Glimmerless

“Glimmerless is the kind of album that restores one’s faith in music. It’s good in a subtle way, in that it reveals its charms slowly, one or two layers at a time.”
Dan Macintosh

Available now on all digital streaming platforms – Bandcamp, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Prime Music, Deezer and more

Glimmerless

℗© 2012 Serengeti Long Walk. All Rights Reserved.
Released October 26, 2012.

01    The Poison Tree
02    Panic
03    Talking In Clichés
04    Gravity
05    Restless
06    The Fever
07    Maybe
08    The Best View Of You
09    Celebricide
10    Strange Birds
11    Go!
12    Jupiter

Credits

Ray Clifford (drums), Joe Dermody (guitar), Ger Duggan (vocals), Mick Duggan (keyboards), Jon Heffernan (guitar), Des O’Mahony (bass guitar).

Joe takes lead vocal on Strange Birds, Mick takes lead vocal on Jupiter, and Des takes lead vocal on Panic. Backing vocals are by all.

Additional saxophone is played by Jon, while Des does additional sequencer and synthesisers.

All words, music and arrangements by Serengeti Long Walk.

Recorded sporadically between 2007 and 2011 at The Stables, Castlecove, Co. Kerry and in Deora Dé, Bweeng, Co. Cork.

Engineered by Jon Heffernan and Des O’Mahony.
Produced by Des O’Mahony and Serengeti Long Walk.
Mastered by Fergal Davis (fergaldavismastering.com).

Production Notes

Serengeti Long Walk played a lot of gigs in and around Cork City in the mid ’80s. But apart from very basic cassette recordings and snippets of the original material, nothing was ever formally recorded from that period. A cassette version of the farewell concert at Triskel Arts Centre in 1988 does exist, but this is a simple stereo recording with significant flaws.

Fast forward nineteen years to 2007 and while the scattered band members largely stayed in contact with each other during that period, there had never been a proper gathering of all for the purposes of making music. In 2007 it was decided to regroup and to properly record some of that ’80s material, if only for personal satisfaction. Five of the six original members answered that call and were eventually joined by a new drummer to complete the line-up. In the years following, the band met for just a few days or weekends a year, mostly at The Stables in Castlecove, Co. Kerry, to resurrect the old songs and to enjoy making music in each other’s company again.

The 2012 album Glimmerless includes updated versions of some original ’80s material that was never previously recorded by the band (Talking In Clichés, Gravity, Restless, Maybe) as well as newer material written in the late ’00s during the Stables sessions for the album.

The cover of Glimmerless features artwork by Irish artist Noelle Noonan entitled Between Eternity and Time.

Video

Gallery

Looking for lyrics
Jammin

Lyrics

01 | The Poison Tree

Come in to the water, let yourself go under
Baby we’re a long way from the sea
If you wanna hear it, turn on the radio
Open up the window and come to me

I don’t recall where the line is written
And I don’t recall what you said about me
It’s something we don’t even need to talk about
Just because they say we can’t be free

Take a little something warmer than the daylight
Baby it’s the fastest way to me
The letters that they sent, the softness in their voices
Colouring whatever seemed so real

I don’t recall if you sent them running
And I don’t recall how it came to be
That only the weakest one among us
Could tear himself away from the poison tree

02 | Panic

Looking all around you, you’re sure as hell you’ve made it
You’re the right stuff, got the right stuff
Things have come and gone, no matter what you’re thinking
You’re the right stuff, got the right stuff

Then it all just seems to slip away
Nothing ventured, nothing gained they say

All is well and good, you’ve judged it to perfection
Choose the right time, it’s the right time
Never any doubt, never any question
It’s the right time, it’s the right time

Then it all just seems to slip away
Nothing ventured, nothing gained they say

Panic!
Should’ve started from another place
Should’ve figured how to read that face

Step it up, you’re running out of options
Get the right move, it’s the right move
Taking off the gloves, a push becomes a shove
And it’s the right move, it’s the right move

Then it all just seems to slip away
Nothing ventured, nothing gained they say

Panic!
Should’ve started from another place
Should’ve figured how to read that face

03 | Talking In Clichés

Girl you are so near to me
Girl you are so dear to me
Love somebody, set them free
If they come back ‘twas meant to be
I look to you and turn away
There are no other words to say
I look to you and run away
You leave me talking in clichés

I love you
Talking in clichés

Streets of Belfast street, streets of shame
War’s going nowhere who’s to blame?
I’ve seen the city by the Seine
Words are different, sound the same
Keep saying things like “I need you”
And “you gotta love me like I love you”
No matter what I try to say
You leave me talking in clichés

I love you
Talking in clichés

I’ve got my head in my hands
I’ve got my heart on my sleeve
Who could believe you’d leave me

04 | Gravity

Tonight we’ll see the stars collide
I don’t want to run and hide
I’ll not be around that night
I will not move south about it
I just want to shout about
Hey, gravity

All this relativity
Doesn’t mean too much to me
I can wait and I will see
Don’t really know about it
Just saw a show about it
Hey, talking about gravity

Something’s keeping us
Something’s keeping us together
Gravity, gravity
It brings me down

Skies and oceans will divide
From the friends you trust inside
It may be long but it’s not wide
Friendship don’t know about it
Just can’t survive without it
Hey, gravity

Something’s keeping us
Something’s keeping us together
Gravity, gravity
It brings me down

05 | Restless

Restless in the rainfall waters
Looking to the gods above
Inspiration you cannot alter
And a life you cannot love

Stumbling through the beats of pain
To the place that you just left
Finding sweat and restless rain
The victim of an unseen theft

I’m restless
A lack of hope, a loss of vision
The harvest of a life’s lost mission

Fountains falls on a cloud of rhyme
We’ll see the stayback storm tonight
All together, all at once
Break the dark and see the light

I’m restless
A lack of hope, a loss of vision
The harvest of a life’s lost mission

06 | The Fever

Don’t you think you want to be a better man than that?
Don’t you think it’s time we got it back?
It’s never what you want, but what you bear

Don’t you feel there’s something in there for the kill?
Will we find the answers, yes we will
It’s never just in time, it’s just a little way

Great can come and great can go
Sometimes slow is just too slow
Pass the fever on to me
Feel it

Don’t you want to breathe in that sea air?
If you like we can just sit and stare
Hold me back I think I’m going to jump

I know I want to to be a better man than that
So much fear, too much slack
She did something to my memory

Great can come and great can go
Sometimes slow is just too slow
Pass the fever on to me
Feel it

07 | Maybe

In a shack by the sea watch me ring in the New Year
When the moon shines on me and the night sky is so clear
I could do anything by the ocean
I could do anything to get back to the start
Step inside a work of art

(Feel the) water like rain, like a sweet and loving lotion
Because the beat of the sea gets my body in the motion
Get back to the beach, get down to the ocean
Get back to the beach, get back to the start

Maybe on a better day we can turn the blue to grey
Maybe find another way, talk to someone with something to say
Maybe not today, maybe on a Wednesday
Maybe …

Back at the sea it’s been more than a few years
Jam, scones and cream, the day is so clear
I would do everything by the ocean
I would do anything to get back to the start

Maybe on a better day we can turn the blue to grey
Maybe find another way, talk to someone with something to say
Maybe not today, maybe on a Wednesday
Maybe …

08 | The Best View Of You

I’ve heard a thousand excuses but not one good reason stands
I should have seen this one coming but at this stage its out of my hands
I’m cutting losses and running, give me the strength to go on

I’m putting my foot down
Because the best view of you is in the rear view mirror of a speeding car

You know the problem with brightness is the real dark shadow it casts
It’s so easy to blind yourself when you hide behind a mask
I’m cutting losses and running, give me the strength to go on

I’m putting my foot down
Because the best view of you is in the rear view mirror of a speeding car

Yeah it’s always the same, you get that feeling of doubt
It’s why I just keep on running, why bother working it out?

I’m putting my foot down
Because the best view of you is in the rear view mirror of a speeding car

09 | Celebricide

Wrung your hands and leaked your eyes
When the Knightsbridge Nanny died
I’m the camera boy just taking the shot for you

Broke the moon and drenched the sun
Chased a white line, holiday fun
I emptied shelves taking the shot for you

Click! Click! Flash! – Celebricide
Celebricide
Click! Click! Flash! – Celebricide
Up, Up, Up and Away

Twinkle, twinkle little star
How we wonder what you are
Up above the world so high, high, high, high

The older sibling locks the door
I bank my money from the media whore
Telly’s on seven-twenty-four taking the shot for you

Click! Click! Flash! – Celebricide
Celebricide
Click! Click! Flash! – Celebricide
Up, Up, Up and Away

10 | Strange Birds

Another lonely night on the gin and white
Sat at home watching satellite
Nat Geo’s on and I’m in the zone, all alone
Flicking channels like there’s no tomorrow in a mask of Zorro

Adolescence goes on forever
Adolescence goes on forever
It’s the last refuge, it’s an underrated pleasure

Oh, I have seen some strange birds tonight
The crocodile hunter and his fish in flight
Seen an undertaker doing deals with his maker
I have seen strange birds, but none of them was you

Back in my favourite chair again with my remote control
I turn down that sound and kick up the stereo for some rock ‘n’ roll
Being lonely when you’re on your own, it’s no so bad
Being lonely when you’re in a crowd is even better

Loneliness goes on forever
Loneliness goes on forever
It’s the last refuge, it’s an underrated pleasure

Oh, I have seen some strange birds tonight
The crocodile hunter and his fish in flight
Seen an undertaker doing deals with his maker
I have seen strange birds, but none of them was you

When I stumbled, you broke my fall
When I strayed, you shone the light for me to crawl back home to you
That’s the joy of loving you

Happiness goes on forever
Happiness goes on forever
Happiness goes on as long as we’re together

11 | Go!

Summer’s ending, time to move
Time to let the music blend me
Come along to the woods
Time to let the loving mend me
She frees me, teases me, colours me and pleases me

It’s the main thing, the shoe still fits
Time presses play and makes me
In the country, in the wild
Time to open up an smile
She pleases me, creases me, releases me and cheats on me

Go!

Here’s to you and your dreams
Time to let the laughter fold me
Here we land, open fields
Time to grab onto the real things
She kills me, seizing me, mugging me and holding me

Go!

12 | Jupiter

I woke last night and walked out to the garden
It seemed the night was offering its pardon

But it’s time to go, it’s time the sun has risen
I see the way, hear the stars and they’re singing

Today we’re going back to Jupiter
Make way we’re going back to Jupiter
Before it’s gone
Before it’s gone, long gone

And I won’t forget who made this ship we’re sailing
Let’s count to five, count our luck and keep saying

Today we’re going back to Jupiter
Make way we’re going back to Jupiter
Before it’s gone
Before it’s gone, long gone