Tag Archives: josh pyke

Uncategorized

Luna Park – Josh Pyke

Leave a comment

My first time seeing Josh Pyke live. I have his two full-length albums now and they are good, if rather gentle and poignant listens. On stage he is a rather straight-forward performer. Aside from a few jokes he doesn’t talk overly much, but is generally at ease. What surprised me about the performance is how powerful his voice is. It is really quite a standout, and that’s not particularly evident from listening to his albums. Also his acoustic guitar work when he was playing in solo mode was clever. Had no idea he was doing these things from the record, and if Josh can tab what he’s doing I’d be really grateful!

Josh Pyke

Uncategorized

The White Album Concert

Leave a comment

Full rendition of the White Album led by Tim Rogers, Chris Cheney, Phil Jamieson and Josh Pyke? I was intrigued.

I had the White Album on tape when I was growing up and listened to it every now and then. Plus I’ve had recent exposure to some of the stuff through watching Across the Universe. The artists themselves are an intriguing bunch. I’ve seen all of them play at various times (You Am I repeatedly), except for Josh Pyke. So why not all of them in the one gig?

I already knew that Tim Rogers was a fantastic showman but I think these songs showed him at his vocal best. Chris Cheney is a venerable machine when it comes to guitar solo. But the surprise packages were Phil Jamieson and Josh Pyke. I didn’t realise that Phil had such a sweet voice (I guess he doesn’t get to show that side in Grinspoon), and Josh was fantastic on the sweet McCartney ballads, especially Julia. But what impressed me most was the energy and enthusiasm that really brought the songs to life.

Uncategorized

Forever Song

Leave a comment

A song that is on my mind today, again from Josh Pyke:

We sleep together,
While all around us,
People kill each other where they lie.
They lie together,
Till they find someone better,
Try to negotiate that slow demise.

But I just can’t credit,
That type of effort for a
Piece of nothing on the edge of a knife.
Slices you so thin,
You dry like sheets in the wind,
Hold a candle behind through you see the light.

I want the song I can sing forever,
I don’t care for structure,
Just to know it’s mine.
I’d hate to see,
This thing we’ve developed,
Become your burden or my waste of time.
(My waste of time)

The afternoon can bring with it shallow moods
But I’d jump a harbour wall to clear your mind.
I quarter the years,
You drop the sails till we’re clear,
I’ll look for reefs,
You map the stars in the night.

And history tells us of worlds we’ll know nothing of,
Then retrospect becomes a shackle tight,
On the ankles of us,
Oh, in the future we trust,
We cross our fingers like some kids telling lies.

I wanna know that I know what I’m talking about.
Until I do,
All the walls seem white.
But when I’m sure that I know what I’m talking about,
I’ll take your burden if you say it’s mine.
If you say it’s mine.
If you say it’s mine.
If you say it’s mine.

Uncategorized

Middle of the Hill

Leave a comment

Very clever little diddy about growing up in suburban Sydney:

When I was a kid I grew up in a house
On a hill not the top not the bottom but the middle and I still remember where I cracked my head in the vacant lot there’s a row of tiny houses there now and we used to light fires in the gutters and I could cool my head on the concrete steps but the girl down the street hit my sister on the head with a stick and we hid behind my father as he knocked on her parents door to tell them what she did but the parents were drunk so they really didn’t give a shit

And the girl down the street said a dog couldn’t bark cause a man with an axe cut its voice box out but my older sister told me that it probably wasn’t true and I believe what she said cos she took me by my hand one time when a couple men drove down the hill in a white van said there was a phone box filled with money round the corner and I would have gone along but she took me by my hand to the house on the middle of the hill…

And my mother knew the words to a lot of different songs and we always sing the harmonies when we’d sing along she had cool cool hands when the fever hit and then the noises that the trains made sounded like people in my head and the stories that the ceiling told through the pictures on the grains and the pine wood bumps and I could stay out side till the sky went red and I’d cool my head on the concrete steps and we could never really see the top from the bottom I don’t pay enough attention to the good things but I gotta you could never really see the top from the bottom I don’t pay enough attention to the good things but I gotta…

Uncategorized

Sew My Name

Leave a comment

I bought Josh Pyke’s album Memories and Dust yesterday and I’m really liking it so far. The song Sew My Name is the stand out on my first real listen, because the lyrics are very simple but lovely – just the way I like it:

When I go, I think I’m gonna sew my name into all of your clothes
my girl, since you have always worn me well.
And there are too many animals on this ship, some of you I think will have to sink
but when it gets too much, you can only adjust.

And oh I am always thinking about you
and how you always wear me well.
You can’t outgrow something sewn under your skin
so I will always wear you well.
And oh I am always thinking about you
I’m always thinking about you.

And Sunday evening always has a sense of something good about to end
I know, we hold our breaths for tomorrow. (Tomorrow.)
And when I go I think I’m gonna write my name
into all the books you love so well, since you can read me good my girl
yeah you can always read me well.

Try and rationalise a thing you’ve never seen before.
You can wear me well, you can wear me well.
I’d suit myself, but it’s one that I’ve never worn.
(You can wear me well, you can wear me well.)
And if theres only one truth that I know,
It’s that the stitches that we’ve made are the best that I’ve ever sewn.

It’s also got a really cute live action/animation video as well.