Get all 16 Ren Stedman releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of #lovewins, conversations with a racist, The Half-Arsed Defeat, Festival Friends, Problems, Fiction, Drug Induced Dreams, State Of Unfair, and 8 more.
1. |
Festival Friends
03:20
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I’ve missed way I feel
when I am sitting in a field
the green against my feet
and all the people that I meet when I am here
We gather round the fire
singing songs to pass the time
and whilst we’re all waiting to hear the different tales
that Trotsky wrote for us tonight
we drank all of the rum that Brian brought to last the weekend
nana’s kitchen parked up next to us so we can eat and
if I hear another joke from troop that doesn’t make me laugh
I swear I’ll kill him
Cherry’s on a loop and isn’t making any sense
and it’s the second time today she’s blown our minds
so we just stand and nod our heads
Birdy’s painting pictures that
get thrown at me when I go in the van
and Doozer’s played so many songs that he can barely even stand
Skeg said pay the nice stuff on
and I am trying hard
to realise the only things i really need are all my friends and my guitar
But Steve and Ronnie left to travel on
and now god knows where they are
And I have to say the best of all
the things about these festivals
is the people that i’ve grown to know
the places that we get to go
whilst we’re all singing I don’t wanna go home
I don’t wanna go home
I don’t want it to end
I don’t want to wait another year
to see all of my festival friends
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2. |
Wanderlust
04:36
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I do the same things every day
the drinks I drink how much I pay
I’m always scared to even try to do things differently.
and I’m the first one to complain
how nothing ever seems to change
I curse the world for how it is, but more this town specifically.
One day you’ll all wake up and find that I have disappeared
i’ll write a note before I go to let you know I’ve held you dear for oh so many years
I’ll board the train to some old place
I’ve never been and I can’t properly pronounce the name
I’m sure you’ll all see me around
but never in this deadbeat dirty town again
There’s places that I need to go
and cities that I have to roam
dreams that I will watch begin to grow
but I’ll always follow the road that leads me home.
Maybe I will find my place
if I just use the guts it takes
to live a little larger that I usually tend to do.
I haven’t found a purpose yet
than drinking beer and smoking cigarettes
around the people that I hate and barely tolerate
‘cause I am sick and tired
of such an ordinary life
there’s so much more than this
and if there’s not then how can people stand to live?
I’m bored of seeing everyone
reside to go along
So I have got to go and in the morning I’ll be gone
I’ve moved around from town to town
but everywhere has let me down
and I know I’ve let my friends down on the way
This wanderlust and feeling just like I have got to leave it must be a sign that I must carry on my way
so it looks like I am set to leave again
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3. |
Bored
03:38
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I am bored with my life
and all the mundane things it throws at me
tolerate your lot accept the knock backs artificially
love what you’ve got
but criticise for what you’re not
and I am bored of being bored
when will it stop?
When I am older will I look back
with a smile upon my face
or shake my head in disappointed
pull that look my mother makes
when I can’t justify the days and months
and money that I waste
on getting wasted
own up to the fact I never made it.
I am bored with my life
and all the mundane things it throws at me
wake and chase the train
to do the same that I did yesterday
working the same job
cause I’m just too scared to move on
I refused to change my ways
despite I know where I’ve gone wrong
All my friends are growing up
and they’ve done something with their life
But Phil just got divorced and dan is on his second wife
They’ve all got their own histories
whilst whisky fills my arteries
and I’m bored of being so bored with my life
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4. |
Grays Town
04:13
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There really isn't very much to do
In this town where I grew up that I can't stand
I cannot wait to leave
But yet I still believe
That this towns made me who I really am.
The woman at the offie really hates me
But nowhere near the level that my boss
Despises what I think
And that I always ring in sick
But without these broken streets well I'd be lost.
This town might be small
But oh well so am I,
This county's made of concrete
And I'm stuck until I die,
Though I know I won't find better friends
Anywhere around,
Ive laid my roots and grown them in this town.
Well I grew up on cereal and tv
At weekends whilst my mum was working nights
There was nowhere else to go
In this town I've grown to know
Kids would pass the time by starting fights
born into this town I don't belong in
I don't wear adidas or even watch the sport
All my friends
well, almost of them
Spent all their teenage years going to court.
I might complain about my home and where I'm from
But most of all the places in this town I bloody love
I'm always in the ship and drinking far too much to stand
And this place I know has made me who I am.
And I wouldn't change the people if they paid me
Even if some of them are shits
Grays might not be upper class
But at least we're not all up our arse
Oh good god I love this place to bits.
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5. |
State of Unfair
04:03
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When I was young
my Mum told me son
you’ll be fine.
Everything’s falling apart
but things improve
with time
I’m sure when you’re grown
with the things you’ve been shown
you’ll fall on your feet and you won’t feel alone like I did
But have you seen the state our country’s in?
Because they broke all their promises
Their lies spread like viruses
they’ll break all their own rules by issuing licences
for shit
I’ve only gotten used to it.
And it can't be fair that for working all week
I'm barely breaking even or making ends meet
But the girl down the road gets more money than me
From the state when she stated these lies of deceit
To get money from me and the benefit system
But when I ask the council for help they won't listen
They say that I'm doing quite well for my age
But well isn't well off on minimum wage
And I’m called a traitor for believing in labour
cause the party doesn’t even believe in it’s leader
but look at where we got from lead in the past
fucked the whole country over and talked out his arse
his whole term
I guess we’ll never learn.
When ukip came knocking
To ask for my vote
And the tory's sent leaflets
To ram down my throat
And there's posters on bus stops
Of people who speak
When they earn too much money to
Represent me
Cashing cheques in their bank
But they'll never confess it
That they got their money from
Promoting brexit
And sailing the ship
Towards rocks on the shore
To jump off on your own
And say none of this was ever your fault
But the poor will stay poor
And the rich will earn more
And they’ll send all their earnings to banks abroad
So that people like me can continue to slave
Away in a job and know that things won't ever change
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6. |
Sorry
03:48
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I sing pretty things
but I never ever say what I mean
If I tell the truth of how I feel
then no-one listens when I sing
so I sing songs about drugs and alcohol
and never wanting to grow old
and all just so the people hold their focus and might listen to me play
but I’m feeling lonely
and no-one really knows me
I’m scared to admit that I might not fit in if I told you what I’m really thinking
and I’ve fucked my job up
and the friends i had don’t want to stay
if misery’s my only friend, then I don’t want company
anymore
I drink to keep the lid screwed on
how I am barely holding on
and I’m sorry
I’m sorry if you think that you know me.
I grin and I bear it
with the smile that I greet people with
but the effort I use and the effort I had
is wearing thin
In the past I would cope
with the problems I made
but the problem this time is
myself and I hate how I feel.
time got the best of me
there’s not that much left of me
that hasn’t felt the toll it’s taken death’s my oldest memory
if happiness is what keeps us alive
then I’ve been dead for several years because I never would have survived.
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7. |
Wandering the streets
04:39
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I've been wandering the streets
falling down as I roam
shoving drink down my throat
filled my lungs up with smoke
and freezing my bones at the side of the road
wondering how I will find my way back home
But I've lived here for years
in this god awful town
where you only get lost
and I've never been found
and I buried my words six feet underground
when they told me don't speak
keep your head down now
Let the poor people sleep
by the side of the streets
and convince everyone that they're all liars and cheats
praise the neighbours next door overflowing with greed
who will always get given
far more than they need.
I lost faith in the system
when they wouldn't listen
they don't want to help them
it's easier to kill them
to them they're just numbers on tables and graphs
and I can't sit and watch as they talk out their arse
And I shouldn't feel scared
of the people high up
but then the evidence shows
that they don't give a fuck
about the little people
or the people like me
you might be shepherd but I won't be your sheep.
Because we don't fit in
and that's why I have been
searching for places and people like me
and I won't sit down
because I'm too damn proud
I know my place but I know what I believe
No opinions
No tomorrow
Keep your head down
Learn to follow
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8. |
Bugs
02:39
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When I was in year four I very proudly told my friends
I was a girl that would grow into a boy it didn’t make a difference
to them ‘cause I liked skateboards, crushing bugs beneath my feet and who I was was who I wanted them to see.
When I attended secondary despite disguising normally
I didn’t tick the boxes for the race to popularity
the vultures preyed yet teachers praised
the calendar to count down days and hours just to get on through the week
and whilst the kids at school continued to destroy me like the bugs I used to crush beneath my feet.
With evidence carved into stone of concrete spelling life alone
I retreated to cave made up of thoughts where I could think all on my own
of ways to kill myself than waiting on psychologists to help
the jargon thrown at me made less sense than the thoughts inside
my brain could often scare the living day light out of me
and though I knew myself and trusted what I said I started arguing
against all of my principles and all that I believed
and whilst my heart would break with every waking pulse and every beat
just like the bugs I used to crush beneath my feet.
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9. |
The Hipster Song
03:04
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I wanna be a hipster ‘cause it’s stylish to dress bad
by looking weird, growing my beard
and wearing 1990’s plaid
I bought for twice the price of what it’s really worth
because I got it from a thrift shop and a dead man wore it first.
I’ll sit in coffee shops all day
and read a novel whilst I crochet
I don’t work I volunteer man
and go and spend my parents wage
I wanna be trendy
I wanna be trendy
I wanna roll my jeans above my ankles, wear my Grandad’s coat
I wanna be trendy
I wanna be trendy
I wanna drink wine although it tastes disgusting, find cigars to smoke
Because I’m trendy and I’m more hipster than you
Because I’m trendy and I’m more hipster than you
I wanna be a hipster ‘cause nostalgia’s really great
and I obviously dressed like this when I was only 8
We’ll talk about the bands we like
but I am cool ‘cause I despise
anything written or recorded after 1995
I eat organically and actively
promote how to live naturally
off starbucks ‘cause their politics make total utter sense to me
they just give me caffeine
I wanna be trendy
I wanna be trendy
I wanna roll my jeans above my ankles, wear my Grandad’s coat
I wanna be trendy
I wanna be trendy
I wanna drink wine although it tastes disgusting, find cigars to smoke
Because I’m trendy and I’m more hipster than you
Because I’m trendy and I’m more hipster than you
and my glasses aren’t prescription
they just look good on my face
‘cause they distract the fact
that I am talking bullshit once again
about how I can’t buy my food this month
but magically have booze and drugs
But I only take the drugs considered trendy.
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10. |
Day After Day
04:08
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bones that don’t fit
and a heart got rejected
the whites in her eyes
as the windows reflected
and locks on the door
and emergency exit
she’s paying for a mind that used to be so similar to mine.
waking and pacing
the halls that were painted
colours that calm
all the thoughts that were making
you fall off the edge
of the problems you’re facing
she’s paying for a mind that used to be so similar to mine.
And in the light of day
light only shines over problems you’ve made
and things won’t be the same
you’ll only get worse as the drugs hit you harder each day
after day after day after day after day.
signatures documents
people who say
that the woman in room 24
is insane
she’s bruising her knuckles
so they look the same
colour as her eyes when he told her that she was to blame.
speaking in riddles
and rhyming in tongues
the weight grabs a grip on her
spine and her lungs
she stares into space
where she thinks that she’s from
and the nurse calls her name
to give meds so her head can be numb.
button up
just shut it up
just don’t say a word
if you say anymore
you’ll be straight for the hospital ward
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11. |
Song for my Mum & Dad
05:04
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My parents had it harder than I did
They'd always give much more that I'd ever give
And the years I grew up well I know
That I treated them like shit.
My dad drove for miles round the country to take me
To 20 minute shows I got booked as an emergency act
As he drove down those roads I drove him round the bend.
And I hope I make up for it now
‘cause I’m trying to be a better person that I was
And I hope I can make you proud
and be the kind of kid you’d really love
And the time that we spend on our own
Is the time we should make for our families and home
Cause our friends we can choose and just as easily lose but our families ain't going nowhere
And the phone calls we say we will make
Never happen but it's only a minute to take
From our lives to say hi and I hope you're alright
And just letting them know that you care
So this ones for my mum and my dad and rest
Of family to let them know they are really the best.
My Mum picked the pieces up and put them order
When I broke down crying and always ignored her
Advice that she gave me I threw back but used in the end
The shit she endured with my multiple phases
as soon as she understood that I would change it
to something much worse and obscure and it messed with her head
I’ve made bad mistakes, left apologies to late
to make them mean something or compensate for anything
at all
But I’m desperately trying to show I definitely need you much more than you need me I know it’s much more
I know it's much more
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12. |
Bigger balls than you
04:07
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Wouldn't it be easier, to just be a girl
I'm sorry mate but haven't you heard
That I never was and never will be
Im sick of all this gender policing
Because I don't take injections that hurt my arse
So you think that you've got the right to ask
Or pose a question by saying 'no offence'
The way you say it makes no difference
And I don't ask what's in your pants
So don't ask what's in mine
Don't tell me the story of how I offend you
I've heard the same one a hundred times
I just want a piss and now you're taking it
And I'm so sick of the fighting and accepting the bullshit
I just want to live it's the only thing I want to do
And I've still got bigger balls than all of you.
I don't believe in it, just ain't a reason
I am not something to believe in
I don't expect a nice response but I can't see how what I am doing is wrong
Then the man at the bar says he don't give a shit
'Cause in the town where he grew up and the house that he lived in
He lived next door to a lovely man
Who happened to be gay (that's not the same)
I didn't cut off my chest
Or feel sick to get undressed
Never fallen in love, never formed a relationship
Cannot get close, and please don’t think I chose this
I only chose to live
but I’m starting to question if life’s really worth it
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Ren Stedman Southend On Sea, UK
Ren Stedman, he's the acoustic guy who looks metal, has a buzzing vocal, plays from the marrow of his bones and will rip your heart out with his honesty. A fierce, fable wielding force of acoustic punk poetry.
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