1. |
The Sacred Egg
01:15
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260369 Once Upon a Time.
As the last sunset of the flower revolution was surrendering into the neon sky, somewhere in Woodhouse there lay safe an egg.
Tap tap, tap tap.
Silence.
Then an almighty crack, a shiny bald head appeared from inside the freckled egg. Very unusual!
But never the less a blue eyed spring chick was hatched, born kicking, fighting off the shelf.
It was a sturdy but wiry little thing, somewhat like a king. So when it came to his naming mother hen knew it was George.
Joyous celebrations carried on right through the wee small hours.
As he grew, he had to grow up fast, ‘cos life wasn’t all plain sailing.
Well, he weren’t a duck!
He got knocked down he had to get straight back up, never a fuss, never complaining. He always he knew he was different.
Not that he got any special treatment, more dirty looks from the other chicks.
But inside he always had a feeling that something good was going to happen. And so it did…
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2. |
Paint the Pictures
03:09
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Probably maybe.
They can try, they can try, hold on tight tonight,
Get it on, get it on, on, on, on
Paint the pictures, rip up the scriptures
Lose all those chains wrapped up round your brains
Keeping you a prisoner in your own headspace
Open a window, just let some fresh air in
Start as you mean to begin.
And I guess you can teach them a few lessons or two
Get it on, get it on, on, on, on
Paint the scriptures, rip up the pictures
Lose all those brains wrapped up round your chains
Keeping you a prisoner in your own headspace
Open a window, just let some fresh air in
Start as you mean to begin.
Keep your chin up, wear no frown, see there’s no need to be feeling down
Just laugh at them clowns who haven’t got a clue, un-time and undo
Lots of suppression,
Smile with a positive expression,
And I bet you can teach them a few lessons or two
Get it on, get it on, on, on, on
Hold on, hold on tight tonight
Light shines soul beam
Rhythm bounce shape melody
Mind vision spirits stimulate
Pure heart inspire translate
Open channel message connect
Body feel roots respect
Blood clean clear philosophy
Faith hope love and peace
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3. |
No Signal
03:01
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The way I see it we’re all here to be tested
But it’s how we react to these tests that makes us who were are
Lights are on, nobody home
Landscapes of shallow minds stretch out as far as the naked eye can see
Oceans of shattered dreams occupy the space we know to be reality
As the telephones ring out onto a painted frost of emptiness,
Nothingness screams out to be recognised
While the hand in the board room shakes and rolls the dice
Nobody home, what am I to do?
No signal, clean out your gutters and pull up your shutters
This tunnel vision point blank ignorance projects in black and white
You all don’t receive colour, dazzled by a bright light
Always guessing if it’s day or night
Cos you can’t define single out never mind separate
With a shed full of hate
A nonsense vibe sits purchased on the throne
Feet under the table made itself right at home
Humming songs about suggestion and judgement
Muck spreading, concrete, cementing over the cracks
You see what one man has the other man lacks
What one man has the other man lacks
Nobody home, what am I to do?
No signal.
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4. |
Sea & Stone
04:50
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You see it was one of those balmy, brain stormy kind of days
While minding my own business, floating peacefully,
in a rubber bouncing bumbling bubble.
Not fairy, high as a kite, you know the brand,
You should have seen my face!
So as I thought, just to get a little closer I’d switch to infrared triple glazed Cyclops vision
Only to find myself turning at the thought,
Completely flummoxed, waiting to go to munchy heaven,
Kill a bit of time!
So as I toil and play for a bit from within my semi-conscious Tropicana gardens,
Just to the right centre of me I hear a rusty rustle coming from behind the banana bushes,
“Who’s there?” a shady voice cries, “Hide your blushes”
Followed by a softer tone saying, “Hello and welcome again”
I wouldn’t mind but it’s not even gone half past ten, AM that is, and I’m already peaking with Everest, with all the glory of the day before me.
So moving on swiftly to some time later, after some struggle and deliberation,
We all decide to take a long earned sunny smiling happy summer vacation.
It’s hard graft you know all this climbing,
Reclining as I slump effortlessly
With one slouch I automatically fall back into the couch
With easy feelings, flowing streams, busting rivers, soulful seas,
Oceans of emotions rise up and come ashore
Sea and stone, I’m stone
And I find myself high up on the top shelf
A sea and stone, yes I’m stone
Rolling before breakfast.
Sea and stone, I’m stone
You see I find myself high up on the top shelf
You see I’m stoned, I’m rolling
Stoned before breakfast.
Rising, high up on the top shelf
“What are you doing sat round in ‘ere for?
God it stinks!
Why don’t you get off your arse and get a job.”
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5. |
Gambler (Slot Dropping)
04:09
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Greedy jackpot eyes bulge as I feed the devil in the machine
Life tranced out clean, out of control
My wicked habit spirals on a forever never ending downward slope
Slip, slipping sliding. Going, going gone.
Now all I want to do is go into hiding, hoping that a big black hole will appear and swallow me up
Like Billy Goat’s gruff, cos it’s tough
When you’ve just blown your last twenty
When only half an hour ago you had pockets aplenty
But all you’ve got now is jack shit
As reality hits you start free falling, feeling dog sick right to the stomach
You big daft lomach, where you gonna go now? The money man’s dead
Leaving you downright gutted, upright vexed in the head
With nought to zero options, cos you’ve used them all up,
Still laughing the little bastard demon sniggers
As he gives chase burning the last of my angels on stakes
With fucked up odds that are always against you
In a place where only regret counts the cost,
Cos you can’t win what has already been lost.
Slot dropping money for shopping
Slot dropping till you got nothing
Fool and his money are soon parted,
Fool and his money.
Slot dropping
Cos a fool and his money are soon parted,
A fool and his money are soon parted,
Leave you down, we got it
Leave you down, we got it
Slot dropping, money for shopping
Ride home, ride home
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6. |
Champion Swimmer
03:31
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“This young man, great hope for Great Britain at the Olympic Games…”
Did you know that the odds of winning the great golden egg race?
About 400 trillion to one!
Just to reach that big, bouncy piece of sponge
Numero uno is a miracle testimonial feat,
Arriving chubby checker first, but then flipping back landing on your feet,
One touch kicking off a brand new season, lessons in a lifetime,
But you see it’s alright to make mistakes
If you know that other reasons always expose fakes
And the places you have to go to realise where you’ve been
Just smile and let the good times begin.
Stop feeling sorry, free your mind of worry
Stop your crying now
Stop feeling sorry, there’s more to life than money
So stop your suffering now.
(Nice clean start)
No slave, no master, pull your own strings, tie your own laces
Pack your suitcases for the sunshine beckons
She welcomes you with open arms, show off your charms
Don’t be shy, just give it a try
Cos you have nothing to lose in Toulouse everything to gain
After the rain washes away your dregs of the past
Free at last
Stop feeling sorry, free your mind of worry
Stop your crying now
Stop feeling sorry, there’s more to life than money
So stop your suffering now.
One life, one winner, champion swimmer
One life, one winner, champion swimmer
(Unbeatable, unstoppable, unbelievable, it’s remarkable, it’s truly magnificent
This boy wonder has smashed all the great records of all time
He has reached the impossible, he is a true champion
One life, one winner, champion swimmer)
Stop feeling sorry, free your mind of worry
Stop your crying now
Stop feeling sorry, there’s more to life than money
So stop your suffering now.
7. TIME TRAVEL
If the vision is in the time then surely the mind can travel
Time travel, unravel knots tying you up
In a past backdraft,
Blowing candles out on your bright future
Turn and face the wall, cemented in pain
Gather strength in the foundations of love
Nothing to lose, life is to gain
Find weakness in the hand that laid the brick of hate
Cultivate open space sow fresh seed of hope
In the garden of your conscience wipe the slate clean
And recognise where you’ve been
Chop down the roots of ignorance,
Institutions, nominations of systems
Installed to maim and blind, cripple innocent souls abused formula
Generate create mass genocide in ego visions of power
Evil will not succeed in this time, for truth will split the seed for man denied himself, Twisting his tongue to remain silent, two thousand years undone
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7. |
Time Travel
01:00
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If the vision is in the time then surely the mind can travel
Time travel, unravel knots tying you up
In a past backdraft,
Blowing candles out on your bright future
Turn and face the wall, cemented in pain
Gather strength in the foundations of love
Nothing to lose, life is to gain
Find weakness in the hand that laid the brick of hate
Cultivate open space sow fresh seed of hope
In the garden of your conscience wipe the slate clean
And recognise where you’ve been
Chop down the roots of ignorance,
Institutions, nominations of systems
Installed to maim and blind, cripple innocent souls abused formula
Generate create mass genocide in ego visions of power
Evil will not succeed in this time, for truth has split the seeds for man denied himself, Twisting his tongue to remain silent, two thousand years undone
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8. |
Love Again
03:23
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Love again, love again
Why won’t you, why won’t you talk to me
Love again, love again
Open your heart
Love again, love again
If you can find it in your fragile heart to live and forgive
Then the healing process can begin to sort out the particles
Pick up the pieces of your troublesome past,
Leaving hate and bitterness where they belong,
Outside in the cold
Envious of your present warmness,
As the fire glows the night becomes luminous
But you know, it takes time to readjust, 360 degrees to twist whole again
Can you love without prejudice?
Love without prejudi.
Love again, you can learn to love,
Love again
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9. |
X-Ray 99
03:36
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Don’t you ever give it a rest?
Listen, this is my story but let me stress,
I’m not out to impress
Slag off the way you dress
I’m just telling you how it was
Hands up, I’m the first to admit
Bold as brass come to mention it
No, but seriously
I strongly feel sometimes, some things have to be said
Especially if you come round our way,
We sprouted way too fast, old before our time
Adolescent granddads
Caught up in the shackles of petty crime
Slash shredded lines, no communication
Ziltch education.
In our house discipline was a word that only existed in a dictionary we never had
Too busy sniffing after gailies, trying to emulate me dad
Yeah, cos I knew it all, little boy with a man’s head
Tricky man a darter, grass and you’re dead.
Got more front than quarry mount clock
Hate school cos all the teachers bash and mock
“You’ll never add up to nothing, you’re just a waste of space!
Gadge breath in yer face, can you smell it? Audrey, now spell it
L.O.S.E.R”
Just a loser, just a loser.
Loser, well I’m thinking on the boil, what a jumped up little tosser,
Only got time for the perfect world kids
With their Marks and Sparks posh wallpaper clip books
Proper good looks, all star Jocelyn Brown nose wannabees,
Calm down, calm down
Fuss, fuss, always fussing
Single file, single file, one at a time, one at a time
Strutting paranoid, moving through studentville
With a wet, frisky April breeze blowing blossoms off trees
Soaking his spanking clobber.
Have you seen the state of his strides?
Good job he’s got a pair of stones in an old pump bag keeping his stash
Home and dry from prying eyes who only need to see
On a see to be seen basis,
His heart thumps, ten to the dozen. It’s like Wacky Races
As a mushka on a giant flying pot bellied pig towing a broken down spaceship
Which ran into Tommy Kipper’s stunt double apparently.
Any trouble, any bother, don’t mess about with all these pranksters
Just come and see the gangster, he’ll sort it out for you
Watch your ass he’s a super grass
Not you Tommy, not you Tom
Snitching snake in the grass
Better watch your ass he’s a super grass
Don’t mess with the wily terrier
Snitching snake in the grass
Better watch your ass he’s a super grass
Mang shice mush,
Mushkra is a janing
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10. |
Shades & Shapes
03:19
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This one that is all too rare,
Pain and happiness.
“What time is is?”
It’s just gone 3 in’t morning and I just can’t seem to switch off, on, off again
Half asleep, zombified, drifting into the mind dazzling twilight
As the well done crispy sunburst yellow moon slides cool, calm and collected,
Cunningly, sneaking up tip toe, tip up on toe,
Hidden behind the silver lined, psychedelic mystic cloud
And then, just like magic, in three solid block movements
It body pops itself back out again.
So as I start, may I begin to recollect
Recalling all kinds of shades, shape and colours
Tinting visuals manifesting, then projecting ready to go pictures
Advertising ‘What should be a real life?’, then asking,
“What is a real life?”
Featuring full length slapstick Mickey Mouse versions
Of never seen before raw, uncut footage
Once stolen, but now recovered.
This one that is all too rare,
Pain and happiness.
My generation, my generation
Meanwhile, as the day breaks instantaneously with a sparrow’s fart
The last piece of the jigsaw flies by, floating
Gently, softly, dropping perfectly into place like falling leaves completing their cycle
Knowing not to chase, but just naturally accepting their fate.
From generation to generation
This one that is all too rare,
Pain and happiness.
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11. |
Must be Bedtime
02:38
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Clash, clash, crashing, ear bashing
Mashing spoon bending thoughts fusing, sonic steering
Pioneering, soul searching
Sending out signals
See what mingles with the dingles
Extracting, interacting, contacting
Getting ready for the great escaping
Ground breaking move
Dancing, prancing, rhythms enhancing
I’ve got no money
Looks like I’ll have to go and make some
Just another ten pound draw
In writing to inspire, to create
Stop right there, hesitate
“Just take a breather”
Let’s start marching, speed walking, day dawning
Sun rising, heart warming, birds calling out my name,
Melody singing, St. Mark’s bells ringing
Tones selecting, then engaging, energy surging
Juice sapping at light speed, eyes gawping, body yearning
Must be bedtime
What did you say?
I said it must be bedtime.
Still I’m not sleeping, John nod is at the end of my nose peeping,
Quantum leaping,
Lapping, slapping, mapping out the quickest journey home
Routing, touting, shovelling, bustling
Bumping into mushrooms
Witnessing just another UFO sighting
Very enterprising
You know it’s so enlightening to see the number 51
Destination accomplished, mission complete
“Has anybody got any tomazis?”
Must be bedtime
“Get a fucking job you understand
All you ever do is party,
Every night all you’re doing is party, party.”
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12. |
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George Sproule, Vocals
Sam Hobbs, Drums, Percussion, Synthesizer
Mark Creswell, Guitar, Bass
Bob Birch, Hammond/Rhodes
Matthew Bourne, Cello
Emily Levy, Vocals
Produced, Mixed and Engineered by Sam Hobbs and Mark Creswell
Lyrics by George Sproule
Music by Sam Hobbs and Mark Creswell
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13. |
Who Are You?
00:45
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Who are you?
If you have no direction, how do you find your way?
If you have no voice, how do you have your say?
If you have no morals, how do you keep your dignity?
If you have no soul, how do you recognise your true identity?
If you have no love for yourself, how do you embrace your sisters and brothers?
If you have no respect, how are you received by others?
If you have no vision, then what is it you’re really seeing?
If you have no faith then I guess you’ve got nothing to believe in.
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George & the Champion Swimmers Leeds, UK
A Yorkshire synergy of Eugene McDaniels and Ian Dury. Spoken word with a heady mix of dance, reggae and
drum’n’bass.
Blazing individuality and a unique ability to explain, survive, and inform modern British life.
The Rebel Elements Label is proud to present the debut album from George and the Champion Swimmers, ‘Once Upon a Time in Woodhouse’.
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