The City in the Distance: Retrospective 2008-2018

by Taylor Project

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The City in the Distance: Retrospective 2008-2018 is a 'best of' covering 10 years of Taylor Project, with 19 songs taken from albums 'Elon Musk', 'Doreen, Doreen', 'Life, Death, Prizes', 'Love in the Time of Scurvy' and 'The Happiest Girl in the Whole Wide Street'. As voted for by (like, 15) listeners. The CD comes in a digicase.

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1.	Elon Musk (through a glass darkly) 04:17	lyrics	buy track
See film clip here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuI990hpfB8. This track was written for the March 2017 Lomond Hotel Writer's Block. The prescribed theme of that month's songwriting event was "the planet". As it happened, the theme was well timed as Sarah had, around the same time, finally asked "who is Elon Musk?" during a grownup conversation. She'd heard the name bandied around in the preceding months but perhaps missed several witty conversational punchlines, not quite knowing who this person was. She was advised to read this blog post: waitbutwhy.com/2015/05/elon-musk-the-worlds-raddest-man.html The song was written shortly after reading this informative post, and, incidentally, while sitting about the house watching a library DVD of “Carry on up the Khyber”. The movie served unintentionally as a reminder of how quickly new things get old. (For the record, it was still pretty funny). We recorded up in Elmore in May 2017, and there was lots of help from “JJJ” – i.e. Juliette, Jason and Jen. Andrew did the mixing. We basically took an Agile development framework (without calling it as such), aiming for a quick turnaround from inception to production. Hence the release of this Taylor Project track, along with... more lyrics LYRICS (WITH SAMPLE FROM ELON MUSK DOCUMENTARY) [It’s kind of amazing that this window of opportunity is open for life to go beyond Earth] And when our bodies are long gone A piece of us may carry on In tiny polaroids of DNA In a space ship heading off to Mars With the proceeds of electric cars The future’s always getting old The here and now’s already gone When I was young we had no HBO In the 1980s we got tanned In the 1990s we got fat In the late 2000s we quit smoking but Now the planet smokes for us And in Elon Musk We trust Ask any teenager who’s stoned To look at the stars and they will know There is no up, there is no down Just our bodies pressed against the ground On the ceaseless giant spinning round To Ellis Island dressed in rags Old generations made their plans For new beginnings in new continents With their bodies pressed against the boughs And the giant statue looking down Only one way tickets to be found Their ashes and ashes And dust to dust They sailed their ships Like Elon Musk [Creating the self-sustaining civilization on Mars would be the greatest adventure ever - ever in human history] The only home I’ve ever known Has my own fingers, my own toes Every piece of wet cement I wished I’d put my hands in it Because like a captain I will go down with this ship I see the future but it’s through a glass darkly It’s a green light that recedes before me year by year It’s a planet with my bones in it in rear view mirrors Ashes to ashes And dust to dust In Elon Musk we trust [It would be so exciting to wake up in the morning and think that’s – that’s what’s happening]. credits released June 6, 2017 Sarah Taylor – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, lyrics Liz Taylor – piano, backing vocals, lyrics Andrew Bonnici – electric guitar, backing vocals Jason Emilionowicz – bass, backing vocals Scott Boydle – drums Jen Pearson – backing vocals Juliette Fishlock – backing vocals Recorded and mixed by Andrew Bonnici @ Elmore Mastered by Adam Dempsey
2.	Love in a Small Town 06:16	lyrics	buy track
Love is hard in a small town You've got to call on friends Just to sleep around But I know that after you've had Everyone in town You'll come back to me Next time around On the main street walking And I see your handsome face In the morning sun and I Have forgotten many things In my lifetime but I Have no intention to Forget the time that you Said come back to my place This time around You don't look so bad let's Try it out And I say Love is hard in a small town
3.	Whiskers in the Wall 04:09	info	buy track
4.	Cool Change 03:19	info	buy track
5.	Scurvy 03:17	info	buy track
6.	Detroit 07:12	lyrics	buy track
One morning in Manchester, I’ve never been there but I can picture it The kitchen scene, the flowers growing in spite of it The kettle boiling like puberty, tell the girls to be in time for tea Outside there’s boys in jeans with no need to wear sunglasses Staring back at me, the post industrial poster boys For a feeling that I sometimes have when I’m gazing up at power lines in a fading light That we are all Detroit, we are all Detroit We will all be destroyed, we will all be unemployed We are all Detroit, our feelings are embroiled We will be reborn one morning in Detroit Slouching to Bethlehem under blue skies in Baltimore, there is grandeur here Old stories will reappear under ancient signs of the groceries of the sixties There’s nothing quite as old as Modernity Each morning the sun still shines and we will ask what’s for breakfast Cheerios at nine, served with poverty in excess In the bar tonight is the unbending instinct which is not concerned with dignity There’s more than one way to lose your virginity And we are all Detroit, we are all Detroit We will all be destroyed, we will all be unemployed We are all Detroit, our feelings are embroiled We will be reborn one morning in Detroit We will all foreclose, a mix of fading-fast instinct And the roots and leaves of incorrigible pheromones On the prairie lawn we reap what we have sewn We click our heels and grow familiar with the mould
7.	To be Poor 03:17	info	buy track
8.	Ballarat on a Good Day 03:54	info	buy track
9.	Guilty Wretch 03:52	lyrics	buy track
I don’t know, I’ve just been told, guilty wretch that I am I came into the house after everything was settled That night we went without meat and everything was scuttled Three of us were cornered had to come up with a story One for them and one for us and one for the informants I don’t know, I’ve just been told, there is right, and wrong Look out on the corner and you’ll see a heart of darkness My friends were waiting for me I could see no better option Mother came to meet me, said that I should reconsider I said I’d write a story and that I would put her in it I don’t know, I’ve just been told, I won’t grow old There’s another detail that I won’t neglect to mention Sullivan was doing thing beyond the group’s intentions In the mountains behind Nelson he came forth as the true villain As we dug the shallow grave and took the three pounds sixteen shillings From a labourer we came upon the track while we were waiting We took those three months’ wages and we drank them down in town And at the tavern I could tell that he had plans to make me look bad But I was only robbing the Maori camp I hope you understand Those Jury men, they’ve just been told different laws than my own There are many crimes to which I’m readily confessing And others which I’ll spend my dying days to have corrected Thieves will have their owner if they hold the silence golden And they know the biggest rule of all is ‘always be a man’ And guilty wretch that I am, at least I have that
10.	Doreen 04:15	lyrics	buy track
The city in the distance, and a ripple in the long grass An exit from the highway, and a stillness in the sunshine A home is like a long dream, there’s room for dreams in Doreen And some people dream about making amphetamines Doreen, Doreen, Doreen Turn around, turn around, Doreen Doreen, Doreen, Doreen We came here to get clean Please, Doreen The same sets of conditions that help us take it slowly Are also advantageous for speed laboratories A fondness for high fences, not too many questions Remove all suspicion by waving on occasion Doreen, Doreen, Doreen Turn around, turn around, Doreen Doreen, Doreen, Doreen We came here to get clean Please, Doreen An old drag on a new street, police tape on a crime scene A kitchen in a garage, a body beaten savage Police would like to speak to two men driving a white ute They’re asking round locally for help with inquiries Doreen, Doreen, Doreen Turn around, turn around, Doreen Doreen, Doreen, Doreen No more pessimistic scenes Please, Doreen Police said it had all the hallmarks of some sort of debt There’s fixed rate or there’s varied rate or there’s just a kick in the head It’s not supposed to be here, crime is a city thing I saw it in a movie; the man gives up his life of crime for a girl called Doreen, Doreen, Doreen Turn around, turn around, Doreen Doreen, Doreen, Doreen We came here to get clean Please, Doreen
11.	We are the Swimmers 03:14	info	buy track
12.	Animals (they dream in black and white) 03:58	info	buy track
13.	Have them send another one 04:22	info	buy track
14.	Wedding song (Geelong wedding) 03:59	info	buy track
15.	Don't cry for me Wangaratta 04:35	info	buy track
16.	One year old now 01:21	info	buy track
17.	Bacteria 04:01	info	buy track
18.	Sitting on a Train 04:41	lyrics	buy track
So, sitting on a train, going home again Going from city to another Blue light out in the dark, hear the engines start Rolling slowly over and under tracks of other peoples’ lives You see them in the lights, going from one station to another Then somewhere in the night, awakening my eyes A scene that is not home but is familiar So, sitting on a train, going home again Going from city to another Blue light out in the dark, see the nighttime start Coloured in for people who are lying still They’ll be here the next day, but we’ll be on our way, going from one city to another See this country in the dark, the trees like body parts Crawling out of gullies in the act of haunting those who stay In a place that is too strange to ever make much sense in the middle of the night See the lack of rain, feels like home again Travelling from Sydney to Melbourne Signs of other peoples’ lives flickering outside Flickering like eyes in the middle of the night So, sitting on a train, see the landscape change Going from city to another Blue light out in the dark, see the nighttime start Coloured in for people who are lying still They’ll be here the next day, but we’ll be on our way, going from one city to another Red light out on the plain, see the morning made Coloured in for people who are waiting here In a place that shouldn’t be home to anyone But is home to every person that I’ve ever known credits
19.	Making Other Plans 04:16	info	buy track

about

'The City in the Distance: Retrospective 2008-2018' is a kind of 'best of' of Taylor Project songs over a decade: taken from albums 'Doreen, Doreen', 'Life, Death, Prizes', 'Love in the Time of Scurvy', and 'The Happiest Girl in the Whole Wide Street', plus the newer single 'Elon Musk'. As voted for by the band and also (like, 15) listeners. Geography, biology, death, transport, banjos, violins, coconut drums, and creepy lyrics covering small towns to post-industrial cities and bacteria to bushrangers. Get the digital download or buy the CD for the archives.

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released December 15, 2018

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Taylor Project Melbourne, Australia

"Fox in the River" video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwc_AEUNRWI
"At the Pokies Pub" video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBpPwbAHObA
YOUTUBE playlist: www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Wnm14Lyl0&list=PLZRwIewq6Jsd0QbexlY0ENirOwXP_xsDv ... more