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Ironbark (2016 expanded edition)

by Tom Slatter

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1.
The Beast Of The Air We sprang into motion when they told us the news, Half a herd snared by the beast of the air, Propellers awhirring we took to the skies, Off to destroy the kraken And as we rose higher, our engines ablur, A strange copper tang filled up our lungs, Scent of the kraken, Afloat on the breeze Grew stronger the closer we flew The beast of the air wails a song, Wails a song to keep us dreaming An eye through the clouds Tentacles reaching An eye through the clouds Tentacles bewitching The beast of the air wails a song, Wails a song to keep us dreaming
2.
SteamLife 07:14
And isn't it strange how the clicking things are, They can catch you when you're waking, Nails on metal behind the walls, Wake you when you're sleeping They flee when you look at for them, gnash strange teeth, There's dust on the nightmare still Isn't strange how the blueprints can live, With their steam and teeth and claws Doesn't anyone know what the heart is for? Doesn't anyone see what I see? Doesn't anyone know what the mind is for? This Steamlife lives Isn't it strange how logic can escape you, All of my designs are designing themselves The factories breeding when the lights go down, It isn't just just me, it isn't just me! Doesn't anyone know what the heart is for? Doesn't anyone see what I see? Doesn't anyone know what the mind is for? This Steamlife lives Scratch scream Running through mazes They act like the rats we made them like Do you see the steamlife? Oh no , don't turn your back cos they might make a break for freedom now do you see the steamlife? They've been designing themselves when the lights are turned off they will draw their own blueprints Scratch scream only in dreams do I know that Beneath the floors and in the walls they're breeding More more Running through mazes they act like the rats we made them like Don't you see this steamlife? Why can't you follow? Why can't you see? The creatures still haunting real as you or me.
3.
And I'll confess, I didn't know what I would find I drew these maps, but I didn't make the marks that you see Follow, follow said the letter and so I did And I'll confess, I didn't know what I would find Drawing maps should lead you so far astray Hello my love look what I found Hidden in a hole in the ground I dug these metal claws out of the earth and I don't know why I'll confess, it's strangest tale I have heard I received this map, with instructions to follow and dig. Dig dig dig, is what it said and so I did, And now I'm bound to take what I found into town Drawing maps shouldn't lead me so far astray Hello my love look what I found Hidden in a hole in the ground They're brass and gold and leather too Dead yet somehow feel alive I dug these metal claws out of the ground and I don't know why Are you the one who sent for me? The will's executer? Are you the one who wants these claws, Are you the man I seek? Put down the gun, I did as you asked Put down the gun please Drawing maps shouldn't lead you so far astray Goodbye my love, cos what I found Hidden in a hole in the ground Has cost me everything that I hold dear Cost me everything that we shared Goodbye my love, where I go now Is not shown on any map I return to you if only I could If only I knew the way I dug those metal claws out of the ground and I don't know why.
4.
I pushed the trolley, that killed me dead I pushed the trolley that carried the corpse That killed me dead I pushed the trolley That carried the corpse the doctor cut the brain out of That killed me dead He placed it in a jar with chemicals Electric pulses racing through the flesh I pushed the trolley that carried the corpse the doctor cut the brain out of, I watched the doctor meet the man that killed me dead I pushed the trolley that carried the corpse the doctor cut the brain out of I watched the doctor meet the man that shot the doctor through the head then killed me dead Placed it in a jar with chemicals Electric pulses racing through the flesh Grey matter revived beyond its time He thinks death’s an illness to be treated, the doctor said to me Well even the dead can be cheated the doctor said to me He asked for more than they agreed, the doctor’s dead But the man in black spotted me, and so I fled I’ve seen you have you seen me, have you come to shut me up? His booted feet upon the floor, come to shut me up The smoking gun in his hand come to shut me up I don’t remember my last, Only what I saw He placed it in a jar with chemicals
5.
Stories can change, rumours can spread, facts can grow with the telling But what we pulled up from the depths of the thames, was as dark and strange as they say. Ribs made of rust and tendons of steel, mishapen and twisted with age. The toll of years beneath the waves had all but obscured the human shape In watermen’s square, we sleep with the lights on In watermen’s square, we all hide away Beneath greying skies we smuggled it back, back to the watermen’s square. Gas lamps alight, we studied and starred, but made head nor tail of our find Five past midnight, a black form appeared, stood at the gates of the square He said I believe that what you’ve found doesn’t belong to you, I’ll be taking it now In watermen’s square, we sleep with the lights on In watermen’s square, we all hide away We had told no-one, of the structure we pulled up We had told no-one, yet the stranger still appeared He produced papers, but we didn’t read them, we just let him take it. In watermen’s square, we sleep with the lights on In watermen’s square, we all hide away
6.
I woke in this workshop Vision pink around the edge handcuffed to this workbench I'll do as I'm told The Man in black has me working all night long Claws made of metal and leather. Soil and rust to be cleaned off. Handcuffed to this workbench I'll fix what I'm told to fix. The man in black has me working oh so hard The last chance I have of staying alive Is if I can assemble these pieces The executor he keeps me alive But he keeps my mind in pieces. I remember flowers I remember my lost love What her name could be escapes me now Among the things I'm dreaming of I have welded steel to flesh and fed it electricity There are brains in jars and men with scars Of the things i forget I've seen. The last chance I have of staying alive Is if I can assemble these pieces The executor he keeps me alive But he keeps my mind in pieces. They keep me awake They keep all the lights on However I cry out They keep all the lights on All the lights on The last chance I have of staying alive Is if I can assemble these pieces
7.
Black carriages gather in the snow in mourning clothes the family wait The executor voice frozen snow clears his throat and begins to read the will “To my nephews I leave nothing to my nieces even less to my daughters not a single penny and nothing goes to all the rest I will leave you all that you deserve I will leave you all that you have earned I will leave you nothing, but what you gave to me” Stop there, cried out all relatives We all deserve our inheritance We'll not be denied all that's owed to use We will not be denied To my debtors I condemn you my detractors I ignore my leeching goddaughters I damn you My sisters both are cheating whores I have found my own solution A place for all my wealth A noble cause, a just investment I'll keep it for myself| Stop there cried out all the family What can he mean by that? We were there to see him in his grave We made sure that he was dead As they shook there heads in confusion the door was tossed aside A monster wreathed in steam appeared a golem made of iron It's hulk was black and twisted, eaten up by wind and sea It's claws were leather, gleaming steel It's voice a piston's hiss The last time you saw me alive Was not the last time I lived Encased in iron where it's head should be Floating in a jar of chemicals Fizzing with electricity Sat the brain of the miser Hello my family, I have returned What you buried in that hole in the ground was nothing a shell, a useless husk I am new, I am better I am made to live again Goodbye you vultures, what I am now A corpse of metal you can't devour Powered by steam and strange alchemy Beyond all disease and injury good bye you leeches, goodbye you fools My fortune is mine and mine alone I have planned and plotted and murdered too I'll keep my fortune for myself You thought you'd take your fill once I was gone But I'll keep it all.
8.
Ironbark 17:52
Here in Ironbark, We paint the walls red We keep our streets neat and clean And the factories, they hum and they churn And all the shop windows gleam We're a happy town, such a happy town Here in Ironbark The first man to die, The baker was found in his oven, black and burned, A message left in blood and flour: 'You'll recieve everything you earned' It's a happy town, such a happy town, here in Ironbark. When corpses rise, and speak as one, Someone has to pay Five men know where the bodies are buried, Here in Ironbark Five men know where the bodies are buried, Here in Ironbark The second man to die, the ratcatcher, Found poisoned, black and blue, The message left, in ash and blood: 'Justice comes for you'. We're a happy town The authorities sent their man, Though the mayor said no to them, The detective sent, found no clues at first, So he baited and set his traps Such a happy town, such a happy town The killer, spilling steam from his joints, Marched towards the end Five men know where the bodies are buried, Here in Ironbark Five men know where the bodies are buried, here in Ironbark The third man dead, the undertaker, Nailed in a coffin and then set alight, Cremated alive, message left him “no forgiveness for anyone for all of you” No fingerprints or clues only tire tracks I'll not make head nor tail until someone tells the truth The skeletons they hide The murders, the lies and conspiracies Who should care for justice? Who should care for those with no voices to speak Speak up, break the silence Speak up, don't hold your tongue and help them keep all their secrets Secrets find their way out Secrets burn your conscience till you cry out for someone Someone must know something Someone must have some clue to what, why or who? Who should care for justice? Who should care for those with no voices to speak? Killer Programmed and primed Those men were killed by some automaton Last words Fragments and scraps The broken parts of an old man's final dreams Maybe justice served when we killed the mayor All the voices shout in our punch card mind Beep beep click clack hack slash burn They stole all my ideas and now I'm taking what I'm owed Revenge Murdered in kind Madness of valves and fuses, pistons, cogs and wires Secrets Secrets and lies Tempted to let it play out to its bloody end Fragments of last words The essence of a man captured in binary Holes punched in card A thinking engine pressing forward bent on revenge The five men who killed it's maker each have met their end Baker, Smith, Ratcatcher, Undertaker, Mayor Conspiracy of silence about all that happened there This town is eating up it's tail This town is eating up it's tail This town is eating up it's tail And five men know where the bodies are buried here in Ironbark Please get me out of hear Someone set me free Please let me out of hear Someone get me Someone let me Out of this town Ironbark
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about

Ironbark was the first album that I planned as a whole. Not that it's a concept album as such, but it was written to be a single work of art with all the songs fitting together in terms of tone, subject matter, harmonic approach and so on. My first solo album, Spinning the Compass sort of happened by accident when I realised some of the songs might work together. Ironbark was intentional.

The title comes from an Australian poem about a gullible yokel from the town Ironbark who is fooled into believing his throat was cut by a mischievous barber:

'He raised his hand, his brow grew black, he paused awhile to gloat,
Then slashed the red-hot razor-back across his victim's throat:
Upon the newly-shaven skin it made a livid mark -
No doubt it fairly took him in - the man from Ironbark.' - Ironbark Banjo Paterson 1892

I stumbled across it while reading up on the Sweeney Todd story, and thought it sounded like a splendid place. Except rather than being inhabited by yokels who are afraid to visit barbers, my Ironbark is inhabited by murderous scientists, evil townsfolk and at least two people who think it a good idea to live beyond death in steam-powered machines.

The bonus tracks here include 'They Tried To Turn The Lights On' which i wrote at the time but recorded more recently and 'Three' the sequel to 'Two' from Spinning the Compass. At some point I will record 'One' as well, which does exist.

The live tracks are the whole of the Miser's Will, recorded at a lovely house concert in North London. This gig ties as one of my three favourite ever gigs. The audience were really into it, but behaved like a classical audience rather than a rock audience. They were entirely silent, listening to every single note. For a performer this is slightly terrifying but all the more exhilarating for it.

Having recently listened back to Ironbark after a few years not having heard it, I am genuinely proud of it. It pushes what I could do with the level of expertise and equipment I had at the time. While I think it is still clearly a home studio recording, it sounds good. It is also where I think I really found my voice as a songwriter after several years of floundering about trying out different styles.

I like it, I hope you do.

Thanks for listening.

Tom Slatter April 2016

credits

released May 23, 2016

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Tom Slatter London

A latter-day Victorian street-theatre barker with a guitar promising tales of mystery, imagination, ‘orrible murders and bloody great waving tentacles’ is how Tom Slatter has been described. Since 2010 he has been scaring audiences with six albums and numerous EPs of storytelling songs. ... more

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