Get all 11 Rob Marenghi releases available on Bandcamp.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of 99 Balloons, Cafes Are Closed, madam's Lights Are Out, Moonlight On The Snow, I Don't Know What To Say So I'll Say What I Think, Affairs of Kate, Stay Alive For The Family, Potential Love Disaster Blues, Beyond The Bedposts, and 3 more.
1. |
We don't Believe You
03:21
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Girls the bitching gets you boring
The boys just get two more in
They say they’re not ready
To mean you’re not the one
But the patronising advert
Do you have to?
But the snake skin suits want my vote
I know
Just one question to you
Who wears who?
Promises us a bridge
When there’s no river
Promises us a spine
When there’s no shiver
Back to spineless propaganda
Man how can you?
Eyes on the newspapers
And the foreigners
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2. |
Fakebook
02:44
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Fakebook
Where the good look
Scene oh seen
You and me happy
Fakebook
Climbing a wall
Two types, one thought
Lol
Fakebook
Sign all pretitions
You’re ending animal abuse
And hunger aren’t ya?
Fakebook
Snowflakes may storm
Round the French window
Locusts May storm
Oh
Fakebook
Only one wish
Girl don’t see how much time guy’s online
Like a fish
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3. |
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Not so voluntary coma
No use for words
The cost your very pride
The price your world
Must feel so good to feel so bad
And the bad things happen
Yeah the bad things happen
When you’re down again
The teachers warned us off them
We don’t doubt them
They enter and you salute
They were wrong so often
Must feel so big to feel so small
And nothing happens
Yeah nothing happens
When you try to score
Stepping down a river
Blow smoke at moon
The dawn is a-creaking
Wise fall to fools
Must feel so happy to feel so sad
And the sad things happen
Yeah the sad things happen
When you’re down again
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4. |
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I’m proved wrong too often to think that I’m right
I’m proved right often enough to feel alright
The only certainty here is the uncertainty
Accept the contradiction let if flow, let it be
You won’t know your truth til you’re living your lie
You won’t know your water til the well is bone dry
You won’t know your lover til she walks from you
You won’t know your firewood until it’s soaked through
And I can’t tell you where life comes from
I can’t tell you what’s going on
Neither can anyone
People value status people value clothes
I find no meaning in either of those
The very worse devils will dress up as angels
Throughout history through the ranks they rose
You won’t know your truth til you’re living your lie
You won’t know your water til the well is bone dry
You won’t know your lover til she walks from you
You won’t know your firewood until it’s soaked through
So hold on to the people you know here you reap what you sew here
Gotta give as you take
Hold onto the ones that you love yeah there’s nothing above you
Gonna save the day
And I can’t tell you where life comes from
I can’t tell you what’s going on
Neither can anyone
I’m proved wrong too often to think that I’m right
I’m proved right often enough to feel alright.
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5. |
Ballad of Omar Jones
07:32
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My name is Omar Jones and this is my story
There are many who’ve had the same one as me
My life began in London and it ended there too
And some of the details I will tell to you
My parents were poor just as soon as they arrived
And by the time I was born on the breadline
'Twas then my father started dealing in cocaine
And soon after that that he was locked away
And so my poor mother was left on her own
To raise me and my brother in what’s called a broken home
I was just a boy and too young to understand
Many of the neighbours had been dealt the same hand
So soon I went to school where I struggled to obey
The teachers didn’t like me they told me every day
Twas at the age of twelve from my school I was confused
And it was then I hit the street feeling angry and confused
I guess I was vulnerable but my brother helped me
He introduced me to his friends I liked their company
With mother now a drunk and daddy behind bars
The only home I had was in my new friends’ cars
We would pass the days driving round and discussing
All the things that we hoped our lives would bring
While we whistled at the girls and we raced the other boys
It was there in the back seat I found my first joys
But it seemed the police, they had it in for us
Whenever they saw us we became nervous
For they would often stop us and search us all for drugs
Talking to us rudely, treating us like thugs
I would come away from these searches feeling mad
My friend said get used to it it’s always like that
So we’d put it behind us and get on with our day
Though the thoughts of them were never far away
And so the weeks went by and these things became routine
And by now some of my friends had started dealing
They said they couldn’t find a job and the dole paid too little
And besides weren’t they already treated like criminals
One day my friend was busy, couldn’t make a drop
He asked me if I’d go for him just as a one off
I looked at my brother who smiled and said to me
That he’d done it before and it was no big deal
And so I agreed and my friend he shook my hand
He lit up a cigarette and he told me the plan
I was to meet another kid down an alley by a bridge
And give him an envelope in exchange for a package
And so it was that night that I went to meet the guy
I headed for the alleyway my friend had described
I found him there no problem but soon there was one
For he looked round him nervously and he pulled out a gun
He put it to my head and then he met my eye
He said "give me the money if you don’t want to die."
I tried to say okay but the words they wouldn’t come
I was paralyzed by fear, with a broken tongue
He told me again to give him the money
I suddenly unfroze and reached in my hoodie
But he must have thought I too was reaching for a gun
For then he pulled the trigger and my life was done
I was laid there for an hour before someone found me
They called up the police who came and searched my body
And the next day all the papers confirmed what they had said
That thanks to his dealing another boy is dead
My name was Omar Jones and that was my story
There are many who’ll have the same one as me
As long as there’s these drug laws and this poverty
You will hear again this tale of tragedy
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6. |
Ode to Mary Jane
03:35
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Oh why do I meet Mary Jane down by the lane?
Simply because she makes the boredom go away
But why would I trust her to show me the way?
When she just takes my hand, leads me astray
To the house says let’s stay in and not leave the room
I’m going nowhere and neither are you
My eyes are red and her eyes are green
She is a rose and roses and roses have their weeds
She brings the fog and she brings the haze
She brings the mist as she brings the daze
She makes me forget about friend and foe
Pain and pleasure, worry and woe
In the house says let’s stay in and not leave the room
I’m going nowhere, nowhere soon
My eyes are red and hers are green
She is a rose and roses have their weeds
Oh why do I meet Mary Jane down by the lane?
Simply because she makes the boredom go away
But why would I trust her to show me the way?
When she just takes my hand, takes it the wrong way
But she ain’t all bad, she’s far from that
She keeps away the stress and the loneliness
Life cheats with shadow and she brings a light
I guess she must do, she got me through tonight
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7. |
The Ghost
03:18
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The ghost stood by the window
Telling me stories of you
He went down to the basement
And dragged up a chest or two
And from it he pulled out a quill
And a leather parchment book
And he set them down on the table
And I went to have a look
The ghost sat down at the table
He stared for a while at a page
I said please write if you’re able
And then he flew in to a rage
He screwed up the page and he launched it
At a white framed picture of you
I picked it up and unscrewed it
Tried to write on it too
I put a glass on the table
I put my hand it and played
I drank to the spirit of Abel
And all other victims of hate
Then the ghost staggered to the piano
To play some old drunken hymn
Then he passed out on the mattress
Soaked in lamplight and gin.
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8. |
Glass Rain
02:43
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She made summer shade
She made night to today tonight
Her light too bright
She meant “I like you but could live
If our paths do not entwine.' Well so
Have I?
I swore a mirror
Ran like water on ice
Reflect more than more than
Than twice
Glass tears due glass rain
Friends don’t stand a chance today
And now my sky’s
Blue eyes cry
I count to ten, one two three four
Get that the ceiling’s the floor
When you
Jar my door
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9. |
Bird in the Underground
03:43
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In the poem of the night
The rules are all man-made
Pool balls clatter as glasses shatter
It’s chaos, not fate
A cloak of stars reflects in the cars
Illusion is often pretty
And newspapers lie in the gutter
By yesterday’s confetti
And you got a feeling, you can’t ignore it
Explain it, shake it or change it
That you just go down and around and around
A bird in the underground
In the poem of the night
Let us not mince words
Coke gets snorted as babies are aborted
And the priests fleece their herds
Galaxies move as you find your groove
And nightclubs light the floor
But lungs fill with smoke and livers get drunk
Cos sober it’s all a bore
And you got a feeling, you can’t ignore it
Explain it, shake it or change it
That you just go down and around and around
A bird in the underground
In the poem of the night
The rules are all man-made
Pool balls clatter as glasses shatter
It’s chaos, not fate
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10. |
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I’m travelling tonight to meet with my old friends
Hoping that the time has tied up the loose ends
Egos clashed like lances when we were very young
Now I’m older I am hoping we can have some fun
Everyone has walked their own path to get here
Some have travelled by the night and others by their fear
But what does it matter now we’re all in the same place
It seems pointless to talk about who has had the best pace
I’m travelling tonight to meet with my old friends
Hoping that the time has tied up the loose ends
Egos clashed like lances when we were very young
Now I’m older I am hoping we can have some fun
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11. |
In Pubs We Trust
04:20
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“Who needs cathedrals when you’ve got Jack Daniels?!”
Yells a man on the earth
“I slipped on a slab and I dropped my kebab!”
In a drunkards joy he sings
“At 10 o’clock I’ll have my swagger
And by 2 I stagger home alone.
When I get out I drink until I’m sick.
It gives me an excuse to sit hungover tomorrow
And I don’t have to drink it’s true
But I feel better when I do
My church it’s the bar, the ale house my altar
I’ve got to go, I’ve got to go
Yeah my church it’s the bar, the barman’s my vicar
‘Twas long ago I put my faith in Jack
And though he costs me gold
He soothes my soul
But he ain’t saved me yet
No he ain’t saved me yet
The queen bee she lives off the workers kept in line by soldiers
Like ants
Like us
Oh but I’ll buy you a 2 for 1 because it’s all for one and it’s one for all
Out here
In the bar
And I don’t have to drink it’s true
Deep down I don’t even want to
My church it’s the bar, the ale house my altar
I’ve got to go, I’ve got to go
Yeah my church it’s the bar, the barman’s my vicar
‘Twas long ago I put my faith in Jack
And though he costs me gold
He soothes my soul
But he ain’t saved me yet
No he ain’t saved me yet
Oh but I bet he will
“So who needs cathedrals when you’ve got Jack Daniels?!”
Yells a man on the earth.
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Rob Marenghi London, UK
PETER VIDANI, THE BANDCAMP DIARIES - "His sound is laced with intriguing melodies and dynamic arrangement ideas, inspired by
genres as diverse as folk, alternative, and even classical music."
Career highlights/fun bits include:
- BBC Radio London plays
- Playing live on Channel 4
- Performing with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and some kids I was teaching
- Accidentally offending Damon Albarn
... more
Rob Marenghi recommends:
Bonfire Of The Vanities
by Cats On The Beach
CLASH MAGAZINE - 'Taking the darker but more organic end of The Cure, getting some baroque pop elements on board care of some fabulous violin playing and harnassing a little Radiohead noir too.'
go to album
Estate of the Heart
by THEE DEADTIME PHILHARMONIC
Pure raw honest working class music with ecelctic music ranging from punk to reggae to excellent indie. Great lyrics. A must listen for anyone who likes The Smiths or The Verve I'd say
go to albumIf you like Rob Marenghi, you may also like:
Quickies
by The Magnetic Fields
The band's latest project includes twenty-eight new short songs that clock-in at no longer than just under three minutes.
go to album
A hushed and low-lit EP from this Melbourne musician, where dreamlike melodies drift across a bed of tender guitar.
go to album
Deep soul melodies and elastic funk grooves light up the latest from Sivu.
go to album
Recorded on the Grecian isle of Hydra, this is blissed-out psych pop with stacked falsetto harmonies and luscious arrangements.
go to album
