Get all 20 Emma Langford releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Abigail (Tomhas Ghobnatan), The Wexford Carol, The Winding Way Down To Kells Bay (With the RTÉ Concert Orchestra), Winter Nights, Birdsong (Arvo Party remix), At Seventeen, The Winding Way Down to Kells Bay (piano instrumental), Sowing Acorns, and 12 more.
1. |
Quiet Giant
03:10
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1. Quiet Giant
Quiet giant, come sit for awhile
Wanna try to see if I can make you smile
Always seem to be hiding something, making you run
Always seem to trap what's on the tip of your tongue
You're my little bit of French cuisine, my pain au chocolat
Not quite what I had imagined from a guy the like of you,
Back in the day when we first met I'm sure I really worried you
Nowadays how things have changed and we're stuck fast like superglue
Rubbish rhyming is what I'm pushed to do
Just to try and pin down what stands with me and you
And what exactly is it, what exactly can I say?
Is it possible to pin down on any given day
I'm the bubbles in your milkshake made by childish interest
Giving you just what you saw when I was first addressed
Not quite as complicated as we'd like to think
Still I feel I'm the ripple that is making you sink
So, quiet giant, come over and play
Come sit upon my trampoline, do nothing all day
Mutter idle nonsense while we stare into blue
Make pictures from clouds just so there's nothing to do
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2. |
Sandman
04:16
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2. Sandman
I’m gonna climb out my window and up the moonbeams, straight to your arms
I’m gonna shimmy up the shimmer on the river to you darlin’, and dance with the stars
Chorus:
And if that sandman comes tonight he better come bearing gold-dust,
If Mister Sandman brings me a dream, tread lightly ‘cos you’re treading on us
Oh, the sun in the sky I’m gonna plug it out and paint it all black
So the sparkle in your eye is gonna be enough to light the way back
Chorus
We’re gonna lounge by the seaside, waltz in our best black tie
We’re gonna take a balloon ride, watch real life passing by
Chorus
Oh, if he’s not too busy, maybe something more realistic
So you’ll wake tomorrow maybe with the taste of my lipstick
Chorus
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3. |
Closed Book
03:12
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3. Closed Book
You're a closed book, and I can't read your meaning
Written in your sullen look, as you stand up there screaming
And I lie awake wondering talking in my head
Is it real, is any of it more than me?
Or am I a dead man walking?
There's a dreadful fish, and through my blood-stream swimming,
Whispering your written words, the worst of which I'm dreaming,
and I stand and raise an empty glass to your wisdom unexplained
Is it real, is any of it more than me?
Have the words and letters changed?
There's a reason well that we don't turn your pages
Locked up in your chosen hell, you've rolled the rock of ages
And we turn and face a camera with the focus ever shifting
Is it real, is any of it more than me?
Are we more than lost souls drifting?
At least I came, didn't I?
And I was there, wasn't I?
And now I'm here, aren't I?
And what more can you look for
In these eyes, in these eyes, in these eyes of mine?
So I lie awake wondering
And I turn and face a camera
and I stand and raise an empty glass
So I lie awake wondering, talking in my head
Is it real, is any of it more than me? Or am I dead man walking?
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4. |
All You Want
03:44
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4. All You Want
There is nothing stunning about me
No illusions or delusions for the world to see
Voice like velvet floating to the floor
Make it a dress when I care less, no more.
You say: we may not be perfect
But in good time we'll work it out;
You should get a job, marry, do it all in the right time
Waltz in circles before walking the line
Is this all you want? Is this all you need?
Is this all you want? Then that's all you need.
I have no GPS, no plans for this life,
No sense of direction and no sense of time
What good is navigation when every day is a revelation?
This head might be crazy, but at least it's mine.
Is this all you want? Is this all you need?
Is this all you want? Then that's all you need.
And now's the time to redefine
The things you thought you knew
Flirt outright with the wrong guy - Be the one to tie his tie;
Wish on passing cars, and laugh at shooting stars;
Just be stupid sometimes, get burnt in the summer time
If that's all you want, then that's all you need
Is this all you want? Is this all you need?
Is this all you want? Is this all you need?
Is this all you want? Then that's all you need.
And that's all you need x 3
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5. |
Bear This Child
04:44
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5. Bear This Child
I never chose to bear this child, it just sort of wouldn't go away
and oh but I thought "well, wouldn't it be nice?" ‘til it was here one day
and now I can't shake it, I can't drink enough to drink it away
Kicks me when I'm down, and harder when I’m on the up…
I never chose to keep your life but you wouldn't let me be
cries in the night as I'm drifting off, you've used up all of me
and now I can't break free, break away
Kicks me when I'm down, and harder when I'm on the up
picks the meat from my bones and dries me up
And I didn't want to be an angry person,
lost control when the seed set roots
made me sick, made me weak, now I live in walking boots
good for walking, I'm done talking, I'm done with untruths
kicks me when I'm down, and harder when I'm on the up
picks the meat from my bones and dries me up
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6. |
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6. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Oh, my darling man, would you ask me dance once more?
Take my hands in your hands once more?
Oh, my only dear, would you take me away from here?
Would you help me abate my fears? I have dreams of a cottage by the shore
I have dreams, such dreams, so vivid they’re real in my mind,
But to lay with you is all I can do just to find
The unbearable lightness of being.
In a gentleman’s bowler hat, staring in the looking glass at you
‘Til we fall to the floor together, light as a feather, to do
Some dreaming, some dreaming… Some dreaming, some dreaming.
I have dreams, such dreams, so vivid they’re real in my mind,
But to lay by you is all I can do just to find
The unbearable lightness of being.
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7. |
6 Foot 4
02:42
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7. 6 Foot 4
Well he stands about 6 foot 4, and everybody cheers as he walks through the door,
Everybody knows the right camera to smile for.
And as he strikes all our best loved chords, everybody knows, yeah, we’ve known it for years,
This is the song and the dance we came here for.
Now can’t we crack a window wide, let the fresh air come inside? Rip the posters and paper from the walls?
And for all his good intention, that boy’s nothing but pretention
And for all his good intention, that boy’s nothing but condescension…
Well he stands about 6 foot 4.
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8. |
The Seduction of Eve
06:05
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8. The Seduction of Eve
The first night in a drunken haze we got lost in the crowd
two spies beyond the others' lines invading
you promised to be on my side, you swore your life for mine
my insurance as I watched my bulwark fading
And I surrendered all too quickly to a man of many names
Who had plotted excavations where my thoughts were
And I wondered now and then if things would ever be the same
Or if anything remained beyond the water
We sat upon a fallen tree one sunny afternoon
side by side, silent, surveying a patch of no mans land
And gazing at the wreckage, said the war would wind up soon
And the thoughts of my lost brothers he made silent with his hands
And I surrendered all too quickly to a man of many names
Who had plotted excavations where my thoughts were
And I wondered now and then if things would ever be the same
Or if anything remained beyond the water
I asked you once in confidence to never leave me be
You made me swear I knew us to be better
Than my every self-destructive fear, my insecurities
And we shook on that and turned and watched the weather change
And I surrendered much too quickly to a man of many names
Who had held me ever since I can remember
And I wondered now and then if I would ever feel the same
Or vanish onward with the season come December
So I wonder did you ever really care that much to me?
Was it all another epic you were writing?
Another chapter to write down and then scratch out before they'd see
the heart beneath the hardy buck there hiding?
So I don't care that much these days for who it is that you became,
I never held him, so I hold him no ill feelings
But I wonder now and then if things just might've been the same
If I were happy never to break that glass ceiling
And I don't mind, no I don't mind
I'm just trying to find my piece of mind.
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9. |
The Belle and the Ruin
04:38
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9. The Belle and the Ruin
There was a bell in a tower,
she tolled on the hour each day,
and would call on the people to come and to listen.
Below on the earth stood a ruin so old
that the sun knew the stones,
and she saw through his doorways and windows it glistened.
And so, she looked down and she’d ring like a bell,
every syllable rang out to tell him her feeling,
and he gazed around, so amazed as she fell,
at each toll sweet and strong, and their love went on pealing.
Daily he’d wish for a window of hope,
she would throw down a rope, and their love would ignite.
His roots were strong in the ground, still he longed
to be where he belonged, in the clouds, by her side.
She heard his pleas, and her eyes longed to see
for the first that the whispers of lovers held truth;
so, the heavens they heard, and were moved to answer
to the cries and desires of the bell, and the ruin.
The crowd gathered round, and a grief-stricken hush fell,
no hourly song would ring out any longer,
the music was silenced.
The storm, it had crept in the black of the night,
and the lightning it struck like a sword
in the stone of the tower, and violently,
it cut her down, ever ringing she fell;
every syllable rang out to tell him her feeling,
and he gazed around, so amazed as she fell
at each toll sweet and strong, and their love went on pealing…
Their love went on pealing;
their love goes on pealing.
She’s but a shell now, she lies in the dirt,
no songs passed her lips since the night that the lightning came,
stole her away; but the holy men heard of the love ‘tween the two
so they cut out her silver tongue, buried her soul in his clay.
And so she lies down and she rings like a bell,
every syllable rings out to tell him her feeling,
and he gazes ‘round so amazed as she fell
at each toll sweet and strong
and their love goes on pealing…
Their love goes on pealing.
There was a girl in a tower,
she’d meet with the birds of the air
and the clouds that would skitter past hoping she’d see ‘em.
There was a boy on the earth at her feet
who would talk to the air, and the ground,
he would pray would rise up so she’d see him.
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10. |
Tug O' War
03:52
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10. Tug O’ War
I find it hard, so hard,
To get through the day,
Without worryin' and panickin'
Letting time slip away
In my heart there's an angel
Oh for putting up with me
And he's pushing me and pulling me
Through my anxiety
In my mind there's a devil
On my shoulder to the end
Through my worry and my panic
Saying she's my only friend
I find it hard, so hard,
To get through the day,
Without worryin' and panickin'
Letting time slip away
Guess there's no way of knowing now
What a new day will bring
But that doesn't stop my mind from
Imagining
And there's no way of planning for
What might or might not be
But that doesn't stop this tug o' war
Between the devil and me
I find it hard, so hard,
To get through the day,
Without worryin' and panickin'
Letting time slip away
And I try hard to keep reminded
Of the here and the now
But I just don't have the patience
To silence the doubt
I find it hard, so hard,
To get through the day,
Without worryin' and panickin'
Letting time slip away
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Emma Langford Limerick, Ireland
Emma is a Limerick-based songwriter with strong folk, traditional influences that shine through her work
Emma Langford recommends:
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Alec has been part of my musical life since I first trod the boards in 2016, he's a fantastic composer, arranger and performer - check out his album The Stepping Stone and support his patreon
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Aoife Meade is one of the most exciting young songwriter/composers out there right now, don't sleep on this wicked woman's work
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I've had the great joy and privilege of collaborating with Herb aka Arvo Party a number of times, and his remixes and original work are always tasty and tasteful
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