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Phantoms Of Fables (2004)

by Damien Youth

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    Damien Youth's PHANTOMS OF FABLES Album. Official pressing on Zygote Records. 2005. (Not a CD-R)

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1.
Artemis 04:21
Sitting solitaire on Tolstoy afternoons watching as that two face moon tries tricking me through rustling leaves into shepherd sleep With all her science and her romance and mythologies she’s trying to cast her spell on me my soul released to velvet glow Flow through lunar bliss to stranger’s kiss on the holy wings of Artemis Alone beneath the gingham swirl of gorgeous nights I lie awake and wonder oh how many lonely nights can I afford myself looking in the eyes of no one else Chastised by the church bell chimes beat down by the hands of time wake up on the floor and find I can’t recall her name or my state of mind Untold truths and misspent trust I don’t miss you, I miss the both us I don't just miss you, I miss both of us Tripping down the jigsaw jazz of city streets morning sunlight through the trees wraps the day in cellophane swirling all around me in off key harmony voices carry on the breeze on my odyssey for amnesty On my lonely search for Artemis
2.
Hope 03:57
Back when Prometheus had kept you in his jar then let you out to watch you shooting like a star and everybody there had wondered who you are I know, I know, I know For I had watched you from the corner of the sky Your spirit spinning through the orbits of my eye and I could conjure you if only I could cry I know, I know, I know I saw your ghost in this room you were hovering cold in puddles of twilight You storm through violent squares pulsing, vision impaired like some harlequin nomad I saw you trapped in a skin like a magical jinn a serious no show He’s got you chained to his wall but this chasm is swirling your spirit right out of his hold Back when Prometheus had kept you in his jar then let you out to watch you shooting like a star and all the silent children wondered who you are I know, I know, I know For I had followed you through fields of icy snow your spirit moving through a labyrinth of ghost Then slow ascending through a circle like a star I know, I know, I know I saw your ghost in this room you were hovering cold in puddles of twilight You storm through violent squares pulsing, vision impaired like some harlequin nomad I saw you trapped in a skin like a magical jinn a serious no show He’s got you chained to his wall but this chasm is swirling your spirit right out of his hold all lyrics copyright 2004 Damien Youth
3.
Red ghost mother chased the screaming idiot savant out to the black chair room High orifice devouring the empty space as carpet dust floats minuscule Pre-surgical hysteria swirls in the minds of lookers on The waiting room is filled with crinkled eyes and unread magazine The bathroom becomes refuge to the hypodermic recluse white rooms wait for thee And now I hear the silence of the sun As chatter blossoms faces come undone Irreverent and bold and looking on Their fate they see and I am the stage that they stare as they wait for the final play Aunt Dorothy pulled the car around in black suit, silent, sitting down through market street As window blenders next to me churns signs and shops and autumn leaves, I fall asleep As mediocre monuments unhinge and blend all Dali-esque A park bench turns to elephant amoeba pulse ‘neath flower dress A street light glows like UFO as rainbows show their pots of gold to tired thieves As clock hands slow undress the time of day and mornings molestation starts to fade The telephone rings, tattles what you say and I am just the book that you read as you rough draft your autobiography Should her theories fail to float she’ll quickly turn the other coat and side with me Should she capsize far from shore on half built rafts of metaphors she’ll drink the sea With salty lie of lovers moan with belly full of suds and foam She lies on bed of roots and stone fish eye nipples staring on A lighthouse beacon cuts the fog her mermaid bottom slow dissolves she finds her feet and leaves Like pyrite glistening golden to the fool distant stars are divination tools astrology the science to define she’s reaching for the stars and the sun and the moon for she fears what’s inside the mind all lyrics copyright 2004 Damien Youth
4.
Anastacia 05:19
Go away, I don’t want to see you anymore, I don’t want to see you in my room beneath my silent cloud. Blow away, I don’t want to be here anymore I don’t want to lie beneath those stars here in your world spin round. As solemn as an epitaph in grassy lawns, she stands beside my bedside like a hologram I don’t want you, I don’t need a friend I don’t love you and I won’t let you in... Anastasia Go away, I don’t want to see you anymore, I feel your sunlight shining through my trees, incinerating me. I guess I’ll be the one to put you in your place to send you sailing soulless from the human race We don’t want you, we don’t need a friend We don’t love you and we won’t let you in... Anastasia I’m breaking all the flowers that you sent to me (Anastasia) I burned your letters with your effigy (Anastasia) and when you lie beneath your plot of stone (Anastasia) may maggots eat your flesh down to the bone (Anastasia) and may you spend your elder years alone (Anastasia) hallucinating that you're miles from home (Anastasia) In case you're wondering, yes, you’re in this song (Anastasia) When you thought I hated you, you were not wrong (Anastasia) all lyrics copyright 2004 Damien Youth
5.
Sally left her coat out in the rain buckle shoes, umbrella lie in streams from paint box the colors run from cold blue to indigo solemn the days did come still solemn they go and the rain came down Teardrops trickle down her window room grey clouds gather weeping out their hue from white dress young Sunday girl to black clad dark misty eyes these hours were not your friend your garden doth die and the sands came down Sally rides her bike up to the square strides of silent wonder, blue eyes stare her cottage sinks far away over her shoulder small the pathway snakes endlessly its ending unknown still she moves along Sally sits out by the forest edge picking all the burrows from her hair untangle the messy brier tender locks fall undone like black velvet orphan child no friend to the sun (she says) These days are but molecules gathering flow recklessly and chemical spools are we each swirling un-spun still the days come down all lyrics copyright 2004 Damien Youth
6.
Late one night by chance I spied a stranger, yet familiar guy Twas distant down an alleyway half shadow cast all black and grey The night was thick with humming wires street lamps swayed to touch the spires Bedroom windows dimmed like ember in December’s frown Pre legendary then my phantom friend Still lurking 'round the bin in street light dim my phantom friend Amidst the poetry of night a staggering form, no fancy flight did wander, thus did intersect distracting me as I reflect Like exclamation out of place he steered his form to match my pace I turned too late, he’s at my side, though drunk, doth syncopate my stride Dare not glance peripheral to not see what’s visible beyond what I could perpetrate increase my pace I deviate. Racing running my lair swelling in my sight Up the stairway turning on my bedroom light footsteps echo down the dusty corridors of night Down the hallway closing all the curtains and I block the doorways still I hear him coming Breathing, stumbling slow across the floors. And as I opened up my door to search the dusty corridors A phantom standing, not quite clad save railway boots and cowboy hat With flannel shirt and blue jean vest just looming there all Rogeresque. Phantom friend all lyrics copyright 2004 Damien Youth
7.
Freaked Out 03:03
I’m freaked out the world keeps spinning like the sun spun yarn of a spider web wrapping around I can’t move and the days keep burning down around its pages are turning I strike out but there’s no connection this fall from grace wasn’t misdirected at me I never planned to be more than what you see right now the man who’s a cold black sycophant riding the hours hating the obvious telling the powers that be. . . I don’t want to be here anymore I don’t want to do this all again So save a picture of me in your mind because when it ends it really ends I lay low when my days get static I wanna run away but the clock keeps laughing at me The spotlight cuts the night and follows me to where morning is waiting I sit up and close the curtain I lay back down because my days are hurting me more and they say it's the life I’m leading I shoot that down It’s more like the other way around Riding the hours hating the obvious telling the powers that be. . . I don’t want to be here anymore I don’t want to do this all again so save a picture of me in your mind because when it ends it really is the end. all lyrics copyright 2004 Damien Youth
8.
Doll Child 02:34
I guess you’re still upset about Sunday, was it something I didn’t say? I never claimed that I was a poet, I never had to anyway. As playful as an alley cat, she climbs into my bed. I closed my eyes and dreamed of you, c’mon, you know that I did. I close my eyes, I reach for my pen, I sit very still, I write for you a romantic song to make up for wrong. I guess you won’t be coming ‘round Mondays like you used to do, when I would dress you up like a doll child and cover you in glue. As obvious as an elephant in short skirt and pink fuzzy shoes. She tries to pretend she’s innocent, but we know what she wanted to do. She closed her eyes, she kicked off her shoes, she pulled down the shades I swear to god she reminds me of you Like Elvis is to heart attacks or black blind men are to blues, she is to nymphomania and also she reminds me of you... all lyrics copyright 2004 Damien Youth
9.
There goes my girl there goes my whole wide world As seasons change her flower folds and fades I’m sitting up thinking to myself I want her and there ain’t no body else gonna make me feel the same way There goes my girl there goes my perfect girl Her solemn face the tears won’t wash away I'm sick of feeling sorry for myself but I’ll never feel for anybody else and I really can’t afford to There goes my girl there goes my perfect world September rains I watch her walk away I’m walking down the side of that road I don’t care how far it’s gonna go because my destination’s unknown all lyrics copyright 2004 Damien Youth
10.
I’ll be your valentine boyfriend I’ll give you hearts made of paper glitter and glue I’ll write you into my story and if the ending’s not happy I’ll rewrite it for you I may not bring home the millions but I'll still give you my coat dear when it’s starting to rain And no I may not be so handsome but I've got charm as my fortune and wisdom my wage. She is my funny face girlfriend in her Easter pink stockings and her hair like a bird's nest Beneath her Christmas light hallow slowly, she puts her head on my shoulder and I’m lost to the night Just like a maid ‘neath the Maypole she dances around in my castle waiting for a slow kiss. As I decipher her mantra I get lost in her eyes my little harlequin dancer with your mystery smile I am the heart round her arrow and she’s the face in my window staring like a black cat We are like phantoms of fables both of us, getting lost as the days flow faster into jet black Into spider webs of abstract just moving along the road map of life past Jack-o-lantern smoke stacks the gypsies on the freeway the jokers in the rat race keeping to the slow pace as the sun is sinking slowly beneath the fields and the factories we're taking all the back streets sleeping in the back seat I listen to her heart beat I listen to her heart beat all lyrics copyright 2004 Damien Youth
11.
Lies We Tell 05:12
Oh god is that really you and after all of these years must have been out of my mind I didn’t know you were here Got caught up with a friend we went out for a ride then we stopped in for a drink and just to murder some time Tell me, how have you been hope you've been keeping warm are you still there in the city or did you move to the farm and all those plans that you made did you see them all through or did you take it in stride and do the best you could do There are lies we never tell but we mean them just the same There are feelings that we feel that there are no words to say Me, I’m doing just fine nothing much has changed except a wife and a child and a home on the range I still sit up all night writing songs for no one I go to sleep with the sun and with my room all undone I still keep telling myself I’ll be discovered some day If only time is the cost then the price I’ll have paid to build my legacy my philosophies lost immortality There are lies we tell ourselves sometimes others go along There are feelings that we feel even though we know they’re wrong OK, we’re back in this room and I must confess I saw you right from the start because you were wearing that dress But when I looked at you your eyes looked away so I turned to me friend and wished that you’d go away because there’s nothing to say I like to tell myself there’s nothing left to say When there’s too much to say I always tell myself there’s nothing left to say There are times when all we have well it still seems far away And there are nights when all we want doesn’t seem like much to me And there are fears we never say because we hope they’ll go away And there are secret tears we shed as we turn our backs in bed There are lies we never tell but we meant to anyway There are things we’ve never felt but we said them anyway Like “Me, I’m doing just fine.”
12.
Amalgamation of the fold, black tie choking growing old. With all my luminaries pissed off to the cemeteries. All cloaked in anonymity, the prize is bigger than we think or so I tell myself right before I sink. Turn out the lights in the night, close the curtain call Andy On the phone in my home like some typical Stanley Hear a sound, write it down, with my eye to the keyhole Like a ghost in a coat in a room full of beetles Close the door, drop the latch, I’ll keep waiting in wonder While the clock on the wall keeps on vomiting numbers There’s a spy in my tree and he’s watching me sleeping The alarm starts to ring. Culture junkie, holy hybrid, post punk, anti-hippie freak. A fanzine Pharaoh, spits prolific, still it counts for zero. In blacklight banter, rock god mantra, I dismantle minions. Emulate the flight of fallen heroes. Dead like a head in a bed with no body beneath it, with a hat and a comb and a mouth full of speeches Staring up at the fan as it spins in slow motion, There’s a buzz in the air, there’s a fly in my lotion There’s a muse in my room and she’s touching me gently There’s a voice in my head but the pill box is empty. There’s a spy in my tree and he’s watching me sleeping The alarm starts to ring. I stand on stage a victim of inquisition. Yellow light beams down, truth rose from shadow. Lorikeets chatter as the pig heads breathe their smoke into the air, as glances turn to stare, in this beast head battle. Run to the car, there’s a star on the door where I’m staying. There’s a man over there and he knows what we’re saying. That’s okay, drive away, get me back to Golgotha. Keep an eye on the sky for the black helicopter. There’s a spy in my tree and he’s watching me sleeping The alarm starts to ring.
13.
I don’t want to go silent in my room stare at fields of snow through frosty windows Death’s a latch away love is in her grave flowers in the vase ghost in the gables And in December rooms I lock all my doors In fire light and shadow play I lie on the floor as the mantra of passing days dulls to a drone I’m lost in my home, far away lost in the rooms of December Lost in retrospect all forms silhouette sounds I can’t detect life slipping by me The contours of my face I never can erase scribble out the child that now dies inside me Lost souls on apathy who squandered their youth make up the hierarchy that murders the truth to camouflage entropy but there is no use you know it’s a lie You’ll die in the room of December The seasons they used to come sweet winds to the sail now they come solemn as a lowering pail to rob all your water worth and empty your well as you die in the room of December all lyrics copyright 2004 Damien Youth
14.
Late night all alone soul winter freeze Midnight shadows try to trick me into sleeping Childhood self bid fare thee well faint voice echo life’s a fairytale trail away from me... and I don’t want to be In my garden days of no regret brown leaves scattering in their minuet life’s brittle pages crumple in the wind forming the wings of the Seraphim who wait for me... and I don’t want to be Half lit lovers lost to dusty rooms behind long shadows of afternoon in the ghost winds they fall from flight and sink like treasure in an old man’s eyes lost at sea... and I don’t want to be Ancient philosophers who said they knew now dime store prophets in a medicine show the artist steals his colors from the eye and he uses them to paint the lie and the poet is a thief and I don’t want to be all lyrics copyright 2004 Damien Youth
15.
I’m going back in my mind I’m getting lost in the currents I’m going to open that door float out of the forest I’m rising over that wall staring down at the valley and every thing is wrong I’m going out of my mind I’m going to swim through the violence I’m going to sever those ties between energy and matter My words will stick in your brain splatter in the blood cave Hieroglyphic blood stains screaming down the hallways that everything is light. I’m coming into your room I’m standing over your body I’m going to reach in your mind I’m going to fuck up your science I’m coming into your home I’m going to stir up your silence until everything is gone and everything is wrong
16.
Galaxies 05:38
Galaxy, galaxy, will you be my doorway? I can see entities, floating all through space. Galaxy, galaxy, I will be my doorway. I can come into you, unfurl in the sun. And she said, I will be your doorway. I will take you home. I will be your stairway. I will make you whole. Galaxy, galaxy, will you be my window? Volunteer, volunteer, will you take me home? Galaxy, galaxy, will you be my stairway? We are here, we are here, we are all but one. And she said, I will be your stairway. I will take you home. I will be your doorway. I will make you whole. Galaxy, galaxy, will you be my doorway? I can see entities, floating in your face. And she said, I will be your doorway. I will take you home. I will be your stairway. I will make you whole. all lyrics copyright 2004 Damien Youth
17.
Johnny told the man we’re not sticking with the plan we’re trying to find a new way. And he said we have a choice but I never found my voice in that revolution peace craze. You can take it to the streets you can raise it up on every sign But they’ll just knock you off your feet and push you back in line. I have no faith in gods or the saving grace of love I’ve no hope for all humanity. No I won’t participate I won’t vote and I won’t pray That’s just spinning phantom wheels to me. They raise up holy martyrs say they died for you and me. But the truth be known it was us who killed them anyway. It’s selfish if you think all existence is in sync with what you feel or what is in your mind. It’s not humble, it’s not wise you just hide behind your lies saying “People, God is on our side.” Johnny told the man we’re not sticking with the plan we’re trying to find a new way. I’m not trying to make you scared but Johnny disappeared they found him bleeding in his doorway. You can put it on the silver screen you can play it from your stereo But they’ll just knock you off your feet and tell you where to go.
18.
19.
20.
My California, isn’t your California And my addiction, isn’t like your addiction My holy love song, isn’t your holy love song My lonely sunrise, isn’t your lovely sunrise So don’t bully fuck me say you got me figured out don’t try to encage me, define or enslave me Cause I’m going to make it known, We’re down here on our own And What ever they tell you, they’re just trying to sell you So don’t super impose, your ugly egos, over everything unknown Your New York city, isn’t, my New York city And your holy vision, isn’t my holy vision And your Armageddon, shouldn’t be my Armageddon But your war of nations, now is, my war of nations So don’t compromise me, don’t tell me what I need Don’t tell us we’re brothers, then to kill one another You say we’re not alone, Our actions are condoned By a god who plays shepherd, while his lambs all get slaughtered Cause you’ve super imposed, your ugly egos, over everything we know Joe don’t listen to the man, It’s just another Vietnam, The blood you spill is not for the land, it’s for the money changing hands And they tell you Christ is on his throne and all your actions are condoned But the scripture reads, if truth be known, the only blood he spilled, it was his own And like a murderer knows not how to feel, a martyr knows not how to kill And if the world goes to the meek....why not turn the other cheek? why not turn the other cheek? why not turn the other cheek? why not turn the other cheek?

about

"The song remains pretty much the same over the course of the prolific Damien Youth's releases, but it's a pretty good song. And you get more than one song, of course, on Phantoms of Fables, though the approach is in line with most of his previous albums: pleasant, acoustic-based folk-pop-rock-psychedelia with some unusual lyrical twists. Since that nutshell description could be applied to some Robyn Hitchcock records, it's not that much of a surprise to find a tune here titled "I Know Where Robyn Hitchcock Lives," itself likely a partial homage to Television Personalities' cult homage "I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives." For the most part, however, the material's devoted to the kind of moods and topics common to Damien Youth territory: pastoral romance with a touch of the gothic and mystical, ghosts, melancholy days in the life ("These Days Are But Molecules"), and trippy and fearful disorientation ("Freaked Out," "Dead Relative"). Some of the lyrics go into the odd and disturbing, like "Doll Child"'s recollection of dressing up a woman (girlfriend?) like a doll child and covering her in glue, describing her as being to nymphomania "like Elvis is to heart attacks or black blind men are to blues." Still, the tone is more often than not friendly and reassuring, if more conducive to solitary dark rooms than open sunny fields. And while some more variation from the acoustic folk-rock Damien Youth frequents might be welcome, it's not all stuck in that format, going into mildly gutsy Syd Barrett-ish full rock on occasion (particularly "I Know Where Robyn Hitchcock Lives"), and employing forceful piano at others. "- Richie Unterberger

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released December 12, 2004

Damien Youth: Vocals & Instruments
Adam Wilde: Photography

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