Get all 15 Jess Silk releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Blitz Spirit (Acoustic Demos), Live At Katie Fitzgerald's, Blitz Spirit, Don't Tell Me What To Sing About/A Good Pair Of Boots-Double Live EP, Random Ramblings, Break the Bottle (Alternative Version), There's A Bar At the End of the World, Stars & Stripes, and 7 more.
1. |
Better Not Said
02:22
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I’ve watched the skies light up
just like the end of days
a red and setting sun.
Which of us will be saved?
Are there demons to the left of me
and angels to the right?
A winding country road.
A car caught up on fire.
Don’t know which way to go
sat upon melting tyres
Does good carry a flaming sword
and bad aim to stop the fight?
Can’t demons love and angels tempt?
Is Hell below my feet and Heaven above my head?
Well, it’s better not said
Caught up on city streets
under the pouring rain.
They can’t admit defeat
because the world will never be the same
The end is coming
and now they're running out of time.
The roar of motor bikes
Slim, pale, red and black
An unholy light
filtering through smoking cracks
They walk together hand-in-hand
wings stretched towards the sky
Can't demons love and angels tempt
Is Hell below my feet and Heaven above my head?
Well, it's better not said
Is Hell below my feet and Heaven above my head?
Well, it's better not said
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2. |
Is This Poetry?
02:51
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When I was younger I would always ask the questions
“Is this okay?” or, “Does this sound right to you?”
But now I’ve realised that it doesn’t really matter
After all, it’s me who’s playing this, it’s what I always do
But now I’ve hit a question in everything that I’ve found
What would this all become if I wrote it all down?
I ask you
Is this poetry?
These words I sing have come to me
Through what I’ve done and what I’ve seen
And who I want to be
Yeah, is this poetry?
Because I don’t know what that means
It seems I can’t write anything
Except for what I see
Well, is this poetry?
Nowadays it seems the lyrics just don’t matter to them
It’s all just record deals and who judges like the best
But I need something that articulates a message to me
Something that makes me feel the beating in my chest
Well I’ve found that there’s still something that really hits me in my heart
It’s when someone sings their own words to the sound of their battered old guitar
I ask you
Is this poetry?
These words I sing have come to me
Through what I’ve done and what I’ve seen
And who I want to be
Yeah, is this poetry?
Because I don’t know what that means
It seems I can’t write anything
Except for what I see
Well, is this poetry?
Poets of old well they put their words to music
It brought us all together and we danced
Now all that’s left is computer effects
They just don't give the words a chance
Well is this what’s become or poetry? If it is I want no part
And there may not be crowds in front of me but I still sing this from my heart
Well I ask you
Is this poetry?
These words I sing have come to me
Through what I’ve done and what I’ve seen
And who I want to be
Yeah, is this poetry?
Because they don’t know what that means
To some this won’t mean anything
But it means something to me
Well, is this poetry?
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3. |
Break the Bottle
04:17
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Well, he's lingered here too long heard another song
Start without a moments delay
The picture on the screen’s hardly what it seems
Just another game for him to play
And the coffee that’s running through his veins
Well, it keeps him awake
Back when he was young his dad owned a gun
That was always hanging on the wall
He’d get into fights, nowhere left to hide
Bloody face but still standing tall
Now for thirty-odd years he's been
Neatly avoiding the call
To his fathers old shop with the
Winchester gun on the wall
Now his basement smells like bourbon and a half finished boat
And his friends can’t get to seeing how it’ll ever float
‘Cause they can’t break the bottle
No they can’t break the bottle
There’s a photograph he keeps sitting in a drawer
He’d give anything to be there now; anything at all
‘Cause it can’t be forgotten
No they can’t be forgotten
When he turned eighteen he joined the marines
Caught a train and left it all behind
He got married to a girl, she became his world
Stayed at home when he went off to fight
And for a while he was content
With his life
Now he’s up before the sun carrying a gun
He once almost turned on himself
He can’t leave it in the past; happened much too fast
Never got to say his farewells
Now when he drinks he drinks from
Jars that held nails on the shelf
As he works on his own and he
Builds an escape for himself
Now his basement smells like bourbon and a half finished boat
And his friends can’t get to seeing how it’ll ever float
‘Cause they can’t break the bottle
No they can’t break the bottle
There’s a photo of his family sitting in a drawer
He’d give anything to be there now; anything at all
‘Cause they can’t be forgotten
No they can’t be forgotten
On the day his daughter was born he was half the world away
And when someone took a shot, crashed their car well he wished that he had stayed
And on the day of their funeral his dad brought a date
Never stopped to ask him if he was okay
Well, he wasn't that day
He got married three more times and none of his wives
Stayed long enough to call his house a home
Now he takes the sofa when he sleeps, just can’t face the dreams
When he’s forced to wake in bed alone
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4. |
What's Left Of Me
02:18
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I saw an angel standing there at the side of the road
He was waiting
And then he turned to face me in his old beat up trench coat
And he asked me
“Have you seen the man that I am looking for?
He holds what’s left of me now that I can’t use my wings to fly
Feels like I’ve been here, seen this before
Well, the world’s so small you see. Can you find what’s left of me?”
So I walked with that angel for miles and miles through the night
He was crying
He told me storied of the falling lights from the sky
The angels dying and he said
“They were all a part of Heaven just like me
Until they cast us out. And now we have no wings to fly
And we’re all lost here trying to find out what to be
Well the worlds so small you see. Can you find what’s left of me
Please”
And he said
“Have you seen the man that I am looking for?
He holds what’s left of me now that I can’t use my wings to fly
Feels like I’ve been here, seen this before
Well, the world’s so small you see. Can you find what’s left of me?”
“Have you seen the man that I am looking for?
He holds what’s left of me now that I can’t use my wings to fly
Feels like I’ve been here, seen this before
Well, the world’s so small you see. Can you find what’s left of me?”
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5. |
Suggestions Welcome
04:06
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Well, there’s a girl so you she wonders what she’s done to make her daddy move away
And she cries every night; she’s always wondering why he couldn’t have stayed
And her mother won’t tell her about the war on terror that her daddy’s off fighting to end
‘Cause she knows they’re just digging their trenches once again
And as that girl grows up she seems to always be stuck in an endless, bloody war
Now she’s questioning why her daddy had to die like so many had before
And when she turns on the TV she doesn’t want to see all the politicians shifting the blame
But she knows it’s always been that way
As she takes a look at their London stage she sees a guy in a suit reading off of a page
He says “I’m sorry but there’s no way we’re getting out of there alive”
And he stammers and starts, shouting over the din. He says “It’s not my fault; you people voted me in”
Well, with a vision like that it’s a miracle we survive
There’s a boy of sixteen and all the things that he’s seen haunt his nightmares when he sleeps
And though he’s stuck in a cell it’s better than the Hell of sleeping out there on the streets
“I know stealing isn’t funny but I needed the money,” he said, when he was asked by the police
“I know I’m young but I still have to eat”
If they'd take a walk along that dusty road they'd see that kid with no home he’s trying to sell his soul
to a man as he explains “there’s no one getting out alive.”
He says, “Well, listen to me son, and you better obey, you’ve gotta carry this gun if you wanna get paid.
And be the first to pull the trigger; it’s the only way you’re gonna survive”
La da da da da da da da da…
Well, I haven’t heard that voice on the wind that seems to be telling everybody which way to go
And I haven't had a vision appear so I guess I’ll just go it alone
I don’t believe that I can blame this on a supernatural entity that’s sitting on a cloud somewhere manipulating you and me
We’re all too capable of screwing it up on our own
Well, I take a walk along that busy street; I see a guy with a book and he’s yelling at me
He says, “There’s just no way that you’re getting out of here alive.
So you better follow me blindly wherever you walk and never break the rules in this little, bound book
And if you're anything but my ideal, I’m sorry but you won't survive”
La da da da da da da da da…
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6. |
Hammer to Nail
04:13
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Well, I see you there all too aware of the fact that life’s not fair
You’ve been down this road before as you stand and fight your war
As you lie asleep you can’t help but dream of all the things you’ve seen
Those things that you adore well they can’t wait forevermore
You put hammer to nail to build a boat to take the weight of your mind
So you can sail and lose yourself upon the sea
You look up to the sky, gauge the wind so you can cast out your line
Out of reach of the land where you’re content just to be
Well, I see you there with your short, cropped hair and not a breath to spare
As all your broken bones and bullet wounds begin to heal
And so you run with your loaded gun and you wont stop ‘till someone
pulls it from your grip ‘cause there’s no other way for you to live
You put hammer to nail to build a boat to take the weight of your mind
So you can sail and lose yourself upon the sea
You look up to the sky, gauge the wind so you can cast out your line
Out of reach of the land where you’re content just to be
You put hammer to nail to build a boat to take the weight of your mind
So you can sail and lose yourself upon the sea
You look up to the sky, gauge the wind so you can cast out your line
Out of reach of the land where you’re content just to be
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7. |
Time & Tide
04:32
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All the shop fronts are closed up and streets they are quiet tonight
There are few cars that pass, their way lit up by weak city lights
And I can’t help but wonder which poor sod has kicked it this time
As the sound of a siren and flashing blue lights pass me by
And I wait on sleep, but I’m afraid to dream
‘Cause the words that I read on the rafters are haunting me
Time and tide wait for no one
You can’t stop the second hand, turn the hourglass
There’s no point waiting for someone
To sing all the unsung songs, ‘cause in a moment they're gone
As the clubs start to empty the sun struggles up through the clouds
I see bleary eyed people as they battle on through the crowds
As its heart starts to beat they retreat ‘cause the city’s too loud
And they run for the exits or search for an easy way out
And I lie awake and my bones they ache
As the room starts to spin and the ground it begins to quake
Time and tide wait for no one
You can’t stop the second hand, turn the hourglass
There’s no point waiting for someone
To sing all the unsung songs, ‘cause in a moment they're gone
So I wait on sleep, but I’m afraid to dream
‘Cause the words that I read on the rafters are haunting me
Time and tide wait for no one
You can’t stop the second hand, turn the hourglass
There’s no point waiting for someone
To sing all the unsung songs, ‘cause in a moment they're gone
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8. |
Tied To the Tracks
03:13
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There’s a guy on the stage and he’s watching the clock
Counting the seconds ‘till he can stop
Playing the songs that he’s come to loathe
Pack up his things and get back home
An old man in the corner and he’s singing along
Slurring his words and he’s got the tune wrong
Knocking back shots and spilling his beer
No one can seem to drag him away from her
He feels like he’s tied to the tracks, with the train rushing forward he can’t look back
And all the bloodhounds are biting at his heels
He’s spent one long night of about fifteen years drowning his sorrows in whiskey and beer
And he can’t go home ‘till he’s forgotten how to feel
There’s a girl serving drinks and she’s struggling to stand
Their wandering eyes and their fumbling hand
She works every day here for minimum wage
No one ever seems to tell her to act her age
The gaffer’s sat at the bar getting pissed
and he idly wonders if he would be missed
if he packed up tomorrow and left without word
Well he knows it’s absurd
‘Cause he feels like he’s tied to the tracks, with the train rushing forward he can’t look back
And all the bloodhounds are biting at his heels
He’s spent every night for about fifteen years wasting his time drinking whiskey and beer
And he won’t feel at home ‘till he’s forgotten how to feel
He feels like he’s tied to the tracks, with the train rushing forward he can’t look back
And all the bloodhounds are biting at his heels
He’s spent one long night of about fifteen years drowning his sorrows in whiskey and beer
And he can’t go home ‘till he’s forgotten how to feel
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9. |
Sky At Night
03:40
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I step into the ocean, let the waves crash o’er my head
I’m not certain I’ll be home for you to see me safe to bed
‘Cause there are monsters in this world and some are not swayed by the light
But there’s a ghost that watches over me from the moon in the sky at night
At night oooohhhh
The sky at night oooohhhh
Walking shoeless through the fields I catch my foot and slowly fall
And I wipe my bloody heels upon the mat outside your door
As you offer me a life raft so I might float upon the waves
And a place to rest my head and dream a while until I wake
Until I wake oooohhhh
Until I wake oooohhhh
You say that you’re forever sat beside your little lake
And your hand it is my tether when they come for me to take
You say to hold on tight but in the end I let you go
And you are taken by the night but to where I do not know
I do not know oooohhhh
I do not know oooohhhh
I step into the ocean, let the waves crash o’er my head
I’m not certain I’ll be home for you to see me safe to bed
‘Cause there are monsters in this world and some are not swayed by the light
But you’re still watching over me from the moon in the sky at night
At night oooohhhh
The sky at night oooohhhh
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10. |
Atlas
03:32
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The colour of the sky when day turns into night is playing on my mind
Can’t help but asking why they must join the fight when they're so afraid to die
Tears fall from their eyes as soldiers pass them by but no one hears their cries
The bombs get their reply and there they lie
Atlas, where’d you go? ‘Cause the sky is falling down
It’s feeling much to close as they cower upon the ground
The sunset is chasing us now
Shouts and distant screams are carried on the breeze and there’s no kind of reprieve
Decimated dreams fall like ashen leaves and it’s such a sight to see
Gunfire in the streets and broken angels wings are scattered in the trees
‘Till our governments learn peace these wars won’t cease
Atlas, where’d you go? ‘Cause the sky is falling down
And it’s feeling much to close with our heads stuck in the ground
The sunset is chasing us
There’s a moment when the birds stop singing wind stops blowing
And the church bells ringing cease
Yet another lost generation died escaping
Then washed on out to sea
Atlas, where’d you go? ‘Cause the sky is falling down
And it’s feeling much to close as they fall down to the ground
The sunset
Oh Atlas, where’d you go? ‘Cause the sky is falling down
And it’s feeling much to close now they lie beneath the ground
The sunset is chasing us now
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11. |
And We'll Sing
05:03
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I know it’s getting late but the bell hasn't rung just yet
So get me another glass of something
And when the sun comes up I’ll crawl on back to bed
And close my eyes against the morning
We sit and listen to the jukebox as it plays
All the songs that take us back
Remind us of those simpler, brighter days
And the good times that we had
When we’d sing the same old songs
Laughing, drinking, dancing, feeling like we could belong
And we’d make the same mistake
That we’d made many times and we’d feel it when we’d wake
Oh and we’ll sing
Put some coins so the table for another game of pool
‘Cause I’ve got a losing streak to beat
Can’t seem to keep straight though I’m looking down a cue
And I don’t have a mind to cheat
Tell me, will you remember this conversation when you wake?
Or is that a point we’ve passed?
Well, I started early and there’s only so much I can take
Don’t know how long I’m gonna last
The room is spinning and I’m falling to my knees
The lights are dimming and I’m drifting, begging
Please don’t let me go!
Verse 5:
Well, I know it’s getting late but the bar hasn't closed just yet
so could you give me change to borrow?
We’ll wake to bleary eyes and a pounding in our heads
Then we’ll do it all again tomorrow
And we’ll sing the same old songs
Laughing, drinking, dancing, feeling like we could belong
And we’ll make the same mistake
that we’ve made many times and we’ll feel it when we wake
Oh and we’ll sing the same old songs
Laughing, drinking, dancing, feeling nothing can go wrong
And we’ll make the same mistake
that we’ve made many times and we’ll feel it when we wake
Oh and we’ll sing
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12. |
Hold Off On Your Bombs
05:38
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I don’t believe there’s a god it’d ever be worth praying to
Someone to blame for the awful things us people do
And if there ever was I reckon they pissed off when they found out what monsters we’d become
And they left us here; a world of pain and fear, in the hope that we’d all get along
I don’t like watching the news; stories all too close to home
But there are other people here too. Yet we act like we’re all alone
And I can see them there in the dust filled air as the cameras pen; they're all running scared
And I feel the fear of the people here but of the hurt they all seem unaware
Hold off on your bombs while you tell me what it’s all gonna solve
I think you’ve got it all wrong. See this world here? Well, we've only got one
I hate reading the stats. The death toll rises every day
But they're just repeating the facts to the people who don’t care anyway
As long as they're okay to live another day. When the news comes on they just turn away
And this bloody war, as we’ve seen before, is just another game to play
Hold off on your bombs while you tell me what it’s all gonna solve
I think you’ve got it all wrong. See this world here? Well, we've only got one
And I know you know even though you don’t seem to give a shit about the common folk
While you’re safe and sound in your ivory towers, looking for more fires to stoke
Well, I’ve considered the arguments stuck in my head again. I was watching the commons hoping you’d see sense
Now we’ll be murdering innocents. Cycle it starts again. Those poor civilians crying, “where will it end?!”
Hold off on your bombs while you tell me what it’s all gonna solve
I think you’ve got it all wrong. See this world here? Well, we've only got one
And it hurts, it bleeds, and it’s buckling at the knees
It screams, it cries out, “well are you just gonna sit there and watch me die? Oh why?!”
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13. |
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I saw an angel standing there at the side of the road
He was waiting
And then he turned to face me in his old beat up trench coat
And he asked me
“Have you seen the man that I am looking for?
He holds what’s left of me now that I can’t use my wings to fly
Feels like I’ve been here, seen this before
Well, the world’s so small you see. Can you find what’s left of me?”
So I walked with that angel for miles and miles through the night
He was crying
He told me storied of the falling lights from the sky
The angels dying and he said
“They were all a part of Heaven just like me
Until they cast us out. And now we have no wings to fly
And we’re all lost here trying to find out what to be
Well the worlds so small you see. Can you find what’s left of me
Please”
And he said
“Have you seen the man that I am looking for?
He holds what’s left of me now that I can’t use my wings to fly
Feels like I’ve been here, seen this before
Well, the world’s so small you see. Can you find what’s left of me?”
“Have you seen the man that I am looking for?
He holds what’s left of me now that I can’t use my wings to fly
Feels like I’ve been here, seen this before
Well, the world’s so small you see. Can you find what’s left of me?”
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Jess Silk Dudley, UK
Jess Silk is a guitarist, singer and songwriter from the Black Country. Her shouty but melodic brand of folk/punk music often has her being likened to a female Frank Turner or Billy Bragg, and it gets people sitting up and listening. Armed only with an increasingly sticker-covered acoustic guitar and a distinctive, gravely voice that many don’t expect, Jess plays to audiences up and down the UK. ... more
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