1. |
Locomotive
04:59
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I left a part of me, I guess
Where the birds ought to fly and coalesce
On city trains we talk of weather
For the war is alive, inked across the morning papers
And it’s like a mystery to be born
The devil’s eye will come to guide me away
It’s like a mystery to be born
We’ll fade to nothing
Of this I’m sure
These bloodied lands grew old together
Decaying borders in time, to trace a path and remember
All the reasons why
Kingdoms come to wax and wane
Rattling through the fog of yesterday
And it’s like a mystery to be born
The devil’s eye will come to guide me away
Oh, it’s like a mystery to be born
We’ll fade to nothing
In the continent’s rotten core
Through the empty streets we drift like snow
Over schoolyard games abandoned long ago
We eye the empty frames of shop windows
Echo the thoughts of men who could not be bought or sold
We’ll rain bullets at the sun
Conjoined in thorny meadows, end what we’ve begun
Razing forests of murderous ivy in flight
Imagination merging faith and candlelight
Disintegration sets the tone
Ashen skulls beneath our feet feed the crows our winter woe
Memory stalks the trees, all painted black,
They whisper tales of a pilgrimage to the frozen sea and back
Keeping time for a new resolution as the church bell rings
I’ll steady myself for the weight of suffering
On and on and on, for this was meant to be,
With the wind across my back, I stare into a pyrrhic victory
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2. |
The Russian Dolls
03:59
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Fruit flies and ‘wonder why’s
And clouds that carry me home
By the orchard, withered and bruised
We’d sing, “Gloria!”
I’ll lead a quiet life
Though springtime clings to the bones
Among the relics and jewels of war
Our tangled rivers flow
And pass so silently
Through rich Caucasian blood
Spilt for the fish to breathe
In a field of burnished gold
Blue eyes turned to me,
“You know, I’ve never loved anybody...”
Ah-ooh!
I felt tenderness in my heart
Through fortune’s cosy kiss, a dream
“Now slide to sleep, dear
With a song to sing”
Oh, as twilight turned
And you were spiralling in my arms
I reached the point of knowing how to feel
The rosy punch of something real
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3. |
Crushed Velvet
04:45
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These foaming green isles mark the bounds of my love
If I could choose another home
Oh, sweet heavens above...
A curious laughter of lead in the heather
Says, “be scared -
They’ll rip you apart”
Should I abuse the right to be free?
By joining young bodies in the sea?
And leave a lonely wife, who hides in my heart?
Since we prepared to play our part...
For only when lying in the garden, so precious
Will this mean something, instead of nothing
Soft belly bare, under bracken and bark
I’ll take history’s cool hands in the dark
See, it’s never enough to only die -
There’ll be no chorus of kisses by my side
Will our families pen eulogies when we’re gone?
“Pale ghosts in the trees!
I can see clearly!”
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4. |
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A cancer we know by name
Is forming under les fleurs de May
Yet, your mother don’t mind
The cattle are safe and dry
Goodbye...
Old ‘Blighty’ will find her way
Return to battle, tired and scarred
For your mother, don’t mind
The cattle are safe and dry
Goodbye...
No, your mother don’t mind
The cattle are safe and dry
Goodbye...
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5. |
Jerusalem
04:59
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Killing time with all my friends
It’s the only way to make amends
For the kind of love
That haunts my years and my days
Even though it’s hard to tell
From the silver inside the wishing well
It’s the kind of love the harvest moon
Will never dispel
And there’s a road that you can find
Through the aching trees
Where magpies and turtledoves
Swim in the skies above
Over the sacred leas our boys are dreaming of
They mime my hymns and psalms
While on the run from Sunday’s song
The village beats to see you again
And fade all your freckles
When the day is done
But, while you were searching for a cause
You told me there’s no heaven
That we can’t atone
For the crowning of thorns
And we’ve a lot to learn
Yet, in the garden, we’ll bind our love
Stillborn:
Like father, like son...
I am a patient soul
Let me lie in your arms
God knows, I’m a fool for love
Let me lie, oh, forever
I’ll always be
Floating in the dark
Just return to me
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6. |
A New Beginning
03:26
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I know that it’s cruel
But, someday,
When this ship rolls ashore
Our sons will work the earth we died for
And raise slaughterhouse knives
If only to disarm
The false charm
Of countryside, where the nightmare resides
For I let them fool the Englishman
My summer tore apart
Who knew life could be so hard?
Yes, I let them fool the Englishman
My honour tore apart
Since I lost the love I long to give
In heaven, mark my words,
There are soldiers smiling...
God, let it be my life to live
Picking apples in the park
And when my brothers knock at the door
Well, I’ll never want to know
Because I never want to breathe
Scattered ashes blowing upon the breeze
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7. |
Midnight at the Orangery
04:33
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Under velvet sky, a hive of love
The nectar of landmines
And a rush of blood
I could see you were scared
When the morning vowed
To beckon oceans and stars to appease your doubt
Yet, I don’t even care
If we’re floating down a road to nowhere
The spirit leads me to you
They caught us playing cards by the weary pine
I stole your final words
While my hands were tied
A pack of cigarettes
Should pass the time
Before they split your head in the cowering light
Oh, I don’t even care
If we’re floating down a road to nowhere
The spirit leads me to you
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8. |
Blood from a Stone
05:34
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You want to fly over the stolen edge
Of solitude the day you die
As I recall how you long suffered
To form the scenery you bled through
In a silent way, the seasons turned away
The house felt different today
Your legs as thin as a distant violin
Flashed through the fields, where children play
Oh, how I longed to call you...
Oh, how I tried to be true...
As I wait, stars align
You left that night
(Reading from 'The Peregrine' by A.J. Baker)
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9. |
European Eye
01:18
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10. |
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I see all your friends
As they line the streets of London
The day unfolds before me now
With arms outstretched in sleeves of Indian cotton
As raindrops fall to the ground
Oh, now that you’re leaving
You cast a sense of wonder
By the blinding white magnolia, you sit me down
Saying, “I want to live
And restore my faith to forgive
I wedded our history with a myth”
And whenever I breathe
You defy the strength I need
For nightmares do hide behind my door
So teach me to draw
Cool sands from the shore
By waters so free
Lying back on the beach
These words came to me...
“Hold your body still
And feel the hooves of thunder
The bugle cries for you now
For all is fate, and in soft and simple sound,
Must I wait for my time to fade out?”
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Curlicues England, UK
"Quietly working away, Curlicues has been building an amazing catalogue of delicate, intimate and ambitious folk music."
- Bristol in Stereo
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