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Paradise Razed

by Blyth Power

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1.
Bacchus to the doctor went a griping pain to ease A phlegm cup at his shoulder to afford some small relief His bloodshot eyes were yellow and his beard was full of grease And a foul wind in his belly brought him gasping to his knees The doctor coughed politely held a scarf against his nose Bade him hang his godhead up and take off all his clothes Baccus sighed and rolled his eyes behind the screen disrobed The doctor grabbed his stethoscope and prepared to diagnose When the doctor looked him over and said it's worse than at first appears Your kidney's shot to pieces and your liver's disappeared Your lungs are filled with water you complain of diarrhoea And unless you give up drinking you'll be dead within the year Break the bottle smash the whisky jar and put your glasses down Bacchus is on the wagon and it's rolling into town Bacchus is on the wagon and the curtain's down for good On your quarts and pails and yards of ale now the cork is in the wood Then the grey nurse summoned by the bell Saw him weeping with contrition Begging heal me please physician make me well With needles pins and bleeding bowl prepared She said don't expect sympathy If you can't take your medicine You shouldn't bait the bears Back went Bacchus to Olympus and when he broke the sorry news The satyrs were dissatisfied the nymphs were not amused The centaurs and the Lapiths had a sharp exchange of views The watchmen and the border guards succumbed to self abuse But it's too late to say you're sorry now it's useless to repent Your yeasts refuse to quicken and your apples won't ferment Your wines and beers and spirits are a Devil's sacrament For which Bacchus' indigestion is a cure from Heaven sent What of all those pretty acolytes that Bacchus now disowns That naked through the summer lees beside him used to roam They've left the Elysian fields behind and bought a Barratt's Home Where they've settled down and married now with children of their own
2.
Down beyond Wyke Combe Bottom Blackened bushes screen In the darkness of the railway cutting The signal cabin's gleam There among the brass bells and buttons And iron lever frames The hand lamps and the smoking stove And the passing diesel trains Signalman White keeps a watchful eye It was halfway through the night shift The empty stock was due And an engine down for Kingmoor bound To stable and refuel When the clocks and bells went crazy The trackside wires rang The marker lights flashed left to right In the section diagram I grabbed the shrieking phone's receiver Pressed it hard against my ear When my trembling hand regained command I said who's calling here Is that Signalman White? her gentle voice replied Her tone was soft and her manner was mild enough With childish laughter mocking me But something else was there for which I was not prepared Perhaps a hint of madness by her steady voice dispelled So Signalman White don't look outside She said she watches me daily As she flits among the thorns From high above the branches blown And marching through the corn I'm in over my head and underneath the hill In the patterned ground From the graveyard come by the temple sprung And scattered by the plough She said to me she loves me And to lay my duties by She said she'll wait by the kissing gate Beneath the ghostly lantern light So Signalman White your place or mine Then the phone went dead and the box was quiet again I stoked the fire to break the spell Each passing train helps to send her on her way With each brief encounter through the telegraph relayed Signalman White keeps out the night But dawn comes with a chorus The blinding sun reveals What midnight's mysteries magnify And shadows black conceal From the green of the fields unfolding As the swallows stoop and fall The note she left was a gentle threat In charcoal on the wall It said Signalman White I'll be back again tonight
3.
There was a young man from Spalding town Riding along and alone he came Stopped for a night at the Rose and Crown Riding along on a roan He called for a quart of strong brown ale Riding along and alone he came Took to his room where he rang the bell Riding along on a roan When the potgirl came to his room by and by Riding along and alone he came He tipped her a wink and slapped her thigh Riding along on a roan Kind sir she said have done have done Riding along and alone he came Then pulled out a switchblade sharp and long Riding along on a roan She slashed him first from his ear to his throat Riding along and alone he came Then made him a dame with a backhand stroke Riding along on a roan Do you follow me If you follow me Round where the Ouse rolls down to the sea Until dawn light serenade me It will soon be your night you'll see
4.
Carlisle 04:34
Karpov crosses the border Into the centre he rides Notching his sword on the pawn goes galloping by Makes a mistake in manoeuvre Over the castles collides Opens a path for the King's red menacing ride Cab light flashes the warning Answered the signal replies Reel in the steel in the storm's long colourless miles Into the station this morning Stark by the Citadel's scar Lamplight colour conceals each vanishing star When first I came to the border town No manners had I learned no art to guide me No Sankt-Marie to take me in and hide me Wide-eyed alone there I lay my pistols down my heart beside me My painted ring to pay for and provide me When I withheld from the rich what I stole from the poor I soon the inside of the Citadel saw Long nights impenitent sleepless and sore Brought me back to the hardwood bench and the flagstone floor But I fell in with a good man Strong hands to take and hold me when I falter Strong hands to lay the breast works and the mortar To build me a home there His manor for my mansion house and altar A son to be and a brother to his daughter But deep in my dark and insensitive soul I planned my revenge while I pledged my parole Smarting but smiling accepting his dole I fell on my knees and promised him gladly I'd go I rose early Stealing through the silvers and the sables I crept across the courtyard to the stables I'm gone to the moss now Packed my saddle bag as hard as I was able I turned in to the wind and slipped my cable Now Caius has sworn on his grandfather's gun By Judas Iscariot justice be done Says I slept with his daughter his dog and his son Now he's roaring behind me to follow and find me Bedevil and blind me and nail up my hide when he's done So he followed my tracks with his hares and his hounds But I turned back and was southerly bound With the wind on my face and the rain coming down And a quartz moon rising over the walls of the town I'll lay my innocence down on every card I'll cast my hand in Though my errors bring misfortune notwithstanding That when I burn with Rome there My banners cast my faith misunderstanding Enamoured fall her fortress walls abandoned Sandman smashes the lantern Arc-lamp scatters the glare To mix with the stained-glass window and colour her hair Narcissus is sitting in silence Untouched by her tears as she stands Hanging her head in her sorrow and ringing her hands
5.
As I rode out the bleak redoubt Nor ever the weather did heed By chance I descried an anguished cry I went to intercede There was the fairest of maidens By a basilisk menaced she Foul vilification imprecations Down on its head she screamed But her breasts were the colour of an angel's With the poise of an Angevin queen Her hair was shorn like a bushel of corn Where the reaper has recently been She said good knight how well you ride Your baritone's pitched to please But these are not matters of moment If you'll kindly set me free To the Dauphin of France I am affianced And we will married be Says I belle dame that's one and the same But there's evidence plain to see This beast is as big as the two of us And more than a match for me But I'll send your regards to the Dauphin Should ever we happen to meet Profit and favour Pope and saviour Warrior priest or king These are just some of the birthrights That the stork forgot to bring But he's left me my looks and my father's eyes And I'm blessed with the family chin
6.
Round the ragged rocks Shifting in between the trees Idle poetasters test their mettle On the lilacs and the greens The sparrow-hawks and starlings on the gallows Stirring lightly in the breeze And the mistle-thrush Disturb the shepherd boy's dreams Along the gravel walks Across the garden and beyond Dancing to the music of the flutes Down the ornamental lawn From the abattoir The little shepherdesses swarm And snap their fingers to the bleat Of the shepherd boy's song In the Valley of Death the Garden of Eden The shadow of Cain When I can walk with your hand on my shoulder It's one and the same And I am not ashamed to say We believe he's going to hell We believe they're stoking up the fires for him ready there That his bed is made of nails We believe he won't be spared We believe it's better late than never that he'd better be prepared Or they'll catch him unawares We believe it's just as well We believe that we've received an answer To our letters and our prayers Rich forbidden fruit Down the kitchen garden grows Naked men and women eating apples Wander up and down the groves The missionaries have gone away With all the fishes and the loaves And the shepherd boy Was driven from the fold When out of the East flew the Angel of Darkness Skimming the waves Gripped by the wind of his slipstream passing I was afraid That I would be torn I would be tempted But I was betrayed Now paradise regained won't clear my name
7.
In Germany it's cold today The weather forecast gives wind and rain Bullet holes round the window frames Of last year's battles tell But the battle lines are drawn again Between angry lines of marching men Across the coffee bars and the drinking dens The gangster rivals square Militant children break their chains And in vinegar toast their national saints In slogans scrawled with poster paints Their vain ambitions air The pine green hills have lost their colour now The glass and concrete towers are grey Indifferent sings the changing wind And the streets are getting colder day by day If I could I'd pack and take a train I'd pick up my cards and for home I'd make away Down spiral paths I groping went And from byways paved with strange intents Thrice daily postcards homeward sent My passage so to share Another day's bread unbroken lay Among the coffee cups on the breakfast tray The traffic jams on the motorway Are more than I can bear But now the terror gangs stalk through the acid rain And Lucky Strikes light from a molotov flame I'll wash my clothes and change my name And comb my matted hair
8.
Burning Joan 04:11
I was a yeoman and I was a soldier When I sailed from Dover the weather was fine For Loval and Launceston Sir Thomas of Taunton For Ranolf and Rudall my comrades and I But I earned my spurs as a turnkey For St George and a farthing a day My battles were fought through the dungeons and vaults My enemies battered with pulley's and chains But shock-headed Joan was my beauty She was my jewel and my prize Scratching her tits in the blood and the shit Plucking the lice from her thoroughbred thighs Sometimes at her cell I would linger To watch while she crouched in the straw I'd be stroking her hair and she'd sullenly glare But she never acknowledged my presence at all So I shed no tears as the brazier crackled and rang The arquebusiers and the flower of chivalry sang Oh Joannie oh Joannie the tumbrel and the pony Through the ranks of the yeomanry steer The gallows is cold and the gibbet is lonely We'll make things hot for you here See I thought that I was her friend and protector Compassion I readily gave And oft of a while sympathetically smiled As the callous inquisitors hammered away But she never returned my affection Nor ever my homage received And since in my dreams as she spatters and screams I secretly doubt she was thinking of me As the flames licked her arse and her belly For she never a glimmer betrayed So I cast off my conscience I joined with the band And I fiddled while Joan burned away
9.
Dead letters and mysteries Are piled high on the floor They fill up the tables and line the walls Biographical histories Don't fill me with awe Philosopher's words just puzzle and bore And I don't have time to read them all Of the great heroes of fiction I have nothing to say That as paragons strut from page to page Through great graphic descriptions Of love and terror and pain To ride home as victors forever the same But I never read to the story's end When the camera lies and the colours are wrong Tragedy brings out the gallery's laughter The minster bells ringing all night long Hammer it home I'm left with the swish of the leaves and the wind in the rafters The winter's tale untold Beneath Sistine ceilings Scratching out in the clay Long working nights make for sleepless days Paint splatters congealing Round the brush in my hand And won't follow the pencilled lines as planned It won't make the walls of Jericho stand
10.
Black Watch wear my token on their sleeve Princes send me roses poets send me wreaths Rich men walk beside me in my dreams But in the grey light of morning they'll be gone Through softening shadows stealing with the dawn Though I can feel the warming sun's display I could sleepy eyes unopened pass the balance of my days Drowsing in this blue tobacco haze But there's a world through the window rolling past I've tried to stop it turning quite so fast With my cold hard reason undermined In this cold coach station I've been wasting too much time Because your cold war comfort suits me fine To these tea stained tables I'll be bound And it's no Camp David waiting round Salt seeds by subtle serpents sown Of your funeral pyre I'm innocent all the rest you'll never know So take me as you find me then or go It was cold outside at seven-thirty in the morning I stumbled to the hallway when the telephone rang I asked him what he wanted He said to call right round send you over on the underground He'll meet you at the station at the journeyman's friend He told me you'll know him when you reach the other end He said you met him by the ticket hall once Said you'd try to meet again So when grey clouds strolling down the breeze Bring you a blacker silver lining than you thought could ever be I'll have blue skies unbroken over me And there's no bed of roses no flashing blade There's no laughing party here today
11.
Cry Carrion 05:28
Artemis her arrows spent inclined to take her ease So to fetch the missiles sent Androgyno and me Thus we worked the morning long beneath the cherry trees To gather all the arrows up ingratiatingly She cried Carry on It struck me in the morning as the wind began to turn And the trawler men prepared to set the nets adrift astern That though the sniper's marksmanship is harder to endure The wounds are rarely fatal and it's swift to find a cure That lover's sighs extemporise in song and so withstand But Artemis' venom needs a laying on of hands Cry Carry on Embrace the bullet bite the bomb while she puts her armour on Cry carry on Take the bait wait your turn to hold the candle 'til you burn Artemis her arrows spent inclined to take her ease Her rooks about her shoulders and her bow across her knees We perforce as promise have carried out the task And all the arrows laid before her as she idles in the grass That she may arm herself anew steady-eyed to aim The shaft against the supple yew and shoot us once again
12.
A thirsty noon breaks through your curtain call The clock-face winks a weary eye Empty letters to your dreamscape shatter through And I'm the stone and the statue standing by In Manor House there lived a lady once From the broken bank she made her plea For all Stonehaven knows my fortunes I will share With the one who'll mend my broken wings for me To her Manor House door there came a travelling man Close your eyes and count to three In the wind and the rain to walk and the southern moon to ride And that's the last of her we'll ever see The North Sea heaved when it heard your wedding bells The grey skies wept upon the beach But who am I to tell the waves which way to turn And who are you to tell me what I can see How came you then this sad song to tell? How bore you children then that never could conceive How narrow minded and malicious I can be And how came you here tonight without his leave?

about

Having made such a six-cylinder cock-up of Pastor Skull, you might have thought that the band would have settled down and worked together over the next release. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. You would be wrong. The production's great. It sounds fantastic, because the band went into Trinity Heights in Newcastle, and it was engineered and mixed by Fred Purser, with no interference from the band. Nice work Fred. Where things fall down again are in the selection and arrangement of the material. There is a predominance of acoustic/piano orientated songs. Tracks like Winter's Tale and Burning Joan merely bleat where they should roar, and the overall effect is of a band trying to sound like something it thinks it ought to be. The only song which really sounds like Blyth Power is Cold War Comforts. Let's face it - what's the point of having a guitarist like John Rutherford in the band if you're not going to let him do what he does best? The bottom line is, you can't make art by committee. Don't even get us started on the bizarre history of the title and artwork. Originally it was going to be called Make Do and Mend..
Still, with Fred's production, Steve Maden's artwork, Yvette Staelens' cameo vocals, Rachel Swindlehurst's Stonehaven, and the whole band pulling together on one song at least, it was a step forward. November 1994 was when it was recorded. Teacher gives it a C+ and says we can do better. Having said that, it's still way out in front of a lot of the gubbins that you read about in the folky rags.

credits

released January 27, 1995

Songs by Joseph Porter
Arranged by Blyth Power

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Blyth Power UK

Since 1984 Blyth Power have been playing and recording original music, which although regarded by many as fitting into the folk rock catergory goes so much further. Based around the lyrics of songwriter Joseph Porter, the band's sound is unique, and there is an atmosphere to Blyth Power that adds a depth to the music, and makes them more than just another pop group. ... more

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