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lyrics

Boats
Boats
Boats

Squeeze through the cracks
Avoid the paths or the tracks
Slip past the guards at the back
Don’t let them fasten the straps
Leave while they sharpen the axe.
There's always a chance that the map
Has been partially tampered
we’re smarter than that!
Move in the dark with the rats.
Make sure the mask is attached
Don’t breathe in the gas!
Beware of arson attacks!
Beware of traps!
Beware of dastardly acts!
Beware of partners in crime who are likely to narc if they’re snatched.

So squeeze through the cracks
Stay small, play ball - fast to react
There’s prices on heads and there’s targets on backs -
But always a way through. Always a patch.
There’s always a catch.
So count all the cards in the pack
Count all the sharks in the tank
It’s part of the plan
Their sergeants are Masters of Arts that are darker than black cats, commandos on crack.
Don’t want to restart you heart in the back of a car using spark plugs and parts marked for scrap.
They’re baring their teeth and they’re arching their backs
But it’s the one who laughs last who pulls rank. Fact!
They’re baring their teeth and they’re arching their backs
But it’s the one who laughs last who pulls rank.

We’re the rising damp
We’re the drip, drip, drip that splits rocks over time
We’re the field mouse scratching at the back door,
the tremor of the sub bass, the common cold, the radio waves.
We’re that old droopy dog. Relentless. Impassive.
We’re the scent of wild garlic that’s carried on the summer breeze

If you were giving me
(If you were giving me)
Any ability?
(Any ability)
Invisibility!
(Invisibility)
Hyper agility!
(Hyper agility)

If you were bringing me
In the facility -
Injecting into me
sting of a Killer Bee,
Wing of a Kingfisher,
Skin of a miniature
thing from the Philippines
Crinkling my chemistry

And it was giving me
(And it was giving me?)
Any ability:
(Any ability?)
Increase in empathy?
Extreme fertility?
Immune to injury?
They do not interest me.
Invisibility?
Invisibility!
Hyper agility?
Hyper agility!

Then you would never see
Me as I lift the key,
In surreptitiously
Enter into your dreams
Sent to your centre
Unsensed like a centipede
Achieving synergy.
Weaved into memory.
listen to me
Like you listen to Jiminy.
Sit in the seat
Where you planned my indignity

So if you were giving me
(If you were giving me)
Any ability
(Any ability)
Invisibility
(Invisibility)
Hyper agility
(Hyper agility)

Cos sooner or later
We’re going get through your containment
Or at least we’ll get through to your neighbour
Then we’ll move into your chamber
It’s nothing new I would wager
It’s just human behaviour
Take it all like a Cuban dictator
So do me a favour
And move out the way cos
There’s always a taste for
The new different flavour
So what will you do with that data?
Small boats flashing blue on your radar.

Never saw it coming
Never broke a sweat
And never bothered running.
And that’s something.
Why bust a gut if it’s such easy hunting.
String up the bunting, multicoloured, rub in the sun in.
Caught them unawares
Couldn’t be easier like falling down the stairs
Apples and bananas and oranges and pears.
Squares- you’ll never see me buying all your shares.
Yeah.
It’s the ascent of the little man.
Don’t blame me if you get yourself wickermanned
In a shallow grave just east of Tajikistan

Dodging death, destruction, doubt, despair
Delivering deeply disturbing deposits of hair
Echoes (echoes) - Edgar in the edit – the erudite epic - are we
Ever gonna get it (Samuel Beckett)
Foot fall - fiendish fleeting fashions splashed on the streets
Flashing the fastest wings are fastened to Mercury’s feet
Imminent images of eerie imperial imps
Imposters are we living the illest of swindles within?
Amorous appetites of glamorous arrogant parasite so-and-sos
Angels and Asses wanna fight for the archives of the archipelagos
Numerous natives; the narrative’s nucleus new to us
Never say never when what you’re wearing is very illuminous
Two minutes til telekinetic attack – Go! All that is left is a
Tangle of tatters, a box of tobacco

Way to the west – there’s a way to the west

Boats

credits

from Politics of the Imagination, track released February 22, 2025
Cello - Kate Ellis (Crash)
Clarinet - Leonie Bluett (Crash)
Electronics - Anselm McDonnell
Percussion - Paddy Nolan (Crash)
Vocalist - Barrowclough
Vocalist - Joel the Custodian
Vocalist - Kosyne

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about

Anselm McDonnell Belfast, UK

Anselm McDonnell is a composer of Irish/Welsh heritage based in Belfast, who has composed over one hundred pieces for orchestra, opera, chamber groups, choirs, soloists and electronics. A diverse range of interests have led to the creation of work in collaboration with rap artists, lighting designers, theologians, poets, filmmakers, improvising musicians, fashion designers, dancers, and actors. ... more

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