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Playing Songs No One's Listening To

by Roy Møller

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1.
Let me describe the scene – let me describe the scene… let me tell you, let me tell you Let me describe the scene – let me describe the scene… let me tell you, let me tell you Well, the Grosvenor Loner goes from Bart to Homer in the space of a decade and a half And he’s drunk from the fountain of a man-made fountain made of second-hand vinyl and a phonograph Pictures on railings, pictures on gables a little bit up the road Charting movements of eternal students & the ones that come & go Play a song and no one listens on Byres Road on a Saturday afternoon Middle: Misguidedly I thought that here I’d always be in tune I’m in tune to the moon, they say I’m in tune to the moon Come walk with me Down Byres Road on a Saturday afternoon Casual crowds are not allowed to keep you from calming down In tucked-away alleyways, cafés and galleries – a Caledonian Camden Town Always run into somebody then run into another of your hook up occasionally friends I ran into somebody between the shop Fopp and the library We did the catch-up, lifted the latch up On the door called memory - that’s what you’ll see The Grosvenor Groover & the butcher’s improver Let me tell you people it never ends Till night descends – till night time comes to Byres Road on a Saturday afternoon Byres Road Saturday… Keep the conversation going…
2.
Paper’s wood and love is trust Did what I could to push that stuff Need an update for my mind Random thoughts and file aways Are all I got to take your place Downstate update – think you'll find I walked out in the weather – get it together – Downstate updatee I walked out in the freeway – give me some leeway – Downstate update Got a magic notion for a beautiful girl – update all over the world Got a magic notion for a beautiful girl – update all over the world Yeah yeah yeah Ride the pipeline, lay the cable Feed me fruit and vegetable Need an update for my head Random thoughts and file aways are all I got to take your place Downstate update – back to bed I walked out in the weather – get it together – Downstate update I walked out in the freeway – give me some leeway – Downstate update Got a magic notion for a beautiful girl – update all over the world Got a magic notion for a beautiful girl – update all over the world Yeah yeah yeah
3.
I said hi, I don't like to get too high I don't like to tread on the other guy's sky, baby all right My skyscrapers are not built so high So please don't look up in the sky Hello, I don't like to get too low But if you go diving with Jacques Cousteau, baby all right My skyscrapers might make themselves known to you My skyscrapers into view They don't scrape the sky of blue They're not there to be seen What we can do is watch them through The windows of the sea of green (Chorus) Middle: They don't scrape the sky of blue They're not there to be seen What we can do is watch them through The windows of the sea of green (Chorus) x2 Nothing in the papers could ever show you my skyscrapers (Chorus) x2
4.
Whistling in the sidestreet gathering gloom Try to burn a little heat here in my room Sprayed some graffiti on a favourite bench in the park Fair and square I think you beat me – I lost you in the dark More fool you – that’s what they’re laying on me More fool you – now that you have gone free Ninety-nine times out of ten what I start I can never defend But more fool you – I’m happy being lonely Always close to the spirit of the thing, I can get my kicks any old way The play of light on the cellophane wing of my friend the fly till I get my spray But I can’t spray the pain away – ain’t she sweet But I don’t mind, I think you’ll find I’m happy in defeat More fool you – that’s what they’re laying on me More fool you – now that you have gone free Ninety-nine times out of ten what I start I can never defend But more fool you – I’m happy being lonely If god created hangovers to show he don’t exist And our song has been sang over and it all comes down to this More fool you – that’s what they’re laying on me More fool you – now that you have gone free Ninety-nine times out of ten what I start I can never defend But more fool you – I’m happy being lonely
5.
When we argue it's a lonely sound That echoes in the alleyways But even when I'm coming down It feels like I can almost touch some sunrays For a second I can get away As I wonder I understand over under sideways down Till it does what it's got to do and it slips from out my view When we're dancing to a fuzz guitar Like a buzz-saw through the years There'd be twice as long a queue at the barricades If they could serve something to keep it clear What we're doing here Here it comes just to disappear As I wonder I understand over under sideways down Till it does what it's got to do and it slips from out my view I wanted to be someone who made everything blend Get there on the journey, not just get there in the end I'm starting from scratch again Makes me wonder I understand over under sideways down Till it does what it's got to do and it slips from out my view But as I wonder as I wonder please let me understand
6.
You Did Ask 03:08
It's not my style to say what's true But you did ask, you said “How are you?” If you're gonna be that direct There's some rough and smooth you must expect 'Bout how I feel, was I too real at this juncture? I just jumped your train, if it's all the same You can run away, you can stay and bask In the light of my sun and the warmth of my flask You can tell me to go to hell but, well, you did ask How I feel, I won't make a meal of the answer No cliches, let's see if honesty pays I know my sofa bed will drop dead of frustration Pillows will ache for your sweet head and a little variation Do these things ever last? Life's a gas, you did ask, I grazed on your grass, you did ask Into my life you came to pass From out my life you'll come to pass You did ask I shot the lock off the vault, I put the axe to the cask And out it all gushes, well, you did ask How I feel, was I too real at this juncture? Cos I've just jumped your train, I can't explain Someone's got to level with you Or what the devil will you do? Someone's gotta lay it straight Someone not prepared to provaricate It's not my style to say what's true But you did ask, you said “How are you?” I don't mean to set a difficult task But, baby, it's back at you but you did ask me How I feel, was I too real like a puncture? Cos I just broke your chain You ain't no Alice Coltrane, girl I don't mean to tell you anything That would tie me up in long and binding string Bits of string and chains of gold Hey, baby, you've been told.
7.
If you knew where to look you’d see where I stood ground She bought it over to just knock it down I maintained it so well, polished the bell She’ll demolish it all to hell I don’t know if it’s good or it’s bad She gives me so much I keep nothing I’ve had Would you say it’s OK or it’s bad? If you knew where to look you’d see where I stood ground For king and country she’ll knock it down I maintained it so good, polished the wood So it looked pretty good I don’t know if it’s good or it’s bad She gives me so much, I keep nothing I’ve had What I stood for good or bad Forsook each name and number in my little red book I’m really shook I don’t know if it’s good or it’s bad She gives me so much, I keep nothing I’ve had Would you say it’s OK or it’s bad? Forsook every name and number in my little red book I’m shook In the garden’s a rose, the last one to stand Took four hundred blows from the side of her hand She’ll abolish my past, demolish so fast If you knew where to look my fate has been cast I don’t know if it’s good or it’s bad She gives me so much I keep nothing I’ve had What I stood for good or bad I’d say it’s pretty bad Forsook the early morning dark Forsook the cover of the dark Forsook the sky of treacle black, Forsook – that served to mask the tack I don’t know if it’s good or it’s bad She gives me so much, I keep nothing I’ve had Would you say it’s OK or it’s bad?
8.
Policemen moving through the train have a right to arrest me if my love is in vain m All my trials, all my trails Well, tonight I'll get my rhythm , my rhythm from the rails D G The train retains my rhythm nightly I gain it once the sun dips slightly Over freshly cut hay bales tonight I'll get my rhythm, rhythm from the rails Wild thing – she left you this morning I can't believe she would leave you at all Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm, rhythm I thank the Lord that the world is not so small You know I've felt the blade of a Turkish barber Open blade, hot blade against my neck A ship of trade I've seen submerged in half a harbour Sold for scrap, a ship of trade become a wreck But diesels hum the wind into my sails Wind into my sails can turn the tide So chalk your destinations up my friends On my wooden wagon sides Wild thing, she left you this morning I can't believe she would leave you at all Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm, rhythm Wild thing, she left you this morning You never know where the future might call Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm, rhythm Thank the Lord that the rails know it all As we cross the cantilevers, we got all manner of believers In the blue Canadian Rockies, they had sensurround sound before they even had talkies…
9.
Out Of Print 03:58
Hey, you wrote that life's a boat upon a silver sea Who's left to keep these words afloat? I guess it's only me The shop that sells the shoe repairs gives off a powerful taste Keeps the street sweet through the years And these are years of waste You wrote the book, I took in every hint You wrote the book but look, it's out of print A black cab makes a U-turn for a pick-up on Leith Walk Black cab comes, you take your turn and, there’s no time to talk I love the grass that's growing now underneath our feet I love the glass that's broken now – it's so incomplete But every paragraph was typed just right, each page was mint You wrote the book so good it’s out of print Everything you said went to my head like Our Man Flint You wrote the book but look, it's out of print
10.
Slow Rock Forever Slow Rock Forever – windswept as a Hebridean croft Dona little leather – keep those Zippo lighters held aloft Here’s the right idea to keep you warm as you are driving home He is called Chris Rea – you were born to let him drive you home You were into punk, liked music with a thunk but you drove on We see you settling into Drive Time, The Eagles come alive time And you’re no Desperado For you there is no pounding bhangra, no metal pseudo anger To thunder under white sky You just go on like this, man, listening to Chris, man As you watch the road go by Slow rock, slow rock, slow rock, slow rock, slow rock, slow rock forever Styx and Boston and Dire Straits but not Tom Waits Slow rock, slow rock, slow rock, slow rock, slow rock, slow rock forever Genesis, though sometimes quite good – believe me Slow rock, slow rock, slow rock, slow rock, slow rock, slow rock forever Chris Rea and Chris Rea, Chris Rea, more Chris Rea Slow rock, slow rock, slow rock, slow rock, slow rock, slow rock forever

about

The original 2011 CD, released by The Beautiful Music (beauty 17), is available at thebeautifulmusic.com/the-bands/roy-moller.

A wonderful album. Marc Riley, BBC 6Music.

Scottish performer Roy Moller is a genius . That’s the only way you can explain a disc like No One’s Listening. Echoes? Jonathan Richman, fairground music, campfire sing-alongs, Robyn Hitchcock, calliope, Television Personalities, The Kinks, toys, Dylan, Bowie… you get the picture. Clearly recorded over a span of time, the tunes have a demolish quality, but that’s part of the charm, with the tracks piled on top of each other in an amazing mix. Bart, sandiegotroubadour.com

Scottish guy on a Canadian label playing music that is uniquely American! Moller apparently grew up in Edinburgh but these 10 songs waver between 60′s garage pop and more Americana influenced gunk. The songwriting is strong and boy do I love that old-school organ. Dagger Magazine, January 2012

..Shows his strengths both as a songwriter and as a musician… the songwriting really is excellent. An album well worth dipping into. Ed Jupp, isthismusic? 15th September 2011

..Amutant psychedelic variation of the classic Americana Roy Moller is clearly an impressive talent with a keen ear for melody and a mischievous lyric writing approach. Norman Records, 28th September, 2011

credits

released June 1, 2011

Alternate artwork by Jamie Nordstrand. Special thanks to Wally Salem.

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Roy Møller Dunbar, UK

British-Canadian pop artist.

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