1. |
Signs
03:01
|
|||
Signs
They said:
“God made the heavens, God made the sea,
God made the mountains, God made me.”
And I was waiting for signs...
They said:
“God made the atoms, the muscles, the thoughts;
God is the ending, God is the source.”
And I was waiting for signs...
They said:
“God in the movement, God in the change,
God in the stillness, in the things that remain.”
And I was waiting for signs...
|
||||
2. |
Black Gold
05:45
|
|||
Black Gold
When I struck oil I finally found Gods own blood in the palms of my hands,
a gilded life in a gilded house, the power of flight mine at last;
I changed the world, I re-defined its future sleek and oil refined.
I know the game, I play it well: Business booms as products sell.
It's a simple plan, a matter of fact - everyone needs what they think they lack;
you see, you get it all but you still want more - a smoother drive in a slicker car.
Touched by grace and sanctified by off-shore accounts and first class rides
I fly with the trade winds wherever they blow as I've always done, as I'll continue to do;
and with the spirit of commerce at my right hand side I calculate the future
and watch my assets rise.
We bought and sold, paid the price for our black gold.
|
||||
3. |
||||
Contemplation and Meditation
Feel like a useless fool on the road,
the streets are dark and crowded
as another night unfolds.
Old faces drift to their old hunting grounds
as the autumn air begins to fall
and the summer leaves the town.
Are there chains round my ankles
or walls in my mind
that blind my eyes from seeing
the miracle of life?
Could everything be open, simple and seen?
Could there be some kind of balance
between reality and dreams.
Contemplation and meditation
might make it easier to bear.
Well, God, if you're up in heaven
why don’t you raise my eyes to your face
and show me some kind of vision
of beauty, truth and grace?
Because this future is cloudy
and these skies are so full of gloom
as anger screams ever louder
in technologies boom;
and even my tensions they tremble
and my fear is afraid
as the city spreads from coast to coast
and we all become its slaves.
Why don’t you raise us up higher
than we’ve ever been before,
out of these dark depths where we hide?
|
||||
4. |
Street Preacher
04:00
|
|||
Street Preacher
I met a man in the centre of a city as the sun set down;
He told me a train bound for glory as he shook my hand.
And spoke of a silent weaving voice
That threads its song throughout the whole of life.
The world was angry, fires were burning in ancient city streets
As cultures clashed and people fled their homes to find
Some safer place to be;
He spoke of a silent weaving voice
That threads its song throughout the whole of life.
He says: “You can't see it, you can't touch it,
But I know that it's there.”
The night grew darker, windows lit up all along the harbourside,
Drunken voices slurred their stories, music roared
Beneath the orange glowing sky
And he spoke of a silent weaving voice
That threads its song throughout the whole of life.
|
||||
5. |
Slaver
04:46
|
|||
Slaver
The blood upon my hands, congealed and iris dark,
stares up at my face with a gaze as deep as Gods;
a hymn dies in my throat and I feel distant from my body,
and cold as death inside.
A people chained and bound were taken from their country
and transformed overnight into homeless, beaten cogs;
rough hands on the wheel, crossing the atlantic,
riding westward towards the sugarcane plantations.
As the shadow of the cross falls across the alter
the bread tastes just like flesh and the wine resembles blood.
As I watch the merchants feeding I cannot understand
this hunger for empire, or the heart of any man
and the sermon sinks like stone, its words are like a plumb-line
tied around my tongue and pulling everything inside:
Is it my hands around the wheel, crossing the Atlantic,
riding westwards towards the sugarcane plantations?
|
||||
6. |
||||
If Only It Were True
(I'd Be Here With You)
Some spoke of new tomorrows
When all the earthly sorrows
Would hold themselves
At arms length away,
And all the pain and strife
Would vanish from this life
And only love and laughter would remain
If only it were true,
I'd be here with you.
Now, down the riverbank we'd pass our time
Throwing out another line
Underneath the sunshine
Streaming through the trees
And as night fell on these hills
We’d look towards the starry skies
And see our homes in paradise
Blazing from the blue,
And if only it were true
I'd be here with you.
In the funeral parlour I was told
There were places for the brave and bold,
Somewhere nice and not too cold
For them to rest their bones;
And one of them he spoke to me
With a message from eternity – he said
“Some get lost and others free
But down here its all the same.”
And if only it were true
I'd be here with you....
|
||||
7. |
||||
The White Light Guides Me On
Low down, relaxed, just taking my time,
I ease on down the road into the dead of night
And if peace is with me, I know I will be alright:
The white light guides me on into the melting sun,
All things are one under the moonlight.
A shower of sunlight lifts the veil from my sight,
It warms my aching bones and lifts my heavy mind,
Hours grow and leave, new hours bear my life -
And the white light guides me on into the rising sun,
All things are one under the blue sky.
|
||||
8. |
Fire Of My Thoughts
03:44
|
|||
Fire Of My Thoughts
In the heat of it all,
In the heat of it all,
I say goodbye,
I say goodbye,
to the world that was my world,
to where I was formed,
to the charms I held
as I walked those streets;
to the anxious nights,
to the listless days,
the empty bars,
the ghosts that lay in wait
at every turn,
In the fire of my thoughts,
in the fire of my thoughts,
a new song is formed,
a new song is formed:
Where will it lead
and what is its shape?
I follow its call
and its call leads away
from the stagmant air,
the pictureless walls,
the careless acts,
the circular thoughts
going round and round,
never-ending...
In the quiet solitude,
in the quiet solitude,
do not build any walls,
do not build any walls -
whether by flood or by fire
or borne on the wind,
or surging new growth,
or forming crystalline:
She moves with a grace
unlike anybody -
I am moments away
from my lover, she calls me;
she may be all,
she may be all,
she may be all
I need to hear.
In the fire of my thoughts,
in the fire of my thoughts,
a new song is formed,
a new song is formed;
In the fire of my thoughts,
in the fire of my thoughts,
a new song is formed,
a new song is formed.
|
||||
9. |
I Whisper Your Name
03:50
|
|||
I Whisper Your Name
I whisper your name,
I hear you inside,
Everyday and every night:
You conjure my love
And I sense a freedom
Found within
My meditations.
As I stand before you,
I know you could go,
But you know my soul
And it's you that I need.
Will time bring on patience
And time bring out truth?
Speak to me
And I'll listen to you.
There is a sweet song
Burning inside,
A phoenix in flames
Ready to fly, singing
Freedom in love,
Freedom in life,
Freedom in seeing
The suns sacred light...
|
||||
10. |
When Daylight Leaves
02:09
|
|||
When Daylight Leaves
When daylight leaves and daylight fades
into the mighty river moonlight makes,
that floods across the outstretched land
and runs like silver water through my hands
I lose myself amongst the thoughts
where dreams are found and songs are sought,
I walk through altitudes and heights
to leap amongst the jewels of night;
as I part the clouds that hold me down,
as I look beyond the bonds of earth,
there amongst the burning stars,
in the opening up and the letting go
there, there, is the healer.
As my ears are touched and my mind unchained,
as I witness ever shifting scenes,
as the hard earth feels the softening rain,
as birds fly back to nest the trees,
there, there amongst the shoots and seeds
there, there is the healer.
|
Streaming and Download help
If you like ian perry, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp