Get all 27 David A. Harley releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Road, In a Folkier Vein, Swan Songs, So Sound You Sleep (More Tears of Morning), Seven Years In The Sand (single), Nobody's Song, Marking Time - The 3rd Demo Album, The Duke Of Haphazard: 2nd Demo Album, and 19 more.
1. |
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You can’t cage a butterfly, not unless you break its wings (x2)
You can cage a songbird, but you can’t make him sing
I went over the hill and I heard some flyer blow (x2)
I’ve been too long in the city: time to pack my grip and go
You think I’m fooling, but honey, it’s a fact (x2)
You had a good old mule, but you just broke his back
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2. |
Southside
02:52
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I’ve got a woman on the Southside
Two more above the timberline
But it’s you, you, you
In my heart and on my mind
I followed you across the city
Anywhere your footprints led
But I just can’t stand to think of you
In that other man’s bed
I’m going across the river
To some bar where the lights don’t burn too bright
I might need you so bad right now
But I won’t even know your name by midnight
I’m leaving soon one morning
For any place my footsteps fall
If I can’t pay the fare
I’ll walk till I have to crawl
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3. |
Bootup Blues
02:24
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When I woke up this morning
My laptop wouldn’t boot at all
I said I woke up this morning
And tossed my Tosh against the wall
My baby took the mains adapter
And the battery’s screwed beyond recall
Well she left me for some guy
With a 99GHz overclocked PC
And now she’s interfacing
With his RS232C (he’s a serial womanizer)
She said my hard disk was too small
To satisfy
Her new spreadsheet
I wouldn’t treat an iPad
The way that woman treated me
She fragmented my hard disk
And ran off with my Angry Birds DVD
Left me nothing but this boot sector virus
And a copy of Wordstar version 3.3
Dah-diddy-dah-diddy-dah-diddy-dah….
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4. |
Wearing Out My Shoes
02:24
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There's no future in singing the blues
I guess I'll leave, I've got nothing to lose
Wearing out my shoes, walking away from you
And if I can't walk, I guess I'll fly...
I went down to the depot, looked up on the board:
It said 'Good times here, but better down the road'
Wearing out my shoes walking away from you
And if I can't walk I guess I'll fly
Going down to the crossroads, my cap in my hand
Looking for a woman that's looking for a man
And wearing out my shoes walking away from you
And if I can't walk I guess I'll fly, bye bye
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5. |
Stranger In Uniform
06:20
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Quiet days / Slow march past of the minutes
Remorseless progression / of the hours
The sun burns out / in a mock tropic sky
The sands run down / and time holds its breath
Waiting, ever waiting for the stranger in uniform
To shatter the mirror-still days
Quiet days / counting falling leaves
Stripping petals / from a scrap of bush
Nights under the trees / hiding from the world
Singing wild songs / to a gypsy moon
Waiting, ever waiting for the stranger in uniform
To shatter the cut-crystal days
Quiet days / sunrise leaps from tree to tree
A small boy with a fishing rod / re-lives jam-jar days
Ripples smooth away / the wrinkled image
Waiting for history / to rewrite the page
Waiting, ever waiting for the stranger in uniform
to shatter the diamond-cut days
Quiet country days / in a honeymoon paradise
Raindrops / dancing tiptoe on the glass
Clouds hang heavy / as time and history
Hiding in each other / in autumn 1939
Waiting, ever waiting for the stranger in uniform
To shatter the looking glass days
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6. |
Sylvie (Letting go)
02:50
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You keep asking for time so I’m giving you the rest of your life
It’s been a long way down but you can give it just as long as you like
A fast set of wheels is the only way out I know
I just feel like letting go
Talk about miles of air, that’s all I need
I’m leaving light as I came ’cause that’s just about my speed
I came in 29 and I’m leaving feeling 44
I just feel like letting go
We started out dancing but we’re each doing different steps
And I’m sick of waiting for a miracle to connect
You keep changing the rules but I’ve an end game all my own
I just feel like letting go
Sometimes I get the strangest feeling lying in your bed
While my body makes love, there’s rubber burning in my head
A fast set of wheels is the cleanest cut I know
I just feel like letting go
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7. |
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A trace of your scent still lingers on my pillow
And raises echoes in my memory
And I believe you’re missing me almost as much as I miss you
But I wish to God that you were here with me
The sun will surely rise on another soft blue morning
And lying in your arms is where I’ll be
With sweet dreams still in my eyes, I’ll wake and kiss your hair
But it’s a long cold night while you’re not here with me
This guitar once played for keeps, but since you changed my life
This guitar just plays for you, if that’s OK?
This guitar rang bells for losers, but there’ll be no more songs of losing
Though this guitar just plays the blues while you’re away
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8. |
Scratch One Lover
04:06
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How does it feel to be proved right
When everything just fell apart?
Does it buy you sleep through long cold nights?
Does it ease your aching heart?
Score two points, scratch one lover:
You said it’s too good to be true.
Why don’t you run back to your mother?
She always knows what’s best for you.
All those black moods and jealousies,
Now you know they were justified.
She looks so happy, holding hands with someone else:
Was it worth it, being right?
Hold on to all that righteous anger
But don’t forget who set it up for her.
If she’s easier in someone else’s arms,
She might be telling you you were unfair.
Score two points, scratch one lover:
Let it ride, it’s just the gypsy’s curse.
But people tend to give you what you ask for:
Maybe you only got what you deserved
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9. |
Low In The Water
03:58
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Early in the morning / Shaking in my shoes
Coming down with cherry fever / And the rotgut brown ale blues
I’m low in the water / I’m low in the water
I’m low in the water / But I ain’t sinking yet
Another Sunday morning / Another one night stand
One more passing shipwreck / Drowning on dry land
And I don’t know how I got here / But thank you for the ride
I’ll see you somewhere sometime / If I don’t have time to hide
Singing for your supper / Isn’t half the fun it seems
It’s a pint or five of courage / And a box of broken dreams
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10. |
Soleares
05:55
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There’s a note she keeps re-reading from a graveyard far away
The writer begs to offer sympathy
The man she once married and left so long ago
is gone beyond remorse and anything that might have been
Automatically she washes up, tidies and dusts
Starts to drink her coffee and leaves it to congeal
She tries to write an answer but somehow it falls apart
The words are vague and stilted – how can she tell how she feels
A threat of soleares spins softly from stereo
Ghostly in the sunlight, reflecting ancient pain
Sombre rasgueado, a hint of distant thunder
Like the muted threat of Spanish rain
The phone rings: she shares the news but nothing of her feelings
Someone says “So sorry – I’ll ring back if you like”
Ringing off as if in dread of inapt and nervous laughter
Hanging brittle in the silence though it never left her throat
Shadows lengthen into evening: she has a drink or two
As if to fill the emptiness she feels
She can’t trace her emotions but her thoughts are wheeling
Around a situation scarcely real
Somehow all our failures rise to haunt us from the graveyard
At times like this it seems that guilt and death
Potentiate each other like phenobarb and whisky
It passes with time but she can’t believe it yet
Her nights won’t all be sleepless like the one that lies ahead
In a world of other people with their own claims on her time
Other joys and sorrows: other games to win and lose
But a whisper from the grave still tells her “Tonight is mine”
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11. |
Lady Luck
03:10
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I rolled out my paper this morning to see what Lady Luck would say
She said “Sorry boy, no joy: It’s just another rainy day…”
Slow down, Lady Luck: why d’ya turn your back on me?
I never meant you any harm at all, but you really have your claws in me
Rolled out of bed this morning, hoping for a little sun
But a long cool woman put the freeze on me and the good times are dead and gone
Slow down, Lady Luck: lady, won’t you let me be?
I never meant you any harm at all, but you really have your knife in me
I think I’ll point my feet at the highway and move a little further down the line
If my shoes get stuck maybe Lady Luck will let me go this time
Slow down, Lady Luck: why d’ya turn your back on me?
I never meant you any harm at all, but you really have your claws in me
I don’t mean to bring you down, I don’t mean to take you too deep
But I’m bored and bad and feeling sad and I need me a place to sleep
Slow down, Lady Luck: why d’ya turn your back on me?
I never meant you any harm at all, but you really have your claws in me
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12. |
Drunk Last Night
05:06
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I don’t mind coffee
Milk or even tea
But water without whisky
Is just too strong for me
I was drunk last night / drunk the night before x2
I’ll be drunk again this evening but I won’t be drunk no more
Feeling tomorrow
Like I do today
I’ll break your hard rock head
And make my getaway
If you quit me baby
Tell you what I’ll do
I’ll drink a quart of whisky
And let it out all over you
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13. |
Odd Job Man
02:53
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I’m an odd job man, I work by day and night
I’m an odd job man, I work by day and night
I’m a handy-doodle-dandy and my dovetails fit just right.
I’m a Do-It-Yourself demon, got the tool for every use
I’m a D-I-Y demon, got the tool for every use
I’ve got an A1 set of drivers when your screws are working loose
I’ve got the brace and the bit to drill just where you need
Gotta brace, got a bit, I can drill just where you need
I’ve the angle and the rhythm, satisfaction guaranteed
I’ve got the switches and the cable and my fuses never blow
Gotta jack for every socket and my connections never blow
When I overhaul your wiring just lay back and watch her go
I’m an odd job man, on the job just when you please
I’m an odd job man, fix it anywhere you please
If your hardware’s getting rusty, just let me slip you some grease
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14. |
Down To The River
04:57
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I won’t go down to the river
Anyway not yet
There’s too much to do and the water’s cold
And I don’t want my feet wet
I don’t want my feet wet
I won’t go down to the river
Perhaps I really should
But the sand’s so warm between my toes
And you know it feels so good
I know it does me good
Come on down to the river
It can’t do you harm
You’ve got to learn sometime to sink or swim
And the sun will keep you warm
The sun will keep you warm
I won’t go down to the river
You know I can’t go down
The side's so steep & the water’s so still
I’m scared that I might drown
So scared that I might drown
Come on down to the river
The road’s so hard and rough
If your head is clear and your hands are clean
Surely you can’t drown in love?
You can’t drown in love
I can’t go down to the river
I surely can’t go down
My soul is parched and my body aches
But I just know I’ll drown
I know I’ll surely drown
Come on down to the river
It tastes so sweet and cold
Come on down while there's still time
And wash the dust out of your soul
The dust out of your soul
We’ve got to get on down to the river
We have to learn to trust
Got to wash away all the doubt and fear
Before the whole darn world dries up
Before the world dries up
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David A. Harley England, UK
David Harley is a former professional musician, administrator, IT security editor, author and researcher, and former much else that is even less impressive. He now lives in Cornwall. More info at whealalice.com
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