Get all 7 Darren Black releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Empty Halls Can Feel Like Crowded Rooms, Playing With The Truth, WISPERAU, Lord Abergavenny's Hills, Rise Above the Mumblings, Thinkers & Fools, and Silent Poetry.
1. |
Leave no Trail
05:00
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When you know the hour has come to go
Shrouds of misted memories build like falling snow
In the haze of long gone precious days
A chorus never ending, time had no restrain
See the signs and walk in time
Leave no trail for those behind
They’ll not yearn for what you never found
In the light of morning’s framed delight
Comes an angel playing with your sense of flight
Stark and cold, the hands too frail to hold
Eyes as sharp as match sticks point which way to go
Haul away and find your bay of truth
Wisdom rose from ashes of your youth
Proffers come and go
Others seldom know you like you do
In the glow of sunlight sinking low
Hands are held in friendship like you’ve never known
Far away begins another day
Lords and kings could never call or make the change
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2. |
My Snowman's Melting
04:04
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She suffers less when the winds have left
Pulls up a chair and makes me laugh
I bother more when counting up the score
If it's chess or if it's cards
When it's time for rationing the wine
We can say the day is through
Fair reward for clearing up the board
And for washing down the stew
My snowman’s melting
Winter’s end is coming soon
My snowman’s melting
Like the longest afternoon
My snowman’s melting
And he looks just like your face in the back of a spoon
We need some logs, we must avoid the dogs
Let's take a detour through the woods
A dying flame crackles in the haze
Of kippered scent that fills the room
A collared dove with blessings from above
Seems content to ride the mood
Orange bugs that hide behind the jugs
Gather flies for winter food
What d'you say, shall we while away the day
Making plans and making rules?
Going home to the place that we disowned
Is now the first thing that we'd choose
The light is low, it's time for us to go
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3. |
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Darren Black - vocals/guitar/vocal harmonies
Running away from the past
Cutting the ties made to last
Rushing to bind hopes and fears
Trying to roll back the years
Doing your worst for the cause not the birth
You'll find it patently was not your worth
To be true to the rules made for you
But to your mind it could work
All of the signs said it could
Sovereign and ministers agree
Why would they lie to you and me
Tireless in changing the minds of the few
Those who remain fast in what they must do
To be free of the creed made for thee
All we’ve wanted and all we needed’s for sale
Toe the water but keep a thought for tradition’s sake, so much at stake
Wallow in words set to thrill
A sugared and candied pill
And though your smile says it all
For your charms some still fall
Wit, style and fame draws the wolves to the pack
Higher they climb to the top of the stack
And look down, is the Pound still sound?
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4. |
Ripe for the Heart
03:59
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We rode the miles with a diffident plan
Making the best while we can
Breached we the laws of decency
Born with a sense of liberty, of what may be
Whiter than a cloud or veil
Wiser than thou again
Ripe for the heart so pick it today
Older than Methuselah
Bold to stay who you are
Ripe for the heart so pick it today
Who makes the rules for others to trust
Who says the book was written for us
Walk down the aisle of honesty
Stand by your promises of old and loyalty
Room for the freaks and lovers to dwell
Stand by the words that serve you well
Head for the hills that beckon most
Run to the sunny side and make your harvest grow
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5. |
Time Swallows Time
04:21
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Seaside so nice, away from here
Gulls circle high, it brings me cheer
Sand in my eye, blocks the sun from the sky, the way is clear
Warmer than fire, I like it there
Storms now define the stake I share
Mercury’s high, we used to get on like flies, no frosty air
Hurdles to climb, to save a tear
Who stole the time, it disappeared
Loath to reply, I’m waiting time swallows time, it’s your turn dear, the way is clear
Forced to decide, a final plea
Courted and tried, the guilt is clear, the guilt is clear
Blown by the tide, the towel is thrown in and I want out of here
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6. |
Brevity Levels
04:10
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How does it feel living alone
How do you breathe in a city so choked
Reckless and free to a point of no joke
When do the creeps in the street below wake you up
Up go the shutters, along with the dawn
Shop-keepers chew the fat on and on
Yellow lines keep the traffic at bay
But there’s a sound in the air that never goes away
Keep a grip on the reason for being there
Serendipity’s kind, she will care
Brevity levels the storm in your heart
This old home had seen better days
Now it’s for you to mend your old ways
Better alone than tied to the mast
Of an old boat that was never more than a raft
Keep a grip on the reason for being there
Serendipity’s kind, she will care
Brevity levels the storm in your heart
Water runs true once it has found
It’s own way through the cracks running down
Much like you, and those who regain
Every sense of self worth in your rudderless game
Keep a grip on the reason for being there
Serendipity’s kind, she will care
Brevity levels the storm in your heart
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7. |
Rise Above the Mumblings
04:36
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Bring to the table what you own
Little as it seems, it’s more than a bone
How much is meagre, can you tell?
To those with nothing, it’s something to them
Rise above the mumblings
Rise above the mumblings
Rise above the mumblings
Of the man who has it all
Lay out your riches, if you will
Make hay before you’re over the hill
Who tanned the leather on your shoes
Who told you winners never, ever lose
Rise above the mumblings
Rise above the mumblings
Rise above the mumblings
Of the man who has it all
If you were a scientist with a crafty objective
You could build a rocket ship to take you to the next dimension
Bring to that table who you are
Kindness and virtue, reaches so far
Some who have plenty, find relief
In giving freely with no trick up their sleeve
Rise above the mumblings
Rise above the mumblings
Rise above the mumblings
Of the man who appears to have it all
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8. |
Days Like These
04:08
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Each dawn I see you, bluer by the day
Up to my knees now, battered by the spray
And oh how I'm tempted to jump in right away
I would be scolded and dragged back out in shame
Days like these come once a year
Like hen's teeth or a guilded bear
Tell your mother that you mean to care
Because she holds the key that brought us here
On the horizon clear of city smoke
If I was a banker, I would surely choke
But air's an addiction that will not make me broke
It costs not a penny to climb the mountain oak
Days like these come once a year
Like hen's teeth or a guilded bear
Tell your mother that you mean to care
Because she holds the key that brought us here
Where is the eagle, the petrel and the tern
Where is the free fall from which the young can learn
Timed reflection makes the spirit yearn
All the more reason to keep the fires burning
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9. |
Trick of the Light
04:15
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Run through a picket of trees
Nipping like dogs at your knees
Make time to kick up the stones and the skeletal leaves
Willing the others to grow
Watched clocks will always seem slow
Each in its own pace and time, and each to its own
Be more kind
Let go the cynic inside
Be more kind
This ain’t a trick of the light
Mist hides the city at dawn
Hazy and looking forlorn
It’s just a veil, true colours will soon be shown
Billboards on buildings that soon
Reach up as high as the moon
Tell us we need it, our life’s incomplete without you
Is it true people run free
Born with a written decree
Blessed with a future as long as you bow and agree
Choice will one day have its price
Looking you straight in the eye
Choose me or lose me, it’s now down to you to decide
Beauty is feeding the hopes and the reasons for keeping the fire alight
Or are we dreaming and left with a feeling that keeps up still reeling inside
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10. |
Throw a line
04:56
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Thrown in together, all of us to be
Wed to this island, forged into the sea
And those of us who gather dust are much to blind to see
That the way, to the heart is harmony
Grow up as children, kindred minds aware
Taught by the teachers what they’re told to share
And those who dare to question from where we choose our history
Are the few who will shape their destiny
Come the time shores are lined with open hands
Be they from anywhere, they come to take a chance
We can either throw a line or haul the drawbridge up
Close the book or close our minds, procrastinate so much
We need the labour, they need the work
Part of a Union, a Europe for better or worse
And fool are they who turn away the hands that won’t deceive
Or the mouths of a family to feed
Come the time shores are lined with open hands
Be they from anywhere, they come to take a chance
We can either throw a line or haul the drawbridge up
Close the book or close our minds, procrastinate so much
We’ll need each other, more than ever before
Seas slowly rising, an eye for an eye no more
And as the nets are closing in we’ll find that less is more
Might we swim against the tide no more
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Darren Black Winchester, UK
Darren Black is a Hampshire UK based musician, songwriter and composer whose songs are rooted in sociological and political observation. His latest album 'Empty Halls Can Feel Like crowded Rooms' was released in January 2023.
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