Get all 10 Kurt Swinghammer releases available on Bandcamp and save 40%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Kurt of Kensington, Another Another, Turpentine Wind, Rare and Spares, Ginger Snaps 2 Unleashed Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Augusta, Black Eyed Sue, VOSTOK 6, and 2 more.
1. |
Owen Sound
04:51
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Owen Sound - lyrics
Sound, Owen Sound
Off the bay
Through the town
On the wind
In the ground
Old Bruce Grey
Calling Down
To the harbour of Georgian water blue
With elated dreams
As lovers fall asleep
And swim beneath the night
Towards the sound
Sound, Owen Sound
From the north
Southward bound
Glaciers came
Then turned around
And left a cleft
Where life was found
In the harbour of Georgian water blue
With elated dreams
As a young boy falls asleep
And swims towards the light
Towards the sound
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2. |
Doodle Head
02:49
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Doodle Head - lyrics
A brand new day is an empty page
Fill it up and sign it with your age
Playing hockey and war is such a bore
Compared to the pictures you have made
God bless bees cus bees make wax
Wax makes crayons that come in packs
Of 25 lively colours
There's a world beyond the lawn
Waiting to be drawn
Doodlehead
If you don't like what you see
Doodleloot do all you can be
Doodle head
Look real hard in your back yard
And see a frame around the trees
The land will always draw you too
One can't erase these memories
God bless trees cus trees make pulp
Pulp makes paper to colour up
In pages by the hundreds
They say Superman really is Canadian
He just went south to get a gig
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3. |
Yellow Ochre Yonge
03:32
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Yellow Ochre Yonge - lyrics
On the path of least resistance
the laws of nature guide you there
To the north shore of a great lake
with a big smoke stead of air
Off of offices and wet sweat shops
a stew of studios and factories
Where perspiration smells like hope
like fossil fuel to machinery
From charcoal to Venetian oil
From black and white to a summer palette bright
Yellow ochre Yonge goes down
To neon Hogtown
On the corner by the plaza
with the Mephisto blues again
To a sculpture carved in butter
of the Beatles in Pierre Cardin
All the piggies in this city
know exactly who they are
Some are slaughtered for another supper
some work at the abattoir
From charcoal to the table
From black and white to a summer Friday night
To an illuminated land
where Sam The Record Man
Is there to shake your hand
every Saturday
Cross-town on Bloor
Honest Ed is at the door
With free turkeys for the poor
on the holidays
Yellow ochre Yonge goes down
To neon Hogtown
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4. |
Lily of The 401
02:58
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Lily Of The 401 - lyric
Long ago at the AGO
Saw my very first art show
The west wind nearly knocked me down
Blew me straight past Harold Towne
Take the Gardiner to the Don
Plant bulbs till the day is done
Everyone will be turned on
For Lilly of the 401
Two lips I could kiss so long
Tiny Tim t’would sing his song
Petals on a pillowcase
Frame a daydream of her face
Does a happy home await your car
Or are you alone in your boudoir
Either way you are a muse
So be amused while I play the blues
Take the Gardiner to the Don
Plant bulbs till the day is done
Everyone will be turned on
For Lilly of the 401
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5. |
Illustrating Man
02:17
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Illustrating Man - lyric
Written in his eyes
sketched on his skin
Permanent dyes
seep deep within
Read between the lines
see where he's been
illustrating man
The never-ending tale
the story of old
A miracle for sale
that never should be sold
If intervention fails
don't say that you weren't told
illustrating man
Whatever happened to the dream
That you packed in a khaki green knapsack
With some brushes and paints
Now there's a noisy neighbor overhead
A monkey on your back
And a prayer to patron saints
In Kensington skies
a hard luck moon
A squeegee kid tries
to liberate a loon
A car alarm cries
a wilderness tune
illustrating man
Whatever happened to your idealism?
Well I've got a hunch - the dream was just about pipes
Now the mega city is a prison without a free lunch
And you don't look good in stripes
A net of telephone wires
and streetcar lines
Trapped and for hire
in a web of compromise
Follow your desire
get out while your alive
illustrating man
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6. |
Evergreen
01:54
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Evergreen - lyric
For every colour that
That May will sing
Stay evergreen
Evergreen
Summer Fall Winter and
Every spring
Stay evergreen
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7. |
Dangling Pine
05:50
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Dangling Pine
Out on the corner
hand in the air
Hailing a cab
to take him somewhere
Climb in the back
and he's suddenly there
From the sweet perfume
It gets stronger
with every breath
He can remember
each little death
The way she looked
each time he left
That candle lit room
Artificial saccharine scent
Triggering these past events inside
Dangling pine from the rear view mirror
Brings her to mind he can almost see her
Take a look behind she's nowhere near
Dangling pine
The abstract expressionist
up in the sky
Splashes colours of passion
on leaves as they die
It's there to capture
and he valiantly tries
Day after day
One taxi driver
in Algonquin Park
One taxidermist
looking for Noah's Ark
One tax on love
and it'll break your heart
When it comes time to pay
Can't see the forest for the insect guts
Where are squeegee kids when you need their touch divine
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8. |
Fine Art of Selling Out
06:09
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Autumn night
Alchemy of cold
Jack frost white
Changing leaves to gold
Fall is the season it all becomes clear
The calling and following leading you here
Echoing deeper into the interior forest
The test of a man manifest on a canvas
A looking glass lake with an upside down surface
Dragging a brush through the mirror veneer of wilderness
But the masterpiece is in doubt
Now you've mastered with ease
The fine art of selling out
West wind blow
Jack pine bow with grace
Northern soul
Wears a weathered face
Diluting the watercolours with antifreeze
Deluding yourself through chattering teeth
Pretty soon you'll be so numb you won't feel anything
The paradox of paradise
As isolation turns to ice
Nobodies there to notice the fire isn't burning
And the masterpiece is in doubt
Now you've mastered with ease
The fine art of selling out
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9. |
Ultramarine
03:55
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Ultramarine
The blues came in an undertow
Taking him down below
Where he’d seen in dreams
Ultramarine
A drop of life a drowning wave
A water womb and grave
Everything between
Ultramarine
sound flowing through his head
siren of a lake bed
Singing so serene
Ultramarine
Till glacial tears crystallize
Or disappear in a desert dry
Blood of Evergreen
Ultramarine
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10. |
Canoe Lake
03:34
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Heart of the forest
Soul of the land
Body of water
Body of a man
The bottom was clear
The sky was opaque
They found a canoe
On Canoe Lake
Some say it tipped over
Some say suicide
Or that some jealous lover
Made sure someone died
He studied the light
From a bed of sand
And forgot to reach out
For Jesus's hand
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11. |
Northern Shield
02:45
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Northern Shield - lyric
If you're alone
Don't be afraid
For you're protected by
The Northern Shield
I stand on guard
On guard for thee
You will be safe behind
The Northern Shield
They'll tear a strip out of the wilderness
And slice right through these walls of stone
So every Dick and Jane can proclaim their love again
In Day-Glo aerosol and the disappearing ozone
What has defaced
Will be erased
Restore the grandeur of
The Northern Shield
Always be
Strong free
For you're protected by
The Northern Shield
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12. |
Turpentine Wind
04:48
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Turpentine Wind - lyric
the end begins with the turpentine wind of winter
dissolving leaves of deciduous trees to vapor
cleaning rag clear-cut the colours of fall
drag the lake wipe out the sky
till there's nothing left at all
taken down
the end begins with the turpentine wind of winter
spirits sting nicks in the skin then enter
A knife is raised
to scrape away all tell tale signs
A life erased
the scratches and crosshatches
line by line
taken down
down to the white gesso ground
white as bone
white as snow
white as sound
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