1. |
Carillons
02:12
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2. |
Chorale
02:58
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Settling in, the Sun had laid,
An ecclesiastic shade,
There upon its resting place,
On its sacrificial daïs,
Day to night,
Day to night.
Sermonising loneliness,
Pining to be thoughtless,
Inter my hand far below,
Under mind and heart in tow,
Let me go,
Let me go.
Let me go,
Let me go,
Let me go,
Let me go.
A scorned love of Time we've made,
Turning with his lashing braid,
Even if our debt is paid,
We are all to be here laid,
Earth and stone,
Earth and stone.
The harmonium did sound,
Over all those grass-heaped mounds,
Should I wish she were around?
Could I meet her in the town?
Nevermore,
Nevermore.
Nevermore,
Nevermore,
Nevermore,
Nevermore.
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3. |
Scylla and Charybdis
03:28
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There my mind and there my heart,
There my eyes and hands apart,
There my senses swept away,
There my fears are kept at bay.
What sense is this that snatches so?
Devours those who blindly go,
To look in fear across the strait,
And just as soon do meet their fate.
Between the devil and the deep blue sea,
Only shipwreck now waits for me.
There the rope to lash myself,
There the tempting voices tell,
There from anxious sleep I wake
There my vows are bound to break.
What hubris then to offer prayers?
To kill what we were bade to spare,
The vengeful Sun now mourns his herd,
Oh what wrath have we incurred!
Between the devil and the deep blue sea,
Only shipwreck now waits for me.
There the fiery lightning flash,
There his bones were turned to ash,
Beneath the bough the waters rend,
How long 'til I sail again?
What six men are eaten whole?
Two hands, ten fingers pay the toll,
To see their waters running red,
Oh how I've wished that I were dead!
Between the devil and the deep blue sea,
Only shipwreck now waits for me.
Between the devil and the deep blue sea,
Won't you hold out a branch for me?
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4. |
My Hands Do Tell
03:56
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And now there it is again:
The midnight siren,
That blares 'til I listen,
Until I am risen.
Now the arms are worn with grooves,
And the hands they move,
They are made to bear the pain,
As I hear the house complain
In the dead of night.
I see myself,
My hands do tell,
I am afraid,
With or without your name.
And now there it is again:
The crow in the morning,
The bird is unsowing,
The earth it is showing.
For the grass is then upheaved,
As he now must eat,
Rending flesh from reddened arms,
But all evidence of harm
I've rendered out of sight.
I see myself,
My unlocked cell,
I am to blame,
With or without your name.
And now there it is again:
The onset of evening,
The mind it is scheming,
The body is reeling.
As the devil pulls the yoke,
And the flame it stokes,
But how peevishly it burns,
Still all hope of my return
I have set alight.
I see myself,
Bereft of help,
I am ashamed,
Affairs arranged,
I'll never change,
With or without your name.
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5. |
Repose
03:37
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It was daylight but no Sun shone there,
Cloudy arras that hung in the air,
Shy and hiding his familiar glare,
Shading the painting of his gloomy stare.
I trace the outline with a painter's eye,
Ever darting as the colours dry,
Only wishing to see crudeness die,
What can canvas truly beautify?
Underpainted in a pale grey,
Lending form with every dripping shade,
All at once the scene is rendered plain,
And if not I just begin again.
Wading in the watercolours,
A stolen jewel to recover,
But what will his painted face be worth,
When we are forever mired in earth?
How elusive can beauty be,
Perching at the seat of envy?
From my easel he will ever flee,
Shallow space and ambiguity,
Back and foreground still together bleed,
Now my brush is spent so utterly,
This pursuit will be the death of me.
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6. |
Patron of the Gloam
02:53
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You're hereby invited
To the devil's court,
And so as his vassal,
You will be killed for sport,
And all of his courtiers,
May take hold of your house,
And all that remains
Will be carried out.
A ghost in my own home,
A patron of the gloam,
With nowhere else to go.
You're hereby encouraged
To seek refuge elsewhere,
To a prince in exile,
We've no duty of care,
Be as a knight errant
And seek out love and fame,
In this very house,
You leave a beast to tame.
Chivalric virtue bring,
Hollow warnings you now sing,
Be you courtier or king.
You're hereby invited
To stake your claim once more,
On the house you lived in,
What fell to you before,
To retain some semblance
Of reign and sanity,
You must best the devil,
Or from his ruin flee.
Ignoble thing I am,
I do but what I can,
To wrest it from his hand.
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7. |
Stuck All With You
04:17
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Come again,
What do you want this time?
Fly away,
What friend are you of mine?
Come again,
I need somewhere to hide,
Fly away,
I must now face the tide.
Stuck all with you,
What can I do?
Leave me lonely,
Please prepare me.
Come again,
What winged thing are you?
Fly away,
What wicked things you do,
Come again,
The world would have me dead,
Fly away,
This time I shan't be led.
Stuck all with you,
What can you do?
On my shoulder,
Be you no bolder.
Come again,
Is peace now mine to have?
Fly away,
I shall ever be glad,
Never to
Remind myself of you,
Knowing still
What hell you dragged me through.
Unstuck from you,
What will I do?
Where will I be
If you
Take leave of me?
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8. |
||||
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He dug trenches with the wheels of his car,
Tilled the earth until his head was a dying star,
Dark clematis unfurled then as his eyes,
Purple blossom on the trellis of his mind.
You do yourself no favours,
Standing at the fireplace,
You do yourself no favours,
Staring meekly into space.
Empty rivers ran around the heaving wreck,
The ground erupting with earthy flecks,
They pulled him out by hook and by chain,
How would the grass ever grow again?
You do yourself no favours,
Hurtling, shrieking through the door,
You do yourself no favours,
Please, for God's sake, speak no more.
I see these trials and tributaries,
These mental comorbidities,
This lack of sense and sense of lack,
The rod for your own back,
And the one for mine, too,
And the one for mine, too.
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9. |
Portrayal
03:27
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Now his face to verse is set,
Lent to rhyme and epithet,
Art for art's sake celebrate,
Posthumously dedicate.
I feel some longing still,
Some long-enduring guilt,
To confect the image of
Someone I have never met.
He still from such distances
Had betrayed such gentleness,
With such ease could one depict,
And yet still could not predict.
I feel some longing still,
Some long-enduring guilt,
To confect the image of
Someone I have never met.
Then his soul was sent along,
Now his essence set in song,
I wish he were known to me,
Still I feign proximity.
I feel some longing still,
Some long-enduring guilt,
To confect the image of
Someone I have never met.
Lest his song be incomplete,
I know we can never meet.
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10. |
Goodbye
03:02
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We are all anointed,
Cleansed of all our ills,
We are all appointed
Executor of our own will.
We are all despised;
Rejected of men,
We are so soon come and gone,
And keep no kindness to lend.
Knowing, looking back it was all
A lie,
On this fallen isle 'til the day
We die,
Off we send the dead with no coin for
Their eyes,
As their ships go out will you wave
Goodbye?
We are all now steering
The vessel now threatening to sink,
We are all encircling
The whirlpool in the drink.
We are all now throwing
The dead weight overboard,
All of this while knowing
That we too will be put to the sword.
Knowing, looking back it was all
A lie,
On this fallen isle 'til the day
We die,
Off we send the dead with no coin for
Their eyes,
As their ships go out will you wave
Goodbye?
Goodbye,
Goodbye,
Goodbye,
Goodbye.
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Alistair Aktas Solihull, UK
Hi! I'm a singer-songwriter from Solihull, in the UK.
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