Get all 5 Helen Dorothy releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of No More, Garden of Soul, Light Time & Sound, Watching Ghosts...and Other Songs, and The Going Away.
1. |
Radio Angel
05:43
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Radio Angel
© Helen Dorothy (2009)
Have you heard the radio angel on marine band sixty-two
Today is her last broadcast - I hear she’s going to Utiku
To all you boys who are out there on the deep blue southern swell
This is fisherman’s radio listening and I hope that you go well
Radio angel – out across the waves
Radio angel – a voice to keep you safe
And if I ever needed angels, this is the kind they would be
Nothing celestial, nothing divine, just ordinary folk who are happy to shine
They'll look out for yours, take care of mine, and they do it with...
Heart and soul
Heart and soul
We’ll look out for each other
If we have heart and we have soul
Have you seen the triple-one angels when there’s darkness and despair
They send the men in red to clear the way and those in blue to clear the air
Here come the aerial angels shuddering through the sky
And they hover like a spaceship while the seconds are flashing by
Triple-one angels – send us someone brave
Triple-one angels – there’s someone here to save
And if I ever needed angels, this is the kind they would be
Nothing celestial, nothing divine, just ordinary folk who are happy to shine
They'll look out for yours and take care of mine, and they do it with...
Heart and soul
Heart and soul
We’ll look out for each other
If we have heart and we have soul
Now there are angels in the mountains and there are angels on the surf
But they’re not the martyrs we hear about who are blowing lives away from earth
So here’s to all you angels out there on the wing
You’re just ordinary people doing your own thing
With heart and with soul
With heart and with soul
We’ll look out for each other
If we have heart and we have soul
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2. |
Another Way
03:55
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Another Way
© Helen Dorothy (2014)
She was going on her way; it was a fine, sunny day
She was feeling on top of the world
I made a noise in the shack, stopped her in her tracks
And you can see how events unfurled
She heard me...
Scratching and a-whining, scrabbling, and pining
And yelping to be free
Yapping and a-yowling, whimpering, and howling
For someone to let me free
‘Cos I missed...
The tumble and rough in the dandelion fluff
Come on and set me free
Throw me a stick for a warm wet lick
Come on and set me free
I like the sun on my belly, a whiff of something smelly
Come on and set me free
And a hound dog mate to bark at the gate with
Come on and set me free
She went up to the house, but shrank like a mouse
Not a place she wanted to be
She went swiftly on her way this fine, sunny day
Heart low, brow so heavy
They’re the ones choosing
And we’re the ones losing
Come on and set us free
It was invisible her, and miserable me
Come on and set us free
‘Cos I need the...
The tumble and rough in the dandelion fluff
Come on and set me free
I’ll deliver your stick with a slobbery lick
Come on and set me free
I like a tickle on the muzzle when my nose solves a puzzle
Come on and set me free
And a hound dog mate to bark at the gate with
Come on and set me free
Along comes a man in a uniform
Goes up to the house where the reception is far from warm.
Puts me in a truck, drives away
Tells me it’s my lucky day
There’s another way of loving me
There’s another way of being with me
There’s another way of loving me
There’s another way of being with me
There’s another way of loving me
There’s another way of being with me
There’s another way of giving
A better way of living
And another way of loving me.
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3. |
Touch & Stay
04:15
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Touch & Stay
© Helen Dorothy (2008)
Neil Young said: “I need a crowd of people but I can’t face them day to day”
Well I know you know what he was trying to say.
Puff, in a cloud smoke I am there, and then I vanish in the very same way
I’d rather that than fight and play when
You’re pacing all over the room
And I’m down on my knees with my fingers madly drumming
I see the flash of panic in your eyes
And I know exactly what’s coming…
Touch and go, or touch and stay
Tell me which one is the way
I should have listened to the warnings
And if you really know
You really want the touch and go
Then go and touch someone else
And don’t come back in the morning
Time and time again you give me the feeling there’s nowhere you would rather be
This cosy life, just you and me
I feel the quickening of your pulse and I know I can’t let this curiosity
Untangle you and set you free
Hey, does your skin not fit, are you turning away, giving me the shoulder
But not to cry on
I hear distraction in your breath as you dream to weave yourself a carpet, a magic one, to fly away on
Touch and go, or touch and stay
Tell me which one is the way
I should have listened to the warnings
And if you really know
You really want the touch and go
Then go and touch someone else
And don’t come back in the morning
Touch and go, or touch and stay
Tell me which one is the way
I should have read all those warnings
And if you’re trying to say
You really want the touch and stay
Then it’s touch and go
But I’ll see you in the morning
And if you wanna say
You really want the touch and stay
Then it’s touch and go
But I’ll be there in the morning
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4. |
(Another) Saturday Night
03:21
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(Another) Saturday Night
© Michael O'Leary (2003)
I have been drunk!
On each of Baudelaire's
Fancy wings have I flown.
On wine, poetry and the tail-wing of virtue
Have I in drunken chariots gone.
Drink! Drink! Drink! With the nebulous goal,
To find the limitless mind and soul.
On! On! On! Through light, time, and sound
Too late! I fall to the ground.
Which I hit with a terrible smash
And as a Phoenix, turn to ash.
You ask, "Like the bird
Will you rise again soon?"
I answer, "Yes, Sunday, Monday,
Or maybe Tuesday afternoon!"
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5. |
Be Kind To Your Heart
03:43
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Be Kind To Your Heart
© Helen Dorothy (2016)
Be kind to your heart
It will be your friend
It will go with you to places
Where your mind may never bend
And it will make you whole
But it can leave you hollow
Go easy on your mind
Like the sun, like the rain
It will be in all the places
Where your heart takes you again
Where it can rest with peace
Or spin in sorrow
And it will make you whole
But it can leave you hollow
And it can rest with peace
Or spin in sorrow
Be kind to your heart
It will be your friend
It will go with you to places
Where your mind may never bend
And it will make you whole
But it can leave you hollow
Go easy on your mind
Like the sun, like the rain
It will be in all the places
Where your heart leaves you again
Where it can rest with peace
Or spin in sorrow
And you shall be whole again...
And you can rest with the peace…
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6. |
Over The Line
04:02
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Over The Line
© Helen Dorothy (2010)
She’s gone away
She might never be back
They gave her nineteen years of their lives
Then she did a vanishing act
They treated her well
And how they loved her
They really, really cared for her
But when she told them she found it way too hard
To pick up the phone or post them a card
It just left them hanging in the air….
It’s a funny old world
A funny old world we live in
The people that we’re closest to
Can be the people to whom we’re giving
The hardest time
And sometimes it works out fine
But sometimes we take it a little too far
And we’re stepping over the line
He’s run away
But I guess he’ll be back
He gave them every day of his life
But they never cut him any slack
He showed them respect
But that was ‘cos he was made to
And you could see he was even afraid to
And when they told him that he was a waste of space
Such a shame he had his father’s face
It just left him hanging in the air….
It’s a funny old world
A funny old world we live in
The people that we’re closest to
Can be the people to whom we’re giving
The hardest time
And sometimes it works out fine
But sometimes we take it a little too far
And we’re stepping over the line
When we take it a little too far
We find we're stepping over the line
Sometimes we take it a little too far
And we’re stepping over the line
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7. |
Eucalyptus Man
05:20
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Eucalyptus Man
© Helen Dorothy (2007)
Here’s a tale
Set in New South Wales
Where the ironbark rails
Weave through the dusty ranges pale
There’s a man
Acquires a plot of land
Plants a eucalyptus stand
Then offers his daughter Ellen’s hand
To the suitor who can name all the trees
Five hundred of them, ragged and pale
Shivering in the breeze
And Ellen she said
As she lay down on her river-gum bed
"I’ll never be wed to a eucalyptus man"
So, they came and they went
The bushman and the city gent
But the rules could not be bent,
Then, a scientist from Kew
Said he’d stay a month or two
And they marveled at all the gums he knew
And she hoped and she prayed
He’d get his stringybarks, his bloodwoods,
And his blues mixed up with his greys
And in Ellen’s gloom
She stayed inside her bluestone room
Crying "I’ll not be entombed with a eucalyptus man"
Soon, it came to pass
The day to name the very last
And lift the spell that had been cast
And share together the stories of their pasts
But such a simple, simple mistake
One that any gum tree expert could make
And as he stumbled to the road
He sealed Ellen’s fate
She threw back the sheets
Came running down no shoes on her feet
Singing "My life is complete without the eucalyptus man"
And down in the groves
Waits the boy from town she already chose
And the hot wind blows away the eucalyptus man.
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8. |
In The Breezy Summer Air
03:24
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In The Breezy Summer Air
© Helen Dorothy (2009)
In the breezy summer air she passes
Stepping through the waving grasses
A woman with a basket filled with washing from her day
Butterflies on the wing
And on the line her fisher-king
Flies off to chase cicadas that are ringing through her day
And the bathroom towels are softly flapping
Leggings twirl like ribbon wrapping
Fitted sheets—basking sharks gulping in the air
Shirt sleeves gesticulating
Left sock with its right sock waiting
Her washing gently drying in the breezy summer air
She chooses blue pegs for his denim blue
Green ones for just a few things
Pink pegs for the smaller items hidden out of view
White for a pillow case
Tear stains from her sleepy face
Are rinsed away to a distant place far out of view
And the bathroom towels are softly flapping
Leggings twirl like ribbon wrapping
Fitted sheets—basking sharks gulping in the air
Shirt sleeves gesticulating
Left sock with its right sock waiting
Her washing gently drying in the breezy summer air
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9. |
Twelve Of Us
03:48
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Twelve Of Us
© Helen Dorothy (2014)
We are people off the street skulking like foxes
Our names spinning in ballot boxes
And now we’re weighing up a dude in the docks
And it’s all a strange situation
The Judge sits up high and large
Madam Secretary reads out the charge
And over in the corner the Detective Sergeant who headed the investigation
I look around and what do I see
Eleven blank faces staring at me
And we carry the same weight
We've got to find a common way
Through the million different shades of grey
That you get between the black and the white
To see whose wrong and whose right
Crown Prosecutor’s got an act that’s slick
Defence Counsel are sharp and quick
And up in the gallery they all feel sick
And dizzy with their emotions
It’s hands on the Book for the moral achievers
Hands on hearts for the non-believers
Hands in the air for us fact receivers
We’re pushing aside our emotions
I look around and what do I see
There's eleven faces frowning with me
And we carry the same weight
We’re trying to find a common way
Through the million different shades of grey
That you get between the black and the white
To see whose wrong and whose right
I look around and I hope to see
Twelve of us in harmony
And we all carry the same weight
We’re trying to find a common way
Through the million different shades of grey
That you get...
Between the wrong and the right
The wrong and the right
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10. |
The Unspoken Word
03:59
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The Unspoken Word
© Helen Dorothy (2015)
In a story never told
A memory never awoken
Like a message placed inside a hollow egg that can never be read until the shell is broken
The unspoken word
Can be a remedy to ease the pain and stop its transmission
Be curious, be shy
Embrace your imagination
Feel the tension rising, rising, when the spell is unbroken
The unspoken word
Maybe, maybe the silence is a love admission
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11. |
Last Run Moment
03:05
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Last Run Moment
Lyrics © Helen Dorothy (2014)
Wait for the moment
Soon it will come
And the pain of your joy is gone
Touch me and know I feel
Whisper with smiles and tears
Uncurl my fingers
And hold me near
It's all you can do
Love me
It's all you'll do
And the world is calling
It's fast, it's slow
There are dreams, there are nightmares
The highs, the lows
It's all you can do
Watch me
It's all you'll do
Touch you and hope you feel
Whisper and pray you hear
Wait for the moment
It's all I can do
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Helen Dorothy New Zealand
Helen Dorothy is “an acoustic folk artist in an honest sense” (NZ Musician, 2009). She writes "beautifully-crafted, intelligent songs rich in memorable imagery" (fRoots Magazine, Jan 2014).
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