1. |
Little Dark Star
04:07
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We all have a dark star in some corner of our hearts.
A little star so dark, no light escapes its grasp.
We all carry scars from the hands we've been dealt.
Scars we know so well, and scars we've never felt.
She loved me for my dark star she said I never tried to hide.
I loved her for her dark star and all the tears she cried.
And even though it's over now and we've gone our separate ways,
We hold each other's dark stars the remainder of our days.
Fought against my dark star, fought it tooth and nail,
With artificial light from some imaginary Grail.
Little dark star sucked up all that light.
Little dark star spat me out into the night.
You can wrap it all in white, you can cover it with snow,
Your little dark star will only grow and grow.
You can soak it through with Jesus' blood to make it go away,
Your little dark star will come back at you some day.
So careful with your dark star and the people who will claim
To take it all away for you or deny its very name.
You don't have to name it or put it out for all to see
But denying your little dark star will never make you free.
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2. |
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I once met a man in a bar, he said to me, “My son,
Love is a bit like a temperamental old gun.
Just when you think it won’t ever fire no more,
It’ll roar back to life and blow your foot through the floor.”
I once met a man on a road, he said to me, “My friend,
Love is a bit like a wound that won’t ever mend.”
As he walked away I realised he probably was right,
For the trail that he left behind him was a terrible sight.
Then a white-coated man in a lab said “Get a load of this:
Love is nothing but a neurochemical bliss.”
I pondered his words as I purchased a vyv-man-kan
To drown the memory of the way your hair catches the sun.
Don’t know what to do with these words that I wrote for you.
I guess I’ll try and bury them. What else is there to do?
Or throw them all in a box and drive to the sea,
And maybe then I’ll forget about you and me.
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3. |
Thousand Yard Stare
03:11
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Tell me what’s that smoke rising on the edge of town?
Tell me what’s all this stuff that’s washed up on the beach?
Is that the smoke from the fires of the people we’ve beaten down?
Is all that remains this flotsam, of the people we couldn’t reach?
Sometimes I feel like a dog chained up in a tiny little concrete yard,
Or a lion sleeping in the shade unaware of a distant telescopic sight,
Or a rainforest monkey paraded on some Parisian boulevard,
Or a jackal busy chewing its leg off from the snare that’s holding him tight.
Tell me what’s that sound from underneath my floor?
Tell me what’s that smell drifting down my street?
Is that the sound my grandad heard just before the First World War?
Is that the smell of burning flesh and a million marching feet?
Some days I feel a cold wind whistling through my bones,
And other times my veins feel like they’re filled with solid air.
At night I dream I’m in a strange room full of obsolete telephones,
Or standing in the middle of a hurricane with a thousand-yard stare.
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4. |
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Somewhere on this road
A house shuts out the night.
It resembles any other house
In a certain kind of light.
In this house there was a gathering
Of uniformed men.
In this house the plans were made
Of how and where and when.
In this room there was blood spilled,
And marks upon the wall.
In this room the deals were made
That compromised the soul.
And in this box lies buried
Photographs and files.
In this box are the melodies
Of the pain behind the smiles.
An unexpected guest
Has travelled through the night.
He came upon the house
He had memorised the site.
He climbed a flight of stairs
He opened up a door.
It was there as they’d assured him,
This box upon the floor.
Everything grew quiet,
And there are those who swear:
It was then that all the children
Fell into despair.
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5. |
Hope Was Inevitable
06:59
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Do you remember when all of us
Called out your name?
Our hearts were on fire, nothing could
Stand in our way.
I climbed on a rooftop and waited
For you to appear.
Until the end of my life I will always
Remember that day.
But this is so far from where we wanted to be.
This river keeps flowing but it never reaches the sea.
Now here in the twilight your body grows
Tired and frail.
The world has its way now, what did we
Think we could change?
But in the silent cold depths of our memories
You remain strong.
Speaking words that sound
Increasingly strange.
Because this is so far from where we wanted to be.
This river keeps flowing but it never reaches the sea.
Do you remember when all of us
Called out your name?
Our hearts were on fire, nothing could
Stand in our way.
I climbed on a rooftop and waited
For you to appear.
Until the end of my life I will always
Remember that day.
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6. |
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They buried his heart at Wounded Knee
Emptied his dreams into the Missouri
They buried his heart at Wounded Knee
Carved an ancient curse into a Redwood tree
They buried his heart at Wounded Knee
Chorus:
The strangers came from across the seas
An angry god and missionary zeal
In their fetid ships all full of disease
They brought their guns and germs and steel
Thy buried their hopes at Wounded Knee
Dug a nice big hole for their naivety
They buried their hopes at Wounded Knee
Cast what remained on an angry sea
They buried their hopes at Wounded Knee
Chorus
Maybe those ships they’ll come again
I don’t know from where and I don’t know when
Maybe those ships they’ll come again
I don’t know who’ll be on the receiving end
Maybe those ships they’ll come again
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7. |
The Little Church
04:57
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They gathered in a little church
To say their final prayers.
They asked the lord to intervene.
They believed that he cares.
But the killers came in undeterred
Through the church-house doors,
And still today you can see the blood
Of children on the floors.
And now you sit there telling me
Your god hears your prayers.
He understands your petty needs,
He loves you and he cares.
He must be awfully pleased with you
When you say your grace.
Does he smile down indulgently
As you stuff your First-World-Face?
They gathered in a little church
To pray for their lives.
They asked the lord to intervene
And save them from the knives.
But the Lord’s Ways are mysterious
And on that particular night,
He simply turned his face away,
Or perhaps he just took fright.
And now you sit there telling me
Your god can intervene.
But every time these deeds occur
He’s nowhere to be seen.
Because all of your mundane requests
They keep him occupied,
They distract him from the famines,
The wars, the genocide.
And now you sit there telling me
That I don’t understand.
But every time I see a preacher man
I see blood on his right hand.
For all the good within your faith
Can never compensate
For all these years of killing,
For all these seeds of hate.
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8. |
Oil and Water
03:51
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We were oil and water
We were salt and snow
I looked into your eyes
At the time how could I know?
You were for me a mirror
Or maybe more like a pool
I looked into your water
And I became a fool
I’ll never mix my drinks again
I’ll never drink and drive
And if there’s muddy water
I’ll be careful where I dive.
We made stormy weather
There was a hurricane
It blew down every door
Shattered every window pane.
We jipode on cement
We made a house of sand
Now we face the sun
And the weather of this land.
I’ll never venture out in a storm
I’ll protect myself from the sun
I’ll never trust no weather-girl
After all you’ve said and done.
We were oil and water
We were salt and snow
I looked into your eyes
At the time how could I know?
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9. |
Continental Rift
03:05
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This unbearable heat,
It’s been there many years.
The water has run dry
And I got no more tears.
But your smile was like a shower
On a dry and dusty land.
It washed away the traces
Of my sorrows in the sand.
And your voice was like the wind,
Gentle on my skin.
In your eyes I saw the fires
Of the storms you keep within.
I would stand out in your rain
'Cos I’ve felt your touch that burns.
But these roads remain untravelled
And these lessons left unlearned.
But I know you’ll never write
And I know you’ll never call.
There’s a broken old continent between us,
There’s a sea, there’s a world.
And I suppose that’s as it should be,
We are simply too far apart.
You’ll never understand the sorrow of this land,
And the hole that it’s made in my heart.
No, you’ll never understand the sorrow of this land,
And the hole that it’s made in my heart.
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10. |
Scattered
04:07
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When you left town I knew there’d be
Some price we’d have to pay.
Somewhere inside there’d be a scar,
I’d find it there some day.
You went away and left bits of yourself
Scattered through these rooms,
I’ve swept the place so many times
I’ve worn out all these brooms.
And so we go leaving bits of ourselves
All around the place,
In amongst the autumn leaves
Or in a dusty old suitcase.
Some we bury carefully
Underneath the floor,
Or simply toss into the back
Of an old kitchen drawer.
On every street in this old town
You’ll find a little piece of me.
There’s bits of me next to every dam
And under almost every tree.
There’s bits of me in our old house
And in the garden that we grew,
And in the dust behind the fridge I found
A little piece of me and you.
Perhaps one day there’ll come a time
When it all bleeds into one:
All of our storms
And the whole of the sun.
And then the pieces of ourselves
That we’ve left out in the rain
Would all flow together,
And obliterate the pain.
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11. |
Revelations
07:18
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