Recent demos and rough-tapes from songwriter Anton Etch

Simple and Strange: One

Where We Come From (Dystopian Anthem)
by Anton Etch 2021 
- a rough tape from the 'Simple & Strange' series -

Where we come from the birds sing a pretty song
the poet's words are edited for clarity
everybody gets along
where we come from

Everyone smiles on sunny days
shadows are for puppet plays
we all know what's right and wrong
where we come from

Blossoms fall in shapes of hearts
every player plays their part
every day's a fresh start
where we come from
all is one/wan

Where we come from the birds sing a pretty song
the poet's words are edited for clarity
everybody gets along
where we come from

Everyone lives for today
no one needs to get away
everyone's got lots of friends
we all pretend

Every movie's well reviewed
all that's old can be renewed
it's never too late to sing a song
where we come from

Blossoms fall in shapes of hearts
every player plays their part
every day's a fresh start
where we come from
all is one/wan

Where we come from the birds sing a pretty song
the poet's words are edited for clarity
everybody gets along
where we come from

---
Anton Etch 2021 All Rights Reserved

Where We Come From (Dystopian Anthem)

Not Nothing
by Anton Etch 2021 
- a rough tape from the 'Simple & Strange' series -

You and her, you talked a while
in a younger time and space
traveling on different roads
remembering her face

(now) That’s Not Nothing Is It Now?
your memories you still keep
(and) That’s Not Nothing Is It Now?
but a stone that's buried deep

She went her own way
where she'd never tell
'Til a note came a calling you
Like the ringing of a bell

(and) That’s Not Nothing Is It Now?
but a wish expressed so clear
(and) That’s Not Nothing Is It Now?
so you travelled to be near

You hung your hat in an empty house
and you visited her asleep
in a churchyard under blowing leaves
where we all come to meet

(so) That’s Not Nothing Is It Now?
you came when she called
but stories only go so far
and you too are growing old

Can you make new memories now?
can you overcome the past?
the bride heard knocking from the grave
and her groom rose up at last

But this was just a story now
the ending of a film
(but) That’s Not Nothing Is It Now?
as she smiled and left the room

---
Anton Etch 2021 All Rights Reserved

Not Nothing

Hums Like A Cat
by Anton Etch 2021 
- a rough demo from the 'Simple & Strange' series -

Time moves - away from you
Falling - endlessly
Hard times
change the way you see the world
      
I know the beginning
and I know the end
I've guessed the meaning
and seen sufferin'
We could worry
about this or that
If something's workin', 
it hums like a cat

Time is - and always was
Passing - patiently
Hard times
change the way we see the world

When someone comes to you
bearing gifts old and new
Don't ask
"Who the hell are you?"

I know the beginning
and I know the end
I've guessed the meaning
and seen sufferin'
We could worry
about this or that
If something's workin', 
it hums like a cat

If you take everything away, 
the sea, the sky - even the day
All you have
in the end
is Time

Feel the silence... and the space
Feel the shadow move across your face
Hear the time tickin'
tickin' in its
place

I know the beginning
and I know the end
I've guessed the meaning
and seen sufferin'
We could worry
about this or that
If something's workin', 
it hums like a cat

---
Anton Etch 2021 All Rights Reserved

Hums Like A Cat

Something Else (Song For People Who Make Things)
by Anton Etch 2021 
- a rough tape from the 'Simple & Strange' series -

People will tell you, keep your feet on the ground
Work hard prosper and spread it around
(but you're)
Reaching for treasure on a higher shelf
What you're seeking is something else 

Seems like yesterday's a river that has flown on by   
today's a desert - and the well sounds dry
Still you're thirsting for shadows out beyond your self
that ain't nowhere, it's somewhere else

In your dream you're at a station in a time beyond trains
You ain't got a ticket... only baggage claims
Feel the beat - feel the count of your pulse
Are you of your time, or some time else?

Count the stars
feel the chill on your skin  
feel the time passing
   you want to weave it in
   your yearning is your... callin' 

You cry out.. a crow answers you...
You think "i'll put that in verse (too/two)"
'cos you're still reaching for treasure on a higher shelf
You ain't got nothing you've got something else

---
Anton Etch 2021 All Rights Reserved

Something Else (Song For People Who Make Things)

No Rhythm To Your Rain 
by Anton Etch 2021
- rough demo from the 'Simple & Strange' series -

There is no rhythm to your rain 
or the waves upon your shore
Can't foresee what is to be
or make sense of what came before
City grey as lemonade
in a dirty downpour

Oh you're in the city
Oh you are the city
The city's moving in your veins
Oh you're in the city
Oh you are the city
You're in the city living in the rain

Dogwalkers smoking grass 
whales in pools and photographs
Airport streets, teal and grey
Time moves and it falls away

Steel and glass rain-watchin' room
Staring out for an afternoon
People working but mostly not
Can I have your autograph?

Oh you're in the city
Oh you are the city
The city's moving in your veins
Oh you're in the city
Oh you are the city
You're in the city living in the rain

The city is a stream
Of mouldy walls  , and washing machines
Masked man on a bicycle
Dreams caught on a windowsill

Oh you're in the city
Oh you are the city
The city's moving in your veins
Oh you're in the city
Oh you are the city
You're in the city living in the rain

There is no rhythm to your rain
or the waves upon your shore
Can't foresee what is to be
or make sense of what came before
City grey as lemonade
in a dirty downpour

---
Anton Etch 2021 All Rights Reserved

No Rhythm To Your Rain

I Was Touched By The Muse (Now I'm Pressing Charges)
by Anton Etch 2021
- a rough tape from the Simple & Strange series -

I was touched by the muse
now i'm pressing charges
I was touched by the hand of the muse
I was led down a path
of secrets and excitements   
I was lured from the ways of our world

My friends they all followed
fast cars and possessions
but I... I was lost to their cause 
My muse sang me songs
made of truth and strangeness
shaped from ether and dirt 

And as I whiled away the hours
ideas opened like flowers
flowers that sparkled with dew
And I marked them down...
then mixed them around
and I drank from that strange brew  

But the task was heavy
and i found I couldn't carry
all of the things I hoped I'd gained

Poetry and prose
smoke-rings and tomorrows
in the end there wasn't much to my load
 
Now i'm sitting here
some would say impoverished
others enriched by it all    
And the muse she knows it
'cos she married a poet
now we're living on words and gruel  

I was touched by the muse
now i'm pressing charges
I was touched by the hand of the muse
I was led down a path
of secrets and excitements   
I was lured from the ways of the world 

I was touched by the muse
now I'm pressing charges                 
I was touched by the hand of the muse///

-----

Anton Etch 2021 - All Rights Reserved

I Was Touched By The Muse (Now I'm Pressing Charges)

2023 video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNNTnsRioZs

This Town Has Changed
by Anton Etch 2021

I woke up 
in this here town
shed the scales from my eyes
and looked around

see how we live
we're all going to hell
fires are burning
there's a sulphorous smell 

There's no alley way where one used to be
This town has changed (but maybe it's me)

I can't get through
I can't get by
this town rattles on
leaves me behind

I still can't get through
I can't touch down
nothing feels real
in this goddam town

Sun shines, rain falls, 
this town pretends it has it all..

In this town
you don't have to be
you just have to 
appear to be

There's no alley way where one used to be
This town has changed (but maybe it's me)
Maybe it's not this town, maybe it's me
but maybe i'm right, this ain't the place to be

the crows are all leaving, 
what do they know?
it's all a ride
it's on with the show
 
Sun shines, rain falls, 
this town pretends it has it all..
There's no alley way where one used to be
This town has changed, 
this town has changed,
this town has changed//

----
Anton Etch 2021 All Rights Reserved

This Town Has Changed

Sorry
by Anton Etch 2021
- another rough demo from the 'Simple & Strange' series 

Sorry
sorry for what i done
I'm sorry
I really thought you were the one
you looked at me with your deep dark eyes         
and just for a moment
I didn't see no disguise
but i was wrong
sorry
for what I done

Sorry
but what's gone is gone
I'm sorry
for leading you on
you looked at me and I looked at you            
we thought we had something
pure and true
but we were wrong
I'm sorry
for what we've done

We can't go back
can't rewrite the past
you're  singing your song but
i'm still lashed to my mast
we're looking for sunshine
but babe it's overcast

Sorry
sorry for what i done
I'm sorry
I really thought you were the one
you looked at me with your deep dark eyes         
and just for a moment
I didn't see no disguise
but i was wrong
sorry
for what I done


Anton Etch 2021 All Rights Reserved

Sorry

How I Wish You Two Had Met
by Anton Etch 2021 
- a rough tape from the 'Simple & Strange' series -

How I wish you two had met
you in red house coat and cigarette
long gray hair at the top of the stairs
or spread across your arm chair

You with wisdom, she with intellect
you in red housecoat and cigarette
you'd ask her what's going on
what's going on - what's really going on
 
You'd ask her what she really thought
no, really thought, yeah, really thought..
you'd hear in ways that others don't
you'd let her speak like others wont
 
You'd talk of Biko and John and Yoko
the stuck pig, the tin of Joko
women's brains and men's brains
reverse parking and shedding chains
 
You'd snub the boys for their foolishness
you'd dismiss the boys for their cluelessness
you'd get Jono to carry the gingerbread
you'd get Adrian to show us how it's done

You quizzed the girls and made them cry
but she would look you in the eye and 
say you're a girl too - 
what would you do? what should I do?

You'd talk about how strong women
kickasses with their minds
turn heads and break glasses
and know how to deal with passes

How you should study things you don't want to know
and say things that just won't go
and go broad and go deep
and call them out and make them weep

And when she pecked you on the cheek
you'd ask "why so peripheral?"
and when she talked of her plans
you'd ask "why so peripheral?"

Two women across oceans
across time across devotions
no overlap in time or place
but kindreds in a fifth space

How I wish you two had met
in your red house coat and cigarette
long gray hair at the top of the stairs
or spread across your arm chair

You with wisdom, she with intellect
you in red housecoat and cigarette
you'd help her see what's going on
what's going on - what's really going on

---

Anton Etch 2021 All Rights Reserved

How I Wish You Two Had Met

Figure It Out
by Anton Etch 2021 
- a rough demo from the 'Simple & Strange' series -

In the beginning
there were snakes and there were devils
of the human kind
where'er you travell'd

if you're watching a movie
and someone says "I'll be back around seven"
you can be sure that
something else is bound to happen

if you ask for something straight up
that's most likely what you'll be given
you could spend the rest of your life
thinkin' about heaven
                  
if someone tells you
we don't talk like that in prison
best send a message
that nothing will be forgiven

if someone says they don't have the time
it's not about time
but what they'd rather be doing
with that same time

when you feel confusion 
when you feel doubt
ain't it about time?
about time you figured it out?

---
Anton Etch 2021 All Rights Reserved

Figure It Out

Things Are Going Wrong
by Anton Etch 2022
- a rough tape from the 'Simple & Strange' series -

I look around me - I'm feeling low
I see the places but there's - no place to go
I see a figure falling  from the  sky
Mouth is open but I hear no cry

I pick a face - I draw a blank
My mind is trapped in a bolt-down tank
I see my friends and we all agree 
Are we crazy or just care-free?

Save us...  Save us from...  or Save us for...
Things...  are going wrong...  Hear our call ...         

Ups and downs this is modern livin'
For all these goods we are forgiven
The colours writhe then they soar then they fall
I see them scream but I hear no call

Save us...  Save us from...  or Save us for...
Things...  are going wrong...  Hear our call ...         

I look around me - I'm feeling low
I see the places but there's - no place to go
I see a figure falling  from  the   sky
I look around me... but where am I ?

---

Anton Etch 2022 All Rights Reserved

Things Are Going Wrong

Old Soul Away [without drums]
by Anton Etch 2022
another rough demo from the 'Simple & Strange' series

No one wants.. to get old
it breaks your body; it can crush your soul
No one wants... to fade away
it drains your blood, and makes you pay

Old soul away 
Old soul away 

You can't step... in the same river twice
yesterday's gone... it is gone...
Life is long... if you use it well
but it takes time... to figure that out..

Old soul away 
Old soul away 

You may hurry...  to squeeze life dry
or worry 'bout... the reason why
but it's just a ride...   just a ride...
and there ain't no...  other side

Old soul away 
Old soul away 

And for those of you who are still young
if you're lucky you'll be singing this song
years hence when we're all gone


No one wants.. to get old
it breaks your body; it can crush your soul
No one wants... to fade away
it drains your blood, and makes you pay

Old soul away 
Old soul away 
Old soul away 
Old soul away 

————
Anton Etch 2022 All Rights Reserved

Old Soul Away [without drums]

Truth…
by Anton Etch 2022
- a rough demo from the 'Simple & Strange' series -

Truth comes in flashes
snapshots and ashes
rises like a phoenix
floats to your ceiling
shimmers and hovers
at four in the morning
truth comes in flashes
from fragments forming

Truth appears
it's not excavated
it can't be figured
or cooked or created

Truth emerges
in surprising places
the howling vagrant
and unsafe spaces

Truth isn't born
fully formed
you have to glean it
from shards ‘n storms

Truth waits
It delivers no warning
reveals itself
to those in mourning

Truth doesn't care
who the hell you are
what you drive
pauper or czar

Truth is earned
it can't be bought
you have to want it
more than what you got

Truth comes in flashes
in rags and in patches
the daughter of time
slow as molasses 
or quick as quicksilver
in sparks and splashes
in fragments and facets
in mixes and mashes

Truth is the last
guest at the weddin'
sits at the back
foldin' a napkin

…less in words 
more in actions
never shouts 
ignores the factions

…tip of a hat
tap of a finger
there's truth in
the voice of the singer

Truth in 
the barkin' dog
the wasp sting
the walk in the dark

Truth lurks 
in the shadows
it stalks
your tomorrows

You can try 
forever to avoid it
deny, defy,
or blindfold it

The enemy 
of fantasy
the surrender 
of hope...

...truth is 
no story.
It doesn't need 
glory

Truth comes in flashes
snapshots and ashes
rises like a phoenix
floats to your ceiling
shimmers and hovers
at four in the morning
truth comes in flashes
from fragments forming

————
Anton Etch 2022 All Rights Reserved

Truth...

Then You Come To Me
by Anton Etch 2022

In this world alone
people that you meet
most will pass you by 
scuffin’ their feet
Others they will look
you in the eye
they live on in your mind
’til the day you die

I saw myself a slave
breaking barren ground
nothing in my heart
to spread around
Then you came on by
on me you smiled
you helped me see the path
is worth the while

Everything you are
comes from what you bring
we’re all in this alone
we all face suffering
If you hear me
and I hear you
oh that’ll go a ways
to get us through

Mournful as I look
sad as I may sound
I endure the pain
when it comes around
Then you come to me
and peace i find
the horrors of the world
I leave behind

----
Anton Etch 2022 All Rights Reserved

Then You Come To Me

Rain and Snow
by Anton Etch 2022
- a rough demo from the Simple & Strange series -

I had plans here in the past
I knew that nothin’ ever lasts
but I still feel a pang
when I realize that’s the truth

I thought I could leave it all behind
I hoped that time would heal and bind
but it just breaks open
the same old scars

at that moment
I’m back behind bars

Tell me where you wanna go
in the rain and in the snow
you know this ain’t the place..
to be
you’re still searching for that Holy Grail
in the wind and in the hail
you want it all but          
you need to get away….
you’ll kill someone 
if you have to stay

You made the break you take a walk
while all the others talk talk talk
a lonesome road
of your own design

Out the city ridin’ free
no more beggin’ on bended knee
hold yer head up
and breathe the sky

at that moment
I’ll probably sigh

Tell me where you wanna go
in the rain and in the snow
you know this ain’t the place..
to be
you’re still searching for that Holy Grail
in the wind and in the hail
you want it all but          
you need to get away….
you’ll kill someone 
if you have to stay


On the road we come across
no pound of flesh, no sacred cross
no need to make a bed 
amongst the thorns

Moss is growing and that’s fine
time ain’t pressin’… we don’t mind
let me know where we’re goin’
when we arrive

at that moment
I’ll probably cry

Tell me where you wanna go
in the rain and in the snow
you know this ain’t the place..
to be
you’re still searching for that Holy Grail
in the wind and in the hail
you want it all but          
you need to get away….
you’ll kill someone 
if you have to stay

-----

Anton Etch 2022 - All Rights Reserved

Rain And Snow

Rough-tapes/pre-demos from the 'Simple & Strange' series...
anton.etch(a)gmail.com