Get all 6 Daniel J Townsend releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Midland Highway: The Musical, Songs From The Great Pause, The Podcast: A Tale of Two Cities, A Tale of Two Cities, World Until Yesterday, and Iscariot.
1. |
My Hands Are Clean
02:52
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I feel I understand my grandmother's hands
My skin is cracked and dry like hills and barren land
I feel I understand her clothes for going out
I feel I understand her wiping the table down
Hair tied back
Put away the dish rack
Keep the doctor away
So they say
Cleanliness and godliness
My grandmother believed
The people she could trust were just
The ones whose hands were clean
A shirt that's pressed, your Sunday best
A home from roof to floor
No one says that any more
But my hands are cracked and sore
And so I work from home, buy only what I need
And when I lend a hand you'll know my hands are clean
And now you understand my clothes for going out
And now you understand my wiping the table down
Got my hair tied back
Put away the dish rack
Keep the virus away
So they say
Cleanliness and godliness
My grandmother believed
The people we can trust are just
The ones whose hands are clean
A shirt that's pressed and Sunday best
A home from roof to floor
No one says that any more
But my hands are cracked and sore
No one says that any more
But my hands are cracked and sore
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2. |
Just To See You
02:53
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Even if they could number the stars
When they see them shining
All of the drops of the rain in the sea
And the sand beneath
Even if they could measure the sky
They could not conceive
The one desire that I keep in my heart, just to see you
And yet I cannot go to where you are
Fortune forbids me
All on my own I must choke back my sighs
When I think of you
When I'm alone, in secret
I am wounded by
The one desire that I keep in my heart, just to see you
Oh how it makes me lament and sorrow
How I long to see you
None is like you and I love you alone
Oh, what can I do?
My heart is on fire but the waters are rising
Hope drowns within me
The one desire that I keep in my heart, just to see you
Just to see you
Just to see you
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3. |
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I cried during your livestream, much to my surprise
I didn't understand why but now I do
Feels like everyone is hiding now and no one looks me in the eye
A teacher in an empty room
A teacher in an empty room
On my disinfected desk, homework waits in zip-locked bags
Children in their zip-locked homes, afraid of their own hands
It breaks my heart to be apart from them for who knows how long
A teacher in an empty room
A teacher in an empty room
A teacher in an empty room
In the silence after the song
I traveled to a foreign land where a man made holy wine
And now the people hold processions in his name
The streets are filled with melody and there is music everywhere
Everyone has a part to play
Everyone has a part to play
The children clap their chubby hands, the women sing in harmony
The waiters all wear high-heeled shoes and shake the tambourine
My soul had found a home but I returned to where I'm from
I unpacked my bags alone
I unpacked my bags alone
I unpacked my bags alone
In the silence after the song
I cried during your livestream in the quiet of my home
And I wondered if you felt it too?
A silence where applause should be, empty desks in rows
A singer in an empty room
A singer in an empty room
God damn the greedy hands of grief and damn the ghosts of unbelief
I wanna sing a song for everyone who is sitting up but still asleep
We are quiet as my classroom but one day we'll sing it strong
For now, I'm crying with my screen
I'm crying with my screen
I'm crying with my screen
In the silence after the song
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4. |
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1918 in the fall
She was only three years old
A little girl with a big job to do;
Her brother sick in bed
A fever in his head
Mum and Dad were sick in their beds too
In the graveyard of the town
Baby brother in the ground
Born and died before he saw the day
In their Philadelphia home
Little nurse lights up the stove
Been this way since the day of the parade
Barely one month had passed
Since in the navy yard
A ship had come from Boston, bound for war
And in less than fourteen days
Six hundred soldiers lay
In agony in the hospital ward
Though the men were young and healthy
They were all losing the fight
Coughing til their faces turned to grey
But the politicians said
"Let them die in their beds
What this city needs today is a parade."
September 28,
It was a grandiose display
The people came together for the day
There were war bonds to sell
So nobody would dare tell
Two hundred thousand folks to stay away
So everybody came
And by the second day
A hundred folks were lying in their graves
And in the month ahead
Twelve thousand folks were dead
What a price to pay for a parade
1918 in the fall
She was only three years old
A little girl with fever in her veins
Her brother healthy now
Mum and Dad just pacing around
The family's little nurse in burning pain
In the graveyard of the town
Her father lay her down
Coughing as his aching hands did shake
At home, her mother mourned
She'd been forced to stay indoors
What a price to pay for a parade
What a price to pay for a parade
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5. |
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Slowly, you've become the kind of guy
Who always knows just what to say
Slowly, as if you've lived this life before
Or has it always been this way?
Had I known it from the start?
Your perfectly curated heart
All the horses and all the men will find a love in pieces
Slowly, you've become so far away
Two hands upon a face just keeping time
Slowly, like the first time love is made
Horses and the right of kings divine
We walked beneath the evergreens
Our minds meandered by the stream
I feel it now and cannot breathe: I find a love in a pieces
How quickly you've become unkind
You always know just what to write
Quickly, you put the words into my mind
A part of you has died
Quickly, for fear of being seen
Hiding among the evergreens
I feel it now and cannot breathe: I find a love in pieces
I find a love in pieces
I find a love in pieces
I find a love in pieces
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6. |
One Step and Breathe
02:20
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I know you feel lost, cold and alone
Maybe you think that you cannot go on
I know you feel that you're too far gone
Don't you stop now, look how far you've come
I know you feel that there's no way back
But you're doing better than you ever have
You're more brave than you know
More strong than you see
Don't you stop now
Take one step and breathe
You know you can do this, you gotta dig deep
You're gonna make it, you gotta make your own peace
There's hope for tomorrow so go out and find it
The sun also rises and the dark is a lie
I know you feel that there's no way back
But you're doing better than you ever have
You're more brave than you know
More strong than you see
Don't you stop now
Take one step and breathe
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Daniel J Townsend TAS, Australia
"A head full of stories, a soul old enough to have lived them, and a heart young enough to believe in their power to move us."
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