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An Exile in Fairyland: Early Tracks 2004​-​2007

by Joe Solo

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1.
Rose & Crown 06:45
Meet me down at the Rose & Crown on friday night at 8 I'll drop 2 quid in the jukebox there just like I did back in the day When 65 was Dylan; and 21 was Johnny Cash Oh and 17 was Springsteen...or was it maybe "White Man" by The Clash? Ah well it's probably DJ no-one now with his utter lack of soul And I'll just sit there mumbling something about the death of rock and roll Let's forget we ever knew each other And get out of this town Instead it's friday night at 8o'clock Down at the Rose & Crown Meet me down at the Rose & Crown on friday night at 8 The college kids meet up there now, I bet I'll watch them while I wait The way they walk, the way they talk you'd think they owned the world And I know that I'm gonna wanna punch the boys and get off with all the girls Ah, but they're flesh and blood reminders that you and me, we've had our time And so tonight we're gonna party like it's 1989 Meet me down at the Rose & Crown on friday night at 8 I put your first 2 beers behind the bar I shoulda known that you'd be late Some drunken guy just staggered in, I saw him glare at me and go Like some leering, sneering version of a face I used to know Ah, but that look he gave I recognise..both mad and sad..yet neither Just some crumb of bitter comfort knowing that I'd come to nothing either Meet me down at the Rose & Crown on friday night at 8 I guess it's near last orders now and I'm still waiting here my mate There's 2 young girls sat giggling there while I admire them from afar Because I know they're only laughing at that sad-sack by the bar Ah, but the thing about getting older is you forget how to have fun Tonight I've spent the last 3 hours sat here wishing I was young Let's forget we ever knew each other And get out of this town Instead it's friday night at 8o'clock Down at the Rose & Crown WORDS AND MUSIC BY JOE SOLO
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There's no such thing as a perfect life. No perfect home. No perfect wife. No perfect job. No perfect car. No perfect grasp of who we are. No perfect night. No perfect day. No perfect place to hide away. No perfect sea. No perfect sky. No perfect truth. No perfect lie. No perfect boy. No perfect girl. No,we don't live in a perfect world. There ain't no perfect song to sing. There ain't no perfect anything. No perfect body, perfect mind, No perfect calm, no perfect kind, No perfect peace, no perfect rest. There's no perfection....just your best. WORDS AND MUSIC BY JOE SOLO
4.
It's summer in a seaside town At sunset on the pier. Awayday heydays been and gone Are all remembered here. Men in flat caps and braces As they stroll along the shore, Or the coffee house at Macy's Back in 1954. The faces on these photographs here No-one can recall, They're just cigarette-stained epitaphs On crumbling cafe walls, And they're "Three for 50p" she smiles "Or five'll be a pound!" It's summer in a northern seaside town. It's summer in a seaside town All panto matinees, Where washed-up soap-stars stand in line To relive better days. Amusement arcade neon sunbeams Dance along the sand, To the muffled calls from bingo halls Where two fat ladies stand And gaze in glazed nostalgia At some tacky souvenirs, They've faded in that window there For twenty-seven years. And some old Joe in the corner Sings away without a sound. It's summer in a northern seaside town. It's summer in a seaside town All shutters on The Strand. Dreams dance down these silent streets Like empty cola cans. And ghosts of lovers hand-in-hand Are out there in the mist, Still writing their names in the sand Like the first night that they kissed, And the old ones keep returning As if drawn back in a dream, To the one place in the world Where they are always seventeen. Then a grey November rain falls Like a curtain coming down, On summer in a northern seaside town. WORDS AND MUSIC BY JOE SOLO
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You can keep your million dollar prize, Cos it ain't worth winning. When it comes all cloaked in compromise, Hell you were ****** from the beginning. Don't you know? Now you don't want to talk about it, Or even think out loud, You're so right and stupid and proud. Now you say it's high time I grew up. Why can't I see it's all around me? And you never met anyone ever said they'd got enough. Well then I sure am glag you found me. There's a lie flying high in your clear blue sky, And I was born to be a cloud, You're so right and stupid and proud. WORDS AND MUSIC BY JOE SOLO
8.
Tony 07:40
Tony sold me my first brand-new, second-hand guitar. And I'd bounce around my bedroom like some smalltown superstar. Tony bought himself a drum kit that he never learned to play. But he'd still wake up the neighbourhood sat clubbing it all day. So we tore our leather jackets and we spray-painted our jeans. We had big plans in a smalltown, We had rock'n'roll dreams. We didn't have no bass guitar but we got over that Getting Sean to pick the bottom four strings of a beat-up Strat. Then when Sean left Claire took over and I swear we drove her mad, True I never knew the licks from Teenage Kicks could sound so bad. But we played Thursdays At The Regal to the Kings and to the Queens, We had big plans in a smalltown, We had rock'n'roll dreams. Sean he joined the army, Claire went off for her degree, Me and Tony we had dead-ends shifting shit from A to B. And I'd just stand there next to Terry slowly getting off my face, "After 15 pints of lager Joe, the world's a different place. Sure this bar is full of sad old men, but it's not all it seems. Cos there ain't a man here didn't once have Rock'n'roll dreams." My mind was racing way too fast I couldn't hang about Sat in Nelly's getting pissed and stoned all talk of getting out. I never said goodbye to Tony but I knew he'd understand. So I packed off for the city lights and Got myself a band. Now 20 years have been and gone and left without a trace, And those power chords belong another time, another place. It was great to hear from Tony when he phoned the other day, Saying: "I still love those old songs Joe, the ones we used to play. But there's luxury apartments where The Regal used to be, And I haven't seen a punk round here since 1993. The old gang hang around now in the pool room at The Plough." He said: "Remember Sean and Claire, Joe? Wonder what they're doing now. It's cover bands or nothing here, the pubs have all got themes! Remember Joe? Remember all those rock'n'roll dreams?" Oh yeah, I remember Tony. I remember all too well. And I've been a million miles old friend aw the tales that I could tell. And while this battered heart's still beating, I can dream enough for 2, So this one's for the old days Tone, And it's going out to you. WORDS AND MUSIC BY JOE SOLO
9.
If I hadn't have lost my wallet I'd have never have got Kev's note That said to meet him in the pool room At The Ox on Stocksley Road. If I hadn't have changed my jacket, I'd have never have lost my keys And I'd have caught the last train into town And not the bus outside The Bees. You'd never seen rain like it, I could hardly see the shops, Through the water on the window And that's why I missed my stop. If I hadn't have thought of Shorty As I trudged back up the street, I'd have never have played that game Avoiding cracks beneath my feet. If I hadn't have changed my jacket, I'd have never have been wet through, But huddled staring at the floor I walked right into you. Now Kev and them still talk about The night United went above Arsenal with that 0-0 draw But me, I fell in love. I don't believe in Star Signs Or that Da Vinci Code But who'd have thought that fate would wait Outside The Ox on Stocksley Road. WORDS AND MUSIC BY JOE SOLO
10.
Me & Billy The Kid we've got nothing in common Him being an outlaw, and me being a fool Strumming my sad songs for somebody somewhere He knew of freedom, me only rules. I'd love to stand beside him with my back to the border Odds stacked against us, but making a stand Me with my six string slung over my shoulder And him with his six guns there in his hands Me & Billy The Kid we've got nothing in common He lived his whole life in twenty one years Me I got old, a whole world on my shoulders He bit the dust but I tasted the tears. Now I'll never stand beside him with my back to the border I'll find my own way of making a stand Not shot in the back in some New Mexican sunset I'll take my chances in a rock 'n' roll band. WORDS AND MUSIC BY JOE SOLO 26/7/07
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Monday's streetlights flicker out But there's only me about To share it with the night And the cold grey morning light Roses are red That's partly true Night is dark And loneliness is blue Been drinking to forget But it ain't happened yet I'm so sick of all of this And I'm not sure what I miss Roses are red That's partly true Night is dark And loneliness is blue WORDS AND MUSIC BY JOE SOLO 14/10/07
13.
The Autocue 02:12
14.
Ms Seventeen 07:00
15.
We saw dancing horses whirling Swirling in the spray. As a silver morning sunrise Set September on the bay The tide of time is turning And it's flowing straight to hell Goodbye Corner Cafe Fare thee well. Somewhere in the air out there I swear a mermaid sings As one of us is leaving this place Bound for better things. My eye's on the horizon As a new day casts it's spell Goodbye Corner Cafe Fare thee well. WORDS AND MUSIC BY JOE SOLO
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No hotel rooms or mini-bars Just sleeping bags in backs of cars On a mattress of guitars We're DIY-ing Another town, another show Another fast lane going slow There's roadworks everywhere we go We're DIY-ing Here we go again... Give fliers out all afternoon And still play to an empty room Something's gotta happen soon We're DIY-ing And one day when we sign that deal I'll buy a service station meal To fill the emptiness I feel We're DIY-ing Here we go again.... We're given lending up for lent The T-Shirt money's all been spent We'll have to dip into the rent We're DIY-ing When I grow up to be a star I'm gonna re-string this guitar And order something from the bar We're DIY-ing Here we go again.... We drop our gear down in a heap And pray the Lord our dole to keep We do the soundcheck in our sleep We're DIY-ing The promoter's looking scared By what he's seen and what he's heard He calls us over, wants a word We're DIY-ing "We're agent run, boys, understand? The bills no longer in my hands We don't book independent bands No DIY-ing" Before we go I turn and say: "You'll reap the whirlwind here one day Where the new groups gonna play? Is music dying?" He says: "You losers never see You must befriend the NME!" I say: "That says it all to me We're DIY-ing" Here we go again......

about

A collection of tracks from my first four cut-n-paste albums originally recorded 2004-2007. A number of songs are lost to history owing to a lack of space on my recorder, but here's the best of what I hadn't deleted...

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released January 1, 2007

Joe Solo

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Joe Solo Scarborough, UK

Joe Solo is an award-winning musician, writer, poet, activist, broadcaster and washing machine engineer from Scarborough.

Live he has an ever growing reputation as both a performer and raconteur, being thought-provoking, comical and punch-the-air political often in the same breath.

He is not an artist you forget in a hurry.
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