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First Person Singular

by Robin Tymm

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1.
You're Not Listening 03:34
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You’re not listening....you’d rather talk and drink a beer I don’t know why I bothered playing here You’re not listening....there’s fruit-machines and pool and cards And football on the T.V. by the bar You’re not listening....you’d sooner have the jukebox play Than hear a single word I have to say You’re not listening....you’re not listening You’re not listening....perhaps you’re next to play this room You’re running lines and getting into tune You’re not listening....you wonder if there’s time to spare For that last minute visit to you know where You’re not listening....just hoping that I crash and burn So the audience is grateful when it’s your turn You’re not listening....you’re not listening BRIDGE So what rights are there for me, you break no laws that I can mention Never be no guarantee of your undivided attention So I guess I’ll have to take the next best thing Oh, but it’s hard to play when you’re hardly listening You’re not listening....you’re ironing shirts and mopping floors I’m background music to your daily chores You’re not listening....an iTunes play is the best I get I’m shuffled as you surf the internet You’re not listening....you think concentration asks too much You use music just to fill the silence up You’re not listening....you’re not listening You’re not listening You’re not You’re not You’re not listening © 2010 Robin Tymm 29th August 2010
2.
Julie-Anne, I'm Sorry 04:28
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I know it can't be easy living with a man like me I am distant, stubborn, all-in-all a moody S.O.B I don't care to share my feelings, guess that's how I've always been But in fairness you knew all this when you took my wedding ring But it don't mean I can't be sad about the way my stupid life turned out CHORUS Julie-Anne, I'm sorry for the way I treated you I took your love for granted as only fools like me can do When I came home late last evening you and all your stuff was gone Now a day's enough to realise I was wrong It ain't just the bourbon talking Though I admit I've had a few Oh, but Julie-Anne, I'm sorry for the way I treated you Why’d’you stay with me? Well it can’t have been for our non-existent kids A relationship is give and take but take was all I did There might have been some other women, you tried your best to let it lie But I can't help but be reminded of it 'til the day I die We all make mistakes and live with them, d’you think you could forgive me a-gain? REPEAT CHORUS INSTRUMENTAL BRIDGE It won’t be the first or last time I’ll be begging on my knees So please accept just one more whiskey-fueled apology REPEAT CHORUS Oh, but Julie-Anne I'm sorry for the way I treated you © 2016 Robin Tymm 15th July 2016
3.
Spotlight 05:08
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I was the hero and you were the girl At least that’s what I used to think but now I’m not so sure So while I was busy saving the day It was really you who was saving me along the way Then you ride off into the distance as the picture starts to fade First those little words that mark the ending to our show Then a momentary blackness before the credits start to roll Your name is the first one to appear That you’ve been the main attraction is quite clear And I was nothing more than just an actor there to lend some atmosphere CHORUS So was the spotlight never shining down on me? And were you the only one the people ever came to see? I was never centre of the stage The voices I heard calling out my name I now realise that they were merely asking if I’d move out of the frame The parties we attended for the famous and the few But you were never there with me, I was always there with you The invitations surely wouldn’t come Without the expectation you would come along Oh, the look of disappointment on their faces if I turned up there alone REPEAT CHORUS BRIDGE What took so long to understand it Was only ever you that the crowd demanded? I was just a player in your band……that’s all REPEAT CHORUS If I’d move out of the frame Hey buddy, move out of the frame © 2011 Robin Tymm 5th November 2011
4.
Crowded House 03:26
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I wouldn't make much of a Rolling Stone My walking shoes have gathered too much moss And I'd rather follow than to lead a crowd along So I've resigned myself I'll never be The Boss CHORUS The irony is not lost on me But it took a while to work my story out Sitting home alone listening to Crowded House I've not broken many hearts along the way So Petty wouldn't let me join his band And I can't fly like some majestic bird of prey So Don and Glen, I truly understand CHORUS The irony is not lost on me But it took a while to work my story out Sitting home alone listening to Crowded House BRIDGE I'm no Pistol, I'm no Killer I couldn't Squeeze into The Doors I'm no Floyd or Led or Grateful Dead No Beach Boy or The Cure There are some things that I could be There are more things that I ain't I've got too much money in the bank To be in Dire Straits I've straightened out every little Kink I've ever had Now Ray Davies never once returns my calls Perhaps I could audition for a Texas country band I'd be a Dixie Chick if I only had the balls CHORUS The irony is not lost on me But it took a while to work my story out Sitting home alone listening to Crowded House Sitting home alone listening to Crowded House Sitting home alone listening to Crowded House © 2013 Robin Tymm 28th July 2013
5.
Forget 04:04
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I don't wanna talk about it Find a way to walk around it Steer the conversation from What I did and what went wrong I don't wanna talk about it now CHORUS You can make me feel much better You can help me to forget her I don't wanna think of her tonight I don't wanna see her when I close my eyes You can keep me occupied If I can keep it locked inside I don't wanna dream of her tonight CHORUS You can make me feel much better You can help me to forget her We can burn her photographs and letters You can help me to forget her BRIDGE But how long is this healing gonna last When I'm just hiding from the feelings in my past Someday I'll get over it somehow But I'm not strong enough to deal with this right now I don't wanna spend the night alone Staring at a silent telephone I could use some company Promise that you'll stay with me I don't wanna spend the night alone CHORUS You can make me feel much better You can help me to forget her We can burn her photographs and letters You can help me to forget her You can help me to forget her You can help me to forget her © 2013 Robin Tymm 10th August 2013
6.
Before 04:18
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It’s with regret But I thought I ought to let you know Just what I’m gonna do tonight Your every trace Will be erased and when I wake You’ll have no place here in my life All that we’ve done Those memories will soon be gone As I remove them, one by one So I’ll forget Starting from the moment we first met Farewell to all we’ve ever known The little things The ones hardly worth remembering That are the hardest to let go Who needs the past? There’s no future always looking back What point in holding on if nothing lasts? CHORUS Some things I'd sooner not remember Some days I’d rather not recall The slate needs wiping clean And we’ll fade away like last night’s dream Oh, take me back to how it was before Please take me back to how it was before We’ve reached the end With just this letter left to send Seems a funny way for me to say goodbye Please take this note And put it with the others that I wrote Won’t be the last one of its kind But don’t ask me why ‘Cause no explanation comes to mind Must've had my reasons at the time REPEAT CHORUS © 2012 Robin Tymm 16th September 2012
7.
Dead Inside 04:08
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There is a battle underneath my skin to take control of me There are forces fighting deep within too small for me to see And they've been bit by bit dismantling the man I used to be There is a battle raging deep inside of me We are designed to slowly kill ourselves as far as I can tell With the means of its destruction inside each and every cell And as these billion little time-bombs tick perhaps it's just as well It's been designed that way as far as I can tell CHORUS There's no way out, there's no escape The best that you can do Is to hope it's quick and painless When your time runs out on you When they're looking for the reasons When they've wiped away their tears They'll realise that you've been dead inside for years Dead inside for years Don't be fooled by the exterior there's much that it can hide You might paint a healthy picture, glowing skin and pearly whites You need a scalpel and microscope to prove it's all a lie Don't be fooled 'cause there is much that it can hide REPEAT CHORUS BRIDGE So built in to every part of me My head down to my feet Is the command to slowly atrophy And render obsolete So be in no doubt when you're hollowed out and empty The process is complete INSTRUMENTAL REPEAT CHORUS © 2015 Robin Tymm 20th June 2015
8.
First Person Singular 04:20
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Don't think you'll be the one To make me try changing my tune I write first person songs Because it's all I really I know how to do I get to say every line I get to play all of the parts Every thought every gesture is mine In each character beats the same heart CHORUS I pull the strings And I push the keys Sometimes I try to sing along In some sad kind of self-harmony I see things through one pair of eyes I'm speaking with only one voice This is more than some dumb exercise I don't think that I've got any choice You might feel like I’ve done this enough That my view’s become narrowed and small But this is no simple case of self-love I never cared much for myself at all REPEAT CHORUS BRIDGE So there's no riddle to solve I'm the subject of all that I sing I'm the middle 'round which all this revolves I'm the centre of everything INSTRUMENTAL REPEAT CHORUS Don't think you'll be the one To make me try changing my tune © 2012 Robin Tymm (with thanks to Neil Dalton for the lyrical idea) 31st December 2012
9.
As Good As It Gets 04:52
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Can’t say I’ve been blessed in the looks department But I’ve had my moments all the same There was an instant back in the early nineteen-eighties Never looked that good before and I never would again Wish I had a photograph of how I looked back then Don’t have money, never had none Not saying I’ve always been this poor ‘Cause I have a statement from my bank a dozen years back Showing numbers I’ve not seen since or before It wasn’t much, now I’ve not got much anymore CHORUS This is as good as it gets, I bet I’ll never get it any better Oh, but the sun’s soon to set, the moment never lasts forever Some minute I’m top of my heap Then I slip and I slide ‘cause the slope’s too steep The one direction left for me is clear Ev’ry step that I take is downhill from here If my better days are all behind me I just wish that I’d known it at the time But I could only really see when it was over I’d made the top then went on down the other side I could never reach those peaks again even if I tried REPEAT CHORUS BRIDGE I’ll understand if health and wealth are in the past now And my looks for what they’re worth have been and gone I’ll gladly let them pass me by, in truth my heights weren’t all that high Just say that happiness and love are still to come REPEAT CHORUS © 2011 Robin Tymm 20th March 2011
10.
Angel's Chorus 04:27
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We came from the north and east and headed south and west The lure of gold and silver proving too hard to resist The journey was a long one, losing friends a price we paid Some took bullets, some took whiskey, some the law-men took away It was just our luck that we missed the rush and there weren’t no turning back So we withdrew a lifetime’s savings from the Western Union bank CHORUS I’ve got a whole new ending for us A blinding light and an angel’s chorus They sent the best that money buys to track us down We rode our luck ‘til it gave up and left us in this town Unsurrendered but surrounded in this lonely Spanish square The mission bell is ringing, vultures circle in the air It’s not simply chance or happenstance that we fit like hand in glove Perhaps we chose this way of life but maybe it chose us CHORUS I’ve got a whole new ending for us A blinding light and an angel’s chorus It’s not too late for us to change this story And let them shoot us down in a blaze of glory BRIDGE We’ve been to places you can’t find on any map We’ve got tales to tell the children that we know we’ll never have We’re either reaching for our guns or else we’re reaching for the clear, blue sky But we can’t walk out of here with both our hands and our heads held high CHORUS I’ve got a whole new ending for us A blinding light and an angel’s chorus It’s not too late for us to change this story And let them shoot us down in a blaze of glory © 2012 Robin Tymm 12th May 2012
11.
Isn't That Enough 05:54
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When hope has turned to hopeless When the highs just get us down The world weighs heavy on our shoulders And the lost is never found When our friends don’t wanna know us Nobody comes around And the roads all lead to nowhere But this God-forsaken town CHORUS We’ve still got each other, isn’t that enough? The cards were stacked against us like a sign from up above When everything is broken ‘cept this crazy thing called love We’ve still got each other, isn’t that enough? When the fire has burned to ashes When the colours turned to grey No net below to catch us And debts we can’t repay When we feel there’s something missing And it gets stronger every day But the good Lord doesn’t listen ‘Cause we don’t have faith enough to pray REPEAT CHORUS BRIDGE In the dark we’re asking questions With answers we don’t wanna know Would I be better off without you? Would you be happy if I go? INSTRUMENTAL When the full has turned to empty And we have withered on this vine I hold this keepsake that you sent me As I talk to you down some long-distance line REPEAT CHORUS We’ve still got each other, isn’t that enough? We’ve still got each other, isn’t that enough? © 2012 Robin Tymm 29th April 2012

credits

released November 10, 2018

All songs written, performed and produced by Robin Tymm
Except track 8 which contains a lyrical idea first conceived by Neil Dalton, and track 11 contains a harmony vocal by Miles Brough

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Robin Tymm Ashbourne, UK

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