a Jigsaw ::: Lyrics

12.22.2014

Have yourself a merry little Christmas (Hugh Martin)

Written By : Hugh Martin (1943)

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be the light
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yule-tide gay
Next year all our troubles will be miles away

Once again as in olden days
happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Will be near to us once more

Someday soon we all will be together
If the Fates allow
Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow
so have yourself a merry, a merry little Christmas now.

10.24.2014

No True Magic (Lyrics)

01. No True Magic

02. Black Jewelled Moon

03. Without The Prize

04. Midnight Rain

05. Them Fine Bullets

06. The Greatest Trick

07. Tides Of Winter

08. Gates Of Hell

09. Make Straight The Way

10. Bring Them Roses

11. Hardly My Prayer

Words & Melodies

a Jigsaw

João Rui, Jorri

Who played

Acoustic & Electric Piano, Banjo, Combo Organs, Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Glockenspiel, Vocals, Autoharp, Acoustic & Electric Harmonium, Percussions, Melodica, Hammond, Upright Bass.

Guests :

Black Jewelled Moon

Carla Torgerson (Vocals) Recorded by Glenn Slater at Wakatake Studio (Seattle, USA)

Susana Ribeiro (Violin)

The Greatest Trick

Gito Lima (Upright Bass) Recorded by Sérgio Milhano at Ponto Zurca Studio (Almada, Portugal)

Midnight Rain

Pedro Serra

Tides Of Winter

Drums on all tracks & some Cowbell played by Guilherme Pimenta

--***--

Recorded at The Blue House Studio by a Jigsaw & João P. Miranda

Except Upright Pianos recorded at Musica.Com & Grand Pianos recorded at Mr. Mike’s.

(Coimbra, Portugal)

Mixed & Mastered at Attack-Release Studio (Portalegre, Portugal) by João P. Miranda

Produced by a Jigsaw

2014

Photography: Miguel Duarte, Paula Lourenço & Sofia Silva

Design by Gito Lima

www.ajigsaw.net

01. No True Magic

I dreamt the night would let me be awhile

with the sweet gust of earth from the mouth of the rain

but the end was creeping ‘round my door

I welcomed him in and asked for more

Have you come to take my ghost?

Have you come to wake my memories of hope?

Would you forgive that howling host? Oh you heard me.

Would you believe the lies he told?

And while I have read of darker gods

this was the one who’d fool the odds

How innocent the sleep in the darkness of my mother

And how wicked I had turned when the end came for me

But I know in my veins, that this road was meant for me

And though he whispered no lies, I knew I would lose everyone

Oh I dreamed I would leave before they would rise, rise with the thunder

But there are no tricks left to play and no miracles left to believe

And while I have read of darker gods

this was the one who’d fool the odds

Now there’s a blood thirst in my eye,

with the will to live beyond my death

So why would I promise you my ghost? Oh you heard me

How could you believe the lies he told?

And while the end was creeping ‘round my door

I welcomed him in and asked for more

But there is no true magic in here

Oh there is no true magic in here

Oh there is no true magic for me

02. Black Jewelled Moon

I stopped for a moment on the threshold of your house

Over your bed, you were counting up your fears

It’s a long way up, down to where I stand

In turn my lips began whispering

You will pay with a wound, for the wound that you forgot

Over and over again

All your dreams will fade, save for the one with the black jewelled moon

I lie awake with the necklace of your hands,

woven tight with promises unkept.

I heard the warning and I’ll take the blame

Oh tender blood, you broken girl, where have you gone?

Up and down by the brook, he’ll take you home

All your dreams will fade, save for the one over there,

outside in the meadow, where flowers wither in the springtime

And I’m free at last from this senseless speech

If you run to the brook from where the moonlight springs

Make your peace, for I will wait you there

Come hither child, you’ll be long gone

Oh tender blood, you broken girl, where have you gone?

Up and down by the brook, he’ll take you home

Oh tender blood, you broken girl, where have you gone?

Up and down by the brook, you’ll go alone

All your dreams did fade, save for the one with the black jewelled moon

03. Without The Prize

All things under the moon, they have my memories,

Of how I wolfed my dreams too soon. They belonged to another

but I will dance with you again

You’re afraid of going back to god, with those empty hands

But a flash of bright light came to wake me from my death

oh I will dance with you again

so we became the knives, my dear love, that would cut those lonely hearts

How angels spoke of us… you’d be ashamed

You were once my true brother – Well some things run in the blood.

Oh someone did me in, and it’s your fault, not of another

But I will dance with you again

How did you carry on, I wonder? How could you walk away from my grave

You saved your song for the boatman, of how Good had no brother

So now I turn to you again

We used to dance into the night my dear,

And how we danced into the night, I guess we’ll never know

while you renounced the dark with my death, I embraced your empty light

and the days turned to dust without my prize.

So we became the knives, my dear love, that would cut those lonely hearts

How angels spoke of us, you’d be ashamed

that you would dance with me again

Oh you will dance with me again

04. Midnight Rain

I’m already in my grave, you’d better cool down

I’m standing in the shadows, I can’t move you around

Somebody I’m told, will follow me down

Your days are numbered from one to seven

But you’d better count them from seven to one

Your unclean lips will keep you undone

Somebody is calling you from the midnight rain

“How is your love affair with the people down below?

I will break you in a matter of hours from dusk ‘till dawn”

Ah that’s just something you heard, that’s an old magician’s tale

Of how everything I made was covered with a golden veil

But that’s the thing about tales, they breed in the wind

Your days are numbered from one to seven

But you’d better count them from seven to one

Your unclean lips will keep you undone

Somebody is calling you from the midnight rain

“How is your love affair with the people down bellow

I will break you in a matter of hours from dusk ‘till dawn”

Somebody is calling you from the midnight rain

How is your love affair with the people down below?

If I’m the one with words, then allow me to begin

Greater light, Lesser light, is there nothing more to behold?

I don’t care for animals nor your pretty road show

So that’s the thing about tales, they breed in the wind

Your days are numbered from one to seven

But you’d better count them from seven to one

Your unclean lips will keep you undone

Somebody is calling you from the midnight rain

“How is your love affair with the people down below?

Well I’m not one to brag…

Somebody is calling you from the midnight rain

“How is your love affair with the people down below?

If I’m the one with words, then I bid thee farewell

05. Them Fine Bullets

Stranded against the crowd, with all eyes vacant as the wind

Lo, what a strange hour for thieves

So I took the first step

His eyes were a flame of fire, his voice the sound of many waters

“I’m the first and the last. And I hold the keys of your door”

But I have the need of nothing

So I’ll take them fine bullets to my grave

I’ll take them fine bullets

If all I have done is cruel

Then all I could say would break you asunder

And I took another step

With those bullets of longing for my most splendid guilt,

I’ll have their sweet taste of honey and the bitter aftermath

So I took the last step

I have earned my rope, though it slithers off my fingers

Lo, what a strange hour for thieves

But I have the need of nothing

So I’ll take them fine bullets to my grave

I’ll take them fine bullets

If all I have done is cruel

If all you have said is true

Then after you’re done

Oh I will move, ‘till I stop

Underneath the gallows-tree where silence is king

Since I have the need of nothing

I’ll take them fine bullets to my grave

06. The Greatest Trick

Smokes and Mirrors; a deck of cards to pass the time

Yes, that was your beating heart inside the box

She clawed with all might against the walls, ‘till she remembered the thrusting knives.

Thereafter she caved back into the black

People go from bad to worse

When truth quickens at the sight

why would you come here to collect

on the greatest trick of all

With cloaks and daggers; some woofle dust to fool the eye

I whispered “to the left, that’s where it all ends”

I drew the old moon down to your lap, if you believe my magic spell

But you keep on dancing the tune your mouth sang

People go from bad to worse

When truth quickens at the sight

why would you come here to collect

on the greatest trick of all

The truth is closer than before, and I know my time is nigh,

but I made sure my sins were put to bed

So I drove those knives up to the hilt. She chose the first to move aside

and I took the last one to be my bride

People go from bad to worse

When truth quickens at the sight

why would you come here to collect on what you gave

The greatest trick of all was in your mind before I spoke.

It was my beating heart inside the box

07. Tides Of Winter

Thy beautiful hymn has flown deep into my veins

With a voice clear as rain, you poured the poison to quench my need of you

And with time you made me yield

So I became a fearing man

Blindness came to me as a dream. So did silence, save for your word

You told me silence was golden, but it’s a cold stone that brought me to my knees

Now your tides of summer, they are gone

And with them my trust in you

Your command is not of my concern

Though I trembled in the shadows of death

Was my faith not enough for you?

Was my pain not worthy of you?

It was enough. It was enough

All the lies are born, oh all the lies are woven with the truth. from the truth

Thy woeful hymn has drowned with a whimper, with a mewl

This revelation woke me up like a thunder, it was loud enough to make me bleed

So I rose to the mountain to see the word: I would bring it down to his knees

Now your tides of winter, they have come

And with them, your revenge on me

Your command is not of my concern

Though I trembled in the shadows of death

Was my faith not enough for you?

Was my pain not worthy of you?

Your command is not of my concern

Though I trembled in the shadows of death

Was my faith not enough for you?

Was my pain not worthy of you?

It was enough. It was enough, It was enough. I was enough

08. Gates Of Hell

I’m waiting outside the gates of heaven

I’ve been on your trail since the last we spoke

Oh brother, heaven is just a word

I’m counting the days of trust lost with fate

And since you’ve been praying outside the wrong gate

Let me tell you brother heaven is just a word

Oh you’ve been looming by the gates of hell

and it’s not my kind to refuse a wretched soul

Oh brother hell is not a word

I’m taking my time to take you to dryland

And isn’t that a sweet promise, to hang you where you stand?

Oh brother, hell is not a word

oh when the devil comes down, you’ll be on your knees and pray

“Death, be my friend” but you’d better run, run

My hands are on fire, from crawling down below,

So I’m going up to heaven to bring you down home

And when the angels find I’m coming, oh brother they’d better run, run

oh when the devil comes down, you’ll be on your knees and pray

“Death, be my friend”

I’m on my knees, begging you please, please

I’ve been up to heaven to seek the greater god

But brother, heaven was just a word

Now I raise my cup to the next god in line,

but I’m doomed to be myself for evermore

Oh brother, what if death is just a thought?

Would that move you? Move you?

If you see him coming, you’d better run, run

Just keep on waiting by the gates of hell

and it’s not my kind to refuse a wretched soul

Oh brother this hell is not for show

My hands are on fire, from crawling down below,

I would go up to heaven just to bring you down home

Oh brother, death is not a thought

oh when the devil comes down, you’ll be on your knees and pray

“Death, oh Death be my friend”

09. Make Straight The Way

On the third day of my lord,

There came about the stone cold hearts of men

“draw out now” out with the blood and come forth the good wine

I came to you as a beggar,

when the night fell down my house

Take my word, and leave this ground – your faith will suffice

I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness

By the grace of god you’ll see greater things before this curtain

Make way, make straight the way of the lord

I spent my life withering by the lake,

Praying for the season of the angel

my body gave out - still I wait; the flood won’t answer your prayer

They all came out and sat in wonder

Over the green grass up on the hill

The day was come, he was a king shying from the crown

I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness

By the grace of god you’ll see greater things before this curtain

Make way, make straight the way of the lord

He found them toiling in the waves,

Lost with fear and weary eyes

Now you’re adrift hoping my hands will carry you back

‘twas not the sin of the mother

‘twas not the sin of the father

That made the light your foe. Oh believe, darkness has an end

Rise up my little girl

Come forth my dear friend

Time has come to reclaim my crown

I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness

By the grace of god you’ll see greater things before the curtain falls down

Make way, make straight the way of the lord

10. Bring Them Roses

Under the trees, where I buried my eyes there was gold

There it was: your gold mine

Strange though it may seem, I thought it was a dream until you spoke

What are you doing my friend, in my coal mine?

That’s not my fault, your old dream has been dreamt out

Oh you fooled me, you fooled me somehow

Your words fell on deaf ears. Your words fell on deaf ears

I carried on into your gold mine

And I will fool you, I will fool you somehow

Underneath the pale light I’ll carry my hands

Underneath the broken light I’ll bury your name

I’ll bring you roses, bring them roses when I’m done

I wondered if you knew the pain with which I wove the night

It was all for you

So over the time, secluded by my crime, you preyed on me

While you were burrowing in my gold mine

Oh you fooled me, you fooled me somehow

I went down to the mine, I went down to the mine

To find redemption and the hope to carry on

Oh I’ll fool you

I will fool you somehow

Underneath the pale light I’ll carry my hands

Underneath the broken light I’ll bury your name

I’ll bring you roses, bring them roses

I saw your arms around the trees, like words with lies around me

I saw your words tearing by the seams, and they broke their arms around me

They fell down, betrayed, by my side

11. Hardly My Prayer

It was a cold heart break that caught up with me. I was under the spell

that as death grew near I could pretend it was hardly my prayer

There’s a lonesome cry that parts with my mouth, when I confess

That all I did was tending my shame for closing my hands

Around my last word

I’ll confide in the roots down here: Entwined with my hope, my heart was a well

Where I lost myself, where I lost myself, when I swam to the bottom

Right as rain, I am the colour of nothing, I’m at the right of no one.

So I will lose myself, oh I will lose myself for the hand on my shoulder

You have my last word

When it’s over and done, you’ll be second to no one

Right as Rain, I’m the colour of nothing

10.01.2014

Postcards From Hell

Postcards From Hell
(B-Side of "Drunken Sailors & Happy Pirates" - Words & Melodies by a Jigsaw)

All of you of whom I now sing
Uninvited I carried your heart in my hands
And often I did let you slip through my fingers
But in the end, when you were staring at me from the waves beneath my feet
I was left alone to my enemies

I took your every advice and I set my eyes over yonder
You knew the truth has two sides and both of them are lies, ah didn't you?

So I began writing this postcard for you
While there’s enough light, while I remember you right.
And the years had their deserved weight, but not on you.

You with whom I drank in my vessel,
you’re all gone , and time left me alone
I Hear your whispers now, coming from the splinters
Where I hurt my hands in the harbour

I took your every advice and I set my eyes over yonder
And if this never reaches you
That’s ‘cause they don’t send postcards from hell
This is what I've become, a truth with two sides
if this never reaches you
That’s ‘cause they don’t send postcards from hell, no they don’t
if this never reaches you
That’s ‘cause they don’t send postcards from hell
This is what I've become, a truth with two sides

12.23.2013

O Lenhador (P. Carvalho/Ary dos Santos, Joaquim Pessoa)

Letra: Ary dos Santos/Joaquim Pessoa

Música: Paulo de Carvalho

1978

Por montes e vales com frio de rachar, vai o lenhador trabalhar
E põe no machado a força do braço que torna mais leve o cansaço
Por pouco dinheiro, pinheiro a pinheiro vai-se o lenhador sustentando
Cortando, cortando, sofrendo e suando, vai o lenhador trabalhando

Vai vai vai
O Machado vai e vem
Cai cai cai
Um pinheiro para alguém
Quem abate o pinheiro do natal
É alguém que trabalha e ganha mal

É o lenhador que diz ao pinheiro, perdoa cortar-te companheiro
Aqui está tão frio, vais sentir calor, uma casa quente é melhor
Quando está na sala o pinheiro fala e diz lenhador obrigado
Bendito o teu braço que fez do cansaço a festa do amor partilhado

Vai vai vai
O Machado vai e vem
Cai cai cai
Um pinheiro para alguém
Quem abate o pinheiro do natal
É alguém que trabalha e ganha mal

Quando está na sala o pinheiro fala e diz lenhador obrigado
Bendito o teu braço que fez do cansaço a festa do amor partilhado
Quando está na sala o pinheiro fala e diz lenhador obrigado
Bendito o teu braço que fez do cansaço a festa do amor partilhado

Vai vai vai
O Machado vai e vem
Cai cai cai
Um pinheiro para alguém

11.01.2013

Rooftop Joe [CD-SINGLE] (Lyrics)

01. Rooftop Joe

02. Until you Break

03. The Pawn

04. One Right Lie

05. Dark Rider

Words & Melodies

a Jigsaw

Guest musicians:

Ruby Ann (vocals) Track 4.

Gito Lima (Upright Bass) Tracks 2, 3, 4

Design & Artwork: Luis Belo

Track 1: Recorded, Mixed and Mastered at Attack-Release Studio by João P. Miranda.

Track 2,3,4, 5: Recorded at the Blue House by a Jigsaw and João P. Miranda at Attack-Release Studio.

Mixed and Mastered at Attack-Release Studio by João P. Miranda

Produced by João P. Miranda & a Jigsaw 2013

01. Rooftop Joe

He was standing tall to the mirror
When she came to warn him of the jailors
And then he saw the tears rolling down her face
“surrender my dear...” he schemed a plan
He took a step, one single step outside and then he spoke

You behind the oak tree
You behind the oak tree, you’d better leave or die.

From the bushes, curled up behind the fear in their eyes,
With fright, they asked for his head
So he ran back, through the house, the hills, the wind and the rain.
There was led in the rain.

He left a bullet behind, He left a bullet behind

Oh you never had a chance, did you? ROOFTOP JOE!
Oh you never had a chance, did you? ROOFTOP JOE!
Oh you never had a chance, did you? ROOFTOP JOE!

He left a bullet behind, It muffled more than pride

You behind the oak tree,
You behind the oak tree, you’d better leave or die.

Oh you never had a chance, did you? ROOFTOP JOE!
Oh you never had a chance, did you? ROOFTOP JOE!
Oh you never had a chance, did you? ROOFTOP JOE!

They found him, alone on a boat, waiting by the sea
But he never had a chance, Rooftop Joe

02. Until You Break

There’s a ditch in the sea where I can fit
There’s a ladder deep inside that I can climb
sharks wave their tails
Step aside boys, I be hunting whales

I’ve brought an harpoon that’s as long as you can dream
It takes five men just to lift it from the ground
But I came all alone
With my will and my wooden leg

We’ll dance ‘till the night or ‘till you break my dear
I’ve got all the life I need just to take you down

Let’s go for one more round

You see, there is a wolf around your door
And If that is too much, get out of this ditch
The sailors say goodnight
Oh but the sea never sleeps

We’ll dance ‘till the night or ‘till you break my dear
I’ve got all the life I need just to
I’ll even bury your ghost
We’ll dance ‘till the night or ‘till you break my dear
I’ve got all the life I need just to take you down

Let’s go for one more round
Set your sails boys, set your sails
There’s a full moon on the deck for all you little girls
You know, this beast is ten times your fear, so fear!
Step aside boys, I’m killing that bitch

We’ll dance ‘till the night or ‘till you break my dear
I’ve got all the life I need just to take you down
You may have taken my woman, you may have taken my leg
Ah, damn, you ain’t takin’ me! Alright!

Top Navigation Menu

12.22.2014

10.24.2014

10.01.2014

12.23.2013

11.01.2013