WOODBINE GARDEN SESSIONS APRIL 2004:
WOODBINE GARDEN SESSIONS JANUARY 2006:
Recorded at Woodbine Garden Studio, April 2004, November 2004 & January 2006, by Teemu Aalto & OG. These were meant to be rehearsal sessions, and so we left them "unfinished". Maybe there's a bit of human touch in return, at least I hope the soul comes through. They're close to what it was like when we played live. Vocals for the April 2004 sessions were recorded in less than three hours, but they needed more than three cups of coffee. Some of the lyrics for the January 2006 sessions were written and arranged only a few days before the recordings (but they are as complete as it can get). The Finnish words on Das Wegrecht were taken from an old spell, meaning to ward off evil spirits. They feed us li(n)es, but the truth is all we have to have. Woodbine Garden Sessions are now official boot legs for the record. ALL WRONGS REVERSED!
CITY RED LIGHT (WITH HIGH SPIRITS AND BARCLAY)
Light the city red for that honey
Maybe it will breathe with the soul
Even when I'm drunken no longer
All the names of God will be there
Come, bless the world
And I’ll pray for them tonight
Come, bless the world
They’ll pray for me tonight
The light is gone, help us now
We gotta face the ghosts and know it all
No church will help without pity
All living things they have a soul
But god given coins we need here
Come, bless the world
And I’ll pray for them tonight
Come, bless the world
They’ll pray for me tonight
Where has all that faith gone
If the cities fall and if we fail
We’ll go back to them, old places
Where the spirits are high
What’s wrong with a summer night
Alright, just a drunkard telling things
Didn’t have that much to say
Some have it more, some have it less
Is the City of Being (still) here
Or is it burning to the ground
No, if the cities fall and if we fail
We’ll go back to them, old places
Where the spirits are high
Where the spirits are high
NEITHER DEAD NOR ALIVE
We’re not cowboys
But we ride on a steel horse
Bad things are many
From fear of life to that of death
But the good thing is nobody wants us
Neither dead nor alive
And I swear it’ll be all straight
But you better stand your ground
When I shoot will it be near the truth
It will be the truth oh yeah no yeah no
You may get shot through the heart
with a mouthful of fine words
‘Cause you never know
Even when you’re standing tall
Who’s coming, who’s got a gun
(“The water in these boots
On a cold autumn day
It’s a truth, but a truth I can’t accept”)
Who’s coming, who’s got a gun
Bang bang shoot shoot
We’re not cowboys
But we ride on a steel horse
Bad things are many
From fear of life to that of death
But the good thing is nobody wants us
Neither dead nor alive
And I swear it’ll be all straight
But you better stand your ground
When I shoot will it be near the truth
When I shoot it’ll be the truth
When I shoot will it be the truth
REMEMBER THE FROZEN
This land is precious like before
So beautiful is the sight, pure as crystal
Scryed over the hills and the freezing nights
From the secret stars above
To the ground so frozen
(It hides) in every act and thought
Timeless forests remember the heart
Forever I shall enshrine the memory of thine
The trees have grown, I watch them rise
And speak of times before this life
On the snow a beast has walked
Near the graves of their gods
Our long gone dead loved ones
Still guiding us in this time and space
Forever I shall enshrine the memory of thine
The trees have grown, I watch them rise
And speak of times before this life
"And the earth is our soul"
How could a man with his boots
Could he ever kill a soul
I’ve heard their voices, neverending
Forever I shall enshrine the memory of thine
DAS WEGRECHT (The Horse Of Soul)
(Or Paul Celan's blues, after the poem)
Keep the world from lying groundless
And the sleep of many from one’s own dreams
To save us from being no ones now
Oh save what is good in this
Fear is loathsome as resting ungrounded
The world is full of all kinds of others
With different fights, different rights now
(Us and them of which) some are red and others black
While some are white and walk the wrong hand path
I'm in the middle of them all, give me the right of way
Don’t let a heart lose its name
I’ll greet them like this
Take my own horse and ride it
Up and down my very own pathways
Just let there be light or a guiding voice
For human will and the divine heights
And for those who could not choose between them
Some are red and others white
While some are black and walk the wrong hand path
I'm in the middle of them all, give me the right of way
Don’t let a heart lose its name again
Like the angel whose wings were blackened by oil
Or like an old word, full of dust and forgotten
"Kumpi tietää vähemmän, se väistyy tieltä!"
"Jos oot paha, tekemä toisen
niin koittele kotiis, ja kovasti
Mä'e syrjin syyttömästä,
Vieritse viattomasta!"
Some will go away while others are coming back
And some are standing still, and some don’t even know
What is the why and where is the who
But life is red and love is white while death is black
(And sometimes) everything is blues
MY HANDS WERE TIED
Let it flow and let them leave behind what they want
For black is the river that runs in their veins
And they will be free from ol’ God
All of the heathens who never fell in love
Or they fell but they fell too long with no one
Yes, wise old man river goes on and on
Whether you’re chained to it or not
Like a downhearted singer of the north
“I ran like hell, those motherfucking dogs
And gunmen trying to get me, but I ran like hell”
And old laws they were no more
But they’re here now ‘cause I need them
And old loves they were no more
But they’re here now,
Let them stay (for a while)
For all that we have been
If we begin to do nothing, oh no God
Our hands will be tied and we get caught
Everywhere of the day or in the hours of night
Sleep(ing) mornings away to get through the worst
“For everything that can be broken, is it broken already
For everything that can be broken, is it broken already”
And old loves they were no more
But they’re here now ‘cause I need them
And old laws they were no more
But they’re here now,
Let them stay (for a while)
For all that we have been
"When the light is red, it means stop. Do not walk."
These bootlegged songs have returned to the early OG's atmospheres, and something positive is in the air, never mind all the bullshit going on. Angels offer their help and Barclay's City Red is lit for the girl on the street. We're not Finnish / finished yet. So many things are coming together. Tetragrammaton is just around the corner, waiting to be finally pronounced, but is it right or wrong? Either way, aren't we all guilty. City Red Light (With High Spirits And Barclay) is urging people to move from urban areas to the countryside, that is, ”if the cities fall and if we fail”. Erich Fromm wrote of The City of Being. And The Church of Pity was the title of a poem in 2002-2003. Neither Dead Nor Alive is like Bon Jovi’s Wanted Dead Or Alive. Or then again, maybe not. Remember The Frozen is an old song title from 1996. Some of the lines were taken from another song. Same era. It was about silence and winter nights. Vladimir Vysotsky sang about boots that can never stamp down a soul. See his Song About The Earth. And Das Wegrecht is “the right of way”, taken from Paul Celan’s poem. Celan killed himself. I can’t recall who was the singer of the old Finnish spell fragments. The first line, however, is from the classic theme of Kilpalaulanta, The Singing Match. It is all about knowing, knowers, and the way we wanna go. "Tie" means “road, path, way”, and "tietää" means “to know”. The Wrong Hand Path refers to various things, but is mainly about trespassing. We should learn how to pay our respects to each other. Free Spirit and the freedom of choice / will should be cherished at all cost. And we all have a right to change our opinions, our ways, our paths. Maybe this is just an ideal, but it's something I have learned to be worth striving for. A fellow poet Janne Nummela told me in 2003 that the vocals on SAAL sound "like an angel whose wings have been blackened by oil" (enkeli jolla on siivet öljyssä). My Hands Were Tied is a dear song lyric to me. Many lines were taken from Under Autumnal Rain (first version, Spring-Summer 1995). I was faced with a serious problem those days: my heart bled tears of joy but I was the singer of a band that needed to have bad boy lyrics. And as I was learning that Other Thing (it would get much worse), I ended up writing about black rivers and things like "can heathens fall in love?" Luckily I didn’t have to answer the question since my soon-to-be ex-first love left me like a bullet leaves...... Anyway, there is also a quote taken from Maija Vilkkumaa's ever-green hit. Which one and where, I will not tell.
Before January 2006
studio sessions I went to Hellhole (the rehearsal place) and sensed
that I will never return there again. In April, a few days after OG crew had told me I'm
out, me and a friend of mine walked the streets of Helsinki and met
Ike Vil (Babylon Whores vocalist) in the red lights. My friend wanted
to interview him. It was a perfect time and place
to ask. The questions we had in mind were eventually too
difficult to answer – but Ike was not the one to blame. The
themes from Helsinki then continued. The next weekend I did
something I don't usually do. I went to see The Black League, with a
poster (and the record) they had sent me a few months earlier, for losing a TBL
contest – Jarva himself had wanted to make a little contribution
for this loser without money. So I got their autographs. ”What's
wrong with a summer night alright, just a drunkard telling things,
didn't have that much to say” is a reference to one of my heroes, and the coincidental meeting I had with him in the summer of 2004
near Lapponia Restaurant. He was too drunk to tell me anything,
except that I talk bullshit. And he was right, even though he didn't know
who I was. I acted as if I didn't know him. But I want to be clear
about this: it was an honour and a moment I'd been waiting for
a long time. I can not describe the meaning of these little coincidences.
All I can do is to express my sincere gratitude and respect. Had I
stayed in OG, I would have asked Jarva to sing one song with me,
about "bastard's difficulties". I had decided this in the summer of
2005. Instead, my little ghost ride ended up X.X.X.X after
Sentenced. But this was all making sense. Then, right down to the
ground the VR-Makasiinit burned down, and I walked the streets of
Helsinki amidst all the fire and smoke. It was an odd sight to see. The good
thing was, "I'd been there, done that". I was in the middle of a
spiritual battleground and tried not to choose any sides. In July
2005 Tuska afterparty we had played City Red Light for the first time. VR-Makasiinit was the place – and the only time I had been there
before was in 2000, when I saw both TBL and BW play live. Maybe
someone misunderstood what I tried to say with ”light the city
red”. We may have differing opinions about some things,
but it doesn't matter, these songs I must dedicate to the late
Sentenced, and the late nineties. Without those things.....
