Get all 12 Joelistics releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of ANALOG GUNK, SAUDARA, Come Home, Joelistics Presents Film School, Yokai, Escape From Prison Island, Ghost Town, Blue Volume, and 4 more.
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1. |
Seamans Lullaby
05:46
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SEAMANS LULLABY
All we are, all we are
All we could be
All we know, all we know
All that we see
All we are, all we are
All we could be
All we know, all alone
All out at sea
I've traveled over land and sea
Trying to find the meaning to the riddle
But the riddle runs deep
And everywhere I've been / Everything I've seen
It only adds to the beauty of the beat
The heartbeat, the drum beat, the beat we keep
The questions we ask and the answers we seek
Whatever you are, what a thing to be
Wake up, sleep and do it all again and again
And if you're not happy where you're at pack your backpacks
Travel on a level all over the map
You've got a life going, live it, give it everything you've got
'Cause one day the beat will stop
The truth is in a hundred years it won't matter
So use your head and heart like a rudder
And then sail through the day, make a mark on the page
Blaze a path through the waves 'cause the only thing
That won't change is change
All we are, all we are
All we could be
All we know, all we know
All that we see
All we are, all we are
All we could be
All we know, all alone
All out at sea
This is all there is now, generate the vision
Every single day get busy on the beat
There's nothin they can tell you that you haven't heard before
So keep your head high when you walk through the world
Everybody talks a lot but few people are listening
Speak your own truth, let love be the guide
Trust that everything falls into place
And if you get lost then follow the baseline
Most of them really don't mean you any harm
But some of them might wanna fuck with your program
Pay em no mind, don't let em waste your time
Haters have a habit of acting like quicksand
Cherish all the sunlight when it gets dark
Build yourself a fire and burn down the area
No excuse just to fuzz a life not lived
A life unexamined or a sheep mentality
Read a lot, see a lot, break down reality
Investigate the goings on inside, outside
Whatever you choose to put your time into
Make sure you give it every single fibre of your being
'Cause life is but a moment, life is but a dream
And sure enough all of us will have to move along
So here's a few thoughts for you to mull on, come on
You are not the first, and you won't be the last
All we are, all we are
All we could be
All we know, all we know
All that we see
All we are, all we are
All we could be
All we know, all alone
All out at sea
Come
Come when it calls
Run
From nothing at all
Come
Come when it calls
Run
From nothing at all
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2. |
Glorious Feeling
03:35
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GLORIOUS FEELING
It's a glorious feeling
I'm up on my feet again
[x2]
God gave up on the human race
He said based upon the data that I've had to face
You've really made a mess of the place that I've made for you
And then you turn around and you ask me to save you
Jews blame the Christians, Christians the Muslims
Atheists admitted they were wrong but right
The pope said, well, I guess that's that then
Collectively we all breathe out a sigh
All of the damage that religion had done
Was put into perspective underneath the sun
And God said faith is a beautiful thing,
But it's time for you to take responsibility kids
Cause I don't know what you've been told,
But the streets of heaven aren't lined with gold,
You don't know what you've got till it's gone
It's a glorious feeling
I'm up on my feet again
[x4]
The human race gave up on god,
And said it's high time that we all got along.
The arguments about who the hell she loved best
Were seen for what they were and laid to rest
And politicians stopped using God as an excuse
To commit the most blatant abuse of power
Loud like ringing in the ears
The sounds of the prayers of the cheers
From the people released
All baptized at the miracle of life
Without the regrets and the guilt and the threats
Sex was celebrated, life was embraced
The basic thing was maintain respect
And I don't know what you've been told,
But the streets of heaven aren't lined with gold,
You don't know what you've got till it's gone
On the streets of the cities of the world you find them
People of all types who climb the horizon
Fresh newborn's and the fresh new morning
Lovers in the night who fly and then fall
The march of survivors, designers, tyrants, messiahs, limousine drivers
Colonels, brigadiers, sergeants, privates
The scientists smashing particles together
The junkies, the tradies, the gentlemen, the ladies, the babies
The aged and infirm, the hermits, the perverts, the servants, the surgeons
The insurgents killing in the name of god
The slow and the steady who were ready for anything,
The war on the menacing, and even center-link
And the ones who were pedaling stories
Of the grace and the glory
It's a glorious feeling
I'm up on my feet again
[x4]
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3. |
The People
03:32
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THE PEOPLE
at cha
Ladies and gentlemen
Apologies for the loudness
Let's begin
J to the O to the E to the L-I-S-T-I-C-S in your stereo (Stereo)
Cool costume,
cape and the belt and I'm saving
the world in the cliff-hanger episode
In the daytime I'm mild mannered,
In the night-time I fight crime at the disco
With the bomb track and the bomb rap
I'm the cool one line walk on Stan Lee cameo (hey)
And my thought bubbles gotta lotta what's up (sup)
Hidden power with the hype the crowd up
From the ground up
Bring the sound up
Ready for the take-off job done then I take the cape off
Then it's back to the horned rimmed
glasses lonely apartment and secret identity
I didn't ask for the gift to be given to me
But with great power bring great responsibility (Yes)
Evildoers take heed Joelistics has got whatcha need
To the last scene when the credits roll
And I leave this planet with a girl through a wormhole
I hit 'em up with a beautiful lyric
And something sweet just to boost up their spirit
And I don't need no proton pill
But I still stay ill when the reels are real
Where the hell are all the ninjas at?
Where the hell are all the robots (robots)
Where the hell are all the zombies at
Where the hell are all the people? (People?)
Where the hell are all the cyborgs at?
Where the hell are all the androids (Robots)
Where the hell are all the aliens?
Where the hell are all the people? (People?)
The people
People
I am not a rapper I'm a Time Lord
And this is not a song it's a passport
I can give you everything you ask for
If everything you ask for is a good groove and some fine thought
And ill play with the themes,
the form with the freedom to roll on
the rhythm and lead from the barricade
Well dressed in black latex with a J
on the chest and I'm on another campaign
And reality is well drawn anime
Hit it with a gamma ray
Play it from a speaker
Loud like Tetsu while riding on a motorcycle
Into ya Tokyo yelling out Hi-yah!
But I'm just another product of my era
Part time superhero
Full time dreamer
Looking for a part to play
And the phone to slay
While agents slow decay
But that's okay man, that's alright
Still got the right to party all night
With a long face
On a Sunday
Looking for the best way to travel through space and time
And I battle with the rabble and the riddle and the everyday struggle
And I must be getting older
My allegiance swings in between all the heroes
and the villains that are sitting on my shoulder
Where the hell are all the Hip hop heads
Where the hell are all the Purists (Robots)
Where the hell are all the Ravers at?
Where the hell are all the people (People)
Where the hell are all the Art kids at?
Where the hell are all the Bogans? (Robots)
Where the hell are all the Communists
Where the hell are all the people (People)
People
People
People
People
Where the hell are all the ninjas at?
Where the hell are all the robots (robots)
Where the hell are all the zombies at
Where the hell are all the people? (People?)
Where the hell are all the cyborgs at?
Where the hell are all the androids (Robots)
Where the hell are all aliens?
Where the hell are all the people? (People?)
People
People
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4. |
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HEAD RIGHT
I don’t trust a motherfucker who makes generalisations based on what a person looks like or where they come from. It ain’t nothing new or nothing to run from, it’s just another bigot with his head screwed on wrong. I’d wave a wand or write a better song if I could make them think or even make them turn their brains on. We ain’t all blonde or from Summer Bay and some fellas really give the flag a bad name, and it’s a damn shame when it’s in the campaign, they use a scapegoat to fire up the race flame and hard hearts stay hard cause they so afraid, dog whistle politics manipulating bad brains.
Hey brother get your head right. Hey brother, get your get your head right. Hey brother get your head right. Hey brother, get your head straight.
Is it human nature, strange behaviour? Is it hard wired in to the way we’re all made up? Is it made up or made of bad luck, is it what raises a country’s flag up? Is it less offensive if you’re putting your hand up with a disclaimer like they’re Al Qaeda and they don’t care for the lord our saviour and we’re all done for cause we’re all at war if we don’t shut doors protecting our own shore, they gonna come here and probably take yours and blah, blah, blah, blah. That ain’t cool, that’s just racist dude!
Hey brother get your head right. Hey brother, get your get your head right. Hey brother get your head right. Hey brother, get your head straight.
I am half Caucasian, still very Asian, a mad variation on what you call Australian. When I’m on the pavement, treated like an alien, cop a little racism, this is what I say,
Consider me the face of the Asian horde, the yellow peril menace threat from the North. My people immigrated over here on boats yeah we came to steal your jobs and your women folk – JOKES!
Well I’m sick and tired of racism, it’s fucking with my head. See the ignorant defend it but their heads are filled with lead. So if you feel to change the world there’s something you must learn, it’s embedded in this system so this systems got to burn.
You keep them away with the hatred you be spinning winning only what you steal like their innocence and freedoms, still you’re coming in pretending that ya caring but you tell a tale. Hatred is a deadly sin but still you never let them in. So people when I say Fiyah, make a run out, and when I’m telling you Higha! Raise your fists up! You know the future is brighter when we run town. We take you higher like Kyah, never come down.
Hey brother get your head right. Hey brother, get your get your head right. Hey brother get your head right. Hey brother, get your head straight.
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5. |
Days
04:02
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DAYS
I never did it for the money,
I did it because I had a lot of time on my hands,
Now I've got plans, to make more plans,
All of my friends grew up and push prams,
It hits you like bam, what's it all for?
Music was my life then life got ignored,
Then I lost hope, then I got broke,
Then all I wrote came out as old folk,
There goes my genius, blink and you missed it,
Loop up the chorus, learn how to whistle it,
If ya get an idea try not to fist it,
It's like god whispered something insisted,
Try not to block it, try not to drop it,
When you get your grubby little paws on it,
You gotta rock it, You gotta rock it,
You gotta rock it to the moon get on it,
And it might not mean that much to you,
It means a lot to me, and it's got to be,
Something strange and familiar I still wanna feel it,
I still wanna feel the music.
As the days go by...
My boys said? you redefine dope,
Plus you had the presence of mind to rock the boat,
Plus you had some hits from the rhymes in your folder,
Had a bit of shine, and fell into a coma,
Get back out there and do it all sober,
Milk that shit until the cow falls over,
Do it for the music, do it for the moment,
Even if it never blows up, own it,
Kids these days want posters on their walls,
Friends on facebook, and ironic rap quotes,
Me, I've got bad jokes, personal anecdotes,
Songs for perennial underachievers,
You want a revolution, move to Beijing,
You wanna get high and sing along then join in,
It's all good, mad props,
Truth of the matter salvation is ad hoc
And it might not mean that much to you,
It means a lot to me, and it's got to be,
Something strange and familiar I still wanna feel it,
I still wanna feel the music.
As the days go by...
It all breaks down to pride,
A search for what makes the ride worthwhile,
Look for the content, look for the star,
Strap your shoes on and run that mile,
Keep the fire inside alive,
Cos the world gets cold and it can pass you by,
You can pass on the risk, convince the hurt,
But that's a real bad way for you to pass the time,
I used to want to see my name in lights,
I used to wanna be the one holding the mic,
But these days man I've got nothing to prove,
And it's evident it might mean nothing to you,
But if I didn't do it I'd have nothing to do,
I'd probably have nothing to do with you,
So until the day, there's nothing more to say,
I'm-a keep on singing the tune,
As the days go by....
As the days say goodbye...
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6. |
Modern World
04:21
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MODERN WORLD
It all about status updates, sample drum brakes
A hole in the head, and the lifelong Monday
Baby bloomers and new computers
Social networks, billion users
Information, Infomercials
Crop circles and trophy wives
Hard drives and hate crimes
State lies, free steak knives
Right-wrong riots and rising tides
Catalogs buy and a lord of brides
Brand names and video games
All it takes in minimum wage
Wiki leaks in the world of police
Secret files and cover up leads
The hunger, the feast
The church and the priest
And the prelate facing the east
(East!)
This modern world
Keeps me spinning around
My god, my feet
Don't touch the ground
You can live life online
You can live a life of crime
You can live mine
Whatever you want you can find
You can get fined
You can get filmed from behind
It's a gold rush, let's get famous
Act shameless, call it neighbors
You can call it art
You can call it us
You can call it pop
And watch it climb the charts
High rollers and child soldiers
Party people and jive holders
Cash culture and clashed cultures
Market crashes, atlas shrugs
It's a leaky boat that we're all in
And the privileged life is a-callin'
Through the country's boarders you're pourin'
Put your hands up now the sky is fallin'
This modern world
Keeps me spinning around
My god, my feet
Don't touch the ground
This modern world
Keeps me spinning around
My god, my feet
Don't touch the ground
We are alive in desperate times
The best of times, messed up times
Build that fire, chase that prize
Everybody wants a bigger piece of the pie
These are the days of the disconnect
Distant satellites intercept
Warfare fought in infrared
Everything you think is incorrect
My intellect needs disinfectant
Too much information
Too hectic
Twenty-first century I'm shipwrecked in it
And we're all just tryin' to connect with it
And oh my god where do I fit in
Apocalypse now every now and then
The world is a book with a cliffhanger plot
And we all want to know how it ends
This modern world
Keeps me spinning around
My god, my feet
Don't touch the ground
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7. |
Madmen
03:46
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MADMEN
Woke up today and the world had changed. Checked myself but I wasn’t the same.
I walked outside to investigate but the feeling only seemed to escalate.
It’s weird, it’s strange, it’s fucking with my brain.
Maybe I’m too paranoid and I make too much fuss
Or maybe this is the way it is and I’m not paranoid enough
It’s weird, it’s strange, it’s fucking with my brain
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8. |
All The Rebels
04:30
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ALL THE REBELS
This madness raises the blood pressure up, shake that butt make a toast to the stuff.
Scratch that itch let the sick mind spin, Pavlov's dogs come running when the bells ring. Make em yell things, hot water simmering, body keep quivering and shaking like a leaf and it don't cease until the beast feeds. Put your hands on it, get a grip then squeeze. When it leaves you, it leaves you breathless, caught in the vortex realm of the senses. Hide it, fight it don't let em find you entirely blinded and high off the fireworks. Rude boy, dot dot dash, storm breaker breaker an electric flash.
Put your finger there, press play let it run. Now look what you've gone and done
All the rebels on the mountaintop
All the people dancing below
They know something is going on up there
They know it’s something but it comes and it goes
This madness keeps the bed sheets ruffled; knees get buckled, desperate couples tussle, fumble, hustle, all in the name of a game called trouble. Levitate when it paints the canvas, violent, brash bold and candid. It intoxicates you, keeps you awake and it stimulates you and it beats in the blood and it loves the danger, begs no favor, rewarding the braver ones in amongst us who battle the rush, swimming in the sea when the seas are rough. Heartbeats pound, hands get shaky, you can't hear a thing and the sound starts breaking up, fuck this is crazy love, now look what you've gone and done
All the rebels on the mountaintop
All the people dancing below
They know something is going on up there
They know it’s something but it comes and it goes
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9. |
Burn
04:45
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BURN
I get fresh with friends who get gassed, who flash and flake out and talk with long gaps,
words in their mouths like planes that crash, I only catch half but it's mostly trash.
I'm too mashed lost without a map and there's no turning back cause I'm full of the stuff
A one-way ticket and I get on the bus. I'm a wing tipped Icarus burning up.
My tummy’s in a knot but I'm loving the rush full of a love made from chemical dust
So I keep focus give in to the process. I pray for atonement and stay in the moment.
Big smile, wide-eyed, cold heart, long nights
Burn like a sun. Shine all day. Work and run, don’t throw it away
Now the dance floors packed with bodies that attract, bodies that attack, bodies bend at the back, bodies get trapped, bodies fill in the gap, so many bodies move, now who's body's that? Hearts get open cracked with raw emotion, words get spoken corrupted by potions. Snap shot moments, back to slow motion, slick sugar coating over all of the commotion. Tomorrow, this'll be a memory in quick time cause we tricked time with a quick mind and like bats in the sky we fly blind. Swim through the night washed up in the sunshine.
No sleep. Sad eyes. Black days. Good times.
Help me get out of here.
Burn like a sun. Shine all day. Work and run, don’t throw it away.
Maybe we met at a party in the bathroom with Charlie; in the bedroom you were asking why the moon would hide its face. Box me up, put me down, tie me in, turn it round,
throw me out, give it away, what was your name?
Burn like a sun. Shine all day. Work and run, don’t throw it away.
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10. |
Last Night
04:05
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LAST NIGHT
She said last night she had a big night and the lights on the dance floor were real bright. The drinks kept coming and the more they came, the more she felt like herself again. Now, she got the binge drink blues with an instinct to try and make life all new and shiny, extract the slimy, the sleazy, the mean and win back a little more self-esteem. Still she got a story for the girls on Monday, the same damn story she told em last week. She hooked up, passed out, fell down, woke up and walked home carrying her heels and handbag. It’s too bad she broke up with him. She never used to get like that with him, still she won't call, won't text, won't ring, she don't want to be the one to give in. I mean, she's holding on to her pride and besides he's probably moved on, right?
Last night I had a big night
Now I feel a little shaky on the inside and there's no time like the present I'll stay in bed until eleven
Tryna piece together all the things I did
I can't believe some of the things I said
All I need to get me through is sunlight, coffee and a picture of you
All I need is you
He said last he had a big night and now he's tryna re-call what it look like.
And it's a long way down in the dim light when you can't think right and your
Tryna crawl up an incline. And he's a got a little bruised up black eye and he's got a strong urge to have a big cry. Head like an egg when it's been fried up,
He ain't too sure that he even had a good time. It never used to be like that with her.
He never used to get so high around her, now every night out is a permanent blur
with an explanation that’s beyond words. He sits on the couch, cotton wool mouth,
watching the telly tryna dumb himself down. Telling himself it's time to pull his head in, but next weekend he's gonna do it again (again and again).
Last night I had a big night
Now I feel a little shaky on the inside and there's no time like the present I'll stay in bed until eleven
Tryna piece together all the things I did
I can't believe some of the things I said
All I need to get me through is sunlight, coffee and a picture of you
All I need is you
Again ship wrecked inside my head
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11. |
Heart Remains
06:34
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HEART REMAINS
The world gets fast and the tempo skips
the mind plays tricks when the sunlight hits me
i get a memory flash like a frisbee
thrown from a thousand long miles away
thoughts go deep but underneath
the ground that used to be beneath me
there's a restless need to indulge the senses
just to see what the mind remembers
dive in, swim through the maze
hold your breath and let go of the reins
caught in the rift and the current below
mind got movement, mind got flow
from where i stand the vision expands
over the red sand, over the land
over the city and the bush and beyond
mind gallop over countless kilometres
to the place of the oldest origins
where the silent sleeping sorrow is
the thriving creeping metropolis
with a heart that was heavy as the wallaby's
in a colony that paints the dreams
with the glinted light of the harboured seas
the flame trees and amongst the weeds
the greenest greens and the rainforest valleys
the undergrowth, solar flares
sunsets spread through the sky like prayers
the rarest flowers cover the ground
illegal crops support the small towns
house on stilts in a cane field
an old windmill with a chain wheel
insects hum in the afternoon
like a thousand drummers in a tiny room
there's a silver moon that'll rise tonight
shine the light along the countryside
beaches give way to rolling pastures
wheat and barley wait for harvest
fibre houses, peeling paint
an old hill's voice and a rusty gate
a garden path, a big backyard
and a clapped out tire in the front
and the languid heat makes sleepless nights
lazy sleep, mosquito bites
old timers who drive the road trains
rolling cigarettes single handed
outback pubs in the blazing sun
fried up grub in the empty drums
twelve apostles, hungry possums
empty bottles, ancient fossils
friendly blokes, racist jokes
and everywhere you look there it goes
lightning flash, thunder crack
rain come down and the sky turned black
and the fishing trawlers in majestic waters
blistering winds on a shipwrecked shore
neptune's wrath for the legible
you're gonna pay for the fish that your fathers took
families fear for the worst in storms
but some folk weren't meant to live indoors
and the horses run, eagles soar
the carseat's hot, and the breeze is warm
drive the cast out, follow the signs
on highways carved into lonely coastlines
move forward, sing the praise
drive the days to watch climates change
it's highly likely we'll sleep in the backseat
with a rolled up pillow and a bed sheet
and we drive with a mess on the windscreen
and the bugs turn pasty at this speed
and the road runs straight all the way to the west
where the sea gets down with the sunset
roadkill flesh, service stations
drive with the bears and the birds outcast
salt-pan legs, calm and vast
colours explode under skies of glass
snakes and lizards, red blood ribbons
buried in the dust and the walk and the grass
and the stars in the milky way transform
the night in the darkened frame
distant suns and constellations
shooting stars and the skies blazing
and the gods they must be crazy
and the gods they must be crazy
and the gods they must be crazy
and the gods they must be crazy
we are all spangled off on shifting fortunes channelling long dead spirits
cling to the coast like ghosts
and sunday roasts and english hopes giving way
tied to an island and the tyranny of distance
and the hearth and the golden persistence
and it's hard to say
what we'd like to say while matilda haunts us the night away
through the blood and the sweat and the tears and the laughter
the sun and the rain and the thunder
and the creeks and the rivers and the reefs and the valleys and the fields and the beach
i saw it all clear from a house on a hill in a country far away
and i thought to myself till the day that i die
"that'll be where my heart remains"
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12. |
Sooner or Later
04:41
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SOONER OR LATER
I believe I was born with the wanderlust made from a curiosity to see the whole world ever since I’ve been old enough to get around, I’ve been on the move never one to settle down. I got it bad, it’s a bad disease, travel light just in case I need to pick up and leave. Some might say I’m good at running away; it was the way I was raised, that’s how I know I am free. And my song lines travel on for years. I’m from a long line of radical ideas; Travellers and traders, musicians and sailors who moved through the ages to get me here. And there’s something out there that I’m trying to find, I left it behind when the moment arrived. I rewind and remember. Engraved in the memory, the memory of all of it, it’s called life.
Sooner or later you’re bound to go.
Now you’re drunk with the geezers singing on the metro looking for a coffee in the grey lit dawn, hanging on a bar stool, poems on a napkin, drinking in Paris, it’s a beautiful morning. Head full of cheap beer, ex-pat belligerence navigating traffic in a Shanghai taxi, two day train trip, eyes on the landscape, vast Mongolian hills roll past you. You learnt a lot of swear words, ate a lot of weird food, made a lot of friends considered close crew, slept in hostels dealt with some hostiles and climbed the Himalayas to appreciate the view. Now somewhere out there you are still travelling standing on a corner singing songs at the moon, clear headed crazy, night like a diamond, happy in your skin trying to take it all in.
Sooner or later you’re bound to go.
Cradled in the heartbeat, blood pump patchwork, soaked up bitter sweet mixed up epiphanies, still away from everything you came from, headphones on now you see the world differently. Far-flung degenerate waiting at an airport, empty back pocket but there’s stamps in your passport. And you are so raw, soul so well worn, would you even recognise who you were before? Transformed by all these strange events, tears in your eyes and you feel so blessed when the plane touch down, your feet touch ground, you finally get home you gotta savour that feeling.
Sooner or later you’re bound to go.
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13. |
Sour
04:07
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SOUR
If it goes sour in the end, please don’t forget how it began.
You can have the fairytale; I’ll keep the bills in my name, if it goes sour in the end.
I will be your friend, and you can take what you need from me again.
In my most delighted states, I still can’t help but contemplate, it might go another way baby. Come for me, come lay your head on me, if it goes sour in the end.
I will be your friend and you can take what you need from me again.
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Joelistics Melbourne, Australia
Joelistics’ great gift is beats, melodies and the crafting of common language into evocative turns of phrase. As a rapper, writer, multi-instrumentalist and producer he is recognised as a unique voice in the Australian music scene.
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