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1. |
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Tonight (the sea is rich with rain)
©Michael O'Connell
Tonight
these dreams keep us alive
Tonight
let's take us for a ride
O glory me, O jealousy
your heart won't break
these paints can make
your eyes yellow or green
up the hill to cure your ill
don't box you in
I touch your skin
the sea is rich from rain.
Tonight
these dreams keep us alive
Tonight
and now we all can thrive
The bottle's full, no need to pull
this drink from me
I'll pour you see
another for my love
Tonight
these dreams keep us alive
Tonight
we're freaks and we survive
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2. |
chester
05:31
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Chester
©Tristan O'Malley
Chester is weird. He sits at the back of the class by
the fire escape and just stairs out the window.
He never has his homework done, so Mrs. Kaufman
yells. Sometimes he crys and sniffs his nose.
None of us kids like him, 'cause he's to small for
sports. At recess he stands alone. He stands out there
by the fence and starres across at he factories. I think
he has a bad life at home.
Chester stands alone and stares across the fence,
a fragile little boy with no hope of defence.
We all have Kodiaks, with rock hard steel toes, 'cause
our parents had the cash so we got 'em. But Chester
wears Cougars with floppy red tongues, and I think
maybe he has a medical problem.
It's not my fault if that's the way he is; if I go over
to his side they'll call me geek. This is Grade 7, and
you've got to be strong. They'll kill you here if they
see you're weak.
Last week his mother died (and God knows where
his father is), so they asked us not to tease him for a
week at school. He stood out there by the fence and
stared across at the factory and suddenly I felt like a
fool. He wasn't staring at the plant but at the birds
above, and very softly I heard him talking. He knew
all their names, big words in Latin, and when he saw
me he turned and started walking.
The birds they fly and they are free
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3. |
fake
05:06
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Fake
©Dave Withers
He walked from the road
said listen here I'm going on
said listen here I'm going on, on, on, on
She talked to the lord
said listen here I can't wait
and I'm bored
said listen here I can't fake anymore
He walked on the lawn
that somebody put the sign on,
cause every other sign
was always wrong
She took the needle from her arm
said I guess I didn't want to die
all along
I guess I really want to hear
a love song
I just can't fake anymore
Here I've been
Here I've been
Here I've been
I'm going on
I'm going on
I'm going
He talked to his son
said listen here I've made a decision
I've been to far from you
for too long
And I just can't fake anymore
I just can't fake anymore
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4. |
bird heaven
05:25
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Bird Heaven
©Nick Craine
I remember what it was like
The cool December night was crawling over those hills
We were dancing under a full moon
Your Papa left the house and you left with him
So you took your dress and your pretty things
You took your heart 400 miles away from me
Yeah I can take it, I'm sure it won't be the last
I got lots of friends here now to keep me hangin' on
So take a ride now baby. I don't need no one to fake my way
Just give me one thing girl before you hook your trailer down
Where do those birds go when they die
Yeah tomorrow is another day, another day in the trailer park
The leaves are turning again and the winter starts
So you're leaving down to Peterborough to stay
Your Papa's got some work down there, gonna pull you through
We were standing in an empty parking lot,
holding hands by the crosswalk sign
Yeah down by that street lamp, a little dead birdy lay
We put him in a shoebox under a pile of leaves.
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5. |
dragons
02:40
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6. |
la bête
03:54
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©Sheila Gruner
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7. |
bull
03:23
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Bull
©Michael O'Connell
Bull:
I'm El Toro on a good day
and Rush
I'm watching your legs speed
We must be rich
they want to bring us down
They wanna chop off my horns
and chew on my legs
my blood, your blood, my blood
This time
This time
This time
there ain't no confusion
this is one fat ass nation
Daniel:
My eyes have got a job to do
My mama done kicked my ass
and shined her shoes
She left me nothin' but years
to figure out
whose blame was whose.
This time
This time
This time
let's case the joint
Sweat:
Your hold is so immaculate
My genius loves my heart
It's all about the pumpin'
of the blood in the veins
I'm gonna pour my core
and bleed and sweat
and cry and push and shove.
This time.
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8. |
let gravity do its work
03:26
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Let Gravity do its Work
©Tristan O'Malley
digging
digging with a shovel
digging a hole in your front yard
Thought that I could do it
Thought that I could make it
I never thought the ground
could be so hard
Sometimes I want to sit back
and let gravity do it's work.
Breathing
are you breathing,
laughing, sighing?
I never hear from you anymore
so I'm digging six feet under
a hole in your front lawn
that you can't miss
when you walk out the door
and as it pulls me down,
who am I to argue?
one more prisoner with no will
I tried to float away,
and reach you in the heavens
it holds me down
and keeps me still
it holds me still and it keeps me
it keeps me still and it keeps...
it keeps me still and it...
it keeps me still and...
it keeps me still...
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9. |
unsuspecting angry woman
08:19
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Unsuspecting Angry Woman
©Michael O'Connell
This unsuspecting angry woman
asked for change
He reached into his pocket and he pulled out
all of his
silver
She said that's not what I mean, no
This unsuspecting angry woman
grabbed me by the shirt collar
she said "hey brother, what's this I hear
of a man who broke off his rib to make
me
in the days before fire?"
She wants to take back the night
She wants to take back the night
I read somewhere that a people
living in darkness will see
a certain light.
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10. |
the great escape
04:04
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11. |
kelly
03:16
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Kelly Like To Spin
©Dave Withers
There was some kind of siren off to the right
And she was out there dancing under the street light
This cotton thing going round and round
and the siren was the only sound
Kelly liked to dance beneath the light
Kelly liked to spin around in the night
It was the three of us that day
We were smokin cigarettes along the CNR track
It always seemed to be that way
It was me, Ed, and Kelly
when along came the midnight train
She saw a face in the second car window
She went off and she never came back again
Kelly liked to dance beneath the light
Kelly liked to spin around in the night
Kelly like to dance down the midnight track
but she never came back
And me and Ed we never said
Please Kelly won't you dance with me
I was never really strong enough to see how that might be
Please Kelly won't you dance with me
Ten years later me and Ed down in old T.O.
We see her dancing on a corner all alone
This cotton thing going round and round
And once again the siren was the only sound
She didn't really recognize me and Ed
but Ed still said
Please Kelly won't you dance with me.
Ed and Kelly in the night
Spinnin' on the corner underneath the street light
Kelly liked to dance beneath the light
Kelly liked to spin around in the night
Kelly like to dance down the midnight track
but she never came back
but she never came back
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12. |
baile
03:52
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Baile
©Sheila Gruner
El otoño, el otoño
el otoño y la primavera
se vive, se vive
se vive y se muere
se saben los colores
¿qué es esta guerra?
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13. |
mickey
04:33
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Mickey
©Kate Richmond
In a small black house by the railroad track
He lives alone and nobody minds him
I've never seen him free
When I'm out about he'll be there
Dead tree and a rusty chain
He lunges at me growling
I circle wide around, teeth gnashing, drooling, angry
And what makes one dog worth more than another?
A list of answers unfortunately.
And will he always be so unhappy?
Green meadows of childhood, those sweet green
meadows of childhood.
Who can blame him?
Now I don't know what it's like to be really cold
But I do know what it's like to be tied to a pole.
When I see him I cry
And as I walk away I set him free in my mind.
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14. |
wallflower
03:40
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Wallflower
©Dave Withers
Here on this wall
I get my fill
I live alone
I get my fill
Here on this wall
my flowers grow
my flowers bloom
here on this wall
And even if you said
that you make flowers bloom too
Even if you said
you'd take me out of this room
I would listen
but I would not go with you
I would go
but I would not know what to do
I'm afraid I would fall
I'm afraid I would stay
here on this wall
Here on this wall
I dance this step
I dance alone
I dance this step
And even if you said
you'd dance all these songs with me
Even if you said
you'd dance around the room with me
I would want to
but I would not dance with you
I would dance
but I would not know what to do
I'm afraid I would fall
I'm afraid I would stay
here on this wall
Here on this wall
my flowers grow
my flowers bloom
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15. |
kasupe
02:46
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traditional Malawian/ arrangement - Michael O'Connell
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Black Cabbage Guelph, Ontario
Black Cabbage are an eight-piece band from Guelph.
If you want ready-made comparisons try: Sly and the Family
Stone get picked up by The Band hitching along the 401; the Pogues challenge Parliament to ice hockey on a frozen lake in the Canadian Shield; Ani DiFranco and Michelle Shocked take David Lowery and Daniel Lanois out on a double date to see the Rheostatics and the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir.
... more
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