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A Thief's Journal (album, 2007)

by Floyd Thursby

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1.
The Thief 05:00
I’m a man who does his work well For me there’s no glory A thief’s a figure running through the dark I’ll tell you my story I swear - I thought I was safe I thought she was sleeping But I left a little something special on the window pane Then I felt myself falling CHORUS Every time I leave a home Through a broken window or an open door I love you that little bit more I love you that little bit more And I know I know I know That by loving you so I will lead them to me I will lead them to me Fate - it must have been fate It followed my shadow And all the keys to all the locks Remembered me - remembered that window CHORUS I see my way now I see it so clearly One reason to live I hold it so dearly Night is still my companion I can’t lose that feeling The man has dealt me my hand This hand’s made for stealing
2.
You have a secret just for two With your quiet silver keepings Scheming out the world in wicked ways It’s in your hands, now Carried together into town This tiny pocket burden Shining from that secret in your eyes It’s in your hands, now CHORUS It’s in your hands, now Gather it together In your hands now Hold onto it forever and a day You hung a memory in the sky Or a message on my windscreen Traced across the glass in lovers’ rhyme It’s in your hands, now CHORUS This road’s a long forgotten path But we keep our course regardless Straight toward that message in the sky It’s in your hands now
3.
There is a tight black promise in a dead man’s eyes And it echoes through his ribcage, and this promise tells no lies As his panicked breath departed I was clutched in his embrace And I knew the man had given me this promise in his place I wrapped my plans for the past in a sheet from his bed And I called the walls to witness all the savage words he’d said I took the red paint brush from the red paint pot And I marked the red letter on the dead man’s gut CHORUS Red red letter Red red letter Red red letter Letter red You know there used to be a light outside the silent gates of hell And a keeper of the light, and of the gates, and of the bell But the keeper’s left the gate, and the light has burned away And now the measure of a man is just the money he can pay. I’ve seen, I’ve seen what a boy shouldn’t see But the reason I’m still looking is the promise made to me If I choose the wrong blade or kiss the wrong hand I wear the black promise like a black armband
4.
They were taking down the banners on Calendar Street They were talking like soldiers at the trackside meet There was movement in the docklands on the passenger side Some white Russian with a fancy hat had brought the moon in on the tide CHORUS And you show me your body, and your only tattoo And I know by your eyes and the curl of your lips that I’m worthless to you And you light my cigar, put your knife in my back With a lover’s twist I will shout your name to the four corners of the universe I will harness the winds to the black devil’s curse I will ride down an angel and I will slay her in her bed But to you I will be nothing more than a name in a book you once read.
5.
On a dark city day Wearing dark city rain, I kick at the footpath As I wait for your train Verse Two I’d brought you six roses But your train, it never came And I felt a little crazy And I wished you felt the same CHORUS Coz life is for living And love is for giving And people can say what they will When we are together And the nights last forever Those crazy day feelings lie still Verse Three I dreamed I’s on fire But the fire was cold It danced on my fingers And it iced up my soul Verse Four If I could get you back again I’d give everything I had I don’t want to stay this crazy I can’t stay this sad CHORUS Verse Five The storm clouds had left us And the cold, and the rain. All the shadows and sadness The heartache and pain. Verse Six The blue sky was shouting Our names out to sea The sun was on fire Your arms were round me
6.
He arrived in drunken splendour with the dusk Like a circus clown astride a sullen mule He said a child could conquer all within this town But a child is always taken for a fool He camped beneath the bell tower and the clock He said his watch had snapped a coil the day before And when the hours ring like thunder in your ears The time of day means nothing anymore He promised he would save us all from Satan And he swore by Revelation 1:18 I know our father speaks through many hosts But a preacher man like this I’d never seen CHORUS If I remember my Bible correctly The Romans killed an honourable man For saying things no one could understand And that bodes evil for this land He said: when darkness holds us all within a cage And the moon shines a torch through the bars The spirit hides my face behind a veil And I know the answer’s nowhere near the stars When the sun has pinned our bodies to the plains And the glory of the day has burnt our eyes A whisper plays amongst us like a ghost And I know that Armageddon’s on the rise CHORUS I told him things I’d never told before I wept within his arms and it felt good He raised me out of ashes, cast fire upon my soul I was saved because I trusted that he could But a shepherd cannot lead the hearts of all And panic hides its face in every flock They spat upon his teachings, and tangled him in chains And they hanged him from the bell tower and the clock
7.
You’re going to need this for your trip across the river The ferry’s weighted down with rags and gold Although you’ve tried with every heartbeat to forgive her You’re going to need this for your trip across the river You’re going to need this when you walk towards your lover Your candle trailing ribbons through the dark It took you thirty lifetimes to discover You’re going to need this when you walk towards your lover Oh, I’m coming home You’ll say “My darling one I know you must be weary I know the days weigh heavy on your soul I have brought something to ease your precious burden My darling one, I know you must be weary.” Oh, I’m coming home You ache to feel again the love you now only remember When a glance could take an arrow from your heart But the deed you have performed renders your soul unto the other You’ll never feel again what you remember You’ll never feel again what you remember Oh, I’m coming home
8.
Sunrise 03:35
I is I and you is you and conversation's at a standstill Oh oh oh sunrise Oh oh oh sunrise   she is them and he is they and what's the time and where's the money Oh oh oh sunrise Oh oh oh sunrise   Red green indigo violet navy blue Illumination comes but once a year long slide into the dark Red green indigo violet stinking haze Autumn soaks up summer's lazy tail For what is now and how is why into a room of darkened glances Oh oh oh sunrise Oh oh oh sunrise Brick is brick and wall is wall and there’s your answer in a sweat cell Oh oh oh sunrise Oh oh oh sunrise Red green indigo violet navy blue Illumination comes but once a year long slide into the dark Red green indigo violet stinking haze Autumn soaks up summer's lazy tail Take a point and stretch it out and bring it round and there’s a circle Oh oh oh sunrise Oh oh oh sunrise Find the time at close of day to rest a bone in blackest sanctuary Oh oh oh sunrise Oh oh oh sunrise Red green indigo violet navy blue Illumination comes but once a year long slide into the dark Red green indigo violet stinking haze Autumn soaks up summer's lazy tail
9.
Verse One Bridge Road midnight And a flickering light Marks the door of an old wine bar Where taxi cab drivers, and late night lovers Eat like kings, surrounded by stars Verse Two She took me she kept me She walked out and left me It’s a tale I’m not too proud to tell You can drown out your sorrow between now and tomorrow But never dream in this Hollywood CHORUS I’m down on my knees to this lack-lustre shrine With a lock of her hair in my hand On the lino we danced out our faded romance In the nights of the Hollywood Palace Verse Three In this has-been hall of fame I see a poor man’s pinball game And a juke box of faded delights They say ‘Take the man home’, but he’s never alone When he dines at Hollywood’s
10.
They were taking down the banners on Calendar Street They were talking like soldiers at the trackside meet There was movement in the docklands on the passenger side Some white Russian with a fancy hat had brought the moon in on the tide CHORUS And you show me your body, and your only tattoo And I know by your eyes and the curl of your lips that I’m worthless to you And you light my cigar, put your knife in my back With a lover’s twist I will shout your name to the four corners of the universe I will harness the winds to the black devil’s curse I will ride down an angel and I will slay her in her bed But to you I will be nothing more than a name in a book you once read.

about

Check out the award winning music video for 'The Thief', directed by Cris Jones: youtu.be/wg5uCJmd3h4

credits

released May 25, 2007

A Thief's Journal - Floyd Thursby & the Definite Article

Floyd Thursby: vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, pump organ
Mark Hilton: electric guitar, backing vocals
Richard Wilson: drums

Special guests:
Marty Brown: drums on 'In your hands', pump organ, various noises
Fiona Spencer: tuba
James Hazelden: cello, accordion
Matthew Bailey: trumpet

All songs by Floyd Thursby, except for 'Nights of the Hollywood Palace' by Floyd Thursby and Karen O'Reilly.

Produced by Marty Brown, Floyd Thursby & the Definite Article
Recorded by Marty Brown at Standalone Studios, Melbourne, Australia
Mastered by Ross Cockle at Sing Sing, Melbourne, Australia

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Floyd Thursby Melbourne, Australia

"Floyd Thursby has a fascinating voice. But of course, all that would be insignificant without great songs as vehicles for that voice. Thursby has armfuls of them." (Rhythms magazine)

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