One Of The Three - The James Band Archive

Category Archives: Song

Songs:

Blue Pastures

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Blue Pastures is the eleventh and final track on James’ 1997 album Whiplash.

Originally written during the Laid sessions and rediscovered three years later, this song details a man who wanders off and lays down in the snow to commit suicide. Tim often told the story during the Whiplash tour that a friend’s mentor chose this way to die without having heard the song.

The song was given a one-off airing at a semi-acoustic gig at the Tolbooth in Stirling in October 2014.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
Blue pastures fade away
Green rivers in silver light
I'm walking to the sound of distant bells
So peaceful I don't know who I am

And just when I think its clear
It turns all grey again
And I wonder who will find me in the snow
And just when I thought I was free
I got pulled in again
Once you're in, you're in

Blue pastures calling home
I'm Walking but I can't stand anymore
Hear voices, can't tell near or far
Weird voices lay me down

And I don't see why I'm obliged
To just carry on
When everything I touch
Turns out wrong
And I feel I've committed some crime
But I don't know what I've done
One day life just wins
One day life just wins

Still breathing
But I'm tired and I want to go home
Still breathing
But I'm not sure anymore
Still breathing
But it doesn't really matter if I fade away

Fall into the sleep
Fall into the deep

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Song:Blue Pastures
Released:24th February 1997
Main Associated Album (or Single):Whiplash
First Heard Live:Middlesbrough Town Hall – 13th March 1997
Played at:
Unavailable

Watering Hole

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Watering Hole is track ten on the 1997 James album Whiplash.

It was titled Angel as late as early promos of the Whiplash album. The track is according to Jim about “the sound of 10 pence rattling in the keyboard player’s pocket the day before giro day walking round Leeds Arndale when it’s raining outside”

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Angel
Your heart hurts here
Your heart hurts here
Your heart hurts here
When you want to leave
When you get your feeling
I've said nothing you will want to see
It's all this bleeding

Oh don't you excite her
And don't you explain
There is no meaning here
Just a potential for gain
You've got infinite patience
And the scent of the sea
Love these days when I'm near you
Watering hole, watering hole

Why did you lie
Did you lie to me
Why did you say those things
You didn't mean
My heart hurts here
My heart hurts here
What a wonderful feeling
I'd had nothing but rain
We just made a decision
It's pain
It's pain
It's pain

I've got nothing to hold you
Got no chest to contain
You're a cave full of treasures
Watering hole, watering hole
Watering hole, watering hole

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Song:Watering Hole
Released:24th February 1997
Main Associated Album (or Single):Whiplash
First Heard Live:Never performed live
    Can't find any records of performances.
Unavailable

Avalanche

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Avalanche is track eight on the 1997 James album Whiplash.

It features backing vocals from Brian Eno.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
Leave the room, don't use the door
We're only on the 13th floor
Your veil is lifting
You've got nothing on, you've nothing on

Every dog has had his day,
Every Caesar should be spade
Your veil is slipping
And we can see right through your suit of tears

You don't own us
Can't control us
Avalanche
You don't own us
Can't control us
Avalanche

Every face a stepping stone
At the top's a throne of bones
Your curtain's twitching
But you can't see past your daily sneer

We don't fear you
Now we see you
Avalanche

Now we got into your shoes
Its your turn to be abused
The heat is rising
And you can't hold back this rage with fear

You accused us
While you used us
Avalanche

You accused us
While you screwed us
Avalanche
Avalanche
Avalanche

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Song:Avalanche
Released:24th February 1997
Main Associated Album (or Single):Whiplash
First Heard Live:Washington 9.30 Club – 27th February 1997
Played at:
Unavailable

Fishknives

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Fishknives is a b-side to the James single She’s A Star released in February 1997.

Tim had written the lyrics to Fishknives back in the Laid sessions in 1993, but the band couldn’t come up with any suitable music. It was jammed at a gig in Paris in November 1993 with a title of Throwing It All Away. Much of the original lyric was then taken and placed into the track Homeboy that Tim was struggling to come up with lyrics for. A version of it appears in the fabled Whiplash sessions.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
It's your birthright
It's home-grown
Passed on from the father side to son

It's a gene pool
It's your landscape
It's conditioning grips you can't break

Get this feeling I'm in prison
Gotta break out, file in fruitcake
Try and fake it
With the real men
Trying to fill my father's size ten
I'm a late child
I'm a love child
It's enough child I am appealing
I'm appealing
I'm appealing
To a need we've all been feeling

Get a suit on
Think you're full-grown
All these grown-ups
Don't know how to break down
See the monkeys
At the party
Getting high on the latest technology
Got to hide you
Got to shave you
For a man you're two genes too few
See the monkeys
At the party
All these apes are chewing on fishknives.
Fishknives (repeat to end)

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Song:Fishknives
Released:10th February 1997
Main Associated Album (or Single):She's A Star
First Heard Live:Paris Casino de Paris – 23rd November 1993
Played at:
Unavailable

Van Gogh’s Dog

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Van Gogh’s Dog is a b-side to the 1997 James single She’s A Star and appears on the 2001 B-Sides Ultra compilation.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
As far as this time will bring you together
As far as these words will hold you together
As far as this time will last for ever
As far as this skill will endeavour
As far as this dream will burst into madness
As far as this peace will string you to part
As far as this still will make you another
As far as this pill will hold you together

Oh God, it's you I'm calling down
Oh God, it's you falling
Wait
Oh God, it's you I'm calling down

As far as this film will take you together
As far as this fall
I wanted to hurt you

I don't let go, I want to say never
I won't let you go into the ether

Oh God, I love you coming
Oh God, I love to come with you
Down, down, down, down

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Song:Van Gogh's Dog
Released:10th February 1997
Main Associated Album (or Single):She's A Star
First Heard Live:Never performed live
    Can't find any records of performances.
CHORDS

G, C all throughout

Chunney Chops (a.k.a. Chunny Pops)

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Chunney Chops was released as a b-side to She’s A Star in February 1997. It also appears on the B-Sides Ultra album.

This track is named after Mark Hunter, whose band nickname is Chunney. It was originally called Chunney Pop but an error in reading the title at the record company meant it came out as Chunney Chops. The band liked it so much they kept the title. Just to confuse matters, on the album B-Sides Ultra it is called Chunny Pops.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
Get out, get out, get out in this garden
Call out, you won't, you won't let us play
I don't belong, belong in this dugout
All of you won't be sold to your faith

All in, all in, it's not all this falling
I don't belong to those who watch you fall
I hope it is, you won't dis-embellish
All of you want that you don't fall

You will be sorry, you will be sorry
You will be sorry, you will be sorry
Let us pray

Roll out, roll out, it's all on this flourish
Call out, you won't desert from your call
It's all in, it's all in, out, in, out, flourish
Don't you belong in all of this fall

You will be sorry, you will be sorry
You will be sorry, you will be sorry
Let us pray

You will be sorry, you will be sorry
You will be sorry, you will be sorry
You will be sorry, you will be sorry
Let us pray

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Song:Chunney Chops
Released:10th February 1997
Main Associated Album (or Single):She's A Star
First Heard Live:Never performed live
    Can't find any records of performances.
Unavailable

She’s A Star

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She’s A Star is track three and the lead single from the 1997 James album Whiplash.

It is described by Tim as being about “a woman coming out into her power” and was Tim’s first song written from the viewpoint of a woman, having tried to sing the song as I, you and he, before settling on She’s A Star. Early demos of the song were entitled Whatever The Sound.

As James first release for three years, it hit Number 9 on its release as a single in February 1997 and was used as the theme tune to a TV drama and later as the backing music to a television campaign advertising the Midland Bank’s name change to HSBC.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
Whenever she's feeling empty
Whenever she's feeling insecure
Whenever her face is frozen
Unable to fake it anymore

Her shadow is always with her
Her shadow could always keep her small
So frightened that he won't love her
She builds up a wall

Oh no, she knows where to hide in the dark
Oh no, she's nowhere to hide in the dark
She's a star
She's a star

She's been in disguise forever
She's tried to disguise her stellar views
Much brighter than all this static
Now she's coming through

Oh no, she knows where to hide in the dark
Oh no, she's nowhere to hide in the dark
She's a star
She's a star

Don't tell her to turn down
Put on your shades if you can't see
Don't tell her to turn down
Turn up the flame
She's a star
She's a star

It's a long road
It's a great cause
It's a long road
Its a good call

You got it
You got it
She's a Star

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Andrea’s Biosphere Dub

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Dave Angel’s PAT Mix

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Live In Extraordinary Times

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Orchestral Version

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Live At The Acropolis

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Song:She's A Star
Released:10th February 1997
Main Associated Album (or Single):Whiplash
First Heard Live:Sheffield Leadmill – 25th January 1997
Played at:
Unavailable

Homeboy

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Homeboy is track nine on the 1997 James album Whiplash.

It is another song where Tim’s technique of using phonetics to mark lyrics stuck, apparently he didn’t even know what a Homeboy was at the time. The track was originally titled Homeboy or Girl and the verses were completely different until Tim took sections of a track called Fishknives and threw the lyrics into the chorus of Homeboy.

Performed live, the track gained an upbeat pulsing intro and was a particular crowd favourite on the Whiplash tour. A live version recorded at Shepherds Bush Empire in London by BBC Radio 1 was released on the b-side of the Waltzing Along single.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
You're a late child
You're a love child
It's enough, child
That you're so appealing

You're appealing, you're appealing
To a need that we all have been feeling

You don't fit where you've been put
They're so straight
Straight out of some book
Tried to fake it with the real men
Tried to fill your father's size ten

Alone in this world
You're not a boy or a girl

Don't let them wear you down
What a wonderful ego
You should be so proud
Far out is the life for you
Not just a life, but you must make do

Alone in this world
You're not a boy or a girl

Nothing is certain,
Every things changed
More than just words when it's you who's in pain
You hold the chalice, you hold the plane
Bring them together and see what you've made
Facing the future inside a cocoon
Feel in control when you've been so abused

Alone in this world
You're not a boy or a girl
You're not alone in this world
(Homeboy, boy or a girl)
You're not a boy or a girl
(Homeboy, boy or a girl)
You're not a boy or a girl
(Homeboy, boy or a girl)
You're not a boy or a girl

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Song:Homeboy
Released:24th February 1997
Main Associated Album (or Single):Whiplash
First Heard Live:Sheffield Leadmill – 25th January 1997
Played at:
Unavailable

Greenpeace

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Greenpeace is track five on the 1997 James album Whiplash.

It began life as a “folky protest song” before being taken to Dave’s home studio by Dave, Saul, Mark and Jim and turned into a brutal jungle song after days of not knowing what to do with it.

It was “donated” to Greenpeace, although they appear to have made no use of it to date.

It was played extensively on debut in 1997 and then again on the 2014 La Petite Mort tour.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
I don't like the world I see
So I'll avert my gaze to the TV
I'm too cool to get involved
Someone else can change the channel for me

Gonna suck the juices out of this world
Gonna treat her rough
It's all she deserves
She's so cold to me
Gonna rape this world
With my straight lines
Gonna straighten her out
Because nature is just history

There's a hole in my heart
You're so cruel to me
There's a hole in my heart
From your industry
There's a hole in my heart

It's no use to get involved
You'll never stop the world from turning
I just want to rest in peace
I can't stop the world from burning

Gonna test my bombs wherever I want,
Gonna 'poon the whale
Gonna drain the swamp
It's money to me
Gonna fuck with genes
I am what I am
Much more than a God
Much less than a man of industry

There's a hole in my heart
You're so cruel to me
There's a hole in my heart
From your industry
There's a hole

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Song:Greenpeace
Released:24th February 1997
Main Associated Album (or Single):Whiplash
First Heard Live:Sheffield Leadmill – 25th January 1997
Played at:
Unavailable

Lost A Friend

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Lost A Friend is track two off the 1997 James album Whiplash.

It was planned as the fourth single off the Whiplash LP and the band had recorded b-sides for the release and commissioned remixes before the plan was shelved because of the promotion required and the need to write some new material for the Best Of.

Tim said at the time that this was the most successful track in Whiplash in terms of what the band were trying to achieve. Producer Stephen Hague apparently tried to coax Tim into changing the lyrics to make them more romantic, the first time anyone had dared suggest this.

The lyrics deal with films such as Seven and Heat where the main element of the entertainment is watching people getting killed and the song is a reaction to that.

A Radio 1 session version of the track appears on the Tomorrow single and the 2001 reissue of the Whiplash album.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
My TV's staring at me
It says 'go to sleep, go to sleep'
Turns me into a Siamese twin
Where do I start
The TV screen begins
Plugs me into some holy geek
His point in life is incomplete
My TV is telling me that only money will make me happy

Hold the course and then sail
Hold the course and then sail

Across the satellite beams
Across the oceans and seas
To the lighthouse I could be
I see some soldiers with guns
And they are killing for fun
They are killing to entertain me

Caught between that world and this
I'd sell my soul for a Bond girl's kiss
Caught between that world and this
I'd sell my soul for a state of bliss
My TV's telling me that all our money goes into the military

Hold the course and then sail
Hold the course and then sail

Across the satellite beams
Across the oceans or seas
to the lighthouse I could be
I see some soldiers with guns
And they are killing for fun
They were dying to entertain me

And then I heard your name
As the spaceman came
He came right through my screen
And then his lifeline broke
He began to choke
Jump cut to another scene
(Your health taken, your health taken, your health taken away)
We lost a friend to the sea
(Your health taken, your health taken, your health taken away)
We lost a friend to the sea
(Your health taken, your health taken, your health taken away)
We lost a friend to the sea
(Your health taken, your health taken, your health taken away)

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Aloof Remix

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Song:Lost A Friend
Released:24th February 1997
Main Associated Album (or Single):Whiplash
First Heard Live:Sheffield Leadmill – 25th January 1997
Played at:
Unavailable

Laughter

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Laughter is track twenty two on the 1994 James album Wah Wah.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
Instrumental

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Song:Laughter
Released:12th September 1994
Main Associated Album (or Single):Wah Wah
First Heard Live:Never performed live
    Can't find any records of performances.
Unavailable

Building A Fire

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Building A Fire is track nine on the 1994 James album Wah Wah.

It has never been played live.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
I'm building a fire
A flame for always
I'm living on fire
A flame for always
I'm living like fire
A flame for always

I'm building a fire
A flame for always
I'm living like fire
A flame for always

How long to go
Before this flame dies
How long to burn
Before I blaze away
I blaze away

So long to all my friends
And those who taunted me
To those who lead me on
To those who lead me on

I'm building a fire
A flame for always

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Song:Building A Fire
Released:12th September 1994
Main Associated Album (or Single):Wah Wah
First Heard Live:Never performed live
    Can't find any records of performances.
Unavailable