Lyrics
All Lyrics written by Jon Cloumassis, © Copyright Cedarsmoke.
The Great & The Terrible
For Real
Let’s go tonight — it wasn’t a question
I just can’t shake this feeling that it’s going to end soon
Now is as good as any place to start
I want nothing to do with a life in the dark
Even if it’s Hades, Hell or the Underworld
That’s all right — I don’t care for heaven
It’s a padded room, it’s fish oil on a plastic spoon
Nothing is duller than a world without pain
I don’t need no umbrella in the pouring rain
I’d rather destruction by avalanche than happiness by degrees
Where just a whiff is enough to make you shaky at the knees
1-part fear, 2-parts desire
Marianne’s dressed up; I’m stuffed in a suit for hire
Where a parked car off the street: idle, discreet, was once our only privacy
There’s a city the left, open plains to the right
A world wide enough to cater to any appetite
And we might never know how it feels
But maybe someday it will be for real
Got big ideas but all I do is make small talk
I’m itching to get started but I don’t know where the buck stops
Where I am is not where I want to be
I wanted nothing – but man, nothing is free
As I wake in a bed of inertia, bamboo and feathers
And change my mind like god changes the weather
It’s 1 for the money, 2 for the show
3 when the rubber hits the yellow-brick road
Where lost souls on the street scream
“Somebody please, save us when the light goes dim”
Early to bed, early to rise
Until the last flickering ember of desire dies
And we might never know how it feels
But maybe next time it will be for real
Well I just don’t know where the time goes
Flies south with geese, dives into the sea and floats home
Like a bloated corpse that won’t be setting course
Come out tonight — we ain’t dead yet
We’re complacent, nameless, plastic, placid and faceless
The only thing I inherited was my name
I got nothing but at least I have nothing to blame
As each day wears you out the way water wears away stone
Or how a family wears away a home
1-part fear, 2-parts desire
Marianne’s a cyclone; I’m a funeral pyre
Where a vertigo trip is a waiting to hit
Bunkered in a cellar underground
It’s a premature birth before an early death
A life short enough to savour every breath
They might never know how it feels
But I know this time it will be for real 2. Ready To Go
Well, the drive-thru gun store was aimed at the poor
For the whores and junkies to shoot-up
While the political contortionist is not immune to the extortionist
He is immune to something resembling the truth
Sleazy Campese with Type-2 diabetes
Was making everyone at the drive-in uneasy
Dostoyevsky’s cousin threw eggs by the dozen
At a High School production of Grease
But it seems the harder you hold on, the harder it is to release I can’t move too fast, I always lose control
But hey, I don’t plan to live twice - once has already taken its toll
And the widespread hysteria evaporates from the peninsula
Where your new lease on life got sold
So, meet me at the stairs in just your underwear
We might look stupid; but we won’t feel old
I don’t want to live forever but I’m not quite ready to go
The district attorney on the hospital gurney
Was in dire need of surgery it seemed
But the doctor lacked the precision to make the deft incision
Required to remove his heart without rupturing his spleen
And the old, black smoke stack wafted out of the Radio Shack
Sending signals to the uncivilised tribe
Where they chop the heads off of mannequins and crucify the Vatican
For believing in something as abstract as a severed body with the soul still intact I can’t move too fast, I always lose control
But hey, I don’t plan to live twice - once has already taken its toll
And the widespread hysteria evaporates from the peninsula
Where your new lease on life got sold
So, meet me at the stairs in just your underwear
We might look stupid; but we won’t feel old
I don’t want to live forever but I’m not quite ready to go
The magazine Queen with the gregariously glossy sheen
Was blankly staring with her blank head into her blank screen
So, she dug her false nails into her arm to do enough harm
To create a sense of alarm in the scene
While Peter Pan and Uncle Sam debated what it means to be a man
They change water into wine on the cold hard streets
Where your life can’t compensate for a clickbait caliphate
With no end in sight to be seen
But what means everything to you might mean nothing to me I can’t move too fast, I always lose control
But hey, I don’t plan to live twice - once has already taken its toll And the widespread hysteria evaporates from the peninsula
Where your new lease on life got sold
So, meet me at the stairs in just your underwear
We might look stupid, but we won’t feel old
I don’t want to live forever so just tell me when it’s time to go 3. Oil & Water
Flying back to New South Wales and it’s blowing a gale
Forgot everyone I knew, and I hope that they forgot me too
3 sheets to the wind, threw my compass in the bin
Standing still while the world spins For Marianne, please don’t let me understand
Where you went after you took off around the bend
While the sinners and saints always seem to gravitate
Now we’re almost done but the night has just begun
We’re oil and water; we don’t go together
They say opposites attract but I think that only works for ions
So, I got no ETA, I’ve got nowhere to be anyway
What’s one more wasted day?
To Marianne, please don’t let me understand
Where you went after you told me to get bent
Now it’s getting late, far too late to hesitate
Now we’re almost done but the night has just begun Well I’m fully committed and only half content
I’m saving my breath because my body is spent
Under the influence of alcohol and pheromones
Baptised myself in bathtub water
I’m ready to be born again
But it’s late afternoon, the sun is setting soon
It’s December but yesterday it was June
Oh Marianne, please don’t let me understand
Where you went after the money all got spent
While the sinners and saints always seem to cohabitate
Now we’re almost done and going down with the setting sun 4. Amy At 13
Amy, you’re strong enough to break me
But lighter than the air
Passing through your hair
Now you’re just 13
Watched you grow up in front of me
Tucked you into bed
When you and your meds
Were on and off again
Being clean is just a virtue
So, those drugs ain’t gonna hurt you
Flush your veins out with saline
But it’s going to take some until you’re – Amy, I always said you had your mother’s eyes
Though you were the apple of mine
Now you don’t want me around
I can hear it in the sound of your voice
That you hate me
Like you’re acting out in a bad scene
As you scream and shout on your way out
Are you alright? Being clean is just a virtue
So, those drugs ain’t gonna hurt you
Flush your veins out with saline
But it’s going to take some time until you’re –
Amy, you’re strong enough to break me
But lighter than you were
When you were 12
Are you alright? 5. Know You’re Mine
We fell hard like Autumn leaves Minimal damage, only 23 Time is on our side, but it won’t hold tight So, I am going to wait until the day You say you’re mine
A cold Winter in July Temperatures were low; tempers were high Said you could use a break; well I am dead broke So, I am going to work each day until I know you’re mine
Cavalier in the Spring Before we knew our youth was vanishing
Then in the Summer we did a runner Left our jobs, our apartments, our mothers We were so sure, that we were uninsured Now I don’t even need to hear you say it I know you’re mine
Forever or until I die Come close, I know the world is wide Forever or until I die Come close, don’t you know the world is wide?
6. Go Easy
The only constant is changing, whatever state that I’m in
A rose by any other…or something like that
But I’m light on courage, heavy on shame
High on my own hubris and low on brains So, go easy on me, I never once had
No chance to agree to the life that I had
It just starts in the dark
So, go easy on me On the technicolour TV, I’ve been watching Dorothy
She’s an out-of-work actress and a full-time waitress
But it’s going to be rough; she’s gonna have to be gritty
If she’s ever gonna make it to the Emerald City Go easy on me, I never once had
No chance to agree to the life that I had
It just starts then falls apart
So, go easy on me Moses wandered through the dry, from Egypt to Sinai
And it’s been 40 years since I had 40 winks
My pillow is a cloud, my mattress is the sea
But God is never gonna part the waves for me Go easy on me, I never once had
No chance to agree to the lay of the land
And dry fields that don’t yield
So, go easy on me Sisyphus went from rock bottom to the top of mountain
Life is a pendulum; I’m just starting to get the swing
But it won’t give me pause even though I’m at odds
Obedient to devil and defiant to the gods Go easy on me, I never once had
No chance to agree to the lay of the land
Just stick around until you’re in the ground
So, go easy on me
Treading water in a dry town, can’t find a drop around
Rain or alcohol, it’s just empty taps and tanks
From the east to the west hear them regale you
With stories from the land of Oz-stralia Go easy on me, I never once had
No chance to agree to the lay of the land
And the heat you can’t beat,
So, go easy on me 7. Come Around Here
This one ends quietly
No climax or catastrophe
Just an empty room, dimly lit
No amethyst or diamond ring
Intrepid, young, hardly fazed
They tell her, “Hailey, these are the salad days”
Handsome suitors bring roses with largesse
Her mother warns, “Honey, don’t get used to this”
Even a slow metabolism will catch up
While you’re driving passed the exit signs
Running out of steam and out of time
Come around here, come around here
She’s been up dancing with the moon
Come around here, come around here
It comes too late or far too soon
Come around here, come around
In a whirlwind, she was swept away
Like a lioness captured, caged and made tame
Until one day it hit her like a tonne of bricks
She didn’t have to be or do anything
Well, she fit it all in one suitcase
Tightly packed and evenly spaced
She didn’t leave a note for him
He would understand when he found her engagement ring
It’s not something she could say out loud
Pulling out the driveway proud
Turned the music up and rolled the windows down
Come around here, come around here
She’s been up staring at the sun
Come around here, come around here
Some things you never will outrun
Come around here, come around The fluorescent lights are unavoidable
Killing time in the airport terminal
A dog-eared paperback outside Gate 33
Dreaming of the lives she could lead
Like her aunty in the 70’s
Lived on a California hippie commune, planting sequoia trees
Hair to the tail end of her spine
She never did that good old 9 to 5
Is it something she regretted?
Because she never got married and had no kids
Died alone without even a cat in her apartment Come around here, come around here
She’s been up pacing around the room
Come around here, come around here
It comes too late or far too soon
Come around here, come around here
She don’t want to be so understood
Come around here, come around here 8. Strangely Familiar
Thought I felt a changing the wind
Bought myself a weathervane to spin
If and when you’re able
We’ll be setting sail soon
Want to be a credit to my name
Got myself a family to shame
Make a life that’s stable
For 4 legs of a table
To hold down the earth
I am waiting long for you
This old memory somehow feels new
Strangely familiar as déjà vu
And things that I know are true The only thing in this world you are owed
Is a birth certificate and a 4-digit code
With more withdrawals than deposits
Light bulbs than sockets in stock But I can’t get away from my phone
And the work life that calls me at home
I’m the Sisyphus of emails
Could you spare me the details of your HR seminar? Well, I am waiting long for you
But this old memory somehow feels new
Strangely familiar as déjà vu
Things that I know are true When I wake up can’t remember where I’ve been
A donkey in Bethlehem or a bullet train in Japan
But it’s somewhere I don’t understand Booked accommodation on a whim
By an ocean where nobody swims
Where whispers are zephyrs too soft to decipher or feel I can’t hunt, I even lose track of the days
So, I’m following the paths that were laid
But everything is upside down
The canopies match the ground
Only the owls sleep in the night I am waiting long for you
But this old memory somehow feels new
Strangely familiar as déjà vu
And things that I know are true 9. Goodnight Marianne
There’s a cyclone in the atmosphere
Of the canals of my brains left hemisphere
From the greyscale, the dark and the dolour
The world finally opened up in technicolour
Say what? You’re only hearing what you want me to say
But I know I shouldn’t talk when my filter is off
Or I’m slinging insults at the Virgin Mary
But nothing’s as sacrosanct as Little House on the Prairie
And I’m full of unspoken thoughts
These days, that’s all that I’ve got
Hey, hey Marianne, give me a sign
Because I just gotta know if I’m wasting my time
In the dark where I can’t see where it’s heading
I was fumbling in the covers and removing the bedding
There’s one more article that I can’t remove
But you are as sharp as I am obtuse
In the light that can be so unforgiving
I think that it was then that I was finally beginning to see
That you love me Think the wires crossed between my dreams and my thoughts
Because the house flew around and then dropped with the stocks
Grown men were crying over lost millions
But only half of them were game enough to jump off the building – and Splat! Your water broke, and then everything stopped
On a Saturday, in a cemetery parking lot
Flagged a ride but never made an arrival
So, you gave birth inside a hearse, blood staining the polyvinyl Came out cloaked in red like a matador
No thanks to listening to classical musical in utero Hey, hey Marianne, give me a sign
Because I just gotta know if I’m wasting my life
In the dark that can be so obfuscating
We were wandering around the desert as the levee was breaking
I don’t need words because I got hard proof
That I ain’t got shit if I ain’t got you
In the light that can be so unforgiving
I was feeling for the exits and finally feeling alone So, Marianne come home 10. The Way We Once Were
We’ve been slipping for some time Happens so slow that it gets by Until one day we have to say We’ve drifted so far from the start That it’s hard to stay undeterred If only we could be, the way we once were
So, what do you say? Should we just give it away? After all the time we put in It’s the sunk-cost fallacy Feels right but logic don’t agree But I’m positive that we’re unsure If only we could be, the way we once were
Years from now After the dust settles down Will I still long for you? Or will it fade? More each day The way only time decays But until it relents, it’s bound to hurt If only things could be, the way they once were If we could be, the way we once were
11. Emerald City
Always wished I was brave
But lately I’ve been wondering what there’s worth left to save
Now all my plans feel through
And I’m relying on the ripcord of my parachute
To gift me with brains
But God is indiscriminate
He gives no man the same
So, you don’t get a say
Either the sun shines gold or cries buckets of rain On some tin roof in Kansas
On the desiccated plains
Where a shotgun ending might be the only way
And there’s no point in feeling envy
But I do it anyway
When some men get peanuts
Some get million-dollar plates
Below some other sky, some other sky
Where the bombs are breaking, the towers are shaking
The ocean is on fire like a funeral pyre
Below some other sky, some other sky
Where the yellow sand bleeds into the blue on high
And I don’t want to be just another jealous guy Then I wished for a heart
But every love that arrives will one day depart
Life is an airport
You can pray for the eternal, but everyone is terminal
And I want to go home
To the chlorophyllic pastures where they drink alone
Way out yonder, but don’t you know that
Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder As blow flies buzz around the faces of the gone
And the damascened damsels don’t stay beautiful too long
And the doom of the bees could very well spell the end
And don’t the air feel apocalyptic again? Like some other night, some other night
Where the bars overflow like it’s St. Patrick’s Day
And the drunks sway like clover or ships at bay
On some other night, some other night
Where every stop sign’s a sign that you better go slow
Until the traffic lights change colour and say that you’d better go Everything is complicated, there are multiple variables
One day can be great and the next day terrible
Well, I’ve run through all the possibilities
Made peace with all the odds
And I’m obedient to the devil
And defiant to the gods
Because I weighed up all the benefits
And they outweigh the costs
So, you can bomb all the embassies
Ignite all the gas
The only military response
Fly the flags at half mast
Until there’s no signs of life
No movement, no sound
But every great civilisation goes to the sky then the ground
And there’s 4 horsemen, 4 winds, Ice-Nine around the bend
But I know that there is beauty
And nothing truly ends 12. Emerald City (Epilogue)
Then the rain starts to die And all the colours fill the sky And as the darkness abates Won’t life be great
But when the flowers don’t bloom And there’s no light but the moon When every sound is inaudible Ain’t life just terrible
But there’s one thing I know There is no place like home And when I’ve sealed my fate Won’t life be great
The Great & The Terrible Album
Recorded, Engineered and Mixed by Cam Smith at Incremental Records.
Mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering.
All songs written and performed by Jon Cloumassis
Additional Musicians
Cam Smith – Drums, Vocals (Tracks 6 & 7)
Amber Rose – Vocals (Tracks 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10)
Lucy Di Mauro – Violin (Track 7)
Into the Wild World
We Settle Into The Night
We climb out of our shells at night
Out through the viaducts, into the wild world
Simple cogs in a complex machine
Placated by a fever dream, mindless little working bees
Halfway there to the mid-life affairs
Where greying men dye their hair
Buy their mistresses new underwear
While their wives inject Botox to hide their crow’s feet
Diet until they hallucinate in their seldom seen lingerie
Can they almost see God speaking through the flame trees?
But they don’t hold on tight, they settle into the night
Grassy knolls once verdant green
Like billowing blue seas filled up with plasticine
Standing in a cornfield in your floral dress
Holly, I do confess, you’re the one that I like best
Marilyn Monroe crossed paths with JFK
While Jackie O slept alone in the White House with the kids at home
Hitler and Eva Braun never left each other’s sides
Until the double suicide, he pulled the trigger; she ate cyanide
When MLK entertained guests for the night
J Edgar Hoover listened in with the FBI
And when he returned to his wife they settled into the night
Now the Pope is getting divorced
And he’s starting to think that he’s backed the wrong horse
As I’m hoping an incantation of Hail Mary’s
Can make me some paragon of monogamy
It’s a quarter-life crisis on the Western front
I even gave up on giving up, getting sober and getting drunk
Found a job, enrolled in the working class
Watched my soul depreciated faster than a brand-new car
Now it’s New Year’s Eve on the Harbour Bridge
Lit up by fireworks, light pollution and fireworks
Holding onto Holly’s hand too tight
It’s like exploding IEDs that trigger PTSD
I don’t know what to do, I guess I get confused
But we don’t hold on tight, we settle into the night
We don’t know anything, we settle into the night
2. Never Mind
If I don’t want to go can I just stay home?
But nothing ventured is gained I suppose
So, I go, although everything’s the worst
From small talk to vomit in the dirt
The socially anxious and the social butterflies that fly
Toward the party and the light that blinds
Never mind if I drag behind
In the comfort of a door jamb
Or the emptying of a new can
That some drink so that they don’t feel abashed
For the temerity to dance
To flirt without fear of the crash and the burn
Some drink so they can have some fun
Tighten their grip as they loosen their tongue
Or just to have something to hold onto
As they let go of their diction and inhibition without pause
Never mind if I drag behind
In the distance of insincerity
Or the armour of a false identity
And besides, I won’t spend my time
Hiding my eyes as they gloss over
Nodding my head or shrugging my shoulders
As I’m told some story that just goes nowhere
Never mind if I drag behind
In the rat race of the living
I’m only at ease when I am sleeping
And it’s all right if I waste my time
But I knew that it was over
As the drunk return to sober on the lawn
3. Being Young Is Getting Old
It’s so late that it’s early — but still pitch black
Everyone’s asleep — it’s the suburbs
Got to sober up, run a shower
Sick being drunk or hungover
With empty pockets — save for lint
But I’ve got debt, that makes me skinter than skint
Can’t compete with the 30-year olds
With 6-figure incomes and mortgage loans
Ready or not, time is wasting
But I wish it would hurry up
Unless someone can tell me different
Being young is getting old
Begin at the bottom and work your way up
Climb up the ladder from the lowest rung
Watch out for the snakes, if they swallow you whole
Then you can watch your career go down the toilet bowl
But there’s only one direction shit rolls
So, if you’re down in the dumps, better hold your nose
With Jack and Jill in the valley of the hill
It takes forever to rise but no time to fall
Ready or not, time is wasting
I wish it would hurry up
Unless someone can tell me different
Being young is getting old
If I hear one more diatribe
Think I’m gonna bite cyanide
The law says I’m mature as any fully-fledged adult
Comes as a bigger shock than any blue thunderbolt
When it’s time to find yourself a girl, make sure she’s the real one
But I’m still too childish for any children
The past is gone and stored on a phone
In place of acetate, in sepia tones
Stuck inside of some sweet malaise
But for me those were never the halcyon days
Ready or not, time is wasting
I wish it would hurry up
Unless someone can tell me different
Being young is getting old
4. Some Things
There were red flags from the start
But nothing was going to stop them falling hard
The reverend’s daughter submerged in the water
The son of liar, he was baptised by fire
Now that they’re leaving
They say what they don’t need to speak
Lines that they don’t need to speak
She fought with her figure for seven winters
He built decks ‘til the pinewood splintered
When she turned 27 she turned her back on heaven
When he turned 26 he gave up being a communist
Now that they’re older
They’re closer to what they don’t have to speak
Lines that they don’t need to speak
The zygote splits and the embryo hits
But no one really knows what it means to exist
In their mid-30s, surely can’t be called early
Unfettered, unwed and undecided
It’s damaged but it’s not broken
They’re choking on words they don’t need to speak
Lines that they don’t need to speak
Every time or anytime
5. Half Bad
Feel no pain, I’m an island, I am anaesthetic
Until it goes awry, rears its head and never says bye
Well, never mind, I’m no neophyte at being unsatisfied
So, get high, it takes dope to cope so you don’t tie a rope
I don’t ever want to be in your private company
I don’t ever want to serve in the army reserve
Every time the clock strikes nine, I do not feel fine
But it won’t ever make me sad as long as it’s not half bad
Hardly poor, drinking champagne out of Styrofoam cups
Don’t need a chicken bone just to wish for things that I don’t own
I won’t sell my soul, but I’ll whore it out or put it on loan
There’s no hangover cure, it’s just something that you have to endure
I don’t ever want to be in your private company
I don’t ever want to serve in the army reserve
Every time the clock strikes nine, I do not feel right
But it won’t ever make me sad as long as it’s not half bad
6. Anything
I’m predisposed to decompose
Deflate, negate, feel naked in my clothes
Let’s undress our duress
But she’s inclined to imply or define
Why killing time makes us feel alive
Puts sunglasses on your eyes
There’s a solar eclipse, come look outside
I would do anything for you
I would do anything it’s true
Holy cow, I’m over the moon
I’ll be the dish; you can be the spoon
Let’s abscond and fake our deaths
Leave tonight on a domestic flight
Pack our backs in time for the red eye
30, 000 feet high
Falling fast but it’s a slow rise
I would do anything for you
I would say anything it’s true
I would do anything for you
I would say anything that I had to
7. The Bitter End
I’m coming up; she’s leaving
From the balustrades, they’re heaving
Down on the faded rugs and linoleum floors
That they once adored
I spent eternity in your bedroom
Now you cast me out, that’s your purview
Out with the fallen stars in drab, dive bars
Where they try to drown their scars
It’s all or none
I never want to be there when the bells are wrung
Never want to finish what we had begun
I’m clinging ‘til the bitter end
Your mother warned, “don’t waste your time
There’s only lint in his pockets, he’s hardly worth a dime
And a good time won’t ever pay the bills
Honey, please tell me you’re still on the pill”
Or it’s shotgun wedding in a pregnant hurry
Devoid of guests but full of regrets
Surrounded by strangers out on the courthouse steps
Where relief is an early death
It’s all or none
I never want to be there when the bells are wrung
Never want to finish what we had begun
Clinging ‘til the bitter end
But you hang around
Because it’s hard to detach from a joint account
A high-interest mortgage on a low-ceiling house
But I don’t ever want to be
Because I could only let you down
Like gravity under the apple tree Polytetrafluorethylene
Nothing sticks to me, I get off scot-free
But you could of married silently
To some profiteer of propriety
Who never stirs in his sleep
It’s all or none
I never want to be there when the bells are wrung
Never want to finish what we had begun
I’m clinging ‘til the bitter end
But you hang around
Because it’s hard to detach from a joint account
And a high-interest mortgage on a low-ceiling house
But I don’t ever want to be – what you want me to be
8. Time To Leave
Let’s go to the bar
We can fit in one car
Show some fortitude in the valley
But the bouncer looks us over
He can tell we aren’t sober
Shakes his head as we offer our IDs
Is that our cue to leave?
She texts, “hey, if you like
You could come around tonight
Give me a hand with all this wine”
I said, “that would be fine
All I got on my hands is time”
Then she glances at her wrist, pulls up her sleeve
Is that my cue to leave?
Tonight, the band plays
On a dimly lit stage
Looking half-drunk and half-pissed
The crowd starts to disperse
We’re dying out here
Someone call a hearse
They’re throwing rotten tomatoes, broken bottles at our feet
Is that our cue to leave?
Is that my cue to leave?
9. Sideways
I don’t know where to go
Could go out or just stay home
I’d tell you, you look pretty tonight
But it just makes you roll your eyes
So, I don’t know what to say
The moon’s on fire, shining bright
But it’s the darkness I like
Of flowers drowning in a vase
You only glance at me sideways
So, I didn’t know where to look
If things get rough
Our bodies start to rust
As our minds turn to dust
That would be okay
And if the sun sets
I just won’t regret
All the time we spent in that place
Where I wished that nothing would change
Will we still be here in a year?
That’s opaque but this much is clear
Tomorrow’s always on its way
But I don’t care what it has to say
So, I don’t mind
No, really, I wouldn’t lie
Honestly, I don’t mind what it brings
10. Sadly Ever After
Once upon a time we dreamed of living sad
I was out of my mind then; you were feeling half bad
We could set our sights on a year-end vacation
Financial security – within our grasp but out of reach
I don’t know how, I don’t know why, I don’t know nothing at all
I can’t say where, I can’t say when, I can’t say nothing but
Sadly, ever after, let’s be sadly ever after, let’s be –
Sadly, ever after, I’d be happy to be
But a fairy tale ending is always misleading
I don’t know why, I don’t know how, I don’t much at all
I can’t say where, I can’t say when, I can’t say nothing but
Sadly, ever after, let’s be sadly, ever after, let’s be
Now all I want to do is complain
But I don’t want to do it again without you
11. An August Night
An August night
Left the driveway — the engine frozen
Is that smell from your perfume or your hair?
Blonde peroxide, please tell me it’s the carbon monoxide
Rising up as you ask me, do I think of other girls?
What am I gonna say now?
Steer clear of the truth
At 5:30 you come around early just to sit in my backyard
With half an empty wineglass after you skipped the graduation
Of your pricey education but you don’t care
For leaves of ivy, towers of ivory or the alumni of the erudite
That don’t mean a thing
Please understand I just mean to calm you down when you’re upset
But these futile attempts only seem to wear me out and dig me in
But the halogen lights don’t shine that bright in the dark, in the gloom
As something heavy looms
I’m wondering if I can make light
So, I won’t have to make right
After a trip to London you return with a firm job offer
Then you asked me if I’d go, I said “I don’t know”
But I know that where the heart goes, the body follows
It could be a Visa and a paid vacation or loneliness and a trial separation
What am I gonna say now?
Guess I’ll try the truth
12. Only Pain
I’ve been wondering what went wrong
Why all these boys and girls look gone
Evict the occupants, shred the documents, the runaway bride
Could see the fear rising out of the bridegroom’s eyes when she said
Please don’t go down the drain — every time it rains
Should you choose to remain — it will be okay
But I’ve been feeling overrun, I’ve been trying to give up
Please don’t go down the drain — it’s only pain
I’ve been trying to switch gears
I’ve been pissing away the years
In a job with no consistency
It’s going to the automated industry
Got no structural integrity
So, I’m waiting for the foundations to collapse on me and say
Please don’t go down the drain — every time it rains
Should you choose to remain — it will be okay
But I’ve been feeling overrun, I’ve been trying to give up
Please don’t go down the drain — it’s only pain
I’ve been dreaming of Sylvia Plath
In a warm, Epsom salt and lavender bath
Head of carbon monoxide
Oven-assisted suicide
It’s popularised and glorified
But no one makes it out of this life alive to say
Please don’t go the Hemingway — every time it rains
But should you choose to remain — it will be okay
I’ve been feeling overrun, I’ve been trying to give up
Please don’t go down the drain — it’s only pain
13. Those Days Are Gone
I’ve been burning the candle at both ends
Now I’m worn out from late nights, far from sober
Early mornings, hungover
Well it might be fun, but it can’t last that long
Until all those days are gone
I’ve been travelling on highways and aeroplanes
Far flung or near by
Where home is where your hat is
Your bed is where you make it
It starts out right then it ends up wrong
And then all those days are gone
Never wished for a lover to split my heart asunder
I will be an island
Because you can’t get hurt if you don’t fight
Loneliness suits me just right
And that’s fine when you’re young but it gets old before long
And then all those days are gone
Pulled the roots out of my family tree
Never used to care much about my ancestry
Now I’m chasing my bloodline
Because it gets lonesome at Christmas time,
Birthdays and New Year’s nights
Life’s a party, sometimes it just drags on
And then all those days are gone
Recorded, Engineered and Mixed by Cam Smith at Incremental Records.
Mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering.
Performed by
Jon Cloumassis - Vocals, Guitars, Piano, Harmonica, Keyboards, Mandolin, Bass (Tracks 7, 13) Accordion (Track 8)
Rhys Carroll – Bass (Tracks 1 – 6, 8, 10 – 12)
Tom Picton – Keyboard (Tracks 5, 8)
Maddie Keinonen – Vocals (Tracks 1, 4, 6, 10, 13)
Cam Smith – Drums, Mellotron, Banjo, Field Recordings, Effects, Accordion (Track 11), Vocals (Tracks 5, 12).
All songs written by Jon Cloumassis