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One Thousand Origami Birds

by Jack Carty

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    A signed copy of "One Thousand Origami Birds" on CD. Comes in an 8 panel fold-out environmentally friendly cardboard case with artwork by Jefferton James. Also comes with a high-quality download of the album in a format of your choosing.

    Includes unlimited streaming of One Thousand Origami Birds via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 10 Jack Carty releases available on Bandcamp and save 40%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Time to Rest, Wake to a Bright Morning, The World, When It's Sleeping, Hospital Hill, Home State, Esk, The Predictable Crisis Of Modern Life, Break Your Own Heart, and 2 more. , and , .

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1.
When all you do is ramble And you ain't got no time for love My darlin’ lay your body down My darlin’ lay your head down Like a paper aeroplane Like a lonely vagabond Peace, it is fragile and travels alone If you don’t talk to strangers you’ll never know Still trying to fight the battles won One thousand origami birds that burnt up flying too close to the sun Oh, Lord Peace will come Oh, Lord When your shoes are all worn through And your blistered feet are bleeding My darlin’ lay your body down My darlin’ lay your head down Still trying to fix the damage done One thousand origami birds that burnt up flying to close to the sun Oh, Lord Peace will come Oh, Lord When your heart is filled with anger And your eyes can barely see When your muscles all are burning And you’ve forgotten your own name When the road ahead is winding My darlin’ lay your body down My darlin’ lay your head down My darlin’ lay your body down My darlin’ lay your head down One thousand origami birds that burnt up flying to close to the sun. Oh, Lord Peace will come Oh, Lord.
2.
Grey Sky 03:57
If this is summer I’m moving back north ‘Cause you told me that it would be sunny, but its all rain Still you’re my protection from the weeping grey sky I don’t mean it when I tell you goodbye We’re not the same And I’m covered in stitches Still I hope someday you’ll put down your gun And our tears will all dry up with the weeping grey sky I don’t mean it when I tell you goodbye Oh you better try till you give up Till your hands are dirty and your knees are skinned You better try till you’ve got nothing left to give. One day we’ll be married and we’ll be on the same side I don’t mean it when I tell you goodbye
3.
Hope 03:22
She works real hard And pays her bills She try’s to improve On what she builds She takes the hits And bears the pain When life is hard Laughing in her face Hope don’t leave When she needs you Please don’t run away too far too soon When all is dark inside her room you’re the one she holds onto Some get luck And a fast track there And some are happy just where they are But oh, I feel that there’s more to me But the dealer won’t count the cards up my sleeve Hope don’t leave When I need you Please don’t run away too far too soon When all is dark inside my room you’re the one I hold onto You’re a temptress But I know your kind. You whisper softly “you’ll make it if you try” And every time I fall I curse your name But I love you so I hope you’ll stay Stupid girl You cannot win It’s a rough and ruthless world we’re in But oh I know it’s beautiful To jump from ledges When you know you’ll fall Hope don’t leave When we need you. Please don’t run away too far too soon. When all is dark inside our rooms you’re the one we hold onto
4.
Levies 03:15
I walked home in the rain using lines on the road Just to guide my way back to the place I was headin’ I took off my shoes and I let myself in Tried to feel the warmth come back again But this time the flood came a-poundin’ my door So I packed all my things and I started off walking I knew you were close as the waves ate the shore I could feel you breathing Feel you breathing You stood there beside me to fight And we built our levies to last through the night And dug in like Spartans waiting for light The lights on the hill were a constant torment While way down in the valley we toiled You were wet haired and muddy With your will and your back bent But, what a beautiful girl Oh, what a beautiful girl Who stood there beside me to fight And she built her levies to last through the night We dug in like Spartans waiting for light I know what you will say Before you say it Even at the end… I walked home in the rain using lines on the road To guide my way back to the place that I started With every step I was closer to home I could feel the rain start to hold You stood there beside me to fight And we built our levies to last through the night And dug in like Spartans waiting for light What a beautiful girl
5.
Hey You! 03:19
What you want from me isn’t mine to give You hardly even remember why you’re angry But I know you won’t forgive me for as long as you live Hey You Why you look so lonely? There on top of that weight you bear, sits a crown of sparkling gold And I’m the king of wishful thinking To ever hope that you might take it off Hey You Why you look so lonely? It ain't so bad One thousand times I’ve told you If the goings rough or when you loose your way I’ll guide you home It’s always been the same with you Always heart in hand That is why I love you but it’s also why I’ll never understand Hey You Why you look so lonely? It ain't so bad One thousand times I’ve told you If the goings rough or when you loose your way I’ll guide you home Your spirit is the strongest that I am yet to meet Even when you’re falling down I’m always sure you’ll land right on your feet And I just love watching you grow from day to day I’m always facing towards you girl yes even when you’re pushing me away Hey You Why you look so lonely? It ain't so bad One thousand times I’ve told you If the goings rough or when you loose your way At any single moment of any random day I’ll guide you home
6.
Figure eights and mountains in my brain A bouncing ball and moods of cellophane I drove for hours searching for the cure With every passing mile I thought of her I’ve been searching for a while and I’ve found That we are only atoms on a planet Spinning around No one else will look me in the eyes They’re busy buying things to get them by I’ve been searching for a while just to find That we are only atoms on a planet Killing time. There’s politicians leading us to hell We worship at a poisoned wishing well And no one’s really happy in themselves But I’m trying hard to be one of the first The president, the rock stars and the people on the hill They are only atoms on a planet Spinning, still…
7.
The Tempest 04:34
I’ve been finding comfort in the works of great masters Sing ‘hallelujah’ or sketch Mona Lisa’s But all of the beauty that humans created Is wasted on the happy and ignored by the haters So write me a song I can sing when the tempest is chasing me A lyric and melody The sound of my voice echoed back at me Simplicity’s stare is the hardest to hold And I wont be a product, because products get old So I’ll play my guitar or I’ll rattle my drums Until all this is useful for something or someone So write me a song I can sing when the tempest is chasing me A lyric and melody The sound of my voice echoed back at me There’s a flood in the way But I’ll swim across it Though Hemmingway shot himself just to be rid of it Music with meaning is not worth the worry To big corporations that use art as a quarry They sit on their wallets and they rattle their jewelry While the kids in the cheap seats are straining for hearing And all art is immoral and all fashion so ugly It has to change every season so it doesn’t get boring But one simple song, if delivered with feeling Could get you and your family through ten thousand seasons So write me a song I can sing when the tempest is chasing me A lyric and melody The sound of my thoughts echoed back to me Echoed back to me The sound of my thoughts echoed back to me The sound of my thoughts echoed back to me The sound of my thoughts echoed back to me
8.
After the war was over I sat down on the bloody ground Where we’d been fighting With all the bodies scattered ‘round I heard them asking “what was this all for?” But it looks like you don’t hear them anymore A hush descended It seemed to last for years and years Though no one was speaking They did the talking with their tears They kept on asking “what was this all for?” But you smile like you don’t know them anymore And I hope you find the one you’re looking for…
9.
He’d been walking ‘round This old southern land With nothing but a swag and billy can And “it is comfortable” you’d hear him tellin’ you “When you don’t answer to no one and no one answers to you” The places that he’d been ain’t never seen much rain The drought drank for one day a year and then set in again And the aching hills baked onto the earth Still know what that one day is worth. I’ve been waiting like them there hills For my boots to mend and my tanks to fill I’ve walked from Darwin to Alice Springs Oh yeah, I’ve lived like a king The farmers that he met raised their families there They lived in modest homes built on hard work and prayer And on Saturdays you could hear them sing “Tomorrow the resting begins” They’ve been waiting like them there hills For their herds to feed and their dams to fill But their roof don’t leak and their children sing So, oh yeah they’ve lived like kings On his dying day the sun was beating down He sang a ramblin’ tune as he rambled along The driver didn’t stop His body wouldn’t work When his face hit the red sandy dirt He thought: “I’ll give my body to them there hills ‘Cause my boots won’t mend and my tanks are empty And I’m getting weaker every word I sing But oh yeah I’ve lived like a king… I think I’ll give my body to them there hills ‘Cause my boots won’t mend and my tanks are empty And I’m getting weaker every word I sing But oh yeah I’ve lived like a king”
10.
Valentina 03:47
Hey my Italian girl You’re so sad and far away from me these days I’ve been halfway ‘round the world In seven weeks and I ain’t seen your face But don’t you fall apart on me I’ll see you in the spring Hey Valentina Won’t you come back home to me? Everyday this island Taunts me with her ever stretching beaches If only I could sail I’d cover All the space between us And if I owned a parachute I’d fall fourteen thousand feet for you Hey Valentina Won’t you come back home to me? Spent these twenty two years just wondering How this island could have made it as a prison And now I know ‘cause you’re not on it I’ve been working on the day shift And saving every dollar that I make Today I bought my ticket Flying north for fifteen hours straight And when I get there in the morning I hope you’re waiting for me Hey Valentina Won’t you come back home to me?
11.
Sandakan 04:42
Three years in jail and I’ve committed no crime Except to be fighting to protect what was mine They came and took us and they beat us down like dogs I’m a doctor, a father, a husband and a man But I felt like a waif there inside Sandakan I don’t remember my own wife’s face no more I was happy back in Lismore Until they called my number And within two months we were landing in Singapore I’ve walked more in the last three Than in the thirty that preceded So if I ever make it home I wont be traveling no more Two thousand odd men they kept locked up inside From nineteen forty three to nineteen forty five With bullets disease and hunger taking lives I had a radio hidden for the first hundred days But when it got found it got taken away And replaced with half rations and instruments of pain Still, I was happy back in Lismore Until they called my number And within two months we were landing in Singapore I’ve walked more in the last three Than in the thirty that preceded So if I ever make it home I wont be traveling no more They started the marches on January third Five hundred men were to go in the first Stick thin figures pounding up the dirt When June came along all the ones left behind Were herded at gunpoint up the mountain side And into a forest ten thousand miles wide I was happy back in Lismore Until they called my number And within two months we were landing in Singapore I’ve walked more in the last three Than in the thirty that preceded So if I ever make it home I wont be traveling no more They’re killing my men if they stumble or fall And moving us on with their whips and their calls I don’t think that I’ll be going home At all…
12.
When the night is in motion and the curtains are drawn I run from my thoughts like the dark hunts the dawn I dream of the things that I wish I could say There’s a hole in me darlin’ come take it away I’m desperate for time and I’m desperate for love I’m desperate to be what I know I’ll become And thought I pretend by the light of the day There’s a hole in me darlin’ come take it away You’ll never know Just how much I’ve grown I’m shallow I’m tired I’m ungrateful I’m numb And my temper is hot like the mid morning sun And I’m sorry I hurt you I wanted to say There’s a hole in me darlin’ come take it away You’ll never know Just how much I’ve grown I am not one To let go easily There’s not much I know of this world that we’re in Forget where I’m going I don’t know where I’ve been But I know I will love you till the end of my days There’s a hole in me darlin’ come take it away There’s a hole in me darlin’ come take it away

about

"Full of poetic beauty... a gem of a release - ★★★★"

- Chris Martin, THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

credits

released March 4, 2011

All songs written by Jack Carty.

Recorded and mixed by Gareth 'The Gigpiglet' Stuckey @ GPHQ, 2010.

Produced by 'The Gigpiglet' & Jack Carty.

(C) 2011 Jack Carty.
(P) 2011 Gigpiglet Recordings.

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Jack Carty Brisbane, Australia

Award-winning, independent Australian songwriter.

"The recently married Carty might well have found his happy place" ★★★★ — THE SUNDAY STAR TIMES.

“These songs have almost a purity of spirit and certainly an openness of heart. You should own this" ★★★★ — THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD.

“A sensational sophomore album. It marks him as a man to watch" ★★★★ — THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN.
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