Get all 21 Paul Ellis releases available on Bandcamp and save 65%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Hidden Camera 3, Imperfect Strangers And Insignificant Others, The Hidden Camera 2, The Hidden Camera 1, A Guitar Has Moonlight In It, Now Then, Secret Fire, Appears To Vanish, and 13 more.
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New Improved Dark Ages
She came to this city in 1995.
She thought she'd arrived.
Maybe she'll get to be...
Maybe they won't just see...
The town drunk's daughter.
That was the perfect time,
the time she'll try to relive.
For the rest of her life.
Now she's talking her way to the door
When it won't play the way it did before.
Welcome to the new improved dark ages
Welcome to the new improved dark days
Her eyes have been dry for so long so long
It's the same battle song.
Whispering her real life away
Maybe they'll stay...
This time maybe they'll stay.
Welcome to the new improved dark ages
Welcome to the new improved dark days
Welcome to the new improved dark cages
it's the same thing you thought you'd escaped.
Endless lines of imperfect strangers and insignificant others
Lying to win.
You come in OK but you'll leave KO'd
That's how it goes.
Welcome to the new improved dark ages
Welcome to the new improved dark days
Welcome to the new improved dark cages
it's the same thing you thought you'd escaped.
Endless lines of imperfect strangers and insignificant others
Lying to win.
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2. |
Unforseeable
02:08
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There is the road that goes into Indigo.
I turn away and drive 'til it's day.
That's my hand
On the wheel.
But it's too numb.
To feel.
It clicked into place.
My life of escape.
And now it's time to move on.
It was unforseeable at the end of the day.
It was unforseeable at the end of the day.
There is the lake where the thin ice had to break.
I wasn't there when she tried to reach for air.
The ground was shaking.
Without making a sound.
Everything fell away.
As I turned around.
That whole landlslide tumbling down.
It was unforseeable at the end of the day.
It was unforseeable at the end of the day.
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3. |
Paper Castles
04:11
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I built it up
Such a long time
Out of brick and out of stone
The blame rests on no shoulders but my own
Built piece by piece and bag by bag
Look by look and year by year
Not a word of criticism came to my ears
I built it high over my head
Beautiful was my delight
I turned around and set the fuse alight
My paper castle how it burned how it burned
My paper castle how it burned how it burned
My paper castle how it burned how it burned
My paper castle how it burned how it burned
I struck a match and all around me
Wondered what's got into him
Dementia or surrender to the whim.
My paper castle how it burned how it burned
My paper castle how it burned how it burned
My paper castle how it burned how it burned
My paper castle how it burned how it burned
'Til there was no return
Now that it's gone for the first time
I can clearly see the moon
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4. |
Who Wants To Be Human
01:48
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Who Wants To Be Human?
Who wants to be human?
Well I do and I don't and I do and I don't know
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5. |
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It's ok to lie the advertiser said
As the CEO's wife climbed into his giant bed
Yeah this much is true
You've got your point of view
Business is business
There's nothing personal here
Some things vanish and they
don't reappear
Yeah this much is true
You've got your point of view
You've waited too long
The people that you hate aren't always wrong
But you burned that bridge
You've waited too long
The people that you hate aren't always wrong
Ain't it a bitch?
Lightning flashes
There's someone standing in the room
A clap of thunder
like a sudden gunshot wound
Yeah this much is true
Ah this much is true
You've got your point of view
And it might get opened just a little bit
You shouldn't have waited too long
The people that you hate aren't always wrong
But you burned that bridge
You shouldn't have waited so long
The people that you hate aren't always wrong
Ain't it a bitch?
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6. |
Emperor Reversed
03:53
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Ever feel indecision
Ever feel you're cursed?
Feet are clay and your hands are tied
The emperor reversed.
And I see what I could do
And I see all the way to you
When it feels like you're moving
Then it feels you've stopped
When you cross that bridge to somewhere else
The bottom seems to drop
And I see what I could do
And I see all the way to you
But I see blue upon blue
I cant tell you what I'm feeling
I can only hint and clue
Maybe sometime in the meanwhile
I'll find something to do
And I see what I could do
And I see all the way to you
But I see blue upon blue
upon blue upon blue
upon blue upon blue
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7. |
Forklift Ballet
01:30
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Don't look back it's already gone
The forklift ballet is coming right along
So fire up the printing press
There's money to be made
Stay right where you are
There's much more of the same
Dish up some zirconium take as much as you can hold
There's a Mr. Universe for every Barbie doll
Information
Runs the nation
Superimposed
Fact and fiction
Don't look back it's already gone
The forklift ballet is coming right along
it's coming right along
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8. |
Got This Far
02:29
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The cold wind is burning
Rips right through my clothes
I'm too tired to do anything
But fall asleep in the snow.
The call of the wild
Left me cut up and scarred
Looking back on my footprints
I wonder how I got this far
Some memories stay like a land mine to step on.
Some memories I left behind in the passing trees
Ornaments for other dreams
Above me the birds are winging heavenward.
Three little words
Afraid of being heard
The snow is confetti thrown
For some parade I missed.
The cold wind is burning
Rips right through my clothes
I'm too tired to do anything
But fall asleep in the snow.
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9. |
Love 4 Security
03:38
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Traded love for security
Is that any way to be?
Still she's not one to criticize
She can't even look him in the eye
Was I so wise?
Was I so wise?
Darkened room, empty bed
Thoughts run through her head
Thinking how it could come to this
Remembering his kiss
Was I so wise?
Was I so wise?
Games played patterns laid again my friend
Trips made debts unpaid it never ends
Games played patterns laid.
Riding clouds of thick despair
Disappear in air
Feeling close, too close to breathe
Is that what's up her sleeve?
Validation from without
Tempered with self-doubt
A heady brew of discontent
Suicide attempts
Was I so wise?
Games played patterns laid again my friend
Trips made debts unpaid it never ends
Games played patterns laid again my friend
Trips made debts unpaid it never ends
No it never seems to end.
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10. |
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The termites cried as the buildings collapsed.
Don't you think it's time to
...pay for the things that you grasped.
Lovely mirror you can't look away.
And sure enough you're thinking
you'll put it down someday.
Seems to me this city is blocking out the sun.
And it's whispering in your ear that
...you're the only one.
Lovely mirror you can't look away.
And sure enough you're thinking
you'll put it down someday.
Lovely mirror you can't look away lovely mirror...
Lovely mirror you can't look away lovely mirror...
The pilot went blind an hour into the flight
While the passengers argued
...about going left or right.
Lovely mirror you can't look away
Lovely mirror you can't look away
Lovely mirror you can't look away
And sure enough you're thinking that
...you'll put it down someday.
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11. |
Twilight Drift
02:59
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twilight drift
here in the twilight drift
fingers brush this purple lake
rippling like sound waves lifting
birds cry and fly in my wake.
just this lush
moment remote mirrored floating
brings the green
springing back into my branches
soothes the wounds
from the daily avalanches ... yeah ...
hidden in plain sight, ride
rowing the boat to daylight
sandwiches, thermos and nothing else near us
gliding like a vanishing kite
just this lush
moment remote lakeside floating
brings the green springing back into my branches
soothes the wounds
from the daily avalanches ... yeah ...
here in the dark blue opaque
fingers brush the surface... of... the... lake
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12. |
I Had This Dream
03:14
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Last night I was blown away by a microscopic truth.
We turn into a feedback loop and nothing's getting through
I'm sorry for the pain you feel but the self inflicted wound will heal
I'm sorry for the pain you feel but the self inflicted wound will heal
Sisyphus, with a broken back, still built the pyramids
Pandora and her can of worms dismissed everything he did
How many of your memories were TV shows or were they real?
How many of your memories were TV shows or were they real?
Free falling through the sky of my mind
Sometimes life's as easy
as falling down the stairs to
the endless status quo charade
and that's about as much fun
as self dentistry and
I think I'll have to fly away
I had this dream last night where I'm flying
Suddenly I was lighter than air
Watching the earth turn slow so far below.
Watching the earth turn slow so far below.
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13. |
Night Is Falling
03:06
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time is short
doctor says
and his voice hangs in the air
and there's a map
on the dashboard
I chose this town to be nowhere
well things add up
and things fall down
it's fading to black anyhow
now that night is falling
now that night is falling
hotel room
gideon's bible
faulty wiring in my heart
a balcony
for a stage
and an audience of stars
comes one by one
like a fleeting expression
that sums it all up
caught passing by in a car
the information floating slowly
through my pupil
black as a period mark
a period mark
watch the sky
and it falls away
you'll see that joy gets mixed with pain
now that night is falling
now that night is falling
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14. |
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Since you learned to channel surf you found it's easy to ignore
That it's more like it is now than it ever was before.
I was looking at the time, it was a second to none
I was getting it together knowing it would come undone.
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15. |
I Know Not Where
01:55
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16. |
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Dark alley (dark alley) black star
Four turkeys in a big black car
The road is shiny (bright shine) the wheels slide
Four turkeys going for a dangerous ride
The lacquer crackles (black tar) the engines roar
A ship was turning broadside to the shore
Splish splash I was raking in the cash
The biology of purpose keeps my nose above the surface (OOH)
King's lead hat put the innocence inside her, it will come, it will come, it will surely come
King's lead hat was a mother to desire, it will come, it will come, it will surely come
In New Delhi (smelly Delhi) and Hong Kong
They all know that it won't be long
I count my fingers (digit counter) as night falls
And draw bananas on the bathroom walls
The killer cycles (humdrum) the killer hertz
The passage of my life is measured out in shirts
Time and motion (motion carried) time and tide
All I know and all I have is time and time and tide is on my side
King's lead hat put the poker in the fire, it will come, it will come, it will surely come
King's lead hat was a mother to desire, it will come, it will come, it will surely come
The weapon's ready (ready Freddy) the guns purr
The satellite distorts his voice to a slur
He gives orders (finger pie) which no one hears
The king's hat fits over their ears
He takes his modicate (indecipherable) cold turpentine
He tries to dial out 999999999
He dials reception (moving finger) he's all alone
He's just a victim of the telephone
King's lead hat made the Amazon much wider, it will come, it will come, it will surely come
King's lead hat put the poker in the fire, it will come, it will come, it will surely come
King's lead hat was a mother to desire, it will come, it will come, it will surely come
King's lead hat put the innocence inside her, it will come, it will come, it will surely come
King's lead hat was a hammer to desire, it will come, it will come, it will surely come.
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17. |
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Ooh, Jackie Blue
Lives her life from inside of her room
Hides a smile when she's wearin' a frown
Ooh, Jackie you're not so down
You like your life in a free-form style
You'll take an inch but you'd love a mile
There never seems to be quite enough
Floating around to fill your lovin' cup
Ooh, Jackie Blue
What's a game girl, if you never lose?
Ask a winner and you'll probably find
Ooh, Jackie they've lost at sometime
Don't try to tell me that you're not aware
Of what you're doing and that you don't care
You say it's easy, just a natural thing
Like playing music, but you never sing
Ooh, Jackie Blue
Making wishes that never come true
Going places that you've never been
Ooh, Jackie Blue, you're going again
Ooh, Jackie Blue
Lives a dream that can never come true
Making love is like sifting through sand
Ooh, Jackie, it slips through your hand
Every day, in your indigo eyes
I watch the sunset but I don't see it rise
Moonlight and stars in your strawberry wine
You'd take the world but you won't take the time
Ooh-hoo-hoo, Jackie Blue
Lives her life from inside of a room
Makes you think that her life is a drag
Ooh Jackie, what fun you have had
Ooh, Jackie
Ooh, Jackie
Ooh, Jackie
Ooh, Jackie
Hey, hey, hey, hey
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Paul Ellis Washington
Paul continues to release albums in a style that blends French Impressionism, German Electronic American Minimalism and
Indian Raga styles, forging his own unique touch in the Ambient genre.
Paul was a founding member of the synth band Dweller at the Threshold and has also released several solo works and collaborations with artists such as Steve Roach, Craig Padilla, Rudy Adrian, Ron Boots.
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