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The Gondoliers Of Ghost Lake Cath Carroll |
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All songs © 2002 Superclammy, Ltd. Publishing ASCAP |
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All Our Lives The Divine Miss A.
Mystified In Your Own Way #2 Man Goes Down The Highway 7/7 Average & Unsaved Dunvant Junior Prayers Blood Roar Leaving Song (The Boy From) Islamorada Falling Over Tomorrow All Our Lives (epilogue) |
Performed by:
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love to our families whom we miss. In loving memory of our fathers- Fred Ryecroft 1925-2000 and Anton "TK" Kelekovich 1931-2001
Our sincerest thanks to the boys in the band - Lare D'Amico (and for lending us his beautiful colour photographs), Dan Massey, Rich Carroll, Brian Dunn, and John C. Carpenter - for their support and help in taking this thing out in public. |
The Gondoliers of Ghost Lake- Song by Song (As Cath Sees It) All Our Lives: When Kerry first
sang me this with his guitar, it sounded so complete and so beautifully
simple, touching a The Divine Ms. A: Manchester, England, in the late 70's/early 80s was not a safe place to transcend one's designated gender. The gorgeous Ms. A, unable to ignore her inner truth, did so with grace, some choice words and endless courage. A simple walk for the morning paper could just as easily ended in a trip to hospital- but not for her, no! For the hapless ruffians who thought they could take her only to end up on the wrong side of her reckless shoes. Free: The nature of freedom sometimes only becomes apparent once that which we assume it to be is taken away. Mystified: We keep struggling towards the shining horizon, wondering why we never seem to get there... sometimes the faintest glimpse of peace makes it all look different. In Your Own Way: Kerry originally wrote this as an uptempo neo-Cameo groove- one day the song transformed itself. Sometimes the spirit turns on its host and we can only watch. Man Goes Down The Highway: Temptation isn't just for other people- no one is spared its indignity. 7/7: Perhaps there is no such thing as a single continuous truth in this plane of consciousness. Because the paths of our individual realities intersect and have moments that look the same from both sides, we then assume that we're both experiencing the same thing at any given point, hence the brain-sucking arguments over the mapping of Right and Wrong and obsessive hours spent replaying your case to the invisible jury. Average and Unsaved: There is a lot to be said for everyday heroes, those who are patient with the longwinded and kind to hypochondriacs. Dunvant Junior Prayers: My classmates
and I at Dunvant Junior School in South Wales were 6 years old at
the time of the Aberfan Disaster, fifty or so miles away . A coal
tip from the Merthyr Vale Colliery slid onto the mining village one
October morning, killing 144 people including 116 children and 5 teachers
in Blood Roar: About those flitting demons depicted in Medieval woodcuts: it's customary to explain these days that the artists had been brainwashed by clergy or had been baking with tainted flour. I think they were on to something... Leaving Song: Sometimes when someone's going to leave and won't be back, we try to ignore or deny imperfections and pain and all the things we wish we could change, but there's no shame in being human. The Boy From Islamorada: There are people out there who like you and understand you. Falling Over Tomorrow: The Universe executes its mournful duty in giving the slow learner exactly what they wish for. One night, far from friends, you might chance to look up to the stars for comfort and maybe even an explanation. I wish I didn't know about light years, it makes the world a little colder. All Our Lives: Same song that brought us in takes us out. |
And thanks to our friends:
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| Hearsay:
Performing Songwriter Noel Murray Carroll creates sad music for the comfortably well-to-do ... or those who like to fantasize that they are.
Chicago Sun-Times Jim DeRogatis enchanting trip-hop makeout music
Out Magazine Peter Terzian Darkly intelligent and deliciously complex, Cath Carroll is testimony to one of indie rock's most intoxicating voices
Chicago Reader Bill Wyman her music is also a farrago of curious influences
Chicago Tribune Greg Kot a subversive, shadowy corner of the adult-pop universe occupied by Jobim, the pre-disco Everything But The Girl and Bryan Ferry's "The Bride Stripped Bare"
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Lyrics Reprinted with permission All Our Lives I waited for you... but I can't last forever. No dream comes true. It's gone so fast, to think we waited... All Our Lives. Falling Over Tomorrow Goodnight, in Heaven stars are gleaming It's alright, they will guard you while you're dreaming But nursery rhymes do not work anymore Like all the countless people who have come this way before I find the stars' songs are outdated, Venus highly overrated And you can't tell it to the Moon. I don't forget - all the ghosts have come alone tonight to find me And they haven't finished yet Sweet regret - now my eyes are open And I live with what I wished for In the Wishing Moon's bright debt. Tonight, all alone beneath the skies Underneath the Dog Star, and the Big Bear Watched by Orion's lonely eyes All those souls in those cold worlds unseen I bet they tell it to the Moon- tell it to the Moon I don't forget - all the ghosts have come alone tonight to find me And they haven't finished yet Sweet regret - now my eyes are open And I live with what I wished for In the Wishing Moon's bright debt. Look, Jessica, Heaven's eyes are streaming No, no, Jessica, Science can't strip you of your dreaming. And no, I won't forget, all the ghosts still come alone at night to find me And they haven't finished yet Sweet regret - now my eyes are open And I live with what I wished for In the Wishing Moon's bright debt. Free There's nothing to see and you know that those who see best look no further. Running on our knees in circles... afraid to leave, we merely look away. Do you feel me, do you feel me? and still the crowd were left wandering... Have we come to hold your hand or come to watch you fall you tried telling us, you tried telling us this is how it feels to be... Free. There's nobody there you know so... so turn and in turning find the way running on our knees in circles... afraid to leave, we merely look away. Have we come to hold your hand or
come to watch you fall you tried telling us, you tried telling us
this is how it feels to be... Free. Do you
feel me, do you feel me? and still the crowd were left wandering.
Have we come to hold your hand or come to watch you fall you tried
telling us, you tried telling us this is how it feels to be... Free.
Man Goes Down The Highway He is at the point of finding out what it all means he just needs a warm hand to loosen up all those tight seams. Red car rolling... passing... slowing... And there is somewhere deep at sea a long-lost shoreline, part of where he used to be... red car rolling... passing... slowing. Red car rolling... he is not the kind to have his head turned by bright-blooded things out there, on the highway... the luminous heart of his feverish dreams, the luminous heart of his feverish dreams. Red car rolling... passing... slowing. Dunvant Junior Prayers Look outside, you see the sun It doesn't shine for everyone Our distant dark hills still remain A place where old age pensions go unclaimed. How cruel this life has been We knew the coal would take our men Could it not wait for their children? This nation has been built upon Their battered backs and crippled lungs But until now no pain could dim The constant light that shines within. Run through the gates to meet Your fathers crying in the street But you pretended not to see them And for now there'll be no more Sundays at the Gower shore One day you will understand The shadow darkening our land. Quiet when you stack the chairs There'll be no running on the stairs Ewan Evans, see me after prayers. Very soon you'll see The sad-eyed city men will come With sorry words and money But they'll never right the wrong, No, they will never right the wrong. Oh my child, you see the sun... 7/7 Leave your big stick in the corner Let your priest out of the wall For I am not the end that you've been waiting for You are giving me that look Like I'm the King's men come to call When I am just a simple traveler at the door It feels like It's coming around, it's coming around. it's coming around again (I know it) Feels like It's coming around, it's coming around. it's coming around again. I have seen you break the demons Yet be broken by the rain Don't you get tired of fighting everything and more? Let us put the world outside us and be deaf to its refrain I am so tired of holding out and keeping score It feels like It's coming around, it's coming around. It's coming around again (I know it) Feels like It's coming around, It's coming around. It's coming around again. There is nothing to fear, my love- But we could not see... Mystified Mystified so long, Lost in this life Where do I belong Lost, lost in this life I had prayed for love to save me Then I prayed for God to take me For I had vowed to spend my life in A prison of my own devising. Thought it was how it should be I locked the door, gave him the key And I called it love Oh I called it love I called it love... Then Love spoke to me. Suivez-moi, suivez moi, doucement, doucement. Inside the pull Of distant tides Of Love you thought You'd been denied The murmuring of distant tides Let go ... Suivez moi, suivez moi, doucement, doucement The Boy From Islamorada It's three a.m. and I'm still awake And the blond isn't jumping from the birthday cake Everything I touch turns to stone Everything I feel I feel alone. I am not what they want me to be and it's showing I am crossing the line and I'm keeping on going Good-bye to all that I am not on their map I am taking the cat and I'm leaving, I'm leaving it All All the fear and the pain and the lies, I'm leaving it All For the sound of the sea and the sky In your eyes. I'm moving on, moving on , moving on, moving on, I'm so...Glad Moving on, moving on , moving on, moving on, I'm so...Glad I'm leaving it All All the fear and the pain and the lies, I'm leaving it All For the sound of the sea and the sky In my eyes. We'll come out with the stars tonight and shine on and on and on and on and We'll come out with the stars tonight and shine on and on and on...
When he gives, what he gives He knows I can choose to take And what he takes, he never takes for granted And he's a man who can He doesn't have to prove it and Walks softly, walks softly You see some men who think they're hiding it well They think it doesn't show but you can tell They can watch what they wear they can watch what they say But the way that they walk will give them away He might call himself average and unsaved But he will not forget the one who made him And he might spend his days In ordinary ways But he's not, no, no he's not He knows what he is and he works with what he's got Happy if he has, happy if he has not And he's steady in trouble and he'd never raise a hand To hurt a sister or a brother, he's a peace-loving man Many times we fool ourselves Trying to console ourselves With stories that we tell ourselves Whenever a cold wind blows And some day a time will come for every mother's son To stand strong and shine the light Until the new day dawns Many times we fool ourselves Trying to console ourselves With stories that we tell ourselves Whenever a cold wind blows Many times we fool ourselves Trying to console ourselves The truth will always show itself Whenever a cold wind blows. The Divine Miss A. Alanah's adaptation always caused great consternation; Like the hand that made the writing on the wall, The mystery surrounds us Whilst the evidence confounds us and she'd never Give it away give it away give it away (She never would give it away give it away give it away) Ch. Alanah always used to say, I'll never live a lie, if they don't like it then they can look away She fought them and she fooled them And she took them on and schooled them Still she kept her heels and kept her head up high They pushed her and they shoved her Yet they all secretly loved her (She never would give it away give it away give it away) Ch. Alanah always used to say, I'll never live a lie, if they don't like it then they can look away But her light Burned so bright The North just couldn't hold her, And the nice men cruising Alexandra Park Were left to dream About the one They never could get over Whilst fumbling in the dark... Still they dream About the one Who never let them hold her And left them in the dark... (She never would give it away give it away give it away) Ch. Alanah always used to say, I'll never live a lie, if they don't like it then they can look away. In Your Own Way Who do you see when you're staring right through me How could it be , you're not even hiding it Burn out your brain doesn't that sound insane No one explained you'd be digging your own grave I remember that boat in the sun We were fishing for a connection In you own way You were in your own way Where do you go when you drift out the window Caught in a flow that feels more like an undertow.
I remember that boat in the sun We were fishing for a connection In you own way You were in your own way Burn out your brain doesn't that sound insane No one explained you'd be digging your own grave. Leaving Song Ragged thoughts on rainy days Forgotten boats with battered sails Winter pines on summer fires All burned down It's time for leaving It's alright The regret and the hard truth Are our friends So sleep in peace and leave in love Cross the earth to the mystery above Winter pine on summer fire All burned down It's time for leaving It's alright The regret and the hard truth Are our friends It's time for leaving Don't turn away We'd only have to walk that path again If we forget where we've been (It's never over) Blood Roar Age old trouble slips around Scaling windows upside down And I won't let it in Age old trouble hides in the light Trailing fingers through the night And I won't let it in. Close the door, close the door No more blood roar... All the demons know the name Long-forgotten - back again And I won't let it in. Still the sound, still the sound Age old trouble slips around. One step back was all it took It looked so easy in the book And I won't let it in And you try to keep the focus on the moments in between And you fight to keep your mind upon some stupid magazine It will betray you/Whispering blood will betray you... Close the door, close the door No more blood roar Whispering blood will betray you. |
2002 Reviews: Time Out New York Reviewed by Peter Terzian Cath Carroll England Made Me (LTM) The Gondoliers of Ghost Lake (LTM) Cath Carroll grew up in British industrial towns and cut her teeth on Manchester punk before moving to London and becoming a scathing music journalist. So it must have been a surprise when she dropped England Made Me, a solo debut of swoony sambas, revealing a honeyed, sighing alto that echoed such late-night sirens as Julie London and Astrud Gilberto. The album, named after a Graham Greene novel, was released in 1991 on Factory. The company had spared no expense, flying Carroll to record with Brazilian percussionists in Sao Paulo and punk producer Steve Albini in Chicago. It was worth every pound: England is just about flawless. Carroll's diverse collaborators framed the longings of her rainy British heart in Latin rhythms and keyboard percolations. The songs float and shimmer, but there's also more than a trace of menace -- the murderous fantasies of "To Close Your Eyes Forever," late-night F-train rides in "Beast on the Streets." England appeared just before Factory went belly-up and the record quickly vanished; LTM, a small label unearthing cultish Factory artists, has just restored it to circulation. (The label's upcoming reissue of the complete works of Miaow, Carroll's late-'80s band, is a CD marked by nimble Smiths-style guitar pop cross-wired with antique music-hall jazz, and led by the singer's hummingbird-quick vocals.) Since then, Carroll has stuck around Chicago, quietly recording with her husband, multi-instrumentalist Kerry Kelekovich, and writing about music (she's a TONY contributor). "Good-bye to all that / I am not on their map," the singer croons on her fourth and latest album, The Gondoliers of Ghost Lake. And Ghost Lake is haunted, all right-by resignation, childhood memories and the loss of loved ones. But "The Divine Miss A." salutes a Manchester tranny, and "The Boy from Islamorada" joyously kisses off midlife fears and regrets. The album is Carroll's best since her Factory days, and her most musically adventurous: There's a rich palette of shuffling electro loops, spooky atmospherics and funhouse psychedelia dappled with bright acoustic guitar. May these recordings, old and new, bring Cath Carroll the audience that's long been her due. Tangents Reviewed by Alistair Fitchett Finally then, there's Cath Carroll and her new album for LTM, The Gondoliers of Ghost Lake. Once again working in collaboration with her husband Kerry Kelekovich, Cath shows us what a fine touch she has for effortlessly merging and blending styles and influences into something that sounds both contemporary and timeless all at once. The influences are perhaps more subtly hinted at here than on, say, her recently reissued 1991 debut England Made Me, but nevertheless, there's a grand mix of Latin, folk, dub, psych-rock and even bluegrass seeping out of this album. Standouts for me would be 'Free', with it's hints at '60s psych-soft-pop and rock; 'The Divine Miss A.' which tells the tale of a transgendered Mancunian at the turn of the '70s/'80s and which comes over all Kinks meets Madonna via Morrissey; the eerie sophisticated folk-dub of 'Man Goes Down The Highway' that you could play next to Luscious Jackson and not find out of place; the upbeat romp of 'Mystified' that frolics around the grey streets draping coloured garlands from the lampposts, dreaming of Brazilian sunsets. This is an accomplished and memorable album that will only continue to grow in stature with repeated listenings. I recommend you pick it up at the first opportunity. Leonard's Lair *** Reviewed by Jonathan Leonard In Your Own Way is an unsettling ballad par excellence, and Leaving Song a model of refined understatement.
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Free
sadness
that we all share.
the
village school. The coal mining communities of South Wales have lived
so long with death as a companion that they reconcile themselves to
accepting the peril that hangs over them. " a Merthyr Express editorial
noted shortly after it happened. But no one had imagined anything
as awful as this. We lived on the residential outskirts of Swansea,
an industrial port town; even so, the miners in the surrounding valleys
were the keepers of the community's heart and spirit. Parents and
teachers tried to explain what had happened . But they didn't need
to tell us, each one of us felt the change, the silence in the landscape,
the awfulness in the headlines scrawled across newsagents' boards.
Average
and Unsaved