Artist Website for Teri Mantere
  • Home
  • Music
  • Lyrics

How Many Times -Single Release

How many times

We push the limits
How many times
We quit the physics


Well, it’s too much trouble just to run with it
So, all the more reason just to part with it
And you can’t light a fire with failing flint
As you know


How many times
They stole the power
How many times
They trumped the tower


Well, it’s too much trouble just to run with it
So, all the more reason just to part with it
And you can’t light a fire with a failing flint
As you know


Martyrdom is viewed as a currency
You escape blame and blur responsibility
And the innocent will pay for the calamity
This we know


How many times
They trumped the tower

Everything Needs to Breathe - Debut Album

Forest Floor
 
we’d better get over ourselves
forget this twisting up
and listen
talk about your dreams
 
water babbling on a warm day
looks so beautiful
but, where I come from
the trees are a different kind of funky green and grey
 
you’re a beautiful soul
my secret toe-dance-lady
not so secret anymore
 
and the soil I miss
is hidden in your kiss
your love is the forest floor
 
so, I get easily sidetracked
with my beehive-state-of-mind
but, well, listen again
I’m falling on the forest floor
 
and the soil I miss
is hidden in your kiss
your love is the forest floor
your love is the forest floor
I want to lay down
on your forest floor
 
 
 
Dream We Had
 
dream we had
still beginning
in the air
still ringing
 
a change is in the wind
a soaring, turning thing
a rage of motion tearing at the trees

a wave is going to hit
take all along with it
and wreck the world
built for years and years
 
hope they had
still forgiving
in the end
still clinging
 
a change is in the wind
a soaring, turning thing
a rage of motion tearing at the trees

a wave is going to hit
take all along with it
and wreck the world
built for years and years
 

 
Everything Needs To Breathe
 
everything needs to breathe in this place
 
I’ve come across liars in my time
they took my place
steal my life for a dime
my breathing space
 
everything needs to breathe in this place
 
this place we all had such hopes for
we’re to leave for those who’ll follow
I fear these hopes they all depend
on how much pride we have to swallow
 
everything needs to breathe in this place
 
I’ve come across liars in my time
they took my place
steal my life for a dime
my breathing space
 
only the truth lights my fire
it lends its grace
so, don’t give me that shit you desire
because it leaves a trace
 
everything needs to...
 

 
Evening Sun
 
there’s that evening sun we love
for what it brings along
the gentlest breeze
it came to signify the day is done
 
no great plan ever formed
the moment for one has been and gone
the mornings are all the same
and tonight I’m feeling worn
 
could not believe the drop
I was unstoppable
til I was made to stop
 
here’s to morning sun
it glorifies all these comings on
I hope the evenings are not the same
cos I’m done with being worn
 
could not believe the drop
I was unstoppable
everybody heard the pin drop
I was unstoppable
til I was made to stop
 
 
 
Beautiful Being
 
beautiful being on the rocks
your perfect passenger
necessary frailty
means the world and more to me
 
glimmering water
so glad I caught her
here at the edge of the sea
 
 
 
Never Alone
 
just a thought or two
nothing less than safe simplicity
endeavour all the days in enigmatic plays
that seem to go on as before
 
just approaching the pinnacle of the pitiful
still, the cynical laugh
hold out a cup to fill it up, if just a mouthful
not joy, but a reason to live
 
if every second counts
what amount should be given?
what if we feel lost in the lives we’re living?
every step you take and every move you make
you’re never alone in this world
 
 
 
Lose Your Love
 
start our day. Get up show up
asleep, awake. No difference on a hazy day
don’t wanna grow up
run away, but time does run out
 
going on
worst foot forward
I do you wrong
run into a wall
I hate it when you’re right about me
especially when I’m wrong about you
 
if I lose your love I lose my world
if I lose your love I lose my world
 
colour me red and enraged
corner me when I’m on rampage
I say the words I know are most haunting
but afterwards it’s me they’re taunting
 
moving on all I want is
to hold you strong, far from all this
I hate it when I’m wrong about you
I love it when you’re right about me
 
if I harm your love I break my world
don’t wanna lose your love
it’s you I love. You’re my world
 
 
 
Not The Same
 
searching for a home
inside the house I live
wasted the hours granted me
this day will end differently
 
my world is not the same
your keepsakes remind me everyday
I lose my way trying to fight it
my world is not the same
 
a mind like a freeway junction
goes fast, will lose function
heavy rain flood the shoulder
hopes drenched under the torrent
 
my world is not the same
your keepsakes remind me everyday
I lose my way trying to fight it
my world is not the same
 
my world is not the same
your keepsakes remind me everyday
I lose my way trying to fight it
my world is not the same
 
 
 
Quota
 
words will come and go
occasionally, though
they might not easily flow
sometimes you know, sometimes you don’t


a rolling, deep and slow sound reverberating
through this concrete field of speedy paces
just past the worried faces
 
they haven’t got the time
haven’t got the time
 
glacial words flow
scrapingly go
at least they come and go
sometimes we know, this time we don’t


a poor and frost-bit soul won’t stand out
in this concrete field of speedy paces
it’s just another of the worried, this face is
 
we haven’t got the time
we haven’t got the time
we haven’t got the time
haven’t got the time
 
we haven’t got the time
we haven’t got the time
just quota no time
make quota, no life
 
we haven’t got the time
we haven’t got the time
make quota no time
make quota, no life
 
we haven’t got the time
I wanna stop the time
 
we haven’t got the time
we haven’t got the time
 
 
 
Alright
 
wanna rise with the sun
open eyes in wonder
many days they start
many clouds make it dark
 
gonna rise with the sun
these clouds it will open
many lives in upheaval
many crowds they wander
 
no matter how dark it gets
I’ll never give up the hope that
everything can still turn out alright
 
no matter how dark it gets
I’ll never give up the hope that
everything will still turn out alright

PART I – Teri Mantere & the Manta Rays

1. Innocent

Lost for words on a strange night
Everything's fine but something's lost
I want her, I need her, I fear her sometimes

Tug the cords, see which pieces move
To clear the locks from your mind, from your heart
I want her, I need her, I fear her sometimes
Looking at me with those innocent eyes

C'mon, smile free
C'mon, let go of me
Looking at me with those innocent eyes

Found the words, caught my soul alight
My body's on fire. I've got to say these words right
I want her, I need her, I fear her sometimes
Looking at me with those eyes

C'mon, smile free...


2. Bet It All

You know the feeling that you can't contain
And you hope the circumstances don't change
Here's your chance to bet it all
Greater, still, to throw away
To mind your business in the innocence of growing old
And learn mistakes as they progress

To learn mistakes as they progress
Coercion until they confess
Diversion needing to digress
Decrease and overall depress

I'd rather not dwell
Cos favouritism stole the bill
The accolades of which
Strewn around at will

You know the feeling that you can't...
To learn mistakes as they progress
Like a kiss that leads to awkwardness
Your strength defeats your uselessness
That's when crying leads to happiness


3. Questions


Why take a stand
Why take a walk
Why think: "Gonna go"
Take time to talk
Why hide
Not tell, nor show

Why love, why lie
Why live, why die

Matter of fact
Try evidence
Matter for faith
Try providence
Why fight, why still
Why rage, kill

Why love, why...

Take alone
Or take tandem
Is there a reason
For this jealousy candid
Why none, why all
I'll climb, we'll fall

To chance trust
Is not to cower
And not to wilt
Is to flower

Why love...

All those sleeping beauties
Hit the spindle
They try the bottle
They try the needle

Why love...


4. Moleskine Melody


This moleskine melody
Is jumpin' around
And my head agrees with its sound

This moleskine melody
is bouncing around
The first of its kind that I think I've found

I travelled long
Not so far
To get the tone right
To start it of light

This moleskine melody
is what I sing
Sometimes it's so good to enjoy familiar things

I travelled long
Not so far
To get the tone right
To start it off lighter than usual

This moleskine melody
Echoes back
A sudden, unexpected, happiness attack

I travelled long...


5. A Thousand Times


Perfect moments slip away
Too much intended to be done today
So, I just sat and stared at walls
Scattered cubes, window rising tall
Just gonna draw paint brushes
I'm not gonna paint at all
I've climbed these stairs a thousand times
Lost count of the accumulated miles

Careful, almost lost your grip
Two: desperate and lonely
Now, that's a partnership!
Heaven hold you in its arms
Cos your nearest friends must have missed those alarms

We made a mess of what it is
Or what it could've been
Without all those witnesses
Cover up your teary eyes
I never could handle long drawn out goodbyes
I've heard that song a thousand time

​It always seems to bring a change
Just when you wish everything remains as it is
Heaven bring you back to me
Cos I can only seem to drag my feet

Songs For The Indecisive

Song For The Indecisive

I had good reasons for my reasons 
Taking them away is unreasonable
As influence like effluent
Alarming, the more affluent
An offer to which not to acquiesce

Before good meanings turn out fiendish
Whatever it means cannot mean this
As influence like...

Meaning what is said and
Saying what is meant, and
Living what is dreamt is
All we ever meant for, anyway

I had poor reasons for my reasons
​Taking them away is not unreasonable

​
Waiting

Waiting, lay here waiting for the morning
To see the first time that you open your eyes
In the morning

Waiting, lay here waiting for the morning
To hear the first thing that you say
To hear the first thing that you whisper
In the morning
Love your mornings

I want to be the first thing in your world
​In the morning

​
No Ghost

No Ghost


Losing Mind

I'm not afraid of losing my mind
My mind has lost me many times
Underneath such a typical sky
Waiting for more untypical times
We need less complex ways
To solve the emotional lackaday
Nothing can cause so much unrest
Like violent indifference at its very best

These careless times are at an end
No more chasing after the wind
It's time I cared for you, my friend
So, the careless times are at an end
An ankle full of mosquito bites
Will itch the whole damned night through
Let's say my heart is an ankle
​And it's been bitten by you


​
All content owned by Teri Mantere
Website photos by Antti Kokkola.

​© 2022 Teri Mantere
  • Home
  • Music
  • Lyrics