1. |
(Just) Learning The Game
04:27
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Just a kid on the backstreets of Lambeth
In the years after the War
I never knew who my daddy was
He disappeared on a Normandy shore
Mum and I we lived in two rooms
Above a shop down on the High Street
We were poor, times were hard
But she made ends meet
I'd be out in the sunshine and rain
Playing with all of my friends
Happy times just hanging around
We never thought they would end
Till the day we all went to school
Things would never be the same
Uniforms and teachers and rules
We started learning the game
Met a girl when I was sixteen
She stole my adolescent heart
But her parents didn't like me
Swore they'd keep us apart
Then one day they sat her down
Told her I was banned
At first she cried, then we talked
Started making our plans
Bought tickets the very next day
We decided to elope
Packed our bags and said we'd meet
Gretna was our only hope
I sat as they bus pulled away
You know she never came
Saw her at school but we never talked
And I was just learning the game
Time passed, I did the right thing
Got a job and settled down
Married and we had two kids
Bought a house on the edge of town
Things were good, we were happy
As time passed by
Kids left home and something changed
I didn't know what or why
Then after all these years
My wife said it was the end
She'd found someone new
Someone I thought was a friend
It wasn't her fault she said to me
I was the one to blame
Never there when she needed me
And I was just learning the game
I know the wheel of life
It's always gonna turn
Pay attention to what you do
Or else you just might get burned
Step easy, find your way'Try not to do harm
When the sea gets too rough
Find a place that's calm
Now's the hour is getting late
It's time to move on
Reflect upon the things I've seen
And all the things I've done
No excuses
There's nothing to explain
I've come a long way from the streets of Lambeth
And I'm still learning the game
words & music: Jamie O'Brien
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2. |
Sunday Serenade
03:15
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I got up and put on the best smile that you want
And headed off to your country bar
I asked for tequila but you gave me fever
When you said that we'd go too far
Sunday serenade made my life a trade
Now you know that's why you're more than a try
I whispered in the hay sweet nothings to your face
My sunburn's overdone I ever had so much fun
I felt such a fool when I fell in your pool
How my image was hurt
I forgot my foolish pride when you pulled me to the side
I knew you were more than a flirt
Sunday serenade...
Give me direction I have no objection
To you inspecting my heart
You found me lonely and that I'd only
Serenade you right from the start
music: Ernest Hone - words: Ernest Hone & Jamie O'Brien
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3. |
Curse
02:08
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He turned to there road where he was a youth
Took the grass as his bed, the stars as his roof
Claimed that he'd been cursed to move
By a witch way back in his childhood
His mother had cried when he walked out of home
About the love his family had shown
But what good is love when you've been cursed to roam
By a witch way back in your childhood
Through cities and villages, counties and towns
In hospitals and prisons, cells and dog pounds
He had been locked up for bumming around
Thanks to a witch in his childhood
Sitting and talking by a campfire
About life and about desires
And everybody knew that he was a liar
Thanks to a witch in his childhood
He sits there on a cold dark night
Clutching a guitar but something's not right
He does not move cos he has now died
Freed from the curse of his childhood
Words & music: Jamie O'Brien
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4. |
The Lawyer Song
03:48
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I was told by my lawyer
I should ignore you
Sit tight and be thick-skinned
When you act up cruel
I should keep my cool
You'll lose
He says I'll win
The house the car, our worldly goods
The bikes, the dog
Our cabin the wood
You're gonna pay for your sins
Friends tell me I'm all right
They'll always be by my side
To comfort me through all this pain
How they'll never forgive you
For what you did to me
Not choosing me
You must have been insane
Ahead they say is the rest of my life
A new start maybe a brand new wife
I'm not losing, regard it as a gain
In the end there's the rest of my life
A new world maybe another wife
I'm not losing, it's a gain
They all sit there so straight-faced
I need to Gert out of this place
I feel my will starting to bend
My attorney smiles with knowing look
Seems to say he's gonna throw the book at you
This is the end
But you can have all I've got
The house, the car, the whole damn lot
What do you think, you wanna start again?
Words & music: Jamie O'Brien
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5. |
Amoureuse
04:23
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6. |
Strawberry Hill
03:52
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A humming bird hovers near a mesquite tree
Looks like he's putting on an act just for me
Flashes of ruby red and emerald green
A woodpecker calls in its harlequin gown
Brightly colored lizards scurry on the ground
Our garden is like a dream
A dream made for you and I
We used to sit here on the old porch swing
I'd play guitar and you would sing
Of happy days spent together
Times we knew would never die
Everyday brought new adventures for us
So much time ahead no need to rush
But whatever happened to forever
And the promise to never say goodbye
Time passes slowly the sun shines still
I feel so empty though memories fill
My head with visions of the past
And those days now gone by
I sit and think of how things were
Our love our dreams so strong so pure
I believed those days would last
And tithe's why I now want to cry
Words & music: Jamie O'Brien
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7. |
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And now one year has come and passed
Since I last saw her
I've been told that time heals fast
But I still have to ignore her
Memories how they haunt my mind
Remember when it was just she and I
And now she takes up all of my thinking time
With endless streams of words just she and I
The month of December has thirty-one days
Treasures we shared in one short breath
Time doesn't heal, the tricks it plays
And with the year's end came our loves death
Memories...
And now one year has come and gone
Since we were last together
Thoughts of her how they linger on
I guess I'll think of her forever
Memories...
Words & music: Jamie O'Brien
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8. |
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Blue eyes looks surprised
Oh how she tries
To find the best she can there in others
There's mistakes that she makes
But you know she never fakes it
When we love she's my only lover
Treasure every moment spent together
Hope it will last but you never
Should count the cards sometimes it's hard
I pray we'll never part
If I had my way together forever
She has a way that seems to say there's something in everyday
Seeing it is all you have to do
So I'll take her hand when she makes a stand
Listen to her crazy plans
And do what I can to make them come true
Hold her in my arms safe and warm
Feel the peace and her calm
She'll be mine for a time
You see I've read the signs
So I'll love every moment left together
Words & music: Jamie O'Brien
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9. |
Hey There, Jaime
03:11
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Hey there, Jaime
That's the song they were playing
On Caroline at the party
The night that we first met
We sat there in the corner
And talked together for hours
Couldn't get a word in edgeways
But I loved everything you said
You made me laugh a lot that night
With the stories you were telling
But time flew by too quickly
I had to catch the last bus home
I gave you my parents' number
And sat each night by the door to the hall
Hoping you would call
But you didn't phone
A week or two later
I saw you down in Tesco's
You came over and asked me
If I'd like to go
Out with you that night
It was the start of eight months of heaven
Till you grew cold and distant and left
Why I still don't know
It's funny seeing you here tonight
My old man he left me
I think I might be ready
to start something again
Would you like to come back to my place
We can watch a video
Who knows what then
The radio's playing our song again
Words & music: Jamie O'Brien
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10. |
Wasn't It Me?
03:13
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Think of all the times you were lonely and alone
Standing on some street corner in the cold
When there was no one to talk to cos nobody had stayed at home
Wasn't I the only one there to hold
Wasn't it me
Wasn't it me
Didn't I come running when you needed me
Wasn't it me
Wasn't it me
Didn't I come running when you needed me
On those black and soundless days
When the unit shone no light
And your eyes were pierced and stabbed but the neons
When confused you turned around
And walked the streets alone in fright
Wasn't I the only one there to lean on
Wasn't it me...
When your body was filled with pain
And you feared you couldn't live
And the people that you knew just poured scorn on you
When you went within yourself
And found nothing inside to give
Wasn't I the only one there too comfort you
Wasn't it me...
Words & music: Jamie O'Brien
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11. |
Please Come Home
04:16
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I've tried so very hard since you've been gone
To forget what you meant to me
And even though life still goes on
It's not the same as it used to be
For you were everything I ever had
And now you're gone my life is so sad
Please come home I need you by my side
Every night I lie awake and cry
My friends do everything they can
They try so hard to ease the pain
Hw can you forget everything we planned
And start your life alone again
Every night I sit and face the door
Hoping to hear your footsteps in the hall
Please come home I need you by my side
Every night I lie away and cry
Words & music: Pete Morton & Jamie O'Brien
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12. |
Look To Baboquivari
04:56
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Words & music: Teodoro Ramirez
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13. |
The Last Time I Saw Anne
04:35
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Sitting in a cafe with my coffee and croissants
Reading a book in French by de Maupassant
I looked up and who did I see
Standing barely ten feet from me
Someone I never thought I'd ever see again
Thoughts tumbled back to when my life unraveled
I packed my bags hit the road and I traveled
I took a boat across la Manche
And soon found myself in a small town in France
And there on a park bench was the first time I ever saw Anne
We sat there talking and laughing out loud
And she said yes when I asked if she'd like to go out
Soon we would meet each day on that park bench
Where I taught her English and she taught me French
I had found someone I wanted to be with and then
Days turned to weeks how the months flew by fast
She started talking how our love would surely last
So I packed my bags and I hit the road
Left her without a word or a note
I was so scared that I would be hurt so I ran
Now in that cafe with her standing near to me
That I still loved her was os so clear to me
This was the time I would right the wrong
But when I looked up she was gone
And that was the last time that I ever saw Anne
Words & music: Jamie O'Brien
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14. |
Always The Queen
03:29
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Always the queen, never the pawn
Oh Lani, please stay until the dawn
Stay with me till the dawn
So far away, never quite here
Oh Lani, tell me what you fear
Please say what you fear
You say no on will understand
The things that you feel right now
So why should you show your hand
When you know you'll get by somehow
No one can touch you, that's how you feel
Oh Lani, only loneliness is real
Loneliness is real
If you would come down from your tower of dreams
Oh Lani, you could still be the queen
You can still be my queen
Always the queen
Words & music: Stephen Roud & Jamie O'Brien
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15. |
Learning The Game
02:48
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Lyrics online somewhere
Words & music: Buddy Holly
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Jamie O'Brien Tucson, Arizona
Jamie O'Brien comes from a London-Irish family. Before arriving in Tucson, Arizona, he lived in Pennsylvania for many years. And before that, Germany was home. He's been singing and playing all through his life, enjoying many different styles as a solo performer and with various bands. Along with performing his original songs, he also enjoys playing Celtic and Hawaiian music. ... more
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