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Live 1999

by fiffdimension

supported by
Dave Edwards
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Dave Edwards I'd recently arrived in Wellington NZ, aged 20, and was the opening act for Chris Knox. @ Bar Bodega, very late 20th century. Favorite track: Locked Without March.
Joshua Harvie
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T2000000
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natdahatt
natdahatt thumbnail
/
1.
Cafes in Conversation 03:44
lyrics
Well the coconut tree it fall to perfection leaving all of us awake into this splendid castle with a grove metal share. Bury the fortune tellers, hello to the trees. Take out the garbage & add salt. Cafes in conversation, ambience folly. The coat-tails tied in coffee beans & the bellows in fireplace water & shoes hung out to dry. A crackling a smoke to slow-mounting fortune, the ice to the new is a sprinkling of seeds. The beginning is gone & the going beginning. Wait collapse in small-mounting fire-tongue, the nothing not new of the past not an echo, moving back wide to refocus identity, a shame & a clank for the down in the dungeon, coffee beans there too, & hitherto canyon that shuffles in back, leaving in focus, consensual guilt. Hard to tell what illusion defines all her contours when sadness of metal is lost in the canyon to beat tunnel down & refocus the lack of a camera to gleam & escape early warning, oh woe woe I miss all my forests. Hard to take announcers & put him to bed with sadness a pillow to smother his head. Harder still for saltshaker monuments to praise all the fountains for Spanish guitar-players effusive in company when here sits a wall that evades all questions & company follows or not not at all then. Too close getting harder, now aware false impressions are blocked off constantly, & marred prostitution a phone call away. Truth-telling harder now this is the end; back again someday. Mumbling back into focus, the light is like glass & the world is its liquid. Solidity wallows & senses are drowning in glass crystal fountains, scotch on the rocks. A song for his head & this is contemptible with orange marshmallow covers lie down from the ceiling, & roses of chocolate to bury the gloom not the room a full moon; how did you guess? Forced mysticism & fuzzy perceptions, a mounting of distance, an awareness of warning, speak not at all - & then temperament follows an incense of sky & plant pigmentation, a wariness fall; seasons in households lie late in their bloom. Wakefulness follows a dream dying high. -------------- from The Marion Flow, released August 8, 2001
2.
Banana Wizard 02:59
lyrics
A fleet-footed moment gives itself up to grief I fall into a puddle with you underneath & now I'm living underwater & living overfed Coffee & smoke coming out of my head I see you silhouetted in the door I see your reflection in the floor I see your shadow on the wall But I don't see you at all It's OK, this is the day Keep on moving in that sunny kind of way Could it be I'm getting high? No-one's in charge & no-one knows what to do They don't want your soul; money will do & it's a hook-staggered world filled full of regrets As the government's putting you deeper in debt I saw the frown on the clown as he was taken down Moving the show to the pictures all around & it's a hook-staggered world which just might Only be a bile phantom in the alcoholic night It's OK, this is the day Keep on moving in that sunny kind of way Could it be I'm getting high?
3.
I Don't Need You (to Grind Me Down) 02:15
lyrics
I say 'I love you', you say you gotta go You got a date with some guy I don't know Then it turns out it's my brother you're screwing I don't know know what you're doing to my head I don't need you to grind me down I'd like to teach the world to sing discordant out of key Against the city noises and the brainwashing TV The fascist pop stations and the government lies Superior is just inferior in disguise I don't need you to grind me down Spank me O God for I have sinned But trying to talk to you is like pissing in the wind You never listen to what I say or sing You have the power but I can say anything I don't need you to grind me down 'cause I can do it myself
4.
Given in Clouds (a wedding) 04:05
lyrics
Obscurity rides the record river, and hastefulness bound in wastefulness time the cloak & dagger chains climb on the remains of extreme tattered sword A wedding behind me, the glitter on grey, the shininess new in progression. With cellulite withered & tied down a warning & barons in drag who laugh in the morning the sky torn in colours a parachute falling, need for birds to fly though all calm & still, the fishing boats rise with everything new. Warm & light, a softened display & the still of the day shows the tears in my eyes at all that I say to be given away & we come not to stay in the heart of the day with the storm clouds away & the freaks on display with cigarette overload makeup on walls & her shoes hard on grey - give it away, 'enough' I do say... Wedding photos stay in pictures as the clouds run on by a life made so happy, & me with back turned, writing a page, down on the beach, alone once again. Placid & tranquil will come early morning; peace in the air, not melancholy despair (at least I hope) - & then come children in screaming for parking space & privileges & battering hands ran at this beat & into the street with a fireplace gleaming in snow & in sleet, violence crash down & envelop the town, rioting in the dark beyond sight of law - but all that yet to come. A wedding behind me & I am uninvited, with thankfulness & gifts floating by in the breeze, blown like the leaves. Wedding cake almonds & sugar-coated memories lie dust in the covers, suburbia sleeps. A desire for life to be fruitcake. Freckles & fat & age & decay with a cigarette warning tanning the hide... but now 'smile for the camera, this moment forever'. Enough that I die.
5.
Chairs to Tie the Revolution Down 03:31
lyrics
I woke up sober it was useless deceiving that midnight walls of the room were not breathing, cancelled eyes & cancelled mind, bored with things that I've never tried Chairs to tie the revolution down as the tidal throbbing becomes the only sound forced in upon the silent seas listening to the pretty pleas Climbing up infinity's winding stair, blood drying in your hair - a million miles down the barrel of a gun words sneak through a slave to the pen The corpulence of leisure seeps through the house & cannot be measured & I'll be wandering through, filthy with rain, & the hole in my pocket lets out a mile of change Growing & crawling into massive mediocrity, the stars upon your side I'd rain destruction on the hit parade I'd choreograph death & make them afraid but everything fades, like it always must, leaving only hunger & lust in the dust Surrounded by prostitutes with neon makeup, stealing from a beggar's cup I cannot hold them off with a pocket full of rhymes it's just like a schoolboy writing lines & when the hall of opposites finish wearing each other down what else is left but the tidal throbbing sound? You're a dancer out of control but you will survive & be burning well past midnight, it's OK to be alive But there are those who will teach you to loathe & fear the sun & chairs to tie the revolution down
6.
Midwinter Night 03:35
lyrics
Venus wrapped in rags lights another candle Huddled shivering in a corner, with a limp wrist waves her magic wand But the dark around is silent, closed in all around her The sound of her breathing does not go far They stood there to watch her slamming gracefully into orbit The lovely ballerina, the butterfly under glass Now the winter is upon her, she is undone by her own glory The night is so deep, and the spirits do not answer her calls The night is so deep, there are gravestones in the sky She sits in military mindlessness, looking out from the tunnels of her eyes Inside the cloud, her shooting star has fallen Farewell to all good things that burn
7.
Locked Without March 04:02
lyrics
Shall I water myself down for mass consumption? Is the message now earnest & clear? Am I walking on the side of my creation? Am I just standing in the rain? Did the nobleman's bride cause me to go down unlocked so I mocked the sun? Were the bells not raining on the no-man's-band sitting proud to the beat of the song? Send a child's comedy from the overturned slumber to feign at the starry-eyed bull And to knock down the roads for the wheel of progress to trample on in its spin "I'm no secretary for the barrel-necked people" I was raging to myself, "Seek comfort from friends, inspiration from enemies, in the pantomime you chose" Let abrasion now come overrun all the shelters, cry an end to your troubles beware In an effervescent splint for the dreadlocked outlaw, one hand on autumn and shame Beekeepers dance in digestive shelter, at midnight out comes the moon It all falls down into powers that crumble, stillborn air digesting them soon A wordless accusation in the eyes of one another, too jackal-cowed to flip the night No simple rules in the simpletons' showdown carving annals to win & destroy As the loner is prey to loneliness, so must the crowd feed off itself And to thin regard go the overworked horses who make theatre to smile And the beat of the song makes the hour twice as long til the sounds cuts and hurts my face To vomit on the floor's not what I'm here for, oh the good times get me down!
8.
You Can't Complain 04:48
lyrics
The air is poisoned, fouled and polluted The Earth itself is raped, pillaged and looted You want to yell, protest and bomb things, 'cause everyone else is insane But you drive a car don't you? You're guilty you can't complain You open up a plastic container of some processed food The stuff contains frog DNA and some chemical you can't pronounce You don't even know what it is, but you want to throw it down the drain But they warned you in small print on the label, so you can't complain It looks like the offices and four-wheeled coffins are grinding you into the dirt It seems like the computer tax collectors are out to get your shirt But it's fair and written out in the rules, they will explain You can't stand against the fine print and you can't complain See the Americans taking over, with their Coca Cola and their rap See the Japanese taking photos, see your home become a tourist trap But you can visit Japan if you want, if you've got the money for the plane If you don't like Coke you don't have to drink it, so you can't complain If you go ahead and protest they'll put you in jail for a couple of months The plastic people in suits were hairy rebels once If you don't like civilisation, go live in the forest in the rain With no power, no running water, either way you can't complain You worry about freedom, how your feet are chained to the ground Nah, your feet are free, you can do what you like but will bring the consequences down You are almost totally free, to do anything but rage in your pain If you're angry you can pay to see a doctor, no you can't complain
9.
Open the Dogs 04:43
lyrics
with a left right flash & the dog in the pan smacking my face with a cartoon hand i went into town, town fell down tall guy in the front starts bouncing around going to hell, in series & in parallel the passion slashing blind can see the emperor has an itchy nose grovelling here & then flip down their toes nose is nailed to the floor lockdown people are odd & funny & they bury all their clothes love tasting like earwax rib-toothed canine raving in storms powerline sculptures open the dogs like a fire with wings swinging down in the silhouette kind of light he's going my way, he's going down swinging down in the silhouette kind of light our silhouettes in dreams crystal palace soldiers in a plastic crusade like fish in a bottle, don't be afraid it's a conspiracy of noise rock & roll enema, shit on the dancefloor smacked on the forehead with a silver spoon hands that grasp the wind & bellow down walls we stand on the river, they take it away it's not my fault that i eat my own salt the town is changing & i'll be king expansive crudity revolves around stars the place is overgrown with millionaires vandalised trees go pillory grey swinging down in the silhouette kind of light he's going my way, he's going down swinging down in the silhouette kind of light our silhouettes in dreams solid & pallid ye cry through the seasons & then you start flaming red & then it's all over, you'll be just like them the dragon can be slain with gentle humour but the good guys have gone away & the fun goes out of the day no conclusion, just more confusion the hours were no good so time resigns & the tall guy in the front is jumping up & down swinging down in the silhouette kind of light he's going my way, he's going down swinging down in the silhouette kind of light our silhouettes in dreams
10.
Summer in Fairyland 03:28
lyrics
Wasted days & sleepless nights in a land of steel dreams The composer in his lair writes a wedding dirge Somebody's feeling restless and somebody wants to kill The joker has come apart; the knight in armour has no will Somebody should have told them that the moon got a new tattoo With a mouth full of broken teeth it's grinning down at you Cigarettes and bare walls, sweeping up after the disco Want to repeal the laws of physics and be the star of my own show It's always summer in fairyland The father confessor is a voyeur and god is a little boy I'm the prophet of uncertainty and it brings me no joy Mr Cheese strolls in with his smile and his dextrous tongue If I could kick him in the balls with a sledgehammer I'd know my work was done Psychological nuclear warfare left me bald and sterile They'll either pin you up or nail you up, and expect service with a smile My number is 667 and I live life to the empty I fell in love with the locust queen whose beauty was deformity It's always summer in fairyland My life is full of plot holes, I am your ill-fitting shoe The fat lady's singing and the cows are coming home, just watch me walk right through you I stagger blind drunk into heaven and try to grope the angels I laugh in the face of death, and then I headbutt the bastard as well Heroes frozen into the ice, people shot by shooting stars The angels can keep their harps, down here we got electric guitars Happiness is shallow and misery is selfish, that may or may not be true A dream can be real if you never wake up, is that all there is to you?
11.
Tony Was Here (but they put him on ice) 03:19
lyrics
caught between the thief & his guile & the receptionist's smile a wire fence of sound pounds around with its chains unbound I leave you like a bad joke as the sun rises at midnight's stroke burning the light of the night in your eye as the bleak cars sail by she bleeds like lightning & will never think twice taking all chances, throwing the dice I'm flickering in the walls for want of advice Tony was here, but they put him on ice My monkey is flying lying in the sighing crying drying island standing in your rain the shame is the same again & again when i was the clown i saw down frowns looking around found a disease to infect from neglect as chess pieces began to defect she bleeds like lightning & will never think twice taking all chances, throwing the dice I'm flickering in the walls for want of advice Tony was here, but they put him on ice & now we're up to date but I still cannot articulate that if looks could kills yours'd only give me a thrill she bleeds like lightning & will never think twice taking all chances, throwing the dice I'm flickering in the walls for want of advice Tony was here, but they put him on ice
12.
The Marion Flow 09:47
lyrics
I sit in this tower of tongues & bells & move move move to the groove, or so that I'm reckoned & then I am beckoned back back to these shoes nigh marion blues & so to the seashore our body now go & tale shall flow & power ye know. So under the tower my face nigh on water & shoes that are dough to the marion flow, & need to correct a sudden deflect & fine to the seashore can bring thee self-knowledge, but laugh shall I laugh & make my ears go to the marion flow. Distance contracted, stars that explode. Our body now sober lie down at the seashore & seashore that score the time that we know. Our body now sore that to lie on the floor to be seen to that go to the marion flow. A passion of treasure to my body lies pleasure to be watched on the Earth of patterns we go, & the comfort southwest is to be seen to be blessed. Longer that than you think to be seen to be pink in hard self-regard into cotton of night, & cotton this gift that to is be kissed & to cotton this Earth that to be at the first, that to be at the first is to be at the cursed; distance contracted, stars that explode. A thing is regained that is nowly defamed & be seen to that go, to the marion flow, a thing that does cometh to pierce the sea summit. Nervousness knows that to be on ye toes & voices that might all mutter that high fall, or to leave & not serve or lie in the Earth & the stars are now plain, & voices that come onto him all that come. Yea take in that wake that to be self that take or abandon the wake into silence it take & him that is spying be him that is crying & hence shall it west into heaven that blessed for to lie without knowledge & be proud & flee north. See not that I deformed & hear that I be forth into copious power that shall grumble an hour. Hallowed it be to hear the self reckoned, to see will be beckoned, upon paragraph & tower & weave in a bower, & to see all that spite now to be in the light. See not that I deformed all that came before & that pry in that chance who to aid not that branch. Hunger & knowledge of all that came before to fill up my head with emptiness dread & the loneliness crowd, so insufferably loud are the loneliness crowd. Locked without march. The rhythm that yawns not to be of the dawn, I write for that reason, to buckle the season, my storehouse a treasure of pirates at leisure with shoes that lie drying on priest without buying, and to be but a yawn in the streets that are born(e) & that sprung from the sea to with all that I be, but to fight for no groan in the top without loan, asleep on the throne that is slow in denial of friendships to smile of all that we know, in the carrion flow. To go forth alone into million at home and design in presignment, cold windy assignment, sings all that we know to the marion flow & hope be denial of all that we smile, I give all that I know to the marion flow. Danger & leisure are to be what we treasure, & to see the comfort southwest be amazingly guessed, to hope without trial of all is denial, the pen it grows dry to the self underly, the hope that I treasure the ribbons of leisure that lie without worth in the dustiness Earth. I will finish this page to dirty my age & to lie without spite is to see out the night. The truth it is worth more than loneliness birth where to be in a fright is to be in the night. I will always ignore the one I adore & am always at war with myself to be poor. The end, round the bend, come today another friend. Nothing shall be there to tell what I said or die in a bed & the loneliness crowd grows very loud. Back to the sea, it waits for me, a negative on water like any other matter. All is said & all is done, the flow continues, the song is sung. Myself I ignore.

about

Live at Bar Bodega, Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand, 1999.(exact dates unsure)

I was the opening act for the legendary Chris Knox on two occasions - (in his chrisknoxflyingnun.bandcamp.com/album/beat period) - so this is dedicated to him.

I'd recently turned 20. I had left my home in New Plymouth (or rather, home left me) and moved to Wellington, the capital of NZ and my birthplace. I had with me a cheap imitation Stratocaster, some notebook scribblings, a harmonica in my pocket, and an album and a half recorded.

At this point my repertoire consisted of songs from fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/scratched-surface-1998 and The Marion Flow (fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/the-marion-flow-taranaki-1999 , which I'd written and recorded in New Plymouth and burned onto CDRs.

Here on the Live 1999 cassette recordings the songs are even more lo-fi. This is what 'partying like it's 1999' actually sounded like at the time!

credits

released June 1, 2019

by Dave Edwards
- electric guitar (1-6,11,12), acoustic guitar (8-10), harmonica (7-9), vocal & lyrics.

Special thanks to
Chris Knox, Alec Bathgate , Darrel Hannon, Fraser McInnes, Rob Thorne, Brian Wafer

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fiffdimension Featherston, New Zealand

Outsider music from Aotearoa NZ and beyond, by Dave Edwards and collaborators (from 1856 to 2024).

Spans acoustic & electric noise, rock, folk, spoken word, postpunk, free jazz, gamelan, lo fi, electronica, & ethnomusicology.

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