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Live at The Yarra

by Liz Stringer

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1.
There ain’t no going back if I go down this road with you But I’m still swimming in that ocean, those eyes I fell into And it’s difficult to see straight when you got a dizzy heart No use thinking ‘bout an ending when we haven’t made a start Sitting ‘round in the dark You might break my tender heart in two, but I’m drawn to you I drink so much these days it’s hard to know what’s real But I’m so sick of second guessing every single thing I feel So blindly I tread forward, down this road I turn It’s just a matter of time when both ends of a candle burn Sitting ‘round in the dark I might break your tender heart in two, but I’m drawn to you And when that road came to an end we found ourselves facing a raging sea And try as I might I couldn’t stop the tide from turning there in front of me I saw you yesterday when I was driving in my car I forced my eyes to turn away, dragged on my cigarette real hard We both had our scars, now some of them are raw But I never liked perfection, it’s such a fucken bore Sitting ‘round in the dark Guess we broke each other’s hearts in two, but I’m still drawn to you
2.
My regret and me and a cheap cask of wine We meet every evening around the same time No formalities, I’m at ease, we know us so well And all down my street the lights go on slow While righteous women brush their hair while their fellas get stoned We’re still children let loose with each other’s hearts Oh I saw the moon rise tonight casting walls between us How much easier it is to say that I miss you more when you’re Here than when you’re away I know I’m not the only one who carries a bruised heart After all we are all the same animal, the only thing that tells us apart Is the one we miss; those eyes, that kiss, that voice in the dark Oh I saw the sun rise today casting roads between us How much easier it is to say that I miss you more when you’re Here than when you’re away That’s why when children get older mothers get scared I wish I could’ve told her how unprepared I am
3.
I was born in Brisbane on a hot spring day Among my kin a big storm brewing And when Dad got a job up Port Moresby way That big old storm it blew in It scattered us around like autumn leaves Mum in Melbourne, brother in Manly I started sowing trouble seeds My dad’s new missus hated me My father looked at me sometimes As cold as a Melbourne outer eastern squall I went to find my mother when I was nine And hung with new mates by the station’s wall By thirteen I was drugging and wagging class Changed schools ‘bout a thousand times I’d never really fit in anywhere Been moving ‘round all of my life But Lady Luck she comes and goes And she leaves this gentle warning For what you have tonight, who knows If it’ll still be there in the morning But there’s always a new day dawning I left school and got an apprenticeship Sweeping hair from a salon floor Gave up the drugs when I lost some friends Couldn’t see what the madness was for The road was good I was travelling on For the first time the sun was shining But when I met that man and thought he was the one That old road started winding We moved in ‘cross the train line down Croydon way ‘Cos he told me I was pretty But his soul, like his fists, got harder every day It was the needle he adored and not me But then one night my hibernating pride
Woke just like a black snake A friend and I we headed north Drove all night for my life’s sake But Lady Luck she comes and goes And she leaves this gentle warning For what you have tonight, who knows If it’ll still be there in the morning But there’s always a new day dawning And now I’m sitting on the deck of my Buderim house I’m pulling double shifts and living clean I think of all those dark angels back in the south All the places that I’ve been When I talk to my mother I can hear her smile Feel her mighty strength and reason She taught me that though there’ll be storms to come Life keeps changing faster than the seasons And that Lady Luck she comes and goes And she leaves this gentle warning For what you have tonight, who knows If it’ll still be there in the morning But there’s always a new day dawning
4.
I’ve been collecting buttons ‘cos I know that you need one I have so many colours now, all the shades of a setting sun I’ve wandered through your garden, peered over your wall I’ve watched you through those thin panes, I’ve watched you come and go With your love, that’s when I’d fall apart Don’t you go breaking anyone else’s heart ‘Cos I’m a glutton and feeding upon this pain is better than nothing The cuff links in your pressed suits, the creases in your pants I’ve memorised and studied every time I’ve had a chance I’ve leant idle on a counter and watched endless passers by In the hope that I might see you, commit you further to my mind With your love, that’s when I’d fall apart Don’t you go breaking anyone else’s heart Cos I’m a glutton and feeding upon this pain is better than nothing I met you many years ago but my face you wouldn’t know, at least I wouldn’t think so, babe Ever since I’ve kept in touch, but I’ve kept it all pretty much on the down low Of the millions of things lying between your heart and mine Worst is the fear of falling, falling way behind In an instant I could have you but your rein is loose and long And I’ll wait here under your tall tree ‘til tomorrow’s dewy dawn With your love, that’s when I’d fall apart Don’t you go breaking anyone else’s heart Cos I’m a glutton and feasting upon this pain is better than nothing Sometimes I think how it would be, but a delicious fantasy, you gotta stay so We’re closer than you think, this could all change in the blink of your eye And even over your highest wall, I’ve seen things, I could tell all, if you only knew that Spend all my time creeping up, but all the time I’m never close enough
5.
6.
He sprung a leak, spoke when he shouldn’t speak Now the bypass is carving up the country The future’s iron lung, from a university tongue Been licking at this town for a century The abattoir gone quiet, they moved it out twenty miles Now those bloodied hands rest tapping on a sports bet Well you’ll have a better life You’ll have a better life, you mark our words Have a better life, you’ll all get what you all deserve Oh man, this is too fucked up In anybody’s language it ain’t good enough ‘Cos I’ve been here almost fifteen years In anybody’s language this is fight or fear Pipes on the beach, a sickening rotting peach As the blood from the Redgum fills the valley Tracks in the sand, heavy hammers in their hand And their deals done with their pants down in the alley Well you’ll have a better life You’ll have a better life, you mark our words Have a better life, you’ll all get what you all deserve Oh man, this is too fucked up In anybody’s language it ain’t good enough ‘Cos I’ve been here almost fifteen years In anybody’s language this is fight or fear
7.
Why you run, run so fast Is it clear that we’re fading like sand You come home every night With another girl’s heart in your hand But oh lover, stay with me here Oh lover, there’s nothing I fear When you’re near, babe So stay with me tonight One door opens, another one closed Hey boy, ain’t that the way that it goes ‘Cos I’m not here to teach you or to reach you Or to show you how it feels to be in love But oh lover, stay with me here Oh lover, there’s nothing I fear When you’re near, babe So stay with me tonight So there it was, there it was I didn’t love you like I said I did when we were sweating Nothing changes and nothing will You and me like poison, like trying to push a river back uphill But baby, stay with me here Oh lover, there’s nothing I fear When you’re near, babe So stay with me tonight
8.
I ain’t too good when I’m sober My weary head it won’t let me rest It never seems to be over The demons crouching beneath my breast I got a job in the city Making coffee for cops and crims Hung-over, shaking and shitty Until I got that bottle between my lips So if you go, would you take me with you ‘Cos I want to know how it feels to leave I saw the future like a chasm below me And honey it’s a long way down We go out drinking on Monday Graffiti shining on the rain slicked streets With cigarettes and a week’s pay And friends who drink just as hard as me We talk shit ‘til we’re thrown out Go back to Jimmy’s and smoke some weed This ain’t no kind of a blowout We’ll do the same thing every night this week So if you go, would you take me with you ‘Cos I want to know how it feels to leave I saw the future like a chasm below me And honey it’s a long way down
9.
I met him high on a hill when I was sixteen And my breath it was taken by the cold August wind I left school that next summer and to Melbourne we fled As the sky over Mansfield turned orange and red I asked him where he came from, he said he wasn’t quite sure He said he’d moved ‘round so often, he didn’t keep track no more But he said I was the reason that he could stand still And he kissed me that first time on the high open hill See everything changes ‘cept for the sound of the rain That comes down every time I see him again And I wish for a moment that we could once more stand On those high open hills of our youth Me and my traveling man He went off to Western Australia where the pearl fishing’s good He said he’d been once to Broome and there he felt understood He said I’m gonna return with a fortune untold So just sit tight my darling for our future to unfold He came back to me to Melbourne for a week or so We were lover to lover, I didn’t want him to go But with a fire in his belly and a baby in mine I prayed when he’d come home it would be the last time See everything changes ‘cept for the sound of the rain That comes down every time I see him again And I wish for a moment that we could once more stand On those high open hills of our youth Me and my traveling man I got a letter from Darwin later that month He said, “I’ve found myself a lover, in fact I’ve found quite a bunch The last thing I want to do is to hurt you or our boy But you know all I touch I go on to destroy” He sent us some money, but soon that dried up too Just like the hope in my baby’s eyes blue He’d sit at the window and wait every night And I prayed that that bastard would do what is right See everything changes ‘cept for the sound of the rain That comes down every time I see him again And I wish for a moment that we could once more stand On those high open hills of our youth Me and my traveling man
10.
Well singing songs from town to town There ain’t no time to settle down Driving east from Portland, stinking Christmas eve Drunk from driving, window down Red hot wind through an ice-cream town All our guitars cracking, swelling from the heat I saw her leaning by the kitchen pass, drinking water from a glass Her working shirt clung to her, I wished that I could too Fire to make this cold heart light, a vision there in sweat and white I gotta talk to her I thought as I began to blush Well I never thought I’d meet the one who made me want to stay Who’d pull me up like buttercups when I had gone astray But I was young and restless, roamed at my will I burned a lot of bridges, and I weren’t about to build Things are gonna change That summer we slept under the pines All day I held her hand in mine I’d go singing, she would wait on tables after dark I met her mother, she met mine We smoked Marlboros and drank red wine And I remember thinking I think now is the time Well I never thought I’d meet the one who made we want to stay Who’d pull the strings and see the things that I had shut away I was young and restless, she just knocked me hard I’d burned a lot of bridges, so she built one to my heart Things are gonna change
11.
I heard your voice from a mile away It came through the floor into my feet and through my legs And then it curled like a snake around my heart Oh no love ain't no healer I fell to my knees where I stood And put my hands to my mouth cos I know that nothing better ever came from anything good Oh no love ain't no healer I built those bridges and then I watched them burn They lit up the sky line like a firework And there you came with the materials to make them new again Oh no love ain't no healer Save me, Save me Save me Oh no love ain't no healer So I'm sorry if I freaked you out But you see I have nothing good to say if it's love I'm talking about So I'm gonna curl like a snake around your heart And tell you sweet darlin Love ain't no healer

about

'Live at The Yarra' was filmed on an Autumn night in May 2014 at The Yarra Hotel on Johnston Street, Abbotsford, Melbourne in front of an intimate crowd of 100 punters. Liz performed two sets on the night, choosing songs from her four studio albums to date. The best ten were selected for the live album and DVD. It was a special night, made possible by a talented film and sound crew and the generosity of the good folk at the Yarra.

credits

released October 20, 2014

Performed by Liz Stringer at the Yarra Hotel, Johnston Street Abbotsford, Melbourne, Australia on May 27th, 2014.

Live engineering and recording by Nigel Swifte, assisted by Tom Stroder

Camera Department - Tom Hayes, Bonnie Moir, Tim McCormack, Agostino Soldati and Francisco Flood
Lighting - Rowan Matthews, Tom Hayes and Tim McCormack
Producer - Cat Leahy
Co-Producer - Tim McCormack
Editor - Tim McCormack and Tom Hayes
Director - Tim McCormack

Mixed and mastered by Nigel Swifte and Aaron Bateman at Forge Recording Studios, Reservoir

Live photography by Emma-Jane Johnston (www.emma-janejohnston.com)

Liz's hair and make up by Marlene Olsson

Cover art and design by Kirrily Anderson

Photograph of The Yarra Hotel by Heather McDonald

Title plaque engraved by Andrew Bailey

All songs written by Liz Stringer

My heartfelt thanks and love to everyone who stood in the room with me that night at the Yarra and helped make it one to remember. To the team who made it all happen: Tim, Bonnie, Tom, Franscisco, Ago, Rowan, Nige and Tom and Emma-Jane, thank you for guiding me through such an unfamiliar experience and doing a fabulous job of representing the gig so truly and beautifully. I'm so lucky to have such exceptionally talented and beneficent friends.

Love and thanks to the Yarra owners and staff for giving us run of the joint for a whole day and night and for being generally top-shelf people.

Thanks to Mick for the intro. And thanks to Cat for her concept, unwavering belief and organisational nous.

Special mentions to other wonderful people for their help and input:
Van Walker, Tajette O'Halloran, Colin Wynne, Shane O'Mara, Jenny O’Keefe, Yvette Maker, Kirrily Anderson & Aaron Bateman.

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Liz Stringer Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne born musician Liz Stringer is one of Australia’s most respected and versatile songwriters and instrumentalists. A lauded guitarist and vocalist, Stringer has released 5 full-length albums since 2006, her powerful and emotive live performances and melodically rich, story-based songs delighting fans and festival-goers throughout Australia and a growing audience in North America + Europe. ... more

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