1. |
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THE SWEETEST SOUND OF ALL
by TONY KING © FEB 2012
The sound of the wind through the shell of a man
on his final tour of Afghanistan
The only thing keeps him on his feet
Is the sound of his child that he is yet to meet
It’s the sweetest sound of All
It’s the sweetest sound of All
The sound of the fire raging through the trees
It’s surrounded his house and he’s on his knees
The fire fighters come… he thinks he dreams
But the sound of fire turns into steam
It’s the sweetest sound of All
It’s the sweetest sound of All
I had a dream
I had a dream
I had a dream
I had a dream
The Leaders meet, to consider the Earth
They must decide just what it’s worth
Will they say Yes?…. Will they commit?
The vote is cast …The Ayes have it
It’s the sweetest sound of All
It’s the sweetest sound of All
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2. |
song for the newborn
03:40
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Song for The New Born by Tony King 2012
You’re the new born steps to our beautiful dance
a brand new candle on a fine romance
the missing piece of blue in a jigsaw sky
the answer to the longing in our eye
You’re the missing view from just over the hill
you are the way and you are the will
the missing bit of hope in the daily news
the innocence we never want to lose
(Chorus) Life can knock you to the ground
But don’t you worry
we’ll be there to lift you, lift you up. lift you up
Life can knock you to the ground
But don’t you worry
we’ll be there to lift you up if you fall down
You’re the missing painting from the Louvre
our favorite record, the needle in our groove
We will blink one day and you’ll be fully grown
And we know that you will make the world your own
You’re the rear view mirror to our past
as we speed into the future way too fast
We’ll show you what we can but before we go
You’ll have taught us the best things that we know
(Chorus) Life can knock you to the ground
But don’t you worry
we’ll be there to lift you, lift you up. lift you up
Life can knock you to the ground
But don’t you worry
we’ll be there to lift you up if you fall down
There’s a space in the world that cried your name
And a future that’s proud of what you became.
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3. |
Billy's Dream
04:10
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Billy’s Dream by Tony King © 2009
(inspired by Slaughterhouse Five and dedicated to Kurt Vonnegut jr)
The war was a Movie played backwards
As least it was in Billy’s dream
Bombs were sucked up from their holes in the ground
To the planes where they had once been
Craters were once again schools
Bullets sped back to their guns
Bleeding wounds healed themselves over
And smoke cleared away from the Sun
The bombs were sent back to their factories
Dismantled with all of the planes
The Auschwitz carriages came back full
And they kissed as they stepped off the trains
the soldiers turned back into children
to innocence again…. to innocence again
the soldiers turned back into children
to innocence again…. to innocence again
The trenches turned back into fields
From Vietnam to El Alamein
And young men rose up clean from the mud
To their lovers arms again
The rubble turned back into churches
Where they sang their Hymns back from Amen
Medals were melted back into one peace
And Enola was gay once again
Chorus
And love was returned to the people
Free will taken back from the men
And the apple was put back on the tree
And the garden was Eden again
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4. |
she kept on swimming
04:25
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She kept on Swimming
© 2012 Tony King and Kris Ralph
She was born on this Island 100 years ago
Of the 1000 turtles hatched that night she was the only one to survive
She dodged the sharks and fishermen
And cyclones came and went
A plane came down in world war 2
put a gash along her shell
put a gash along her shell
And she kept on swimming
She kept on swimming
And she kept on swimming
She kept on swimming
Til the safety of the current took her away…
She carried the weight of her future
as she struggled up the beach
The same day man was weightless
on the surface of the moon
She was alive when jazz was born
And for the birth of Rock and roll
She was blown out of the water
at Muaroa Atoll
at Muaroa Atoll
And she kept on swimming
She kept on swimming
And she kept on swimming
She kept on swimming
and the will to be a mother took her away
solo intro riffs
At 100 years of age she laid her final eggs
Nearly lost her life to a tiger shark
And took shelter on the reef
When she broke her fast
Her next meal would be her last
She couldn’t tell a jelly fish
From a floating plastic bag
A stupid thoughtless man-made plastic bag
And all those memories all those memories
all those memories 100 years of memories
flashed before her to the bottom of the sea
the same day, on that island 4000 miles away
A single daughter made it
out to the ocean deep ….out to the ocean deep
And she kept on swimming
She kept on swimming
kept on swimming
She kept on swimming
Til the safety of the current took her away
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5. |
the one and only
05:16
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The One and Only © Tony King 2011
Nothing good ever goes away
Once you’ve loved it will stay
Though you’ve gone to the other side
Memories won’t subside
They broke the mould when they made you
Nobody more honest or true
You made us calm as a morning lake
Left us all in your wake
Ch And you are the one and only And you are the one and only
You found the joy in every day
Chased our problems all away
You found the answers we could not find
All so simple with your mind
Memories get lived again
It helps to take away the pain
I’ll never find a better friend
Graceful to the end
Ch And you are the one and only And you are the one and only
Solo
They broke the mould when they made you
Nobody more honest or true
I’ll never find a better friend
Graceful to the end
Ch And you are the one and only And you are the one and only
And you are the one and only And you are the one and only
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6. |
as cool as it gets
04:31
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He Was As Cool As It Gets © Tony King 2011
He sashayed when others walked
had a bemused eyebrow when others talked
Punctuated a thought with a smoke ring
A Dapper Dan, tan with an implication of Bling
He sauntered when others rushed
his white linen suit never crushed
Never found time for a job
Lived a self winding life on a Fob
He was as cool as it gets
He was as cool as it gets
He was as cool as it gets
He used money as a cologne
Went through plenty but never his own
a Panama hat shaded his past
from the silhouettes of women that didn’t last
His face rang all the alarm bells
Johnny Depp meets Sacha Distelle
Had a cane but no sign of a limp
Star sign of Prince with a moon rising in Pimp
He was as cool as it gets
He was as cool as it gets
He was as cool as it gets
If there was a line, he was blurred
Nothing got stuck to his fur
He was smoke with no flame
Nobody knew him by the same name
He was indelible as invisible ink
He was thirsty, I was a drink
In faint pencil we wined and we dined
Then I erased him, right out of my mind
He was as cool as it gets
He was as cool as it gets
He was as cool as it gets
He was as cool as it gets
He was as cool as it gets
He was as cool as it gets
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7. |
so high
03:23
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SO HIGH © Tony King 2011
A single Mum stares out the window of her flat
Her daughter’s sleeping soundly as a cat
She lights a candle and puts some music on
And dances til the sadness of the day is gone
She smiles because it makes her feel so high
Her own place with no arguments at night
There’s nothing in the world that makes her feel so high
makes her feel so high
There’s nothing in the world that makes her feel so high
makes her feel so high
An Ethiopian girl walks across the land
6 hours with a bucket in her hand
Her mother cries each day to see her daughter
make it safely back with the clean water
She smiles because it makes her feel so high
One day rain will fall out of the sky
There’s nothing in the world that makes her feel so high
makes her feel so high
There’s nothing in the world that makes her feel so high
makes her feel so high
A Billionaire stares out the window of his plane
Tries to take it in But it’s insane
He owns everything he gazes on
Every single thing to the horizon
He smiles because It makes him feel so high
One day he will even own the sky
There’s nothing in the world that makes him feel so high
makes him feel so high (x3)
There’s nothing in the world that makes him feel….
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8. |
eye for an eye
04:41
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Eye for an eye © Tony king 2012
You can tell a person from the enemies he keeps
From the prejudice in us that runs so deep
Walk a mile in a stranger’s shoes
One day, it could be me or you
There’s a detonator, in everybody’s rage
And a finger on the button of what we don’t understand
A child shouldn’t live in a razor wire cage
Or walk with one leg to the Promised Land
With one eye on vengeance
And one eye on Blame
There’s no eye for an eye that won’t blind us to shame
look a mile through the enemies eyes
and discover how they see you and I
or you can join the dots between the lies
if you read the truth that money can buy
With one eye on vengeance
And one eye on Blame
There’s no eye for an eye that won’t blind us to shame
Why are they angry?
And so ready to die?
Love takes the question mark from why…..
The Middle East was created under pressure
Crazy as a picture painted by Escher
Is there a leader in the world who really cares
Enough to climb the difficult stairs
With one eye on vengeance
And one eye on Blame
There’s no eye for an eye that won’t blind us to shame
to shame
to shame
to shame
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9. |
If I could sing you
04:38
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If I could sing you I would © Tony King 2011
If I could sing you, it would be an amazing song
Incongruous parts that were born to belong
Tom Waits howling from Chet Baker’s boat
Jeff Buckley’s rubbing wings with Eva Cassidy as their voices meet and float
If I could sing you I would, If I could sing you I would
If I could paint you, it would be amazing art
A crazy palette of improbable parts.
Van Gogh’s luminous starry nights
& Picasso’s early blue and the way Cezanne made a dance out of the light
If I could paint you I would, If I could paint you I would
I feel like a caveman with primitive tools
Trying to copy an amazing jewel
If I could build you it would be an amazing plan
The ultimate puzzle for architectural man
The top of the Chrysler & audacity of Lloyd Wright
A straw bale home and Santorini domes when seen in the full moon light
If I could build you I would
If I could paint you I would
If I could sing you I would
If I could build you I would
If I could paint you I would
If I could sing you I would
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10. |
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Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be (To Absinthe Friends) © T.King 2012
Nobody was born in a Golden Age
It will always be the age that went before
You could walk the streets at night
The stars were twice as bright
You danced in sepia in between the wars
The older I get, the better it was
The 1920’s never looked it’s age
Why dream about the future
When the past better suits ‘ya
& writers drank each other off the page
But Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be
Brings out the best in you and the worst in me
Through sugar on a spoon I filter memories
As I toast to Absinthe friends
It didn’t feel so special at the time
But now, we think we had it all
I’ll tell you this for free
It was all hyperbole
The dung beetle that rolled the Emperor’s balls
We reminisce ‘bout things we’ve never seen
With a rosy tint in every crystal glass
Heaping so much praise
Upon the good old days
they sink under the weight as we sail past
But Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be
Brings out the best in you and the worst in me
Through sugar on a spoon I filter memories
As I toast to Absinthe friends
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11. |
I miss your Gumbo
03:32
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I Miss Your Gumbo © Tony King 2012
I don’t miss your lovin’
Your stories long and tall
Months on end you wouldn’t show up here at all
That beat up thing you call a car, always runnin’ out of gas
That flea pit of a room of yours and bills that you amass
But I miss your Gumbo (x 4)
I don’t miss your haircut
I don’t miss your cat
I don’t miss that Zombie that takes up most of your flat
I don’t miss the heartache
I don’t miss the lies
The only thing I miss about you at night when I close my eyes
I miss your Gumbo (x 4)
I don’t miss your python
I don’t miss your friends
I don’t miss your trombone
I the money you don’t spend
I don’t miss the cold showers
& the letters you don’t send
on & on & on it goes
hell the list it never ends
But I miss your Gumbo (x 4)
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12. |
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I WISH I’D LIVED WHEN DJANGO DID
© TONY KING 2009
I Wish I’d lived when Django did
The Streets of Paris, as a kid
A gypsy violin refrain
From a caravan parked on the Seine
Your life was Art Living in Montmartre
You’d philosophize, drink the wine
Bump into Gertrude Stein
Oh I Wish I’d lived when Django did
I Wish I’d lived when Django did
Between the wars, where Hemmingway hid
People came from near and far
To hear the sound of Manouche Guitars
When Paris was gay Poets in cafes
Moulin Rouge Jean Cocteau
Pigalle was the place to go
I Wish I’d lived when Django did
I Wish I’d lived when Django did
Where the Hot Club bubbled up under the lid
Anything straight was against the law
And the Artists drank What the Artists saw
The smoke was green Where the Music had been
And the Black Cats came from the USA
Played up a storm with Sidney Bechet
I Wish I’d lived when Django did
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13. |
The best bits
04:42
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The Best Bits
Tony King 2012 ©
There was the flood
And the Crusades full of blood
Done in your name
And it filled a race with shame
We spent 2000 years
Looking for a cup
But the thing God would be proud of, he was saving up.
He was saving his best bits up for you
He was saving his best bits up for you
The only consolation I’ve extracted from the past, is he was
Saving his best bits up for you.
The Devil in his hole
Shovelling the coal
With a poison pen
He wrote a script for hungry men
With a little smoke and mirrors
He sold the world a pup
Turned out he was saving, his best temptation up.
He was saving his best bits up for you
He was saving his best bits up for you
The only consolation I’ve extracted from the past, is he was
Saving his best bits up for you.
I don’t have the treasure
Of the Churches or the Devil
And my threadbare cloak of reason
Is nothing but disheveled
I’ve made enough mistakes
I’ve caused too many tears
But I was saving all the best bits for our remaining years
I was saving all my best bits up for you
I was saving all my best bits up for you
The only consolation I’ve extracted from the past, is I was
Saving all my best bits up for you.
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Beautifully Mad Sydney, Australia
Breathtaking original music reminiscent of the beauty of James Taylor, some honey from Melody Gardot, a lyrical spice of
Cohen washed down with some Waits-like humour. A musical flame that licks at the heels of Folk and Jazz
More detail of their history at www.beautifullymad.com
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