Get all 13 Nick Harper releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Tempus Fugitive, Phantastes, Lies! Lies! Lies!, Smithereens, Harperspace, Instrumental, Treasure Island, Miracles For Beginners, and 5 more.
1. |
Beauty Came First
04:01
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Hey boy, I'll tell you how it all began
Hey boy, I'll tell you everything that I can
Before I knew you, before I grew you
Before you saw this Earth, beauty came first
Hey boy, I'll tell you how the story goes
Hey boy, I'll tell you everything that I know
Before I knew you, before I grew you
Before I knew to live life more through you
Before the chorus of laughter took us from the verse,
Beauty came first
And there she laid, being everything
There she stays even now, she came first
Hey boy, I'll tell you how it all began
Hey boy, I'll tell you everything that I can
Before I knew you, before I grew you
Before I knew to live life more through you
Before our laughter that took us further,
To the song and festival feast and fervour
Before our stories, Before our wonders,
Before our glories, Before our blunders
Before our cities, Before the highways
Got so damned busy all day Friday
Before our wars over land and water
Before the reasons we gave for the slaughter
Before the schools were bombed and mortared
Before we tortured our sons and daughters
Before God came down with righteous murder
Before our only home was shown no quarter
Before this endless thirst, beauty came first
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2. |
Man Of A Thousand Days
04:24
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I was raised in the downlands by my mother
And the travelling man who took my father's place
Ere I wanted for the body and the bones of the story
I knew I was to be - man of a thousand days
In the meadow did the vision of a country girl arrest me
Had my spirit fly within her boundless grace
And I sang to her of how her beauty held me there
And possessed me
Yet I had to leave - man of a thousand days
Fortune led me on into the city
Where I tried in understanding all of fate
Through distraction left and right I kept on playing
To ease the weight on the soul
Of the man of a thousand days
Summoned to perform at royal court and palace
The Queen had eyes to see my simple ways
But my heart was bound within that downland meadow
Now I mark my time in the dungeon
Man of a thousand days
Through the fleeting joys of love and every other
You must know the hands of time can not be stayed
Let my spirit roam those downlands and roam no further
At the end and as ever - man of a thousand days
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3. |
Lost In The Snow
06:45
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The king is in the tower
The ring of gold and the parchments are lost in the snow
Followers look to each other - features frozen, fear discovered
Torn by storms foretold
The realm is hollow, drained of life,
They know the words, but can’t recite `
The magic's nought before the bite of winter’s cold
With nothing left to say, one by one they turn away
And the king is in the tower - stars crossed - destiny: dust
The ring of gold and the parchments are lost in the snow
Fables forged then fair forgotten
Like faces, faint and fey - forsaken, flittering fathoms down
The icy cool has claimed again,
The myths, the tales, the best of men
The ghouls who failed to hold the phantom crown
They cry freakish howls, forlorn, for none can be reborn
And the King is in the tower - stars crossed - destiny: dust
The ring of gold and the parchments are lost in the snow
We fragments carry on, forever blown blizzard blind
To none knows where and beyond the edge of mortal time
And the king is in the tower - stars crossed - destiny: dust
The ring of gold and the parchments are lost
The walls crumble - the vigil is over
Legends lie slain - all is lost, all is lost in the snow
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4. |
Dorothy Parker
02:00
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I picked her up in a cold, wet street
In Edinburgh underneath Arthur's Seat
I took her home and I turned on the heat
And now I'm having a bath with Dorothy Parker
There's room for us both in the foamy bath water
I guess I'm really alone, I am here and she's hereafter
But if you can't feel the love you will never hear the laughter
I wear Santa beards and exaggerate my gifts
'Til the bubbles burst and explode another myth
I'm having a bath with Dorothy Parker
There's room for us both in the foamy bath water
I guess I'm really alone, I am here and she's hereafter
But if you can't feel the love you will never hear the laughter
I sent her flowers with love from Harpo
From a Manhattan roof by the billboards of Garbo
Playing croquet all day 'til the sun and her hat blow away
I'm having a bath with Dorothy Parker
There's room for us both in the foamy bath water
I guess we're really nothing,we are here and we're hereafter
But if you can't feel the love you will never hear the laughter
My skin's getting pruney , I can't lie here anymore
So I pick up her slip from the bathroom floor
I wrap it around her tenderly and I take her off to bed
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5. |
Breathe
05:53
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In dreams, memories, whispers In the breeze
In everything, In the heart, In the soul,
Through the wind, Through the rain
Through the storm, Through the pain,
Through me, Through us all,
Breathe
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6. |
Nix
06:05
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She is the perfect girl, she knows the perfect word,
She’s from a perfect world...muse
She is unbidden, unspoken, unsung and unsaid
Unwritten, unbroken uncut golden thread
Of silence, unspun unentangled and pure
Undressed and bereft of beguiling allure
And if you ever see her she disappears
If you ever try to hold her she’s gone, long gone
And if anybody tells you they know the places where she goes
You might tell yourself you feel her there
But then again you never really know
And if you want to hold her tight
You’ve got to give her up and let her go
She might just come to you in the night she might not
But that’s your only hope
Nick's on a picnic, mothership carsick
Cricked neck, cricked back, dingbat, dipstick
My bad head by a chemical thread in the mystic shed
Necks keg dregs, potting burning lead, plotting turning red
Clotting hurting head, looking for the long gone girl
In a perfect world
Total freedom from the tyranny
The universal cacophony, Hackney carriage melody
If you ever see me there, improvise - say hello from me
Let her be, let her float on down to me when she pleases
The atom splitter scatters glitter,
Matter litters bitter splatters everywhere
Riven schism, the unforgiven
Unstrung male strum strings unattached
Boing, One two, one two, mended, matched, mixed
Ended latched, searching for the perfect girl
She is unfettered uncluttered unobscured untapped
Unshelled, unhatched
I’m done, fling flung, binned, slung, thing bunged,
Bucket list box ticked, itch scratched
And if you ever see her she disappears
If you ever try to hold her she’s gone, she’s gone
And if anybody tells you they know the places where she goes
You might tell yourself you feel her there
But then again you never really know
And if you want to hold her tight
You’ve got to give her up and let her go
She just might come to you in the night she might not
But there’s nothing you can do, nix, nothing, nada, nix
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7. |
That'll Do Fine
04:50
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I wake up Sunday morning, still some Saturday in my head
I was going to get serious but I mess around instead - alright
I don't believe in Jesus and I don't believe in time
I do believe in people if they spread their wings and fly
That'll do fine
I wake up Monday morning with a creeping sense of dread
I was going to sell my soul, but I play guitar instead - alright
I don't believe in trickle down, I don't believe in greed
I do believe in love and if I plant just one seed
That'll do fine
I wake up Tuesday morning - I've got big things on my mind
I decide on doing nothing otherwise I'd waste my time - alright
I don't believe in doomsday and I don't believe in fear
I do believe in people if they keep each other near
That'll do fine
I wake up Wednesday morning - half a week ticked off again
I was going to make a record, but I think I'll give it ten - alright
I don't believe in darkness and I don't believe in might
I do believe in people if they keep each others' fires alight
That'll do fine
I wake up Thursday morning - I was going to shake a leg
My baby wants a holding so I shake it all instead
Alright
I don't believe in miracles like water into wine
But if seeing is believing I believe I see that you are mine
That'll do fine
I wake up Friday morning and the week is nearly done
I haven't quite got going yet, but I'm glad with what I've not become
Alright
I don't believe in keeping score, I don't believe in lies
I do believe in people and there is no wise, other otherwise
That'll do fine
I wake up Saturday morning with my baby next to me
Put with the week that went preceeding
I'm pleased with what I’ve not achieved
Alright
I don't believe in giving to the haves and not have nots
I do believe in people who believe we're all we've got
That'll do fine
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8. |
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I knew that they'd left me on my holiday on Earth
I knew they'd upset me on my holiday on Earth
I saw the ship arising with my face down in the dirt
That’s when I knew that they'd left me on my
holiday on Earth
Anybody who is anybody is a survivor for now for sure
I'm hanging out with the survivors
I've seen ‘em come and go
Happiness is the driver - as if you didn't know
Earthling I love you, I love you so
All the festival is in my head tonight
I feel everything will be alright
I know everyone I've loved planet wide
They have been my guide, been my light
So I hope they never fetch me from my holiday on Earth
I’m Happy that they left me on my holiday on Earth
I saw the ship arising and I hid my face down
Down there in the dirt
I hope they really do forget me on my holiday on Earth
I'm a survivor - I've seen ‘em come and go
I'll take another reviver - I'm going with the flow
I'm waiting on for the decider - I wanted you to know
Happiness is your driver, as if you didn’t know
Earthling I love you I love you so
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9. |
Merry England
04:11
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Rev's up here we go again
It's a good start to the day when someone let's you in
It all flies by as the wheels spin
And the signs do exactly what they say on the tin
And I'm a long long way from my sweet sweet home
I'm going to have a drink and I'm glad I'm not alone
I'm trying to break through a wall of stone
And I'm dry as a bone
Pounding the ground
Wearing my rubber down on merry England
Trying to reach you
Get out of town
And the starlight shines right down on merry England
Trying to reach you
We tumble out of town and we ramble to the next
The places on the map seem to be where they go best
All in a beautiful merry old mess
As the cry goes up, "Yes yes yes!"
And I'm a long long way from my sweet sweet home
I'm going to have another drink and I'm glad I'm not alone
I'm trying to break through a wall of stone
And I'm dry as a bone
Pounding the ground
Wearing my rubber down on merry England
Trying to reach you
Get out of town
And the starlight shines right down on merry England
Trying to reach you - trying to get to you
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Nick Harper England, UK
TEMPUS FUGITIVE
The new album.
It's about time.
Slabs of sonic beauty from Nick and Tchad Blake groove through the portals to meet the immortals ..
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