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Little Flame

by Max Savage

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1.
Caroline 03:14
She won’t be here for long As if she never left at all She spreads out on the floor And Caroline’s been here before I found here there on the doorstep A cigarette in her hand Well she’s more afraid of asking Than hunger shame or cold And she’s masking all the bruises and the lines She left four months ago She didn’t write she didn’t call I think about her now and then But Caroline fell down again She said she wrote me a postcard Said it was lost in the mail Last night I found her weeping To a country music station She said I’m not used to feeling anymore To the lord of all things broken down Won’t you leave this one alone Its a burden borne on slender shoulders And I can’t walk alone She’s got bad taste in men The ones she always tries defending I see them all before they leave But Caroline’s been sleeping in This morning I lost my temper She says she can’t face the day Sometimes she’s so elated But she always takes the blame She’s down and out and desperately ashamed She hates to say goodbye She hates to let me see her cry I close my eyes and count to ten And Caroline’s not here again I found a note pinned on the wall And Caroline’s here anymore
2.
Strung up high and painted red Your lips are dry and open Whiskey, wine and cigarettes You’re tender, warm and here With your jet black jeans And your crooked smile Your dishwater hair And your laughing eyes And your battered pair of RM Williams Boots When I called you up I wasn’t looking for much I don’t like to change my routine But I was feeling lonely and I knew you’d be up Restless angry and mean - just like me With your single room And the girls next door And that guitar I tune though I can’t see the use And your battered pair of RM Williams Boots You hit this city dreaming babe I know how it feels When you’re fighting to be overlooked But I've lost my faith babe and you've got it still And I'm wondering just what it took With your six Day Week And your part time smile And your home cooked truths Babe it does you no good
3.
We broke each other’s hearts You know we broke each other’s hearts Oh yes we broke each other’s hearts Like it was destined from the start Too bold and too familiar Too young and too afraid And now its done We broke each other’s hearts And we left it all unsaid We were looking for a past And now it haunts us every day And babe if you remember I’ll remember too I’ll remember I was standing in the doorway Staring at the kitchen floor You were playing with your hands and sobbing softly I'd hold you - but I'm not sure And it's a shame you didn't mean it When I meant every word and more When its a game babe it seems tame to try redemption We made the rules we made the law We broke each other’s hearts You know we broke each other’s hearts Yes we broke each other’s hearts oh just to see it could be done And if you dared me babe I’d kiss you If you let me get that close Oh would you dare me So raise your glass up to the ceiling Let it smash down on the floor Keep your head above the water Its still so close, its still so raw And we broke each other’s hearts Oh when we broke each other’s hearts And we were trying to grow up faster But we cut each other down And its the trying that defeats me When the memory’s just a sound I hear it now And we broke each other’s hearts Like it was easy being free And I left you to your anger And you left me to my greed This love was meant to last forever So the ache will never fade Will never fade
4.
Little Flame 01:44
Little flame, little flame So bewildered and tame In the still in the calm When rain’s coming down And the curtains are drawn And the afternoon’s gone And I’m holding you close But you don’t seem to notice Little flame, little flame Well you’re tender and vain And you’re beautiful still And you’re stronger than steel And your love was ordained From the start to the shame I could help but I stayed Now it can’t be unmade Little flame, little flame Hear me calling your name You could buy what we owned But its worthless alone You can try but you won’t You could lie but you can’t I could hide, I could hide But you’re always in sight
5.
Smelter 02:56
She won’t believe a word If I told her I was down Its as if she never heard As if I never slammed the doors Sometimes I’m shakey in the morning Sometimes I rest a little late Sometimes I feel surrounded But I’m lonelier than all that empty praise And the trains go past my head One at six and one at ten I smell the coal I smell the lead I never did get used to it My daddy worked his hands to dust And even now I see him aching I see the vinyl and the flowers We lost our uncles and our pride I never wrote so well I never could obey the rules And I can count the ones I lost On all my fingers and my toes We spent our summers drifting Between the shipyards and the bay We spent our money like we were desperate We and then we worked a little more She won’t believe a word If I told her I was dying And this town and I were cursed Long before they shut the factory down
6.
Voices 02:44
Last week I sold my wristwatch Last night I pawned my rings And I sold my soul to cigarettes when I was seventeen And I spent my last ten dollars on a cardboard box of wine Can’t nobody spare a dollar, shake my hand or give the time When you’re broke you can’t seem to feel And they tell me that these voices ain’t real A got a set of keys in my pocket For someone elses car I got a cut along my forehead gonna be an ugly scar Well my head and heart are pounding and I’m feeling out of breath I’m in an unfamiliar suburb at an unfamiliar address When you’re walking in a stranger’s cuban heels Try to tell you that these voices ain’t real I got voices in the morning I got voices late at night I got Don Dunstan in my left ear ear And B. A. Santamaria in the right I ain’t got the voice of reason but I got the voice of god My mind is a radio station with an audience of one I’d try to stop them but I’d have to cut a deal And they tell me that these voices ain’t real Well I’d get myself together And I’d get right off these ropes But the voice of Albert Field Keeps on calling for a vote And the voice of Billy Snedden says I didn’t win but I didn’t lose Lionel Murphy says I got nothing if not the right to choose I got Harold Holt wheezing, explaining just how drowning feels And they tell me that these voices aren’t real Dombrovskis save the Franklin Well Jack Mundey save my street And Billy Graham’s travelling road show Gonna wash my weary feet Well god will save Govenor General and God’s gonna save the queen And the voice of sir Garfield Barwick says that nothings gonna save me Well I got no right of appeal And they tell me that these voices ain’t real
7.
I was guilty as a schoolboy With his pockets turned out and his head bowed down And my eyes were filled with dirty little secrets All the pieces, all the niggling doubts And my heart was beating faster And the blood was rushing past just to know your name Won't you hold me close now baby Won't you comfort all the fear and all the pride Because I needed you, Babe My innocence is fading With the years and all the promises we made And I can just recall the good times Or maybe I just dreamed them all away I'm as gentle as a victim and I was comforted by names And I was satisfied with silence when you played your little games Would you hold me close now baby Would you hold me close And would you need me now Because I needed you I've got four walls and a window But the shouting and the noise won't let me dream And I'm ashamed of all the drinking And I'm ashamed of all the tears that I can't cry You should have been a fortune Babe you were diamonds, you were pearls and like a fool I didn't care for them And I let you down, When I let you down And I needed you
8.
Well you'll find me In the places that you know from your dreams Come and find me When you remember all the things we did – last night Oh you'll find me I'll be lost til you take my hand Come and find me And we'll take it to the end of time Well you'll find me Drinking whisky on the rocks in Siam And you'll find me And I'll be lost amongst a crowd of the young If you find me I'll be as lost as when you found me before When you find me Come and find me when you're ready to love Come and find me Won’t you find me, I’ll be lost til you do When you find me Won’t be love it won’t be tears we’ll be new Come and find me Because I’m waiting with the patience of sin Won’t you find me Because I’m yearning for the feel of your skin

about

Recorded to tape with a single microphone over the space of a day, Little Flame tracks the evolution of Max Savage’s song writing over the course of six months of intense touring and performance.

The music is much more stripped back than the brash country rock that has become the hallmark of the South Australian troubadour. Gone are the dueling telecasters, soaring vocal harmonies and Hammond organ. The record is mostly Savage by himself with occasional accompaniment from long-time collaborator, Lachlan Ridge.

The lyrics are deeply rooted in country and place. They conjure images of an Australian underbelly; of forgotten places; towns, highways and backstreets. A haunting cover of the Go-Between’s “Cattle and Cane,” sits easily alongside ‘Smelter,’ a song about sickness and unemployment in an industrial town while the blues driven ‘voices,’ references the Franklin Dam, Billy Graham and the Dismissal.

credits

released February 1, 2015

All songs written by Max McHenry except for Cattle and Cane written by Forster and McLennan.

Produced by Ross McHenry

Electric and Baritone Guitar by Lachlan Ridge

Recorded and mixed at Mixmasters by Tom Barnes at Hawthorndene, SA.
Mastered at Topfloor Music by Pete Maher at Brighton, UK.

Photography by Andre Castellucci, Design by Jason Koen.

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Max Savage Adelaide, Australia

Beloved by fans and relatively unknown beyond their hometown of Adelaide, South Australia, Max Savage and the False Idols have developed a reputation for explosive live performances and thoughtfully assembled recordings over more than a decade of music. ... more

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