1. |
Controlling The Sea
03:27
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My own Napoleon met his fate, with a smile on his face in summer time
By all accounts ventured he was running late, for a series of dates with his own lifetime
Bemused by your ambush at his garden gate, his head was twisted by your nonsense rhyme
For I was he when we came to be, and I can't always free all the hostages you take inside of me
And when it goes wrong, I sing my own song
It's a sad song I'll only sing for you
And, when I sing loud, it cuts the noise out
And only you remain, now
As the games end, like an old friend
I call the right one in
Then there's the strange case, that we both make
For keeping the out-takes in
Bye Bye Napoleon, I've boxed the tape, but it's getting late, and I won't make time
To re-run the chase scene, endless one-off takes, none of which make good on the finish line
Send Arthur Wellesley my warm embrace, but I have his author on the other line
For that was me when this came to be, and I can't always free all the hostages you take inside of me
And when it goes wrong, I sing my own song
It's a sad song I'll only sing for you
And, when I sing loud, it cuts the noise out
And only you remain, now
As the games end, like an old friend
I call the right one in
Then there's the strange case, that we both make
For keeping the out-takes in
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2. |
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Make your way to the basement
Say hi to the queen
She’s grateful for your sacrifice
But it won’t be how it seems
Her love is stashed away in tins
Her teeth are chipped but clean
Since the revolution came
That’s just the way it’s been
Every day she begs the truth
And every day I lie
On maps I chart where thousands march
Though we number 25
See the trees and see their branches
Burning bright with palace stanchions
I will not tell lies to you, I would love her here today
Sometimes when her eyelids fall I don’t know what to say
The queen is here crowned in complaisance, an empty throne astride
Please entertain her vanity and its many blushing brides
I close my eyes and it’s here in me
And ornate frieze and glaze break down into my heart
Break down into my heart
And all the freezing days break down into my heart beneath the ground
I conceal you here but you are far from free or safe and sound
All the days break down into my heart
All the days break down into my heart
You're hiding nothing here to warm my heart
For I am not the same man now
Who once mistook your mess for a work of art
That only he could read somehow
I feel less lonely when we’re apart
But I am not the same man now
Who once mistook your mess for a work of art
That only he could read somehow
Warm and warm and warm my heart
For I am not the same man now
Make your way to the basement
Say hi to the queen
If she feigns an interest
Don’t dwell on where she’s been
See the trees with blackened branches
Defy the night with palace stanchions
I cannot tell lies to you
I would love her here today
The queen stands brooding in the basement
A hunger in her eyes
The weight of every move she makes
Will help your world capsize
I close my eyes and she’s here in me
And ornate frieze and glaze break down
Into my heart
All the missing days break down
Into my heart beneath the ground
I am concealed in here with you
But dare not move or make a sound
All the days break down into my heart
You're hiding nothing here to warm my heart
For I am not the same man now
Who once mistook your mess for a work of art
That only he could read somehow
I feel less lonely when we’re apart
But I am not the same man now
Who once mistook your mess for a work of art
That only he could read somehow
Warm and warm and warm my heart
For I am not the same man now
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3. |
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I don’t have much time, none of really do
So I’ll be fucked if I’ll be spending it with you
You’re making history my friend, that said
Your histrionics drive me round the bend
You have to take what the slipstream sends
When your salad days have reached an end
You're changing my mind
Come take me out where the wild things grow
And teach me all that I ought to know
You're changing my mind
Come fish me out of the idiot soup
And all the fun of your other loops
You're changing my mind
I wrote this letter to myself
Well you know me, I like to help
It justifies the harm we do
Wrapped up in pretty songs for you
I’m sorry that I woke you up
But you’re trussed up here like Lilliput
You know I had to join a queue
Just to dry these jokes on you
I kept you how I saw you last
And you’re smiling in that photograph
I know we buried ‘ought to do’
But mother has more games for you
The open door was just a test
I’m glad you failed it like the best
What passes for a view round here
Has a curious taste of understeer
Come fish me out of the idiot soup
And all the fun of my other loops
You're changing my mind
Yes, I could have called you more
Well, okay I never called at all
These parts of me so sharp and curved
Have ways I cannot shape to words
You shelter in their soft skin glow
Drink in its warmth, then let it go
The mine you need just isn’t here
You sat and watched him disappear
At times I would have bombed the past
My cartoon worlds, they always cast
You as punch-drunk, me as slow
Both patsy to the undertow
Oh let him go, he won’t get far
He dribbles words, I drive the car
It gets us where we need to be
With disappointing frequency
Are we still running, is this thing on?
He’ll catch it when you’re sure the moments gone
When you think we're only chasing unicorns
He’ll have it in the walk between two rooms
Oh let him go, he won’t get far
he dribbles words, I drive the car
We drag him where he needs to be
With disappointing frequency
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4. |
A Season Underground
04:59
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It came on Tuesday when harmonic dreams had meaning
By Wednesday night the sense had crept away
I always see you as a young man as I read them
I wrote that down so some part of you remained
I keep his words and I eat them when I need them
They fill the space when I have nothing left to say
I have no shape, these scribblings that surround me secure the 'heads
Though the frame shrinks by the day
And so I wrote sat on stone steps in the harbour
Not fully grown, though it seems like yesterday
In the beginning there was hope
And all the world was mine
A fluttering palace of flax and rope
And all the world was mine
In the beginning the figurehead spoke
And all the world was mine
A chart with a line scribed bold, unbroken, and all the world is mine
In the beginning you helmed the role
And all the world was mine
In the beginning there was hope
And all the world was my design
I keep his words and I eat them when I need them
They fill the space - what a stupid thing to say
All my dreams are loving angels coming here in such disguise
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5. |
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I’m calling for volunteers to climb the mountain
Must have experience of the war
Must be able to write in the journals that I keep
Much better than those who went before
Must have experience of the good times
So we understand just what the bad times are for
Must be armed with fear and firm convictions
Unless your conviction is you’re not entirely sure
I will dedicate a sea to my contradictions
After all the empty years they’ve washed ashore
But what of the overflow?
Warm roads that my debris closed
Scripts late of mothballed shows
Stray hopes left with no way home
I, who must detain them all
when days scrape, I can hear them call
You, as you’d dress for her
The sweet scent that would lead you there
Soft lines only she could know
As you shine in her afterglow
I, who would hold everything
Hold me, I am your broken king
Let go, and I fear the height
That’s why I must climb at night
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6. |
King Of Foxgloves
05:47
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I came here today to tell you
It’s the end of your world as you know it
I will leave here tomorrow alone
I do not need you, any more
Oh do not smile at me
I will not fall for such things
I cannot pretend I still love you
Any more than I can pretend I can fly
Now the fears I had have gone, I’ll be on my way
Hold me, fold me
Tell me all you want to do
Touch me, mould me
I am the only one for you
Twist me, roll me
You know my love is made for you
That’s my glass from which you are drinking
And my bed on which you stubbornly lied
Last night was just a farewell performance
Now we’re closing, I’m calling time
Oh do not smile at me
I will not fall for such things
I cannot pretend I still love you
Nobody sells that kind of disguise,
Now the love I had has gone, I’ll be on my way
Hold me, fold me
Tell me all you want to do
Touch me, mould me
I am the only one for you
Twist me, roll me
You know my love is made for you
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7. |
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In my mind I was a star
Heaped in praise for my art
But I wasn't, not at all
My mother loved me
But not much more
I made a mark upon the wall
Just to prove I was that tall
But on the inside
I'm four foot three,
Because the wall won't
Won't come with me
As a child I dreamed of travelling to Mars
But getting lonely needn't take you so far from home
Reading kids' encyclopaedias - it's where I stole all of my best ideas
My friend
In my mind I was a star
Heaped in praise for my art
But I wasn't, not at all
My mother loved me
But not much more
There was a man, I read today
Who once claimed he'd saved the day
But when he looked back
It was plain to see - the day was too sad for him to keep
The painful days don't stay here with me
They're just a flash like a drive through museum, my friend
They're tangled days when I think of them
but if you asked I'd do it all again, my friend
They're tangled days when I think of them
but if you asked I'd do it all again, my friend
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8. |
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Drive, drive for miles, to a place where you feel safe
Step down from the car, you're leaving, you won't be travelling no more
Take off your hat, put your clothes on the floor beside of that
You're leaving, you won't be needing, to dress for dinner no more
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9. |
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The art of failure really has no school
There is no handbook on how to be a fool
If it makes any difference to you
I trembled here before you
Always hoped if I listened to you, we’d chase the dark away
I wrote it all in a book of songs
That no one ever sings
I'm sorry I left you nothing more
I was never one for things
Hours, there were hours, so many hours, when I just don’t know where I was
There were better versions of me
I miss them now they’re gone
They had to break
It was my mistake to think they’d always carry on
And when the trembled beast’s upon me
And most of me is gone
I hope you find a way that heals
So you, alone, can carry on
I know it’s raining,
But did you have to build an ark?
You go easy now, that’s how religions start
But who will you listen to when the trembled beast comes calling?
Will the ones that I listened to cradle you the same?
I wrote it all in a book of songs
That no one ever sings
I'm sorry I left you nothing more
I was never one for things
Hours, there were hours, so many hours, when I just don’t know where I was
There were better versions of me
I miss them now they’re gone
They had to break
It was my mistake to think they’d always carry on
I stand and point and I distract you
I do it just for fun
But I do the same just to shift the blame
When I can’t control what’s going on
When I get tired a loop within me
Clicks and switches on
And what it says is where I am for days
I see no good in anyone
Can you still see the love that’s hidden
When I slide and cut you down?
Cos that’s the me I swore I’d never be
The saddest form of hand me down
I try to hide the thirst within me
The damage that it brings
Sometimes I need the way it heals
So I don’t feel a single thing
And when the trembled beast’s upon me,
And most of me is gone
I hope you find a way that heals
So you, alone, can carry on
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10. |
The Moongoose Analogue
12:36
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I was on the way to Mandalay,
Couldn't care less for your problems
These things you care about don't bother me
I was on the way to Mandalay
Couldn't care less about your problems
These things you care about don't bother me
And the heart of it is all that I can bear
These things don't write themselves
Take it from me
There will be no 'forever'
There will be, no 'til the end of time'
Not much, but, that much
Is clear to me
There will be no 'forever',
There will be no 'til the end of time'
Not much, but, that much
Is clear to me
I was on the way to Mandalay
Couldn't care less for your problems
These things you care about don't bother me
I was on the way to Mandalay
Couldn't care less about your problems
These things you care about don't bother me
Every part of it, I try to write it down
These things they come in cells
Taken from me
There will be no 'forever'
There will be no 'til the end of time'
Not much, but, that much
Is clear to me
There will be no 'forever'
There will be, no 'til the end of time'
Just words, but, a last cut
Then you set me free
I was on the way to Mandalay
Couldn't care less about your problems
These things you care about don't bother me
And the heart of it is all that I can bear
These things don't write themselves
Take it from me
Friends may come and friends may go
But I know you'll be back for more
(I was always on your side)
Friends may come and friends may go
But I know you'll be back for more
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Talitres France
Created in 2001 and found in the wine country of Bordeaux, France, Talitres houses an eccentric roster of wordly indie
musicians from Britain, France, Australia, Canada, the US, etc.
The label has been known for releasing the music of bands like The Walkmen, The National, or The Organ and currently teams up with Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard, Emily Jane White, The Apartments...
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