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The Prince that Nobody Knows

by COPPINS

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electrocelte
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electrocelte Well this track brings me back to the glory days of Rare Air. Considering that my first real piping recording was a cassette tape of the 78th Live In Ireland, the second was Gracenotes by Robert Mathieson and the third, this thing called "Primieval" by a group called Rare Air, all I knew was my piping teacher liked it so it had to be good. Anyhow great to hear you still playing and I love this entire album not just a one track. Mondo coolness. Favorite track: Spaceman from Weslemkoon.
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1.
2.
don't know where i'm going but i better get there soon there's only four walls you can climb in any room i got to go... it's time to go 'cause i feel that i'm about to hit a hole if i'm not there tomorrow don't wait for me past noon after that you better hope that you don't see me soon i got to go... it's time to go 'cause i feel that i'm about to hit a hole there's always something moving in of the corner of my eye is that a long lost spirit or just a goddamn fly? i got to go... it's time to go 'cause i feel that i'm about to hit a hole the wind is in the trees and the branches clutch the moon the moon is spilling stories about those who left too soon i got to leave... it's time to leave you will hear me whistling thru the trees gather up my children and give them what i own there's a hundred grande that i keep beneath a stone they might need it where i'm goin' 'cause it looks like i'm going there alone and if you find my bones won't you marry them w/ flame throw a little house party and dance with my remains you can dance me out there beyond and i'm leaving you right here with this song don't know where i'm going...
3.
Big Boy 04:22
well i woke up this morning and i turned on the news TV in the morning will just give a soul the blues an attractive news lady told me it was the first day of spring and down there in the city the pollution count was crowding 10 but she said 'don't worry, we predicted it would be' i thought, 'how the hell is that going to help you or me'? when i was a little boy you know my daddy said to me always face your problems and never trust authority you gotta take it on the chin and get a little taste put your head to the grindstone and look it in the face when you're a big boy now my very own little boy, you know he said to me while he was shooting his bow and arrow at a target beneath a tree he said 'dad i want to be a hunter when grow up get some good clean food, stop eating all this junk when i'm a big boy dad i'm gonna be a big boy' now this old world, she's a tired old girl 'cause we have dirtied all her rivers, we've made her air impure consumerism's killing her and the money lenders choke if we're ever going to beat this mess, it's going to take a brand new approach and son don't you be too much like your dad chasing each sensation, burning every path be kind to your mother and do just what you're told she's giving you the love that's the nutrition for your soul when you're a big boy you're gonna be a big boy you're gonna be loved you're gonna give love
4.
my girl likes her suds in a big ol' bathtub with cast iron legs and porcelain soap trays and i like my scotch in a little shot glass makin' songs of the future from tunes of the past and we like to laugh, no life's not so bad we're both having fun not living too fast and we hit the porch with a smile on our face and the lady next store thinks we're a disgrace... chorus you're so happy on earth you're so happy on earth you're so happy on earth you're in heaven but this earth is hell to the devil hell is heaven... the man at the corner got an old leather face gravel voice like a feather and a run-down old place but he got some tales that he's just not tellin' about far away war, forgotten blood lettin' but he smiles at us and i smile back i know he's seen some miles beyond that old shack as it was in the beginning it will be in the end and we're both all alone, and we both need a friend chorus if i had a freight train and my very own track i'd sleep in the caboose in an old leather sac and i'd sing to the mountains with the moon in my face and i'd ride all my friends far away from this place chorus you're so happy on earth you're so happy on earth you're so happy on earth you're in heaven but this earth is hell to the devil hell is heaven...
5.
the soldiers' they are dying and the bets are jacked up high this property's worth more than the air that's in your sky the big players got their heads down, you never see their face pushing all the buttons that manipulate the race the cellphones crowd the airwaves and the cars they choke the street airplanes they hit buildings that crumble at your feet the leader of your country's taking cash in paper bags huddled in hotel rooms for which you probably paid chorus and it's a great day for living for living up to what we're given can i say i love the light that's in your eyes it's a great day for living big industry is shifting man the shift has hit the fan now china's gonna make you wish you never left Japan you know i think we shagged too much we should have just held hands but on the odd night in a dream you know i'm still your man and then the sun is coming up like a cruise missile head i'm looking for the blue sky but there's a yellow film instead the glaciers are melting and the earth is heating fast but to stop production would just be too much to ask chorus there's dead leaves and pine cones in this country lane since the fall has fallen the hills are blue again you know i love you lady and i'll love you 'till the end i know that you're a wilderness but i feel that you're my friend and it's a great day for living for living up to what we're given can i say i love the light that's in your eyes it's a great day for living
6.
i feel so bad, but i wanna feel good gonna try a little something, don't know that i should i went to the closet for an old working glove pulled a hundred dollar bill, gonna buy a little love so that i could be happy the rest of my day i could be happy the rest of my night and it's knock knock knock in the alley in the back i need a little love no strings attached i'll show you little sugar, i'll show you little spice but you better treat this girl real nice just wanna be happy the rest of my day wanna to be happy the rest of my night one look at me and that girl did say you don't look like a man that often pays i said no you're wrong, i've paid way too much a hundred dollar cheap for a little bit of love just wanna be happy the rest of my day wanna to be happy the rest of my night we finished our business and she started to laugh she said don't be a stranger, you come right back i mined my manners, my thanks, my please that's the kind of action put a man to ease just wanna be happy the rest of my day wanna to be happy the rest of my night the next time i came i brought a little wine she read me my cards and we had a good time there was no future, there was no past we lived in the moment and we had a real blast and we could be happy the rest of our day and we could be happy the rest of our night you know i got a little place in the country side where the birds all sing ad the bears all hide this can't be no kind of life you could come with me and be my wife and you could be happy the rest of your day and you could be happy the rest of your night she took a deep breath, she started to cry she said no way jack and don't ask why i made myself a promise in this life i'm never ever gonna be another man's wife and i can be happy the rest of my day i can be happy the rest of my night well i can't go back to that house no more 'cause they put a big padlock on the door the cops all came they took the girls away and where they took those girls they just won't say but i hope they be happy the rest of their day i hope they be happy the rest of their night i think of that girl from time to time i hope she's living well in warm sunshine if i ever see my minnie again i'm gonna give that girl a great big grin so she can be happy the rest of her day she can be happy the rest of her night i wanna be happy the rest of my day i wanna be happy the rest of my night
7.
all my friends are talking health and healing i'm still just getting high and reeling lookin' for a magic moment worth stealing i'm on my way back home all my friends got a three tier mortgage they're doing the dishes, taking out the garbage i still want to pay a little homage before they call me home chorus you can bury my ass in the cold cold ground between the sumach tree and my small town i still want to get all the way down before they call me home we got ourselves a wee little child i don't want to settle down, i want to make her wild walking with a skip and seeing with a smile we're on our way back home people round here sure got alot and they don't care much for those that have not here's to the pissers without any pot we're on our way back home chorus you can bury my ass in the cold cold ground between the sumach tree and my small town i still want to get all the way down before they call me home
8.
i got too high / i needed to land so i chopped up some chicken right into the pan went to the shelf and opened a can now i'm feeling better thanks to sauce in a can i met a girl / we started to talk it went pretty well so we went for a walk she winked at me and held my hand so i cooked her some fish in a sauce in a can chorus sauce in a can / sauce in a can some come from india / some from japan sauce in a can, sauce in a can when i'm cooking dinner i use sauce in a can that president makes pretty good choices delectable memories from far away places turns out the president's a bit of a clown monopolizes companies to bring the price down but it's a free country / you do what you can when i'm cooking dinner i use sauce in a can chorus it turns out the can, it's not the answer ever since the fifties it's been giving us cancer look for a solution / i didn't look far now i'm makin' dinner with a sauce in a jar chorus
9.
Push 05:12
hey sister / hey mister wanna see the sun rise in the sky? hey buster / lack lustre you better put some sunshine in those eyes 'cause the time is now we can do it now and i know somehow i will get behind... and push hey neighbour / hey labour you know you're always welcome to stop by hey mother / ex-lover we're going to find that friendship by and by and the time is now we can do it now and i know somehow i will get behind... and push hey mister / prime minister funny how you sent those kids to die hey mother / my sweet mother funny how this time keeps slippin' by well the time is now we can do it now and i know somehow i will get behind... and push funny how this time keeps slippin' by... better find some sunshine for those eyes
10.
11.
he was born with a fever / he was born with an itch he was born with a knack for striking it rich but he lost all his money, he lost everything he owns 'cause he can't leave the ladies alone he fell down from heaven with lightening in his head a hip flask of single malt, an angel in his bed but he lost the pedigree to which he was born 'cause he can't leave the ladies alone chorus he can't leave the ladies alone, sweet jesus said he can't leave the ladies alone you know he lost everything he lost everything he owns but he can't leave the ladies alone well, is it a gift, or is it a curse? is it creation or something much worse? god put it in him, but i swear it's going to burst he can't leave the ladies alone he tells a little story, he does a little dance there's a little trick he does with a monkey in his pants god knows he's a thoroughbred right to the bone and he can't leave the ladies alone chorus got one at the race track, he's got one at the bar he's got one in a high rise, another on a farm he's got one that's mobile, he gets her on the phone he can't leave the ladies alone that jazz singer, she's passing thru town that CBC reporter, she's got to get down that african princess is carved out of bone man, he can't leave the ladies alone chorus he bought a country lodge, with cabins by the lake he'd rise in the morning, he'd wake and he'd bake his wife ran to get him, "the plumber's on the phone" well he was flushing the main line and he wasn't alone he was born with a fever / he was born with an itch he was born with a knack for striking it rich but he lost all his money, he lost everything he owns man, he can't leave the ladies alone chorus
12.
Live Forever 03:16
i know we will live forever, we will live forever more i know we will live forever, we will live forever more i can see it in the glimmer of my children's' eyes feel it on the edge of an october sky i can hear it in the horns out on the street i can feel it in the earth right under my feet i know we will live forever, we will live forever more i know we will live forever, we will live forever more it's painted on my sleeping lover's lips i can feel it in the touch of her finger tips i can hear it in a fiddle and bagpipe tune i can see it on the face etched on the moon i know we will live forever, we will live forever more i know we will live forever, we will live forever more i can hear it in an old chuck berry lick feel it on the edge of the drummers' stick i can hear it a second line piano roll when that music hits you square in your soul i know we will live forever, we will live forever more i know we will live forever, we will live forever more
13.
Kidogo 02:45
14.
i am the prince that nobody knows crown off my head and holes in my royal robes robbers have come and stolen the wealth from my kingdom younger men enjoy all of the women my subjects have all left the land the princess i chose she left with another man this does not mean i will forget just who i am i must rise up and reclaim my crown rise up, rise up, rise up and grow rise up, rise up, rise up and grow 'cause nobody knows... i'm walking thru summer with all of my friends the raven, the hawk and the blue heron the black bear, the red fox, the cotton tailed deer i'll gather my strength from the strength that's already here rise up, rise up, rise up and grow rise up, rise up, rise up and grow 'cause nobody knows... the colours are brilliant here in the autumn the poplar turns golden, the maple turns auburn the seasons come and the seasons go i'll plant my seed and thus i will grow rise up, rise up, rise up and grow rise up, rise up, rise up and grow 'cause nobody knows... prince, you awoke this morning in the north country... rise up, rise up, rise up and grow rise up, rise up, rise up and grow i am the prince that nobody knows crown off my head and holes in my royal robes robbers have come and stolen the wealth from my kingdom i must rise up and reclaim this land for my children

credits

released April 11, 2014

Produced by Grier Coppins & Terry Wilkins
tracks 2,4,5,6,7,11,12
Produced by Grier Coppins
tracks 1,3,8,9,10,13,14

Musicians:
Chris Staig: guitars on 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,12
Ayron Mortley: guitars on 1,4,5,9,10,13,14 / backing vocals on 4,5,9,11,12,14
Jim Bish: soprano, alto, tenor, & baritone saxophones on 1,4,8,9,10,12,13,14/ harmonica on 7/ backing vocals on 4,5,8,9,11,12,14
Terry Wikins: doghouse or electric bass on 1,2,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,12,14 / backing vocals on 4,11,12
Colleen Hodgson: bass on 3 / backing vocals on 4,5,6,8,11,12,14
Joe Burns: bass on 9
Paul Brennan: drums on 2,3,5,6,8,10,11,12
Josh Hicks: drums on 4,9,14 / backing vocals on 11
Raffa Dean: drums on 7
Paul Reddick: mouth harp on 2,3,4
Jesse Whiteley: Hammond B3 on 3,4,5,6 / piano on 11
Jaron Freeman Fox: fiddle on 1,10,13
James McKie: acoustic guitar on 2
Chris Bartos: backing vocals on 8
Mark Wessenger: organ on 8
Railside Horns on 5,7,11: Jim Bish–tenor/alto sax / Steve Donald – trombone / Michael Johnson-trumpet
Grier Coppins: vocal, tenor guitar on 3,4,5,6,8,9,11,14/ bagpipes & tin whistle

Recorded & mixed by COPPINS (with some serious help from Josh Hicks) at ‘The Little Room by the Rails’, Toronto 2013/14.
Mastered by David Travers-Smith @ Found Sound, Toronto
‘Big Boy’ bed tracks recorded by Andrew St George @ Escarpment Sound, 2011.
‘Sauce in a Can’ bed tracks recorded @ The Old Cabin by Chris Bartos.

All songs / tunes written by Grier Coppins (Socan),
except ‘Banjo Breakdown’ by Donald MacPhee, 1876

This recording is dedicated to Margaret Elizabeth Campbell Coppins (1935-2012)
“Nobody treats you like a mother do… Mother is gone child.” Miss you

Photography by Kevin Kelly
Design & layout by A Man Called Wrycraft (wrycraft.com)
Cover concept by Andrei Talbot (walktalldesign.com)

Contact, info & booking @ COPPINS.CA

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COPPINS Toronto, Ontario

Full bio @ COPPINS.CA
Grier Coppins began his musical career on the street in Toronto playing bagpipes at the corner Yonge & Bloor in the mid 1970's. He was an original member of critically acclaimed Canadian bagpipe/funksters Rare Air in the 1980's. In 1993 he founded Taxi Chain, a rhythm & blues infused cocktail of song & tune. Coppins has played almost every major folk fest in Canada & the USA. ... more

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