Release Title: Bent Hemlock
Catalogue Number: CAM070CD
Format: CD
Length: 13 tracks, 51:31 mins
Release Date: 04 Feb 05
GALLEON A word to thee, who sails the sea In search of gold and freedom You'll come to naught but a watery end Should ye see the drifting galleon. They lived for rum and riches The stars did guide them well No lords, no gods, no masters The galleon served them well. With clouds of black came starless night And a sense of great foreboding The felt the strength of Fate's cruel hand A chill wind was a-blowin'. The wind had voice they knew had not Been heard in timeless aeon And in the deep below them now Awakened great Leviathan. They knew the taste of freedom Of lust for blood and gold And now they drift eternal Bound to their ancient lord. Erik Wivinus THE RIVER SONG Uncle Jim was willing to swim When he heard the crickets roar The drop of a pin and it all begins To sound uncomfortably close The distance between All the things that you see Is as close as perception allows Beneath all these a continuous ring Like the rivers endless pull Go for a swim Drop deep down in And feel what rivers feel What does it mean to be ripped out to sea Every moment you are? If you go in You can’t be the twin You can’t even be yourself It’s all swept away by the current each day By the current every day Sean Connaughty HAIL He stands above us so clean and pure He’s better than us And his shirt is starched and white And his tie is tied so neatly on his neck And he’s got all the money while we just scrape and peck At all the crumbs he leaves us isn’t he generous for offering us that? Hail to the man Hail to the man in the clean white suit And hail to the mamas, they carry the weight of two And hail to your brother He will offer up himself in your stead And hail to your sister She will take your place in the bridal bed And hail, hail, hail on us Well, I said to myself, I found my own way I found many jewels in here And I’ve seen a richness and a pattern I’ve heard the chatterin’ of the angels But they don’t listen to me They’ve got better things on their minds Even up there in the heavens The meek don’t rise above I guess its survival of the fittest in the righteous land So you forsake your meekness and say, “give it to me, give it here” Sean Connaughty PORTAL Lustrous, unearthly it glows Reflecting no light from without Oblong, milky and white You know the Key is thine. Feel it draw you in Lost memory from the Void Thoughtless to question impulses You stare into the stone. Still, feeling no fear, and staring in Time becomes abstract and meaningless Ancient presence is here So very old, beginning to share your consciousness Gradual, by slow degree The ancient one passes on secrets of aeons And now you are as one, forgetting what was Standing upon the brink, ready to fall. Hurtling back up through years Teetering up from the Void Each back to his own time Each leaving some piece behind. Into its depths you gaze Three times over three days Your world becoming elastic You know return is nigh. Now, time comes at last The ancient one refuses to heed all warnings He will not give you up, for you are as one And you both feel yourselves falling Soon you both will behold Secrets long dead, buried for years immemorial Gods whose time is long dead Here live once more, before ancient Hyperborea Protecting their lore. Living innumerable lives Hurtling backward in time Becoming many and all You live each, and each you die Monarch, soldier and slave In castle, cottage and cave Become all, yet remain none You are all and you are none Now, reach back further still Continuing down into loathsome devolution Becoming barbarian, troglodite tribe Who in turn revert to simian Now, your leathery wings beating the air Hot with magma and choked with sulphur Birth becoming death, death becomes birth And you are lost to the cycle Neither one will return again. Falling back further in time Sun growing in the red skies The continents becoming one As one becomes none again You've lost what you once sought For no seeker remains to recall What once you were is gone Both lost to cold, unfeeling Time. Here begins it all, mass without form And without head, limbs or members The end of search long forgot, yet you are here Unable to comprehend it, for you both have become Little more than one of Its gibbering minions Crawling your way through the mire Unable to know, unable to unlock the secrets Lying beneath your blind eye. Erik Wivinus (Eternal thanks to Clark Ashton Smith, whose 1933 short story "Ubbo-Sathla" provided the inspiration for these words - EW) DIAGRAM These tracks I avoid Are the ones that you laid down They’re the ones that draw a line From here to everywhere From here to everywhere I know this is a diagram I know it’s not the real deal But I can’t help but get nervous When I see you pullin’ out your steel When I see you pullin’ out your steel It’s all a simulation A depiction of what’s already done Some kind of biography It’s got nothing to do with me It’s got nothing to do with me All the birds are a sayin’ “Be kind, be kind" “Come along with me my friends” “I’ll take you all inside” “I’ll take you all inside” Sean Connaughty THE VISIONARY KIND HEY HAW They say it strictly like that They say it strictly for the man They throw their wishes out to sea And they come back in a cloud up overhead The manger is empty we’re gonna hang HEY HAW This topic is Quicksand we’re goin ‘ under This topic has not been exhausted by any means This topic depends on the papal dynasty I’m glad I wasn’t around in missionary times Cause mama was the visionary kind She dreamt about a man in a frozen lake And the statue of liberty holdin’ a rake HEY HAW All that stood before him was a woman With a compulsion to win and a suicidal love So he sits there restin’ on his fate Throw him in the river and let him go Rollin’ out to sea tossin’ on the waves Mmmm HEY HAW Sean Connaughty CALL OF THE HILLS Won't you sit a spell, son I heard tell of yer plan I'm tellin' you kid Listen to an old man. Well, I too heard the call Comin' down from them pines The voice in them hills I heard in my time. But I'm yellin' you, son The wind's blowin' ill I'm beggin' you, child Don't go in them hills. The call came to me When I was a young man There's things in them hills We just can't understand. Yer not gonna die It's not like that at all What's up in them pines Is after your soul. And the sun it won't shine It's just cold rain and hail And your poor wretched soul Will just wander and wail. It's a cold lonesome place Beyond space and time And you got no defenses From what's up in them pines. So many more in the past When the cold wind blew ill Heard the call from them woods They're all wanderin' still. And you won't get yer rest 'Neath the old willow tree You'll just wander them hills For all eternity. So laugh if you must At this senile old man For I know it's senseless Pushin' Fate's hand. But I'm tellin' you, son The wind's blowin' ill And I'm beggin' you, child Don't go in them hills. Erik Wivinus NO HARMLESS TARGET Once upon living it was not relieving it was not revealing and nor was it healing we all are inflicted with many an impulse to trust in the living to rig all our suffering once they have found you they will not deny you they take you and wrap you and endlessly follow you cannot deny them so you’d better embrace them. I cannot be everything next to your nothingness and I cannot be nothing next to your everything so disappointed in what you’ve been saying a moment is lost in this unfriendly playing a game of vindictive and selfishly praying for pity and mercy and all of its trappings when you finish carving it’s time to start adding. There’s no harmless target for your invasively cutting, decisive and well meaning surgery sharp knives are dangerous toys to be playing with what you remove you cannot replace and its senseless to try and remove all your defects it’s better to take them and invite them to dinner or you’ll come to the table remarkably thinner Sean Connaughty ASCENSION Pass through the door, like all the times before You know it will keep reoccurring Just like in times long past, so familiar The windows, the stairs and the hallways Which way now, do you go up or down Straining for recollection For so many times, each and every time The way is just beyond memory You know this hall, you know these stairs Time to begin the ascension A secret place, far from prying eyes So furtive and so clandestine. Go further in, further in, this time you will find a new way Far behind, leave them far behind This time you will open new doorways. Faster still, moving faster still The scent in the air it is changing You can feel it now, feel it calling now You know you must keep on climbing Suddenly you see the doorway That which no distant memory mentions For never before have you stayed long Enough to complete the ascension. The waking world far behind you Take the door and fling it open New vistas open up to you Can you stay long enough to absorb them? Take it in, try to take it in You know the dream soon will be ending You'll return again like all the other times You know you must try to remember You can feel it now, you know it's time The waking world it is calling It's fading now, coming crashing down You begin to feel yourself falling Faster still, falling faster still Already the details elude you... Erik Wivinus
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