Get all 19 Norman Lamont releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Miller's Lake, Ronnie Lane (Roll That Wagon Home), Turn, Note to Self, Only The Sea, Crow, Ten Objects, Four Little Leaves, and 11 more.
1. |
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I am the monk from the mountain of sorrow
I’ve given up more than you could desire
I walk with God and my sunburned companions
You read too much, baby, you read too much
It’s a poet thing
Three pages and moving on …
One afternoon I came down to the harbor
The boys were drinking and they pulled up a chair
And as the moon rose, and as the songs failed
I left with you and we took it from there
It’s a poet thing
Three pages and moving on …
People do what people can
With whatever they receive
Arriving in a bloodbath
Grinning as they leave
It’s lonely when you’re one
It’s a struggle when you’re two
When it gets to three or four or five
You can only muddle through
I found some peace and lost it
I found love and let it go
Now I wait for peace to find me
And for love to let me know
I’ve been an old man for ten minutes
I’m a hero now and then
They come to me, they ask of me
I do my bit again
The snow upon this mountain top
Is long and wide and deep
I’m sitting here by candlelight
I never go to sleep
I am the monk from the mountain of sorrow
Me with my razors, you with your books
Most afternoons now I’m down at the harbor
It’s not as black or as deep as it looks
It’s a poet thing
Three pages and moving on …
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2. |
Fingerpuppet
03:32
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Sometimes
The rain is like glass
A mirror that just doesn’t care
And sometimes it’s me
Just a fingerpuppet wagging in the air
Sometimes the sky bears down
And I carry all the grief I can bear
And sometimes it’s me
Just a fingerpuppet wagging in the air
Sadness is the truth about things
The truth about things
The real truth about things
Sadness is the truth about things
But smell the smoke in the evening sky
Smell the smoke in the evening sky
Sometimes I sit in the room
And notice how it’s filled with air
And sometimes there’s me
Just a fingerpuppet wagging in the air
Sadness is the truth about things…
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3. |
Not About To Fly
04:20
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When I was a spy
I stuffed wires into a jamjar
Left it buried by the riverbank
Where it’s transmitting still
And this little stretch of road
My dad told me was electric
You could switch your engine off and
You would roll right up the hill
And somewhere in the garden there's a
Circle on the grass and all the
Blackbirds skirt around it like they
See something inside
And the clouds are moving slowly like they've
All the time in heaven and they
Don't care when they make it to
The far side of the sky
But I’m here
I'm not about to fly
Not about to fly
To the far side of the sky
I found a twisted lump of metal
From a real flying saucer
In the silence of my bedroom I could
Hear its humming voice
And sometimes in the night when I would
Hold my breath for hours
I would hear it pulsing through my head
Electric and alive
And a shaft of golden sunlight
Bit into the dusty classroom
It dawned on me that I was me
Not everybody else
And the clouds are moving quickly like they're
Fleeing from disasters that are
Just below the skyline and it's getting dark and cold
And I'm here
I'm not about to fly
Not about to fly
To the far side of the sky
And I met a man in China who
Could jump a wall from standing and
He told me he would teach me but
The moon told him to stop
And a Glasgow engineer was falling
Headlong from a building when
He flipped his body over and
He landed like a cat
And all the gold in Africa
Was buried by the pirates
In a little hill in Ayrshire
Where they play the drums all night
And the clouds are closing in as if
They're searching for somebody and
They'll form a circle round him and
They'll spin him to the sky
And I'm here
I'm not about to fly
Not about to fly
To the far side of the sky
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4. |
Anniversary
05:16
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It was the date that made me think
What would you have been like now?
We used to kid ourselves
It was all some kind of mistake
And you'd be back again somehow
I saw Jeanette get home from work
She never lets herself go slow
It's just my way to cope, she says,
keeping busy
Me, I just seem to let things go
So much is falling through the net these days
Out through the lonely hole you left behind
We miss you so
All your friends reach out towards each other
Out across a hole the shape of you
Of course I wonder where you are
And we all question what we did
Those who believe
Believe now more than ever
And some of those who don't wish they did
I wonder what you'd make of this
I wonder if it's what you'd choose
Sentimental lies, little things we celebrate
If celebrate's the word to use
It was the date that made me think
How it isn't over yet
Funny thing - what I'm most frightened of
Is the way I'll feel the first year I forget
So much is falling through the net these days ...
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5. |
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I WENT out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.
When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And some one called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.
Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.
(William Butler Yeats)
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6. |
I Started A Fire
04:41
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I've been from city to city
Boys I’ve been around
Believing my armour
Would not let me down
These tears are the mark of
A lesson I learned
I started a fire
Now everything’s burned
She was my temptation
I dreamed of her touch
I put up some resistance
Yeah, but not very much
Now my home is in ruins
She says it’s not her concern
I started a fire
Now everything's burned
I read up on my rights
I thought it was true
That happiness was something
I was entitled to
Too late I realised
It has to be earned.
I started a fire
Now everything's burned
I could have stood back
And watched from afar
When will I learn
To leave things as they are?
If I had the money
Boys, I’d run away
Somewhere I could live
To love another day
Round here it’s just memories
Everywhere I turn
I started a fire
Now everything's burned
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7. |
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Is this his street, is this his house?
Is that his car parked outside?
Evening now, lights are coming on
Is that his child, waiting at the front door with her toy?
He kisses her, waves goodbye, he’s gone
I close my eyes and see you with
The last man to touch you
Sparkling with the knowledge of you
And you move one, and you forget
The last man to touch you
But me, I never do.
Is this the station where he takes
A tube into the city?
Is this his stop, is that him on the stairs?
And in the street he strides along
He checks his watch, he mouths a song
Is this the hotel – are you already there?
I close my eyes …
I think of his eyes on you
I never think of you
I close my eyes and see you with
The last man to touch you
Glowing with the knowledge of you
And you move one, and you forget
The last man to touch you
But me, ... ha ha ...
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8. |
Empty
05:10
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Empty, empty
Polystyrene cup
People go by, they don't look down
I get tired looking up
Empty, empty, empty, empty, empty
Empty, empty
Doorway for the night
Empty in the morning
In the cold and cutting light
Empty, empty, empty, empty, empty
Castaways, waifs and strays
Hostel dwellers, Issue sellers
All those people seemed like another world
But the company don't need a man
So the woman don't need a man
So the children don't need a man
And where does that leave a man?
Empty, empty, empty, empty, empty
Empty, empty
Pray it don't come true
That one day there may come to be
More of us than you
Empty, empty, empty, all empty
Castaways, waifs and strays
Hostel dwellers, Issue sellers
I sympathised, but I had a place to go
But the company don't need a man ...
Empty, empty
Feel I'll blow away
And rise above these stony streets
Light as paper ...
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9. |
A Leaf Must Fall
03:06
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If you must go, go now
Before the summer fades
Before the geese have flown
Before the rivers rise
Or would you take my heart?
Would you take my mind?
And if they ask where you are
I'll say that you have flown
Before you died of cold
And while your wings were strong
And that I love you still
And that all will fade
And as you fly away
You'll think no more of me
For Autumn has no tears
For Summers fading leaves
And that is how it was
And how it will be
Clive Palmer, by permission of Universal Songs Ltd
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Norman Lamont Edinburgh, UK
Norman Lamont has been delighting audiences on the Edinburgh songwriter scene since 1990. His trademarks are the diversity of his musical styles, emotionally honest lyrics and a droll sense of humour.
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