High Tea with the Magnus Martyrs

by The Magnus Martyrs

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1.
Seaside Invocation 03:38
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Drowsy head on my shoulder Glowing with midsummer, Pastel huts stretching along the beach And across the century.. Down Pleasant Street Lined with B & B's And residential homes The old find comfort in the wild waves Galloping hooves at the door Then back down to the shore. The celluloid melts in West's Picture House Skies hang low at the Metropole And a song is choked in the crushed chest of a radio You'll never know You'll never know You'll never know If you don't know now. Passing Punshon Church Angels doffing their halos Gargoyles gurning playful Sunlight lifts the curse Rewards the faithful. Mannequins don't change their pose In the shattered window of Bobby & Co And a song is choked in the crushed chest of a radio You'll never know You'll never know You'll never know If you don't know now. Drowsy head on my shoulder Glowing with midsummer Drowsy head on my shoulder Glowing with midsummer...
2.
Just This Golden Morning 02:00
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I am not the messenger I am not the calling I have no treasure Just this golden morning I am not the architect I am not the building I have no home at all Just this golden morning I am not the prophet I am not the warning I have no future Just this golden morning I'm not the cure for suffering Or an end to travelling But I will dress your wounds I will rest with you I am not the seamstress I am not the yarn that spins I have no clothes at all Just this golden morning I am not the messenger I am not the calling I have no treasure Just this golden morning
3.
Black Frost Bill 03:26
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Seagulls circle Black Frost Bill Seagulls circle Black Frost Bill As Deckie Learner braces his slight frame Against the wind and spray, Sliding on a slither of silver and guts Off the coast of Norway Mother don't wait up. Seagulls circle Black Frost Bill Seagulls circle Black Frost Bill Lost three fingers to a blast of concentrated winter Drowned or broken by thirty Only so much ocean a man can carry. Seagulls circle Black Frost Bill Seagulls circle Black Frost Bill Now moonshot Mary claims she saw the devil Perched out on the rocks, Another layer of harmonic desolation For the wailing docks Seagulls circle Black Frost Bill Seagulls circle Black Frost Bill Lost three fingers to a blast of concentrated winter Drowned or broken by thirty Only so much ocean a man can carry Seagulls circle Black Frost Bill Seagulls circle Black Frost Bill
4.
Attack of the Vincents 02:48
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Dracula allergic to sunflowers He prefers lilies Or on a good day deadly nightshade, He's ever so monotone A limited palate I suppose He only knows how to paint the town red He packs them in But the dead are a captive audience. Crying out loud for an attack of the Vincents Out with the out crowd In your element, Don't let them arrest your development Don't send yourself round the bend chasing a fickle trend Crying out loud for Vincent and friends. Sylvia devoured by tulips cruel lips A world of hungry mouths Spitting out the seeds For the birds to steal For the skies to feel She's a painted sea shell oceans deep, She always knows how to leap from the flowerbed. William enraged by soldiers in the garden Picks up a spade I don't beg your pardon, Rakes up a blaze When they see the fire in his soul They forget which war to go to in the end Crying out loud for Vincent and friends
5.
Wayward Astronomer 03:34
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Infatuated from an early age I gazed through the lens Flew from the attic window I roamed the skies And when I returned The years had not been kind. Now I can't tell if the tears are yours or mine Now I can't tell if the tears are yours or mine Infatuated, enthralled by distant planets This world has an end But these dreams are infinite A lifetime trying to unlearn the dogma that keeps us paralysed. Now I can't tell if the tears are yours or mine Now I can't tell if the tears are yours or mine I've lost the crowd, reputation diminished I only speak your tongue now (your tongue now) I am not from this town, I am not of the country I only speak your tongue now (your tongue now) Your tongue now (your tongue now) Infatuated, laid out on the Magnus Way Close up to the distance Now I know what you were whispering...
6.
Little Lost Vania 03:22
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Flew in on a leaf Ruined by the wind Blows smoke rings that never find fingers A love that unstitches into a string of lovers Until love means nothing to little lost Vania. Heart like a forest after burning. Flew in on a leaf Ruined by the wind Throws window shapes that only find strangers A love that gave so richly now lays a bed of poverty Kind words seem a cruelty to little lost Vania. Worms where the soil is turned and tender. Lambs leap from the jaws of slaughter Preserve their fleeces of soft white heather Tall trees lay down their branches of charcoal fragility, Our smoky baby in the cradle next to me.
7.
Muriel Queen of the Carnival 02:35
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Muriel come to the carnival Whatevers on your mind I'm sure it's curable It's always Saturday if we play that way. Muriel don't skew funereal Wear a brighter hue Light will follow you It's all explorable if we dare to stray. Muriel Oh Muriel Spirits move the corporeal All things possible in shifting soils of May. The tears have taught me not to turn the smiles away We've cried too long, The fear that caught us won't give chase if it can't make us run. Muriel come to the carnival Whatevers on your mind I'm sure it's curable It's always Saturday if we play that way.
8.
Charcoal Chalk Circle 03:11
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Charcoal Chalk Circle Wind blows on a whim Not by the skin of my skinny skin skin. Cherubim mock turtle Restring violin Not by the skin of my skinny skin skin. I called and I called as all echoes do I called and I called as all echoes do Dove holes, raven curtain Hedgerow offerings Not by the skin of my skinny skin skin. Bubbles burst in oily rainbows The whole of Cheshire grins and grins and Not by the skin of my skinny skin skin. I called and I called as all echoes do I called and I called as all echoes do And you be long You be long long gone You be long You be long long gone. Charcoal Chalk Circle Fate is in her underthings Not by the skin of my skinny skin skin. Charcoal Chalk Circle Eyes closed Watch the plates spin and spin Spin and spin.
9.
True Art 01:27
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How do we know true art? Deep feeling Do you think they could ever take our love away? Roots that reach far beyond these soils Branches twist up through the ceiling On the street below This gentle soul takes a beating And braves another morning.
10.
Face 02:55
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Face to face the faceless face The mirror won't register pain or pleasure. A smile procured from some passing joy Cut and paste If the neighbours hear nothing is the lot vacant? Face to face the faceless face No hook to hang expression on. We talk through invisible conversations And walk over liminal graves. Pale children of the phantom pluck bare the wings of prayer. Your face Your face. Face to face the faceless face No dimples, no lines, no age at all. The blank eye holds no surprise The inkless page tells no tales.
11.
Lonesome Old Devil 02:18
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In the back room of the Dog and Gloom I could not lay off those blue suede shoes That gabardine white jump suit, If the quiff fits you gotta wear it (Oh baby dare to dream) I left pursued by Pelvis Everly I thought my sorry life was through But the good Lord lengthened my stride Fooled by my pristine disguise. Lonesome Old Devil say Lonesome Old Devil say Lonesome Old Devil say Let's take it all the way! I've been scraping round these alleyways Like a cat in a litter tray, Lost in a cloud with too much rain Trapped in a world Troubled by pain I'm the place where the shade is thrown The face that launched a thousand groans. I've been down but now I'm upping my game Time this Old Devil staked his claim! Lonesome Old Devil say Lonesome Old Devil say Lonesome Old Devil say Let's take it all the way! Wise men say.. Only fools rush in And I might fear to tread But I'll be back someday (quite possibly) To knock 'em all dead!
12.
Headly's Parlour 01:55
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Granny Tar knitting up the corners Shiver the midnight breeze down my collar In Jilly"s jam jar a miniature dinosaur roars And distracts me from my memoirs.. High Tea in Headly's Parlour Feels like something I aught to remember Headly delights and terrifies me Always a cosmic trick up his sleeve. So Deckie Learner never made it back to shore Dripping the midnight sea down my collar In Jilly's jam jar a miniscule minotaur roars And distracts me from my memoirs.. High Tea in Headly's Parlour Feels like something I aught to surrender Headly delights and terrifies me Dreams and nightmares all run free.
13.
The Unshock 03:42
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The cork never earns it's pop Cold feet cannot find a pair of socks The chip never leaves the old block The ship remains chained to the dock The parties are all tidied up Unstruck by the Unshock. Undressed to no purpose Sermon without fervour scatters the flock The crib has no reason to rock The trip yields no beauty spots The script does not further the plot The parties are all tidied up Unstruck by the Unshock. These cities of lead crave the touch of an alchemist Just give me one last shot! But the cork never earns it's pop And the parties are all tidied up.
14.
A Crying Shame (Lonesome - Live 1973) 02:27
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Lonesome be thy name Lonesome be thy name Lonesome be thy name Lonesome be thy name. The animals went in two by two (it's a crying shame) And paid no mind to this beast of blues (it's a crying shame) Chained to these flooded plains The rain got in the grain The harvest never came And it's a crying shame. Lonesome be thy name Lonesome be thy name Lonesome be thy name Lonesome be thy name. My baby came over just to tell me we're through (it's a crying shame) She said she got no time for this beast of blues (it's a crying shame) Chained to these brittle plains The pain got in the brain The morphine never came And it's a crying shame. Lonesome be thy name Lonesome be thy name Lonesome be thy name Lonesome be thy name.

about

A collection of rogues, lost souls and old friends encountered over the last couple of years.

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released April 1, 2024

All songs written by The Magnus Martyrs.

The Martyrs are Mr. Bowler and Olaf Strainj, with special guest contributions from General Giblets.

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The Magnus Martyrs Manchester, UK

The Magnus Martyrs are wanderers on The Magnus Way, where songs are plucked from the collective subconscious of Mr. Bowler and Olaf Strainj. Home grown and wholeheartedly amateur, The Martyrs tip a large, dusty hat to psychedelic folk heroes of old, but with a sprinkling of modern magic. ... more

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