1. |
Your Crippled Heart
03:20
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And through falling sands we'll burn up at last and fall down to the earth
And I'll say goodbye to these stormy skies and your crippled heart
It seems like a lifetime since you were here, face buried in shame
My thoughts tumble out through this broken house into you again
Cos we didn't know what we'd got
So we'd sit inside and rot
In this place we called our home
And we knew no better then
Heading for a sorry end
In this place we called our home
The spaces on the walls
The faces that line the halls
Reflections of the state we're in
So much for some new ink
to fill in the fading link
Between who you've become
and this old memory
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2. |
For Your Pleasure
03:34
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At the count of midnight
we'll set a light to all this now
The comfort in these arms
we'll set a light to all this now
The horrors of midnight
when you're like a soldier at war
I sit in this dead house
and before I knew it you're gone
But this afterglow will carry on without you
So long to our humble home
It is carrying on without you
So come on and greet us here
We're dressed for your pleasure
But under these walls again I'm a snarling creature
At the count of midnight
we'll set a light to all this now
So far from this burning wreck
and I'm carried along the contrails
You're but a distant speck
In the morning you will be gone.
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3. |
Apologies and Rules
03:38
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And I shifted into first gear with a vacant, passive glance
As the secrets we kept beneath every smiling dance
Escape into this night where demons will all out
Opening the walls under this house
Waiting for the blood to spill right out
Below the wolves stood watch and above the vultures circled
As I threw you one last word to be distorted and recycled
And oh! How you can shape this rage and bend all good intentions
Opening the walls under this house
Waiting for the blood to spill right out
I am wading through the waters of this biblical flood
And you are covering your ears and strangling all this love
And oh now you know what it came to (apologies and rules)
In this cold-hearted place with apologies and rules
This will be a shallow grave for apologies and rules
This will be our smoking crater of apologies and rules
As we gather round this stuttering fire and stare into the embers
I wonder who guided us through so many of these moments
When we should have just given in and walked away
And saved ourselves the pain
I am waking up in a cold sweat from this distant dream
I am promising myself that this nightmare won't repeat
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4. |
The Last
01:39
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I never thought I'd see you here
Wiping the blood out of my eyes
And to this cold, cold floor I feel myself begin to fall
(This is the last remaining dream I have)
All I remember when I wake
Is to be thankful for this day
And into your eyes I gaze and wonder how we got this way
(We are the last remaning ones alive)
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5. |
Some Old Wisdom
02:54
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And as a writhing mess you came to me
Eyes wide open and bearing your teeth
Dragging all we had in your wake
This is all I want to say this time
Find a way to keep your thoughts in line
So we can just live out our days
And so the rain slides off these crumbled slates of ours
And now I cannot move for all the judging eyes
And so the rain slides off into my frozen arms again
And I will be buried in all this crushing time, you will see
All that I can hear you spit and hiss
is that there is some old wisdom in this
But I will never listen, no.
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6. |
A Retreat
03:06
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Pushing this pen to paper, staring out through sullen urban skies
Draped in silken silence, smothering the city's sleeping life
They'll never know what happen to me
They'll never find a shred of evidence
Because when I am done here I'll steal off into this fading night
...At least, that was the intention
But the merits of a delicate balance are worthy of mention.
Nobody to take me in,
No one to colour these walls.
Nothing to repeal and still no breath will come to this dead house.
And all this I gave to you, with every single remission;
I retreat a little more
To spit and snarl
To spit and snarl and scream
I retreat a little more
To spit and snarl
To kick and snarl and scream
Until the very end
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7. |
Good Morning Sky
03:05
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For all that I have said before
This isn't what I wanted
Standing here in your spendor
This isn't what I wanted
I listen to the maddening birds
To cover up the battle
Of squeezing into this template
Like thread into a needle
Good morning sky, the chirping birds
Before this will arrive I'll save myself
Hallowing the morning cries
(somehow)
My alabaster morning eyes
(dry out)
No, this isn't what I wanted
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8. |
These Little Saplings
02:51
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And your gaze burns into the ground
I'll never know what your eyes say
Something hidden inbetween the cracks
that will never see the light of day
Sprouting up through the pavement
These little saplings
Sprouting up through the pavement
In cursed rows
Wilting in the urban air; never to tower over us
But for all the hope this sight will bring
This is a place from which we'll never move
Sprouting up through the pavement
These little saplings
Sprouting up through the pavement
In cursed rows
But oh, the anger in that furrowed brow
Ekeing it's way from your cold, cold heart
I never know exactly what to say
All this feels so futile at the end of the day
Sprouting up through the pavement
These little saplings
Sprouting up through the pavement
In cursed rows
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9. |
Where No Seeds Will Grow
04:28
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I got lost inside the desperate days I have stumbled on
Blank expressions crumble to dust,
lie awake on this dirty floor.
All we made were some vague ideas I could lean upon
Isolated, crumbled to dust,
laid to rest on this dirty floor.
And silence will not let us breath in, as it hangs in here
Thoughtlessly I gather the threads so you can disappear
This impression, and many more
Lines we're sketching upon the soil where no seeds will grow
These cannibalistic words,
encapsulated by distant floods
of your expression turning to love,
streaming onto this dirty floor.
And silence will not let us breathe in
And silence will not let me in
And we'll fall away through the dust of this new age.
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The Contortionist London, UK
The Contortionist is me, Andy Hirst; usually alone, but sometimes with friends. We even had a proper band for a while (The
Contortionist and The Wandering Boy Poets).
I've been in a load of bands over the years playing various things: drums in Nixon, The Broken Chairs, and The Purgatory Players, guitar in Situationists, guitar/keys/vocals in Japanese Sleepers and Fall Forwards.
... more
The Contortionist recommends:
Little Victories
by Japanese Sleepers
The only "proper" release by one of my old bands, Japanese Sleepers.
go to album
Deserts
by The Purgatory Players
Bob Saull is a good friend, and a brilliant songwriter. His songs can often be bleak and difficult, yet somehow also manage to be witty and catchy. I played drums in this band for many years.
go to album
Everything Unsaid
by Screaming Maldini
The final album by Screaming Maldini, the best band in Sheffield for many years. Really sad to see them go.
go to albumIf you like The Contortionist, you may also like:
Eat Your Own Ears Recordings EP 2
by Eat Your Own Ears Recordings
featured on Bandcamp Radio Oct 11, 2022
go to album
Quickies
by The Magnetic Fields
The band's latest project includes twenty-eight new short songs that clock-in at no longer than just under three minutes.
go to album
Grizzly Bear’s classic debut gets a 15th anniversary vinyl reissue, with a digital companion featuring a bevy of remixes.
go to album
