more from
Domino Recording Co
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Has A Good Home

by Owen Pallett

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $9.99 USD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Remastered by João Carvalho at Revolution
    Includes a download card to the digital deluxe edition of this release

    Domino is pleased to announce a remastered reissue of Owen Pallett’s early catalogue. Pallett has built a reputation on live virtuosity, as violinist for the many local Toronto bands, followed by the wild looped-violin songwriting solo project. Has a Good Home serves as an introduction (and features many of Pallett’s best-known songs), and the follow-up He Poos Clouds is a string quartet album based on the Dungeons & Dragons School of Magic, and was awarded the inaugural Polaris Music Prize.

    Please note: Any purchases of the digital album previously made via Owen Pallett's Bandcamp has been the remastered audio.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Has A Good Home via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $26 USD or more 

     

1.
Son, son We've got to run away from inheritance Son, son I must allow you to learn of sustenance None of you will ever see a penny Of my ill-begotten wealth Stick around You will see a rich man cry I wish, I wish for you a lifetime of labor Hard days make peaceful nights
2.
Crown myself the prince of buzz 
 Can't wait until you, can't wait 'til you unsubscribe  
I'll be a lonely scribe 

 But what if they like it? 
 And lock us in a cannery with your accordion 
 Until we can our love  
We can get along 
 We can get along 
 Montreal might eat its young 
 But Montreal won't break us down 

 Now I've got a VCR 
 If we put our hearts in twenty thousand tiny jars 
 They'd never leave their homes 
 We can get along 
 We can get along 
 Montreal might eat its young 
 But Montreal won't break us down 

 I tried and tried and tried and tried  
And tried and tried to keep the crowds away 
3.
Do not offer me a contract 
 Got no use for a house by the sea 
 All I ask for is a warm body  
To keep this winter from killing me  

Every time you close your eyes and lie still 
 You look just like a dead man 
 Dead man, dead man, I'll sing your story  
Dead man come to live again 

 You scan the skies for signs of heaven 
 Heaven, what use is heaven for you? 
 Spend your time instead 
 Spend your time with us, us
4.
Furniture 02:02
Try, try, try to arrange me 
 But there's no romance in my blood  
Try, try, you'll never persuade me 
 My only tears fall with the rain 

 My father had a dozen wives 
 And a child by every one 
 I am from about #5
 So don't expect me to stay with anyone 

 Try, try, try to arrange me  
But there's no romance in my blood 
 Try, try, you'll never persuade me  
My only tears fall with the rain  

My mother never takes a break  
From her pining after furniture 
 Every moment on her feet is torture 
 And I share her love of wine and cake 
 And taking advantage of amateurs
5.
We the dead, we the dead find a country road  
Country road, lead the dead from our homes to the ground 
 Make a book of the maggots our bodies will snare  
'Cause the earth is the earth, no need to travel in the air 

 The CN Tower is built upon our bones 
The CN Tower will always be our home

 Decorate 'round the base, all the graves of our lost loves 
 Cabbages, ginger root and a crucifix 

 Never rode on the plains, never thought I couldn't stay  
Had a good run anyway, had a good run anyway 
 I could fill up the lake with all the things I didn't say 
 Had a good run anyway, had a good run anyway  

From the top of the tower  
Radio buzz in our ears 
 We can see your house from here 
 We can see your house from here 
6.
Took you two years to win my heart 
 Then two words to break it 
 The love you ignited 
you fire-fighted and roared  
Bellowing into the rainy night 

 They say heartbreak is good for the skin 
 But all that it's helped is my drinking  
Picking fights with myself and my friends 
 And my friends threatening to do me in  

Took you two years to win my heart 
 Then two words to break it 
 More surprising than two years of lying is how People let you get away with it  

Saturday sleep-ins with no distractions 
 Summer sun and songbirds 
 Once kept afloat by the popular vote, now 
 Blotted out by your two words  Mighty Leon, wind the tape 
 And be sure of one thing 
 Every song from a heart this mangled 
 Will be draped in strings, strings, strings
7.
I had to hide myself in a book 
 To keep your love away 
 The pages worn with all of my faults 
 The cover torn away 

 I gave my life to the Water God  
For an apprenticeship 
 Answering his mail and his door 
 For nyads, hippogryphs
 After Midwinter Banquet, He shook his head, "Sadly, no.  
"I can reverse the river's flow 
 "But I can never send you home."  

I had to hide myself in a book 
 To keep your love away 
 When you read me, I get to look 
 Back at my younger days
8.
---> 00:39
Doll, I love you, but sometimes I need a day off Don't get that facelift as a result Don't you mind you can take one too Don't you mind, don't you mind
9.
Hey yo yo yo yo yo 
 I need an empire to overthrow 
 You make me wish for a more dangerous life 
 So I can show you 'bout self sacrifice 

 Say yes yes yes yes yes 
 Say no no no to a natural death  
I'd rather give my life to god as man 
 Than have to line up at the bank again 

 Oh you you you you you  
If you only knew the lengths I'd go to  
You pack away all your ballpoint pens 
 And take a plane back to the Philippines
10.
Library 03:13
I will burn, burn, burn my every book To warm your cold, cold blood 
Goodbye fascist blind man Goodbye drunken doctor 
 Goodbye Finnish beauty  
Let the people stop and wonder 

 Anna, Gerald, J. Henry Waugh 
 Let this longing retire  
I will purge my shelf of classics 
 Watch them fade upon the fire 
11.
Fascinated with the underclass 
 She broke down and decided to act 

 For every new baby, investment, investment  
For every whore, relief 
 No matter a drunkard, a swineherd, a Spaniard 
 We're all treated equally  

Canada, Cana-da-dee-doo-dee-da Let her keep a memento 
 She has not been able to sleep 
 Since the days of Trudeau 
 On music, on painting, distract us with drawing 
 And don't let the audience die 
 Watch Alice get better, and Peggy get stronger  
They'll still publish once in a while
12.
All that she wants is a man with a tan 
 A mashing pot and matching pan 
 A minivan 
 As high an income as she can  
Who are you to judge?
13.
Drought's been hard, and the cows are all slaughtered 
 But my love for you needs no water 

 You miss your youth, and you miss the city 
 Have no regret, have no pity 

 Smoke blows thick, and turns midday to midnight 
 But my love for you needs no sunlight  

Don't be saddened, just look around, love 
 All things shining, all things shining
14.
Ask yourself, are you a slut? (No you're not!)
 Did you forget how much you are worth? (It's a lot!)  
Do you remember when we used do it all for free? 

 Your head is shouting, "Please please please
 "Don't let your cock do all the work."

 Where did you bottle up the gentleman, the gentleman?  
Where did you bottle up the gentleman, the gentleman? 
 Give me your hands, give me your hands 
 Give me your hands, give me your hands 

 Your head is shouting, "Please please please
 "Don't let your cock do all the work."
 All those around you, please please please  
What can you do to shut us up?
 You are like a shut-in on the prowl 
 Everyday is like your first night off (since your bail!) 
But we will never write you off 
 We will never write you off 
 We will never write you off 

15.
Twice was enough 
 Third would be an insult 
 To my condition  

Dime in the rough 
 You see opportunity 
 I see apparitions 

 Changing my mind 
 Is not so incredible  
I do it all the time 

 Better than worse  
Is free from the curse  
And when I came to 
 It all felt rehearsed 

 Better than worse  
Is free from the curse 
 And when I came to  
It'd all been reversed
16.
The Sea 02:17
I waded out too far  
Lost sight of the shore 
 Sunk beneath the surface, I closed, I closed my eyes  

The undertow would take me down 
 The waves take me home  I went limp and I let the sea, the sea decide

 Gentle listener, this is why I sing:
 Confusion 
 Sweet confusion, you'll be my only child 


about

Please note: Any purchases of the digital album previously made via Owen Pallett's Bandcamp has been the remastered audio.

credits

released February 12, 2005

The Musicians: Owen Pallett, Leon Taheny, Loretto Reid, Doug Tielli, Reg Vermue, Paige Gratland. Mississauga! did some vocals, the St. Kitts Quartet did the strings. 



This album was made in the last six days of 2004 at Leon’s Home.  Al P recorded the drums and organ at Chemical Sound.  Leon and Al mixed the record.  Mastered by Joao Carvalho at Revolution in Toronto. 



“Better Than Worse” is written by Robert Kieswetter and was performed by Bobby Birdman, who originally recorded it while on his bicycle. “An Arrow In The Side Of Final Fantasy” is largely based on a melody from the game Six Golden Coins.” Everything else was written by Owen, with contributions from Leon. 



Thanks to all the friends and family, your names are written in the stars. 



Thanks to: Jonny Dovercourt, Maggie MacDonald, Iris Fraser, Chris, Kika and Peter, Jessie Stein, Alex Durlak, Steven Kado, The Tahenys, Lex & Paige, and Davida Nemeroff. Special thanks to Al P, Leon and Patrick. 



Thanks: The Phonemes, Deep Dark United, Gentleman Reg, The Arcade Fire, Xiu Xiu, Hank, The SS Cardiacs and Animal Monster. 



Thanks to: Blocks Recording Club (& all related projects), The Vinyl Cafe, 640x480, Toronto. 

P 2005 C 2019 Domino Recording Company Ltd. DOMINORECORDCO.COM
20 Jay Street, Suite 626, Brooklyn, NY 11201
PO Box 47029 London SW18 1WD

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Owen Pallett Toronto, Ontario

contact / help

Contact Owen Pallett

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Owen Pallett, you may also like: