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The Sad Pursuit

by Tommy Keyes

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Digisleeve packaging complete with 20-page booklet including full lyrics and credits. . Free shipping to Ireland/NI, just €1 per total order to anywhere else. -------- VERY SPECIAL OFFER WHILE STOCKS LAST: ------- Order "An Irish Life", "The Sad Pursuit" and "Some Of These Stories Are True" together in one order and you will receive them in a signed, Limited Edition box-set at no extra charge.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Sad Pursuit via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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1.
The sad pursuit Of what will never be Deny the truth Ignore reality It could have been It should have been Now I lay me down to dream Now I lay me down to dream Rehearse the lines Learn them all by heart A thousand times Never play the part It could have been It should have been Now I lay me down to dream Now I lay me down to dream Now I lay me down.
2.
Hitch a ride to California, make it through the golden wall Life’s just a long audition, every day’s a casting call Check check checking checking out everything that’s going down If you could cash in promises you’d have enough to buy the town Buy the whole damn town This is the movies, this is the silver screen This is the movies, this is the silver screen Picture machine Everybody looks familiar, everybody’s from a mould Every guy is Valentino, every woman is Garbo Every word is calculated, every attitude’s a pose Everybody’s got that special touch and every living sinner knows He’s gonna be a star This is the movies, this is the silver screen This is the movies, this is the silver screen Picture machine
3.
On a cold December evening In a tumbledown café Trying to find the words for leaving But I don’t know what to say I don’t know what to say Sorry I’m sorry I say Tongue-tied I try to explain I see you turning away Away I am high above the ocean And I’m never looking down I am flying in slow motion And I’m spinning round and round I’m spinning round and round Sorry I’m sorry I say Tongue-tied I try to explain I see you turning away Away
4.
I believed in magic But the slip in the conjurer’s hand Showed me it was a lie I believed romantics But the love that was pledged for forever Turned to goodbye I believed so many things Mostly they were untrue But there’s nothing going to stop me Believing in you I believed in healers But the pills and the potions they gave me Worsened the pain I believed in dreamers But their promises fooled me Over and over again I believed so many things Mostly they were untrue But there’s nothing going to stop me Believing in you
5.
Please send some directions Help me find my way to you ‘Cause I can’t make the connections And I don’t know what to do Believe my good intentions When I swear my words are true Won’t you send me some directions Help me find my way to you The life I have been living Has been shallow and untrue But I know I’ll be forgiven When I put my trust in you I search for your reflections When the light comes shining through Won’t you send me some directions Help me find my way to you
6.
Mr Bluesman 05:39
They’ve cleared the tables, they’re going home You’re on your barstool, we’re all alone, They’re locking the doors but I don’t care Cos there ain’t nowhere I’m going. I read about you in a magazine You’re like nothing else that I have seen, Lines on your face tell the story of your song Let the night grow long, I’m listening…. Hey Mr Bluesman, play a song for me Bartender, leave that bottleful of rye; Hey Mr Bluesman, play a song for me Such a feelgood, help the night go by. You sing of hard times, you sing of love You sing of whiskey and the Lord above, And we might write ourselves a barstool blues Just as soon’s the booze starts working…
7.
You’re always chasing rainbows, building castles in the sand And you’re sure you’ll take the jackpot every time they deal a hand You rise to every challenge, pushing boulders up a hill But you’ve never won a battle and you probably never will And the storm is gathering around and the wind will blow your castles down And the boulders that you’re rolling are only going to take a toll on you Take a good look at yourself ‘cause nobody else can help you The boulders that you’re rolling are only going to take a toll on you The smart boys on the corner love to see you come and go ‘Cause they suck you in and blow you out and you don’t even know Someone’s making money from all those clever schemes But you end up with nothing but a pocketful of dreams
8.
747s trailing vapour in the sky Fade into the distance where they say that fortunes lie There among the huddled masses yearning to breathe free You come to place your trust in the arms of Liberty You come in search of Eden but you find no paradise You thought that you'd be happy, you were wrong You try to ride the rainbow and you have to pay the price And wish that you were back where you belong Far from your home, all that you've known You feel so alone every day Year after year, tear after tear, longing to hear yourself say Goodbye You gather in the mornings where's there's wages to be found Building roads and houses, digging tunnels in the ground At night you find the bars because there's nothing else to do The whiskey flows like water till the tears are flowing too
9.
Day and night and night and day I’m watching you till you’re okay Your broken wing will heal you’ll fly away You’ll fly into some lover’s arms You think will shelter you from harm I’m watching day and night and night and day I know how much you’re hurting now If I could ease your pain somehow I wouldn’t be the lonely one Out on the avenue But you will never see me there And you will never know just where I’m watching for the only one Watching over you And every soldier knows your name And every story ends the same I’m watching day and night and night and day.
10.
Julieanne and Loralie were real good friends of mine We spent some time together and we shared a little wine Well I’ve had complications with the women I have known And I just want some friends around who’ll leave me to my own I said hello to Julie, I said hello to Loralie We had ourselves some good times and some real fine company See I can’t handle complications, all I know is how to sing my song I can’t handle complications, all I know is how to sing my song The girls got busted on the street last night, I got a phone call from the jail Saying get yourself together boy get out and raise some bail Well I was truly honoured that the one they chose was me So I did assure them of my deepest sympathy (but you know what I did -) I said goodbye to Julie, I said goodbye to Loralie Said thank you for the good times and the real fine company See I can’t handle complications, all I know is how to sing my song I can’t handle complications, all I know is how to sing my song
11.
Troubadour 04:16
It was another town out on the road I can’t even think of the name The memories all fade together Till everything seems like the same Up on the stage you’re a king for a while In a wall of sound world of your own But where do you turn when it’s over And nobody’s waiting at home Sometimes the words I say Don’t sound the way they should She didn’t turn away She smiled like she understood Troubadour are you lonely, spending your nights alone on the road Troubadour do you need me, just for a while I’ll lighten your load Later the house lights were all going down And we walked through the town for a while And though all the streets were in darkness Even now I can still see her smile Wandering minstrel she said as she laughed Would you carry your harp to the war For minstrels must come to our calling, You can’t choose the ones you play for I said that I would choose Just where my songs were sung She smiled as she whispered Oh but you’re still so young Troubadour are you lonely, spending your nights alone on the road Troubadour do you need me, just for a while I’ll lighten your load Driving away in the dead of the night And her last words were still on my mind Someday you’ll be so much older And looking around you you’ll find You’ve got the music and you’ve got the words But there’s someone else calling the tune They’ll pay you the price of your freedom They’ll promise to give you the moon Or maybe you’ll stand alone Or maybe you’ll try I’ve seen so many now I’ve watched them all go by.
12.
Curtain Call 03:50
When the show is over and the curtain falling The audience applaud, the players take a bow Standing in the shadows you hear the voices calling Shouting out your name, they really want you now And for all who doubted, you want to stand and shout it Tell the world about it, now you have it all For every lost tomorrow, for every cent you borrowed For every night of sorrow, here’s your curtain call Standing in the spotlight till the encore’s fading This is your reward, you’re up where you belong Somewhere in the darkness somebody is waiting Someone who believed in the singer and the song And for all who doubted, you want to stand and shout it Tell the world about it, now you have it all For every lost tomorrow, for every cent you borrowed For every night of sorrow, here’s your curtain call
13.
Circumstance 04:14
When I was young I never wondered what my life would bring I thought I knew that I could do or be just anything I had the world in my hands …….but for circumstance A good career and every year a rise in salary A pretty wife to share my life, a perfect family I’d be the lord of the dance….but for circumstance All that we know and all we can show Are not what they seemed in all of our hopes and our dreams I moved around from town to town to find my destiny But never seemed to turn my dreams into reality I had it all in my plans…..but for circumstance Another day goes on its way and leaves no trace behind I have a drink and sit and think of what I’d hoped to find I could have taken my chance…..but for circumstance
14.
He draws the blind and locks the door He drinks the wine and pours some more And like the embers of the fire he lit today All he remembers starts to fade away He puts the needle in the groove It makes him feel, it makes him move A blues piano and a tenor saxophone He leads the band though he’s on his own All night long, song after song He plays until the curtains fall For a while he sees her smile But she’s just a picture on the wall He can hear the crowd’s acclaim They stand and cheer, they call his name But he just listens to that tenor saxophone Far in the distance, calling him home The show is done, the crowd is gone There is nothing, nothing left to prove The only sound, going round and round Is the needle in the runout groove

about

Recorded in the same sessions as "An Irish Life", and drawing on the same stellar line-up of musicians, "The Sad Pursuit" is a brilliant collection of songs on the general theme of dreamers and their fruitless pursuit of the unattainable. The would-be starlet in 1930s Hollywood.....the perpetual sucker whose big jackpot is always one hand away......the emigrant who longs to be back home............the washed-up musician who still imagines the roar of the crowd....their stories are set to memorable melodies and beautiful blues-inflected arrangements.

credits

released July 29, 2016

Tommy Keyes: keyboards, vocals
Dick Farrelly: guitars, bass
Gerard Farrelly: drums, percussion, cello
Richie Buckley: saxes
Dave Fleming: double bass
Ellen O’Mahony, Carla Ryan, Sarah Bass, Cian O'Mahony:: backing vocals


All songs written by Tommy Keyes
Produced by Dick Farrelly
Engineered by Michael Heffernan at Sun Studios, Temple Lane, Dublin 2
Assistant Engineer: Michael Brady
Mastered by FergalDavisMastering.com
Sleeve design by Ken Drakeford

Released on Keyes Records 2016 - KEYES 502

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Tommy Keyes Ireland

After an absence of nearly 40 years, Tommy Keyes returns with a stockpile of great songs that defy categorisation. Rock? Pop? “It’s 1970s singer-songwriter music”, he says, “because that’s what I am.”

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