Music

So Many Nights
Released: 22/09/2007
STREAM / BUY
SO MANY NIGHTS was recorded in Melbourne (at Sing Sing Studios) and the overdubs were done in Malibu, while the band was in town to perform on Jay Leno. The house and studio where we lived in Malibu overlooked the Pacific Ocean. Worth over 10 million USA $’s, it was owned by a guy who made his money Producing Karaoke tunes. This record is the result of mus ic written and developed on the road, and is perhaps a tribute to the many many nights we have played in hundreds of cities throughout the world. Produced by John Porter (Ryan Adams, The Smiths, Los Lonely Boys), this is the first time The Cat Empire has recorded an album with a Producer. John Porter, who was a guitarist for bands such as Roxy Music and Eric Claptons band, performs Guitar on Panama, and Slide Guitar on No Longer There. The experience of recording and staying in Malibu was at the extreme end of the spectrum from recording the previous record in Cuba. The result is a more pristine production, and the next chapter n the story of The Cat Empire. a guitarist for bands such as Roxy Music and Eric Claptons band, performs Guitar on Panama, and Slide Guitar on No Longer There. The experience of recording and staying in Malibu was at the extreme end of the spectrum from recording the previous record in Cuba. The result is a more pristine production, and the next chapter in the story of The Cat Empire.
Tracklist & Lyrics
-
[FELIX]
It doesn’t matter what I say it doesn’t matter what I do
It seems I’m going to have to change my look for you cos
I’ve got two shoes but they’ve been walked too far
And I think that we could float from evening to the stars
When I see you in the distance with your friends
I look around and then I look down at my threads
It’s inappropriate that I should present like a
Retired matador with unpaid rent
So many nights I’m still thinking about you
And so many nights you step in and I walk through
So he doesn’t care except he still combs his hair
So what am I supposed to do?
I bought a suit and I bought a top hat
And I put a red stripe down the side of my slacks
Went to the barber got my hair cut high
And I bought a ticket for the opera tonight
But when and I see you your bodice and your pride
It’s nice to greet you with an interrupted stride, besides
You say ‘Good evening’ you don’t say ‘Goodnight’
And I can’t deny that
So many nights I’m still thinking about you
And so many nights until I changed my suit
And when I’m bare don’t need to comb my hair
Cos I found what to do
Put your waistcoat on
So many nights …
So many nights …
Put your waistcoat on
String Section:
Su-Ying Aw (Viola), Robert John (Violin), Mark Zorz (Violin), Leah Hooper (Cello) -
[FELIX]
I was in a plane to Panama
And a fly landed on her thigh
And though I brushed it off quite brashly
I introduced myself
And she said her name was SkyA simple ‘Hi’ and I could tell
That her plainness was well seamless
And somewhere deep inside
She drove a calm and weightless determination
And to what lands her mind would travel
I don’t know but I was so curious
I had to keep on thinking of her floating through the cloudsI asked her whether she enjoyed being in the air
And airily she answered with an accent so careful
I could feel each syllable‘I love things that seem Impossible …’
BridgeThe Empire Horns:
Ross Irwin (Trumpet), Kieran Conrau (Trombone)
String Section:
Su-Ying Aw (Viola), Robert John (Violin), Mark Zorz (Violin), Leah Hooper (Cello)Guitar:
John Porter -
[FELIX, HARRY ANGUS]
I left the house left the room with the foxy on my back
And my supplies in a magic pack
And I followed the sound of music
Not up a hill … but down to an old wharf shackInside I heard the trumpets call
I salute to the champions on the wall
And in the jazz of squalls and impassioned brawls she dancedAnd the night she looked so fine to me
Oh I am a man on an Odyssey
And so tie me to the mast I must believe!Wow didi didi I just had to look
I said wow didi didi how those hips they shook
Eye patch tongue ring little black book
Welcome fishies to my hookAnd the tiny chefs they waved their giant knives
And the dark goumas they flicked dynamite
Still I kept the sight of my desireAnd this one thing’s sure I made no apologies
Lights dimmed but she shone like mythology
And I must admit she felt so aliveChorus
She waves for everybody down on the floor
As if to pray to the gods of the festival
And there we were in the depths of the wild belowHer face so close I could taste the distant shores
She whispered ‘wait for the trumpet’s call’
It’s not exactly love it’s to adoreChorus
The Empire Horns:
Ross Irwin (Trumpet), Kieran Conrau (Trombone) -
[HARRY ANGUS]
Something
Something kissed my lips
Something
Something brushed my fingertips
The north binds battle
In the car park
And the darkness
Is the darknessSomewhere
The night is on the run
With a bottle of ouzo
And a rusty gun
The north wind
Is like a Spanish Guitar
Soaked in petrol
Burning on the barLet the dead raise their heads
And the dying leave their bedsShe didn’t believe what her mama said
And she clambered out the window in the darknessAnd behind you in the night
A million dogs come out to fight …It’s the empire that be rising rising
Rising through the night …Something
Something give me strength
I’m burning
Burning on the brink
The north wind
Is like cinnamon and wine
And the darkness
Is the darknessString Section:
Su-Ying Aw (Viola), Robert John (Violin), Mark Zorz (Violin), Leah Hooper (Cello) -
And though you’d like to hear a song
That sings everything’s all right
The temperature is warm
The fire horses sleep
So gently comes the nightNow close your eyes and stare
The ground they’re on is bare
But once it was as deep
And wild as giants’ dreams
It’s no longer thereAnd all of our desires
Could mirror skies with flames
And smoke out heaven’s halls
Who was that you called?
They’re no longer thereHere it goes again …
What would you leave behind when all your fields are dead
When your territories are dried out and your cities drowned and swept?
What would you leave behind when those who bear your name
Are born in that place that you wrecked?
What would you leave behind when you’re no longer there?Would you sail to distant shores
And hide within the haze?
Softly close your door
Pretend the world was saved
And wait for heaven’s call?Or would you turn and face the sea
And calm decide you care?
There’s chance but if you dare
And swift as honour’s steeds
Before it’s no longer thereHere it goes again …
Chorus
To deny or to despair
They’re really just the same
And everything between
It means we have to change
Cos when a one forgets
Their world begins to fade
And all the shapes and shades
That made their colours see
Well they suddenly turn grey
Then they’re no longer thereString Section:
Su-Ying Aw (Viola), Robert John (Violin), Mark Zorz (Violin), Leah Hooper (Cello)Slide Guitar:
John Porter -
[HARRY ANGUS]
Girl in the park one day
Killing all the bugs on the pavement
Seems like she got a nasty streak
But she does it in a beautiful wayLike a bullet from a gun
She sparks and then she runs
The only thing she’s sure of
Is that no one really understandsSometimes … talking about
Things just seem so strange
Lie awake in the lonely night
Things just seem so strangeMaybe it’s all prearranged
Tears on an empty page
Look out the window see the full moon bloom and
This is what he saysDon’t you worry
When you feel so lonely, cos
Everyone’s lonely
They’re all crazy too
Like their mothers
Like their fathers
Everyone’s crazySometimes she gets this way
About her when she sways
Slips into a liquid tune
And vanishes awayAnd it’s only for herself
She can’t bring anyone else
Everyone’s got a special box
That they keep on a dusty shelfSuch a beautiful dangerous thing
Beautiful and strange
Making love to the night itself
Beautiful and strangeMaybe it’s all prearranged
Tears on an empty page
Look out the window see the full moon bloom
This is what he saysDon’t you worry
If people call you crazy cos
Everyone’s crazy
They’re all lonely too
Like their mothers
Like their fathers
Everyone’s crazy
Under a lonely moonThe Empire Horns:
Ross Irwin (Trumpet), Kieran Conrau (Trombone)String Section:
Su-Ying Aw (Viola), Robert John (Violin), Mark Zorz (Violin), Leah Hooper (Cello) -
[FELIX]
I climb the ladder of those black and white keys
They take me out and into places some are real and some imaginary
And though she sways between a mystery and light
She walks with me, she walks with me alone into the nightTonight I see the sunny moon is rising again
Three seasons passed since you were here then disappeared a friend
Yet now exploded from its dreams back in that place oh how it beams
And I see that you were glowing in the shadows
And you’ve been here all along
Ah you never left my side and now I feel my arms grow
StrongerYou may forget the details and you can forget the dates but never
Forget the moment when the night revealed her face
To be poor by lack of money but by god be rich in prize
I found my youth’s desire dark within her eyes
And the tent kept breathing something and then she cried –
‘Hold on we’re going somewhere else tonight’
We’re going somewhere else tonight baby yeh!And my friends they are the heroes of the loneliness that’s life
And though everyone has a weakness only some they are defiant
While most of us can see only a few have the gift of sight
Would you walk with me
Would you walk with me alone into the night?The sun is set
-
The bus drives over on a mellow scene
We’ve done five nights and tomorrow’s free
Oh I say, tomorrow’s free
And I seem to meet it in the morning and no sleep
But I can’t keep myself from wondering
The next night happen down in Montreal
And when it rains I guess it pours
Oh I say, when it rains it
Pours and we go down into the
Saint street keeping our feet off the ground
Till we find ourselves at breakfast in our super town
So long well hey hey hey
Though I’d see you all again
So long and hey hey hey
The bus drives yonder in the morning light
Look out of the window baby what a sight we say
Well hey hey hey
I know a girl who’s got eyes on her feet
So when she starts dreaming she roams and she’ll know where she’s going
She looks alight that’s Romina she’s dancing on the speakers
And speaking of moving Ruben’s place’s started jumping with all the CampisisChorus
Thursday it was solid and Friday’s cool
Saturday was messy in the best way possible
Sunday should be for rest but these
Cats on the corner and I can’t keep my chest from a
Rumbling the same way it did when we was young and blessed
Bridge
Chorus
The Empire Horns:
Ross Irwin (Trumpet), Kieran Conrau (Trombone) -
[FELIX]
No mountain can see
But sometimes a mountain can sing
Or hum at least I heard one
Humming on the evening we …
And no horizon can sleep
But sometimes horizons can close their eyes
And drift into one moment somewhere
Halfway between
The distance and a dream
And all my senses’ honesty
And all my senses’ honesty they belong to you
Alone I stand alone I fall
There is no option anymore
Alone with you
And though my point of view seems sad
I believe it’s not so bad
Alone with you
Bridge
Chorus
The Empire Horns:
Ross Irwin (Trumpet), Kieran Conrau (Trombone)
String Section:
Su-Ying Aw (Viola), Robert John (Violin), Mark Zorz (Violin), Leah Hooper (Cello) -
[FELIX]
It’s like the sound of St Petersburg bells banging in my head
The night train rattle shake and rumble through that cabin bunk bed
Now Sigmund said something about this super static travel tension that we get
My magic woman met this woman while the wheels squealed and the tracks they gripped and sped
My Maria got me thinking about soul in a whole new way
We took a stroll got a ham and cheese roll and some strong coffee
On the TV it’s Germany and Italy
You be the Goalie Holly I am the referee
Hey Hey I need some strong coffee
My Maria’s got me thinking about soul in a whole new way
Hey Hey I need some strong coffee
My Maria you got me thinking in a whole new way
When I looked down I found the edges of the mattress start to levitate
The next thing I knew we were above the city gates
Rised over steeple tops and all I could think to say was
‘You be the Kremlin and I’ll be the saint
And you can be the person from the head of state’
The Empire Horns:
Ross Irwin (Trumpet), Kieran Conrau (Trombone) -
–
-
[HARRY ANGUS]
His mother was a snake
His father was a scarecrow
Born in the desert with his hat on his head
Never missed a shot
Sharp as a pharaoh
Tequila in the sunrise
The desert was his bed
Now he could dance the barn dance
Like nobody before him
But no woman would take him
Cos his eyes were rather strange
In them you could see the emptiness of the desert
Yellow like a scarecrow
Black like a snakeHe was a voodoo cowboy
And he had never found a girl to call his own
On and on and on
That lonely cowboy
But a cowboy’s never really
Cowboy’s never really aloneHe had a horse
Whose name was Plenty
And they saw things no man or beast has ever seen
Out in the redness
Out in the empty
Where ghosts and spirits walk around like you and me
He met a girl
Called Annabelle
And she was just the prettiest thing he’d ever seen
Under a lake at the edge of the world
He met a girl
Walking through the edges of his dreamsHe was a voodoo cowboy
And he was following a psychedelic stream
On and on and on
That lonely cowboy
But a cowboy’s never really
Cowboy’s never really deceivedSo he rode down
Under the water
And the sunset made a fire above his head
In search of warmth in search of love
In search of heaven above
But all he felt was cold
And all he touched was wet
But he could see her down a little bit deeper
And all he wanted was to hold her to his chest
So he reached out and she reached out
And he touched her
And she drew him in
And kissed him as he breathed his final breathHe was a voodoo cowboy
And he had finally found a girl to call his own
On and on and on
Lucky lucky cowboy
Because cowboys almost always
Cowboys almost always die alone -
–
-
[FELIX RIEBL, HARRY ANGUS, RYAN MONRO, WILL HULL-BROWN, OLLIE MCGILL, JAMSHID KHADIWALA]
Well I’ve been at the top of a cliff and seen ships go sailing away
And I’ve watched the sea turn green and bright blue fish swim in the shade
I’ve imagined skies in reverse and heard stormy mountains collide
And I was there by the shore on the night when the stars all married the tideWhen the time arrives
When we must form a line
Would you stand and take my side
Would you take my side?No I won’t be afraid
You know I won’t be afraid
When the evening takes all of the colour out of my day
And the morning is as far as it will ever be awayAnd now we’ve journeyed through the world as if our dreams were an ocean to wade
Underwater kites they glide like a friendship set on a waveBridge
ChorusAnd maybe I’m afraid of fools the children that are saved
And maybe I’m not certain when they draw the final curtain
The woman in the water and the baby in the bath
And the morning is as far as it could ever be awayChorus
The Empire Horns:
Ross Irwin (Trumpet), Kieran Conrau (Trombone)