1. |
A Riddle
02:25
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I told myself it was a riddle
that way I felt not in the middle
of a caravan east and a rattling tyre
I hurt my hand
on those stinging nettles
and we couldn’t find
where you put the kettle
there were frozen leaves
stuck to the metal and wire
When it burns on my feet
and the window’s down
when it burns on the seat
and we lie on the ground
The car that we bought from my brother
he sold it when he yelled at our mother
and I’ll be selling it for another, I’m done!
So I told myself it was a riddle
that way I felt not in the middle
of a caravan east and a rattling tyre
When it burns on my feet
and the window’s down
when it burns on the seat
and we lie on the ground
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2. |
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It seems too late to turn back now
the frozen lake was thirteen hours
I’m never going to read your mind
there’s always something
I am never going to see inside
and all these towns say
prices for the coal
will fall away in summer
The frozen lake, chains on tyres
shipping crates and packing wires
I’m never going to read your mind
there’s always something
I am never going to see inside
and all these towns say
prices for the coal
will fall away in summer
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3. |
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I don’t know why she burned up all
those greylead drawings
we saw in Castlemaine
the week my brother called about the car
I don’t know why she sold her clothes
and broke her violin and bows
and scattered them around the living room
when I arrived
I told them all that she could see
some things that I believe were never there
like old men making copies of the keys
I don’t know why her hairs go grey
at night in my arms she’d say
how long we’d been together
since the days at Albert Yard
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4. |
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I don’t know why I’ve come here,
maybe I’ve been naïve?
I made a tape recording of some things I wrote
but she wouldn’t give an answer
And I don’t know what to say
(Benedict Island Sanctuary, Saturday)
Somehow it’s out of reach for me
and I don’t know why
The weather has been terrible this week
so I stayed inside
She was at Catherine’s birthday
Maybe I should have gone?
(Baker and Dawson, second story, Friday night)
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5. |
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I was sorry for the pain and the worry
and the first hand words
of the man from the quarry
who won’t take money
to pay his rent for a while
So I want to borrow out a knife
to hollow out a skin
to give him at the shop tomorrow
but the window’s covered
with a page of the Saturday Sun
It was only a matter of time
till the hands on the tourniquet dried
with the pain and the pressure relieved
the feeling under her knees was going
by the hour until she could be received
I was sorry for the pain and hurried
with the grass snake photos
all the way from the quarry
And the first road way for a car
that was wandering round
The day was shattered
but she said what mattered
were the grease stains
all around the seat we sat her
and I wished that time we’d driven
to the Mornington side
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6. |
Bandages on the Lawn
03:11
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I confess, I confess
I’m the one who made this mess
but the ferns were strangling me
So I made a path from the door
then found these bandages and thought
how could you live in here?
They told you that the pains might go
but this is not the end I know
And I‘m wishing I could see
how the bandages could be
abandoned on the lawn
with the birds pulling all the threads
around and torn in two
I’ll throw them out, throw them out
And we’ll raise your government amount
So you won’t storm the stairs
Cause you will fight, you will fight
I see your bruises in the light
and red stains on our lawn
They told you that the pains might go
but this is not the end I know
and I‘m wishing I could see
how the bandages could be
abandoned on the lawn
with the birds pulling all the threads
around and torn in two
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7. |
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8. |
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If there is treason in mind
at Henderson’s pier
Julius Caesar will climb out
and appear
To tell you and me
To tell you and me
I had a reason in mind
before you were here
I know appeasing the violent
breaks every deal
They tell you and me
They tell you and me
The Treason At
Henderson’s Pier
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9. |
A Servant of the Crown
02:42
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I heard from the town
that he’s a servant of the Crown
Making deals about the land
where the orchard meets the sand
but I don’t believe in betting rights
on any days in August or July
I remember those times
when you raised out your voice
and it echoed out the noise
all around the cave where he lived a year
and he could see how
the new house keeper walks at night
underneath the rocks
when they are dry at the end of each tide
By my side
there were sounds like a swallow
And by my side
there was a ringing all around
when you raised out your voice
and it echoed out the noise
all around at the end of each tide
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10. |
An Appendix
03:24
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I woke with a start,
her hand on my head
I didn’t know I could have been dead
and under the knife I decided that I
would make an observation
on the volatility of the mind
Cause Henderson’s gone,
he took up a place in the brochure
he’d shown me at the park
with the map that he marked
The conversation led to me to believe
that I was back at the start
And after I knew, I told her
that I could have been dead
if she didn’t decide
to call them and say
that the appendix just may
not make it to the morning
and the pain it bent me over in two
I crawled to the door and they
carried me out to the surgical floor
then the feeling was gone
with the medicine on
The operation went until the morning
and I woke up at nine
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11. |
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I left that ring on Draper Street
I let it fall on a crowded seat
and someone knelt there on the ground
and bent down to slide it over
Our place will last till Christmas Eve
and my medicine helps me to breathe
but when it comes to spring
and the days are light
my lungs are tired and sorry
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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.
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