1. |
Reminder
03:02
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This
is a reminder
to the city's citizenry
of who we are
and what we do
and why we'll always be that
ignorant
imperfect
neo-boho eccentricity
that swims against the current
on the cusp of domesticity
We are the sometimes-forgotten middle-children of Brisbane
We are white and yellow and light and dark brown
We dwell
in the secret places
of this town
In the tangled, perplexing spaces
between your toolshed and the back fence
on the cusp of domesticity
We are the in-betweeners
the keepers of the lore
the last lost remnants of the night before
We are the covert catalysts of creativity
antidotes
to this sick city's soul captivity
the absent notes in your poliphonies
polinators of ephiphanies
We know this town
far better than we know ourselves
We are the uncredited muses behind a billion bookshelves
We don't need clocks
We measure time in shadows and smiles
Twenty-storey office blocks
are our personal sundials
and while
you're wrestling with land tax and
stamp duty
we're catching mud crabs 'mongst the mangroves down by QUT
We are secret love poems
written in the silty sand beneath the Story Bridge
at low tide
We are the homeless busker
on the corner of Brunswick and Wickham
We are Four Triple Zed at two-thirty in the morning
We are the Mercedez-hating antiauthoritarian pigeon that strikes without warning
But you
You think us awry
You think us unnecessary
You think us unbeautiful
Because we know streets not by names but by the texture of the bitumen so this
is a reminder
that we are the logical, necessary by-products of the world you've constructed
a reminder that we are not parasites
but symbiotes
the latent patient revolutionaries who in the end will save you from all manner of rodent marathons,
we
are ignorant
imperfect
eccentricity
the only natural predator of cliche
and we are here to stay
and we will always be
see you need us,
just as much as we need you,
maybe more
we are the last lost remnants of the night before.
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2. |
Dig It Up
04:00
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There was an island:
wide
brown
and crowded with ancestor spirits
some white blokes found it, but couldn't hear it
shouting, singing
they just bulldozed it flat
brought in fox and cat and built a nation on the back of
slave labour and genocide
morality landslide
clinging to the myth
of an empty country
when even the blindest sentry could see that it was occupied
We made a habit of scratching the earth's surface
sold sacred soil to fill spoiled purses
abyss getting deeper
leap into oblivion
digging into skin
pillaging
now we're living sin
bitumen bandaid
them wounds won't heal
bending nerve endings
forgot how to feel
Coast to coast mining: the land's a slave
Australia is a nation that's digging it's own grave
Dig it up, dig it up gonna make another hole
a dozen dirty minerals, uranium and coal
Stole this land, now we've sold its soul
lost control of consumption - this is how we roll
dig it up.
Open-cut culture
vultures on the grass throw stones willy nilly but those walls are glass
Who am I to pontificate, shouting down the town?
even the metal in this microphone came out of the ground
We're short sighted
hiding our faces in the sand
fake-tanned city dwellers turned our backs on the land
Take the money now
ignore long-term costs
fifty years
down the line
we'll lament
what we've lost
Boom.
they say, it can't last forever
Boom.
they call it, another flawed endeavour
Boom.
farmland becomes a dust bowl
a stable economy can't be built on coal, scroll
down, read the fine print and take control
don't believe em when they tell you it's a minimal toll
maintain status quo - their ultimate goal
why learn to think when you can learn to dig a hole?
Somewhere along the line, we stopped making progress
started making junk, going through the process
of chucking out old stuff and digging up more
when we should've been reusing what we dug up before
We are swollen ticks
the kind that cause paralysis
crawling across the skin of the earth
Call it hyperbole
I call it accurate analysis
Gladstone to Perth, sucking blood for all we're worth
But it creates jobs!
blindfolded they cheer
as though nothing that makes jobs could ever be
a bad idea
Advance Australia fair
advance Australia
consumption culture
agricultural failure
We don't need food
we can just eat the dust
But someday
when the mining trucks rust
I trust we'll realise the unwise path we've taken
when the crops are withered and the earth starts shaking
Dig it up, dig it up gonna make another hole
a dozen dirty minerals, uranium and coal
Stole this land, now we've sold its soul
lost control of consumption - this is how we roll
dig it up.
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3. |
Flood City
05:54
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Come on down
come on down to flood city
where the people are clean
but the river's brown and shitty
pity those in the troughs of the city sine wave
when river mother rises it's a watery grave, save tonight
trouble gonna bubble tomorrow
We could fight
gamble it all and reap sorrow
but better to bend flat like the riverside reeds
when the water recedes we're gonna do it all again
Bring fire
cos tonight will be cold
old fears reappear as the sharks grow bold
you've sold the land but been paid in fool's gold
rebellion controlled
Still these streets
they have a firm heartbeat
They speak to us
through the soles of our feet
And these beats
are here to stay
And they're growing
they grow every day
Come on down come on down to flood city
where hands seem spotless, but souls are gritty
No-one shed a tear when we let love loose
and traded in tomorrow for a
necktie noose
We buried creeks and streams
under concrete dreams
schemes of skyscraper suburbs and construction teams
but when it comes apart at the seams you'll hear the cry
Sink or swim, no-one's gonna stay dry
There was a man, wealthy but wisdom poor
inexperienced in life, but well-versed in law
who thought that cities should be quiet and clean
and saw God in a 3D LCD TV screen
but now he's lying in the gutter, begging for bread and butter
from the nutters and cutters he once left behind
and now he mutters his curses
biblical verses
stutters and pleads
wishing it would all rewind
But these streets
they have a firm heartbeat
They speak to us
through the soles of our feet
And these beats
are here to stay
And they're growing
they grow every day
Come on down, come on down to flood town
where the whole damn world wants to put roots down
while the dam holds strong we worship the clown
sound of thunder and rain now watch the town drown
This is a young city
with a goldfish memory
never be sure we haven't been here before see
walking in circles, yesterday's a mystery
river wipes clean all remnants of history
Big backyards but small hearts and minds
finds the sprawling suburbs laden with land mines
Blind to future, blind to past, but stuck on rewind
sun sets in the east left the west behind
still they proceed, greed seed sown wide
I tried berating, educating but derided denied
they cried violence, and called it national pride
but the fools can't see the high tide
But these streets
they have a firm heartbeat
They speak to us
through the soles of our feet
And these beats
are here to stay
and they're growing.
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4. |
World Ignite
04:22
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Fools these days talk loud and bold
Proud words, about the struggles of old
They've been told, that the battle is won
But it seems to me, that it's just begun
Strutting like there isn't any need to fight
Their hearts are light, like it's all alright
Blindfolded, out of mind while out of sight
Silent night world ignite
Prejudice isn't dead it's pervasive,
Persuasive false truths make brothers abrasive
Spreading lies, denying words of the wise
Xenophobia hoping ya open your eyes
But I rise up and speak out loud
Speak doubts shout about lifting the shroud
Remind the mindless that kindness is free
Grow seed grow, someday you'll be a tree
And meantime, me I'll rhyme words of peace
Sing choir sing, fuel for the fire
Rope the pope, hope the hate soon cease
Burn high burn higher
So we fight on
and we fight on
Revolutions are cyclical by nature
I rate ya as a mate but if you speak hate I'll berate ya
Negate your negativity, misguided firebrand
Speaking bout shit that you don't understand
It's a grand world, I don't take it for granted
And I pray that the seeds I've planted
Shall grow into a tree, the tree will bear fruit
We be born to love before we learn to shoot
Brute force is a course I can never endorse
Us and them mentality guarantee remorse
Your world is a bubble; I'm here to pop it
Dropping reason, easing trouble like a modern day prophet
Wanna tear down fences, let the neighbours see
This affliction's still here and it'll always be
Unless you free your mind, and change your fuse
Walk a mile in another man's shoes
And maybe then, you'll be drawn to the flame
Sing choir sing, fuel for the fire
Prejudice by any other name
Burn high, burn higher
So we fight on
and we fight on
It's funny how in the twenty-first century
We can have a rising rate of black deaths in custody
While telling ourselves that race is not the issue
Brother's dying of cancer we offer him a tissue
I wish you could see the world as I see it
But faced with the truth, you turn and flee it
Refugees fleeing violence, we treat them like criminals
Silence is sinister, this bigotry's subliminal
Australia, you are a racist country
I'll say it again, this is a racist country
And it's taking us awhile
Most of us are still in denial
So we fight on
Hypocrites spitting paradox
So we fight on
Logic blocked by the orthodox
So we fight on
I see them neo-cons with their hate campaigns
Spend their days at the kitchen sink washing brains
Subtle like a violin, strings are out of tune
Silver spoon numbs your senses, keep building them fences
Mainstream screaming that it's all in the past
While those bastards pitchfork the coloured underclass
We are better than this
we are better
We are better than this
We are better than this
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5. |
Rain
06:17
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I miss you
such a lazy intro to a letter
but there's no better way to say what's on my mind
I find you in locked rooms
that I'd assumed were
empty,
every
train of thought leads back to you
but leaves me behind
on the platform
of an isolated station
and the ghosts of the most exhilarating sensations haunt me
taunt me
just like you used to do
when we'd lie there
even now I'd swear I could just reach out and
touch you.
But this is a single bed
and your head's no longer on my shoulder
We were so young then
now we're older
now we're so much older.
Warm
pressed against my chest
undressed so slow,
feel your heartbeat under your breast,
ease you down
kiss you everywhere
your hair in my mouth
and we're wet like December.
Now whenever I taste salt
I don't think of the sea
I think of your skin.
Now whenever I taste salt
I think of your skin.
But you're on the other side of the horizon,
of sunset
I wake just as you're falling asleep
and I can't get
used to it
used to the absence of your scent
I meant it when I said this city's not the same without you
It rains so often in the afternoons
But this is a single bed.
I'm thirsty all the time now
And I'm not gonna ask you
to come back home
cos I was the first to roam
I only hope that you don't forget me
that you don't regret me
Someday
you and I will walk down the same crowded street
synchronised feet, one shared umbrella
Someday
you and I will talk like the river meets the sea
speaking easily
But it seems we'll live lifetimes before that someday day
So for now I'll rewrite rhymes
relearning the meaning of yearning
It's a sad paradox to be cold but still burning
And all I hear is rain
And I miss you
And all I hear is rain.
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6. |
Hands Out
05:36
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We came to you with our hands
out begging for compassion and mercy
first we had to flee
oppression
hunger
and thirst
see there is nothing in your lives like the knives we knew
so don't pretend you understand what we've been through
and now we stand out
in the desolate redness
barbed wire
watchtower
sour soul deadness
they told us this place was paradise
and they left us all alone
You treat us like aliens. Australians aren't known for hospitality
apparently this country has forgotten that humanity is
a quality that binds us all
as though your walls weren't already too tall
but we're here now, and we've earned our place
erase the fallacy that you can judge a man by race
this is our home too, if you object you can leave
cos we're here to stay
We planted a seed
to see if it would grow
we didn't know that it would grow so well
And now we proceed
to reap what we sow
and we show no fear
because we planted that seed
You came at us with your fists up
like it was some kind of invasion
blazing hate speech like being Asian is a criminal act
minimal facts but you made up your mind
Wind up the clockwork soldier
see what fun he can find
You think you've got some right
to feel outraged
but you're wrong, son
the line's already engaged
The people running here are the victims of a system
that stripped them of a wishlist, dissed and then dismissed them
and it's the same system that helps you stay on top
you drank our streams to dust, we break backs for every drop
your life of luxury is what keeps us on our knees
try to wash your hands but you're the god damn disease
Squeeze every cent
as hard as you need
squeeze a little harder and watch the money bleed
there's no point pretending that it's not your problem
the third world's contending you're the ones that robbed them
you're the ones who benefit from someone else's sweat
leeching off the poor, get whatever you can get
preaching that the war is in a world far away
but when it comes to your door you ignore what we say
That seed
to see if it would grow
we didn't know that it would grow so well
And now we proceed
to reap what we sow
and we show no fear
because we planted that seed
We came to you with our hands out
but you tied them behind our backs
tied us down to the tracks
and let the train accelerate
This country's brimming with a new breed of hate
the fatty should be slimming but instead he's gaining weight
half of you lot have got your fingers in your ears
while the rest are out back, sharpening your spears
hit the floor, fell flat, our souls were torn
you lay the welcome mat, but it's made of thorns
Despite all this, we keep our heads high
eyes to that sky, we池e gonna learn to fly again
then when we take off, you shoot us down
but this is our town too, you clowns don't know what you do
who the hell are you to lay down what land we belong to?
See we're strong - this song's a declaration
immigration built this whole damn nation
and we're gonna build it higher
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7. |
Flood City (radio edit)
04:13
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Come on down
come on down to flood city
where the people are clean
but the river's brown and shitty
pity those in the troughs of the city sine wave
when river mother rises it's a watery grave, save tonight
trouble gonna bubble tomorrow
We could fight
gamble it all and reap sorrow
but better to bend flat like the riverside reeds
when the water recedes we're gonna do it all again
Bring fire
cos tonight will be cold
old fears reappear as the sharks grow bold
you've sold the land but been paid in fool's gold
rebellion controlled
Still these streets
they have a firm heartbeat
They speak to us
through the soles of our feet
And these beats
are here to stay
And they're growing
they grow every day
Come on down come on down to flood city
where hands seem spotless, but souls are gritty
No-one shed a tear when we let love loose
and traded in tomorrow for a
necktie noose
We buried creeks and streams
under concrete dreams
schemes of skyscraper suburbs and construction teams
but when it comes apart at the seams you'll hear the cry
Sink or swim, no-one's gonna stay dry
There was a man, wealthy but wisdom poor
inexperienced in life, but well-versed in law
who thought that cities should be quiet and clean
and saw God in a 3D LCD TV screen
but now he's lying in the gutter, begging for bread and butter
from the nutters and cutters he once left behind
and now he mutters his curses
biblical verses
stutters and pleads
wishing it would all rewind
But these streets
they have a firm heartbeat
They speak to us
through the soles of our feet
And these beats
are here to stay
And they're growing
they grow every day
Come on down, come on down to flood town
where the whole damn world wants to put roots down
while the dam holds strong we worship the clown
sound of thunder and rain now watch the town drown
This is a young city
with a goldfish memory
never be sure we haven't been here before see
walking in circles, yesterday's a mystery
river wipes clean all remnants of history
Big backyards but small hearts and minds
finds the sprawling suburbs laden with land mines
Blind to future, blind to past, but stuck on rewind
sun sets in the east left the west behind
still they proceed, greed seed sown wide
I tried berating, educating but derided denied
they cried violence, and called it national pride
but the fools can't see the high tide
But these streets
they have a firm heartbeat
They speak to us
through the soles of our feet
And these beats
are here to stay
and they're growing.
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8. |
Money Come
03:50
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9. |
Zucchini
03:35
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Lately, it's like the world's been sneaking off its orbit
drought, flood, drought, flood getting harder to ignore it
anxious days, shops are out of bread and
everyone's getting ready for a balmy armageddon
mirrors are shattering daily
networks fail, mistaking goosebumps for braile t
v news readers have forgotten how to smile
but i don't swallow that pill, i keep my eye on my own pile
see this is my house, and this is my yard
and this is my veggie patch where i work real hard
i've got a lock on my gate, a diesel generator
i can't save the planet, but i'll leave a pretty crater
Everything's crumbling but there's gardens to tend
I'll just water my zucchini
and wait for the world to end
what else is there to do?
waiting for the world to end
I think it's gonna happen soon all the birds have left town
crinkle in the moon and the river's running brown
my friends are building bunkers, the power keeps dying
creeks are drying up and the stop signs aren't lying
i've been watching all the trees fall down
horizon smoke rising darker by the day
i've been watching trees fall like puppets with cut strings
dedicated atheists are learning to pray
yesterday the neighbours bolted, i didn't bother waving
i'm craving foods that no longer exist
phone lines are down but there's no-one left to call
anyway, pessimistic? i'd say that i'm a realist
Everything's crumbling but there's gardens to tend
I'll just water my zucchini
and wait for the world to end
this is how i do
waiting for the world to end
It's been at least a week since i saw another person
even the rats are dispersing
my supplies are running out and i'm not sure if i care
the air itself is dying
multiplying flies rise like steam
dreams pollinate reality
red dust clouds make the whole world sepia
throw your watches in the river
they are worthless now
they are worthless now
it's all worthless now
throw your watches in the river
Everything's crumbling
it's all worthless now
waiting for the world to end
|
Rivermouth Brisbane, Australia
Hi, we're Rivermouth
Our vocalist is a cross between a typewriter and a megaphone. Our keyboardist is a classically trained
virtuoso mad scientist. Our bassist plays in the Richter scale. Our drummer's great-grandfather was a metronome.
Our music is a blend of spoken word, hip hop, jazz, reggae and excellent chai. Lyrics are critical. We want to tickle cerebra and tug heartstrings simultaneously.
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