1. |
Fear
04:57
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The road was narrow and lit only by the moon
Darkness seeped through the wounds in the clouds
The stars flickered lashes and gazed like the gods of owls
The wind’s whirling whispers talked to me aloud
They said words that transfixed and hypnotised
Made my heart thump like a soldier’s march
Spiders ran down my back, for trees hidden by the black
Images flashed causing my mouth to parch
Refrain
The fear is rising uncontrollably inside
It’s howling at me now
My heart pumped blood through veins pressurised to burst
My stride speeded as the fear rose
My mind was on edge adrenalin-fuelled and feeling cursed
The convict’s last appeal before the gallows
The sky erupted applauding the demon mood
Daylight cracked in a fork above
Rain hammered on my face, ran to my mouth and I could taste
The ferrous heat of imaginary blood
Refrain
A hand, I saw a hand
It brushed past my face and came to rest on my shoulder
A scream, I wanted to scream
But air could not force its way out of my lungs
I fell, falling forever
Will I ever……… will I ever land?
The sun brings warmth to the surface of my pillowcase
All that’s left is the sweat on my forehead
The fear once etched into the muscles of my face
Has faded but the memory remains undead
The day begins I go about my business
Triggers fire the guns that stop me in my tracks
Fear is the cause, the key lurking inside you and me
Coiled like a snake and ready to attack
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2. |
Death of a Son
03:11
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Seeping serotonin slips
Its jolly way away from here
Levelling words of misery
Drift like echoes searching for an ear
The sun has set and the wind gusts across the water
The boat rocks. unsteady under his feet
The whispers crawl like a plague over the sails and deck
The dark water growls and bares its teeth
The world’s the same but somehow shifted
Crooked mirrors and shrunken size
His happiness drained with the blood from his face
As he heard the news his son had died
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3. |
Demons
04:26
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The demons are chasing
And you don’t know where to run
You don’t know which way you’re facing
But you do know what you’ve done
You thought you’d beat them years ago
Left them in your tracks
Now you feel them closing in again
Breathing down your neck
Refrain
Oh, you know
They are never going to go
All you can hope is to keep them at bay
But today, the demons are back
Fluorescent lights are flashing
Flickering in your head
And all that you can think about
Is what the others said
The needy devil trespassed you
Whispering painful mantra loops
And the raven of your guilt and sin
Judges from its roost
Refrain
Curled up and cringing in your bed
3a.m. awake and tense
Sweat breaks out on your forehead
Confusion drowns your sense
Your balance tipped as the earth quaked
You sought one who could console
But condemned to isolation
You can’t retrieve what the demons stole
Refrain
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4. |
Don't Follow Me
03:47
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Chorus
Please don't follow me
This road is too rough
Please don't follow me
These pleasures are not enough
On the outside everything seems fine
Style, smiles, sweetness and wine
But this heart is so fragile
Weak and wounded
There’s a lamb inside
The jaws of the cage
Ill-equipped and so afraid
Chorus
I got here but i don't know how
The path was paved long before now
The twists and turns are all dissolved
Love was hidden
There are tears inside
The lamb in the cage
Bleating and so afraid
Chorus
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5. |
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I would like to be brilliant but I'm not
I would like to be handsome but I'm ugly
I would like to be strong and tall, instead I am so weak and small
Refrain
And that is why I'm gonna scratch your car
And that is why I'm gonna scratch your car
I would like to have a big family
Where they want me and they tell me that they love me
But I don’t, I am all alone, my best friend is this sharpened stone
Refrain
Chorus
See the lines, read the signs
Feel the lines, hear my cries
I would like to have an education
And a diploma to prove that I can think
But I can't seem to find a way, I'm locked inside these simple days
Refrain
I would like to have a girl to love
But I don't believe that I am able
I am stunted emotionally, invisibly I am not free
Refrain
Chorus
I would like to have enough money
To buy interesting things and have nice clothes to wear
But the money I have I steal, enough to numb the way it feels
Refrain
And that is why I'll always scratch cars
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6. |
Cursed
03:02
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Bumbling busy bee blows boozy
A vexed flight-some Suzie
Up down in out tight teeth frowned face
Photos in Jacuzzi
Refrain
Remembering was all too much
Locked tight within
It was all too much
Ring on ring gone a one-day trip away
Mortgaged-conscience-life-time-pay
Secrets inside erect great divide
Seymour went astray
Refrain
Lord of good flower faith in me
Elevation from this earthly body
Furrowed brow cursed evermore
Demons let us be please
Refrain
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7. |
Standing on the Corner
03:24
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I'm standing on the corner
I see you at the bus stop
You are playing some kind of game
Staring intently down at your mobile phone
Next to someone who’s doing exactly the same
The two of you stand
At kissing distance from each other
But neither one of you knows that the other exists
And the forehead of the old woman
Stood next to you both betrays her concern
The old woman sees meI smile and walk over
We talk and she makes me laugh
She's so funny and has a lot to say.
She's nostalgic
She believes that somehow we've all lost our way
The sounds of silence were never louder
Cocooned like islands in parallel universes
Our days spent like blind alien butterflies
An unseen button is pressed
And our old friends are fading away
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8. |
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Claustrophobic and confused
Trapped and looking inwards
Where to go from here?
Can barely muster the energy
To even ask this question
Leave alone think up an answer
Refrain
And flowers do not bloom
Their faces just stare upwards
The sun shines brightly
But the day is black and white
Verse 2
Darker days there haven’t been
All the fighting on the tv news
Makes me turn and run away
The guilt and self-loathing circle viciously
Down the spiral to the bottom of the glass
Refrain
Oh can this figure
In the mirror
Be worth anything?
Be worth anything?
Repeat Verse 2
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9. |
Autumn Light
03:29
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In the shallow afternoon October light
In a melancholic moment
I imagined I would die
My work seemed done
And the air was quiet
The window was painted
with the pale blue sky
I tapped the desk and listened to the silence
The sadness and loneliness moist in my eyes
The world from the window
Seemed frozen and distant
A departure felt then appropriately timed
Refrain
Well so that’s it then, locked in time
A weak sigh of compromise
A whole life spent in the Autumn light
It didn't happen, my heart kept beating
My wife and child remained unaware
All buildings undamaged, a telephone rang
Nothing had altered and no one would care
But something had shifted in a place out of vision
The devil and the god that play within were disturbed
The pendulum had swayed, I was older
A wheel had turned and the click could almost be heard
Refrain
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10. |
This House #2
03:06
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This house is so big and old
Unfamiliar, the rooms are large and cold
The corners are hidden away
The cushions are silk and pink
None of these furnishings are to my taste
But i live here and all this stuff is mine
I wonder ‘what is it all doing here?’‘
How the hell did this happen?’
And this light is too pale
I'm convinced there's someone walking around
I hear distant echoing sounds
And suddenly they all stop
Like they never existed at all
Like i made them all up
There's no fun or music in here
It's dull and empty, there's a feeling of nothingness
And everything is so deadly still
In this masquerading grand bohemian house
Full of beautiful things
Devoid of any trace of warmth
A curious house. A clown's house. A cold home.
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11. |
Born Again
04:04
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Mother Earth gave birth to me
When I was thirty-two
Dark clouds rumbled and frowned above
When the golden rays broke through
And the speckled blue and beams of light
Flickered in the sand
And a single pair of footsteps shone
As I hovered above the land
Refrain
Oh born again
You were the start and I was the end
Lightning strikes electrified a spirit lost and dead
For reasons inexplicable someone was born again
Oh born again
You were the start and I was the end
Oh born again, Oh born again
A moment set before me
By a mysterious hidden hand
Thunder-clapped a heart to life
And set me there to stand
On the path I’d floated over
Without connection to the earth
That led neatly to the time and place
Where I could meet my birth
Refrain
And I cried like a new-born
As I breathed and shed the pain
And walked along the rocky path
With purpose from the rain
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12. |
If We Have Wars
05:30
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I sat and stared, in the garden
Early evening, mid-July
Blue, green and red were the colours
Brighter than usual, through my eyes
I thought about all the concrete
All the buildings and hurried lives
All the appointments we should cancel
To make contact with other minds
Chorus
It means nothing
It all means nothing
Without peace
Without love
If we have wars
I thought about how Galileo
How Albert Einstein enriched our lives
We have arrived at a crossroads
A crucial moment, in space and time
Chorus
In our tiny corner of this universe
Our little species has a chance
Flawed, not quite ready, ironically
Technologically, too advanced
Chorus
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Roger Hammond Amsterdam, Netherlands
Based near Amsterdam. I write, play guitar, sing and record. I try to write interesting lyrics and occasionally I think they are. A lot of the songs end up with a calm sound and emphasize the vocals and acoustic guitar. My early influences were Paul Simon, Tom Waits, Jethro Tull, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Chopin, The Beatles, Elvis Costello, Otis Redding and a ton more along the way ... more
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