Get all 10 Etan Huijs releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Dreams In Multicolor, The Monochrome Veil, Cautionary Tales EP, Josephine EP, Ghost Town EP, The Doldrums EP, The Secret Us, Curtain Call EP, and 2 more.
1. |
Ghost Town
03:31
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As I walk these old, forsaken, disregarded streets
Trees in my mind’s eye, holding on to their last leafs
No one really enters here and no one really leaves
The houses frozen skeletons of unresolved grief
This is a ghost town
The churches on the avenue, they slowly lose their paint
The walls are there to separate the sinners from the saints
The people here are cornered by the lines they drew themselves
The children are the echoes of the relics that are delved
This is a ghost town…
And it’s giving up the ghost
No ascending wings to be found, no enlightenment
No damn way to shower off this old, unpleasant scent
No one hold a candle up and no one leads the way
No renaissance ambassadors to welcome a new day
This is a ghost town…
And it’s giving up the ghost
The stones that form your walls
Could also make your halls
The stones you use to throw around
The foundations of a higher ground
All these fading footsteps, how they simply symbolize
The lack of growth, progression and political device
The gazes from a distance, but up close: avoiding looks
The burning of the library and science in your books
This is a ghost town…
And it’s giving up the ghost
The ghost
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2. |
Josephine
05:42
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Oh, my Josephine
On a train you went
To go and meet with your friends
In the city
Up to the ones
I never got to meet
I never got to greet
It’s a pity
Darling, don’t ask
I’m spreading my wings
While you lay in our bed
Dreaming your dreams
‘bout what you could’ve had
And drinking your problems away
Oh, my Josephine
Are you meeting a stranger?
While here in our manger
Lies our little sprout
What does he have?
Is he tall, dark and handsome?
Or am I chasing phantoms
Fearing you will back out?
Darling, don’t fret
Before you awake
I will lie in our bed
Holding you close
With a thought in my head
“My life is slipping away”
Oh, my Josephine
What have you seen?
In your travels and dreams
You are farthest away
Do your pretty blue eyes
Search for a shiny-armored knight
To father our child
In a better way?
Darling, don’t speak
Your poisonous jealousy is at its peak
My shoulders are heavy
And my knees are weak
And all I want is a new day
Oh, time slips away
Hours into days
Days into years
These poisonous hearts
Lead us into the dark
Oh, my Josephine
I will do what you ask
If you hand me a task
I will do it
I am committed
To do what it takes
If a difference it makes
I will prove it
Darling, don’t try
We’re way past the point
Of the hows and the whys
So tonight, go to sleep
Close your pretty brown eyes
Let your dreams take you away
And darling, don’t ask
Where I am in the morning
I gave you fair warning
Don’t check the baby room
Walk down the hallway
Open the door when the bell rings at eight
Oh, my Josephine
Tomorrow at the breakfast table
Pour the milk that I labeled
Into your black coffee cup
And drink it up slowly
I don’t mind being lonely
As long as I am the only
Man raising our son
Oh darling, our child
Will live like a king
With the trust you’ll provide
I’ll take the train
And move into the night
Share in the wealth someday
Oh, my Josephine
The train’s almost here
But did I just hear our old coffee machine?
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3. |
Arc
07:03
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Straight down from the heavens
They came some sunny day
A group of pale skinned humanoids
To wipe the States away
No one saw them coming
And they will never leave
To think or expect otherwise
Would be careless and naïve
They surely did their research
They picked their spot to land
A continent filled with promise
But that promise had to end
For the current population
Who were greatly overwhelmed
And the ones who didn’t run
They were heavily compelled
No one knows where they came from
No one knows why they left
But everyone is telling tales
Of their plundering and theft
They sewed havoc and destruction
They tore all the buildings down
Burned down every house and highway
Until nothing could be found
The citizens, diminished
Had no other option than
To flee across the mountains
And the ocean and the land
Until the pale skinned humanoids
Had the continent for themselves
They planted special seeds they brought
From their interstellar lands
The vegetation flourished
Underneath the northern sun
The creatures thrived and reproduced
Like it was theirs all along
They made up their own language
They made up their own rules
They built their roads and houses
Using all the proper tools
With no one there to challenge them
Their ideas were limitless
The earth itself it functioned
As their constant stimulus
No one knows where they came from
No one knows why they left
But everyone is telling tales
Of their plundering and theft
The continent transformed
Into a green, lush habitat
With resources abundant
A bright future lay ahead
The adjacent colonies
Turned their heads and gazed
Their eyes were full of wonder
They were baffled and amazed
It wasn’t that much later
The first knock on the door
If the humanoids could spare a spot
For the hungry and the poor
They didn’t even open
“How dare they even ask?
Don’t they know creating this
was such a heavy task?”
“We’re the fundament and origin”
Said the pale skinned humanoids
“We’ve shaped this continent
While they were playing with their toys.
We are the rightful rulers.
Our reign is meant to be.
And anyone who begs to differ
Is a fool, too blind to see.”
No one knows where they came from
No one knows why they left
But everyone is telling tales
Of their plundering and theft
No one knows where they came from
And why they left their home
But we all know those without sin
Are the first to cast the stone
Straight down from the heavens
They came some sunny day
A group of pale skinned humanoids
To make a clean slate
No one saw them coming
But no one ever does…
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4. |
Cautionary Tales
03:53
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I’ve been down this path a long time
Past all the doubts and all closed doors
I know the wrongs and rights
I know what’s left or right
I’m not in the dark anymore
I am ready for the big one
I’m done with all your cautionary tales
I am ready for the big one
I’m done with all your cautionary tales
From yesterday into eternity
This is the only road I know
From baby steps up to giant leaps
Straight into the sun I go
This high wire goes ever on
Long after the safety net is gone
I am ready for the big one
I’m done with all your cautionary tales
I am ready for the big one
I’m done with all your cautionary tales
I know that all this here says nothing
Nothing about the end of the line
But I don’t worry about the future
‘Cause I was in it for the moment this whole time
I am ready for the big one
I’m done with all your cautionary tales
I am ready for the big one
I’m done with all your cautionary tales
I’m done with all your cautionary tales
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5. |
Wild Are The Waves
04:47
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Wild are the beasts that hunt in the night
Wild are their eyes and they fill you with fright
Wild are their ways of which you have no clue
Wild are their triumphs, long overdue
Wild are the creatures that dwell in the deep
Wild are the secrets they manage to keep
Wild are their manners and wild is their sound
We must thank the heavens we don’t see them around
Wild, wild are the waves that rock your boat
Wild are the mountains that stand in our sight
Wild is their majesty and wild is their height
Wild are the animals, licking their wounds
Wild are the ancient that lie in their tombs
Wild are the words that we don’t understand
Wild is the wind in an uncharted land
Wild is the mist that’s obscuring our view
Wild are the old ways and wild are the new
Wild, wild are the waves that rock your boat
Wild, wild are the waves that keep you afloat
Wild are the ones who have found themselves stuck
Wild are the ones who have ran out of luck
Wild is their language and tone of their skin
Wild is their culture and wild are their sins
Wild are the creatures that dwell in the deep
Wild are the secrets they manage to keep
Wild are their manners and wild is their sound
We must thank the heavens we don’t see them around
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6. |
Last Train Home
02:49
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Poor man's poet
Big hearted outlaw
Spending most of your youth
In the fields of Arkansas
First you were picking cotton
And then you were picking strings
Then in the fifties the sun was coming up
The start of marvelous things
The wars you had to wage
Made you older than your age
Time to take the last train home
From the fields up to the prisons
To finding summer joy in June
And then it all went sideways
But your guitar was still in tune
The line that you were walking
Was getting thinner every day
But you'd still hear that lonesome whistle
From miles and miles away
These tracks of wood and steel
Resonate with how you feel
Time to take the last train home
These songs you've left behind
Like a treasure box to find
As you took your last train home
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7. |
Veil Of Love
02:44
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You’re in love with a concept
Not with who’s really there
I hope you figure that out at the end of the day
You’re love’s an empty vessel
Filled by what’s at hand
It could be anyone who makes you feel this way
You try to hold on, but there’s no spirit
You can’t love enough if your heart’s not in it
No, no, no, it’s not enough
You try to be strong, but there’s no giving
It can’t be enough if your heart’s not in it
No, no, no, it’s not enough
But you’re blinded by the veil, blinded by the veil
Blinded by the veil of love
You’re blinded by the veil, blinded by the veil
Blinded by the veil of love
Your patience is growing thinner by the minute
You’re counting: one and two Mississippi, oh
The fear of ending up all alone in the gutter
With a bleeding open heart and not a way to shut her out
Doesn’t make her the one
You try to hold on, but there’s no spirit
You can’t love enough if your heart’s not in it
No, no, no, it’s not enough
You try to be strong, but there’s no giving
It can’t be enough if your heart’s not in it
No, no, no, it’s not enough
Blinded by the veil, blinded by the veil
Blinded by the veil of love
Blinded by the veil, blinded by the veil
Blinded by the veil of love
Listen: what you’ve got, what you’ve got
What you’ve got is not enough
But you’ve been blinded by the veil, blinded by the veil
Blinded by the veil
Blinded by the veil of love
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8. |
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The first thing he encountered was a land of rock and ice
It first looked uninhabited, he had to look twice
The people all wore thick coats, to defy the windy whirls
Down came the grey-cloaked passenger, out from another world
There were only tiny little pieces of the land
Where the people could easily settle on the ice-covered sand
And they each prayed to their gods, the long forgotten few
That they would favor them at the expense of the new
The next thing that he saw was a wasteland of red sand
The people there were hungry, they had beliefs to defend
They rode up on their chariots while pointing with their spears
Their eyes showed a mixture of hatred, pain and fear
There was just enough of food to go around
But greed and selfishness were quite more abound
And the veil of ancient ways caused obstructed little views
To celebrate the old at the expense of the new
The passenger rides on…
The next thing he encountered was a land of stone and dust
The people there had problems with affection, love and trust
The sting of something taken caused infections way too deep
And their posture made it clear for all wandering eyes to see
There was beauty in the wasteland, scattered all around
But all the eyes were busy with the powder on the ground
They did not believe in a third or second chance
And didn’t give the passenger a fleeting look or glance
The passenger rides on…
The last thing that he saw was a city made of light
The people were abundant and pressed together tight
And everyone was fighting for their version of the truth
But he knew all these trees they grew from the very same roots
The silent grey-cloaked horseman moved across the great divide
From hemisphere to hemisphere, into the dead of night
And everywhere he went and everywhere he came
He saw the very same things under a variety of names
The very same things under a variety of names
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