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This Charmed Life

by The Burning Hell

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1.
Robert, you were such an idiot but nobody blames you for it you saw neither the forest nor the trees even when you worked as a logger and it didn’t take a psychic or an augur to predict you would come to a bad end it was nearly a week before they found your body and when they did, it was a Tuesday you always liked to go out on Tuesdays cheap wings and half price drinks until 10 and when they found you, your eyes were still open And you were smiling and wearing your good clothes your wife was patient with you your kids tolerated you you had plenty of friends you had a great start and a good run so what does it matter if you had a bad end? bad end, bad finale alone in the woods down in the valley alone in the woods near the rocks by the river bend but all ends are bad ends in the end
2.
Don’t Let Your Guard Down The wind’s not going to blow me away I’m getting thin, though, and my skin is looking grey Downtown just hasn’t been the same since the oil boom days And the market’s not so self-assured anymore. Waves are tiny but the current is deceptive Miami style’s alive again, the Speedo’s been resurrected The kids are all floating out to sea with the riptide Their parents never learned how to swim: pity. In this town new people are something you never see The same ones keep returning like smallpox or TB The socialists are unionizing for a health plan and a raise But you know that one for all or all for one it’s just another day. In this sad town don’t let your guard down In this bad town don’t let your guard down
3.
4.
When fire met force They were instant friends Earthquake and volcano together Made islands When God saw dirt He said this must end Water and holy ire Boat, beast and island At the end of time Will the dead attend Through earthquakes and volcanoes Together an island
5.
Last Winter 02:22
Last winter there was more snow than we could remember More snow than you could shake a stick at, not that you would Last winter all the trees were dismembered In an ice storm but it left things looking good Last winter the rafters cracked in the attic Car tires popped and engines stopped The televisions were all snow and static Little birds trying to migrate died in mid flight and their frozen bodies Dropped onto the runways of the airports and the pilots looked around At the rain of tiny birds that was covering the ground And they all said it’s too cold and strange outside today to fly Last winter we played cards even though I hate cards And we drank a lot ‘cause, well, that’s what you do Last winter feeling good and getting along was hard But you said what’s done is done and I said I guess that’s true but baby There’s no need to ever go outside if we make the right decisions now We could stay in here all winter and let the city bring the plow To dig us out and by then we’ll be thin, and all in love again
6.
7.
Veni vidi vici That’s what I spelled out on my ouidja Board so I came I saw and I conquered For month or two I said “Here I will build my palace Under the aurora borealis Spend every shortest day and longest night with you I never thought I’d stay for so long But just like the Germans in the Yukon I came for the romance And I stayed ‘cause I forgot to leave But now I’ve left my heart at the Westmark Hotel And I think I left my dignity there as well I think a northern life is not the life for me And the evil of the dark is a religious myth The real terror is the folks you have to share the dark with And when it starts to feel like home Well they call it Stockholm Syndrome Now it’s close to time to go I can’t see the snowbanks through the snow A kiss on the cheek And one last drink for the road And I never thought I’d stay for so long But just like the Germans in the Yukon I came for the romance And I stayed ‘cause I forgot to leave But now I’ve left my heart at the Westmark Hotel And I think I left my dignity there as well I guess a northern life is not the life for me
8.
The coolest place to record a recording Is Burnaby BC It’s not too crowded in the studio Just Darcy, Jordy and me The bus ride down from Whitehorse Was as long as a mayfly’s life And an old man with a stutter Told me the best joke of all time He said “What is yellow and red and orange And looks good as a hippie’s attire And I said I give up and he gave me a wink And said ‘f-f-f-f-fire’ And I laughed, and then I sang This charmed life is charming beyond measure The work feels a lot like pleasure And there’s a season for leisure and there’s a season for leisure In this charmed life I love all of the things That people make I love the tricks and games and the millions of names The wrong answers and the right mistakes And as the cyclists cycle by With their pant legs tucked in tight I wonder what kind of white wine They’ll be drinking at home tonight The spring will bring the flowers To the feet of the city trees And the honey bees will buzz subtly like the ‘b’ in subtlety And the rabbis and the ministers Will play rock paper scissors in the park To decide once and for all whether unicorns Were left behind by Noah’s Ark And the bears in the woods and the cougars in the bars and the leeches and the sharks in the cars Will say This charmed life is charming beyond measure The work feels a lot like pleasure And there’s a season for leisure and there’s a season for leisure In this charmed life I love all of the things That people make I love their tricks and their games and their millions of names The wrong answers and the right mistakes
9.

about

Recorded in the early spring of 2009 after a winter of hibernation and isolation (a-la The Shining, minus the murder) in the Yukon, This Charmed Life is a small, strange collection of songs about death, winter and not fitting in.

credits

released March 1, 2010

Mathias Kom - ukulele, guitar, keys, vocals
Walter Bloodway - electronics
Darcy McCord - cello

Recorded, produced and mastered by Jordy Walker.
All songs by Mathias Kom. Cover art by Gabe Foreman, layout and design by Leigh Kotsilidis.

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The Burning Hell

The Burning Hell is the ongoing musical project of songwriter Mathias Kom and multi-instrumentalists Ariel Sharratt and Jake Nicoll, often including additional comrades and collaborators.

Their densely populated genre-shifting songs are packed with an abundance of literary, historical, cultural, and pop-cultural forebears, heroes and villains, subjects and objects, stories and hooks.
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