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The Shadow of an Empire

by Fionn Regan

supported by
David Travis
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Caleb Marhoover
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1.
Protection Racket 02:39
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Be quiet Katie there is someone at the hatch You curse the darkness I'll strike a match Undoing the latch I tripped on the scales and fell Just as someone hit the reception bell The ghost of that injury still remains My ankle starts to swell just before it rains Leaders of nations, wild Alsatians Crumbling foundations, I've lost my patience These big companies are giving us the squeeze Let’s raise our glasses to Mr. Onassis Protection racket (hand over the packet) Rome needs cement (in this event) Go over to the till Katie (the national) Pay this man his rent It's a standard procedure I forgot to mention that grandma's pension Will ease the rent book tension A little birdie told me you've been syphoning the poor box I heard the knitting circle discussing Chubb locks What’s all the commotion? What do they expect? With no sign of a promotion I've lost my self-respect You see I built this heap from scratch when I was poor Now they're asking me to hoover the floor Splash some water over me slap 'round the face Did I miss a meeting I don't recognise the place The plug in the socket burns a hole in the pocket These big companies are giving us the squeeze Let’s raise our glasses to Mr. Onassis Protection racket (hand over the packet) Rome needs cement (in this event) Go over to the till Katie (the national) Pay this man his rent It's a standard procedure
2.
Catacombs 03:24
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From a catacomb to a hot air balloon Chase the dragon across the sand dunes Have I been noticing bruises on your skin? Have you been walking into furniture again? Let’s take it outside the kids are sleeping I’ll pay you to do me some damage Let’s take it outside the kids are sleeping I’ll pay you to do me repairs Let’s take it out Is there a back way out of here? You can tell me Down the fire escape I hope my knees don’t fail me Son be careful on that country bend Someone hit a moving wall here last weekend Let’s take it outside the kids are sleeping I’ll pay you to do me some damage Let’s take it outside the kids are sleeping I’ll pay you to do me repairs Let’s take it out There’s a mansion on the hill We can get into their pool You have a lot to learn And I have a lot to forget And when will you write this chequebook out My autograph is a rainstorm in a drought
3.
Coat Hook 02:19
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Let me be your coat hook Let me be your pearl grey fedora Let me be your crushed pill On the bureau on the windowsill Let me be your coat hook You can carry my baby Out on the turnpike I’ll show you how to mend a barbed-wire fence Migrant entrance Let me be your breadline Let me be your picket fence Let me be your hairpin A little buttercup underneath your chin Let me be your coat hook You can carry my baby Out on the turnpike I’ll show you how to mend a barbed-wire fence Migrant entrance You beg me to drag you Across the carpet Keep talking or shut up
4.
Genocide Matinee 03:50
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Chop me down like a hollow tree Walk me back into my infancy Did the night porter tuck him in With the butt end of a rolling pin Was there a trap door in the welcome mat Were there clouds in his worker’s hat Drop me off in the slum district With a bag of bones and straight jacket Did an oven call to collect your head Did a weed killer drink you dead Is that Christopher Columbus in the projection room They’re selling coupons They’re handing out tokens Now the curtains are shrieking Take your seats for the genocide matinee Throw you to the truncheon of authority That treats you with no dignity Did they seal your lips with a molten vice grips Did they fasten your mind shut with rust-riddled zips Strip me bare like the scapegoat The primate prays the public vote Did they wait for you like tripwires Behind the veiled midnight choirs Clutching carcass carts gurning on threadbare tyres A bitter story leaps from the archives quagmires Lamented in lectures like battery acid naked Now the armrests turn to axes slamming on hinges The front row is reserved for the lunatic fringes Down at the genocide matinee Driven into the doom-lit ditch Where the highlighted index are branded snitch Was there a fuse attached to the ignition For signing that red petition Did they boil the whole community In the shackles of the partition Tortured for information They’ll demoralise you down at the station Where all the filthy practices of the earth Are inherent and born in the dirt Now the credits are rolling For those controlling The bells that are tolling in the speakers At the genocide matinee
5.
Violent Demeanour 03:30
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White knuckle alabastor You're on a traffic island With a bag of birthday cards You're searching for a flick knife in the glovebox It's a write-off No unauthorised personnel behind these lines Without id cards Handguns are widely available I've a violent demeanour So tie me to a chair Until it's out of my system Until it's out of my system Down the Shanghai tunnels White knuckle alabastor You talk to Jesus You talk to Jesus In a photobooth He wants your bank details Your date of birth Confess the truth The institutions with the metal hearts Chain the mentally ill to destitute walls The wards of state do not illuminate the margins I've a violent demeanour So tie me to a chair Until it's out of my system Until it's out of my system Down the Shanghai tunnels There you were at the start of life Looking up into your mother's eyes Now there's pennies on your eyelids I've a violent demeanour So tie me to a chair Until it's out of my system Down the Shanghai tunnels I've a violent demeanour
6.
Lines Written In Winter 03:57
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I’m down below the bridge like a comet in a dungeon This cardboard lies between me like a sapphire The snow falls heavy in The north reflecting tail-lights in shop fronts The beat of feet report the last one leaving out of sight I’d give it over just to hear you say When I was missing you came out walking I want to tell you that I make your bed I break it up and I do it again Just so it feels like you’ve been here But I know that you’re not coming home You’re lost between the glitter of winter and the big world darkness I watched childhood parents depart I was dormant in the doldrums Those winters flickered on tables for laughter to reunite Sleet and hail on the skylight like sheets wrapping beds of white I painted pictures for them depicting angels in heaven I’d give it over just to hear you say When I was missing you came out walking I want to tell you that I make your bed I break it up and I do it again Just so it feels like you’ve been here But I know that you’re not coming home You’re lost between the glitter of winter and the big world darkness Home, home, home
7.
House Detective 03:05
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You climbed up the drainpipe I climbed up the ladder in your tights We are back from the river where The midges deliver their bites If jealousy’s a pit I can see that you have it in spades Try and cut the power line to our kingdom With some corner shop razor blades If you ever, if you ever Come back this way Don’t be clever, dull your senses Your senses and stay I know your sails are wide open You wait for the gale Well I’d rather be in the inkwell Than lost in the mail I threaten you with an umbrella With a poison tip And you produce a blow torch To the hair above my lip The neighbours gather ‘round They say the boy’s not looking great Well stick around fellas I can punch above my weight If you ever if you ever Come back this way Don’t be clever, dull your senses Your senses and stay I know your sails are wide open You wait for the gale Well I’d rather be in the inkwell Than lost in the mail Everybody’s saying that your sister Is a big girl She stops me in my tracks She has a voice like a river pearl There’s a rumour going ‘round That you’ve been talking to the house detective
8.
Little Nancy 03:16
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I was climbing into a barrel I remembered Little Nancy's voice say "Promise me you'll take me to the big wheel On the night of your next payday" I'll put her on my shoulders Beat the height restriction I'll let her do the talking Bury my poor diction A box of paints and an easel A record player and a needle Little Nancy I was loosening the canvas for to Climb up the rigging And I remembered Little Nancy on the beach Necklace lost and digging I'll tie a ribbon to the railings Mark the exact location I'll win her a goldfish in a bag like a Comic book illustration A matador flag that was a trade-in For a quarter-size violin We parted company amicably Little Nancy Wherever you go, I'll follow you Let not this time be wasted on worrying
9.
Lord Help My Poor Soul 04:42
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Lord help my poor soul I'm down like Edgar Poe Lord help my poor soul I'm bound for Damascus Rid those parasites, guttersnipe barbarous begrudgers click With a stick, now they're feeling seasick Wrestle from the bow that bends, the bow that breaks The Judas tree These garments are foreign rags, all gloomy Not my own you see When the curtain came to me There was no straw In the upholstery Lord help my poor soul I'm down like Edgar Poe Lord help my poor soul I'm bound for Damascus Meltdown some, white label's the best, no contest Boot polish, heads are turned up the vest You know our life feels too dressed A cheap holiday We go rabble-rousing, carousing, drowsing, barbiturate Moths at bay congregate, a little blue tit Known to gather in Grief's archway Lord help my poor soul I'm down like Edgar Poe Lord help my poor soul I'm bound for Damascus Hold on, you don't have to suffer Hold on, you don't feel any pain Lord help my poor soul I'm down like Edgar Poe Lord help my poor soul I'm bound for Damascus
10.
The Shadow Of An Empire 04:04
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The element heats the air But it's still damp, cold and bare You must wear Another layer In the shadow of an empire The factory made Can be heard in the arcade Or stall owners who trade Every grain must be weighed In the shadow of an empire The painted lady By the little town hall Shivers sadly, shoulders in shall Hoping the curb will crawl Through the shadow of an empire We are cast in a role Like the fish are in a shoal Leap the wear or forever toll In the shadow of an empire The filament shattered and broke The fusebox, it went up in smoke Leave the premises so not to choke On the shadow of an empire On the sawdust, the circus band Are heard rehearsing on the strand By the lovers who understand Every note must be planned In the shadow of an empire The pupil waves a seagull feather The see-saw eats his shoes of leather There's been a turn in the weather In the shadow of an empire

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released January 29, 2024

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Fionn Regan Bray, Ireland

Over the course of six sublime albums, the man who has been nominated for Mercury, Choice, Meteor Ireland and Shortlist awards, sampled by Bon Iver, tattooed on actor Rhys Ifans’ arm (the lyric "Be good or be gone"), and made an honorary member of the Trinity College Literary Society knows that rewards and recognition don’t come close to what truly matters. “I’m just so lucky to play music,” Regan ... more

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