1. |
fire
03:43
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Fire,
The flames jump high,
Nobody will say why it started.
And I’m standing close by
With cinders in my eyes,
Still laughing.
You should have put it out by now.
You pour on water but you don’t know how
To put it out.
Fire,
The flames get wild
And everyone’s a child:
They’re frightened.
And I’m standing close by
So smoke gets in my eyes:
I like it.
You should have put it out by now.
You pour on water but you don’t know how
To put it out.
Fire
Copyright (c) steven harris 2010/2015
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2. |
chasing the sun
03:30
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Fate,
Do not tempt me,
I would rather go blind
Than to waste my time
Looking for things I cannot find.
Time teaches slowly
And there’s a lot to learn,
But I've hit the ground
And I'm starting to run.
I'm running from the shadows
Chasing the sun.
Faith in tomorrow is a job for today;
Happiness is mine
But I'm sure that I will cry again.
Tears teach me quickly
And that is why I smile
When I hit the ground:
I'm a man,
I'm a child.
I'm running from the shadows
Chasing the sun.
I'm chasing the sun
I'd like to hold it in my hands.
I'm chasing the sun,
Can it tell me things I want to understand?
I'm chasing the sun.
Copyright (c) steven harris 1997/2015
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3. |
keyhole kate
02:49
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There’s a girl in my town with a curious trait,
I caught her hanging around outside my place the other night.
She only had two words to say before she ran away,
I can only guess she wanted me to copy her.
Out of curiosity I did
And now I know
She’s a peeping tomboy.
Keyhole Kate sees everything,
You’ll never know she’s there
Spying through the keyhole
As you lay your secrets bare.
She will never tell a soul what she sees
But I know
Cos I've been following her.
If you’ve got a habit
Or a sexual kink,
Well maybe you’ve educated me unknowingly.
I have seen perversion
And it’s a lot like you.
Or is it more perverse what me and Katie do?
Although we never say a single word
I'm proud to know
She’s my peeping tomboy.
Keyhole Kate sees everything,
You’ll never know she’s there
Spying through the keyhole
As you lay your secrets bare.
She will never tell a soul what she sees
But I know
Cos I've been following her.
Copyright (c) steven harris 1993/2015
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4. |
ideology
03:29
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We don’t care for the children born in poverty;
Tiny benefit scroungers fleecing Downing Street.
Welcome to the latest political breed
With their blame the blameless ideology.
There should be no immigration because the country’s full.
Take your guns to the borders
And repel them all.
Welcome to the cruellest political speak.
It’s just hatred dressed as ideology.
Looking after the wealthy is our prime concern,
And your options are simple:
Get on board or burn.
Copyright (c) steven harris 2015
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5. |
not your enemy
03:09
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I’m not a memory of bad times
And I’m not the empty chair at the feast.
I’m not your enemy
Unless you decide I am,
I’m too busy trying to make that leap
Into the great unknown
I’m learning to call peace.
If you use other people’s words as weapons
Then you’re not as smart as you believe.
There’s never an enemy
Until you decide to start
Conflating pain with cruelty.
Whatever you’re going through
Don’t take it out on me.
We’ve all got troubles of our own
But that don’t mean
We have to pick over the bones
Of a carrion friendship,
Rotting by the road.
I’m not a memory of bad times
And I’m not the empty chair at the feast.
I’m not your enemy
Unless you decide I am,
I’m too busy trying to make that leap
Into the great unknown
I’m learning to call peace.
Copyright (c) steven harris 2014/15
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6. |
my shoes
02:55
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There’s so much to learn
But we get so little time.
Together with souls and bodies
We’ve got hearts and minds.
To satisfy every crying need
Is an obsession of mine.
Don’t tell me I'm bound for failure
Until you’ve walked a mile in my shoes;
Oh and I'd like to see you walk in my shoes.
You keep looking me over
Then letting me down
You lose,
You lose that way.
To tell you the truth I'm restless,
Like most of my life.
It’s never the place or the people:
Just the pull of tide and time.
To settle for nothing but my best
Is the flaw in my design.
Don’t tell me that you know better,
You always ran a mile from these blues,
And you never took a step in my shoes.
You keep looking me over
Then letting me down
You lose,
You lose that way.
Copyright (c) steven harris 1995/2015
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7. |
heaven knows what
03:53
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Bury me in miles of empty ocean,
I don't want to be remembered when I'm gone.
Relentlessly the tides have turned me over;
How I long to lay down these sodden bones.
Heaven knows what I've done wrong,
And why the water overflows.
If I were king my queen would be misfortune:
Is it wrong to wish I had been stillborn?
I've been crushed in the kick and rush:
Bloody and breathless.
Heaven knows what I've done wrong.
If life is free I ought to sue the makers –
I've been stung;
Why should I pay to feel the sun?
There’s bound to be a loophole in the paperwork,
A gun to the head of all us punks.
Heaven knows what I've done wrong,
And all I must be guilty of.
When I was young
The years were yet to hurt me;
Is it wrong to wish I had never grown?
Heaven knows what I've done wrong,
Is there so much I'm guilty of?
Bended knee and promises of virtue
Aren’t enough to keep the devil from my soul.
The more I seek the more the church is empty;
Where was God when I needed him the most?
I've been struck by the sucker punch:
Bloody and breathless.
Heaven knows what I've done wrong.
Heaven knows what.
Copyright (c) steven harris 2001/15
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8. |
slightly freaked
02:35
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I’m not famous and I’m not rich,
I’m not really bothered about it
If fifteen minutes is all you get:
Whatever happened to changing the world?
Well I don’t believe I’m disappointed
Or living in the past,
Just slightly freaked the years can go so fast.
I’ve come so far and I’ve climbed so high,
I get dizzy just thinking about it;
But all I ever set out to prove
Is you can prove anything if you want to.
The irony’s not wasted on me
But I don’t feel too bad,
Just slightly freaked that I’m still told I’m mad.
I’ve been running uphill all my life.
I’ve been told I’m godless – Oh my lord!
I’ve been left for dead.
Oh my love! Hold me.
This is just a passing phase
I’m only slightly freaked.
I still don’t know what the future holds
But I’ve got better ideas how to face it;
My one condition is you are there,
We’ll write each other and quote ourselves happy.
And if I sound a little startled
I’m not completely scared:
Just slightly freaked to know how much we care.
Copyright (c) steven harris 2003/15
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9. |
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While you’ve been asleep
I’ve been thinking we should part.
You’re not playing for keeps,
You’re just sometimes afraid of the dark.
I’d advise you get a nightlight
Cos I’m really much too old
For this game of now you need me,
Now you don’t.
I come from the street,
You hear danger,
I see life.
I’m a strange, little freak,
I’m all the things that your momma won’t like.
I’m no prize but I am priceless
And I’m really much too old
For this game of now you need me,
Now you don’t.
The fear of being alone
Ain’t reason enough for me to stay.
I really thought we belonged
Now I see it’s all a game
Of now you need me,
Now you don’t.
While you’ve been asleep
I’ve been thinking,
Let’s call time.
There’s no fight left in me,
I just lie here night after night.
If I died would you miss me
Or look for the next poor soul
Who’ll agree to say you love him
Though you don’t?
The fear of being alone
Ain’t reason enough for me to stay.
Copyright (c) steven harris 2014/15
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10. |
hometown
02:35
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I can’t keep away from my hometown.
Despite the laughs I could feel such pain,
I could not wait to be home again.
I bust my arse and I bent my brain;
I found the bus cheaper than a train.
Couldn’t keep away from my hometown.
Inside the shell of a tired man
A moonbeam played on a crystal stream.
We built our hopes and we made our plans:
The answer’s not always what it seems.
And I couldn’t shelter in my soul
Cos I left it at home.
But the air is free in my hometown,
So I can breathe in my hometown.
Safe and warm in the love of friends
It feels so good to be home again.
Inside the light of continued lives
I know it’s right to be home again.
And I can’t keep away from my hometown.
Copyright (c) steven harris 1988/2015
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11. |
time was
02:38
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You say we need a big society;
It sounds like revolution
But still smells like bullshit.
It’s not enough
To claim tough love
When you just punish the poor man
For believing your bullshit.
Time was we’d hit the streets:
A nation voting with its feet,
But I walk alone now.
Time was we’d all join hands
And sing until you changed your plans,
But I’m just one voice now.
You might know best
But I’ll lean left:
A one-man revolution
Is still doing something.
Time was we’d hit the streets:
A nation voting with its feet,
But I walk alone now.
Copyright (c) steven harris 2007/2015
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12. |
will you love tomorrow?
04:14
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It isn’t hard to change things
But it’s often easier to ask for nothing,
I'm told nothing is free.
An action has to compliment itself;
I know how attractive that is.
But please remember only beauty is deep.
Well there’s a world around you
And you think that it’s measured in tears.
Will you love tomorrow?
Or will you put it to the back of your mind
And tell yourself you’ll never try again?
It’s funny no-one gave you a silver spoon,
A foot up in life,
So you’re not so different from the rest of us here.
You took a walk on the wilder side for a while,
I know what a bitch that can be
But you still have friendship when you’re down on your knees.
Let the world surround you,
Let it know you can treasure it and smile.
Will you love tomorrow?
Or will you put it to the back of your mind
And tell yourself you’ll never cry again?
Copyright (c) steven harris 1992/2015
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the madlys Exeter, UK
the madlys is the studio project of indie/alternative musician and writer Steve Harris.
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