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Winter in the city of Vancouver
It’s brutal if you don’t have some steady pay
And any working hours you’ve gained
Don’t help to ease the pain
Of living on the edge day after day
Winter in the city of Vancouver
Hail and sleet are flaying me alive
Cos the ragged clothes I wear
Let in more than I can bear
It’s an endless daily struggle to survive
Going south from Lions Gate to Granville Island
Going east from English Bay to Coquitlam
I’m seeking work to get me through to summer
If the job’s well done, press some dollars in my hand
Coyotes snapping at my heels as I walk through Stanley Park
I sure don’t care to find out if their bite is worse than their bark!
My coffee’s cold in my two-year-old disposable Starbucks cup
I fear my hopes are so far down there’s no way to pull them up!
Winter in the city of Vancouver
Christmas snow, the first in many years
As I tramp through dirty slush
My face a cold, red flush
I brush away my bitter icy tears
Going south from Lions Gate to Granville Island
Going east from English Bay to Coquitlam
If I knock upon your door, give me whatever chore
And if the job’s well done, press some dollars in my hand
Going south from Lions Gate to Granville Island
Going east from English Bay to Coquitlam
Boss man says "Just a day, then on your way, son"
But at least I get some dollars in my hand
Winter in the city of Vancouver
A city that I love and love to hate
I’m looking for some heat,
And something good to eat
Nothing more, for now at any rate
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Aunque sea esto lo último que escriba…. ¡No voy a rendirme!
(Even if this is the last thing I write... I'm not going to give up!)
In the freezer of my fridge
Waits an impression of my teeth
To identify my mutilated remains
If they hear you’re asking questions
See their names in big bold captions
There’s a deadly bullet waiting with your name …….. your name
Caught in the crosshairs of a nation at war
Trying to tell a story with one eye on the door
If they don’t like what you’re saying
You’d better get to praying
Cos only God could be your savior … now
Caught in the crosshairs of a nation at war
I’m married to death,
Hand in hand we stalk the street
The camera clicks to capture the grisly trail
I try to find humanity
In this crazy, cruel insanity
I can’t tell if I succeed or if I fail …….. if I fail
Caught in the crosshairs of a nation at war
Trying to tell a story with one eye on the door
If they don’t like what you’re saying
You’d better get to praying
Cos only God could be your savior … now
Caught in the crosshairs of a nation at war
I’ve lost so many friends and colleagues
Shot or stabbed or hacked to pieces
By cops or gunmen from the narco
Leaving stains like scarlet day-glo
Craven silence in high places
Bought by money with no traces
No justice for those brave cold corpses
Lost in hard rain down in Juárez
Lost in hard rain down in Juárez
Lost in hard rain down in Juárez
Caught in the crosshairs of a nation at war
Trying to tell a story with one eye on the door
If they don’t like what you’re saying
You’d better get to praying
Cos only God could be your savior … now
Caught in the crosshairs of a nation at war
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Woke up this morning, (least I think it was;
it’s hard to tell out here in Space)
And looked at photos of the Earth way back when
All blues and greens and a happy face
That home today is stormy grey
Hot as hell, cold as clay
Stuck inside a tin can just like “Major Tom”
We seek a new world where we can all belong
Sailing out upon “Hope of Humanity”
To places only fate would make us dare … to go
Sailing out into the great expanse
To find and build a home out in a galaxy … and know
We’re there to stay … there is no elsewhere x2
On a journey longer than our lives
Where decades form one endless year
I stare at the dark and quiet immensity
All I sense is death, somber and severe,
no safe haven near
Sailing out upon “Hope of Humanity”
To places only fear would make us dare … to go
Sailing out into the great expanse
To find and build a home out in a galaxy … and know
We’re there to stay … there is no elsewhere x2
Woke up this morning, (the stardial says it is)
And thought about my parents back on Earth
It’s sad to think that I’m as good as dead to them
I wonder about our sacrifice … and what it’s worth
Sailing out upon “Hope of Humanity”
To places only faith would make us dare … to go
Sailing out into the great expanse
To find and build a New Jerusalem … and know
We’re there to stay … there is no elsewhere
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4. |
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Lyrics
My father died when I was young and wild
We were three, I was the second child
Never felt he loved me enough, that deepened the blow
Death left its mark, a somber undertow
Being second often means you feel second best
You don’t feel at home, more like a houseguest
They don’t buy you the bike, you have to run behind
It’s hard to overcome what this does to your mind
When you’re …
Second, in a race that you didn’t plan to run
Second, in a space where there’s only room for one
Second every year of your life in this town
Don’t wait to be first ‘til you’re down in the ground …and
Second! Second! Second! Second! Always …
Second! Second! Second! Second! Always second!
When mother remarried, I ran away from home
Searching for a place where I could make it on my own
Where my name meant nothing to the folks there at all
And no older brother that they would recall
But I still feel …
Second, in a race that I didn’t plan to run
Second, in a space where there’s only room for one
Second all my life in this or that town
Fated to be second ‘til I’m down in the ground …and
Second! Second! Second! Second Always …
Second! Second! Always a second thought!
If father had lived, would I have made it to first?
Become the golden girl of this small universe?
Doesn’t matter much now, ‘cos you’re a big, big star
If your father had lived, would you have got this far? This far?
This far? D’ya still think you’re …
Second, in a race that you didn’t plan to run?
Second, in a space where there’s only room for one?
Second every year of your life in this town?
I won’t wait to be first ‘til I’m down in the ground …and
Second! Second! Second! Second! No more …
Second!! Second! Second! Second! No more …
Second (second) Second (second) Second (second) Second (second) No more …
Second (second) Second (second) Second (second) Second!
Only first!!
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London at daybreak
Brings with it heartache
I’ve got to leave you now
Cold on a corner
I won’t be warmer
Until my bus again comes round
And I’m heading out of town
Oh my days! My London days
Flats with their patch of green
Grey sky squeezed in between
Freezing rain begins to fall
Looking over my shoulder
Lost sight of my corner
On the A24 passing Balham Hill
The bus is warm but I feel a … chill
Oh my days! We’re parting ways
I’ll miss this city, vast, grey and gritty
Hushed now in morning haze
My London days! How will time play …
Tricks on my memories of friends and families?
And stories of our yesterdays?
My London days … My lost London days
Oh my days! We’re parting ways
I’ll miss this town
But my spirit’s not down
I’m far from the smoggy haze
My London days! How will time play …
Tricks on my memories of friends and families?
And stories of our yesterdays?
My London days … My lost London days
My London days! How will time play …
Tricks on my memories of friends and families?
And stories of our yesterdays?
My London days … My London days … My lost London days
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All the songs in this collection center around urban areas, whether the name of the place is mentioned or not, whether the town or city is on Earth, or comes in the form of the caustrophobic urban entity of a generational spaceship, as it does in the song "There Is No Elsewhere".
“Cities were always like people, showing their varying personalities to the traveler. Depending on the city and on the traveler, there might begin a mutual love, or dislike, friendship, or enmity. Where one city will rise a certain individual to glory, it will destroy another who is not suited to its personality. Only through travel can we know where we belong or not, where we are loved and where we are rejected.”
― Roman Payne, Cities & Countries
"I think all songs should have weather in them, names of towns and streets ... Every song needs certain ingredients to be balanced. You’re writing a song and you need a town and you look out the window and you see St. Louis Cardinals on some kid’s t-shirt. You said, okay, we’ll use that."
― Tom Waits
