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1. |
Dead Men Singing
03:25
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Run run just as fast as you can
You're the rabbit with a hell of a plan
No-one's got your back
You'll soon be swinging
Take a last look at the face on the slab
Face twisted in the shape of a laugh
Dead men tell no lies
And now they're singing
Alleluia!
All your words are gonna swallow you whole
Better find someone to pray for your soul
Better hope there's truth
In absolution
All that money cannot help you now
Your favoured friends aren't gonna bail you out
The currency you need
Is turning on you
Singing "Alleluia!"
When the dead rise up to tell the truth
All their fingers pointing right at you
You were charged to be their witness
But it was all a work of fiction
You figured they had nothing left to lose
You filled your pockets and then They had you
Bought and sold
The corpses kept on coming
Without stories told
All victims of benign and unfortunate events
Death by misadventure, by falling off a fence
Line by line you wrote the hymn they're singing now
Line by line, you wrote it
And they're singing "Alleluia!"
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2. |
Tattoo
03:18
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You know I’ve seen some funny things
I’ve seen things I thought would make me blind
And I’ve seen angels without wings walking round in circles
Just trying to unwind.
Just trying to unwind.
If all the leaves on all the trees were never really made to be the same shape and size
Why do we call it madness that we should be all different in each other’s eyes
For all our new awakenings
We stumble further in the cave where we first drew breath
Sometimes I swear I look around
And I could never tell that we discovered fire.
And we decide what’s wrong and right, here’s dark and light
And every word is like a bruise that’s black and blue all over you.
Why don’t you just unclench your fist and just admit
You don’t really know anything.
If all the leaves on all the trees were never really made to be the same shape and size
Why do we call it madness that we should be all different in each other’s eyes
Mm.
And we decide what’s wrong and right, here’s dark and light
And every word is like a bruise that’s black and blue all over you.
And every drop of rain that falls just makes no difference at all
So dry your eyes and thank the lord for your tattoo.
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3. |
Summer Diamond
04:31
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Rise up rise up summer diamond
pearl of morning dew
come come into the island
these arms are trees to shelter you
rise up from your slumber
lean into the tune
grow with beats of any number
and sing into the gloom
your voice is long awaited
your heart's just keeping time
this much anticipated
elated symphony's sublime
shine on small aviator
blast these clouds of doubt
at the axis of creation
sensation's free to shout
your journey's just beginning
the hardest part is nearly through
you're already winning
our love will sing you through
your voice is long awaited
your heart's just keeping time
this much anticipated
elated symphony's sublime
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4. |
This Man
03:14
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In his younger years
This man worked at the colliery here
He was quiet and kept his counsel
Nobody knew much about him
Got married when he was twenty-one
The pit boss called him as a son
But this man was an orphan
His wife gave birth in autumn
Complete with little angel curls
His wife bore him a baby girl
Without tears at the altar
He laid his still cold daughter
Next year god gave him a son
Took him back when he turned one
When you’ve got to ask who’s in control
That’s when the black dust seeps into your soul
Twenty years later, he’s an administrative man
Drinks at five ‘til closing time
He’ll down as many as he can
The boys all talk about him, say he’s hen-pecked bad at home
That’s why the bar can’t stand without him
And his wife – she has a face of stone
This man he pays his tab politely
And to the penny, every round
He waves goodbye and walks home nightly
There goes the nicest man
There goes the nicest man in town
Sets his feet in the hall
Gently closes his front door
Throws her against the wall
Throws her around
And throws her around some more.
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5. |
Dark Star
05:14
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Dark star
We’re back to back and poles apart
The silent vacuum in your heart
Will get no part of me.
Dark star
How cold you are
Without the light of love around you
How lonely it must be.
If you can’t be the centre of the universe
Then you will draw us inside you
And you won’t heed the cries of all the souls you threaten to engulf
We’re all just reflections of you.
Dark star
How did you come to be so far
Removed from us and all our cosmic
Connectivity.
Dark star
How old it seems you are
But in all you do and all you say, boy,
You’re just a child to me.
Because if you can’t be the centre of the universe
Then you will draw us inside you
And you won’t heed the cries of all the souls you threaten to engulf
We’re all just reflections of you.
Mm.
Dark star
Can it really be so hard
To turn and face the light that’s found you
And lose some gravity.
Dark star
Look me in the eye and tell me
You don’t ever need to take
Responsibility.
Like some small god who learns whole worlds still turn without him
You stoop to invent a tragedy
And as you sulk, everybody’s eyes are opened and they sing:
YOU’LL NEVER GET NO PART OF ME.
Dark star.
You’ll never get no part –
You’ll never get no part -
You’ll never get no part of me.
You collapse inside yourself. You collapse inside yourself. You collapse inside yourself. Dark star.
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6. |
Long Gone
03:03
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Oh na na na na na na na na na no.
Oh na na na na na na na na na no.
Oh na na na na na na na na na no.
Your love’s so hard to satisfy
Don’t seem to know what it needs
Flapping around like a dragonfly
Then turn round and sting like a bee
I can’t keep up. I can’t keep up.
I don’t know what’s going on.
I just reach out for something that was already
Long gone.
Mm. Mm.
I know that love can make you cry
Well you’re sure making my heart bleed
Does no good to wonder why
I think I’d kill to find some peace.
I can’t do that. I can’t do that.
I know it would be wrong.
So I just reach out for something that was already
Long gone.
Oh. Mm.
Oh na na na na na na na na na no.
Oh na na na na na na na na na no.
Oh na na na na na na na na na no.
Mm. mm. Mm.
I can’t give up. I can’t give in.
I know I’ll never win.
I just reach out for something
I just reach out for something
I just reach out for something
I just reach out for something that was already
Long gone.
Wo. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm.
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7. |
Sympathy
04:54
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Oh I know what you think of me
The day you fall from grace
Don't come running to me for sympathy
I'm gonna laugh in your face
And that is the best that you should expect
You haven't seen all the dark in me yet
You can whine and cry like a set of old frets
There's some things I'll never forget
I spent some time in purgatory
For the log that you made of my crimes
You never wrote it all down and spread it around
No, you kept it right there in your eyes
I rattled my chains and I cried for release
But nobody showed any humanity
So I made a friend of the dark, you see
It showed me things I won't forget
I'm all out of charity
I've got nothing left to give you see
If you wanna lay that guilt on me
Just you try it
I paid my dues and a balance accrued
That is now due to me
And I've become wise to the tricks of the light
Oh I know what it is to be free
I've seen the demons that hide in plain sight
And I've heard the screams in the pits of the night
When I stand up to fight, no I don't choose a side
Angels or devils - they're so much alike
Who will be fighting for me?
I'm all out of charity
I've got nothing left to give you see
If you wanna lay that guilt on me
Just you try it
Don't come running to me for sympathy
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Benita Johnson Pevensey, UK
*Next gig Thurs. 25th Apr RIVERHOUSE BARN, Walton on Thames KT12 2PF 8pm £15 *
BENITA JOHNSON is
an experienced performing and recording singer-songwriter from the UK. Dynamic and soulful, her songs encapsulate what it is to be human; they haunt, cajole, encourage and question the listener with careful lyrics and catchy melodies. Reviewer David Kidman described her music as “top-quality stuff".
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