1. |
Sixteen Sunsets
02:20
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Sixteen sunsets in one day
Can be seen from a space ship
Orbiting the earth
But I saw my world crack and slip away
When the consultant
Sat down by your bed
And sketched a diagram
Of your liver and pancreas
When he circled round and round
With the his ball point pen
Over the little tubes and routes
Shading in the background
With fast strokes
Then I felt a sea change
In the atmosphere
As gravity sucked at our boots
And a change of gear
Outside the big window
Where the chestnut tree
Held up daylight candles
On a chandelier
To light the way for
The lorry of death
That was drawing near
Up the quiet road
Where people walked
Sixteen sunsets in one day
Can be seen from a spaceship
Orbiting the Earth
But I saw a black hole
Swallow up the astrals and
Spit clouds in the air
When Pops called
Sobbing down the line
Something like cancer
Then he broke down
So mum took the phone
And said ‘Oh Harts’ so calmly
What a shock to the bone
Telling my mates
I won’t make it tonight
Oh I felt a sea change
In the atmosphere
As gravity sucked at our boots
Now a quest begins
To get to the roots of
All those black holes
Hell knows why
No space-aged scope
Could shed any light your cells
So you float off
Into dark places
Carried by the tide
Up, where the moon is
There, in the sky
Running through rivers
Like an old dragonfly
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2. |
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Come home in the morning
At the very end of night
Lost our wages playing poker
With the boys by candlelight
Come home in the morning
When the cats are drinking milk
The thermostat is going on
And my slip is made of silk
Come home in the morning
When the foxes sniff and glide
By the seat of your pants
And there’s nowhere left to hide
Come home in the morning
When the first birds sing
Come home without warning
But come home, come home in the morning
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3. |
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Her nails were pink
Her nails were long
They clicked on the keys
Like a rhyme to a song
She was here to help
As she smiled and joked
Her face on skype
It gave you hope
She was hard as nails
And soft as a bunny
Did she really believe
Or was it just for the money?
Her voice was calm
Her voice was warm
Her voice in your ear, over the phone
Though she was far away
You were not alone
Her voice was soft
And never shrill
But the silence you shared
Was better still
She was hard as nails
And soft as a bunny
Did she really believe
Or was it just for the money?
Her dress was tight
Her hair was blond
She sat by your bed
Holding your hand
Her eyes were closed
She swayed in a trance
As close as a wife
If you could only dance
She might save your life
She was hard as nails
And soft as a bunny
Did she really believe
Or was it just for the money?
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4. |
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Going to make us braver
Going to cure you of the ills
Going to be our savior
Better than any pills
This will be the mixture, boy, the secret elixir
It will make you well again
Stronger than Hercules, bigger than Atlas
Striding back to health again, bootless and hatless.
Grind up the grass
The home grown stash
Grind it up to fine green dust
Then boil it and boil it till it’s black and shiny
Boiled right down to a tiny, tiny
Slick of oil at the bottom of the pan
The weather’s turning colder and the days are growing short
And we’re learning what we’ve never ever been taught
And you’re sitting on the bench in your Frank Sinatra hat
And the leaves are shaking yellow
And it doesn’t matter that
The angels and devils
Are dancing hand in glove
We’re going to make a miracle come true
For you, my man, my love?
And the weather’s turning colder and the days are growing short
And we’re learning, we learning what we’ve never been taught
Remember when
I used to raid up your stash box
Hash blocks
Burnt through my brain like spots
White spots, red spots
All these damn dead spots
Bed bound blood levels
Boil another batch mum
Burn off the liquid
Scrape out the tin
Crush leaves green stems
Chuck it all in
Home grown medicine
Hope in the weed smoke
Old willow bones
Drifting on reed boats
Pops got green fingers
And dirt in his nails
Potter in the garden
Cursing at snails
Whose hard little shells
Could never quite protect
From fate’s tight grip
What a pain in the neck
Oh what a damn thing
This hurt of a splinter
Freezing your skin
Like weeds in the winter
Dreaming on sofas
Stoned in a slumber
Cannabis oil
The last roll of a number
Yeah that could do the trick
Steam all the green
From the stem to the tip
My spirits in this
Like matches in a box
This brown paper bag
Got me thinking bout pops
I bagged his last crop
Now it sits in my back room
Green turns to black
Dropping ash in the vacuum
A sickle moon settles
Over all of us
The Royal Free car park
Craters of dust
Crushed leaves green stems
Chuck it all in
Burn off the liquid
Scrape out the tin
Sick yellow skin
Borne out from bad blood
Wonder if the green things
Could kill a few bugs
Show me gold things
Gold rings with white pearls
Give me skunk buds
With the bright orange swirls
Sweet smelling pollen
That crumbles at flame
Burn off the liquid
Take what remains
Dreaming on sofas
Stoned in a slumber Cannabis oil
Last crack of the thunder
Yeah that could do the trick
Steam all the green
From the stem to the tip
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5. |
Tonight's The Night
02:39
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Tonight the breath of death blew in
Rattled the blinds and knocked over the bin
Opened the door without ringing the bell
We knew, we could feel it all too well.
The paramedics came with their yellow truck
Tonight’s the night when death’s in luck
Parked in the street front for all to see
For tonight there’s a new emergency.
And all the oxygen and all the talk
Can’t give you the strength to get up and walk
Though your blood is thick with sugary tears
The morphine has sucked away your fears.
For tonight’s the night you’ll sail away
There’s nothing else to do or say
The drama’s over, the play must end
Adieu, father, lover, friend.
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6. |
Clinging On
02:43
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Sinking suns in Clapton
Blacked out stout
Sweet Guinness lips
And foam at your mouth
Blacked out stout
Lashings of molasses
And foam at your mouth
Soft grey ashes
Lashings of molasses
Warm bread Rayburn
Soft grey ashes
Tree load of Braeburn
Warm bread Rayburn
Red coal and red skies
Tree load of Braeburn
Same sun same rise
Red coal and red skies
Wrapped in my puffa coat
Same sun same rise
Apple in my eye hope
Wrapped in my puffa coat
Waking with the willow trees
Apple in my eye hope
Watching all these little seeds
Waking with the willow trees
Heard myself wailing
Watching all these little seeds
At the window paining
Heard myself wailing
Two in the bluest morning
At the window paining
Crying and I’m yawning
Two in the bluest morning
Forever clinging on
Crying and I’m yawning
My pen sings along
Forever clinging on
Singing with the stars
My pen sings along
Black and blue marks
Singing with the stars
Ivory white keys
Black and blue marks
Bruising the paper
Clinging on in Clapton
A clapped out trout
Rainbows in the skin and
Hooks at my mouth
A clapped out trout
Fished from the river Lea
Hooks at my mouth
Marshes remember me
Fished from the river Lea
Where kingfishers roam
Marshes remember me
I’m trying to find home
Where kingfishers roam
And dead bodies dwell
I’m trying to find home
I slipped and I fell
And dead bodies dwell
God my dads dead too
I slipped and I fell
So what am I to do?
God my dads dead too
You could read it in the news
So what am I to do?
I’ve got the dead dad blues
You could read it in the news
I just feel it in my bones
I’ve got the dead dad blues
And his voice is on my phone
I just feel it in my bones
I’m shivering inside
And his voice is on my phone
The battery mustn’t die
I’m shivering inside
As the blue turns sky
The battery mustn’t die
Stored in my memory
As the blue turns sky
And night draws in
Stored in my memory
The glass in your skin
And night draws in
As lamps fade out
The glass in your skin
Smashing in my dreams
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7. |
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My saltiest streams
Are all PVC glue
Some ink and a tear
Turn the A4 blue
Bottles and bluebells
Dwelling in my skeleton
My melanin
Embedded with snowdrops
And everything
The buddleia blooms
And slips from my tongue
The common blue butterfly
That hums in my lung
Wiping pollen from my eye
And feeling the sting
Looking at these blackbirds
That don’t seem to sing
And the bumble bees
Who already knew
And flew off and blew off
To be there with you
Oh Pops it’s a lot
These prickly pear drops
Which stick to my beard
Like damp on the cloth
Or moss on my skin
These sockets start seeping
Splashing two words
Of the poem that I’m reading
Breathing – barely
God it’s so scary
But mamas here now
so you know I won’t cry
Baby don’t cry
Baby don’t sigh
Waterworks on the words
Two lines become blurred
But the birds in the first part
Never caught a rain drop
I wet the word ‘cloud’
Made it look cloudy
Blue turns to grey
As my eyes shut loudly
Reopen all swollen
It drops to the floor
Like apples on the tree
With wasps at the core
An the letters peppered out
On an inkjet stream
Spoken up in Highgate
And seen in a dream
All the hawthorn green
Grows on regardless
Nettle green eyes
Sitting on the marshes
Darkness is numbing
Those silhouette stains
Words shine bright
Like stones in the rain
Oh liquid on the lyrics
Puddles on the poem
Water in the words
And no ones really knowing
How I’m breathing
Barely
God it’s so scary
But mamas here now
So you know I won’t cry
Baby don’t cry
Baby don’t sigh
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8. |
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Don’t know which way to go
Without you
The house is there
The garden gate
Even the roses I swear
But the weight of nothing
Is heavy and bare
And the pain is deep and slow
Because without you
Don’t know which way to go
Keep stepping out
But the road looks so different now
I have to stop and stare
Because, because
The house is there
The garden gate
Even the roses I swear
And the pain is deep and slow
Because without you
Don’t know which way to go
Don’t know which way to go
Without you
Should I fix the roof?
Or mend the gate?
The hinge is broke
It’s getting late
If the roses bloom
If I paint the room
If I sweep my life
With a new, new broom
What will I have to show?
Because, because
Without you
Don’t know which way to go
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9. |
Tottenham
03:37
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Often up in Tottenham
Sitting there and watching
Lily white boys and
Nothing is forgotten
Meet you at the platform
Of Rectory Road
You would have been wearing
That thick black coat
Two desperadoes
On a train
Remember Ruben
The Hurricane
Oh lovely piano
And the lid’s not down
Your voice when it sings
All the warm lit sounds
All the fry ups and
All the tea in a flask
Bruce Castle Park when
Winters are dark
Past Seven Sisters
Under black sky
Often your quiet
I wouldn’t know why
White Hart Lane
Settled in blue seats
Me, you and Lou and
No clean sheets
Crooners in the mist
Trigger on their lips
Driving back home to
A 5 Live hiss
When Saturday’s gone and
As the sun sets
Its Match of the Day
And who we’ve got next
Guess we’re all dreamers
Searching some glories
Tintin and Haddock
Bedtime stories
I see you in the stands
I see you in my dream
You watching me
On the astro green
Pacing the touchline
Learning your lines
In Coram Fields
We came from behind
Think I scored once
You must have been proud
I’m lying on the floor
Looking at the clouds
The Guinness in your glass
At the old Bell and Hare
The men all singing like
Look Triggers’ here
Give me one more tune
Put me on your lap
The bristles in your beard
And your grey flat cap
The whistle from you lips and
The joy of a goal
The pain of defeat
As we drift out the road
The rain in my sleep like
Dew in the grass
My green stick fracture
Splits in my heart
Sick notes on the harp
Sting to my cheek
Wet in the air so
The river runs deep
Oh lily white hair
With dead sad eyes
Rushing past us and
I look to the sky
My God it’s a lot
Down at White Hart Lane
Watching Tottenham with
Songs in the rain
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10. |
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Come home in the morning
At the very end of night
Lost our wages playing poker
With the boys by candlelight
Come home in the morning
When the cats are drinking milk
The thermostat is going on
And my slip is made of silk
Come home in the morning
When the foxes sniff and glide
By the seat of your pants
And there’s nowhere left to hide
Come home in the morning
When the first birds sing
Come home without warning
But come home, come home in the morning
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11. |
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How I saw you that day
And I knew it was you
From the flicker of your light
And something else too
Words wouldn’t know
Glow sticks in your bones
When I saw you that day
At the top of your road
Hi vis in your eyes
And your skin
Primrose lips
Some sweet yellow thing
A ladybird plug
Bleeding out light
After Pops passed
I was scared of the night
If you were a blackbird
You’d sing lullabies
Fly to the moon
And watch the sunrise
In the dead of the dark
My dreams are all blue
It needs a little song
I need to hear you
(Bridge)
One day it wont be the same
For a long time now, we enjoy the day
I wrote those words, as just a little boy
And never really knew what else I could say
I’ve been thinking bout writing
Writing bout thinking
Dipping the ink in
Eeking out something
Nothings better
Than all singing the same tune
Moonlight dripping in my folks living room
We were all lit up
By the lamp and the moon
Like the songs that were sung
In my folks living room
One winter night
In a city called Leeds
Outside a dance we’re
Cold in the breeze
I put a spell on you
From your head to your feet
So nothing can’t get you
God its so deep
We could rent a tile
I’d hold you so tight
A patterned out pool in
Pastel blue light
Swimsuit smiles and
Steaming hot tea
Slippered out feet
To keep us cosy
If I was a blackbird
I’d follow your trail
Blow in the wind and
Watch your ship sail
No broken wings
We’ve got the same eyes
Wet from the storm that
Wrecked all the skies
(Repeat Bridge)
We were all lit up
By the lamp and the moon
Like the songs that were sung
In my folks living room
All the leaves on the tree
Were all dancing in the air
I looked at them close
They all seemed to care
They were all lit up
By the lamp and the moon
Like the songs that were sung
In my folks living room
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Sixteen Sunsets London, UK
Sixteen Sunsets are Jehane Markham and Hartley Lloyd Pack: mother and son; poet and
writer.
Sixteen Sunsets are Jehane Markham and Hartley Lloyd Pack: mother and son; poet and writer.
This self titled album is art at its rawest and most true; music created collaboratively by family, friends, singers and musicians, inspired by the life – and death – of the late Roger Lloyd Pack.
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