1. |
When You Come Back
03:04
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WHEN YOU COME BACK
What did I used to cook before I met you?
So weird to go back to cooking on my own
The vegetables mock me from the crisper
They know this is lame
Without you here to stir it up
I think I’ll go get take away curry again
When you come
Will you come
Won’t you come back
Yeah when you come
Will you come
Won’t you come back
When you come
Will you come
Baby won’t you come back?
When you come back
You can get up and buy the paper
Cos you always wake up too early anyway
Then we’re going to stay in bed all day
Make love, read, listen to the rain
And if someone comes knocking on our front door
We’ll just hide under the covers ‘til they go away
Back pack all packed ready to go
My baby he’s on his way back
I want my airport moment
When he comes back
When you were here
You know you used to be so noisy
Chatter chatter chatter chatter chatter chatter chatter chatter
Shut up shut up shut up shut up
But now all of this silence looms louder
Than you ever could be
When you come back
Won’t you sing ‘til three
Like you used to do with me?
Flash back back track
On your flight path
My baby he’s on his way back
The bird in the hand flies south
All the way back
Cos you know full well I don’t want to live in England
It’s too damn cold and the food there makes me fat
Well it’s my personal health that you really should consider
If you care about my heart and you care about my figure
You’ll be out that door and on the next plane back
When you come
Will you come
Won’t you come
When you come
Will you come
Won’t you come
Back yeah baby back?
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2. |
Cloak
04:13
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CLOAK - Alanna
You can leave your cloak of politeness
On the hatstand in the hall
Come over here and sit beside me
On the floor
Don’t mask the truth with your questions
Like you would for strangers
Just give me an explanation
For all these subtle changes.
Put your arms around me
Tell me what you’re thinking
Cos I don’t wanna guess any more.
Don’t rinse your coffee cup in the sink
Don’t bother pushing in your chair
Don’t tell me this colour looks great on me
And don’t ask questions
That make you sound like you still care.
Just put your arms around me
Tell me what you’re thinking
Cos I don’t wanna guess any more.
I’m sick and tired of trying to read your body language
And I’m so tired of trying to read between your lines
All I know is that this doubt corroding me
Is a sure sign that things aren’t fine.
You can leave your cloak of politeness
On the hatstand in the hall.
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3. |
The Book
05:11
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The Book - Alicia
If I were a book on a shelf in a library
You could borrow me out and never return me
I’d be under your pillow
There’d be overdue notices
And fines you’d refuse to pay
If I were a book
I’d be oh so easy to love
Cos if I were to bore you silly
You could just close me up
If I were a boat anchored at the river
At one of those overpriced hire places
You could hire me out
Pick me from all the other boats
Row off into the sunset
They’d never see their boat again
If I were a boat
I’d be oh so easy to love
Cos even in your darkest hour
I’d keep you afloat
If I were a shirt that belonged to your brother
You could try me on while he wasn’t looking
You could take me back to your place
He’d think I was lost
And you could wear me all the time
Except when he came over
If I were a shirt
I’d be oh so easy to love
Cos if I got a little lipstick on my collar
You could just put me through the wash
If I were a feather that flew in you window
And landed on you while you were deep deep in sleep
You could wake in a blink
Dip me into ink
And make me write just what you wanted to hear
Over and over a thousand times a day
Oh I’d just have to obey
If I were a feather
I’d be oh so easy to love
I’d just drift through the edges of your dreams
And then I’d float far far away
You could be free as you pleased
If I were a book, boat, shirt or a feather
I’d be oh so easy to love
But I’m just an ordinary girl
And that’s the hardest thing to love in the world
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4. |
Big White Dresses
03:47
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Big White Dresses - Alanna
There are big white dresses in the windows
of every third shop down the end of Sydney Road
You say, you’d look pretty ridiculous in one of those
There are For Sale signs on some of the houses
in our hood
I say, we could never afford that
and I can’t ever imagine a time when we could
But oh, the years are slipping
and no decision is becoming a decision
We say we don’t want that now
and our options drop with each tick of the clock
There are toddlers in designer-label outfits
spilling babycinos in Rathdowne street cafes
You say, darling, have you taken your pill today?
Now I’m looking at a photo of my mother
when she was as young as me
our hair is exactly the same colour
she’s out the front of her first house
with my brother on her knee
And yes, the years are slipping
and no decision is becoming the decision
We say we don’t want that now
and our options drop with each tick of the clock
There’s an old man in Saint Vincent’s Hospital
who lived a few doors down from me
as he leans out of his life
he says, “It all means nothing
except my kids and my wife”.
And are we really living?
Is no decision becoming the new tradition?
We say we don’t want that now
but when we’re at the end and looking back
will we have our doubts?
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5. |
Little Bitter Song
04:04
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LITTLE BITTER SONG
He says it’s high time that he heard my tunes
and why do I always stop singing the moment he enters the room?
It’s these songs, these bitter little songs of mine
They’re catching me out all the time
Like some irritating old friend of mine
they keep rifling through my history
and quoting me verbatim all the time
These songs of mine
freeze me in time
They won’t let me grow up
They won’t let me move on
They won’t let be mellow
and let it all go
They won’t let me forget
my past regrets
They won’t let me
move through like you do
I wish my songs would just get up off the couch and move out of home
Instead of giggling and whispering about shit I did years ago
just leave me alone
So when they corner you in the pub late at night
don’t believe their gossip
don’t believe their hype
They’ll tell you I’m neurotic
verging on psychotic
and that you’re somehow symbolic
of everything that’s gone wrong in my life
They’ll tell you I’m depressive
obsessive and possessive
and slightly aggressive in my attitude
These songs, these bitter little songs of mine
they’re catching me, catching me, catching me, out all of the time
Like some repetitive little nursery rhyme
they’ll get stuck in your, stuck in your
stuck in your head at the most unfortunate of times
These songs of mine
freeze me in time
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6. |
This Thing
03:53
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THIS THING - Alicia
Coldness I don’t know the language
Wasn’t spoken in my family
Wasn’t spoken at all
I know how to raise my voice
Slam doors make some noise
Got no problem with that at all
But how to have an argument
Where no words are spent
Don’t know the art of that at all
In my family we said more than we should
But we always knew where we stood
Even if where we stood
Was a little shaky underfoot
So now I’m lost in your silent landscape
I don’t know how to navigate
Don’t know these parts at all
This thing it’s been brewing for days now
Sky’s getting darker but still no rain
Never seen anything like it before
How are we meant to have a decent fight
When our styles are just so unalike?
How are we meant to forgive
By the end of the night ?
This thing it’s just no fun at all
So I’ll meet you on our private island
In the middle of my open attacks
And your silent riddles
Let’s solve them once and for all
If you try to talk
Then I’ll try not to yell
I’ll try to give you some space to come
Out of that shell
Are you ever coming out of there at all
This thing……….
These skies……..
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7. |
Categories
04:15
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CATEGORIES - Alanna
I’m searching for a category
To put you in
Somewhere between a lover
A stranger and an old friend
Searching for a category
A word to match perfectly
That’ll join the dots
Between you and me
Friends is oversimplified
Things haven’t been like that for a while
Boyfriend, girlfriend, inverted commas friend
Do you really think we qualify?
I’m searching for a category
To put you in
So I’ve got something to say when they ask me
What ya doing with him?
Searching for a category
Yet seems we can’t agree
How to define the quality
Of you and me.
Cos us could be anyone you
Talk to on a bus
I don’t wanna go round and round in circles with all that
That what about us stuff and your
One true love
What an unforgiveable lie
Lovers is too dramatic
I’m sure you’ve had it up to here
With all my semantics.
But I’m searching for a category
To put you in
So I’ve got something to say when you ask me
Is this the beginning
Or an end
Or an end
Or the end?
Cos a partner is a person
You enter into business with
You sign with
You do crime with
You do time with
And then you ride hell for leather
Through a black and white western flick with but it’s
It’s not you and me
It never could be
You and me
It doesn’t hit the spot
Doesn’t join the dots
On what we’ve got
You and me
Cos every time I love
It just kind of grows up around me
Guess we just wait and see
What spot they allot
For you and me.
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8. |
You've Got a Lover
03:11
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YOU’VE GOT A LOVER
I’ve got a lover
You’ve got a lover
But I can tell that we really like each other
Oh oh no
I’m not an option
You’re not an option
But Cupid doesn’t care about his arrows where he drops them
Oh oh he does not
I’m not a cheater
You’re not a cheater
I’m watching carefully with your girlfriend how you treat her
Oh oh yes I am
I don’t think love’s a game
Or a competitive sport
With winners and losers
And great battles to be fought
Guess we’re all just on a quest to be truly understood
I can tell by the words you choose
That you truly could
But if you understand more than my current lovely man
Would it work out day to day?
Do you have a habit I can’t stand?
Would you castigate me if that last line didn’t scan?
Oh oh I think you would
There are other hearts in this equation to consider
Potential mass destruction this whole thing could deliver
Oh oh no no no no no no no
How much should we leave things to timing and fate?
How much do we control the destiny that we make?
Seems to me so many things just happen by mistake
I mean look around the room
Is she really right for him?
That couple in the corner
Is that a good relationship they’re in?
Oh oh who knows
What if this is all a silly story in my head?
For now I’ll just keep quiet
Wait and see instead
Oh oh wait and see
Or let’s meet up in five years
When we’re both single in the hood
You’ll know me at once
The girl who truly understood
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9. |
Bird in the Hand
05:13
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Bird In The Hand - Alanna
So, I heard you’ve got a bird in the hand
how will you hold it?
how will you feed it?
what will you do if it wants to fly free?
You used to say maybe two in the bush could be worth it
after all only two in a book can be perfect
but you’ve taken his hand
and you ran into the pages
but it’s just past chapter three
and there’s a million possibilities
I’ve seen you with your ribbon, lace and your bows
making a present of the present
kick the past under the bed
that’s for certain
out the window there’s the future
you just draw the curtain
I heard you singing all night with the bird in the hand
till all the birds of the blue morning joined in
and your flatmate she can’t sleep
she’s moving out
but in true lover’s conceit
that’s just another thing to laugh too loud about
How long can you keep a bird in the hand?
this is anybody’s guess
but you are holding on too tight
you’re crushing feathers
you are silent through the night
as your kiss confesses
a love to outlive the summer time
hidden forevers
Will he teach you to fly
(bird in the hand)
or will he just make you cry?
(bird in the hand)
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10. |
All I Want
04:01
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11. |
The Sharehouse
03:43
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The Sharehouse - Alicia
I have never met a boy as weird as you
I know it might sound like an insult
But that’s not what I was trying to do
And it’s rented houses and no backyards
And half arsed jobs after we’ve studied so hard
And I’m working late, spend my life on the train
Looks like I’m eating dinner from a can again
Did you know our conversation was the best part of my day?
You put your comic spin on my bleak situation
Make me feel like I’m in some play.
We’re getting too old for this sharehouse circuit
Sleeping alone in our double beds
The sink is crowded, the fridge is bare
The pot plants should never have been left in my care
And I have never met a boy quite as weird as you
I know, I know it might sound like an insult
But that’s not what I was trying to do
We’re irrationally jealous of our parents’ generation
With their retirement funds and their free education
While our knees are buckling, we’re craning our necks
To see a life beyond the crippling weight of our HECS.
I’m so glad you could make it
Hey I’m so glad you could come rescue me
I’m surrounded by all these smug couples
They’re whinging about the rising price of houses
The days are gone when they were alone like me
And we would stay up drinking, talk about love for hours
Yeah they’re telling me it’s high time that I did something with my life
To stop procrastinating
They’re talking about my life like it’s this rundown house
In some serious need of home decorating
So it’s not surprising our conversation was the best part of my day.
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12. |
Pasted in my Mind
03:34
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Pasted In My Mind - Alicia
I don’t live in your head
The way you do in mine
Thoughts of you wearing out their welcome
Keeping me up at night
A better offer, hope you go off her
As I get left behind
With these little bits of you I keep
Pasting in my mind.
You don’t get lost in your head
The way I do in mine
You don’t wallow and you don’t wander
You just follow the street signs
No time for aesthetics, pathetic poetics
You’re just straight down the line
There’s not one little bit of me that you’ve cut out
And pasting in your mind
You don’t deserve my head space
You don’t deserve my time
You don’t deserve this melody
You sure as hell don’t deserve this rhyme
And when I’m with someone new
What right do you have to mess it up every time
With these little bits of you
I keep pasting in my mind.
Edges tearing worn from the wearing
Yellowing over time
These little bits of you
I keep pasting in my mind.
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Alanna and Alicia Melbourne, Australia
Twin sisters Alanna & Alicia charm audiences from Port Fairy to the National with their original folky/jazz/roots songs,
sweet harmonies and onstage warmth, wit and fun.
'deliciously idiosyncratic and saucy songs...wry, frank observations of life and love…quality quirky lyrics delivered with verve and the kind of close harmonies you'd expect from sisters.'
Tony Hillier, Rhythms magazine.
... more
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