Clockwatcher
I’ve been wasting my life
Caring what other people like
Spending my time
On things I didn’t need to buy
Listen to me, it’s not so hard
Most of what you fear is in your mind
Look at me you’ve come so far
Most of what you want you don’t need to find
So can I get a life with just one more minute
Another day with only you in it
I’ll stop been wasting my life
Caring what other people like
I’ll stop spending my time
On things we didn’t need to buy
These days we don’t go anywhere
Yet I still pause
Might just be that this is out of our hands
One thing I know is true
I’ll never have near enough days with you
The time has come to stop…
Sunrise Sunset
Sunrise
Never thought we’d meet so much in my lifetime
OK, I’m invested
Please don’t burn my eyes
Daylight
Never thought I’d just want to be outside
Filling my lungs up with this air it’s giving me such life
So when you get to see this world
Lose yourself in all the small things they’re important
Wherever you end up along the way be kind
A split second to learn and love, it’ll change your life
Twilight
Stars on the horizon seem so bright
Easy to forget that’s another planet out there
Moonlight
Walk out in the street I’ll hold you up high
And remember… you’re always gonna be my guide
So when you get to see this world
Lose yourself in all the small things they’re important
Wherever you end up along the way be kind
A split second to learn and love, it’ll change your life
But just for now take a breath and close your eyes
Someone Else’s Songs
They aren’t my thoughts
It’s not my life
But I’m brave…
These aren’t my words
They aren’t my chords
But I’m smart…
I can’t be wrong
There’s no line
I don’t belong
It’s all a lie
But these are your favourites
There’s a rush before the lightning
There’s a breeze and then the rain it falls
There’s a hush before the wave breaks
And you’re the catalyst for it all
You and me and them and us
The future, right now and the past
The things I can’t say with someone else’s songs
Didn’t sew my name
Not a shining light
But I’m safe…
Did you say
It would be nice
If I stopped hiding in…
Hold the applause
Give me time
With a chance
Maybe I’ll write
Your new favourite
There’s a rush before the lightning
There’s a breeze and then the rain it falls
There’s a hush before the wave breaks
And you’re the catalyst for it all
You and me and them and us
The future, right now and the past
The things I can’t say with someone else’s songs
Fallible
I don’t like the cold
It makes me feel my tired bones
I get all down and hard to be around
I just want to sit with you
And pick some songs we can listen to
I just want you
To know that I know
I mean I’ve realised
That maybe I am fallible
I don’t like the complications of modern life
I don’t like how we expect ourselves to always get it right
Cause I’m weak sometimes and take the easy way
Though in reality I don’t care about anything but what you think and say
I just want you
To know that I know
I mean I’ve realised
That maybe I am fallible
This Tape
I saw you dancing that Friday night
Albeit through tired eyes
But there was a kaleidoscopic hopscotch game going on under your feet
I was gonna say something
But my mouth let me down
My brain was running all kinds of permutations about why it was couldn’t meet
So I pulled out those dusty boxes
Relics of a place forgotten
Ancient memories of a simpler time
The only way to say what I want tonight
Is with this tape of songs I hope you’ll like
As I stay and while away the night
I hope that this tape will be the soundtrack of our lives
I lost command of my words
Deserted by my native tongue
I was joking in gibberish and trading in non sequiturs
All of the evidence pointed to abandoning the plan
The little voice in my head was determined to play saboteur
Magnets and melodies for the memories we’re making
I swear I’m gonna get the message to you whatever it takes
The only way to say what I want tonight
Is with this tape of songs I hope you’ll like
As I stay and while away the night
I hope that this tape will be the soundtrack of our lives
House Is Full
Found a photo of you on a Sunday
I was thinking maybe we slept in
It was such a long time ago
Forgive me if I’m misremembering
I swear I just took a breath and blinked
Now the house is full
And the music’s changed
If you can think of a better way to spend our days then say
My diary is these broken pieces of plastic
I run my hand through my hair as they slide across the floor
A bunch of these dusty old cassettes
Now I wonder what on earth I did that for
I swear I just took a breath and blinked
Now the house is full
And the music’s changed
If you can think of a better way to spend our days then say
Used to think my life was good
Sometimes it was
Sitting ‘round wasting time
Just because
I can go ‘round flicking channels with the best of them
But I don’t live a life just like the rest of them
Now the house is full
And the music’s changed
I can’t think of a better way to spend our days
Now the house is full
And the music’s changed
And my watch must be broken these years have turned into days
Now the house is full
And you understand
This is all I’ll ever need to be a happy man
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Death Bed
When I am a man laying on my deathbed
Going through the words I hear in my head
Will I wish I spent more time at my desk?
I don’t think so
Stuck in a loop on an infinite treadmill
Running all day just so I can stand still
Heart’s not in it and my head is elsewhere
Dreamin’ ‘bout running away
Future self I need an education
What on earth’s my destination
And how will I get there playing by someone else’s rules
Down a rabbit hole in a mindless gaze
Glued to a screen that’s stealing my days
Gave up all my power to this lie of perfection
How could I ever compare
Future self I’ll take the days I wasted
By the time we meet I swear I’ll have replaced it
With gratitude for all the things I have
Somewhere in the multiverse
A smarter version of me figured this out first
And it’s not as though my life is getting worse
I just know there’s something more than this
I just want more I’m so tired
I want to throw out all the meaningless things I have acquired
Trust and time so finite
I gotta get the balance right
I swear I’m gonna get it right
Tom Waits
We were listening to Tom Waits
As the buildings fell
I had a few exaggerated stories
I’d been saving up to tell
Surrounded by a broken city
Drinking whiskey in the back of a bus
Could have been the whole wide world
But it felt like only us
As travellers we wander
We ponder love and learn
And what I wonder
Is will the world be the same when I return
We were walking along unfamiliar streets
When I heard the sound
Somebody was singing their lungs out
Underneath the bridge it echoed all around
We had too many pints in a bar on the high line
I rub my eyes and try to adjust
It could have been the whole wide world
But it felt like only us
As travellers we wander
We ponder love and learn
And what I wonder
Is will the world be the same when I return
Went looking around the world
For that elusive sound
What we really found
Was ourselves
Pack Your Bags
Pack your bags we leave for the coast tonight
I know we need time to get ourselves right
I know that we can do
Anything we want to
And if you needed proof
Just look what we’ve done so far
Sometimes we drive on opposite sides
Going different ways
At the same time
Sometimes we
drift
To the wrong side
Of the line…
Directions and destinations change
The way we get there I don’t mind
It doesn’t matter what we’re looking for it’s all about what we find
I don’t mind the odd back road
A shortcut without knowing
Maybe if we just drive
We’ll find out where we are going
Counting on the Moon
When I look up at the sky I feel powerless
I hope we can find a way out of this mess
I am right here in it
I know I am complicit, I’m sorry
Small things are all things to me
Small things are everything I need
This comet comes tonight, it’s due now any time
But it’s clouding over - a metaphor for life?
Even though this memory will vanish in your dreams
I’m counting on the moon to come out shining soon
The way that you are seeing this it reignites my mind
I’ll always hold on to this night
You’re reaching out to try and catch the rain
Lightning flashes, thunder blows us both away
Petrichor permeates the air and I know it isn’t fair
I have so much
And for all the laps of the sun that I still remain
I’ll do everything I can do keep everyone safe
One second it’s a year, I’m living time lapse here
This is most impossible
But I’ll try to sear this night into my brain
These days are speeding by, no one can defeat time
But I’ll hold you tightly while you reach into the rain
The Soundtrack of Our Lives
I’ve had a lot of houses
But not so many homes
I had to go and find myself
In dark corners alone
But some moonlight through a window
Sunlight on my face
When I’m
With you
I know I’ve found my place
I’ve had a lot of thoughts
But no so many songs
I had to go and figure out
What I was doing wrong
But some melodies on the breeze
As you recite the words
When we’re singing songs together
It stops the world
If all our words and songs and conversation and dreams made the soundtrack of our life
I’ll be able to rest easy knowing I did at least one thing right
I’ve told a lot of stories
Some of them even true
Had some things to say
About the times
I thought we mightn’t make it through
But how this ended up
I wouldn’t have seen with a crystal ball
How someone could ever truly
Have it all
If all our words and songs and conversation and dreams made the soundtrack of our life
I’ll be able to rest easy knowing I did at least one thing right
All music and lyrics by Clinton Hoy
Except “Someone Else's Songs”, music by Ben Dawson & Clinton Hoy
Produced by Kris Schubert
Recorded and mixed by Kris Schubert
Artwork by Lian Wong
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