1. |
The Green North
04:40
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The Green North
We learnt the names of birds and trees
We learnt the names of stars
Constellations in the west
Wild and cold and far
These keen northern nights
We mapped the walks, the beaches, coves
The shingled fragile strand
Lightning struck to fulgurite, foraminifera
Green northern lights
I remember I remember
It feels far and distant
Vague picture, blurred vistas
It was fantastic
We learnt to sing and cook and dance
Picked up the piano
The soups and jams were boiling up
Boxed wine, candlelight
As if your soul was in the sky
Glowing, glowing
As if your soul was in the sky
Glowing, glowing
In the fields lie cows and sheep
Turf smoke is drifting
The drunkard tractor driver men
In the pubside muttering
Outside there are shimmerings
Wild waves of silvery lights
Hard rain on the boggy roads
The dunes down at Strandhill
Bee orchids, grey seals
Oystercatchers, sanderlings
We lived so well
We burst our minds
Ejaculating splendour
Now it’s singing in the past
Savouring the memories
Fade into night
I remember, do you remember?
Indigo nights?
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2. |
Colin
04:22
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Colin
Colin cuts his hair short
Brushes out his wig
Slips his arms into the dress
Smears red on his lips
I'm home in this baby doll
Pink champagne on ice
I'm home in silk and pearls
Such a paradise
Colin saves the buttons
Of every soldier he's kissed
Colin calls it a museum
It's my museum of bliss
Colin straps are hurting
Stockings on the floor
Put the girl in white tonight
Tomorrow boy once more
Shoot your arrow up in the sky
Watch it dazzle
Watch it fly
Shoot your arrow high in the sky
Colin sings for strangers
Makes them feel relaxed
Soldier Colin, sailor Colin
Banjee Colin, fag
Can't you see I've learnt to fly, prettiness inside
Can't you see I've learnt to fly, I'm a butterfly inside
Colin's drinking too much gin
Falls across the floor
Colin's tired, but can't stop trying
Smiling, waving, smiling, crying
Shoots his arrow up in the sky
Watch it dazzle, watch it fly
Shoots his arrow high in the sky
Will it fizzle out and die?
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3. |
Fly A Rocket
04:27
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Fly A Rocket
Captain, oh captain
Hoist up the John B sails
England's cold and lost its soul
There's a cherry blossom glow in Tokyo
I know what's coming next
I'm not afraid
I'll swing with the sweep of time
To a French chateau
(Chorus Voices: Captain, captain
Underneath my skin
Captain take us out
To cherry blossom snow in Tokyo
I quit my whoring, I'll be so clean
I quit my dreaming, I'll be so clear
Captain you're the calm
Diamond of my soul
Part of me is tethered in
The part I thought was missing
I quit my drinking, I'll be so clean
I quit my dreaming, I'll be so clear)
Captain, oh Captain
How many breaths are left?
I feel a rush to get things done
Now I've gone and quit my selfishdom
I quit beer and whoring
Smoking's so boring
And studied Manet
I quit my obsessing
Religion's depressing
Is there enough time to play?
I'll learn to dance
I'll learn to sing
I'll learn to fly a rocket
Where shall we go to avoid the snow?
It's late now and the Derbyshire hills are dark
Time to take myself to bed
Captain, oh, Captain
Help me wear the skin of a wiser man
And whilst there's still time there's a flat in Berlin
Full of light and ghosts
Let's go there next April
Then Porto in May
Olives with Elizabeth
I will dance
I will sing
I will fly a rocket
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4. |
Elsie, The Sea
04:32
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Elsie, the sea
Is calling me
Lulling me back and forth
Blue and green and cold and deep
Sleepy Sargasso sea
What wonderful fields of green
What wondering fields of green upon grey
What wonderful fields of grey, what wonder
A walk through the field to the beach to the tide
Crashing big breakers soaking my shoes
I wasn't expecting such a big welcome
I wasn't expecting you
The ship, the ship can’t see this
The ship, the ship sails on
Here is the rest I long for tonight
Here is the bed where the moon rests its head
What wonderful fields of black upon black
What wonderful greys and blues
What wonderful fields of green upon grey
What wonder
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5. |
Gunshot In The Fog
04:01
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A Gunshot In The Fog
Hunters in the valley
Where are you now?
Did you get to the station?
These separations cause such worry
I’m anxious at night,
the men shoot the partridge
In this foggy wet valley
I trudge with old faithful
Wondering where the train takes you
Where thinking of you takes me
Roses, such perfect roses
Pink petals in the Belfast sink.
Roses, Ashes of Roses
The Austin A90 stalled on Hampstead Hill
A gunshot in the fog deafens, it deafens
I can’t hear the birds, are they done singing?
Are you calling? There’s no signal
I shout into the fog, the mist doesn’t answer
There’s a body in there somewhere
Tomorrow they'll find it, tomorrow you're home
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6. |
Patient Here Myself
04:39
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Patient Here Myself
I’m sorry I can’t help
I’m a patient here myself
I used to know the exit
The way through the doors
We’ll both just have to wait
Buzz and beep go the machines
As we sit and stare at the TV
Their digital humming, digital numbing
The more they bleep the less you feel
The nurse wheels us to the needles
Where they bleed us, then try to feed us
They call me by my first name like I’m demented
Then wheel me back behind the curtain again
Take him down, take him down
X-ray form, X-ray gown
The doctor frowns at the screen he sees
He can't even bear to look at me
“Is it alive or dead? How can you tell?"
"Prod it, prod it, see if it moves
"
"Prod it, prod it, see if there's goo.”
I’m sorry I can’t help
I’m a stranger here myself
I got lost in the hall, in the white corridor
We’ll both just have to wait.
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7. |
Skinny Cupboard Pill Boy
02:38
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Skinny Cupboard Pill Boy
A cupboard of pills
Tells me he’s ill
"Mind if we don’t?" he asks
"I don’t mind" I say
He leads me to bed
I hold his frail body
And into the darkness we go together
A simple release now folded into sleep
I leave him a kiss, behind me a wave
From a skinny cupboard pill boy
Waiting on his rattling grave
On his rattly grave
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8. |
Stripping Oliver
04:56
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Stripping Oliver
Just a step, step closer
To the edge, I'm going over
Stripping Oliver to the bone, to the gold
Falling head first into his heart
Let the music take control
Bones and tendon
Electric nerve shake
Birds, just bird song (no music at all)
Stripping Oliver to the sound
Of his grinning
Feeling Oliver inside his skin
The music prickling
Motorbike boy underneath lips
Lies the promise of his kiss
Bones and tendon, electric nerve shake
Birds, just bird song (no music at all)
A breathing hole In the skin
We're going to sing like birds
Just one breath, breath closer
I'm slipping in, I'm going over
By stripping Oliver to the skin
His soul's unzipping
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9. |
Turn To You
04:15
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Turn To You
I hope today went well, the kids behaved
I love what you do, it's great
I haven't said it
Lost in my crisis, half-listening, half-falling
Off imaginary bridges
Sometimes it feels so hopeless
And I'm supposed to be Hercules
At times like these, I turn to you
I turn to you ashamed of my despair
I turn to you knowing your face, the trace
The space between us
Into which I poured concrete and messed up
You stand there arms open, smiling, sighing
That you've always been here, there
But never seen, why don't I listen?
What's the matter with me?
I turn to you
I turn off the cinema of traffic accidents
I turn off the cinema of overdoses
Plunges into freezing reservoirs
I turn to you in my failings, and you take me
And I can't bear that you take me I can't leave you
Because back there was too frightening
I never said thank you, what an asshole
I never said thank you, what an asshole
You shush my self-loathing
Pull up my face from your sweater
And you say I've always been here
Here, there, wherever, turn to me
I turn to you
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10. |
Don't Say It's Too Late
03:19
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Don’t Say It’s Too Late
Don’t say it
Don’t say it’s too late, don’t mean it
I couldn't do more it's not in my grasp
I couldn't do more
Why do you even ask?
Don’t make me say it, don’t make me
Don’t make me mean it, don’t make me
December ends, what a charade
Sparkling cards and melancholy hearts
The seesaw dishonesty, Bacardi and gin
Come home loose-tongued expecting a grin
Look at us now, all grey and useless
I’m not your nurse now, you can be replaced
Childhood ambitions in your juvenile brain
Haven’t you seen it?
We're not the same
Nothing is coming, and nothing now will
Yes nothing new is coming, nothing ever will
There's a unicorn of hope
In a rainbow field
Neighing out a certainty
That everyone's real
Dreams breed despair
Resent, discontent
The door is open
It's time that I went
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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
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