Thursday 2005 demos
These are some early demos for A City by the Light Divided which were stolen from the band and leaked in September 2005. I haven't seen anyone post about them so I thought I would myself. Below are lyrics and some extra context. I have tried to transcribe the lyrics as best I can but I have pretty bad auditory processing disorder so there will inevitably be some errors. If you spot a mistake, let me know and I will edit the post. The formatting and details of the lyrics are mostly based on the CD booklet.
Blog post
After the demos were leaked, Geoff made this blog post on the Thursday website on September 21 2005:
Hey friends-
SO… we see that the early demos we did for the record have FINALLY leaked. In this day and age anything and everything that passes through a computer eventually ends up being available to everyone at the click of a button. Many of you know that Thursday is one of the few bands that actually supports file sharing!!! We love the fact that music is available to everyone whenever they need it. We have always told our friends and 'fans' that they should download any of our albums that they can't afford or can't find in stores.
These demos, however, weren't ready for anyone to hear. These songs have all changed substantially since those demos and will probably change between now and the recording. Just to help you guys understand these demos, here's a user's guide: 1. most of these songs don't have names because the lyrics are still being written… a song only really becomes a song for us when we figure out EXACTLY what it's about. 2. One of these songs is actually the reincarnated out-take of a song that we cut from war all the time. 3. Andrew had just joined the band as a full fledged member when we recorded these and his keyboard parts were still sketchy at best. 4. There is one song, however, that is much closer to finished than the other's. It's called "At This Velocity" and it's about a crash landing in an airplane on the other side of the world. This song was started when we were in Australia on tour with the Flaming Lips, the Mars Volta and Poison the Well. The first line of the song is, "We were safe, Now we're paralyzed, Suspended in flight…" We hope you enjoy it.
On a related and timely note, we are very excited to announce that we will be heading into the studio with Dave Fridmann at the beginning of October to start on our new album. His work with the Flaming Lips, Weezer, Mogwai and Sleater Kinney has produced some of the finest albums of the last ten years. Dave is one of the few modern producers really pushing the medium and he's one of the nicest guys in the business. We started preproduction on the sixteen songs we've written. In the short amount of time we've been working with Dave he's already pushing us to new musical and emotional ground.
Anyway, thank you all for the love that you have always shown us. These demos aren't really a good indication so try not to listen to them too much (we don't want you to get used to them this way!!!). We're just happy that all the really great stuff on this album is still a secret!!!
Keep checking the website for updates and tidbits.
thanks and love,
Geoff (and all the Thursday boys)
1 - At This Velocity - Lyrics
We were safe
Now we're paralyzed
Suspended in flight
At this speed it makes no difference
Where I start and where you end
Or if you sit in an emergency aisle.
We could be dead
Complete the equation:
Our names are X and N
We have no value
In these calculations:
We're placed on a plane,
Pointed straight down,
Traveling at five hundred feet per second,
Five thousand feet from the ground -- how long will it take us to hit?
How fast will we start the disintegration?
No time left - just keep moving
No time left - just keep moving
How fast will it take us to hit?
How long till we start the disintegration?
We could be safe here, forever,
Floating in the clean blue air.
Somewhere between the sun that gives us light and the ground that puts it out.
And we'll kneel in the aisles
Press our hands together, close our eyes, speak these words so softly into the black box
And it goes:
"Mother, father, can you hear this?
I want to thank you for all the sweetness.
I'm not coming home, we're never coming home."
2 - Telegraph Avenue Kiss - Lyrics
She's the song that you tried to sing
And the note that you couldn't hit
So you locked her up in a music box
Turned the key on all of us
She spins silver strings in the dark
With metal teeth that ring in her heart
When the cover drops
The world just fades away, away, away
From her, waiting, waiting, waiting for her to say:
It doesn't matter what you say,
Doesn't matter what you think you mean,
You know our love's not unconditional.
A book of matches and a cigarette
A love note that you never sent
You can fold it up but you won't forget
You can strike a match but it still might not light
Now I'm the one that's stuck inside the silver cage,
The bird that can't fly away, clip its wings if it sings
Of the way, the way, the way that it hurt
Waiting, waiting, waiting for her to say:
It doesn't matter what you say,
Doesn't matter what you think you mean,
You know our love's not unconditional.
Doesn't matter what you say,
Doesn't matter what you think you mean,
You know our love's not unconditional.
The music box is open
It's spinning with the room
If you're the record playing, I'm the needle in the groove.
Listen to our song:
You're in my heart,
In my hands
In my lungs.
We move like a carousel
Streak lights and mirrors in our eyes
It's time to let this go
Can't stop spinning
Around, around, around, around, around, around, around, around, around, around, around
You know our love's not unconditional
Unconditional
Unconditional
You know our love's not unconditional.
3 - The Other Side of the Crash / Over and Out (Of Control) - Lyrics
Note: This contains a section from Panic On The Streets Of Health Care City, the "reincarnated out-take" mentioned in the blog post. Panic later appeared on Kill The House Lights.
The lights go down, outside (before our cars collide)
The city silhouettes itself (in forty shades of fire)
Do you know where these lies are leading? I'll meet you there.
I'm covering up my eyes
Before they cover up your eyes
And wrap your body all in white,
And we awake in the light of all the lies
This can't be happening
Sorry, someone made it.
We wake up
Covered in the marks of all these razors
Racing up our veins
We'll live and learn to love again
Open up your eyes and we'll be safe again
From the razor's edge.
And the hospital ward sleeps
Through the surgery
Hiding needles in the drawer
(for emergency)
While upstairs they sleep
In maternity
Fever and the pitch.
It's a brand new day,
Just to be awake,
This is how it feels
To live and learn to love again
Open up your eyes and we'll be safe away
From the razor's edge.
The I.V. drips, the days drag on
The anesthetic's not wearing off
Adjust the light switch in the hall
Someone has left it on,
And maybe the x-ray screen keeps it from getting dark
The bulb burns out when it gets too hot
Keep crashing this car (over and over)
Keep crashing this car (over and over)
Keep crashing this car (over and over)
I can't keep crashing this car
Still it spins out of control
So hold me close or I might disappear this time
Out of control
We fight currents in the water
When we can't let go of the shore.
We've lost control.
4 - Autumn Leaves Revisited - Lyrics
The leaves will fall and so will you
When you do, bury me under them too
Seconds pass, we'll make it through
Eventually we all go home
It won't be long
It won't be long
I live with a girl who’s been waiting
Seven months left till they bring home the baby
He swore he was paying for school
They shipped him over. Now he scatters on the front lines
He swore he would follow his conscience
But done the wrong way follows his orders instead.
When he shoots, he sings this song
But he doesn’t know that she’s been singing it, too.
It won't be long
It won't be long
Until they find a way home
We walk along the wire tied between horizons
You close your eyes like it's nothing at all
Throughout the rise and fall, everything, everything
Changes, I will be here when you die
Did you hear the trumpets play the day your father died?
Did the violins swell those circles under your eyes?
Did you play the part straight like a march?
Or get lost in the beat, thinking and feeling…
Did the drums in the streets make the people dance?
Or fall to their knees from the sound?
Knock the leaves from the trees,
and they fell from the branch?
They looked beautiful
As they hung in the air
Spinning around
Did you float in the air?
Spinning around?
There must be somewhere that cigarettes burn through the night
And the leaves don't abandon their trees to the light
Where the sky's always clear and the summer never ends…
Won't you take me there?
The leaves will fall and so will you
When you do, bury me under them too
Seconds pass, we'll make it through
Eventually we all are going home
5 - Untitled - Lyrics
Note - this didn't end up on ACBTLD, but did make it onto Common Existence as Last Call.
The center cannot hold, the side collapses
Full of broken words, sing the song inside the dark arcade
Color me in city greens
The streets unwinding, spitting flames
Cars around the arteries
We scream and swerve and fall apart.
Everything we love, it falls apart,
And the architect abandons us.
I'll save us from the sky until a feeling burns, you try
It plants a seed of fire that flowers in the corner of your eye
Circular breathing
We'll keep them always moving
Heart attack efficiency,
Erase the figure as it falls.
Everything we love, it falls apart,
And the architect abandons us.
The city shakes like tired hands
The light divides what darkness mends
Our bodies echo in our plans.
Everything is falling apart.
The wedding starts
The guests appear
The church bells ringing endlessly
The bride and groom are hand in hand
And everything goes as it's planned:
The parents smile,
The priest chokes up,
The organ plays "Amazing Grace"
And underneath the thin white veil
Everything is falling apart.
And the people sing:
La la la la, da da da…
The city shakes like tired hands
The light divides what darkness mends
Our bodies echo in our plans.
Everything is falling apart.
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