Happy

Happy - Abum by Machine Translations

acres

if i wake up in a car
i will wonder what you are
by the sunday sea
if i wake up on tv
what am i supposed to be
will you let me see,
please

i’ve gone to heaven again
left my suitcase in the lock
and we lay down
on the clock

if i wake up in japan
will you try to understand
nothing goes to plan
you’ve been living in the mountain
i’ve been living in a hole
there’s seven kinds of seafood
but you ate my self-control

i’ve gone to heaven again
left my briefcase in the lock
and we lay down
on the clock

i’ve gone to heaven again
left my footstep in the sun
and my handshakes like a gun

i’ve gone to heaven again
left my briefcase in the lock
and we lay down
on the clock

amnesia

additional musicians:
guy freer – keyboards
katheryn brownhill – violins, backing vocals
jonathan nix – backing vocals
ania freer – backing vocals
marianthe loucataris – drum samples

choose your taker, lips and purse
oh jees you picked one worse
amnesia, here’s your curse

for every new thing that you find
you’re gonna leave something behind

at ease you’re a skipping stone
knock knees you till you’ve grown
amnesia, pick up the phone

for every new thing that you find
you’re gonna leave something behind

and you can dance me round again
till it feels like everything
is getting smaller
and closer up

the same again tomorrow…

amnesia, the wild bore
that’s the cheese you ate before
amnesia, please get out more

for every new thing that you find
you’re gonna leave something behind

and you can dance me round again
till it feels like everything
is getting smaller
and closer up

the same again tomorrow…

found

me and lucy we had a conversation
on the lawn
i can taste my time
we know you only want the one-way ticket half the time
but you won’t be kind

sullenly you catch the sun
in a singlet off the line
you’re so canine
you say we’ll all become
the wildlife caught up on the wire
but then you change your mind
but you’re never ever gonna calm down

like water to a ghost
you don’t really need it the most
but you’re never ever gonna calm down…

you shoot ideas you just like rolling water
and the dawn
you see it in alone
you hold your knees you’re just like a
white bird singing in a mine
but you sure can hide
missing you is just the one way
i don’t want to die
but i can’t tell you why
if you’re never ever gonna calm down

like water to a ghost
you don’t really need it the most
but your never ever gonna calm down…

a most peculiar place

additional musicians:
bonnie nilsson – backing vocals
sarah stanwell – backing vocals

and what will you do who have travelled so far
divided by light, your lucky star
the memory
a taste
of how you really are
in a most peculiar place

the hands that hold you
are joining to pray
don’t you forget
how long you’ve been away
in a most peculiar place

the light that surrounds you
is crawling with spies
come shyly to meet you
they wear your disguise
you know you’ll be so lonely otherwise
in a most peculiar place…

no hip

additional musicians:
marianthe loucataris – rhythm vocals

now i’m here
with no habits and no hip
and i’m glad
and i find something to memorise
with no hip
and no i
and no thorns
and no sky

now i’m here
with no hip and no thorns
no change
and i’m glad where i am
and i find something to memorise

no hip

now i’m sad
i have no i and no hip
i’m very busy
thanks for your call

no hip

misunderstood

additional musicians:
jonathan nix – backing vocals

i wind up in the morning
i walk into the door
it don’t exactly feel
just like we won the war
a tiny revolution
a quarter of the size
tuesday wears a coat
and friday never minds

once in a while i
try putting up things
it’s no problem i’ll just
take it all back down
i misunderstood

well it’s so nice to see you
i wonder should i go now
i never feel alone
the tv’s in the phone
your shorthand in the window
your long arm in the law
you’re looking in to see
exactly what you saw

once in a while i
try putting up things
it’s no problem i’ll just
take it all back down
i misunderstood…

simple shores

additional musicians:
guy freer – accordion

holly avenue
you’re gonna make me fall
i’m a long way from home
and i need someone to call
doesn’t matter what you say
you’re gonna have to show me
i’ve been sitting here for days
watching everything go grey

there’ll be no turning back
to simple shores
you’ll be one time married
and twice divorced
and the truth in the dance steps
back and forth
you must go now fight another
holy war

holly avenue
you’re gonna make me blue
i’ve been waiting here for news
now you’re gonna make me choose

there’ll be no turning back
to simple shores
you’ll be one time married
and twice divorced
and the truth in the dance steps
back and forth
you must go now fight another
holy war

happy

additional musicians:
sarah stanwell – vocal samples
rose turtle – vocal samples
bonnie nilsson – vocal samples
martin craft – drum samples

she wears a mask

here comes another ballroom story
those low dead dice the recent past
sweet innocence has lost her glory
in modern living so she wears a mask
she wears a mask

she’s up until four in the morning
swimming in a cocktail glass
it’s cold when blue lets the dawn in
it’s winter when she wears her mask
she wears a mask

if that’s a look on her face
then no we’re never ever going to find out
if it’s a five or an ace
that takes her out

on saturday nights when it’s raining
she dresses up and drives too fast
there is no use or complaining
she’s singing and she wears a mask
she wears a mask

if that’s a look on her face
then no we’re never ever gonna find out
if it’s a five or an ace
that takes her out

like you

additional musicians:
sam evans – gongs, bells
bonnie nilsson – vocals

the monkey's back

additional musicians:
matilda moss-white – backing vocals
kitty allen – backing vocals
jessica xavier – backing vocals

monkey came ‘a knocking
at your door
you know you should be careful
what you wish for

now the monkey’s back
we all get what we deserve
roll out the plastic cheese
flatten the earth
now the monkey’s back
he knows just how to please
that’s how i’m living in this
pile of leaves

monkey at the wheel’s got
huge control
bonny says it feels so
safe and cold
will she be lying when she says i do

get on the monkey’s back
we all get what we deserve
roll out the plastic cheese
flatten the earth
la la the monkey’s back
he knows just how to please
that’s how i’m living in this
pile of leaves

martyr of the roses
black and blue
you know you should be careful
the things you do

‘cause now the monkeys back
we’ll all get what we deserve
roll out the plastic cheese
flatten the earth
la la the monkeys back
now forget what you learned
that’s how i’m living in this
pile of earth…

be my pillow

additional musicians:
bonnie nilsson – backing vocals

i think
you know
your white september
the tender snow
no wait
no stay
this will help you
along the way
no love
is lost
and i want you
to be my pillow

once you were sad
sadder than the ocean
everybody’s changed
and you’re a lazy shooter
can you act much
more simple than you seem?
you don’t have to
be in every single scene
that’s the reason
that there is no rhyme
and i want you
to be my pillow

Credits

All songs written and recorded by j.walker 2002

All songs published by Mushroom Music Publishing

Digital photography: Jonathan Nix

Many Many Thanks to:

The members of the 2001 live band – Jonathan Nix, Guy Freer, Marianthe Loucataris, Sam Evans and Katherine Brownhill for achieving the implausible on a regular basis

Kevin White for live ‘downright’ piano performances, technical support and musical inspiration (as always)

Danius Pilka for generous technical and all-round support

Alistair Davis transport services

Alyson West at Spunk Records for huge support and encouragement

Linda Bosidos and Chris Maund at Mushroom Music Publishing

The Australia Council for the Arts

Andreas Oberschelp in Germany , Ryan Hembrey in Chicago , Felicity, Sophie, Bruno and Marcus

Antoinette, Rocky and Sarah Moss

Sodastream, Elmo Reid, King Curly, Darren Hanlon, El Mopa, Tim Oxley and Jodi Phillis, Bonnie Nillson, Nick and Martin Craft, The Dirty 3, Simon Bates, Disaster Plan, DJ Dread, Anne Lehman and Karen Tua.

Exegesis – understanding the songs made easy:

Acres is about a person who suffers from a rare form of involuntary bilocation, and that person’s difficult and sometimes awkwardly abstract journey towards self-knowledge and sexual fulfilment

Amnesia is about a girl who can’t help dating creeps and becomes very sick, yet is still able to dance beautifully each day

Found is about a nice person who has one terrible flaw – they cannot ever become calm

Peculiar Place is about a bare white room where a certain kind of dead person waits alone for a period of time before moving further into the afterlife

No Hip is about a disembodied machine which, with a great sad optimism, sings and memorises things to keep it busy – at one point ironically pretending to be an automated switchboard operator

Misunderstood is about a person who, finding themselves alienated from an increasingly miniaturised and fashion-conscious society, retreats into a world of meek yet powerful wall decorations

Simple Shores is about an old childhood street where each thing has only one meaning, and the impossibility of return there leading to a rise in religious intolerance

Happy is about small parts of different people’s personalities trying to dance together, and to be happy in a space with fractal dimensions

She Wears A Mask is about a young woman’s allergic reaction to modern life, and her subsequent adventures in dissimulation

Like You is about an unidentified entity which expresses its hesitant yet heartfelt wish to become like a human, only backwards

The Monkeys Back is about a flat-earth society member who, through inscrutable chance, becomes prime-minister of Australia

Be My Pillow is about a great love affair between two home-furnishing impersonators