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Book of Man

by Rob Marr

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1.
Perfectly Obvious 02:43
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East Anglia slides by the windows in dreams Leaving behind the chaos of young ones I sleep My mind is made up I am resolved A bath so warm and deep Would rescue and put me to sleep It’s perfectly obvious, so obvious to me now Perfectly obvious, so obvious to me now That you would be Better Without me East Anglia slides by the window in dreams Leaving behind the chaos of young ones I sleep
2.
When I Was a Boy 02:46
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When I was a boy I loved my father’s favourite son When I was a boy He loved me when the work was done When I was a boy When he was a boy He loved the earth, the sky, the sun When I was a boy I loved the water and to watch the boats as they docked and hummed Now I will sail this ship through starlit night Plotting a course to make something of life Now I am a man I can decide Where to go and how to spend my time Now I am a man I can decide (Money is the freedom to decide Where to go and how to use your time Money is the freedom to decide) When I have a boy I will teach him how to run And when he has a boy And so on, and then so on Now I will sail this boat through starlit night Plotting a course to make something of life Now I am a man I can decide Where to go and how to spend my time Now I am a man I can decide (Money is the freedom to decide Where to go and how to use your time Money is the freedom to decide) I was boy
3.
High-Viz Vest 02:44
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Biscuits, dunked Puddings, custard Schoolboy food and English mustard Supermarket stubbies, Buy British, French cheese Foggy days when there is absolutely no breeze Just stillness and quiet Muffled birdsong, days alone, no mobile phone Playing guitar, working from home Watching his daughter’s kids get grown In a high-viz vest, you can never be too careful In a high-viz vest, he enjoys the slap of tarmac In his best Marks and Sparks Red Flash Cuts a dash, looking back The windows open and the heating on The cold side of the pillow, summer, sun His blue clothes, his wife’s legs His brown shoes, his white vests His Casio F-91 Being free of asthma, being able to run to Vivaldi Grisham, O’Brien, telly The Queen’s speech and Tom & Jerry Black and Decker, Araldite Being long-winded, being right The right tool for the right job The right word for the right job The right to detest wine snobs The right to worship his God In a high-viz vest, you can never be too careful In a high-viz vest, he enjoys the slap of tarmac In his best Marks and Sparks Red Flash Cuts a dash In a high-viz vest, you can never be too careful In a high-viz vest, he enjoys the slap of tarmac In his best Marks and Sparks Red Flash Cuts a dash, looking back His eldest at the table making drawings blue and yellow His middle at the piano and his youngest at the cello His wife by his side and his mother on the phone Being a modest family man in a modest family home Back when it was just enough that he cared Back when it was just enough to have been spared From his own hand When he believed in purpose and plan The years he and his daughter were one The summers that he spent with his mum The weekend he spent with his son Endings where justice is done In a high-viz vest, you can never be too careful In a high-viz vest
4.
Paper 03:03
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Beautiful, slouched so low Cigarette dangling Taken years ago So different From the man I knew So much poise and attitude Buried years ago Paper is strong when you pull it But it tears so easily Momento from longest night 1,000 megawatt smile Gone it never goes Memory’s song is a bullet I embrace so easily Paper is strong when you pull it But it tears so easily
5.
Death and Comfort 03:33
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I want the last of your heat while you’re warm I sometimes wish I had given you more Light any-angled or darkness unfold I want the last of your heat while you’re warm I have relied on you body and soul How to survive, how to be alone? I am an island, tender to the bone How to survive, how to be alone? Now death is comfort go, go, go, let go How to survive, how to be alone? I am an island, tender to the bone Go, go, let go, go, let go Go, go, let go, go, let go
6.
Pocket 03:36
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Your hair is a rope I climb in hope Sublime Tangled auburn rescue line Belays me in harness over icy rocks to a mountain top Where the wind blows strong The country of our selves the view A road a park a pub a tree a house In the city’s south Where we cook up plans of future mouths to feed In your pocket Make my home in your pocket Safe and warm in your pocket Bathed in morning light You have become home to me A place where I can rest my feet You have become home to me I will be the table legs I’ll warm the cold side of the bed I’ll bake you bread and give you head until your turn Then you can be the table legs For as long as I lack the strength We will take the weight of this in turn In my pocket Make your home in my pocket Safe from harm in my pocket Unselfconsciously I will be a home to you A place where you can rest your feet I will be a home to you I will be the table legs I’ll warm the cold side of the bed I’ll be your flawed imperfect gent Until your turn Then you can be the table legs For as long as I lack the strength We will take the weight of this in turn Your hair is a rope I climb in hope Sublime tangled auburn rescue line Belays me in harness over icy rocks to a mountain top Where the wind blows strong The country of our selves the view A road a park a pub a tree a house In the city’s south Where we cook up plans of future mouths to feed
7.
Rock the Boat 02:23
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Don’t rock the boat You’ll let the water in Don’t rock the boat You know I can hardly swim This bed is a boat That is barely afloat On the sea of our hopes We aspire To soothe and to glide To the smoothest of rides But chance and circumstance conspire Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock the boat Nails and teak creak As honesty seeps Through the cracks in our compromise “It might be easier”, you said “To sail solo instead. And sometimes it’s kinder to lie” Don’t rock the boat You’ll let the water in Don’t rock the boat You know I can hardly swim Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock the boat You place your feet on each side of the seat And you rock with a gleam in your eyes The whiskey’s the wind in your sails I bail And take my chance over the side
8.
Window of Opportunity 04:05
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If you want me you can have me A window of opportunity If you want me you can have me Perfectly eccentric you are lovelier than rising bread Complicated, like the sea Do you take me for granted So far away? If you want me you can have me a window of opportunity Perfectly eccentric the inside of your noisy head It fascinates Do you want me? If you want me you can have me If you still want me
9.
Berries 02:25
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After the crying was over Train rocks me gently to sleep Resting my head on my tuck box My name burned in the wood “Fuck You”, I wrote with my compass Scratched in the wood of the seat After the crying was over… Freed from the pews and father’s monotone We played how many of the yew tree berries Can you eat in one go? You chewed all five I swallowed mine whole Later that night you subside Now that the crying is over Sun sets out west on the sea Resting my legs on my tuck box My name burned in the wood
10.
Toe in the Water 03:15
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Afloat in a sea of green hope we are happy alone With teacups and rollups and heat from the gas-burning stove Afloat in a sea of green hope we are happy alone So come for a walk with me, come to the place we know Come on dip your toes in the water and Skinny-dive in To my blurry world of elastic and skin We’ve been tried, and survived Made something of nothing Dip your toes in the water Dive in! Now we have withstood one or two of the heavier blows While others better looking, better suited, more able were thrown And if I should have untied you, I couldn’t, I would not let you go Because this history means too much to me Yes it means too much to me You know what it’s like Yes you know what it’s like Oh you know what it’s like Come on dip your toes in the water and Skinny-dive in To my blurry world of elastic and skin We’ve been tried and survived Made something of nothing Found a place to let these noisy heads begin to unwind A place to rest these noisy heads in peace

credits

released July 9, 2021

Written and performed by Rob Marr
Mixed by Bill Gerrity and Wayne Wilkins
Mastered by Rupert Christie

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Rob Marr London, UK

Rob has been playing the piano since he was 7. He wrote his 1st song aged 15 but didn’t try again for another 10 years. Second time round he was hooked, and has been in love ever since. His music combines lyrical storytelling with a diverse but coherent range of music influences: classical piano, hip hop, folk and 90’s indie. Book of Man is an album and podcast drama, narrated by Josh O’Connor. ... more

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