Black tobacco (she tastes like)

No one in particular really. But what if a smell or taste could bring something or someone back - really bring them back rather than just a memory of them. So an unrequited ghost voodoo love song. I think the idea comes from a few candomble sessions I attended in Brazil a while ago. Cigarettes and rum play a large part in the ceremony and woe betide anyone crossing their arms and legs. The guitar was quite tricky even though I made it up myself but finally think I nailed it - although this is just a rough recording.


She tastes like black tobacco


A taste, a kiss unlocks the mind
Puts skin and flesh upon the bones of time
The light plays tricks and dances on the floor
Then she is standing there once more

She tastes like black tobacco
black tobacco
Her heart is black tobacco
black tobacco

I'd watched and caught her eye sometimes
I've caught my breath as hers met mine
A smile that dances on those lips devine
She shakes her head, it's so unkind

She tastes like black tobacco
black tobacco
Her heart is black tobacco
black tobacco

Don't cross your arms before me child
Don't cross your heart and hope to die
We all fade through the rolling mists of time
But breath is blessed and love is blind

She tastes like black tobacco
black tobacco
Her heart is black tobacco
black tobacco

Homecoming: a song for remembrance day

There was a very good Panorama on a while back called Forgotten heroes - what happens to soldiers when they leave the army. It was a candid look at their lives and how their experiences of training , the army and war had affected them. Coupled with reading reports of other inquests of bomb disposal experts killed in Afghanistan, a few phrases and images stuck in mind mind and I wrote this.


Homecoming

I should've stood in the doorway and shaken the sand from my boots
Got a kiss from my wife and my kid as he fumbles and roots
for the presents he knows that I've stored
In the Bergen a few days before,
Before my homecoming,
Last days of the tour.

I should've stood on the pavement,
my heart beating time with the crowds
Pressed my hand to the glass and wondered aloud
Just who why and what is it for?
Or at we just settling scores?
Before my homecoming,
Last days of the tour.

And there's no sand in the valley still
And there's no sand in the valley still
Just a little boy standing alone
And his voice on a satellite phone
"take your time daddy
But it's time to come home"

I should have turned out the lights and retreated into my shell
Faced the demons, the vampires the blood and the hell
But every man's trying to hide
the child that is hiding inside
Before my homecoming, last days of the tour.

I should have stood in the doorway and shaken the sand from my boots
Took the praise and the medal, all the salutes.
But a shadow moves over the shire
I'm freed just by cutting the wire
Its my homecoming, last days of the tour.

And there's no sand in the valley still
And there's no sand in the valley still
Just a little boy standing alone
And his voice on a satellite phone
"take your time daddy
But it's time to come home"


Homecoming

Westward sunrise

Written on a train heading back from the west country when I'd rather be hanging back to it.
Looking out the window is a good way to pass the time.
Westward sunrise by dombailed


Facing backwards on the train
Gives me headaches, all the same
At least I'll see the sunrise
At least I'll see the sunrise
See your face among the clouds
Like a friend lost in a crowd
I'm blinded by the sunrise
blinded by the sunrise

Chorus:
And I'm westward ho
Snaking back across forgotten moors
Just a one man show
I'll be left bereft, becalmed, unburdened in the arms of, well, who knows?

Kite gets hounded by the crowds
A taw cross twisted by the blows
Bloodied in the sunrise
Bloodied in the sunrise
Swifts go screaming down the lanes
Silent shadows through the pane
Like kisses in the sunrise
Like kisses in the sunrise

left my book upon the floor
Of your bedroom as you swore
We'd never see the sunrise
We'd never see the sunrise, again
So I don't know how the story ends
Happy endings just depend
On how you see the sunrise
On how you see the sunrise

Sleepy river - sew up my mouth

Think I must have written this after watching some sandals and swords epic.

Sleepy river by dombailed


Sleepy river

Bathe my skin girl
Dress me up in White
Theres no shadows that I fear
Stop my watch
I've no need for time
I'll wake when my lips taste your tears

Lull me to sleep, sleepy river
Lull me to sleep my dear
Lull me to sleepy river
whisper your dreams in my
ears.


Sew up my mouth,
place a penny on each eye
I could sleep for a thousand years
Push off my boat,
heed the ferryman's lies, and
I'll wake when my lips taste your tears

Lull me to sleep, sleepy river
Lull me to sleep my dear
Lull me to sleepy river
whisper your dreams in my
ears.

Running with your eyes closed

Cedit for the key line in this goes to my four year old son. He said he'd fallen over in the playground at school. I asked him how and said "we were running with our eyes closed". Try it, it's fun. But try in on a big beach with no one around - it's safer than a crowded playground.
Try running with your eyes closed by dombailed


Try running with your eyes closed
Just as far as you dare
Who'll you run into god knows
But why should you care?

Caped crusaders at cross roads
Taking a stand 
I've seen the roadside matador
Jacket in hand
Says I've fought bulls before
In a suit of lights
Now the horns just call for
The end of my fight

I've seen the whites of
The fortune tellers eyes
Cloud and search for
More half truths and lies
Says I can't work for
These trinkets and rings
With what's in store, you're 
Better off without those things

A blind sculptor whose hands carve
His pieces in stone
only face he carves though
Is that of his own 
Says I can feel that
There's light in his eyes
One thing's for sure though 
A statue never cries

Try running with your eyes closed
With the heart of a child
Try running with your eyes closed
With your arms going wild
You'll soon see that 
Nobody cares
Try running with your eyes closed
Just look out, look out for the stairs

Try running with your eyes closed
Just as far as you dare 
Had a friend called Flatnose
Cos he didn't care

Just blink and wipe my eye

Just blink and wipe my eye by dombailed

I've been walking through these hills for far too long
Tired of talking
tired of waiting on my song
And I don't know where
and I don't know why
Just blink and wipe my eye

Boots keep walking
Feel the souls beneath my feet
Rubbersole man
Making light of who I meet
And I'm not scared
And I'm not high
Just blink and wipe my eye

Girl keep watching
Oxeye daisy kind of stare
hand hopscotching
Combing flowers from here hair
And I won't smile
And I wont cry

On till morning
through these hills I'll wander on
Wander, gazing
Wonder what the hell went wrong
And I don't know where
And I don't know why
Just blink and wipe my eye

http://soundcloud.com/dombailed/just-blink-and-wipe-my-eye

Crow and the girl with the seaweed hair

another happy one!
this is my first dadgad song - so I'm happy - it was like getting a whole new guitar, different fingering making different sounds.
anyway starting with two easy chords - D and G - I came up with this.
The tune came first and then the crow. on a rock, probably, but what if it wasn't a rock and it was a body. And when asked about it he was a bit reluctant to admit that he was pecking at a body, but couldn't fly off because his legs had got tangled in the hair while he was enjoying his dinner. And then the tide came in and the two of them are stuck forever more, together - and if you're looking out to sea, probably do just look like a rock.
Crow and the girl with the seaweed hair by dombailed




The crow sang, "This song has an unhappy ending"
the crow sang "You'll see that it's me out there
I am what I am and that's what I'm defending
And I'm left with the girl with the seaweed hair."

The crow sang "I swear it was stone not her shoulder
I swear it was sand, not her skin so fair
I swear they were shells, not her eyes glazed over
Now I'm tangled up in the weeds of her hair."

The crow sang his song to the unhappy maiden
The crows his song as the waves crashed there.
And i swear that at low tide you can see them
The crow and the girl with the seaweed hair.

She'll dance

See how she dances in bangles and rings
Kicks up the sand and all manner of dreams
Lost in her thoughts with the god of all things 
And she'll dance

Dawning of daylight goes noticed unseen
She waves at the waves like a child in a dream
Bangles keep time with the tide's tambourine
And she'll dance 
And she'll dance

Spinning, the colours all fade into one
Dizzy, the daylight takes leave of the sun
Rainbows need water or they'll come undone
And she'll dance

Softly her eyes fill with tears of remorse
Heart beats unkindly as time takes its course
But doubts leave her mid as the dance fuels her force 
And she'll dance
And she'll dance

Row row row me ashore
Row row row me ashore
Row row row me ashore
And I'll take her hand once more

They say that the tide will not wait for a man
But she'll mark the seasons till he takes her hand
Back to the warmth of her bed on the sand
And she'll dance

Eighty four years she's been dancing alone
For eighty more, till her lover comes home,
She'll watch the shore and the sunsets alone
And she'll dance
And she'll dance
And she'll dance
And she'll dance


Original idea was slightly different

She dances in bangles and sandals 
Scuffing up sand beneath her feet
Ankle bracelets shimmer in the evening sun
 and she dances on despite the heat

For eighty long years she's been  dancing
Waiting for her lover on the shore
Four score years no longer mean a thing
And she'll spin on for a nother eighty more

Calling of the search