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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of A Turn Around the Maypole, Jacket EP, Smaller Print EP, Pussycat Tales, All That You Love Is All That You Are, Fireside Sessions EP, Minute of Arc, 3 & ¾, and 1 more.
1. |
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Yellow lights outside the Gold Arcade,
On the seafront just down from the Stade,
And all the patrons sit there with a bowl on their knees,
Full of coins, full of coins.
And they’re surprised that they’re not winning,
And the modern mirrors on the walls are just watching them go down,
Surprised that they’re not winning,
Even when they do go home with a pink Panda Bear,
Or the jackpot five pound note.
I’d like to set the place alight screaming ‘HEY!”
“We’re on a planet that is circling round the sun!”
They couldn’t tell me that tonight,
Not from the strength of light that were sending up,
To where the stars used to be,
The stars used to be,
The stars used to be,
Before.
Look around this house,
The carpet and the walls,
And wonder just how many people have lived here,
Just like me before,
The morning comes and goes,
And I’m ashamed that I don’t see it anymore,
I used to wait for dawn,
Now I just sit here on my own.
And I still see the same,
Faces in the street,
But they are older now,
They are older now,
They are older now,
Just like me.
Still walking out alone,
Still passing gamblers in their temporary clothes,
Hid in their jacket collars, on their mobile phones,
And I’m staring at the one who looks like you the most,
You used to be so strong,
Sold at a market stall on Saturdays with all your stock,
Now those times are gone,
And I can’t help you anymore,
Or less,
Than anyone.
And the stories that you weave,
Don’t matter anymore – least of all to me,
But you tell them all the same,
And in a look that lasts an hour of a second,
I can see where the stars used to be.
I can see where the stars used to be.
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2. |
John Martyn's Ghost
07:50
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I thought I saw the ghost of John Martyn in Warrior Square,
I thought I saw him walk to the statue to the end,
I thought I saw him move, I thought I saw him there,
I thought I saw the ghost of John Martyn in Warrior Square,
Easy love, easy lows,
Easy love, and then you’re out on your own,
Easy love, like a poisoned arrow,
That sets you up for misery when it comes,
And I thought I saw John Martyn in Warrior Square,
And I thought I heard him whispering in my ear,
And I think he said ‘don’t look at trouble like a friend’,
And I think he meant she will come right in the end.
On and on, comes the winter and the rain,
And on and on, do I miss you and do I hate,
The way that I was, without and within,
I’ll never fall in love with somebody like you again,
I’ll never fall in love with somebody like you again,
And oh, time is friendly ‘till it’s past,
And oh, I never wanted to crash,
The music sounds the same now to me,
There’s nothing on the Kings Road but steam from the shops open doors,
From the shops open doors,
Tell me, who are they opening for?
And oh, you’d be the first one to ask,
But when they come asking you, with their open hands,
Well you don’t give to anyone a thing,
But you just keep it wrapped up under your wing, in your hand, in the cold,
Oh, you’re a hard girl to know.
As you were humming by the fire,
Like a skyless moon with a hat on your hair,
And in your grey eyes, I saw a flame reflect,
And it suited you for a moment then,
And it suited you for a moment then,
And I thought I saw John Martyn in Warrior Square,
And I thought I heard him moving in the evening air,
And though he paid me no heed I stopped and stood aware,
Of the ghost of John Martyn in Warrior Square,
Of the ghost of John Martyn in Warrior Square,
Of the ghost of John Martyn in Warrior Square.
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3. |
Still Real
08:48
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There’s a barwoman in the Hastings Arms,
And she wears no jewellery but a silver heart,
Clear eyes, like a figurehead,
On the Amsterdam, before it was a sinking ship,
“There’s a fine art to loosing well”,
She says to the man whose lost enough to tell,
So I ask of her what she knows of the myth,
That tells the story of Odin,
Who threw his eye down a well with his fist,
And do you think,
That he really saw inside himself much more,
From having been through all that pain again?
I don’t know if having knowledge opens your eyes,
Or shuts you down around your heart,
But once you start,
You’ll never unlearn it again,
You’ll never unlearn it.
There’s a line I’ve heard somewhere in a song,
That says “love is blind” - just not for everyone,
And to those who can see when even love has come -
How I envy your eyes and what you look upon,
But do you think about the world,
Are we just chemicals reacting,
Or is there something else beneath?
Like a dream,
That shows you everything non-literally,
Until you realise what reality really means,
It’s both things,
And they’re still real, if you want them to be,
They’re still real, if you want them to be,
Still real,
They’re still real, if you want them to be,
Still real,
Still real, if you want them to be.
There’s a life of colour beyond the grey,
And as you lay me down I see it here again,
There’s no warning thunder and no pain,
As she flows in your body on a thin white sheet,
But do you think,
That she’ll really always be there?
Like a love that lasts for all eternity?
If there’s such a thing,
Or does it all just disappear,
In the moment that it is still happening?
Well, we’ll see,
But it’s still real, if you want it to be,
Still real,
It’s still real if you want it to be,
Still real,
Still real, if you want it to be,
Still real,
It’s still real,
If you want it to be.
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4. |
The River and the Well
06:00
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Are you given a sign from the gods?
Are you driven where the rain does not fall?
Are you swimming like a goldfish in a bowl?
Or are you here, with your true heart and your soul?
Are you here, with your true heart and your soul?
Are you living, or are you just counting the time?
Are you someone else before you speak your mind?
Are you ridden with the same desire as mine?
Or are you truly free, and the master of your night?
Are you truly free, and the master of your night?
Will you go? Will you go?
To the well, or to the river on the hill?
Will you go? Will you go?
To the well, or to the river on the hill?
To the well, or to the river on the hill?
There’s a stream, and may God let it run high,
There’s a stream, it couldn’t save you if you drank it dry,
There’s a stream of thoughts on the river of my mind,
There’s a stream, and a woman by its side,
There’s a stream, and a woman by its side,
Will she go? Will she go?
Go with you to the world, or go with you to the river on the hill?
Will she go? Will she go?
Go with you to the world, or go with you to the river on the hill?
Go with you to the world, or go with you to the river on the hill?
There’s a bell, and it rings the voice of truth,
That there is love, and love is given without an end in view,
And it rings out across us all,
From the bluest sky to the river on the hill,
From the bluest sky to the river on the hill.
Will you go? Will you go?
Go with her to the world, or go with her to the river on the hill?
Will you go? Will you go?
Go with her to the world, or go with her to the river on the hill?
Go with her to the world, or go with her to the river on the hill?
Go with her to the world, or go with her to the river on the hill?
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5. |
Hello, Sunday Morning
05:23
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Hello, Sunday Morning;
You been a while,
I don’t need your blues,
I don’t need more than your smile,
Put your new shirt on,
And walk outside,
It’s a bright and beautiful day,
It’s gonna be all right,
If you hold, hold on.
People, oh they make it so hard to find,
When the easiest thing in the world is just to love sometimes,
And love, it’s the only thing that makes it right,
And love – you just got to learn to give sometimes,
You just got to learn to give sometimes,
Hold, Hold on.
You may see it greyer when they see black and white,
It’s a complicated love,
The colours fade out and the end is in sight,
But don’t let me give you up,
You may find it’s stranger when its working all right,
Than when it’s all blowing up,
You’ll find your own way out and into the light,
However low that you are,
Hold, hold on.
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6. |
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Have you seen the Bird Woman,
Of the Old Town?
She walks around holding a crow,
Have you seen the Bird Woman,
Of the Old Town?
‘Cause I don’t see her anymore.
Have you been in the White Lilly,
Where she sits down?
In her dress of purple and rose,
Have you been in the White Lilly,
Where she sits down?
Sprinkling her crumbs out by the road,
She lives in a palace but she’s dressed like a drunk,
At the top of the old George Road,
She lives in a palace but she’s dressed like a drunk,
It just goes to show you never know.
There is a poster in her window of a cat,
And it’s been missing for quite some time,
And now the neighbours are all wondering where she’s gone to,
I really hope that she is,
I really hope that she is fine.
Have you seen the Bird Woman,
Of the Old Town?
She wore a full-length gentleman’s coat,
Have you seen the Bird Woman,
Hanging around?
She never had a frown for anyone,
Funny how some people just disappear,
When it seems they’ll never go,
Maybe she’s made a nest in some other town,
Or maybe she is gone where Heaven knows.
So if you see the Bird Woman,
Of the Old Town,
Wont you stop and say hello?
And tell her from me that we all miss her so,
And that we hope that she comes home,
And that we hope that she comes home,
And that we hope that she comes home.
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7. |
Yesterday's Man
05:34
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I got Dylan on the stereo,
One foot in the past,
Your number on a cellular phone,
Barbra Vidal has been taking your picture again,
I just don’t know if I’ve the strength not to look,
Ain’t nostalgic,
I don’t want romance,
But if your in my head 7/24,
I need to talk to you,
But I don’t want to ask,
I just don’t want to be yesterday’s fool,
I just don’t want to be yesterday’s fool,
You shook my head up and you parted my soul,
Like the wind that blows the rose,
And the mystery of it all,
In the time before there was this broken chance,
In different circumstances,
In a different world,
As far as I can see, there are two sides to everything,
And you and me are just like that,
And you can’t go back to where you used to be.
Everything’s for sale and everything’s gone,
Everything is gonna be banned,
I don’t want to hear the news about the world on my door,
I couldn’t change it if I knew what it meant,
Here and now, and then gone in a flash,
Like all the singers on the TV shows,
I’m not into that, better run while you can,
I just don’t wanna be yesterdays man,
I just don’t wanna be yesterdays man,
All anybody wants is the happy side of love,
The sunlight and the warmth,
You can never get enough,
Put on my shoes and take a walk across the road,
Maybe I’ll see you and you will turn all this lead back into gold,
Why do we make it so impossible to find,
When what we want has been right here within us all this time?
Oh, cant you see can’t you see?
Can’t you see cant you see?
Still waking up with you,
Still living on my own,
Upon the corner of the Kenilworth road,
That’s real life for you - you’re only here for the show,
Your like a poem bound in Faber’s double F’s,
You might not know it but your all that I have left,
I hope you read this, or hear this anywhere,
I sold all my books I’m hooked on magazines,
My memory isn’t what it used to be,
Don’t be a stranger is what you what you said to me,
Well do you have to ask if I have been?
You can’t change what you have been,
No matter what you try or what you think,
It’s living, that’s the trick,
It’s hard to do it when your minds on other things,
The sun is glowing like a lantern on the hill,
But what its showing, I don’t think that I can solve,
That’s real life for you, the more you ask the less you know,
I know we said we’d never talk about these things,
The kind of stories that get caught up in your dreams and make you lonely,
Lonely as you’ll ever be,
Lonely as you’ll ever be,
Lonley,
Lonely that’s me
And I don’t wanna be yesterday’s man,
Yesterday’s man.
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8. |
Woman From the South
03:49
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Once met a woman from the South,
And her eyes were very kind,
Once met a woman from the South,
Now she’s a real good friend of mine,
She runs a market stall on Norman Road,
Where she sells her books and rhymes,
She’s getting rid of all her antique clothes,
Says “Come and Buy!, Come and Buy!”
I met a young man from the South,
He was wearing a suit and tie,
I met a young man from the South,
Said “How d’you do?” as he passed by,
I met a young girl fixing a bike,
In her shop in the Old Town,
I met a young girl fixing a bike,
She’s gonna ride it all around,
So tell me, tell me, if you like,
About these people from the South,
They’re always friendly, always polite,
They’re gonna to turn this world around,
They’re gonna to turn this world around.
Once met a woman from the South,
And her eyes were very kind,
Once met a woman from the South,
Reminded me of you one time,
‘Cause lately, lately, I’ve been thinking of you,
And that takes a fool who’s very wise,
Lately, lately, no mater what I do,
Can’t seem to get you off my mind,
Can’t seem to get you off my mind.
You were a woman from the South,
But you left it all behind,
Gone to the city to seek your gold,
I hope the Hand of Fate’s been kind,
I hope the Hand of Fate’s been kind.
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9. |
The Lady From Bexhill
06:11
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Oh my love,
All the distance that you travelled to,
For us,
To meet again in a parking lot,
So give me a hug,
Hold me beside you,
I’ve finally found you,
The one that I want,
The one that I want.
Out upon the sea,
Beyond the pier,
There’s a dingy in the water,
Carrying you and me,
And a couple of oars,
And a hat, and some sunscreen,
I will remember,
That lucky day in the sun forever,
I will remember,
That lucky day in the sun forever.
Tulips on my windowsill are opening to the light,
I watch you walk on over to them,
A silhouette of life,
The market in the street below is starting up on time,
And I’m just passing through,
In this body in this mind,
And I’m just passing through,
In this body in this mind.
Don’t forget,
To put on your Sunday best,
And say your grace at the table,
Don’t forget,
To post your letter to Sally,
And my thank-yous to your family, a-ha,
When we met,
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky,
And the tide was so high,
I thought we’d be washed away to sea.
So it goes,
All the way to madness,
And don’t you know,
That that could be the best thing that has ever happened,
Give me some silence,
Give me some time,
So I can think,
Give me an answer,
That will open like a flower the more I drink,
Give to me an empty room and I will fawn on it,
There is no place like home, and home is where this is.
Don’t forget,
To write your name on the labels of your clothes,
And all your favourite books, a-ha,
Don’t forget,
To cross yourself in holy places,
And open doors to strangers, yeah, a-ha,
Don’t forget,
We don’t do television here,
And the radio is pointless as a sailboat on the moon,
That’s where we’ve been,
That’s where we’ve been,
On an esoteric journey,
That’s where we’ve been,
That’s where we’ve been,
Now the Sun has gone down early,
Your vintage dress,
Your tied back hair,
Your soapy skin and cleanliness abound,
“We’ve walked a lot!”,
“Were almost there!”,
Your very English practicality astounds,
Birds in the hedgerows chime,
Like bells across the field,
And I’ll sing goodnight to you,
To the lady from Bexhill,
And I’ll sing goodnight to you,
To the lady from Bexhill.
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