1. |
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Dear Henry, Peter, Andrew, Richard, Matthew, Benjamin,
As members and past members of this ignominious team
I write to you to apologise for the mess we're in
This holding pattern of defeat on defeat on defeat
And though I've done my best it feels like,
We
Tried
And we fought the good fight, every single night
And luck well we had none
Don't know what I could have done
I just think the time has come
To step aside
To leave
So this will be the last time that I write to you or slur
"Glory to the team and to all those who sail in her"
Remember all the floodlit nights and pyrrhic victories
Remember all the lives we changed, or thought we changed at least
But like Keanu Reeves says:
"Pain heals,
Chicks dig scars,
Glory lasts forever."
Pain heals,
Girls like scars,
Glory lasts forever.
Please accept
my reluctant
though necessary
resignation.
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2. |
Helix & Ferman
02:51
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Getting drunk
At a party and not talking to anyone
Isn't fine
And neither are you
You read yourself blue
Now all things just pass
And you still come in last
What now do you do?
Getting wrecked
When the thing that you're looking for is respect
Isn't good
And neither are you
You used to get through this
Now all things just pass
And you still come in last
What now do you do?
Cause you're 25
And everyone thinks
You can't do a thing right
Drink red wine
Say that you're fine
Drink red wine
Say you'll be
Driving home
From a show where you've never felt so alone
Is ok
26 will be great.
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3. |
Boy
02:33
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As a young man,
I thought I knew everything,
I thought I knew how to live,
Completely clueless.
When 2005 was the worst year of my life,
You made it good,
When I thought no-one could.
But I was just a boy when I met you,
I shouldn’t have let you in but I wanted to.
On the night you left,
I heard everything you’d say,
I crumbled and crawled away,
I woke up in an alleyway.
Cause that night I raised my fist and in my fist I raised my drink.
I drank to broken limbs,
to bloodied lips,
to losing all you thought you wanted.
But I was just a Boy when I met you,
I shouldn’t have let you in but I let you,
It was 2005 I thought this loss might be my life,
Oh but I was just a Boy when I met you.
Seventeen and you think you know it all,
Nineteen and you think you know it all,
But I knew.
I was just a Boy when I met you.
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4. |
Wrecker
02:44
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If ever I complain
About the love that you give me
And if I throw it all away
Then I hope you forgive me
But you left months ago
And I hope you know
That I wish you would come home
I'm a wrecker.
If ever I'm away
With the boys in the band
And you don't hear from me
Well I hope you understand
I'm a criminal
With a wrecking ball
And I wish I could come home
I'm a wrecker.
I'm a criminal
With a wrecking ball
And I wish I could come home.
But you don't wanna know.
I'm a wrecker.
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5. |
Rookie of the Year
03:23
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I was the rookie of the year
I was the boy most likely to
And though I still play every year
I never really made it
I never really made it
Where did I go wrong?
I never really made it
Other prospects came along
And the worst thing that I do
Is take comfort that
They won't make it too
What once seemed so attainable
Now seems out of reach
Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose, you can't lose.
I lost, I lost
Are my eyes and heart not good?
I never really made it
Though they said I would
And the worst thing that I do
Is take comfort when
You don't make it too
The statistics don't lie
The numbers speak for themselves
Your average is down
You're bottoming out
Your initial success was a rogue result outlier
There's gotta be something that's not in the numbers
There’s gotta be something that's more than the numbers
Doesn't there?
Doesn't there?
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6. |
Detective
03:24
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If I
Were a Detective
I would be happier
Than I am now
‘Cause I
Would not be expected
To just take this lying down
I’ll do what I can
And my job would be my life
I’ll do what I can
But I could not keep my wife
‘Cause she left some time ago.
I really thought my life was homing in on
Some kind of resolution
Some kind of bold, stark solution
A neat Baker Street end
With a Paul Auster bend
Or a plausible lie
That I could tell my friends
Oh I think I could be
The one happy
Detective
‘Cause I would search for everyone else
I'd do what I can
And my job would be my life
I'll do what I can
But I never get it right
‘Cause she left some time ago.
I do what I can
And my job would be my life
I do what I can
But I never get it right
‘Cause she left some time ago
And she's with a better man
Than me.
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7. |
Tact is Dead
03:29
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On the day I graduated
I passed out on the floor
You mean there's more?
I've done everything you said
I don't want to intern
It turned out meritocracy
Was a lie
As a philosophy it don't work
They just told us that
To keep us in school
You bet your drilled back teeth
I was looking at you
Picking fights on the tube
Cos you're feeling so blue
It's not just the scars you can see
It's the scars on the inside
Inside of me
My generation
Doesn't mean that much to me
And this Golden Age thinking
Means I'm often unhappy
I've got a little dark room
At the back of the house
I've been saving my pay
But it's wearing me down
And I can't afford anything
Increasingly I opt out of everything
I've had a million jobs
I'll have a million more
Wish I was successful
But I sleep on the floor
Work all my life
For family
So that my kids
Could be like me
The indignity, the humanity
Oh the horror the horror ah Bartleby
Throw me into a tube train
Pay me the minimum wage
So I will never earn more than my parents
I'd prefer it not to be this way but
My generation
Doesn't mean that much to me
And this Golden Age thinking
Means I'm often unhappy
Hidem Brook
You've got the look
Of a man I'd like to be.
Hidem Brook
You've got the look
Of a man… of a real man.
My generation
Doesn't mean that much to me
And this Golden Age thinking
Means I'm often unhappy.
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8. |
Orion
03:32
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Well the nurse took four different needles
To get any blood out of me
And she got help after three with tears in her eyes
So I knew I was empty
Figuratively
That I live now alone is no surprise
If you really want to know me
If you want to tell the truth
If you've got to find
That thing inside
That no one ever could
I think,
We could be best friends
And then kiss
And ruin everything.
Well I left my home after midnight
And no one was around
And Orion looked down vengefully on me
Now my heart is that giant, blind hunter
And I am lost forever
Still visible at night though far away
If you really want to know me
If you want to tell the truth
If you've got to find
That thing inside
That no one ever could
I think,
We could be best friends
And then kiss
And ruin everything.
Honey if I seem lonely it's only cos I am
Kind of an actor
Kind of a liar
I am Orion
I am Orion.
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9. |
Mendokusai
03:46
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There's a certain quiet honour in a failure
It's a subtle thing and subtle things are rare
But to know it you've got to be it, you've got to know the quiet shame
Of a life, wasted
We are all broken-necked.
Dreiser got it right the West's a Tragedy
And they get you in a boat out on a lake
It's to know your hopes and be tied by ropes on a bridge above a river
With dreams of a future, with dreams of escape.
We are all broken-necked
There's something evil in the night
It's creeping across the Atlantic
It makes you think you've got a right
To happiness and then it's tragic when you're proved wrong
We are all broken-necked
Swinging from the timbers at Owl Creek Bridge.
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10. |
Hellhole
04:02
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Love
I was a hopeless heart
I was the tiniest light in an endless dark
Dilute to the billionth part
Till I met you
Honey
I was an open wound
I was an open noose that my head fit through
And I hoped that I’d need it to till I met you
Because her love was the only thing I ever understood
And hope didn't bring me the things that I hoped it would
Because she kicked me to the kerb
But then you said no
Just leave it to me
Forget your hurt, step away, just wait for me
I said my heart is a hellhole but leave that to me
If I save you from it
Will you save me from me?
Love
I felt old and weak
Drunk in the belly of the goddamn beast
At the bottom of the deepest deep till I met you
Honey
Was at the end of my road
I felt that I'd walked all my life just to lose control
Felt myself running for the nearest hole
Until I met you
Because her love was the only thing I ever understood
And hope didn't bring me the things that I hoped it would
Because she kicked me to the kerb
But then you said no
Just leave it to me
Forget your hurt, step away, just wait for me
I said my heart is a hellhole but leave that to me
If I save you from it
Will you save me from me?
Cos my body of work don’t lie
A surge of relief once their hurt subsides
And all the while I remember that
You’re all I have
Just leave it to me
I said my heart is a hellhole but leave that to me
If I save you from it
Will you save me from me?
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11. |
My Marengo
03:17
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Black shoes, white shirt for a funeral
And we carried him down
Our friend
Is not around
And it’s often when you fall asleep
It’s a face in a dream it’s an alkaline beat
And everyone loses sometimes
But not everyone tries again
No one tells you
Things don’t go right much
There’ll be days when you’ve seen enough
And you want it to end
So I will mourn you though I won’t agree
With why you did it and it won’t beat me
No matter how bad the damage you will see
I’ll strive valiantly.
Black shoes, black shirt at a party
His bad luck weighs him down
"We all live troubled lives
We all want something more"
So I say "It's getting better" but he don't see no Marengo
Well you be the General
And I'll be Napoleon
No one tells you
Things don’t go right much
There’ll be days when you’ve seen enough
And you want it to end
So I will mourn you though I won’t agree
With why you did it and it won’t beat me
No matter how bad the damage you will see
I’ll strive valiantly.
My Marengo
So I will mourn you though I won’t agree
With why you did it and it won’t beat me
Though it’s hopeless and tragic
And though I’m ceaselessly panicked
No matter how bad the damage you will see
I’ll strive valiantly.
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12. |
Tsundoku
04:39
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Set yourself a little task
See if you pass it
Seems like if you've got a brain
You'll be unsatisfied
What good's sensitivity
If you're constantly set upon?
What good's sensitivity
If it makes you lonesome
And unsatisfied?
My imagination made me sad
Where is all the good that they talk about?
They said if I work real hard I'd be
They said if I work real hard I'd be
They said if I work real hard I'd be
Happy.
Tsundoku they said you were the one
Joked I'd save on my heating bill
So I became a literal anchorite
And I bought insulation
Now I've got certificates
Now I've got a gown and some fur
I've been making paper all my life
But I ain't feeling satisfied
Or warm.
My imagination left me cold
Where is all the good that I was told about?
They said if I work real hard I'd be
They said if I sacrificed to thee
They said if I tried and tried and tried I might be
Happy.
My imagination made me sad
Where is all the good that they talk about?
They said if I work real hard I'd be
They said if I work real hard I'd be
They said if I tried and tried I'd be
Happy.
Set yourself a little task
See if you pass it.
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Tellison London, UK
Tellison is a failed minor league indie rock band from London with acute organisational difficulties. They've released three
albums and a bunch of singles.
Back in 2015 Tellison dusted off their guitars and referencing conventions, stepped up to take another swing at, if not the big time, at least the medium time and released "Hope Fading Nightly".
Things never quite go to plan.
... more
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