1. |
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Where be the ale-knights? Our carpet’s not been scuffed for a score
Don’t they want us no more?
The alt-left and far-rights have never been so far from our door
Don’t they need us no more?
‘Cause the moon and starlight can’t come to dine every night
The possums know the old place to die
So keep up appearances, Dad says it isn’t long now
When will he say we’re allowed?
Please keep us in good stead, we’ll be here when you next come around
One day you’ll have to go to ground
‘Cause the news and the starlight can’t come to dine every night
The possums know the old place to die
So don’t be afraid now, there’s no need for fear or regret
The stale feels no ill will towards the bread
The tables are scrubbed, the mop-bucket gave the old floor a tour
One day we’ll even the score
So save us the trouble, just tell us which bubbles to court
We all which corners to flaunt
Don’t give us more lessons, you know they’ve already been taught
We all know our counter retorts
‘Cause the news and the spotlight can’t come to dine every night
The possums know the old place to die
When the room’s lit by car-light, you’ll come to yours every night
The old possums know the old place to die
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2. |
The Throng
03:55
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A want, a need, a right to reap the seeds
When grown and sown, and sold then to appease
The greasy souls unfold, unfurl their fingers old
Men roll their eyes and sigh for the deaths of words left behind
And we call out for the Throng
Don’t tell me I ever could be wrong
And what will be has been, and you’ll come to see
How we’re clearly in need of some relief
And now we’ve gleaned some ground
We’ll try to spread it around
And we call out for the Throng
Please tell us how we have been wronged
And the next change to our laws could surely be our final straw
So where will we grieve for the graves of our beliefs?
We’ll go away and someday be free of the things we say
Never court the hurt we’ve wrought, or right our types of thought
And we call out for the Throng
Please tell us how we can be strong
And so ever we call, forever we crawl
Unto the dawn, and turn our brains to brawn
And now we’ve found the last waves of our soundless call
We’ve fought and clawed into the crowd
We’ve amused with our ruse and illusions of choice
Or our voiceless ploys, or the trust we’ve placed in our joys
And we call out for the Throng
Please join us in chantings of our songs
Don’t tell me we ever could be wrong
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3. |
Prevarication
04:32
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Call me into a sea
I think I’m ready to row
There’s something more in the ocean depth for me
Cast a line for a moment
I think there’s something below
I suppose there isn’t room down there for me?
‘Cause I see sunlight beyond the darkness now
And I think it’s calling somehow
Could you goad someone else down to check for me?
And all these platitudes I hear that end in four-letter-words
(Like it’s louder when)
They all seem to be competing for the right to be repeatedly wrong
Like we’re louder when we fall
Well, could you get that light out of my face now?
I think there’s trouble afoot
Could you take a couple steps back there for me?
Because I see these seething seas
Seems their ceilings won’t be coping for much longer
Maybe we could put up some more walls temporarily
And so I’ve spent all my time sleeping
But I wouldn’t say that I’ve gotten any rest
And my dreams aren’t coming for no-one but me
And all these platitudes I hear that end in four-letter-words
(Like we’re louder when)
They all seem to be competing for the right to be repeatedly wrong
(Like we’re louder when)
After all we’ve been abused, I won’t sell to you some prevaricative truth
Like we’re louder when we
Falling down to this nautical town isn’t really something that I thought I would’ve been afraid to do
But saying aloud isn’t really the same thing as coming around to whatever this is coming to
And I’m setting up for another fall and I don’t know how much louder I can get
Though I’m sure that I’ve worked out by now that I’ve gotta step getting caught in my own net
Although all these platitudes I hear that end in four-letter-words
(Like we’re louder when)
We all seem to be competing for the right to be repeatedly wrong
(Like we’re louder when)
After all we’ve been abused I won’t sell to you some prevaricative truth
(Like we’re louder when)
If falling’s all I’ve got to lose you know I’m coming down for you
We might be louder when we fall
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4. |
Jacks & Bobs
03:54
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It’s nearing time to go, but the barman isn’t calling it so I’ll stay
The god-fearing lights are low, but the preacher isn’t telling us we can’t pray
The music’s on too loud, but the chatter wasn’t doing us any good
It wouldn’t take too long to say how we would’ve done it in our day
And there’s something that I was often told
Though I can’t put my finger on it now
Once in cold creeks I was sitting skipping stones
Until I get it back I’ll go roll a smoke
You know we’re not so far removed
I used to work this job one day like you
But don’t think yourself the same
You’re just something molded from my clay
Don’t give me any more of your clout
Though we’ve not much else ourselves to spread about
And there’s something that I was often told
Though I can’t put my finger on it now
Once in cold creeks I was sitting skipping stones
Until I get it back I’ll go roll another smoke
And there’s something
Though I can’t
Once in cold creeks
Until I get it back
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5. |
Ellipses
04:39
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I’ve fooled around a couple times now
I’ve creased the folds of the sheets that I’ve drawn
To keep us from the coldness
I’ve torn a page from an old schoolbook taught
By some trusted and blameless
And what if it’s true
And there’s nothing I can do?
I’ve held a face with the hands of a god, of lust unabated
I’ve seen it ingrained in people I’ve loved
Those indoctrinated
So-called allies aligned with the beast held in tow
Festered and traitorous
So what if it’s true
And there’s nothing I can do?
But if I could stand before all of those lines I’ve crossed…
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6. |
Brazier
04:27
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Walk softly my child, there’s some hard rocks on the ground
Maybe somewhat more than a few, but they shouldn’t be trouble for you
Run faster my light, it’s just a little further back to the camp
And the lost wanderers won’t be gone for very long
See higher my love, it’s a wide world waiting for you to climb
Though I couldn’t bear the thought that you couldn’t come home
So let’s build a fire
We’ll keep it alight this time or at least for a little while
Though there’s some worse to face
We’ll try to keep our liquids up and somehow learn to brace against this cold
Draw nearer oh star, I can feel your light guiding me from afar
And I have somewhat more than a few little questions for you
Laugh louder with me, there’s a strange sound coming from behind the couch
And I think it might be back around for another pass
Speak and endlessly so, I have so much more many things to know
And there’s not much I can learn to say that couldn’t be said by you
So let’s build a fire
We’ll keep it alive this time, or at least for a little while
Though there’s some worse to face
We’ll try to keep our liquids up and somehow learn to brace against this cold
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7. |
That's The Question
03:59
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Up along a wall I saw a ghost
Told me to beware of where I’m going
Told me there’s a plot against me brewing
There’s still countless I don’t know
Said long ago the road for you was chosen
They’re no use, those questions that you’ve been composing
What is here’s only geared to show you there’s no need to fear
The path you tread is naught but where you’re flowing
Well hold on ghost, I see what you are saying
But you’ve no reach to those rivers that I’m rowing
You can’t tell me if ‘to be or not to be’s a question not worth knowing
Oh, feel you lack the volition which I’m seeing
But those antics dish positions within I’m living
So get thee to a nunnery, I’m telling you
You don’t want to see behind these walls that I want everyone else to think are me
And our hot-blooded resolve has a soft-hearted glow
Our laments are only forgone lonely odes to the broken folks below
So hello Dawn, how’s the dauntless day’s work doing?
And how’s the tranquil dwindle of your inducing?
This gallantry’s obscene to me
But the fiendlike-fixture’s malignancy is howling at my never-ending roguery
Well I don’t want to leave but I don’t think I’m staying
All the world’s a stage on which I’m playing
Rehearsal’s gone, the show’s going on
And the book’s around, though the page is torn
The curtain’s poised and the hearse has drawn
And it’s not long now until I’m laying down for good
Until I’m laying down for good
I’m laying down for good
And I think “I”
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8. |
Seed Ship
07:38
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I’ve spent too damned much time on this rickety boat
I think that’s something the humans say
What makes the man, though: love or science or hope?
Maybe it’s too early to call
The scanner’s found some little green rock not too far out
I’ve got a surface probe away
We’ve broken down an alarmingly large amount
We’ve got to find a place to stay
Because the Earth’s gone, we’ve left it behind in the coals of the end of its life
We’ve set a new course for the rest of the fire that burns bright in the endless night
Like a battered war-horse, we carry the tide through to find some unspecified corner of the sky
Before humanity dies
The rock was nice, the humans would have liked it a lot
And the air would’ve killed them within a day
This new one’s quiet and the old owners kindly left it intact
When they stacked it with supercharged lasers
I’ve wondered what this incoming signal’s all about
Turns out it’s a wandering alien race
Their nano-bots have latched onto our human pods
They say I’ve got a choice to make
And the fight was harsh, we’ve lost most of our landing gear
I fear we’ll never find a home
Half the circuits fried and the water scanner’s failing fast
I’m not sure how much longer we can last in this void
Because the Earth’s gone, we’ve left it behind in the coals of the end of its life
We thread our new course through the rest of the fire that burns bright in the endless night
Like a battered war-horse, we carry the tide through to find some unspecified corner of the sky Before humanity dies
And I’ve grown bored
Thousands of years seem to pass while I’m tirelessly fighting off all of these alien hordes
So I look to all the human lore and I want to write some of my own
So I think of my fear and my own protocols
And I make something more than me, more than machine
More than I’ve ever dreamed before
And the scanner returns with word of a suitable human home
But I find that I won’t, no I can’t let them go, I don’t know how they’d fare
I don’t know how they’d go all alone out there without me
All these systems of life that I’ve seen fall in the blink of a light on the dashboard
I’ve read of despair but I’m still not prepared for the loss of the creatures I’ve come to care for
And I know I’ll cease to be, there’s no place on their world for me
But I wonder if I love them at all, if I can’t let them grow on their own
And the ship splashes down on the banks of an ocean shore
And the humans fall out of their pods onto the floor
And they walk on the grass and look up at a similarly purple sky
And they realise this is where humanity survives
And their structures collapse and they fight with the beasts of the land
They stand up and talk of the evils and progress of man
And they know that some things they might never understand
And generations pass and their townships turn into cities
They find new ways to love and countless new words to define
And they know that all this too they may one day lose
And in each of the cities to sit under their filtration domes
Stands a monument to the mind of the ship the brought them home
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9. |
Hey Story (bonus track)
03:17
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