1. |
|
|||
|
Footsteps on the cold ground
Lead straight to your door
And the birds in my tangled tree
Sing of love but call to war
Beautiful birds are not meant to be caged
You should have been true to your wings
You should have flown away
So left my tangled tree
That once bore strong branches and leaves of green
But how cruel and inevitable the passing of time can be
This tangled tree
Watched every inch of its majesty fade
With fall of every leaf
It always seemed to call me
The crooked stoop, the bend and swoop
Of its complicated beauty
They cut it up to burn it down
Bright lights rise out and over the fire
|
||||
2. |
Only Me Only
02:23
|
|
||
|
Live on the turn of the tide
Ever to burrow but never to hide
Always the tears in the edge of my eyes
Delivering truth of the live and let lie
Rivers that never run dry
Fed from this bleeding heart of mine
Suffer the scratching thorn in my side
Ever the itching of precious pride
Lament of the lonely
The lost all along
Only me only can carry them on
This heart is so heavy I wish I was strong
Only me only the only one
The left of the living
In suffering song
The weft of the weaving, perceiving it strong
The burning and stinging in heat from the sun
Forever in turning for never undone
The tide in the morning is nearly gone
Its lilting and leaving till back it comes
The birds are all winging the dawn is done
It’s only me singing the only one
|
||||
3. |
It Would Not Be Rose
03:15
|
|
||
|
If it were a flower
It would not be a rose
And if it were a bird
Would be fast on wings away from home
And if it were a tree
Down in the deep dark its roots would be
But if it were a flower
It would not be a rose
If it were a room
Would be one with corners lost in gloom
And if it were a song
Would be sung with a slow and plaintive tune
And if it were a face
Would contain a sadness you couldn’t place
But if it were a flower
It would not be a rose
If it were the sea
Would rise-up, swell and swallow me
And if it were my heart
Would fill up full and fall apart
And if it were the ground
Would pull me in without a sound
But if it were a flower
It would not be a rose
|
||||
4. |
Ghost Light
04:14
|
|
||
|
Open my mouth to speak
Nothing comes out
I don’t want you
To think that I don’t want you
We’re all afraid of the dark
We all believe ours is the weakest heart
I don’t want you
To think that I don’t want you
But nothing I could say
Would save the fading stars so far away
I want to think that love conquers all
I want to say that hope helps at all
I don’t want you
To think that I don’t want you
There’s a breaking in the beating of my heart
Can’t bear to watch the world fall apart
I don’t want you
To think that I don’t want you
Whatever I could say
Would it be the light from stars that already died away
|
||||
5. |
Silverline
03:09
|
|
||
|
For a long time now I’ve wanted to say
Something to lighten your load, brighten your day
But there aren’t the words for the colours I see
The patterns the change won’t stay the same
And somehow my view is always imbued with melancholia hues
At dusk and at dawn
Moments to wonder but somehow to mourn
These moments they pass to never return
Melt into nostalgia as my memory yearns
For each pound of joy there’s an ounce of regret
If the sun rises you know it will set
So I’m taking it down to tuck it away
Saving some sunshine for my rainy day
And I’m trying to find that silverline
That runs through the clouds that collect in my skies
|
||||
6. |
Bells Ring
02:27
|
|
||
|
Our love is a pendulum swing
We are two bells with alternate rings
In the sequence of high and low
You’ll be the other side of wherever I go
Forever repeating
The only tune you know
The other side of whatever I know
Never resolving
Hanging in the air
A pendulum swinging
My here, your there
Our love is like bells ring, bells ring
Sweet and sad
The pull of the longing, longing, longing
Is all we have
|
||||
7. |
Something Familiar
02:25
|
|
||
|
It was something familiar
Like the sound of the sea
I forgot I remembered
Like some lost part of me
It was only a flicker
It was barely a trace
Only there for a second and then gone from your face
Like the wayward tide still tethered to the shore
The thought just pulled me back to before
I wouldn’t say I was lonely
But I know we’re alone
And my mind clings to memory like a heart to home
Reflections at sundown can make me so sad
For there’s no way of keeping the day we’ve just had
|
||||
8. |
|
|||
|
Like morning dew frozen where it fell
If you longed for love little you could tell
Is it just the birds and the blues of the wintertime
Is it just the birds and the blues?
It draws you down back under its spell
And it churns you and turns the pearl out from the shell
Is it just the birds and the blues of the wintertime
Is it just the birds and the blues?
You try to take some sunlight for this side
But you cannot break the turning of the tide
Is it just the birds and the blues of the wintertime
Is it just the birds and the blues?
Is it just the birds and the blues
|
||||
9. |
Homemade Heartache
04:01
|
|
||
|
I’ve a heartache, it’s something that I make
And no matter what I take it won’t go away
For it’s like I need it and somehow believe in it
And it keeps me going, along the wrong way
Yeah it’s my hard homemade heartache that keep me awake
And I should release you but I still hold on to
So sure I can feel you slipping away
And then all my racing will turn into chasing
With all fires a blazing till it’s all burned away
Yeah it’s my hard homemade heartache that keeps you away
But I’ll learn my lesson no amount of aggression
No pushing and pressing will get you to stay
I just hope that you want to and feel you belong to
Someone who wants you everyday
And hope that my hard homemade heartache
Won’t scare you away
And hope that my hard homemade heartache
Won’t scare you away
|
||||
10. |
Chicago
03:42
|
|
||
|
It’s lucky I learned young
You’ve got to turn the other cheek
I knew before I had begun
I’d have to earn the right to speak
It’s not Chicago’s fault that no one came to see me play
It’s not the rain that ruined the parade
The cookie’s gonna crumble and money’s gonna burn
So make your peace with failure, a lesson that you learn
You’re gonna look foolish as the sun is in the sky
Some if it is painful and you’re gonna have to try
But you wouldn’t trade it for all that glitters gold
You only went and made it despite what you were told
It’s not Chicago’s fault that no one came to see my show
You sing the best you can and then you let it go
That cookie’s gonna crumble and money’s gonna burn
You make your peace with failure, an early lesson that you learn
You’re gonna look foolish as the sun is in the sky
Some if it is painful and you’re gonna have to try
But you wouldn’t trade it for all they’d offer you
You sing and play and make things for that is all that you can do
|
||||
11. |
Things I Didn't Need
03:50
|
|
||
|
That song plays and my heart actually aches
I need a guarantee
Though I detailed all the things I didn’t need
And turns out I’m weaker than I would care to seem
Come to me this is enough
Before I turn my head and it disappears to dust
What have you done to me, what will this do?
Now I cannot think of anything but you
That song plays and my heart actually aches
I need a guarantee
And it turns out there’s weaker man in me
And his need more than I would have believed
Come to me this is enough
Though I cannot give you anything but love
What have you done to me what can I do?
To show you I’m the only one for you?
Come to me this is enough
Though I cannot give you anything but love
What have you done to me how can I be?
The only man that you will need?
|
||||
12. |
Bathed In Light
03:14
|
|
||
|
There’s a ringing in my ears
There’s a taste tart on my tongue
There’s a weight to the tears
As my heart takes the air from my lungs
As the light in my eyes
Shines on all I thought I’d disguised
I’m so scared I’m not brave
What in me am I trying to save?
And you say you want to be bathed in light
There’s a doubt in my mind
I’m the one that will get left behind
That I’ll write every day, but no one cares to hear what I say
That I’ll stand and I’ll sing but no one will be moved to join in
That I’ve lost all I’ve got, all it was that it turns out I’m not
And you say you want to be bathed in light
Yeah, you say you want to be bathed in light
It’s too late to go back now my destiny’s tied to this track
I’ve no love nor nought else an end of this is no start of myself
I’m too old, I can’t change, I’ve no life made to be rearranged
I don’t know what I’d do, just die dreaming of singing to you
And you say you want to be bathed in light
Yeah, you say you want to be bathed in light
|
||||
13. |
Anyone But Me
03:01
|
|
||
|
I’d go back if I could
Take you down and bury you in the woods
Steal your past and erase it if I could
Don’t think I wouldn’t, I would
For how dare you love anyone but me
How could you love anyone but me
Like a captive I would keep you chained
Keep every moment in every single day
And every person who’s ever meant a thing to you
I’d erase them that’s what I would I do
For how dare you love anyone but me
How could you love anyone but me
And this madness what am I thinking of?
So destructive for my love
I’m a coward and I’m trying not to scream
“oh you traitor what have you done to me?”
For how dare love anyone but me
How could you love anyone but me
And I’ve seen you laughing in the light
I see it over and over every night
And it’s torture to think of you with them instead
And it hurts no less for being only in my head
For how dare love anyone but me
How could you love anyone but me
|
||||
14. |
I Never Learned French
01:40
|
|
||
|
I never learned French
Like I said I would
Never returned your call
That book you gave me is still on the shelf
I forgot about others and remembered myself
I worried my parents when I didn’t come home
To scared and to lazy to pick up the phone
And I’ve sung the tune and forgotten the words
And I let love languish and others be hurt
|
||||
15. |
Done
03:50
|
|
||
|
I've been mining for gold
But only finding tin, glinting in the sun light
Now it is leaving dirt in my hands like only the truth can
Maybe I am done, done, done
So please don’t look at me, no more
Your eyes burn like the sun
Oh now I am done, done, done
To you I’m a strange girl
An adorable fool
Who's full to the brim of nothing you need
Is my sincerity such a surprise
Cause you just don’t find it nowhere, no more?
Be honest with yourself
You can't forget me ‘cause I’m like nobody else
But you don’t know what to make of me
I am just too much
But somehow not enough
So please don’t stare at me, no more
Your eyes burn like the sun
And oh how I’m done, done, done
Yes I am a strange girl
An adorable fool
And full to the brim of nothing you need
|
||||
16. |
Workhorse
03:22
|
|
||
|
I think it was a Tuesday
It was dark
There was something that I needed
But I couldn’t ask
Cos I don’t know how to love me
The way that I should
But lately I’ve been learning
I don’t have to be good
I don’t have to earn
I can be
I’m not your workhorse
Or your busy bee
And I won’t be your cash cow
Now I will be the one
If I’m making money
Then I want some
I think it was the lying
And how it felt
I tired of the standards
Applied to nobody else
I am going to love me
The way that you should
Lately I’ve been learning
That I could
I don't have to earn it
I can be
I don't have to give you things
You don't give me
I don't have to carry everyone
If I'm going to give love
Then I want some
I think it was a Tuesday
It was dark
If there's something that I need now
I will ask
|
||||
17. |
|
|||
|
Words were never the answer
Resplendently recondite they are
It’s just a way to tolerate the universal pain of simply living
A smouldering sun over a swelling sea
Upon my tongue in adequate poetry
Now somehow belongs to me
Thought I could write it off, stop the sky falling
What could I control?
But I know now how little words hold
Imaginary meaninglessly lovely
Summarily succinctly all I know
Which words to let go
|
||||
Josienne Clarke Scotland, UK
Songwriter/Singer 'Onliness (songs of solitude & singularity)'
Out 14.4.23 on Corduroy Punk Records
If you like Josienne Clarke, you may also like:
A Dark Murmuration of Words
by Emily Barker
supported by 58 fans who also own “Onliness (songs of solitude & singularity)”
Just excellent in everyway X
go to album
supported by 42 fans who also own “Onliness (songs of solitude & singularity)”
Love the complexity of this track and the rising and falling of the violins, and the texture. Makes me want to dance. Thank you so much for this album. I really love it, and find it really inspiring my own work on the Witchcraft Trials ❤️
go to album
Flight Path Rhymes
by Emily Barker
supported by 41 fans who also own “Onliness (songs of solitude & singularity)”
I love these alternative versions of the 'Murmuration' songs. The stripped down instrumentation creates an intimite vibe, while the poem intertwines them into a concept-like album. As a result, this is a new album that stands out on its own and that is more than just a complement to 'Murmuration'. 'Ordinary' already was a beautiful song, yet 'Extraordinary' adds something extra for me. And because the piano intro somehow calls up some recognition. Another beautiful album by Emily Barker!
go to album
Once Upon A Time In Montréal
by Murray A. Lightburn
The folk artist explores grief through these smooth and soulful tracks.
go to album
featured on Bandcamp Radio Dec 6, 2022
go to album
Better By Now
by Brooke Annibale
The indie-pop artist reflects on love and anxiety on her latest album.
go to album
Doubts Run Out
by 2PrivateMatters
supported by 40 fans who also own “Onliness (songs of solitude & singularity)”
go to album
