Get all 7 Mike Cavanagh releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Fittin' In, Works in Progress (old and new), Hebridean Suite, Simple Days, Chosen Few, Holiday Cliche, and Every Day Has Its Dog.
1. |
Rain in the Key of A
03:33
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Rain on the windows
Wind through the trees
Got the two bar heater on
And the cat for company.
Days are so short now
Winter’s settled in
I don’t think about you
Don’t know where to begin.
Got a 12 bar blues
Running through my head
Keeping time with the tin pots
Catching raindrops on the bed.
Pour myself another drink
Light another cigarette
Swear to give them up again
Seven days a week.
Can’t say I’m broken hearted
Not howling at the moon
Just in this place
Where I see your face
Midnight through to noon.
Could pull myself together
Anytime I wanted to.
No big deal, no scars to heal;
Just one more drink, or two.
Junk mail piled around me
It’s all I seem to read
I think I might have sent off
for Reader’s Digest magazines.
I should have listened to you
You were right all along
I’m better off without you…
How could both of us be wrong?
Rain on the windows
Wind through the trees
Got the two bar heater on
And the cat for company.
Days are so short now
Winter’s settled in
I don’t think about you
Don’t know where to begin.
Can’t say I’m broken hearted
Not howling at the moon
Just in this place
Where I see your face
Midnight through to noon.
Could pull myself together
Anytime I wanted to.
No big deal, no scars to heal;
Just one more drink,
or two.
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2. |
Are You Happy?
03:25
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3. |
Kings Cross
04:02
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KINGS CROSS
(I was) lost in the winter of ’79,
Staring at the streetlights, as I waited to cross.
Wind whipped down William Street,
shredding yesterday’s news.
Alone on a corner, at home and so lost. At home and so lost.
Kings Cross.
She said behind me, her voice soft and warm,
“Stay a while and talk, it’s a long time ‘till dawn.”
I turned to look, she was dressed all in white,
Strange glimmering angel fallen into the night.
Sad, dark eyes, hollow cheeks and pale skin;
girls who need money, can’t stop to count costs.
Yet, I thought I might know her face,
Maybe a friend of a friend.
but street corner girls, dressed to the nines… they’re a dozen a dime,
in Kings Cross.
Unravelling threads, just to make ends meet
a slow dance to darkness, on a bright busy street.
Just a minute of comfort, just to stand and talk…
Then the lights changed, the traffic stopped…
I walked.
(I was) lost in the winter of ’79,
What was her name still haunts my mind.
She was gone when I went back,
I never saw her again,
just a memory, opportunity lost,
maybe a friend of a friend; maybe not.
Kings Cross.
Unravelling threads, just to make ends meet
a slow dance to darkness, on a bright busy street.
Just a minute of comfort, just to stand and talk…
Then the lights changed, the traffic stopped…
Kings Cross.
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4. |
Aparagus Hill
03:09
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5. |
Up in the Creaky Chair
04:34
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6. |
Little Troll's Dance
01:55
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7. |
Dance with the Moon
05:40
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DANCE WITH THE MOON
Just another day gone
where all the other days began,
as we run clutching to the night
all the light we can.
Is it written in the stars
or the space between the moon,
all the reasons why we dance
so blithely to this tune?
Counting days like rich men count their money,
Wasting days while we lock our dreams away.
Days like rain only end up meaning something
when they've fallen
when they've fallen
fallen to the ground.
So we watch as time slides by
pooling memories in the dark;
we damn our souls to only leak
who we think we are.
Is it written in the stars
or inscribed upon the sky
why we dance so wild and fierce
while the music we deny?
Little clock works ticking madly
unwinding as fast as they can;
clutching seconds, loosing lifetimes
tumbling out of our hands.
Flashing moments whirl so brightly
dancing in front of our eyes;
spark so briefly, then gone forever
out of our sights and minds
out of sight
out of our minds.
Out of nakedness we weave our futures
clothe ourselves in all our words and deeds and days
till silence claims us, wearing nothing
wearing nothing
wearing nothing
nothing but our names.
All these tattoos that we carve
in the flesh we feast upon...
Did we ever really think
we could never be gone?
Is it written in the stars
or the space between the moon
all the reasons why we dance
so blithely to this tune?
Silence carries us there, bearing only our names.
Carry me there, dance with me my flame.
For every truth I've ever known is written in your eyes
Every truth I've ever known is written in your eyes.
All the truth I've ever known is written in your eyes
All the truth I've ever known ... written in you.....
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8. |
Pigeon Mix #2
03:50
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9. |
Cottontrees
05:40
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COTTONTREES
One long time ago/ she thought she knew this land
Knew its tracks and traces/ like the back of her hand
So long ago now/ she can't understand
How she lost all she had/ for the love of a man
No going back now/ but no other place to go
But down the Combine Road/ where the cotton trees grow.
So long ago/ but she remembers so clear
Taken from family and friends/ and all she held dear
"All for the best ' they said/ what was she to know?
So she prayed as she grew/ and hid the tears that flowed.
Raised on the white mans' ways/ so far from her home
Down the Combine Road/ where the cotton trees grow.
His eyes were green/ his name was Joe
She was just seventeen/ when he took her in tow
fearful in her heart/ but she knew all the same
he was the only way out from/ this prison in all but name
so she went with him/ further still from her home
Down the Combine Road/ where the cottontrees grow.
The years rolled fast/ as days slowly passed
he took to drinking most nights/ guess that's how it starts
a little slap here and there/ rough handling in the dark
She started staying at home days/ not to show the marks
Some nights he came home/ perfume on his clothes
She dreamed of the Combine Road/ where the cottontrees grow.
She knew one day/ like most women do
Another life growing/ so deep in her womb
She hoped this might change things/ help them pull through
Till the punches started and the blood began to flow
Life ended too soon/ to never blossom and grow
To know the Combine Road/ where the cotton trees grow.
She couldn't remember how/ but he slumped to the floor
Knife in his chest/ as she staggered to the door
Blood down her thighs/ three lives shattered and torn.
A car in the night/ a long way till the dawn.
Yes, a car wreck they say/ so close to home
So near yet so far, from the Combine Road.
So near and so far from where the cottontrees grow.
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10. |
Dances in Clouds
05:34
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11. |
Windwood (Julie's Waltz)
03:35
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Mike Cavanagh Catalina, Australia
In my 60s (how the hell did THAT happen!). Married to the love of my life - Jules - for 20 years. Stepdad to three adult 'kids'. Other loves of my life - 1970s Gibson J-200, 1978 Gurian 3M and Maton FG 12 string also 1970s vintage. Don't play nowhere these days, but paid some sort of dues over the years - restaurants, bars, even a few weddings. Motto - find beauty; be still (thanks Mr W.H. Murray) ... more
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