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Ghost Year

by Toby Darling

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1.
Blood Moon 03:31
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
2.
Xmas 2020 02:16
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
3.
Morning Walk 05:43
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
4.
Ghost Year 04:13
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
5.
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
6.
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
7.
Monkey Beach 03:34
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
8.
June '21 02:57
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
9.
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
10.
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
11.
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
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
13.
Old City 01:23
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
14.
Sea Shanty 03:20
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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Miscellanous songs recorded in the last year

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released June 27, 2021

All songs written and recorded by Toby Darling

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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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