1. |
Magpies
04:24
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Over all that’s left of your father’s land you stand there looking on
waiting on the bottom of the bottle to run dry
Hoping we can finally recognise all these magpies picking off
all the little pieces that their parents left behind
before it’s all gone
Underneath the haze from the burning swath cut by our father’s hand
scraping at the bottom of the barrel one last time
Thinking that we’ve finally come to see we’re the magpies picking at
all the shiny pieces that our parents left behind
before it’s all gone
When the bones have been laid bare
They’ve picked them over for the last time
Fly on there’s fields ahead
They’ll tide us over for a little while
Through the rolling hills of these fading years where no one said enough
all these empty offerings just more of the same kind
Till the day we wake and rise to see they are magpies picking up
all the broken pieces that we’re leaving them behind
but it’s all gone
Gone
They said we could have it all
They said it’s not that far to fall
It’s not that far to fall
Like they said, you can have it all
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2. |
Viceroy's Daughter
04:22
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The Viceroy’s Daughter – The Fea Street Hustle
Well the dawn it broke with the falcon’s cry
In the valley below a coach train crawling by
With dreams of women, wealth and fame
I steadied my hand and on the driver set my aim
Well the bead was drawn and the hammer cocked
Till the morn was split with a crack as the hammer dropped
And there I froze at the frightful yell
Of the viceroy’s daughter as from her seat she fell
Now I wait in this tavern cold
Cower in the corner like Captain Flint of old
And I worry who will find me first
The law or the Lord or her broken mother’s curse
In my dreams she taunts me so
In the dead of the night with no place else to go
She screams “you will pay your due
When the bullet that took my daughter rests in you”
And on that wooded hill in the dead of night
The muzzle cold in my back and my soul in fright
My hands they shook in her icy grip
As these words fell down like knives from her icy lips
“Before I send you to meet the Lord, for he to assign your place in the evermore
I wanna see you cower in the face off the specters a’howlin
Around my daughter’s grave
Her grave”
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3. |
The Raceman's Wife
06:35
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Well the ship made port, and by the hand he led her
Said “darling, let’s take the next stage coach
and head up central to the Blue Spur
up to where the miners go
and there I’ll build a dam and feed water to the men who break the land
and we’ll build home
and maybe raise a family who’ll call this land their own”
So the raceman’s wife went walking
through the golden daffodils
through the bluebells and the sycamore trees
on that lonely broken hill
In the dark she lay there waiting
with a fire in her eyes
“My darling please come crashing into my arms tonight”
But the days they soon grew shorter, the winter came on strong
soon came a baby daughter but the timing was all wrong
as the money from the Great Extended Company dried up
left them out in the cold
he knew their only hope then lay in a shining seam of gold
She said “My love we both know well that if you go down in that hole
you’re never coming back”
He said “you know that if I don’t love you’re gonna die here cold and sad,
cold and sad”
So the raceman’s wife went walking
through the fading daffodils
through the bluebells and the sycamore trees
on that lonely broken hill
In the dark you’ll hear her wailing
That mournful anguished cry
“My darling please come riding back into my arms tonight”
And down there in that deep dark hole
he meet an ugly fate
now she will be forever cursed
cursed to wait
And the raceman’s wife’s still walking
through those faded daffodils
through the bluebells and the sycamore trees
on that lonely broken hill
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4. |
Came to Take Her
03:29
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Came to Take Her – The Fea Street Hustle
She was born in the middle of the night
as the full moon winter threw a dead light
on her dark eyes and her shimmering curls
the fire fading and the cloths unfurled
They came to take her home
came to take her little body home
She was born in the middle of the night
with a dark cloud growing on the skyline
through black eyes and the shivering cold
she saw their little bodies down far below
They came to take her home
came to take her broken body home
She would float through the room and we’d all fall quiet
Fall to whispering as soon as she’d passed on by
waiting for morning time
She was born in the middle of the night
with a cold wind blowing down the valley and a fading light
And she floats through the room as we all fall quiet
Fall to whispering as soon as she’s passed on by
waiting for morning time
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5. |
Coming Home
03:12
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Coming Home – The Fea Street Hustle
Well the pentecostal preacher cries
this world is surely coming to and end
And the economic forecaster says
we got some darkness up ahead
And the market speculator is telling everyone to hedge their bets
While the sporting commentator said
the Villa lost to Liverpool again
And there’s not much in these times that I could say that I know
but I know I love you and I’ll be coming home
Now the global climate scientist’s got everybody shitting in their pants
and the industrial deniers all telling us consume it while you can
There are faiths and there’s religions
there are truths and there are fictions so I’m told
My heads full of contradictions and it’s got me feeling like I’m getting old
And there’s not much in these times that I could say that I know
but I know I love you and I’ll be coming home
Yes I’ll be coming home
I’ll be coming home
Yes I’ll be coming home
I’ll be coming home
I’ll be coming home
And there’s not much in these times that I could say that I know
But I know I love you
and I’ll be coming home
Yes I’ll be coming
Yes I’ll be coming home
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6. |
Hallelujah Child
05:48
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Hallelujah Child – The Fea Street Hustle
I recall you walking me in trees and streams and fields
when I was just a little boy
Now I’ve been walking in this desert for so long
I wonder if I’d even recognise your voice
If you spoke
If you called out my name
What if I broke your fragile heart again
Just to hear you cry
And I still see the long blonde hair rolling down your face
when you were just a little girl
We’d play for hours in the creek down at the bottom of the yard
lost off in our own little world
Where did you go
that tried to lay your heart to waste
I need to let you know
that I’m still hoping for a time and a place
when they’ll say
Hallelujah, child come home
don’t waste another day
we saved a seat here with your name
there’s a prayer for you to pray
You and me it seems we’ve both walked different roads
hoping that they’ll reach the same end
What if those roads would cross and we’d stand face to face
I wonder would you look at me
as a stranger or a friend
Where did you go
that tried to lay your heart to waste
I need to let you know
that I’m still hoping for a time and a place
where they’ll say
Hallelujah, child come home
don’t waste another day
we saved a seat here with your name
and there’s a prayer for you to pray
When the choir
Hallelujah, child so sweet
will sing with us the songs
that we’ve carried in our hearts
since the days out on Church Street
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7. |
High Society Woman
03:02
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High Society Woman – The Fea Street Hustle
Well she’s fifteen years your senior and she lives like a queen
but she don’t let that come between you boy you’re living the dream
She got forty pairs of heels for every little black dress
She pays for all your drinks and meals and you don’t protest
your high society woman
Well she found you serving drinks at the country club
she said “boy come on over here now would you give me a hug”
you said “I’m off in an hour and I got no place to go”
she said “well come on home with me boy, let me show you
a high society woman”
Well she gets what she wants but she’s always wanting more
You’ll be out on your arse just as soon as she gets bored
She’s fifteen years your senior and she lives like a queen
but she don’t let that come between you boy you’re living the dream
She got forty pairs of heels for every little black dress
She pays for all your drinks and meals and you don’t protest
your high society woman
your high society love
your High society woman
your high society love
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8. |
Fairweather
06:59
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Fairweather – The Fea Street Hustle
He bid his love farewell
kissed his sleeping child
rode out into the cold night
He reached the field by dawn
where the Captain who’d assembled all the men of poverty bay said
We’ve made all our demands, yet all they do is sit there, reading the bible and singing the psalms
But they’re not the Israelites, the Babylon he speaks of was just those eastward islands
The crown must be the judge of who shall be a priest
and who shall be a prophet
and who’ll be granted deed to fields for the farming and forests for to fell
So today’s the day we ride, for God and king and country
You haven’t much to fear
By tonight
you’ll be home in the arms of your wives
with your children all sleeping in peace
for today you’ll secure their lives
and your dreams
Cross-legged on the beach
among the shells and baskets
the bounty of the seas
She heard the prophet preach
of exile and redemption
of a river and a foreign land
She’d been here in her dreams
the fantail through the window spoke of things unseen
With a shiver down her spine she saw horses on the hill
and a storm on the horizon
And she wept
for she knew well the folly of men
that the old ways would come to an end
and she knew they would not come again
so she wept
A pistol at his hip
a musket and a sabre
a blade as yet to drip
White knuckles on the reigns
the captain’s orders ringing
pulsing in his veins
Below him on the beach
she drew her baby closer
said child you must flee
Go by the forest and the stream
the mountain he will guide you
you mustn’t look to me anymore
And with the horses bearing down
the thunder of the future shaking in the ground
She stood staring on, he could see her calling
till she was screaming out
As she lay
and she lay
where she fell
And I swear that I
hear her crying out
I heard that mournful sigh
in the wind in the trees that night
She’s waiting for the time
when her prophet sends his sign
When her prophet sends his sign
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9. |
Bigger Than Both of Us
06:27
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Bigger than both of us – The Fea Street Hustle
When all was just an endless sea
darkness over the face of the deep
and over the water a spirit starting to breath
Deep, deep down in the belly of the earth
bent, buckled, broken and burned
I was birthed out of the fury and the fire of a passionate love
Over infinite time, through infinite night
I wrestled my way up toward the light
just short of the prize there I gave up the fight, and lay still
There I stayed over time unknown
I saw species of giants all come and go
as I was formed in the wind and the water and the driving snow
So I rose and I fell then I rose again
thrown kicking and screaming into the air
till the rains carried me down and laid me to rest
As I lay and I slept there I gathered my strength
drawing it up with my every breath
from the body beneath me holding me in my sleep
And I awoke as the earth brought forth
sounds and scents and colours and warmth
and people came travelling far-flung from distant shores
And one day came an honest man
I gave myself up into his calloused hands
he took me and shaped me, released from the hold of the land
I was there
when the night came in
I remained
daylight cut through again
And I was there when Adam and Eve went wrong
I was there when Maui slowed down the sun
I’ll remain long after this world is dead and gone
I way heavy on your chest and I’m close to your heart
guiding you on down that rocky path
over mountains and oceans you’ll hear me calling you home
as I say
Don’t fight me
I’m stronger than memories past
I’m older than unseen stars
and I’m bigger than both of us
Don’t fight me
I’m stronger than memories past
I’m deeper than unseen scars
and I’m bigger than both of us
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10. |
Where You Are
05:34
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Where you are – The Fea Street Hustle
Now the last bus has left me
out here on my own
in this cold, grey city
wishing I was at home
I sit down in a doorway
on this dark empty street
as ticket stubs and cigarette papers
swirl round at my feet
And I go
far off in my mind
to where you are
Now the night comes crawling
and the day it is dead
I hear my home country calling
small voice in my head
As the city is sleeping
I lie awake
impatiently waiting
for a new day to break
So I go
far off in my mind
to where you are
Now the leaving’s not easy
and it only gets worse
with all the sweet things you tell me
are they a blessing or curse
If there’s some other way lord
would you please take this cup
for my soul it has left me
I gotta go catch it up
So I’ll go
far off in my mind
to where you are
Yeah I’ll go
far off in my mind
to where
my mind to where you are
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