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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes as a cd/dvd set in double jewel case with matching picture discs. Artwork features Penelope's "activist patch" coat with patches collected from activist campaigns all over the world that Penelope has played for and/or supported in 15 years of touring

    Includes unlimited streaming of Legacy: Two Decades of Topical Writing via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Full Digital Discography

    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. , and , .

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lyrics

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!

credits

from Legacy: Two Decades of Topical Writing, released July 1, 2010

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about

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

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