TROUBADOURS

FOR EVERYONE'S READING PLEASURE!!! A while ago, we sent out a request to singer songwriters who have performed at Troubadours, asking them if they wouldn'd mind sharing their lyrics on the blogsite. Izuan Shah of Auburn has wonderfully sent us lyrics to three of their songs: "The Endless Summer", "Beloved" and "Aurora Blues" with permission to share them with all of us. Yay! Izuan has also included comments at the end of each song. Thanks Izuan and Auburn. Go and buy their Karya EP if you haven't already got one. If you don't know where to get a copy at the next Troubadours gig where we set up a small CD stall. Enjoy!

"The Endless Summer"
(Words & Music by Izuan Shah & Auburn)

Love begins with meeting your one kismet kind, with a seasonal greeting…

On a dreamy night…
When tomfoolery is nice…
With our faces in disguise,
I’ll pretend that you are mine, time being.

If the endless summer comes…crashing down when we are not together then,
Will the winter sinners turn…to sapphire burns?
When we are lost…in each other’s arms now.

Make-believe our story as I laugh and cry,
Honestly, it’s a dream…

Strong in absolution…
To be whole enough to please…
Another mortal being,
On the days when I’m sincere...warmth within.

Shall the end of summer come…crashing down, when we are not together,
Now...
Will the winter sinners turn…to sapphire burns?
When we are lost…in each other’s arms…

In summer, in this endless summer, will she find her love then…alone and in time?

This endless summer, they’re lost in the summer…he’s lost in her shrine.

When winter is worn,
Then autumn will come.

She plays…always,
He plays…all the games,
They pray…and wait,
In this, endless summer...

*Rationale: An Auburn song, it's really actually a heavy number, quite longdrawn with a lot of parts...bordering on prog rock, but I premiered it's acoustic cousin at Troubadours. An eternal favourite of mine, although I haven't yet done it justice the few times I've played it at Troubadours nights. I hope to do so one day, when I find the essence of the song again and can sing it properly. It has been two years since it was written, during a spell when I was going through quite a painful transition to "real" adulthood, and trying to leave a past of unrequited love and other adolescent concerns. "The Endless Summer" was my metaphor for the "endless summer of unrequited love", as well as our Malaysian summers. - Izuan Shah

"Beloved"
(Words & Music by Izuan Shah & Auburn)

I understand, the need to compare,
The cards we've been dealt,
And you say, it's not fair...

I'll fall to my knees
When we all just see as one
When we all just feel as one

Well God only knows, why our hearts feel so low,
Sometimes so as to test, where our purity rests,

So it's true, you can't dance,
With the human pretense...
When they all seem so dense,
It's the world you can't stand...

I'll fall to my knees
When we all just see as one
When we all just feel as one

I'd fall
When we'd all just feel the same
When we'd all just feel the same

And I understand, the need to pretend,
When you say, it's not fair,
You're quite alone, as you dare.

*Rationale: Another song I haven't done justice to acoustically at Troubadours. It's on our record Karya, and is one of the few Auburn songs actually meant to be done quietly and acoustically. When I first wrote the words, I thought they were some of the cheesiest phrases ever, but was reassured and comforted by Ron Khoo of Furniture that the song was "earnest". So I'll take that. Thanks Ron. - Izuan Shah

"Aurora Blues"
(Words & Music by Izuan Shah & Auburn)

Now…
Mourn all the souls…
In our darkest of hours…

Mourn all the souls…
In the hall of Valhalla
In the face of the Morta

Epiphany and prophecy…
Sheds the light on all these dreams…

That lie beneath auroras…
And the moon…

Hide...
The sorrows and fears…
In our darkest of hours…

Mourn all the souls…
In the hall of Valhalla
In the face of the Morta

*Rationale: Not on the Auburn record, and it's another rocker due to be out on a compile called ...Dari Bilik Bedah out on Bilik Bedah Records next year...a juvenile first stab at realising our once-relevant "Bohemian Rhapsody" aspirations. It's as incomprehensively mumbo-jumbo as I'll ever be as a lyricist...part fairy-tale, part nursery rhyme...entirely fantastical bullsh*t. Was inspired a lot by Narnia (the book), the aurora borealis phenomenon (the northern lights) and Norse mythology. Basically written around a weird little lick, that sounded at first like "blues" from the "auroras", hence the song title. - Izuan Shah