Name: Better than the Boneyard
Duration: P00H03M55S
Description: This song was inspired by a conversation overheard whilst shopping shortly after the lockdown of 2020; and no matter how bad things may seem here in the middle of Lidl, I share the optimistic sentiment that it is indeed a better place than to be dead in the boneyard.

Better than the Boneyard

from A Shandy Ballad by Julian Gaskell & his Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

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about

This song was inspired by a conversation overheard whilst shopping shortly after the lockdown of 2020; and no matter how bad things may seem here in the middle of Lidl, I share the optimistic sentiment that it is indeed a better place than to be dead in the boneyard.

lyrics

Well I swear I seen a slobbering beast going round on two legs
Walks like a man, talks like a man
But a beast nonetheless
Responds to earthly pleasures
And the sound of his own name
But when I see him strutting around our town
I hang my head in shame
But still it’s Better than the boneyard
Though the good folks have left this place
It’s better than the boneyard
Though they left us with the devil down here to chase
Still it’s better than the boneyard
And correct me if I’m wrong
We got to pick up the baton where we find it
Dust it down and carry on

Well he may be living in your phone like something you can tame
Walking the walk, talking the talk
But evil all the same
His words crawl round your heart like vines
Strangling the thoughts in your head
But if you see the warning sign ahed
take a different road instead
To where it’s better than the boneyard…&c.

He may ride your algorithms like a putrid sewage wave
Calling names, shifting blame
Like a keeper who can’t save
But he’s neutered, splayed, microchipped
He’ll slope off back to the night
If you keep making strangers welcome
And you treat your neighbours right
You’ll make it better than the boneyard &c.

credits

from A Shandy Ballad, released November 3, 2023
Words and music by J. Gaskell ©2023
Recorded in Penryn, October 2023 by
Julian Gaskell - vocal, guitar, piano, bucket, bodhran, bells
Thomas Sharpe - upright bass, backing vocals

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about

Julian Gaskell UK

Described by angry locals as the bastard son of Waits, Strummer, Reinhardt and Rachmaninov, Julian Gaskell’s music over the last 20 years has followed a wayward path of withering agricultural-folk, klezmer accordion, overly-lyrical punk, gypsy-jazz guitar, tangos, waltzes, rhumbas and skiffled-up boogie-woogie piano. ... more

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