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Petra Morse
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Petra Morse Bloody brilliant. This band doesn't stop getting better, the more I listen the more I appreciate. Favorite track: I Ain't Done.
Steve Lawson
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Steve Lawson I love everything LB+TBS do, and I particularly love them for getting better with every album. Progress is such a compelling characteristic. A really excellent album, building on a catalog of excellent albums. :) Favorite track: Mother.
Poesy Rider
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Poesy Rider Mysogine à part (comme disait Brassens), le chant féminin ne manque pas trop sur cet album ; au contraire, Youth révèle la quintessence de L.Barabbas, son meilleur album, et de loin. On en redemande ! Encore ! Favorite track: You're On Your Own Now.
GothicGuru
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GothicGuru Destined to be one of my favorite albums of this year. Compelling songwriting, lyrically and instrumentally. Classification isn't easy; Rock, Steampunk, Freak Folk, ? call it what you want - does it really matter, just enjoy the $#@* out of it Favorite track: All That's In Between.
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    Glass mastered CD in colour gatefold sleeve with lyric book

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  • 12" Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    12" Vinyl (180g) pressing of "Youth" in colour sleeve with lyric sheets

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1.
Mother 03:30
I crumpled up the creeds of Man And ran out into the rain Where I mourned for my lost virtue But mourned more for what remained. I’d give my grief to God But I’m just too proud to pray. Mother, why did you raise me this way? I’m the busted bulb in your lighthouse, I’m the guilt dashed on your cliff. I read about perpetuity, I hope it’s just a myth. Some people talk of progress But all I see is decay. Mother, why did you raise me this way? I pin my hopes on the future Like martyrs to a tree But they haven’t yet built the religion That can hold me. I hear tomorrow will be better, I heard the same thing yesterday. Mother, why did you raise me this way? Each night I go to sleep The way a Christian goes to lions. God can take my body, I’m leaving my soul to science. I’m sure He had a plan in Man But something’s gone agley. Mother, why did you raise me this way? There’s a stranger in this mirror, Or is it just stained glass? I’ve changed my face so many times, I wish I could change the past. There are more epithets than cigarettes Stubbed out in my ashtray. Mother, why did you raise me this way? I’m a gentleman, a charlatan, Prose from a poison pen. I lately made a big mistake: Told the truth and sounded fake. My friends are all long gone, There’s none left to betray. Mother, why did you raise me this way? I keep my guardian angel close But always gagged and bound. Will someone please let me know The way off this misery-go-round? I long to see the spin on me In St Peter’s dossier. Mother, why did you raise me this way? I’m told there’ll be no jobs until somebody dies But a salary is just another word For “consolation prize” So I’m plodding through Perdition Like some latter day Dante Mother, why did you raise me this way? Now I’ve told you all my thoughts But I still haven’t seen that penny. You asked me if there were bad times. Yeah… MANY. I long to say I love you But it’s such a damned cliché. Mother, why did you raise me this way?
2.
We both know love comes with conditions Collusions, collisions, unplanned revisions And small print. Darling we’re no different, It’s you and me or you and someone else. Between the womb and the tomb There’s not a lot of room To be the people we want to be. Now I’m all rage, I’ve forgotten how to act my age Everything is slipping away from me. Baby, I am the man you’re holding on to right now But tell me who is the man you’re holding on for? I want to know more. Joking apart, don’t you dare enjoy the start, We need to save our smiles for the happy ending. I’ve put myself through hell But these thoughts won’t think themselves And I’m wondering if you’re just pretending. Now my inner child is watching So I’ve put him up for adoption Because I suspect he’s up to something really bad. And you still give me chills You’ve got me hooked through the gills But love never stopped anyone feeling sad. Baby, I am the man you’re holding on to right now But tell me who is the man you’re holding on for? I want to know more. It’s just the echo of a memory Of a shadow of a regret And the regrets are all for things I haven’t even done yet. I’m just a privileged boy Battling for his right to a little misery Wishing you were kissing me And wishing it meant more. I am the man you’re holding on to right now But tell me who is the man you’re holding on for?
3.
Tonight 03:02
You had me packed like an artefact In the cotton of your ambition But there was something in my condition That made me long for a little more. You had me squeezed for at least The last two years of marriage But some mistaken adage Made you blind to what was in store. I’ll be waiting up When you get home tonight I made a cat-flap for my jealousy So it could roam where it wanted. It had a sorry tail that it flaunted But every night it still came home (Unlike you) but I made do With those slivers of deceit, Those little tributes left at my feet For which your conscience will atone. I’ll be waiting up When you get home tonight Now I’m so fraught and overwrought Like a bird among the rafters, But it ain’t laughter that I’m after, Just a grim and knowing sneer. As for you, when I’m through You’ll be sore down to your ligaments. There ain’t no love without disfigurement, I’ve known no fondness without fear. I’ll be waiting up When you get home tonight
4.
Well it began with a gift And died with a debt But if redemption’s on the cards Well it hasn’t happened yet. He said if you need anything from me All you’ve got to do is ask, But he wore that sincerity Like a halloween mask. I owe, I owe I owe so many folk I’ve got nowhere to go. I owe, I owe Won’t nobody help me get out of this hole? His words were sweet as honey But that honey attracted flies. I know he never meant to really love me He just wanted to synchronise. I said beware those things you sow Because one day you’ve got to reap them. He said what’s the use in making promises darling? You’ve only got to keep them. I owe, I owe I owe so many folk I’ve got nowhere to go. I owe, I owe Won’t nobody help me get out of this hole? And each morning he’d fall through my door, Frail, foul and thin, Beauty may be all around us But there’s certainly nothing good within him. I know a gambler’s got no ties, Just a suitcase and a trunk, But I soon came to realise There are more days behind us than in front. I owe, I owe I owe so many folk I’ve got nowhere to go. I owe, I owe Won’t nobody help me get out of this hole? Now the stitching has frayed And all the cupboards are bare, He’s got his head in his hands But he’s lost the luxury of despair. It’s true I ain’t possessive And it’s true I don’t need wealth, But if he wants to be a martyr now I’ll hammer the nails in myself. I owe, I owe I owe so many folk I’ve got nowhere to go. I owe, I owe Won’t nobody help me get out of this hole?
5.
It seems to me Like you’ve got some plans Up your sleeves, But I’ll be damned If all those little things Don’t come to call again, Demand to be let in, Haunt us all now and then. But hate wears a harness of hope, Round its ears, round its eyes Round its throat. It feeds on what we know And spits it right back out. It hurts so much to hold But I ain’t about to let go now. Our love was like an island But an island with no shore. You kept passing me those apples But all I ever get is the core. Some day you’re going to go, But don’t desert me now. It hurts so much to hold But I ain’t about to let go now. And if there’s one thing that I know It’s that the heart will drive you mad, Just look at all the happy endings Wandering round looking so sad: They’re waiting down below For love to dig them out. It hurts so much to hold But I ain’t about to let go now. A slave to the age sold us a lie With a cold and craven chorus Congregated close behind. The song started low But ended very loud It hurts so much to hold But I ain’t about to let go now.
6.
I’m waiting for bad news to come Here on my own I know which way it’s coming from I’ve left every single light on And the doors wide open I’m hoping For bad news to come I’m waiting for bad news to come My toes frozen numb Teeth bared to the gums Some things will always go wrong But some go nowhere I don’t care I’m just here Waiting for bad news to come For someday or someone To somehow be begun It’s all news here yet nothing seems young And everything wrong I long for bad news I just wanted you to want me darling I just wanted you to want me darling I just wanted you to want me darling What did you have to go and need me for? I’m waiting for bad news to come Dismantling the hours as they roll on and on Pondering the deeds left undone The words spoken but not sung While I’m waiting for bad news to come There’s more grey in your eyes Than there is in your hair We’ve got plenty of time I just don’t know where And it had to be you But did it have to be now And did it have to be here With bad news coming round? I just wanted you to want me darling What did you have to go and need me for? Now bad news sits outside And taps on the glass It says be true to my memory Don’t be true to my past And as the poetry of adolescence Meets the bullet points of adulthood There are no signposts, just suggestions And none of them any good So we wake without desire And turn our collars up to the rain Because bad news seems a lot better Than always just staying the same And now the lights are all fading And I’m tired of explaining I’m waiting and waiting And waiting and waiting I just wanted you to want me darling What did you have to go and need me for?
7.
I was never a lonely boy You can never be alone with guilt I’ve delighted in the debris Of all the things I’ve ever built I’ve seen that every blossom Will some day come to wilt So what’s the sense in us All getting so upset? Because a story Is the only thing I know That gets smaller as it unfolds So many are sung About those who die young Not those of us getting old And though you don’t need To believe In every tale you’re told Here’s one I guarantee You won’t forget You’re on your own now You’re on your own now You’re on your own now And all you own It means nothing to me The tragedy is that you can’t end it all You can only end yourself But if things start getting bad Well at least you’ve got your health And if you don’t let your imagination Run away with you It might run away with someone else And you’re going to need it where you’re going kid You’re on your own now You’re on your own now You’re on your own now And all you own It means nothing to me So son take my advice Don’t wait your turn and don’t play nice Leave the sugar and take the spice Always keep your prayers concise And don’t waste your time worrying About who’s getting the biggest slice Just take the entire cake and run You’re on your own now You’re on your own now You’re on your own now And all you own It means nothing to me Quit waving your arms In an empty world And saving your breath For a joke that’s been told Spare me your epilogues And spare me your fears As the lack screams out It rings long in your ears You’re on your own.
8.
I Ain't Done 03:58
Where the hell have all my old friends gone? Where did they hide when our twenties were spent? Because I ain’t done being young, No I ain’t done with that yet. I don’t care if you all think I’m wrong. I don’t care what those other people say. Because I ain’t done being young, No, today is not that day. Centuries turn but Fate tends to twist, Forget the hand of time, Worry more about its fists Because its dice are all loaded And I ain’t hedging my bets, I ain’t done, I ain’t done being young just yet. I ain’t done with the doing, I ain’t turning out the light, I will not go gentle into that good night, My rack it ain’t ruined, My race it ain’t run, I ain’t done, I ain’t done, I ain’t done. Beware of that happy little bubble you’ve bought Because a safety net is just like any other net When you are caught. And though I know Every deed has a debt, I ain’t done, I ain’t done being young just yet. No one yearns for Summer Until they’ve felt the chill, Just like any guilty pleasure Depends mostly on the Guilt. So we pass the time Between us like a bomb, Screaming I ain’t done I ain’t done being young. I ain’t done with potential And I don’t care who agrees Because I ain’t ready to start living My death by degrees. My tide ain’t stemmed And my spin ain’t spun, I ain’t done, I ain’t done, I ain’t done I ain’t done, I ain’t done. Maybe I wanted kids of my own. Maybe that’s one little thing I regret. But I ain’t done being young, No I ain’t done with that yet. So smother your sympathy And reign in your remorse, Don’t talk to me of “middle age” Call it “the main course” Because only lovers settle down And only gamblers settle up, I ain’t done being young I ain’t ever going to stop. I ain’t done with the folly, I ain’t done with the fight, I’m living tall as a story, I’m living broad as daylight. So unsheathe your daggers And unfurl your cloaks And save me a seat In a hell that’s well stoked. Tend to the weeds That have grown around your thoughts Fasten the tight ropes and pull them up taut. Set us on a course for where the sun never sets, Cos I ain’t done I ain’t done I ain’t done I ain’t done I ain’t done I ain’t done I ain’t done being young just yet.
9.
Next year is the year of the bitch. No one will get lucky, No one will get rich And we’ll be telling lies When we say we don’t know why We talk about this world as if it’s all in bits. Next year is the year of the bitch. The panicking will peak at a piercing pitch And everyone will hate And obsess about their weight And waste away in want For the things that they once ditched. Where were you when we changed our minds, Put our ideals on ice and our hearts into brine? Where were you when we fell? Where were you? Next year is the year of the bitch. We’ll package up our lives And take them to the tips And sit back in our chairs, Assuming fancy airs, As it all falls round our ears, drip by drip. People all just stood around Watering their lawns as the cities fell down; I could barely make out the time As the air turned to ash and the sea to slime. Where were you when we changed our minds, Put our ideals on ice and our hearts into brine? Where were you when we fell? Where were you? Next year is the year of the bitch. We’ll swallow all their lies Like hungry little chicks, Every consonant and vowel: Wretched, rank and foul, We’ll cling to every word Like tiny little ticks. Where were you when we changed our minds, Put our ideals on ice and our hearts into brine? Where were you when we fell? Where were you when we lost ourselves? Where were you?
10.
Low 04:28
I was just a child in the drama of the big bad world, A sorry silhouette in the smoke as it curled, Existing on the edge of some great idea, Trying to find my way but the way wasn’t clear. I was wearing my thoughts like a new tattoo, Acting like a leper and thinking of you Because the rage withered in me when you took me in, I’d been running against Love without wanting to win. I’ve been crushing all the crawling things Creeping around the hole And now they’re only creeping below. I was swallowed by the spectre of a long slain spite That gnawed upon my nerves with a savage appetite, It stripped away the structure of our pretty pretense, You know we never should’ve had the right To so much innocence. Crushing all the crawling things Creeping around the hole Now they’re only creeping below. Everybody’s acting like they’re born again, Like I’m the very last of a pagan strain. So I’ve been digging in the dirt For something decent to say, Trying to think about “the now” While trapped in the everyday. Crushing all the crawling things Creeping around the hole Now they’re only creeping below. I want to know who Would want me to feel this cheap I want to know why The road stretching out is so steep I want to know what Could cause this wretched malaise I want to know where Your God goes on His holidays. Crushing all the crawling things Creeping around the hole Now they’re only creeping below. And like a hound full of fleas Sinking down in the sea, I’m drowning in all this Love And I hope you drown with me. These nightmares don’t cause me no grief, I don’t wish away visions That make real life a relief. Though I’m certain this circus must end, Don’t you dare tell me when. You wanted a rose But I gave you a thistle, Every day I shave close But you still make me bristle, If you need anything Just give a little whistle, You know how to whistle don’t you? So we’re popping the tics And we’re stoning the crows, We’re down in the Styx And it’s your turn to row, We’re crushing the crawling things Creeping below. Now we’re creeping below. These nightmares don’t cause me no grief, I don’t wish away visions That make real life a relief. Though I’m certain this circus must end, Don’t you dare tell me when.
11.
The book of my life may be second hand But you may still find a few petals Pressed between its pages. I’ll give you all the ellipses and ampersands If you just save your etceteras for me. I knew you were crying in the next room But I feigned a deafness To the patter of those tears. I tried to find inspiration in a vacuum But I lacked the provision of years. Our lives were elsewhere and we knew it, So with a sundial for a compass We turned away from the light. But between opening that door And walking through it The roads all receded from sight. And I know I’m not all that you wanted But I’ll be all that you need For the day, the night And everything in between. I will never feel easy in this skin So I will only accept happiness When there is nothing left to long for. I’ve no time for the times we are living in, They are just a tourniquet For glory days gone before. I hear regrets are always the last to leave As we move further away From the memories that define us. You can take hope And you can take heaven, But not simultaneously. Our footprints don’t remain long behind us. I’m not all that you wanted But I’ll be all that you need For the day, the night And everything in between. You said you’d rather see the devil in its true form Than embodied in the deeds of men and boys. Don’t wish these worries dead, Prefer them unborn; This isn’t silence, We’re just waiting for noise. I’m not all that you wanted But I’ll be all that you need For the day, the night And everything in between. Yes the book of my life is second hand But what Fate annotates can never be erased. How long will I stay? As long as I can stand. Always, always, always. I’m not all that you wanted But I’ll be all that you need For the day, the night And everything in between.

about

Second studio record by Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six.

Go to www.bedlamyouth.com to read all about the making of this album.

credits

released March 3, 2014

Youth was performed by:

Louis Barabbas – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, percussion
Matthew Cleghorn – lead guitar, banjo, backing vocals
Tom Cleghorn – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Fran Lydiatt – piano, organ, accordion, backing vocals
Biff Roxby – bass and tenor trombone, cello, backing vocals
Dan Watkins – bass guitar, percussion

with

Bob Marsh – trumpet, flugelhorn on All That’s In Between
Paddy Maude-Roxby – percussion on Tonight, Waiting For Bad News and You’re On Your Own Now
Phyllida Maude-Roxby – viola, violin on Mother, The Debtor’s Wife, Waiting For Bad News and You’re On Your Own Now
Hannah Miller – vocals on It Hurts So Much To Hold
Joe Moffitt – clarinet on Mother and Tonight
Lucy Moffitt – tuba on All That’s In Between
Sam Moffitt – trumpet on Tonight, It Hurts So Much To Hold and You’re On Your Own Now

Songs written by Louis Barabbas
Arranged by The Bedlam Six
String parts written by Matthew Cleghorn and Biff Roxby
Brass parts written by Biff Roxby
Engineering and Mixing by Dan Watkins
Mastered by Mark Owens at The Edit Rooms
Produced by The Bedlam Six

Recorded at The Bedlam Studio House by WR Audio
Except All That’s In Between, recorded at Limefield Studios, Middleton

Special thanks to: Pam and Louis Shurmer-Smith, Sara Harris, Bryony Anderson, John Ellis, Vaughan Simons

This album is dedicated to our teachers (the good ones).

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Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six Manchester

Between 2006-2016 the Bedlams relentlessly peddled their peculiar brand of Dirt-Swing, capturing the imaginations of every species of listenership, winning support from the likes of Supergrass, The Mighty Boosh, Har Mar Superstar, UB40, Mark Steel, The Hell’s Angels and BBC Radio, inspiring stage invasions, dancing in the aisles and a confused mixture of exhaustion and bonhomie wherever they went ... more

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