We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Somebody's Hometown

by Human Shields

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

      10 CHF  or more

     

1.
THE MORNING AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE Your breathing fogs the early winter air. The bus will come when the time is right. A voice in your head is singing, "There, there." What were you thinking last night? The dry leaves scatter all around your feet. Another morning comes with later light. The voice is singing against the beat. What were you thinking last night? The sun's too weak to make a proper blue. Your socks are dirty, your pants too tight. The singer cannot tell you what to do. What were you thinking last night? If clouds could talk, they'd laugh about your dreams. Your aching eyes make everything too bright. Each song is never more than what it seems. What were you thinking last night? Is this morning one that you'll remember? Or one you should forget with all your might? Has the singing ever been so tender? What were you thinking last night?
2.
LAND WITHOUT NIGHTINGALES A sparrow grew up to the moon; tailfeathers clouded the sky. A panda inherited noon; April came into the light. The land without nightingales slept and woke to the mockingbird's song. The judge in the one-way street wept and put off her ruling till dawn. The marriage of blackbird and thrush shattered the hopes of the finch. She threw her bouquet with a blush, then woke from her dream with a pinch. The land without nightingales slept and woke to the mockingbird's song. The judge in the one-way street wept and put off her ruling till dawn. The storks in the trees at the zoo are wild but migrate no more. They clatter the whole winter through and feed where the cold water's warm. The land without mockingbirds slept and woke to the nightingale's song. The judge in the one-way street left; she'd put off her ruling too long.
3.
Rumpus 03:10
RUMPUS Fire and fear and monsters under the bed Visions of dark forests in my head Wild beasts around corners giving me a dreadful fright All these things they fill my dreams like tigers in the night Hand and eye and symmetry Little do we know What use is flyin' into the sky When there's nowhere else to go Think I'll lay me down in the grass Wait for this feeling to pass I just can't seem to get over it I always seem to find It's just too hard to chase away the tigers in my mind Hand and eye and symmetry Little do we know What use is flyin' into the sky When there's nowhere else to go Famine is spreading like wildfire The walls around us are getting higher We find ourselves becoming our roles like bees living in hives Never learning what to do with our burning tiger lives Hand and eye and symmetry Little do we know What use is flyin' into the sky When there's nowhere else to go
4.
Pale Horse 05:17
PALE HORSE I have seen the palest horse Coming round the bend Its hoofbeats echo closer As I near my end O is there a light A light that shines for me To guide me on the darkest ride On the longest journey Here comes the palest horse Saddled up and ready to go Now I must take me away Where I just don't know O is there a light At the end of the day To guide me on the darkest ride Will it show me the way
5.
Abbottabad 04:16
ABBOTTABAD I always sit in this booth with my back to the bar, nursing a glass of water on the rocks. I haven't had a scotch for three years now. I never look at bottles or at clocks. I used to shave in the shower; now, I don't shave at all. When I wash my hands, I watch the water swirl around. When I walk down the street, I don't watch folks go by. I look down at the kids in strollers; I look down at the ground. I only tell the ice cubes in my water about the things I did back in the day. But sometimes someone just like you sits down right there and looks like he'll listen to what I have to say. A soldier shouldn't know their names and faces. A soldier shouldn't ask who's behind the door. Every bullet that I fired could have been a dead man. I don't have more men than that to answer for. Once I drank to them with every shot I took. Now this glass of water's all I need. Remember the name of the town the Major founded, where I did my famous unsung deed. Once I shot a man in Abbottabad. Everyone heard, but no one made me pay. He's the only man I ever killed that I don't regret at all today. For everyone who can't look in the mirror, there's someone's never had a second thought. For all those getting old with a shot of scotch or water, there's someone else who paid for what he bought.
6.
A PIRATE'S LIFE I grew up in a village by the sea, herding and milking the goats my family lived on. It was a life to barely live, a place to escape from— oh yes, my friend, a pirate's life for me. When you were a kid, you skipped stones in the sea. You took to the waves to laugh and shout and play. The sea I lived by did nothing every day— oh yes, my friend, a pirate's life for me. In tiny boats, we headed out to sea to find and seize the biggest ships we could. It might have been dangerous, but the money sure was good— oh yes, my friend, a pirate's life for me. Our hostage suddenly dove into the sea. The snipers scoped us and shot us in our boats. But such a life, or one spent herding goats?— oh yes, my friend, a pirate's death for me.
7.
ALISA'S BRIDGE On the streets of somebody's hometown She walked around trying to find a good time the town's a lie she's never been there before She wants so much more than being free From the bridge she sees the swirling water On a train in another country Where she felt so free she was living her own life the country's a lie she's never been there before She wants so much more than day to day From the bridge she looks into the water From a plane she looked out over the world She tried to fly away from her own mind the world's a lie she's never been there before She wants she wants so much more From the bridge she reaches to the water
8.
BETTER NEVER THAN LATE I was baptized twice, but still it didn't stick. First, as a dying baby, I became a Catholic. When I'd been saved from Limbo came my first heresy: I was made a Protestant when I'd forgotten I'd been sick. Better never than late for me. He put off his deathbed conversion until another day, when all the broken promises will have been unmade and wrapped up in a package with a pretty ribbon just waiting for Pandora to come along and say, "Better never than late for him." When the spirit came to save her, she'd already left home to turn one trick too many to feed her baby and her jones. She heard that preacher's words as he turned away with a curse, throwing down the money beside her unanswered cell phone, "Better never than late for her." You've heard a million voices, seen a thousand points of light, but Jesus never comes to you on a backsliding night, and salvation's just another tale for you to misconstrue if nobody answers when you ask what's wrong or right, "Better never than late for you." Two fire engines scurry past; the sirens doppler down. They speak in tongues in that storefront church and writhe down on the ground, but the dealer in the back room chokes on smoke and phlegm and rasps out when he sells his shit by the ounce or by the pound, "Better never than late for them." They wanted to be a big-city story, that was all, so they called some number scratched on a bathroom wall. The ringing at the other end sounded ominous, and when it finally ended, one said, "Don't make another call. Better never than late for us."
9.
Sundowning 02:37
SUNDOWNING The chickens are back in their coop. The kids are out on the town. It's here in one fell swoop. It's sundown. You've heard them say it before. The rumor's been going around. You're heading straight for the door. It's sundown. You've forgotten what you said. All that matters is here and now. No one's getting you to bed, even though it's sundown. The trucks roll by on the highway. You want to follow that sound. You want to have your say at sundown. The dusk turns into dark. You walk away with a frown. You're the only one in the park past sundown. Here's where the children played, but they're not here right now. You don't want to end your day, even though it's sundown.
10.
PENNY A POINT She dealt herself a hand of solitaire and saw her face in the Queen of Spades. The Jack of Clubs repeated her last prayer and wept as she unwound her braids. Sweet Susie is lost in a circle, spinning around a new moon. Esau will wander till he finds her, still spinning when the stars shine at noon. A stranger came to town to strike a deal to sell the little that he owned. Nothing comes of bargain-basement stories. His buried hatchet was never found. She put the cracked old cribbage board between them and dealt the first of their many hands. Fifteen two, and a double run made ten. The hourglass ran out of sand. After she had left, he struck a match but didn't light her oil lamp. The candles burned, then the tattered blankets, then the mattress, and then the camp.
11.
YOU KNOW I KNOW I sing this song to the people that I love sing for the people I don't know Don't you be worrying about no heaven up above Don't worry about no fire down below You know I know you know I know you know You know I know you know I know you You know I know you know I know you know You know I know you know I know you The sun is setting somewhere while I sing And somewhere else it's on the rise Rising and setting you know it don't mean a thing Everything is happening all the time You know I know you know I know you know You know I know you know I know you You know I know you know I know you know You know I know you know I know you
12.
Long Enough 03:31
LONG ENOUGH Under her hat, her eyes flatter all my dreams. Red as her lips, the hat offers nothing more. If I just look at her long enough, I'll remember what I once was looking for. Chasing a ball, a boy runs across the sand. Walking along, a man also crooks his knee. If I just look at them long enough, I'll remember what they wanted to tell me. So little time, remarked the librarian. So many books, he said, making up my head. If I just look at him long enough, I'll remember what I someday must have read. Two painted boys playing flute and a guitar. Though they're just paint, I can hear the melody. If I just look at them long enough, I'll remember what they wanted to tell me.

credits

released June 9, 2015

Dany Demuth: vocals, acoustic guitar
Christoph Meneghetti: bass
Andrew Shields: acoustic guitar, octave mandolin

All songs by Andrew Shields

Recorded by Serge Krebs

Design by Manuel Bürkli

Cover Photograph by Jan Svenungsson

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Human Shields Basel, Switzerland

contact / help

Contact Human Shields

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like Human Shields, you may also like: