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. |
The Desert Was Better
03:45
|
|||
I took a plane
To a faraway country
I knew at once
I had made a mistake
Something in the tired air
Cut me off from my family
No matter how lonely the desert
The desert was better than this
I found my niche
Writing threats and entreaties
My claws were long
And my overheads low
Drinking at the World's End
With some thugs from the borders
No matter how ugly the desert
The desert was better than this
Miles away
I was miles away when it happened
Standing watching the quiet river
Standing watching the quiet river
Freeze
The knives were out
When we got to Linlithgow
The memories long
And the weaknesses few
With the rain and the razor blades
These days I don't get out much
No matter how empty the desert
The desert was better than this
|
||||
2. |
||||
See - in the woods
In a clearing there stretches a wall
Flaking with ages and claimed
By the gently closing hand of ivy
There we stand
As the moon yellow stains on the night
Howling our prayers to the night
Till our shadows
Overshadow us
Night has you
Silence has you
Memory has you
Conversations overheard
Fantasy has you
Heroes have you
And I will have you
Sleep has you
Waking has you
Chance can have you
The fear of death too soon
Longing has you
Shame has you
And I will have you
And I intend to be the one, the Wolf Who Snared the Moon
|
||||
3. |
Polecats
01:24
|
|||
Polecats came into my house last night
They rearranged my books
They turned the chairs to face the wall
And I don’t like how that looks
They read my business letters
They helped themselves to wine
And they cast their eyes, their little eyes
Over everything that’s mine.
Now I don’t know where polecats live
In nests or in the ground
I only know I’ll find them
If they can be found
It’s become a debt of honour
And one I must fulfil
Disordered books must be avenged
And they will
|
||||
4. |
Leaving
03:37
|
|||
The way you spoke of him last night
(Oh no, it's not the time)
Saw your eyes reflect his light
(All the way to leaving)
We both knew there'd come a day
(Oh no, it's not the time)
Beauty needs more room to play
(All the way to leaving)
'Try to kiss the joy that flies'
Hard advice to realise
Love is not a compromise
That's the way we'll leave it
In our day this was our town
(Oh no, it's not the time)
Can't there be some winding down?
(All the way to leaving)
'Try to kiss the joy that flies'
If I said that, I apologise
These days I don't feel so wise
That's the way we'll leave it
I brush a hair across your brow
(Oh no, it's not the time)
More than that escapes me now
(All the way to leaving)
If you think you've had your fill
Call me, I'll be waiting still
Just grit your teeth and say you will
That's the way we'll leave it
|
||||
5. |
||||
When I first came home from Egypt
Those were different times
There were women in the cafe and
They put their hands in mine
There was money in my pocket
There was power in my name
I was following my very own pillar of fire
And I knew nothing of shame
But now I've failed to settle
I'm rejected by my host
The women go back to their magazines
And that's what kills me the most
I'm on my own, I'm on my own...
When I first came home from Egypt
I bought myself a gun
It was an old 45 of such a type
That might have helped the West get won
But they laughed me out of the Cowgate
I had to give the thing away
I left it lying on a chair in the Waverly Bar
Probably still there today
These were the days I squandered
They were windy cold and mean
I still get goosebumps on the back of my hands
When I think what I could have been
I'm on my own ...
When I first came home from Egypt
Who should I meet but you?
Giving me your human story
From your corner of the human zoo
You threw your arms around my neck
Kissed me on the cheek
Said we could have had something beautiful
If I wasn't such an antique
It's printed in my memory
As you walked away
The way you swung that ass from side to side
It gets me through my day
I'm on my own ...
When I first came home from Egypt
Life was young and sweet
Now the glass falls out the windows
As I walk down Princes Street
|
||||
6. |
Winter Sky
04:02
|
|||
Empty woods
Duffel hoods
Snowflakes in your eye
Crows about to fly
Winter sky
Arm in arm
Silver charm
Blue light in your eye
Crows about to fly
Winter sky
Holding on
Holding on
February soon be gone
Morning run
Orange sun
On the black horizon
Crows about to fly
Winter sky
|
||||
7. |
Anywhere But Here
05:28
|
|||
Well the day is wide open
I want togo through
All that’s holding me here
Is some dream about you
If I have a destination
Right now it’s still unclear
I’ll know when I get there
Cause it’ll be anywhere but here
I sat in the basement
Nursing my loss
But there’s no point building bridges
When there’s no-one to cross
I feel like Atlas
Under the weight of the atmosphere
So I gotta lay it down gently
And get me anywhere but here
The links are all broken
Nothing’s making any sense
It’s like saying your name too loud in this town
Is some kind of moral offence
This used to be a fine place
But then the spirit just disappeared
I don’t know where I’m going next
But it’ll be anywhere but here
I got to go the distance
Completely disappear
Wake up in the morning dew
Anywhere but here
I’m wearing that crucifix
You gave me one time
I don’t take to religion
But it isn’t a crime
Just a little insurance
Until such times as it’s sincere
Got to find my protection
Find my direction
Anywhere but here
|
||||
8. |
This Horse
04:25
|
|||
I had a horse, she was a real fine mare
She had a power that I grew to love
I used to ride her to the ends of the earth
Where the sky cast wide above
But it's one twist too many in the road
One more dried up river bed
This horse don’t walk no more
This horse is dead
This horse don’t walk no more
This horse is dead
People used to come admire my horse
When I rode her into town
She was high and she was strong
And she put her good foot down
But now everybody’s got their own little pony
Doubts run around my head
This horse don’t walk no more
This horse is dead
This horse don’t walk no more
This horse is dead
I used to wake in the middle of the night
With a nudging in my side
She would take me to the great outdoors
And we would ride baby ride
But all that riding took baby nowhere
And now I just stay in bed
This horse don’t walk no more
Guess it’s dead
This horse don’t walk no more
This horse is dead
I used to sing thesesongs
For the money, for the fun
Now it all seems too much like work
I guess my singing days are done
I just let the wind blow away the tunes
And all the clever things I said
This horse don’t walk no more -
Dead dead dead dead
This horse don’t walk no more
This horse is dead
And I’m not saying you’re to blame
It’s nobody’s fault but mine
A horse can only run so far
And then the horse runs out of time
But you can wave to me baby from the river bank
I’m going to sail my boat instead
This horse don’t walk no more
Bye Bye
This horse don’t walk no more
Bye Bye Bye Bye
|
||||
9. |
Come With Me
04:37
|
|||
So at length it came to pass
Wisdom made his heart like glass
Not the first and not the last
His journey was a long one
Tears of light rolled down his cheek
He said be careful what you seek
It's not enough to be a freak
You have to be a strong one
Come with me
I was lying on the grass
Summer days were drifting past
David Crosby, Mama Cass
The sun upon my eyelids
I'd walked away from this and that
Found myself a little flat
All around me as I sat
Came singing from the silence
Come with me
Come with me
I'll lay my hands on you
I'll lay demands on you
You'll learn to love it too
And through time I came to see
What a piece of work was me
All that wasted energy
So fickle and so frail
Sternly then he came to me
Handed back my misery
It's not enough to be set free
You have to love the jail
Come with me
|
||||
10. |
Nicole
04:10
|
|||
I went to the doctor, he said
Where do I begin?
You got this thing about Nicole and it’s getting underneath your skin
I went the next day, he said Where do I start?
You don’t seem to want to fight it and it’s eating up your heart
I went to the priest and he said Man
You are the victim of forces we don’t fully understand
He said From where you're hanging now you ain’t got far to fall
So if you’re gonna burn, well, best burn with Nicole
I went to the analyst
He said That’s fifty quid
If it’s not your superego, man, it’s gotta be your id
I was still there on his couch as the night began to fall
Free associating fantasies about Nicole
I went to my mother and she said Son
You seem to have forgotten that I’m still your number one
I said Mother dear there’s a clock upon the wall
Frozen at the moment when I met Nicole
I went to my wife and she said Joe
If you’re gonna tell me something tell me something I don’t know
She said I’ve got some sympathy for what you’re going through
Cause ever since I saw her, man, I love her too.
|
||||
11. |
The Ballad of Bob Dylan
04:50
|
|||
Well he flew in from Miami with a bagful of bones
I was singing in the airport bar, just to pay off some loans
Two sleepless eyes in an unmade face
He saw me at the bar, he said "This must be the place!"
Said he was looking for a room for the night
He said his name was Bob Dylan, I said "Ha ha, right!"
He spent the night at my place on a couple of chairs
In the morning he was up and off and down the stairs
I found him in the marketplace, busking for cash
Playing my guitar in a rough and ready kind of fashion
A voice like a hangover looking for a cure
I said you sound like Bob Dylan, he said "Why sure."
Twenty miles away, high security hospital
They were looking for a guy who'd jumped the wall
They were looking in the streets they were looking in the zoo
No way of knowing what this kind of man might do
They only thing they'd got on him while he was away
Was he was into Bob Dylan in a big big way.
My friend with his busking made a couple of pounds
And with a couple of mine that got a couple of rounds
We sat there reminiscing back down the line
To the sixties, how we hadn't recognized them at the time
When this guy burst in, grabbed my friend by the sleeve And says he's Bob Dylan - I thought Man, time to leave
They got stuck into each other, I never saw the stranger's face
Barman's yelling at me Get these guys outta the place
Spitting out language, they were spitting out blood
It was like watching Cain and Abel, before the flood.
Got out to the street and the stranger was gone
My friend Bob Dylan just picked up his bag of bones
(This is what he told me ...)
'That guy there used to be a country western star
Who put down his roots and never wandered far
With his Jewish mama and five kids on the farm
It had been too damn long since he'd done any harm.
His wife cut his throat, he had to get born again
I got his job, he's been after me since then.'
What about the bones? He said 'I carry them with me
They remind me of a guy I knew in 63
He could have been a big shot, I told him back then
But he turned into a junkie - well I ain't no judge of men.'
That was his tale, as the evening wore on
When I woke up in the night Bob Dylan had gone.
He'd taken my guitar and my cowboy boots
My country singing tie and my country singing suit
Left me his bones, and some kinda book
It might have been a Bible, I never got time to look
'Cause they kicked down the door, they walked in real slow
They said 'We're looking for Bob Dylan' I said 'Whaddya know?'
These days I don't work much, guess I'm past my prime
I'm growing me a beard, that passes the time
I'm living in the country but I'll get across the wall
When I get a better grip of my short-term recall
Some days I feel bitter, some days I feel worse
I just write another song and play it to the nurse.
|
||||
12. |
Hungry Ghosts
05:25
|
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.
Streaming and Download help
Norman Lamont recommends:
If you like Norman Lamont, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp