1. |
A Lark Descends
03:12
|
|||
My back feels broken, these limbs are tight and still
But God’s voice is still sounding these notes in my head
Take it down boy, take it all down, you alone know how
You’ve known me long and well, you know the how and where
And I will say when, though my eyes be frozen
There’s a little light to pierce these cataracts
My dear boy please listen
It’s ta dum tad um ta dum
French horn and tympanum
Eric, take it all down, before I am done
As loud and as busy as this heavenly garden bee
The creeping heat of morning
Crescendo dear boy, you know how
Amanuensis. Amontillado Is it time for our sherry?
Is it dark out there already? Must we stop now? Eric? Stop now?
There’s so little time till it’s done
Or else till I’m done
Take it all down, you alone know how
It’s ta dum ta dum ta dum
French horn and tympanum
A little more bass, a little less cello, more or less, louder still
There, like the blackbird, trill like the lark
Like the first cuckoo of spring
Remember Eric? Take it all down before I am done
|
||||
2. |
I Will Sleep
04:53
|
|||
And I wont be restless tonight
It’s not the applause from the cities great minds
It’s not the red wine or the twinkling boy smiles
That give reassurance, this happiness inside
It’s my love, who comes tonight
And in whose arms I will lay
And I will sleep inside this cocoon
Under autumn moons
For my dear friend, my love, he is here tonight
So I can sleep tonight
The one I love most sleeps beside me
We share the covers, our bodies entwined
His breast a firm pillow, his arm light and close
Our breaths come slow now, we are joined
Tonight
It’s my love who comes tonight
And in whose arms I will lay
And I will sleep inside this cocoon
Under autumn moons
For my dear friend, my love, he is here tonight
So I can sleep tonight
For it’s my love who’s come at last
Such anticipation of his every footfall
His key in the door, his lips on my own
And I will sleep, tonight
|
||||
3. |
St. Pierre
03:26
|
|||
My name’s Pierre, my love was Jo
We met before war, we met again at his end
In the camp near our home they set dogs on his body
I watched in tears as my Jo was killed
Jo, Jo, only 18 years old
You were my best friend, my lover, the holder of my secret
And I cannot sleep these 50 years
Without calling out your name
Jo, Jo, and I’m the only one who’s told
And now these years have passed and still
My sleep’s full of pain, these sad memories
I tried to drink, it wasn’t much use
When the Bishop of Strasbourg called us sick
I could stay quiet no more
My name’s Pierre, and I loved my Jo
And I am myself, and of our love I am proud
They took my Jo, stripped him of clothes
Put a pail on his head to amplify the noise
|
||||
4. |
The Grimy Solution
04:28
|
|||
Quickly with the boat, I hear them,
One shove and it’s decided
Don’t you see you don’t belong, now the boy’s gone
You never did
Quick to the boat Peter and row
Out you go as fast as far
Until land is no more
The thin stripe where sky meets sea
Is where you may belong
The thin stripe where sky meets sea
That is where the boy swims alone
Quickly to the boat, Peter
Before you’ve time to think
Before your heavy heart weakens your arms
A kiss for Ellen, a prayer for your soul
They’ve started the fires
I hear them burn
Now go before they come
Remember till the shore’s no more
|
||||
5. |
St. Varian
04:59
|
|||
He sent them across the border
From Vichy France into Spain
Sent by American committee
With some dollars and a list of names
With MaryJane and Miriam, Danny and Marcel Beamish and Freyer the Forger
They faked visas and found pathways
And now its done, and I’ve been sent home
To an empty house where my wife does not understand
The things this war has done
The awful things I’ve seen
I sit in my office quiet
And recollect that crazy year in Marseilles
Where the difference between freedom and death was a stamp
A stamp on a piece of paper
That got you out of this forsaken place
He sent them across the mountains
From Hell to Catalan
Marc Chagall Andre Breton, Golo and Heinrich Mann
Max Ernst and Anna Segher
Duchamp and Hannah Arendt
Maybe over 2000, the list goes on & on
|
||||
6. |
Blood On Books
03:23
|
|||
When blood became water the cold mattress sank
Bloodying the depths of the dark muddy bank
Blood blackened the pages and reddened the books
It deified that Machiavellian crook
It stuck to the floorboards blood seeped in the hall
It’s skin’s lifeless leather
Stretched in a pall
And tears were not all
It’s a cold blood on books
And it’s a curse that will not pass
Blood danced on a wire where its distance was bliss
He sucked at its scent with his succubus hiss
His words were the pin to its happy inflation
Blood wilted to the ground and became his libation
The warmth of the blood
And the youth of its soul
Staggered under sticks of brutish control
And now it is stale in the belly of rats
It burns with his books and it rots on his traps
There’s a cold blood on books, and it’s a curse that will not pass
It rots in his traps
Blood dances its last
There’s a cold blood on books, and it’s a curse that will not pass From bloods tightrope dance
(Music by Patrick Fitzgerald, Words by David McAlmont)
|
||||
7. |
||||
I drove the train till the tracks ran out
Through the Polish countryside
Till the tracks ran out at the work camp
The sign said work it makes you free
I can’t remember the details
The rest had nothing to do with me
Tonight my child is safe in my arms/heart
I don’t want to remember
Can’t you leave the past alone?
Yes the pile of shoes, clothes and gold
The constant fire the strangest snow
The snow that would not melt
I drove the train, it always went
The timetable must be accurate
I cared for my engine
The soldiers took control of the freight
I made sure we got there safe
The rest had nothing to do with me
|
||||
8. |
MW Cassiopeia
01:25
|
|||
(instrumental)
|
||||
9. |
||||
Who is this little girl in her communion dress
About to marry God?
And that same little girl in her wedding dress
About to marry abroad?
I have pictures of her as a child
I have pictures of her as a woman
I have these pictures
Became a bride, became a Mother
There’s hope there in that broad smile
The smile of a bride, the pride of a Mother
Deep in her naïve eyes
Then the pictures change, the smile it fades
I can see it through the years
What was her tragedy, what the pain?
That day at the frozen lake?
Christmas trees and skiing boots,no more snaps of him
Inside the shame of her solitude, I can see the shame
Bring her out, if I could bring her out, into a blinding sun
Show her joy, show her light
The wondrous things that can be done
I held her hand as she slept
Quiet under morphine
I held her hand as she left us
Quiet on the ward
See the little girl in her communion dress
About to marry God
And that same little girl in her wedding dress
About to marry abroad
I’m left with photos of a little girl
Who never understood her fate
The promise in these photographs
Dust in the orchard now
Disappointment at Niagara Falls
Dreams quickly shred
I stayed a night to comfort her
Then I too left
|
||||
10. |
Trouble Of The World
03:23
|
|||
(Traditional)
|
PATRICK FITZGERALD Manchester, UK
Patrick Fitzgerald was the singer and bass player in Kitchens of Distinction. After Kitchens he was: Fruit, one half of three fabulous duos - Lost Girls | The April Seven | Oskar's Drum - and Stephen Hero. He has been releasing records under all these guises and more since 1987. ... more
Streaming and Download help
If you like Apparition In The Woods (2009), you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp