1. |
Shades Of The Living
02:31
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SHADES OF THE LIVING
We find ourselves again
Shades of the sitting on a subway train
We find ourselves again
Shades of the living sitting on a subway train
How did it ever come to this
Scrolling in the shadows through the pictures of the life me miss
How did it ever come to this
Dreaming in the shadows
Strange things pass before your sight
In the glow of the blue incandescent light
Shadows cast on the wall on the cave
we can’t find our way out to the light of day
Send these dull roots rain
Make these dry bones to live again
Send my dull roots rain
Make these dry bones to live again
Each on his own way
Everyone is an island in a sea that has no name
We are so self-contained
Everyone is an island in a sea no one can name
On that silent journey through the underground
Not a word, not a sound
On that journey down
Asteroids in the void of space
Comets which flash and fly but leave no trace
Like mice caught in the maze
We can’t find our way back to the starting place
Send these dull roots rain
Make this desert to bloom again
Send my dull roots rain
Make these dry bones to live again
Written by Drew Gonsalves
Published by Stonetree Music, Administered Worldwide by District 6 Music Publishing Ltd.
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2. |
Carnival Of The Ghosts
03:49
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CARNIVAL OF THE GHOSTS
One carnival, I was jumping in a band
When I started feeling faint and passed out by the stand
I don’t know how long I lay there on the ground
But when I came to my senses there was no one else around
It was the dead of night when I scrambled to feet
The wind howled like a beaten dog dragging rubbish down the street
Then I heard shuffling of feet and rattling of bones
Saw the whole place bathed in a spectral glow
Then as night follows day
It was the spirits of the dead come out to play
I was a man from the land of the living
And I thought my senses where deceiving
Because I was seeing but was not believing
what was happening all around
You could just imagine how I was trembling
To see the spirits of the dead assembling
And then to notice some of them resembling
people I heard about
In a big green turban was shah jahan
In a quarrel with a young woman
He shouting, girl you make me want to bawl
I can’t believe for you I went and build the taj mahal
King Herod say, eh boy don’t fret
You ain’t see dotish for woman yet
For two thousand years now I never ate
Since I put John the Baptist head on a plate
I was a man from the land of the living
You could imagine just how I was feeling
My knees were knocking and my mind was reeling
Too frightened to scream
You could imagine just how I was shaking
To feel like a man now forsaken
Hoping that he would just awaken
From this dreadful dream
By the old Roxy Theatre
I saw what looked like a roman emperor
It was Julius Ceasar coming down
Daggers in his back laurels on his brow
He said I had legions at my command
And still I get stuck like a pin cushion
His wife said, Jules you didn’t have no sense
to know you must never turn your back on your friends
I was a man from the land of the living
In that carnival of the ghosts now revelling
The whole while the rhythm was compelling
Me to join they parade
I was a man from the land of the living
And I confess that my flesh was tingling
To find myself now mingling
In that masquerade
I saw too many things to relate
Shaka Zulu wining on Katherine the Great
Genghis khan and Cassanova
Arguing who was the greater conqueror
They were prancing all around
When there was a commotion the crowd
It was King Henry the Eighth running for his life
Being chased down the road by six angry wives
I was a man from the land of the living
You could imagine how it was upsetting
to know there was no way of getting
Back to my native land
You could imagine just how I was grieving
To know there was no way now of leaving
So I had to abandon the plan
And go jump in the dead man band
Written by Drew Gonsalves
Published by Stonetree Music, Administered Worldwide by District 6 Music Publishing Ltd.
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3. |
The Grass Is Greener
03:34
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THE GRASS IS GREENER
The grass is always greener on the other side
The grass is always greener on the other side
The grass is always greener on the other side
Sometimes you only reach over to find.
A man went to the beach with his wife
When a beautiful young lady passing caught his eye
When she met with her man he let out a sigh
Said I wish that was me and that she was mine
But the man was looking right back his way
With a look like his mind was about to break
He said why can’t I be like that man with his wife
This one she pretty but has too much strife
Young Sherwayne used to dream of fame
Of the day everybody would know his name
So he went out, became a movie star
And that is exactly what he attained
Now the cameras follow him all day and night
There is no private moment to the public eye
he said I can’t take all this scrutiny
just give me back my obscurity
There was a boy looking over a wall
At the next house three stories tall
He said I have five brothers in this small home
Man, that boy so lucky in his house alone
But the next boy was staring off into space
Wishing that he too could change his place
He said, I would trade this big house and all these toys
To run in that yard with them other boys
I have a friend who lives down in town
But hates the city says it too stink and loud
He made a plan to get out
Far from the traffic and the maddening crowd
So he moved out to the country
And regretted this move immediately
now he so bored out of his mind
So he down in the city every day and night
Written by Drew Gonsalves
Published by Stonetree Music, Administered Worldwide by District 6 Music Publishing Ltd.
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4. |
Down By The Water
03:23
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DOWN BY THE WATER
Ashes fall into sunlit waves
Is it rest is it escape
Now they sink into the deep dark deep
Is it waiting is it sleep
The waves are salty, just like tears
Is it loss, is it relief
Are you borne upwards by our prayers
Are you worn down by our grief
All that is must come undone
Our end is certain as the setting of the sun
All that wakes must come to sleep
Our days are lent they are not ours to keep
We go meet up down by the water
Down by the water
When this day is over
Down by the water
Now the years have run on by
And when I recall your face
I try and try but cannot bring to mind
Some of the lines time has erased
All that is must come undone
The day is certain as the setting of the sun
Every day must end in night
Until that veil is torn which
now blocks our sight
Written by Drew Gonsalves
Published by Stonetree Music, Administered Worldwide by District 6 Music Publishing Ltd.
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5. |
The Hidden Hand
03:14
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THE HIDDEN HAND
Hidden hand, hidden force in command
Doesn’t have a brain but they say he has a plan
Unknown, unseen, behind the scenes
The cause behind the laws that affect you and me
He’s the abstraction that provides the distraction
That dulls the will to settle for inaction
That lulls the mind to sleep like a child counting sheep
Keeps the angels in the heavens and the dragons in the deep
Who will provide – the hidden hand
Who would decide - the hidden hand
Who could deny – the hidden hand
Who pulls the strings – the hidden hand
Oversees everything – the hidden hand
Who could override – the hidden hand
The hidden hand has no tears to flow
No heart guides the hand that wields control
Over the fate of states, the lives of men
To make his end their means and his means their end
He the locomotive that supplies the motive
who divides the flock between the lost and chosen
Who decides who the accident of birth
Will leave out in the dark or inherit the earth
The hidden hand is the ghost of the age
The hand that holds the pen that writes the lines on the page
That holds the scripts and directs the play
That waves the actors on and off the stage
Some call him progress, others predestination
Some class struggles, some supply and demand
Some say providence, others say evolution
By any name, it is all the same
Call him any name
You know it is all the same
Written by Drew Gonsalves
Published by Stonetree Music, Administered Worldwide by District 6 Music Publishing Ltd.
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6. |
One by One
02:39
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ONE BY ONE
There is a rumour going round
There is a rumour someone was going down
There is a tension in the air
Soon everybody was rushing to be there
Was it true, what is the use
Such outdated questions get the modern mind confused
Was it true, what is the use
Of a reputation when we want to be amused
There is a rumour going round
A rumour like a fire is spreading through the town
There is a gallows in the square
To serve as a warning for dissenters to beware
Everyone is rushing to be there
Everyone with a noble intention to declare
On the square, on the little lit-up screen
Where everyone clamours to be noticed, to be seen
Everybody wants to be a star
To be a hero in a revolutionary war
Everyone just wants to shine
The more we try to step out, the more we fall in line
Written by Drew Gonsalves
Published by Stonetree Music, Administered Worldwide by District 6 Music Publishing Ltd.
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7. |
Time
02:48
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TIME
Time, you moving fast
Thiefing all the sand from the hour glass
Time, you you moving fast
Thiefing all the sand from the hourglass
There is no pretender, no contender for your crown
Into dust you grind them down
Against you who could last
When what is present is already past
Time you bad like a crab
You don’t ask you reach out and grab
No manners at all
Always eating, belly never full
So why you can’t just take a break
To digest what you already ate
Time, you moving fast
Thiefing all the sand from the hourglass
Against your hand there is no defense
man, we go to great expense
To hide your passing and its signs
We know you don’t leave no one behind
Time you bad like a beast
You only give what you intend to thief
You pull the tree out from the seed
Then suck the green from out the leaf
You pelt the sun from east to west
Time, why you don’t give yourself a rest
Time, why you moving so
Why you always in a rush to go
Everything made by our hand
Is just a castle built in sand
Waiting for that coming wave
That will wash it all away
Time, why you can’t stick around
Why you always have to rush along?
There is no escaping you
You are the course we all run through
The clock is ticking in the square
To remind us all that you are there
Written by Drew Gonsalves
Published by Stonetree Music, Administered Worldwide by District 6 Music Publishing Ltd.
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8. |
Here By Chance
02:37
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HERE BY CHANCE
Time, you moving fast
Thieving all the sand from the hour glass
Time, you you moving fast
Thiefing all the sand from the hourglass
There is no pretender, no contender for your crown
Into dirt you grind them down
Against you who can hope to last
When the present is already past
Time you bad like a crab
You don’t ask you reach out and grab
No manners at all
Always eating, your belly never full
So why you can’t just take a break
To digest what you already ate
Time, you moving fast
Thiefing all the sand from the hourglass
Against your hand there is no defense
man, we go to great expense
(Dye our hair, cover wrinkle lines)
To hide your passing and its sign
You don’t leave noone behind
Time you bad like a beast
You always give what you intend to thief
You pull the tree out from the seed
Then suck the green from out the leaf
You pelt the sun from east to west
Why you don’t give yourself a rest
Time, why you moving so
Why you always in a rush to go
Everything made by our hand
Is just a castle built in sand
Waiting for that coming wave
That will wash it all away
Time, why you can’t stick around
Why you always have to rush along?
There is no escaping you
You are the course we all run through
The clock is ticking in the square
To remind us all that you are there
Here by Chance
So you say we’re here by chance
Blind and mindless circumstance
Born of an aimless accident
Without a helping hand
If that is so, I would rather be
With my one-celled great, great granddaddy
Without a worry or a care
Floating in that ancient sea
If I’m not duty-bound by my design
Please forgive me if I am not inclined
To ever lift a hand for a fellowman
I wouldn’t spend the effort, wouldn’t waste the time
I’d treat natural selection like divine election
Wouldn’t want to tamper with nature’s laws
If the conscience is a fiction, it’s a menacing malediction
A spoonful of guilt which only spoils the sauce
So you say we’re not alone
Not heaven’s image on nature’s throne
The bastard child of elements gone wild
Now tragically overgrown
If so, that’s great news to my ears
Banish contrition, put away the tears
Because I would love the chance to blame my flaws
On the endless dance of effect and cause
So I say we move along
Leave the race to the swift, the throne to the strong
Why shouldn’t the tyrant enjoy his crown
If there is no higher truth to pull him down
If all is pointless and random, I will stop chasing phantoms
If our only end is to be food for worms
No answer to the riddle? I won’t get stuck in the middle
And will gladly play my fiddle while the world burns
Written by Drew Gonsalves
Published by Stonetree Music, Administered Worldwide by District 6 Music Publishing Ltd.
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9. |
Bourne's Road
02:08
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BOURNE’S ROAD
He don’t do no work to earn his pay
Night and day he like to lahay
Bourne’s Road, bury Boula for me
You see him in town his baton in hand
Walking like the only law in the land
Bourne’s Road, bury Boula for me
Boula don’t have no conscience at all
He only want to see another man fall
Bourne’s Road, bury Boula for me
Even the ladies and all isn’t safe
Anything he want he feel he could take
Bourne’s Road, bury Boula for me
He mashing your foot, he twisting your neck
Taking the life he swore to protect
Bourne’s Road, bury Boula for me
He mashing your foot, he blacken you eye
You risking your life if you ask him why
Bourne’s Road, bury Boula for me
Boula was bound to take things too far
Now he is gone to meet the Maker
Bourne’s Road, bury Boula for me
Bury Boula for me,
Bury him deep in the cemetery
Bourne’s Road, bury Boula for me
Written by Neville Marcano, additional lyrics by Drew Gonsalves
Published by Stonetree Music, Administered Worldwide by District 6 Music Publishing Ltd.
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10. |
Along The Way
02:20
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ALONG THE WAY
That which we find easy
will one day be hard
That which gives us pleasure
will one day leave us scarred
while the things that we most treasure
will be the first things we discard
along the way…
along the long and winding way
all of our monuments
will glisten in the sun
which warms the sunken sediments
that cover all we’ve done
down on that muddy bottom
over which the river runs
along the way…
along the long and winding way
we have been clawing,
scratching at our cage
we wore ourselves out wrestling
with the spirits of the age
and when our hopes all left us
with them went our rage
along the way…
along the long and winding way
stars and atoms spinning
in their fated orbits chained
they go round in their fixed circles
nothing lost and nothing gained
while a million voices rush to tell us
we are just the same
along the way…
along the long and winding way
let us step outside the madness
of this crazy, burning town
let us jump into the water
because the ship is going down
let us wander in the wilderness
till what we lost is found
along the way…
along the long and winding way
Written by Drew Gonsalves
Published by Stonetree Music, Administered Worldwide by District 6 Music Publishing Ltd.
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KOBO TOWN Toronto, Ontario
Founded by Trinidadian-Canadian Drew Gonsalves, Kobo Town is named after the historic neighborhood in Port-of-Spain where calypso was born. Kobo Town takes the intricate wordplay of Caribbean music and runs it through a 21st Century filter. In the world of Kobo Town calypso, roots reggae, and acoustic instrumentation meet innovative production techniques, social commentary and indie rock attitude. ... more
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