STEPHEN LOMAS: Music

• MP3 play whole song, hi-fi (broadband)
• MP3 play whole song, lo-fi (modem)

Okay, you're listening to a demo... no great production here. I've been dragging this song around for years, in fact it's one of the first I ever wrote. It was supposed to have appeared on Mermaids but... well it didn't. I do play it a lot live so I made this recording to get it out there.

The story? Many years ago I was teaching in the far south-west of New South Wales. In one aspect, City Lights reflects simply on getting there (12-15 hour drive straight from Sydney) & in another, the changes in my life that came about from being out there...
Where two rivers come together... well that's be the Murray & the Darling Rivers. I was heading for Dareton.

I put the city lights in the rear view mirror of a ‘67 Ford
Rubbed my hands in the pre-dawn chill stamped my feet down on the floor
Then west across the mountains ‘fore the dawn light turnes to blue
Run through the towns & ‘cross the ridges that my father, he once knew.

Punch buttons on the radio chasin’ static ’round the dial
Country news & small town gossip on & on mile after mile
Heard a story ‘bout California some old Jonie Mitchell song
Sung the words the best I could & the Ford, Ford hummed along.

(ch) And this road’s as long as a lifetime
There’s rivers & bridges to cross
And every mile that we gain
Is one more mile we’ve lost.

Shadows like spirits from the East come driftin’ ‘cross the plains
Darkness rises from the earth like dust as the sun goes down in flames
Where two rivers come together like two lovers hand in hand
Headlights find the end of the road smell the water, in the air.

Easy as dreamin’ I can drift away & I’m on that road again
Hard as nails I wake up cold I’ve come too far since then
Where memories hang like pictures soft & golden on a wall
Faces framed through endless nights & names, I can’t recall.

(ch) And this road’s as long as a lifetime
There’s rivers & bridges to cross
And every mile that we gain
Is one more mile we’ve lost.