You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Place In Time’ category.

One hour forty on a plane
Hit the tar in Uluru
Dry with flies, dingo shame
Culture club on history tour

One hour forty on a plane
Desert life with mulga fair
Local bloke tries to explain
How and why the rock sits here

Chorus:
I’m not listening to his dreaming
I’m so city smart you see
I’m not listening to his dreaming
Learning how I came to be
No sign my past….
In Simpson dust

Four hours forty on a bus
Off the tar to Uluru
Tourists love a bit of rough
Captives to the outback lure

Four hours forty on a bus
Air-conditioned, white domain
See it now, avoid the rush
Local bloke tries to explain

Chorus:
They’re not listening to his dreaming
They’re so worldly smart you see
They’re not listening to his dreaming
Learning how they came to be
No sign their past….
In Simpson dust

David O’Connor

It was a summer
And the changing of the moon
The days were long and hot
A gentle breeze to cool
Sipping Maxwell’s
With a taste of rusty tin
I watched the world go by
Shaking from within

My face was aging
My hair was chasing grey
So easy sit and contemplate
Twilight’s passing gaze
Sipping Maxwell’s
With a touch of oil of cloves
I watched the world go by
Without a point to prove

Chorus:
Sipping Maxwell’s
Southern vales and vine
Sipping Maxwell’s
Waiting for a sign

David O’Connor

Cold the water wakes the lie
Knee deep stain no hope remove
Flight of death comes rushing by
Piercing deep tomorrow’s youth

Wave on wave, the growing scar
Digging deep in shell shot sand
Some way off a bridge too far
Coping with the job at hand

Watching on, the camera whirs
History has its part to play
Country first, then his and hers
Glory lives in future days

Painful thoughts one comes to bear
Right and wrong march to a tune
Love and war is never fair
Loss forgotten all too soon

Chorus:
White cross, green field
Great loss revealed
By side, by side
With flags to fly

David O’Connor

Escaping from your Canterbury
Shades of home in every point and turn
Trouble in the look and see
What the locals never seem to learn

Freedom hour out and it’s okay
Solace deep, gasping on fresh air
Far too far for holidays
Should be right tonight, a room to share

Round to south, warming to the day
Find a village scene for floating high
Hog’s Back joins the serenade
So what you think…. easy when you try

Bridge:
Running on an oily rag
Why it’s sad, so sad, so sad, so sad

Chorus:
Day away in Brighton
Don’t be frightened by the wall-to-wall
Not interested in fighting
Try to call….
We’ll all have toast and tea

David O’Connor

Fast approaching reckoning
Deadly quiet, all living thing
On the land and on the wing
Sense the coming flame

Batten down the house and shed
In the paddock good as dead
From the blue stalks fear and dread
With the coming flame

Mantelpiece, the memories bare
Only clothes are those you wear
One last look, a single tear
Feeds the coming flame

Engine roars in one escape
Start again is what you take
Left or right could spell your fate
Outrun the coming flame

Reprise:
Blackened ridge, an empty land
Centenary gums, alone they stand
Stubbled fields to desert sand
All done….
The coming flame

David O’Connor

Lost among the ruins
Some runaway affair
Nursing cuts and bruises
Both you and I aware
Holding tight the wrappings
Where fallen towers bleed
Foundations broken, battered
Astonished by the greed

Walking through the diggings
Memories from below
Graves of holy reverence
Nobody we know
Taken by their father
Prisoners at the stake
Toast the warm mull cider
Destruction in their wake

Lost among the ruins
No longer feeling pain
Shedding tears for past years
Crumbled, scarred remains
Arches’ sacred beauty
Martyred quarry stones
Hearts of blood and water
Barely beating on

Bridge:
Deadly still, soft breathing
Years of pain reliving faith gone wrong

Chorus:
Look and breathe the outcome
One small park and ride
Dig, discover hurting
Going on inside
Have we lost all courage
All caring for the ones
And like the abbey ruins
Count the seasons done

David O’Connor

In the red of desert sands
Black the heart of passing trade
Cold the tale of stolen dreams
On this lonely inner vein

In the face of setting sun
Chew and spit the dusty dry
Innocence forever plain
Mulga silent to the cries

In the light of come and gone
Truth or two in sandstone carved
North beyond the desert core
Hidden proud and ancient past

Bridge:
What will be will be
Now, where were we
Where were we

Chorus:
On the road to nowhere
Nowhere home of man and beast
Failed, flawed and so unfair
But it don’t hurt….
What we can’t see

David O’Connor

Friday for leaving
Camping the play
Beans for the eating
Beer for the day
Up to the mountain
Pilgrims along
This where it’s at
Baby, come on

South to the border
Right for a way
Place called Mulwala
Done-up EJ
Come for the music
Stay for the song
This where it’s at
Baby, come on

Bridge:
Pull up a pew, take off your shoes
See how it goes,  truth out on show
Voice of real friends, no points to win
Baby come on, come on

David O’Connor

Somewhere in this mind you’ll find
Spirit lives without a crime
Known by name so pure of life
Somewhere all things putting right

Somewhere in this hell on earth
Rests the meaning, what it’s worth
Be the one who cries alone
Until this child is welcomed home

Somewhere in this web of fear
Feeds an evil so sincere
Shows the face you die to see
Won’t you tread so carefully

Chorus:
Somewhere on this journey wild
Someone take and hold your hand
Someone call my little child
Somewhere turn and make a stand

Final:
Somewhere in this peace on earth
Finally love without the curse
New wine dripping from the trees
Gift forever claim to be

David O’Connor

Distant lights of coming home
Hold the phone
Welcome sight of sleepy town
Gone too long

Know the smiles on aging faces
Glad to see I’m going places
Genuine, not city wishes
Over sink and dinner dishes

Dreaming might buy me some
Time alone
Drifting back to sleepy town
How she’s grown (she aint grown)

In my knee-highs, Sunday fashion
Picture theatre built for passion
Fumbled love, so sweet the challenge
Somewhere lost the art of balance

Something right ‘bout coming home
Always known
Never far from sleepy town
In my bones

Photo frames on rawhide mantle
Local pub, trusty handful
Years of drink and swollen stories
Basking in a world of boring….
Never boring

David O’Connor

Broken sleep to feel it moving
Land’s End rush from winter squall
Somewhere deep somebody losing
Fight to have it all

No foreboding, no-one saying
Timeless shift in Greenwich mean
Somewhere, someone down and praying
Deja vu the scene

Stand in wonder at the calling
London lost in ‘42
Somewhere quest in silence falling
Failure through and through

Settle slowly, murmured shelling
Holy Island rise again
Somewhere, someone storytelling
Never be the same

Chorus:
Tremor shakes belief in being
Core of truth we see receding
Hold on tight dear life we’re leading
Shaken to the core
Trem….or
Trem….or

David O’Connor

Where are we now
Peaceful sleeping in pastures green
No longer knowing the how
Playing the game, stealing the scene

Where are we now
Picture perfect in mantelpiece dust
No longer man of the hour
Walking the talk, stepping up fast

Where are we now
Some fickle thought in somebody’s past
No longer woman of power
Looking the look, breaking a heart

Chorus:
We’re where we are
What we live today
What we do, what we say
What we are today
Where we are today
Tomorrow…. today

David O’Connor

On the last of life’s great journeys
Mountains high above the rain
Deserts bathed in morning sunlight
You my love are everything

Forest roots set deep in nature
Horizon sky in pink refrain
Canyons fall to river rising
You my love are everything

Vista of an Eden valley
Granite walls a temple plain
Lakes and streams alive with living
You my love are everything

Bridge:
Above the day-to-day
Mountains fall into the sea
Yet, still the life goes on

Chorus:
Alone I stand and wait the dawn
First rays of light a promise born
I close my eyes and pray your name
For you my love are everything
Everything….
My love

David O’Connor

Lost aboard a ship called Rose
Many more like me
“Land ho” aint a call we know
Future all at sea

Seems like years since Captain sang
Sailing on the tide
Only got ourselves to thank
For this unlawful ride

Overboard the lady roars
Creaking timber frame
Scurvy sure we’re feeling poor
Just ourselves to blame

Bridge:
Loaf of bread the judgement said
Two years to the day
Colony, in time you’ll see
Crime, it doesn’t pay

Chorus:
When all seems lost in endless water wall
Hope arrives, on high the crow’s nest call….
Australia, New South Wales
Australia, New South Wales
Australia, New South Wales

David O’Connor

Eagle high as noonday sun
Raise my eyes, wipe my brow
Three weeks in and just begun
Flies and heat and smell of cow

Ernie rides the flank somewhere
Know he’s got the job in hand
Mike up front, Steve to the rear
Droving ‘cross this wide brown land

Horses sweat with passing miles
Mind a drifting finds her face
Month or two to heavenly smile
Perfume scent on promised lace

River break to rest the herd
Greying gums oasis-like
Pulls them up, well-chosen word
Feel the pangs of hunger bite

Saddle welcomes time to move
All as one take up the reins
Loud the shout, we drive them through
Home from home on western plains

Chorus:
Kick the ground and eat the dust
Country folk can’t get enough
Feeling lost? Return again
Home from home on western plains

David O’Connor

PA, the train is late
Baby in quite a state
Maybe something that she ate
Or maybe nothing at all

Wonder, cab close by
Come on, it’s worth a try
Time, she states it’s do or die
Maybe do nothing at all

Airplane is filling fast
Cheap smile to get her past
Last seat in second class
Maybe no, nothing at all

Bus station, lay about
She sees the word is out
Welcome, crowds they shout
Maybe say nothing at all

Chorus:
Berkeley calling baby say
Wall to wall in rows they lay
See them falling relentlessly
Berkeley calling baby say

David O’Connor

Intro:
Take your seat, know the drill
Cabin crew decided chill
Last flight out of Darwin, you’d be the same
Heading south, time to sleep
Lay your chair, some relief
Cattle class, no fuss, so glad you came

Chorus:
Touching down, all around, welcome sound
Adelaide
On the ground, all around, what a town
Adelaide

In the Square you’re welcome
Locals all who know your name
Market mile and then some
No two people look the same

King William never crosses
It’s a story you should know
Never count your losses
Adelaide can’t help but grow

Trawl the mall, it’s all there
Summer sun to drive them out
Fashion, maybe you stare
By the balls the buskers shout

David O’Connor

Sarajevo, when the wind blows
Does the world know wrong from right
Sarajevo, through the black snow
Do your fears grow for the night

Close your eyes, sleep my child
Tears are all but spent
Tomorrow’s fires will burn the souls
Of those who won’t repent

Sarajevo, in your wounds show
Strong the life blood flows through you
Sarajevo, come tomorrow
You will know what you must do

Close your eyes, sleep my child
Rest your weary head
Tomorrow’s fires will burn the souls
Of those who’d see you dead

Chorus:
Sarajevo, you know right from wrong
Sarajevo, you know you belong
Forever on, forever on
For you belong

David O’Connor

Battle raging on my lawn
Sirens wailing on and on
Uniformed they come to play
Understand the rules one day

High above the engines strain
Children run, it’s all a game
From the comfort of my lounge
One goes up, one comes down

Weed the garden while they sail
Dinner guests, it never fails
Making plans to see them right
Hoping they don’t die of fright

Bridge:
Keep the shelter shining
Mow the battlefield
Helmets in the ironing
Back-step where they bleed

Chorus:
Is it any wonder
Hard to raise a smile
Feel the strain you’re under
Every little while
Is it any wonder
Feel a little poor
Any minor blunder
Gunners at the door

David O’Connor

City lickin’ wounds
Dead and gone too soon
Always make the room
Come and play

Concrete hide and seek
Stepping on the weak
Bending til you break
Spend a day

Population strain
Swelling once again
Pretty and the plain
Join the queue

One day to the next
Expect the unexpected
Get your fix
City lickin’ wounds

Bridge:
Sliding down the tar of life
Hiding from the stars at night
Fine the line of wrong and right
Come play, come play

David O’Connor

Archives

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.