produced by brilliantfish w/DC
From garage to gospel, roots to rock, reggae to soul. Guitar & horns, bass & drums, songs with something to say that go somewhere. Songs that take on mature themes, both personal and political, from oppression and empowerment, the rock bottom moment to sobriety, heartbreak to healing… the end message is that of redemption, survival and resurrection. The overall approach was to produce a recording that sounds – and should to be listened to – like a vinyl album.
CREDITS
Recorded & Mixed @ Session House by brilliantfish
Additional recording by Steve Frise, Cam MacInnes, Bryden Baird, Jon James, Chris Bottomley, Kieran Christie
Mastered by Taras Petryk @ SerpentOne
Design by brilliantfish w/DC
DC: vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, bass
brilliantfish: drums, percussion, keyboards, bass keyboard, backing vocals, horn arrangements, additional guitars
Laurelle Augustyn: backing vocals
Bryden Baird: trumpet, flugelhorn (‘The Stars’)
Chris Bottomley: bass (‘Long Way To Go’)
Kieran Christie: backing vocals (‘This Is Your Time’)
Jay Dee: backing vocals (‘Evangeline’)
Steve Frise: electric guitar (‘Nothing Left To Burn’)
Jon James: bass guitar (‘Evangeline’, ‘Nothing Left To Burn’, ‘These Are Your Best Years’), additional guitar (‘Evangeline’)
Shane Joseph: backing vocals (‘Evangeline’)
Cam MacInnes: guitar (‘Going Home’)
sweet T: backing vocals (‘This Is Your Time’, ‘Evangeline’, ‘These Are Your Best Years’)
Michelle White: saxophone, backing vocals (‘Wherever It Takes You’, ‘Chains’, ‘Long Way To Go’, ‘Going Home’)
© 2022 Good Montreal Boy Productions
LYRICS
Chains
Take these chains
From around my heart
Let’s run out into the rain
Maybe we can start again
Step on out
Shed this skin
Shake these tethers
This is where we begin
This is where we begin
This is where we begin
No matter who you are
Or where you’ve been
This is where we begin
Time has come
To set things right
Kick at the darkness
And let the light pour in
Gonna lose these blues
Shake this sin
The monkey on your back
This is where we begin
This is where we begin
This is where we begin
No matter who you are
Or where you’ve been
This is where we begin
When it feels like you’re on your own
And your soul is shattered glass
Life’s in the hole
And you feel like you’ve lost your way
You keep on drowning in the past
This is where we begin
This is where we begin
No matter who you are
Or where you’ve been
This is where we begin
This is where we begin
This is where we begin
No matter who you are
Or where you’ve been
This is where we begin
(© D.Christie 2022 SAC, SOCA 2022)
The Messenger Is Dead
The big door slams
And it kicks out the lights
A thunder crash rips a hole in the sole
Of thIs thick slow summer night
Here inside
There’s a dead man walking
We’re a long way from home
There’s only silence on the phone
You can call all you want
But no one’s gonna answer
The Messenger is dead
The Messenger is dead
Nothing in his hands
Nothing in his head
The Messenger is dead
The Messenger is dead
The Messenger is dead
Nothing in his hands
Nothing in his head
The Messenger is dead
Ceilings fold
And the smoke starts to billow
Flames begin to dance
The nation’s in a trance
No one’s getting carded
You won’t hear a sound
The whistle blower’s silenced
Got shoved into a slot
A disconnected box
The shredding party’s started
We’re a long way from home
There’s only silence on the phone
You can call all you want
But no one’s gonna answer
The Messenger is dead
The Messenger is dead
Nothing in his hands
Nothing in his head
The Messenger is dead
The Messenger is dead
The Messenger is dead
Nothing in his hands
Nothing in his head
The Messenger is dead
Even with our eyes wide open
It’s darker than its ever been
What they steal
You can’t see
You just feel it on your skin
They’ve ruled from the shadows
Since long before Kennedy or King
They’ve emptied out the box
Changed all the locks
Now a new kind of fog is rolling in
We’re a long way from home
There’s only silence on the phone
You can call all you want
But no one’s gonna answer
No one’s gonna answer
The Messenger is dead
The Messenger is dead
Nothing in his hands
Nothing in his head
The Messenger is dead
The Messenger is dead
The Messenger is dead
Nothing in his hands
Nothing in his head
The Messenger is dead
(© D.Christie 2022 SAC, SOCA 2022)
Wherever It Takes You
You’ve been up
You’ve been down
You’ve been every place in town
Whoever would take you
Unchained and unbound
Waiting for it all to come around
Wherever it takes you
Wherever it takes you
Wherever it takes you
Gonna let it take you
Wherever it takes you
It takes you
It takes you
Wherever it takes you
Forever it takes you
Wherever it takes you
It takes you
You went out
You went back in
And you kept up all the spin
But never no fake you
You wore rags
You wore a crown
You were making a big sound
Crawling like a snake… you
Wherever it takes you
Wherever it takes you
Gonna let it take you
Wherever it takes you
It takes you
It takes you
Wherever it takes you
Forever it takes you
Wherever it takes you
It takes you
You’ve been lost
You’ve been found
Lying face down on the ground
But no one could break you
Kept it all moving ‘round
Make a penny, make a pound
Wherever it takes you
Wherever it takes you
Wherever it takes you
Gonna let it take you
Wherever it takes you
It takes you
It takes you
Wherever it takes you
Forever it takes you
Wherever it takes you
It takes you
(© D.Christie 2022 SAC, SOCA 2022)
The Stars
Pray there’s something in our hearts
That pulls us from the flames
None too soon
Something deep inside our hearts
Something that can save us… me and you
Centuries of greed
And all the complications
Mother Nature’s gonna need
A better explanation
We’re picking up speed
There’s a new vibration
I’m thinking maybe we got us
A situation
Hmmm mmm
We sent something out to The Stars
And it made some kind of tear in things
There is something out there in the stars
It left a stain on there shine
Now its faded over time
Will there be nothing to show us the way?
There is something out there in The Stars
Can you feel it?
Can’t you feel it changing you?
Centuries of greed
And all the complications
Mother Nature’s gonna need
A better explanation
We’re picking up speed
There’s a new vibration
I’m thinking maybe we got us
A situation
Hmmm mmm
(© D.Christie 2022 SAC, SOCA 2022)
This Is Your Time
Can you hear that sound?
A far away drum
It shakes the ground
On which you run
It beats a code
It shows the way
It is the rhythm of a brand new day
Come on shine the light
Children of the world
This is your time
Come on shine the light
Children of the world
This is your time
A broken home
Town’s up in flames
Cold civil war
And all we do is blame
We stand alone
Duped and divided
We let things burn
And left you unguided
Come on shine the light
Children of the world
This is your time
Come on shine the light
Children of the world
This is your time
Na nana na na na na na na
Na nana na na na
Na nana na na na na na na
Na nana na na na
Last call
It’s graduation day
Wide open road
And nothing in your way
We made you a promise
And all we did was break it
Eyes on the prize
Now it’s time to take it
Come on shine the light
Children of the world
This is your time
Come on shine the light
Children of the world
This is your time
(© D.Christie 2022 SAC, SOCA 2022)
These Are Your Best Years
You don’t speak
Looks like you’ve seen a bit of weather
Drifted out of time
I’m a witness to the signs
Just an empty space now
These are your best years
These are your best years
Light another candle
Put away those fears
For these are you best years
Take all you remember
Of what you regret ever having said
Write it all down
Then throw it on the fire
Let it burn ‘til the ghost is dead
Did it disappear in stages…
When you lost all your old nerve?
‘Cause there’s a rumour going ‘round
That maybe you stepped down
And you can’t get it back… now
These are your best years
These are your best years
Light another candle
Put away those fears
For these are you best years
These are your best years
These are your best years
Usher in a new day
Feel it drawing near
For these are you best years
(© D.Christie 2022 SAC, SOCA 2022)
Evangeline
Evangeline
This time I’m coming clean
The streets are cold
As the night unfolds
My world is full of darkness
Evangeline
Evangeline
I’m seeing only shadows
In my dreams
Evangelines
Evangeline
This time, I’m coming clean
Evangeline
The sun sets slow
As the night unfolds
This town can make you feel so lost sometimes
Like a lightning flash
It’s all only just a moment
This thunder rages in my soul
Forbidden fruit
I will not hold
Evangeline
Evangeline
I’m seeing only shadows
In my dreams
Evangeline
Evangeline
This time, I’m coming clean
Evangeline
Evangeline
I see you only from a distance
Never to be in your room
Your silk caress
The summer breeze dancing though your dress
A book of dreams
Of things untold
Forbidden fruit
I will not hold
Evangeline
Evangeline
I’m seeing only shadows
In my dreams
Evangeline
Evangeline
This time, I’m coming clean
Evangeline
(© D.Christie 2022 SAC, SOCA 2022)
Nothing Left To Burn
Curtain falls
You’re on your own
Only empty space
Between your fingers
Don’t look back
There’s a house on fire
You’ve tasted hell and now it lingers
Everything lost and won
Nothing can be undone
You walk alone now
You walk alone
You won’t know which way to turn
When there’s nothing left to burn
Maybe this is where we learn
When there’s nothing left to burn
Voices call
They chill your bones
Your reborn friends
Well, they’ve all gone home
The night is dark
The road is long
Your heart is hard
And your soul’s gone cold
You can’t stop choking
On your history
Everything lost and won
Nothing can be undone
You walk alone now
You walk alone
You won’t know which way to turn
When there’s nothing left to burn
Maybe this is where we learn
When there’s nothing left to burn
(© D.Christie 2022 SAC, SOCA 2022)
Long Way To Go
Written by John Bottomley.
© 1995 Universal Music Publishing, SOCAN.
Going Home
I’m going home on the rhythm of the bass line
I’m going home on the rhythm of the drum
Ain’t got no time for feeling sad and empty
There’ll be time for all that when I’m done, Lord
There’ll be time for all that when I’m done
There are rhythms to be heard all around you
They are the whispering of heaven by your side
If you listen you can hear them calling softly
Telling your soul to quiet down your mind, child
Telling your soul to quiet down your mind
You can hear the rhythms beating gently the rooftops
With the pit-a-pat of each and every drop of rain
They are carried on the wind just like a sweet song
To get you through and help you ease your pain, now
To get you through and help you ease your pain
If you listen to the rhythm that your heart makes
As it slows on down to beat its final beat
It’ll lull you soft and sweet just like a baby
To drift you off to meet your final sleep, child
To drift you off to meet your final sleep
I’m going home on the rhythm of the bass line
I’m going home on the rhythm of the drum
Ain’t got no time for feeling sad and empty
There’ll be time for all that when I’m done, Lord
There’ll be time for all that when I’m done
When I’m done
When I’m done
When I’m done
When I’m… done.
Written by Shawna Dunbar
© 2022 Shawna Dunbar, SOCAN
Used by permission.
