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The Rooks Have Returned

by Land Lovers

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1.
I was born near the river In a chorister’s office under the crown Anniversaries come Anniversaries go into the ledger There’s a song on my lips There’s a song on my lips, I’ll tell you it Flips me over and rattles my hips It shivers my fingers, it troubles my kips Taken away on the B&I line I was twinned at the old Albert Dock And repatriated When I extended to six feet and one I wondered what else I should know I followed a thread back into a bed Springtime for the mystics That old doll saw trouble on the rise The rooks had returned to the sky Springtime for the mystics I stood up like Emmet in his coat And went out delivering notes There’s a fly on my cheek There’s a fly on my cheek, I’ll tell you it Picked me out ‘cos it knew I was weak It waits for the morning when it can eat Ten years ago I spoke at Llandudno An entryist questioned my name And I grew indignant Making it clear where my loyalties lay The delegates seemed satisfied But then, in the Mail, they made up a tale Springtime for the mystics That old doll saw trouble in my heart I wouldn’t even know where to start Springtime for the mystics They stood up like Morecambe and Wise I never did enough for those guys
2.
Angeline 03:08
Oh Angeline, you take the blue out of the sea It doesn’t matter that you’re already old and replete You’re young in my dream In the sports hall of a modern school Where we were welcome to be cruel You just jumped right in Where the worst of them swim It didn’t matter that the feud began In the middle of exams What a time you had! Running between Orwell and The Trads Oh Angeline, you take the blue out of the sea It doesn’t matter that you’re already old and replete You’re young in my dream And with your alien self-assurance Soon you saw my presence As a dreadful drag Looming too close with my schoolbag Anyway I took an early hint And rose up to the firmament Where we strum our lyres And the odd bored child conspires I knew ogres who climbed to your quarters Watching you, wanting you, waking you
3.
Montecassino 04:06
I typed up a letter, meant to send, but thought better Oh how he sang to me Three notes a melody And I keep hearing that flat Flemish fugue And I leaned on a lamppost, scoffing my lunch Chewing on a little word Chewing on a little word To the effect that he'd marry soon Oh my blonde Dragoon at Montecassino I swam in the river, felt the chill in my liver Latterly shut my gob Got straight and took a job 'Cos I was fearing a long solitude And I leaned on a lamppost, halfway from home Waiting on a certain girl, Waiting on a shiny maiden 'Cos fairies must take an interest Give that mind a rest from Montecassino On the day that you come I'll be strong and handsome And the light will pay heed to its training When this woman that I meet tells me "You look empty and beat" Set her straight, animate what’s remaining Oh, will I ever glimmer again? I wrote him a letter, turned it into a feather And now it floats for me over the Zuider Zee And I keep hearing, I keep hearing that flat Flemish fugue And I'm still fearing, I'm still fearing a long solitude So I lay at a bus-stop on my way home Wondering about results Wondering about how Actions produce all manner of results Shipping some insults And falling asleep-o Oh Montecassino
4.
When Wenceslas looked down on us, I looked down on you And communicated something new For in the snow I had to go to have our blue lips meet If by miracle I kept my feet Wish it was yesterday, wish it was Wish it was yesterday, wish it was But some internal watchfulness sent me elsewhere then To a dream of sweet accomplishment Where you and I, on carpet white, treacherous like tongues Disappeared into a crowd of lungs Oh crowd of lungs, of livers and rumps Enemies out to reveal you Oh crowd of lungs, of shadows and bumps Oh mother of God, they’re starting to talk I wish it was yesterday I wish it was yesterday, I wish it was, I wish it was...
5.
Good ol’ Justin Connolly, dressed down for a Sunday mag There in his morning rags The mammies spent the money That the judges took for them - A severe settlement And if you want their numbers I wouldn’t want to disappoint you You wouldn’t ever disappoint me Poor ol’ Justin Connolly, making payments twice a week Once more among the meek And he knows what awaits him When he is on his knees Pleading poverty And if you want their numbers I wouldn’t want to disappoint you You wouldn’t ever disappoint me And it’s become a burden to me To know but never speak I’d go anywhere I’d do anything
6.
Oh I’m waiting for you To make a mistake for pity’s sake A pitiless life formed a practical man Not a pick on his bones We were little ghouls that got together Caused a bit of bellyache for me It wasn’t for him I suffered so A solitary stretch on a drip of breath The absence of news and the smell of death With a blackbird to stroke We were little ghouls that got together Caused a bit of bellyache And you thought of royal jewellery, didn’t you? One step at a time, you’ll be ma-ma-ma-maligned Gonna track all the carriages he takes on his own To the conjugal residence of persons unknown And I will ‘cos I want him I will ‘cos I want him I will ‘cos I want him to go
7.
Leather-bound valuables Tucked into front and back pockets Let's make a day of it, poppet Dipping some wallets I knew that you'd get sad about it There's no need, it happens all the time A point of honour must be settled And this can become a life of crime These master criminals Must have somebody who flatters If that’s you, my pretty poppet None of it matters I knew that you'd get sad about it There's no need, it happens all the time A gentlemanly row develops It can become a life of crime What are we good at? We're good at everything! We're good at medicine, war and astronomy What are we bad at? We are unable to see We deserted some thrones foolishly I knew that you'd get sad about it There was no need, it happens all the time As television demonstrated We can resume our lives of crime
8.
Cartoons 04:23
Your Mo has told you where to go And you won’t say a word against him It’s a shock to the system With inscrutable wisdom, He amended you Some clothes and cosmetics were taken His passport papers from a drawer When you called his employer It just seemed to annoy her She had salads to sell And so I leave you with the name above your name Of a man whose own devotion brought him to some old terrain And so I left you in the gathering kitchen gloom Watching the cartoons A bubbling cauldron for a belly And low suggestions stir in there When a spook took you shopping All your frog friends were hopping And the heavens were dropping And so I leave you with the name above your name Of a man who disappeared in search of otherworldly gain And so I left you in the gathering kitchen gloom Watching the cartoons
9.
Moratorium 02:51
Good, I’ve been waiting for you Now I see no sleep in your eyes Two men have died, making your lies Insignificant again Go to the bridge, my husband Meet with Eddie the contractor there He’ll show you where your dear brothers Expired last night In the Sunday Business Post There’s a piece on the three of you Get it on your way Moratorium: everyone reckons that we’re ok Moratorium: everyone reckons that we’re ok If you stay at arm’s length from our marriage Could it get any more lonesome in here? Oh it is truly a game played by monsters and rogues in the first place So make haste with your dark wee dog You’ll understand me, Eddie As the eldest of four divil boys All self-employed, all aggressive, all search-and-destroy In the televisual age Any handsome idiot could be plucked To be all the rage Moratorium: everyone reckons that we’re ok Moratorium: everyone reckons that we’re ok Moratorium: everyone reckons that we’re ok Moratorium: everyone reckons that we’re ok
10.
In the dark days of the two fifty-sixth pope I descended vertically on a slick slope Dearly, I was gripping onto that rope See I’m an ordinary bloke With an ordinary jaw I used to get some live support, I never get that live support now Modern pentathlon Modern pentathlon So I wandered lonely in the stratosphere Disassociating out of a strong fear Maybe I was destined for the all-clear From an ordinary dose With its own pernicious way I used to get a helping hand until I turned that hand away Modern pentathlon Modern pentathlon And I’m crying myself to sleep In the wake of your pageantry Now the peasantry rhymes for you While I listen in to live support I never get that live support now Modern pentathlon Modern pentathlon Zipping through the city on my one and only Zipping through the fields with a gun in my hand Zipping up a coat, putting on a mask Modern pentathlon Modern pentathlon

credits

released May 13, 2016

Written by Land Lovers.
Produced and mastered by Mark Chester.
Recorded at Orphan Studios and The Pop Inn.

Land Lovers on this record were Padraig Cooney, Ciaran Canavan, Shane Murphy and Maggie Fagan. Additional musicians numbered Conor Deasy, Pat Daly and Mark Chester. Paddy Hanna reads some lines from WH Auden’s The Fall of Rome.

Thanks to Cormac Hughes and Alan Galvin, who contributed along the way.

Artwork by Emma Wilson.

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Land Lovers

Self-designated pop band from Dublin and co-founders of Popical Island.

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