1. |
The Burning Pile
04:07
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2. |
Whistleblower
03:49
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Whistleblower
(Words and Music: Ray Cooper)
Blow blow blow the whistle blow
She's got nowhere else to go
Holed up in a safe house safe but not for ever
There's no going back now not now no not ever
Your old life is over
You'll never live a life in clover
It's showtime go time press enter
Blow the storm and you're the centre
Don't shoot don't shoot don't shoot the messenger
This time you put yourself outside the pale
Maybe spend a life in jail
Or exile in a foreign land
Getting emails from your biggest fans
She shines a light in darkened corners
Naming shaming hidden forces
Willing to withstand the wrath
And tread a very very narrow path
Its a story a slow burner
She's a witness a stone turner
But what is she supposed to do
With the evidence of murder
A flashbulb moment can reveal
The hidden forces, the secret deals
And the wheels within the wheels
Within wheels
Computer needs a new user
We need a new Martin Luther
Willing to commit offences
To see and understand the consequences
Black mess black blood black earth black streets
Black gold black death black meat black teeth
Black sky black eyes black clouds black mind
Black days black thoughts black bile black sand
And black water
A journalist is on the phone
Filing copy to a desk back home
A necessary witness to the truth
A saint or a sinner
A loser or a winner
A hero or a fool ... but it's a job somebody's got to do
Its a story a slow burner
She's a witness a stone turner
What else is she supposed to do
With the evidence of murder
Its a story a slow burner
She's a witness a stone turner
What else is she supposed to do
With the evidence of murder
Don't shoot don't shoot don't shoot the messenger
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3. |
Circles
04:05
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Circles
(Words and music: Ray Cooper)
We walk in circles on the earth
With the sun the big sky and the birds
With friends we meet along the way
Some will go and some will stay
The things I miss about you now
Your light your laughing and your smile
You left behind an open place
An empty space
Seagulls are crying every day
Sometimes I think I hear them call your name
But there's no answer to their call
Some will come and some will fall
I follow footprints in the snow
Back to where we started it all
Then we went our different ways
Some will go and some will stay
If there's a heaven you will know
That's where you surely will go
You stepped lightly on the ground
And lightly you did go
Seagulls are crying every day
Sometimes I think I hear them call your name
But there's no answer to their call
Some will come and some will fall
I sing your name up to the sky
But the birds shout back and cry
There's no answer here below
Some will come and some will go
I walked up to the mountain top
And gazed across the sea
Where the endless green waves
Had once spoken to me
Seagulls are crying every day
Sometimes I think I hear them call your name
But there's no answer to their call
Some will come and some will fall
We walk in circles on the earth
With the sun the big sky and the birds
With friends we meet along the way
Some will go and some will stay
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4. |
Eyes Of Mercy
03:47
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Eyes of Mercy
(Words and music: Ray Cooper - April 19th 2020)
I hear you coming from the rustle of your clothes
The sound of plastic slippers on a polished floor
Check the signs read the charts down the line
And then check mine
Can't turn my head but I hear what you said
I wish I could answer 'Just fine'
I want to breathe
I want to breathe
How long have I been here hours turn to days
There's an angel by my bedside with a covered face
I'll try to be your small success and I hope you make it too
Eyes wide awake night and day tired eyes
That watch for signs
Stay awhile
Lead me through to the front door or to the back
Lead me through
Through to the light or to the black
I need someone to hear my tale or it will stay with me
This one needs to run it wants someone to set it free
It's only when the days are short I see the course I've run
It's only when I stopped the race I saw that long ago I'd won
Goodbye to the past
And if the flames leave just us
Those who make it through will remember you
And thank the few
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5. |
The Beast
04:18
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The Beast
(Words and music: Ray Cooper)
Welcome to the Middle Ages
Where the past bites back through history's pages
Back to a world of pirates religious wars beheadings and slaves
We thought the past was buried and there it would stay
Locked up in tombs old stones and graves
Not reaching out with it's skeletal hand to break the earth where it was laid
But it's back
It never left
We're beginning to see the future
And it's too much like the past
And we're looking at a future
We didn't build to last
The past should stay where it was
In ruined castles old folk songs or buried in the ground
But it's not
It's up and moving about like some awful beast come to tell us it never went away
It let us think that
It never listened to those speeches by well meaning politicians
On the aspirations of post-war Britain
Our grandfathers paid the price in blood and gave us this world for free
So we could dance in the rain at Glastonbury
It's a wake up call, that's all, we just got lazy with it all
There was no war to end all wars there is no drink to end all drinks
Of course the beast is back
It never left.
We're beginning to see the future
And it's too much like the past
And we're looking at a future
We didn't build to last
We got an overclass an underclass
And behind that another underclass
We got untouchables somewhere far away
Who tread the mill that turns our wheel of luxury
We got Nazis, in the school yard, and in the streets
Something we never thought we'd see
We got contract hours back down to zero
Leaders with the hobbies of Nero
There's not much talk of a minimum wage
What do we do? Comfort is the enemy of rage
We take selfies in the looking glass
And buy stuff that's not made to last
We got robots that will take our jobs, and all the temptations of Pandora's box
The beast
Is back
We're beginning to see the future..
And it's too much like the past
We're looking at a future
We didn't build to last
We're looking at a future
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6. |
Canada Hill
03:35
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7. |
We Need More Heroes
04:23
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We Need More Heroes
(Words and music: Ray Cooper)
You are like a statue, white and cold as stone
But we can talk you and I, now we're alone
You can help me, listen, listen this last time
You were always a friend of mine
I've been a soldier and a soldier I remain
Slept with one eye open to the wind and rain
I confess that I forgot you, as I played my part
And I never knew you'd be that shooting star
You hesitated and tried to break free
But you couldn't escape the hands of cold destiny
A prince of hope you were for justice bold
You're a story now, that must be told
We give so little in return but in our hearts your light still burns
And it's the destiny of rain and snow to fall
And it's the destiny of sharp eyed hawks to fly
And shooting stars to blaze and die
Yes shooting stars will blaze and die
The restless spirit chasing dreams
That part of you will never die
We pick up your fine dreams and run them with our own
You're a story now, that must go on
Farewell friend I have work to do
And where you've gone I can't follow you
We living must get up and toil with the sun
We have our tasks and there's work to be done
But in our hearts your light still burns
We need more heroes
And this world still turns…..and we carry on
Farewell my friend we'll say adieu
We promise to remember you
You never wanted to be king
You fate's to fall just when you win
You walked that long and lonely road..
You faced your fate that day alone
You never wanted to be king.........Your fate's to fall
But in our hearts your light still burns
We need more heroes
And this world still turns…..and we carry on
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8. |
Dark Father
03:44
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Dark Father
(Words and music Ray Cooper)
Hello again my old friend
Back to the beginning, back to the end
I've been waiting for you to come
Dark father dark star dark son
I knew that we would meet again
Back from the beginning back from the end
And I will rest in the warm dark tide
As you close my eyes
I don't belong in heaven I don't believe in hell
Where I'm going will suit me well
All the bad and all the good I've ever done, is one
Dark father dark star dark son
Always there, never lost never won
Waiting at the end of time, the end of clocks to run
And all the bad and all the good I've ever done, is one
Dark father dark star dark son
And I saw where I am going I know where I've been
To the dark purple distance we have all seen
At the end of nights and days and setting suns
Dark father dark star dark son
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9. |
Ilmarinen`s Ride
02:14
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10. |
Brave Wolfe
04:57
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Brave Wolfe
(trad - After Allan Mills.- arr Ray Cooper)
Come you young men all and hear my story
Of how Bold Wolfe did fall in all his glory
On the fields of Abraham fell that great hero
We'll long lament his loss in deepest sorrow
That brave and gallant youth did cross the ocean
To free America of her division
He landed in Quebec with all his party
The city to attack, being brave and hearty
Bold Wolfe drew up his men in a line so pretty
On the plains of Abraham before the city
On the plains before the town where the French did meet him
In double numbers round all for to beat him
When drawn up in a line for death preparing
And in each other's eyes those two armies were staring
Where the canons on both sides did roar like thunder
And youth in all it's pride was torn asunder
The guns the ground did shake where he was lying
Bold Wolfe he seemed to wake as he was dying
He lifted up his head as the guns did rattle
And to his men he said how goes the battle
His aide-de-camp replied it's in our favour
Quebec in all her pride, there is none can save her
For 'tis falling in our hands with all her treasure
And then Bold Wolfe replied, I die in pleasure.
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11. |
Dark Sky Park
03:46
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Dark Sky Park
(Words and Music: Ray Cooper)
I know a place I'll take you there
Far from this bright crowded fair
I'll take you to the darkest place I know
So dark that Venus casts a shadow
They gathered all the dark that's left
And drove it to this lonely place
We'll stand beneath a million tiny stars
And know that all this summer night is ours
We'll walk along the ash grey roads
And visit Dark Sky Park tonight
We can see beyond this world
And watch the universe unfold
And near those tiny points of distant light
We know that other eyes look up tonight
They'll wonder if there is someone
On this third rock from the sun tonight
They know that we are not alone
We're just so far from home
They want to meet they want to share
The love we're feeling now right here
And walk along the ash grey roads
And visit Dark Sky Park tonight
And visit Dark Sky Park tonight
And visit Dark Sky Park
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Ray Cooper UK
Ray Cooper is a singer/songwriter and multi instrumentalist currently residing in the depths of Sweden where he moved in
2000. He left Oysterband in 2013 after a year in which they picked up 3 BBC2 Folk Awards and appeared live on the "Later..with Jools Holland' show. Since then he has carved out a successful solo career.
Photo by Kerstin Maier
... more
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