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IMPOSSIBILISM

by Mark Automaton

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1.
Janus 00:48
2.
NullPointerException 03:13
lyrics
Well I heard that empty vessels Are the ones that make most noise I don't want to listen to you But it seems I have no choice You are all up in my business Every day and every night Even though you have no substance You're still blocking out my light I'm still trying to untangle The deceitful web you spun Your value is imaginary The square root of minus one So now you're growing desperate And increasingly incoherent Your charm has worn so very thin You are virtually transparent Your attempts to win me over Didn't play out as you planned You promised me a house of gold But you built it on quicksand You are drifting further out of touch Although you try to hide it You sport a sleek designer suit But there's nothing at all inside it
3.
Plastic Bags 03:00
lyrics
The present has been folded And stored in plastic bags The past is now rewritten And all wrapped up in flags The future, a dismal hellscape Of ashes, bones and rags The voices of all the people That I have ever met Are ringing in my ears Like a promise or a threat Fragments of their broken lives Shared on the internet A lifetime of auditions But never a starring role In yet another waiting room The air is dead and cold It withers my ambition And suffocates my soul Unable now to win or lose Or even play the game Unsure of what to do or say Or where to lay the blame I had not read the small print When I rashly signed my name The glass is not half-empty It's full up to the brim It overflows with poison A risk to life and limb I tried to write a jolly song But it turned out like a hymn
4.
Compulsory Games [alternative version] 03:08
lyrics
I don't like you You don't like me But we're in this thing together So we might as well agree You don't know me I don't want to know you It may well be a cliché But we can't deny it's true Delete all the emails And turn off the phones Fighting off the boredom That seeps into our bones Pause and reflect On what we did today We just want to go back home But now we have to play Compulsory games Pretend to have fun You swing and you miss Trying for a home run Compulsory games Mandatory fun Worthless prizes Are waiting to be won It's hard to see, it's hard to breathe Standing silent in the moonlight Unhealthy bodies, unhealthy minds Out on the playing fields at midnight The food is cold and tasteless The portions are too small But the drinks are on the house And the writing's on the wall Yes, the writing's on the wall On the ceiling and the floor. It's Written there in blood so We cannot ignore it Grab the karaoke mic Sing along to "My Way" Desperately try To keep the sadness at bay Smile for the camera Smile the pain away Take another selfie And now it's time to play Compulsory games Pretend to have fun Dancing to the rhythm Of a submachine gun Compulsory games Mandatory fun You were stitched up like a kipper But now you've come undone
5.
Dissatisfaction Guaranteed 03:30
lyrics
They took you to the theatre You didn't want to go You didn't like the audience You didn't like the show You turn on the radio And fiddle with the dial But they don't play your music now It's completely out of style You search through all the movies Streaming on your smart TV So many there to choose from But none you want to see Looking through faded photographs At all your faded friends All the embarrassing haircuts The bygone fashion trends Looking through faded photographs You long for a simpler time When everything seemed to make more sense And the punishment matched the crime You feel like a hostage in your house You're sick of being alone But as soon as you're out on the town You want to be back home The pizza's cold, the beer is flat The world's a battleground These twenties do not roar for you They barely make a sound
6.
A Stranger Calls 02:55
lyrics
He came to town all dressed in white It was a silent winter's night The snow lay thick upon the ground All dressed in white, he came to town What did we do, what did we say To bring him here that dismal day? We prayed he was just passing through What did we say, what did we do? He walks the streets, a stranger here His motivation is unclear His footsteps echo like heartbeats A stranger here, he walks the streets The future's bleak, the past's obscure We dread his knock upon the door We know he's there, we dare not speak The past's obscure, the future's bleak He'll never leave; this is our fate To cower and to supplicate Our only choice is to believe This is our fate - he'll never leave
7.
Bottle 02:53
lyrics
You have a lot of strong opinions That you gathered from YouTube Extensive Facebook research Has led you to conclude That you are now an expert The truth has been revealed The scales have fallen from your eyes Secret files have been unsealed Now your every passing thought And every tiny notion Must be broadcast to the world In your quest for self promotion Grab a pitchfork, light a torch And join the baying throng On Twitter and on Reddit You're a million morons strong You're wise to those conspiricies The government tries to hide You're busy posting misquotes From Freud and Oscar Wilde But even if Oscar said it It doesn't mean it's true So if you want some sound advice I'll tell you what to do Don't speak, don't talk Keep it to yourself Put your thoughts into a bottle Put the bottle on the shelf The shelf down in the basement Where no one ever goes Where no one will ever find them That's the place for thoughts like those Don't speak, don't talk Keep it to yourself Put your thoughts into a bottle It's much better for your health Don't speak, don't tweet I think we all agree You should bottle up your thoughts And throw that bottle in the sea
8.
Sighs and Cries 05:22
lyrics
Static hisses In the dead of night The noise is pink The noise is white The hairs stand up All over your skin The noise embedded Deep within The noise is pretty The noise is sad It keeps you happy And it drives you mad It serenades Your one desire The snap crackle pop Of the funeral pyre It's in your bones It's in your blood Can't live without it That's understood Amid the turmoil And the rising tides The noise endures The noise abides There it is You heard it again Was it a sax or a flute Or a cry of pain? In the supermarket Or the corner shop The noise is there It'll never stop
9.
He Had You 03:45
lyrics
There was a corner and it was the place to go We used to meet there - doing our whiz and blow I had a friend there and he was a waste of space He tried to match me but he couldn't stay the pace He was a no one He was a loser But he had you you you - he had you He had you you you - he had you I couldn't stand it - seeing you there with him I never told you how much it did me in I went to college and I got a fancy car A drop-dead apartment and now I'm a shining star He never made it He's selling windows But he had you you you - he had you He had you you you - he had you I have respect now - I always knew I would 'Cause I had a passport out of the neighbourhood And when I go back I always see him there I ask how he's doing - not that I really care He's still on the corner He's still going nowhere But he had you you you - he had you He had you you you - he had you
10.
Old Misery Guts 02:58
lyrics
Old misery guts Walks down the street In a long leather coat That smells like feet The stray dogs bark And children stare Old misery guts He doesn't care Thirty years ago In another life He had a family He had a wife Now all that's left Are his memories They crumble in his hands Like dry dead leaves He draws down the binds And locks the door Against plague and famine And death and war He cast his vote For this government But the food's running out He can't pay the rent The walls have ears And the hills have eyes His thoughts have colours And it's no surprise People are awful Pompous and vain They're not worth the effort They're not worth the pain That obsolete crap That he learned in school Is no use now Drowning in this cesspool They said "Keep calm And carry on" But he can't help wishing That he had a gun Now the sentence is passed And there's no appeal He prays for Jesus To take the wheel But Jesus is drunk He won't answer his phone Old misery guts You're on your own
11.
Streets of Montreal 02:38
lyrics
I'll admit I never cried When Leonard Cohen died but Still I felt something was lost From somewhere deep inside And I've never been to Hydra Or the Chelsea Hotel But I walked in his footsteps On the streets of Montreal In my search for inspiration Many others played their part, but He wrote the soundtrack to my life The libretto of my heart And I've never had religion No, I never heard that call But I believe I sensed his presence In the streets of Montreal My heroes are not perfect They all have feet of clay But I owe him a heavy debt That I cannot repay In the shadow of the chapel Down by the harbour wall I heard his music echo Through the streets of Montreal
12.
Shallow Grave 03:24
lyrics
The freedoms that we fought so hard to save Are snatched out of our desperate grasping hands And buried in an unmarked shallow grave Despite our struggle, valiant and brave They slowly seep away like hourglass sands; These freedoms that we fought so hard to save So helplessly we faced that tidal wave And what became of all our hopeful plans? They're buried in an unmarked shallow grave The zealots fulminate and rant and rave They seek to sabotage with their demands The freedoms that we fought so hard to save And when they gain the power that they crave No clemency for any who withstand Just burial in an unmarked shallow grave And now we're little more than galley slaves We blindly follow all of their commands The freedoms that we fought so hard to save Lie buried in an unmarked shallow grave
13.
Disgruntled Ex-Employee (A Sonnet for Brian) 03:47
lyrics
He watched the clock that never seemed to move His soul crushed by the endless drudgery But still he did his best, tried to improve Always on time, a model employee He followed all their stupid petty rules But now it's clear he meant nothing to them And all along they played him for a fool He was let go on Friday, five PM He's tired of feeling rage day in day out They treated him like dirt and now they'll pay The innocent will suffer, there's no doubt But they will not forget this dreadful day He tastes the sweetness his revenge now brings As death descends on swift and fiery wings
14.
Suit of Armour 03:34
lyrics
I wear my suit of armour It's old and it's rusted But still I put it on each day It's tried and it's trusted I have no snow white Horse to ride No shining sword Hanging by my side Just this suit of armour I've got my suit of armour I put on my suit of armour And nothing can hurt me Nothing can hurt me now No coat of arms Or ancestral home No mighty fortress To call my own Just this suit of armour I've got my suit of armour I put on my suit of armour And nothing can hurt me Nothing can hurt me now There are no dragons left to fight The dragons all died out late one night The holy grail I failed to find The mirror cracks and the thread unwinds And silly little songs with clever rhymes Might be all I have to leave behind It makes me bold But not too bold My heart is hard And my blood runs cold And I've got my suit of armour I've got my suit of armour I put on my suit of armour And nothing can hurt me Nothing can touch me Nothing can hurt me now
15.
Between Terminal Gods 04:18
lyrics
Birds fly Through the grey northern sky Leaves turn While the bonfires burn Lights dim And the night closes in Once more We're standing here on the shore You think the game is over It isn't You think maybe you won You didn't Turn round Now you're safe and you're sound That's all Between the rise and the fall Wake up Drain the dregs from your cup Don't grieve When the time comes to leave You think you're going to make it You aren't Believing you can fake it You can't Hours pass Lying there on the grass At midday The sea is dirty and grey Bombs drop And the screaming won't stop Right here At the end of the year You thought that you knew me You didn't You thought that life was carefree It isn't Right here At the end of the year Right here We're at the end of the year
16.
Terminus 00:48

about

What is a poet? An unhappy person who conceals profound anguish
in his heart but whose lips are so formed that as sighs and cries
pass over them they sound like beautiful music.
- Søren Kierkegaard

credits

released January 4, 2023

All words & music by Mark Automaton, except
"He Had You" - words & music by Nick Saloman

All tracks performed, recorded, mixed & mastered
by Mark Automaton
at Waterden Studios, Falkirk

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Mark Automaton UK

Mark Automaton came to prominence as a founding member of the seminal “cassette culture” band the Instant Automatons, who were instrumental in spearheading the UK DIY music scene of the late 70s and early 80s.
Since then, Mark has been active as a producer, musical collaborator and solo artist, releasing music under his own name and also as 391 and randomk/automata. ... more

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