The Time Being | Steve Kilbey

the realest world we have

hello and welcome

i have a lot of stuff still on the boil

songs from the real world is now out and its pretty good

maybe not quite as good consistently as a real kil/ken record but close

it does contain a few standout tracks however

which would not be outta place on the real deal

tracks like naomi and maya

and “my one”

a lovely power ballad for david and ginas wedding

i dont believe anyone has ever done a record like this before

i’d be interested to see what you thought of our commissions

although martin and i are both artists and dream up our own stuff prolifically

we both enjoy being artisans and using our experience to write specific songs as directed

this has always been one of the functions of art : to do what somebody else asks you to do

like mikey angelo painting the sistine chapel and stuff like that

you pay us to write you a song

martin and i take your request and we actualise your wish

some of our songs moved their new owners to (good) tears

here you can hear us plying our trade with love and care and flair (but not flares)

we have songs about children whove lost a parent

we have songs about lakes eternities and theology

we have songs about cafes and wives and daughters and friends

and even one brand newey just for the hell of it

martin had a track he’d kinda forgotten about

and i insisted he dig it up and lemme do something on it

its the last track. i kinda dig it

its like a dylan track off street legal or something

good on us! who else is doing tracks that sound like street legal ?

(thats a dylan album for the philly steins out there)

so look naturally i recommend it

and it was actually me who nagged MK to release it

so happy am i with most of it

i wanted you all to hear it…

next up i am playing my last shows of the year on my own

one in canberra at smiths bookshop

this will be a return where i have my voice intact

and my guitar strung prop’ly

i will trying some new material and plenty of old

i will be reading the funny bits from my book

there are some funny bits in my book that people enjoy hearing

the bits about me on tour told in a schizo kinda way

tales of the zigger jacket etc

(what the fuck is a zigger jacket anyway? )

there will be rambling misty eyed reminiscing about the AC fucking T

and how its dullness fostered my scintillating genius

that every current canberran ninny is just dying to hear ha ha

so there i am me and me book and me guild 12 in smiths book shop

itll be all yer christmas wishes come true if youre an atheist

bah humbug and have a merry whatsit canberra cos i’m a coming sunday night baby

15 dec riding in my gold falcon sleigh with bells on

then the 17th up in troppo brizzie

i will be appearing at lefties old time music hall

once a joint of salubrious notoriety now a lovely old gig

bringing back misty memories of seeing vanessa the undresser there in 1857

during the gold record rush

jesus old vanessa’d be getting on these days ……(sigh!)

anyway there are rumours of a few guests coming along to help out

so fingers crossed that will come to pass

please come to lefties all you Qlders

i’ll have merch n everyfing for late chrispy presents… perhaps for an enemy

its gonna be a great gig i promise you that and thats a promise i may keep

tickets are selling pretty good to that so make sure i dont miss out

(on selling more)

gee this advertising malarky is a cinch for me isnt it?

meanwhile ive been doing Rock Wiz all round the place

hobnobbing with old guard of Doc Neeson and Mark Gable

or hanging with the new kids like Nick from Deep Sea Arcade

or Izzi from the Preatures

you can be sure i am my usual grumpy boring tired self

Docs tales of being on a troop carrier plane in the middle east

and of heat seeking missiles locking on

and the pilots aerial acrobatics to throw it off

should have but did not calm my shakey nerves as we came into adelaide

however i very much appreciated him and Mr Gable being my wingmen

when i needed to have a desperate wee wee during a traffic jam in melbourne

they were taking the  attention from me you see and were creating a diversion

mark also took some pictures of me i believe (unbelievably enuff!!)

go to seeskpeesontrees.com and price on application i understand

meanwhile i work on bits n pieces

and listening to new church album so far which is undeniably good

ha ha

love on each n every one of you

sk

unbeknownst

in the deep arctic hole in my heart

where a lake of ache lies

the drowning city of sham

under waves of pity and scorn

when i heard them sing my song

the music travelled back in time towards me

from a future i will never know

the blindsided visionary backstage then

the alpha and epsilon

the flash of a flint the gasp of a crowd

the burning sea laps at the dirty sand

the thunder above us to say god will never love us

we still chant and supplant the suppliant rhyme

in time and both spaces we come face to faces

i am jonah on this aeroplane throw me off!

i plummet through the clouds but i still scoff

look i strap on my axe my fender stradivarius cumulo nimbus

but my blistered eyes cant see the redline coming

in rockpools by the sea see me sitting there strumming

god i cry for everyone i weep for rome

my tears would wash london clean back home

my scalding crocodile tears for my twins as they sing away out there

my skinny twins every day is a new beginning let the twinning begin

in some frozen city those pretty kitties dream their pop

i reach out in the dark recess of past i lived too fast

i guess the smack caught up with me at last

i shoot money up my arm howcome my brain is empty of the ready

i took a hit in the pit of my stomach rendered me unsteady

its hot in my room some wild zephyr doth fucking blow

whats a pansy like me doing in this tropical ruin i’ll never know

i wrote some chords but they were swords unto my ear

throw me off this craft i’m falling after all

plunger i tear through the sky like a stone

clutching wildly at vapours and mists we all fall alone

ive forgotten the words and i’m out on stage

the music from yesteryears back pages unleashed from its cage

man its like a shock wave as it travels back at me at the mic

and suddenly the phrases light up my limpet soul mighty quick

and on each side my identical daughters like mirrors to the slaughter

and the pilots voice comes on crooning i didnt know he could sing

you gotta let me off this plane really now i understand everything

and the pilot sings

why dont you why dont you why dont you

fall away

with me…?

view finder

in this house where nothing is mine only gods

a gracious spirit has passed by bringing us some sweet music

holy harmony of long gone jericho maybe ripped from horn

i remember the hanging gardens of nineveh i dreamed in my tomb

yes there were angels but they were terrible to look upon

with great wings beating cobalt void

voices calling heavens language into the ether

but i have wandered from both my oath and path

in brothel and opium den god still see through men

down every wire the liar is trapped again

the muse i sought was not so easily bought

the discontent of winter gave way to summers blazing bloom

in a courtyard in israel where the camera flare

and music comes like the most perfect distance approaching all whirling strangest strings

flinging things from its centre the music enters from above

covering the plains and planes of men with the strains of gods own song

oh if you can bear to hear it oh mortal man

every drum in every world and worlds we cannot even apprehend my friend

beating out the heart of gods name in blood like flame

suddenly i am eventually reduced to moaning my poem in the dirt of this earth

i crawl and trawl through my desert bible moses madman mayhem

let my people go

i let my people go to the city of sin and sodom down by the transparent sea

there was a bitch of a devil and she was waiting for me

i am an angel too she spat into a darkening storm that hovered high

as she pull out my eyes so i could see she was as blind as me

this nightmare world is gone come morning somewhere i care about

but the question of evil is not leaving so easy just to please thee

god intervene in this dream i sure as silent scream

god in a field in the bright land beyond death

your cross is grown over now in flowers of light

so absorbed in eternal perfection and wondering aloud

each word is a song some world will one day sing

each world slips created into time and is at once complete

oh everything is already there

nothing begins nothing ends

the music composed once lasts in the air forever

it is the very weather it is the birds and it is the fish

its the howling nether beasts who may not exist

oh fox mind siren who sings from her cove

and crazy maenad ripped orpheus for love

music is dripping from gods fingers child i guarantee it

if i couldnt be his singer why would i be it?

i play the blues down in the swamp the monsters come and see it

i arctic harp in the frosted halls and walls under the blackest vault

the women lie close to me to keep their bodies warm they say

but when the darkness comes some hands under my shirt begin to play

through this ice roof i feel his eyes although no surprise

in this wintered cloak we entered underground through a burnt oak

the mulled wine with its almonds and raisins was warm

soon a swarm of shadows had gently enfolded me in sleep

and after that

there were no memories i was allowed to keep

thus spake kroon

presumptuous insects of summer you can bite my fix

when i am gone then you will realise and know

when you were snoozing in nothingness

i was out there blazing the way across a nightclub wilderness

it could not contain me

music pictures flow away from me

words hover at my fingertips

i bathe in deep rock where i merge with those in golden age

listen wait proceed think about it

float past in black river there i go

you a sloth in a tree

watching idly as there i go

i take sky out of space

i set stone to music

i take it faster

hook is a drug gotta love in me

swirling intrigue inhuman league

babbling oracle of warning and doom

dour sour powerless dwarf no star

no sun of mind you are no 1

whoever you are i forget your name

i have no time for future

in love with my ugly mirror i draw forth my song

tell me show me your song

i heard that it all came out wrong

when cars collide witnesses often divided

they say who ran over me song and ran away?

i walk outta train wreck smelling of plane fuel

i crawl out of hello hello hello

i dawdle in wardrobes i waddle thru twaddle

so what who cares he who dares wings and fall

lame dolt bolted to your molted nous

i am a mouse

you are a man

ok…? ….sure

i understand

red november

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working on the new album

in botany nsw

strange mixture of old new in botany

warm humid rainy days thunder rumbling

down the end of a small street in a warehouse

a great big studio

there we write and record our new album

the church is an idea

an ideal

a type of music to make

a mixture a combination

the idea almost has such solidity it could be franchised

in the end its the music

i am committed to making this kind of music

this kind of music i began writing oh so long ago

inspired by my heroes and other outside things

i formed an idea which i have developed on my own and then with others

a certain kind of lyrics

a certain kind of feeling

i was able to pinpoint and exclude what i didnt like from my band

after all these years there is that identifiable sound

there are those qualities you like : intelligence originality tradition

yes the eternal pull between originality and tradition

we turn the chord progressions on their head but it still has to rock, right..?

do weird things with the lyrics but dont lose meaning!

rock but dont rock in a dumb way

if it must be dumb than be dumber than anyone else

yet dont be clever for clevers sake too often

our new record is coming along nicely

you will like it

we are mining the rich vein of past and future

we aim for some impossible excellence

further deeper

we are making headway

further deeper

questioning our assumptions

trying to get to somewhere upstream

we go over each aspect of the songs

the time, the tempo, the key, the notes within each chord

the length of the bars

the role of each drum

the plethora of bass choices at every turn

the melody the harmony

the intensity

the length

a million other things

the machinery of rock music

these parameters we manipulate

our sonic experiments are reaping lovely rewards

further deeper

slow dazzle

i heard a voice like a snake

i saw a face like a swan

i move in diagonal space

you can’t see when I’m gone

i treat my self to a beer

i treat myself to a meal

i eat that romany soup

i seat myself by your heel

i call you up in a fog

i tear you up like a dog

in my machine you are cog

in my house by the sea

and then the oranges peel

and then the strippers show up

and then the guy with the deal

we must put up with this wheel

and as i reach into space

and as i launch my next word

the lever leave her in place

receiver is never heard

yellow peril

domination
boot goes in
empire fall on deaf eerie silent
crashed out of space
the new technology : i am altered
the moon is unafraid out there alone
the forest in collision
the flying pines fill the sky above us
fish unleashed from the water sing in the air
the sunsets rays interpenetrate the surface of a maze
on certain days or by phases of the moon soon time will come
with the hum of machinery and in the void of nothingness
every creature has a soul that must evolve in solvency
the wicked who bickered while rome burnt learnt to lessen more
the wise king by the river a giver of peace killed by his own police
i walk a world where war underscores the law
it opens door for vulture and his whore, lil death galore
i’m playing this game and i’m shooting them down
the freak and the victim and the beggar and clown
i launch a flaming spear that burns through the night
a spirit doth whisper in my tiny ear
the language of dispossession i hear
in the freezing mornings still to come
i cant run anymore the hills have been conquered
i’m irradiated by my flowing screen by something so unseen
no maybe this is real this time i cant tell
i cant wait to tell you
you organize a bunch of press
but they pressed my buttons to my chess
the gun you gave me sprouting daisy
and the wrong address
lazy

crescendo wand

the violent rasp of the cello

the mounting terror of violins fill the sky

the cluster and buster of mighty drum

the beating throbbing host of heavenly ghosts

stabbing pain of holy lance the spear of every fear

inside the mind of a madman with crumbs

inside the facade when some strange darkness comes

on another plane strapped to the wreckage i shoot thru your night

when everyone as asleep i blaze away in light

when everybody dream i forced into the sight

when the warm bed reclaims you in blissful slumber

i alone trek into the sun

i alone when morningstar is done

i alone amongst these jagged peaks and the frames of ballets

the cast iron soul of greysky in the bluest day

when all fairyfloss drops have silently crashed at your feet

and the mightiest oak creeks in disbelief

as the wind and rain unroot themselves from outside your brain

and the whirling high branch comes clapping down again

across the seas antarctica patiently waits

as everything thaws and reopens closed up gates

not gone under we were frozen over

not gone under we were frozen over

melting now to meet you

i manifest evil koala

now

i exist in the margins

a word where there is no word

my human surface is so thin i feel angel and beast deep within

i feel god and devil duking it out with each colossal clout

i tell ya honey they aint fucking about

i see good and bad yet i’m not even handed

i rush in an angel with no brains

i pick up my paintbrush and apply the lacquer to a world

worlds of songs collide within the chasm of my second

a violin dreams its themes of loss in my seemingly endless crane-eon

i am the weirdest cat yet straight as a dice or snakes eyes twice

i am a search for my inklings all escaped from my old head

art is my little black cat asleep on a mat

but inside he dreams of a picasso mouse with gaughin tongue

he thinks to me : i,  your familiar spirit ..what shall i do?

i must be madder still the day replies in blue cerulean blue

the day will say something like goodbye in its way

in its way are the dead who will not flinch or pray

in its way are the peace freak soldiering on

i am the vessel of emptiness and satisfaction

i reflect echoes of everything we ever said

i am adam in the sea of rivers who can see eve

i am understanding yet you stand over me

i have given you nothing …nothing you didnt need

i am not unique each time i peek theres another me

each time i peak i pick up my pastel and seek art

look i make it look easy

white for winter and old mans beard

green for jealousy and pacific ocean

yellow for gold for saint stevens halo and aurora home low

scarlet for fever and daughter and sunset on water

black because everything comes out of the dark

grey for matter and mind over matter

blue for my eyes my skies

and the day everybody dies

mystery tramp

blessed earth accept this rain

i’m walking through your hemisphere

where every step is dagger sharp

everyone come back again

this dream is ending this book has closed

this part we playing oh so long

in darkest night we travellers in distance

find me falling through a song

then somebody said lets let go

a voice in another room or from another world

somebody else said double happy ending

suddenly i thought their just pretending

then mercury had ascent over venus

and priestess and fool followed both of the kings

and everything  sloshed down with wight whine

sweetie thats just the shadow daylight brings

seacrest crescent is blurred in a mist

the first time the clouds and stars are missing

i’m just a man in this queue for a clue

still wondering what to do