Album: The Zen Kick  © 2012

 

1. Santa Fe  圣达菲                                                                               

One life, one heart and one love

Let’s start making it now

Moscow—let’s live a bit

Beijing—come on take care of it

London—for the rain and the snow

 

Santa Fe, I’m coming, Santa Fe, let’s hurry

Santa Fe, I’m coming back

In my heart and in my eyes for what it’s worth I could apologise

And you know I will fake it—home

 

New York—for the hell of it, Paris—for the fun of it

Maybe—we’ll come back here one day

Hohhot, get down in Baton Rouge, sure is, no cure for what you’ve got

Mosside, I’m away from you now

 

Santa Fe, I’m coming, Santa Fe, let’s hurry, Santa Fe, I’m coming back

In my heart and in my eyes, for what it’s worth I could apologise

But you know I will fake it

Home to Moscow, New York, Paris, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong

Shenzhen, oh and Shenzhen, yes Shenzhen

 

 

2. Mary’s Fate  玛丽的命运      

 

At first, we thought it was mist, sea-smoke, rolling in on a ball of luminosity. Briggs shouted to steer astern, his voice cracking with unease. I loosed the rope on the main-brace, watched as it slithered to the floor, alive as a snake.  Below, the sea eddied in menacing swirls, pulling Mary towards the edge. I knew we would soon be dreaming its secrets.

 

I swear the evil eye is looking         

Come on boys, on the blue, something is there, do you see it too?

Come on sweet child hush, don’t you go fussing

Sail to the lee, come on for Santa Maria, let’s get over

Something’s wrong and it’s coming on strong, it’s taking over

  

And I don’t want to lose all I have

Is New York, New York, New York and home but Mary’s going down

 

Briggs and the crew did not know what to do, she’s going over

Ship is ablaze in a skeleton haze

Mermaids sing in a boiling sea singing a song called, My Destiny

 

And I don’t want to lose all I have

Is New York, New York, New York and home but Mary’s going down

 

The Reaper smiles scythe in hand, saying lines I don’t understand.

Time-time-time, not much of it left now

Up goes the cry, ‘we’re all gonna die’

Water is rushing dead men high. Easy boys now, she’s going under.

 

*In November 1872, Captain Briggs sailed from New York Harbour on the ill-fated   ship, ‘The Mary Celeste.’ The crew of seven and Brigg’s wife and baby daughter were never seen again.

3. You Are  你 是

 

You are the sound of the night,

the first kiss I take at sunlight

A blush that excused itself then tiptoed away
That hungry embrace at the start of each day
That’s what you are, you are everything

You are the breaking bell sound, that smile when no-one’s around
The nights when I lay with you—when nobody cared
Switch off the light, let’s forget everything

That is what you are. You are everything

​

Life is as bright as a midnight Kowloon sky

So why can’t we get it right? Can we get it right?

It’s so easy, after all                                   

 

You are the mischievous clown, laughter made without sound 

Distance between then and now measured in pain

But give me a chance and I’d do it again
Because you are, yes you are, yes you are, you are everything to me

But when I looked for your love there was nothing

When I looked for your love there was nothing,

When I looked for your love there was nothing

Because you are nothing, yes you are nothing, yes you are

 

 

4. Dignity  尊 严

 

One life come on-come on- come on, make the best of it

One love, come on take the rest of it

One life one love one heart and your dignity,

Your dignity, is all that is left that I have

 

Take my coat, and take my hat

Take it all, it’s where your head’s at

Here take the money you have it all

But learn to walk because you've learned to crawl, crawl, crawl

Take my head and heart, one thing you can never have, my dignity

 

One love come on come on make the best of it …

 

It’s three in the morning, I’m all strung out

This time you left in no doubt

But I got your letters, I read them all, you’ve got to learn to walk

Because you have learned to crawl, crawl, crawl

 

*Three six nine the goose drank wine

The monkey chewed tobacco on a street called, Line

The line broke - the monkey got choked

They all went to heaven in a little rowboat*

Clap hands, it's what you think I'm here for, it’s what you think I’m here for

 

*(From the Clapping Song, Shirley Ellis 1965) 

 

5. The Zen Kick  禅 踢

 

Hold on—we’ll get closer

And I won’t lie—I thought I’d lost her

And though I tried, I could not say those words

Why, why? I still don’t know  

But now I’m lost and it's getting stronger 

 

All I want is you. All I want is you.

You are all I want, all I need,

If love is red then let me bleed —for all I want is you

 

Snow melts, like a lover’s promise

And a blackbird's song—fills the darkness

My angel’s arrived—she has come home

Now say you don’t need her, you, don’t need her

But it's a lie and you broke your promise

 

For all I want is you. All I want is you.

 

Do fish feel rain?  

Can you learn to dream in colour?

When I lose I gain —From the Zen Kick

And all I want is you, all I want is you

All I want is, all I need is you

If love is red then let me bleed, for all I want is you, all I want is you

 

6. Kerosene Stars  油灯星星     

 

Get your glass over here—get your glass over here

Get your glass over here let’s drink, till we fall

And I can tell that the moment’s arrived

Whatever took it so long?

Then we fall, come on let’s fall

 

And the moon will, and the sun will—and the stars will shine on

You, and your life

Come on smile, let me hold you for a while under those stars

 

Deep in your heart after midnight

Wolverines fight and brawl

Kerosene stars in the moonlight

Welcome the dusk and the dawn, then we fall, come on let’s fall

 

And I can tell that the moment’s arrived,

Whatever took it so long—then we fall, come on fall

And the stars will, and the moon will, and the sun will shine on your life

Let me hold you in my arms under those stars

 

Star light and star bright one hundred million strong

You know, I almost didn’t make tonight

But sometimes, yes sometimes, your star shines

Get your glass over here, get your glass over here, let’s drink till we fall

Everything feels alright with you

 

7. Umbrellas  伞         

 

Safe from the heat, safe from the wet

Only umbrellas would know

You gave me the shelter I am standing beneath

Watching your shadow implode

But as we stand in the rain just holding hands

I will try to explain, you’ll understand

We are divided by love, when the rain comes down

                      

And I’ve got me a stripe and a chequerboard too

A polka-dot strawberry-field,

Every umbrella that hangs on our wall

I’ve stood underneath holding you

But as we stand in the rain just holding hands, I’m gonna try to explain

We are divided by love when the rain comes down

And I’m gonna walk on by

 

I don’t even want to talk about it; don’t even know her name

Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m wrong, maybe you feel the …

 

We are gonna walk, gonna walk, come on walk on, baby walk on by

When the rain comes, when the rain comes down

When the rain comes down

 

 

8. This Bird  这只鸟

 

This bird still sings with broken wings

And he wants his song to go on

So if we can make this fly, he’s going to live some lie

Can a man and woman ever love?

 

So don’t let go, and I won’t let go

And don’t let go of me now

 

Oh, the joy, the pain of being that mistake again

And this world don’t make sense at all 

But these birds still sing with their broken wings

And they want their song to go on

 

So don’t let go and I won’t let go…..

 

We put our faith in healing – in hope, we weave our dreams

But when we get to our rainbows end

Life is never what is seems

No, it’s never what it seems–No it’s never what it seems

 

So don’t let go– I’m blown by a cheating wind,

And I won’t let go – until I’m back in your arms again

And don’t let go of me now, for what you hear

Is not how I feel, so take all you want of me now

 

9. Freeze Framed  定 格

 

Freeze-framed

By the traffic and the queues

Then she says, “tonight we’ll make the news”

And birds fly in circles like dreams do

Then slow dive — for they know

That we cannot hear, and cannot speak and cannot feel

But I wonder why it has to be this way, why it has to be this way

 

Freeze-framed

With our backs’ against the wall

Then she waves,

From the shadows of St Paul’s

And birds sing, on wires like birds do

They're calling, for they know

That we cannot hear, and we cannot speak and we cannot feel

But I wonder why it has to be this way, why it has to be this way

 

We’re going backwards now, we’re going backwards now,

We’re going backwards now, to where we started from

 

Were going backwards, backwards  now, we’re going backwards now

To where, oh where, oh where, where we started from

 

 

10. The Desert of Eden  伊甸园沙漠                                             

 

I said I would wait, in the Desert of Eden

Follow you down, cross the dust bowl of time

Bring me my knife

I will bleed just to please you

And bandage my heart

From your wedding gown

 

So in love, so in love, so in love I will drown

 

For show me a trick something to amuse me

Down by your tombstone I'll wait at sundown

That’s where 'Sick Eye’ the raven

Watched the ‘Wolf’ take the woman

Now he has found her

She has gone from this world

 

So in love…

 

So here comes the rain, the flood that will take me

Down by the Desert of Eden I will drown

 

So in love…

 

Driving in a big red car, driving me around she said

She’s driving in a big red car I think it’s gone right to her head

 

She drove along the freeway to Junction 21

In the distance, I just saw her as she drove into the sun

By Cloudy Ridge, I caught her

She turned and said, “you’re slow”

Then smiling fired the engine and turned up the radio

 

She’s a lone runner in a hot summer

I was sure of her now that car’s, that car’s got her

 

Driving in a big red car “It’s driving me around” she said

Driving in a big red car. I think it’s gone right to her head

It could have been a Buick maybe a DuPont

I could see her in the mirror as she pulled away in front

Filled the car with poison and the devil watched the rear

He pressed the pedal hard whenever I got near

 

She’s a lone runner, in a hot summer …

 

And I’m eight miles high

And I can’t fly, I’m coming down

I’m coming down mama

I’m coming down mama,  I’m coming down

 

 

 

 

11. Vanished (Like the Blue Tiger)    逝

 

Like a Blue Tiger caught by his tail

That caged bird waiting for May

And I don’t think I will see her again, no no

Like a Blue Tiger out on his own, waiting I’m hunting alone

And I don’t think I’m gonna see her again

 

Over the smoke and sea, behind the factories

Why must I always be forever waiting for that dream to pass by?

The dream both our lives just vanished

 

We took the Harty-Ferry,

It goes nowhere,

swear I won’t go there again

Not such an ordinary

Girl from a Medway town

When I got lost, and we all get lost, when I got lost, she got found

 

I’m a blue tiger caught by his tail,

That caged bird still waits for May

And I don’t think I’m gonna see her again

Like a Blue Tiger out on his own, waiting, I still hunt alone

Not sure if we will see him again

 

We took the Harty Ferry,

It went nowhere

Swear I won’t go there again

The Swale, the church, the people

were not what I wanted

But what I wanted wasn’t there

​

Ooh, if life could always be like this

 

12. Lucky Man  走运的人         

 

Some people say

That I have been a lucky man

I do not feel to be such

A lucky man

I’m spinning,

Wondering what I should do

Is this a phase, we are going through?

Or just a game and you play it to, you play it to

 

Although people claim

That I have been a lucky man

I did not choose to be such a lucky man

Because yesterday

Your skin was as warm as your smile

So how could that change?

What did we do?

Was it a phase?

And you feel it to,

did you feel it to?

 

Some people say that I am a lucky man

But if I’m a lucky man

How could I lose?

So why did I lose?

 

 

Players, Perpetrators and Problem Kids

 

Gary Hurlstone: guitars, vocals + Holy Fire pedal  www.garyhurlstone.com

Peter Scherr:  double and electric bass + guitar/moog synthesizer

Hugejiletu: horse-head fiddle, throat singing, mouth harp www.myspace.com/ajinaiband

Bob Mocarsky: piano/keyboard

Lao Tian: Chinese Di and Xiao flutes, saxophone

Jack Greminger: percussion

Robbin (The Dub Viking) Harris: percussion (tracks 2, 3, 6, 7, 8)

Zhuo Ma: vocal on the Zen Kick, recorded at her Tibet Fengqing Bar in Lhasa.

 

Peter Scherr: recording, mixing and creative inspiration

Production: Scherr/Hurlstone + Robbin Harris (Track 2 Mary’s Fate)

Recorded at: The Studio in Sai Kung, Hong-Kong   www.peterscherr.com/studio.htm

Mastering: Scott Hull, Masterdisc, Manhattan, New York

Lucia Chen: management, publicity and photography

 

Very special mentions to fellow Knives, Dasos Loizou (djembe), Jeevan Gill (tabla),  Tom Bird (bass), Lao Xie (djembe) and Zhou Feng Ling (guitar), for live performances in China.  Thanks so much guys.

 

 

                       Dedicated to Zen

 

 

 

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