Get all 65 Chris Harris releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Something To Do While I Think Of Something To Do, Jaywalking, An Unexpected Turn, Lost Ideas, Forgotten Stories, A Grand Adventure, From Script To Screen, Continuous Fiction, Happy in the Dark, and 57 more.
1. |
Threat Detector
04:56
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In the darkness, I can see a flashing light
a single diode, blinking red
It's there to tell me everything is running right
and reassure me I'm not dead
Insists that I am safe without a single thought
Reassurance these days can do nothing of the sort
Everything I touch feels like it's likely to explode
My fight or flight reflex is stuck on overload
Safety and comfort are both feelings long since gone
My threat detector is continuously on
Every time the phone rings, I know it'll be a scam
The Internet is down, or postage due
How did all these people even find out who I am?
And why do they believe I'll think they're true?
Inbox bursts its seams from all the junk mail that I get
Deleting them will give me RSI
Investment opportunities, a well-endowed brunette
and a virus-laden invoice from Dubai...
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2. |
Layers
05:48
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We all hide things in our appearance
From good or bad and all points in between
We may not notice perseverance
Not all disabilities can be seen
That person you think has it easy
You might find out doesn't at all
Peel back a layer and expose the pain
Pull back another, there's strife and strain
Things we won't show to our closest friends
Can't see below where the surface ends...
Exterior calm and collected
We don't reveal what tumult lies beneath
A darkness that's never suspected
A sunny disposition hides the grief
Don't you think that we'd grasp every chance
of happiness, given we could?
Instead we feel that circumstance
means we simply tell people we're good
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3. |
Steady On, Chaps
03:43
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4. |
Numbers Game
04:40
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1 They
1 play
2 roulette
3 Don't forget
5 it's your money that
8 they're using when they raise the stakes
13 They've rigged the game for those insane profits that they make
1 Watch
1 your
2 numbers
3 See them rise
5 They can also fall
8 It's not magic, it's statistics
13 Don't be tragic; ditch the mystics or you'll lose it all
1 No
1 bread
2 is left
3 on the shelves
5 They just help themselves
8 The line they take: "let them eat cake"
1 We're
1 poor
2 Same game
3 as before:
5 They keep taking more
8 Each time we make the same mistake
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5. |
Unrelenting
04:43
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Some days I'm bright and breezy and full of the joys of spring
Some days it all seems so easy, I'm tempted to dance and sing
Some days I cruise through in neutral; those days aren't what this song's about
Instead it's when days get so brutal you just want to scream and shout
They're like those people
who go on and on
though they have nothing to say
and leave you wondering
where your sanity's gone
I wish they'd just go away.
Seriously.
Just give it a rest.
Some days just turn up, unexpected: get out of bed, and there they are
They just refuse to be rejected, ignoring all the hints I've dropped so far
Some days are full of bluff and bluster telling you they want to be your friend
It doesn't take them long to lose their lustre, leave you feeling that they'll never end
It's not that patience is a thing I'm lacking and where goodwill is concerned, I know my stuff
but my veneer of tolerance is cracking. Quite simply, I have had enough
The days the cause the greatest sorrow, the ones that really make me grieve
Are those that reappear tomorrow, 'cause they don't know when to leave
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6. |
The Udon Noodle Gambit
02:58
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7. |
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The best advice I've been given
(and believe me, it's not failed me yet)
is "Never argue with idiots
on the Internet."
If you're ever caught, the depressing fact is
you'll never run short of chances to practice
So full of themselves and their "ideas"
and clearly desiring a fight
Why let the argument drag on for years?
I just smile and tell them they're right.
You can't change the way that they're thinking
(for thinking's a thing they don't do)
If you try it will drive you to drinking
'cause they can't work a chain of thought through
Head-desking will give you concussion
It's pointless to fly in a rage
Responding just prolongs discussion;
It's simpler to never engage
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8. |
Instability
03:35
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Crazy weather
extreme heat
in the nightclub
on the street
out of options
out of time
for politicians
this is fine
Disasters just an opportunity to make
a healthy profit off the poor
The rich will walk away with all that they can take
The rest of us all know the score
Ignoring what
the public thinks
Arctic melting
Rising tide
They still have ice
for all their drinks
They won't fix
what they denied
Watch from orbit
while it burns
They're not the ones
It will affect
I think it's time
we made them learn
to treat the planet
with respect
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9. |
Personality Test
05:31
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You might be a fascist if you read the Daily Mail
or still think voting "leave" worked out okay
or if your first solution when your legal cases fail
is to make sure no one else can have have their say
Beginning every sentence with the words "I'm sorry but..."
Has fast become a sign that someone's mind is tightly shut
You idolise your leader
Yet to him, you're just a slave
You live in chains,
yet you won't wear a mask
Your idea of the world is one
that should be in a grave
You bet I'm going to take your views to task
You might be a fascist if you think offensive views
are simply "standing up to tell the truth"
But all your information comes from television news
that's not a source that's known for showing proof
You need to recognise that all the things you seek
Are indications that, inside, you know that you are weak
You might be a fascist if you think you're out of work
'cause immigrants have stolen what you do
and not at all to do with your ability to shirk
the slightest trust that's ever placed on you
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10. |
Halting Problem
04:50
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I'll wake up tomorrow
and it will not take me long
to realise I'm making the same errors
that today turned out so wrong
Why is it I seem to never
learn from my mistakes?
A flaw inside my character,
or have I simply not got what it takes?
I'm at the point I know what happens rather well
Can't find the way out of this strange, recursive hell
They say the biggest hurdle is deciding to begin
That's not the problem that I've got
I can't determine if the loop I'm in
is one that's infinite or not
Personal development
has long gone by the board
but simple repetition is a luxury
that I cannot afford
I realise
that it is novelty I seek
But when I contemplate achieving it
it leaves me feeling weak...
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11. |
Confuzzled
04:53
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I'm not a happy office worker
It's not surprising when I read:
"Sure, psychopaths are heartless bastards,
but isn't that just what a business needs?"
When work gets serious, the cause remains the same:
the person running things thinks its some sort of game
Bring in all the shiny MBAs you can afford
You'll soon see all your revenues decrease
I've had enough of being taken off the board
It's time this pawn was left in peace
They think we should be working harder
so "shouting at us" just the course to take
How do they get such glowing reputations
when all their skills in management are fake?
Tearing down what we spent decades building
watching as the firm goes down the pan
Don't be confused by how they stay successful;
they leave before the shit has hit the fan
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12. |
Breathing Space
05:52
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13. |
Pattern Matching
03:47
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From every programme on the television,
every article we read,
every story on the radio
we take exactly what we need
We don't like a challenge
To the way we see the world
We pay more attention
to the things that we expect
and if your theory does not match our patterns,
we think it's incorrect
When we're exposed to information
that we do not already know
and it does not meet expectations,
then that data has to go
If you're not open to experiment,
and what's unknown makes you afraid
You'll go through life with an impediment
It's not how learning should be played.
Back in the Stone Age, it was useful
it taught us what we need to fear
Now too often it is turned against us,
closing us down to new ideas
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14. |
Hooray for Freedom
02:46
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I see my hero Boris just took scientists to task
I bet he's gone and made them all irate
He's finally announced that I don't have to wear a mask
It's folks like him wot makes this country great
(This is what we deal with)
I'm galivanting out here in the open
Although a massive thunderstorm is near
Prime Minister says I don't need protection
Prime Minister says there's nothing to fear
Two fingers up to Starmer and his brothers
I'll show these Covid nay-sayers what for
Don't care if wearing masks is helping others
'cos selfishness is not against the law
(It seems that folk are only happy
when it all goes horribly wrong)
And so I thought I'd go out for a ramble
A storm cloud lurks directly overhead
I'm sure that with my life I do not gamble
if Boris says no chance I'll end up dead
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Chris Harris Bristol, UK
I'm still trying to get the music I record to sound like the version I can hear in my head. To do this I've ended up playing every instrument I can get my hands on. These days, I'm closer to "That Sound" than I used to be, but the journey continues.
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