In this section of the journal – besides posting the actual lyrics – I will try to say a bit about the words and how the songs came to life, what the main idea was, where they are from, where I wrote them…
THE FALLS
LYRICS
No, it wasn’t too hard
to get lost in what you are,
it took me a minute or so…
but now it all breaks up,
everything’s so different now – it’s getting dark,
but no one finds us at the falls
No matter how it ends like,
you are my Utopia,
you’ve always been my isle,
the story I will tell when they ask me what I liked the best
You set the bar real high
Sweetest of all allies,
what remains now that summer’s gone?
Let us try to keep in mind,
that even if hell breaks loose,
no one finds us at the falls
(nobody there at all)
no one finds us at the falls
The chain reaction continues
as the riot has long ended
Pain has lost its teeth
and I’ll be yours until this world explodes
‘til I stand with you one last time
there on the edge of nothing,
and nothing at all will ever do us apart
Sweetest of all allies,
what remains now that summer’s gone?
Let us try to keep in mind,
that even if hell breaks loose,
no one finds us at the falls
(nobody there at all)
no one finds us at the falls
BODHII’S COMMENT
“The Falls” is your far-off place, your own Utopia, where some of your life’s key scenes took place, and although everything headed somewhere else and changed and this place is empty, it’s still a notion you’ll keep as your secret safe place, your inner refuge. No matter what the hell might happen, no one finds us at the falls. Whatever “The Falls” is to you, an actual place, a person, a certain time, a journey, or all of those options.
“THE FALLS”, the first song of “And Off They Roared…”, I wrote in 2005, and I’m almost sure that the first time I played it live was at a “Songwriternight On Tour” solo/acoustic show, which was more or less a collective of folk-singers I was a part of for a while. It’s one of those songs that have changed a lot over time, especially since it was always a full-band song in my mind, even when I played it solo-acoustic. The core song was finished pretty soon, I’d change the lyrics from time to time but basically the framework was done. We started to play that song in the earliest full-band line up there was, back then it still had the so-called “Rave-part” – but the song really came to life when the BLVD line up was complete.
We had already recorded a couple of demo versions (e.g we recorded it in our drummer’s parents’ basement, where Konst, Andi and I had spent a week of demo-recording some years ago, and later we also recorded during so called SEEMANN-sessions (we did two sessions at the so called Seemann’s mastersound studio – which are important for the band ‘cause Nikola came into play, we asked him if he’d play lead guitar for a demo as a guest for the first sessions, and because we got along so great, he became a member of the band). The final change this song went through, besides a new chorus, was the guitar-lick Nikola plays now, the old one got shelved because Niki didn’t really like it and we kind of agreed (we love to make fun of the old lick during rehearsals every now and then and always promise we’ll record it with a cheesy-trumpet-synth sound for a remix or so).
We used to play “The Falls” as an opener a lot, it also did it’s job as a closer but recently we found out it’s great somewhere midset, a lot of energy and always good after a couple of quieter ones…
SHORT STORY #1
LYRICS
Somewhere down the tidal line
we found a place we then named home,
gathered all that we could find
and started building.
When we were done, we had no name
so we just called it “our place”,
merely ‘cause it felt that way,
and so we kept it.
Soon then came jugglers and thieves,
merchants, salesmen, frauds and priests,
telling they offer what we seek,
said “we seek nothing”,
and so we chased ‘em out of town,
we shrugged our shoulders, went back home
You feel asleep, I fell in love
Those days were epic.
They couldn’t catch us,
they couldn’t catch us, no
We’d outplay them easily
They couldn’t catch us,
they couldn’t catch us, no
Until we disappear.
We left the same way as we came
With empty hands and a strong feeling
It was time for something else,
and so we left it.
Chances are little we’ll go back,
we couldn’t top what we once had
But you can find me anytime
if you feel like dancing.
They couldn’t catch us,
they couldn’t catch us, no
We’d outplay them easily
They couldn’t catch us,
they couldn’t catch us, no
Until we disappear.
They couldn’t catch us,
they couldn’t catch us, no
We’d outplay them easily
Until we disappear.
The streets all around made the emptiest sound ever made
Other cities grew close and the life that we chose slipped away
We once built it up and then later abandoned our place
And we never went there again.
BODHII’S COMMENT
It was a totally different working process with this song that it’s usual for us. Most of the time, I come along with an almost ready song and then we all start to arrange it, but the song stays more or less the same. We had already played “Short Story”‘s predecessor “Deceit” for a year or so (it was based on the same chords), but we never were really satisfied with the direction it took. When we went into the studio in summer, we decided to re-work it completely, and more or less built brick on brick. When I heard the instrumental tracks, I knew that this song should be my own little road movie, Nikola’s great guitarlines gave me an idea of where this one would go.
The lyrics are pretty self-explanatory though I guess.
ST. DEAN’S PARADE
LYRICS
St. Dean’s Parade
Skull and crossbones,
grant my demons a break
the world feels numb now
give me a cigarette
tell me something that will always stay yong
always
Broken bones and regrets
a bunch of kids
are staring down at the gap
but nothing fits,
and I don’t know it myself
but we’ll try it,
whatever it is
We’re angelic and obscene
We’re cynical, we’re free
We’re broke and we’re alone
but you know we’ll make it through
We’re all we want to be
In little tragedies,
in the boredom meant to kill
And the triumphs done in ease
(yeah, all of the triumphs done in ease, my friend, and I guess I’ll see you there I guess I’ll see you there, always)
Hey, St. Dean’s Parade
You’re such a cliché,
so sacred to me
Don’t you think we can be bigger than that,
and we’d still be pure poetry,
always?
We’re angelic and obscene
We’re cynical, we’re free
We’re broke and we’re alone
but you know we’ll make it through
We’re all we want to be
In little tragedies,
in the boredom meant to kill
And the triumphs done in ease
We must live life into pieces
We must live life into pieces
We must live life into pieces for now (x2)
ABOUT
“St.Dean’s Parade” is all about coping with your inner contradictions, fears and demons – about stiffened stereotypes you have about yourself, and although you’ve got the feeling that they keep you away from becoming a better version of yourself, you keep on nourishing and fostering them.
I was completely in love with this song when I wrote it. I had this a bit abstract picture in my mind and titled it “St. Dean’s Parade” and writing a song around this feeling of being a little battered, ragged, cynical but by now means hopeless, it just perfectly flowed.
The little guitar solo in the end part is played by our multi-instrumental bandmember Andi and I love it because it just fits the mood of the song so well. It’s one of my favorite parts during live-shows, it’s like a dance with your darker sides for the sake of the brighter ones.
MARITIME
Stellar and starry the night
and a will-o’the-wisp,
a promising yet ghostly light
makes them cheer through the streets
and they’ll land upon words
of all those pretty girls they once missed
Homesick and thus
driven by wanderlust they will stray
The bachellor’s dance has run out of romance,
out of date
then they’ll go recite
some long dead poets’ lines, glasses raised
We are
We are all
We are all maritime
O here’s to the wayward tide!
We are
We are all
We are all maritime
That’s the way we’ll live and die
The band, they are playing
Some old songs about betrayal and love
The ghost of those tones
is still stuck in their bones after all
And soon they’ll go dream
that one day they might leave for New York
We are
We are all
We are all maritime
O here’s to the wayward tide!
We are
We are all
We are all maritime
That’s the way we’ll live and die
BODHII’S COMMENT
There’s always the taste of fugacity even in beautiful moments, and “Maritime” is about seeing the poetry in this fate and about coming to terms with the fact that we’re in the end of the day obedient to the great unpredictable tidal wave, and not only coming to terms but also embracing it and living life recklessly.
INSIDE GARDEN STATE
Did you ever make it there
Did you find your inside garden state
Do you think the same thoughts still
Or did you lose yourself in all that din
Sick of all I’m not
I’ll be a nomad in my living room
While all the suburb Jimmy Deans
They keep on singing the same old songs to you
And your solemn secret quere
Down everything that you once left
got you real scared, but
nothing stops you now
20 inch of blood red sand
that hid the shadows from the wall
Buried the shells, but
nothing holds you down
Sick of all you’re not
You’ll be a stranger in my no man’s land
And with a taste of apathy
You say you travelled to the end and back
Where the villains and the saints,
they all came running to your door
You let ‘em in, but
they just let you down
20 inch of blood red sand
that hid the shadows from the wall
Buried the shells, but
nothing holds you down
BODHII’S COMMENT
This song is about the struggle to achieve some inner peace and to maintain it through the ups and downs of this crazy tidal timespan human beings refer to as “life”. I truly admire people who radiate serenity and a certain light-hearted equanimity in all they do, and this song is basically about achieving such a state of mind.
It’s our favorite way to close a concert, we always end it with a long instrumental part that slowly comes to its climax, and then chills again, and Nikola’s solo in it is always a highlight of the show.
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