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Steer by the Stars

by Telling the Bees

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Beautiful cardboard gatefold sleeve designed by Rima Staines, with astrolabe design on CD. Lyrics included.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Steer by the Stars via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days

      £10 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £7 GBP  or more

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 3 Telling the Bees releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of An English Arcanum, Untie the Wind, and Steer by the Stars. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      £15.75 GBP or more (25% OFF)

     

1.
A puppeteer came into town He set up his booth and the children they gathered Around to hear stories of old Mister Punch How the fox got away with the gamekeeper’s lunch Of star-spangled lovers and hapless buffoons How the cow jumped right over the silvery moon And the shadows, they grew never longer No the shadows came not through the door Chorus And so who will come see my puppet show tonight I have tramped many miles with my box of delights With the curtains pulled back and the puppets revealed We’ll give old Fortuna a crank of the wheel With Bango, Beelzebub, Old Mister Punch, I will jiggle the arcana round to my touch Lest the shadows they grow ever longer Lest the shadows they come through the door Somebody threw the first stone ‘We don’t want your sort here, you’re causing a nuisance Corrupting our children with stories and lies This is not fiction, this is real life! Pack up your puppets and get out of town’ And they rattled their pots and their pans as he ran And the shadows they grew ever longer Yes the shadows they came through the door The puppeteer fled to the woods Nursing his bruises, two rabbits a-roasting When out of the gloom came a girl and a boy Hungry for sorrow, ravenous for joy Fire in their bellies and stars in their eyes And the lines on the puppeteer’s face came alive And the shadows they grew never longer, no no no The shadows came not through the door
2.
Chorus Arise, arise, greet the break of day-o For summer is a-comin’ in In the merry month of May-o Now Padstow has its ’obby ’oss And Bristol has its Green Man But Oxford has two dragons strong At the centre of this island Now red and white they have to fight Each springtime and each fall-o But when the scarlet dragon wins The trees they do grow tall-o The students jump from Magdalen Bridge And we say let them fall-o The common man together stands United one and all-o The choir sing from Magdalen Tower And brightly cut the day-o But we will play our rough music And celebrate the day-o So down your tools, don’t go to work It is a holy day-o Plant your feet on Oxford’s streets In the merry month of May-o And hear the morris dancers crack their sticks together, hey-ho We will wear the green and dance In the merry month of May-o And when the day is done and all the dragons put away-o Men and maids go to their beds And celebrate the May-o So old and young come join our throng It is a holy day-o For summer is a-comin’ in And winter’s gone away-o
3.
Windflower 05:49
Up so late it’s early and the night it overhangs Standing in the tall grass I reach out and touch your hand Midnight birds are stirring now, they jettison the ground Tie the sky in ribbons of their immaculate sound Chorus Lying on our backs we see the grass goes to the ceiling And sometimes words are not enough to say what I am feeling Sometimes words are not enough Whoah, Windflower All those years he painted you, we haven’t got your name Reaching through the canvas to you, again and again Aching beauty, he knew every contour of your skin Rendered you in oil so not to render you in sin There’s a feeling that I get, it doesn’t have a name A cuttlefish emotion, like a pleasurable ache If I could I’d paint you, I would wear it on my skin ’Cause I know you feel the same when skylarks start to sing
4.
Astrolabe 05:56
Last night I saw Rachel turn into a bird She chose a golden cage Two speckled eggs she laid Much brighter than the sky Chorus Time and tide We’ve an astrolabe inside And it keeps us bound in service to the Moon But Age dictates, he’s a gloomy magistrate So she bids us keep on dancing to her tune Hey ho, the river is running and you can’t put your foot in the same stream twice Last night a young woman turned into a reed, out of reach She bent at the waist Such melodies she plays Now the wind is blowing Last night a whole generation turned to stone They forgot the golden rule You don’t look back you fools The ending gets you just the same
5.
And how will we know When it comes to a close Will the stars tumble down one by one? The festival’s done The punters are gone As fleet as a midsummer moon Chorus So take me dancing, like it’s the end of the world The beautiful freaks are still dancing Like it’s the end of the world The toothless old man with the squeezebox is playing a tune, like the end of the world So darling one more mazurka ’Til it is time to go The relics are back in their boxes again The drunks are asleep where they fell We laughed at the priests Threw mud at their feet We did the old carnival well And where will we go? Which is our road? The hare’s path lies over the downs But ours is the way So travellers say That keeps the whole thing spinning round The lie of the land An old caravan We are ready to leave with the light So tether the lark Haul back the dark Just one more dance for the night
6.
7.
I was no saint, I could not bear To break another’s heart Too much grieving for a life That never had a start Chorus So when she chose my upturned hands Raised like a begging bowl I put my self aside and watched The miracle unfold You would’ve done the same She laid her eggs and settled down To raise her precious brood She took the blackness out of me Made it blackbird food I watched the chicks grow feathers I watched them as they flew But when they blessed me with their song I found my heart could move
8.
Babylon 04:08
And here comes the morning star She wonders where we are We called the heavens down But you wanted to steal the crown Chorus Who told the story? Who stole our glory anyhow? Whose was the victory? Who wrote the history anyhow? Criticise all you like The demons that you fight Are inside Cause civilisation was our creation Let’s get it right We done you wrong Babylon For too long Babylon And on and on Babylon And still we bomb Babylon And we raised the crooked towers But you wanted earthly powers You called us decadent But we shouldered your discontents
9.
I fear these Tory radicals These out of season patriots That are so loud in their insults ’gainst the present ministry Chorus They only want to make paddles of the people And sail into harbours of old sinecures And they will be themselves As silent of our suffering As an old maid of her age Or a Borough Monger of his honesty
10.
Now there’s a story from Oxford town Of a scholar gypsy of high renown He grew weary of college hymns No preferments were granted him Chorus And I want to follow in his footsteps Godstow down to Bablock Hythe And though I think I’ll never find him I must try The scholar gypsy Now what he wanted above all else Was Nature’s secret commonwealth And he heard rumours of gypsy lore And in college cloisters was seen no more So he went travellin’ down droves and lanes And he learnt the secret gypsy ways And now he wanders a spirit free And he reads from Nature’s breviary Now some have seen him, his rakish air Of a summer’s evening at Godstow Weir Or up at Fyfield in his hat and his coat Dance a gypsy hornpipe round ancient oak So if you’re travellin’ be sure to ask If the scholar gypsy was in these parts And though I live here in Oxford town I will keep on searchin’ ’til he be found
11.
This ship is set to sail It’s time to leave the harbour We burnt our maps so long ago How will we go further? Chorus Aha, we’re gonna steer by the stars The wind is running with the tide I see the sky is darkening A comet calls and an empire falls It’s time we were departing So tired of all these bloody wars Hypocrisy and human flaws It’s time to sweep the stable clean It’s time to leave Come rain or golden sun We’ll whistle for a fair wind And wherever we land The stars will guide us safely in

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Winner of the fRoots Editor's Album of the Year Award 2015!

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released May 1, 2015

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Telling the Bees Oxford, UK

Telling the Bees were an innovative acoustic band making a unique and original music they called darkly crafted folk.
They met in 2007 at Oxford's legendary Catweazle Club, and as a four piece released two acclaimed albums, Untie the Wind and An English Arcanum. In 2011 they expanded to a five-piece line-up. Steer by the Stars was their third and final album.
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