Get all 11 Penelope Swales releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Captains of Industry, Legacy: Two Decades of Topical Writing, Skin: Deep, Archive Vol. 2: Songs from the Borderline 1989-1992, Monkey Comfort, 'Archive': Demos, Out-takes and One-offs 1995-2000, Justifying your Longings to the Doctor, Homemade Wine, and 3 more.
1. |
Sweet Moderation
02:52
|
|||
Sweet moderation © Penelope Swales 1995
Sweet moderation sounds so good, I wish I'd known about it.
This situation,
me and you, can't help but groan about it
I'd rather take it easy after all
this time
I never thought I'd want to turn my back on that old love of
mine
I'm too worn out to keep on covering the same old ground
Can't scream
and shout, not anymore, rather not be around
You know I love you, and
passion's fine.
Then again, so's whisky, I think I need a gentler wine
Sweet moderation sounds so good,
sweet moderation sounds so good.
I'm going
to make a fresh start soon, oh, won't you come along? If you move things
could improve, but here you know it's wrong. I hate to see you sinking in
this muddy swirl
Come back if you don't like it, but take the chance to
find another world
I've known for years that all that glitters, glitters is
not gold
This may just be a silly dream but I am not too old.
You've run
this spiral, you know how it ends
You've already been there what's the
point of going through again?
Sweet moderation sounds so- ah! Good!
Sweet
moderation sounds so good.
Sweet moderation tips her cap to this ol' heart
o' mine
It's the excess of all this crap that makes me leave behind
I'm
going to seek adventure on the open road
It might not sound too moderate,
but that's the way I'm gonna go
Sweet moderation soothe my soul, I hope
she'll come along
I don't believe I'll get much rest, but then, I might be
wrong
Only one thing left to make it all complete
Life might be almost
perfect, if only you would come with me
Sweet moderation sounds so good,
Sweet moderation soothe my soul
Sweet moderation, this situation, too much
frustration, soothe my soul
Sweet moderation, this situation,
over-compensation, soothe my soul.
|
||||
2. |
Stone Cold Sober Part 1
05:38
|
|||
Stone Cold Sober Part 1
© Penelope Swales 1995
I sometimes wonder
'Bout the things that I find in my head.
I know they're
memories
Was that really me? I know it was.
So young, so urgent, so
subjective, so determined
I was stone cold sober, I thought I knew all
about life
I was stone cold sober, I thought I knew my left from right
I
was over-reacting to everything I was being told
I was fifteen years old
I
got myself into some
Strange situations with strange men, strange friends,
strange substances
I fell in love with a pretty guy - he played some pretty
games
And some scar tissue still remains
I was stone cold sober, so
serious about life
I was stone cold sober, I thought that I was in the
right
I was over-reacting to all the little games he played.
I was sixteen
years of age
There followed a period of madness,
Oh yeah, three years,
maybe more
Can't really say I was sober all those times I passed out on the
floor
I was trying to keep my wits about me, even if they weren't that
sharp
And though stone cold sober's not really the words that I should use,
I was stone cold sober when I made the decision to abuse
I was
over-reacting to all of the sordid things I'd seen
I was just about
nineteen
That's when I met you
Yeah, you wanted to be my best, best
friend
You wanted to be the one man I could trust
Wanted to be the one on
whom I could depend
Not to drag me into negotiations over general-purpose lust
Funny how things work out
I was stone cold sober when I said that I
wanted you for life
I was stone cold sober when I said that I would be your
wife
I was over-reacting to everything that you said and did
In many ways
I was still a kid
At twenty-one I ran away with you, we never even told our
friends
When we reappeared, oh dear!
Well they always said that it would
end in tears
There followed a period of happiness,
Oh yeah, three years,
maybe more
At least I was happy, yeah.
My tongue was vitriolic,
sometimes
My temper, whoo! Was volatile
I knew that I would settle down
But I thought that it would take awhile
You bore the brunt, you bore the
brunt
But you said it wasn't hurting you
And I was stone cold sober, yeah
I was just trying to get it right.
I was stone cold sober those times I kept
you up all night
Because I'd over-reacted to some little thing you'd said or
done
I was still pretty young
You're holding up to me some past behaviour,
Things I've said and done
Well, I can't say I didn't say them
I can't say
I didn't do them
Your message is contradictory,
Your desires
incomprehensible
My reputation's shot and my behaviour's reprehensible
Your
presence in my life
Is as painful as it is indispensable
And now I'm wasted
with crying
And trashed with sleepless nights,
And you're stone cold sober,
You're trying to make me see the light
I think you've over-reacted to some
of the things that I once did
Please remember I've grown up a bit
And I
could not have done that
Without your forbearance
And if I'm coming through
for you
Just as you're giving up.
Well. That's a tough one
Oh---
|
||||
3. |
Car
05:41
|
|||
Car
© Penelope Swales 1995
Down the freeway,
See the glow light up the night
And weaving through the
foothills,
Glimpses of this city's lights
It's a city of demons for me
Lurking in the fold of the hills,
Its hiding, keeping its advantage
Down the tollway,
Further into the heart of the spreading monster
Twisting, turning, dipping,
weaving
All the other drivers speeding
The hand of apprehension clutches
my throat
Claws at my coping mind
Deprives me of my voice
Glancing off
the centre,
Streets I recognise
Here's where I took that "e" that went so
bad
Never do that again
That's the Cross down there
Where playing
"Knocking on Heaven's Door" to drunkards
Was my only grip on life
But not
tonight
The roads here shift and change
As if the city was made of sand
Before you know it, you've taken a wrong turn
But don't fight it,
Just
drift into an eddy where you can
Scratch your head about where you went
wrong
There's no margin for error in the stream
Out Old South Head Road now to Bondi,
There the "forest bods" are waiting.
They've worked hard
For
the attention of this city, yeah
Driven by the urgency
Of their
acknowledged responsibility
Out of their sweet, complacent havens in the
North
And down into the heart of the monster
To spread the word, to raise a
quid,
And struggle against the woodchip machine for another year
Another
year....
Another year
I was here,
But I was different then
My mind now is
superimposed on my mind then,
Everything I see is met with two sets of
reactions
Almost as if
The me I might have been has been waiting for me
here,
Lurking in damp, piss-reeking alleyways,
Hiding behind skips and wheely-bins
I turn my head, is that my face?
Yellow webbing satchel and
busted guitar case,
But it's someone's else's black leather shoulders
Shrugging in the cold
And I know I'm rolling, rolling - ah,
Speeding,
speeding - ah,
Freewheeling - ah!
Rolling, rolling - ah,
Speeding, speeding
- ah,
Freewheeling, - ah!
And so are the wheels of this world, embodied in
this city,
So are the wheels of this world embedded in this city
So are the
gears of this world crashing in this city,
The gnashing fears of this world
clashing in this city
My mind now is superimposed on my mind then,
Down
into the heart of the monster we go,
To spread the message everyone already
knows
And I know that
My car runs as blood in the veins of the monster,
My
car runs as blood in the veins of the monster,
My blood runs in my veins in
my car
My car runs as blood in the veins of the monster,
My car HIV, Hep C
in the veins of the world,
My blood runs in my veins in my car
The monster
is powered by me and myriads like me,
The monster's powered by me and
myriads like me,
My blood runs in my veins in my car
The monster is powered
by me and myriads like me,
The monster's powered by me and myriads like me
Even as we scream - STOP!
|
||||
4. |
The Panther
07:11
|
|||
The Panther
© Penelope Swales 1995
I couldn't say to save my face
That he dragged me into his lair
More that I
sat at the door and hugged my knees and said
"Can I come in there?"
He
smiled, turned away, arched his back and then he said "Mmm....."
He smiled
as though embarassed, thought awhile and then said " Yeah, hop in"
It was
then that I realised I'd climbed straight into the den of a panther
Like
Leda and the Swan but more carnivorous
I put my arms around his deep chest,
I put my face in his fur
I breathed deep his animal scent, arched my back
beneath his paws
And there rose inside me,
Deep in my human flesh,
Deep in
my female flesh,
n answering panther call
Rraah!
I watched him play like
big cats play, with water
I watched him cautious like big cats are with
fire
I watched him watching me, that sideways, feline glance burning with a
cool fire
The flicker of interest concealing the furnace of desire
In the
middle of the night, I rang my mother
I told her all about the Panther
She
said "My dear, these are the best years of your life.
You should just go
ahead and fuck"
I said "Well, I would have anyway, but it's nice to have
your sanction."
She said "My dear, I completely understand.
Sometimes it
happens that way,
Sometimes you find a man
Who'll bring it all out in you.
Who'll pull it all out of you
Who'll pour it all into you."
Oh, all night,
every night I'm in there rolling with the Panther
In the day I wear my
scratches and my bruises with pride
In the evening I stalk the city streets
with the Panther by my side
I ride the Panther's back,
I ride the Panther's
flanks
And he rides mine
In wild lands of bitumen and traffic fume,
I
found me a panthe
He said "If Chippendale's a jungle then we may as well
be wild beasts"
He said "I like it when you're really demanding. Go ahead,
do what you want with me"
And I felt inside me,
Deep in my female flesh,
The Panther's claw,
ooked in my belly,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Pulling it
all out of me.
Pouring it all into me
Pulling that call out of me.
Oh, all
night, every night I'm Riding the Tiger with the Panther
In the day I wear
my scratches and my lovebites with pride
In the evening I stalk the city
streets with the Panther by my side
His liquid movement
My liquid
tendencies
His panther pride.
The Panther came with me as far as the Blue
Mountains,
Then he switched his tail and turned away and went back the way
we came
He said "When I've finished constructing this particular cage, I'll
be free
I might just come sniffing after you so keep your hunter's moon out
for me."
And he caressed me there, at the station in his panther paws
Pressed against me, yeah, just a reminder oh
Of that panther claw in me
Pulling it all out of me
Pulling that call out of me
Oh, all that day,
like blinding sunlight in my eyes, all I could see was the Panther
All that
night I fled Sydney like a cat out of hel
Fleeing my recent past into my
not too distant future
Hurtling towards it, hurtling towards that day
Hurt, hurtling towards that moment, hurt, hurt, hurtling toward that
instant
I'm hurtling still.
Rraah!
Rraah-la-lul-la-lul-lul-lul-la-lah.
Who
can make sense of female response?
Who can map the logic of desire?
What
makes it fly, what makes it cry,
What makes it strive, what makes it die?
What makes it strive, what makes it die?
Who can translate for me, what
happened to me?
Who can make sense of it?
Hey, hey, what happened to me with
that Panther man?
|
||||
5. |
Our Apartheid
04:17
|
|||
6. |
Miss You
06:15
|
|||
7. |
Welcome to the Garden
07:13
|
|||
8. |
Cusp
04:13
|
|||
Cusp
© Penelope Swales 1995
Something about the day
Makes me just want to sleep all day
Something
about the wind
Makes me want to let my mind blow away, blow away
Something
about the sun,
Makes me just want to doze all day
Something about the
temperature
Makes me want to dream on, dream on
My dreams get stranger as
my sleep gets lighter
I can hear the sound of distant activity,
But the
cocoon of heat and light around me,
Defeats all movement,
Seduces all
motivation,
Dilutes all clarity
The wind moves the leaves in the trees,
A
passing pensioner's just a mirage
And I'm so far away,
So far away,
From
wherever or whatever it was that I began
Something about the dry
Makes me
just want to cry all night
But if this desert's inside me,
How can I water
it
With salt tears from the outside?
It has its own delicate ecology
And
salt enough to ruin a richer plain
I need the relief of rain
I need the
relief of rain
To rinse it all away
My heart goes out to greet the wind
I
never realised how much I had been missing
The movement of the air,
The
presence of unseen forces
Calmness is sometimes harder to navigate than any
storm
And I have been becalmed
And now the breeze caresses me,
Suspended
here in my
New-found, blue-bound
Isolation.
|
||||
9. |
Blockade
05:46
|
|||
10. |
Stone Cold Sober Part 2
04:02
|
|||
11. |
Already Begun
06:05
|
|||
12. |
Aunty Betty
05:46
|
|||
13. |
Southern Spring
04:20
|
|||
14. |
||||
15. |
Jacaranda
03:38
|
Penelope Swales Boolarra, Australia
Penelope Swales has been articulating the human condition with passion and humour for 30+ years. She sings about politics, love, friendship, the unbreakable bond between us and dogs and the impact of the Internet on society. She won the 2019 Alistair Hulett Songs for Social Justice Award with “Cambridge Analytica”. “The Ides of March in Christchurch" was short-listed for the same award in 2020. ... more
Streaming and Download help
If you like Penelope Swales, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp