1. |
Hummingbird
03:14
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1st Verse
Clock hits an opponent like a boxer in a ring,
We speak, nothing is spoken, phone begins to ring.
A troubling omen- or a quiet explosion,
you can’t notice but calmly sip your tea,
while I spill it on my feet.
I try to stifle hope but at the same time,
send signs, don’t let go.
I know you’ve got to go, but I heard a disturbance,
now your phone lights up, but with the taxi service.
Walk away without purpose, I search for your words
but they don’t break the surface.
I know you’ve got to go,
but I pick my fights quietly,
I know you’ve got to go,
but now it’s time that you trust me.
Hook x 2
Life is filled with emotion,
and some run forward,
others sit down or coasting.
I love you not joking, a grandiose notion
there was something about that moment
that had me hoping.
Clock hits an opponent like a boxer in a ring,
and we speak, nothing is spoken, phone begins to ring.
You’re a junkee to his love, like you’re dehydrated on a drip
hooked up on the phone to him.
Can’t go on a trip, without you phoning him.
Is the pulse under your wrist, really worth the burst of anger,
you feel in your fist?
We risk feeling down to the tingle in our fingertips.
It’s so hard to see you like this.
I sip from your lips like a hummingbird from a flower,
a delicate balance between tenderness and power.
Hook x 2
Life is filled with emotion,
and some run forward,
others sit down or coasting.
3rd Verse
See moments with you were golden,
moments with you were stolen,
and I search for your words, and I search for your words,
and I search for your words,
like oxygen in an ocean.
Quotient of 25, impotent search
for meaning in life and we should get to working,
that’s the day Ned Kelly died.
I haven’t slept much,
since I failed to make a decision, bus,
physical contradiction of my conviction in us.
I think of the seas between us, all the puddles and trees,
and dirt and concrete.
And I should trust my twisted gut and woman up.
You said “well such is life”, I say,
“the only parameters are the ones that you designed.”
Hold your nose, hold your breath, hold your own,
we are only prisoners of what we know.
Hook x 4
Life is filled with emotion,
and some run forward,
others sit down or coasting.
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2. |
Bones
03:15
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Bones
Who is to blame, if you’re game then I’m game.
Who is to blame? If you’re game then I’m game.
If you’re game, then I’m game,
you’re feeling like fair game.
But it’s just a game to you and to them and again
God give me a chance, to please start again.
He’s a bleeding heart, they say with disdain,
but don’t fall apart, can we just start again?
Like the blood trickles down, it made a stain.
Who is to blame for that flick knife whip lash
tongue of yours held in a voice box,
there’s an old voice, missing from my phone box
shawn off vox pop like a gun pop, torn off hip hop
I’m fucking tip top. Wine from a box
in a restaurant watching the waves nonchalant,
always late, what do you want?
Not like I got to tame my black dog,
both had pets, try to find the slot
to blot out the precedent this grief has set,
with a degree I can’t comprehend.
Ready set match go,
if I could have read between the lines,
I’d say don’t.
Take your hands in mine,
handcuff them to the post.
Not like you left any signs, if you did I couldn’t
have pointed you the right, would have just
walked by your side a little longer,
waited till you got a little stronger,
what magic could I conjure,
no straight line just wander,
would have bought the most expensive wine,
we had time to squander, life to conquer.
Now I stand at a crossroads, don’t know what I want.
Maybe I do but I’m just too scared to forsake you.
Fuck you, I really loved you, I need to hug you,
I stand above you.
Who is to blame, if you’re game, then I’m game.
Who is to blame? For the flick knife whip lash
tongue that you gave.
And I still wake with dreams on my lips that I can still taste,
so fuck the embrace you once gave.
Who is to blame? Don’t you dare come home
or show your face, you just take, take, take, take.
In this tug of war we’re not pulling on the same rope,
upstream, not rowing in the same boat.
“Justine, would you please drop that tone?”
No don’t show your face, don’t you dare come home.
What bone will I pick tonight?
Need to pick my fight, wishing bone, will I flick that knife?
Not the apple of my eye but the whole fucking pie.
Stuck, down in the dumps, some days are a struggle
when I feel the puzzle of your missing voice, impulsive choice.
Someone I didn’t want to lose, now I’ve got you,
the most honest conversation is impromptu.
If you need to study you can come to my room.
Dance, old tunes, drink, fresh brews.
I’ll always keep a cider in the fridge for you,
and if you came home, I wouldn’t hit you.
I’d forgive you in an instant
though I am tense to the bone,
tense to the marrow, I’m not angry.
I just really love you bro,
but now I guess you’ll never know.
Hope is a pill in your hand that is hard to swallow,
you were a man that I had to follow.
I was torn, when I heard the news, thinking are you sure?
I remember a tall man, with speech so elegant
he loved me right down to my white skeleton
but his smile was a well rehearsed regimen.
I remember a tall man with speech so elegant
he loved me right down to my white skeleton,
but I guess now, that his love was genuine,
I guess now, that his love was genuine.
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3. |
Reclaim The Night
04:00
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See I’m simply not the type,
to bob my head in tune to the music,
while my man holds me tight.
I’ve got something to say, feel the need to ignite.
Like women are enslaved, how much of your life
did you dictate? Or did you fixate
on what you thought was right.
Irrefutably, dutifully beautiful.
Did you think you’d escaped
the institutional fake might, conservative right,
the mini skirt backlash of the seventies?
You’d better wax if you want to go to the beach.
Never felt so free. Women in corsets,
yet you can’t even breathe.
And it’s best if you listen to her set,
instead of looking at her set, sweat.
I bet, you never felt the pressure that you’re lesser,
or embedded with the terror that you’re the prey,
and the night the predator so women reclaim the night
to reclaim the right.
We claim the right to reclaim the night.
Not to be quiet to say “everything is not alright.”
For sovereignty, not to use my body for apology
or cloak my words in modesty.
To fight the status quo.
When I’m in the mood to write, write to show
that I’m happy alone. Sick of being spoken for by hip hop.
It’s supposed to have saved me, too often degrading.
Many emcees speak of suffragettes like we’re objects.
But listen- women, rise up. The mic lies gathering dust.
I shouldn’t have to justify giving my time to this,
this is not for fun, creativity a must.
We claim the right, to reclaim the night,
not to be quiet to say, “everything is not alright.”
We claim the right, to reclaim the night, not to be quiet.
Faded sun, seeps through the glass ceiling.
But on stage, it’s suitably bright.
When it’s dark outside,
I can’t even walk home at night.
But I try, to keep an open mind.
These days so hard, I’m surrounded by
man made music with no space to fly,
my dress doesn’t fit in with your stereotype.
We’ve come a long way, from the old days.
The legacy of the female factory.
We’ve got freedom now but still shy to speak.
Still a long way from equality.
I don’t understand, don’t take my hand as
we claim the right to reclaim the night.
This is a genuine art, but your disrespectful lyrics break my heart.
I hear the arrogant pitch of your voice, and then the word bitch.
What an interesting choice. I reach for the switch, how does this shit
get airplay. Not fair mate, I don’t accept second best.
On prayer day, I’m asking for truth, not dare,
how dare they. I’m sick of sexism. It’s a world wide movement,
hip hop and feminism. Maybe this can work in tandem,
I’m not some random, no laryngeal athlete, but I won’t sit back
and let my muscles atrophy.
Empty out your insides, your body is just a drum.
Knock on the skin I promise you will make noise long after you’re gone.
Why is equality, controversy?
Hook x 8
We claim the right, to reclaim the night
just because it’s common doesn’t mean it’s alright.
Why is equality, controversy?
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4. |
I Am
03:55
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Not waiting. Not hesitating.
No more, no more.
Didn’t realise she closed the door,
when she left that day, her heart on the floor.
She was always the one left hanging around
waiting for him to decide.
If he was letting her down, it’s always fine right now,
In the moment.
But when you stop and look back at them all
there were so many ups, but even more of the falls,
there were more of the falls.
She was mystified by that romanticised world
she’d built just to keep him close,
until the idea of him is what she liked the most.
Now she’s reclining back, 30,000 feet on a different track.
No looking back, just moving on, keep keeping strong.
Hook x 2
This is not a phase nor an enterprise.
This is the greatest day of our entire lives.
I am the matchbox, I am the black out of time.
I am my eyes that search for the furthest point in the sky.
I am.
You snuck me into gigs, I snuck you into lyrics.
Shittily written, hid in your living room giggling
an inquisitive rhythm, in the way that we were were kissing
timeless intuition.
now he - spits gratuitiously and I’m fit pursuing him.
Grief is opening him up
and so hes open but so welded shut.
Spent way too long- refining myself from old glass quartz
while you are trying to find yourself
so I could slide through your fingers
like fine sand flecked with gold
you try to make decisions bold
and then you swim against a current cold
you know that love cannot cheat death-
only you
I came home to your face
Looking like a crumpled suit
in your best jeans,
and black riding boots.
Telling me our time is due.
Though we’re both alive, after the cask wine
I’ll master the last rites. It’s harder at first sight,
you gotta be cruel to be kind.
This is not a phase nor an enterprise,
this is the greatest day of our entire lives.
I am the matchbox and I am the black out of time,
I am my eyes that search for the furthest point in the sky.
I am not my eyes
I am my feet
That drag but nonetheless carry me
I am not my feet
I am my eyes that cry but nonetheless let me see.
This is not a phase, nor an enterprise
this is the greatest day, of our entire lives.
I am my eyes that search for the furthest point in the sky,
I am the matchbox in the black out of time.
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5. |
No Puedo Bailar
04:25
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Like my father, with ardour
I’ll cross brilliant harbours.
Barter garments for armour,
Charter resilient partners.
Got to be smarter than your best,
living life like a pretense,
think you know success?
When You only know stress.
I’d dream of hip hop, but never thought of writing
My own version of events.
Force the beat to confess, Open up up your chest.
I have a ton of regrets,
But if my younger self saw me now,
Man I know she’d be impressed.
Cos This is the second time I’ve lived success.
The first time it only resided in my head.
Bienvenida. Sin bebida, somos lo mas ruida
with the content, entonces.
My ears ring to the hum of the street, of the street
hazy memories of the ones we meet
izquierda o derecha
donde está mi casa
I can't remember
I can't care or pretend to
I follow footsteps echoing loud
the clip clop of heels strolling proud
many miles from home as i walk on my own
to find the next explosion of music i comb
No puedo bailar,
hasta comenzar
la musica, la la la
hook x 2
Don’t be a coward, puedes bailar con me
you only need to ask,
Quiseras bailar con me?
chicos y chicas ,
bienvenidos a la pista
las bebidas, no necesitas
vamos, rompa la norma ya!
I said, Juntos, rompa la norma ya
It goes como como cha cha, rompa rompa
como como cha cha, rompa rompa.
scent of fiesta as i stroll down cobblestones
I get drawn into a hole in the wall
people bubbling out its doors, splashing glasses
toasting as we pour more, as we pour more
on to the next
I hear that music down the street
it's calling to me as I float casually
as I float in a happy daydream
of warmth and those close to me
all those that mean the most to me
but I'm not following, I'm finding my own way
and through the streets I soak it in, I imbibe
I let myself go, I let myself go
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6. |
Eden
03:32
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7. |
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8. |
Tell Me Now
03:19
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9. |
National Obsession
05:04
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10. |
Country Air
04:24
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11. |
Radical Sabbatical
02:39
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Recorded, mixed and mastered by T Kabanov at Caustic’s Studio.
Beat by Calvin Schnierer
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12. |
Uppsala Universitet
03:35
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Uppsala Universitet
This is the place where my best friends met
Shout out like you’re from flogsta
I don’t know what I’d ever do without you
1st Verse
Concentrated in one place
Everyone I ever loved,
And I love this place
Just because you paint a lane green don’t make it a cycle zone
just cos you say its over doesn’t mean it is though
I don’t continue to hold hope
I cling to men like dreams I pour too much of myself into that fein
You’re the only one who defines what defines you, so
Why’d I feel like id found part of me inside the find that implied you
I see a future that you cant see, I feel like a freak
Engine running, Remember the masculinity of your room
Records stacked high for the record
Shaken body
Thoughts disturbed
Yet I hardly act perturbed
One day, we’ll be interred
that does not deter my determination
I refer to my broken determined nation
Cos inside we’re the same same but different
Like an Australian green, and a conservative swede
The footpaths in my mind are lined with gold and not dog shit.
2nd Verse
This ultimate mark of maturity,
not knowing what they want
but doing what they should be,
for now you stay afloat
I know, what its like
Living in limbo
They told you to accept it
Hard when you feel rejected
My land infested with a sexist perspective
And its hard to digest it
Hard when you feel rejected,
Not receptive they said that its all in my head
When men slapped and grabbed and spat in broad daylight
Too shocked to speak forgot to bleed I carried on like ‘I’m alright’
What was strength and unequivocal in the dark night,
is now spent and trivial in the harsh daylight.
So watch the gap,
because you might fall through the cracks.
3rd Verse
The nights not getting younger
Time to drop the pretense before we fall for slumber
take the best parts and leave the rest.
gamla friend, förlåt
I must confess jag talar inte svenska
i know by now I should but you don’t understand
deras engelska is too good,
but you’re here now, so keep your head down
as the days fly past
are you jättebra?
if I’m honest are you yet to get that far?
at least the first six months
they want your blood
feeling worthless because you can’t find a stunt
We’re just colonies of ants
Building skyscrapers from the dirt
Termites on short term leases
Mixing our spit for what its worth
but things could have been worse
life is to waste not to be perfect,
love is a chase not a rehearsal,
love is a place and not a person.
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13. |
Make Up Your Mind
02:08
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14. |
Down For the Cause
03:25
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Madame Wu & Elise Graham Sydney, Australia
The Sydney hip hop duo combine the powerful lyricism of emcee Madame Wu with the smooth tones of vocalist Elise Graham to create a unique sound throughout the album.
Contact Madame Wu & Elise Graham
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