Firesmoke

 

Sometimes you hear something which completely stops you in your tracks. I actually pulled over and stopped the car the first time I heard it.

This piece of music/poetry has haunted me for a few weeks. It is by Kate Tempest, one of the UK’s most breathtaking and genre breaking poets.

It is a gorgeously romantic and sensual piece.

It has touched me deeply.

I will say no more. I will simply leave you to listen.

(this has been another of my ‘songs I like but you might not know’ posts)

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Poetry and music © Kate Tempest

This blog © the author writing as Romantic Dominant

My visionary is a vision
I watch her dancing by the window
And it rips my flesh to ribbons
And the whole world is just ripples
In the middle distance
I listen to her hips
I push my kisses to her lips
We move like we were born to move
The night is teeth and pistons
And there is something in this tenderness that makes me want to live
 
Firesmoke
 
Her mouth sets free this captive
Come close to me
Free me
Let me untangle the madness that knots you
I drop to my knees and crawl across you
I tell you I’ve got you
It’s firesmoke
 
So go on, give me three days of your body and mine
Time is a blind eye and I see your mind in my mind’s eye
You make me immortal
You take me to space
You are a planet
A place I’ve not known
Your body is home to rare gods
I kneel at their temple
I’m blown to bits, gentle, ferocious
We are open
Explosives have nothing compared to these sparks
So let’s fall apart
And then lie with me, breathing in the den of the dark
It’s firesmoke
Your mouth sets free this captive come close to me
Free me
Untangle the madness that knots me
You drop to your knees, you crawl across me
You lick your lips softly, it’s firesmoke
 
The fire rises between us
And makes us get on the wrong trains
Walk the wrong way
Make strangers smile greetings on Lewisham way
I bathe in this fire
It warms without burning
Compels without force
And it turns without turning the world
So please, you keep your purpose
Your poise and your journey
I’ll be by the fire
Thinking, nothing I’ve learned can prepare me
For everything else that needs learning
Is this how it feels to feel certain?
Coz for so many years my love’s been a burden
But now comes this fire to cleanse and restore us to fuel us and calm us and push us both forwards


Source: https://songtexte.co/en/kate-tempest-firesmoke-lyrics-e36b52

 

Lux Prima

 

Anyone who has followed my ‘ songs I like but you might not know’ series of posts will be aware that I listen to a lot of new music.

I do like ‘old familiar stuff’. But there is so much incredible music from every corner of the globe that I have never heard before, new and old. I just want to keep unearthing it.

This is new. It is Lux Prima off the album of the same name. It is a collaboration between Karen O (wonderful lead vocalist with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Danger Mouse (Brian Burton – an incredibly talented producer, musician and songwriter who has worked with Gorillaz, Black Keys, Norah Jones, Adele, Beck … actually the list is too long to bother with – he created Gnarls Barkley with Ceelo Green for example)

Anyway. This collaboration is one made in heaven. It is one of the most compelling albums I have heard this year. Yes, I know it is only March, but I listen to a lot of albums, and I think it is going to be a favourite at the end of the year. It simply has everything I adore.

This is the opening track. It is nine minutes long – but worth every second. Also listen to Woman, and Redeemer. Powerful, emotional and sexy. No. Listen to all of it. And give it a chance. It might not be the kind of music you usually listen to, but it is more than worthy of your undivided attention.

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Lux Prima performed by Karen O and Danger Mouse

© this post the author writing as Romantic Dominant

Lux Prima

Faithful
Sunshine
Faithful
Sunshine

No eyes open
No eyes closed
No smoke on your breath
No eyes closed
No sun on the glass
No darkness
No eyes
Nobody but you

I’m nowhere
I’m no one
I’m nobody
There’s nobody, but you
I’m nowhere
I’m no one
I’m nobody
There’s nobody, but you

We’re gonna stay up and ride
We’re gonna stay up and ride
We’re gonna stay up and ride
We’re gonna stay up and ride

No eyes open
No eyes closed
It’s not what you said
No eyes closed
No drops in the glass
No one listening
No sound
Nobody but you

I’m nowhere
I’m no one
I’m nobody
There’s nobody, but you
I’m nowhere
I’m no one
I’m nobody
There’s nobody, but you

No one listening
No sound
Nobody, but you

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Songwriters: Sam Cohen / Brian Burton / Karen Lee Orzolek

Lux Prima lyrics © BMG Rights Management

 

Sweet Disposition

 

Recently I have been sharing songs I like that are brand new. This one isn’t. But I heard it again in the car yesterday after a long time, and it won’t leave me alone.

I am sure many of you will already know it.

The band is The Temper Trap, an Australian group formed in 2005. The song is Sweet Disposition, which is by far their most successful track, and was released in 2008/9. I’m not sure what else I can say about it except that it is rather beautiful, musically and lyrically.

If you have never heard it before, play it a few times, and immerse yourself in its warmth.

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 this blog post © the author writing as Romantic Dominant

Sweet Disposition © written by Abby Mandagi / Lorenzo Sillito, performed by The Temper Trap

 

Sweet Disposition

Sweet disposition
Never too soon
Oh, reckless abandon
Like no one’s watching you
A moment a love
A dream aloud
A kiss a cry
Our rights
Our wrongs
A moment, a love
A dream aloud
A moment, a love
A dream, aloud

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So stay there
‘Cause I’ll be coming over
And while our blood’s still young
It’s so young, it runs
And won’t stop ’til it’s over
Won’t stop to surrender

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Songs of desperation
I played them for you
A moment, a love
A dream aloud
A kiss, a cry
Our rights
Our wrongs
A moment, a love
A dream aloud
A moment, a love
A dream aloud

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Stay there
‘Cause I’ll be coming over
And while our blood’s still young
It’s so young, it runs
And won’t stop ’til it’s over
Won’t stop to surrender

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And won’t stop ’til it’s over
Won’t stop ’til it’s over
Won’t stop ’til it’s over
Won’t stop to surrender

 

Jupiter 4

 

 

There are a few times when you hear a new album and are mesmerised immediately. I am by this one.

I have been a fan of Sharon Van Etten for a long time. But this album – Remind me Tomorrow – released only a few days ago (Jan 18), is exceptional. Beautiful music, wonderfully textured and layered, lovingly constructed and such moving lyrics. And of course, her excellent voice.

I am playing the album on repeat and finding it impossible to choose a favourite track. I almost used a pin. This one is superb.

Her style of music may not be for you, but if it is, then you will adore this.

(another of my ‘songs I like but you might not know’ blog posts)

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Jupiter 4 © written by Sharon Van Etten and Sam Cohen, and performed by Sharon Van Etten

This blog post @ the author writing as Romantic Dominant

Jupiter 4

Our love’s for real
How’d it take a long, long time
To let us feel
Try to relate in my state
And the aura around me says
My love is for real

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Touching your face
How’d it take a long, long time
To be here
Turning the wheel on my street
My heart still skips a beat
It’s echoing, echoing, echoing, echoing, echoing, echoing

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Baby, baby, baby
I’ve been searching for you
I want to be in love
Baby, baby, baby
I’ve been waiting, waiting, waiting my whole life
For someone like you
It’s true that everyone would like to have met
A love so real
A love so real

‘

Baby, baby, baby
I’ve been searching for you
I want to be in love
Baby, baby, baby
I’ve been waiting, waiting, waiting my whole life
For someone like you
It’s true that everyone would like to have met
A love so real
A love so real
A love so real
A love so real

 

 

Hunger

 

 

It seems to be a good time to share one of my favourite songs and videos of the year.

I have been deeply impressed by Florence Welch since the the first Florence and the Machine (now Florence + Machine) album (Lungs) in 2009. There is poetry, eccentricity, energy and sensuality in everything she/they do, and musically it is a unique and driven sound.

This song – ‘Hunger’ – comes from “High as Hope’, their fourth album, released in June. I will let it speak for itself.

I adore, the lyric, the music and, unusually for me, the video.

I hope you enjoy.

(This is another of my ‘songs that I like but you might not know’ blog posts)

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Song ‘Hunger’ written and © by Tobias Jesso, Thomas Wayland Bartlett, Emile Haynie, and Florence Welch and performed by Florence + Machine

This post © the author writing as Romantic Dominant

Hunger

At seventeen, I started to starve myself
I thought that love was a kind of emptiness
And at least I understood then the hunger I felt
And I didn’t have to call it loneliness

We all have a hunger
We all have a hunger
We all have a hunger
We all have a hunger

Tell me what you need, oh, you look so free
The way you use your body, baby, come on and work it for me
Don’t let it get you down, you’re the best thing I’ve seen
We never found the answer but we knew one thing

We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)
We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)
We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)
We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)

And it’s Friday night and it’s kicking in
And I can’t dress, they’re gonna crucify me
Oh, but you and all your vibrant youth
How could anything bad ever happen to you?
You make a fool of death with your beauty, and for a moment

I thought that love was in the drugs
But the more I took, the more it took away
And I could never get enough
I thought that love was on the stage
You give yourself to strangers
You don’t have to be afraid
And then it tries to find a home with people, oh, and I’m alone
Picking it apart and staring at your phone

We all have a hunger
We all have a hunger
We all have a hunger
We all have a hunger

Tell me what you need, oh, you look so free
The way you use your body, baby, come on and work it for me
Don’t let it get you down, you’re the best thing I’ve seen
We never found the answer but we knew one thing

We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)
We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)
We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)
We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)

And it’s Friday night and it’s kicking in
And I can’t dress, they’re gonna crucify me
Oh, you and all your vibrant youth
How could anything bad ever happen to you?
You make a fool of death with your beauty, and for a moment
I forget to worry

 

Woman

I have always been a fan of Cat Power (Chan Marshall). She has a voice full of warmth and sensuality and her songwriting is first class – a wonderful talent for melody.

‘Woman’ is off her current (2018) album ‘Wanderer’. This song features the fantastic Lana del Rey, and their voices combine beautifully. The whole album is very lovely.

I first heard this in the early Autumn driving back from the gym. It was a golden day and the car was filled with the honeyed magic of this track and of September and the world was suddenly a better place.

If you like it, do listen to The Greatest (from the album of the same name) – a song recored eight years ago – which is absolute heaven.

 

(this has been another of my songs that I like but you might not know’ series of sporadic blog posts)

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Song ‘Woman’ written by Chan Marshall © and performed by Cat Power.

This blog post © the author writing as Romantic Dominant

Woman

Woman, woman, woman
Woman, woman, woman

If I had a dime for every time
Tell I’m not what you need
If I had a quarter I would pull it together
And I would take it to the bank and then leave
Yes, I would take it to the bank and then leave

If you know people who know me
You might want them to speak
To tell you ’bout the girl or the woman they know
More than you think you know about me
More than you think you know me
See you walkin’ in circles (circles)
See you talkin’ in circles (circles)
See your thoughts runnin’ in circles
And walk around all day long, followin’ me
The doctor said I was better than ever
Man, you should have seen me
Doctor said I was not my past
He said I was finally free

Taking the charge (taking the charge)
I took the lead (I took the lead)
I need you to believe

I’m a woman of my word, now haven’t you heard
My word’s the only thing I’ve ever needed
I’m a woman of my word, now you have heard
My word’s the only thing I truly need
Woman, woman, woman, woman
Woman, woman, woman, woman
Woman, woman, woman, woman
Woman, woman, woman, woman

Your money’s like a weapon, a tool to get me
You think I’m like the other ones
Well, my money’s like a weapon (weapon), tool for me
No, I’m not like those other ones
A cage is like a weapon, a tool for me
You think I’m like the other ones
Well, my cage is a weapon, it’s perfect for me
It’s the one suit they seem to not see

I’m a woman of my word, now haven’t you heard
My word’s the only thing I’ve ever needed?
I’m a woman of my word, now you have heard
My word’s the only thing I truly need
Woman, woman, woman, woman
Woman, woman, woman, woman
Woman, woman, woman, woman
Woman, woman, woman, woman

I’m a woman, woman, woman, woman
I’m a woman, woman, woman, woman
I’m a woman, woman, woman, woman
Woman, woman, woman, woman

 

Los Ageless

 

Sometimes a chorus just hits you, melody and words. This one does it for me.

The song is by St. Vincent, which is the stage name for Anne Erin Clark. She is a highly talented and distinctive American singer, multi-intrumentalist and performer. I have admired her for some time but her latest album, Masseducation (released 2017) , has really struck a chord with me. I struggled to choose a track as one ‘ of my songs I like but you might not have heard’ blog posts. But the chorus on this clinched it.

How can anybody have you?
How can anybody have you and lose you?
How can anybody have you and lose you
And not lose their minds, too?

She might have been writing about Los Angeles, but for me it has a much more personal note.

St. Vincent is a unique talent. Well worth a listen.

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‘Los Ageless’ written and performed © St. Vincent (Anne Clark)

This post © the author writing as Romantic Dominant

Los Ageless

In Los Ageless, the winter never comes
In Los Ageless, the mothers milk their young
But I can keep running
No, I can keep running
The Los Ageless hang out by the bar
Burn the pages of unwritten memoirs
But I can keep running
No, I can keep running

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How can anybody have you?
How can anybody have you and lose you?
How can anybody have you and lose you
And not lose their minds, too?
How can anybody have you?
How can anybody have you and lose you?
How can anybody have you and lose you
And not lose their minds, too?

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The last days of the sunset superstars
Girls in cages playing their guitars
But how can I leave?
I just follow the hood of my car
In Los Ageless, the waves they never break
They build and build until you don’t have no escape
But how can I leave?
I just follow my hood to the sea, go to sleep

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How can anybody have you?
How can anybody have you and lose you?
How can anybody have you and lose you
And not lose their minds, too?
How can anybody have you?
How can anybody have you and lose you?
How can anybody have you and lose you

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And not lose their minds, too?

Oh my Lord, oh, we really did it now
I’m a monster and you’re my sacred cow
But I can keep running
No, I can keep on running

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How can anybody have you?
How can anybody have you and lose you?
How can anybody have you and lose you
And not lose their minds, too?
How can anybody have you?
How can anybody have you and lose you?
How can anybody have you and lose you
And not lose their minds?

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I guess that’s just me, honey, I guess that’s how I’m built
I try to tell you I love you and it comes out all sick
I guess that’s just me, honey, I guess that’s how I’m built
I try to write you a love song but it comes out a lament
I guess that’s just me, honey, I guess that’s how I’m built
I try to tell you I love you but it comes out all sick
I guess that’s just me, honey, I guess that’s how I’m built
I try to write you a love song but it comes out a lament
I try to write you a love song but it comes out a lament
I try to write you a love song but it comes out a lament

 

 

Not Dark Yet

 

When I first I heard this Bob Dylan song many years ago I thought the melody beautiful and the poetry astonishing. It touched me deeply

But I was younger then and did not fully appreciate the melancholy, the sorrow, the hopelessness, and the heartbreaking awareness of mortality.

I understand it now.

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Song ‘Not Dark Yet’ written and performed by and © Bob Dylan

This post © the author writing as Romantic Dominant

 

Not Dark Yet

Shadows are falling and I been here all day
It’s too hot to sleep and time is running away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I’ve still got the scars that the sun didn’t let me heal

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There’s not even room enough to be anywhere
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there
Well my sense of humanity is going down the drain
Behind every beautiful thing, there’s been some kind of pain

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She wrote me a letter and she wrote it so kind
She put down in writin’ what was in her mind
I just don’t see why I should even care
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

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Well I been to London and I been to gay Paree
I followed the river and I got to the sea
I’ve been down to the bottom of a whirlpool of lies
I ain’t lookin’ for nothin’ in anyone’s eyes

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Sometimes my burden is more than I can bear
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there.

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I was born here and I’ll die here, against my will
I know it looks like I’m movin’ but I’m standin’ still.

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Every nerve in my body is so naked and numb
I can’t even remember what it was I came here to get away from
Don’t even hear the murmur of a prayer
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

 

 

Big Picture

 

Some songs haunt me beautifully.

This one, by the English band London Grammar, is one of them. It is ethereal and yet raw. It touches me deeply.

And it is not a one-off. Their music has an extraordinary elegaic quality, owing much to Hannah Reid’s gorgeous voice, but also to the compostion, creativity and talent of the other two members.

This song, off their album ‘Truth is a Beautiful Thing’, released last year, has the power to make me sigh deeply and remember, sadly, so many things that have happened, and some that have not.

This has been another of my ‘songs I like but you might not know’ series of blog posts.

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‘Big Picture’ written by © Dominic Ashley Ronald Major, Hannah Felicity May Reid, and Daniel Harry Joseph Rothman, and performed by London Grammar

© this post the author writing as Romantic Dominant

Big Picture

Love, what did you do to me?
My only hope is to let life stretch out before me
And break me on this lonely road
I’m made of many things, but I’m not what you are made of

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Only now do I see the big picture
But I swear that these scars are fine
Only you could’ve hurt me in this perfect way tonight
I might be blind, but you’ve told me the difference
Between mistakes and what you just meant for me

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Don’t say you ever loved me
Don’t say you ever cared
My darkest friend was

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Have you forgotten all the lies you left there so fresh
Turning old in the air
And now, you have no weapons
You can try to get close to those I love
Do you really think they don’t know what you’re made of

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Only now do I see the big picture
But I swear that these scars are fine
Only you could’ve hurt me in this perfect way tonight
I might be blind but you’ve told me the difference
Between mistakes and what you just meant for me

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Someone say you ever loved me
Don’t say you ever cared
My darkest friend was

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Found what I’ve been looking for

 

I listen to a lot of music. A lot of new music.

Every now and then I hear someone who has me playing their whole album on repeat. This guy is one of them. Beautifully crafted songs, strong melodies, and a stunningly good, raw, rich deep voice  – sounding much older than his 23 years. This is real talent.

He is now based in London and grew up in Bedford (UK).

I could have chosen any song from his debut album – the brilliant ‘Lighting Matches ‘- released just a couple of weeks ago but they are all so good I just chose the first track on the listing.

I know it is unfashionable these days to listen to a complete album, but this is truly worth it.

(Another of my ‘songs that I like but you might not know’ series of posts)

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Song ‘Found what I was looking for’ written by © Jordan Riley and Tom Grennan, and performed by Tom Grennan.

This post © the author writing as Romantic Dominant

Found what I’ve been looking for

Always fine lines between us
They say our days don’t mean much
Cast an anchor in the sand, what we did
But my ships have sailed and I’m here to tell that
I don’t mean like the others
And I

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I keep searching and I can’t seem to find what I’m wanting
It’s changing all the time and if you noticed a different side of mine
Then I’ve found what I’ve been looking for
Found what I’ve been looking for
Found what I’ve been looking for
Found what I’ve been looking for

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Should I wait, should I stay to see it
Arm fold ’cause I’m told, I need it
I’m not frightened to take off, step away
But my ships have sailed and I’m here to tell that
I don’t mean like the others
And I

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I keep searching and I can’t seem to find what I’m wanting
It’s changing all the time and if you noticed a different side of mine
Then I’ve found what I’ve been looking for
Found what I’ve been looking for
Found what I’ve been looking for
Found what I’ve been looking for

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I’ve been running round, running round, running round
Now I’m done and now I’m done now and now I’m done and now
Scared the magic might fade away

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And I keep searching and I can’t seem to find what I’m wanting
It’s changing all the time and if you noticed a different side of mine
Then I’ve found what I’ve been looking for
Found what I’ve been looking for

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I keep searching and I can’t seem to find what I’m wanting
It’s changing all the time and if you noticed a different side of mine
Then I’ve found what I’ve been looking for
Found what I’ve been looking for
Found what I’ve been looking for
Found what I’ve been looking for
Found what I’ve been looking for
Found what I’ve been looking for