Steve and Ros Barnes Acoustic Australian Music

Steve and Rosalind Barnes' debut CD, released in May 1992

SONG LYRICS

1. STARDUST AND SAWDUST ~ 2. SUMMER RAIN ~ 3. BIG STRIPEY LIZARD ~ 4. THE BUTTERFLY'S WING ~ 5. MIDLOTHIAN ~ 6. LONGEST NIGHT OF THE YEAR ~ 7. BORIS GIBSON'S REEL/THE SAME TUNE ALL NIGHT ~ 8. SEA BREEZE ~ 9. THE CHINAMEN'S GARDENS ~ 10. FRIGHTENED GIRL ~ 11. TRIPOD ~ 12. THE GREEN AMONG THE GOLD ~ 13. PATTERSON'S CURSE ~ 14.PATTERNS IN THE SAND

STARDUST AND SAWDUST

(Lyrics: Derek McAlpine, music: Steve Barnes)

Give me three things and I'll juggle them high
Fun, love and pathos I'll toss in the sky
And I may make you laugh and I may make you cry
For this is the craft of the clown

Give me a big top with trumpet or horn
Or a solitary child looking lost and forlorn
And I'll make them all love me, as sure as you're born
For this is the charm of the clown
I'll tease the great lion with no show of fear
I'll climb the trapeze and the public will cheer
I'll get doused with the water and kicked in the rear
And you'll laugh at the plight of the clown

And at night when I'm lonely and I gaze at the skies
And I can't fool myself with the dreams and the lies
Is it stardust or sawdust that gets in my eyes
Causing tears down the face of the clown?

SUMMER RAIN

About station life in the Kimberley in the north of Western Australia, where the "wet" comes in summer.

Forty years ago we came as strangers to this land
The soil was rusty red and ran like water through your hands
It wasn't what we'd bargained for, it wasn't what we planned
But forty long years later we're still here

There were years when the summer came and went without a wet
And we thought we'd have to leave here but it hasn't happened yet
You learn to be contented with whatever luck you get
And trust the rain to wash away the tears
And the love that keeps on living keeps us here

(chorus)
And the generator's humming and the air is full of flies
The summer rain is coming in the January skies
Hear the raindrops drumming, feel the tiredness in your eyes
The rain will get us through another year
And the love that keeps on living keeps us here.

The rhythm of the seasons is the beating of your heart
The evening sunlight on the rocks is like a work of art
And I'd like to paint its beauty but I don't know where to start
The haze of summer never comes quite clear
And the love that keeps on living keeps us here.

THE BUTTERFLY'S WING

Inspired by James Gleick's book about Chaos Theory, which explains how tiny causes can have huge and beautiful consequences.

Through light years of darkness astronomers listen
To stellar survivors sing pulses of rhyme
Music of galaxies, quantum commotion,
Ripples of gravity, oceans of time

The lenses and mirrors of modern day alchemy
Seeking to find the philosophers stone
Lead into gold, blindness to vision
Lighting a flame in the cold dark unknown

Mathematicians turn into magicians
And conjure up images of infinite form
Order that lies at the heart of the chaos
The butterfly's wing at the heart of the storm

Buried beneath us are fossils and footprints
Stories in stone that have punctured our pride
Paths of survival on wandering continents
Flotsam and jetsam on history's tide

Can you hear in the forest and out in the desert
Voices that answer to nature's command?
One careless step can lead to destruction
How can we save what we don't understand?

Mathematicians...

MIDLOTHIAN

Written for friends who were wintering in Pathhead, just outside Edinburgh, keeping themselves warm by playing tunes.

Send us mist upon the heather, send us snow upon the highlands,
Sunlight on the islands and rain on cobble stones
We'll send Jacaranda blossom and the sparkle of the river
When the winter makes you shiver and the cold seeps in your bones
In Midlothian

Send us music from your fireside, the beat of Celtic thunder
The mystery and wonder of the lonely Highland airs
The piper's fingers dancing and the flute and fiddle flying
And the lowland pipes a'crying as they wash away your cares
In Midlothian

When the sun seems lost forever and the icy wind is sighing
Your thoughts are homeward flying and the winter never ends
We'll send coffee on the Terrace on a balmy summer's evening
And we'll soon have you believing that you're not far from your friends
In Midlothian

The months will quickly fly away and soon you'll be returning
Where the Southern Cross is burning and the moon hangs upside down
Where the sky is clear as crystal and the cold will never find you
But don't leave your hearts behind you in that distant Northern town
In Midlothian

LONGEST NIGHT OF THE YEAR

Days fade away, nights drawing in,
Got the place to myself, no it isn't a sin
Solitaire is a game you can win
On the longest night of the year

Time on your own is good for your health,
Take down your favourite book from the shelf
Open a bottle and cook for yourself
On the longest night of the year

Well, it's a lazy condition, I don't know whether it's true
That it's a crazy ambition of getting together with you

Look for a place to find a thrill
Trying to improve on the run of the mill
If you don't do it nobody else will
On the longest night of the year.

BORIS GIBSON'S REEL and THE SAME TUNE ALL NIGHT

A couple of Irish-style tunes. A lot of Irish tunes are named after musicians; "Boris" is named after a mandocello. "The Same Tune..." is dedicated to the woman who came up to the musicians after a raging Irish session and said "It's very nice, but why have you been playing the same tune all night?"

SEA BREEZE

About summer in Fremantle.

Hot in the morning, hotter afternoon,
Warmer conditions are expected soon
And the easterly blows from the red heartland
From shimmering seas of scorching sand

But hey, where do all the people go?
Gone to ground, never a sound
And the crow sits on the power line
Reminds you that you're killing time

Life's on hold, waiting for the sea-breeze to blow...

You try to avoid any sudden moves
As the sun beats down on the hot tin rooves
And the sky is clear and the sky is a cold blue mirror
Of the empty suburban soul

Cool change coming, I heard a rumour carried on the wind
Cool change coming, cool change blowing in.

Hot in the evening, too hot at night,
Won't let you sleep when you turn out the light
And a distant voice on the telephone line
Reminds you that you're still killing time

Life's on hold etc.

THE CHINAMENS' GARDENS

From reminiscences of Ros's father, about the Chinese market gardens which used to flourish all around Perth.

They came across the ocean to the western coastal plain
They set up camp on the river bank and they waited for the rain
They ploughed the soil and set the seed, no more they wished to roam,
They tilled the pastures of their new-found home.

You could see them every morning with their buckets on long poles
Watering the gardens where the beans and carrots grow
The seedlings that were planted by those toiling foreign hands
Have grown into a green and golden land.

(chorus)

The seedlings sent down thirsty roots to bind the sandy soil
Our children pick the golden fruits of the years of lonely toil
The river takes its own sweet time to wind down to the sea
And wash away a misty memory
Where the Chinamens' Gardens used to be.

Now sprinklers play on summer days in green suburban yards
And neighbours turn their TV's on and they think that life is hard
They speak of immigration and they say that it's a shame
And find a foreign face to take the blame

From Vietnam and Italy, from Chile and from Wales
They bring their songs and poetry, their dances and their tales
And on a fertile river bank there grows a mighty tree
Where the Chinamens' Gardens used to be.

(repeat chorus).

FRIGHTENED GIRL

(Rosalind Barnes)

You appeared so unexpectedly and changed my life that day
You shared your dreams and plans with me and stole my heart away
No words were needed, our feelings ran free
We were building a bridge between you and me
But I knew it was only a fantasy
And I knew in my heart it could never be
Our words came together but now must part
And inside this body is a breaking heart
Can you see the frightened girl in my eye?
Can you feel me shake as I kiss you goodbye?
The feelings deep in my soul remain
And my longing for you comes around again
Now I walk alone in dreams, doesn't feel so good
If I could have you by my side, I wish to God I could
We'd stand together, you and me,
Share our lives forever free
But I knew it was only a fantasy,
I knew in my heart it could never be
You're so close yet so far away
And I need you more with each passing day
Can you see.the frightened girl...

TRIPOD

I know a cat with only three legs, He's a frequent visitor round at my house
He likes to lie out by the gate, in wait, If he plays it cool somebody might throw him a fish
He used to be considered a charmer He was eloquent and so debonair
But he failed to look to the right one night And to his surprise he collided with a number nine bus

He likes to reminisce about his halcyon days But since his accident it's not been the same
People round here call him Tripod A most undignified name

He used to be a champion mouser But his disability holds him back
Though his timing's not too bad, it's sad,When he tries to pounce he generally lands on his face

He likes to reminisce etc.

But he's an educated feline, He knows that three legs are more stable than four
So he lies out be the gate, in wait, Vigilantly watching for a similarly handicapped mouse.

THE GREEN AMONG THE GOLD
Sound sample (Real Audio)

Dusty plains and iron chains met Erin's sons and daughters,
Cast upon a barren land, a far-off fatal shore
They dreamed of misty mountains in their home across the water
They sang of Connemara and the home they'd see no more
Now limestone walls are all that's left of times of pain and failure
The country yields the secrets of the beauty that it holds,
The tunes of Erin's Isle are now the music of Australia
And Irish hands have woven strands of green among the gold.

And so beneath the Southern Cross they sang their songs of Ireland
Who sent her sons and daughters here in hungry days of old
They played their jigs and reels beneath the skies of their new homeland
And Irish hands have woven strands of green among the gold

Times were hard at home and so we took a crazy notion
To start a brand new life upon the far side of the globe
And now we find our hearts are stranded somewhere in mid-ocean
Though our days are full of sunshine and our future full of hope
Our children sing of droving life, of shearers and bushrangers
They learn to play our music and to dance the steps of old
Though their hearts are in Australia they never will be strangers
To the land we left behind us, they're the green among the gold.

And so beneath the Southern Cross we sing our songs of Ireland
Who sent her sons and daughters here in hungry days of old
We play our jigs and reels beneath the skies of our new homeland
And Irish hands are weaving strands of green among the gold.

PATTERNS IN THE SAND

Patterns in the sand, colours interweaving,
Story of the land, pictures interleaving
Now you understand how we've been deceiving you
Patterns in the sand, under the starlight,
Old man emu dancing in the firelight
Dwelling on the fringe of a long and dark night,
Patterns in the sand, pictures painted long before we came.

Painting on a rock wall, story of the dreaming
Tell them to the children, see their eyes gleaming
Back in the city, whitefella scheming still.
Gold, uranium, treasures thay have found,
Forefathers spirits, sacred ground,
The caterpillar tracks go round and round
Making patterns in the sand, covered over by the wheels of change
Patterns in the sand, pictures painted long before we came.

Stockman on the station, kitchen maid,
Worked like slaves, they never paid
You had no say in the bargains that they made with you
Whitefella's poison, blackfella's blame,
Deaths in the prisons, whitefella's shame,
Two hundred years of a losing game,
Patterns in the sand, blown away by the winds of change.
Patterns in the sand...