1. |
Go Gracefully
03:42
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Go Gracefully
I saw you walking in the village in the night
Your face was lit up like a tooth in UV light
And while your ancestors made patterns in the corn
You stood against the wind, a slanted dead hawthorn
Chorus
Go gracefully in memories of ways
Go gracefully but don’t avert your gaze
Go gracefully on Corpus Christi days
Go gracefully like a rodent in a maze
You held aloft a picture of your mother then
And whispered there to me “I don’t remember when…”
And by the graveyard where you passed at ten o’clock
You saw old Jesus and your hearts they nearly stopped
Chorus
And only ghosts of kids in blue communion suits
Now fill the dusty empty houses of the truth
And Nicodemus at his station ‘neath the cross
Is mostly concrete now, and doesn’t give a toss
Chorus x2
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2. |
The Dead Ones
04:06
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The Dead Ones
There’s a death so slow you could call it living
When the wet wind whistles like a song
And I can only make it through the day
By not knowing what the living say
But the dead ones, they know what’s been and gone
The dead ones, they know what’s been and gone
Burnt trees reaching up to ashen skies
Like a thousand dancing skeletons’ hands
In an empty universe
You can’t hear the cosmonauts curse
But the dead ones, they’re waking up the land
The dead ones, they’re waking up the land
Take me to your lilac window women
Take me to your dancers draped in dew
Give me all your window dressing
Your lemon vodka, your Eastern blessing
‘cause the dead ones, they want these things from you
The dead ones, they want these things from you
A thousand children locked in a lonely spaceship
A crimson planet melts and folds
Someone somewhere's getting really well paid
And on the bridge is John C. McQuaid
The dead ones have no laughter in their soul
The dead ones have no laughter in their soul
And on the box Doc Browne was talking to me
Making purple sounds through liquid mire
And in the sky as the morning paled
Y’know I think I saw chem trails
Yeah the dead ones, they hammer rocks in fire
The dead ones, they hammer rocks in fire
Snow falling on the head of D.O’Connell
Climbing from his place of brass and stone
Staggers down to Parnell Square
Has a smoke with Parnell there
Says “Charlie, the dead ones carry the load”
Says “Charlie, the dead ones carry the load”
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3. |
In the Garden
03:06
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In the Garden
In the garden they do come to you
Like some flesh-eating R2D2s
Or a round-up of lady cleaning crews
Saying "Hey have you heard the news?" You're gonna gonna,
Judas has got new shoes, he's gonna, gonna
Lead a legion of tin men to you
And we might ask them to lend us an ear or two
So you've come here to play the new god?
Well he's been buried for centuries odd, he's gonna, gonna
Rebrand himself as Zod
Are you my friend?
Flesh is the weakest thing
And the proof's gotta be in the eating
Cash it in now for real
In the airlock they break the seal, you're gonna, gonna
Seal up that aching deal, you're gonna, gonna
Hang with the sons of virgins
Like that cross on that guillotine surgeon
Who says he was born for the theatre
Better feed him that old saltpetre, gonna gonna
Give him his due salt,
Peter, are you my friend?
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4. |
Purple Heather
04:07
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Purple Heather
She wore shawl of eventide
She went searching for her mother’s home
Crossing fields and rivers wide
Where the rugged wether sheep do roam
And she did go to where the sowers sow
And by the valley-o, where purple heather grows
Where she did see the ancient green-eyed goat
There in the mist a-glow where purple heather grows
He wore sadness on his sleeve
He had memories of her silken face
When he went walking in the reeds
And did not feel the lake above his waist
And he did find his way by green meadow
And black-eyed hooded crow where purple heather grows
For he would hold her satin hand you know
And they would stand, you know, where purple heather grows
Now I must walk into the light
I must not remember yesteryear
And I must lose my where and why
I must let these question fester here
For I must go to where the sowers sow
And then forever go where purple heather grows
Where I will hold your withered hand, you know
And we will stand, you know where purple heather grows
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5. |
Edith
04:02
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Edith
Sleeping's for fools
Silence accrues
Sweeping the moonbeams for something to do
This world, it won't give
Maybe we'll ĺive
Or maybe we'll swoop down to where Edith lives
She has a crystal set
You don't know it yet
The dark charm in it
The word’s on the breeze
How once we were kings
Striding young warriors destined for things
Now fiery gates
Stand in love’s way
Down the canal just from where Edith stays
She has a crystal set
You don't know it yet
The dark charm in it
She has a stolen uke
If you ask her to
She will play for you
And oh, she likes chemistry
She'll make herbal tea
And she'll play for thee
She has a crystal set
You don't know it yet
The dark charm in it
And oh, she likes chemistry
She'll make some herbal tea
And she'll play for thee
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6. |
Negative Figures
05:04
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Negative Figures
My collection of shit guitars want to know if you'll be home soon
Me and them and the gibbous moon, me and them and the gibbous moon
This broken watch is right twice a day and that's about two times more than me
I'm just seeking my right of way, ever seeking my right of way
Uh oh. I'm in negative figures. Uh oh, negative figures.
Alcoholics and ne'er-do-wells hover over the bridge in Kells
Knelt in prayer as a breaker swells, a floating palace of Speak and Spells
And giant moths on a canopy, the pixel wolf speaking tongues to me
I'm forever behold to thee, ever ever behold to thee
Uh oh. I'm in negative figures. Uh oh, negative figures.
Red is rising above the east and something tells me I'll be the beast
At your ritual pagan feast - well I'm a part of the scene at least
This broken watch is right twice a day and that's about two times more than me
I'm just seeking my right of way, ever seeking my right of way
Alcoholics and ne'er-do-wells hover over the bridge in Kells
Knelt in prayer as the breaker swells, a floating palace of Speak and Spells
The queen is riding across the sea while I’m here, buried in VSTs
I'm forever behold to thee, ever ever behold to thee
And my collection of shit guitars want to know if you'll be home soon
Me and them and the gibbous moon
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7. |
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Dodging Coffins at the Swimming Pool
Too many wasps, get back inside
Where were you when Glen Miller died?
The only band I’d ever want to be a part of
The only mood I ever cared about
Strange umbrellas, stranger people
Tuesday’s here for the old and the feeble
And the fools and those who mind the fools
Dodging coffins at the swimming pool
Well let’s go, let’s just leave this world
Let’s go, old girl
There goes driver Tom, he's sweating stout
Says his daughter’s stepping out
Isn't it fun when you’re young and that?
Drivers always tell the lies like that
And I miss you like the old boiled sweets
I miss you like I miss the toilet seat
I miss you so, although
You’re right here beside me
Well let’s go, let’s just leave this world
Let’s go, old girl
Unfair deals and Jeyes Fluid
Have I up and joined the Blue Man Group?
Sitting here in the lavatory
When they fin’lly crown you Miss Purgatory
And how’s this for a triple ball scald
I can’t remember what my dog is called
Well let’s go, let’s just leave this world
Let’s go, old girl
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8. |
Tundra Geese
03:03
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Tundra Geese
Where the sloes grow and Irish words are spoken
And the cows look out on land unbroken
Where the land is wet and spongy
We will look upon the lake
There's a river flowing down Mount Gable
There's a patch of moss upon the table
I live in recurring dreams
I have visions of things
And we might fly like tundra geese
Into the grey wet dawn
And we might find an island home
To live out our old days on
We'll wait for you
Time is shifting like the sands on Keel strand
But you're holding all of time in your hand
We will go in V-migration
Shadowing cetaceans
And we might fly like tundra geese
Into the grey wet dawn
And we might find an island home
To live out our old days on
We'll wait for you
I live in recurring dreams
I have visions of things
And we might fly like tundra geese
Into the grey wet dawn
And we might find an island home
To live out our old days on
We'll wait for you
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9. |
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I Think I'll Start My Own Island
We’ve been making the same mistakes since we were dirt
And an infinity of chimps couldn’t even write a word
Or make this thick machine work
We’ve all the clues but where’s the crossword?
This lord's a tyrant
But in your candlelit eyes
And your delicate sighs
I think I'll start my own island
I fell out with the judge when I punched him in the jaw
We wound up in Tubbecurry in a pool of civil law
He held me tight in his claw
And dealt to me a fist of short straws
And sort of smiled then
But in your candlelit eyes
And your delicate sighs
I think I'll start my own island
So I’ve been learning Japanese from the lady at the spa
“Wasuremono wo todoke ni kimashita”
She hides a knife in her bra
While algorithmic crows, they do caw
For some lost Ireland
But in your candlelit eyes
And your delicate sighs
I think I'll start my own island
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10. |
The Birds
02:57
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The Birds
When the birds sit on the tree I know that time is up for me
The ivy twist, the lichen green, I'll know that time is up for me
When the birds fly overhead, I remonstrate then I forget
The septic hole that housed the dead, their lives now air, their words unsaid
There is a man in Inisheer with a machine with coloured gears
It scans for hope, it plunders fear, I owe that man ten pints of beer
But when the birds sit on the tree I’ll know that time is up for me
The ivy twist, the lichen green, I’ll see the signs in everything
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11. |
When You Hate Someone
03:55
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When You Hate Someone
When I look back on all my young tender years
And think of the players, the parts
It's the bad guys that made all the difference
So thank you for breaking my heart
When you hate someone, when you hate someone
The walls, they close in but the dishes get done
Don't talk of salvation - save yourself, bum
My god's a deaf god, my god is dumb
Every town has its late-night philosopher
And I'm that brown suit that sits on a stool
ANd says to pull up a chair while I spit in my beer
And tell you ten ways that I'm nobody's fool
When you hate someone, when you hate someone
Your needle returns to the heart of the sun
Where I've seen all your turtle doves die one by one
My god's a blind god, my god is dumb
'Cause there's an east wind that blows through the heart of men
And your prayers, they're just paper and ink
'Cause the children still cry in the wet wicked night
And they'll keep on just crying, so let's all have a drink
When you hate someone, when you hate someone
Your mind is a country and your mouth is a gun
Don't talk about healing - healing's no fun
My god's a drunk god, my god is dumb
So hop on to my ship with its purple fins
Hop on! to where the people walk crooked all day
And they eat all the land that they sit upon, grand
Hop on! Wake up sick, and in sickness you'll stay
When you hate someone, when you hate someone
There's a bar in East Mars that serves alien cum
Don't tell me love will come to me, what love may come?
My god's a deaf god
My god's a blind god
My god's drunk god
My god... my god...
My god... My God!
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12. |
Everlasting
03:00
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Everlasting
Walk in fields, dew and sunshine
Morning, smell of woodbine
Wake up to a love that's everlasting
Take a drink from the raspberry wine there
Watch the bubbles rise and shine there
Cut loose from the days of toil and fasting
The seagull flies and yes, perhaps mechanically
But if that's not beautiful there's no such thing as beauty
So wade through reeds with swans and coots
Listen out for the cuckoo's hoots
Taste the fruit of a love that's everlasting
Move with every passing day
Change your mind, change your ways
Don't be a lonely spider cast in amber
But do let time flow over you
Taste the days of idleness too
And hit your groove with innocence and candour
The seagull flies and yes, perhaps mechanically
But if that's not beautiful there's no such thing as beauty
Let the ivy grow on your wall
Hear the wanton taunting fox call
As light falls in the evening's grandeur
The seagull flies and yes, perhaps mechanically
But if that's not beautiful there's no such thing as beauty
Walk in fields, dew and sunshine
Morning, smell of woodbine
Wake up to a love that's everlasting
Wake up to a love that's everlasting
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M Stevens & The Ghasts Dublin, Ireland
You may know M Stevens as Mike, that speccy guy from a string of Irish alt folk & indie pop bands like Settler, Groom, Lie
Ins and Skelocrats. Or as co-founder of celebrated indie collective Popical Island.
M's band The Ghasts are Mark Jordan, Hugh McCabe, Ciaran Canavan, Donagh O'Brien and sometimes Norah and Anna Stevens and Sadhbh McCabe.
... more
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