1. |
SPH - Something
01:29
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It's good that all things
Must begin from somewhere
For where things start is something
Of a riddle
As by the time you see that
Something's started
You're more than likely
somewhere in the middle
So here you are with something
Born of nothing
And sometimes that distinction's
Mighty fine
But though you worked that nothing
Into something
It doesn't fall to you
To draw the line
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2. |
Dutch Cassidy - Cheques
03:42
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Thoughts are tumbling
Colourful and brash
My mind is writing cheques my hands can't cash
How fast they flutter, fingers fine
But none so swiftly as the mind
No man can match with muscle motion
Each new thought and every notion
Attitude cautious
Though the thoughts are rash
My mind is writing cheques my hands can't cash
Superhighways built of nerves
Bring the audience deserved
Flowing forth when fingers flex
To pass from one world to the next
Synapses firing
Quicker than a flash
My mind is writing cheques my hands can't cash
And isn't it a shame
That the wealth of your imagination
Never trickles to the pockets of your congregation
Thoughts still tumbling
Colourful and brash
My mind is writing cheques my hands can't cash
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3. |
T.C. Elliott - Break It
03:33
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Don't be owned by what you own
For perfect is your enemy
The scratch to start may break your heart
But the cut will set you free
For there's no joy in dusty toys
No purpose in a page unread
A glinting prize for sorest eyes
Holds nothing for the empty head
CHORUS
So take it, jar it, break it, scar it
See it for its proper worth
Rip it, bust it, for it's just
Another tool to work the earth
Break its skin to break it in
Etch the sketchbook just for fun
Scrawl a mess and start off, yes
No need to be good, just done
Ban the wraith with a leap of faith
Twist the knife and face the pain
Breach the dark and leave your mark
Better that than leave a stain
CHORUS
The splinters in your finger
From the figures on your phone
Bear a testament that lingers
To when you struck out on your own
Now the skin is less than perfect
For a wound was struck anew
But the rent is where it entered
Where the light came into you
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4. |
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I loop and swoop and tuck and pull
And tie my tie in a Windsor full
There are lots of knots and the folds are manifold
It's tied so tight I can barely cough
But it stops my head from falling off
And a-tumbling to the floor from off my should...ers
CHORUS
This charm I've engendered's intended
This end is resplendent as heck
Don't want a good head on my shoulders
It's better off set on my neck
Yes, I'd rather it sat on my neck
I twist my wrist and swirl and swoop
And craft my scarf in a classic loop
A swarm of warm merino, don't I know?
It's tied so tight I can barely breathe
But it stops my head from taking leave
And a-leaving not-quite-footprints in the snow
CHORUS
BRIDGE
Sometimes these days, it's hard to keep your chin up
Sometimes it's hard to hold your head up high
To bear it all the while and try to look up with a smile
But there's things at hand - or neck - to fortify
Now see my face with grace and pride
Emerge from verge of holes inside
My jersey purple blessed with neck of turtle
It fits so tight I can barely gasp
But it keeps my head tight in its grasp
So it won't take a fatal downward hurtle
CHORUS
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5. |
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I'll take the slings and arrows
If you take me back and drop me off
I'll bear the blows and turn the other cheek
I'll face the day without a shirt
Upon my back, and pockets full of holes
And crumbs of bread to last the week
I'll make the bad decisions
And I'll suffer every consequence
While seeing the silver lining in the cloud
I'll stake my reputation
On a life of disrepute
And I'll make my mother anything but proud
CHORUS
Take me back
And drop me off
For everyone I ever loved
Was here
And still alive
And still with me
I'll give up all my riches
And I'll give up all my... girls
You can have all of my illest-gotten gains
I'll toss them like they're holding down
My soul in fiery purgatory
Enjoy my every pleasure for your pains
CHORUS
And I don't care how far I've come
From where I used to be
I'd rather go through hell with them
Than paradise with me
I'll take the slings and arrows
If you take me back and drop me off
I'll bear the blows and turn the other cheek
CHORUS x2
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6. |
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CHORUS
A pillow on the footpath lay
And that seemed wrong to me
For a footpath surely is no place
A pillow ought to be
A cloud of fluff and linen
For to rest your weary head
Would be much better suited
To a warm and comfy bed
Inside a cozy bedroom
In a cozy little home
A sanctuary from trouble
In the cradling hands of foam
CHORUS
What strange bird would build their nest
Beneath the fall of boots?
The well-heeled tread of well-heeled souls
In their fancy tailored suits?
Who'd lay themselves down to sleep
Beneath the pavement cracks?
With no soft comfort left to give
To soothe their aching backs?
CHORUS
No sign was there of they who
Dreamed dreams upon the pad
Their shuffling ghost had shuffled off
To somewhere strange and sad
With nothing left behind them
But this soft shell at the last
A silent scream for help ignored
By all who walked on past
CHORUS
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7. |
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Oh, you kid, I could kidnap a nap, I could
Snatch forty winks, take a fleeting snooze
A thief to steal his next second of dreamtime
For there’s no waking moment left to lose
To live with eyes wide open leaves me weary
As rings across my cheeks further crept
For though my dreams are soft, but many
Not one of them was born from when I slept
I dream I might become a sleptomaniac
And steal the very sand from 'neath the eyes
Of Mister Sandman as he sows the seedlings
Of slumber in his somnolent disguise
I dream I may one night become the dreamer
And build a world of nonsense to despise
A curse to see the day with sober vision
And go ungentle to the world of night
To play the king and rule non-fiction
Where up is never down, and right is right
To never confuse fantasy with hist’ry
Secrets long forgotten, ever kept
For though my dreams are cloaked in myst’ry
Not one of them was born from when I slept
I dream I might become a sleptomaniac
And steal the very sand from 'neath the eyes
Of Mister Sandman as he sows the seedlings
Of slumber in his captivating lies
I dream I may one night become the weaver
Of worlds you’ll spend your precious life to lose
As Mister Sandman, I would sow you needlings
Throughout this dreamland you could never choose
I think I have become a sleptomaniac
That steals the very sand as it is swept
So my eyes brim with blood and not with tears,
Too dry from habit to have ever wept
For though my dreams are many as my fears
Not one of them was born from when I slept
Not one of them a dreamtime I’d accept,
And none of them a dreamland I’d protect
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8. |
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CHORUS
Coffee or a powernap?
Meditate? Self-medicate?
Caffeine or a fever dream?
Snug myself or drug myself?
Five short minutes all I have
Five short minutes all I have
Drug myself or snug myself?
Fever dream or caffeine?
Self-medicate or meditate?
Powernap or coffee?
x2
Five short minutes all I have
Energy and time bereft
Cannot do and cannot be
Pockets empty, seconds left
Lonely hours of one to blame
Job well done while I'm not well
Toes a-lick by tongues of flame
Pearly gates of meeting hell
CHORUS
Stable open, stallion dead
Ready, willing, slipped, unable
Skivvy static in my head
Fight or flight or flip the table
Watching wrist at ticking watch
Pallet bed or mind a mess
Xanthine or a Sandman's kiss
Stream of blood or consciousness?
CHORUS
Cannot do and cannot be
Cannot move and can't decide
Cannot sleep but cannot wake
Cannot run and cannot hide
CHORUS
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9. |
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I took my inner critic down to consciousness stream
I pushed the bastard in and watched him drown
His voicebox full of water, he shut up and let me dream
And the cage around my soul came tumbling down
I shuffled ever closer til I dipped a big toe tentative
Into driftless current drifting past
And as I did, a thousand little voices argumentative
Cried out until I came to see at last
CHORUS
There's a truth within the words that never feel revision's subtle brush
The words that tumble out and see no edit
That cause the mind to fall behind itself and tell the cheeks 'Now blush
For naked is your soul when you have said it'
I stepped a little back and saw the water turn to wine
I knelt before the edge and started drinking
The grapes were young and raw, but full of truth and flavour fine
All blessed without the spoiling rot of overthinking
CHORUS
For nothing is so numb, so paralytic
Than all the trappings of your inner critic x2
I took my inner critic down to consciousness stream
I pushed the bastard in and watched him drown
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10. |
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CHORUS
The second drop of rainfall
in the city
Always falls more reassuring than the first
You'll thank heaven heaven opened
on the city
Even though you never knew you had this thirst
For there's more than rain that falls
upon the city
There's more that slips from even cloudless skies
And if you're not looking sharp
about the city
You'll behold much more than beauty in your eyes
Like the fallout from a perfect dry Manhattan
Freshly spilled from off the 10th floor balustrade
Or the juices of an air condition unit
As it weeps with joy at gentle zephyrs made
And if you perchance forget the tender buffet
Of a rock dove's little opalescent wings
It may leave your head instead a stark reminder
Spoken from the end from which it never sings
You may even find your face awash with sea mist
Yet the ocean is a thousand miles away
As your gaze then falls upon the broken hydrant
Reassuring in a horrifying way
Or you'll see your stare reflected in a puddle
Stop and wonder how the pool had come to be
Anything you lose within is dead forever
Better let it just stay a mystery
CHORUS
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11. |
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There's a guy who joined me in the lift, he's going up one storey
And that rascal really has no good excuse
There's a perfectly good staircase ten feet to his left
And he's long of leg and shiny-new of shoes
But Muggins, on the other hand, is off to level 7
Which is why I shuffled in and flipped the lever
And if you think I'm walking up these steps halfway to heaven
You can go ahead and jump in lake Geneva
CHORUS
And that's the sort of thing that used to bother me before we had a virus roughing up the human race
When suddenly the little things and nothing-meaning-everythings were put quite resolutely in their place
And all the little niggles that formed squiggles in the margins of the largely boring pages of my file
Were cast aside in deference to my rather definite preference that I'd like to keep on living for a while
There's a guy who does the crossword and he handwrites like a surgeon
Leaving bluish worms of God knows on the page
And I know he only does it cause the boredom starts to burgeon
And I also know he's trouble spelling beige
But it doesn't leave me much to do when fifteen minutes later
It's my turn to break for coffee and for sanity
I'm left with nought but scribbles and sudoku in the paper
And a thinly veiled contempt for all humanity
CHORUS
BRIDGE
And ain't it great?
And ain't it swell?
We beat the bug, we're back to hell
The small stuff I at last unlearned to sweat
Is back in style
And back in force
And dripping out of all my pores
I never had the privilege to forget
There's a guy who's by the window and his politics are terrible
An HR violation on his T-shirt
I wish him no great harm but hope that no-one finds him bearable
Enough to sit and listen to his bullshirt
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12. |
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The teddies came down from the windowsill
The teddies came down from the ledge
No longer a sight for the sorest eyes
A beacon brought down from a hedge
Fuzzy Theo observed the commotion
Neptune in this ocean of Ted
With a grin on his face stitched so firmly in place
As he looked o'er his shoulder and said:
Hey, wasn't it good for a while, eh lads?
Wasn't it fun for a while?
We had our day in the sun, eh lads?
And brought all the children a smile
And brought all the children a smile
The teddies came down from the windowsill
The teddies went into the box
The boxes went into the workshop, then
The workshop went under the locks
The people came out of the houses
Stepped blinking out into the calm
And Theo the fuzzy was beaming because he
Could shout to his brothers in arms:
"We brightened the days at their darkest
And had us an absolute riot
Yeah, wasn't it good for a while, eh lads?'
But all of the lads had gone quiet...
The teddies had gone from the windowsills
The bears had all vanished from sight
The lockdown was lifted, our thoughts had now shifted
To setting a country to rights
And Theo the fuzzy still lingered
With a grin as if he had a choice
He turned round to cry with a twitch in his eye
And a catch in his cottony voice
Hey, wasn't it good for a while, eh lads?
Wasn't it fun for a while?
We sure had our day in the sun, eh lads?
And brought all the children a smile
Hey, wasn't it grand while it lasted?
He would cry to whoever was there
Turn and smile with great charm to his comrades-in-arms...
But everything round him was bare
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13. |
Lori Citro - Joy
03:05
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Joy is contagious
And we must all face it
There will be no Joy in our playing today
We all have to suffer
One way or another
For how could we truly know Joy without pain?
Joy is contagious
We must keep our distance
To make the world better for each girl and boy
We picked a forget-me-not
Fresh in her memory
A flower that blossomed for our own Joy
I know that it's hard to contain how we feel
When life is a battle, and the casualties are real
But after the rain falls, the sun reappears
And after the pain dies, Joy will still be here
Joy is contagious
Keep the torch burning
In case there's a place for Joy in our tomorrow
Leave the light on
For what's lost is not gone
We know in our hearts Joy is greater than sorrow
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14. |
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Nobody ever talks about the bottom of the sky, indeed
We're rather more concerned about the top
And all those things that float around the middle by and by, indeed
The sun, the clouds, the stars that jet non-step
But buried at the base beneath the black and grey and sky-blue pink
You'll find yourself a special little breed
Of those like you and me
Who live and walk and love and talk and think and thrive and fall and rise and breathe and bleed
CHORUS
Below the up above
He, she, and they, and you and I
Living in our little corner
Of the bottom of the sky
We came and saw and conquered that same moon we all sit under
Although we already live in outer space
Among the drifting particles of stuff and dreams and thunder
Parting softly with goodbyes to find their place
As children shade the edges of their art with blue and cyan
Leaving heaven hung above the chimney smoke
But they make every brushstroke from the doorstep of Orion
Where the four winds wrap the birds within their cloak
CHORUS
And by the time the bridge is crossed
The sky with worlds and stars embossed
Will hold the earth a little further on
Though we stay steady with our feet
Stood firm where Earth and Heaven meet
And earth will hold us too when we are gone
Nobody ever talks about the bottom of the sky, although
It's where all of the talkers tend to live
And though the cost of living's often talked about with fear and woe
We like it more than the alternative
CHORUS x2
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15. |
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So COVID won, it's over
It's time to go out like we came
With a bang
Shake up the plates techtonic
Send supersonic waves to ring
Across the land
CHORUS
Sing loud, it's now or never
When this sun fades to black
This time it won't be going back
There's no going back
Break out the top-shelf bubbles
Our troubles won't be ours for long
So sing along
Light up the sky with fireworks
We've all rehearsed, it's opening night
For the afterlife
CHORUS
Dance, join the seven billion
Souls in one last rhythm
Send the Earth off right
Dance, as the last moon waxes
Knock it off its axis
Let the world take flight
Dance
It's your final chance
Seize the night
Seize the night
Strip down, dive in the ocean
Let motion send you on your way
It's your last day
With all the stars colliding
Keep riding this last sonic wave
Just be brave
CHORUS
Sing loud, it's now or never x4
*cough*
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