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To Hear Their Voices in the Dark (Remastered)

by J.William Parker

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1.
In The Dark 03:36
2.
By All Means 05:39
3.
Misty Juneau 03:01
4.
5.
6.
7.
Minni Chen 04:22
8.
Interlude 01:23
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Finest China 11:43

about

In The Dark

There had been a rumbling through the floor
The ceilings had caved in from in above
In the shattered eaves, the remains of animals hung
On the walls of a broken house were bitter dark scenes
Written in their blood
Slivers of flesh made trails in the snow
That stretched far into the plain
So night I sleep in the ruins
Just to hear their voices in the dark
At day I find myself wondering through an eternal forest
The silver birches catch the light
That carve the cold into an endless night
That carve the cold

By Any Means

By all means take your time
Pick up those pieces of metal
To fix up the future again
I wondered to where I roamed as a child
And found all the forests and fields sealed shut
And they say silence is golden
And your dreams they all just blew away
And for most of them
They don’t give a damn what they said
She told you all
The saddest story you have never known

Misty Juneau

I was on my way to misty Juneau
When I thought I'd pop into Campbell River
Hadn't seen you for a while
Wondered if you were still waiting forever
I know where you'd been because there was always a scene
Broken bottles and half-smoked reefers
Wondered what they'd do, if they didn't listen to you
Let's all make a change, and do something clever?
If I made a tooney for every time
You said there's no yesterday, never
Gillian said, Gillian said, Oh no
It's truly no use
It's the same story again
But I guess that's what you've always known
Hoping to feel the things I've felt
For what seemed like an age ago
Got on my boat back to misty Juneau

The Dead of Night

I remember your wedding
It had the mood of a funeral
In the photographs you looked like a paradigm of misery
Like you’d been told you had a shadow on your lung
No, I don’t know how you did it
No, I’ll never know
I remember when we drove there
You asked me to put on some Kurt Cobain
Full blast out into the spring green
As you slumped in my clio wracked in pain
No, I don’t know how you did it
No, I don’t want to know
How many times in the dead of night
Did you just want to slip away?
How many times with a shiver of hope
Did you think tomorrow is a new day?


Ignore the Glint of Murderous Dictators

Let’s live in the identikit
Live and lie to the concrete
Watched upon by eyes of the strangers
Laugh, cry and mourn
At the river mountain porn
Empty novelties we say never sparkle in the night
We’ll take your money
That’s no problem
Ignore the glint of murderous dictators
We’ll take your soul too
Put in a shopping mall
Gorge and feast with the photo-op kings
Let’s poison the earth
Tar oil black the islands
Sanctimonious, superficial non gluten eaters
Watched by the wilderness
Rivers of repent run around
Sticking plasters on a gunshot wound

‘Twas a Muddy Morning

It was a muddy morning
When I escaped from my nightmare
Having met a vacuous girl
Who shot me looks, terrible looks
Give me your dreams, she said
And when you're alone
In an unknown city
Empty to no-one, but yourself
Cracks in the ceiling, deep in my peace
Through trembling forever
And my seething will remind me of
There's a rotten blood, a terrible blood
That flows to service bad dreams
I wish that a wind would come along
And tear him apart at the seams
Thunder mutters, and lightning whips
The last atoms of his screams

Minni Chen

Again I find myself
In Minni Chen's Dream House
Isn't the first time, ain't gonna be the last
Was thinking about coveting another man's wife
Isn't the first time, ain't gonna be the last
Asked O'Ryan what should I do?
It was like asking an alcoholic if I should drink
So I sulked in the shadows
Of a sultry Hong Kong
Neon throbbed with the ocean
And I knew where I should have gone
It felt like Heaven
Minni I could be in your arms all my life
You crawl in the walls of my conscience
That's where I'll come and find you
Come when I find you

Never Without

It was barely hanging on
Through the echoes of ancient songs
A tale long told but never without a gulp in between
Your one alone felt in your crumbling bones
Hoping that time will stand still and just be
Modest names carved in trees
In a forest in which you will sleep
Never afraid that the wind will come and blow it all away
Standing in the shadow of the lime mountain
The bodies barely cold
But you just say, ‘Well that’s just old news’
I’m not afraid of anything
As you reach in your pocket for some coins
A nod and a shake of your head
And then later on you say, ‘Well, that’s just old news’
Don’t you ever get tired?
Don’t you ever wish for rest?
I think you’ve been spending a little too long
Really, it will be just fine in the end

I’m not saying I’ve seen better days

It was early one morning
When I decided that I was so bored of you
I’m not saying I’m coming back here again
All I know is I’ll be gone for a while
And so love will forever say
All these fields I grew up in
Are now just concrete charades
And my feet have seen better days
I’m not saying I’m coming
I’m not saying I’m forever going to go
I’m not saying I hate this place
But I know somebody else will stay

I can’t believe

I can’t believe out of all the stories I’m trying to tell you this one
Of desperate deserts of seas
Made of tears that flowed like gold
Of a joy and happiness in my six-foot box that was so empty and cold
In a little Georgian town, where hope has run around on the Marxist graveyard rusting
On the Marxist graveyard rusting
So I nailed my ship to an aeroplane wing and waited for the cavalry to come
Hours later astounded when Dickerson showed up dumb
He’d been shouting from the rooftops and the authorities had taken him away
Got him drunk and sewed up his mouth telling him his last truthful day
His last truthful day
So we set sail on the gravy clouds with no-one to wish us on our way
Picked the threads from his mouth and I think I heard him say
Granted I’m on your side, but what if there’s nowhere to hide
Forced a grin and glared at him, telling him we will find what we find
We will find what we find
By then we were both annoyed, nowhere near overjoyed
As the wind was devoid of bliss
I had forgotten my cigarettes and him his barrel of gin
After a while, we saw a blazing island and set sail for there
But by the time he smoked his pot and didn’t even pretend to care
He told me he had a dream when he carved open my head and found nothing there
And he had found nothing there

credits

released December 19, 2023

All songs were written and performed by J. William Parker.
Theo Morris guitar on 'Ignore The Glint of Murderous Dictators'
Album artwork by John Nicol @ Industry Cottage

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