The B-Sides Vol. 1

Tracklist

In release order.

1. 01

   Sponging Lifts

   Summer 2002: exams done and friends arriving in Escorts and Clios.

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   Verse 1

   Friday night, Sam's outside with his Clio Brick Nokia, paper map Pocket full from the shift Where we going? Anywhere

   Pre-chorus

   CD in the player Running out of credit Eighteen Anywhere

   Chorus

   You bring the wheels (yeah-yeah) I bring the night (woah-oh) Spongin' lifts (yeah-yeah) And we're alright (woah-oh) You bring the wheels (yeah-yeah) I bring the night (woah-oh) Spongin' lifts (yeah-yeah) Spongin' lifts (yeah-yeah)

   Verse 2

   Bromley high street, drive Pita bread chips on the seat Summer '02, we didn't miss a beat Just me, just us, just freedom

   Pre-chorus

   CD in the player Running out of credit Eighteen Anywhere

   Chorus

   You bring the wheels (yeah-yeah) I bring the night (woah-oh) Spongin' lifts (yeah-yeah) And we're alright (woah-oh) You bring the wheels (yeah-yeah) I bring the night (woah-oh) Spongin' lifts (yeah-yeah) Spongin' lifts (yeah-yeah)

   Bridge

   Last summer Last freedom Pick me up Take me out Spongin' lifts Spongin' lifts

   Spoken Breakdown

   Eighteen World wide open Just mates, just the road Everything felt possible And we didn't even know it

   Drop

   Spongin' lifts! (yeah!) Spongin' lifts! (yeah!) You bring the wheels! (Spongin' lifts!) I bring the night! (Spongin' lifts!)

   Final Chorus

   You bring the wheels (yeah-yeah) I bring the night (woah-oh) Spongin' lifts (yeah-yeah) And we're alright (woah-oh) You bring the wheels (yeah-yeah) I bring the night (woah-oh) Spongin' lifts (yeah-yeah) Spongin' lifts (yeah-yeah)

   Outro

   Spongin' lifts Spongin' lifts Spongin' lifts

   132 BPM

2. 02

   Re-Rewind Day

   Late 1999, walking to school with a song in your headphones.

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   Verse 1

   Tuesday morning, the bus stop hum Three strangers humming, same loop, same drum Walked past a school, the kids all knew Heard it once, you'll know it too

   Pre-chorus

   Needle drops Room knows Hands go up Here it goes

   Chorus

   One song, whole town (yeah-yeah) Everyone knows (woah-oh) Re-Rewind Day (yeah-yeah) Watch how it grows (woah-oh) One song, whole town (yeah-yeah) Everyone knows (woah-oh) Re-Rewind Day (yeah-yeah) Re-Rewind Day (yeah-yeah)

   Verse 2

   Saturday night, the queue is long Six hundred voices, same song DJ drops it, hands hit the lights Pulled the needle, played it twice

   Pre-chorus

   Needle drops Room knows Hands go up Here it goes

   Chorus

   One song, whole town (yeah-yeah) Everyone knows (woah-oh) Re-Rewind Day (yeah-yeah) Watch how it grows (woah-oh) One song, whole town (yeah-yeah) Everyone knows (woah-oh) Re-Rewind Day (yeah-yeah) Re-Rewind Day (yeah-yeah)

   Bridge

   Same song One more time Watch it spread Hold the line Re-Rewind Day Re-Rewind Day

   Spoken Breakdown

   Sixteen Whole school humming the same line Nobody had to be told That's what a song can do And we knew it the moment we heard it

   Drop

   Re-Rewind Day! (yeah!) Re-Rewind Day! (yeah!) One song! (Re-Rewind Day!) Whole town! (Re-Rewind Day!)

   Final Chorus

   One song, whole town (yeah-yeah) Everyone knows (woah-oh) Re-Rewind Day (yeah-yeah) Watch how it grows (woah-oh) One song, whole town (yeah-yeah) Everyone knows (woah-oh) Re-Rewind Day (yeah-yeah) Re-Rewind Day (yeah-yeah)

   Outro

   Re-Rewind Day Re-Rewind Day One song Re-Rewind Day

   134 BPM

3. 03

   The Black Horse

   A corner pub where strangers still talk to each other.

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   Intro

   The Black Horse Door's open

   Verse 1

   Spent the morning on a screen with thirty faces in a grid Said the word "circle back" three times and lost what circle meant Lunch on my phone, dinner on my phone, evening on my phone Talked to nobody all day in a flat I bought to be alone

   Pre-chorus

   Six bells Pub at the end of the road Door swings open Phone goes in the coat

   Chorus

   Nobody asks who you are at the door Pint in your hand, you don't need to be more Stool by the wall, jukebox playing slow The Black Horse, the room that lets you go

   Verse 2

   Walked in, hadn't been here in a year, maybe two Old fella at the bar looked up, pointed, said "where you been you?" Bought me a pint before I'd even said a word Some kid put a tune on that I hadn't heard since I was at school Sat down, and I just sort of forgot What I was supposed to be worried about

   Pre-chorus

   Six bells Pub at the end of the road Door swings open Phone goes in the coat

   Chorus

   Nobody asks who you are at the door Pint in your hand, you don't need to be more Stool by the wall, jukebox playing slow The Black Horse, the room that lets you go

   Spoken Bridge

   About an hour in Old fella next to me, never said hello, never asked my name Just leaned over and said "It's gone proper quiet round here, hasn't it" I said "yeah it has" He said "you miss it?" I said "yeah I do" He said "yeah me too" And we just sat there nodding Two strangers agreeing about something neither of us could name The whole world's gone digital And we're all sat at home pretending it's company That's not company This is company A pint, a stranger, a song you didn't pick A nod that means yeah mate me too That's the room That's the room

   Drop

   Door's open! (come in!) Door's open! (come in!) Phone in the coat! (Door's open!) Yeah me too! (Door's open!)

   Final Chorus

   Nobody asks who you are at the door Pint in your hand, you don't need to be more Stool by the wall, jukebox playing slow The Black Horse, the room that lets you go

   Outro

   The Black Horse, door's open The Black Horse, "where you been you?" The Black Horse, real air The Black Horse, still here

   131 BPM

4. 04

   Dancehall Dial Tone

   An empty venue after the band has packed up, with one missed call.

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   Verse 1

   Sawdust floor, last call, staff stacking chairs Band pack cases by the door, cold air in the square Phone screen cracked with one missed call lighting up my coat Whole room empty, but your voice still hanging from the notes

   Pre-Chorus

   Last chord, low light Why do missed things hit right?

   Chorus

   Dancehall dial tone Band's gone home but your voice stays on I hear it in the room when the room's all gone Dancehall dial tone One missed call and the whole night rolls Like the last chord ringing through an empty hall Dancehall dial tone

   Verse 2

   You said you'd be here early, I said I'd save the song Then the set ran long and somewhere in between the lights went wrong Now I'm walking out to nothing but the buzz above the bar And the little blue glow saying you weren't really far

   Pre-Chorus

   Last chord, low light Why do missed things hit right?

   Bridge

   If I call back, if I don't Either way the silence won't Let me leave without your name Echoing along the floorboards Maybe that's what music's for

   Final Chorus

   Dancehall dial tone Band's gone home but your voice stays on I hear it in the room when the room's all gone Dancehall dial tone One missed call and the whole night rolls Like the last chord ringing through an empty hall Dancehall dial tone

   130 BPM

5. 05

   Heat Lightning Halo

   A summer porch before the storm reaches it.

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   Verse 1

   Porch screen breathing, storm not here yet Fields holding silver where the day's last heat's still set You lean on the railing like the whole dark knows your name Then the sky lights up around you and nothing stays the same

   Pre-Chorus

   Far-off thunder, skin-close glow Summer's teaching the dark to show

   Chorus

   Heat lightning halo Whole sky flickers when you move Heat lightning halo Summer makes a saint of you Gold on the outline, fire in the low clouds Night keeps opening slow I don't know if it's weather or wonder I just know I don't want to go

   Verse 2

   Crickets counting seconds, highway breathing low Your hair lifting in the warm wind like it already knows Some people call it nothing, just the storm too far to hear But I've never seen nothing make a body look that clear

   Pre-Chorus

   Far-off thunder, skin-close glow Summer's teaching the dark to show

   Bridge

   No rain, no rescue Just the light arriving late Maybe beauty works like that Maybe it has to wait

   Final Chorus

   Heat lightning halo Whole sky flickers when you move Heat lightning halo Summer makes a saint of you Gold on the outline, fire in the low clouds Night keeps opening slow I don't know if it's weather or wonder I just know I don't want to go

   124 BPM

6. 06

   Twice Now

   A radio under the duvet at three AM, then years later.

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   Intro

   Twice now, twice now Twice now, twice now

   Verse 1

   Surrey kid with a radio on under the duvet Tuning the dial in the dark, three AM, mum asleep Half a clue who I was, half a clue who I'd be Just a beat and a bassline showing me a way to feel

   Pre-chorus

   Same kid Still in here Same heart Still all in

   Chorus

   I grew up twice now, once on my own Once when two small hands turned up and called this place home Same kid still in here, same lump in the throat I grew up twice now, and the kid in me's not on his own

   Verse 2

   First time he reached for my finger and just held it tight Whole world stopped, whole world started, all in the one same night Twenty years of working out what I was working towards Then a hand the size of a coin closed round mine and answered every word

   Pre-chorus

   Same kid Still in here Same heart All in

   Chorus

   I grew up twice now, once on my own Once when two small hands turned up and called this place home Same kid still in here, same lump in the throat I grew up twice now, and the kid in me's not on his own

   Bridge

   You don't lose the kid that you used to be He just has to share you with the people you love And on the good days The very best days They love that kid more than you ever did That's the whole trick You take turns Same kid, twice loved Same kid, twice loved

   Drop

   Twice loved, twice loved Same kid, twice loved Twice loved, twice loved Same kid, twice loved

   Final Chorus

   I grew up twice now, once on my own Once when two small hands turned up and called this place home Same kid still in here, same lump in the throat I grew up twice now, and the kid in me's not on his own

   Outro

   Twice now, twice now Same kid, twice loved Twice now, twice now

   132 BPM

7. 07

   Sincere About the Distance

   Four thousand miles between a pillow and the rain.

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   Verse 1

   Four thousand miles between the pillow and the rain Same moon sitting patient over different window panes I can hear the echo of a street I used to know Ghosting through the frequency like somewhere letting go

   Chorus

   Sincere about the distance Honest about the miles between Every sound I left behind me Playing softly in between Sincere about the distance Not broken just stretched out thin Like a signal from a station I can almost tune back in

   Verse 2

   Morning here is midnight where my mother falls asleep Time zones make a ghost of every conversation we keep But the bass holds something steady in the spaces in between And the steel guitar is crying for a place I've never seen

   Chorus

   Sincere about the distance Honest about the miles between Every sound I left behind me Playing softly in between Sincere about the distance Not broken just stretched out thin Like a signal from a station I can almost tune back in

   Bridge

   Some distances are measured Some are felt This one sounds like a record I haven't finished with yet

   Outro

   Sincere about the distance Sincere about the distance

   128 BPM

8. 08

   Selecta on the Square (GTX Remix)

   The selecta moment relocated to the Georgetown courthouse square.

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   Intro

   Yo Two decks on the courthouse steps Extension lead running through the cafe window Nobody asked for this Nobody said no either Selecta on the square Let's see what happens

   MC Section 1

   First track drops and the waitress looks up Second track drops and she puts down the cup Third track and the table by the door Just pushed their chairs back like they heard it before Old boy in the hat just nodded at the bass That's a five star review from a Texan face Lady from the bookshop stepped outside to see What's that sound on the square that's moving through me I said that's the two-step from across the sea B and B selecta playing free

   Hook

   Selecta on the square (on the square) Wind it up and take it there (take it there) Selecta on the square (on the square) Can you feel it in the air

   MC Section 2

   Now the pizza place is emptying onto the street 600 Degrees but the bass is the heat Mum with the pushchair doing something with her feet That she hasn't done since way before the car seat Coffee crowd converting to the two-step side Dos Salsas crew just wandered over from the line She said what genre is this I said it's hard to say She said I don't care just don't take it away I said that's the whole point that's the whole idea Bring the garage to the square and let the square bring the cheer Come like a selecta with the vinyl bag Come like a Saturday that don't look back

   Hook

   Selecta on the square (on the square) Wind it up and take it there (take it there) Selecta on the square (on the square) Can you feel it in the air

   MC Section 3

   Now the courthouse steps are full and the sun's going gold And I'm playing records that are twenty years old To a town that never heard them but they're feeling every one Like the bass don't need a passport when the groove is speaking tongue Kid on the shoulders got the rhythm in his hands Teenager filming it and sending it to friends Guitar man from earlier just showed up with his case Said can I play along I said find the space Now there's a guitar and a bass and a crowd on the stone And a selecta from South London who finally feels home Doing it again and again Square full of faces and they're all my friends Doing it again and again This is how a Saturday begins and never ends

   Final Hook

   Selecta on the square (on the square) Wind it up and take it there (take it there) (MC: B and B don't stop) Selecta on the square (on the square) Can you feel it in the air (MC: doing it again and again) Selecta on the square (MC: Georgetown Texas are you with me) Selecta on the square (MC: we don't stop)

   Outro

   Courthouse clock says ten fifteen Square's still going That's the review right there Selecta on the square Boots and Bassline Frontage Road Records Georgetown Texas Every Saturday

   132 BPM