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1. |
Oh Boy
03:06
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Oh Boy
Oh boy, this one’s gonna be long
Oh boy, this one’s gonna be long
You don’t know what they’re saying
Or to whom they’re praying
Or why the stars are shining
this one’s gonna be long
Oh boy, you don’t know what went wrong
Oh boy, you don’t know what went wrong
It was over before you knew it
Before you even drove through it
Before the crowd had gone
You don’t know what went wrong
Oh boy, you don’t have be strong
Oh boy, you don’t have be strong
Don’t get out of your bed
Don’t clean up what you bled
Don’t sing a new song
You don’t have to be strong
Oh boy, you’re gonna fly away
Oh boy, you’re gonna fly away
High above the clouds
High above the rain
Way up in the sky it’s a blue day
Oh boy, this one’s gonna be long
Oh boy, this one’s gonna be long
You don’t know what they’re saying
Or to whom they’re praying
Or why the stars are shining
this one’s gonna be long
© James Kenyon 2007
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2. |
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Another house burned down
on fifth avenue it glowed
and all the kids stood around
and the watched it burn
I don't know I don't know I don't know
I don't know I don't
I'm pulling pages out
I'm preparing for the show
I'm pulling colours out
I'm not letting go
I don't know I don't know I don't know
I don't know I don't
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3. |
35 Degrees
04:01
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Must be 35 degrees outside
Blinds drawn, clock says half past five
I’m not playing dead, and I’m too old to hold my breath
no tears were shed, I swam in rivers instead
Out there, over the ocean
Sometimes, maybe I can hear you
Sighing at the stars, as they drift up off the ocean
Or maybe in a bar, sipping on your poison
I heard an older man once say
Love like a bird flies away
Last time I saw it it was thumbing a ride
But I was going the other way
And out there on the western highway
Cars drift out of the horizon
Oh out into the blue,
Driving with their lights on
Oh out into the blue
I’m so tired of loving you.
I heard an older man once say
Love like a bird flies away
Last time I saw it it was thumbing a ride
But I was going the other way
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4. |
Like Old Sundays
03:56
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Like Old Sundays
The strangest smile I ever,
saw was like a river
arcing slowly
across your jaw
you looked like a king who’d just lost faith in everything
your power and glory myth and story
but all glass is liquid and a pane
slowly drifts on down again
I know the reason
for your lack of disbelieving
when you were a boy you
had to make a choice you
bound yourself, ornaments on all your shelves
books and journals, rites and rituals
all your Sundays did become
the story of a father and a son
you know this morning
I awoke before the dawning
I woke up smiling I
woke up smiling
we were sitting ‘round the table we were laughing
it was like old Sunday’s, like your Sundays
oh, in dreams it’s still allowed
I saw here smile and she was proud
James Kenyon 2010
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5. |
Yellow Leaves
04:42
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Yellow Leaves
when the yellow leaves start falling
and trees become
dead wood that lines the park
I started to wonder whether
us being together
as never more than a spark
while waiting on the shape to form
I have been worn down to the ground
eroded now, if I wanted to
I couldn’t hold on to you
if I’d asked you earlier
before the stars had turned
further than their mark
would you have turned from me
and returned us to the start
I’d hazard a guess that your blood
never flowed freely
from your heart
the piece of you gave to me
was surely the smallest possible
part
the best time to leave is just before the first rays of the sun
lest you be pierced in place and sold the myth ‘that it all can be done’
Oh and the trains still come, and the busses go on and/ on
Oh the flags still fly high
Oh and the night still comes, and the streetlights still turn/ on
Oh and the plains still fly high
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6. |
The North Pole
03:44
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The North Pole
I never really thought
you were going to be able
to lay your cards down at the table
and rest your head in anothers Soul
small tears in the sky, well they only got larger
and the breeze that blew in was So much warmer
and slowly it dawned that the world Was much bigger
and I can feel it peeling off me Like old
clothes
I remember what I said
I just couldn’t find a way to
divorce you from my head
so I threw in a grenade that
blew our world to shreds
and out a path was paved and I’m
going to find out everything there is to
know
the first rays of dawn Refracted through my window
and began to light my room, and settled on my skin though
the feeling was warm I knew I must begin so
I’m going to walk half way To the north
pole
The north pole
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7. |
Red Wine
05:12
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8. |
The Calder
03:49
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You'll be alright
as you head off down the highway
and as the sun goes down
you'll be halfway down the Calder
And the stars were out
like all the happy soldiers
were drunkenly flung about
and laughed until they smoldered
Oh I will push your crown
from your head onto the ground
watch it roll away
while you look the other way
Oh like a silent crowd
like solitude in concert
and your smiling frown
the weir that holds the torrent
And I caught you out
your hand was on my shoulder
and i turned around
so as to better hold you
Oh I will push your crown
from your head onto the ground
watch it roll away
while you look the other way
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9. |
Calder Inbound
02:48
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10. |
Warooka
04:22
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I was over in the Easter
Trying to find a way back in
The green and gold canola
Was playing with the wind
I was talking to my father
Staring at the hills
Still don’t know what I’d rather
Richter’s squares or the sound of bells
And way up in the sky
Jet trails drift on by
Don’t fade on me
Don’t fade on me
Don’t fade on me now
It’s been raining in the belfry
That’s why you can’t hear the bells
And the water’s running down the aisle
And the colours run as well
I was standing in Granada
The Alhambra on the hill,
But right now I feel like driving
To Warooka from Magill
And way up in the sky
Jet trails drift on by
Don’t fade on me
Don’t fade on me
Don’t fade on me now
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11. |
Flying High
04:33
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Flying high on an arc
of gold and silver sparks
and falling into nothing
The last place it was seen
was a cathedral of green
and golden
I guess you just walk away
and stop blowing on the ashes
But I know it’s a long
long way home
Oh the death of a dream
And everything in between
It all turns to nothing
Two years and a day
Since I looked up to pray
And thought of you unfolded
The girl who cried love
Is now flying high above me
And in the big summer sky
I can see the whites of her eyes
So let the rain tumble down
And let the fires all drown
And let us not leave a trace
That we took up space
In the very same place
And let the roads all turn around
And the inn remain unfound
And of the bells on the hill
Let them all lie still
And the air remain unfilled
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James kenyon Melbourne, Australia
James Kenyon was born and raised in South Australia, but now lives in sunny Melbourne, Australia
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