Heroes

Hospital

‘At dawn, down on the streets, from pavement grills
Steam rises like the spent breath of the night’
And a hundred feet above the yellow lights
The bell breaks the silence

And people move as if they know the drill
The Spanish manners and the feline smiles
And a hundred broken hearted city nights
Are ending with violence

And the worn-out old antennas know it all
Cause they watch like fallen angels on the brink
When I look at city rooftops in the spring
It feels as though they hold the key to every song 

I saw the bright lights of a revolution
Defeated by sadness
Trembling incredibly faded
Holy cross-eyed thinkers
Aching for the pleasant spiritual affection of a sonic dynamite 
in the hot scenery of night
Then I saw Bob Dylan and Timothy Steele
On Desolation Road
I saw Anne Waldman leaving Alexandria
And it was burning, it was the end of the world
I saw a pair of blue jeans
I saw blue eyes and there I was
Trying to pick up my pieces and make it home

‘At dawn, down on the streets, from pavement grills
We’re rising like the spent breath of the night’
And a hundred feet above the yellow lights
A sigh breaks the silence

Lament for a City Night (for T.S.)

When we’re laying and your back is curled
I’m Orpheus and you’re the underworld 
I’m yours
I’m yours
Baby I’m yours

And when you’re sipping on a glass of Pinot
You’re Johnny Cash and I’m the man in Reno
I’m yours
I’m yours 
Baby I’m 

Oooooooooh

Now we’re dancing in the crowded disco
I’m Ferlinghetti and you’re San Francisco
I’m yours 
I’m yours 
Baby I’m 

Ooooooooooh

I wanna be the one you share
Your time with, like a cigarette 
You say you don’t choose 
Who gives you the blues
Who you’re gonna get it on with
Who you want
I’m gonna do all your chores
I’m gonna crawl on your floors
Cause baby I’m yours
Cause baby I’m yours
Cause baby I’m
Yours

I'm Yours

Byzantine nights
Of liquid sadness
Pouring in my vein

In for the kill
Taking me over 
Lay me on my bed 

And baby I don’t know 
When I’ll be on my way

Byzantine nights
claiming my body
Again

Byzantine night (intro)

When I get out of this hospital
I’ll make my way to California 
From Oakland down to Santa Monica
Mama show me the way

Guillermo, take me down the alleyway 
Where all my girls they will be waiting
With tiger liver and lavender 
Smoke the trauma away

Mama, show me
Mama, show me
Mama, show me the way
Mama, show me the way

When I get out of this hospital 
I’m going down to New York City
Take on the Village and the Bowery
Mama show me the way

And at the limit of a lethal dose
My friends are gonna look so pretty 
Untie the knot and steady as she goes
Now we’re done for the day

When I get out of this hospital
This pipe pumping auditorium
I’m getting rid of all my lucky charms 
Mama show me the way

My dream catcher and my lion’s tooth 
I trade for taxi to the city
Rosary bracelet and my spirit tattoo
For a minute with you

Mama, show me
Mama, show me
Mama, show me the way
Mama, show me the way

Mama, show me the way

Down

It’s killing time
And your body is burning 
It’s burning down
In ecstasy 

In the deep of night
When you let me in
It’s killing time

It’s killing time
And your body is crushing 
It’s crushing down
Your sanity 

And here we are
In the deep of life
It’s killing time

I follow your pace
We’re falling far from grace
It’s killing time
It’s killing time

You’re healing now
And your body is learning 
A newly found 
Melody

And here I go
In the blue of life
It’s killing time

That kneeling light
And your body is melting
It’s shining now
In ecstasy

And a part of me
Will stay behind
It’s killing time

I follow your pace
We’re falling far from grace
It’s killing time
It’s killing time

It’s raining now
And your body is burning
It’s burning down
In ecstasy
Your sanity
My modesty
Your vanity
In melody
It’s killing time

Killing time

I heard you sing
For the poor and thin
Through the paper wall
From your cotton soul
From your cotton soul

I heard you sigh 
‘Baby don’t you die’
On the bathroom floor
Kicking down my door
Kicking down my door

So what if we never caught your wild geese?
Dreams aren’t always better when they’re coming true
Sing me songs of hurting
Nurse, my vein is burning
All I want is your autograph
You know it’s been hella’ rough

I heard you laugh
‘Baby you’re just playing tough’
I was standing there
Smoking without care
Smoking without care

But your pale white face
It became a stage
To get up and sing
Through my thickest thin
Through my thickest thin

So what if we never caught your wild geese?
Dreams aren’t always better when they’re coming true
Sing me songs of hurting
Nurse, my vein is bursting
All I have is your autograph
You know it’s been hella’ rough

Barbara

Flickering lights
Machine sounds
Fighting for my life

Into the stream
Making me younger
Crucify the mind

And baby I don’t know 
If I could go back in time

I’d go to Byzantine night
I’d go to Byzantine night

[mumbling]
Bruising my vein
Pull off the skin
The light is pouring in

Save me
Save me from myself
Keep on pouring
Keep on pouring in my vein

Byzantine night (reprise)

Doctor I ain’t buying in your answer
It’s a natural disaster
And nobody seems to care

You’ll see it when you come down from your mountain
Cutting through the pale horizon
And Im certain that it’s there

Cause I feel it growing
In the underbelly of this dirty town
And nobody said it’s fair
But the house is burning

Doctor I am loving this completely
How you’re always so discreet
With your killing honesty

One day when I’m out of this madhouse
I will buy for you a dollhouse
Just to practice empathy

Can you feel it growing
In the underbelly of this dirty town
And nobody said it’s fair
But the house is burning down

Doors are coming off the hinges
As I’m laying on the floor
I ain’t hoping for much more
But you promised that you ’ll fix it
If I muscle through the pain
I can keep all that remains

 Doctor I ain’t buying in your answer
It’s a natural disaster
And nobody seems to care

You’ll see it when you come down from your mountain
Cutting through the pale horizon
And Im certain that it’s there

Doctor

Six long years (mama, hold on! it's alright)

I want it to end
I don’t want you to see me this way
Down and out
Feeling low

I’m trying to mend
All the pieces you break everyday
Hold me baby,
I’m touch and go

The Steppenwolf cries
Raskolnikov moans
But at the end of the day
I’m always on my own

And the bloody machine
Is screaming inside my mind
But at the end of the day
I’m planning to stay alive

Planning to stay alive

I wonder how many books
I’ll read till I’m out of here
How many times
I’m going to make a mess

My body hanging on hooks
I’m just another sight to fear
Hold me baby and
help me dress

The Steppenwolf cries
And Kerouac roams
But at the end of the day
I’m always on my own

And the bloody machine
Keeps screaming inside my mind
But at the end of the day
I’m planning to stay alive

Planning to stay alive

Lalalalalalalalalala
Lalalalalalalalalala laaaaaa

Lalalalalalalalalala
Lalalalalalalalalala laaaaaa

The Steppenwolf cries
Raskolnikov moans
But at the end of the day
I’m always on my own

And the bloody machine
Is screaming inside my mind
But at the end of the day
I’m planning to stay alive

I’m planning to stay alive

Touch and go

A soundscape of distorted percussion, screeching saxophones, fuzz guitars and bass riffs remembers the lullabies of MRI machines and chemo pumps in "Down," the newest track from Arthur Squawks!, an artist collective.

Upcoming debut album 'Hospital' follows the frontman's experience in the cancer ward of an Athenian hospital, aiming to retell the story as a rock n roll tale.

We, Arthur Squawks!, are an Art Rock band. Influenced by The Velvet Underground, Television, Jonathan Richmond, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and others, our sound is an assemblage through collisions and collusions of idiolects from an era when poetry and rock and roll were dangerous; when songs emerged from (and for) communities and represented remarkable moments of their societal subconscious.

'Hospital is a luminous album, one of acceptance rather than grief…' Ruta 66

In 2024, we released the mixed media concept album Hospital as a book of poems, graphic notations and lyrics contextualising a digital music release of nine songs. The central narrative re-tells a story of the pain and grief of young cancer as a rock and roll tale. The insufferable mechanical soundscapes of the MRI machines are transduced to fuzzed up drums and saxophones; the haunting emptiness of hospital rooms, to hypnotic echoes answering every deep uncertain sigh.

The album emerged from a doctoral research on how songwriting can become part of the artist's trauma and grief recovery journey. It was reviewed on the December 24' issue of historic Rock and Roll outlet, Ruta 66.

Our live shows are overdriven bursts of electric storytelling through song, spoken word and readings.

Arthur Squawks!

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