable, I’m helpless
The mind and body weak
I have so much to tell you
But I can’t seem to speak
Incurable, I’m lonely
The city empties out
I live inside the shadow
The shadow of a doubt
The romance of the season
Is wasted on the weak
I stayed in bed through snowfall
I tried to get some sleep
Invisible and broken
The spirit has moved out
Words that were unspoken
I cannot live without
A strange light
Beckons me this way
A strange life
Beckons me this way
A strange light
Beckons me this way
A strange life
Beckons me this way
Part monster
I produce too much of something
Not enough of something else
But the doctors cannot help me
With the puzzle of my health
And I’m tired of easy music
And I’m tired of pretty girls
And I’m tired of being tired
And I’m tired of being hurt
I am the soldier at the back
Who is burdened by his books
Though I stare into the mirror
It does not tell me how I look
So I’m shaving in the darkness
And I’m turning in my sleep
And I’m turning like a monster
With a dead man in his teeth
Oh, part-monster
Oh, part-monster
Oh, part-monster...
The nightmare
goes on
I cannot shake this notion
It haunts me through the streets
The height is that of giants
The depth is that of seas
The words refuse my tongue
They tear me from my sleep
You ask me why I cry
But i cannot bear to speak
The nightmare goes on
Won't somebody wake me
I cannot bear this notion
Its hand, an icy clasp
I bear its weight at all times
You need not even ask
This sadness in my eyes
The burden drags me down
It shames the storm outside
God knows I’ve tried and tried
March of
the atheists
Well I can accept that you have your faith
So you must accept that I have none
You chase your god into your grave
I'll die alone when my days are done
All these fabulous beasts that you strike down
All this beautiful land that you claim to command
And all these wars in the name of a book
There's god in your heart but there's blood on your hands
So where are you fires of hell
So where now your golden gates
I see no angels, no heaven on high
I hear no marching of your saints
Go placidly amongst the noise and haste
Well, I know your churches are a sight to behold
And I know your stories as good as any man
I know we all have our crosses to bear
But I’ll waste none of my time in desperate prayer
I've rung the bells of the Mont St-Michel
But me and the saviour were never that close
I've called into the night with no hope of reply
But I’ve seen the holes in the holy ghost
So where now, your peace to all men
So where now, your undeniable proof
Where is it written, in paper or stone
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
On edge
This life winds me up too much
I am taut as a wire
And the pressure's building up
I am up to the neck
I am cut to the quick
I am stuffed to the gills
I am sicker than sick
You think you know me
But you don't know me
You get a version
You cast aspersions
My back is up
But you'd never know
I hide it well
It doesn't show
This life winds me up too much
I am taut as a wire
And the pressure's building up
I'm a pot on the boil
I'm a trap on the spring
I am pushed to the brink
I could pull out the pin
A fond
farewell
Oh lord
I've lost the one i love
I gave her all i had
But that was not enough
Oh lord
I cannot bear to breathe
Her voice is but a memory
Her kiss is but a dream
So long
I haven't left my bed
I see no point in getting up
I wish that I were dead
So long
I bid a fond farewell
I cannot live this hollow life
I cannot break her spell
The blue
hour
The clouds, they go their way
With indifference to us
A melancholy light
The ghost of summer past
The moon relieves the sun
Across the evening sky
And here we come undone
And here we say goodbye
Take the last kiss from my lips
Take the last look at my face
And then surrender all we have
Or I will never walk away
The whispers in the bough
Are but rumours on the wind
This love was never ours
And yet we took it in
The headstones mark the lost
Erased by time and tide
Ashes cast to sea
Blow back as memories
Recovery
position
Is it the shadow in my voice
Oh, I can barely form a sigh
Is it the music that I make
Is it the sadness in my eyes
You put me in position
As it tells you in the book
But I’m a separate chapter
You cannot look it up
My mother had a crying boy
Hung up over the fire
I could not bear to see him
I would not meet his eye
I think that’s why I’m like this
The tears they never cease
And yet you never see them
I keep them all in me
I have broken into France
I have stolen into Spain
I’ve been thrown out of Italy
And I’ll be thrown out again
The Dutch never liked me much
And Germany the same
I poisoned half the western world
But it never bought me fame
You never
loved this city
Make haste, the light is fading
The traders turn the sign
The clouds are lost to darkness
The bars they spring to life
You never loved this city
But angel, it loves you
Your smile, a roman candle
Your eyes are Prussian blue
Beware, the crack of lightning
Three miles but drawing near
The first rain blacks the pavement
The birds, they disappear
And in the doorway, lovers
They share a cigarette
Below, the rush of gutter
Above, a silhouette
You never loved this city
But angel, it loves you
Your smile, a roman candle
Your eyes are Prussian blue
I never loved this city
But you can keep me here
Your love, a stained glass window
Your heart, a chandelier
The faint
horizon
In youth, we think too little
In age, we think too much
In youth, of what's to come
In age, of what we've lost
We always want tomorrow
So never live today
And that's the curse of our lives
We wish our lives away
With time, the faint horizon
Comes clearer by the day
For some, it's far too soon
Whilst others cannot wait
And all men need distraction
And some men need their gods
For without these diversions
Then everything is lost
In life, we carve the land up
That is not ours to carve
We cannot take it with us
But cut the greater half
And herein lies the problem
And herein the blame
You enter life with nothing
You leave it with the same
Exit
Maybe it's time to get out
Maybe it's time to get out
We all have our reasons
We all have our doubts
Maybe it's time to get out
A Book I
Should Not Read
( Dark Horses EP )
All armies bear their losses
Yet still they rally on
The fanfare may be muted
The spirit may be gone
And Troy was devastated
By an accident of greed
I knew that you were taken
A book I should not read
But the sun danced in your shadow
Like the mocking of a bird
And I was dragged down to your depth
And I clung to every word
You're a statue in my past
You are stone upon the grass
Byzantine and cold
But never getting old
And the clouds pass over Europe
As the night, it battens down
I am drinking in the backroom
Of a bar of some renown
And I'm thinking how I lost you
How I let go of your hand
Your last words wore a sadness
You were drowned out by the band
A trick
of the sea
Heading south so i can go north
Guided by birds but drifting off-course
Read the tide-table before starting out
Bbut 30 years old with chapters torn out
You, waking up from a dream of the sea
Safe in the harbour from sailors like me
You, in the kitchen, waiting on tea
Whilst i lose the compass to a trick of the sea
Bearing east so i can blow west
Guided by wreckage of the marie celeste
(read) sombrero fallout whilst waiting for calm
Carved chapter 13 in script on my arm
You, waking up from a dream of the sea
Safe in the harbour from sailors like me
You, in the kitchen, waiting on tea
Whilst i lose the compass to a trick of the sea
Amongst the
books, an angel
Amongst the books, an angel i've not met
And time hasn't touched her yet
From a to m to z she swans, as if avoiding bed
Pigtails instead of wings
I strung her harp with my heart strings
And i would ask this spring for her
If i knew what the right words were
Angel pie
There's angel pie in the oven and everything is ok, it's alright
The point at which the seasons pass each other on the way out, way in
'A confederate general from big sur' sat in my lap like a happy cat
I can sleep and read at the same time and day and night are just words
I can live in the hills with my simple thrills, racing clouds into town, if i
like
The
biggest lie
She said, "it's ok - you'll feel better every day and all memory of this will
fade away"
And that's the biggest lie and i just wonder why when love dissolves we don't
all just die
I sat by the lake when everyone had gone home, nothing on my body but the
sadness i had on
I felt death's elbow nudging at my ribs, telling me to let go - i don't deserve
to live
She said, "it's ok - you'll feel better every day and all memory of this will
fade away"
And that's the biggest lie and i just wonder why when love dissolves we don't
all just die, liar
Dark ages
None of us are what we were
I know you've heard this all before
I know you've heard this all before
But none of us are what we were
But it's a dark age, a dangerous time
I'm on the last page, the end of the line
But it's a dark age, a dangerous time
I'm on the last train, the end of the line
Outside the bar on the road to the madrid
A curious frost settled down on my ribs
These were the badlands, the sad lands
I wanted to leave but i wanted to give
Whispered in song in the tops of the trees
"Tears are the only rain that we see"
Whispered in song in the tops of the trees
"Tears are the only rain that we see"
I get up too late to wave off the night
I get up too late to wave off the night
Dark Horses
( Dark Horses EP )
When you're preoccupied
Like a moth with the light
We are sacking your life
We are bleeding your pipes
When you're hooked by the line
By the crook of your spine
We are sparking the knives
We are Frankenstein
When you're preoccupied
By the junk of your life
We are marking your card
We are catching off-guard
When you're thanking the Lord
For the fat of your land
We are cutting the cord
We are back of the hand
Our love is the love of the loveless
Our tears are the tears of the bird
Our side is the side of the sideshow
And our blood is as good as our word
Dark horses, our handshake is fatal
Our seal is a stamp to the heart
We cut through the din like a rattle
Our violence is closer to art
Dark horses, our handshake is fatal
Our seal is a stamp to the heart
We cut through the din like a rattle
Our violence is closer to art
Our love is the love of the loveless
Our tears are the tears of the bird
Our side is the side of the sideshow
And our blood is as good as our word
???
French
mittens
England's dreaming, winter absent
I take my books back, change my accent
First in the library
You queue up behind me, frost-bitten in french mittens
Take care on the corner
Sliding on white grass
I catch up with your shadow but you're walking too fast
Halloween
boat
I'm in my halloween boat with a hole in my heart the size of a girl
Pacific postman, 30 west by 50 east on a black sea that joins up countries
My life is one second slow ' says here on my watch ' that's how i know
I'm a map-pin on a dead sea marking out 30 west by 50 east
On the off-chance that anyone should wish to know
A trail of letters waltz on the tide back to maritime plaza from my halloween
boat
And it's so cold, you can hear the moon
My life is one second slow ' says here on my watch ' that's how i know
There's a hole in my heart the size of a girl ' 30 by 50
In my pocket, a letter ' a "let's make it better" note
But i'm all out at sea, asking the harbour to come this way, closer, to swallow
me
And there's a hole in this boat the size of a star that i plug with the letter
The "let's make it better." a peep show for jesus. He looks through the stars
I came to
your party dressed as a shadow
I came to your party dressed as a shadow and you never knew, you never knew
I rolled through the halls like a velvet wave, as quiet as an empty stage
I blackened your eyes and stole the light from your glass
But in the cold calm of the morning, lay like a death-kite on your lawn
I came to your party dressed as a shadow, without invitation, without a motive
I parked three streets from the moonlight - the soft walk to your house on a
silver string
You were dancing in the backyard to a biscuit-tin beat
I slunk between the notes, posting them off to the night
This is symptomatic of you and me : i have jars full of your breath
I have shelves of your words but you have nothing of me but a space where i
would be
I have moved
into the shadow
( Incurable EP )
The night is closing in
The clouds are frozen still
The birds are feathered down
The churches ring the hour
Where once there was a cheer
Now stands a sorry crowd
Across the frozen lake
Beneath the tattered flags
A carnival of skates
The scissors scratch their names
Where once I held your hand
I cannot bear to stand
This city is a cauldron
Of blackened snow and strangers
I moved here from the country
I didn’t know the danger
I’m haunted by the bottle
I’m haunted by the angels
In letters from my sister
She asks me how I’m feeling
I say that I am better
But I lie in every letter
I have moved into the margin
I have moved into the shadow
Move closer to the fire
Or else you’ll meet the ghost
I loved you like a brother
I loved you more than most
But still you left me vacant
Still you left me cold
Jacknifed
( Disaffected Green Ufos version )
I am jacknifed in your diary
I may be home alone
I’m not lonely
And I’ll be stronger when I’m stronger
I’m at my bleakest, at my weakest
I am worn out
And I’m frustrated
I tried to work you out
But you’re a stranger
I’ve got the rulebook
It’s missing pages
And I could guess
But that’s so dangerous
Turn around when you get to the coast
There’s nothing there to see but sea
Leave those mountains left unclimbed
And put a line right through me
( Incurable EP )
Well, I am a young man
And I believe in God
And I button my shirt
Right up to the top
And I read when I can
In the shade of the trees
And I buckle up good
And I always say please
But the wolf is at the gate
And I’m reflected in his eyes
And his teeth are broken glass
His mercy is a lie
And when it snows
All the details disappear
And the days are long and grey
And the lights come on at three
And the road down to the pharmacy
Well, it may be beautiful
And the road down to the pharmacy
Well, it may be beautiful
But it’s a trap
But it’s a trap
But it’s a trap
But it’s a trap
Non-fiction
I've got the snow on my side - i've got no doubts about that
And though this city grows wider, i always know where i'm at
I got your letter this morning
I know you mean what you say
And though the stations are closed down, i've got to get away
I'm somewhere off the compass
I'm somewhere lower than hell
And when you say you're beyond this, i say, "i've been there as well"
Sketch
for joanne
Joanne comes around with a radio and absinthe
We start the afternoon with polish xmas songs on shortwave
She laughs as we burn the first shot, the green flame
I love joanne
We've been friends for 12 years
We used to be lovers but now a hug can be just a hug
I followed her from derbyshire to london
She's the sub-librarian, the swan feeder, spectacle breaker
I wanted to buy her a bicycle this xmas but she said it was too much
She can close me down like i let no-one else do
We watch the green flame in the window
And it somehow makes me think of Amsterdam or Paris
Rain beneath canal bridges in neon cafe light
The phone rings but it's not for me
The answering machine catches it and holds it and holds it and holds it
Stations
( Dark Horses EP )
I don't know why
The lights, they never change
Been stood here far too long
It's time to disengage
I don't know why
We're better when it rains
I'm cold to your design
You're cold to my embrace
I don't know why
I gravitate to loss
I feel too much inside
I cannot shake it off
I don't know why
You never hold a kiss
You snap it at the heart
It freezes on your lips
We're stations
Disconnected at the heart
Our rails are rusted veins
Our switches, torn apart
We're stations
Disconnected at the heart
Our rails are rusted veins
Our switches, torn apart
Torn apart
There's
no need for us to be alone
I can't believe she said that
Can't believe it's true
Can't believe she's faithful,
She is wicked through and through
She's read too many books
She's had too many screws
Unfortunately i have fallen don't know what to do
When spring turned to summer, i swapped her for another
She drank herself stupid
Threw herself down the stairs
She put whiskey with her aspirin
My records in the dustbin
She pleaded me to take her back
I knew she would, i knew she would
Want without needing
Love without leaning
Hold without clinging
Don't suffocate, don't suffocate
She wore a coat too warm for summer
Socks too short for winter
Shoes too scuffed for parties
And lipstick far too tarty
She wanted without needing
She loved without leaning
She held without clinging
But she suffocates, she suffocates
There's no need for us to be alone anymore
There's no need for us to be alone anymore
She wanted without needing
She loved without leaning
She held without clinging
She suffocates, she suffocates
She wanted without needing
She loved without leaning
She held without clinging
But she suffocates, she suffocates
The
canadian brought us snow
The canadian brought us snow and lucky strikes for john to smoke
A thursday night with powercuts, in mountain socks, burning books
We watched the jetsons for too long -saw robots in our sleep
Naval lights from amsterdam through the kettle steam
The jesus glow of calor gas illuminates the frosted glass
The windowsill, a battle scene of airfix kits and disney queens
Born too early, wake up too late
Minds of chomsky but low birth weight
Sleeping beside, treat us like eggs
Box-jellyfish light, tinsel legs
The
drowning of st christopher
There's no heart in the men who run these mountain bars
All love extinguished by location and cold fronts
Dogs in the parking lot surround the car for scraps of affection
For eyes not glazed over like black ice
Thousands of kilometres of roughage and terracotta roofs
Horizons replaced by horizons
We run the belly of rainclouds between madrid and valencia
With the radio tuned into the weather we don't have
St christopher drowns crossing the river
Firs blown onto the windscreen disperse like a pack of tiny black birds
Service stations are watched over from the hills by shepherds
Who spend all their days flooded by thought
A deafening meditation
The cowbells, like bloody church alarms
Smashing the silence of grass, of the air
I am interviewed in a sleepy bar by a girl who wants me to explain
"The warmth of nostalgia," incensed that i "glamourise sadness"
And after seven hours on the road
I have lost all defences - they are roadkill, torn up, gutted
At night, tiny red beacons crown lonely antennas
Everywhere is shepherded in the absence of gods
Cities spoil everything
That there is somewhere to go and something to do
When the partition between sleep
And awake in the back of the van features such happy accidents
Hazed dreams in an unfocused super 8mm
On rainy nights, we are docked in the harbour of circular ballrooms
Playing to the shadows, playing to revolving mirrorballs
Our harbours are in brandy glasses
Our music is swilled
In hostels, fourth floor, bare rooms but for a bed and a sink
We stare vacant at sleeping guitars
Wndering how many fucks and violence
And drugs have intervalled us staring at sleeping guitars
And the taps can't be turned off
And there's suspect movement on the stairwell
Small pictures of boats in storms
Watches and money in our shoes
We wake up and the building is still there
And we're still in it, like miserable captains
The
sharpest knife in the drawer
It's just out of reach
Can't think of nothing else
Gathering the nerve
Something's in the air
It's just out of reach and i'm on the ground
I have energy
Talking to myself
Vacancies
( Dark Horses EP )
Well, you never asked me
So I never said
Though I tattooed the answer
So I wouldn't forget
Oh, there's much I can offer
If you'd open your eyes
The night is young but life is short
So come inside
On a council bench
On the Park Estate
I have carved our names
With a carpetblade
"They came here often
And they loved it so..."
The view is bleak so what's to love
We'll never know
The view is bleak so what's to love
We'll never know
The view is bleak so what's to love
We'll never know
The view is bleak so what's to love
We'll never know
The view is bleak so what's to love
We'll never know
Well, phone me
If you feel the need
My days are vacancies
My heart, it tends to bleed
But I know a place
Where they're kinder to our kind
Tonight, it rains a sorry drum
Come inside
Tonight, it rains a sorry drum
Come inside
Tonight, it rains a sorry drum
Come inside
Tonight, it rains a sorry drum
Come inside
Tonight, it rains a sorry drum
Come inside
If love would be so blind
The rest of us might blossom
If love would be so blind
The rest of us might blossom
If love would be so blind
The rest of us might blossom
If love would be so blind
The rest of us might blossom
What does
not destroy me
What does not destroy me can only make me stronger
