Get all 12 Andy Roberts releases available on Bandcamp and save 40%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Roll On The Day, Boulevard Days, The Rowan Tree, Unnailed! - The Last Nail, solo acoustic, Sleep, Century - (Tapes Vol 3.), Puddles (Tapes vol 1.), Mazet (tapes vol 2), and 4 more.
Excludes subscriber-only releases.
1. |
Mazet
02:42
|
|||
|
In a bright and crowded night street, there used to be a bar
Where a group of friends would sit and talk and play n the guitar,
If most of us had had a good day, and the atmosphere was right,
We'd sit and drink and play guitar until half way through the night,
Sometimes a group of French girls, would happen to walk in
We'd sit out on the terrace, some you lose and some you win.
One guy made a record, another refused to sign
There was no need to hurry then we al had lots of time
Now none of us is famous, and one of us is dead
We're a long way from that cafe now but it stays there in the head
And if you're ever in that cafe where the songs have never changed,
The faces all are different now
But the people are just the same!
La la la la la la la
C'etais dans La rue du quartier
La Saint Andre des Arts
Apres q'on a fait la manche,
On joue a la guitarre.
|
||||
2. |
Joan of Arc
03:04
|
|||
|
The nights are getting colder and the evenings are getting dark.
The honeymoon is over and the winter soon will start
But here inside the sun will shine and keep our love alive
When we take a ride it's light is going to help us to survive
And you can deal with vultures
Now that you've followed their game,
It's just the sight of the carcasses, driving us all insane
So let it thunder just let it snow, and let the bad days just come and go
You and I have seen it, just forget about the show
And when the cafe gets too crowded we can just get up and go
And you can deal with vultures
Now that you've followed their game,
It's just the sight of the carcasses, driving us all insane
|
||||
3. |
Living Here
03:31
|
|||
|
In the morning when she brings the tea
She breaks the cup and looks at me but I'm not there
Stumbling through the dark she kicks the dog
He starts to bark but I'm just lying there
Why don't you wake up and get out of bed
Why don't you go outside and do something instead
Now that I'm living here there's so much to do
Now that I'm living here, living with you
In the evening she comes home finds me sitting all alone
with my guitar
She talks about the time of day there's nothing I can do or say
I wonder who you are
Why do you waste all day searching for papers
Singing your stupid songs annoying the neighbours
Now that I'm living here there's so much to do
Now that I'm living here, living with you
|
||||
4. |
||||
|
I only came for my Suitcase
and to tell you where I'll be
I only came to say goodbye
So don't tell me why I should stay, I've made up my mind
I'm leaving today
Living alone I can get it together
Living alone I can see where I'm really going and that's where I'll go
even though I'm still madly in love with you
I'm leaving today
I realise I could be happy just living here with you
and all the things that together you and I could do
It's not easy to leave it, I still believe in it
But I'm leaving today
I don't suppose that you would really dig it
If I asked you back ten years from now,
When I've finished everything I've got to do
It's the same for you, Go out and do it
I'm leaving today
|
||||
5. |
Walking by The Seine
02:53
|
|||
|
Walking by the side of the Seine,
Working out when you can see me again
You know it's not my kind of dream
Waiting for you to come back from Marseille,
Hanging out every night the cafe
You know it's not my kind of scene.
Waiting by the side of the road,
Just sitting looking after the load
Until they never say when
And then I'm trying to get me some sleep,
When I hear the bed start to creak
They're gonna do it, all over again
|
||||
6. |
2CV
03:09
|
|||
|
We went to the festival, didn't have a tent
Crept into to the chateaux so glad that we went
Another time in the deux chevaux we went all the way to the coast
Stayed until Bastille Day to watch the fireworks and see who had the most
Lurching round the corners, over the bumpiest courses
Fold up the windows and don't spare the horses,
Don't spare the two horses.
Camping up on the clifftop with mussels and bread from the town
BBQd on a wood fire with five litres of red to wash it down
Take the empty bottles in and get your deposit back
That's enough for another three and so it goes on all down the track
We lived in the city then and Jean-pierre would call round
Pick us up in his 2cv and drive on out right out of town
And if the engine let us down we'd pull over to the side of the road
Jean Pierre could always fix it up and we'd pile back in and off we'd go
Lurching round the corners, over the bumpiest courses
Fold up the windows and don't spare the horses,
Don't spare the two horses
Oh I remember Port-en-Bessin after half a century
I saw a painting in a museum
Place has a special memory
|
||||
7. |
Migration
05:32
|
|||
|
iving in the city, I miss the salty air
I've been hanging round here so long I just have to get away somewhere
I'm going down to the station, getting on that train
Leaving this city I don't know when I'll be back again.
Once I get my train fare together and pay off my hotel bill
Nothing's gonna stop me no one gonna make me stand still
I'm going on down to the south of France and maybe on into Spain
but I'm leaving this city and I won't be back again.
Come on let's hit the sunshine, the Mediterranean Sea
half the guys are already down there honey won't you come on down with me
Won't you come down, won't you come down, won't you come down with me.
|
||||
8. |
August
07:48
|
|||
|
Every year for the whole of August, the factory shop closed right down.
When the girls got paid for their thirteenth month, they planned to get right out of town.
Just like the swallows and the yachtsters They would migrate so far away
Not even staying in Europe, Algiers was the place to stay
On the North coast of Africa, with Nadia's Father and brothers
And no, we couldn't go with them, they couldn't take any others.
So with just a week's advance warning, I was served notice to quit.
And my buddy who'd been hanging out there, if there's a reason he could have been it.
No we couldn't stay in the flat on our own, there was some remedial work to be done,
You know they may not really have trusted us, in those crazy days of fun.
It was early one morning on the first of the month, Two guys with guitars walked out.
And stood by the side of the peripherique, seeking any kind souls about.
Ah but Hitch hiking ain't easy with luggage, Nobody wanted to stop,
We waited for hours and then when we got lucky, it was usually just a short hop.
Days and nights we were on the road, we'd sleep in any old barn.
With sidetracks and detours a plenty, turning off to go by the farm,
When you rely on the kindness of strangers, you have to take the good with the bad,
And we weren't in any kind of hurry, so five days didn't seem so bad.
But we were still in the same old country, in a city that's built by the sea,
That's where the big trains terminate, but the station is no place to be.
We made use of the left luggage lockers, so one of the problems was sorted
Carefully guarding the passports, didn't want to end up deported.
I remember swimming off the rocks, and rows of cafes around the harbour
But this wasn't the best part of cote d'azure, it didnt have what we were after.
We caught a bus along the coast, to the long beaches where we could play,
And met up with some beach bums there, who showed us where we could stay,
The nights are so warm and it never rains, so you can sleep right under the stars,
Until the bulldozers come in at 5am to move the sand around just where you are.
A couple of stangers turned round and stared, that seemed a little underhand,
When you're talking in English you can easily forget, that some of them will understand,
Brian found a friend, and I did too, for a while we were happy in heaven,
It's easy to romance when you're in France, and they said they were from Devon.
Well the sun got hotter and burned the soles of my feet, and a refresh in the sea was lukewarm
Day after day without any shade until the coming of the big storm,
When the Mistrael blows it picks up the sand and blows hard into everything,
That carries on for three or four days and there's nowhere you can play and sing,
The cafes are all empty on the outside, and then the hailstorms come stinging down,
After three or four weeks living on that beach it was time to move on out of town,
We thought we'd try our luck with the next one along, I think it was Saint Maxime,
But this wasn't a case of rinse and repeat, more like the end of the dream,
The busking didn't work well, we were still hungry, and the beach wasn't cool like before
The storm had left thousands of dead fish on the sand, I think that was the last straw.
So we decided to spend the very last few francs on the train back towards the port
We met a cool guy, who talked a good talk and he explained to us just what he thought
While rolling a fat one, he convinced us both to just stay on the train and keep going,
If the guard comes round you keep your foot against the door, he said they've got no way of knowing,
That's not something I'd ever do again, the thought of it can only embarrass,
But Instead of five days thumbing a lift on the road, we were suddenly back in Paris.
In the city of light you can put anything right, just playing for one or two hours,
Hey a room with a bed, such a luxury and the best of all a hot shower.
|
||||
9. |
Last Subway Home
04:09
|
|||
10. |
The Dream is Over
03:32
|
|||
|
When I came to the city I was seventeen
Everything looking just like in a dream, yes it was.
I made a little money and I drank a lot of wine
Met some really cool people had some wild times, yes it was,
Now everyone's going to Copenhagen and I'm stuck here alone,
The dream is over, I think it's time to go home.
I met all the people and saw all the faces
Heard a lot of fine stories how they were going places
I believed it then
And the guys who went off to live in the woods
Said they were leaving the city for good
You know they're back again
And I guess it's the same in Copenhagen and in Amsterdam and Rome,
The dream is over, it's time to go home.
I'm getting sick and tired of being out on the street
I've got to work all day to get back on my feet, and get away
The wine's gone sour and the money's getting slow
Everybody's talking about how it used to flow
Yesterday
Everyday I go down in the subway I'm still standing on that stone
The dream is over, it's time to go home.
|
||||
11. |
Everywhere You Go
02:59
|
|
||
Andy Roberts England, UK
Original and unique songs through the decades
in the classic
"contemporary folk" solo
acoustic
singer songwriter style.
Influences: Roy Harper, Mike Chapman, Loudon Wainwright, Beefheart
... more
Andy Roberts recommends:
Just great guitar playing
go to albumIf you like Andy Roberts, you may also like:
The Edge of the Land
by Katie Spencer
Spencer's indie folk sophomore album was recorded live in the studio over the course of two days.
go to album
featured on Bandcamp Radio Dec 6, 2022
go to album
A Place Like Home
by Mr. Alec Bowman_Clarke
The new EP from Scottish songwriter Alec Bowman_Clarke goes deep, setting vulnerable lyrics to gentle melodies & stripped-back arrangements.
go to album
I Used To Be Sad & Then I Forgot
by Mr. Alec Bowman_Clarke
Alec Bowman perfectly captures the dark soil under the pastoral world of British folk with this collection of melancholy originals.
go to album
For She Who Hangs The Moon
by David Luximon
Expansive music that has the gentle hush of ambient and the insistent pulse of post-rock; enveloping and absorbing.
go to album
