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. |
Walls of Familiarity
03:57
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Morning arrives, the day is bright
Free of the bond which held us tight
To all that we didn't want to be
Sometimes all's not as rosy as it seems
Leaving we wave our last farewell
Bursting the bubble which served us well
But could never be the answer
Because we'd never take a chance
Until we threw it all to dance in the breeze
Caution is packed with our money and clothes
Into the back of our 4-wheeled horse
Instant reaction eludes us at first
But it will all be worth the wait in the end
Greeting our hosts with open-ness
Tired but happy in this strange, strange nest
Less than a day since we left behind
All that we know and comprehend
There's a sense of belonging but a reason for knocking down
The walls of familiarity.
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2. |
World Without Cars
03:21
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Fields of green and streams of white, drifting far and near
Echoes in the pale sunlight on a day that's clear
In the morning it's the eve of what I dream
Weathered feet on silent ground, people go and come
Free like gypsy vagabonds, when their work is done
In the evening it's the eve of what I dream
Breathing air that bristles life, spirits roaming free
Heavy smog that choked this town, now is history
It's the dawning and the eve of what I dream
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3. |
Money
04:59
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Inconvenience causes a frey
In this old part of town, where night could be day
There's a ruck at the front in the queue for the bank
With time for last orders, but no time for thanks, singing...
Money, more money, we want nothing less
Make it better and bigger and shut out the rest
There's no place in this world for the thinkers and fools
With luck they'll stay quiet, this riot is only for you
For security give them your cash
To invest and repay you in sums that are vast
They'll smile and implore you to give a bit more
Making worry seem funny with profits galore
Money, more money, we want nothing less
Make it better and bigger and shut out the rest
There's no place in this world for the thinkers and fools
With luck they'll stay quiet, this riot is only for you
Do you care where your money has been
Or the funding of crooked regimes
With guns for the nations who hold the trump cards
Our oil-fed addiction's the drip in their arm
Money, more money, we want nothing less
Make it better and bigger and shut out the rest
There's no place in this world for the thinkers and fools
With luck they'll stay quiet, this riot is only for you
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4. |
Fruits of your Labour
02:48
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Colonel John Gordon he sailed through the harbour
Onto the island he bought from your fathers
Armed with a crook and a mission to clear it
Twas 1850, the new modern age
"Long have you toiled and long have you been here
Set in your ways and opinions so feeble
As me of mine and so proud will I tell you
Hell is a long way to fall I assure you"
"So get your coats because your time here is over
Clear out your land and your crofts while you're sober
Order is made and be damned if you fail it
Smile as you hand me the fruits of your labour"
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5. |
Decisions
03:45
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How does it feel with your hands upon the wheel, looking right, looking left
Chilled to the bone, with no place to call your own, knowing not to expect
Funny how the plans we make can turn to stone
Wondering what might happen if we dare
If it's fine by you then it's fine by me
Decisions can be made so easily
If it's fine by you then it's fine by me
Sometimes that's the way it's meant to be
What do you do when the barrel points at you, could be mine, could be yours
Easy to lose if you take so long to choose, then I'm smiling of course
Is it the fear of a long, long year
Wondering if it might not come at all
If it's fine by you then it's fine by me
Decisions can be made so easily
If it's fine by you then it's fine by me
Sometimes that's the way it's meant to be
So once again, stood before you like a friend, with a box full of clues
Do you embrace opportunity with grace, breaking all of your rules
Long was the mile, was it such a trial
Or was it just a change in point of view
If it's fine by you then it's fine by me
Decisions can be made so easily
If it's fine by you then it's fine by me
Sometimes that's the way it's meant to be
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6. |
Mind out of Gear
03:49
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I've always lost the morning when I rise
And scuffle down the hallway till I find
The sun has taken leave and all that's left is me
And another missed opportunity
But I tell myself don't worry, why the fuss
The afternoon is beckoning to us
And all I planned to do can wait a week or two
No reason to get caught up in the rush
Take your mind out of gear, it can wait another year
And I can't understand the way you plough your land
If the season is unkind, there's another one behind
And it's waiting in the eves and it's ready to release
Itself to you, itself to you, to you.
Listen to the sound outside your door
There's a hundred thousand people wanting more
Going about their lives, making money wasting time
It's a lesson that's so easy to ignore
Take your mind out of gear, it can wait another year
And I can't understand the way you plough your land
If the season is unkind, there's another one behind
And it's waiting in the eves and it's ready to release
Itself to you, itself to you, to you.
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7. |
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Now we need more less
And a little common sense
Do we need the miles
It takes to bring us piles and piles of
What we grow in a place of our own
Or at least we did until we took the lid off all this
Harmony with the soil but our knees
Couldn't take the strain if we brought it back again
Because those skills are lost
At a cost that's bigger than our gain
Water from France
And our wine from Spain
Bottled and franc'd
And put into a plane and flown a
Thousand miles to the supermarket aisles
To save fifty pence such cynicism but you have to
Ask yourself do you need a choice of twelve
Or will one suffice
At a fair and honest price
Now I'm not so blind
To the limits of the kind
Of change that can take place
It's a question of assessing the priorities
Trading what we need for what make
Instead of selling honey to the bees
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8. |
Old Mother Nature
02:47
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In time we will see much of what she has said
In light of what we have been told
The young is wasted with youth it's been said
But those who have said it are old
We see with eyes that are open and blessed
With knowledge of what's been and gone
But hindsight puts up a barrier fence
And sometimes we cannot move on
Old Mother Nature can teach us what's right
But still we persist in what's wrong
If all we did was to love and respect
Maybe she'd leave us alone
There's no telling where this might lead, or the point
Just questions to heed or ignore
There's joy in doing for her what is right
Whether you're rich or you're poor
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9. |
Icarus to the Sun
05:36
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Caught by the wind, lost in a spin
It's hard to see when a hurricane sets in
Boats retreating to the shore
The chill of night as evening falls
The sun illuminates the dust along the beach
Then falls right out of reach
Teach me to run and I will be gone
With thrown caution
Like Icarus to the sun
The open sea before my eyes
Melts into the distant sky
Keeps me restless, keeps the spark inside my world
Like the man who dives for the pearl
Thrown by the thought
Of what would really happen if I bought
A ticket to another land
Then found that it was built on sand
Would my world come crashing to the floor
Would Columbus have said
"I'll sit and watch the sun go down instead
Deal again my man, I'll wait till I've a winning hand
And if the wind is right then off we'll run"
Like Icarus into the sun
Like Icarus into the sun
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10. |
Where the Waters Rise
02:22
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So you reached the pinnacle of changes to your principles
And nothing can relieve a stubborn mind
Tricky though it is to pull an army through a needle hole
A single step can spawn a thousand miles
Take a bolder step, the finish line is just ahead
So cast your net in where the waters rise
Take a bolder step, the finish line is just ahead
So cast your net in where the waters rise
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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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