Get all 32 TA Walker releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Noctilucence, Space Fields: Ambient Guitar Series Vol 3, Ambient Guitar Series Vol 2: Chilled Noodles, Ambient Guitar Series Vol 1: Polar Vortex, Send Down The Rain, Retreat Songs EP, Elliptical Orbit, This Is The Self-Isolation Society EP, and 24 more.
1. |
Back On The Bus
03:19
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The last tour that you played
It ended last July
Off-track, time to kick back
Look for patterns in the sky
Now the crowds call your name again
From St Ives to Whitley Bay
Your transport’s here, so you concentrate
On remembering how to play
[chorus]
You’ve had your rest, it’s time to rise, get
Back on the bus
The road ahead, new lands that lie
In wait for us
Won't get there by lying here
Back on the bus...
Your band has pitched their camp
And grass has grown beneath
Guy-ropes - they've got high hopes
Of a life like Mick and Keith
But the bills won't pay themselves this month
And your fans have waited long
So the roadie's brought the Transit round
And the highway starts its song
You've had your rest...
[bridge]
The glaring lights, adoring crowds await you
Your career has come to this - it's not too late to
Reach for the sky
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2. |
St Ives State Of Mind
02:49
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Five hours’ drive from a Monday morning
Leaving with the tide
A vintage split-screen camper van
The only wheels to ride, to...
(St Ives) A haven by the sea
(St Ives) A hundred galleries
(St Ives) It waits for you and me
In my St Ives state of mind
Ambling through the tiny streets
Past gift-shops, artists’ nests
The seagulls’ song reminds us of
The town we love the best
(St Ives) Sea-breeze on my face
(St Ives) Far from the rat-race
(St Ives) Trawlers catching plaice
In my St Ives state of mind
[bridge]
Fishing-boats in harbour
Look out on passing ships
The seagulls divebomb people’s lunch
‘Cos they love that fish-and-chips!
[instrumental]
From the azure waves of Carbis Bay
To the Hayle estuary
The clearest light in England fair
Guess where I love to be
(St Ives) The artists’ balconies
(St Ives) Face the ocean breeze
(St Ives) Picture my memories
In my St Ives state of mind
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3. |
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Trocadero - late-80s
Neon lights, mirrored screens
Soundtracked by Walkman
I play "The Man-Machine"
Step out to the dirty streets
The present, unexpectedly
Maybe the future
Isn't what it used to be
Automatic - "Metamatic"
Jet-packs, flying cars
The Net came from nowhere
So near, yet so far
A super-computer
In every hand I see
Maybe the future
Isn't what it used to be
The sky - no limit
Bases on the moon
Four decades - low orbit
Flying nowhere soon
The stars we aimed for
And missed totally
Maybe the future
Isn't what it used to be
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4. |
Before The War
03:27
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In springtime years ago they met by the stream
Paddled in the shallows, talked about the wind
As days grew longer, new pastimes they would dream
Meadows bloom, daisies by the score
Before the war
Taking walks on verdant hills, skylark song above
That summer barely passed, as if it wouldn't end
It felt to them the hedgerows would celebrate their love
Like the larks, their insides seemed to soar
Before the war
[bridge]
Sometimes the words get in the way
Sometimes there's nothing right to say
September brought the gathering storm, and cast a shadow long
An argument of distant men, sweeping all before
To fight and hurt for others' hate - they felt it surely wrong
Still the letter came, dropping through their door
And then the war
[instrumental]
Sometimes the words...
They do their best to shield the flame, despite their time apart
Pen and ink are now their tongue, for now it has to do
The nights pass quiet and empty - when will they meet again?
And somewhere still, the stream will ever pour - like it did
Before the war
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5. |
Quick Song
01:48
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I've got to write this quick song for you
Can't guarantee a masterpiece to set the world aflame
The melody and chords aren't all that new
And you could've heard some other songs that maybe sound the same
[chorus]
But it's a quick song - it's your song
Especially for you
It's a quick song - it's your song
And the latest... in the queue
Do you mind the demo's slightly rough?
I was thwarted in my attempts to book the Wrecking Crew
So it's just me, this old guitar and a beatbox on my phone
And for our present purposes, I hope that it will do
But it's a quick song...
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6. |
Alaska
03:39
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Then here you came, blown by north winds
A winter visitor, welcome still
Settled quickly in a warm nest
Shielded from the Arctic chill
[chorus]
Whither Greenland, or Alaska
Icy wings that bank and soar
Shelter on our balmy marshes
'Til the cold retreats once more
Go no wandering, while the blizzards
Coat your distant breeding ground
Take our rain- and wind-swept island
For this time, to stay around
Whither Greenland...
[bridge]
And then we'll turn one day
And all we'll find
A lighter mist for lighter days
And next year left behind
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7. |
In The Corner At Parties
02:13
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Not much good at bowling
Down the gutter, every time
The others get the beers in
I nurse my Coke and lime
[chorus]
That's me in the corner at parties
Wonder why I bother showing up
Not quite a wow with ladies
Eye-contact, distant dream
Got a girlfriend with my pension
That's just the way it seems
That's me in the corner at parties
Wonder why I bother showing up
[bridge]
Then one fateful night, I dropped a contact lens
Crawling round a dance-floor - so this is how it ends
I thought
But guess who gave it back to me - she was a shy one too
We'd gone to the same parties, with never the same view
That's not us in the corner at parties
And you know we're glad we bothered showing up that night
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8. |
Fiction
01:41
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When a Briton asks the Met Office about tomorrow's weather
When a £5 wallet from a market claims it's real leather
When a politician postulates "we're all in this together" - oh
Perhaps they're definitions of "fiction"
When the National Enquirer swears that Elvis is alive
When it's preferable to travel hopefully than to arrive
When the latest manufactured star is billed as singing "live"
They may be three examples of "fiction"
When someone claims agreement from "the vast majority"
When something that looks really cool is advertised as "free"
When you hold forth with your narrow views, then claim to speak for me
I heartily suspect a work of "fiction"
To pass it off as truth engenders friction
Yes, it fits the definition of fiction
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9. |
Being Your Film
02:14
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From the day that the lights came on
My Oscar shortlist was down to one
The statuette, the second prize
To your embrace, your loving eyes
Forget the Tinseltown reception
I wish upon a star to be your film
The critics' views don't interest me
When I stay for the matinée
You're the feature - me, the cartoon
The "Heaven's Gate" to your "High Noon"
Romance, horror or comedy
Every day I want to be your film
Frame by frame - you make yourself a name
More and more - you get to write the score
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10. |
With Snowdrops
03:25
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Remember the walk that we took in the spring?
Lined with snowdrops
The quickening year could bring anything
The future in seed
Winter dissolves into springtime
Running to meet you
Your hair like a rippling stream
Through the fields
Remember the hill that we climbed in the sun?
Alive with daisies
Stopped for the view - did time stand still
For you and for me?
Springtime dissolves into summer
Running to catch you
Your feet through the grassy waves
Across the fields
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11. |
A Shady Spot
00:46
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12. |
Nearly Run
03:42
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Been running for a lifetime
Now the home straight's hoving into view
Those muscles feel on fire
These legs are running out on you
A second wind awaits you
When the fans prepare to cheer you home
[chorus]
Carry on, your race is nearly run (x3)
And the time to stop is when you're done
Recall the sights that passed you
But don't look back until the end
No time to fall to pieces
Those aches will fade, that tear will mend
Around this final corner
Just one more spurt, and then the prize
Keep on, your race is nearly run (x3)
And the time to stop is when you're done
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13. |
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A bright warm day in early spring
Found us both in Cheongryangri
Dressed our once-in-a-lifetime best
And joined by friends and family
It seemed even the cherry trees
Had thought to blossom early
A present for our special day
Especially for you and me
Eleven springs have rolled around
Through rain and sun and heat and snow
Still we walk this lane as one
Past snowdrops bursting from below
Each spring renews our memories
Our garden grows a cherry tree
Our daughter catches petals, as we
Recall that spring in Cheongryangri
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14. |
Away With The Tide
02:57
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See where the water and sky overlap
The sea-spray and clouds become one
Follow the line from horizon to shore
This time tomorrow, we've gone
Over the waves and far away
Over the salt-crests we'll ride
Away with the tide
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TA Walker UK
Guitarist/multi-instrumentalist, composer and songwriter, often with "electronica", "lo-fi" and "prog" inclinations.
Um... will that do?
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