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Keepsakes

by Sam Carter

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    ‘Keepsakes is a surefire collectible’ The Independent

    ‘There’s a cinematic quality to his writing enhanced by clever arrangements and the album’s melancholic intimacy indicates a talent developing quickly’ Mojo

    Includes unlimited streaming of Keepsakes via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Sheet Music

    Sam's own transcription in TAB and notation for acoustic guitar for purchase in PDF format.
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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 8 Sam Carter releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Home Waters Live, Home Waters, How The City Sings, Live At The Union Chapel, The No Testament, Lumpy's Lullaby, Keepsakes, and Here In The Ground. , and , .

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1.
Yellow Sign 03:02
On a November day in an east end cafe There’s a fight kicking off to the right of me ‘Well I’ve half a mind to hurt you’ he cries ‘But I don’t want the world and his wife to see’ And he’s dragged that girl outside With his arms around her There’s a yellow sign Where they found her ‘Cos there was some other man she’d hit on Now she’s barely alive What a secret to try and sit on One you know you shouldn’t have to hide It’s a year to the day since they put him away He’s down for a ten-stretch at best And she goes every week just to hear her lover speak But there’s the one thing he can’t get off his chest And then she forced his hand Showed him a letter She said ‘I hope you sent my love When you met her’ ‘Cos there was some other girl he’d hit on Yeah he’s as guilty as sin What a secret to try and sit on When you’ve nothing you can keep it in And if ever they meet when he’s back on the street Who knows if the cafe will still be there And will she still believe in that sinner’s reprieve That in love as in war that all is fair? If all he’s on is his best behaviour And she’s holding her tongue They can clear up the bad blood later For now they’ll sit and watch it run For now they’ll sit and watch it run
2.
Pheasant 02:56
If only you knew what I wouldn’t do to get you alone If only I’d given drinking a miss and toddled off home I’m not the type to tell you it’s time That our lives and our legs became intertwined But you flatten me like a pheasant on a country lane We met in a foreign hotel reception as summer returned There in the midst of sunbathing Brits determined to burn I made conversation, melted the ice I quoted and quipped and I tried to be nice Cos you flattened me like a pheasant on a country lane Seven years down the line still I’ve not said a thing But we’re not in the sticks and I’m not giving in Not tonight, no, until I know one way or the other The last time we spoke we stood and we smoked while we should’ve slept I’d broken the silence along with the one resolution I’d kept ‘I’m already taken’ you’d said in reply I dithered and spat an awkward goodbye Still you flatten me like a pheasant on a country lane You know you flatten me like a pheasant on a country lane
3.
Station Road 03:43
As we face the snow, two of us and all of them The place we once called home stirs to let us in again Walked up to the Station Road, we were flecks of blue on white Saw in you how we had changed and I flinched at the sight Standing in the cold Out on Station Road This isn’t home Just another room and I’m so maudlin I’m ashamed The place we once called home doesn’t look or sound the same The pictures and the clothes are here, it’s as if somebody died Throw the whole lot out for him ‘cos he’s not here to decide Standing in the cold Out on Station Road This isn’t home Standing in the cold Out on Station Road We’re all set to go This isn’t home
4.
Oh dear rue the day that ever I married How I wish I was single again All this weeping and wailing And rocking the cradle Rocking a baby that’s none of my own Well I am a young man from the town of Ciandra I married my old woman to comfort me home But now she just leaves me And she cruelly deceives me And she leaves me with a baby that’s none of my own Well while I’m at work then me wife’s on the rantan She’s out on the rantan with the other young boys But how she just leaves me And she cruelly deceives me And she leaves me with a baby that’s none of my own So all of you young men who are fixing to marry Take care that you leave all the flash girls alone Or by the lord harry if the one you should marry Should leave you with a baby that’s none of your own Oh dear rue the day that ever I married How I wish I was single again All this weeping and wailing And rocking the cradle Rocking a baby that’s none of my own, none of my own, none of my own
5.
Captain 03:38
Captain’s in the front seat underneath his cap Papers and tobacco rest in his lap And he’s humming an old Creedence song We’re hurtling down the A1 On the way to Leicester to play another show He sits behind the faders and drinks ‘cos he knows When Monday comes if all goes to plan He’s up at dawn and back in the van 
And he’ll drive into the night chasing the red tail lights And he’ll drive into the night, there he’ll witness dawn’s first light There he’ll witness dawn’s first light We played until eleven, my hands were getting sore The ones who stayed to listen cheered for one more And the soundman, he beamed through the crowd The encore was three times as loud Homeward on the backroad, the captain’s in a state He’s up for work tomorrow, I tell him it’s late He turns to me and stifles a yawn ‘While you sleep I see every dawn’ And he’ll drive into the night chasing the red tail lights And he’ll drive into the night, there he’ll witness dawn’s first light There he’ll witness dawn’s first light
6.
Dew 03:17
Something left with you that morning while the dew was on the ground And without so much as asking you turned feelings into sound Let’s remember there’s an ending even though we’ve just begun We’ll make clichés out of living in the only way we can I don’t care for words this morning while the dew is on the ground And without so much as asking I’ll turn feelings into sound
7.
Fight 03:28
Lord, this is not my day Lying in wait for change When it comes I’ll be waiting still When it comes I’ll pass it by Leave it out I’m meant to be a man But the feelings are out again I will fight not to have to win I will fight not to have Have to win
8.
Hired Hands 03:32
I was standing in the hallway on a bright December morning Cursed the late-running postman as a letter struck the floor I ran a finger down the seal of the envelope as I was yawning ‘As from the New Year you don’t work here anymore’ That’s all the thanks I’ll get for fifteen years of blood and sweat You’ve underhandedly had the best of me You were clearing your name when it all backfired You placed the blame in the hands you hired As you required somebody suffered and that’s not right That’s not right So they wrote to tell us that the company’s going under A case of unforeseen circumstances and a woefully shortsighted MD But the boss has kept his job and I can’t help but wonder If he’d have acted differently with bills to pay and kids to feed That’s all the thanks I’ll get unless the postman’s gone and lost the cheque While you’ve shiftily had the best of me You were clearing your name when it all backfired You placed blame in the hands you hired As you required somebody suffered and that’s not right That’s not right You were clearing your name now it’s all backfired You placed the blame in the hands you hired As you required somebody suffered and that’s not right That’s not right That’s not right That’s not right
9.
Taxi 04:12
Taxi taking me home for tonight I’ve had enough 
It’s been one of those weeks, now it’s raining and it’s late Oh talk at me and fill my mind with anything but me and mine Candour caught me off-guard when the driver shook his head ‘Sounds like two years too long’, I was shocked by what he said Oh how could I have spent that time on anything but me and mine? Well it’s true, I could have lied When you asked me if I’d seen the match tonight And if I knew then I’d have tried And I’d have bluffed for long enough to stop you Asking why I carry this guitar Taxi leaving me here on the wrong side of the street The walk might do me some good but I’d rather be asleep And sleep will come and fill my mind with anything but me and mine Just for tonight Just for tonight
10.
I’m sleeping in my clothes tonight In a double bed with a cast iron frame And neither of us is to blame Oh my love Oh my love Every hour the good Lord sends We work to save for the holidays Still we can’t afford to curb the ways Of the heart Oh my love Spill those secrets, don’t suffer alone Come the morning I’ll take them home Spill those secrets one at a time Come the morning they’ll be with mine

about

Full-length album released on 10th August 2009.

credits

released August 10, 2009

Recorded by Joe Leach at The Cowshed, North London.
Mastered by Andy at Tube Mastering

Sam Sweeney – Violin on ‘Oh Dear, Rue The Day’
Kit Massey – Violin, Piano
Ayanna Witter-Johnson – Cello
Charlie Stock – Viola
Matt Ridley – Double Bass
Sam Nadel – Drums

In memory of Yan 'Captain' Meynell

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Sam Carter Sheffield, UK

‘Sam Carter is a brilliant guitarist and songwriter who combines the observational with social comment and personal reflection’ Songlines

2010 BBC Folk Awards Horizon Award Winner

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