Get all 5 Captain Wilberforce releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of When The Dust Just Won't Settle, Black Sky Thinking, Ghost Written Confessions, Everyone Loves a Villain, and Mindfilming.
1. |
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It’s a slow day at the Johnny Depp memorial café
Two moons rise and across the purple sky
Shines a vapour trail that should you try, might almost read goodbye
Don’t be happy. Someone should have warned me. Don’t be happy it always turns to sad
Maybe you’re the last, now all the rest have passed to pastures green or blue
I should have gone with you
The world outside is poisonous and cold, I can think better places to grow old
Dreamed of you again last night and knew
That impossible can come true, but the chances are it won’t and I’ll be stuck for eternity so
Don’t be happy. Someone should have warned me. Don’t be happy it always turns to sad
Maybe I’m the last, now all the rest have passed to pastures green or blue
I should have gone with you
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2. |
Good Times, You Said
03:50
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The rest had shut their eyes
But I left your house in light
Cos we’d talked and talked ‘til way after dark
Good times, you said
Tried to catch the tiny sparks
As we grew into our separate parts
And it didn’t really hurt too much at the time
Good times you said
Don’t cry, don’t shed a tear
Everyone knows what’s happened here
It’s just my rose tinted memory of you
We broke into another world
But we wore ourselves another beaten path
Where everything I ever did was wrong
“You lied to me”, you said.
And you never turned back around
Don’t cry, don’t shed a tear
Everyone knows what happened here
It’s just my rose tinted memory
When people ask I never lie;
I give a loose translation, a fanciful impression
With things that come to mind, like
That sunny day when we walked by the river
And we laughed until we rolled
Good times, you said.
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3. |
Skin
03:14
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There’s something burrowing under my skin. I keep on scratching but I just can’t reach it
Today I think there’s more than one of them. I hear them whispering bad things about me.
I used a compass to investigate - it didn’t hurt until the morning after
I hide the evidence, I hide the scars, they look like flowers from a certain angle
I’m just here with my oldest friend. I really like him but sometimes he scares me
He’s like a voice on the radio, making me buy things that I don’t need.
Get up and stop being dull he says. Stop watching TV it’ll rot your brain.
It’s always easier to do what he says. You don’t argue cos he always wins that game.
Go to the kitchen to the scissor draw. The ones I use to cut the rind off bacon
I don’t really want to go outside. It’s cold and raining but he makes me go.
I’m just here with my oldest friend. I really like him but sometimes he scares me
He’s like a voice on the radio, making me buy things that I don’t need.
There’s something burrowing under my skin.
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4. |
Someone to Love
03:36
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Now you’re alone, tied to the bed
All of his beautiful words spin round your head
Talking aloud, though you can’t understand
Why the sound of your voice seems so distant and sad
But what else can you do? He’s the one who comes home to you
Someone to love
Hanging around while he takes it outside
Taking the punches when he’s got no-one to fight
When there’s no-one to trust, nowhere to run
Keep your eyes to the floor and your lip buttoned shut
It’s your own stupid fault, you deserve what you’ve got
Someone to love
Who wrote this script for you anyway?
Sometimes a heartbeat is all that it takes to escape
Let him close his eyes we’ll make him understand
That tonight he becomes a single man
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5. |
Couples
03:23
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You close your eyes and hold your breath; I know right now I’m out of my depth
Can’t give you what you want from me, try cutting me I will not bleed
So why? You have a nice life
I’m sorry there’s something missing; I can’t save you from yourself
Be the sunlight in your darker days
All the comfort when you’re numb
Is there anything more sickening than couples in love, couples in love?
A séance at the kitchen sink, has resurrected memories
Of scenes I thought I’d locked away, all the mistakes I ever made.
So why? You have a nice life
I’m sorry there’s someone missing; I can’t save you from yourself
Be the sunlight in your darker days
All the comfort when you’re numb
Is there anything more sickening than couples in love, couples in love?
Are you listening? I once had it all of course I had to throw it all away
Are you listening? No one’s ever going to tell me I don’t learn from my mistakes
Are you listening? When I tell you this is never this is never going to change
Are you listening? I can never be the one you want no matter what you say
Be the sunlight in your darker days
All the comfort when you’re numb
Is there anything more sickening than couples in love, couples in love?
Please don’t call me later on tonight
I’ve got my TV, I’ve got my wine
I’ll raise a glass to Romeo and Juliet and couples in love, couples in love
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6. |
You Can't Have Me
03:01
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You can have anything you want, but you can’t have me
Smile, make hearts dissolve, and charm the birds out of the trees
Speak, persuade the dead to leave the ground, queue up at your door, beg to be the one
You could have had me once before, that time has gone
You can hold me captive when you dream but it won’t come true
Cry, as nations mourn and men wear black, grieving for you
Laugh and light the sky with sparkling fire, brightening the day, embarrassing the sun
Try to hold me captive when you dream but I won’t be the one
You can have anything you want, but you can’t have me
Smile, make hearts dissolve, and charm the birds out of the trees
Speak, persuade the dead to leave the ground, queue up at your door, beg to be the one
You could have had me once before, that time has gone
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7. |
Lazarus
04:11
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I saw the night die and the sun rise from the ocean bathed in fire
Just like Lazarus preaching to the choir
Then I swear I heard the whisper of a ghost – come home.
Well I know she likes to wear her patience thin; we don’t want to go through that again
She will always be the one I love
But it never seems to be enough, around here
Stole the Karma, from a better man who had a bunch to spare
And though he knew what I had done he didn’t care
In my mind a sighing voice of sorrow sang – come home
Well she knows I like to wear her patience thin; we don’t want to go through that again
She will always be the one I love
She’s the only one who understands me, around here
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8. |
King of Indecision
03:31
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Must be a complicated life, what with the children and the girlfriend and the wife
Not to mention all the casual affairs. Must be so tough, is it so tough?
The remedy is clear it’s just the consequences that bring on the fear of confrontation
Time trickles away and it’s so tough yes it’s so tough
So leave until tomorrow what you could have done today, and tomorrow you can always do the same
Little rituals and covering of trails, to save a spotless rep from messy stains
He don’t know who to choose he’s the king of indecision
He’ll take good care of you till it all starts crumbling around him, leave him where you found him, listen to your heart for a change
A romantic meal for one, heartfelt apologies he left after the tone, washed down with champagne and a growing sense of doubt that it’s all wrong, that it’s undone
But leave until tomorrow what you could have done today, and tomorrow you can always try to
Cling to the wreckage as the ship is going down ever hopeful that one day he’s going to change
He don’t know who to choose he’s the king of indecision
He’ll take good care of you till it all starts crumbling around him, leave him where you found him, listen to your heart for a change
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9. |
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There’s a black hole in the centre of the room, there’s nothing can escape from his overbearing emptiness
If you’re squeamish now’s the time to look away, cos his life is just a car crash, open wounds and complications
Loneliness can look seductive from a distance; melancholy songs can crush your heart before you notice
Everybody’s talking but nobody’s listening to you. Everybody’s talking to themselves
So much for standing in the corner oozing cool, like some unexploded bombshell, frowning at the drunken punters
She fakes oblivion to all the hungry stares from the losers and the geeks and the other never had a chancers
Loneliness is found in unexpected places; melancholy songs will crush your heart before you notice
Everybody’s talking but nobody’s listening to you. Everybody’s talking to themselves
We hang our lives out on the line, for everyone to see. We put it there for everybody else, but it’s just screaming look at me, look at me, look at me!
Drown me in your conversation let us all know just how much you care...
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10. |
Behind Crossed Fingers
03:30
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One day I will escape from this cold world
Get out of here far from all of these fools cos everyone’s stupid
And I don’t like them.
Somewhere, free from the cliques and corruption
Free from the politics and the lies that they spew from
Behind crossed fingers
Queen bees, sidekicks and parasite flunkies
Wearing their colours with pride. When they’re mad, I’ll get even
Because you’ll be standing by my side
Sweet jesus, open the blinds let the sun in
See how they run
One day, I will escape from this cold world
Wave my goodbyes
And promise that I’ll write
And walk away with you forever
Cross my fingers and hope that that day is coming soon
Until then please answer your phone
I’m all alone.
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11. |
Stickleback Toffee
02:23
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Stickleback toffee grenade volcano
Oppenheimer shoe
If Lennon and Beck are so goddamn clever
I can do that too
The truth is I’ve nothing left to say
But I’m going to say it anyway
It’s the way that I’m feeling
You don’t know how I’m feeling
Stickleback toffee I’ll leave it up to you
Quarterback coffee brocade tornado
Exponential crack
35 years of a failed obsession
I’m not getting back
I’ve never had anything to say
But I’ve always said it anyway
It’s the way that I’m feeling
You don’t know how I’m feeling
Stickleback toffee I’ll leave it all to you
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12. |
Black Sky Thinking
04:46
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Love interrupted, take your sunshiny life and get out of mine
Always brooding, black sky thinking, horror in everything.
Cos disbelievers like me, we know we can’t know you at all
In sleep fever-seared dreams, we just see the worst in us all
Tired of hiding from all the eyes in the walls watching out for me
Each tender word, each kind concern, only tastes bitter of sympathy
Cos disbelievers like me, we know we can’t know you at all
In sleep secrets are stolen, how can I trust you at all?
Black sky thinking again
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Captain Wilberforce Leeds, UK
Since the release of debut album Mindfilming in 2004, Captain Wilberforce have had airplay on BBC Radio 2, BBC 6Music, BBC Radio Leeds and Radio Aire as well as recording a live session for Dermot O'Leary's Radio 2 show. They've also had songs synched to programmes on HBO, ITV and The Fashion Channel ... more
Captain Wilberforce recommends:
These are classic tunes, heartfelt lryics and beautifully recorded. From Leeds too!
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