1. |
Metal in the Water
06:21
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Metal in the Water
when we found
these lands of you here
we were blinded by our gods,
the greatest of whom is gold
and we started to find
more beads, more spoons here
wanting for our Queen
a valuation of some kind
and our primitive fears
gleaming through here
bleeding soil to stone
with our seeds stymied & blind
if all that is left of us
are these beads & these apologies
stumbling on the stars we’ve let come
between us and our early visions
we haven’t much left
of the certainties we started out with
I try to remind myself now and then
and exploring the land
hard hooves & shoes here
pulping elder trees
crushing mountainsides to lime
and our primitive fears
gleaming through here
bleeding soil to stone
with our seeds stymied & blind
learning back our hive mind:
that which starves you out cannot feed me
steering down the chemical aisle
poisons to flush, poisons to gargle
are we deaf
to the sound of courage
each of us on our own for so long
all we can hear is the city
now we can’t cooperate
and we say you can’t compete
keep unearthing the heaven here
wondering all the time
I fear what would come between us:
politics ~ that is, I believe being right
is worth more than your mindfulness
o, no matter what the world gets
throw it away when you’re done
throw it away down the barrel of your gun
if all that is left of us
are these beads & these apologies
stumbling on the stones we’ve ground down
to sand in our machine’s embraces
I fear what would come between us:
politics ~ that is, I believe being right
is worth more than your mindfulness
o, no matter what the world gets
throw it away when you’re done
throw it away
throw it away down the barrel of your gun
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2. |
Blue Like Yours
04:24
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Blue Like Yours
I came for
what you came for
my eyes blue like the sky
my heart blue like yours
show me your sleep
I’ll show you mine
garbled words in the night
as you work through your fires
sweet as rain
on our old roof
you’re only finer now
as your dreams find you
you are my sweetness
down to the sour taste of you
you are my saltpan
I’ll lick the bitter waste of you
cos I came for
what you came for
my eyes blue like the sky
my heart blue like yours
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3. |
Shed of Leaves
02:43
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Shed of Leaves
the shops are closed, at least in my imagination
nowhere to go, no jobs to do
I feel released from all consumer indecision
feeling pink & sleepy, dreaming through
these are the hard husks of my lonely fatalism
only a fool would see it so
I had no means, I had no way of buying trouble
so I stayed out of trouble, I stayed home
home – that’s where I’ll be
entirely on my own, I’m free to
I’m going to weave a nest around you where I find you
if not tonight, some other time
until I feel your shadow folding my horizon
there’s nothing lovelier than be alone
home – that’s where I’ll be
entirely on my own, I’m free to
I’m going to build a shed of leaves and shelter in it
& bring you home, my bowerbird
and be content until time starts to prise it from me
the one thing lovelier than be alone
home – that’s where I’ll be
entirely on our own, and free to
and when you eat me like a bird who eats the shell & all
your every word a kind of call
we’re going to pool together all of our resources
and spool it all together, here at home
we’re going to build a shed of leaves & shelter in it
only two fools would see it so
I’m going to feel your shadow holding my horizon
o, home
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4. |
Vow to Surrender
04:28
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Vow to Surrender
there is a new system & it’s
& it’s called McDonomics
you can only be there if you
if you vow to surrender
everything about you that could
that could get in the way of profits
and you can only be an artist
if you learn to market
o – o – o – o – o –
money pays my bills
o – o – o – o – o –
so I vow to surrender
vow to surrender
there was a world election & the
& the United States won
everybody voted & we
we all vowed to surrender
everything about us that made us
made us different from others
and we also lost everything
that we really had in common
o – o – o – o – o –
money pays my bills
o – o – o – o – o –
so I vow to surrender
vow to surrender
say you don’t remember voting
for the United States
you vote with your pocket every
every time you spend money
I have made a promise to the
to the landscape around me
not to the let the promises of
of advertising confound me
o – o – o – o – o –
money pays my bills
o – o – o – o – o –
but I vow to remember
o – o – o – o – o –
money pays my bills
o – o – o – o – o –
but I vow to remember
vow to remember
vow not to surrender –
I vow to remember
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5. |
Drink More Water
02:46
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Drink More Water
Tuesdays I lie in bed with my ex:
have you got a t-shirt I can wear?
she comes to the door again and we just let it ring
sounds of funk irresistibly fill the air
tiny phone heats my pocket, a little tiny leash
phone knows exactly where I am lying
you gave me this jewellery so you can be in touch
any time without coming anywhere near me
you’re not sick, you’re thirsty
says the doctor Thursday afternoon
and I hear it as “thirty” because thirty is on my mind
metals in the water make me sick and keep me sad
but I have no science for these views
trees knock on the window like a suspicious spouse
trembling in the bathroom in a t-shirt too big for me
she comes to the door again and I hear you get up
am I sick or blind or thirty, my little white stick,
peeing in a cup ah
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6. |
Crown of Sun
06:06
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Crown of Sun
I like to gaze on you
you & your crown of sun
I’ll take on the both of you in my bed
want you to let me make you
lay yourself down ~
why won’t you?
well I let you wrest me to the ground
cos I thought you
might have something good to show me
that’s the last time I sit down in your presence
you ~ you ~ you ~
you seem to need a little towering over:
don’t you?
I like to gaze on you
you & your crown of sun
I’ll take on the both of you in my bed
want you to let me make you
lay yourself down ~
why won’t you?
well I know you had it harder than I had it
oh I know you had it harder than I had it
but if anger could recede like a tide from your brow
where I’d rather rest my cheek…
ahh
then…. I’d like to gaze on you
you & your crown of sun
I’ll take on the both of you
want you to let me make you
lay yourself down
why don’t you
lay back
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7. |
Always the Titanic
02:28
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Always the Titanic
it’s not disaster
but it could be
if we don’t learn to use our eyes
not like the last one
I think it would be
a long & terribly dangerous time
oo ~ for the skin, eyes, ears & heart
for the skin, eyes, ears & heart
it’s not the plastics
it’s not the metals
not the stolen blood nor the mixed oil
it’s more skin-sized
it’s more fleshly
what I love, what my toil prays for
oo ~ for the skin, eyes, ears & heart
for the skin, eyes, ears & heart
these are the last days
it’s no secret
before the change of some kind will come
I look forward
I remember
& I’m still wrapped in my little
oo ~ skin, eyes, ears & heart
skin eyes ears & heart
it’s not disaster
but it could be...
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8. |
Riverstone
03:58
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oh my darling, my love for you runs through me
like the river runs around a stone
I have a passageway through my house for you
and if there’s any way to get your feet on my land
I’ll bring you here, I’ll bring you here
and I know your heart is closed and full
there are many like you, sunk like a stone
the grace that passes me catches up with you
and it’s built like the back or the inside of lace
having no name; not needing to
and although you are so beautiful
I’m in love with the things that you help me make plain
if I want you in my life
must I hold you like a spanner
making a fist like I’m fighting
if I want you in my bed
must I hold you like a mirror
held to the lips of a dying man
I have a passageway through my house for you
and if there’s any way to get your feet on my land
I’ll bring you here, I’ll bring you here
and I know your heart is closed and full
there are many like you, sunk like….
a stone
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9. |
Glad to Join the Army
07:30
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Glad to Join the Army
if Mary had the money
she’d be glad to join the army
& to plant her feet, devote her soul
& regulate her wakings
cos the shoutings of the sergeant
drown the doubts that she has brought along
& traffic regulations that will keep us all in safety
as we hurtle to collision
with the ultimate decision:
that’s the wrath of an impersonal
and unnoticing Nature
who says: ‘look what you have done to me, and
see what you have made of me
you’ve locked the necks of mountains
and you’ve melted all the glaciers’
*had to go to war
*don’t be sad
*with a stable heart, we’ll meet again
*well it’s not my choice
*the government sent me to war
*but I’ll be back
*if I was a bird
*if I was an eagle
*then I would come flying towards you
& nothing’s growing easier
than ever we were promised
in the books we wrote some years ago, and
claimed they were the name of god
if God were here beside us
he’d be shaking his head, shaking his fist:
‘you were only selfish when I offered you stupidity’
now all the other animals
are fleeing from their only home
into the burning oceans & the canyons of your city
you say you didn’t mean it this way, you were only
trying to make some kind of difference
I want to make a difference. I want to ~
I want to ~
I want to ~ I want to ~
if Mary had the money
she’d be glad to join the army
where coincidence devotes its soul
to keep the human spirit
wholly separate from accident &
separate from body ~
and the heart & head conduct themselves
as though what’s thought is never felt
she handles the machinery
& greases down her weaponry
commando through the greenery
she’s feeling every second ~
and life has now a purpose
in this stolen sense of virtue – and she
puts her best breast forward
and she stiffens in the hatred
courage like an exoskeleton
to keep the human spirit in
we don’t respond to love sometimes,
we think of it as softening
I want to ~
I want to ~
*Tibetan language poem by Tenzin Choegyal & translated by Tenzin
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10. |
Like A Tablecloth
09:03
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Like a Tablecloth
clearly you had a job to do
you set out so eagerly
I will lie in the shade of our shadow
under our tree
at the day’s end & after the train ride
you'll step out of your shoes
let me dig into you with my spoon
& bring out your juice
o baby you’re my job to do
let me bring you back
blacken my feet at the fire
and I’ll cover your tracks
now that we’ve sharpened up your spade
you’ll find your day’s treasure
leaving loving at either end
like it’s only leisure
let me loosen whatever faults
have inveigled into your brain
lay you flat like a tablecloth
with a history told in its stains
o baby you’re my job to do
let me bring you back
blacken my feet at the fire
& I'll cover your tracks
o baby you’re my job to do
let me bring you back
blacken my feet at the fire
& I'll cover you
shut your phone, cover your computer
and close your office down
I will be here, I’ll light the fire
& remove your crown of frowns
working back, working for a future
you know it’s not too late
slam the door with such vehemence
that the glass will vibrate
o baby you’re my job to do
let me bring you back
blacken my feet at the fire
and I’ll cover your tracks
o baby you’re my job to do
let me bring you back
blacken my feet at the fire
and I’ll cover you…
clearly you had a job to do
you set out so eagerly
I will lie in the shade of our shadow
under our tree
at the day’s end & after the train ride
you'll step out of your shoes
let me dig into you with my spoon
& bring out your juice
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11. |
Horizontal
03:24
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Horizontal
slide past me slowly, no, don’t wake me
I want to stay the king of this landscape
and in my dreams, that’s when I’m entirely
ruler of all that I have invented …(repeat)
and all too soon I’ll wake
into an ordinary day ...(repeat)
where is my castle, where my instinct?
everything vital fades away from me
I’ve led my dreams a merry chase, yes
I have looked cowardice in the face …(repeat)
when night is gone I’ll stay sleeping
because it’s easier than the day …(repeat)
o man, grasp me as you know best
I’m just sitting here, singing underneath my dress
hoping you might take yourself a hold of
any one of these threads… of these threads
just let me sleep… (let me sleep…)
just let me sleep… (just let me sleep…)
just let me sleep...
just let me sleep…
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12. |
No Giants Sleeping
03:22
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No Giants Sleeping
there are no giants sleeping
there is no interest from outer space
only fools here
and we’re working our hardest
raised on notions that don’t stand up to the weather
doing our best to work things out better
there is no god awaiting
if I could believe it I’d believe it, believe me
only mortals here
and we’re doing our damnedest
raised on a diet of confusion & tripe
doing our best to make a good life
what if there are no heroes coming
there is no safety in our artifice
only Nature
who is getting tired of us
I hate to say it like I know, cos I don’t
I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know
I hate to say it like I know, cos I don’t
I don’t know I don’t know
I don’t know
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13. |
Body for Safekeeping
03:19
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Body for Safekeeping
I gave my body to you for safekeeping
there’s no point believing me
or disbelieving me
and as you’d only this drawer that you sleep in
then that’s where I stowed away
that’s where I stayed
you calm, you calm me
and in my body I store things that mean something
my self and my soul
my eyeholes & arsehole
everything I have is yours for the keeping
I know that’s old-fashioned
I know that it’s dull
you calm, you calm me
I don’t know why you don’t cry when you see me
did you ever see me
o did you believe in me?
now, looking down on us both from the ceiling
I know love conceals you
I know love reveals me
you, you, you calm, you calm me
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14. |
Fields of Play
03:22
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Fields of Play
time brings its own compensations
in the essence of each sweet day
in the nick of time I have found out
ole, ole, ah-weh
and nature has no hurry
and the fields are full of play
and like they say, it’s always a perfect sky
ole, ole ah-weh
there is a dying woman lying in my bed
and I can’t turn her away
and she tells me when she wants to speak ~ if I’m there
otherwise I just think she’s saying, Stay with me
time brings its own compensations
in the essence of each sweet day
in the nick of time I have found out
ole, ole, ah-weh
ole, ole, ah-weh
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Cathoel & the New Government Melbourne, Australia
a collective of musicians who love jazz, folk, funk, punk, country, poetry, & silence. we met on subways & on the street, in cafes & bars, at gigs, in Melbourne, Brisbane & New York.
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