1. |
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I shouldn't hope to understand
the shifting hues of desert sand
cause I grew up with fields instead
the rapeseed yellow, the poppies red
Once out walking years ago
I saw these colours laid out on the road
I knew what to do before anyone said
you pause at yellow, but stop at red
Familiar too is the blue foreign sky
a tooth's still a toe and eye still and eye
but these can be traded as somebody said
the coward is yellow, the murderer red
But passengers change their ships in the night
the sailors of sand unmasked in the light
one second alive another one dead
the sunset is fading from yellow to red
Perhaps I'm a tourist confused at the sight
perhaps there's a painter who plays with the light
but when blood spills out of somebody's head
the desert it changes, from yellow to red
I shouldn't hope to understand
the shifting hues of desert sand
cause I grew up with fields instead
the rapeseed yellow, the poppies red
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2. |
Ogres
04:32
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When I met you in a daydream
I was young and not so bright
you had this way of walking sideways
and this glitter round your eyes
Many times you were a sapphire
like a pebble drunk on wine
other times gone all a quiver
poisoned arrows in your mind
Lock the door and bolt the windows down
cause I’m weary of the storm
Let the ogres come
they will drag you away from me
but I will fight them with my sword
catch them with my cavalry
On the bare and ragged rug
many sinners afternoons
disappeared into the sunshine
but in phases like the moon
Passions rose, cannon roared
you dress got blackened by the fire
your face distorted like a horse’s
struggling with the heavy mire
I looked up and heard a door slam
now I’m waiting for the storm
Two can laugh and so it grows
a pathway through the torrid night
life was all that we could carry
suddenly the bag is light
Lock the door and bolt the windows down
cause I’m weary of the storm
Let the ogres come
they will drag you away from me
but I will fight them with my sword
catch them with my cavalry
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3. |
Long Lost Rover
03:16
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Here's to the boy on the other side of the wall
the one who is solemn and deals with it all
the curd of the earth, the sword of the soil
and my hands
Here's to the worth of a winter's toil
when the days are long
but the nights are longer
hungry now, I listen for the band
and when the chorus falls you will hear us all
Stumble in my long-lost rover
suffering is over.
If it's a lie that's always closer
it's just and eyelid closer.
Here's to the girl on the farthest of shores
although you can't see her, the fairest of all
she cradles the earth, she shovels the soil
with her hands
Here's to the worth of a summer's sun
when the days are done
and the nights go on
hungry now, I listen for the band
and when the chorus falls you will hear us all
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4. |
NY Lizards
03:23
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You ripped my clothes
you commandeered
the chemicals
the western military presence
icicles
collect the river
inside a cave
the symmetries all seem
impossible.
The modern age
a manicured woman
and a manacled slave
step inside a house
they disappear
the symmetries all seem
impossible
here.
Let the tears come
let them disappear.
Let the New York lizards
crawl up the walls.
You fell asleep
inside my arms
I felt the rain
apocalyptic landslides
I looked around
and saw you clear
the frozen ground
where symmetries all seem
impossible.
I love the sound
of rushing grain
and passion in the skyscrapers
laser fire
gears whirr
the symmetries all seem
impossible
here.
Let the poor love in the hand me downs
capture your life.
Let the city streets like a photograph
capture your life.
Let the tears come
let them disappear.
Let the New York lizards
crawl up the walls.
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5. |
Solid Gold
04:16
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You are the idea
that rides over my head
and I want all the world to know
that you are solid gold
Rosa-lee you came to me
the cliff-path rough above the sea
a charred and blackened scarf
around you head
The fire burned within the grate
fine herring bones upon the plate
I thought saw a flicker
but you're dead
You are the idea
that rides over my head
and I want all the world to know
that you are solid gold
All those times that we would sit
on consecrated ground and kiss
hours massed like banners
now too few
Those thirteen months a century
that pile of leaves a fallen tree
I thought I felt a flicker
from you
You are the idea
that rides over my head
and I want all the world to know
that you are solid gold
A tremor passed beneath us yet
that glass upon the sideboard set
the water when it ripples
is blue
Carry me across the sand
life has laughable demands
but only love that's simple,
only love that's simple
is true
Yes, you are the idea
that rides over my head
and I want all the world to know
that you are solid gold
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6. |
Diamonds
02:31
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Show me love, the diamonds in your eyes
Show me love, the diamonds in your eyes
Summon a reflection of the caverns inside ourselves
Show me love, the diamonds in your eyes
Our house has original corner stones
a mantelpiece, the irons are hot in the fire
Our house has a view that the swallows seek
apple juice, and cabinets held up by wire
Show me love the diamonds in your eyes
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7. |
Psycho Fighter
04:19
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Loss of innocence
inner-city’s entertainment
a lack of circumstance
circumnavigate the globe
can I have this dance?
asked the king in all his raiment
take the upper chance
and throw it away
along with your clothes
Psycho fighter
Silence denier
Raised on cut diamonds
Says a lot about your fibre bite
A somnambulist
cursed the sense of evolution
whilst from some science priest
comes a wave of new devotion
this little island is
all awash with old opinion
so count your calories
cause you’ll never
can’t digest them all
Psycho fighter
Silence denier
Raised on cut diamonds
Says a lot about overbite
Says a lot about your appetite
Say a lot about your freaky nights
Says a lot about the house that you call home
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8. |
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So many men, so many lives
so much dead skin, so much to cauterise
colour me in, with your passionate eyes
sell me your world, sell me it’s lies
Sing me a love song before you go
So many words, so many hard
covered in plastic, covered in card
these ticker-tape hills, are they covered with wine?
I’m going to kiss you, I think it’s time
Don’t forget to
Sing me a love song before you go
Don’t forget to
Sing me a love song before you crawl out
of the window, and fly
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9. |
The River
04:18
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I want to see how far
that the river flows
I want to feel the path
that the river follows
I want to hear the rapids rap
on the water below
I want to feel how fast
I want feel the waves
of the new horizon
I want to feel the rays
of each new burning sun
I want to feel the latitude slip
a navigation
I want to feel the sun
But I don't need your photographic paper
I just want to share
play me chords, minor or a major
vibrate the air
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Lawrence Illsley Abertillery, UK
Lawrence Illsley is an award winning poet and songwriter. Trees is his debut album and is released to coincide with his award winning poetry collection A Brief History of Trees.
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