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Rating: There are beach walks that leave their footprints on the sand forever, indelible. Others are soon forgotten, as soon as the high tide arrives. There are special nights, nights wrapped in the dim light of a shy moon, by the sound of the sea, cigarettes consumed while the wind caresses your hair, and you stop, captivated, to contemplate the almost total darkness and be enchanted by the rhythm of the waves. There are men who know how to render these sensations better than others, who turn them into notes, and manage to make them live in the farthest dimensions, even when lying in bed or stuck in traffic, in the city, at rush hour.
Morphine is the night. A liquid night, wrapped in the mist of continuously consumed cigarette smoke, they are the rhythmic and hypnotic, minimalistic and essential, yet full. Music in the service of memories and emotions, so evocative that it decontextualizes everything. There are artists born for and with music, grown with an instrument as their appendage, weaned in uncool venues, among whiskey glasses and cigarettes, with music constantly present. There are artists who, after spending their lives for the seven notes, choose to have even their epitaph consistent with everything that came before.
Such was the case for Mark Sandman, or at least I like to think so. One day, in the now distant 1999, Mark Sandman took to a small provincial stage near Rome, in Palestrina, for what was supposed to be one of many concerts on that summer's European tour. He played for a few minutes, then turned pale and collapsed on the stage. A heart attack on stage, that’s how Mark Sandman passed away, clinging to his two-string bass, and with him the Morphine and that bizarre utopia. There are stories that seem damned poetic yet cruel, fascinating and deeply sad, born from the pen of some noir writer, yet incredibly real. As noir as Morphine was, like none other, poetic yet real. In the algebraic interpretations of musical compositions, they followed a conception diametrically opposed to the rest of the discography, rather than adding, they subtracted. "Less is more," as Mark Sandman loved to say: "subtract to add." Their music was something very intimate, a game of complicity for the few. Conway played with him since the mid-eighties, when the young bassist-guitarist led a band called Treat Her Right, which is rightly considered the progenitor of Morphine. There were four members, with a harmonica and a guitar instead of a sax, but already back then, the idea was that of raw and sharp music, a swinging rock blues with no frills that, with its essential lines, wanted to return to the womb of a certain '50s era.
After many works of the highest quality, the acclaimed beginnings by certain critics and viscerally loved by a hardcore group of true "followers," in 1997, "Like Swimming" appears to many as a little subdued. Not due to the usual, immense, quality of the performances, but for an apparent compositional fatigue. Those two strings of the bass seem a bit clouded, circling around themselves in search of a new but still undefined direction, and in the meantime, they tend to aim for safe, already-heard grounds. Even here, the 1950s dominate, with that noir-tinged swing that wraps everything, captivates in its vortex, only to eventually throw you out, after having spun and obsessed you. But in many ways, it no longer surprises, precisely because of its fatigue. "Like Swimming" is by no means bad, on the contrary, it hides within itself true gems of inestimable value. Such is the case with the wonderful blues of "Early to bed," which, among the phrasings between the two saxophones, dreamy keyboards, and a syncopated rhythm that stops and restarts continuously, offers unique atmospheres. Just like "Murder for the money", which is extraordinarily rhythmic and powerful, at least relative to the Morphine standards. Almost tribal percussions, overlapping voices, electric guitar that scratches, sounding almost Hendrix-like, only to calm down and resume the rhythm of a hypnotic and dragging gallop. The rest is almost ordinary administration, without those peaks of excellence from previous works.
There are nights of disarming beauty, nights where the mind travels and surrenders to sensations perceived through the stimuli of something liquid and engaging; those nights are called Morphine.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Potion (02:00)
give me a potion to make me love you
give me a potion to make me care
give me a potion to make me love you
make it a double
make it a double
below the ocean, i make a bed down there
below the ocean, i gotta live somewhere
maybe a graveyard. yeah maybe. i don't care
why can't love be blind
instead of just a blind man cryin
why can't love be
why can't love be blind?
thanks for the potion to make me love you
thanks for the potion to make me care
your charms are workin on me
your charms are workin hard
your charms are workin on me
your charms are workin hard
thanks for the potion to make me love you
make it a double
make it a double
04 Early to Bed (02:57)
Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man or woman miss out on the night life
Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man or woman miss out on the night life
One drink call it a early night
Soon you're curled up beneath the reading light
Or you bathe in the TV's blue tint
On your pillow an after-dinner mint
Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man or woman miss out on the night life
Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man or woman miss out on the night life
Early to bed so you can wait
For three buses a trolley and a train
I think it's worth it for you to stay awake
Maybe tomorrow you'll be a little late
But early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man or woman miss out on the night life
Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man or woman miss out on the night life
You'll miss out on the night life (x2)
05 Wishing Well (03:32)
I move slow underwater crisp like a waterfall
I know my way around
Everybody knows me I grew up in this town
I got one million two million
I can't remember how many million millions
And I'm exactly where I want to be right now
Ah yea Mm mm
I got a call back from the wishing well
Ah yea all right
I got a call back from the wishing well
I don't even have to shoot
I don't even have to aim
I just smile deal me in
I got one million two million yea
I can't remember how many million millions I'll tell ya
I'm exactly where I want to be right now
All right Ok
I got a call back from the wishing well oh
I move smooth underwater crisp like a waterfall
Smooth underwater I know my way around
See I got one million two million
I can't remember how many million millions
And I'm exactly where I want to be right now
All right (x2)
I got a call back from the wishing well
Oh yea all right
I got a call back from the wishing well
06 Like Swimming (04:00)
first i learned to crawl and then some other strokes
i can never remember any real good jokes
do you feel like swimming
do you feel like swimming
yes right now
i know a way to swim all the way down town
i know a way to swim all the way down town
it's a lot like swimming first time over your head
it gets easier when you move your arms and legs
and for air you lift your head, why don't we try right now
yes right now
yes right now
well
i know a way to swim all the way down town
i know a way to swim all the way down town well
i know a way to swim all the way down town
i know a way to swim all the way down town
we'll go by way of the garden, fat with tomatoes and leaves on the vine
sweet like the way it was
like swimming for the very first time
do you feel like swimming
do you feel like swimming
well
07 Murder for the Money (03:34)
Murder for the money
Yeah murder everyday
Murder every inch of the goddamm way
Murder in the morning yeah murder in the night
Murder every single moment of your god forsaken live
Yeah it's murder for the money
Yeah it's murder for the money
Murder for the money you got to cry swet and bleed
I've seen a grown man have to get down on his knees
Murder in the morning yeah murder in the night
Murder every single day of your goddamm life
Yeah it's murder for the money
Yeah it's murder for the money
Murder for the money
Murder for the money
Murder for the money
Murder (x8 total)
Murder every inch of the goddamm way
Murder in the morning yea murder in the night
Murder every single second of your god forsaken live
Yeah it's murder for the money
Yeah it's murder for the money
Murder for the money
Murder for the money
08 French Fries With Pepper (02:53)
On 06/06/66 I was little I didn't know shit
About 07/07/77 eleven years later still don't know any better
By 08/08/88 it's way to late for me to change and
By 09/09/99 I hope I'm sitting on the back porch drinking red wine singing
Oh french fries with pepper (x2)
On 06/06/66 I was little I didn't know shit
About 07/07/77 eleven years later still don't know any better
By 08/08/88 it's way to late for me to change and
By 09/09/99 I hope I'm sitting on the back porch drinking red wine singing
Oh french fries with pepper (x4)
09 Empty Box (03:54)
Tore open a package it was an empty box
No meaning to me just an empty box
Sender was a woman
Sender was a woman
She said she's sending me everything that I I I never gave her before
She said fill it up and send it back
Fill it up and send it back
So I send her back an empty box
A big mistake sent back an empty box
Half in the shadows half in the husky moonlight
And half insane just a sound
I crossed into a valley a valley so dark
That when I look back I can't see where I begin
I can't see my hands
I don't even know if my eyes are open
In the morning I was by the sea
And I swam out as far as I could swim
Until I was too tired to swim anymore
And then I floated and tried to get my strength back
And then an empty box came floating by
An empty box and I crawled inside
Half in the shadows half in the husky moonlight
And half insane just a sound in the night
Half in the shadows half in the husky moonlight
And half insane just a sound
10 Eleven O'Clock (03:19)
Ah! Hey!
Every night about
Every night about
Every night about
Eleven O'Clock
Every night about
Every night about
Every night about
Eleven O'Clock
Every night about
Every night about
Every night about
Eleven O'Clock
Every night about
Every night about
Every night about
Eleven O'Clock
I go out
I go out
Oh!
Every night about
Every night about
Every night about
Eleven O'Clock
Every night about
Every night about
Every night about
Eleven O'Clock
Every night about
Every night about
Every night about
Eleven O'Clock
Every night about
Every night about
Every night about
Eleven O'Clock
I go out
I go out
Out
Every night about
Every night about
Every night about
Eleven O'Clock
Every night about
Every night about
Every night about
Eleven O'Clock
Every night about
Every night about
Every night about
Eleven O'Clock
Every night about
Every night about
Every night about
Eleven O'Clock
Every night about
Every night about
Every night about
Eleven O'Clock
I go out
I go out
I go out
11 Hanging on a Curtain (03:48)
Hanging on a curtain
Swinging like a clock
(Swinging like a clock)
Big hand on the seven
Little hand on top
(Little hand on top)
You said you like to hear me talk
You told me not to stop
(Told me not to stop)
You said you like to hear me talk
You told me not to stop
(Told me not to stop)
Little red feet with big blue toes
Let me put my hand inside your clothes
Little red feet with big blue toes
Let me put my hand inside your clothes
Cute buttons like pointy little teeth, Woh!
Don't bite please
Cute buttons like pointy little teeth, Woh!
Don't bite please
Little red feet with big blue toes
Let me put my hand inside your clothes
Hanging on a curtain
Swinging like a clock
(Swinging like a clock)
Big hand on the seven
Little hand on top
(Little hand on top)
You said you like to hear me talk
You told me not to stop
(Told me not to stop)
You said you like to hear me talk
You told me not to stop
(Told me not to stop)
12 Swing It Low (03:16)
I got buttons bursting in the air
I got apple orchards everywhere
I got grapes swinging from the vine
Swinging in a line lined up in the sunshine
I'm on time fresh fast a sweetheart
Who'll watch your back I'm all swing
Swinging from the shoestrings
Right or wrong to me it's the same thing
You especially you especially you especially
You have my loyalty
You in wartime love peace I need to walk you down the street
I'm right here I'll watch your back
In case the wind blows off your hat
You your on time your eyes are like a diamond mine
Deep and bright inside
I got buttons bursting in the air
I got apple orchards everywhere
I got grapes swinging from the vine
Swinging in a line lined up in the sunshine
Mmm (x3)
I got buttons burst in the air
Ideas run fingers through my hair
My shoes they're ready to move (x2)
Swing it low (x2)
Swing it low low low
Swing it low (x2)
Swing it low low low
Mmm (x2)
Swing it low
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