RED (2000 MILES AWAY FROM THE FAIR)
Awash with the blood
that falls from the tree
we burn with the fire
the earth and the seed
the fuel on our bodies
and dust in the air
(were) 2000 miles away from the fair
Red is the powder
covers me completely
like a thick woven blanket
in the chill of the night
the interior silence
you learn as you go
2000 miles away from the show
The country is old
the stories is long
The desert wind howls a sad and uncomfortable song
head up to the peak
take in all that is there
you’re 2000 miles away from the fair
Cry beloved cry
can you see it through your blinds
cry cry cry
The wisdom you hear
bounces off (round) the rock walls
carries cross the mountains and down to the streams
where the lay of the land
it mirrors the sky
2000 miles away from the lies
2000 miles away from the fair
2000 miles away from the fair
HEMDYN TOWN
From habit, from experience ingrained over a lifetime lived in that building.
I opened the door and sat on the bluestone front step right as the seasonally adjusted sun found its way down into the chasm of Georgian architect’s design and rested on the step with me
The sun and I communed there as was our daily custom barring clouds.
Our summer fierceness abated, the sting mostly gone from us both.
The very left and right two inches of the step remained closest in image to the fresh cut blue stone, eroded only gently by zephyred breezes and what little rain every makes it down to street level.
The rest, the middle of the step, was burnished smooth and curved concavaciously like the back of an elderly horse by a couple of centuries in and egress.
Out to work, into work, more out for food, into cook, out carousing, into sleep.
Until now, on this present day, it perfectly cradled and comforted my diminishing old man arse.
Across a laneway a young man. His step doesn’t fit his arse so well yet, but if he sticks at it… upstairs his mother continues to buy cotton and bolts of cloth and the machine whirs into the wee small hours still.
We both look up the lane, the small industry gone. Nothing left but the industry of service.
Beautiful teenagers pouring over priced coffee for minimum wage.
Only our two buildings left
Where ghosts are welcome.
SHE'S UPPED AND GONE
Another bloody wedding. Not mine, thank God. I managed not to make a disgrace of myself, didn’t fall into the table, that stops being cute when you're more than five.
I’m pretty sure that I’ve got bits of ground from all the times I’ve fallen over just sort of stuck in me you know. Road dust and dirt, and concrete and bits of old table faders and wedding flowers…still, there was a lot of laughter.
I’ve lost your teeth on my breast, the ink and iris bruises you made but it’s fucking fingertip memory, echoes all spilling out. And every time the sofa creaks, it’s an accident. All the times we've kissed on ugly furniture, years ago. Worlds of rooms we've made beautiful.
I could find you again I guess…
or a decent copy
Well she has upped and gone
we’re pretty sure that she will not return
She's gone to where she rooms
on the corner of Royal Parade
yeh we know how the story ends
We've seen it all before
we've seen it all before
She finds beauty in the simple
and wisdom in the plain
She's burnt her little fingers
On the candle flame
just one more lover to see her through to the end
she just wants another lover
to see her through to the end
in her late night room
To watch the late shift workers rolling home
yeah we know how the story ends
We've seen it all before
GOODBYE JERUSALEM
Well there'll be no asylum
for all of the lost souls
Who stare across the reef line
They are kept behind the wire
We better keep our rage alight,
Go fight them on the shore,
Even when we’ve had no sleep
and can’t be bothered anymore
Mine ears have seen the marching bands
and I’ve seen them light the fuse
best we hide out in the tawdry hollow
away from trending news
the riverboat is sinking
and were just singing to the choir
Goodbye Jerusalem
Goodbye Jerusalem
Surely we could be much better than we really be
We’re showered in wealth but all too often
Hearts are stone and half empty
Were settlers in a country
Of sublime beauty and grace
It really should be so damn perfect here
And so it goes
somewhere there’s abundant fountains
an elixir there for all your pain
a place where people get along
Of course depending on the day
the carnival is over now
were just singing to the choir
and so it goes Goodbye Jerusalem
ROGUE WAVE
The boats are on the harbour
the fires upon the shore
distant lights they call
We swim the troubled ocean
and wait for the rogue wave
to come wash us away
wash us away
We rush with rage insane
from the cliff down to the sea
the song will come right back to me
Loosely hold your worries
throw them to the wind
all we can do is try follow our heart try follow our heart
The singing wails the whole night through
its got another week to go
measured, honest, true
Loosely hold your worries
throw them to the wind
all we can do is try follow our heart
PEOPLE COME AND GO
He waits outside the station
She must have missed her train
He don’t mind the waiting round
Even in the dark and rain
Just to get outside the house
Walk the flooded back brick lanes
to peep into the neighbours back yard
sees other peoples lives without pretence.
People come and go
talking on their mobile phones
they always seem to know, what’s going on
still we’ve all got our blinkers on
we gaze down at our feet
dodging sprinklers as we go
60 miles of gated streets
Whatever happens out there you must shelter carefully
or the junkies they will rob you,
if they haven’t nodded off to sleep just yet
Us Men lead lives full of rage and quiet desperation
and some Women they just daydream for a life they’ll never get
Hide away inside the revamped castle where you stay
Fall back into the arms of the one you love
At the end of every single day
Everyone needs saving
Some need it more than most
Rough sleeping on the pavement
People come and go
talking on their mobile phones
they always seem to know, what’s going on
what’s going on
BOOK OF REVELATION
Come along join the revival,
Pull the canvas come see the show
Take a little peak of what we’re all made of
I bet you’re curious to know
Yeah I bet you’re curious to know
Come sing at the revival meltdown
I could lay my hands down on you
And if your friend is ill, I’ll do it to them too
Ill heal you both is what is grieving you
Trip on the book of revelation
The splendid vision coming true
Trip on the book of revelation
It’s a revelation to me and you
We put on a Big Band Jesus Rock Show
We fall down we get up again
We shake in spurts convulse around a little bit
I bet your curious to know (lame) shame
Yeah I bet you’re curious to know
Trip on the Book of revelation
its been a revelation to me and you
Trip on the Book of revelation
And the apocalyptic horses too
Trip on the Book of revelation
The Splendid Vision Coming True
Trip on the Book of revelation
its a revelation to me and you
And the Apocalyptic horses too
PERMANENT WATER
Head across the border to the salt basin
Think back to the time when the Last came in
Salt in the meat, starved them of water
Chained to the fence with those callipers on
Yeah they had callipers on then they let them all go
Followed them right up to the water hole
To find the permanent water close to the grinding stone
drank the permanent water
travelled all alone
Parallel sand dunes, take the up down track
Close in on the horizon to the Great Blind Lake
This is the conjuring place
The Last of the rainmakers
Gather up the dark clouds they know how to dance
Yeah they know how to dance, its best to watch and follow
Throw away what you know and leave it all behind
Up to the Permanent Water
Close to the Grinding Stones
The Permanent Water
Drink it all alone?
Hide in the hollow pocket with a kerosene lamp
unfamiliar world for my desperate heart
yeah its a desperate heart, footsteps in the fire
a settler country with a flawed campaign
oh yeah a flawed campaign
Still water is like diamonds
too far too hot too hopeless leave it all behind
‘Cept for the permanent water
close to the grinding stones
leave the permanent water and travel all alone