Get all 4 With Stones in His Pockets releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Missives, A Great Talk About Terrible Things, Heavy in Thy Soul, and A Different Breath: A Retrospective.
1. |
We Are All Bad Actors
05:47
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And all the buildings turned to rubble
And the billboards took over the world
And all those demons in suits were screaming
Buy hey, at least Aunty Beeb kept us all informed
They'd put everything on the net if they could
For ease of power-planted, micro-wave, plastic-sealed, ready-mealed
But we won't let them, will we?
'Cos we are all bad actors
Standing on a stage
That punchdrunk feeling you get when you haven't slept all night
And that ringing, that ringing, that ringing, that ringing in your ears
And the tangerine light you see from the top deck of the bus home
And love, and kisses, and a punch in the face
And we are all bad actors
We are all bad actors
And we are all bad actors standing on a stage
He's marooned, he's marooned, he's marooned
Oh, oh no, oh; oh, oh no, oh
And we are all bad actors standing on a stage
We are in the spotlight and there's no escape
We are all bad actors: it's who we are
We are in the spotlight and make no mistake, make no mistake, make no mistake:
He's marooned, he's marooned, he's marooned
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2. |
Because of This War
03:26
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You wake up in the morning: a solitary routine
You make your way to work and if you're lucky you get there alive
Your life's a never-ending sea of blank faces
The overwhelming desire of your spirit to crush itself
You bump into a colleague you're sick of the sight
Ask them some banal question, just to be polite, like
"How are you settling in?"
And every day of your life your colleague opens up their mouth to reply
And then come the raindrops
Falling down on the muddy ground of the battlefield
Falling down on all the cadavers of all those young men
Lungs full of mustard gas and water
The holes in their faces: you can see the teeth through the holes blasted in their cheeks
Arms grasping ancient and rusting weaponry
Mouths open wide in silent screams
The scream of the machines
The scream of the horses frothing at the bit
The scream of the children whose eyes have turned to cinders and fathers shot to bits
It's history repeating
The bull and the bear have been circling around us for so very long
It's all there before your very eyes and then it's gone
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3. |
All My Sunsets
07:22
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"OK, this time definitely."
"You sure?"
I see your thoughts upon the surface
Like London's lights upon the Thames
Like blips upon some crazy heart rate monitor
There one moment, and gone the next
And from this dream of life I wake
All my sunsets wake with me
I am from some tainted future
Where winds erode the cliffs away
Our young folk have all been taken from us
Our women walk into the bay
And from this dream of life I wake
All my sunsets wake with me
Will you dream the world of me?
I'll be waiting patiently
I'm going to plant a garden of kisses onto the furrows field of your brow
I'm going to plant a garden of kisses onto the flat landscape you stand in now
I'm going tend to this garden of kisses, dig up the weeds that you planted for me
And if I can't I'll placate you with missives
Call me up, lie to me, tell me anything you need
I see your thoughts upon the surface
Like London's lights upon the Thames
Like blips upon a heart rate monitor
There one moment, and gone the next
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4. |
Dont Look Left
03:42
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People don't look left in this town
Easy to see why
Muddy puddles cover the ground, and clouds all muddy the sky
Telling all my secrets to her
She just wags her tail and whines
She's the only one I can trust, with her shiny nose and her dull grey eyes, now
People don't look left
People don't look left when you've gone to the bad
Oh no
I go about my daily grind
Cocksure in my incomprehension
And then I wake one morning to find that she has just told everyone
And then they come down hard on me
Harder than I ever expected
Well, that's what people do in a town when they feel like something's got to be protected, well
People don't look left
People don't look left when you've gone to the bad
Oh no
I scream at her and call her my betrayer
She meets my gaze and there's nothing there
"You bitch, you sold me down the river!"
She wags her tail with that empty stare, now
People don't look left
People don't look left when you've gone to the bad
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5. |
Atomised
03:53
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Each night I feel my heart in my chest
Ten times too hard, my body's such a mess
And it becomes clear that each passing breath is one ragged breath closer
Fragments of words fall from the page
And out of your face
You can't catch them all, you fall to the floor, can't pick up any more
These fragments of fragments of fragments of fragments of truth
Reliving my youth vicariously: I'm swinging from trees
Was it ever really this bittersweet?
People are drawn to drama and pain
How many more will go through this again?
These words down scan, their meaning is plain:
Let's not get complacent
My pounding head: breaking me out, bringing me down
Blazing white light: fueling the flame to welcome my box
I'm wheeling and swooping and diving like birds
Dive off the bed, bounce off the wall, heap on the floor
My aching feet sink in the sand
The orchestra strikes a mighty first chord
And you'll eat your words; you can't swallow any more
And what started with such pomp and circumstance just ends in a whimper
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6. |
Tree Song
03:24
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The way that the sun is hitting that tree
Makes it look like a huge mass of gold and green spaghetti
You want to capture this moment for posterity
But you can't seem to get your camera ready
You haven't got a lot of time to choose your spot
It's only a point and click, hurry up you'd better pick your time
The shine as the sun continues to set
Makes you panic as you're not ready yet
You're struggling to find that perfect angle
But you can't seem to make that tree look tangible
You need the right conditions to frame your composition
You become ominously aware of a change in the air
You stand thinking at the bottom of your garden
That you'll never see anything quite so beautiful again
You missed your last chance as the sun set in the sky
You haven't even got a picture to remember it by
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7. |
Meine Kleine Cosmonaut
05:08
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He says, "Two thousand lived in this town."
Says, "I'm glad I live where I live."
He got used to the discipline and it always stayed with him
He says, "I am a modest man."
Not a single leaf on the trees: it's as if the earth is diseased
When the only graves here are of the soldiers who fell
He says, "You're better off where you are."
You are, you are meine kleine cosmonaut
I'm flying my flag at half mast, meine kleine cosmonaut
A broken down theatre cast, meine kleine cosmonaut
My cosmonaut, you breathe your last
Meine kleine... meine kleine...
Our bodies are really just craft, meine kleine cosmonaut
If that's the case, then mine's a raft, meine kleine cosmonaut
And yours, it is the Cutty Sark, meine kleine... meine kleine...
We are sheep and worker bees, baby, we are
He says, "Two thousand lived in this town."
Says, "I'm glad I live where I live."
He got used to the discipline and it always stayed with him
He says, "You're better off where you are."
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8. |
Americana
06:26
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I take a pinch of salt and hit the road
Carry my ordinary load
As long as I don't think about the rest
I'll get by, I'll get by
'Cause all roads lead Americana way
Provided from the road we don't stray
We are all Americana bound
In this old border town
The strong set out, the weak died on the way
Try to find a sense of place
I'm skipping railroads, dying to be free
But my chains, they follow me
I know that you don't do the things you do
Out of some distaste for me and you
Do you really think you're who you are
When you're the product of your life so far?
'Cause all roads lead Americana way
Provided you learn how to keep your place
We are all Americana bound
If the ones who count don't make a sound
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9. |
Speaking in Tongues
02:02
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So I kill the lights and I bolt the doors and hide behind the sofa
Eyes burned out like cigarettes, just like on all my photos
Everybody's speaking in tongues so what's the answer?
Everybody's speaking in tongues so what comes after?
As I wash back to dry land, all bloated and marble skinned
A birdy in the hand, washed back to land like debris to the gutter
By the time you read this letter I will be gone
It's no use trying to find me, I changed all the locks on the bathroom doors
I will breathe exhaust, I will billow smoke until I get an answer
Everybody's speaking in tongues so what's the answer?
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With Stones in His Pockets Canterbury, UK
With Stones in His Pockets is a singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Canterbury. He writes experimental pop and psych-folk, sad, ironical and emotional songs about alienation and injustice. With Stones' second album, 'Missives' was released 21st February, 2023. ... more
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