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Stranger In My Own Hometown

by Greg Fleming and The Working Poor

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    Digi-pack cd - limited edition - just 200 of these for sale, less than 50 left. Photographs by Ted Baghurst, designed by award-winning New York-based graphic artist Andrew B. White. Signed by Greg.

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  • Full Digital Discography

    13
    releases

    Get all 13 Greg Fleming and The Working Poor releases available on Bandcamp.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Same City, Lucille's Gotta Go Back Home, Gas, coffee, cigarettes and gum, Tourists for a Day, Working Poor Country, Flew in from Vegas, Last Names, Headlights, and 5 more. , and , .

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1.
Stranger In My Own Hometown 04:16
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I arrived yesterday gridlocked streets cold and grey. I loved you once you let me down. I'm a stranger a stranger in my own hometown. I'm passing through I never stay I cannot wait to get away junkyard dogs chase me down I'm a stranger a stranger in my own hometown. I sit in my hotel, I look outside and I see hell. I'm a stranger, a stranger in my own hometown I can't get served can't get a seat I queue for hours just to eat. Buildings fall beggars hound. I'm a stranger a stranger in my own hometown. I used to live over there I said hello and they just stared I said goodbye and they just scowled I'm a stranger, a stranger in my own hometown
2.
Heart's A Wreck 03:59
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Marianne stopped me in the middle of the street She said boy you look like you could use something sweet. I looked at her she hadn’t changed a bit, Pretty as a peach, smart as a whip. Time on me has taken its toll My heart’s a wreck baby don’t you know. I fell in love we had a blast But things like that never last, I’m back living with my sister Sue Working with the same old crew. Time on me has taken its toll My heart’s a wreck baby don’t you know Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh I met Juliette on Princess Street I buy the coffee she gets the seat. We used to be married Now we’re just friends. And we’re building up the courage to do it again. Time on us has taken its toll My heart’s a wreck baby don’t you know Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
3.
Corporate Hill 04:47
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Corporate Hill Another millionaire in a big old bed white as a sheet and almost dead. Friends lining up to pay their respects taking bets on who is next. Then the truth came out he stole and lied and the world was better off the day he died. He made a lot of rich men richer still. He’s a hero up there on Corporate Hill. They smile and they flatter and they throw down crumbs and when we lose our jobs they call us bums. They’ll buy you for a dollar and sell you for ten and cut your wages back again. On Corporate Hill the lights shine bright, they got the smartest minds to make wrong seem right. My Daddy wants me to work harder still, so I can make it up there on Corporate Hill. There’s a crowd at the gates and they’re shaking their fists, they aint got enough money to feed their kids. The market’s in flames And the banks are closed, a dollar aint worth a shake of salt. On Corporate Hill The flags still fly “Was that the company fireworks Lighting up the sky?” Extra steaks go on the grill, there’s some hungry people there on Corporate Hill. And despite their hunger And their hopeless minds And their broken hearts up they climbed. Somebody cried – “make ‘em sign, like they made us do, on the bottom line.” Right at the top they found’ em all, steaks on their plates in the banquet hall. They climbed the tower, they rang the bell. There’s some new people now on Corporate Hill. As I sit and watch the city at night I pray for those who died in the fight. I lost count of all the men I killed. That’s the price you pay to stay on Corporate Hill.
4.
Gospel Choir 03:46
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Gospel Choir God left his fingerprints at the accident nobody survived hooker on the corner said “I tried to warn her, warn her about that guy.” Pete showed his press pass smoked some Thai grass read his magazine went back to peddling some celebrity wedding tickets selling like a dream Chorus The fish they float and the bank it's broke but I'm doin' ok, the gospel choir it’s cheap to hire but they got no songs to play to play to play they got no songs to play to play to play they got no songs to play I told you words I never meant I'm sentimental like that, don't break down my door! Pete’s still comatose and Janey looks down her nose rolls up a $100 straw. You drowned in the apocalypse sailed a 1000 ships across a burning sea But you didn’t turn off your microphone and you weren’t home alone having that good a time Chorus I loved you yesterday now I’m a million miles away. You can’t be surprised. You sold me up the river and I pretended to forgive you, but baby I lied. Pete put out a press release and went back to sleep Janey caught a plane And the street sweeper sweepin got a hell of a beatin when the cops read his name.
5.
Look Where We Ended Up (Killer's Town) 02:59
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6.
Night Country Blues 04:38
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7.
Autumn Auckland 03:14
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Autumn Auckland Winter clothes in the store windows but it aint even cold. The days are getting shorter. I don't know where they go. Cars crawl up the North-Western lovers park and ride - no way you're up before the mobile coffee guy Autumn Auckland she wakes up and shines and the night she leaves behind. I'm talking and she aint listening she's got her own thing goin on Streetlights switching off as the day begins to dawn. Make-up in the car mirror incident up ahead she's forgotten the man she left sleeping in her bed. Autumn Auckland she wakes up and shines and the night she leaves behind. The traffic's walking and nobody's on time in Auckland in autumn we don't mind. Autumn Auckland Autumn Auckland Autumn Auckland
8.
Sunday Spells Trouble 04:16
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9.
Down On The Corner 04:34
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10.
This Love Is Gonna Survive 04:13
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about

One of Greg's first shows was opening up for Townes Van Zandt since then he's built up a reputation as a razor sharp songwriter - now working with The Working Poor one of Australasia's finest, forward-thinking rock bands. Stranger follows on from the highly acclaimed 2014 album Forget the Past -

"Some albums come with lyrics sheets which you think must be embarrassing for the "songwriter". Not so Aucklander Greg Fleming whose lyrics are so economic that as you listen you can picture the scenarios and characters." Graham Reid Elsewhere

"Not all listeners like those masculine hard-edged whiskey-soaked voices like Tom Waits, Jon Dee Graham, Otis Gibbs or even John Haitt. But, Greg seems to have found a balanced mother-lode that straddles the mineral from the grasslands." John Apice No Depression.

Locked into the present - but sure to sound as fresh in years to come - Stranger In My Own Hometown is Greg's finest album to date and one of the must-have rock records of the year.
"This is a very direct record. I'm writing about what I see around me - the sublime, and especially the ridiculous. Let's just say it's got a nice sense of dry humour," says Greg.

Humour combined with some breath-taking narratives - see Gospel Choir and Corporate Hill, and the wry dystopian anthem Look Where We Ended Up (Killer's Town) - co-written with Working Poor guitarist Andrew Thorne. Elsewhere Down on The Corner and Heart's a Wreck - which live Greg dedicates to anyone over 40 - serve up some irresistibly hook-laden modern rock.

Parts of the record deal with Greg's love/hate relationship with his hometown Auckland (the title track and the beautiful piano ballad Autumn Auckland).
"I got the title track's name from an old Elvis song (penned by Percy Mayfield) and put my own spin on it. I think I hate the city and then leave it for two days and can't wait to get back!" (See Night Country Blues an edgy, beat driven rocker, arranged and played by ace Auckland producer Wayne Bell).
The last track on the record - This Love Is Gonna Survive - was also the last recorded.
"I said to that track's producer and co-writer Andrew Thorne - what if we slowed this right down and crossed a Lana Del Rey thing with a Willie Nelson feel. A weird combination but it really works. I wanted to keep my own sound but push in new directions with this record."
Another highlight is the one-take acoustic Sunday Spells Trouble which proves Fleming's songs are strong enough to be stripped back to their bones.
"A long time ago I drank a lot of peppermint tea and wrote these sad-as-hell love songs. The peppermint tea's long gone but this song stuck around."

credits

released July 9, 2015

Recorded at The Lab and The Anteroom and Double Happy Music. Produced by Wayne Bell. SIMOH is Greg’s second with The Working Poor.

All music and lyrics by Greg Fleming - except LWWEU and TLIGS music Greg Fleming/Andrew Thorne

Licensing enquiries to forgetthepastrecordsnz@gmail.com

The Working Poor are

Greg Fleming vocals, acoustic guitar, piano on Autumn Auckland.
John Segovia- elec gtr
Andrew Thorne - elec gtr
Nick Duirs - piano, bvs
Mark Hughes - bass
Wayne Bell - drums

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Greg Fleming and The Working Poor Auckland, New Zealand

Greg Fleming is often referred to as a pioneer of alt country in New Zealand. One of his first gigs was supporting Texan legend Townes Van Zandt, afterwards Van Zandt took him aside and told him “don’t ever stop writing” . Greg didn’t and has six critically acclaimed albums bear out Van Zandt's belief. The new album Same City continues to show Fleming operating at the peak of his powers. ... more

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