Time On My Own

by Broker Jonathan

supported by
colin crighton
colin crighton thumbnail
leo kohn
leo kohn thumbnail
Return to Normal
“Real songwriting, compelling lyrics, a desolate directness.”
“
Return to Normal thumbnail
Nemorospo
Nemorospo thumbnail
Peter Lehndorff
“Wonderful singer songwriter. Touch of Dylan. Maybe a folky Dire Straits.”
“
Peter Lehndorff thumbnail
Bob Young
Bob Young thumbnail
Peter W
Peter W thumbnail
…
close
/

  • Digital Album

    Immediate download of 12-track album in your choice of high-quality MP3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.

    Buy Now  $6 USD  or more

1.
04:16
lyrics
download
2.
03:46
lyrics
download
3.
04:22
lyrics
download
4.
03:43
lyrics
download
5.
03:31
lyrics
download
6.
04:08
lyrics
download
7.
04:44
lyrics
download
8.
03:25
lyrics
download
9.
03:44
lyrics
download
10.
04:40
lyrics
download
11.
04:06
lyrics
download
12.
09:23
lyrics
download

about

This album was recorded and mixed in a tenement flat in West Princes Street, Glasgow. The street was the birthplace of the now legendary indie label Postcard Records - but that is about all there is to recommend it as a recording location. Vocals for 'Barbara' were recorded by Kim Guy in the south-west of England and sent to Glasgow. Most of 'Fly' was put together and produced by itneverhappened in Stockholm Sweden. All tracks were sent to the south east of England for final mixes and mastering by Jon Huxtable (smallfishrecordings). Those key additional personnel on the album all became involved in it through the medium of the online music sharing platform Soundcloud. This album was born there.

credits

released 20 January 2013
All tracks written and performed by Broker Jonathan except 'Fly', written and performed by Broker Jonathan and itneverhappened. All lyrics by Broker Jonathan.


Special thanks to:

Jon Huxtable (smallfishrecordings) - soundcloud.com/smallfishrecordings
itneverhappened - soundcloud.com/itneverhappened
Kim Guy - soundcloud.com/kimguy
Andy Haldane - soundcloud.com/andy-haldane-productions
John Linton - www.lintonpix.com
Phoebe Brocklebank

Thanks also to the many musicians on Soundcloud who have offered fantastic support during the making of this album

Photography by John Linton

Read Folk Words' review of this album - www.folkwords.com/albumreviews_84344.html
More Broker Jonathan music can be found at - soundcloud.com/brokerjonathan

Broker Jonathan on Facebook -http://www.facebook.com/pages/BrokerJonathan/214639955280578

tags

tags: acoustic alernative alternative scotland songwriiter acoustic guitar heartbreak pop singer-songwriter songwriter Glasgow

license

all rights reserved

feeds

feeds for this album, this artist
Track Name: Any Way You Came
Any Way You Came

I like my coffee black
I want my cornflakes crispy
I need my mornings sober
Nights I do straight whisky
But baby I would take you any way you came
Baby I would take you any way you came

And it's hard enough to see you in trouble
It's impossible to know what to do
Sometimes I've got to find my own anchor
But I'm looking out for you too
And baby I would take you any way you came

I try to keep life simple
To let me get on with living
I don’t want to be too cruel
But maybe I’m too forgiving
And maybe I would take you ...

Baby I would take you any way you came
Baby I would take you any way you came

And it's hard to hear when you're seeing someone
But I know you well enough to know you will
And I'll make do with other amusements
But I'm holding out for you still

And baby I would take you any way you came
Baby I would take you any way you came
Track Name: Queen On The River
Queen On The River

When the Queen came on the river
It made my royal flush
I did not want to raise you
Cos I love you so much
But I threw all my chips in
Expecting you to fold
You must've been a little crazy
What better hand could you hold?

Oh darling, I can't lay down
Let me lie with you
Let the King and Queen shake their crowns off
It'll be just us again

When the money came in my direction
I watched you walk the other way
I do not see you at the table
On this or any day
So I play with strangers
And I can be pretty mean
Well I don't owe them nothing
But I've sorry for that river Queen

Oh darling, I can't lay down
Let me lie with you
Let the King and Queen shake their crowns off
It'll be just us again
Track Name: Hard Truth Country
Hard Truth Country

We're moving through hard truth country
Crossed the border
There's no turning back
The only view in hard truth country
Is not out the window
It's up and down the track

And I don't know
If we're going to like it much here
They don't suffer fools
Despise the insincere
Yeah I don't know
Shouldn't ought to have come this far
Sometimes we meet someone
And forget who we are

We're moving through hard truth country
Already I can hear
The lies we tell
What do you do in hard truth country
When we can't even get the story
Straight between ourselves?

No I won't
Dance around your birthday cake all year round
No I won't
Big you up to make you meaner looking down
No I won't
Walk three paces behind whoever you think you are in your mind
No you can be precious to yourself in your own precious time
And I won't carry your bags to free you up to skip along
I won't genuflect
I won't put those clothes on

We're moving though hard truth country
Crossed the border, there's no turning back
Track Name: Paper And Pen
Paper and Pen

I have tried
Late at night
Imagining
That you came back
Into in my life
But I've always had
Too much to drink
I'm so confused
I never seem to get
The dialogue right

I'm climbing
Up to your room again
Sliding
On down the stairs again

Tonight I have
A paper and pen
I'm going to keep a note
Of everything that we
Have to say
Tomorrow when
I come around
I'm gonna work out
Why it is that you
Went away

I'm climbing
Up to your room again
Sliding
On down the stairs again
Climbing
Up to your room again
Sliding
On down the stairs again
Track Name: Little Things
Little Things

It was little things … she always had to order the most expensive thing on a restaurant menu. If it was duck sautéed in rat piss, she'd want it if it was twice the price of everything else.

It was little things … once when the bill came, I paid for it in cash and she nearly died of embarrassment. 'That was so uncool,' she said. 'Where's your credit card?' I thought she'd have been happy I was paying for her duck and rat piss, but no …

… yeah, little things set us down the wrong road, you know?

She always used to say … (indistinct)

'Pardon me, my lovely?'

(indistinct)

… and I never had a clue what she meant by that.

It was little things … I can't put my finger on anything and say, you know, that put a bomb under us. It was just a gradual accumulation of little things … you know … little things.

It was stuff like … she used to go on about my driving … 'oh, you forgot to indicate coming off that roundabout.'

'That's okay,' I'd say. 'I'll drive.'

And she'd say: 'You're not doing a very good job of it.'

And I'd say: 'Do you want to get out and walk?'

It was little things … it was things like … she grew up on fairytales, thinking that one day she'd marry her Prince Charming. And now some schmuck was inviting her to get out of his car … and do you know what? That's exactly what she did! She got out and refused to get back in again … and it was all just over little things.

Her last words to me were … (indistinct)

And I was like: 'Sorry dear?'

(indistinct)

… but it was still Greek to me ...

(indistinct)

(indistinct)
Track Name: Time On My Own
Time On My Own

This time on my own
I don't know if it's working out so good
This cabin's not my home
Last night I saw something moving in the woods
I'm not sure if I even know
How to tell a friend from a foe

Wrote another song today
Began to wonder maybe I'm not hearing them right
The villagers all say
No one should be out here this many nights
Disoriented mind in the snow
Can't figure which way to go

You sound distant on the phone
I know when I move back you'll be gone for good
But this time on my own
I don't think it's helping like I thought it would
Track Name: Barbara
Barbara

I don't mean to be a drag about my illness
Not the rowing boat motion, it's the water's stillness
Somewhere on the bottom I thought I saw a sacrificial lamb
I don't have a clue why I'm still afraid of you
But I am

Careful up ahead, that's a water feature
If you start drowning on me, I'll never reach you
And I know if I did, you'd only haul me overboard too
I don't know why I distrust you so
But I do

Barbara, why am I here with you?
Barbara, it was only meant to be a beer with you

I should've walked away in Trafalgar Square
You were feeding the pigeons, I was standing there
From the corner of my eye I thought I saw a lion statue move
And I don't know what talking to ghosts
Is meant to prove

Barbara, are you mad with me?
Barbara, after all the fun you've had with me

Let's go catch a ride to the Latin Quarter
Or the Giant's Causeway, whatever's shorter
We'll both stand in line and whoever blinks first gets the bill
I don't know how you'll destroy me now
But you will

Barbara, even now you're a mystery
Barbara, why do you want to do all this to me?
Track Name: Reasons
Reasons

I think the reason I called before is
I knew you were trouble
But everyone else seemed like trouble too

I think the reason I asked you to stay is
You said you needed a holiday
And I needed to look at you

I think the reason we ran so fast is
We were running like fools away from our pasts
At least that's what I wanted to do

I think the reason was … it was never meant to be
I think the reason was … it was never meant to be

I think the reason I was scared to fly on is
I didn't know enough shoulders to cry on
And I thought you knew too many

I think the reason the dust took so long is
We were the king and queen of song
Even if we never really sang any

I think the reason I called before is
I don't know how to make us special any more
Are tales like ours just two a penny?

I think the reason was … it was never meant to be
I think the reason was … it was never meant to be
Track Name: Passing Through
Passing Through

Was there a reason why you called
At something like four in the morning
Offering up all your best advice?
You want to disturb my sleep
It's just another habit forming
Understand it comes at a price

And maybe we're just feeling our way
Into some hell that we thought was paradise

Passing through

Feeling antsy waiting
For the drink to leave my system
Once it's gone it won't happen any more
You laughed at all them war wounds baby
I wanted you to kiss them
I wanted you butt naked on the floor

So maybe we're just squeezing our way
Into this room cos was one or both was bored

Passing through our lifetimes
Like a head cold
Influenza

I was talking to some woman
For maybe half a minute when
She leans into kiss my cheek
She walks away and I'm wondering
Could there be something in it?
She disappears into last week

So maybe we're from different lands
With different tongues
We don't know how to speak

Passing through our lifetimes
Like rubella
Diphtheria
Passing through our lifetimes
Like cholera
Like the plague
Track Name: Absinthe
Absinthe

Talking only makes it worse
Crying stings the eyeballs
Searching for some gentle dream
Just brings monsters from the walls

Slow music's like a funeral
But I don't hear no other kind
The absinthe bottle we sold our souls for
I do believe it's coming for my mind

I said there was a line we were crossing
You said it would be fine - no it wasn't
It was horrible and now we're missing in the night
Oh, I wanna wake up
Oh, I wanna wake up
Wanna be all right

I don't remember much conversation
Did one of us dare the other to ask
If that's the colour of the alcohol
Or just the colour of the glass?

Twenty four measures between us
It's how we measure our pain
Markings on the face of a disappearing clock
Smiling at us through the rain

I said there was a line we were crossing
You said it would be fine - it so wasn't
It was horrible and now we're missing in the night
Oh, I wanna wake up
Oh, I wanna wake up
Wanna be all right

Come on Joe you can't go this way, you gotta wake up!
Gotta be all right
Track Name: Elastic Heart
Elastic Heart

I saw you across the street
Hiding 'neath your pink umbrella
I ran for cover too
Behind some big business fella
I guess we think it's easier
Just to feign shortsightedness
Anyway I can't afford the pain
Of an even bigger mess

We've already said goodbye, why won't my heart
Learn it's for the best?

The stuff you put in your hair
Made it bounce as you went by
I can't smell it any more
In the bed where you used to lie
So what if I do know secrets
About your beauty regime?
Your face in my mirror might as well
Never have been

We've already said goodbye, when will my heart
Figure what it means?
We've already said goodbye but my heart
Don't know what it means

I watched you turn the corner
All hair and heel spring
Already you're mind's moving on
To the next thing
I want an elastic heart
Like the one you got
The kind that snaps back into shape
Whether ready or not

We've already said goodbye
We've already said goodbye
We've already said goodbye but my heart
Doesn't get the plot
Track Name: Fly
Fly

If I could be a fly on the wall in your mind
would we survive a day?
If you could be a fly on the wall in mine
How long before you fly away?

If I could be a fly on the wall in your mind
Would we survive a day?
If you could be a fly on the wall in mine
Would you fly away?
Would you fly away?

She's even more mysterious asleep
What is she dreaming about?
I dreamt she left the bed and packed her stuff
Took an aeroplane out
And there between the lines she wrote
To say why she was going
Was every card held to my chest
How could these have been showing?

If you're in my head is the mystery dead
What are you doing behind the eyeballs?
I was running down to the underground
Were you pursuing?
Are you a fly on the wall?
How was every stray emotion scratched onto my forehead
For your reading?

Seemed liked a pretty good idea at the time
To get beneath the skin
If I could be a fly on the wall in your mind
I'd probably do myself in
We set up in business, contributed one heart each
I dreamt that yours was creeping slowly
Out of reach

If you're rattling round, what do you think you've found?
You don't belong here
We don't get to know it all
Tell me how can I just smile and lie like nothing's wrong here?
Are you a fly on the wall?
How was every stray emotion scratched out on my forehead
For your reading?

And if you're in my head is the mystery dead
What you doing?
You got no place here at all
I was running down to the underground
Were you pursuing?
Are you a fly on the wall?
How was every stray emotion scratched onto my forehead
For your reading?