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Goodbye Son

from Subtropical Metropolis? by Rivermouth

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lyrics

You know this story: it's in our nation's DNA
them cities are magnets, all the children move away
just a couple generations, and they'll forget this place
paper-chasing, rat-racing, nothing left to retrace
goodbye son
I guess we'll see you back here for Christmas
I hope the city treats you well
your mum's baked you biscuits
here's some extra cash for the train ride
and I know how email works now so you'd better write to us
maybe one day you'll have children – they can come out here to visit
and you can tell them that this is where you're from
I know you won't move back here
I know this town is fading like a photo
but it'd be nice to be remembered

They call it urbanisation
all these one-way conveyor belts pointed towards the cities
they call it progress
our ancestors were stockmen, shearers, hunters
but the urban amnesia is contagious
the track to Gundagai is overgrown

I sometimes think it's silly how we romanticise the bush
getting all patriotic about jolly swagmen
when the only billabong we ever visited was a clothing store
see I'm a city kid
my roots are embedded in bitumen
but every now and then, I feel homesick for places I've never even been to
scrutinising my grandparents' birth certificates
I mouth the names of towns that Google now describes as “location not found”
and gradually I start to understand...
we are transplants
broken boomerangs
saplings struggling in unfamiliar soil
no wonder we're so scared of change
it's hard being uprooted
not knowing how to answer when people ask you where home is

I'm not sure why it makes me sad – people move all the time
I guess I wonder what happens to the places left behind
goodbye son
they slip away like drops of water

credits

from Subtropical Metropolis?, released May 15, 2021
Written and performed by Rivermouth
Recorded and mixed by Luke at Hunting Ground Studios
Mastered by Matthew Gray Mastering
Artwork by Anna Carlson

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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. ... more

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