1. |
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This bell hangs well and injures none
We're sitting beneath in the evening sun
Tired and aching but the day's work is done
And Natalie sings about the weather
I wind my way home and fall through the door
Wrestle with sleep, ‘til we call it a draw
Bedclothes kicked off in a heap on the floor
While Natalie sings about the weather
The morning light drives a wedge to my eyes
So late to sleep too early to rise
Trapped in my head and buzzing like flies
Natalie sings about the weather
Lifting me up and away from the everyday
The warmest of winds blows all my cares away
It rides in on sunlight, it falls with the rain
It goes round and round 'cause it's stuck in my brain
It's rain on a tin roof, the crackle of fire
The first April swallow that lights on the wire
It picks me up and serves to inspire
When Natalie sings about the weather
It comes with the seasons down all the years
Locked in my head and trapped in my ears
It straightens my back, my cares disappear
When Natalie sings about the weather
Lifting me up and away from the everyday
The warmest of winds blows all my cares away
It rides in on sunlight, it falls with the rain
It goes round and round 'cause it's stuck in my brain
It's rain on a tin roof, the crackle of fire
The first April swallow that lights on the wire
It picks me up and serves to inspire
When Natalie sings
When Natalie sings
When Natalie sings about the weather
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2. |
Sea Breeze
04:15
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Mary's in her winter coat, it keeps the chill from off her bones
Sips coffee in a window seat so she doesn't feel so alone
Her knees creak when she rises but
She doesn't mind at all
She'll amble on the seafront and
Beyond the harbour wall
Look to the horizon and inhale
The voices of the lost sing a melancholy song
On the sea breeze
On the sea breeze
A pair of star crossed lovers, hungover, stayed awake all night
They danced like Fred and Ginger now
they stumble like Bambi on the ice
With eyes the size of planets
They hold each other near and
If they stay upright,
They'll go rolling down the pier
Look to the horizon and inhale where
Kevin's words to Ann Marie are destination bound
On the sea breeze
On the sea breeze
Billy watched his father struggle, work his fingers to the bone
He wants to go to college, there's nothing but a bed for him at home
He stands above the tideline
Like many times before
A stranger in his home
Who wanders on the shore to
Look to the horizon and inhale
Tilt his head and listen, to hear the siren call
On the sea breeze
On the Sea breeze
There's a melody to hear
On the sea breeze
On the sea breeze
There's a melody to hear
On the sea breeze
On the sea breeze
There's a melody to hear
On the sea breeze
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3. |
Toy Guitar
03:21
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Excited, delighted, couldn't keep still
I kicked down the gates of dawn
Cleared the stairs four at a time
On Christmas day in the morning
Against a backdrop of firelight
Under the tree on the floor
I tore off the Mickey Mouse paper
And could not believe what I saw
Well, I've had my frustrations, I've dropped like a stone
But this was my worst day by far
I was a crestfallen eight year old
You were a toy guitar
I wanted a real one, a one I could feel one
With bridge pins, plectrums and strings
Under the tree waiting for me
With plenty of other cool things
Well, action man lost his arms and his legs
Wallpaper flew off my wall
I wasn't demanding the world on a plate
Just a guitar that was all
My Mardy arsed tears flowed for years and years
This was my worst day by far
I was a crestfallen eight year old
You were a toy guitar
A traumatised child became a traumatised youth
When 38 weeks at a pound
Bought me a steel strung monster
That made quite a monstrous sound
But I got me a book and locked myself up
I was heard but seldom seen
And now I do songs, some short, some long
And some just a bit in-between
Now I don't sing the blues I just sing about shoes
And that worst day by far
When I was a crestfallen eight year old
And you were a toy guitar
I got me a book and locked myself up
Heard but seldom seen
And now I do songs, some short, some long
And some just a bit in-between
INow I don't have the blues I just sing about shoes
And remember that worst day so far
When I was a crestfallen eight year old
And you were a toy guitar
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4. |
Birdman
03:13
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He flew a thousand miles to join us in the summer sun
He flew a thousand miles to come and work the ground
Beneath his cap, I swear he had a head of feathers
And envy in his eyes as he watched the martins fly
Harvest came, harvest went, the days were hard and long
Still, he whistled while he worked and sang the Robin's song
Sang the Robin's song
Bridge
He'd shout out to the cuckoo, argue with the ragged crows
He watched the plover tumble, amusement in his eyes
Come the autumn, he stuffed himself with bread and water
A southern voice was calling him to make the journey home
We looked along the power lines, we searched amongst the trees
To wave and wish him well but we never saw him leave
Never saw him leave
Bridge
We looked along the power lines, we searched amongst the trees
To wave and wish him well but we never saw him leave
Never saw him leave
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5. |
Beach Song
02:48
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Dunes in June in marron grass
Gas rigs float and tankers pass
A picnic blanket dragged to where we eat
While red ants feast on Sandalled feet
Tide races where lugworm cast
Carving channels slick and fast
The moat is flooded the castle breached
The children's ball carries out of reach
Backs are red; shoulders blistered
Sun and wind and sand assisted
A strandline zig zags seagulls poke and pry
Seeking a bounty with ever hungry eyes
The tide that flows and ebbs away
Turns to surge another day
Finds the stranger on the shore
And cover tracks they made before
The tide that flows and ebbs away
Turns to surge another day
And in the evening dark serene
Recedes and wipes the whole beach clean
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6. |
Mrs Wickam's Driveway
03:07
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By moonlight you came in a cloak made of stars
You sashayed round Jupiter, flirted with Mars
Announced your arrival with footprints of fire
From out of the void you set yourself down
In the wintry indifference of a cold market town
Where people lay sleeping or huddled inside
No one to greet you, no one to meet you
No one to crack you a smile
A sorrowful end to an odyssey
Over the years and miles
On Mrs Wickham's driveway,
By Mrs Wickham's car
At journey's end you laid down to rest
On a tarmac bed you laid your head
Naked and alone
Silent stranger, who ran out of road
They came in their vans, they took you away
Because that's how things are
When you're fleeing from darkness
And guided by the stars
On a tarmac bed you laid your head
You'd travelled oh so far
To Mrs Wickham's Driveway
By Mrs Wickham's car
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7. |
Green Bin Day
04:04
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Whamageddon
And the year end excess
Are thankfully now left behind
A pale sun refuses to donate any warmth
To a world that's both cold and unkind.
The decs are back up in the attic
Geese are still high on the wing
I'm waiting for green bin day
And the welcome return of the Spring
My smart meter's grinning as it climbs into the red
It's giving me a psychotic twitch
"We've spent twelve pound fifty already today
Please, step away from the switch"
There's a pile of rotting logs in the garden
Upon which a Robin does sing
A song about green bin day
And the welcome return of the Spring
It seems a long time since I pruned my bush
Mary said to the parson
And it's all I can do to keep myself warm
Without resorting to arson
Those nocturnal cramps and the chill in my bones
Reflects in my face's contortions
I'm counting my blessings as well as my ailments
To give myself a sense of proportion
So when the crocus pops out of the lawn
I'll make a feast that's fit for a king
And raise a glass to green bin day
And the welcome return of the spring
And raise a glass to green bin day
And the welcome return of the Spring.
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8. |
Billy's Boots
03:37
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Billy's boots are covered in clay
He grunts like an ox while he's digging away
He'll kick them aside at the end of the day
When he comes back home
He shines them on Sunday every week without fail
This grumpy old man with the heart of a whale
Then it's off to the Saracen's for his cigarettes and his ale
Before staggering home
Billy's boots are falling away
As he sits in the greenhouse watching us play
The stories he tell us go on through the day
Til it's time to go home
Billy's boots will last until Spring
He has a few bob, but won't spend a thing
He's perfectly happy to tie them with string
From his drawer at home
He's swapped boots for slippers though he's hardly aware
Mowing the carpet with an overturned chair
Talking to Alice as if she was there
In her parlour back home
No one was there to witness the fall
In a room by the lake at Wrightington Hall
I like to believe he was heeding the call
When Alice called him home
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9. |
The Gravedigger's Lament
03:44
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Ashes to ashes
Dust to dust
Flesh Becomes to nothing
As iron turns to rust
It comes to us all, the curtain will fall
When the end comes around
I bury them all, the great and the small
Six feet down
Ashes to ashes
Dust to dust
My hands and shovel are filthy
Make judgements if you must
I trip through the graves and the mortal remains
I whistle and wield my spade
I whistleCockles and mussels
Alive alive - o
As I cut through the clay
Some I put deep, some I lay shallow
The fairest of ladies, the most vulgar fellows
Dying's a living, I dig straight and true
Like my father before me and his father too
I frequent the hotels and taverns in town
Places beside me where none will sit down
For death is my shadow,my constant, my friend
My reason for being, my eventual end
Ashes to ashes
Dust to dust
One day the earth will reclaim me
The worms will feed on me guts
Death is my life it puts food on the table
Stops the milk turning sour
But who’ll bury me?
And who’ll grieve for me?
Cometh the hour
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10. |
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Jesus came back in a dinghy
The people didn't know
‘Cause he didn't look like Robert Powell
With skin as white as snow
Stood upon a shingle beach
A steady wind did blow
When Jesus came back in a dinghy and
The people didn't know
Jesus came back in a dinghy
He wanted work and friends
He wanted to pick fruit and veg
Do street magic at weekends
But the journey it was painful and
The journey it was slow
When Jesus came back in a dinghy and
The people didn't know
Jesus came back in a dinghy
Just like the bible said
All he needed was his belly full and
A pillow for his head
He sought the help of strangers but
The strangers just said no
When Jesus came back in a dinghy and
The people didn't know
So Jesus went back on a jumbo jet
From Heathrow outward bound
He wears a coat of binbags now
And roams the earth around
Forsaken in his father's world
He's no place else to go
Jesus came back in a dinghy
The people didn't know
Jesus came back in a dinghy
The people didn't know
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11. |
Heirlooms
04:21
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Alice cleaned the parlour
The sherry glasses gleamed
An endless stream of cigarettes
Dropped ashes down her sleeve
Once she'd led the horse and cart
A dairy girl she'd been
But that was then this was now
She kept her cottage clean
Mrs Sergeant went to evensong
As many did back then
To worship an elusive God who was whittling down her friends
Then she'd go to visit Alice
Week on week she came
A crumpled twisted figure
Walking twisted little lanes
Together they knocked back the sherry
It loosened tongues, made them merry
They talked and they cackled
In the way that old friends do
They poked fun at the menfolk
While they weren't around
How they looked like crumpled leather
And smelled like Newkey Brown
They strummed a ukelele
Singing all the while
A gift fom the Italians
When they left in forty five
They talked about their families
Grandkids, daughters, sons
And sharing out the heirlooms
Before the year was done
We see them in the bric a brac
Through pictures on the wall
Portals to another time
We hear their voices call
But objects are just objects
On shelves or on the wall
But they live on through the values
They handed to us all
Together they knocked back the sherry
It loosened tongues, made them merry
They talked and they cackled
In the way that old friends do
And objects are just objects
On shelves or on the wall
But they live on through the values
They handed to us all
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Will Riding Chester
A Lancashire born, Chester based singer-songwriter with a deft and playful turn of phrase and acoustic/folk sensibilities inspired by, amongst other things, 70’s Children’s TV.
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