The Time Being | Steve Kilbey

i remain totally fucking unrepentant

i was uh down in the city on a miracle street

got on a fuckin’ bus n i took a seat

i musta  uh been giving off some  spirit heat

the woman right beside me is uh curling her feet

and the avenues rush past like an aquarium

yeah the deluge has begun in the uh interim

and the drugs in my pockets start to burning them

and i think about uh jeffrey down in birmingham

and i think about a certain little enterprise

and i bet you all uh wanted it to be otherwise

and i’m seeing this mis-vision through other mans eyes

and in a mid-collision with my own pack of lies

and i’m lost in my own street in a womans size

and i’m juggling the aliens and the alibis

when the light turns black i’m down at the back

with my vanilla crackle n my honey smack

when the light turns white i stay up all night

thats when uh love is easy and uh time is tight

i’m a duplicator i’m a fabricator i’m a mangy panther

i’m a alligator

if you would just stay still

i will make you oh so beautiful

when the light turns grey its yet another day

my mansuit getting kinda come what may

and the illegal bets and the uh illegal pets

and all the stuff i’m getting off the internets

thank you serf for your perfect sets

thank you earth with uh certain regrets

thank you to my avatar for making me real

thank you to my fingers for making me feel

thank you to lord vishnu who dreamed up this game

there aint much praise theres a whole loada blame

why even a uh man- jaguar is easy to tame

its a shame if your name is your uh claim to fame

when the lights turn pink i follow the link

when the lights turn in

i put the whole thing

down to sin

i’m savant idiot i’m a stupid genius i’m a minor hit

i’m a candle lit

if you would just hold still i will make you oh so

beautiful

gonna fly fly fly somewhere

why do you come here looking for me

you should know by now that i’m gone

naive believer just follow that star

mars or andromeda its all the same

here is the mystery in black velvet boxes

and here is the trick all explained

and here is the afternoon just as i left it

five six seven eight

cloak yourself in sweet affirmations

guard your soul with a spell

our power is waning in this western world

is it my skull or a dry gulch?

beautiful women kissed my eyes cold

a blow to the head of a beast

all the mad children can never go home

oh mr erskine oh  fleur-de-lys

its quiet at home now the spirits’ve  left

its quiet right here in my head

all of the voices that goaded me on

the subtle one and the one with a hiss

theres a disaster in all our good fortune

theres a shark in every sea

theres a new frank sinatra born every minute

excuse me theres a knock at my door

mr s kilbey? can you please sign here

sorry sir wheres your I D ?

can you make out this one please to my wife ?

temperature drop in downtown winterland

love somewhere else written in cursive

love somewhere else in a cave

love somewhere else in a purview or perfume

love somewhere else love somewhere else

open myself to the rays of a dog star

open myself to their moon

open myself to the raising of dead man

yeah four five six seven

some grinding machine dares to pierce this great silence

but its just swallowed down by the rain

my heart loses time  and the clock is slow beating

(open myself open myself)

yeah i remember the memories forgotten

all those impossible things

it renders me dumb and my dumbness is numb

thats why i talk all the time

the slenderest thread is the vaguest idea

the  new path of  the least restraint

the accused the witness the judge and the crime

the jack and the knave are the same thing

love somewhere else in a fabulous past

love somewhere else i dont know

love somewhere else in a packet of drug

excuse me theres a knock at the door

are you mr kilbey we’ve had a complaint

your charisma is blocking your drive

and some dark  misfortune is long overdue

im sorry mate…. can you sign this CD?

mr kilbey  please empty your mind

constable read him his rites

mr kilbey    here is your fine fine

life somewhere else life somewhere else

aint life a bitch sir with its fishnet and holes

oh aint life a bitch with its kiss

oh aint life a bitch just all over the place

love bites from another world

considering everything  all the mistakes

the dead ends end living the life

always alive if you live in the future

love somewhere else love somewhere else

child come unto me  i am thy son

sister know i am thy man

the swans and the butterflies the idyl at noon

life somewhere else life somewhere else

the wind then disturbs our mutual reverie

the wind that comes under the door

the wind in the walls is laughing your name

five six seven eight

oh i miss everyday i no longer have

and i miss every night if i sleep

and i miss the messes  i made of this life

the recipes and the boulevards

love somewhere else where young summer is king

love somewhere else inner book

love somewhere else in a fictionist fragment

love in a doorway love on demand

i think of one thing and i burn in my anger

i think of one thing burn in lust

yet all of my thoughts are spectral illusions

think of one thing life somewhere else

it took me 2 hours to write this all down

i took me to roam and  to rue

it took me to realise that i didnt know

now six seven eight and nine

love somewhere else in a car or a barroom

love somewhere else in a shot

love somewhere else on a burnt DVD

love somewhere else love somewhere else

i must get ready to do something somewhere

i must get ready to leave

i must get ready counting my blessings

excuse me theres a knock at the door

oh hello my friend the lord sent me here

i speak yes from my highest hoarse

which messiah is in your complex

is it jesus or satan or ba’al or ducatti ?

the eden i offer is  discretely discreet

the tickets are so hard to find

now which is a god for the god of your head

is it set or jehovah or thoth or temptation

paradise lost still has vacant lots

i can open some heaven for you

life on this earth is threaded with dread

wouldnt you like life somewhere else?

open myself to the earth and cold ether

open myself to the rain

open myself to love somewhere else

now six seven eight nine

love somewhere else open myself

life somewhere else seven eight

open myself five six

life somewhere else love somewhere else

five six seven eight

st stevens temptation and redemption (modified to fit screen)

the revolution will be televised

it will have its own facebook page

it will have six hundred and sixty six friends

see ragnarok gives you a poke lol

i’m worried about my figure

i’m worried about my figures

i’m worried about all of the tentacles

pulling all of my triggers

born out of time i was hatched from an egg

i was found in a pit i was summoned from stone

i was drawn in my quarters and hanging about

i was concocted by chance in a primal whirlpool

sawn in half by magical love i climbed in the box

over and over

i filmed myself with these thoughts of rare sloth

i invented myself with glee and with rage

in a flash i was putting my mansuit on

i took a guitar down from the shelf

i strummed a chord and i bummed a smoke

i made a joke about the weather that seemed to go on forever

i stumbled upon a few good ideas

that were floating about in the ether above

a complex experiment unearthly desire

some fucking creature from an other dimension

had rewired my pineal and rejigged my thought

i suddenly became a vegetarian

i was programmed to do it

the creatures hate meat

they must be farming me for my sweet dna

i bet andromeda could use a few poets

i bet the galaxies beyond all our ken

gotta shortage of renaissance men

somebody else in an other room

asks tell me how did you write all this stuff?

even as i begin to answer my head is wired up that way

i am an antenna for all dead thoughts

i am an ariel picking up prospero

i am a throwback to another day

a day on the beach in soft soft sunlight

your mother and father kiss in the car

the photo has faded the morning has gone

the relic of yesterday the ruin of man

the sun begins sinking the sea starts to drown

a carpet of flowers leads to the night

you hire a machine that guides your disguises

i rent a module that modifies my masks

i enter my signature inside the box

but my name is forgotten on some misplaced list

its been left in a place that no one can get to

oh it hurts to have been treated like this

oh my poor head aches in the light of day

oh its easy to lie in the sun for a spell

forgiving myself for every last sin

i feel a bit dizzy i feel a bit sick

thats normal for me

so what else is new?

hazy merit

sing then o muse oh then sing me a river

sing me a mirror  and sing me a sky

sing me a garden with panther and peacock

sing me the echo at the end of my time

o mortal the rivers that rush from olympus

they carry sleek fish that all whisper the sea

but waiting downstream is the fox and the jackal

and the eagle above in the mirroring sky

this then is you as live within your time

the minutes imprison  yet the years set you free

the magnetic attraction of all your possessions

but everything slipping past right through your hands

the beast deep inside you demanding its dinner

the angel above if you only could see

the gold in the earth is reflecting the sun man

the silver beneath you reflecting the moon

and the stars in the heavens that swim through the darkness

the darkness itself penetrated by light

and time your conundrum your fate and your paradox

and life is your dream when you lie in the earth

the blood and the tears are the rubies and diamonds

and the emerald sea with its monsters and pearls

and just in one instant its all gone into nowhere

and just in one second its all null and void

the world that you knew is still turning without you

yet something is missing though something is new

the wolf with the lamb in its jaws is the future

the serpent in wait on a branch of  the  tree

the chasm is yawning the trap has been looming

the jungle is teeming with the bear and the boar

threshing the corn that conceals the cobra

the machinery teeth of the armies of war

the spear and the arrow the insult and arrogance

the ergot the cactus the poppy the grape

the women and men all grasp at each other

but no one can save you from oncoming death

is life so bleak then o muse can you answer

when  is the appointed hour of release

how will it feel when this play is all over

how many days am i certain to see

oh no man can know when his hour is coming

oh no man can bear this terrible grief

i couldnt tell you and you couldnt listen

and it wouldnt save you or give you back time

this is the night at the end of your day and

this is the rest at the end of your work

this is the way it always must be and

all must endure it whatever it holds

but already i had stopped hearing her

my mind was so restless my heart was so numb

my fear and my selfishness pulling the strings and

ignorance seemed like a warm place to be

http://www.deadcoolshop.com/music+cinema/recommended-albums/the-church-refomation/

Some of the Refo:mation songs will be performed during the June 23rd church gig (Steve, Peter  & TimEbandit) at  The Red Rattler Marrickville (Sydney). A special one-off benefit gig to raise awareness and funds for Autism… .details coming soon

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imagine yourself in some lonely dark city

the windows all closed and the doors painted black

nobody knows you or has heard your name as

you wander beyond these  sad afternoons

was it vancouver or wasnt it melbourne

i cant remember because of the rain

huddled in taxis we dreamed up the streets

hidden in winter we could never get warm

the calendar stopped at june 74

the electric blanket is  still switched on 2

a foil of dope with half of it gone

a copy of playboy wow look at those girls

davids guitar has got a cracked neck

the moon in the chimney blue in the black

the cars on the highway that never come back

the polite small yawn that gives it away

the day has now come and gone with the night

dont ask me for details my memories unravelling

feels like somebodys walking over my grave

we walk on the stage and the audience claps

but  alone that night we all want to cry

theres no justice in the courtroom  nor in the prison library

theres no mercy in the brothel nor in the infirmary

my mind has been hacked

david walks down the track

forever it seems forever and back

the overseers seer

i guess david neil is now in his afterlife

its getting confusing to tell it apart

and the wind blows like murder behind saskatoon

and the jolt of the shot as it reaches the heart

and i dream that hes lying just there in the wreckage

and i dream that they pulling him out all alive

and i see that theyre giving him some kind of treatment

and i see david smiling so sad he says no

no to the future no to the pushers

no to the widows no to the fun

no to the fate that tried to engulf him

no to the scenery that now held him in

and it seemed  as he leaving this vale of tears

in his mind he was in a motel somewhere else

motel on the outskirts on some lonely town

and a fog had come in

and the night just fell down

oh fuck hes feeling such fucking sadness

the walls in this place undulating so thin

oh desperate den of deprave and deformer

oh hard to be good oh easy to sin

now where is the girl with the number for heroin

now where is the cat with the needles and claws

where is the groupie that sleeps with his ghost

and follows it round as it goes  town to town again

and swallows it down where it wont make a sound again

n the tv was flickering n david was shivering

the rain outside him was burning the air

someone from dakota had called the police

but  the police couldnt come cos they dont  have the man

and a planes falling out of the sky somewhere else

david asleep in the purplish afterglow

a thousand new eyes open up in his mind

his delirious mind with the heart of a fool

his foolish young heart with the mind of its own

and you watch as david fades into the reverie

and you listen as david goes down for his fall

his poor old mother arranging the ceremony

his poor old dad who carried the box

the brothers and sisters who wept so profusely

the elegant man who was driving the hearse

the drummer was smoking some stuff when he heard

maybe now davids happy was all that he said

but all these events were still off in some future

some future thats coming but yet to arrive

and in the motel room the players are playing

and the game is so deadly its quickly divine

the rain in the carpark freezing  in puddles

reflecting orion and anatares above

the singular feeling of midnight around us

the moment of truth is forced out with a lie

and all of the planets that once guided david

had forsaken his luck as they veered off thru space

the snake eyes he rolled the beanstalks he climbed

but the giants had caught him and taken him down

and into the evening the passengers went

with their hardly goodbyes and their tears for the sky

up in the cockpit the captain fly anxious

the moon on the wane as it catches his eye

and dave in economy where joe lyons is sitting

nursing a pistol under his coat

cos david was seeing his wife on the side i guess

i guess that he found out n ran out of the house

and all the caresses she laid on his shoulder

and all of the kisses she laid on his lips

and all of her sweetest words he’d ever heard

they couldnt persuade her husband to stay

as david ponders a song hes been working on

a song called the cockpit the last that he’ll write

and the air rushes over the surface of wings

and the night moves along singing its own song

and its song is so sad that i feel i belong

and david could hear it you know its alright

he knew what he did when he got on that flight

that death came three times is hardly surprising

his life lived in triplicate

the end was the same

the church members in Australia (Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes and TimEbandit Powles) will be performing a special one-off charity gig to aid Autism at The Red Rattler in Marrickville, Sydney on Thursday June 23rd 2011 with other special guests. Admission will be a $60 donation towards ASPECT. More details will be posted when to hand

Update 21/6/11

UNIVERSE WITHIN

Autism Awareness and Benefit Gig
with members of the church

Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes and Tim Powles  (also  appearing at this one-time only
as The Refo:mation)

and special  guests (in no particular order) including

Phil Hall (Lime Spiders)
Stan Holroyd
Craig Wilson (astreetlightsong)
Jak Housden (The Whitlams)
Thom Moore (Mercy Arms)
Ricky Maymi (Brian Jonestown Massacre)
Jimmy Hilbun (San Franciscan Lover)
Brendan Gallagher  (karma county)
Suzi Connolly (Butterfly 9)
Russell Kilbey (songs from the Crystal Set)
Nick Kennedy (Kneivel)
Sandi Chick
Daniel Darling
Mark Moldre (Hitchcock’s Regret)
David Skeet

Intermission : showing of Russell Kilbey and Amy Scully’s award winning doco Rainman Goes to Rockwiz’

MC – Jamie Holt (The Camels)

Thursday June 23. Red Rattler. 6 Faversham Street, Marrickville.

Doors Open at 8pm

Entry via recommended $60  donation to Aspect being collected at the door.
Exclusive items for silent auction on the night.

mystery tramp

the moon king is coming in shadow of shame

tethered his horse to a star

the milky white monster rushed through the sky

and the thought of light is faster than light

and the knight of nights is a single black cat

who crosses your path as you move on through time

while the party tricks and the parlour games

have all become a burden to me

the line that defines us is just like yon river

it wanders oh baby the way that it flows

my head is an instrument needing restringing

my heart is an ache that wakes up my head

in the middle of dreams

in the cold light of green

the way that the water whirls in a pool

the masquers arrive in a swarm of intrigue

and the moon king comes

riding an earth

avarice n lust

was an angular evening

all edges and corners

and the light spiralled out of the dark sky like glass

and the palms and the pines stood sullen and cold

as the driverless cars approach through the night

as we wait in some kitchen to weigh up the powder

as we stand all in line to check out our stuff

as we walk in the light of the blue neon cross

as we crunch up the numbers that add up to nothing

as we pull off our clothes lie listless in bed

i separate into all of my being

i overtake then the speed  i am moving

but i veer to the left

and i swerve to the right

and all of my songs start to turn round and bite me

and all of those words start to throb in my head

i remember it all

like it was yesterday

it was yesterday says somebody else

i turn around theyre calling my number

i come around theyre paging my book

i  look around the deserted hot fleshpots

i puff for a while on the residue of love

i reach in my pocket and pull out a hand

i empty my eyes of the things i have seen

the jealous thoughts that all manifested

the anger and violence so blindly released

the way that a star shines in the sea

the way that an enemy waits till your weak

the way a morning screams in your ear

when you wake with a stranger giving you hook

when you walk with some bastard some animal jack

when you play with some lowboy and give him the lot

when you go to the city where nobody lives

and you go to the sleep where nobody dreams

and hearing the song that no one has sung

and your making up things that pull things apart

and your hunger for starving yourself of all  things

and you dance like a fool in the light of regret

and you prance like an ass for the fools you attract

and you terminate time with a sweep of your arm

for the pain in the past was never your blame

and the fire consumes us

and the waters still rise

and the jackals all out there

and the dragons are back

some man inventing hideous creatures

he just dreams em up and then they can fly

the six headed wrath

the one fingered rip

the semi-accordioned old bag of bones

the salt water wimp

the classic usurper

the ogre who took you back to the cave

the stupid one with money to burst

the gruesome one with the nose of a boar

the boring one who helped you out once

and the one you promised some of the moon

and the important one who owned a cafe

and the little one who had a big car

and the one with the degree in idiocy

and the one that you met as youre on your way home

and the one with the name you cant bear me to say

and the one with the magic that brings us undone

and the words that were whispers

and the gestures imbibed

and the places it happened

and the way it went down

as the snow fell and fell

as the stuff did its work

as the people around you step back and stare

as the morning thats coming turns right around

as the impossible horror of reading your mind

as the spirit blazed a trail north through your life

as the old evil burn that drives men insane

as the increasing pressure of madness on metal

as the feeling of slowing down in mid fall

one day you look up and theres nobody watching

so you take everything thats not nailed down

and you travel a path that takes you away

yes you visited lots of the stories you told

and you talked about london and you talked bout new york

and you talked about anything

and nothing taboo

you said youd been hired to play acute nightmare

you said youd auditioned for the saturday crowd

you said someone wants you to fly his new planet

you said someone offered you cash for your heart

you said someone lovely had just picked you out

you said someone wealthy had paid for your kick

you said someone awful had accessed your oh!

you said someone strong had weakened your grasp

and the evening was angular

all window and mirror

and the colours were smeared on the glow of the fog

at the edge of the high way  rushing by liquid

and a dip in the road

and an end of a line