1. |
The House
07:23
|
|||
the creaking of the floors
the bedsprings squeak and moan
of people in your life
who haunt your every bone
the ghosts of xmas past
keep clambering your stairs
to sneak on all you say
and reinforce your fears
the loves, the lusts the thighs
that ever filled your view
the tangled bush of lies
your tongue got drawn into
unwritten rules and laws of how you should behave
and where you're gonna sleep
within this house of knaves
the fat cat sleeps above
on velvet cushions fine
the shuffling and downcast
beneath the floors recline
their mouths agape for crumbs that might fall through the cracks
should those who glut above let trickle-downs be facts
I wrote the book myself
but someone else wrote me
wrote me writing "the house"
in quaint calligraphy
but live with it I must
beyond my roof and walls
cos outside is the house - its all the fucking world
- - - - - - - -
At sunset's cue I drew the moth-stained curtains from my eyes
through misted glass gazed out upon the pink and salmon skies
a pigeon flew up to my ledge - it bore a note by beak
that read: "don't tread on flowerbeds and mind the shit you speak"
an architect I knew once sat me down to tea
and told me that my house was quite illusionary
she said "your mind is set on paradigms of pain
although your house is straight its bent inside your brain"
All metaphors are flawed
they only fluff about
and language as a tool does well to conjure doubt
its best if seeking truth to listen to the tune
just listen to my song, its true.. I wrote it on the moon.
|
||||
2. |
decap (acoustic version)
05:25
|
|||
Imagine its you there..
standing on a hill with the sea behind
you've lost your head today
and blood spurts out from your neck like a fountain of wine
and your blood runs down the hill to the sea
where it stains the sands
it spans the seas in scarlet bands
till the oceans turn the colour of the sovereign lands
|
||||
3. |
My Own God
02:09
|
|||
I dunno quite what I say
it could be something more
than anything I know..
A million ways to look at things
but navel gazing only showed me –
too much shit I know...
Cos when the sun goes down
in my imploding brain
wish I weren't "my own god" so vain...
|
||||
4. |
Paranoid Lovesick Dream
04:11
|
|||
I had a bad dream just before
In which you did appear
You stuck your hand down my pants
And then you whispered you cared
And then you disappeared,
yeah then you disappeared
I went quite mental
I went frantic-spastic
Found a phone-card plastic
But the phone box was on public display
(Looked like some kind of a bird-box actually)
People clapped when I tried to ring your home
You elude me once again
So I went ‘round to your house
and looked through all your clothes
But I couldn’t find you there
You lie and disappear
|
||||
5. |
Sleeping
03:23
|
|||
(Improvised words on the base track,
later overdubbed with additional words
to turn it into a “proper” song)
Whenever I play this thing
Will it be so
Kind of repeating
Kind of slow
While I was sleeping
(the same thing again)
Old bells shall ring
(but now)
For so long sleeping
Deep inside me
Ding dong ding
Maybe… SNAP OUT OF IT!
you’re going to find
that the hypnotist's key word
can't be heard".
|
||||
6. |
Pining
04:13
|
|||
7. |
Waterbaby's Coming
03:34
|
|||
this song was fully improvised to my tape recorder.... (the tape echo was overdubbed later - mostly to try to mask the excessive tape hiss a bit).
|
||||
8. |
Yesterday's Parties
09:52
|
|||
and what costumes did the poor boy wear to all yesterday's parties
the hand me down dregs of last year's stores
and a sale price range of cliches
he dishes them out
he flirts and then flouts at all his drunk eyes see
then stumbles for the exit door to vomit gracelessly
what costumes did the poor fool wear to all past season's parties
the hand-me-down sounds of yesterday's clowns
to jest, infest and honk horns
and what did he do with Thurday's gags when mid-night came around? he went to fly the tattered flags he'd sewn from Sunday's gowns
and what postures must the poor fool bear through all tommorrow's parties
contortionist to Monday's fears whose eyes won't meet the morning they stand in the hall and laugh as he falls face-down
his song unsung
fit for one who spits and fries for all they've never done...
|
||||
9. |
Mr Mitten Man
01:44
|
|||
First things first Mr Mitten Man
your fists are mitts but you're smitten man
from failing to sing your own song
you've gotta hit out
but you're a fraid to shout
|
||||
10. |
||||
words you've said
you've said them many times i know
but in the end i just cant find you
now i know (and no, this isnt fun to say)
all i'll know... but i dont mind
why cant i find it again
i dont know
why can't i find it
one day i won’t know.... anything
one fine day
one fine day
one fine day
|
||||
11. |
A Question of Time
02:09
|
|||
12. |
The Best Words
03:58
|
|||
13. |
Lofi Song
02:12
|
|||
14. |
Voices from the past
05:27
|
|||
(Officially releasing this track may pose a copyright nightmare – with lyrics quoting from seven different songs)
“When I was a boy I spent my time
Sitting on the banks of the river Tyne
Watching all the ships going down the line”
“Oh it’s been a long time since I rock n rolled”
“Tell me what you want What you really really want”
“I once had a girl Or should I say
She once had me”
Been a long time since I rock and rolled
“Papa was a rolling stone”
I’VE GOTTA LEAVE THIS TOWN
I’VE GOTTA LEAVE THIS TOWN
“A long time ago when the earth was green
There were more kinds of animals
Than you’ve ever seen”
“I get by with a little help from my friends”
"If you could save time in a bottle...."
“There was a man lived in the moon
And his name was Aitken Drum
And he played upon the ladle
The ladle
The ladle
And he played upon the ladle
And his name was Aitken …. Drum”
“……..(fade in) there’s no call for me to stay
So I’m leaving
Leaving
leaving
leaving
leaving FREE”
“Been a long time since I rock and rolled..”
|
||||
15. |
Volgograd Way
02:43
|
|||
Another day...
Volgograd way
you gaze outside from your cell/shell
and standing there you sniff the air
for smoke from not too distant hell
you're feeling bleached: (compounds beached + leached)
remember "Watermelon Mel"?
Melinda was your first and last
because you had her just before you fell..
that fateful day they took you away
dobbed in by "friends" who'd turned to foe
out on the street they're still walking neat
they do the system proud (HEY HO!)
|
||||
16. |
The Peasant (live)
04:06
|
|||
call it out and put it around
the peasant has returned to town
and he's brought disease with his rats and fleas
and some chimpanzees from the Seychelles
but you're happy just to find him again
matters most what matters most?
"no regrets" you may boast
while growing ill from tryin to stay so clean
well now your dirt proudly can be seen
happy just to find it again
so relax,
so relax
don't look back
just float and quack
let it die
let this tired defense lay to rest
it was never blessed
happy for your slate to be clean
|
||||
17. |
There's a Man
04:32
|
|||
18. |
There's a Man 2
03:31
|
|||
Lyrics look pretty stupid on paper:
There's a man who you don't know
and you know that he don't know
what he'll do or what he'll say by the burning light of each living day
oh no ya-know that he don't know
So he walks and he walks and talks...
and he talks and walks
oh but I don't care
ya just don't know what is "in there"...
and so you'll 'oh I don't know.."
and so you'll say: "....."
there's an older way, a colder way
there's a bolder way that has chickened out
and though he dreads the sight of garden gnomes
the concrete in their bones feels much like his no doubt
in the garden of hard symmetry
where he paces paths around their luxury
looking for some other place to be....
This track was created from using the basic track of the previous one (There's a Man) speeding it up on the tape deck and overdubbing new lyrics and a keyboard.
|
||||
19. |
Void
03:22
|
|||
there's a void man
and it's deep and wide
it’s a chasm of eternity
mirrored hopes reflect from either side
little tastes of love
should never be allowed
they make the heart loose equanimity
make it pine for things too grand to be
fuck! is all that I can say
fuck! things shine and then they fade..
I've been lonely for a long long while
for as long as time's been swirling on
for as deep as any river's song
I've been boiling at my river's head
but by the time my passions actions meet
I'm just water cold on stony feet
swallowed up by whatever shit
I've let inside my stimulus receptor
I should get out and hit the town
oh but I don't know what with
maybe a mallet or a great big gun
maybe I've always been paranoid
seems like everybody else has more fun
born with the inferiority complex
of a dung beetle
I just roll my shit around the world....
|
||||
20. |
Donald McPherson New Zealand
Donald is a home recording artist who is on the one hand an improvising acoustic guitarist, on the other a songwriter.
Streaming and Download help
If you like Donald McPherson, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp