1. |
As Per Nightly
04:57
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As per nightly
I’m into the rough
I’m into the rough
One kingdom enough
I look out to
This typical crowd
Your topical mouth
I’ll pick up your glass
And as I look up
I see one million fractals
And as I breathe out
This house just gets so dark now
And as I stand up
Not drinking any water
Or blinking like I ought to
So I’ll just sit down
As per nightly
I lit up the path
Dug bricks in the yard
One week is a month
My back curves in
These pictures too much
The silicon rush
One kingdom enough
And as I look up
I see one million fractals
And as I breathe out
This house just gets so dark now
And as I stand up
Not drinking any water
Or blinking like I ought to
So I’ll just sit down
Sometimes I just pretend
that I am new upon this city
What are these people doing?
I mean what are they doing really?
I open up some folders and then
I close them down again
And I watch these people toiling
Making junk mail
And then I guess
I’ll go out to the kitchen
The entire house is listening
To whatever noise I’m making
I pour myself some water and
then I close it down again
And I wonder if I should be
making junk mail
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2. |
Fingers
06:16
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Fingers are moving
There’s an old bee dying in the grass
I keep forgetting that you cut me up
There’s an old brown dog
Chasing tennis balls across the park
And everybody else has gone to work
I might keep improving
Or I might just keep dying in the arse
I keep forgetting that you cut me up
And it’s all gone quiet
And I’m leaning back and
studying the ground
And everybody else has gone to work
Sitting in a pile with my
head shut down
Suck it in slow with
a hand on the ground
Sitting in a pile in a fit state I
Suck it in slow as an old bee dies
The warm sun is soothing
I’m the only one around that I can see
I keep forgetting that you cut me up
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3. |
A Curious Night
03:50
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What a curious night
You do not know me
And I never ate more pie
And someone stole your key
Now this party is over
It’s just gone 2:30
Just the three of us now
Look at how we clean
Your hands are in the sink
And I’m putting back chairs
Then finally he goes
The exit down the stairs
And I can see some stars
From your balcony
And I can see my car
Parked across the street
It’s just gone 5am
Wide awake my mind
It will be light soon
Soft under your blind
And you don’t check your phone much
You must feel so free
Lucky I made some effort
Or you might have missed me
And now I’m heading east
Yeah I’m driving back home
And all you suckers
Yeah I know where you go
I throw down some breakfast
I am swaying with the trees
I’m exhausted and reckless
Now I can’t get to sleep
Emily jammed her finger
She had lost some skin
Your friend was making pastry
But she then went home sick
And Tony bailed you up
Right down there on the street
And Tony crashed his car
He just wanted to be me
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4. |
Astound
05:11
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When I’m singing on stage
I never look at anyone
I would never lock eyes at the risk
of losing my tongue
But I’m not sure if you saw me
throw some glances your way
As my guitar quietly died
in the Supper Room that day
On the way back to the campsite
and I saw you again
And all I could say is
“Hey, you look just like my friend”
Now that’s a seriously pathetic excuse for a line
But it was all that I could think of
at that point in time
So I just spat it out, before I went
and changed my mind
You were astounding
And I was a boy
And out in the main street
You’re spinning your poi
But I can be a man sometimes
And yes I fell for you
I have tried everything
But I cannot astound you
Papa Chango blew the roof off
the Drill Hall that night
It was so hot inside that the roof was on fire
Or maybe it was the way
that you just lit up the floor
And the hipflask went around
and my mind went to war
So we sat and told stories
in the community garden
With some Stones ginger wine
and a bagful of almonds
And the moon lit the clouds up
and the hours just vanished
And suddenly I wished
that I’d learnt to speak Spanish
And suddenly I wished
I was really good at this
You were astounding
And I was a boy
And out in the main street
You’re spinning your poi
But I can be a man sometimes
And yes I fell for you
I have tried everything
But I cannot astound you
So I sat next to you
And you sat in front of him
My hand was on the bottle
And his hand was on your shin
And even with this
An extraordinary sense of freedom
If I think something of someone
I’ll tell them when I meet them
And the Agwa in the hip flask
It had stopped us from yawning
And we sat there like teenagers
until four in the morning
And I told you the truth
That you just blew me away
I won’t see you again
So I might as well say it
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5. |
Ballpoint Girl
06:33
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This is my last weekend
And I’ve barely started yet
It’s too hot for these feelings
And I haven’t got any blood left
‘Cause something feels punctured in my chest
Look at all these boxes
Look at what I need
What has all this cost us?
I stare at the rose on your ceiling
And breathe in your backyard
and gumtrees
I caught myself staring again
I don’t know what at
It’s nothing I can think of
How did we get to be like that?
And who gets the photo
of when we met?
Who went and said
“Let’s go through with it”?
Back to some sharehouse’s bullshit
What were the both of us thinking?
The truck’s coming Thursday
It’s real then
You can have the ballpoint
painting of the girl
She is yours and you can keep her
If I can have the photo of the
Red Dao boy
And on the wall
of the living room of my mind
I will keep you
To never be destroyed
I will make sure of it
I will make sure
Last night I fell to pieces
As I sat there on the step
I couldn’t breathe
I was spilling things
Under the shower as I wept
Just look at the state
where my life’s at
I never felt so heavy
And it’s crushing in my head
When I go will you kiss me?
My soul is full of holes
and made of lead
Can I stay there one last time
in your bed?
Maybe we could have one
last meal here
The green apple salad
down at Green Tea
Or is that just some
dumb fucked up idea?
We cannot keep our grip
on what is peeling
You can have the ballpoint
painting of the girl
She is yours and you can keep her
If I can have the photo of the
Red Dao boy
And on the wall
of the living room of my mind
I will keep you
To never be destroyed
Who went and said
“Let’s go through with it”?
Back to some sharehouse’s bullshit
What were the both of us thinking?
The truck’s coming Thursday
It’s real then
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6. |
I Will Not Give Up
06:00
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Our next stop is announced
as North Geelong
The conductor’s on the mic and now she sings us her song
Concrete sleepers settle in my soul
And the railway runs parallel like a long twin gun barrel
And the muffled horn booms
dull in the distance
Sunlight and soft noise
They define my existence
at this point in time
So maybe I’ll just sit here
til the end of the line
But I will not give up
And I bought some ruby grapefruit from the Footscray market
They’re three for just two dollars
if anybody’s asking
This afternoon I might pick up
a vegetable or two
I’ll jam them in my backpack
and I’ll bring them back to you
And the carriage it is silent
til Werribee
Then the school kids pile on
and pop goes serenity
But this morning they are quiet
as the air
And I lean back and I clap
for the design of this blue chair
They have thought about it
But I will not give up
And the sleepers and the dark rocks keep racing on past
I follow with my eyes
but they’re all moving so fast
And the dusty brown rain
upon the windowpane is dry
Horizontal flecks upon the surface just outside
And the window seal
looks shiny and brittle
My focal depth is shallow
as I take in these little things
And the 5:01 keeps rolling on through
And I just can’t wait to get my eyes back on you
‘Cause the transit wears me down
But I will not give up
On the outskirts now a boy
is on his skateboard doing tricks
He lands one, I can’t hear it
for squeaks and rhythmic clicks
While sunshine just pours down
in a river
But still the nights in springtime
they know how to hold a shiver
And a goods train rattles by
Long and orange and green
The procession of these colours never ending so it seems
I can never count the carriages but I try
And the red light keeps on blinking
in the corner of my eye
I cannot stop it if I try
And each morning at the station
I see the metro trains
And they’re heavy with the people
I am witness to the pain
Of the bodies
All pressed up against the glass
And I wait there for the V-Line
and I watch them shudder past
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7. |
Birds
06:42
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I chase these birds away from here
Paper folded three times, see
Lifting and waking so early
The daylight is outside
The mattress is over the glass
in the window
Each day I sift through the data for hours
I do this to feed me
I need it to stop soon
What if the house burns
down to the ground?
Flat to the earth
Badness to break my own back down
Soon would I learn
Fooling around
Carpet and all
I bought to make all these sounds
I’d save it to save me
Millions of noises are all
under lockdown for safety
Each day they come to get put down or try to escape me
Suddenly sometimes
End of the day
Comes with the cars
People returning to home
Look at me now
Turn a job down
Money is now not the be all
Or even the end all
For me to be it all
I’d save it to save me
Help me chase these birds away
If you throw a stick or pick a stone from the garden
Cars still line this black plastic street
When the moon is very full and bright This is what I see
I chase these birds away from here
Paper folded three times, see
I chase these birds away
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8. |
Brunswick Streets
04:24
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So I drive on past the shrine
And in just a few days’ time
You will not see the footpath
for the flowers
Yes I will walk you to your car
No it is not very far
But it’s chilling what some men
can do with power
It’s chilling
Chilling
Burning candles cast a glow
As I roll on north up Sydney Road
These suburbs so familiar in the night
Friends and strangers where you are
Walk each other home or to your car
‘Cause fear needs to know
that it isn’t right
Fear needs to know
Fear
And no-one knows
what anyone can do
And tears run through
Brunswick streets for you
And the sadness that the
footpath holds is true
In the city where we live
You did not choose your life to give
Some godforsaken plan
was carried through
Under a sunny Sunday sky
So many people marching by
And now there’s thirty thousand
here on Sydney Road for you
And it’s shifting
It’s uplifting
And no-one knows
what anyone can do
And the tears run through
Brunswick streets for you
And the sadness that the
footpath holds is true
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9. |
The Land of Q
05:38
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My alarm is set for 7:05
In the morning of tomorrow’s bedside
And even though today’s your day
It’s not the day to call you
‘Cause you’re fourteen hours behind
And that’s just negative time
So I’ll keep on handing
little bits to you
And navigate the world in zeros
And ones that come in liquid form
To help the mixture bond well
For the boat made in my room
I think I’ll send it soon
So I sang the song sent ‘cross the sea
Unknown question mark times three
Ridiculous to think that I
could act upon these words
I assume that you agree
So I guess I’ll wait and see
I’m the only boy you know
who writes in English
I see your page, I don’t know what your friends have got to say
Is it true that I’m the only one
with a letter in my native tongue?
Is it snowing there today?
Are there drops of frozen rain?
Is it falling on your face?
You’re a bloody long way away
For you, I will send some songs back
For you, I will send some songs
To the land of Q
There’s a long line joining you and me
From the left side of the Tasman Sea
To the land of Q, I think that you
should probably come to see me
And I’ll show you things for free
And I’ll give you my spare key
But you and me we hardly speak
But we always talk electronically
And your wacky English makes me grin
But it’s better than my French
I assume that you agree
But it holds your charm for me
I’m the only boy you know
who writes in English
I see your page but I don’t know
what your friends have got to say
Is it true that I’m the only one
with a letter in my native tongue?
Is it snowing there today?
Are there drops of frozen rain?
Is it falling on your face?
You’re a bloody long way away
And I know it might seem strange
It was only just three days
But I’m falling on my face
You’re a bloody long way away
For you, I will send some songs back
For you, I will send some songs
To the land of Q
And eighteen months is a crazy thing
And three days should be just a fling
But stupid as it seems
You just keep popping up around me
Your electric golden skin
And your bellybutton ring
Your electric golden skin
And your bellybutton ring
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10. |
One Single Source
05:06
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I could be a target
If I could feel my feet
I could be a wrecking ball
than no-one else can see
I could be a jet stream
bouncing complementary angles
off the outline of the leaves
Or I could be this tree if I was
still beyond belief
I could be an army raised on
solitude and peace
I could be this bluestone
cracking glass to cut my teeth
Or I could take this bottletop
and flick it from my fingers
just as far as I can see
Or I could put my mouth down
to the ground and try to breathe
I could be a recipe
Made up to my own taste
I could be a gutter so I could
channel all the waste
Til it’s floating all above me
I could go and buy a glue stick
and then paste it into place
Or I could bang my head til I get patterns on my face
And surely I could leave this here
and take a tiny break
I could stretch my legs out
so they don’t get out of shape
I could head off east with just
a matchstick and a compass and
a sense of my own weight
Or I could head for home because
this battery needs a shake
All is taken in because
The light came from one single source
The sun so far
And sometimes I imagine
when I see the stars at night
It’s only when I’m camping somewhere far from city light
That night time is a plastic dome
that moves with every one of us
One hundred metres high
With holes that act as tiny little starlit points in time
And all this does my head right in
It hurts my little mind
And this day’s gonna pass away
with pointlessness and rhyme
A mixture if I picked it to
could nourish me or kill me
and dissolve my little life
But surely I would never let
this happen, would I?
All is taken in because
The light came from one single source
All is taken in because
The light came from one single source
The sun so far away
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11. |
Polarised
05:44
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Through these polarised lenses Above the wire fence there
The smoke from that chimney glows blue against clouds cut with grey
It shifts and it spills
and shimmers and mingles
and dissipates slowly and
floats its way into the haze
I’m drifting exhausted
My head feels like sawdust
I’m headspun and I’m awestruck
and I’m not sure if this is my day
I’ll turn up for work
But the process of processing
all of this mind-melting music
has blown me away
I’m made of this landscape
Vast and flat and half awake
I’m made of black charcoal
Dusted smudging carbon soul
Through these polarised lenses
A rainbow sits flat there
on the water that’s captured and captive at the edge of the track
It sparkles and jumps at me
and my head’s on a long lens
But I’m happy with the curve
of this seat in the small of my back
I’m swimming in thoughts
that I can never hold on to
And they’re thick in the water
Stained shiny and oily and black
And I’m willing this train
to roll on past my station
Then shudder in defeat
and then break down
And never come back
I’m made of this landscape
Vast and flat and half awake
I’m made of black charcoal
Dusted smudging carbon soul
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12. |
Spine
05:58
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This is running at a loss
Look at what you have done
Security are bored
Security what for?
You put us to the sword
You’re reaching for the salt
There will be no trouble
Security are bored
They’re freezing in the cold
There will be no trouble
See this big old line?
You just crossed it
Where is your spine?
You have really messed up
There will be no trouble
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Mick Hazelman Melbourne, Australia
A story-teller of old, writing about his immediate surrounds, and the lessons, fears and desires of life. He transforms everyday happenings into conversational stories, underpinned with a strong melodic sense and layered harmonies. His music spans intricate modern folk through to complex rock and chuggy tuned-down metal tones - all backed by some deliciously off-kilter time signatures. ... more
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