MUSIC
Dream State in Sound
Music is another way into the Dream State - a place where landscape, memory, altered experience, spirituality, meaning and return can be felt before they are fully explained.
These songs are from that journey
TRACK 01
The Song of the Billabong
The Song of the Billabong
[Intro]
Hear now, traveller
Of the heavy lands
There’s an old beat waiting
Under dust and sand
[Verse 1]
I came from the water
Where the river gums lean
Where silence has a rhythm
And the stars still breathe
Then I walked to the city
Where the steel trees rise
Concrete rivers running
Under neon skies
So many drums were calling
So many voices strong
But none of them remembered
The old billabong song
[Pre-Chorus]
And I wandered like a ghost
Through the smoke and the crowd
Looking for a place
Where my heart could sound
[Chorus]
Take me back to the billabong
Where the old beat carries on
Where the earth and water speak my name
And the stars remember where I’m from
Take me back to the billabong
Not to run, but to belong
For the old songs never die
They wait in the water and the sky
[Verse 2]
We found one another
In the city’s broken light
Friends and dreamers dancing
Through the caves of night
We chanted on the hilltops
We burned like summer rain
Dreaming of a world
That could hold us all again
But morning brought the chains back
The dust, the work, the wheel
And all our wild tomorrows
Had to bow to what was real
[Pre-Chorus]
Still I heard it through the smog
Still I felt it in my bones
A whisper from the bushland
Calling me back home
[Chorus]
Take me back to the billabong
Where the old beat carries on
Where the earth and water speak my name
And the stars remember where I’m from
Take me back to the billabong
Not to run, but to belong
For the old songs never die
They wait in the water and the sky
[Bridge]
Sun above me
Moon beside me
Starlight walking
Right behind me
Fire before me
Water under
Ancient heartbeat
Rolling thunder
There was a voice once
That made the dry rivers flow
He bound us as friends
In a time long ago
Now I wait for the footstep
Now I wait for the song
In the whisper, in the water
Of the billabong
[Breakdown / Chant]
Old beat, rise
Under southern skies
Old beat, rise
Bring the lost home tonight
Old beat, rise
Through the smoke and the wrong
Old beat, rise
Sing the billabong song
[Final Chorus]
Take me back to the billabong
Where the old beat carries on
Where the earth and water speak my name
And the stars remember where I’m from
Take me back to the billabong
Not to hide, but to be strong
For the old songs never die
They wait in the water and the sky
[Outro]
To the billabong we return
Not to escape, but to remember
The old beat never dies
It waits in the water
It waits in the sky
Words and concept: Justin McDermott
Lyrics: Justin McDermott
Music created with: AI
Music production: AI and Justin McDermott
Vocals: AI
Artwork: AI and Justin McDermott
TRACK 02
Spirit
Spirit
Lead:
Mankind dies trying to find this,
goes to war for sacred roads,
kneels before the signs of heaven,
then forgets the spirit it holds.
Female backing chorus:
It’s in you, it’s in you,
still burning, still true.
It’s in you, it’s in you,
calling you through.
Lead:
The spirit sings eternal,
from the mountains to the grave,
from the sunlit halls above us
to the brimstone caves below the flame.
Female backing chorus:
Higher than the mountains,
deeper than the pain,
calling through the fire,
calling you by name.
Lead:
It lifts the lost from darkness,
puts strength back in their bones,
turns the path toward the morning,
when the night has claimed its own.
Female backing chorus:
Rise now, rise now,
walk into the light.
Rise now, rise now,
come back from the night.
Lead:
But the masses are kept hungry,
kept blinded from the sight,
while mediocrity keeps smothering
the fire we carry inside.
Female backing chorus:
Don’t let it die,
don’t let it fade,
the soul was not born
to live afraid.
Lead:
We were born to face our sorrows,
to make friends from our foes,
to conquer what has bound us,
to let the deeper river flow.
Female backing chorus:
Love is the river,
truth is the flame,
mercy is waiting,
calling your name.
Lead:
And politics keeps measuring
our fear, our false delight,
selling safety as salvation,
selling comfort as the light.
Female backing chorus:
Not the light, not the light,
that ain’t the light.
Not the truth, not the way,
that ain’t the light.
Lead:
Hell, even priests and masters
seem to lose the holy plot,
smiling while their people serve,
smiling while their people rot.
Female backing chorus:
But the spirit still remembers,
what the rulers all forgot.
The soul was made for freedom,
not to kneel and rot.
Lead:
But I tell you true and solemn,
there is something still within:
the spirit does not bow to power,
the spirit does not live in sin.
Female backing chorus:
It won’t bow down,
it won’t break thin,
the spirit is the doorway,
the kingdom is within.
Lead:
It will serve you if you seek it,
it will burn through shame and skin,
to the place where love has answers,
to the place where truth can win.
Female backing chorus:
Seek it, seek it,
deep within.
Love has answers,
truth will win.
Lead:
And the seven deadliest shadows
will no longer wear their grin,
for the spirit knows the doorway
where the soul comes home again.
Female backing chorus:
No more pride, no more greed,
no more hunger dressed as need,
no more wrath, no more chains,
love will wash the ancient stain.
Lead:
The spirit — the answer to mankind.
Seek it out. It is not hard to find.
Where truth and love are finally bound,
the lost are lifted,
and the found are crowned.
Female backing chorus / outro:
The spirit, the spirit,
it’s calling mankind.
The spirit, the spirit,
open your eyes.
Truth and love,
truth and love,
finally bound.
The lost are lifted,
the found are crowned.
The spirit, the spirit,
it was here all along.
The spirit, the spirit,
still singing the song.
Words and concept: Justin McDermott
Lyrics: Justin McDermott
Music created with: AI
Music production: AI and Justin McDermott
Vocals: AI
Artwork: AI and Justin McDermott
TRACK 03
Herbal Remedies
Herbal Remedies
Lead:
Herbal remedies,
is this what came to please?
Erasing all the bad luck,
all those ill-fated memories.
Forbidden little comforts,
old insecurities,
so what else is left for me
but these intoxicating herbal remedies?
Female backing chorus:
Ease the mind,
ease the pain,
green smoke rising
through the rain.
Hold him down,
let him breathe,
lost inside
the herbal remedy.
Lead:
Another day unknown,
could be moping around,
dragging my feet through the city,
wearing that same old frown.
But I did what I thought pleased,
and the shadows in my mind were eased.
For a little while, I could believe
there was nothing left to grieve.
Female backing chorus:
For a little while,
for a little peace,
the noise got quiet,
the war released.
Lead:
The pendulum swings on,
and everyone goes along,
playing only what they know,
playing their favourite song.
Dull idleness sets in the city,
the devil’s plaything, and he shows no pity.
We get engrossed in misfortune,
while the sky keeps turning grey.
Female backing chorus:
Round and round,
the city sleeps,
the devil laughs
while the lonely keep.
Round and round,
the same old song,
everyone swears
they’re moving on.
Lead:
Expectations were high,
and this case-study boy
was never really taught
how to cry.
So he compressed all the weight
in the back of his head.
Thinking too much
forced the herb to put him to bed.
Female backing chorus:
Case-study boy,
too much in his mind,
looking for a doorway,
looking for a sign.
Case-study boy,
never taught to cry,
so he swallowed down the thunder
and stared into the sky.
Lead:
Trapped by his love,
he battled the tide.
Pushing forward, he cried,
but no one stepped aside.
And she’s not allowed
to come into the ride.
So helpless, staring
into the green world,
he jumps inside.
Female backing chorus:
Into the green world,
into the dream,
where nothing is simple,
and nothing is clean.
Into the green world,
where the lost ones hide,
he opened up the doorway
and jumped inside.
Lead:
No one outside these worlds
could ever understand,
the irony of it all —
our future is in demand.
So spells are cast
till there’s faith in their voice,
spread across the land,
another way of thinking,
another kind of choice.
Female backing chorus:
Cast the spell,
find the voice,
was it healing,
was it choice?
Cast the spell,
let it stand,
green smoke moving
across the land.
Lead:
Different from the path
they said was always planned.
Different from the future
they tried to place in my hands.
Maybe it’s a cure,
maybe it’s a chain.
Maybe it’s a shelter
from the endless rain.
Female backing chorus:
Is it freedom?
Is it need?
Is it hunger?
Is it seed?
Is it comfort?
Is it grief?
Is it medicine,
or just belief?
Lead:
Herbal remedies,
is this what came to please?
To soften all the sharp things,
to bend the breaking trees.
But if I’m lost inside it,
let the truth still speak to me.
Let love be more than smoke,
let peace be more than sleep.
Female backing chorus / outro:
Ease the mind,
but keep the soul.
Light the fire,
but don’t lose control.
Green world calling,
green world deep,
don’t let the remedy
become the keep.
Herbal remedies,
herbal remedies,
was it healing,
was it need?
Herbal remedies,
herbal remedies,
let him wake
from the green-world dream.
Words and concept: Justin McDermott
Lyrics: Justin McDermott
Music created with: AI
Music production: AI and Justin McDermott
Vocals: AI
Artwork: AI and Justin McDermott
TRACK 04
Quest For Freedom
Quest for Freedom
I have not found the way out yet,
but I know what I am looking for.
I see the pressure of those early years,
the hands that shaped me, the hopes and fears,
the drive that moved before I knew
what I was chasing or what was true.
I see the growing pains, the roads I ran,
the boy becoming some kind of man,
all that was good, all that went wrong,
all that became both wound and song.
I saw the striving, inside and out,
the fight for meaning beneath the doubt,
the limits built like walls of stone,
and every soul trying to break its own.
Some climbed higher by pushing others down,
built their kingdoms and claimed the crown,
power, possession, glory and pride,
with other people’s lives buried inside.
Monuments reaching into the sky
while graves beneath them multiplied.
They called it victory, called it fate,
but every empire learns too late.
Somewhere beneath the noise and flame,
another truth kept calling my name.
Not in the hunger to conquer it all,
but in the hands that reached when I started to fall.
I’m on a quest for freedom,
beyond the rule of fear,
a freedom wide as infinity,
a truth that draws me near.
A freedom that does not end
in tragedy and pain,
a freedom to turn toward love
again and again.
I saw the ones who carried the truth
when the world had no room for living proof,
the ones who questioned, created and taught,
who gave themselves to the truths they sought.
Called foolish, broken, dangerous, strange,
because every age is afraid of change.
They carried thought through ridicule
while comfort hid behind borrowed rules.
Their lives became part of the path:
warnings behind me, questions ahead,
voices travelling beyond their time,
still reaching into yours and mine.
They showed what destroys us
and showed what remains,
showed how love can survive through pain.
Somewhere between the storm and the scars,
I found a God who was never far.
Not a God of vengeance, punishment or pride,
but the pull toward love I kept finding inside.
Time and again when I lost my way,
love was the compass that asked me to stay.
Come back.
Come back to love.
For love is the place
where all remains possible,
where walls may become doors
and the lost become visible,
where what has fallen
is not denied the chance to rise.
The downward spiral starts
when we turn away,
when fear finds the words
that hatred will say,
when desire becomes possession and chains,
when wounded people hand down their pain.
When suffering becomes permission to strike,
when difference is forced to become all alike,
when power decides who is worthy to breathe,
and truth is replaced by what people believe.
I have travelled the spirals
that tighten and close,
where each repetition
is all that one knows,
where darkness keeps feeding
the darkness before,
and each broken answer
creates something more.
But I have seen other spirals
that widen and grow,
Words and concept: Justin McDermott
Lyrics: Justin McDermott
Music created with: AI
Music production: AI and Justin McDermott
Vocals: AI
Artwork: AI and Justin McDermott