1. |
A Reason Not to Stay
02:55
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Apricots to jam and skin too dark to tan
And a band that seemed to wind
Whenever she declined
And said “nothing more, nothing more”
It was the first time that I made up
A reason not to stay
And the curtains that we tore
Were maybe from the First World War
Some days unravel, some days I find
There’s reason only about half the time
It would be naïve to guarantee.
I can see appeal in a dressing table
She took from Manly to the bay
And sat there with a grey Labrador
When there was nothing more
It was the first time that I made up
A reason not to stay
And the curtains that we tore
Were maybe from the First World War
Some days unravel, some days I find
There’s reason only about half the time
It would be naïve to guarantee
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2. |
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I waited with the bags outside
And tell me its not justified?
I heard them in the neighbours yard
Say they don’t like my abstract art
There could be litigation
I threw a shoe at their Alsatian
I wonder if the fence can bear
Ivy around everywhere?
Now we’re going to Berlin
But that makes it sound worse than it’s been
I don’t know what I should say
I know the way she hates clichés
And arguments that wait
And animals that hibernate
The crumbs of children on the ground
And theories about Ezra Pound
I think I will
Take her to see the plaque of Dorothy Shakespear
If you yell it out one night
They’ll hear you in Berlin
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3. |
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I wish I knew what it was called
I think it won an Archibald
It hangs there in the bathroom in the dark
I made a plea in self-defence
But made up all the evidence
And here I am to tell you and the birds
That I can blame no other saint
This time I’ll raise my arms and shake
Somewhere in the Netherlands
And right beside a river bend
The grass is long and all the trees are white
Its hard for me to say that all
Those postcards on the bathroom door
Were taken to the cellar by the maid
Cause I can blame no other saint
This time I’ll raise my arms and shake
I wonder where you’re reading late
This time I’ll raise my arms and shake
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4. |
Prone to Losing
03:27
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There are stars, and mobiles, hanging over the tiles
And the sun burns a line underneath all our eyes
I like to know how far we’ve been
Cradles, coins, and magic queens
And flags they fly in the stores in July
I’m prone to losing everything
There were places to stand, and a groom on the sand
And he spoke to the crowd with a line on his brow
And I like to know how far we’ve been
Cradles, coins, and magic queens
And flags they fly in the stores in July
I’m prone to losing everything
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5. |
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I folded the corner of the page
Just when he set the hand grenade
And then they stole our grey
Raincoat, and a Hemingway
Fires, flies and empty hands
As we walked from the second-hand array
See the partisans with the case
Run through the pines to a cave
And then they stole our grey Raincoat and a Hemingway
Fires, flies and empty hands
As we walked from the second-hand array
The things I fried
I just lost my appetite
She said, “What can we say?
They must love their Hemingway”
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6. |
Please Emily
03:02
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There’s a place near the road
Where you fell, and said that you felt light
But afraid of the way you ran
Your eyes were always on the ground
Oh please, please Emily,
take these memories of five-acre fields
And the wind that runs and flies to corners of your lungs
Its better now I can take
Make believe, and children and their aches
And the sight of your paling hands
And sighs whenever you would stand
Oh please, please Emily,
take these memories of five-acre fields
And the wind that runs and flies to corners of your lungs
And I need to tell you
we still ride the railway on our Sundays
I need to lie awake
and hear the planes go on their southern run
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7. |
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Can you see the marks around our ceiling rose?
I only saw them lying here, I hope you don’t care
Do we see that man about the tax we owe?
Like Pharisees and Sadducees, they don’t forget
You, and sentences formed
Can we sleep underneath a canvas sheet?
Birds and sneezing children wake, they don’t forget
You, and sentences formed
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8. |
A Wife to A Gunfight
01:38
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9. |
Under the Stands
02:53
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We met as we planned under the stands
We were in line and an elderly man
Was wiping his eyes with all the surprise
That came with a call, known otherwise
As Appleton’s way of letting him out
Of colourful words paraded in shouts
I never heard the end of the cry
Wavering we decided to be
Lighter with beds and Vitamin C
And a torch for the dark at Debony Park
Taking the road I knew by the art
It was a day for terrible things
Creeping around and over the sinks
All the weight and matters of mine
There’s sculptures of rusting iron rods
laid all the same in lines on the ground
The wisdom of age, you can tell by the way
The unions are taught to gather their plagues
And wait til the time when Pharaoh’s alone
To ask for the man with nothing to show
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10. |
The Plantation
04:41
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Trees planted in rows
Separated by
Stakes and laneways through
And crosses painted blue
I ran between the trees
I ran between the trees
Until I couldn’t see
The shadows of my feet
Maybe it’s the last
Maybe it’s the last time?
The plantation goes east
Of billboards and estates
Of real estate agents and their sons
Chased with water guns
I ran between the trees
I ran between the trees
Until I couldn’t see
The shadows of my feet
Could I climb my way to see them?
Could I shout to make them hear me?
Could I wake them in the morning?
Could I find them in our backyard?
Please open up their eyes
Please open their eyes again
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Tamas Wells Melbourne, Australia
Tamas Wells is a songwriter based in Melbourne, Australia.
His latest album 'To Drink Up the
Sea', with the single 'It Shakes the Living Daylights from You' is out now. The album was produced by Machine Translations' Greg J. Walker in rural Victoria, Australia.
... more
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