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Wizards Of This Town

from Demon by Tom Slatter

supported by
Larne Peters
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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    'Demon' on compact disc in a six-panel Digipak with booklet. Design by Brian Mitchell.

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about

Wizards of this Town is about drunk wizards trying to use magic to fix their town. It was inspired by walking around one of the more run down parts of North London on a very, very hot summer's day. In the heat haze I thought I saw a wizard in a black cloak on the balcony of a council tower block.

It turned out to be someone's laundry blowing in the wind.

Musically it's a drunk 7/8 verses and a big 4/4 singalong chorus. Lyrically it's an introduction to various useless urban wizards and the magical items they're boiling up to make their spells work.

lyrics

Covered himself in cardboard armour
Marched into war with all his dreams
Sword strokes and special brew
Alone with all his foes

Heat-haze melted all your daily goals
To-do list ink run and blurred
Chewing gum stuck to both of your shoes
Laces tangled in funny knots

You go to sleep again
In the empty band stand
All your hopes are gone
And you don’t remember where

Bring me chicken bones,
Dead rats’ teeth and mobile phones
We’ll melt them down and boil up a little freedom

Draw the magic down
With a hopscotch maze and a paper crown
With pigeons as familiars we’re the wizards of this town

Lenses are gone but he still wears glasses
Hides from bully boys and thugs
Itches to try his hand at some sort of revenge
Don’t tell me you are better than him

You cast your spells again and laugh at all the doubting men
Who say it’s just coincidence all the times you get your way

Bring me chicken bones,
Dead rats’ teeth and mobile phones
We’ll melt them down and boil up a little freedom

Draw the magic down
With a hopscotch maze and a paper crown
With pigeons as familiars we’re the wizards of this town

Sing hallelujah when the earth spins
Sing exultations when the ground splits
Sing rubble piles and amputees
And faded civic memories
Do you remember when this town was somewhere?

Bring me chicken bones,
Dead rats’ teeth and mobile phones
We’ll melt them down and boil up a little freedom

Draw the magic down
With a hopscotch maze and a paper crown
With pigeons as familiars we’re the wizards of this town

It’s not street art, it’s sorcery
The plastic bags hanging in the trees
Are offerings to drunk inner-city dryads

They’re dark towers not ex-council blocks
And flocks of gulls can’t be ignored
They’re here to steal your lunch and steal your secrets

credits

from Demon, released July 26, 2019

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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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