Get all 29 James Jefferys releases available on Bandcamp.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Lifetime for the Shy, So Now He Hides, Songs For People Who Keep Their Heads Down, Or a Hollywood Movie, All Is Worry, Now I Can See Exactly Where the Sea Begins, Gone is Trouble, Stand Outside Your House, Face the Street and Shout, and 21 more.
1. |
Aspidistras
02:41
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James Jefferys - Aspidistras
Here's the gloomy boulevard
We admit that life is hard
Aspidistras always green
Left alone by kerosene
Trouble in the Eastern bloc
Shorter mic-stand, leader talks
Trouble in the textile mill
It's too soon for you to feel
Now is the time to squander
Ignore the dwindling over yonder -
If I'm literate or not
I understand the message
To see me angry, it is not
Acceptance of your blessing,
And as ev'ry seat is filled
In the cinema above me
All conceits are either killed
Or left alone and ugly...
I have no patience to wait
For racing pulses to abate
It is mine to demonstrate
Mine to set the demons straight
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2. |
Wide Open Sea
03:08
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James Jefferys - Wide Open Sea
So this is how it feels to have made it
I've got a house and a car
And nothing to do every day
This is how it feels to have made it
This place is palatial
But the pace is glacial
Never thought I'd appreciate
The face of the spatial
And what the view
Of a wide open sea can do...
And what the view
Of a wide open sea can do...
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3. |
You're Not On Your Own
04:56
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James Jefferys - You're Not on Your Own
Send me pennies in a vault or a purse
Honest, I promise I'm the salt of the Earth
And need and greed are faults from birth -
We're cyclical, fickle, caught in a dearth
Me and many
Maybe Mary and Jenny
Might all have to gnaw on that bone
At times this hard,
It's dripping and lard
And trust me, you're not on your own
Hands cupped, looking up around the cupboard
The children's whimpering should amount to something
They belt to shelter under clouds that have gathered
They only hope, and find they're smothered
Luck was laying
A rush of rain
Like a lake in the last days of Rome
We issued our thanks
And sipped from the banks
Brother, you're not on your own
A reading is Eden was fine and okay
And fathom despite Adam trying, it wasn't his day
Lungs full, then a pull - dandelion blows away
How can he? Humanity flies into disarray.
Clearly just cleaning
The clumps from the ceiling
Won't reveal what still needs to be shown
Let's get on the ground
With tweezers and trowels
It's alright – you're not on your own
The older and bolder are barking offences
The young ones are stunned and sharpen their senses
And forget they were set on marking their fences
And only to barter with what they were meant to
Cold and mouldy,
A ring shakes his shoulder
He rises and limps to the phone
But it's not for him,
It never is
Cos you know, you're not on your own
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4. |
Insomniac
03:14
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James Jefferys - Insomniac
David's an insomniac
It's 11am, his body's out of whack
Before he leaves his house of ill repute
From the floor on top,
He puts on a suit
To get a free cup of coffee
From the posh coffee shop
The obsequious assistants work on commission
So wince at David's sheepish admission
That despite his fine clothing
And delicate ways
He shan't be buying today
Whether bridal store or threadbare thrift
All times of day a spectre drifts
Mosies through the high street, though
There's no-one to meet,
Nowhere to go
There are no sapphires in the mine
Be sad, cos he won't be back soon
Down the hall to the serpentine
Tell me what am I supposed to do?
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5. |
Ornaments
03:50
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James Jefferys - Ornaments
… And without a word, he fled
He knew his edge was ornamental
It was just something that had never actually been said
Just to think of how he spent all
His days as a voice, booming from the darkness
Selling his meat at the market -
Bending out branches from a broken basket -
Claiming the rest are destitute, barren -
He's not necessarily the best, he's just apparent
Rolls up his sleeves,
Shows us his arms
He's pleasant in essence
When he's not causing harm
It's hard to believe
Only two days ago
He breathed in the sea
And burned in the snow
He breathed in the sea
And burned in the snow
Followed the stragglers
And showed where to go
He played with us
Broke bread with us
Prayed with us,
Despaired with us
He played with us
Broke bread with us
Prayed with us,
Despaired with us
He played with us
Broke bread with us
Prayed with us,
Despaired with us
He played with us
Broke bread with us
Prayed with us,
Despaired with us
So seasons sailed by, and we saw sense
Reason showed us ornaments
Not screaming or slithering with slime or scandal
Just sitting silent on the mantle
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6. |
Frail
02:46
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James Jefferys - Frail
A wind whips around the sagging poplars
Makes them look like they've forgotten something -
Straightening above the woman
Mowing the lawn
In a flowing shawl
Still seeking the warmth
She felt when she was born
But nobody is watching her, now
She's not the lure; she's far too frail
Longs for the slobbering on her shoes
Out of nought but gratitude
The kind of trust she once sought
Would make weaker ones combust
And look like they're caught
In a furnace of compromise
Between burning flies
And flesh that fries
From years ago till the end of time
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7. |
Voodoo
02:44
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James Jefferys - Voodoo
For our pleasure and our scorn
Desires die and then reborn
In different forms like popped corn
Try to tell us they're not torn -
They've just returned a different shape
Nothing for your thumbs to make
Of ripped paper and sticky tape
And what we want's as thin as crepe
I need for you to pour it on me
That I'd prefer a Godly ark in a storm
Than a house of ill repute
When the air is still and the day is warm
See if you can do it, too
Form a circle with a few -
Heavily perfumed voodoo,
Jewelled school, dinosaur tooth
The séance doesn't need you this excited
You're happy to hear any voice from the other side
You're happy to hear any voice from the other side...
I need for you to pour it on me
That I'd prefer a Godly ark in a storm
Than a house of ill repute
When the air is still and the day is warm
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8. |
Just Is
02:30
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James Jefferys - Just Is
You correct the shape of your body
To match that of the instructor
The Saturday sun inches West
Until the shades we scape start touching
And closeness which was once just a word
Reaches inside each of us
Presses against all of our stresses
That which doesn't teach, but is
That which doesn't teach, just is
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9. |
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James Jefferys - The First Scene of Winter
I look out of place
And my eyes are bleary
You can see on my face
That I'm not volunteering
It's easily said
And I'm not being cute
Now I'm scared
To contribute
You're trying to nurse
Me back to health
But I'm in the hearse
You – put – me – in – there – your – self
It's ours to choose -
The couple of Caesars
Say 'boo' to the goose
Make sure everyone sees us...
You know the type
Flashing the cash
With tripe that is ripe
And fashionable trash
He'll sell you the oil
He'll sell you the snake
He'll sell you his boils
And his bellyaches
Bellyache bursts
At the end of a splinter
The play's unrehearsed
It's the first scene of Winter
It's ours to choose -
The couple of Caesars
Say 'boo' to the goose
Make sure everyone sees us...
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10. |
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(instrumental)
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11. |
The Long Walk Back
00:59
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James Jefferys - The Long Walk Back
There are no sapphires in the mine
Be sad, cos he won't be back soon
Down the hall to the serpentine
Tell me what am I supposed to do?
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