1. |
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Snow thrown in your face by shovelled hands at gale force pace
You lost your step up ahead and fell down with a gasp of breath
So tell me why I should care, I just found her there
Woke up with the light turned on, you walk towards it and you yawn
Unquestioning you turn it off, memories of last year lost
But I am not to blame, I just found it that way
Two paths for the light to go, take a look and watch it show
Well, looks like it changed its mind, recalibrate again one time
Oh, no
Oh, it shows
Oh, no
Oh, it shows
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2. |
Small pyramids
04:52
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Mattress on the floor, that is all I need
Four walls and a door with a lock and key
Close the door behind me
I can drive all day, living on the A roads
No overnight stay, I can wear the same clothes
This is you now, this is what you chose
And I'm thinking of what more do I need
Year's supply of food, you can't grow on the move
Water from the tap, the pipe runs all the way through
This pyramid is small, it'll have to do
And I'm thinking of what more do I need
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3. |
Settle
02:19
|
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Break the chain of command, find out where I stand
Grip shoulder lead by the hand
Find out you own your car and your home
Parents old, both live alone
Figuring the choice you made, aren't you glad I stayed?
Rather nicely played
Turn down the fire, it's got to last a while yet
Never mind, but that's your style set
Another chapter left to write, but you begin to find
The relative chapter length declines
Begin to repeat, firmly plant your feet
Got this far, can't admit defeat
A search for what you like, but people change their mind
Need something else that gratifies every time
Once heard a song that made you quit your job
Track suddenly stops
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4. |
Stopping distance
03:56
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You came to a stop
Like a truck spilling over in rush hour
With one last thought
We're in seperate rooms
But we both think the same thoughts
And we both wanted to call
Hear the penny drop
And make a dull sound on the pavement
And you can smell that it's just been raining
So you started to walk
But broke into a run after one block
This is the clearest that you've ever thought
But when you came to the door you stopped
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5. |
Florence
05:08
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Here comes an art attack
There's no Buchanan, just relax
Just too much Paris for you to hack
Florence has not got your back
Open eyes, wake up from black
See the movement, pan and track
Hear the colours, tight and packed
Florence has not got your back
Flutter heartbeat, are you sure?
Just when you thought you were cured
Surrounding closeness in a space
Jerusalem is just a place
Trick of chord change, twist of note
Delusions that you learned by rote
You're taking notes but it's a trap
Florence cannot love you back
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6. |
Tired
04:37
|
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Tilt your head back, till you can see the smile
It's almost over, it's only been a while
It's been a hell of a week, I'm so tired I can't speak
And when I sit down I begin to laugh
I sit down and I laugh
So sit down and grin, I'll let you have your way
You can do your own thing, but you've got to do it all day
And it's more work than you thought, turned a hobby into a job
It's a pity you do not have time to think
Real shame, no time to think
But what is a man to do?
With some old rusted parts, he can build nothing new
What can I do?
I'm finding it hard to pull this one through
I know your game, sit down tell me your name
I can read your face like a book, you knew what to take so you took
The tools in the box aren't plentiful like before
Take a tool in your hand and try to sharpen it more
But what is a man to do?
With some old rusted parts, he can build nothing new
What can I do?
I'm finding it hard to pull this one through
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7. |
You're you?
03:25
|
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How should I know?
Discarded tie, broken dress
What a fine mess
You're free to go
Squinted face towards the sun
It's not a spotlight
Look at the sky, it's so blue it's white
What have you done?
Salt sweat flash in the eyes
Over shoulders arms flung
You talk so old but you look so young
Set an alarm for the sunrise
Aren't you glad that our friends came to?
All fed and watered
Now that's the third time you've asked me that
Do you feel like yourself?
Do you feel like you're you?
Are you you?
Are you you?
Are you you?
Are you you?
Are you you?
Are you you?
Are you you?
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8. |
There's no winning
03:52
|
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So I call you, to meet up and to talk this through
Try to reason with you but I'm through, there's no reasoning with you
I reach the point where I'll say anything
I try to speak but I cannot begin
There's no winning, no winning
So we race to the bottom, to the nearest point that we can score
Previous losses forgotten, we'll hammer home till you get sore
We'll jump like wolves if you'll just hesitate
The loudest voice can make no mistakes
There's no winning, no winning
You can dress up and conceal and imitate the salesman act
But the truths that you reveal are broken, we can see the cracks
You don't concede, just change point of attack
"Well that may be", then introduce a new fact
There's no winning, no winning
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9. |
Teeth and Tongue
03:12
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Oh, this is a surprise
Yes, I've been working hard all this time
With teeth and tongue
Oh, this feels frictionless
Your expression does not fit your lips
With teeth and tongue
She opened with a question
She's been breaking ice all her life
With teeth and tongue
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10. |
Writer
05:15
|
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People, events or ideas?
But your mind is small, like Roosevelt feared
Loud statements are thrown towards you
But you can't make them out for the opposing view
So you turn off the picture, hoping to turn down the noise
But the radio's distorted, you can't hear the voice
And you want to raise yours, but that's not what you learned
So you open your mouth to speak measured, but firm
But the words don't come out when you're in front of the crowd
So you go home alone to write them all down
You're a writer aren't you?
You think things through
Revise your mistakes, it's what you do
You're not more correct because you worked longer on it
Thoughts don't have depth due to how they're worded
So go home and study, research all night
You know I enjoy reading what you write
You're a writer aren't you?
You think things through
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11. |
After America
03:43
|
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All words by Allen Ginsberg
America (edit)
America I've given you all and now I'm nothing.
America two dollars and twenty-seven cents January 17, 1956
I can't stand my own mind
America when will we end the human war?
Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb
I don't feel good don't bother me
I won't write my poem till I'm in my right mind
America when will you be angelic?
When will you take off your clothes?
When will you look at yourself through the grave?
When will you be worthy of your million Trotskyites?
America why are your libraries full of tears?
I'm sick of your insane demands
When can I go into the supermarket and buy what I need with my good looks?
America after all it is you and I who are perfect not the next world
Your machinery is too much for me
You made me want to be a saint
There must be some other way to settle this argument
Burroughs is in Tangiers I don't think he'll come back it's sinister
Are you being sinister or is this some form of practical joke?
I'm trying to come to the point
I refuse to give up my obsession
America stop pushing I know what I'm doing
America the plum blossoms are falling
I haven't read the newspapers for months, everyday somebody goes on trial for
murder
America I feel sentimental about the Wobblies
America I used to be a communist when I was a kid and I'm not sorry
I smoke marijuana every chance I get
I sit in my house for days on end and stare at the roses in the closet
When I go to Chinatown I get drunk and never get laid
My mind is made up there's going to be trouble
You should have seen me reading Marx
I have mystical visions and cosmic vibrations
I'm addressing you
America this is quite serious
America this is the impression I get from looking in the television set
America is this correct?
I'd better get right down to the job
It occurs to me that I am America
I am talking to myself again
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Jack James Glasgow
Rangy songwriter.
“From Neil Young... by way of Bonnie "Prince" Billy, to Arab Strap, without the
charming vulgarity”
-The Herald
"Sounding more like a Scottish Leonard Cohen than ever"
-Scots Whay Hae
"Jack James may be doomed"
-The List
... more
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