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The Age Of Steam: Strange Machines

by Jonah Knight

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1.
I live like a ghost in the age of steam These walls can't keep me from you On every darkened street where gas light cannot gleam If you're there I will be too Every broken heart Can be replaced by another part Until you are machine through and through Chorus: I will carry you once around the sun I will follow too once and then we're done You can't call them dreams because they come when I'm awake Clutter up the scenery I see strange machines traveling through space Waiting for us to fly away Chorus: If I have to dig you from the dirt I'll carry you to the ends of the earth I've got nothing left to say that can't be written on my grave I know my time is coming soon But you should come with me, we'll cross that starry sea Where the sounds of silver trumpets call us home Chorus: Every single ghost will drift away On that day I will fade
2.
I take a deep breath. It's not enough. The spirits that I hear are loud and clear. It's not enough. I might be possessed There's a pressure in my chest I feel hung up wet. A marionette at rest. Chorus: They come from near and far For the ghost in my guitar It's some kind of fate. The way we reincarnate I'm lost and damned, hollow with sorrow. It's how I operate Memories are burred, civilizations lost. Countless wandering souls with rivers and veils to cross. Chorus: Rising up from the ground Floating down from the sky These apparitions Fill coliseums Stay silent through the night To hear the ghost in my guitar Rising from the wood, ringing on the strings Traveling out through the air is the message that it brings. Every room falls quiet when you leave your body behind. Somewhere in the distance are the lands we pray to find.
3.
I dreamed last night that I could fly When I woke up this morning there were blueprints by my bedside For a strange machine powered by steam Now I'm up here on the roof of my house Making some wings from my wife's old blouse. And the 19th century is passing us by Gentlemen, oh no! please don't settle in Our future is in the sky Strap on your headgear. The epitome of austere Hop right into my flying machine and we'll chart the new frontier Cities in the clouds, castles tall and proud And if we survive the take off imagine the response from the crowd. And the 20th century is sneaking up behind Gentle men, oh no! please don't settle in Our future is in the sky Again I apologize, I'd never try to take your life. Clearly there were flaws in my flying machine design. But the past is history, my friend you and me We'll depart tomorrow morning for a journey under the sea. And the 21st century is still a long ways away Gentlemen, I may have changed my mind again, Our future is under the waves...
4.
Way down upon the Swanee River, far far away That is where my heart burns forever, where the old folk stay. All up and down the whole of creation, madly I roam. Still haunted by that old plantation, what the old folk call home. Chorus: All the world is sad and dreary And we are all alone That is where evil burns forever Where the old folk roam One little hut among the bushes still haunts my dreams That is where my memory rushes and I awake in screams When I hear bee's buzzing around that hive And when I hear banjo playing I run and hide Chorus:
5.
In my laboratory I build Plans and devices that amaze and thrill But tonight I will begin To test my new invention Animate these corpses to my whim Chorus: Ladies will faint Gentlemen cry Fire burns the earth Smoke fills the sky You can run and hide or fight and die When the dead crawl from the earth alive From the top of my tower I look down On the ancient cemetery outside of this Victorian town One by one Your cities fall, they're overrun So surrender to my zombies or be crushed under my thumb Chorus: Since I raised the dead two months have come and gone Every part of my plan has gone wrong The dead have come back home They're clawing on the stone Trying to break these walls and eat my bones It seems you can't control the undead They have a hunger that must be fed But I have a plan to survive There's a machine that I've devised That'll send them back to Hell If I still have enough time Chorus:
6.
I'm not sure if I'm allowed to reprint the lyrics so I won't.
7.
Time Machine 03:08
I've asked you here to clear the air and address all the rumors I'm sure you hear I've been locked away with no sleep for days but I've done it and now my work is on display Chorus: Venting steam Glowing green Leaking kerosene It's my time machine I will flip this switch stand back! You've never seen smoke this black Please sit back down, it's perfectly safe I've done this before, I practice on apes Chorus: Who knows the danger that I might face Traveling all across time and space There's evil out there, miracles too With the power of steam I might make it through This crank here Turns the gears Hold on to your beards Things might get weird Chorus:
8.
I was just a boy when I built my clockwork telescope, caught glimpses of the people who lived up in the sky. And now I'm grown with science in my bones and one day I'll build an airship that'll make it up that high My ancestors that came before Are back and knocking on my bedroom door All the ghosts I've seen so far Whisper that I should look to the stars Chorus: Hold your hopes Face your fears Dust off your Dreams Welcome to the age of steam I spend my days in a laboratory 20,000 feet deep under the hill and now it seems I have some empty slabs to fill. All night in the cemetery digging bodies from their graves, attaching these contraptions to their decomposing heads. All these zombies walking around I dug each one from out of the ground A supernatural Professor James Moriarty Building an undead army Chorus: Alchemist and scientist, your paranormal specialist, where the supernatural and the natural worlds will merge. So many people refuse to believe but I have faith in both: the ghost and the machine! The exploration of dangerous places Aided by scientific devices Every quest for mythic lore Takes us to some foreign shore Chorus:
9.
? 03:39

about

The Age Of Steam: Strange Machines is the first in my Supernatural Steampunk series.
The songs are sometimes humorous (our Future Is In The Sky) and sometimes horrific (Old Folk Roam). Zombies, Cthulhu monsters, DIY flying machines, and time travel are all here. While my music is modern folk, the lyrics, featuring science fiction and fantasy themes, are not. Although I have been performing at many sci-fi conventions lately, my music is not strictly filk either.

Steampunk music is unique as the category is defined by lyrical content and showmanship rather than the musical styles. Abney Park, The Extraordinary Contraptions, Unwoman, Professor Elemental, Mr. B, The Two Man Gentleman Band, Rasputina, Steam Powered Giraffe, and Vernian Process soniclly sound nothing alike (except perhaps Professor Elemental and Mr. B, but that's a long story) however they are certainly all Steampunk.

credits

released November 18, 2011

Songs written by Jonah Knight except:
Bad Moon Rising by John Fogerty
Old Folk Roam adapted from "Swanee River" traditional by Stephen Foster

Produced by Zack Mabie

Album art by Elizabeth Campbell

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Jonah Knight Fair Oaks, California

Jonah is the world's premier Paranormal Modern Folk musician. From a singer/songwriter background, his songs are about ghosts, monsters, supernatural creepiness, and steampunk.

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