Get all 10 Ruth Theodore releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Cherry Picker, Thompson (SINGLE RELEASE), People People (SINGLE RELEASE), Cactacus 7th Birthday (50% off), You Can't Help Who You Love (Single Release), Volume One: 'Earth to Shovel' EP, Dear Lamp Love Moth, Victor Menace (featuring Ruth Theodore on Violin), and 2 more.
1. |
Overexpanding
02:55
|
|||
resting on a torn down billboard
collecting fumes to fuel my afternoon
resting on a torn down billboard
collecting fumes to fuel my afternoon
and i can hear the half-hearted cries
of the guy at the counter with the wonky eye
selling meals to the McCouple in the 4wheel drive
McThis Mcthat and some McMcMcFries
cause we don’t buy products now we buy brands
putting another gold ring on the big man’s hands
but the big man can’t sleep and can’t sleep cause he knows
there’s an ever bigger man with bells on his toes
rings on his fingers and bells on his toes
but does he have music wherever he goes
cause now we’re packaging and labeling and branding
the industrial diaphragm is over-expanding
its oozing and bulging
and slowly a new form of hell is unfolding
and somewhere along the line we’ve created the rush hour
where we can’t all fit in cause the streets are too thin
and the big man in the big car shouts
“ok coming through everybody breathe in”
and then i realise i’ve been breathing in my whole life
scared to exhale
knowing my next breath won’t be as pure as my last
or maybe i’m scared that my next breath will be my last
and it seems to me in this day and age
you have to pay to reach that stage
its a hundred pounds for a priest
another eighty on that for the headstone at least
and we die in the hope that the after-life will be free
but we’re stopped by the guy on the door
cause there’s a five pound entry fee
and I want to make sure i’ve spent my last five pounds
i like the idea of just floating around
and getting the big man in the big car
to breathe in
|
||||
2. |
Rash
02:58
|
|||
i came down to earth and i came up in a rash
at the handful of people with the hands full of cash
where me and you were just people they knew
and they’re sorry that we didn’t last
oh no they’re digging up gold
so they all get a seat in the sun when they’re old
and they can rule the world in their dressing gowns
is long in the leg and its sick in the head that this world
can make us happy with ourselves
now they’ve found all the cracks to avoid paying tax
like a tribe of true commuters
in seconds flat the whole world has packed
and is moving to bermuda
so hold on cause they’re coming on strong
now a man with a bag is a man with a bomb
and this the reckoning this will keep festering
unless we keep standing
unless we keep questioning this world
we will not be happy with our selves
somewhere along the line
a bird flies
up to its cage and says
“this is between you and i”
and then something intervenes
says its “trying to keep the peace”
with big bucks and one hell of
a big fuck of flying machine
i say there has to be some kind of compromise
like i’ll eat my greens if you stop telling lies
there has to be a way we can all agree
like i’ll take out a pension if you stop trying to kill me
i came down to earth and i came up in a rash
at the handfuls of people with the hands full of cash
where me and you were just people they knew
and they’re sorry that we didn’t last
so hold on cause they’re coming on strong
now a man with a bag is a man with a bomb
and this the reckoning this will keep festering
unless we keep standing
unless we keep questioning this world
we will not be happy with our selves
|
||||
3. |
Nothing On
03:17
|
|||
this morning is beautiful
but its got nothing on the memory of you
coiled around my skeleton
loosening my bones with every breath
nothing’s on not the radio not the t.v
its just you and me and the sound of our thoughts
all ‘i’m nearly back and i’m sorry’
but they’ve got nothing on us
i raise my hand to shade my eyes
from the morning sunlight that seems so bright
i raise my hand to shade my eyes
that are still used to the night
and i forget what we found so funny
but i know it was at the time
and i wonder who the the punch-line
was it yours or was it mine?
my laughter dies down as i feel
your warn lips on my neck
and i reach out and light up
my morning cigarette
and i am praying that you will remember
cause i won’t forget
that they’ve got nothing on us
but i understand that you had to write the ending
and all of the above is me simply pretending
that they’ve still got nothing on us
|
||||
4. |
Fresh Faced
03:24
|
|||
the sky is all moon tonight
she’s charming the waves away from my feet
and from the brave beats
that rattle the trees where the birds sleep
and as i follow my gaze I can make out you shape
so i shake off my collar and quicken my pace
and looking in to those flames
you know you look so fresh faced
you say the time I’ll name the place
to where we can escape
or you know we could just
sneak away
the sky is all moon tonight
and you are I hands
i say “get those fingers off me”
but its all part of the plan
cause looking in to those flames
you know you look so fresh faced
you say the time I’ll name the place
to where we can escape
or you know we could just
sneak away
but matter of time
threatens morning with threads of light
making all that once seemed smooth
come to life with chips and grooves
the way she moves blows me away
|
||||
5. |
Murray's Wives
03:51
|
|||
oh come on don’t be like that
it was only a turn of phrase
and i’ll take it all back
but you’ve stopped listening
hours ago
cause you don’t like those
raggle taggle gypsies o
but oh oh awake a sweat when it breaks
just on one side
surging in me the urge to be...
running
you’re a good catch and good company
and the shapes on the ceiling are aesthetically pleasing
but they’re just not me
and you stopped listening hours ago
cause you don’t like those
raggle taggle gypsies o
but oh oh awake a sweat when it breaks
just on one side
surging in me the urge to be...
running from this city where everyone’s a spy
and you always have to try to be on everybody's good side
and the only way to survive is on them never to rely
if you’re wasting all you’re energy
on friends, they’ll soon be enemies
and i would leave if i were you
and do what i was born to do
cause i have heard that deep within
this city lies a spell
that possesses all the thinkers
and leaves behind a shell
that stays alive from nine to five
and then disappears as well
until the same time same place
and then somewhere along the line
you realise time really does fly
and you go on a middle aged mission
to ind out who stole you’re life
and you’ll wonder if its too late
to be out in the cold
where we all grow old at the same rate
and oh come on
don’t be like that
it was only a turn of phrase and i
take it all back.
|
||||
6. |
Grounded
04:35
|
|||
if i hear one more mobile phone
can’t the people here
leave each other alone?
and when i said
“you’re my companion”
i didn’t mean lets be joined at the hip
i don’t know what i thought i was doing
trying to scrape through to the knuckle
of this embellished pile of rubble
we make excuses but the truth is
we were better off when this was just jungle
and there’s something gutless about
the shootings and stabbings in backstreets
would these killers really kill if they
had to do it with their own teeth?
so strip us of the means
and we’ll be stripped of the cause
is all i mean when i say
i just wish we were a little more
grounded
if we had just a little more
give
do you remember the day
that we all carved our names on you?
you didn’t complain and that was
ever so brave of you
now things have changed and there
just isn’t space for you
what can i say i mean
you’re just so replaceable
and you can’t blame me i just
move with the motion
i’m nothing more than a
big explosion
and like you i’ve just come along
at the wrong time
so just strip us of the means
and we’ll be stripped of the cause
is all i mean when i say
i just wish we were a little more
grounded
if we had just a little more
give
|
||||
7. |
Threat
04:46
|
|||
oh it took a few lies
and we all capsized
he bought his alibi’s
so i sit here and wait for the water to rise
not that i’m brave
more badly behaved
but he leaves his creases all over your face
and he loves the way he rattles your cage
which explains why you’re in such a fluster these days
since i caught fire
you’ve wished you had
kept me for yourself
but said i waited for you
i said come along
but you couldn’t be yourself
now i came with nothing
and i’ve got most of it left
cause i roll up my sleeves
and keep my heart in my chest
and i’m a danger to you now
that i’m no longer just a threat
and you’re a stranger to me now
just a stranger to me now
cause since i caught fire
you’ve wished you had
kept my for yourself
but said i waited for you
said come along
but you couldn’t be yourself
and there’s a hole in bucket
dear Liza a hole
so you can’t pour your heart out
cause this thing won’t hold
i’ve got to go
got to shift my bones
but give me a minute and i’ll walk you home
oh it took a few lies
and we all capsized
he bought his alibi’s
so i sit here and wait for the water to rise
cause i’m a danger to you now
that i’m no longer just a threat
and you’re a stranger to me now
just a stranger to me now
|
||||
8. |
Home
03:45
|
|||
you could be a mansion on a mountain top
a mobile home or a card-board box
when your skin and bones
are about to be somebodies
home
3 or 4 months more
of no more than just
keeping it in the pipe-line
you know the drill you know the signs
still sometimes you recite them
line by line
when your skin and bones
are about to be somebodies
home
but when its someone else’s war
without a seconds thought
you can be caught short
and this is someone else’s life line
brute forced through shattered doors
to splintered floors
people calling 999
and you still feel
you feel like home
you feel
you feel like
home
|
||||
9. |
3 Floors
03:33
|
|||
a big ball of light
sticks my bare feet to the ground
so i am skipping side to side and they fry
my skin turns brown
i love my loneliness
it keeps me on the ball
and from your lack of perspective
away from it all
but you don’t dance to your
rock ‘n’ roll anymore
and i don’t say sorry like i mean it
cause i’m mean and i’m immature
and i’m not tired of this one down
one to go
the best things in life are:
1 word - 10 meanings -
2 words - 1 feeling of - ‘no boots’ -
swimming down stream -
your big bones above my
8.35 skimming stones -
watch me run and jump these 3 floors
on these here all 4’s -
this here 4th wall hears all like -
“let me get my joints to slip into these tight fits
you’ve got loose screws -
i love you too”
a big ball of light
sticks my bare feet to the ground
so i am skipping side to side and they fry
my skin turns brown
i love my loneliness
it keeps me on the ball
and from your lack of perspective
away from it all
but you don’t dance to your
rock ‘n’ roll anymore
and i don’t say sorry like i mean it
cause i’m mean and i’m insecure
but i’m not tired of this one down
one to go
1 word - 10 meanings -
2 words - 1 feeling of - ‘no boots’ -
swimming down stream -
your big bones above my
8.35 skimming stones -
watch me run and jump these -
3 floors on these here all 4’s -
this here 4th wall hears all -
like -
“watch me get my joints to slip into these tight fits
you’ve got loose screws -
i love you too”
“screws loose got you’ve -
fits tight these into slip to joints my get me watch”
like -
all hears wall 4th here this -
4’s all here these on floors 3 -
these jump and run me’s
watch stones skimming
above big bones swimming
feeling like uh oh
10 words - 1 meaning-
2 words - 1 you!
i love you too
i love you too
232
i love you
2
2
2
2
2
|
||||
10. |
Kathy's Song
03:12
|
|||
now there’s no excuse
why i keep breathing my fire on you
like there’s something more to prove
i was so wound up but now i’ve come un-spun
i can see all the damage i’ve done
i was so happy in your heart shaped box
it took my three years to realise the doors were all locked
and that i’d have to break loose
so with nothing to choose i blew and i blew
blew and i blew ‘til the walls fell through
now there’s no excuse
why i keep breathing my fire on you
|
||||
11. |
||||
its not on the cards its on my chest
stop pulling the trigger i’m pulling your leg
but i know i’m not that bad
and that we’ve all said things we shouldn’t have
like this song
is easier said than sung
but i would not give up and so lets not
quarrel over who gets what
cause i do not believe
money won’t grow on trees
when their food is my fuel
i’m no exception there’s no rule
and in the end i know
you think you don’t blend in...
but you do
don’t you know you’re just worm food
thats chasing that dream
thats not quite what it seems
when the road
is a running machine
so i pull my hood as far as it will go over my head
i think of the things that you did yesterday
and the things i should have said
but i know we’re not that bad
and that we’ve all said things we shouldn’t have
and yeah i know we’re not that bad
and that we’ve all shaved things we shouldn’t have
but this song
is easier said than sung
still i would not give up, so lets not
quarrel over who gets what
cause i do not believe
money won’t grow on trees
when their food is my fuel
i’m no exception there’s no rule
and in the end you know
you think you don’t blend in...
but you do
don’t you know you’re just worm food
thats chasing that dream
thats not quite what it seems
when the road
is a running machine
|
||||
12. |
Ugly Faces
03:07
|
|||
she turns the washing machine on and the whole house shakes
she says “i’ll be so happy when that bloody thing breaks
there’s always something wrong with this place”
she’s not a bad girl cause bad girls fight and
she gets frightened but she’s easily lead
so i watch where i
tread
cause ‘I’ve seen flowers come in stoney places
and kind things done by men with ugly faces’
but oh she says
“if you know what i know you know too much
i know you lean on your words like i lean on my crutch
and you’ll never know when enough is enough
so i’d give up
but i see you’re walking faster than me
and its due to the fact that you use both feet
But you’re touchy today
so i’ll watch what i say”
‘i’ve seen flowers come in stoney places
and kind things done by men with ugly faces’
she’s not a bad girl cause bad girls fight and
she gets frightened but she’s easily lead
so i watch where i
tread
|
||||
13. |
CO2
04:29
|
Ruth Theodore UK
Establishing her own unique sound and signature guitar style whilst busking in doorways on detuned guitars. Ruth has gone on
to perform alongside legendary artists Ani Difranco, Dar Williams, Nick Harper & Hamell On Trial. Collaborating with multi award winning producer Todd Sickafoose.
linktr.ee/ruththeodore
... more
Streaming and Download help