Album lyrics and credits
Crocodile Kisses
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Crocodile kisses for a dreamy captain
Listen, can you hear them on the balcony?
The baby dove just died again and we go hunt the crooked crow who did it
And I thought
If this is not
If this is not
If this is not love I don’t know what is
But I know now
I know now
Said the heroine to cold eyes
Know now
I know now
And we’ll be fixed up right before showdown
It’s disillusion day
Count the costs and get away
And I tried to fight it all this time
So I bluffed my way into your little heart
And I sit tight there but
I wish it was
Like in my dream
That dream you know in which we fall
Down the stairs and lie at the bottom laughing
And share a kiss, a touch
An act of love
I did not know then
I did not know
Crocodile kisse for a dreamy captain, listen
The baby dove just died again and we go hunt the crooked crow who did it
And I thought
If this is not
If this is not
If this is not love I don’t know what is
But I know now
I know now
It’s a liar's path to go down
It is a liar’s path
It is a liar’s path
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Written by Merle Sibbel . Produced by Cameron James Laing and Gidon Carmel
Vocals & piano Merle Sibbel . Bass Felix Buchner
Drums Gidon Carmel . Synthesizer Fabrizio Tentoni
Saxophone Peter Hanson . Cello Natasha Jaffe
Mellotron & the letter V Cameron James Laing
Recorded & mixed by Cameron James Laing at The Famous Gold Watch Studios
Mastered by Pete Maher
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Desire is a charm
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So the beginning
Came as the night brought a shiver
She was majestic
Showing none but her curls and her madness
For all this time
Oh, all this time
For the love
If you come tonight
I’ll make you mine
For the love
We awoke and spoke not
And I was a million years older
Where are you, wild one?
For I've had the longing to find you
For all this time
Oh, all this time
For the love
If you come tonight
I’ll make you mine
For the love of freedom
For the love of freedom
For the love of freedom
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Desire is a charm
Desire is a charm
Desire is a charm
Desire is a charm
Forget me
For all I that am is a liar
But forget not me
For I have seen you
And you have seen me
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Written by Merle Sibbel . Produced by Cameron James Laing and Gidon Carmel
Vocals & acoustic guitar Merle Sibbel . Bass Felix Buchner
Saxophone Peter Hanson . Backing vocals Frieda Gawenda
Backing vocals Cameron James Laing
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Recorded & mixed by Cameron James Laing at The Famous Gold Watch Studios
Mastered by Pete Maher
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Big Brown Bear
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The big brown bear
Shakes her body so carefree
Catching fish in the river
Or the baboon
The jaw a big proud bone in the wide morning yawn
Take me there
Take me there
Take me there
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I am a flesh like you are
I am a bones like you are
I am a flesh like you are
I am a bones like you are
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Both of us, sensuous
The alarmed undressing
The wounded eye, the ruffled ride
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Cause neither one of us is safe
Our naked bodies they are spoken of before and woken in a maze
And kneeling to the demons
To the thieves who tightened up my freedom
So take it back
Skin and hips and my soft breasts
I don’t want to have them no more
I am a flesh like you are
I am a bones like you are
I am a flesh like you are
I am a bones like you are
I wish we were mere spirits embracing
I wish we were mere spirits embracing
I wish we were mere spirits embracing
Among the worms and the snails
Is where I’ll lose my shame
I am a flesh like you are
I am a bones like you are
I am a flesh like you are
I am a bones
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Written by Merle Sibbel . Produced by Cameron James Laing and Gidon Carmel
Vocals Merle Sibbel . Bass Felix Buchner . Drums Gidon Carmel
Piano Fabrizio Tentoni . Violin Julius Alexandrian
Cello Ruby Jean Rose . Cello Natasha Jaffe
Backing vocals Vera Stausberg . Backing vocals Frieda Gawenda
Flugelhorn Frieda Gawenda
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Recorded & mixed by Cameron James Laing at The Famous Gold Watch Studios
Mastered by Pete Maher
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Battlecry
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Do you remember that night baby?
That night it felt like we were fighting and I had all this sadness and anger inside and I couldn’t, I couldn’t hide it and you saw it but we had all these friends over and I didn’t know what to do
So I decided to go out, alone, get drunk
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And I know it was stupid and it felt like I was going a bit crazy
when I said to myself: when I get out of this terrible haze
I wanna know
I wanna know
I wanna know
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Is this love or a battlecry?
Oh, is this love or a battlecry?
Is this desire that drive me away or inspire me
I know it ain’t easy, I know it ain’t easy but
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Is this love or a battlecry?
Oh, is this love?
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I will change I will not
I will fit you like a glove
I will fight you if I must
I don’t know what fucked up image I got of love or life
All I know is I gotta loosen, I gotta loosen
I gotta loosen the grip on the knife
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Maybe I just got such a melodramatic mind that I take everything so hard sometimes but maybe I was, maybe I was, maybe I was
Maybe I was inspired by too good a cry
Too good a cry, too good a cry, too good a cry
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Like Rickie Lee Jones, like Nina Simone
Like Cat Power’s howl or Benjamin’s moan
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Is this love or a battlecry?
Oh, is this love or a battlecry?
Blow the horn, light the torch
Blow the horn, light the torch!
You’re on the battlefield
Battlefield of love
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Written by Merle Sibbel . Produced by Cameron James Laing and Gidon Carmel
Vocals Merle Sibbel . Bass Felix Buchner . Drums Gidon Carmel
Guitar Merle Sibbel . Synthesizer Fabrizio Tentoni
Violin Youenn Rohaut . Violin Julius Alexandrian
Cello Ruby Jean Rose . Cello Natasha Jaffe
Harmonica Sebastian Hoch . Sound and orchestra designs Cameron James Laing
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Recorded & mixed by Cameron James Laing at The Famous Gold Watch Studios
Mastered by Pete Maher
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Family Laughter
Performed by Marloes . Laughter by Familie Sibbel
Mastered by Pete Maher
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Child's Dream
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It was a child
It was a child’s dream that I had
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It was the last
It was the last dream that I had
And when my last dream left
I was a child no more
I was a child no more
I was a child no more
I was a child
I was a child
I was a child
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I guess we both grew bitter
I guess we both grew bitter
I guess we both grew bitter
I guess we both grew bitter
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Written by Merle Sibbel . Produced by Cameron James Laing and Gidon Carmel
Vocals & piano Merle Sibbel . Violin Denise Dombrowski
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Recorded & mixed by Cameron James Laing at The Famous Gold Watch Studios
Mastered by Pete Maher
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Sister Moonlight
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Sister moonlight, lady free
I feel you shining down on me
With your strong and fearless light
It’s gonna be a sweet, sweet night
We had some whiskey had some rum
Down by the water have some fun
And then things turned kinda hazy
And I felt a dangerous craving
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Oh sister moonlight, lady free
Tell me what ya done to me
Help me lady, for I’m so blue
I did things I should not do
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Well I enjoyed myself the most
Just until, until I got too close
And then my hands were on her hips
Against mine I felt her lips
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I wasn’t looking to be free
No, no, it was you possessing me
This was not what I had planned
Now I’m a sinner and I can’t go back
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Oh sister moonlight, lady free
Give me back my sanity
Help me lady, for I’m so blue
I did things I should not do
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Do you take me for a fool?
For I did none but worship you
Sweetest lady, I ask of you
Now how could I be so cruel?
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Now I cry, oooh
And I blame it all on you
And I don’t wanna know the future, no, no
I don’t wanna know the future
Cause he will leave me now for sure
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He will leave me now
Oh, sister, he will leave me now
He will leave me now
Oh sister, he will leave
He will leave, he will leave
He will leave, he will leave
He will leave, he will leave me
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Oh sister moonlight, lady free
Give me back my sanity
Help me lady, for I’m so blue
I did things I should not do
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Written by Merle Sibbel . Produced by Cameron James Laing and Gidon Carmel
Vocals Merle Sibbel . Bass Felix Buchner . Drums Gidon Carmel
Piano Fabrizio Tentoni . Guitar Phil Walker . Banjo David Stewart Ingleton
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Recorded & mixed by Cameron James Laing at The Famous Gold Watch Studios
Mastered by Pete Maher
I Was Never There
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I may not be what I seem
Hold your expectations don’t mistake me
I’m an angel to the devil that awaits me
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I may not be what I seem
Turn your back on all your little daydreams
Listen to these notes now they translate me
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I was never, I was never, I was never there
I was never, I was never, I was never there
I was never, I was never, I was never there
I was never, I was never, I was never there
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You know that I can’t do this
I know now that he called for me from high ground
No use that I run fast like a greyhound
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You know that I can’t do this
I see now that I went spellbound I went uncrowned
Just another pale fool that a-run round
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I was never, I was never, I was never there
I was never, I was never, I was never there
I was never, I was never, I was never there
I was never, I was never, I was never there
He hit me with the blunt side of his back hand
Lit me and then slowly let me burn down
kicked me in the storm and just stood in the quiet eye
Just stood in the quiet eye
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No you never, no you never noticed
No you never, no you never noticed
No you never, no you never noticed
No you never, no you never noticed
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That I was never, I was never I was never there
I was never, I was never I was never there
I was never, I was never I was never there
I was never, I was never, I was never
I was never, I was never, I was never
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Written by Merle Sibbel . Produced by Cameron James Laing and Gidon Carmel
Vocals & e-guitar Merle Sibbel . Bass Felix Buchner . Drums Gidon Carmel
Piano Cameron James Laing . Banjo David Stewart Ingleton
Backing Vocals Frieda Gawenda . Backing vocals Vera Stausberg
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Recorded & mixed by Cameron James Laing at The Famous Gold Watch Studios
Mastered by Pete Maher
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Rat
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This town
Where i pissed just like a dog
This town
Turned my head from clear to fog
This town
Where I threw my body in the dirt
And left it there to rot
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This town
Where let down lovers
In crowded places
Offer you their empty spaces
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Known to me are not
The strange ways of the heart
Notable are though
The notions of departure
Oh, the lover loses
At a rapid pace
Holds the wistful wish
To become another
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This town
Where they twirl and fight the force
This town
Where they come when coming calls
This town
Where the walls come at you full of flies
And full of nevermores
This clown
That loved me like a joke
This clown
Who was on me like a hoax
This clown
And of me never spoke
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Known to me are not
The strange ways of the heart
Notable are though
The notions of departure
Oh, the lover loses
At a rapid pace
Holds the wistful wish
To become another
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This town
Where i pissed just like a dog
This town
Turned my head from clear to fog
This town
Where I threw my body in the dirt, in the dirt, in the dirt
And left it there to rot
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Written by Merle Sibbel . Produced by Cameron James Laing and Gidon Carmel
Vocals & piano Merle Sibbel . Bass Felix Buchner . Drums Gidon Carmel
E-guitar Phil Walker . Saxophone Peter Hanson
Sound design & backing vocals Cameron James Laing
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Recorded by Cameron James Laing at The Famous Gold Watch Studios
Mastered by Pete Maher
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Terrible Broadway Play
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You and me
Kissing on the street
You screamed:
"If loving you is a crime
Then I plead guilty"
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It was like a terrible broadway play
And I laughed so hard
It’s the same one I love now
It’s the same one I care for
It’s the same one I held then
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So I raise my glass to the tumble
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See today
I am just coming home late
And I screamed at you the other day
Like a terrible broadway play
You’re telling me
To hold on with everything I have
Only to feel it slip away
And stand dazed and empty handed
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Written by Merle Sibbel . Produced by Cameron James Laing and Gidon Carmel
Vocals & e-guitar Merle Sibbel . Bass Felix Buchner . Drums Gidon Carmel
Additional e-guitar Phil Walker . Synthesizer Fabrizio Tentoni
Sound and orchestra designs Cameron James Laing
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Recorded & mixed by Cameron James Laing at The Famous Gold Watch Studios
Mastered by Pete Maher
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Watched a Good Man Go
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Sit down and listen, babe
I need to tell you
You need to know
Need to know you loved me well
You loved me better, even more
Than anyone in this world ever did before
And I’m sorry baby that I’m leaving you
It’s just that I don’t know, I don’t know
Where the road will go
All I know is that I need to walk it alone
He took it hard
He took it slow
And so I watched a good man go
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And I love you
Oh, I do and I know that I will pay the price
Cause I will never find a lover
With such tender ways
And I will never find a lover
With such eager hands
In the lighter days of love
We were two happy little dogs
It is best for both of us, I suppose
But I hate to see that good man go
I hate to see that good man go
He took it hard
He took it slow
And so I watched a good man go
And so I watched a good man go
And so I watched a good man
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Written by Merle Sibbel . Produced by Cameron James Laing and Gidon Carmel
Vocals & e-guitar Merle Sibbel . Bass Felix Buchner . Drums Gidon Carmel
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Recorded by Cameron James Laing at The Famous Gold Watch Studios
Mastered by Pete Maher
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On The Ropes
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Well when you went away
You left me in the ring
Fists high and my head low
The lights revealed a sweaty face and a chest pounding up and down fast
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Full force and evident
I loved you like a fighter
A fiery featherweight
But from the hits my head went
Oh, lalalalala
Oh, lalalalala
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Was I caught in the words of a fickle man?
I was tougher than all of them when I stayed
You said love was a big fish and I the bait
But I am living the promises that you made
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I will love you, till my heart burns out
till my big foolish grin shows a bloody mouth
In the flash that we share a kiss on the ropes
I'm your dizzy baby for the show
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Another lesson learned
I guess I'll learn to get by
But I'll miss the ease of laughing
And I'll miss the afterglow
And I'll miss your slender hands
And how they moved like soft leaves when you danced for me sometimes
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Was I caught in the words of a fickle man?
I was tougher than all of them when I stayed
You said love was a big fish and I the bait
But I am living the promises that you made
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I will love you, till my heart burns out
till my big foolish grin shows a bloody mouth
In the flash that we share a kiss on the ropes
I'm your dizzy baby for the show
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Well when you went away
You left me in the ring
My fists high and my head low
I was to fight the every damn thing that stood in our way
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Written by Merle Sibbel . Produced by Cameron James Laing and Gidon Carmel
Vocals & piano Merle Sibbel
Recorded by Cameron James Laing at The Famous Gold Watch Studios
Mastered by Pete Maher