THE TALE OF A SHADOW

by Damien Youth

THE TALE OF A SHADOW cover art
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03:57
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about

"The wholly acoustic The Tale of a Shadow is one of the most low-key of Damien Youth's releases. In fact, it's not too different from his first cassette releases about a decade prior to the recording of this effort, a big difference being that the sound quality's much better than those early endeavors. Damien Youth has his style and he's sticking to it: quality, tuneful folk-rock in a very British style, most highly reminiscent of Donovan, but with similarities to other U.K. acid folk wordsmiths like Syd Barrett. The only criticism one can offer is that there's little to distinguish it from many of his prior albums. Should you not be able to get enough of it, this is very affecting, slightly haunting pastoral stuff with a slightly devilish kick, ideal for psychic woodsy strolls that hide occasional nasty surprises behind the trees. Occasionally things do take a turn away from the usual format, as some tracks are more in the traditional British folk style, "Winds of Ill" sounding about halfway between Nick Drake and Bert Jansch. The only non-original draws from quite an unconventional source: "Gently Johnny," which sounds like a British folk tune save for the almost shockingly forthright sexually suggestive lyrics, was first heard in the 1970s cult film The Wicker Man." - Richie Unterberger

credits

released 01 November 2000
Damien Youth: Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards & recorder.
Elizabeth Black: Photography

tags

tags: lo-fi rock acid folk gothic indie rock psychedelic New Orleans

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Track Name: Mary Of Hawthorn
Treasures often hide in places no one dares to look.

Mary of Hawthorn, will you marry me? I whisper to myself as quickly she goes by
Mary of Hawthorn, though ugly I might be. You've heard it of the wise, beauty's nothing but a guise,
a velvet flask of lies, a temporary prize. What you need's forever & it's right here in my eyes.

Mary of Hawthorn, though I live in poverty. I give you all I have & all I have is me.
Mary of Hawthorn, though ignorant I might be, whenever you go by my mind runs wild with pros & poetry, visions of a family, our children looking up at me & smiling as I touch their face, they look so much like you.

Mary of Hawthorn, though crippled I may be. I'd stand up for you love & protect you from your enemies
Mary of Hawthorn, I wish that you could see, no man could ever love you half as much as me. If only you could see, as you pass me on the streets. . .

That, treasures often hide in places no one dares to look
Track Name: Mad Chester
Mad old uncle Chester walks the corridors
his metal knew caps clicking doth proceed him
Down the narrow hallways I am hiding in the Chifferobe and pretending I'm in god school
I will close my eyes and build new doorways
I escape I am expanding to the cosmos

And Chester he comes like Lucifer
He pressed his crow's eye against the keyhole
beneath the hinge
He sticks his narrow cork screw finger
through the opening
There's people in that window singing church songs
through a fan

Chester's in there hovering the sink
and loading enemas I'm laying on my stomach
When we are interrupted by the preacher's fat kid
on the porch he's talking god through screen door
Aunt Vera's going through her bag
like she is in the checkout line, she's purchased immortality
From pudgy pimple headed angel selling life like watches from a trench coat in an alley way

And I asked him why it's okay to laugh at those who fall down. But it's not okay to laugh at those who fall down, never to get up again
And why is death so serious, can't you see the irony ? What better fate for animals who try to spend their lives favoring hind legs

Uncle Chester closed the door he brings me to my room he holds me down in godless silence
"Crono Lamiana" uncle Chester speaks in tongues
in order to drown out his violence.
Track Name: Doppelganger Song
I onced upon a magic field of dragonflies & daffodils
& glitter rain confetti fluttered down
I followed on the stony path I sat beneath the hovercraft
communing telepathic, without sound
I can barely recall all the places that I saw,
they still come to me in streams but I try & pass them off as dreams

I floated up on cosmic wheels, I've laid upon the table still
as all the little doctors gathered 'round
A sperm tailed mutant fairy sized, rubbing ointment in my eyes
I tried to scream but could not make a sound
I can barely recall all the things they did to me,
they still come to me in streams but I try & pass them off as dreams

I woke up on an icy slope a strange man standing with a goat
he said he was the man I was to be
My doppelganger solemnly, stared & then he turned away
& walked into a corridor of light
I can barely recall all the faces that I saw,
they still come to me in streams but I try & pass them off as dreams
Track Name: Winds Of Ill (Tale Of A Shadow)
One more glass of suicide & I'll walk out on my own tonight through these abstract lawns or fair city.
I'll see which way my shadow goes & I'll follow him down twisting roads then we'll rest in the high grass
Lying drunk on summer nights in a field of fire flies
nearly blind & too numb to feel
I say a prayer to Jesus Christ I asked him for some sound advice
but all I got was the winds of ill.

And then I slowly fell asleep under cloudy skies
And the fog it did roll in

I wake up in the morning mist & aimlessly I start to drift & I find myself back on Market street
I walked on through the busy crowd until I saw an old man lying down, men in white coats stood around him
And just before I turned my eyes someone said "This man has died" so I looked... Oh this can't be real.
As they lifted him up from the street I recognized the man as me then I froze in the winds of ill.

I'm but the shadow of the man I used to be
eternal cast, limbotic paradox
I am the victim of a strange anomaly
I am the ticking without the clock

I hid behind the bakery, a fat man walked by on the streets so I followed him, beneath the sun
I stopped under a willow tree for it's shadow whispered low to me "When the night falls, we will be gone" "When the night falls, we will be gone"
"When the night falls, we will be gone"
Track Name: Gently Johnny (Wicker Man)
I put my hand upon her knee & she said, do you want to see.
I put my hand upon her breast & she said, do you want to kiss

Gently gently gently Johnny
Gently Johnny my jingo.
Gently gently gently Johnny
Gently Johnny my jingo

I put my hand upon her thigh & she said
would you like to try
I put my hand upon her belly & she said
do you want to fill me

Gently gently gently Johnny
Gently Johnny my jingo.
Gently gently gently Johnny
Gently Johnny my jingo
Track Name: Don't Cast Shadows
Don't cast shadows on me, Mary
Don't cast shadows on me, Mary
She flowers towards me in a spiral of daggers
unfold delicate & dangerous
blood red flowing, eyes cast dour

And Autumn rests upon her head
like thorny crown of fingers dead
all wrapped around & spirit stained
like Jesus chains, like Jesus chains

Don't cast shadows on me, Mary
Don't cast shadows on me, Mary
She comes up behind me in a forest of angels
glowing alabaster sunrise
growing dark behind her figure

She follows me through foggy mist
in spirit flow she sweeps her ghost
through hollow chasms 'neath the trees
she's haunting me, she's haunting me

Don't cast shadows on me, Mary
Don't cast shadows on me, Mary
Track Name: Windows
You've got a place in this world
no matter what they say
I know you feel so alone
and you're feeling so afraid
Well, I'm reaching out to you
from the corner of this room
And I want you to know
Yes I want you to know
I love you. . . I love you.
You're such a sacred soul

We've got a place in this life
though we're not like anyone
hey.. I'm really talking to you
can you feel me in your room
Close your eyes and you'll see me here
in the forest of your mind
and I want you to know
before you close your door
I have been in here before
I have been inside before
We have done this all before
You remember me in here
Do you remember me in here?
You should know
I'm not going anywhere