time & tense
Recorded at Lundgaard Studios 2008
All songs by Allan Østerdahl
Produced by Neill Cardinal Furio
Allan Østerdahl
Assorted guitars, vocals, harmonica
Lars Vilmar Jensen
Different drums, backing vocals
Jesper Ormstrup Jakobsen
Various basses, backing vocals
Bo Brinck
Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes
Thomas Borghus
Piano, backing vocals
Matias Winding
Banjo on It’s A Beautiful Day
Bo Holm-Nielsen
French horn, trumpet
Recorded & engineered by Bo Brinck
Vocals & overdubs recorded by Thomas Borghus
Mixed by Morten Maltesen
Mastered by Jan Eliasson
Cover art by Tim Bjørn (madebytim.com)
A listener’s guide to Time & Tense
IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY
Or is it? It all depends on what your definition of beautiful is. Either way, join Allan and the boys on their New Year’s Day jaunt across Silkeborg. And don’t forget your umbrella.
WHEN MY WORLD COMES TO AN END
That’s when the next one begins. And just in the nick time, too. This one was almost out of wood wrens.
THE LUCKY ONE
Witch, between you and me, we all are. So turn off your gadgets and turn on your senses … and tune in the “we” in each other. There now. Feel better?
APRIL ECHOES
And echoes and echoes. God, she was beautiful. It, I mean it. It was beautiful. It. April echoes … the month, not the woman. Ugh … who am I kidding?
TERRIFIED MIND
Allan? How many post-9/11 verses can you write on the subject of terror? Six? Really?Good. Can you make it an even dozen? Yes? Great.
THE ANNUAL QUARTET
Everyday we run a little later, no? And lately it seems as if we’re running out of time. Too bad no one’s watch tells eternity.
A TWIST OF SOMETHING
Have you ever wondered what the bastard son of Chet Atkins and H.C. Andersen might sound like? Me neither. But just in case you did, allow me to present Hands Chester Atkinsen.
FALLING MAN
Or how ’bout the unlikely offspring of Neil Young and Don Delillo? That one I’ve pondered. Especially lately. So, with no further ado, in all his ragged gravity … Falling Man. Look out below.
THE DAY AFTER TRINITY
On July 16th 1945, the first atomic bomb blast mushroomed over the high desert site called Trinity, New Mexico. By July 17th, nothing would ever be the same. Or different.
AUTUMN EMBERS
And embers and embers. God, she was beautiful. Is, I mean is. Is still beautiful. Is. And will still be each April and Autumn. And ever and after. Amen.
Neill C. Furio. September 14th 2009.
lyrics
It’s a beautiful day
The rain is a-pouring
It’s a pouring word
And streets lie sober
Down in Hangoverburg
A new comer’s coming
Comes round the bend
Hell-bent and outbound
From the bitter end
But hey!
It’s a beautiful day
The smoke’s blown away
And the fire’s still here
Indifferent to many
Predicted for few
Yet equal to others
Transparent and new
A new resolution
A new guarantee
A new evolution
And still the same old me
But hey!
It’s a beautiful day
The smoke’s blown away
And the fire’s still here
Oh day!
What a beautiful way
What a beautiful beginning
Now the birds have started singing
And the old world is spinning
It’s a beautiful day
when my world comes to an end
When I take a cup
And fill it with milk
When I drop my guard
When all is spilled
When I ask myself: Could I prevent?
That’s when my world comes to an end
When I ask you once
And I ask you twice
When you say it first
When you break the ice
When I’m frozen solid with contempt
That’s when my world comes to an end
When it’s all gone wrong
And it’s my mistake
When it’s all gone, alright
When it’s make or break
When it’s not even an accident
That’s when my world comes to an end
When everything’s done
And I’m on my way
When I’ve not yet begun
When there’s nothing to say
When it’s too hard to comprehend
That’s when my world comes to an end
When I grow old
And awful too
When everything is beautiful
Beautiful as you
When I can, I cannot pretend
That’s when my world comes to an end
the lucky one
Luck has never been this easy
Easy rarely makes a start
I’ve been feeling kind of queasy
But you know luck isn’t smart
I’m always fighting indifference
But I’m not the hurtful kind
You could judge me by impressions
But impressions leave you blind
I might be the lucky one
I might be the lucky one
You weren’t always so helpless
People weren’t always so cruel
You reinvented self-pity
When your heart was overruled
You weren’t always this emotional
You weren’t always petrified
Your derangement is devotional
And yet you feel dignified
I guess you are the lucky one
You could be the lucky one
You are the lucky one
You are the lucky one
Now we all know the deal is dirty
But who is there to blame
Someone stuck in the freeze-frame
On a mindless TV game
Where everyone’s the lucky one
And no one is the lucky one
But we can talk or we can swallow
Release or restrain
Deny ourselves the feeling
We could walk away in shame
We can seize, we can seduce
Wear the coat of self-abuse
We can ache and we can break
We can watch or participate
We might as well be the lucky ones
We might as well be the lucky ones
Sure we’re the lucky ones
As long as we’re the lucky ones
terrified mind
When the moon comes up for the late late show
Elevate your thoughts and let the dreams flow
Experience now, what then, rewind
And sleep has conquered a terrified mind
Mesmerized in dim concealing
Angels on their way up to the ceiling
The praise of mom and god combined
And prayer has comforted a terrified mind
But dark will make a beast come true and near
Like light when bright delusions disappear
You wake to see the fantasy’s declined
And illusion has crossed a terrified mind
Ah the dull revelation of humanity
In the devastating presence of reality
We’ll be damned if difference is defined
So we manipulate a clarified mind
Now life is full of bewareful limitation
And death is but a solemn invitation
There’s no telling what the morning will unwind
And knowledge concerns a terrified mind
Kind of stuck on daily attribution
Don’t take credit for a single contribution
The past seems unmistakably unkind
And projects upon a terrified mind
Lost in a second of one chance only
Down the line between the whole and the holy
God knows why religion was designed
And man in the image of a terrified mind
Now Jesus had the will to walk on water
In fact he walked the walk that others oughta
With all the shades of good and bad aligned
He saved the lame and justified the blind
It’s easy just to dream a little dream and drift
And the devil won’t deprive you of that gift
Does it count for whom the dotted line is signed
And the hand unconscious of a terrified mind
Stay on the ground or drown in expectation
Take a deep breath give forth in desperation
I freeze up when my freedom is confined
And fear controls a terrified mind
Nest in my heart or fly up like the dove
The hands of hate will strangle what we love
And twist the rope that knots the ties that bind
And drape the noose around a terrified mind
While our red eyes are so focused on distraction
In the static we miss out on satisfaction
But it’s black and white so beautifully entwined
Like the best and worst in man and womankind
Remember, well, that’s nearly repetition
Dwell or linger on an old and passed tradition
Looking forward when predictions fall behind
And hope has confused a terrified mind
The page is blank infinity and all
The word was written long before the fall
There’ll always be a face to act behind
And how convenient for a terrified mind
By far the most impeccable decision
Ignore the saints’ and sinners’ supervision
Now age has left my savage soul refined
And living has calmed a terrified mind
the annual quartet
One times two
The unity of how and who
Three times four
Add another dozen more
It’s funny how a hope can cut you in half
Upon the curve of an undivided graph
But equal is all, and all we get
Together around the annual quartet
We tick off these tails every now and then
Making signs and sense to come
Five times six
The treat in april’s bag of tricks
Seven times eight
Good things come to those who wait
It’s funny how a hurt can make you whole
And sum the value of a self-divided soul
But seasons spring and seasons spill
Reasons sting and reasons fill
We tear off these veils every where and when
Taking time and tense to come
Nine times ten
It’s time to start all over again
a twist of something
Too late to save your sorry ass
Now knot your tie and tie your shoes
A grain of sand in an hourglass
Will drip a little grit into your blues
The cost of chance will come in time
Still making other plans
Pull your turncoat on and flip a dime
There, it’s out of your hands
Oh, though the world’s on a string
There’s always something wrong in everything
Now you think you know there’s no regret
But who would take a fools advice
When addictions stack in silhouette
That’s when you roll the dice
And when the chips are down, the bet’s forgot
And the deal ahead is clear
Connect the line between the dots
See the faces disappear
Oh, though the words are on a swing
There’s also something right in everything
Something in the chance you take
Nothing better for the worst
Something in the choice you make
And whatever happens first
Something in the chance you take
Nothing in routine
Something in the choice you make
And whatever comes between
Something in the chance you take
Nothing but the past
Something in the choice you make
And whatever hits you last
falling man
If you count good times on just one hand
The count the tears that stained the sand
Count all the pity you can do without
On the other hand, all discontent
Could spoil the brat, the innocent
Unless I fall in love with you
Now I’ve seen eyes so blue, so fine
I’ve felt lust run up my spine
I’ve tasted sweat and bitter sweets
But in the tangled truth I’d redefine
It’s a tough task making up your mind
Before I fall in love with you
Here’s a timeless revelation
Love travels station to station
And leaves a piece of you behind
A bridge to burn, a conversation
We’ll leave the river to persuasion
Until I fall in love with you
Yeah you’re a bloodthirsty fool for love
Not a romantic dreamer dreaming of
But since I can’t explain the meaning of emotion
I guess I’m guilty of imaginary devotion
So why should I fall in love with you?
And good times can slip through fingers like sand
But you can wipe out the tears with the sleight of you hand
And here I stand in the shadow of a doubt
But I guess that I will be just fine
I’ll simply twist my fate and walk the line
Unless I fall in love with you
Before I fall in love with you
Until I fall in love with you
Until I fall in love …
the day after trinity
Bricks and rubble and stone
Sticks and wood and trash
Sparks and fire and rain
Dust and dirt and ash
Wish and want and hope
Flesh and blood and fate
Trust and truth and faith
Religion and love and hate
The sun, the ghost and the father
The priest, the leader and the mastermind
The moon, the mother and the daughter
Families don’t always intertwine
The cool, the calm and the collected
The bold, the fearless and the brave
The bang, the boom and the bomb
The hit, the wound and the slave
Went and why and where
Gone and missed and forgot
Came and here and there
Lost and found and bought
Bricks and rubble and stone
Sticks and wood and trash
Sparks and fire and rain
Dust and dirt and ash