Get all 5 John Parkes releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Virtually Alive EP, Bleeding Edge / Distant Past, Don't be Seventeen EP, Illegal Songs, and Faithlessnessless.
1. |
||||
|
Second Golden Age of Protest
A second golden age of protest, acoustic revolution time
The folks and the business are going to listen, where there is darkness I will shine
Woody killed Fascists with his guitar, Donovan was sweet but not so sure
Melanie and Joni they got personal, I don’t know what happened to that Bobby D
Oh, it was a long time ago
Oh, some people never let go
Oh, here I stand, sorting out the world again
I hear righteous cries of voices, crying for justice in the past
And if 1965 is the last year of your music’s life…retrospectives pickled in wine / whine
Some will say the President is evil, say it straight and artlessly
Most still say that their sweet baby left them, she’s well out of it it seems to me
Oh, you can sense it I see
Oh, need a leader? - That’s me
Oh, no-one’s keener to clean up the government
My how I cry for your vagina, but I can’t listen to your song
Seems you sell yourself to ego, fame or some man’s wealth
Surely there must be something you have to say?
The boys I don’t pay them much attention, it’s my loss I’m sure that’s true
While they’re out choosing moisturiser, what’s a miserable twat to do?
Oh, I been led well astray
Oh, I got lost on my way
Oh, now it’s my mission – to stiffen up the hippy girls
- and that’s all
|
||||
2. |
||||
|
Glorification of Terrorism
Terrorism is glorious, terrorism is great
Let’s all be terrorists before it’s too late
Before it’s unfashionable, before its passé
Everybody make some commuter pate
There’s never a reason, don’t excuse the just bad
There are no just causes, just the plain mad
So fly ‘em from Prestwick, the civilised way
Translove Airways – run by the CIA
Strip ‘em and beat ‘em and ship ‘em out east
It’s not really torture when you’re fighting the beast - for liberty
And the whole world running from liberty
Ring that bell
The whole world crying for liberty
Ring that bell
Seems it’s illegal just talking like me
The authoritarians have taken over the asylum it seems
A police state for safety or a criminal gang
Spot the difference before you all hang
The woman’s got hand cream, that man’s got a beard
We don’t like the cut of his jib he looks weird
So raid and detain and shoot 7 times
No questions or judges or juries or trials - for liberty
And the free world running from liberty
Ring that bell
The whole world crying for liberty
Ring that bell
So terrorism is glorious, terrorism is great
Terrorists founded the United States
Now who can I glorify? Who can I praise?
To get put away for at least 90 days
I give you a lawbreaker, I glorify a man
I give you a terrorist, that Mandela man - for liberty
And the free world running from liberty
Ring that bell
The whole world crying for liberty
Ring that bell
The free world, drunken on bigotry
Ring that bell
The free world, crack down on liberty
All is well
|
||||
3. |
Let's Make Love
03:53
|
|||
|
Let’s Make Love
I met a girl the other night, we both seemed keen
She was a little more than just 17, if you know what I mean
We talked for a while I took a gamble, said she was the girl of my dreams
So she asked me for a DNA sample, I introduced her to my legal team
Let’s make love together if the government says OK
Let’s make love together when the consent forms are stamped and filed away
Test the smoke alarm and you can light the candles
If the health and safety rules are obeyed
Pay with plastic, remove all elastic, the restaurant might not be insured
Take me home and do it to me baby, yeah lay lady, lay
Check my ID and I’ll start the risk assessment
If the condom tests stand up OK
Let’s make love together if terms can be agreed
Let’s make love together if your contract lawyer and briefs are up to speed
Just to check you’re not carrying explosives, sharp objects or animals or fruit
Fines to pay if I see my sperm on ebay, or your underwear or birthday suit
Be mine if you pass the breathalyser and the health tests indicate rude
Get insured to shoot or sue your suitor if consent has been misconstrued
Let’s make love together if the state can be appeased
Let’s make love together if work mates and families agree
Let’s make love together if the government says OK
Let’s make love together as our personal freedom slips and slides away
|
||||
4. |
||||
|
Incitement to Religious Hatred
I hate your religion and all you believe
You’re bad and dangerous, the world is naïve
To think it’s OK to let you survive
Your role should be victim, thrown out of the hive
Your books and your buildings your graves and your schemes
Should be dug up or buried or burned, not believed
Your customs and habits, the food that you eat
Shall be cast from the hillsides and labelled obscene
Hate them all, kill them all
Your leaders and followers, interpreters and seers
Dress, customs, language, hung up by the ears
Your religion is a weirdo, a slut, whore and dog
But I quite like them, so perhaps not
The towers and the bowers and the temples and spires
Should be crushed into rubble and sunk in the mire
The scents and the candles and houses and piles
Dissolved in the spit from a million smiles
Hate them all, kill them all
Hate them all, kill them all
Eat all their children and scoop out their brains
Torture and scare them, pour their blood down the drains
Beat them and kill them and boil them in oil
Incitement to religious hatred is my all in all
If you want specifics if you think I’m being coy
Of whom am I talking? Who winds up this boy?
It’s as simple as ABC, as easy as pie
It’s that Great Giant Pixie that lives in the sky
Hate them all, kill them all
Hate them all, kill them all
Pause for reflection
Through all of this nonsense, the thing that strikes wrong
Is this God needs protection from me and my song
The law is a donkey, a pig snake or ass
We must all be polite and we must be glad
Hey - all of those people who died for free speech
Tell them we’re selling it – dirt cheap
|
||||
5. |
Pray for Recession
02:59
|
|||
|
Pray For Recession
A double latte frappaccino lite, with Marino cherry shot
In frosted glass, on ice
A cranberry and brie panini with butternut squash mousse
And seared dill reduction - and rocket
And everyone in this city is sure of city certainties and cash
We all need our 80K and bonuses and holidays, no less
I pray for recession, for slow down
Put these people on the dole
I pray for recession, for slow down, melt down
I find it good for the soul
And down on the waterfront, watch the prices tumble into ‘affordable’
The rise again of rag and bone, repair or borrow not to own, at last
A pedicure and sun-shower facial, a detox fruit juice irrigation hot
But not too hot
A decking spare room pond extension, with stressed patio artwork
In granite
And down from the coloured cat, the dancers staff the laundrette for me
Me, I will live mouth to hand, I’ll kill the ABBA tribute bands for money
I pray for recession, for slow down
Put these people on the dole
I pray for recession, for slow down, melt down
I find it good for the soul
I pray for retribution, redistribution, class war – my opinion has never been polled
I pray for the downturn, green turn, less waste, less greed, less rich
Let them have their turn - its only fair
I pray for recession – so there
|
||||
6. |
||||
|
Valentine’s Day
I don’t do Valentine’s Day
And all those multiples of 365
Don’t mean that much to me
I don’t do flowers and cards
Left on a window ledge to bend and starve
And remind myself of me
I don’t do jewellery
The chains and bracelets
And the rings that bind
But I could love you, I could love you, I could love you
I don’t do weddings with balloons
And broken vintage cars on wet afternoons
You say I could do this for you
But each time I do a little piece of me dies
And there’s all too little of me
Yeah I can do pompous and po-faced
In un-relaxed you know I specialise
But I could love you, I could love you, I could love you
I don’t do Valentine’s Day
|
||||
7. |
My Desire
02:28
|
|||
|
My Desire
I nurse my desire as I sign on for hire
I know the cure is cool thinking
I burst my desire as I clean out the fryer
It keeps my world from collapsing
And I know that you don’t notice me
And I know that my time’s nearly free
And I know you don’t care what I do
And there’s no-one here to take away – my desire
I curse my desire from waist height or higher
To save my soul from shrinking
Sweet Mary Jane in a cheap burger chain
She flew in from the 60’s
And I know that you don’t notice me
And I know that my time’s nearly free
And I know you don’t care what I do
And there’s no-one here to take away – my desire
I keep my stars inactive
|
||||
8. |
The Dog Ate My Song
01:40
|
|||
|
The Dog Ate My Song
Hey miss, the dog ate my song
And all that was left then was this
Hey sir, God made me old
And little was left when the meaning drained away
The lies of life
The tide of time
We fuck it up between us
Hey miss, don’t take the piss
Spit and Sellotape reveal the inherent weakness
Of my work in progress
The lies of life
The tide of time
We fuck it up between us
So yeah, the dog ate my head
And the bowl it was cleaned out of meaning
Were you here?
|
||||
9. |
||||
|
Left of Centre
My colleagues and I are the good guys, proud to represent you
We need your money to do those good things, to make life better for you
But now somehow you don’t seem to like us, but we really haven’t turned away from you
We still believe in those principles, we’re left of centre through and through
We’re left of centre in a nuclear powered kind of way
We’re left of centre in a cut down the dole kind of way
We’re left of centre in a privatisation kind of way
We’re left of centre in a lock ‘em all up kind of way
We’re left of centre in an increasing inequality kind of way
We’re left of centre in a crack down on the poor kind of way
We’re left of centre in a sucking up to billionaires kind of way
We’re left of centre with consultants at £1,000 a day
But we only pay ourselves what we think right, just a few multiples of yours
We let in some women and some dark skins, from private schools of all sorts
We are the patriot modernisers, we believe in queens and wigs and fur
I can do my job so much better if I do several others first
We’re left of centre in a knighting your friends kind of way
We’re left of centre in an off shore tax kind of way
We’re left of centre in a corporate sponsored kind of way
We’re left of centre in a tabloid crawling kind of way
We’re left of centre in a DNA test kind of way
We’re left of centre in a prove you’re Brits kind of way
We’re left of centre in a finger printed kind of way
We’re left of centre in a where’s your ID boy kind of way
Searching for peace in a nuclear escalation kind of way
Modern democracy in a tagged like pets kind of way
Protect your freedom in an iris scanned kind of way
Open government in an official secrets kind of way
Civil libertarians in a CC camera kind of way
Freedom of information in an exempt from the law kind of way
We’re left of centre in a top up fees kind of way
We’re left of centre in a no wealth tax kind of way
We’re left of centre in a keep ‘em poor kind of way
We’re left of centre in a sleazy arms deal kind of way
We’re left of centre in a covering up bribery kind of way
We’re left of centre in a banning demonstrations kind of way
We’re left of centre in a supporting torture kind of way
We’re left of centre in an illegal war kind of way
We’re left of centre in a right-wing authoritarian kind of way
|
||||
10. |
Economics
02:25
|
|||
|
Economics
Economic growth is the answer
Redistribution of wealth is a crime
Technology will come up with an answer
Before the world soufflés and dies
Everyone can 4 by 4 freely
Everyone can own the road home
Everyone can live in the country
And speak to their videophones
So turn out the Amazon basin
There’s a tin of corned beef as a prize
Concrete the South East of England
Give the Cockneys a surprise
Why take your power from the sunshine?
When you can make a big hole in the ground
Why eat your fill for your dinner
When you can eat till you’re 14 miles wide
No puncture for the economic cycle
No rain on the stock market stalls
Let’s hope the weather holds for the arms fayre
‘Cause we all love injustice and war
And the last tree that stood on Easter Island
Was cut down by a modern hero
The man that killed the last of the dodos
Was a guru of sustainable growth
|
||||
11. |
Stalker Boy
02:02
|
|||
|
Stalker Boy
You’ve obviously lost my address and phone number
And mobile and e-mail, my Mum’s house and pager
And all those other ways you could get in touch
Stalker boy wants you and stalker boy needs you
Stalker boy can help and stalker boy pleads with you
I just wanted to know where you lived and who your friends are
And which bus you catch and where you buy your clothes
And where you go, when the night time’s cold
Stalker boy’s not evil he’ll even let you leave
When he’s sung his song in your bedroom
My uncle was strange, my mother was unstable
My father died, I was brought up in a stable
Like all those other guys who were not quite right
Stalker boy’s not evil he’s just a ball of semen
Bowling his way to your top drawer
I’ve got DVD and mobile, super 8 and high 8
Instamatic web cam on 3D TVs
And I know you’re Polaroid, of my tie-pin mic
Stalker boy wants you and stalker boy needs you
Stalker boy can help and stalker boy pleads with you
|
||||
12. |
Running Down the Clock
02:32
|
|||
|
Running Down the Clock
I love her when she’s got good skin
I love her when she’s clean
I love her when she’s not been in
Pleading, taking, tripping, falling down
Crashing, wasting, smoking, burning down
She’s running down the clock, climbing up the rain
Looking for a cloud to take her weight
And when her weight goes down
And she starts coming round, I find her
Fingers, scratching, down the window pane
Falling, freezing, crying like the rain
And she’s got zero taste in men
Like all the girls I’ve known
I loved her ‘cause she’s got no sense
Pleading, taking, tripping, falling down
Crashing, wasting, smoking, burning down
She’s running down the clock, climbing up the rain
Looking for a cloud to take her weight
And when her weight goes down
And she starts coming round, I find her
Fingers, scratching, down the window pane
Falling, freezing, crying like the rain
The feral children, left with wolves again
|
||||
13. |
You Win
02:44
|
|||
|
You Win
If you were dead, I could sleep with all your friends
I'd come alive, let freedom live and faithful die
Say hey, you, what you going to do?
What you going to do when all this stuff comes back on you?
I walk a line, somewhere between the earth and sky
I trip a wire, somewhere between lust and liar
Say shout, out, it won't work out
Boys and girls can't come together never doubt
Hey you win, you win, you win, you win
I take it all back never meant to say
I take it all back never meant to say
I'm not to blame, biology just blows my brain
Lit a flame, a kiss is a kiss in the monsoon rain
Say hey, you, what you going to do?
What you going to do when all this stuff comes back on you
Hey you win, you win, you win, you win
Hey you win, hey you win
I take it all back never meant to say
For every boy who ever said a word
If ever girls could ever hear the boys
If ever we could filter out the noise
|
||||
14. |
Next to You
01:02
|
|||
|
Next to You
I, had better not get drunk
Sat next to you
Sat next to you
I, had better not open up
Sat next to you
Sat next to you
I, had better not spill the beans
Better not get obscene
Better not tell the truth
I, had better not get mixed up in you
Better not sit next to you at all
|
||||
If you like John Parkes, you may also like:
Once Upon A Time In Montréal
by Murray A. Lightburn
The folk artist explores grief through these smooth and soulful tracks.
go to album
Hushed and riveting, the new LP from Ana Silvera centers her expressive voice against quietly glowing guitars.
go to album
The new EP from Steve Gunn pairs the guitarist with Mdou Moctar, Circuit des Yeux, Bing & Ruth, and more for five evocative songs.
go to album
The St Buryan Sessions
by Sarah McQuaid
Recorded live at St Buryan Church, the latest from Sarah McQuaid is a showcase for the simple power of voice & guitar.
go to album
The sixth release from Steve Gunn is a dreamy gift of hazy melodies and ambient introspection.
go to album
I Used To Be Sad & Then I Forgot
by Mr. Alec Bowman_Clarke
Alec Bowman perfectly captures the dark soil under the pastoral world of British folk with this collection of melancholy originals.
go to album
For My Love
by Kesang Marstrand
featured on Bandcamp Radio Jan 5, 2016
go to album
