Get all 8 luxembourg releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Changes, 45, London is Blue, Youth EP, A Secret Public - b-sides & rarities 2001-2006, Last Holiday Before Divorce - Deleted Scenes From An Unfinished Sequel, Front, and Best Kept Secret - Demos & Rarities 2001-2004.
1. |
I'm A Phantom
02:13
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pulling in at the station
leaving little trail
i’m a phantom
picked up in a real car
its presence large as life
the holiday you’re due to go on
i’ve been there and it’s all right
but not for anyone who’s travelling alone
letting down your guard
and telling me there’s nothing wrong but boredom
fork
spoon
knife
back at mine
lash the bolts across the door
throw up on the laminate floor of my life
back at mine
lash the bolts across the door
throw up on the never-quite-clean floor of my life
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2. |
Last Lap (demo)
03:13
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he’s driving up and down the country
a proud man with a big…
wheel between his legs
he’s taking rubbish here, tat there
but not taking any crap off anyone
but if he closed his eyes
the lorry would keep rolling on and on
the cabin would cocoon him
it’s warm
the amber lights would stretch on and on
he’s wearing polyester blue trousers
a sewn-in seam gracing the middle of the front
trading motorway for carriageway
not imagining there could be another way
these days, his thighs…
they form a lap
as he completes another lap
he thinks that’s not right for a real man
mostly, his thighs…
they form a lap
as he completes another lap
he thinks that’s not right for a real man
his thoughts drift
his eyes close
the sounds blur
his eyes close
but the road stretches on
i think i’m in love
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3. |
Radio (demo)
03:22
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well, i can’t talk about right now
but the past might be safer ground
let’s say you pick the month and i, the century
oh, but you’ll never know me
i like your big idea, antonio
but then you get done over by so and so
now you only look pretty on the radio
that’s how we sleep at night
now it’s 1937, so away you go
you’ve pointed out the problem but still on it goes
so you’re never gonna hear me on the radio
that’s how i sleep at night
i want to be kissed in a velvet summer
what a way of passing my time
re-inventing old parlour rhymes
from charades, i progressed to blind man’s bluff and blankety blank
oh, but you’ll never know me
i want to be kissed in a velvet summer
where your friends are free
one way or another
i want to be kissed in a velvet summer
where your friends are free
somewhere or other!
oh, spartacus
are you proud of us?
well, i can’t live with myself
oh, junius
are you bored of us?
that’s how we cope
i want to kiss you in a velvet summer
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4. |
Kick Me
03:15
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i used to hitch-hike
i used to walk home at night
i was always flirting with strangers
laughing in the face of…
but that’s not why
that’s not why
that’s not why, why, why
you beat me
and even as you did it
i thought of how the papers would report it:
“frenzied, cold-blooded, undeserved”
and how that really didn’t capture it
you kicked me
and even as you did it
i thought of how the witness would relate it:
you’d be “outrageous”
while i’d be “courageous”
and how that really didn’t capture it
i used to speak my mind
i’d go beyond the party line
i was off message more than i was on
always off siding with the underdog
but that’s not why
not why, why, why
and how they’ll really never capture you
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5. |
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we’ve got dirt on you from five months and four years ago
we’ve got dirt on you from three years and six months ago
and yes, things were different then
but that doesn’t matter now
if you’re still of use to us
you’ll be rehabilitated
if you’re of no use to us
you’ll be destroyed
but it was fiction
it was art
it was fiction
it was art
you see, your lily-livered relativistic ways are out of step with the times
your pussy-footing shifting meanings will never keep us safe, no
we’ve got dirt on you from ten years and three months ago
from four years and seven weeks ago
and nothing else matters now
for what i’ve done, you’ll see me dead
we’re changing tack and we’re backdating our decision
you’re on best behaviour now
but you can’t take back what’s been said
art is no defence
we can’t afford that now
art is no defence
we don’t have that luxury now
shame on you
shame on you
i can’t say what i really want to say
i’ll keep my mouth shut
i can’t take you on
i’m not strong enough
i’m so glad i never made it into the arena
the arena
i would have been torn apart
i would have been savaged
shame on you
shame on you
all your good work undone in one moment
for what i’ve done, you’ll see me dead
but by your own hand
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6. |
Steady Pressure (demo)
03:44
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it comes in the morning and sits upon my chest
waking me with reminders of the ways i’m in its debt
can’t you leave me be? can’t you spare me, please?
i just want the quietness
the sunshine cracks the blisters on the window
now it comes in the daytime
and squats upon my thighs
slowing down my movements
dragging down my mind
leave me as i am
i am the wrong one
i just want the quietness
the sun’s on my back and the dampness in my bones
now it comes in the evening
puts its hands across my mouth
applying steady pressure
filling me with doubt
these two hot hands
i cannot stand
i just want the quietness
the sun burns on as if it would without me
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7. |
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from dickensian street lamps onto double yellow lines
the light falls
forming haloes round the puddles and the drains
look at the signs
breathe in the air
reach for the mist
listen to this:
the unknown pleasure of being unknown
i had an inkling of something else
it didn’t change my life
oh well, that doesn’t matter anymore
i’m not quite right but i’m not quite not right
days spent sitting on a hard chair in a waiting room
with no appointment
just to feel the fullness of time
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
your dad’s a northern butcher
and your skin’s like polished plaster
but i just have the haloes round the puddles and drains
go ahead with your travel plans
and formulating opinions
it couldn’t happen in a town like this
that’s not quite right but it’s not quite not right
not quite right but it’s not quite not right
not quite right but it’s not quite not right
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8. |
Broadstairs (rough mix)
04:00
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pack book and water into a bag
there is a sandy beach
out of season but still warm
beside a town whose population
has an average age of seventy-four
and he wants the sun to shine
to dry up the memory from his mind
but when the sun it deigns to shine
he feels no better
the locals will not give you bother
just nervous, cautious little smiles
the weather’s always been capricious
as is my mind
as is my mind
so he wants the hail to fall
smashing the image of it all
but when the hail begins to fall
he feels no better
so he wants the sun to shine
drying the memory from his mind
but when the sun it deigns to shine
he feels no better
you say the best is yet to come
but that cannot work forever
you say the best is yet to come
but that cannot go on working forever
you say the best is yet to come
but that only works for so long
so long
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9. |
Crowd Scene (demo)
03:16
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there’s a job to do
don’t think too much just act
there’s a time to fill
don’t think too much just do what must be done
you’ll hear
the grass cutters
the mouth shutters
the time flutters
the mad mutters
there’s a life to live
don’t think too much just act
there’s a mouth to fill
don’t think so much just do what you need to do
you’ll hear
the crowd scream
the weak scheme
the wet dream
the world seem
i choose to say this life’s enough
but i decide this every day
every day
and how i wish the skies would make their minds up
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10. |
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well, the first time we met you were twenty-five and i was twenty
and heroic acts were really not your scene
you didn’t rescue a bag grabbed from me in naples
there wasn’t a time when you saved me out at sea
but you said: i’ll be overwhelmed by something rare and strange
vanity can make memory a very good one
so i still recall the predicament you shared
you took me into your confidence and i’ve been stuck there ever since
you were afraid so i stayed and sat and stared
as you said: i’ll be overwhelmed by something rare and strange
the beast in the jungle may or may not get you
but the fear of it almost certainly will do
and if the fear of the beast in the jungle doesn’t get you
regret will
regret will
regret will
as you say: i’ll be overwhelmed by something rare and strange
it could be quite profound
or something quite mundane
an act of violence or an act of love
i kept your counsel well
but nothing happened
still you occupied the best years of my life
i helped you to pass for a human being
i helped you to pass like any other
i helped you to pass
we’ve spent our days
in idle ways
in waiting for your fear to come to pass
now i’m growing ill
and it will be cruel
not to live to see your worst fear come to pass
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11. |
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early morning
standing at the source
you on the south side
me on the north
a handshake
we’re away
eastbound all the way
the river gets wider so quickly
echoes of the pitches that made way for the westway to stay
cars gaining height
but no take-offs
(not tonight)
keep the windows small
keep the engine noise at bay
it feels like when you went away
you were piled up in the fast lane
you were pulled in by the slipstream
because you strayed
east of SE10
proper maritime
i shout to your shore
you shout back out of time
every blind container
punted down the river
floated on ahead of us (for now)
step into the tunnel
i’ll meet you in the middle
as the water presses down
a stairwell without piss
who could ask for more than this?
i’m sure i saw someone reach dry land then just turn around
it feels like when you went away
you were piled up in the fast lane
you were pulled in by the slipstream
you were dragged in by the current
to be washed up on the shoreline
because you strayed
as night falls we reach the dam
i had hoped to identify a definite point at which river becomes mouth
mouth becomes sea
but it’s too dark now
instead i take my clothes off
tie them into a rope
lower myself down the slimy concrete face and go with the flow
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12. |
London Is Blue (demo)
03:41
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the darkened park’s surely unengaged
its paths lit by magritte
houses too red; greenery too green
nobody wants this beat
the view across the ex-docks
underneath the city airport flight path
as seen from the lifting bridge
but your black box recorder says
the bridge won’t lift again
why did you go?
i’m lying low
when that’s the worst place i could be
you had to go
i’m lying low
letting the swell wash over me
we used to play in the water
lapping round the slip roads,
the spires and the office blocks
knowing our home was dry
albeit overstocked
but now it’s always empty
on shooter’s hill
they do their best
but they’re overwhelmed
resources overstretched
come home tonight
without you london is blue
i’m letting the water wash all over me
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13. |
How I Love You (demo)
01:47
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are you the best that’s on offer?
will our passion turn to sufferance?
do you have a juicy income,
barn conversion and good pension?
will you run off with my brother?
will you run off with my mother?
trust you as far as i’d throw you, should i?
do i even know you?
how i love you
and i always will do
i don’t have a doubt
i’ll stay with you
from now until my hair falls out and yours is blue
this love is real and true
are we even in the same league?
are you sleeping with your colleague?
i’ve seen the way she looks at you
grass much greener; skies more blue
will you clean the bathroom weekly?
rub my tired shoulders meekly?
will you help with the recycling?
to our ideals, will you cling?
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luxembourg London, UK
Luxembourg are a British five-piece indie band, formed in London in 2001. Most often compared to artists like Pulp, The Smiths, Suede and Roxy Music, they have been described as "pop noir".
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