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1. |
When You Coming Home?
03:57
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Every morning when I wake up
I try to recall your face
If you don’t come home real soon
I will forget your taste
The lines in the dust
Are lighter than they used to be
And the footprints
Blow away all too easily
Do you still have that
Lock of hair of mine
Do you still have that lazy eyed stare
When a woman is crying
When you coming home
I have to choose between
Our dirty workers here
Just to keep from being
So lonely
Some of them are kind
Some are good lovers too
Some of them will hold me
But none of them are you
Do you still have that
Lock of hair of mine
Do you still have that lazy eyed stare
When a woman is crying
When you coming home
Who shall I love tonight
Who shall I love next time
Well there’s Peter and there’s Robbie
There’s Susan and little Tony
There’s Jane
And there’s Eury
Remember you have a son
Pencil marks on the door frame
Oh he’s gained a little height
Remember you have a wife
Who will hold me through the terrors at night
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2. |
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I know my mother was just another lover to you
But when the fighting stopped I saw another side to you
I guess the quiet life
A wife and a son
Was just a little too much action
I’ve been told you were
A loving man once
But I’m gonna have to
Take their word for it
Another day bashing
The dust from my legs
But not another word
From you yet
I’ve finished school
Kissed a girl
Learned to cook
Drive as well
Four harvests
A thousand bowls of gruel
I’ve grown so tired of hating you
Just come back
I need to know
Are you still alive or are you a cherry ghost
I’ve been told you were
A loving man once
But I’m gonna have to
Take their word for it
Another day bashing
The dust from my legs
But not another word
From you yet
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3. |
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Tears, heartache and sighs
Burning logs of juniper
Crackle in the fireplace
The flames dance and flicker and light up your face
I think tonight darling
We should talk for a while
My soul pours down my cheeks
Hits the ground and dies
Tears, heartache and sighs
Looking across the sea
With streaming eyes
You’re gonna find a man who loves you
And you’re gonna love him too
Tears, heartache and sighs
I am so thankful and my heart fills with gratitude
That you found me
Fed me
And gave me a bed too
But even as your tresses cascade down your face
I simply don’t love you
There’s just no-one that can take her place
Tears, heartache and sighs
Looking across the sea
With streaming eyes
You’re gonna find a man who loves you
And you’re gonna love him too
Tears, heartache and sighs
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4. |
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Eat the lotus now baby
Eat the lotus tonight
Eat the lotus now baby
Eat the lotus tonight
When you’re three hundred K’s from home
And you’re missing your sweet lady
You got heart that’s stretched around a wheel
But you don’t want to keep her waiting
Eat the lotus now baby
Eat the lotus tonight
Eat the lotus now baby
Eat the lotus tonight
It’s a mellow fruit honey sweet
And just what you know I need
Unscrew the bulb put the head on the door
Put your mind where your mouth is
Eat the lotus now baby
Eat the lotus tonight
Eat the lotus now baby
Eat the lotus tonight
Eat the lotus now baby
Eat the lotus tonight
Eat the lotus now baby
Eat the lotus tonight
Fellas do you know why I left
I’m still trying to remember
My sweet mother’s face appears
Apparently she’s somewhere near here
Gimme that leaf
That sweet relief
Again and again and again
Eat the lotus
Eat the lotus
Eat
Eat the lotus
She saved me once you know
Blood soaked the back of my hair
I was thrown against the wall
And a gun against my temple
She had a knife across his throat
That’s the war baby
Eat the lotus
Eat the lotus
Eat
Eat the lotus
And now hey I am pouring out of my skin
And I am a puddle
And the golden curtains yellow
The greens gave the blues my hand
And it’s got me on my knees in the sand
And it's pouring on my face and in my eyes and in my hair
Eat the lotus
Eat the lotus
Eat
Eat the lotus
She rubs me oil sleek with her braided tresses dangle gravy
Eat
Eat the lotus
Ease into the harbour with the pallor of vigour
Eat
Eat the lotus
She tame tiger mount my bed she cryer
Eat
Eat the lotus
Eat the lotus
Eat the lotus
Eat
Eat the lotus
And my companions on the journey
They stick their noses in the trough
And there’s squabbling
And there’s squealing
And there’s rolling in the mud
And my mighty sword is gleaming
And cuts down her magic wand
Eat the lotus
Eat the lotus
Eat
Eat the lotus
Woke in the afternoon
Velvet curtains
Crystal wine glass
Sandpaper mouth
I don’t recognise the room
But I remember what happened here
And I know she does too
My my braided lover
Commands me to kiss her with my lotus mouth
I had fun now woman
From what I remember
I had fun now woman
From the the things I remember
But now me and the devil walk side by side
Just to do what I came here for
She said baby you ate the lotus
Did it help you find your way
Baby you ate the lotus
Sometimes that helps you find your way
But all I had jackhammer in my head
And the kind of aching sadness
That I knew was here to stay
Eat the lotus now baby
Eat the lotus tonight
Eat the lotus now baby
Eat the lotus tonight
Eat the lotus now baby
Eat the lotus tonight
Eat the lotus now baby
Eat the lotus tonight
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5. |
Hold On, Don't Let Go
03:10
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I had to pay a ferryman
To take me up the river
Four days watching bodies float by
Just to go to see my mother die
She sat in the garden
Her hands on her lap
Said you remind me of my son
Haven’t seen him since before it all began
He was a man finding himself
I hope he’s done that now
And if we reunited
I would say to him
When you have what you need
Even if it wasn’t what you wanted
Reach out your hand
And hold on and don’t let go
And if you look into her eyes
And yet look over her shoulder
Hold on to her hand just a little longer
You might change your mind
My mother looked at me
Mottled paper skin
She smiled at the nurse
Took her medication
She said the nearness of death
Has a way of clarifying
But now that it is here
It is no less terrifying
When you have what you need
Even if it wasn’t what you wanted
Reach out your hand
And hold on and don’t let go
And if you look into her eyes
And yet look over her shoulder
Hold on to her hand just a little longer
You might change your mind
Reach out your hand
And hold on and don’t let go
And if you look into her eyes
And yet look over her shoulder
Hold on to her hand just a little longer
You might change your mind
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6. |
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[instrumental]
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7. |
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So you say you’re always tired
And your legs have lost their spring
There’s only so many ways to break your own heart
And still have something left
I knew you who you were the moment
I heard you close your eyes and sing
You need to leave us behind for your home
But there’s one thing you should do first
Mix the wine in the bowl
And hear what the heart has to say
If you won’t take this woman
Who looks at you with kindness in her eyes
Who moves through the fair
Life in her step and a beauty not yet touched
Then what awaits you must surely be worth
Soaking your clothes in tears
Come join us on the dance floor tonight
Sometimes that’s what you need
Mix the wine in the bowl
And hear what the heart has to say
Tomorrow I hope you will let
The rosy fingers of dawn awake you
There’s a boy who needs his dad
And a woman who awaits as well
It’s hard to watch you blindly
Moving through the fog of war
But tonight honeyed wine is fine
To slip it from your mind
Mix the wine in the bowl
And hear what the heart has to say
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8. |
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Late in the arvo about a quarter to three
I was sitting in Nighthawk’s in my usual seat
The man in the corner asked if I was satisfied
I said with what
He said life
I said who are you to speak so bold to a stranger
He said I’m not as strange as you may think
Last time you saw me
You were in the kitchen
I was walking away
You were standing at the sink
Oh father where have you been
You’ve missed the worst years of my life
He said I’ve shaken hands at fires all over the nation
I said yes
But you missed my graduations
He said I bested the one-eyed killer using my mind and my hands
I said you don’t understand
You may be my father but you don’t who I am
You want your lover
You’ll have to fight a dozen bad men
And if you die I am not sure who will care
Cos for people round here it’s just more news from nowhere
Oh father where have you been
You’ve missed the worst years of my life
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9. |
Blood In The Dust
03:40
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I don’t think I’m a good man but I’ve held my boy’s hand
As we crossed the road
I don’t think I’m a bad man but in certain situations
You find it necessary to ignore the blood in the dust
Well I opened the gate and drove up the long driveway
Coming home at last
After four harvests and a thousand bowls of gruel
And my boy was in the passenger seat but he was a man now
Ready to crucify me
Ready to deify me
And he told me of the men
Who waited for me in the farmyard
Picking at the bones of my good woman’s patience
And I can’t say I blame them
But it was time to come home
Time to come home to the
Blood in the dust
Hey you look who’s returned
Hey you blood in the dust
Hey you your fate is sealed
Hey you blood in the dust
I opened the Charger door
Set my foot upon the ground of my home
And that’s when I met the first blow to the back of my head
While my forehead hit the open door and I lay in the dust
As I met Penny for the first time
In the garden at her mother’s house
And she wiped her hands on her jeans and smiled
And my son was born and grew old
The first battle
The first time I killed
My mother in the garden and the lotus
And the blood soaked the back of my hair
Blood in the dust
Hey you look who’s returned
Hey you blood in the dust
Hey you your fate is sealed
Hey you blood in the dust
When I came to they’d already started the party without me
A little while later my boy Tele was emancipating
The cable ties on my hands when they saw us
I rubbed the wrists a few times stood
And made an experimental jab in the air to warm up
The first one came with a right hook and a wrench
I benched that wench and he took a sleep on a nearby svench
One two made a feint on three she made no complaint
Just stared at the ceiling
Tele made his mark his
Fists flew true
I could see him in the corner as I stood toe to toe with the last rat
Anitonus
Tried to knock me down with a stool
It was a prearranged provision, body punch with precision
Sack of potatoes in the dust
Unanimous decision
Hey you look who’s returned
Hey you blood in the dust
Hey you your fate is sealed
Hey you blood in the dust
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10. |
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I've waited to see you long enough
So let’s pour mellow wine into our cups
Gone are the last five years of yesterday
It's time to make the olive branches sway
Let's stamp our feet by the fire in the dust
And pour mellow wine into our cups
One day we should say what has been unsaid
But first let the olive branches sway
You wore the troubles in the lines of your smile
And in the heels of your boots but
I thought you were a good man
Who is this with bruised knuckles and a dusty brow
You have the same face
But are you the same man I saw five years ride away
I have felt the hands of many a man
But the strength in yours always remained
I've waited to see you long enough
So let’s pour mellow wine into our cups
Gone are the last five years of yesterday
It's time to make the olive branches sway
Let's stamp our feet by the fire in the dust
And pour mellow wine into our cups
One day we should say what has been unsaid
But first let the olive branches sway
I take no pleasure in icing my hand
Stacking them by the door wasn’t my plan
I came back to see if you would let me
Make new lines in the dust for you to see
At night do you still walk side by side
With the devil in the silent streets
Cos I can reach out and feel for your hand
And together we can ride those streets again
I've waited to see you long enough
So let’s pour mellow wine into our cups
Gone are the last five years of yesterday
It's time to make the olive branches sway
Let's stamp our feet by the fire in the dust
And pour mellow wine into our cups
One day we should say what has been unsaid
But first let the olive branches sway
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The Holy Rollercoasters Brisbane, Australia
Inspired by the masters of rhythm and blues, the ecstasy and tragedy of love and the beauty and gothicism of the bible. Performed by non-religious soul, blues and jazz-worshipping Brisbanites. It shall be wild and you shall snap your fingers and wiggle your hips. And ye shall be healed. ... more
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