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Private Life

by Curlicues

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1.
Locomotive 04:59
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
2.
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
3.
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!”
4.
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...
5.
Jerusalem 04:59
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
6.
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
7.
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
8.
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)
9.
European Eye 01:18
10.
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?”

credits

released May 1, 2019

L.A. Foster – Drums, bass, acoustic guitars, telecaster, piano, organ, harmonium, harmonica, djembe, tambourine, shaker, meditation bells, melodica, field recordings, programming, claps, whistles, voice
Elise Foster – Cello, violin, voice
Ed Minor – Clarinet, saxophone
Rebecca Dean – Flute

Written, arranged and recorded by L.A. Foster at Sub Cava, Rua Cidade de Cardiff, Lisbon, 20 Evesham Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, 4 John Street, Shrewsbury, and Woodpeckers, 15B Felderland Close, Worth, Deal
Flute recorded at 13 Khartoum Road, Sheffield
Vocals and guitar overdubs recorded with help from Cam Deas at EMI Studio, The Roundhouse, Camden
Thanks to Jari for use of the piano at Club Desterro, Lisbon
Engineered and mixed by Cam Deas


© 2019 English Pastoral

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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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