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sebastienneFor basically no reason at all, I've decided to transcribe Borderville's Waltziche EP. Well, this was going to accompany an upload, but then I discovered that it's freely available on LastFM so that would be a bit redundant.
You can listen to much of their more recent, more professionally produced tracks on their SoundCloud. If you like them, you should buy an album or two.
But there's something raw and lovely in these older songs that make me want to share them with you today. They must be at least six years old, which if nothing else tells you how long I've been shoring up the edges of my consciousness with this music. They are all that remains of a never-made concept album, of gigs with the band's previous line-up, of a time in my life when my certainty burned so hard it almost broke me.
(Content warning for break-ups, suggestions of psychological partner violence, and trivialising use of nazism/genocide as an analogy.)
These are a suite of songs that flow together, so do listen to them that way if you can: http://www.last.fm/music/Borderville/Waltziche.
But, to be contrary, in the individual song links below I've swapped an alternate version in for "Lover". A video which I think highlights cabaret intimacy of it all.
I have no idea why I've just spent an hour typing up lyrics instead of, I don't know, getting dressed. But the results of my strange compulsion follow.
1 - Silence & Violence
The water drops upon the rocks
The sound of multitudinous clocks
They tick, they tock, but cannot block
The sound of a thousand natural shocks
The circus top is pulled aloft
The audience begins to flock
Here come the clocks, the ticks, the tocks
That knock upon the circus top and
Disco ball - spin me up slowly and
Feathered pen - fly with the words
Am I making tracks with boxes of instruments?
Silence is the crime hence
Often violence is without words
The gathered flock doth run amok
They're sopping wet from hat to sock
The silken frock is waterlogged
The panic and the silent shock
The circus top is pulled aloft
The clocks and shocks will never stop
The ticking box, the tragic loss
It knocks the tacks into the box
Disco ball - it spins away slowly and
Feathered pen - it flies with the words
Am I killing time or storing up anecdotes?
Silences leads to violence
But the crime is often without words
2 - One Solitary Violin
One fine day as summer wanes
And flowers wilt like priests in pray
This half-a-guy who sits inside
Away from others' prying eyes
And he gradually narrows his circle of friends
As he measures his days out in cigarette ends
And bottles of beer - he could lie here for years
And she still wouldn't have him again
Singing:
"Riches and diamond rings
They're just trinkets
Though millions of morons mistake them for life
But songs from the sixties don't really apply
When we're all sitting patiently waiting to die
And I love you
That's all I try to imply when we argue
That's all I want to get through to you"
He's feeling that he may be mad
Be one of those eccentrics that
Behind closed doors start psychic wars
With no-one but their living corpse
And he gradually wears all his faculties down
Blaming God and the woman, his job and the town
As if cast in a play where the mad man must rave
But beneath it all really he just wants to say her
"Riches and diamond rings
They're just trinkets
Though millions of morons mistake them for life
But songs from the sixties don't really apply
When we're all sitting patiently waiting to die
And I love you
That's all I try to imply when we argue
That's all I want to get through to you"
If only there was a way (it's impossible now)
To express what he wanted to say (is it working out)
A marriage of music and words (in this dirty old town)
Working together so what's meant is what's heard
Give me drums
Give me bass
Bring the strings
No strings?
Not one solitary violin?
That would sum it up perfectly
Melodramatically, maybe
But that's how I feel
Build upon now, on it now,
Music's the tonic
If she wants a war then she's fucking well got it
If she can be mean, then I can be meaner
If she get clean of it, I can get cleaner
If she's looking fine, then I can look finer
If she thinks she's refined, why then I'll redefine her with rhyme
Rhyme and a waltz in A minor...
3 - Lover, I'm Finally Through
Lover I'm finally through
I've sucked all the fun out of you
You never believed that I would want to leave, but I do
Yes I do
Lover I'm finally through
I've had other lovers than you
And it ended the same, they said I was to blame, and it's true
Yes it's true
Carpe Diem
I will show them
I'm a human too
Well the first time it happened, it kinda felt right
But the second and third and fourth felt like a nightmare
It's harder to say, still harder to do
When I'm wrong, and you're wrong too
Lover I'm finally through
We're not stuck together with glue
Though if we were, then I think I'd prefer to be you
Sad but true
Lover I'm finally through
It's been fun and it's been awful too
And that look in your eyes that told me you despised me was true
Course you do
Carpe Diem
I will show them
I'm a human too
Well the first time it happened, it kinda felt right
But the second and third and fourth felt like a nightmare
It's harder to say, still harder to do
When I'm wrong, and you're wrong too
Well the first time I did it, well I hate to admit it
But I knew what I did and it felt like it fitted
I could blame it on fear or depression or booze
But I'm through - oh lover you knew
When you smothered me, mothered me
Kicked me to the gutter, we
Were both heard to utter
Oh lover I'm finally through
Like a bill overdue
Like the Nazis and Jews
Like Yoko and Paul
Like the shit on your shoe
An unwanted tattoo
You are unequal to the most logical truth
But now lover I'm through
Like a fight with Kung Fu between Bruce Lee and you
Well you lose, by the way, but you'd probably complain
That the rules were askew (though you're beat black-and-blue)
But it's fair and it's square and now lover I'm through
And I'm now 22, making reference to
All the problems that went on between me and you
You must think me pathetic
Well I think you are too
So I'm glad that we're even
And I'm glad that we're finally through.
4 - She's Not a Guitar
It's been
What's it been, two months?
You don't own her and she don't owe you
You've been
Well you've been the lizard king
Take off your leathers cos she can't be fooled
And if music is the food of love
Then you're living off the scraps
When you play a tune like that
Cos she is not a guitar
So why'd you try to play her like that you fool?
What you thinking?
When you know she's been played so hard
By other men before you came, it's true
Something's sinking
It's been
What's it been, twelve months
And you're not happy, though you say you are
You've been
Yeah you've been so busy
But I guess that's what you do for art
And if the words should complement the tune
Then you put the "mental sex" into instrumental section
It's been
What's it been, two years?
He says he's tired, that's an explanation
You feel
Yeah, you feel so lost
And you don't quite get his motivation
Cos if the world is a stage then
You just missed your cue
The curtain's up, the show's begun,
And the crowd starts booing
Cos he is not a film star
So why you acting up like that you fool?
What you thinking?
You've been putting it on so far
But now's the time to stop and think
It's just cos you've been drinking
And he sings it as she lies
"Woah-oh-oh sweet child o'mine"
And she gives him back her eyes
Is it working out?
Is it working out?
Do we have a show?
Oh no, no I don't think so
[repeat x infinity]
You can listen to much of their more recent, more professionally produced tracks on their SoundCloud. If you like them, you should buy an album or two.
But there's something raw and lovely in these older songs that make me want to share them with you today. They must be at least six years old, which if nothing else tells you how long I've been shoring up the edges of my consciousness with this music. They are all that remains of a never-made concept album, of gigs with the band's previous line-up, of a time in my life when my certainty burned so hard it almost broke me.
(Content warning for break-ups, suggestions of psychological partner violence, and trivialising use of nazism/genocide as an analogy.)
These are a suite of songs that flow together, so do listen to them that way if you can: http://www.last.fm/music/Borderville/Waltziche.
But, to be contrary, in the individual song links below I've swapped an alternate version in for "Lover". A video which I think highlights cabaret intimacy of it all.
I have no idea why I've just spent an hour typing up lyrics instead of, I don't know, getting dressed. But the results of my strange compulsion follow.
1 - Silence & Violence
The water drops upon the rocks
The sound of multitudinous clocks
They tick, they tock, but cannot block
The sound of a thousand natural shocks
The circus top is pulled aloft
The audience begins to flock
Here come the clocks, the ticks, the tocks
That knock upon the circus top and
Disco ball - spin me up slowly and
Feathered pen - fly with the words
Am I making tracks with boxes of instruments?
Silence is the crime hence
Often violence is without words
The gathered flock doth run amok
They're sopping wet from hat to sock
The silken frock is waterlogged
The panic and the silent shock
The circus top is pulled aloft
The clocks and shocks will never stop
The ticking box, the tragic loss
It knocks the tacks into the box
Disco ball - it spins away slowly and
Feathered pen - it flies with the words
Am I killing time or storing up anecdotes?
Silences leads to violence
But the crime is often without words
2 - One Solitary Violin
One fine day as summer wanes
And flowers wilt like priests in pray
This half-a-guy who sits inside
Away from others' prying eyes
And he gradually narrows his circle of friends
As he measures his days out in cigarette ends
And bottles of beer - he could lie here for years
And she still wouldn't have him again
Singing:
"Riches and diamond rings
They're just trinkets
Though millions of morons mistake them for life
But songs from the sixties don't really apply
When we're all sitting patiently waiting to die
And I love you
That's all I try to imply when we argue
That's all I want to get through to you"
He's feeling that he may be mad
Be one of those eccentrics that
Behind closed doors start psychic wars
With no-one but their living corpse
And he gradually wears all his faculties down
Blaming God and the woman, his job and the town
As if cast in a play where the mad man must rave
But beneath it all really he just wants to say her
"Riches and diamond rings
They're just trinkets
Though millions of morons mistake them for life
But songs from the sixties don't really apply
When we're all sitting patiently waiting to die
And I love you
That's all I try to imply when we argue
That's all I want to get through to you"
If only there was a way (it's impossible now)
To express what he wanted to say (is it working out)
A marriage of music and words (in this dirty old town)
Working together so what's meant is what's heard
Give me drums
Give me bass
Bring the strings
No strings?
Not one solitary violin?
That would sum it up perfectly
Melodramatically, maybe
But that's how I feel
Build upon now, on it now,
Music's the tonic
If she wants a war then she's fucking well got it
If she can be mean, then I can be meaner
If she get clean of it, I can get cleaner
If she's looking fine, then I can look finer
If she thinks she's refined, why then I'll redefine her with rhyme
Rhyme and a waltz in A minor...
3 - Lover, I'm Finally Through
Lover I'm finally through
I've sucked all the fun out of you
You never believed that I would want to leave, but I do
Yes I do
Lover I'm finally through
I've had other lovers than you
And it ended the same, they said I was to blame, and it's true
Yes it's true
Carpe Diem
I will show them
I'm a human too
Well the first time it happened, it kinda felt right
But the second and third and fourth felt like a nightmare
It's harder to say, still harder to do
When I'm wrong, and you're wrong too
Lover I'm finally through
We're not stuck together with glue
Though if we were, then I think I'd prefer to be you
Sad but true
Lover I'm finally through
It's been fun and it's been awful too
And that look in your eyes that told me you despised me was true
Course you do
Carpe Diem
I will show them
I'm a human too
Well the first time it happened, it kinda felt right
But the second and third and fourth felt like a nightmare
It's harder to say, still harder to do
When I'm wrong, and you're wrong too
Well the first time I did it, well I hate to admit it
But I knew what I did and it felt like it fitted
I could blame it on fear or depression or booze
But I'm through - oh lover you knew
When you smothered me, mothered me
Kicked me to the gutter, we
Were both heard to utter
Oh lover I'm finally through
Like a bill overdue
Like the Nazis and Jews
Like Yoko and Paul
Like the shit on your shoe
An unwanted tattoo
You are unequal to the most logical truth
But now lover I'm through
Like a fight with Kung Fu between Bruce Lee and you
Well you lose, by the way, but you'd probably complain
That the rules were askew (though you're beat black-and-blue)
But it's fair and it's square and now lover I'm through
And I'm now 22, making reference to
All the problems that went on between me and you
You must think me pathetic
Well I think you are too
So I'm glad that we're even
And I'm glad that we're finally through.
4 - She's Not a Guitar
It's been
What's it been, two months?
You don't own her and she don't owe you
You've been
Well you've been the lizard king
Take off your leathers cos she can't be fooled
And if music is the food of love
Then you're living off the scraps
When you play a tune like that
Cos she is not a guitar
So why'd you try to play her like that you fool?
What you thinking?
When you know she's been played so hard
By other men before you came, it's true
Something's sinking
It's been
What's it been, twelve months
And you're not happy, though you say you are
You've been
Yeah you've been so busy
But I guess that's what you do for art
And if the words should complement the tune
Then you put the "mental sex" into instrumental section
It's been
What's it been, two years?
He says he's tired, that's an explanation
You feel
Yeah, you feel so lost
And you don't quite get his motivation
Cos if the world is a stage then
You just missed your cue
The curtain's up, the show's begun,
And the crowd starts booing
Cos he is not a film star
So why you acting up like that you fool?
What you thinking?
You've been putting it on so far
But now's the time to stop and think
It's just cos you've been drinking
And he sings it as she lies
"Woah-oh-oh sweet child o'mine"
And she gives him back her eyes
Is it working out?
Is it working out?
Do we have a show?
Oh no, no I don't think so
[repeat x infinity]