The Lives of Saint Germain

by William Wallace

The Lives of Saint Germain cover art
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1.
04:25
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05:05
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04:10
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4.
04:41
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5.
04:59
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about

Recorded in the week between Christmas 2011 and New Years 2012, The Lives of Saint Germain is Austin songwriter William Wallace's first collection of songs.

credits

released 13 January 2012
All songs written by William Wallace.


Recorded at Touch of Evil Studio, Austin, TX.


Mastered by Nick Landis at at Terra Nova Digital Audio, Inc. Austin, Texas

tags

tags: acoustic americana folk lyrical singer-songwriter Austin

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all rights reserved

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about

William Wallace is a singer/songwriter from Austin, TX. After years of gigging both in Austin bands and as a solo artist, his debut solo E.P. "The Lives of St. Germain" was released in January 2012.

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Track Name: Saint Germain
meet me by the church at saint germain
you won't know to call me by my name
the eyes are different but the words remain
the tongue unbroken and the songs all sound the same

as they did
when i left
before
there was time
now i want
for more


at the center of the rose in the petals whirl
there's a motion round the middle like the turning of the world
the gears set spinning turn the hands of a girl
puts the thorn into her thumb as the colors all unfurl

as the red
becomes
something more
than blood
something more
than love

when i saw you by the fountain
you'd been waiting there so long
every fiber on your overcoat was torn
you said these chances don't come often
to see the path that you’ve worn
you're born once into the world
twice into the dawn
third onto the mountain
and fourth into my arms

i’m not a prophet ‘cause i haven’t earned a cent
i’m not enlightened i just learned to travel light
i’m not the kind to say the things he meant
i’m not afraid when you turn out the light

in the dark
i can hear
my heart
in my ears
the blood
is the spark

when i saw you at the chapel
on the altar dressed in red
there's a grand intoxication just coursing through my head
oh, to live a thousand years
and to walk on through the morning like you said
you’re born once into the world
twice into the dawn
third onto the mountain
and fourth into my arms

meet me by the church at st germain
it’s been a hundred years but it feels just the same
don’t put your hair up ‘cause i think it’s going to rain
just say you love me and you’ll never leave again
Track Name: Lighthouse Keeper
I didn't know that I was running
Til I found myself at sea between the waves
And in the wake I left behind me
I saw the days we put behind us slip away
It's just a quick trip up and back
To leave essentials with the old men at the docks
A spot of land out in the ocean
Where no one goes and no one ever stops for long

And there's a man here on a motorbike
With three miles worth of road to call his own
It's the closest thing to freedom
You can get without straying far from home

And every day he revs his engine
To wake the fisherman and last of the late sleepers
He's lonely as a lighthouse keeper


There's a man been seen around
With a sheen of glass and glaze upon his eyes
With a beard of twenty years
And a voice that makes the mountains creak and sigh
He's got a tattoo of a woman
On his arm and there's a sadness in her eyes
And with the salt and spray upon him
She turns away so you can't see her when she cries

She's the keeper of the rocks and reefs
The face that launched a hundred shipwrecked souls
The spirit of the light that keeps him safe
When the ocean rocks and rolls

And every day he counts his blessings
And says a prayer for all those lost out in the deep there
He's lonely as a lighthouse keeper

Heaven is aglow
With a burning scar upon the northern sky
And it might set the sea on fire
Turn to glass the waves that roll for miles and miles
And you who watch and you who wait
You'll be rewarded when the circle comes undone
And we will all turn on our light
And shine it down like we are bringing back the sun

He's the keeper of the rocks and reefs
The face that saved a hundred shipwrecked souls
The spirit of the light keeps them safe
When the ocean rocks and rolls

And every he says a prayer
For the fishermen and last of the late sleepers
He's lonely as a lighthouse keeper
Track Name: Juniper
In the morning will our names be lost and forgotten?
Will the coffee trigger memories I'd long since put away?
You could've been the start to such a beautiful morning
Or the end to an imperfect day
Or the end to an imperfect day

Oh but who could suffer fools, who could translate from a bottle?
Foreign words from foreign tongues set inside of foreign mouths
You could've been the refuge of a lonesome little scoundrel
Or the last words of a broken heart
Or the last words of my broken heart

Take the stopper from the bottle
Oh the juniper song
Then his dreams take form
They begin to sing along
Like every drunken angel
He believes that his wings
Might sprout from tender blades
From the moment that he sings
From the heart
Roll me over

Do these words sound insincere, rolled and smoked into a vapor?
There's no songs to comfort liars, no absolution for deceivers
No words can be exchanged when the bottle stands as empty
As the holes that you left inside
As the holes that you left inside

Where they shelter the storm with the life and the water
In the belly of the beast we are safer than houses
The blood and the wine are the same goddamn color
When they mix at the gates of your heart
When they mix at the gates of your heart

In the morning will our names be lost and forgotten?
She's a girl that you drew from the edge of your dreams
This could've been the start of such a beautiful morning
Now it really is as late as it seems
Track Name: Margaret
the ships have tied up
in the face of the approaching wind
margaret's in the street with her apron full up again
she says that she's going to work
only i know the secrets she keeps
the places she's been
and the stairs she descends
while the city above is asleep

five hundred strong armed with sword
armed with weapons of steel
machinery in motion they march
setting fire to the wheel
she says it'll all be okay
there are forces at work you can't see
there are eyes looking in
on the secrets of men
dissolving the edges of dreams

margaret, dear margaret
they are leading your armies to war
from the gates of st. mary's
all the way down to hell's golden doors
filling your arms up with gold
'til it falls from your hands
when the devil comes back for his due
there'll be nobody waiting for you
i hope that you'll understand

the harbors are burning
the fires are dancing beside
margaret's army
astride on the bridge of her pride
she says that she's taken what's hers
there are debts even angels can't pay
mouths closing in
on the wages of sin
when there's no other words left to say

margaret, oh margaret
they are leading your armies to war
from the gates of st mary's
all the way down to hell's golden doors
filling your arms up with gold
'til it falls from your hands
when the devil comes back for his due
there'll be nobody waiting for you
i hope that you'll understand

the cities that you plunder,
those hearts full of thunder, they fall
margaret says they don't understand
what she's done for them all
she folds out her apron to show
all the gold that could buy back her soul
but it won't stop the bleeding
the tidal receding
that's dragging her back down below

margaret, oh margaret
they are leading your armies to war
from the gates of st mary's
all the way down to hell's open doors
filling your arms up with gold
until it falls from your hands
when the devil comes back for his due
there'll be nobody waiting for you
i hope that you'll understand
Track Name: The Stars My Destination
before the sun first rose
there was nothing we could do
while the water in our hearts froze fast
the world begin anew
finally woke up and pulled
the sheets across my eyes
to once and all dispel the myth
that everything must rise

this gravity that holds me down
leaves creases on my mind
it's erasing more than memories
and space between the lines
hours spent beside myself
hold true to all these lies
until my name’s forgotten by the
continents and tides

but my name is not important now
and neither is my station
here lies the only home i know
the stars
my destination

then i'm reaching for the lightswitch
to return the morning’s glare
the hum of electricity
the ozone in the air
the energy, the glory
the spark that gave them breath
the iron and obsidian
laid heavy on their breast

when first i came to understand
that nothing ever dies
just changing, rearranging
all the words between the lines
i feel myself elongate
stretched across the field of time
and I saw my name splashed on a sea
of shimmer and of shine

do you see it written there in lights?
a sun for each occasion
it's a marquee lit in candlelights
the stars
my destination

and turning for the door
oh I see her standing there
with blazing circles in her eyes
and diamonds in her hair
there's carbon laced with carbon
laid in braids across her back
the lattice cracks and shatters
but the heart remains intact

ah, the growing paranoia of
the blackness in the sky
when these seconds, minutes, hours
days and years before us lie
vessels surging forward
salty veins that crash and fall
until the channel widens
and the sea reclaims us all

then these words become a sextant
meant to aid my navigation
i am borne across this endless sea
the stars
my destination