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Two Villanelles

by Mark Automaton

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1.
Take up your instruments, strike up the band The autumn days are dark and short and cold We can do no other, so here we stand Our lives, as ever, aimless and unplanned The past is falsely glimmering fool's gold Take up your instruments, strike up the band Travelling deep into the hinterland We see friends and former lovers growing old We can do no other, so here we stand Where is the rainbow's end, our promised land? What manner of untruths have we been told? Take up your instruments, strike up the band We are as one, the chosen and the damned Our hands are bound, they've tightened the blindfold We can do no other, so here we stand Don't get me wrong - please don't misunderstand I didn't mean to leave you unconsoled Take up your instruments, strike up the band I can do no other, so here I stand
2.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my lids and all is born again. (I think I made you up inside my head.) The stars go waltzing out in blue and red, And arbitrary blackness gallops in: I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead. I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane. (I think I made you up inside my head.) God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade: Exit seraphim and Satan's men: I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead. I fancied you'd return the way you said, But I grow old and I forget your name. (I think I made you up inside my head.) I should have loved a thunderbird instead; At least when spring comes they roar back again. I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead. (I think I made you up inside my head.)

about

villanelle (noun) :
A verse form of French origin consisting of 19 lines arranged in five tercets and a quatrain. The first and third lines of the first tercet recur alternately at the end of each subsequent tercet and both together at the end of the quatrain.

Two new tracks to mark Mr. Automaton's 60th birthday.

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released January 4, 2019

Lyrics to "Mad Girl's Love Song" by Sylvia Plath
All other words & music by Mark Automaton

Recorded & Produced by Mark Automaton at Waterden Studios, Larbert

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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.
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