Get all 13 Tom Emlyn releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Hall of Mirrors, Kafka, Stained Glass Eyes (Elliott Smith tribute), Three Covers, Scaredycat Vol. 1 Bsides, Return Journey Revisited: Scaredycat Vol.1, Scrounger EP, I've Seen You In Town, and 5 more.
1. |
Ymerodraeth
03:14
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(instrumental)
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2. |
Think Twice
03:49
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think twice, please don't you take my advice
skies grey since you went away
it would be funny, if it wasn't true
please don't, please don't look at me that way
the edge is all you're aiming for
again & again & again & again & again
Never walking down
Llangyfelach road
never growing old
you froze, froze despite your clothes
who knows, from your head down to your toes
cut off your face to spite your nose
so, think twice, please don't you take my advice
skies grey since you went away
again & again & again & again & again
Never walking down
golden broken road
never growing old
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3. |
Caught the Sun
03:33
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Blind boy caught the sun
for a moment in the dawn
huge wings in the blackness
then they're gone
Three chords and a lie
is all you want to hear
three chords and a lie
is all I have to say
and if the audience disappears
say it anyway, anyway
take off your black glasses
So I can see your eyes, your eyes
in a Belgian archway
with the sun in your eyes
three chords and a lie
is all you want to hear
three chords and a lie
is all I have to say
and if the audience disappears
say it anyway, oh
Caught the sun, caught the sun
for a moment in the dawn.
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4. |
Colourless
04:00
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I used to sing
but the song has gone away
I used to sing
but the song has gone away
good morning sir, what can I get you to drink
I've been here all day
with my hands in the kitchen sink
red eyes, sunrise
but it is colourless
climbing over your garden wall
I look at the moon and I feel very small
sometimes I feel I'm being squeezed in a vice
not much to say, but I'll give you my voice
blue eyes, day dies
but it is colourless
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5. |
Beaujolais Day
03:48
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you can read in this light
but you're going to hurt your eyes
outside, voices on the pavement
frozen in amazement at themselves
you are a beautiful fake,
but there's something I can't shake
and it's all too much to take
on beaujolais day
you can suffer for your art
and you can tear yourself apart
but how long's it going to take you?
You could have gone to Ibitha
but there was nobody there to meet you
and now you can't afford to go
Can you??
The condom machine
is not what it seems
and you don't know where you've been
on beaujolais day
You are a beautiful fake
but there's something I can't shake
and it's all too much to take
on beaujolais day
on beaujolais day
on beaujolais day
on beaujolais day
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6. |
Throwaway
04:07
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Throw me away
with the tea bags and the bones
and the faded receipts
banana peel, paper plates and coffee grounds
apple cores and cans
Easy come, easy go
Easy come, easy go
The thing you threw hasn't reach the ground
once in a while
I hear an old ringtone
from a distant phone
glued to the street
the pictures all come back to me
it's just a throwaway
Easy come, easy go
Easy come, easy go
I don't wanna know who you are now
while the sea fills up with plastic
dead leaves on a welcome mat
standing at the terminal
but she was on another plane
It's just a throwaway,
it's just a throwaway
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7. |
Under The Street
04:02
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Town has changed since you've been away
buildings drowned in clay
I can't recognise the place
shadows on your face
Behind the splintered stage
of the Palace Theatre
the cold limelight plays
Fast asleep beneath the street
Beneath centuries of sleet
Beneath a billion heavy feet
Fast asleep beneath the street
Someone came up from the sea
by the cheap hotels
asked me for a light
in a language I couldn't speak
You know a pier is just a bridge
That goes nowhere
Always out of reach
Click track ghost, the dead railway
na na na na na na na na na
So, town has changed since you've been away
Landmarks drowned in clay
Cluttering up the place
Taking up my space
You know, a pier is just a bridge
That goes nowhere
Always out of reach
Fast asleep beneath the street
Beneath centuries of sleet
The eternal slag heap
Fast asleep beneath the street
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8. |
Tommy Cooper
03:34
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there is more than one kind of death
and this is one more kind of death
don't start, I don't want to hear
another one of your vignettes
dying like Tommy Cooper
lying in the gutter
but I'm not looking at the stars,
just looking at myself
All you do is take, take, take, take
all you do is ache, ache, ache, ache
all you do is take, take, take, take
all you do is fake, fake, fake, fake
You take, you take
I had a job but I fucked it up
don't wanna pull a pint, don't wanna stack a shelf
Don't wanna talk to you, just wanna be by myself
annex my territory, tear up my dream diary
I've never felt so low
just wanna play my solo
All I do is take, take, take, take
oh, I don't wanna break, break, break up
But all I do is take, take, take, take
Oh, all I do is fake, fake, fake, fake
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9. |
Cover Band
03:40
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I was playing my guitar in an empty bar
when I thought I heard your voice
I froze alone out loud
like a cat on bonfire night
like winter rain
I was watching you in the Tav
the pool balls crashed together
I was deaf and I was blind
inside the fireplace
red coals for eyes
and I could be in a cover band
fall in love on a one night stand
learn to play with my left hand
or I could be in a cover band
Now there's no-one there
on the beach a microphone stand
swaying in the wind
the crashing cymbals and screaming amps
the sea, the gulls
and I could be in a cover band
fall in love on a one night stand
learn to play with my left hand
or I could be in a cover band
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10. |
Empire
04:46
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You can only dream when you're asleep
though you may see things when you're awake
disregard them all
or you will weep
and your visions will fill a thousand lakes
And if I seem to contradict myself
just remember that nothing is ever true
Your picture is up on somebody's shelf
the face is the same, but is it really you?
The way things could be, the way things should be
the way they really are
in a place where nothing changes
oh sweetheart, whatever made you think you could change?
I can see the fingers of her empire
caressing the Mumbles and the hills
the trees are all black, the houses all abandoned
the factory girls smoke and construct escape plans
and now she returns from whatever she's seen
with so many strange whispers on her skin
the road is washed out by forecast rain
and the wind at the window is all that remains
the way things could be, the way things should be
the way they really are
in a place where nothing changes
oh sweetheart, whatever made you think you could change?
In a place where nothing changes
oh sweetheart, whatever made you think you could stay the same?
The way things could be, the way things should be
the way they really are
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11. |
Passerby
05:28
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I'll be here in ribbons on the cutting-room floor
while you're walking through the editor's door
let me stand in the frame with you
let me stand next to you
I've been waiting so long
in the arena with my wristwatch on
You might glimpse my arm or the back of my head
standing on the bus or waiting to pay
I can learn the lines, but this is not who I am
Passerby
where do you go at night?
Passerby
do you see me here
waiting, waiting for you
for you
so call, call, call
crawl the city guard
this messenger's come far
down the Kingsway
with orange headlights in his eyes
a burned-out shadow at the back of the stage
while you're talking with your hands, I'll be standing in the background
while you're waiting for Godot
I'll be waiting for you.
Passerby
who do you see at night?
Passerby
Don't leave me behind, I don't know who I am
Don't leave me behind, I don't know who I am
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Tom Emlyn Swansea, UK
"peripatetic musical genius" - Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales
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