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The Poet and the Priest (part 2)

from The Poet and the Priest by Gavin O'Loghlen

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about

A 56 minute continuous symphonic progressive concept album divided into three sections. Album recorded 1989, but never publicly released.
Digitally mixed and re-mastered at Locrian Records by Gavin O'Loghlen - January 2007.

lyrics

THE OPEN ROAD

Three years passed - it seemed like four
our courses ran out - we then followed
served our year with the Brigidines
learnt more than in the four before them
I went eastwards towards the border
he stayed back in Adelaide.

Ever upwards striving
living like there’s no tomorrow
taught by day and dreamt by night
our world was full of sound and fury
I wrote operas; he filmed mad scripts
Pushed ourselves to three productions every year
I was coming home to the unbelievers
he was silent - quietly bleeding - here, here

Formed two companies of actors
“Big and Little Uns” in it
“Charlotte's Web”, “Bed Sitting room”
“There's a Fire in the Furnace” someone hollered
I did “Hobbits”, “Joseph”, “Four Days”
worked upon the “Warlord's” theme.

Formed a rock group lasted twelve months
then I threw the towel in
couldn't stand the drunken bullshit
isolation ate right through me
weekend town trips, unleashed burdens
God I've got to get away
I can't stand it here
I proposed a flight of freedom off to England
he sat silent, quietly bleeding
- here here.

Late at night the bombshell burst
the grief, the pain, the bottled hurt
only then the answer slowly stirred
seemed like a dream.
The poet’s lot was not for him
the tragic masks, the jesters’ grins
he’d thought it out and chosen this
- the life of the priest.

Side by side
we knew the end had come
we knew our paths had run off
into different woods.

Locked away practising everyday
I became a keyboard slave
I had to find the key to my “Images” of life
they were formed in a mirror’s light
of the things I'd seen inside.
And the doorbells rang - the pressmen flashed
and the tongues of the gossips wagged
and then fame and grief touched.

Side by side my “Adolescence” grew
emotions I never knew
soon all came bursting through.
Side by side “Basil Nuts” had his say
and then despair gave way
to “Nerbellus” in his hole.....

Hey you bird of life
on these dark and lonely nights
I can't see and I can't fly.

THE PIT

All alone in my hole I have dug for myself
so far from the visions I know
In my garden of gloom see my harvest -
I am the seeder, the breeder, the reaper of doom
I all alone.....

Time flies by, grey grows on and for the first time I find
now in fifteen years I sing no song
nothing further to say - no new opera
I am the zero, the infinite, impotent tune.
Ah! Take me away.....

THE TREADMILL PART I

And then the wheels start turning
round and round and round
and then the wheels start turning

I had to keep my mind on the tracks
had to see where a bachelorhood could take me
signed for three years of study and stress
it's nearly done - but now I'm dying by degrees.
Round and round and round.......

“You need sound investments my friend”
said the tax agent counting up my gold
“Property and pears are the way”
so we bought the farm -
now it's the bank that owns my soul.
Round and round and round.......

“You need a challenge and promotion as well”
took my assessment - got four “A”s and a new job
one fifty “K”s each day I drive to and fro
I got what I wanted....now I'm a prisoner of the road.

Round and round and round.......
Assignments.... Gotta get out
Assessments.... Gotta get out
Repayments..... Gotta get out
and still the wheels keep turning

Deep in the night alone and awake
chair bound and tied - in torment I cried
such was the pain I felt inside.
Sick as a pig and doubled by grief
clutching my side in the harsh TV light
as all night pop clips played away.

And the doctor said
“It seems to me to be acute appendicectomy.
We’ll slice you up at nine a.m.
to see what we can find.
It looks like four weeks off for you old son
and after I am through -
You can do what you wish”.
Granted reprieve
saved by the knife - four weeks of leave
four weeks to breathe
it will seem like paradise to me.

THE OPEN ROAD REVISITED

Out on the highway out into the night
white picket cat’s eyes flash past in the lights
Yet I’m driving for a reason - putting down
eight hundred “K”s of tar - I'm slowly dying in the dark.

Outskirts before me, jungle made of men
turn off at Coburg slip into the “Pent”
and I'm waiting ’til the morning
waiting there to see my one soul friend
I’m slowly dying in the dark.

And in the morning as I see him
standing on the grass by the corner
playing with a frisby
shouting out a greeting like he ought to
we slip into the bullshit
making out the old days have caught up
..... NO DON' T!!!!!
it was late at night by the kitchen fire
there were just we three
when the truth emerged from me

THE POET ......

Lover of life - saviour of souls
please hear my cry - don't let me die
there must be more to life than this.

.... AND THE PRIEST

I have no wand to wave about
no magic words to speak
I am no mystic
I am no shooting star.

Yet there seems to me to be
two different kinds of lives we lead
one - all consuming
the other - the building stone.

Each day we slave to make a crust
with sweat and tears and toil
always depleting giving ourselves away
until at last an empty shell
is all that there remains
crying for comfort, trying to lay the blame.

Well you’ve reached that stage my friend
now you must start to build again -

You must do the things that give you life...

THE TREADMILL PART II

And then the wheels start turning
round and round and round
and then the wheels start turning

I find myself soon back on the tracks
peddling paper, watching signposts slip by
countless meetings of waffle and yawn
back where I started
only nothing’s changed at all.

Round and round and round
it seems like nothing’s changed at all
Round and round and round
it seems like nothing’s changed at all

I got to thinking that all talk is cheap
easy to say
when you’re not trapped in a treadmill
time is my enemy - it races away
I just can’t do it all -
I need thirty hours a day

Round and round and round
Do the things that give you life
Round and round and round
Do the things that give you life

I’m too damn tired when I get home from work
then there’s the mortgage
and the bills keep coming in
I find my energy just slipping away
turn on the TV -
and vege out for another day.

Round and round and round
Do the things that give you life
Round and round and round
Do the things that give you life.

I’m like a madman standing searching the sea
can’t see the bottom for the glare on the water
too afraid to go and jump right on in
resolved to hover on the brink
- Yet I know I can swim.

Round and round and round
Do the things that give you life
Round and round and round
Do the things that give you life
Round and round and round
Round and round and round
Round and round

Start playing
you’re delaying
the cure

Do the things that give you life

STOP.......!!!!!!!

........just stop!!

THE KEY

I’ve had enough of this sad old affair
I’m getting out of this gloom
nothing inside of me feels anymore
like a wet rag
I’m washed up and wrung out
and then thrown away
and I’ve much more to do and so much to say.

Sit myself down in this room full of keys
trying to unlock that door
watching my fingers just picking their pathway
through sharps, flats and naturals
it seems that they know what to do
I haven’t a clue
I’ll just follow behind them
and see where they go.

Don’t let the bullshit deceive you
it will always exist
but the door isn’t real
you can do what you wish.

Well I’ve had enough of this sad old affair
I’m getting out of this gloom

Now seems a good time
to stop chasing those sad songs
let them fly away.
Now seems a good time to step out of this
“right and wrong” - didn’t like it anyway.
Just let your melody come through
let it go wherever you want to
time is your own - you can do what you wish

Now seems a good time
to start writing some new songs like I used to know
Now seems a good time
to forget righting all those wrongs
I couldn’t anyway.
In my heart something is stirring
feel all those senses returning
just for this moment I grasp it again.....
.......I step into the light.

LIKE DAEDALUS ASCENDING

Taking chances - throwing all like chaff before you
feel the wind blow
watch the winnowed grains appear.
Stand like windmills
spread your arms to both horizons
feel your wings grow
leave your sorrows far behind.

Fly with me on my magic carpet
fly with me to my tropic isle
see the sunsets of gold and crimson
and feel your rhythm return
in the dance.....
in the dance.....

And I sit here
safe from all my fears and heartaches
soaring higher the world out there
can’t touch me now.
Though I once thought
“You're escaping - turn and face them”
now I know I’m not
I’m filling up this empty whole.

Sail away on my magic carpet
sail away to my tropic isle
there we’ll build up these broken bodies
and some can build up their souls

in the dance
in the dance
in the dance
in the dance
in the dance....

THE NEW DAWN

Wanna hear the Sirens
I wanna hear their tune
I wanna be the man on the moon.
Wanna own a kingdom, wanna own it soon
wanna be the man on the moon.
And I feel like I’m growing much stronger each day
I feel like I’m back on the road
all those old feelings I’ve known.

Wanna break some new ground
I’m out of the gloom
wanna be the man on the moon.
Wanna write some new songs
wanna hear their tunes
wanna be the man on the moon.
And I know that these shadows
that wander my brain
and drag me down into the pit
are no more real than dreams

As I stand here unshackled
my manacles removed
I gaze at those about me
and see they're dying too.

WALKING SHADOWS

Everybody’s searching for directions
everybody’s groping in the dark
I can see them wandering round like lost ghouls
everyday is like St. Andrew’s Eve.
Try to wake them
try to make them hear me
but it's no use
they can't see the light.

And I feel like Geronimo grieving for his lost tribes
their future scenario doesn't seem at all bright.

Everybody’s playing for their kingdoms
building castles up there in the air
never notice days and years slip past them
never notice that they never care
’til it’s too late - “Time's run out for you son
there's no reset button on this game”.

And I feel like Geronimo grieving for his lost tribes
their future scenario doesn’t seem at all bright.

When I say he saved me - I don't mean that...
...what he did was make me save myself
if you go on hating every new day
just remember - that day’s gone for good.
Soon the pathway turns into a graveyard
soon you’re dead for all eternity.

And to think that
that living corpse could have nearly been me
I was half way to no return
a phantom on a ghost train.

And where is he......?
And where is he.......?

credits

from The Poet and the Priest, released February 1, 2007

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Gavin O'Loghlen Australia

Cotters Bequest is a seven piece progressive Celtic band playing 28 instruments including Highland, Uilleann, Northumbrian and Scottish smallpipes, Irish whistles, violin, cello and accordion wrapped in layers of acoustic and electric guitars, vintage keyboards and rich vocal harmonies.

In the style of "a Celtic King Crimson..a Pink Floyd with bagpipes.. with a sprinkling of Peter Gabriel."
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