Get all 15 Charles Jenkins releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Radio Sketches The Third, Radio Sketches 2 - The Death Of Stars, Radio Sketches, The Willaroo Tapes - Walk This Ocean demonstration disc, When I Was In My Room, When I Was On The Moon, The Last Polaroid, The Past is Never Where You Think You Left It, and 7 more.
1. |
Melbourne Eye
03:47
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Dropped into the Docklands
On the edge of Melbourne
Silent surreal
Beautifully flawed and cracked
A big blinkered wheel
The Melbourne Eye
Looking over the likes of you and I
The Melbourne Eye
It don’t see the museums
Nor the coliseums
But those that shake into bars
Or cry in their cars
Are you comfortable in your own skin?
Ever wondered what you would change and why?
Who gets to decide on what is beautiful?
Who gets to decide?
The Melbourne Eye
Looking over the likes of you and I
The Melbourne Eye
It don’t see the great halls
Nor the Winter Balls
It sees the love going wrong
And those struggling to hold on
It don’t see the big ships rolling in
But the little men within
All with a flame that might burn
And a wheel that might turn
The Melbourne Eye
Looking over the likes of you and I
The Melbourne Eye
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2. |
Hook Turn
03:12
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Flinders St Station
And the MCG
Both come in second best for me
Ponyfish Island and Bernard’s Magic Shop
And though Wunderkummer has got the lot
Blame it on the weather
Blame it on the wine
Blame it on the Tram Line
I love the hook turn we got the hook turn
I love the hook turn let’s do the hook turn
Melbourne wins medals
For the fairest and the best
And so we wonder what gets put to the test
If it’s because we can turn right from a lane that’s left
Then there’s no doubt we’re better than all the rest
Blame it on the weather
Blame it on the wine
Blame it on my star sign
I love the hook turn we got the hook turn
I love the hook turn let’s do the hook turn
Blame it on the weather
Blame it on the wine
Blame it on the Tram Line
Hook Turn
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3. |
Trams Of Love
03:19
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All the way from Brunswick East
Down to St Kilda Beach
Hoping that the tram would find me
From the University
Out to the rich folk of Carnegie
I’d be daily dreaming of
Love
Before the world was pixilated
Before the internet was where we dated
I was always there
From Richmond North to Prahran
You could find me on the tram
With a sparkle in my eye and wishing
That someone would ring my bell
On the ride to Camberwell
I was always scheming daily
Love
Armed with flowers and stolen verses
Pockets full of ladies purses
I was always hoping
Love
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4. |
Statues of Melbourne
03:14
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Statues of Melbourne
Next to Bourke and Wills there’s a low rider
So a low rider I will ride tonight
Across from Justice Barry there’s a little chemist
So a little chemist I will roll tonight
All is fair
What’s yours is mine
What’s mine is everywhere
Oh yeah
Across from Matthew Flinders there’s his train station
Gonna get me the last train tonight
Nearby Francis Ormond there’s always a few students
Gonna get me some loose change and a few books
All is fair
What’s yours is mine
What’s mine is everywhere
Oh yeah
When the heat is on there’s so many of places to hide
There’s statues in Melbourne everywhere
So when the heat is on there’s so many places to hide
Cause no one stops to think to look there
All is fair
What’s yours is mine
What’s mine is everywhere
Oh yeah
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5. |
Little Audrey
02:28
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Well Barry Humphries found her in a rubbish tip
And noted we should all maybe help her a bit
Let’s dust her off and find a rope she can skip
Little Audrey
Keith Dunstan said “That would be more than fair
But I think this one is gone she is beyond repair
Bring on another and let her jump through the air”
Little Audrey
Oh oh oh…
Little Audrey
Salt vinegar mustard pepper if I dare I can do better
Oh oh oh…
Little Audrey
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6. |
Chloe
05:41
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She stands there in silence year after year
She's worth fortunes that she never knew
Spare her a thought shed her a tear
She stands naked for bastards like you
She stands naked for bastards like you
Chloe the French masterpiece that became a Melbourne icon was painted in 1875 when the beautiful young model who graces that frame was just 19 years old
Our dear Marie
Chloe was an over night success in Paris winning the hearts of all who gazed upon her and winning the most prestigious awards
She arrived on our shores a couple of years later where she hit 'em for sixes in Sydney and made her way to Melbourne for more of the same
She was bought and sold offered to galleries but rejected until she ended up in the pub of one Norman Figsby Young
That was in 1908 and she's been there ever since
Keeping company with soldiers and sailors artists and poets Prime Ministers and dignitaries drunks and celebrities knights dames and connoisseurs
Through two world wars the diggers would come and have a drink with her before being shipped out
Letters were written to her from the trenches of Turkey France and Papua New Guinea - all swearing their true love for her and promising to return
As Chloe she's been damaged and abused over the years
Had beer thrown at her
Suffered lacerations
And been the target for untold verbal abuse
As Marie the fetching French model of 140 years ago she became damaged by the very man responsible for immortalising her beauty
Marie fell hopelessly in love with Jules Joseph Lefebvre for whom she so often posed and with whom she shared her body
But the cad Jules Joseph was also bedding Marie's younger sister and before too long the two of them were married
Our dear Marie held her head up high
She threw her hands in the air and she threw a big party for all her friends
And as her guests drank Champagne and Cognac in her dining room
Marie slipped off into the kitchen to knowingly drink the concoction she had prepared earlier
This was only two years after she posed as Chloe.
And our dear Marie was only 21 when she took her own life.
She went into the kitchen out of her mind
And she drank from her poisonous brew
She went out of this world just to wind up in mine and stand
Naked for bastards like you
To stand naked for bastards like you
Of the countless who have stared few have known her name
She is Marie
She is and shall always be
Marie that prized possession so proudly presented naked forever on public display yet anonymous under glass and false identity
Marie the object of so many desires
Marie so vulnerable
Maybe "Chloe" could take it in her stride - ogled over and gawked at like a freak
The only totally nude person in a crowded room and she's there day and night Constantly greeted by silent eyes that in the past failed to hide their dour judgement overt discomfort or downright contempt.
Maybe if it were Chloe
But hanging on that wall is a portrait of a real person
Not merely a thing of fiction
Not simply the product of imagination
Within that frame lies somebody's daughter
Marie
We look at Chloe
We see Marie
Our dear Marie
She stands there in silence year after year
She's worth fortunes that she never knew
She went out of this world just to wind up in mine
And stand Naked for bastards like you
She stands naked for bastards like you.
Stands naked for bastards like you
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7. |
Victoria Market
03:38
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My baby likes his shoes all the way from Rome
He likes his aftershave to come from Cologne
My baby likes his scarves to travel the silk road home
He likes his gold watches to come across several time zones
And it all comes from Victoria Market
All of it from Victoria Market
I get this shit from Victoria Market
And he don’t need to know no no no no
My baby likes his wine to wind its way across the waters
He likes silver for our sons diamonds for our daughters
I don’t do things by halves I do them by quarters
This bag of Spanish Donuts smuggled across Spanish Borders
And it all comes from Victoria Market
All of it from Victoria Market
I get this shit from Victoria Market
And he don’t need to know no no no no
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8. |
Dennis
03:22
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If I were to ever wait in the rain
I’d wait in the rain at Dennis
If I were to ever catch a train
I’d catch the train at Dennis
And If I were to ever cause you pain
I’d promise not to do it again
I’d make those promises promises
On the platform at Dennis
If I were to ever catch the bus
I’d catch the bus to Dennis
If I were to ever think of the two of us
I’d think about us at Dennis
And If I were to get down on my knee
Well you know where that would be
I’d make those promises promises
On the platform at Dennis
Aint it good good good to know?
And when the crossing bells ring loud and true
Well you know where they lead me to
I’d make those promises promises
On the platform at Dennis
Aint it good good good to know?
I’d make those promises promises
On the platform at Dennis
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9. |
Beautiful William
03:27
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Beautiful William
Of 1000 forms
I know what you feel like when you feel like you’ve been torn
Beautiful William of a 1000 forms
So far so few
Nights with you
And where you are
So black or white
Wrong or right
To get to where you are
Beautiful William
Of so many nights
I know what you feel like when you feel like a fight
Beautiful William so many nights
So soft and loud
So broken and so proud
Of where you are
So far so few
Nights with you
And where you are
Beautiful William
Leads a lively dance
But I know what it feels like when it feels like you’ve no chance
Beautiful William
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10. |
Stephen Street
03:00
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What's in the past when it don't remain?
What's in a name that gets changed?
How does a street acquire
Such a seedy reputation?
And get seen as being way below its station?
Now this town holds a big secret
And it sure wants to try and keep it
Whatever happened to Stephen Street?
Let’s sweep out the brothels
And the opium dens
The ungodly looking
Women and men
It’s what we do now that we did back then
The stroke of a quill the stroke of a pen
Whatever happened to Stephen Street?
Spelt with a PH not a V
Kind of lost in history
But it always comes back to me
Whatever happened to Stephen Street?
I heard he went on to produce The Smiths
I heard he became Exhibition St
Wrapped it up all nice and neat
Whatever happened to Stephen Street?
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11. |
Beneath The Manical King
04:08
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12. |
Theatre Royale
01:52
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Gold gold gold gold
Oh the butter and the milk
Freshly squeezed from the cow
Are placed upon the table that looks dandy
She’s been told that the gold
In the valley down below
Is close and accessible that it’s handy
Oh the shepherd drops the sheep
The Drover drops the cow
The Merchant and the Lawyer drop their quill
The Captain and the Crew
Have no more sailing to do
For there are golden deposits in them thar hills
The Theatre Royale hurrah
The Theatre Royalee hurrah
Built by gold made of gold
Flung from far and near
We'll all get drunk and arse about
And swing from the chandelier
Oh they’re out to break our backs
Here comes another tax
They’re sending all out gold back home to mother
We’re sober now and then
But gold brings out the worst in men
And it can make us turn on one another
The Theatre Royale hurrah
The Theatre Royale hurrah
Built by gold made of gold
Flung from far and near
We'll all get drunk and arse about
And swing from the chandelier
And swing from the golden chandelier hurrah
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13. |
Blue Lagoon
05:18
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Where there once was a bountiful blue
Now there’s nothing for me and you
Now there sits a lonely place such a lonely place
Where there once were creatures great and small
Now we’ve got our backs against the wall
We could have had a lovely place such a lovely place
We could have had our own blue lagoon
Where there once was quintessence and everything you’d need
Taken over by cold stale greed
We could have had a lovely place such a lovely place
Baby steps wont shine a light
On the giant steps to make it right
See it all in black and white
We could have had it all tonight
Now there sits a lonely place such a lonely place
We could have had our own blue lagoon
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14. |
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Don’t text don’t call
Don’t droop against the lane way wall
Don’t drink so much don’t smoke
Read Byron read Pope
Don’t run and hide
State your case to the Williamstown tide
Don’t get angry let it go
Go see a band see a show
Stand up don’t stare at your shoes
Let the sadness sail on through
This is how you say goodbye
Aurevoir Adios
What once was found is now lost
Write your letters
Sing your songs
Burn those letters
And sing along
Walk through the gardens
Walk through the day
Walk ‘til you drive the demons away
Buy a Basement record a Paperback book
Don’t you dare take a second look
Stand up don’t stare at your shoes
Let the weirdness walk on through
This is how you say goodbye
Stand up don’t stare at your shoes
Let the madness march on through
This is how you say goodbye
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Charles Jenkins Melbourne, Australia
Charles Jenkins is a Melbourne songwriter/musician, producer, performer and teacher with more than 30 years experience in
the Australian Music Industry.
He has released 21 albums and been nominated for 2 ARIA awards with the Icecream Hands. In 2014 he won the AGE/Music Victoria award for best folk/roots album.
Charles has a Masters In Music and is an Ambassador for APRA/AMCOS.
... more
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