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Three Rows Of Teeth (2016 expanded edition)

by Tom Slatter

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1.
It got us halfway to heaven, Lighter than air and stranger than fiction But then halfway to heaven The clouds opened up and swallowed us in. In the bowels of the clouds, were the strangest of creatures. In the mouths of those birds Three rows of teeth ripped the balloon apart and sent us Tumbling, tumbling down. Clock tower hands Steeple for a horn This nightmare come to life to feed And this world Conjured from half eaten dreaming Scratches out a warning Don't fly with demons
2.
An apple on a string is where such things begin And even if you try the truth wont out So sew your lips shut that's the thing Keep lying and we might not swing Cause all that we have is Mr Splitfoot's Think of the money say, 'Mother's been talking to ghosts again' You can read 'em cold, they won't be told Give 'em the truth and they'll shout us both down Stuff your ears with leather Spike your eyeballs out Might as well now souls well sold Cause all that we have is Mr Splitfoot's Think of the money say, 'Mother's been talking to ghosts again' What's the name you want to hear, Is that your father sir? They crowd up on the other side for the likes of us to hear Keep the silver piling up Keep it cold keep it short Tell them what they want to hear Never found and never caught That's the sound clinking bones The thump of calling dead That's the price of ignorance of believing what we said Please don't let your conscience get the better of our business plan Cos all that we have is Mister Splitfoot's All for the taking, all of them fools Think of the money say, 'Mother's Been Talking to Ghosts Again'
3.
It began when I fixed my eyesight Cut lenses from diamonds and glass Tore out my eyes and reshaped the sockets With frames of copper and brass Then to make my arms stronger I weaved tendons of cat gut and wire Steam powered muscles, the might of ten me I can lift heavy loads and not tire I’m doing the best that I can for I am a self made man The town they tried to evict me When my legs became pistons of steel Black polished pincers are better than fingers Oil is my only meal Now when I clank down the streets The townsfolk they all stop and stare They all shy away from my whistling hellos But I’m better and no longer care I’m doing the best that I can for I am a self made man There used to be a woman who used to be my wife I’ve cleaned off all the rust From all the tears she cried There’s one tiny spot, one little place, one last piece of flesh This time tomorrow it will be replaced with gleaming wire mesh I’m doing the best that I can for I am a self made man
4.
It's only chemicals And who wants chemicals when engines and sparks are at hand? Young Penelope Fool to biology Felt sparks of a different kind Her young man paid attention when she walked the aisle And the Engine that Played through their Honeymoon Drowned out the sound of her voice All her pleas all her letters meant nothing at all Will he love when she's gone? He was an engineer, Who wants an engineer, when a lover is what you desire? Young Penelope Fool to Biology Wept tears that he never saw Her young man built his engines while she made plans And the Engine that Played through their Honeymoon Drowned out the sound of her voice All her pleas all her begging meant nothing at all Will he love when she's gone? When they sold her dreams of princess They cut away her hopes Wrapped them up in pretty bows Sold to someone else He was an engineer they found his fingers In the teeth of a cog on his desk He muttered something about what she'd done With a hammer she found on shelf And the Engine that played through their honeymoon Silenced and leaking and dead All the chemicals that mattered, the blood and the oil Mixed on the workshop floor Will he love her now she's gone?
5.
I saw a girl dancing on the floor Dancing on the floor of an engine room Her feet skipped here and there While bricks and mortar fell I saw a man with brass where hands should be Weaving flashing lights in the engine room The look upon his face This fragile state of mind Dance Dance Dance While the world around you burns Round Round Round With a smile upon your face Even when the sun is asleep and red up in the sky Dance Dance Dance while the world around you burns We're here, dancing on the floor, Dancing on the floor as the cracks appear But in this state of mind Nothing stops our Dance Dance Dance While the world around you burns Round Round Round With a smile upon your face Even when the sun is asleep and red up in the sky Dance Dance Dance while the world around you burns
6.
These tiny things are haunting me They won't get out my head They clutch and claw they nibble at My toes, my toes These tiny things, they'll never stop You feel them on your skin Turn off the lights And they appear they do They do These tiny things, they'll never know How much I need them Their biting teeth keep me alive They do they do
7.
Time drifts away Time isn't there What we say three times Cause and effect Here then it's gone What we say three times What we say three times is true The traveller awoke to the voice of a girl Who stood at the end of his bed 'Is this the way that my death began?' The girl with the missing eye said Through crackling light her hands weaved and shook And she faded and vanished from sight Is this the way one loses a heart? The traveller said to himself This saga started before it began. Out with the dirt, digging through the piles Junkyard twisted scrap, electric motor parts Valves, ducts and dials, beaten into place Whirring to make my heart feel better Fizzing to make my spirit soar They say it'll never work, this contraption that I've built Sold my inheritance, compulsion knows no guilt Time to throw the switch to watch the sparks uncoil Whirring to make my heart feel better Fizzing to make my spirit soar How do I trace her? How do I find the Girl with the missing eye, cos I swear she's Stolen my heart What we say three times is true Swear that I'll find her, swear that she will be mine, A stolen heart can travel through time What we say three times is true And as the years speed up As the fashions tick and change Building rise and crumble 'til nothing good remains A time of black skies And endless rolling night This place, this hell is where I'll find her. That stranger who made my spirit soar What we say three times is true I can't help chasing you Through the thick and thin of endless days What we say three times is true I can't help chasing you Through the thick and thin of eons passed Centuries, sunrise never comes My little empire Untouched and out of reach Valves ducts and dials turning once again Whirring to make my journey longer Somewhere the face I can't escape How do I trace her? How do I find the Girl with the missing eye, cos I swear she's Stolen my heart What we say three times is true Swear that I'll find her, swear that she will be mine, A stolen heart can travel through time What we say three times is true What we say three times is true What we say three times is true
8.
Maybe I lost you when the roses died Every time I see you you're younger Every year I force apart another chance has died So rise another leaf, fall another sunrise I'll find the love the once found me And melt another thaw, fall another empire I'd bring the whole thing down to its knees Maybe I blacked out, Maybe I blacked out some eons past Every time round the loop I'm stronger Every year I see again another chance revived So rise another leaf, fall another sunrise I find the love the once found me And melt another thaw, fall another empire I bring the whole thing down to its knees Just to be with you
9.
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about

Three Rows of Teeth is my third album. I love it. You were expecting me to be more balanced? No, I can't be. I honestly love the songwriting on this album.

The first two tracks, Three Rows of Teeth and Mother's Been Talking to Ghosts Again, were exercises in compound songwriting - a fancy way of saying I shoved together unrelated song fragments to construct them. I used a similar approach to the final three tracks which form the Time Traveller Suite.

In between are some more traditional verse-chorus songs in Self Made Man and The Engine That Played Through Their Honeymoon. The middle track of the album, These Tiny Things Are Haunting Me, starts with a scratchy mobile phone recording of an improvised tune I recorded in my classroom between classes back when I was still teaching.

The original mix and master wasn't perfect, particularly in the higher frequencies in the first few songs. This remaster isn't a money making gimmick (as if!) but a necessary admission that as an independent one-man-band I don't always get things right.

Three Rows of Teeth might end with a three part epic, but even so this album is the closest to showcasing my indie rock influences. These are all short, accessible rock songs. They tell stories, sometimes weird, sometimes macabre, sometimes romantic; they use funny time signatures, skip rapidly through ideas and take turns at funny angles; but at its heart this is an album of simple rock songwriting. And I'm very proud of it.

credits

released October 7, 2016

Written, performed, recorded, mixed and produced by Tom Slatter.
Mastered by David Elliott.

Design by Joe Slatter.

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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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