← Peter Rand

Lyrics

Lyrics and credits, song by song, across the catalogue — with thanks to everyone who wrote or played on these tracks. Where a song was written with someone else, that's noted here too. Click a song to open it. See everyone who's contributed on the Contributors index.

Imperial Measures

Words to the Wise

1 January 2024 · Bandcamp

Imperial Measures is a three-person band: Peter Rand (Keys/Guitar, music and most of the lyrics), Kevin Hartnell (drums/percussion/keys/arrangement/mixing/mastering), and Stefanie Kisamore (“Stef” — vocals, and co-lyricist on “You and I”).

1.Words to the Wise
Lyrics: Peter Rand
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keys/Guitar, Stef – Vocals, Kevin Hartnell – Drums/Percussion/Keys/Arrangement/Mixing/Mastering, with Vijay Puri – Lead Guitar, Jim Bryan – Bass
“Written the morning after half-remembering a great lyric idea from a dream, then losing it again by full wake.”
Sun breaks through
Morning light
Bedside clock tells time
Eyes stay shut
Sleep holds back each rhyme

Songs that whisper
Through the night
Disappear
Disappear
Lines that told
The story right
Disappear
Disappear

All just words to the wise
Keep this sleep from my eyes
All just words to the wise
Keep this sleep from my eyes

Another me
Another world
Finds the words to say
Another me
Another world
Lives another day

All just words to the wise
Keep this sleep from my eyes
All just words to the wise
Keep this sleep from my eye
2.Long Time Coming
Lyrics: Peter Rand
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keys/Guitar, Stef – Vocals, Kevin Hartnell – Drums/Ebow Guitar/Mixing/Mastering, with Jim Bryan – Bass, Mark Broding – Piano
“A song about loss followed by redemption and reconciliation.”
Winter snows slowly melt in the sun
A new day has only begun
These journeys melt into one
Unburdened, unfinished, undone

From tears to rivers
From the seas to skies
It's a long time coming as fools become wise

For every river
That flowed to the sea
It's a long time coming
Now you flow through me
As the fruit fell so far from the tree
The sand became one with the sea
Each captive now longs to be free
Each jailer hates every key

From tears to rivers
From the seas to skies
It's a long time coming as fools become wise

For every river
That flowed to sea
It's a long time coming
Now you flow through me
3.Perfect Circle
Lyrics: Peter Rand
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keys/Guitar, Stef – Vocals, Kevin Hartnell – Drums/Percussion/Keys/Mixing/Mastering — just the three of them, no outside musicians
“A simple love song.”
If I could sing the greatest love song
If I could climb this tree
If I could draw the perfect circle
That is where you'd be

If you could only take a second
Second look at me
If you could only take an hour
Our eternity

Going nowhere, round and round
Perfect Circles, lost and found

Together we are so much more
From rainfall to the sea
Going round in perfect circles
That is where we'd be

Going nowhere, round and round
Perfect Circles, lost and found
4.You and I
Lyrics: Peter Rand & Stef (co-written)
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keys/Guitar, Stef – Vocals, Kevin Hartnell – Drums/Percussion/Keys/Rhythm Guitar/Lead Guitar/Arrangement/Mixing/Mastering
Walking through autumn streets as the wind cut through my thoughts
Stem the tide from defeat and losing the battle inside

You and I
Carried to the distant tides
Sailing uncharted skies

Driving the lonely roads
And the silence cuts through the night
The tears came so easy and I knew I had try to fight for

You and I
Carried to the distant tides
Sailing uncharted skies

Take the dive in the blue
No more monsters waiting
Resurface unknown only then are we sailing

You and I
Carried to the distant tides
Sailing uncharted skies
5.Chemistry Lessons
Lyrics: Peter Rand
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keys, Stef – Vocals, Kevin Hartnell – Drums/Percussion/Keys/Backing Vocals/Mixing/Mastering, with Jim Bryan – Bass
“A song about those now gone who shaped who we are and brought us into being.”
I know you're hiding
In the shadows as I walk
An imprint on the life I lead
Where you left your mark

The universe stays silent
On how this comes to be
Mother Nature, mother nurture
Love or heredity

The best and worst of all worlds
Is the only one I see
And you somehow already knew
The best and worst of me

You know I'm trying
To overcome the doubt
Compressed like coal
In seams that wear me out

The scientist says nothing
Of the chemistry of love
Otherworld dimensions
I seem to be part of

The best and worst of all worlds
Is the only one I see
And you somehow already knew
The best and worst of me

I know you're hiding
In the shadows as I walk
An imprint on the life I lead
Where you left your mark
6.The Price of Soap
Lyrics: Peter Rand
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keys/Guitar, Stef – Vocals, Kevin Hartnell – Drums/Percussion/Keys/Arrangement/Mixing/Mastering, with Philippe Pansard – Bass, Jamie Williams – Guitar
“About Lever Brothers / Port Sunlight Village and their Belgian Congo (Leverville / Huileries du Congo Belge) factories.”
So from a single thread
The dancing flickers gave us light
Dirty hands held out in prayer
Pray morning comes after night

Hanging by a single thread
Searching for the daily bread
Don't put heaven in our heads
Give us time to live instead

We pay the price of soap
Never to come clean
We pay the price of hope
Never to dream
7.Far off Tides
Lyrics: Peter Rand
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keys/Guitar, Stef – Vocals, Kevin Hartnell – Arrangement/Mixing/Mastering, with David Claridge – Vocals, Jim Bryan – Bass, Brian Henry – Drums
“About the distance between us and our dreams.”
We were once on fire
With the plans we made
Set the world alight
Cut through like a blade

Watching from the shore
Dreams end at an empty door
Bound on all sides
Strapped into this fairground ride

Embers of the day
Watch the red sun fade
Like some castaway
Tomorrow's delayed

You're out of sight once more
Distance what we answer for
Across the great divide
Moonwashed home, far-off tides

On all sides
Dreams end at an empty door
Life divides
Dreams wash up on far-off tides

The Promise of Morning

1 January 2025

Lyrics are credited jointly. Core roles throughout: Music – Peter Rand; Keyboards/Guitars – Peter Rand; Drums/Bass/Keyboards/Guitars/Bells/Whistles – Kevin Hartnell; Vocals – Stefanie Kisamore and Kevin Hartnell; Mixing/Engineering/Production/Artwork – Kevin Hartnell.

1.Persona
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Kevin Hartnell, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio, plus Philippe Pansard – Bass
“Identity and truth can hide behind carefully crafted masks. Your masks define you, and conceal the self beneath. You can hide the doubts for a time but they come to the surface, as jetsam from the lives of others.”
Hide your clouds behind the sun
Hide the races you never won
Hide yourself away for a while
Hide the frown behind the smile
Persona
Persona
Another place is where you wish to be
Take my hand and come with me
Where I can see you

Hide the pain behind the door
Hide the fear you felt before
Hide the god who left you there
Hide these children from their prayers
Hide the anger in the jar
Hide the feelings somewhere far
Hide the past to stay afloat
Hide the truth don't rock this boat
Persona
Persona
Another place is where you wish to be
Take my hand and come with me
Where I can see you

No more clouds behind your sun
In this race, yes you won
Don't hide away from me now
Show that beautiful smile
Let me take away all the pain
I won't let you feel the fear again
Another place
Another place is where we'll be
Persona
Persona
Another place is where you wish to be
Take my hand and come with me
Where I can see you
2.Tuesday's Children
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Kevin Hartnell, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio only
“Back to the start — born on a Tuesday, in a Mother and Baby Home. You were taken from your 18 year old mother and given for adoption. Your mother is left alone, without you, in this new country. Soon you find yourself in a new home — with a new family, a new name, a new life.”
The journey starts with just one look
She walks towards the distant stone
Her child to be
Temporary
18, she walks alone
The first page of your favourite book
Children in a magic time
But doors in here stay closed for good
These babes in the backwood
Tuesday's children in disgrace
She leaves his life for good
No memento, no goodbye
The boy still has your eyes
3.All I Need
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Kevin Hartnell, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio only
“Isolation lingers, as does a longing for connection. There is always another place where you wish to be. A reminder of your outwardly calm and inner disjointed worlds. In fragmented moments, you reach for a piece of someone else to feel whole. Divided by time, by tide yet still, the longing for unity persists.”
Every coin has two sides
Falling down
Heads or Tails
Everyone's cells divide
Every line succeeds or fails

All I need
Is just a little piece
Of you
All I need
Is just a little piece
Of you
All I need
Is just a little piece
Of you
All I need
Is just a little piece
Of you divided by time and tide
We both need to be alive
you and I the same inside
how can we both survive?

Inside of you I find the love I need
Inside of you I find the love I need
Inside of you I find the love I need
Inside of you I.. to grow

All I need
Is just a little piece
Of you
All I need
Is just a little piece
Of you
All I need
Is just a little piece
Of you
All I need
Is just a little piece
Of you divided by time and tide
We both need to be alive
you and I the same inside
how can we how can we survive?

All I need
Is just a little piece
Of you
All I need
Is just a little piece
Of you
All I need
Is just a little piece
Of you
All I need
Is just a little piece
Of you
4.Playing with Fire
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Kevin Hartnell, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio only
“You blame yourself for somehow causing life's inevitable problems. You retreat into yourself and the safety of silence.”
You spend your life in a constant dreaming
Fiction world where the futures set fair
New tomorrows might be redeeming
But the wanted answer's not there
Not there
It's a downward slope, surely you're sliding
You're playing with fire that's not there

You spend your life in a lonely sorrow
For mistakes you never made
Walk through life always for-ever hollow
But there's no need to be afraid
Don't be afraid
It's a downward slope, surely you're sliding
You're playing with fire that's not there

Missing out on life and the how
You have to take the here and now
Time won't wait
Don't you hear the warning?

Don't spend your life in a constant dreaming
A fiction world that never cares
A new tomorrow would be redeeming
At least the answer's always there
Always there
It's a downward slope, surely you're sliding
stop playing with fire that's not there

Playing with fire
Playing with fire
5.Waiting Game
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Kevin Hartnell, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio, plus Chris Branch – Bass, Jamie Williams – Guitar
“You come to realise — many of the evils in life are caused externally, by a heady combination of banality, apathy, and greed. You finally join in the struggle with others for a better world. And yet these battles are usually lost. You wonder as to how you can move forward.”
I hear the words you try to say
They make no sense at all
I sense an overwhelming fear
You're scared of being here
I want it all to go away

The vicious circle turns again
What really happens now
Has already happened then
The fireman comes to douse the flame
The politician takes no blame
The gods on high on the last plane
The rest of us remain

This one life is no hobby
Go call an army of nobodies
Who left to their own devices
Explode onto my screen

I'm waiting for the quiet voice
To silence the siren call
I know it isn't yours
Waiting for the fall

And so I'm left to my own devices
And so I'm met with empty stares
And so I'm left to my own devices
And nobody seems to care
6.Falling
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Kevin Hartnell, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio, plus Jim Bryan – Bass, Jamie Williams – Guitar
“You are still troubled by a life that never was. You want to blame the person that led you here, and left you with, these feelings.”
It was a long hard climb
To the mountain top with you
A long hard climb
Only rescued by the view
Then you made your excuses
And were gone before I knew
So here I come
Free falling from the blue

There's still some way to go
I'm falling faster than you know
Travelling past the speed of sound
I call - Why don't you turn around?

Falling, falling on the way
The way down to the bitter end

Past memories and trinkets
Seem to float around my head
The life I had with you back then
The life I would have lead
But you pulled that pin
Cut the cord around my head
I've a one-way ticket
To a land of maybe and instead

Falling, falling on the way
The way down to the bitter end

And I can see you pass me by
You seem to race towards the sky
Head in the clouds
And you wave goodbye
Head in the sand
And I wonder why
I'm falling on the way down
On the way down to the bitter end
7.Ash
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Kevin Hartnell, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio only
“Your life is outwardly successful, yet the demons and doubts within you cause ever more pain. A short day, then endless night, where missed opportunities and dreams unfulfilled leave their mark.”
Silence wakes me
Among the debris
Where life takes me
A game of wait and see

Song plays once more
Tribute to a fallen man
You knew the score
Before the song began
Began....

What we come to
Stuck here like statues
Take me with you
All the way right through
Wake me from dreaming
Save me from screaming
Stop me from believing
This life is redeeming

Each short day
Ash black cabaret
Each long night
Sung in ashen white
Each short day
Ash black cabaret
Each long night
Sung in ashen white

Call me volcano
Caught by the downflow
Caught in the red glow
Too hot to let go
Call me tornado
Lifted and let go
End of the rainbow
Quite where I don't know

Wake me from dreaming
This life is redeeming

Each short day
Ash black cabaret
Each long night
Sung in ashen white
Each short day
Ash black cabaret
Each long night
Sung in ashen white

What we come to
Stuck here like statues
Take me with you
All the way right through
Wake me from dreaming
Save me from screaming
Stop me from believing
This life is redeeming
8.Neverland
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Kevin Hartnell, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio, plus Darren Houghton – Guitar
“A song which captures the both worlds you think you are inhabiting. In each one the grass is always greener in the other.”
The song we never sung
The love we never gave
The hurt we never felt
The life we never saved
The children never born
The favours never asked
The debt we never owed
The future never past
All the forbidden fruits in Neverland

The paths we never walked
The journeys never made
The friends we never met
The feelings never stayed
The questions never asked
The answers never found
The tears we never cried
The bells we never sound
The change will never come
The sun will never rise
The day will never dawn
For the truth, for the truth and never lies

The song we never sung
The love we never gave
The hurt we never felt
The life we never saved
All the forbidden fruits in Neverland
All the forbidden fruits in Neverland in Neverland
All the forbidden fruits in Neverland
9.Medusa
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Kevin Hartnell, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio, plus “The Other Michael” – Guitar
“The day arrives when two worlds merge into one.”
The face behind the mirror, smiles you plunge into cold summer guile
Inside the void, she calls your name
A whispered thread in her lover's game
upon her gaze,
A crown of stone
tearing all away that you have known

Behind the shield, beneath the mask
lie fear and love, the twin we bask
Inside the void, she calls your name
A whispered thread in her lover's game
upon her gaze,
A crown of stone
tearing all away that you have known
10.Running Scared
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Kevin Hartnell, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio, plus Robert Williams – Bass
“This moment of togetherness does not last. Yet, you are still linked to those around you in many more ways than before.”
One more year around a sun
Far too far from anyone
Now
There sits another me
Lost from view in Relativity
running scared, running scared, running scared

This strange world links us
And keeps us apart
Forever One
the beating of two hearts
From the moment when we appear
To the moment when we leave
the darkness washes me in waves
In my sleep i meet the never saved
And as I look up to the stars
Long dead but still shining from afar
i'm running scared, running scared, running scared
I'm running, i'm running, i'm running scared
I'm running, I'm running, I'm running scared

This strange world links us
And keeps us apart
Forever One

Hello
Goodbye
Hello
Goodbye
Dust in the mind's eye
Hello
Goodbye
another year, around the sun
another year, but not for everyone
From the moment that we appear
To the moment we take our leave
I'm running scared
I'm running scared
11.Wages for Cages
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Kevin Hartnell, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio, plus Chris Branch – Bass
“We are all forced to make bargains in life. New beginnings in return for penance, money in return for labour, and love in return for home.”
I heard you
From a distance
And the music that you played
Present past and our future
Now those debts are paid
Wages for cages

Two strangers on an even stranger road
It takes us somewhere new
While I am still searching
Home has come for you
Wages for cages

Rich man, poor man, ride along
All I have to give is this song
Rich man, poor man, ride along
All I have to give is this song
Wages for cages at least I had this song

Words from pages
Wisdom from sages
Locked in stages
Wages for cages
Look to the skies
Searching for highs
I can't see you now
And you can't tell me
What lies behind?
The ties that bind
This lonely path
This aftermath
In this cage of mine

Words from pages
Wisdom from sages
Locked in stages
Wages for cages
Look to the skies
Searching for highs
I can't see you now
And you can't tell me
What lies behind?
The ties that bind
This lonely path
This aftermath
In this cage of mine
12.Resurrection
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Kevin Hartnell, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio only
“Things you see in the dark turn out to be very different when you awake. There is always hope.”
Resurrection

When the light goes out
It's darker than it's ever been
When the light goes out
Stumble over last remains
Cos it's harder to see the way
It's harder to see the way

Single ray of light
Turning grey to burning gold
Single ray of light
Resurrected world unfolds

When the light goes out
It's darker than it's ever been
When the light goes out
I
Stumble over last remains
Cos it's harder to see the way
It's harder to see the way

Single ray of light
Turning grey to burning gold
Single ray of light
Resurrected World unfolds

When the sun comes out its brighter than its ever been
When the sun comes out
That's when I see al the last remains
Cos it's easier to see the way
Easier to see the way

Single ray of light
Turning grey to burning gold
Single ray of light
Resurrected World unfolds

Single ray
Just a single ray of light
13.The Promise of Morning
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Kevin Hartnell, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio, plus Chris Branch – Bass, Jamie Williams – Guitar, Richard Bradley – Guitar
“All of your other worlds and dreams are still there. But, for however long this journey lasts, you still have a single morning star to show you the way.”
She comes without warning
Stars fade into light
She turns all the clocks back
She empties the night
She stands on the mountains
Commands every blade
High in the wilderness
Low in the glade

Call her name
Into the rain
Call her name
Through the night
Call her name
Into the dark

And she comes

She flows as a river
She burns as a flame
She comes as a stranger
To call me by name
She leaves with the evening
Yet in her remains
The promise of morning
And more of the same

Call her name
Into the rain
Call her name
Through the night
Call her name
Into the dark
14.Tinsel Town
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Kevin Hartnell, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio, plus Richard Bradley – Bass (2024 remix)
Note: Bonus track
“This track was written as a one off in the run up to Christmas 2023, looking at Christmas through the eyes of someone without a home.”
Lift me up
Hand me down
Take me through Tinsel Town
Doors and windows
All in white
Windows and doors
For one night

Gifts that I carry
Don't weigh me down
Open your door
Let me inside
See beyond headlines
See beyond now
Make me a friend
Wear your own crown

It's no sin
Take me in
Take me through Tinsel Town

Gifts that I carry
Don't weigh me down
Open your door
Let me inside
See beyond headlines
See beyond now
Make me a friend
Wear your own crown

Threefold

1 January 2026

“This is our third album together, there are three of us, and, more than ever before, this album contains just the three of us. Stef's vocals weave throughout the album, as does Kevin's studio and instrumentation mastery. This time round too, the lyrics are more of a collaborative effort between Peter and Stef. The themes covered include Love and Loss, Age, Politics, Family Ties, and Friendship.” Lyrics credited to Peter and Stef — Stef on vocals, Peter on Guitars/Keyboards — plus Kevin's talents on Drums/Bass/Guitars/Keys and engineering/artwork.

1.Taking My Time
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio, plus Chris Branch – Bass
Time takes the old man
Time takes the young
Time takes the weakest
Time takes the strong
So if you'll forgive me
I'll be taking my time

The cords that I cut
With my own hidden knife
This life in a moment
A moment in this life
Words I whisper
Struggle to be heard
Against the song
Of a mockingbird

Time takes the beauty
Time takes the beast
Time takes the best of us
Time takes the least
So if you'll forgive me
I'll be taking my time

The stars that we worship
Will be claimed by Mother Dust
Father Time forgotten
And everything is lost
This is my present tense
That was my past
As for my future
It can never last
So if you'll forgive me
I'll be taking my time
So if you'll forgive me
I'll be taking my time
2.Water Child
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio only
Just a girl
In a Chinese dress
This photograph cannot express
The love and pain that day you came
a moment found then lost again

The river flows through lonely miles
Washing the hurt for the water child
The river flows through lonely miles
Washing the hurt from the water child

Just a boy trying to forget
This photograph reminds him yet
The sacrifice
The bad advice
Forgotten life
The bitter price

The river flows the lonely mile
The love and pain that day you came
a moment found then lost again

The river flows through lonely miles
Washing the hurt for the water child
The river flows through lonely miles
Washing the hurt for the water child

The love and pain that day you came
a moment found then lost again
The sacrifice
The bad advice
Forgotten life
The bitter price

The river flows through lonely miles
Washing the hurt for the water child
The river flows through lonely miles
Washing the hurt for the water child
3.Time Lapse
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio only
“Same title as the Dave Budd-written track on Cheshire Ghosts, but a completely different, unrelated song.”
How can I tell you
All these hidden dreams
How can we understand
Life's not all it seems
Time's leading me down the hour glass
Memories flash in
My life is a time lapse

Should I let go?
Open my arms
Take a deeper breath
Lie myself back
In soft mother earth
Fold me in these garments
Bury me deep, bury me deep
Let me fly, so goodbye
Let me fly, let me fly

Time's leading me down the hour glass
Memories flash in
My life is a time lapse

How can they tell you
Time will heal your wounds
In time of unwatched sunsets
Come round too soon?

No use for gold
No need for clothes
Open your heart
The curtains closes
No need to know
Where we all go
Where do we go?
Time lapse
Just go

I can't tell you
All these hidden dreams
I can't understand
Life isn't as it seems
Time's leading me down the hour glass
Memories flash in
My life is a time lapse

Fold me in these clothes
Cover me with sky
I'm going deep deep down just let me fly
4.Through a Lens
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio only
Through a lens, do you see?
Or am I blind?
Just send me a sign.
Where are you now?
Just drop me a line to show me that you care.
I'm waiting here at the end of days.
You're still looking, looking, from the inside.
Through a lens.

I'm set aflame, and kept in shame.
Whatever you claim - I'm still keeping this name.
Would you send me a sign?
Are you still there?
Show me you care!
Show me you care!
I'm waiting here at the end of days.
I'm looking, looking until the turn of the tide.

Clock is ticking. should i abort?
If you're shouting your words fall short
I'm here waiting until it burns
I fuel the fire until the tide turns
(fire burns)
Till the tide turns

Through a lens
Do you see?
just give me a sign

I'm set aflame, and kept in shame.
Whatever you claim - I'm still keeping this name.
Would you send me a sign?
Are you still there?
Show me you care!
Show me you care!
I'm waiting here at the end of days.
You're still looking, looking, from the inside.

Through a lens, do you see?
Or am I blind?
Send me a sign
Drop me a line
Show me that you still care
5.Walk Away
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio only
City lights still burn bright
Crowds walk by in the weekend high
Freezing cold behind the glitz
Not very old yet there he sits
It's not a choice he ever made
Speak quiet voice in light and shade
Just walk away. walk away
It's not your problem anyway
Or so they say
Walk away
It's not your problem anyway

As in this dark
Each shadow fades
Each life unmade
Stars shine dismayed
Though you pass by
You know they need a change
You are asked for a change
You just walk away
Walk away
iI's not your problem anyway
Or so they say
Walk away
It's not your problem anyway

So he goes in dirty clothes
Asks for change but you have none
Too close, too close to home
Seems too near too near to the bone
It's not a choice he ever made
Speak quiet voice in light and shade
Just walk away. walk away
It's not your problem anyway
Or so they say
Walk away
It's not you problem anyway

As in this dark
Each shadow fades
Each life unmade
Stars shine dismayed
Though you pass by
You know they need a change
You are asked for a change
but you just walk away
You walk away
It's not your problem
In any way
Walk away
6.Lake House
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio, plus Philippe Pansard – Bass
Find me a place to forget
No second thoughts no regrets
Just take a break
For one day
House by a lake
Swim away

Living a life of ease
Can't see the wood for the trees
Take me away from it all
You're the drug to soften the fall
Take me away from it all

Save me in ways I've never been
I hold my breath, let it begin
Take the plunge
Jump right in
Wash away
Medicine

Take me away from it all
You're the drug to soften the fall
Take me away

Trick me with your creed
Prick me watch me bleed
Take me away
7.Between the Lines
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio only
To those I failed, left behind
Written out of time
Invisible
Dead upon the page
Between each line
Time draws his wage

Somewhere in these words
Lies and truth combine
Somewhere in this world
Hide between the line

With those I call a friend
Each second spent in time
Unfolds to last forever
When you read between the lines
8.Reading the Runes
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio only
What do you see?
What happens now
Don't hesitate
It's coming fast
Do you look in front of you?
Intuition, circumstance

We're on the edge of a cliff
Just read between the lines in hidden print - there's a hint
Look deeper, deeper, can you see the signs?
Reading the runes
Misinformation, manipulation, no hesitation,
Open your eyes!
Your decision, intuition, no confusion,
Open your eyes!

What was done, was done before
Don't look away, don't ignore
We're on the edge of a cliff
Just read between the lines in hidden print
Look deeper can you see the signs?
Reading the runes
Misinformation, manipulation, no hesitation,
Open your eyes!
Your decision, intuition, no confusion,
Open your eyes!

Now is the time
Open your eyes
History repeats by design
Reading the runes
Reading the runes
Just open your eyes!
Misinformation, manipulation, no hesitation,
Open your eyes!
Your decision, intuition, no confusion,
Open your eyes!
9.Faces
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio only
Look into the faces
Staring on through time
Some of them are strangers
Yet the others look like mine

Prison takes the beggars
Hangman takes the thief
The churchyard takes the rest
Stones the payment for belief
We're still here and need relief from it all
From it all, from it all

Death brushes the children
Names echo down the tree
Brother sister father mother
The tears fall down to me

Prison takes the beggars
Hangman takes the thief
The churchyard takes the rest
Stones the payment for belief
We're still here and need relief from it all
From it all, from it all

And if the silence speaks where no name is ever said
Will the weight we bear be broken by the living or the dead?

In a sea of faces
We all have the lines
Each one of us will face him
The judge of father time

Prison takes the beggars
Hangman takes the thief
The churchyard takes the rest
Stones the payment for belief
We're still here and need relief from it all
From it all, from it all
10.Last Song
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio only
If the day ever comes
With no morning sun
And bird songs are sung silently
If the night stands alone
A queen with no throne
Then you must save the last dance for me

If you're left to yourself
When you look for some help
And the answer is nowhere to see
If on faraway shores
Friendship's no more
Then you must save the last kiss for me

If on faraway shores
There is friendship no more
Then you must save the last kiss for me

If you find all my words
Unsung and unheard
And all these lines somehow end up on view
I was wasting my time
With the rest of the rhymes
But I have saved this last song for you

If the day ever comes
With no morning sun
And bird songs are sung silently
If the night stands alone
A queen with no throne
Then you must save the last dance for me

Save the last dance
Save the last kiss
Save the last song
Save it all
Save it all
Save it all
For you and me
11.Killing Time
Lyrics: Joint – Peter Rand, Stefanie Kisamore
Musicians: Core trio only
Note: Bonus track
In just one life
So many names
A single picture
Bounded by a hundred frames
The strands that bind us fast
So quickly to be torn apart
The picture fades with time
As quickly as the heart
Killing time killing time
Killing time killing time

A single chapter
Leaves us wanting more
Each are known by names
We never knew before
And so we build again
And life begins anew
The skins we shed lie all around
The lives we never knew
Killing time killing time
Killing time killing time
Killing time

Just like a word
Can bring many tears
A single lifetime
Soon will disappear
The strands that bind us fast
So quickly to be torn apart
The picture fades with time
As quickly as the heart
Killing time
Killing time killing time

Just one life
So many names
A single picture
Bounded by a hundred frames
Killing time
Môr

The Wisdom of Simple Things

4 April 2024

Ramlee Oak is the sole lyricist for every track (Lyrics, Vocals, Bass, Drums); Chris Matthews (Guitars, Mixing, Music, Production) and Peter Rand (Guitars, Keyboards, Music) share the music-writing credit throughout. Ramlee, on the album's songwriting: a clinical psychologist friend once told him that most people, stripped of case details, are struggling with their relationships — that insight shaped the record. “Hymn to the Ordinary” is about fatherhood; the title track explores our relationship with truth. Additional playing throughout from Nick DeNardo, David Stahl, Brian Henry, Jim Bryan, Alex Fadista, Alberto Alberti, Mark Broding, Ralph Tonge, Matthew Heindorff and Milt Barney — in Ramlee's words, “without them, this album would have been only half as good. All of them are as much a part of this band as Chris, Peter and myself.”

1.Night Light
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Peter Rand – Original Composition/Acoustic Guitar/Piano, David Stahl – Drums/Strings, Jim Bryan – Bass, Ramlee Oak – Lyrics/Vocals, Alex Fadista – Electric Guitar, Ralph Tonge – Guitar
Along an ancient coastline, into a sheltered bay
My mother swam ashore to a gathering underway
It was a grand reunion, an annual soiree
Without the Tupperware or all-you-can-eat buffet
And as she left the water, to an expanse of sand
She saw a thousand sisters spread out along the strand
They had a larger mission, to advance our kind
To fulfil a promise antiquity designed

How do they expect me to survive?, it seems that I've been buried alive
A cool and dark high water mark, where I sleep both safe and dry
And for a hundred million years, our mothers filled the sea with their tears
The tide now high, they say goodbye, leaving us behind

Then came a day, no longer could I stay, an urge, a flight, to make it to the light
I ran, I fled as gulls flew overhead, we fly, we flee, at last we feel the sea

I know the pressured darkness, I've seen the fiery ring
I've faced my share of hardships like every living thing
I've seen the sunken cities, I've seen the ships of men
And swum the routes of my ancestors again and again
By way of constellations, in fluid gravity
The machinations in the sea of tranquility
I read the merging currents, the pull of magnetite
And given names to each and every point of light

From apogee to perigee, the moon over the Isle of Capri
The coral cay where Hemingway, wrote about the will to live
A majestic and dramatic scene, a planet bathed in aquamarine
A tiny land where Paul Gauguin, learned how to forgive

Then with the dawn, the coast where I was born, my course as planned, the clean secluded strand
My hope, my fear, the force that guides me here, we reunite, we'll make it to the light
2.The Wisdom of Simple Things
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Chris Matthews – Original Composition/Acoustic Guitar/Strings/Drum Programming, Ramlee Oak – Lyrics/Vocals/Bass
T'was always inconceivable, we'd ever conquer flight
We used to think the Earth was flat, the Sun our satellite
Our greatest minds alone withdrew, afraid to speak of what they knew
Experiment and evidence, the triumph of intelligence
Confronting fear and ignorance, the arrogant and rude
To those who persevered we owe, a debt of gratitude

To struggle through a sea of hate, and finally authenticate
Resolve contention, end dispute, perhaps the noblest pursuit
So much we take for granted now, some truth has been revealed
Unquestioning obedience, has largely been repealed

When crossed-purposes collide, Ockham's razor as a guide
When the provocation stings, the wisdom of simple things

When the angry call to coup, suppresses every other view
Seek the calm that reason brings, the wisdom of simple things

This age of post enlightenment, is easily displaced
Repression, guilt and slavery is, for some, more to their taste
A demagogue can win the day, and lead the maddened mob astray
Beware of those who shun debate, unwilling to negotiate

Hope is swift and flies with swallow's wings
The wisdom of simple things
3.Room for Another
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Peter Rand – Original Composition/Guitars/Keys, Ramlee Oak – Lyrics/Vocals/Bass, Nick DeNardo – Drums
The faithful form a line, in sotto voce wait their turn
To trade their darkest secrets for the pardon they might earn
Their sins are all the same, their torment and their shame
Contrition and regret, bewildered and beset

Any two explanations are like black and white
You'd have to figure they can't all be right
Too many stories to debunk and compare
But always room for another in the market square

They're big on certainty but light on facts
They're more insidious than income tax
More than a few have felt their coup de grace
But always room for another in the marketplace

No-one left to pray to Zeus and fewer to Apollo
As old gods shuffle off to die, the young gods will follow
Once revered, now forgotten, fickle as the moon
Once were feared, now forsaken, capricious and jejune

Let's assume the world has room for one more messiah
Droves of willing faithful left to throw on the fire
Still so young, this age of reason, let the pyres burn
Greed and pride, war and famine, will we ever learn?

You may have sensed a shifting paradigm
To deconstruct and then to redefine
The failed attempt to keep us all apart
Because there's room for another in the human heart

No-one left to lead astray, we're children of reason
Faithful to evidence and loyal to season
Aquarians, innovation, powered by the sun
Healing hope, inspiration, now our time has come
4.Circles
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Chris Matthews – Original Composition/Acoustic Guitar, Mark Broding – Hammond Organ/Cajon, Milt Barney – Soprano Saxophone, Ramlee Oak – Lyrics/Vocals/Bass/Slit Drum/Egg Maracas/Finger Cymbals/Bamboo Flute
A stone tossed in a pond makes circles
Like a baby's cry arouses every ear
The force that binds us in our orbit to the sun
And the cycles of the seasons every year

In this way, bodies of water are attracted to the moon
They have no choice but to obey
By decree, oceans are lifted up to float across the sky
To finally flow back to the sea

We pass through life conflicted
We can sense that we've been absent for too long
Pursuing passions that fulfill our base desires
Unaware that much of what we do is wrong

The glade and the garden, a prayer and a pardon
Time and tide in circles, trilobites and turtles
We're all here together

Lost in a wonderland and a world unknown
Took off my skin and I found my way back home

A song felt in heart makes circles
It can bring you to your knees and make you cry
But love can lift you up and half your burden bear
And offer comfort when you wonder why
We stand outside the circles
Move back into the circles
5.Out of Place
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Peter Rand – Original Composition/Piano/Synth/Organ, Ramlee Oak – Lyrics/Vocals/Bass/Drums/Percussion, Matthew Heindorff – Guitars
A cult of secret handshakes, of rituals and signs
A world carved into futures and artificial lines
Acquisitive and jealous, impossible to please
Could almost see the forest, if it wasn't for the trees
Power lunching hear the numbers crunching over cellared wine
Walnut moulding over deals unfolding, as they countersign

Millions made but lost in space, feels like something's out of place
Buy more blue-chip just in case, feels like something's out of place

Corpses in collusion, the bones of broken dreams
A capital illusion where nothing's as it seems
Spring gives way to summer as day replaces night
The gallery of Autumn, replaced by winter's white
Laws debated but they're unrelated to the world outside
Members bicker and the air grows thicker 'til they're all tongue-tied

No dissent and no disgrace, feels like something's out of place
Desecrate and leave no trace, feels like something's out of place

For beauty there's a spreadsheet, for majesty a chart
The walls hung with projections and economic art
Our future's not in numbers, but water, Earth and light
The crack of monsoon thunder, the desert still at night
No more daisies for the iPhone babies, the connection's lost
All gestating like the flowers waiting in the permafrost
6.Rivers
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Peter Rand – Original Composition/Guitar/Keys, Ramlee Oak – Lyrics/Vocals/Drum & Bass Programming
Video: (link not captured)
Unseen and underground, a metaphor to parse and ponder
Water is river-bound, by convoluted maze
Each life, a multitude, a confluence of tributaries
Each twist and turn pursued, in unintended ways

Slowed through the everglades, erosion leads to deposition
So too, as interest fades, in other ways we grow
Flow, akin to narrative each river, a story, an ancient story

Bend, to find a route around the trials and tribulations, the limitations
Endure, and through your effort carve a passage to the ocean, resolve in motion

Pulled by a larger force, each drop of rain becomes a river
Each stream and watercourse, the people that we know
Doubt not your power to change, unto yourself, yourself deliver
Avoid not the hard or strange, or providence forego
7.Interior Man
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Peter Rand – Original Composition/Keys/Guitars, Brian Henry – Drums, Ramlee Oak – Lyrics/Vocals/Bass
Adrift in a carnival of charity, pretense, cult and crime
Andy said we're a mess of senses working overtime
Risen from the slime, because of an enzyme
Nature her custom holds, let shame say what it will
No name for my new neurosis, a double shot and sleeping pill
Like a dentist's drill, a painful purpose to fulfil

You must admit it's quite ironic, we only have the human mind
To comprehend our own cognition, no telling what you'll find

Someone always looking at me, measuring what I do and say
A gold star but no cigar for fathoming why I feel this way
Behavioral modifiers, keep me passive after dark
No knowing what triggers me, an impulse or a casual remark
Quantum leap to quark, from humble sage to oligarch

You must admit we have a quandary, a brain in every shade of grey
A spider in your curds and whey

The boss is firing questions at your big job interview
You're thinking 'what's he thinking', clearly what he's thinking too?
There's not much daylight between genius and sociopath
Breast-fed or formula, ergo the criminal or polymath
Clemency or wrath

An apple falls and it's a breakthrough to a new frontier
E = mc2, we finally leave the atmosphere
I'd bet on mould before I ever back bacteria
We walk a razor between rational and mass hysteria
As eutheria, our deepest mode interior

You must admit it's most perplexing, we are the sum of choice and chance
Two helices of happenstance

There's some folks think they're in the fast lane to Utopia
Addicted, self-inflicted, textbook tragic hyperopia, thanatophobia
Place all their chips on phantoms and faith, when this one life is as good as it gets
Step outside, it's beautiful, here and now
8.The Fortunate Ones
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Chris Matthews – Original Composition/Acoustic Guitar/Percussion, Ramlee Oak – Lyrics/Vocals/Cello & Oboe Programming
The speed of life increasing, not a moment left to spare
We hurry past each other on our way to who knows where
With little time for little things, my purpose ill-defined
I buy into the fiction that I'd best not fall behind

The child reaching out her hand, inviting me to play
Instead I let the troubles of the world get in the way
Convince myself that happiness is just around the bend
Walking down a desert road that never seems to end

Misconstrued and misunderstood, each day over and it's gone for good
But a simple act of kindness has more concentrated power than a thousand rising suns
We are the fortunate ones

It's comforting to think that there's a 'somewhere' when we die
For some it's hot and dangerous, for others it's the sky
Every day's rehearsal for the day that we arrive, but I'm
Much less sure at eighty than I was at twenty five

The bus is leaving but you'd rather stay, more inclined to have a bet each way
We tend to overcomplicate the elegantly simple and then lament for how life might have been

Broken promises you couldn't keep, you'd turn and run but you're in too deep
The human condition, the trick of some magician who trades in riddles and mysteries
All smoke and mirrors, palindromes and puns
We are the fortunate ones
9.First Here
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Peter Rand – Original Composition/Guitar/Keys, Nick DeNardo – Drums, Ramlee Oak – Lyrics/Vocals/Bass, with Alberto Alberti – Lead Guitar
Life began on a scale beyond our vision, long before our arrival
Vast herds live and die in drops of water, struggling for survival
This world, so macabre yet fascinating, plays out on a pinhead
Covert, yet results devastating, sans violence or bloodshed

Consider the tiny world within a world
So too, the Earth within the universe
Supreme but seldom seen and never heard
Like gods, but simply in reverse
Masters of a world forever strange
Perfect, seemingly immune to change
Doubtless they're all that will remain
If man's decadence we fail to restrain
If man's decadence we fail to restrain
They are all that will remain
Supreme but seldom seen and never heard
Like Gods, but simply in reverse

Life starts, particles dissloved in water, yet harder than diamonds
10.Hymn to the Ordinary
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Peter Rand – Original Composition/Guitars/Piano, Jim Bryan – Bass, Ramlee Oak – Lyrics/Vocals, David Stahl – Drums/Guitars/Strings, Alex Fadista – Electric Guitar (solo)
About fatherhood, per Ramlee.
It was easier to withdraw, safer to pull away
Easier to conceal or reach for an old cliché
Confident in my shell, watching the world outside
Quick to accuse and shame, empty but fortified
What a fool, self-possessed and cruel

Inevitably we change, none of us stay the same
My enemies all dissolved, nobody left to blame
A dreamer without a clue, ambition without a name
Looking for something real, then into my world you came
Epiphany, gave your love to me

I didn't know what to be, but figured out what to do
It's built on a simple plan of being here now for you
Came down from my castle wall, I feel like an escapee
You challenge me to improve, you bring out the best in me

Sometimes I lose sight of the beauty that surrounds me
Of the gift to hear your laughter, of our precious time together
Sometimes in the dark when my demons gather round me
I speak your name and I see your face
Then you swoop down and rescue me, again and again and again

You fly down and rescue me, when shadows engulf my hope, you bring out my best
All I know, neither deep nor complicated, rare ambrosia never tasted
Now I see, with my vision calibrated, know my time here isn't wasted

I wonder who you'll become, the person you'll grow into
And I wonder who I might be, if I'd never made space for you
A bottle might dull the edge of your 'darker than average day'
But for an instant recovery, I just need to look your way

Sometimes I lose sight of the beauty that surrounds me
Of the gift to hear your laughter, of our precious time together
Sometimes in the dark when my demons gather round me
I speak your name and I see your face, I see your face
11.Downstream
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Chris Matthews – Original Composition/Acoustic Guitar/Percussion, Ramlee Oak – Lyrics/Vocals/Soprano Recorder
It's said that every particle of everything we know
Was formed in an explosion fourteen billion years ago
Watertight?...an interim explanation to be proven right
Who's to say?...when those claiming they saw it aren't alive today

There are some believe all we perceive is just a waking dream
That we're supercilious sailors in a yellow submarine
They say that every human heart is usually broken twice
So 'third time lucky' hardly sounds like good advice
Could be true, a broken thing repaired is never good as new

It's a widely held opinion, water boiled becomes steam
So climb aboard with Huck and Jim and drift downstream
Climb aboard with Huck and Jim and drift downstream

Tomorrow's Relics

5 December 2025

Recorded 2024–2025 across the UK, France and Japan. Ramlee Oak is sole lyricist for every track (Lyrics/Vocals/Drums/Bass/Keys); Peter Rand (Music/Keys/Guitars) and Chris Matthews (Music/Guitars/Engineering/Mastering) share the music credit; Alex Fadista (Guitars) is now a fourth core member. Peter, in his own closing note on the album page: “Ramlee has provided the astounding lyrical content ever since we started, plus the rather excellent bass and drums underpinning the songs. As for me, I continue to churn out stuff that, in the hands of good musicians, takes on a new life. For their help, inspiration, and dedication I am forever grateful.” The album reflects on time as possibly eternal and cyclical rather than linear, drawing on the Hindu/Tibetan Kalachakra (wheel of time) and the discovery of deliberately buried monolithic architecture at Göbekli Tepe, Türkiye.

1.Timeslip
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Core band: Ramlee Oak, Peter Rand, Chris Matthews, Alex Fadista
Time, a construction of the mind, divergently defined
We're conscious of its presence pure and...
Strong, like the tempo of a song, the pealing of a gong
Calling us to meditation

No sidetrack, can't go back to change the past, permutate
Natural laws, diapause, synchronize, syncopate

Time, did it start and will it end? Is it straight or does it bend?
The Kalachakra Wheel spins on and…
On, as graceful as the swan, it arrives and then it's gone
Drifting up the slopes of Meru

Solar flare, summer glare, spring's return, germinate
Lunar phase, autumn blaze, winter's veil, hibernate

Days, divided into hours, this thing all things devours
It gives us what it will not what we…
Crave, from cradle to the grave, the patterns of the clave
Awakening our primal passions

The oscillations of a cosmic pendulum

We're conscious of its presence pure and strong

The Kalachakra Wheel spins on and on
2.The Nine
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Core band, plus Chris Bouchard – Drums
Zeus and Mnemosyne had nine, nine impressive daughters, a credit to their bloodline
To each a talent granted, phenomenal and fine, this precious nine
To inspire thought and creativity
None could match their skill or grace, the nine put all pretenders in their place

Urania whose passion was astronomy, Clio who'd wax lyrical ancient history
Bloody dagger of infamous scheme that's our Melpomene
She's the tension in every murderous scene

Keen and clever Thalia, like a dry white wine, irony and satire in each carefully-weighted punch line
She could bring the house down with her Champagne comedy
A gift for unsurpassed delivery, if one of nine was favoured, perhaps it was she
Double entendre and ambiguity

Eloquent in praise for the gods and Nephilim, Polyhymnia was known for her sacred hymn
Adept in every field, agriculture, geometry and mime…ahead of her time
Ne'er a ne'er do well in this nine
And there's Erato whose romantic verse, can get a little racy, borderline perverse

Behold sweet Terpsichore, she sees her chance, all eyes turn to the floor, goddess of dance
Bold leap to land and spin, each dip and twirl, sweat glistens on her skin, lost in her world
Calliope takes up her lyre, all start to sing, pan-pipes and cithara, accompanying
A quick delightful air, they know by heart, to live without a care, to live for art

A single pensive flute, Euterpe proceeds, they sing of love's pursuit and heroic deeds
3.Thirty Six Barrels
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Core band only
They gathered on a Sunday at the Duck and Drake
A cabal to commission and a plan to make
Renegade Jesuits, a dozen and one
High treason, regicide, a hit-and-run

Thirty six barrels 'neath the House of Lords
They pledged their fidelity and drew their swords
An end to injustice and tyranny
A concussion in the course of history

Much to be gained and naught to lose, let our resistance light the fuse
An evening fire, fierce and bright, forever known as Guy Fawkes Night

For innocent participants some held fears
Loose lips sink ships and walls have ears
A letter that foretold of a “terrible blow”
'Twas only prudent that the king should know

So they told him

Thirty six barrels ferried one by one
The bishops broiled and the king well-done
End our oppression with a single match
A cult to curtail and a throne to snatch
Thirty six barrels in the undercroft
Resolve hardened but our footsteps soft
We begged our monarch for a light touch
But sadly the king doth protest too much

In greatest secrecy we meet, Exchanging glances in the street
For faith and dignity we fight, we'll celebrate on Guy Fawkes Night

He waited in the cellar as the hours crept by
Where the king, god willing, would be blown sky high
Discovered with his powder and his slow match fuse
A shocking revelation for the evening news

Thirty six barrels for our human rights
Now children light their fires on November nights
A hero or a villain, well it's hard to say
If young Guy Fawkes was alive today, well….

What would he say?
4.Quiet Time
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Core band only
“Chris Matthews specifically contributed music to this track, beyond his usual role.”
No self-restraint as such, I tend to say too much, when silence would serve better
No flair for brevity, prone to soliloquy, you see
With utmost sincerity, that when I'm in your company
I lose my precision, I can't find concision
A topic in the news or maybe the weather
Gossip 'bout the neighbour, their rags to riches story
And now forlorn, you hide a yawn, a pregnant pause

You're far too kind to me, you never disagree, when contrast would serve better
You lend an ear to me, you listen patiently, conclude
For stillness and quietude, I'll never garner aptitude
I blather and babble, I quibble at Scrabble
'Today's youth have no shame…and so disrespectful.'
'In my day we marched off for king and country.'
Antique and worn by spite and scorn, you move away

The world remote and strange, familiar bows to change, when old ways would serve better
There's little overlap, it's hard to bridge a gap, this wide
Our different views collide, no stone decree or simple guide
There's no need to mention, my poor comprehension
Perhaps if we just sat in silence together
Something unforeseen and extraordinary
Will be revealed, a thing concealed, the gentle voice of quiet time
5.Tomorrow's Relics
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Core band, plus Sven-Martin Keil – Saxophones
Intrinsic and innate, we're driven to surpass, our brief lives punctuate a cosmic hourglass
No destination set, no core philosophy, no singular pursuit on which we all agree

There's an ancient culture, carved on pillar 43
Tomorrow's relics, reveal our hidden history
That's a helicopter.. on the wall at Abydos
Tomorrow's relics, they cross the sky like Helios

With heart of pure gold, we greet the universe, in time magnetic poles and alchemy reverse
Corrupted back to lead, in dull gunmetal grey, succumb to entropy, it's always been this way
Order must oxidise and all oeuvre undone, tomorrow's relics forged in laps around the Sun

Like a fractured image, from a past we'll never see
Tomorrow's relics, lost to antiquity
Engineering genius, we're dumbfounded to explain
Tomorrow's relics; who will say from whence they came?

Someday the ships will come, masonic prophecy, reveal our nescience and incoherency
Wherefore art thou?
We're one foot over the ledge. We're on the precipice…pull us back from the edge
Someday the ships will come, when hope hangs by a thread.
When hard-won gains are lost and all but love is dead
We've been calling…won't you pick up the phone?
The prime directive, yeah…you got to stand on your own
Still no answer…we got to let go of fear.
Come on answer…we have to love that we're here

We just got to love that we're here

There's a crumbling city, under yonder hills windswept
And an offered theory, we're encouraged to accept
Far more things in heaven and in Earth's biography
Than are contemplated, in your crude philosophy

Someday the ships will come, a future sewn in the past
Tomorrow's relics we, may understand them at last
We've been calling…won't you pick up the phone?
Is no-one coming? We got to walk on our own
Just keep on walking, there's not much further to go
We crave your wisdom, there's so much more we could know
We're making progress…no longer blind DNA.
We know you're out there…perhaps we'll meet you halfway

Don't be shy…We'll make you proud…Come on home…Come on home
6.Risk Averse
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Core band only
To ne'er walk 'neath ladders, to shun the cold, benighted fog
We don't change boats midstream, much less disturb the sleeping dog

Some press on through failure, until they finally hit the mark
If not for Prometheus, we'd still be sitting in the dark
Where some see adventure, others prefer to disembark

Some cling to their fortunes, some lose it all without a care
Some dive into danger, others can only stand and stare

There are more things in heaven and on Earth, than in our proud philosophy
Derision, sarcasm and mirth, in other words anxiety

Each chance we've avoided is a loss, no peace of mind can reimburse
The rolling stone gathers little moss, and rolls on by the risk averse

The flat Earth we wandered, until but one premise remained
To the wind we threw caution, for nothing ventured nothing gained

We pander to power but, better the devil that you know
For love fools rush in to, places the wise refuse to go
You pause fearing setback, but then you'll never ever know

We doubt our good fortune, that lady-luck will kick the goal
Assume we're not immune, to forces that we can't control

For those who've seen the Mariana trench, who left their footprints on the moon
A thirst no safe port could ever quench, nor perfect summer afternoon

Each chance we've avoided is a loss, no peace of mind can reimburse
The rolling stone gathers little moss, and rolls on by the risk averse

It's better to have loved and to have lost
To celebrate your gains than count the cost
To recall all the canyons that you've crossed

They gathered round the tree of dreams, which seldom bore sweet fruit
They waited with their palms upturned, in purpose resolute
'Twas thought 'tis better to do naught, and nothing's happened ever since
A single kiss, a leap of faith, that's how the frog became a prince

A single kiss, a leap of faith
A single kiss, a leap of faith
A single kiss, a leap of faith
7.Ravenstongue
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Core band only
We split the tongues of ravens, but our words won't save us
Or forge a heart courageous
The tongues of serpent creatures, honeyed words deceive us
We slipped and fell from Eden

We drown the world in speeches, but our words impede us
Pretentious and facetious
Professors and preachers, every word prestigious
Intended to mislead us

We split the tongues of ravens, but our words are specious
We cut the tongues of ravens, and the silence frees us
We split the tongues of ravens
We cut the tongues of ravens
We heal the tongues of ravens
And the silence saves us
Solo

A to B

15 September 2021 · Bandcamp

Peter Rand, solo — helped and inspired by the contributions from collaborators across the globe.

1.A to B
Lyrics: Peter Rand / Ellen Kussy
Musicians: Ellen Kussy – Vocals, Jim Bryan – Bass, Mark Jensen – Drums/Mixing, Peter Rand – Guitars/Keys
Some things are never lost
Others just can't be found
Some things stay well hidden underground
Some doors never open up
Others don't have a key
Some things cost quite a lot to see

Walk with me through this fractured town
Talk with me of times gone by
The more we change
The more it stays the same
The more we are mystified

Some here are never loved
Others just play around
Some just fail to be a part of us
Some people are never free
Others only complain about
How this world always lets them down

Walk with me through this fractured town
Talk with me of times gone by
The more we change
The more it stays the same
The more we are mystified

Talk me through the reasoning
How we're getting from A to B
The more we try
The harder it becomes
For anyone to see

Tell me how to count the cost
Just numbers in the round
Some of us are never lost
And others don't want to be found

Walk with me through this fractured town
Talk with me
How we're getting from A to B?
2.Small Epic
Lyrics: Jeff Bragg
Musicians: Jeff Bragg – Vocals/Lyrics, David Stahl – Guitars/Drums/Mixing, Jim Bryan – Bass, Peter Rand – Keyboards/Music
Now that the door is open
Follow Me
And we will walk right through

Leave your things
Just look inside

Feel it all slip away

And I know how to say
See what their eyes give away

Lift up your head
Let me see

All that is happening
Wake up
And look at me

Feel my hands as they burn

Leave your things
Just look inside

Feel it all slip away

And I know how to say
See what their eyes give away

And I know what to say
See what their eyes give away

Now that the door is open

And when the door is closing
You're back in me
And when the door is closing
Wake up
And when the door is closing
And look at me
And feel my hands

Leave your things
Just look inside
Feel it all slip away

And I know what to say
See what their eyes give away

And I know what to say
See what their eyes give away

Now that the door is open
3.Candy Floss
Lyrics: Peter Rand (music and lyrics, solely his)
Musicians: Rohan Craw – Vocals, Philippe Pansard – Bass, Nick DeNardo – Drums, Les Cotton – Lead Guitar, Peter Rand – Guitars
Let's paint a picture
Of our lives
Lets make an story
Of it now
A work of friction
That's a fact
Let's sacrifice
This sacred cow

Let's sell the rights
Let's sell the wrongs
Even though it's not enough
Let's sell each night
Let's sell it all
On altars of our stuff

In all the dreams I've come across
You can't survive on Candy Floss
Sans culottes still drawing lots
Desperate to be the boss

Let's make a million
On the side
Let's fake a billion
Better still
Armed with a make up bag
And dreams
Stretch the card and pay the bills

Let's think inside this box
Throw away the key
Let's all survive on Candy Floss
Amphetamine and Fake ID

All the world is stood outside
Looking on with tired eyes

Let them eat this Candy Floss
In this country of who gives a toss
Let's build a bonfire
For this life

Let's set the match
And watch the flames
And while they lick the very sky
Reject the lies
And speak our names

Every day we give our all
For small change and a wake up call
In all the lives I've come across
You can't survive on Candy Floss
4.All the Time
Lyrics: Mike Patterson / Peter Rand
Musicians: Peter Rand – Guitars, Mike Patterson – Vocals, Mark Broding – Piano, Jim Bryan – Bass/Strings, Mix
All around you

Time is not some kind of enemy
And I'd like to think it's been a friend to me
Its easier said than done
Look how far we've come
Don't want to get caught up
In thinking in beginnings and in ends

So isn't the chance to be enough
So please remind me when times get rough

If this a piece of time then
I'm just glad to have been given the chance
To feel something
I don't need eternity

Where do the four winds blow
Where do the waters flow
When will this sun still shine
When will old father call time

All around you
All the time

I don't feel like time betrayed me
Sitting here between forest and sea
It's easy to get caught up in
Wasting time chasing eternity

As time's gone by
I've learned a thing or two
The greatest time I've spent
Is the time I spent with you

If this a piece of time then
I'm just glad to have been given the chance
To feel something
I don't want to waste a minute

Where do the four winds blow
Where do the waters flow
When will this sun still shine
When will old father call time

All around you
All the time

So open your eyes
Gaze upon the blue skies
Reflect on the waters edge

All around you
All the time
5.Unwanted Overture
Lyrics: David Ocean
Musicians: David Ocean – Vocals, Taylor Brae – Mixing/Production, Peter Rand – Keyboards/Guitar
Take me to the lake
And hold my hand
Walk me down
Until I understand

Take me to that place
Where we first met
If this isn't real
Then I don't want to get it harder than you

Take it all away I won't forget
Make me stay all day
I lost the bet fair and square
I was thinking maybe now wasn't the time
To let you know I'm fine
I've always walked it harder than you
I've always done it harder than you
6.Magic Lamp
Lyrics: Ellen Kussy (solely her)
Musicians: Ellen Kussy – Vocals/Percussion, Chris Branch – Bass, Peter Rand – Music
What you see
So much less than what you get
Now locked up tight
I could show you paradise

Time to break free
Yet there is a price to pay
To set me free
You gotta rub me the right way

Traded in for something new
I question everything in life
Can my heart still be stolen
by a young thief in the night?

There's so much more inside of me
Than you can realise

There's so much more inside of me
Will you open up your eyes?
And look inside
Look inside
Look inside
A magic lamp
Look inside
Look inside
Look inside
I'm a magic lamp

Three wishes is what you get
Love, joy and a family tree
It will take quite some time
For you to know me

Traded in for something new
I learned my lessons in life
But my heart can still be stolen by a young thief in the night
There's so much more inside of me
Than you can realise
There's so much more inside of me
Will you open up your eyes?

And look inside
Look inside
Look inside
A magic lamp
Look inside
Look inside
Look inside I'm a magic lamp

Three wishes is what you get
7.Apparatchik
Lyrics: Peter Rand / Whitman Rinaldo
Musicians: Timothy Reid – Lead Guitar, Whitman Rinaldo – Vocals, Peter Rand – Keys, Minime – Guitars/Bass/Drums/Mix
Warfare of despair
You don't care
And never share
Software
Is everywhere
You don't dare
Be unaware

You're just an empty vessel making noise
Baby in his pram has gone and lost his toys
Independent thinking it destroys
Deny it all and threaten them to keep your poise

All you can hope for
Walked right out that door
Apparatchik
All you live for
Costs a little more
Apparatchik

You're scared
Out of sight
Never step
Into the blinding light
If you survive
Then you were right
If you don't
Then it's all destroyed

It's all code for
All the lies and war
Apparatchik
You were bought for
Pennies on the floor
Apparatchik
8.Breaking the Dream
Lyrics: David Meisegeier (solely his)
Musicians: Nick DeNardo – Drums, Peter Rand – Keys/Guitar, David Meisegeier – Guitars, Alex Polonsky – Vocals, Wes Trochlil – Backing Vocals/Mixing/Mastering
They say you have no chances, they say it can't be done
Forget the million faces, you're not the chosen one
Daydream into the night, deep down you wanna fight
Focus on the destination, it doesn't matter what they say

Can't be waiting any longer, blow the doors or find a key
Take a step, a new direction, open up to what can be
Daydream into the night, deep down you wanna fight

Breaking the dream again
It's a long way, breaking the dream again
Open up your eyes

Looking back on all the choices, life ain't what it seemed
Let the path unwind before you, obstacles you only dreamed
Daydream into the night, deep down you wanna fight
Focus on the destination, it doesn't matter what they say
Breaking the dream again

And when you finally reach that moment
When you're feeling so alive
Reflect on all your failures
Remember the reasons why, you
Daydream into the night, deep down you wanna fight
Focus on the destination, it doesn't matter what they say

Breaking the dream again
It's a long way, breaking the dream again
Open up your eyes
9.Baltimore
Lyrics: Bryan Williamson (solely his)
Musicians: Jim Bryan – Bass/Mix, Chris Bouchard – Drums, Timothy Reid – Electric Guitar, George Schiessl – Vocals, Peter Rand – Acoustic Guitar/Keys
Drivin' to the city
Another Friday night
My pain it is a callin'
I gotta try and set it right

Well I know it's temporary
I know it never lasts
But you know I gotta stop it
Gotta try and kill my past

Runner on the corner
T-shirt to his knees
You know they're only children
caught in this social disease

Money in my pocket
burning holes in my soul
Don't know how to stop it
and I'm feeling much too old

Oh no Oh no
The city's callin'
Here we go again
Lord, lord Sky is fallin'
Baltimore...gonna take you in

Rich man, Scotch and water
Long black, Cadillac
Poor man at his Bus Stop
Got his Forty, in a sack

Common sense ain't nowhere
Nowhere to be found
Only greed and hunger
Makes such a hurtful sound

Baltimore...she ain't your friend
Oh Baltimore...she'll take your sin
Hmm Baltimore...She'll always...take you in
10.Dear Jupiter
Lyrics: Whitman Rinaldo (solely his)
Musicians: Whitman Rinaldo – Vocals/Guitar, Nick DeNardo – Drums/Engineering, Francois Graiouf – Lead Guitar, Jim Bryan – Bass, Peter Rand – Guitars
Dear Jupiter
You have a planet of your very own
Large and colorful
With stripes so wonderful
The largest of them all with many moons

Europa Ganymede
Yes, more than 70
But you are stuck in orbit for a billion years
But we can see you In the heavens

I hope you're warm enough
And that you've found your love
Woah, distant from the sun
Oh Jupiter, you're the one

Dear Jupiter immortalized
Celestial bodies, deified
Distant and dignified

Dear Jupiter in the sky
Dear Jupiter
You should have been much bigger
Gliding ever onward
We orbit the same sun

You should have been the sun itself
Throwing flares and thunderbolts
So remote
Infinity, Obscurity
Perpetual eternity
Isolated from everything

Dear Jupiter
11.The Sun
Lyrics: Volker Siefert (solely his)
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keyboards/Music, Volker Siefert – Vocals/Bass, David Stahl – Guitar/Drums
The sky is fading black, into a dark and terrifying night
There is a fear inside of me that let me shiver deep inside
Where is the light that guides the way out of this unbearable pain
No one is there, i'm so alone and i believe my end is here

Let me see
Let me feel
Show me the way back and let me
hope to see the sun
Let me see
Let me feel
Show me the way back to my home

There is a light but yet so far away it seems to disappear
I keep on running, hopefully I think to reach before it's gone

Let me see
Let me feel
Show me the way back and let me
hope to see the sun
Let me see
Let me feel
Show me the way back to my home

Attractions

2 January 2022 · Bandcamp

Released as Daisychain, now listed under Peter Rand on Bandcamp. Nearly every track has a different outside lyricist. “Moon and Sea” is Eilis Leyne's own music and lyrics — Peter's only credit there is strings. “Moonlit” is a reworked version of the “Wood River, 1989” instrumental with new lyrics and vocals.

1.River
Lyrics: Peter Rand (music & lyrics, solely his)
Musicians: Vocal Run – Lead Vocal, Ralph Tonge – Backing Vocal, Nick DeNardo – Drums, Chris Branch – Bass, Chris Matthews – Lead Guitar, Peter Rand – Keys/Guitar, François Vingrief – Guitar
Please take me back to a river
Fish out of water am I
Please throw me back to the river
To swim to the sea and the sky

I crossed this river in a dream
But it was many years ago
Comes a time for reflection
Comes a time of need

Please take me back to a river
Fish out of water am I
Please throw me back to the river
To swim to the sea and the sky

Following the footsteps
Where a thousand people walked
Following the river
There are lessons to be taught

Comes a time for reflection
Comes a time of need

Please take me back to a river
Fish out of water am I
Please throw me back to the river
To swim to the sea and the sky
2.All the Little Things
Lyrics: Bryan Williamson
Musicians: Terry Campbell – Vocals/Bass/Lead Guitar, Roddy Potter – Drums, Peter Rand – Keys/Guitar/Music
She smiled and she said she was leaving
With a trace of a tear in her eye
Not the smile of a Cheshire
Like the day that I met her
More the grin of a child when they lie

I get up with the sun in the morning
Put a little coffee in a pot
Though this day is grey and cold
I will do what I am told
Though this day is grey and cold

And all the little things
Seem to be much bigger than they are

Some days I remember that feeling
And hold on the best I can
I can still taste all the freedom
On the backstreets of Wheaton
That's where little boys became men

And all the little things
Seem to be much bigger than they are

Some days I remember that feeling
And hold on the best I can
I can still taste all the freedom
On the backstreets of Wheaton
Some days I remember that feeling
And hold on the best I can
I can still taste all the freedom
On the backstreets of Wheaton

On the backstreets of Wheaton
On the backstreets of Wheaton
On the backstreets of Wheaton
3.Decembers
Lyrics: Cozoe
Musicians: Cozoe – Vocals, Nick DeNardo – Drums, Philippe Pansard – Bass, Peter Rand – Keys/Guitar/Music, Chris Matthews – Lead Guitar
A cold December wind
I'm frozen still
Can't stop the time

A tender smell of pine
Hoping that you
Will still be mine

Don't let our story end
Wait 'til our hearts will mend
Let us hold on for awhile

Don't say, this is the end
Wait 'til December ends
Let us play pretend awhile

A cold December night
I'm searching for
A ray of light

Snow coated trees
A frozen sea
Please stay with me

Decembers, passing by
Memories, of you and I

Don't let our story end
Wait 'til our hearts will mend
Let us hold on for awhile

Don't say, this is the end
Wait 'til December ends
Let us play pretend awhile

Another month goes by
It's full of dreams
Like you and I

Hoping you'll come back
But you are gone
Please come back home

Decembers, passing by
Memories, of you and I
4.Wood River, 1989
Lyrics: Eilis Leyne
Musicians: Eilis Leyne – Vocals, Peter Rand – Piano/Keys/Music
Westbound plane
Cuts 'cross the sky again
Don't know where it's been
Or where it's going to.

Nothing risked and nothing gained.
Can't remember why I stayed.
But lying in the bed I made will have to do.

I hear our song
Can't help but sing along.
Can't help but feel it's wrong
Still wanting you.

Some things lost never fade.
Can't remember why I stayed.
But lying in the bed I made
Will have to do.
Will have to do.

In another world
I would be a different girl.
I would find the magic words,
Make 'em true.

Something safe, ready-made.
I remember why I stayed.
But lying in this bed I made
Will have to do.

Lying in this bed I made,
Lying in this bed will have to do,
In this bed I made,
Lying in this bed will have to do.
Will have to do.

Some things lost never fade.
Can't remember why I stayed.
But lying this bed I made
Will have to do.
5.Orbit
Lyrics: David Koehler
Musicians: Bárbara Martínez – Vocals, Jon Rosenbaum – Drums, Philippe Pansard – Bass, Peter Rand – Keys/Guitar/Music, Mark Murtha – Pedal Steel
The moon orbits around the earth
The earth around the sun
Its heavenly body attraction
Applies to everyone

Every day that I see you
Walking down the street
Something bends my path toward you
And I can't control my feet

I don't think I'm in your orbit
So I move on with my day
But no matter how hard I try
I circle back anyway

Your heavenly body controls my orbit
Your gravity has a grip on me
I orbit around but I never can reach you
Can never break free
Stargaze at your heavenly body
you're all I see

How do you hold me in your power?
Floating weightless in sway
It's astrophysics I guess
Gravitational pull in play
What about your orbit?
What are you trying to chase?
It's a mystery to me
In the lonely vacuum of outer space

My life goes round and round
I drift into your sphere
Like a lovesick astronaut
Tied to his ship by his gear

Your heavenly body controls my orbit
Your gravity has a grip on me
I orbit around but I never reach you
never can break free
Stargaze at your heavenly body
you're all I see
6.Fly Me Away
Lyrics: Mike Mantecon
Musicians: Christine Linge – Vocals, Nick DeNardo – Drums, Rob Glass – Bass, Peter Rand – Keys/Guitar/Music, Ben Owen – Violin. Original mix: Tom Grimm
Washed away
In the river's flow
To a place
Some will never know

Silent dreams
Of the days of old
Beckon me
To a story never told

Fly me away
On wings of the night
A land forgotten
Lost in time
Fly me away
On wings of the night
A land forgotten
I will find

Deep beneath
In the forest grove
There's a place
Heaven has bestowed

To the Earth
In the forest grove
Secret dreams
Back from the days of old

Fly me away
On wings of the night
A land forgotten
Lost in time

Fly me away
On wings of the night
A land forgotten
Lost in time

Remember those times
When we cherished life
Remember those times
Oh, so long ago
Remember those times
When we believed
In treasures we had sown
7.Love on Our Own
Lyrics: Brooke Friendly
Musicians: Brooke Friendly – Vocals, Jim Bryan – Bass, Peter Rand – Piano/Music, Dan Rosati – Sax
NYC is the city of dreams, flying higher and I breathe you in
You and Me together alone?
I'm all in.

Baby mama but I don't think they know
The lights on Broadway shine for us
Starring in our brand new show

They hate it
We made it
They can't take
Our love away

So take a bow now
Scream it out loud
Standing proud now
On our own

123 any number of things, my desire and I see you in
You and me together forever?
Is that a sin?

Baby mama but I don't think they know
The lights on Broadway shine for us
Starring in our brand new show

They hate it
We made it
They can't take
Our love away

So take a bow now
Scream it out loud
Standing proud now
On our own

NYC is the city of dreams, flying higher and I breathe you in
You and Me together alone?
I'm all in.

They hate it
We made it
They can't take
Our love away

So take a bow now
Scream it out loud
Standing proud now
On our own
8.Travelling Light
Lyrics: Peter Rand (music & lyrics, solely his)
Musicians: Janine Bracewell – Vocals, Peter Rand – Keys, Chris Matthews – Guitar/Percussion Programming
Travelling light
Through the night
On to day
Somewhere the light
Takes me away

Out of sight
All I need
Travelling light
A man now freed

Take me to palaces I never went to
Take me to past life we never knew
If I get there I know I will have to leave
Travelling light is the way to go

Don't look back
Where nobody waves
Don't go back
Where nobody's saved

Who goes there
On to the dawn
Who knows where
Each day's reborn

Take me to lost souls I never rescued
Take me to past life I never knew
If I lived there a moment I would have to leave
Travelling light is the way to go

Travelling light
Through the night
On to day
Somewhere the light
Takes me away

Out of sight
All I need
Travelling light
A man now freed

Take me to palaces I never went to
Take me to past time I never knew
If I get there I know that I will have to leave
Travelling light is the way to go
9.Everyday
Lyrics: Peter Rand (music & lyrics, solely his)
Musicians: France Moretti – Vocals, Nick DeNardo – Drums, Philippe Pansard – Bass, Peter Rand – Keys/Guitar, Chris Matthews – Lead Guitar
Separated by accident
Accidents of birth
Separated by history
A false sense of worth
Pulled together pushed apart
Mirror images lie
Hostage of geography
So life goes by

Everything is relative
Everybody doubly so
Everywhere there's love and pain
Every day it's all on show
Don't ask me the question
The answer's always in your head
Find it at the mountain
Down the deepest river bed

Some sea creatures
End up so high
Lifeless memories
Staring at the sky
Separated by accident
From the waters of their birth
Together in moments
Together on earth

Everything is relative
Everybody doubly so
Everywhere there's love and pain
Every day it's all on show
Everyone keeps looking
As this everyday seems not enough
Look a little closer
In the everyday you find your love

Everyone keeps looking
As this everyday seems not enough
Look a little closer
In the everyday you find your love
10.Moonlit
Lyrics: Kari Ehli
Musicians: Kari Ehli – Vocals, Jim Bryan – Bass/Synth/Percussion, Peter Rand – Piano/Music, Chris Matthews – Guitar
“A reworked version of the “Wood River, 1989” instrumental, with new lyrics and vocals.”
Under the moonlit sky
Near the roaring sea
With no words at all
Your heart spoke to me

Your love saved me
Your kiss changed me
Your love healed me
Your kiss set me free

If I hold on too tight
Please don't take your love away
I've been waiting for all my life
Just to hear you say

Your love saved me
Your kiss changed me

Under the moonlit sky
With no words at all
Under the moonlit sky
Near the roaring sea
11.Moon and Sea
Lyrics: Eilis Leyne (music & lyrics — not Peter, whose only role here is strings)
Musicians: Eilis Leyne – Vocals/Piano, Philippe Pansard – Bass, Peter Rand – Strings
Moon and Sea in the time before time
Moon opens her sleepy eyes
And beholds the sea, black satin waves
And diamonds caught in her silvery gaze

And the moon weeps sweet tears at the sight
And her heart breaks a little each night
Breaks with loving and longing and waiting and hope
While the sea sleeps and dreams of the day

Moon and Sea in time before time
Moon sings soft and low through the night
Hushing the sea with her lullaby
Sleep still, I'll keep watch through the night

And the moon weeps sweet tears at the sight
And her heart breaks a little each night
Breaks with loving and longing and waiting and hope
While the sea sleeps and dreams of the day

And the moon weeps sweet tears at the sight
And her heart breaks a little each night
Breaks with loving and longing and waiting and hope
While the sea sleeps and dreams of the day

And I weep sweet tears by your side
And my heart breaks a little each night
Breaks with loving and longing and waiting and hope
While you sleep, wrapped in dreams of the day
Sleep sweet, wrapped in dreams of the day

About Us

15 July 2021 · Bandcamp

Peter's first solo album. Bonus track “Climb” was added in 2023.

1.Lily
Lyrics: Tez Katajala
Musicians: Sela Hafoka Hauser – Vocals, Jurgen Krimp – Lead Guitar/Drums, Peter Rand – Guitars/Mellotron Flute/Keys/Music, Rott Gold – Bass, Mix
Can lily come out to play
She's always hidden away
Can she come out today

So shy so fragile
Hiding inside
Can't exist
If she's exposed
To the light

Discovering herself
Changing her future
Shedding her skin
Becoming the rumour

Can lily come out to play
She's always hidden away
Can she come out today
A shy introvert Or extrovert
Can't exist
If she's exposed
To the light

She's always playing
To and fro
How would they know
How could they know

Discovering herself
Changing her future
Shedding her skin
Becoming the rumour

So shy so fragile
Hiding inside
Can't exist
If she's exposed
To the light

How would they know
The games she plays
How could they know
2.Be Who You Want to Be
Lyrics: Ian Tsang
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keys/Music, Nick DeNardo – Drums, Ian Tsang – Vocals/Lyric/Brass, Scott Roberts – Bass, Mixing, Mastering
Do you know who you're meant to be
Am I too late to change the plea?
What the hell am I supposed to say
To get you moving the other way?

Don't you know your day'll come?
When it's time you had your fun
After the sun comes the rain
Under the skin we're all the same

You don't know what you meant to me
I'm not here to disagree
Don't believe all the things you read
There's more to life than corporate greed

What you meant to me
Is what you meant to see
You gotta be who you wanna be

Did you forgot where we had to meet?
Through the park across the street
You've thrown all your money down the drain
Making it hard to numb the pain

You don't know who you're meant to be
This is why I'm here you'll see
Don't believe all the things they say
As they've made this big mistake

What you meant to me
Is what you meant to see
You gotta be who you wanna be

Just be who you want to be
3.The Girl from Africa
Lyrics: Peter Rand (lyrics and music, solely his)
Musicians: John Mullen – Vocal, Peter Rand – Piano/Synth/Guitar, Philippe Pansard – Bass, Nick Anderson – Drums. Mix: Ray Kaliss & Peter Rand
When I met her
The girl from Africa
She told me
That we could go far

When I met her
We talked for hours
With open eyes
With some surprise

Til the sunrise came
Sleepy all the same
Then I loved her
Then I loved her

So I married
The girl from Africa
Close to home
And a distant star

Til the sunrise came
Only love remained
Til the children came
Sleepy all the same
And I loved them
And I loved them

When I met her
The girl from Africa
She told me
That we could go far

So I stayed with
The girl from Africa
She still tells me
We can go far
We can go far
4.Looking In
Lyrics: Kim Noble
Musicians: Kim Noble – Vocals, Mark Broding – Keys/Bass Pedal/Drums, Philippe Pansard – Bass, Andy Frantz – Lead Guitar, Peter Rand – Guitars/Music. Mix: Michael Petulli/PMT Studios
I can't see your face
It's hidden behind a fantasy disgrace
Impossible to find
What's it worth to you don't matter
I'm about to change

Could be we're onto something
Another time another place
Another space
Another face

Looking In
No need for pious grace when
Looking In
The crying of alone street lined souls desperate for love

Taking strolls like normal people
Ground begins to shake a calling to march
Made by an earthquake impossible to ignore
I can hear the screams falling on deaf ears
5.One Last Time
Lyrics: Ian Tsang
Musicians: Ian Tsang – Vocals, Peter Rand – Keys/Guitar/Music, Philippe Pansard – Bass, Timothy Reid – Lead Guitars, Nick Anderson – Drums. Mix: Tommy Hellsten
You washed your hands in a dirty sink
You couldn't tell but it made me think
About all the things I should've said and done
Don't you say it no more
I'm at your beck and call, my friend

You keep on drowning in a sea of pain
Trapped inside a stupid game
As I reach out to you
I'll take your picture to the grave

I'll keep on wishing you well
Cos you've been going through hell
Now I don't want to see you fail
But you just keep on crying
And I just keep on dying
Cos there's nothing else I can do
Woah - I just want to help you
Woah - I just want to hold you

One last time
One for the road
One the sick
And one for the old
Take it from me
It's already told
Time to go home

Time to go
Close your eyes
And go to sleep
Rest your bones
Your soul can keep
6.Hold Still
Lyrics: Ryan Lucas
Musicians: Ryan Lucas – Vocal, Peter Rand – Piano/Synths/Music, Xan Eden – Synths/Drums, Mix
Ignoring rumors is tough
Especially when cruel strangers criticize
Never listen to them baby

Our love is strong enough
Even if we both have to just lay low
We can take it slow

Didn't I risk it all?
Didn't I give you everything?
Everything you could want
More than enough

Hold still

I don't know what you heard
Please, I swear don't listen to their lies
Look into my eyes
We can still get away
And find someplace where we can be ourselves
Without walking on egg shells

Didn't I risk it all?
Didn't I give you everything?
Everything you could want
More than enough

Hold still
7.Remains of Greatness
Lyrics: Brooke Friendly
Musicians: Brooke Friendly – Vocal, Peter Rand – Guitars/Music, Juan Jose Garcia – Drums, Jeff Dalton – Bass. Mix/Master: Tommy Hellsten
Well, the rest of them zombies climbed that hill
Climbed that hill all night long
Gonna stay inside and abide by the light
Light their way till they're gone

Nothing's right and nothings wrong
Aint nothing going on
When you stand alone, you stand alone
Just take me home

Well, the rest of them talkers signed that bill
Signed that bill into law
Gonna take our rights unless we fight
Fight them back and prove them wrong

Nothing's right and nothings wrong
Aint nothing going on
When you stand alone, you stand alone
Just take me home
Take me home

Lord, take me home

Well, the rest of them liars broke my will
Broke my will and gone too far
Gonna lie on back and see the night
Light the way to my star

Nothing's right and nothings wrong
Aint nothing going on
When you stand alone, you stand alone
Just take me home
Take me home

Just take me home
Lord take me home

Well, the rest of them zombies climbed that hill
Climbed that hill all night long
Gonna stay inside and abide by the light
Light their way till they're gone

Nothing's right and nothings wrong
When you stand alone

Nothings right and nothings wrong
8.Ten Summers Late
Lyrics: Eilis Leyne
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keys/Guitars/Music, Francois Vingrief – Drums/Bass/Lead Guitar, Eilis Leyne – Vocals. Mix: Peter Rand
He blew in from the highway to rest his head.
She poured a cup of whiskey, and they broke bread.
And by the firelight, they found her bed.

All that summer they were tied
In lovers' knots, and by her side
He swore that she would be his bride
Come fall, come fall.

When autumn found the wild rose and stripped it bare,
The scent of woodsmoke drifting on chilly air,
She reached across the bed, but he wasn't there.

All that summer they'd been tied
In lovers' knots, and by her side
He swore that she would be his bride
Come fall, come fall.

Ten summers gone, the highway brings him back again.
With sweet desire, he knocks and calls her name.
They say she's on the hillside where the wild rose flames.

He climbs that long hillside
Keen to have her by his side
To finally take her as his bride
After all.

But there he finds a stone,
A name that could have been his own
If he hadn't had to roam
So far, so far.
9.My Reality
Lyrics: Bryan Williamson
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keys/Guitars/Music, Ette Pai – Bass/Drums/Mix/Mastering, Markus Palsson – Vocals
Standing outside the store
Holding my hand
Mother just inside the door
Enjoying her plans
Gazing in my father's eyes
Smiling back at me
Rain falling from the sky
Gathered at my feet

Na na, na,
My family

Driving home in the car
The radio it plays
Choking from my dad's cigar
Creating a haze
Streets all shiny and bright
The city is alive
Mother holding me so tight
Everything is fine

Na na, na,
My family

Lonely is the winter cold
As I play their games
I don't fit into their mould
They say I'm to blame
Wish I could grow up
And be what they want me to
I don't think they'll ever see
Life the way I do

Doctors tell me now I'm old
Feelings so strange
The priest praying for my soul
But I can't feel a change
I still look in my father's eyes
Each night when I dream
I still see his loving smile
All too real so it seems

Na na, na,
My reality
10.Just a Prayer
Lyrics: Bryan Williamson
Musicians: Nick DeNardo – Drums, Chad Hinton – Lead Guitar, Louis Marchena – Vocals, Philippe Pansard – Bass, Peter Rand – Music
“My own belated acknowledgement of the wonderful vocals of the late great Louis Marchena who, since this was released, is no longer with us. RIP Louis.”
Have you heard the angry whispers
Getting louder by the day
Hatred burns until it blisters
Love and truth have gone astray

Smoke is rising in the distance
Winds of change turn the tide
Words are null if no one listens
Lost and gone beneath our pride

Just a prayer before the dying
One request before we fall
Can you feel the tears we're crying
Will you think of us at all

Thought we'd slain all of our demons
Thought we'd paid up all our dues
Seems there's always one more reason
To condemn what people do

It's always been our human nature
Envy, covet and possess
With the same breath tell your neighbour
How he's needed, loved and blessed

Just a prayer before the dying
One request before we fall
Can you hear your brother crying
Will you heed his lonely call

We're still waiting on a saviour
One more chance to make it right
Getting out for good behaviour
Non-believers we will smite

If he appeared how would you know him
Would we nail him up again
Another Tabloid wind a blowing
Would he still forgive your sin

Just a prayer before the dying
One request before we fall
Can we see the truth for lying
Prophets are you real at all
11.About You
Lyrics: Peter Rand (lyrics and music, solely his)
Musicians: Timothy Reid – Guitars, Mike Patterson – Vocals. Current mix: Peter Rand
Day breaks, the same old stories fill my mind
Half a life and half alive
She wakes in a totally different world to mine
Her eyes see through these veils

And if she asks me why I write the words I do
Why this one story fills my view
I can only say that
Your colours are not blue
This is not about you

She makes the unfamiliar seem a friend
Half forgotten, half a dream
She lies in comfort in this stranger's bed
Her cries drive home each nail

And if she asks me why I write the words I do
Why this one story fills my view
I can only say that
Your colours are not blue
This is not about you

She takes the train until the final stop
Half despairing seaside town
Surprise and longing walking hand in hand
Disguised as beauty in this tale

And if she asks me why I write the words I do
Why this one story fills my view
I can only say that
Your colours are not blue
This is not about you
12.Kayna
Lyrics: Eilis Leyne
Musicians: Peter Rand – Guitars/Music, Allen Conti – Drums, Mark Ecke – Mixing/Mastering
Not in the original sourcing pass for this album — added once credits were confirmed.
When Kayna was a little girl
Dancing through a magic world,
Ran along the sand all day,
Hair as wild as ocean spray.

Mama said “Now, child take care.
The devil lingers everywhere.
It's a narrow step to sin.
Don't let the stranger in.”

Kayna, in your sea foam gown
Kayna, don't let your mama down.
When she was a little girl
Daddy taught her about the world.
Said the boys just want one thing.
Hot in winter, gone by spring.

There's one bond that never breaks,
A love that gives more than it takes.
Sealed it with a secret kiss.
“Ain't no boy loves you like this.”

Kayna, quiet now. Don't make a sound.
Kayna, don't let your daddy down.
Don't let him down.

When Kayna was a woman grown
Finally made her way back home.
Come to walk those troubled sands,
The weight of metal in her hand.

Mama was already gone
But livin' mean made daddy strong.

Kayna. Kayna.

Said “Girl, it makes me sad to see
How little love you have for me.”
Said he couldn't understand
Why she refused take his hand.

As her silent eyes explained,
She raised the metal and took aim.

Kayna, don't make a sound.
Kayna, don't shoot your daddy down.
Kayna, quiet now don't make a sound.

Kayna. Kayna.
13.ClimbCredits only
Lyrics: Kim Noble
Musicians: Kim Noble – Vocals/Lyrics, Richard Bradley – Guitars, Mix, Nick DeNardo – Drums, Peter Rand – Guitars/Bass/Keys/Music
“Bonus track, released 8 July 2023, after the main 2021 album.”
No lyric text available for this track — credits only.

At Low Tide

29 July 2022 · Bandcamp

“Song for the Forest” is the same recording as the one on Cheshire Ghosts.

1.Song for the Forest
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Ramlee Oak – Vocals, Brian Henry – Drums, Jim Bryan – Bass, Peter Rand – Guitar/Music. Mix: Brian Henry
“Same song/recording as on Cheshire Ghosts, originally released 2021 on this “At Low Tide” EP.”
Breathe deep, you rouse me from my sleep, of
Work, news, payday blues, a deadline list of things to choose
More to-dos, I hit the snooze, I run to you and lose my shoes

The saints of this church are cedar, elm and birch
The silent ash knows, the moss between my toes
Frog and cricket conversations
Air and water circulations
A silk cocoon, a blazing moon, in cycles never-ending
A dividend can't comprehend the beauty its offending

Smell, feel, you never fail to heal
Noisy malls and concrete walls, complaining when the rain falls
Pub crawls and drunken brawls, there's wisdom in the birdcalls

The monks at this shrine are maple, oak and pine
The willows understand, the bark beneath my hand
Seeds wait, sleeping until spring
The walnuts add another ring
A patient owl, the hunter's prowl, a babbling brook is laughing
Of vast domains, not much remains, perhaps our time is passing

The monks at this shrine are maple, oak and pine
The willows understand, the bark beneath my hand
Frog and cricket conversations
Air and water circulations

A deadline list of things to choose, I run to you and lose my shoes
Complaining when the rain falls, there's wisdom in the bird calls
2.Low Tide
Lyrics: Scott Mulhearn (solely his)
Musicians: Scott Mulhearn – Vocals, Peter Rand – Guitar/Keys/Music, Jim Bryan – Bass, Mixing, Brian Henry – Drums
Everybody wants their time in the sun
Well so do I
To spend the rest of our lives
in the golden light
So full of pride
So they pay that price
I look out at the ocean
I'm swimming alone
I feel im going under
All alone at low tide

Sometimes I feel im like falling away
Drowning out of sight
I cant catch my breath
So I give up this fight
3.Regret and Promise
Lyrics: Mike Ousey (solely his)
Musicians: Mike Ousey – Vocals, Peter Rand – Guitars/Keys/Music, Francois Vingrief – Guitar, Philippe Pansard – Bass, Nick DeNardo – Drums, Taylor Brae – Engineer
It's quieter now
Said all there is to say, and there's no one here to hear it
It's slowing down
No longer trying to squeeze extra hours from a day

The empty lifeless space
between the couch and the TV
was once a vast sunlit plain, as far as a child's eyes could see
And daddy horse and daughter
would ride for hours

It's cleaner now
Everything is in its place, but no one's here to notice
It's so orderly
The chaos is gone, and it makes me want to mess it up
The pillows were once mountains, where a son's Lego armies lay in wait
The father's armies always failed
And he'd tickle the victor

It's too late to turn back
It's too soon to go forward
It's too near to get away
It's too far to stay

The future used to feel so wide open
Its keeps me feeling I can start again
But memory's no substitute for energy
And my energy is feeling pretty thin

Here I stand, before the altar of the god of loneliness and freedom
Just a man, who couldn't pay attention to his kin, or keep his mind on anything

Hear me lord
Accept this sacrifice of my wasted time
It please you lord
Let me feel the way I did before I failed

It's too late to turn back
I need to start moving
It's too near to stay
And too far to fly away

Hear me mistress
Accept this sacrifice of my forgotten love
It please you lord
Let me remember flesh as it felt when it was new
4.Shortest Day
Lyrics: Brooke Friendly (solely hers)
Musicians: Brooke Friendly – Vocal, Peter Rand – Guitars/Flute/Music, Brian Henry – Drums
Smoke rises and the sound escapes
The whispered breathe of a desperate man
A pair of aces up his sleeve but his stack his short
And the time is running out

The sun is restless with 5 cards to play
And the day is coming fast
So with a glance he calls the cowboys bet
And the dealer reveals the first three cards

Kings over 9 and his eyes are wide
The older gent checks, as does the desperate man
Got a pair of aces but waves his hand
No bet calls the dealer and turns 4th street

It's the Queen of hearts and she looks so pretty
But not to the desperate man

The cowboy turned a strait with lady luck
9-10-Jack-Queen-King
"All in" says the cowboy as he grins behind a whiskey
And stares at the desperate man who looks to the crowd

And searches for his soul he lost in a game a long time ago

The river is deep and can drown a desperate man
with nothing but regret but he calls "ALL IN"
Empty promises, broken hearts and a trail of loss
He has hope that just one more time, just one more win

With one card left to play

The cowboy stands up and shows his 10-Jack
A strait to the King and the desperate man nods
Aces over Kings with one card to play
He turns his eyes to the crowd

Searching for his soul.
Searching for his soul
As the dealer slowly reveals his last card
5.Stone
Lyrics: Peter Rand (music & lyric, solely his)
Musicians: Ian Tsang – Vocals, Peter Rand – Keys/Guitar, Miguel Bella – Harmonica
“Written after researching family history and discovering two great-uncles who both died in WWI and are buried in Liverpool; written from a dead soldier's point of view.”
I see you stand and read the words
Little said at all
Your hand recarves a history
A Man, a life, a fall

I hear the shouts, the duty call
The farewell gift from home
Your hand retraces every line
Forever set in stone

Still smell much more than gas in here
So awake and so alive
Your hand reaches back to touch this man
On this day I survive

I did not live in black and white
I did not live to win this fight
I did not live to end all wars
I did not live for any cause

You turn away, your duty done
Tears flow down to earth below
Your memory is all I hold
All I have to show

And once a year you bring me back
In dreams I've never known
Then I dig this grave again
To stand once more in stone

Change

19 November 2025 · Bandcamp

Several tracks were released individually earlier through 2025 before the album itself came out.

1.DenouementCredits only
Lyrics: Ian Tsang
Musicians: Ian Tsang – Vocals/Lyrics, Peter Rand – Guitar/Music, Timothy Reid – Guitar, Kevin Hartnell – Guitar/Drums/Percussion/Glockenspiel/Vibes/Synths/FX, Mix, Philippe Pansard – Bass
“Previously known only as a standalone SoundCloud track — it's actually track 1 of this album.”
No lyric text available for this track — credits only.
2.North StarInstrumental
Lyrics: Instrumental — no lyrics
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keyboards/Organ, Julian Knight – Drums, Mix
3.Funeral
Lyrics: Martin Mork and Mika Greiner
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keyboards/Music, Martin Jacob Mork – Vocals/Drums, with a cameo from Mika Greiner
“Originally created 2016 at Kompoz.com, reissued here (track released 20 January 2025). The lyrics reflect on the sorry state of US politics — originally written to coincide with the first disaster, reissued to coincide with a second one that is still ongoing.”
Been holding on
To this moment we belong
In a world set afire

Forward we look on
To where the light of love is shone
But that is just a lie
Though we might fear
It dies right here
A funeral for love

Take back, though we try
A broken word to justify
What we have left behind

And hope Someday we may find
a silver lining to remind
us of why we're alive

Love that plays a simple role
For a reason, a season
A life time or we let it go, oh

Sick and tired, terrified
Set a pace, for the prize
At the end of a road
Paved with good intentions

Now we're believers at best
A purpose unknown
A simpleton throne, a life of ignorance
And we might not ever get another chance

And the flame grows higher
4.Taller SkyInstrumental
Lyrics: Instrumental — no lyrics
Musicians: Peter Rand – Music/Keyboards, Richard Bradley – Guitars/Drums, Mix
“Track released 27 April 2025.”
5.HeadroomCredits only
Lyrics: Unknown / unpublished
Musicians: Peter Rand – Guitar/Keys, Richard Bradley – Lead Guitar, Daniele Silvestri – Drums, Mike Patterson – Vocals
“Track released 4 May 2025.”
Lyrics were never uploaded to Bandcamp or anywhere else — no lyric text exists for this track anywhere. Credits only.
6.Summer SolsticeInstrumental
Lyrics: Instrumental — no lyrics
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keyboards (solo piano piece)
“Put together 21 June 2025, released 22 June 2025. References Nancy Holt's “Sun Tunnels” earthwork installation in the Great Basin Desert, Utah — ties into the album cover's desert imagery.”

Cheshire Ghosts

1 January 2023 · Bandcamp
1.Autumn in Downland
Lyrics: Peter Rand (lyric & music, solely his)
Musicians: Ramlee Oak – Vocals/Bass, Peter Rand – Guitar, Mark Broding – Piano/Drums. Mix: Mark Broding
Painting is by a distant relative, Sidney Dennant Moss (1885–1946) — many of his painting titles are contained within this song's lyrics.

Sidney Dennant Moss was born at Ipswich on 10 June 1885, son of Robert John Moss (1859–6 April 1932), a draper's accountant, and his wife Alice Maud née Dennant (1858–1895), who married at Ipswich in 1882.

As an apprentice lithographic artist in Manchester, on 27 November 1905 he joined the Amalgamated Society Of Lithographic Artists, Designers, Engravers & Process Workers, where he learnt his art skills, resigning in 1911.

In 1911, Sidney was a 25 year old lithographic designer, boarding at Porth Enys Villa, Mousehole, Cornwall and served in the First World War as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps and after serving in France and Salonika, was demobilised from the 95th Labour Corps in 1919.

A landscape and figure painter and a member of Ipswich Art Society 1913–1930 and 1935–1941, exhibiting from Tunbridge Wells in 1923 three works, 'Moonrise, Ashdown Forest', 'Walberswick' and 'Moonlight' and in 1927 three works 'Autumn in Downland' and two watercolours 'Cloud Castles' and 'And the Sun was Darkened'. He resigned his membership of Ipswich Art Society in August 1930 but was re-elected at Ipswich in 1935 when he exhibited from the same address two watercolours, 'Half a Gale, Newhaven' and 'Rolling Downs'.

He died at Lewes Railway Station, Sussex on 21 December 1946, aged 61. Brighton Art Gallery gave him a memorial exhibition in 1947 and his oil 'In Constable Country' was loaned by Ipswich Museum for exhibition at the Ipswich Art Club centenary in 1974. He signed his works 'S. Dennant Moss'.

Text from Suffolkartists.co.uk (http://suffolkartists.co.uk/).

Postscript: In 2023 I managed to find and buy one of his paintings, making the distant connection something more physical.
The light fades
The night shades
The soldier's face
The unknown warrior
The pencil sharpened
Until the sun was darkened

Memories and colours
Villages and lovers
Water escapes
Gravity must wait

Clouds and castles
Tales to tell
Autumn in downland
Winter in hell

The journey home
No man's go-between
Settle down into
A quiet street scene

Lewes Station
1946
Every other moment
Had to come to this

Take the train
Take the train
To autumn in downland
2.Time Lapse
Lyrics: Dave Budd
Musicians: Dave Budd – Vocals, Tom Corea – Drums, Mario Licata – Bass, Peter Rand – Guitar/Keys/Music, Richard Bradley – Guitar. Mix: Richard Bradley
Crawl out of the cave
Squint your eyes to hide
Lights of dawn behave
Like fires in your mind

Clouds of ice
Take you far beyond what's right
Float away
Your fury can go on for days

Blood boils to curdle pain
As you play this song again
Run away from your past
Disappear in this time lapse

Crawl out of the dark
Shield your eyes to find
Hands of thieves compete
Like fires in your mind

Twelve steps so far behind
Can you escape your fate
Hope reaches over shadows
Is it too late?

Stumble from the shame
Cede the path of kind
Burn the hands that hold
With fires in your mind

Clouds of ice
Take you far beyond what's right
Float away
Your fury can go on for days

Twelve steps so far behind
Can you escape your fate
Hope reaches over shadows
Is it too late?
3.Cheshire Ghosts
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Ramlee Oak – Vocals/Bass/Drums, Peter Rand – Keys/Music. Mix: Ramlee Oak
“A song about the histories inches beneath our feet, and our unknowing willingness to repeat the mistakes of the past — the locations mentioned are all in or near Chester.”
At the George and Dragon near Northgate arch
Down in the cellars you can hear them marching
The old Roman road beneath the town

The youth of Gaul who died for Rome
Were memorialized with carven stones
Their bones, so far from their childhood homes

At the height of the English civil war
Where a thousand fell at Rowton Moor, what were they fighting for?

There lie the bodies of boys and madmen, red waves on violent coasts
Lured by legends that liars fashion, lauded with drunken toasts
All for a legacy kings imagine, so say the Cheshire ghosts

Cold mist can't conceal shallow graves, we kissed by cold steel, our lives gave
Flags and formations, death drew near, poisoned ambition, faith and fear

Deep lie the bodies of boys discarded, wuthering sleepless hosts
Unquiet souls of our dear departed, so say the Cheshire ghosts

Spring rains won't wash these crimes away, Royalists and Roundheads in the clay
Roman blood in the river Dee, all innocence swept out to sea

All for a legacy kings imagine, so say the Cheshire ghosts

Two thousand years since Minerva's shrine
We send our youth to the borderline, to play out an ancient pantomime

It's human nature they will say
The dark side we're compelled to obey, it's our choice to turn and walk away
4.Storeton RidgeInstrumental
Lyrics: Instrumental — no lyrics
Musicians: John Schilling – Guitar, Peter Rand – Keys/Music. Mix: John Schilling
“A place near Peter's childhood home, tying to the album's “ghosts beneath our feet” theme (dinosaur footprints, ancient battles, the industrial revolution).”
5.Song for the Forest
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Ramlee Oak – Vocals, Brian Henry – Drums, Jim Bryan – Bass, Peter Rand – Guitar/Music. Mix: Brian Henry
“Originally released 2021 on the “At Low Tide” EP — same song/recording appears there too.”
Breathe deep, you rouse me from my sleep, of
Work, news, payday blues, a deadline list of things to choose
More to-dos, I hit the snooze, I run to you and lose my shoes

The saints of this church are cedar, elm and birch
The silent ash knows, the moss between my toes
Frog and cricket conversations
Air and water circulations
A silk cocoon, a blazing moon, in cycles never-ending
A dividend can't comprehend the beauty its offending

Smell, feel, you never fail to heal
Noisy malls and concrete walls, complaining when the rain falls
Pub crawls and drunken brawls, there's wisdom in the birdcalls

The monks at this shrine are maple, oak and pine
The willows understand, the bark beneath my hand
Seeds wait, sleeping until spring
The walnuts add another ring
A patient owl, the hunter's prowl, a babbling brook is laughing
Of vast domains, not much remains, perhaps our time is passing

The monks at this shrine are maple, oak and pine
The willows understand, the bark beneath my hand
Frog and cricket conversations
Air and water circulations

A deadline list of things to choose, I run to you and lose my shoes
Complaining when the rain falls, there's wisdom in the bird calls
6.In CirclesInstrumental
Lyrics: Instrumental — no lyrics
Musicians: John Schilling – Guitar/Drums, Peter Rand – Keys/Music. Mix: John Schilling
7.Noah's Archive
Lyrics: Ramlee Oak
Musicians: Ramlee Oak – Vocals, Jim Bryan – Bass/Drums, Peter Rand – Guitar/Keys/Music. Mix: Ramlee Oak
“A modern retelling of the Noah story.”
Forty days and forty nights, forty days and forty nights
Forty days and forty nights, forty days and forty nights

I still remember pickin' up the phone, and I could tell this guy's a baritone. He started…
"It's my sad duty to inform you all today, your darker lusts have lead you all astray."
"I tried forgiveness but the evil in you grew, there isn't any more that I can do."
"Corrupt and greedy, you're a symphony of sin. All bets are off so let the end begin."

"Something 'edgy', nothing boring or routine, a spectacle the world has never seen."
"An epoch-ending, calamitous event, 'beyond redemption' level punishment."
"Don't sugar coat it, I hate it when you're vague. Perhaps a good old-fashioned locust plague?"
"I'll do the thinking!", and then he cleared his throat. "And Noah, you my lad must build a boat!"

Two of every creature, every animal and beast, one and all from big to small, from greatest to the least
Heaven has no favorites, all are welcome on this barge, pack only essentials, cos' you won't be livin' large

"Oh Darling…it sounds so romantic…like cruising the Greek islands…Can we visit Santorini?"

I hung the phone up and I poured myself a drink, I chugged that bottle 'til I couldn't think
But in the morning I remembered what he'd said, I found the courage to get out of bed
300 cubits, 50 wide and 30 high, my doubt is growing as the days go by
I must be crazy, clinically insane, then out of nowhere comes the driving rain

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink, radio is broken and the T.V.s on the blink
Stuck inside this barrel, moldy bread and cony stew, I'm jealous of the dead compared to what we're goin' through

"Noah, can we stop somewhere to take some photos darling?…Oh, I think you're gettin' a tan…How long is this cruise again?"

More than a year that we've been captives on this ark, it's just like god to keep us in the dark
And then a miracle the barge has hit a reef, the dove returns holding an olive leaf
A chance to rid ourselves of wickedness and vice, and turn this world into a paradise
Somewhat the wiser I can confidently claim, the more things change the more they stay the same
8.Golden ExperimentInstrumental
Lyrics: Instrumental — no lyrics
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keyboards/Music, Richard Bradley – Guitars, Mike Gray – Bass/Drums
9.The Killing Fields of EtonInstrumental
Lyrics: Instrumental — no lyrics
Musicians: Daniele Silvestri – Drums, Chris Branch – Bass, Peter Rand – Guitar/Keys/Music. Mix: Chris Branch
10.Worlds Apart
Lyrics: Peter Rand (lyric & music, solely his)
Musicians: Peter Rand – Keys/Guitars, Nick DeNardo – Drums, Philippe Pansard – Bass, Martin Landolf Lobemeier – Vocals, Mix
And there you stood
In front of me
The love I felt
All I could see

So we embraced
The years slipped past
The love I felt
Life won't outlast

Then I awoke
to feel the tears
And I awoke
to face these fears

And I awoke to the certainty
That you are very much with me

Drawn together by the tide
Torn and twisted by the ride
Eye to eye and heart to heart
Once so close, now worlds apart

Held in place with sand and straw
The west wind blew so far from shore
We stood together at the start
Once so close, now worlds apart

Uncrossed lines run parallel
We live our days
We live to tell
Eye to eye and heart to heart
Once so close, now worlds apart
Also released

Undercovering — Strawberry Fools

A set of Strawbs covers plus two others, performed with love — not included here since the words aren't ours. VIP-exclusive release on Bandcamp, 18 May 2025, 16 tracks.

David Claridge – Vocals/Guitars · Dick Greener – Vocals/Guitar · Ralph Tonge – Vocals/Guitars · Les Cotton – Bass/Vocals/Guitars · Peter Rand – Keyboards

Instrumental releases

No lyrics on these — instrumental throughout, so no entries here: