1. |
Blood Moon
03:31
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Blood Moon
Em D Am Bm
Don’t gaze at the stars tonight
Em G Am Bm
While the moon’s in our shadow
Em D Am Bm
When the devil can control the light
G D Am
And our fortunes fade in the red glow
G D Am
Close your curtains don’t head outside
G C B7
Bury your head in a soft pillow
Em F#m G Am
Satan’s waiting for a blink from your eye
B7
And tempting you with a crimson rainbow
Em D Em B7
There’s a blood moon in the sky
G D Em
Shining down on this sad world
Em D Em B7
And there’s people dying asking why
G D Em D
We let ourselves become ruled
B7 C G
By those who only wish us pain
F B7
While getting rich, the sons of Cain
Don’t believe a word that is said
By scientists wooed by filthy lucre
Politician drunk with power in their heads
And businessman who can’t see the bigger picture
[chorus]
C D Em Am
Let the blood rain clean the sin in our hearts
G B7
Wash away the evil, let’s make a new start
[chorus]
TJD 31/5/21
Note: 2nd Chorus begins with G chord and not Em
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2. |
Xmas 2020
02:16
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Xmas 2020
Em F#m/E G/E F#m/E x2
Up at ‘5’ in the midday sun
A/E Em F#m/E G/E F#m/E
Cicadas, water, gently falling leaves
A9 C/G
A pretence of Autumn, or even snow
C G Am Em
Drifting down from tall Angsanas
TJD
25/12/20
Em: 0220xx
F#m/E: 0440xx
G/E: 0550xx
A/E: 077xxx
A9: x0022x
C/G: x0055x
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3. |
Morning Walk
05:43
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Morning Walk
E Bm A G
Up at six for a coffee and a smoke
F#m Bm A G
Checking my newsfeed to find out what I missed
Em C G D
In an hour dawn rises, the sun starts to poke
Am G F
Its head above the side of Pearl Hill to the East
A shower, a scramble for mask and cell phone
Tiffin box, house-keys, a sweat-cloth and bag
Down to the garden, along a path and down
Am G F Em
Through an iron gate onto the beach and the sand
F Am G Am
The old man is sweeping or asleep in a chair
Dm Am F Am
Almond trees hide him but I wave as I pass
B7 Em A
Early-morning walkers take the heat and sea air
G F Am Dm
I take of my flip-flops on a hunt for sea glass
Heineken, Carlsberg, green and sharpish
Or brown beer, rounded by the ocean’s rasp
Fragments of a Chinese cup or a dish
Mother-of-pearl freed from nature’s clasp
I wade the creek, scared where I might tread
Then enter the kampong where fishing boats lie
Dogs come to greet me, crows tilt their heads
Eagles in the distance, great circles in the sky
I cross an old bridge over a foul-smelling stream
Monitor lizards eye motionless as I pass
I gaze in wonder at an old Banyan tree
Then walk up a muddy path to the street and the cars
I cross the jalan looking four ways at once
Not trusting the traffic lights to keep me from harm
I pass the stalls, meagre wares out the front
Mangoes and pineapples fresh from the farm
The market is open but the tables all bare
Just a few stalls selling take-aways
I order wonton mee, tea tarik - I don’t care
I’ll take my chances come what may.
It’s Chinese New Year, the year of the Ox
And nobody’s mourning the end of The Rat
Cleverness has left us sealed up in a box
We’d rather drag a plough than be eating bats
F Em F Am
I make my way home to eat breakfast alone
G F Am
Gazing out at the shimmering sea
F Em Dm E7
My glass from the shore like worn-out old stones
C G F Em
Sits before me like my old clapped-out knees
TJD 8.2.21
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4. |
Ghost Year
04:13
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Ghost Year
Em G A G
Woo-Hoo Woo-Hoo
Em G A B7
What’s that moaning and a-rattling of chains
Woo-Hoo Woo-Hoo
It’s a year of our lives that’s gone down in flames
Em D C G
It’s a ghost year
B7 C G
Our hopes died and went up in smoke
B7 C G
But they’re haunting our lives and society’s broke
Em D C G B7
It’s a ghost year - Woo Hoo!
Woo-Hoo Woo-Hoo
The spectre’s hungry and it’s stealing out to steal
Woo-Hoo Woo-Hoo
It’s coming for our freedom, our money, our next meal
It’s a ghost year
It’s scaring us with lies and with phony quacks
Scientists desperated for the big pharma bucks
It’s a ghost year - Woo Hoo!
G D G C
Where’s Max von Sydow we could use his aid
B7 C G
We’re stuck here dying alone and afraid
B7 C G
We never should’ve trusted our future to a lab
Em G A B7
We’ll never get to heaven with only a jab
Woo-Hoo Woo-Hoo
What’s that chuckling and clinking of gold
Woo-Hoo Woo-Hoo
Someone got rich and we’re out in the cold
It’s a ghost year
You can kiss goodbye to 2021
This nightmare’s going to run run run
It’s a ghost year - Woo Hoo!
TJD 30/6/21
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5. |
Girl In My Dreams
03:36
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The Girl In My Dreams(new version)
C Em Dm7 G
I can't make it out tonight
C Em F G
Gotta stay home early night
C Em Dm7 G
Get my clothes off into bed
C Em F G
Catch some zee's around my head
Chorus A:
F C Dm7 Am7
Will you wake me from this spell
F C Dm7 Am7
Pull me from your wishing well or
F C Dm7 Am7
Will you stay and always be
Bb Am7 G
The girl in my dreams
The morning light hurts my eyes
I've left your side with no goodbyes
Gotta last another day
Before its time to hit the hay
Chorus B:
Will you switch off my arcade
Drop the mask in my charade
Or will you stay and always be
The Girl in my dreams
Chorus Instrumental (end on D major instead of G)
Bb C G
Will I meet you in the street
Bb C Dm7
Catch your eye say something sweet
Bb C G
Let you move from play to real
Bb C Dm7
Break that wall forever sealed
Chorus A
The Girl in My Dreams
The Girl in My Dreams [ad lib to chorus]
Chorus A
Chorus B
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6. |
Lan's Corner 2
02:36
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Lan’s Corner 2
Am
Chickens on the table
D
‘All of Me’ in my ears
G D Em C B7
Sweet Teh Tarikh, fish ‘n’ chips
C G F Em Am
After 6 months in exile I’m finally back here
Bm Em
The cockerel is prancing
F Am
Staring with a jaundiced eye
G F Em Am
Does he want friendship, or orang putih go home?
G F Am G E7
Kids on the plastic castle smile, they seem to be on my side
Protocol and masks, my temp is 36.5
I scanned my QR code, keeping to the rules
I’m just so grateful to be back in Bungah
Watching the sunset over the sweet green hills
Perhaps later another storm will break
Here the monsoon elements demand to be felt
And tasted and smelt, touched and heard
By my worn weary skin, back here content.
TJD
13/9/20
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7. |
Monkey Beach
03:34
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Monkey Beach
A Em7 A Am7
The Muka lighthouse is calling me
Gm7 Am7 Eb Bb
To climb the steep trail to its top
But after a restless night with bruised knees
All I can do is sit, try to stop
Cm Gm Cm D7
The mosquitos drinking my Western blood,
Gm F D7
Drink coffee and smoke, talk to the kids,
G Dm Eb Bb
Watch the boats arrive as the tide floods;
Gm Cm Gm D7
Listen to the waves and try to be rid
Of the memories and worries in my mind.
Two kittens whose lives hang by a whisker thread
Are playing and fighting without a care to blind
Their vision of perfection inside their heads
This place is derelict, everything broken and torn;
No tourists are allowed on its white sands.
Just crabs, lizards, monkeys can salute the dawn
As the jungle devours all traces of man’s hand.
30th April 2021
TJD
A: x0x65x
Em7: 0xx43x
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8. |
June '21
02:57
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June ‘21
A7 D
An old rusty ceiling fan going round
C#m Bm
Like the thoughts in my sad head
F C G E
And now there’s no freedom to be found
Am C E7
In this tyranny, this infamy, this world of dread
Just turn back the clock to 2019
When all we cared about was Kim Jong-un
We could hold hands and laugh, and happiness glean
From touching and travelling in the summer sun
F C
You know we’ve been played
G E7
We’ve been taken for a ride
Am G F E
We’re all dying under the pharma’s blade
Am Em F G Am
Like a field of corn under death’s scythe
The sun is shining in the calm blue Strait
There’s a crow cawing, dogs sleep under the trees
What does Nature care about money and hate?
While karma ripens like durian in the breeze
TJD
27/6/21
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9. |
T5/Bukit Bintang
04:31
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T5
D/A Em - G
A sleepless night
A Em7
Sweating in the morning grey
D/A Em - G
Five am at King Alfred’s feet
A Em7
Waiting for a bus to take me away
D A Em A
A red sunrise, the shepherd’s mourn
Em7 G
But I feel comfort in his arms
A F#m-G
I’m at the airport with the breaking dawn
A Em
A boarding pass brings a sense of calm
D/A Em - G
Seven hours to Doha, then eight to KL
A Em7
Still praying that I make it that far
D G - C
I’m somewhere between heaven and hell
Em C G F
Bearing the stress with nicotine and Ke Sera
TJD 19/8/20
Bukit Bintang
A Em A Em
It’s Merdeka Day in the heart of KL
A Em A Em
Late afternoon sun bathes the empty streets
C G D Am
No parades, no music, not the usual pell-mell
C#m F#m Bm E
Malays clinging to survive the mid-covid hell
I’m in the ‘Swiss Garden’ not allowed to leave my room
Halfway through quarantine, halfway from my home
G D Am Em
Still basking in the joy of my yearned-for return
C G B7
Patient and grateful, content in my tomb
Skyscrapers lie empty on the fading skyline
Cheong Hin and Mal-Sin Coffeeshop PGA
Hotel Citizen and the Royale Chulane
Stand awkward, embarrassed on the silent jalan
The call to prayer reaffirms my desire
To live out my days in the Asian heat
A6 E/A
Forget about Hampshire and the slide down to Care
Dm7 E7
And ride the dragon to glory or despair
TJD
24/8/20 KL
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10. |
Bukit Cendana
03:31
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Bukit Cendana
G D Am Em
A breeze flutters through the oak-laurel
C G Am
God’s grace in the late monsoon heat
G Bm C G
Cicadas rattle, and the water trickles
F Am G D
Occasionally the sound of Hokkien feet
Em Bm Em Am
This week the macaques are forsaking their siege
G D Am
But the mosquitos persist with their stealth
Eb A
A rat skirts the rafters in a state of ease
D Bb C A7
Lines of ants march around me interested in something else
The hill station is empty, I’m alone awaiting friends
Who will slice papaya, cut a birthday cake
Make jokes about my lockdown belly, and then
Eat nasi lemak, and drink hot sweet teh tarik
Then I will descend alone on the steep clay steps
My knees threatening to yield to harsh gravity
Drive through the old lane filled with ghosts
Pre-welcomed to the derelict Chinese cemetery
TJD 28/9/20
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11. |
Dreaming of Home
03:04
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Dreaming of Home
C C/B Am
Four months in Hampshire
F Am Dm
the county of my birth
C C/B Am
Locked down with summer spires,
F Am Dm Em Am
wild flowers, the Itchen and rich dark earth
But dreaming of Penang
The sound of waves from my bed
The dogs barking on the jalan
and fresh watermelon moist and cherry-red
Em Am Em Am
Not sure if I can survive the travel
Bb/D Am Dm
fraught with paper-work, stress and more stress.
A7 Dm G
Already my mind is starting to unravel
F Am Dm
but somehow I have to get through this mess
When I finally enter my apartment, my home,
I will kiss the dust-bound airless tiles
Gaze out at the strait and vow in my bones
that I will never again leave this blessed isle
TJD
17/7/20
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12. |
||||
I Don't Know If I'll Ever Make It Back To You
A C#m F#m Bm
The World's on its knees, we're locked down and chained
D A F#m G Bm C#7
Victims of this cruel disease
A C#m F#m Bm
Families torn apart, struggling to survive
D A F#m G Bm C#7
I'm stuck in the wrong place, trying to stay alive
E B F#m B C#m
And I Don't Know If I'll Ever Make It Back To You
D A
I'm missing your charms
F#m B
The streets the sounds the food and the calm
D A Bm C#m F#m
Of my island home, and the ocean of blue
It's a sweltering August day
I'm sweating in the English summer heat
But I'd give it all up in a mosquito's heartbeat
To be back in your arms
Chorus
My friends want me to stay
But they know where my true heart lies
Not here in the safe, sterile West
But in Asia, lazing under a monsoon sky
Chorus etc
7/8/20
TJD
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13. |
Old City
01:23
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Old City
Am Em
Sundays I come here
C B7
For fried eggs and franks
B7 Em
And dimsum steaming on a silo
Am Em
Teh Tarik received with thanks
D Am
Only the Chinese
G D
Would rise this early in the rain
Em G
To a deserted market at 7 am
Am B7
To prepare food for so little gain
Neon lights and ceiling fans
Serenade the langour in this old hall
And masks cannot hide the wise smiles
And beauty of the people at the stalls
TJD
1/11/20
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14. |
Sea Shanty
03:20
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Sea Shanty
We left Rangoon with a full load of teak
Bound for Ceylon and Mozambique
The pirates chased us ‘cross the Indian Ocean
Till they hove us to and shot our bosun
Walk the plank with your head held high
With the sharks below and the moon in the sky
You may be a seaman but you won’t be able
Soon you’ll be dining at Davy Jones’ table
They stole our rum, they ate our pork
And they didn’t use no knife and fork
To our mast they nailed Jolly Roger’s skull
Laughing like mad Herring Gulls
They asked us kindly to take a stroll
Along a path by a big fish bowl
Big eyes looked up and big teeth said Ahoy
The entree was the cabin boy
The cook was next, a-wailin’ and moaning
He said he weren’t ready his life for disowning
We ‘oped them ‘ammerheads ‘ad’ ’ad their fill
But they wanted Captain to dance the Quadrille
We hoped the navy would save us from harm
And hang those buckos from a long yard arm
Those scurvy dogs they did hornswaggle
Us out of our ship and left us in shackles
Farewell me hearties I’m off to swim
With Neptune, mermaids and Lucky Jim
Avast ye shipmates, bid me fair weather
Wearing a necklace of seaweed and gone forever
TJD 14/1/21
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Toby Darling Penang, Malaysia
Amateur enthusiast.
Feel free to do anything you want with these tracks, I am not interested in making money from music.
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