1. |
These Curving Streets
02:48
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These curving streets
Under waves of rolling weather
I think of old Jack
This city ground
And cobbled ways that lead around
Don’t let that put you out
You may find the morning
Looking, asking
The crooked waves
And copper coins that fall
The sleepy days along Eastwall
They’re shouting out
Across the high rise flats
Everyone on that street is known
You may find the morning
Looking, asking
And you may find yourself
So light, laughing
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2. |
The Cool Months
02:57
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In the cool months from June
The new season here
Ground hardens under the evergreens that surround
There’s a crowd singing songs
From the North, so many stalls
Oh, the pie carts and beating hearts
And beating drums that glittered
Last winter, now they barely glimmer
Blue squads come in lines
Their blazers looking fine
Their badges were gleaming in the sunlight
Red squads in time
You’d think it was a national day
Such a great day
On the mainland there is talk
As the crowds fill the streets
Where they they stand and they meet
All through the night
To discuss just what it is
That we call a right
One time
There were 15,000 odd
Coming out from under the cloak
Of Mount Victoria’s evergreen slopes
We noticed the lights were bright
And the songs, they weren’t well received
We noticed the tone of voice
And the lines as they were drawn
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3. |
Here by the Fire
03:21
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Come, sit down and join me
Here by the fire
You’re worn out by the road
You don’t miss me
And these constellations
I won’t follow anymore, no not anymore
The moon over Cape Cod
Knocked down in the morning light
The coal black gulls
Waiting in the dark
As the white snow towers up ‘round the Cabo Sur
As I recall we were turning to go
The tips of the waves turned from blue, oh to black
And we wished we were back
We stand strong
As we cut our sure lines
Through the deepening red seas
Pass islands on the way
You thought we were saved
We were only delayed
And we might as well have returned
Past Henderson
That foreign land, I wish I’d never seen
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4. |
Red Civic
03:19
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When you’re travelling Westbound though
Overland to the Haywards Hills
Red Civic turning over
I’m sure you won’t be let down
Green valley, coming closer
Could there be any more
But you’re getting out at the Melling Line
The 6:21 comes, I hear rambling
Oh, it’s the life
I’m sure you won’t be let down
Well I know, you won’t be let down
I’m sure, you won’t be let down
So stand from a distance
And, well, you look around
He was no journeyman
Were you salt of the earth?
I know you stood in the right place at the right time
Oh, it’s the life
I’m sure you won’t be let down
Well I know, you won’t be let down
I’m sure, you won’t be let down
Fine wheels keep moving around
Remembering the start from nothing
No tainted taste on the ground
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5. |
Coves in the Darkness
04:00
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Out on the sea we’ve found
The highs the lows, it’s all we’ve known
It’s just not the same on solid ground
We roll on to the shore, everything is so secure
Can’t help but be unsure
Circling around with ten thousand tales from afar
But not a word to say
We found coves in the dark
Unlit we led from the start
For De Witt and for the King of France
We heard the tales that came around
They found us in the distant sounds
The corners that no one else would chart
On one hand, there are those who doubt
Under the common light that we provided them
Well, I tell you, we’re all the same
But I was raised in this red sea
We found coves in the darkness unlit
We led from the front for De Witt.
It was no simple choice that we took
We stood level with Cook
We stood level with the great
Can you say ours is a butcher’s lot
And this martialled field is not
And these martialled fields are not?
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6. |
Cherry Face
03:22
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March 15, outside the Union Hall
I can’t say I’ve ever felt so high
So you were, you put me in a cheery state of mind
My cherry face, smiling all the time
I could disappear away forever
Slip in between the tightly woven seams
Steer clear of the important so called things
It wouldn’t matter if this shining path was the end.
So you come in asking, what’s this all about
And where are we supposed to be now
I know, we say we don’t know, but we do
My cherry face, smiling all the time
It wouldn’t matter if this shining path was the end
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7. |
Panama
02:56
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Big old lights were fading
Drifting back from the dock
It’s only now they ask you to stay, but you will not
Did you see the cormorant, or hear the glasses ring?
You can say there’s nothing wrong, but it will go on
I was casting stones, looking for a place
Walking with flat feet on the last day
Of the year
I will be in Panama
Sleeping out with the tigers and bears
In my old sweet tangerine car
She goes everywhere
I’m following that trail, without a care
Over the land to some perfect stage
It’s somehow strange to be nearer to
My starting place
I was casting stones, looking for a place
Walking with flat feet on the last day
I was casting stones, looking for a place
Walking with flat feet on the last day
Of the year
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8. |
Duskline
03:37
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The first time we met, it was on the train
I was heading back to my old home again
With a good shirt on my back, I couldn’t stay for long
We are heroes was ringing out in my head
The next time we met, it was on the boat to France
He liked the rise of the waves as they climbed up, besides, it was better than home
And the great Cape Farewell stood low
And oh we sang songs as we were leaving
Not long after we were at Messines
What a scene, it was hard to believe what it means
As he spoke of his farmland back home
But the great Cape Farewell was nowhere to be seen
And oh we sang songs on the sinking ground
Out on the dusk line
I sit down amongst the grass and stones
Out on the skyline there’s a distant light
My mind is numb
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9. |
Endeavour
03:00
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The sun rose in the year of 1769
If you looked up you’d have seen a ship out at sea
With a masthead like never seen
It was clear they were not from these seas
they were sailing on a ship called Endeavour
Six months travelling to their dreamland
Or so it’s been told
Trees full of flowers and the golden sand
Gradient of every degree
And no, this is not what they came to see
Most were seeking rewards for their endeavours
Step out, it makes your heart burn,
How flames scorched the land
Like creatures tearing up what remained
But who can say it would have been better
Or it would have been the same
Without the sailing of the Endeavour
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10. |
Bright Particular
02:56
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You stepped out on that Clare ground
Didn’t even mind the rain
Oh I know you were a bright particular one
Clear and straight - we’ll not forget your name
Turning your own way
You did not seek to be the same
You stepped out on the stony ground
Didn’t even hear the rain
I know those cliffs up there at Kilkee
Their steep cut slopes, they’re something else
Shades of gray and green, you can lose yourself
You stepped out on the holy ground
Didn’t even feel the rain
Time it goes by, but we’ll not forget your name
You were facing the North Atlantic shore
Up here on the heads, you’ll find that we still are
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11. |
The Essex
03:18
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From the Marquesas Islands to the Chilean coast
We sailed fom the reaches of the the furthest sea
Everything we left behind, below
Across these great lines
So don’t tell me about your Greenland Whale Fisheries
Your Frigate La Pique, though they were brave boys
And don’t tell me about your Ancient Mariners
For the good ship The Essex
Every omen was a loss
Every shift, every current pulled her down
Even now I couldn’t stand
If it were not for the blood of my own kin
I can only know one way
Return to the land, is but a small comfort now
From the Marquesas Islands, to the Chilean coast
We sailed from the reaches of the furthest sea
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12. |
Steerer John Begg
04:48
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Take a look at these hills here
It must have been some time
Since they were first raised up
It starts me thinking about a Steerer called John Begg
Long ago, explorer on the North currents
Only small parts, but he paved the way for these
Long distance conversations
Cloudy day navigation we have now
Was Kea. Bay a dream
My head goes cloudy all the time
Maybelline waited at the shoreline
There was good reason to return
But you fell out with that crowd
You must have been confused
This warm summer land
It can take you by surprise
Take a look at these hills here
It must have been some time
Since they first made you stop
Their deep lines, mysteries untold
Only they can know, only they can say
What happened to the different things beyond us now
Like Steerer John Begg
He was a true mariner
He was a hero of our time
But you fell out with that crowd
You must have been confused
This warm summer land
It can take you by surprise
Kealakekua Bay
He was the Rose of the Winds
He was a hero of our time
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