1. |
A Better Place
04:20
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In this city there’s no communion
Spirits fade as the engine churns
Empty shells are spilled at the limits
How slowly indifference burns
Are you gonna lie low
Let this take you down
Or will you wake up
Or will you wake up
Are you gonna back down
Before your time is up
Or will you come around
Or will you come around
In this city the daily routine
Has a belly full of concessions
And within its lungs there’s a deep black hole
Inhaling our confessions
In this city of cold reflections
It’s hard to find illumination
When no-one entertains it could be true
That you are just another incarnation
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2. |
Eclipse
03:42
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Where do you go
Where do you go back to
When you make up a distraction
Just to see the night through
I go to the place
That I now know exists
We’re standing on a stage
Every sound eclipsed
It’s here they said I’d find you
Treading water by the wall
The diamonds on the waves
And you don’t hear them call
Too easy to acquiesce
To skip the vital part
Maybe all the difference
If I’d told you from the start
I go to the place
That I now know exists
We’re standing on a stage
Every sound eclipsed
It’s here that you will find me
But you don’t need to look
I know my dreams are second hand
One more open book
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3. |
On the Road
04:40
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Five fifteen
First light breaks
You stop the car
To watch and wait
No plans to keep
No reaction to fake
No reality check
Now you’re wide awake
Through the beautiful slow rise
You count the ways to say goodbye
You see no more reasons why
You need to stay one more time
You promise everything
But only commit
To never explain
For yours is the gift
Of diminished fear
And the chance to exist
On every plane
No thoughts to resist
Through the beautiful slow rise
You count the ways to mean goodbye
You see no more reasons why
You need delay one more night
You are the radicals
You are the mavericks
You are the angels
You are the misfits
You are the loners
You are the leaders
You are the reason
You are the dreamers
Through the beautiful slow rise
You count the ways to face goodbye
You see no more reasons why
You need to wait, you have to fly
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4. |
Give a Little
03:55
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Always she’s known she has no answer
And for as long you’ve cared too much
And it won’t be what she needs
While you believe it’s only your touch
If you can promise you won’t wait
Just maybe she’ll meet you half way
Only when you give a little
Will you feel it take you
Only when you give
Just until it could break you
Only when you give a little
Will you feel it take you
Only when you give will you love
Don't hold on if you want to keep it
Don't play so hard on every word spoken
Don't expect the day to be perfect
If you want the bond to stay unbroken
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5. |
All of the Sorrow
03:37
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Who will ever know what really happened here
If we silence every voice and nurture only fear
You can take what you want or you can give what they need
Open arms and protection or an empty house to grieve
It’s not psychosomatic
It’s not only the callow
It’s not just psychosomatic
Not all of the sorrow
All of the sorrow
Born to an island with the stars aligned in your favour
Free to ride the luck of the gods, not waiting for a saviour
You took the name of your father, wore the patience of your mother
Never held in chains, not beholden to another
You may not see it coming but suddenly it could be
Too late to recover when it’s a crime to disagree
Your choices written on a wall in echos of 1984
Freedom an illusion in spite of every war
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6. |
Elusive Truth
04:02
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It’s there in black and white
On the super sized screen
It’s clear for all to see
Yet still we disagree
It’s there in black and blue
In the glossy magazine
It’s clear for all to see
But still we see it differently
It’s there in the transcript
Of words spoken under oath
We trust the truth will out
But hope is wrecked by doubt
It’s there in undiluted scorn
Poured upon a stranger
For only one scene in a life
How quickly turned the knife
Its there in the daily news
Just like all the rest
Pure and unpolluted
Vested interest
It’s up there in the stars
From where the gods survey
A duel to the last breath
Over how each man should pray
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7. |
Then and Now
03:53
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Then and now
I want to tell you that it’s ok
Through shallow sleep
You would hear me say
There’ll be a day worth the waiting
A touch worth the fight
A love owed to the truth
A path worth the sacrifice
Then and now
I want you to see that it’s ok
Through the empty seconds
You would hear me say
There’s no reason to surrender
Not everything can be explained
There’s not a prayer for every answer
But there’ll be a sun for every rain
Then and now
I want you to feel that it’s ok
Through the vague corridors
You would hear me say
Everyone is waiting
And there’s a reason they came
To stand up beside you
And celebrate your name
Then and now
I want you to know that it’s ok
Through no man’s land
You would hear me say
It’s your heart to give
It’s your ground to concede
The pain is yours to leave behind
It’s your soul that you must feed
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8. |
Halo
03:31
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You black out again
You wonder where you’ve been
As you steady to your feet
On you, everyone is sweet
All too willing to make a fuss
There’s no one you can trust
You black out again
You wonder where you’ve been
Like no-one else can
She breaks it down
Breaks it down
In the pieces of your heart
They see a work of art
So lost in adoration
So lost in fascination
They would bottle you up if they could
Not think twice if they should
In the pieces of your heart
They see a work of art
Like no-one else can
It breaks her down
Breaks her down
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9. |
Both Sides of the Hill
04:44
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There’s another patrol at the end of the road
So what is to be done as the day grows old
They’re watching us now, every turn we take
It’s loaded now, every choice we make
But if I stand completely still
I can see both sides of the hill
Where the river divides and passion hides
And the peaceful conceal their will
How many pieces of the puzzle are missing
How many of revenge lie in waiting
For a generation as the fires abate
Where did the seeds fall, of love, of hate
For if I stand completely still…
Driving home through the winding hollows
Flashing through the trees I feel them follow
Time is up and few chances remain
To flee from the reach of this toxic reign
But if I stop completely still…
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10. |
Your Heart is Not Mine
03:31
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Were we ever more alive than this
From the artful lies to the twilight tryst
Nothing more sublime than your kiss
From forbidden lips to the bitter twist
It's you on my mind
It’s you I left behind
So far over the line
With nowhere left to hide
No time left to decide
No more to be denied
Your heart is not mine
Were we ever more undone than here
Captured in love and in fear
Holding out for the window to be near
Yearning for the chance to disappear
It's you on my mind
It’s you I left behind
So far over the line
With nowhere left to hide
No time left to decide
No more to be denied
Your heart is not mine
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11. |
We Never Go Far
03:42
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I see them in my dreams
See them walk in the fields
Walk through the rain
Hair soaked against their faces
Bright wide open eyes
Limbs turning and chasing
The stars down from the sky
And then they're gone
Leaving for another world
A place I cannot follow
And when I call out their names
They say, "don't you worry, Ma"
We'll only be a minute
We never go far
I hear them play
Hear them holler to the wind
And I hear the words they say
"I'll be the leader!"
"Well then, I'll watch your back!"
"And I'll do the recce boys,
I'll see you down the track"
The sun gets low
This is the time and the place
When I feel it the most
When the light shines through my soul
And the messages reach my bones
And they carry me home
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12. |
It Has to Be a Dream
04:23
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It has to be a dream
The sweetness in the air
The surrender to imagination
And to the absence of care
They say it doesn’t really make you warm
Only makes it seem to be
That you’re carried by an illusion
Well, that’s good enough for me
Until you see a vision
What is there to describe
Until the road is taken
What can you hope to find
Within these old walls
Of secrets, lies, and curses
All the avenues receding
For a thousand unwritten verses
It has to be a dream
There’s barely a soul around
The essence of the poets
Hanging low above the ground
Perhaps it’s of no consequence
And you soon will wake and see
You have nothing left to show for it
Well, that’s good enough for me
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Oli Rees UK
Songwriter from South Oxfordshire. Latest album 'Elusive Truth', recorded at Henwood Studios, and released on March 25th 2022.
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