A white house with a folly –
a tower attached.
On the side
a hand painted saint
(lovingly painted)
peeps over a high wall
which surrounds the white house.
His loving gaze
is interrupted
by a line of broken glass
cemented
on top of the high wall.
The saint
lovingly dares
the outsider,
or the stray cat,
to intrude
and receive his loving blessing
At least I won't be shot for singing
I'm a free agent - I can protest
This must be freedom
I must be happy!
So let Mandela rot in prison
Someone should tell him how lucky he is
Read him George Orwell, explain Solidarity because
He must understand how he needs us
What with our Culture, our Charm and our Brains
But how could he understand?
Le Chat qui Pêche,
Rue de la Huchette.
Paris at night,
and the strains of a ghost saxophone.
Juliette and Miles.
Black and white city.
Paris by night,
and the ghosts of two people in love.
I'll be dreaming again,
always dreams of yesterdays.
Those days live on,
safe here in my heart.
Cherchez la femme,
slips through a doorway,
out of the night
to the warmth of a new lover's arms.
Rue St Benoît.
La route enchantée.
Indigo nights,
and the ghost of the moon in the Seine.
I'll be dreaming again,
always dreams of yesterdays.
Those days live on,
Open your window
lend an ear
and then
pull back the curtain
hurry
so you can hear
Listen to the
as it rises
riding the breeze
leaving gravity's children
agrounded
Onwards and upwards
that's the way
ever on
beyond the highest plateau
that's OK
There's a reason why some people float
sometimes
are floored
God knows this reason
that's what gods are for
Press on your window
You look different every time
you come from the foam crested brine,
it's your skin shining softly in the moonlight.
Partly fish, partly porpoise,
partly baby sperm whale.
Am I yours, are you mine to play with?
Joking apart,
when you're drunk you're terrific,
when you're drunk I like you mostly
late at night, you're quite alright.
But I can't understand the different you
in the morning when it's time to play
at being human for a while.
Please smile.
You'll be different in the spring,
I know you're a seasonal beast,
like the starfish that drift in
with the tide, with the tide.
So until your blood runs
to meet the next full moon,
Your madness fits in nicely
with my own, with my own.
Your lunacy fits neatly with my own,
my very own.
The Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves, and blood at the roots
Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the 'Gallant South'
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolia, sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop
I thought love was only true in fairytales
Meant for someone else but not for me
Love was out to get me
That's the way it seemed
Disappointment haunted all my dreams
Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer
Not a trace of doubt in my mind
I'm in love, I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her if I tried
I thought love was more or less a givin' thing
Seems the more I gave the less I got
What's the use in trying?
All you get is pain
When I needed sunshine I got rain
Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer
Not a trace of doubt in my mind
I'm in love, I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her if I tried
Love was out to get me
Now that's the way it seemed
Disappointment haunted all my dreams
Oh then I saw her face, now I'm a believer
Not a trace of doubt in my mind
I'm in love, I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her if I tried
Yes I saw her face, now I'm a believer
Not a trace of doubt in my mind
Said I'm a believer, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
(I'm a believer)
(I'm a believer)
Said I'm a believer, yeah
(I'm a believer)
Said I'm a believer, yeah
Two nuns
On the sea shore
Stand
Apart from one another
Black wood posts
Mesmerised
By the sea god
One nun
With human failings
And weary legs
Sinks to the sand
And sits
like a child
A golden stripe appears
On the western horizon
A signal from the sea god
That he understands
Tiredness
One staunch sister
stays standing
And the sun
I sleep on the wing
Above the rainclouds
Blown by the wind (no roots on earth)
No ground below (no ground below)
Just ruins (timeless)
Dandelion clocks (drifting)
Am I from Venus? (higher, higher)
No ocean bed, no west-wind drift
No desert sand, land or sea
No world below, blown by the wind (limbless) (homeless)
Not human
Lost in longing (lost in longing)
Never belonging (never belonging)
Am I from Venus? (higher, higher, higher)
No roots on earth (I sleep on the wing)
Nowhere I search (above the rainclouds)
No roots on earth (blown by the wind)
No ground below
Timeless (just ruins)
Drifting (dandelion clocks)
Higher, higher, higher, higher
Blown by the wind
above the rainclouds (no roots on earth)
Evening starlight
The night's below (no lights below)
Just ruins (no ocean bed) (rootless)
Dandelion clocks (no west-wind drift) (drifting)
Furry kind of greeting, not exactly hostile,
Not exactly facing, not exactly turning away,
Not exactly frowning, not exactly smiling.
Lurking by the door
Without a sign of wanting to move.
Though hardly friendly, not an angry gesture
Did it make. Just quite unnerving.
It's been a long time.
I almost forgot were we buried the hatchet.
"Bin a long time no see", (pidgin English
Native to none). After several silences
A cautious head nod. This could take forever.
Did it want to come for a dig? It did
Not answer. I was feeling restless at the door,
Ashamed of my fears. Where WAS the hatchet?
Suddenly was gone. I woke up
Feeling stupid. No-one else awake
Though dawn was only minutes away.
Quietly I rose to fill the morning pee pot.
What a silly dream,
Not like what really would have occurred.
Old wounds are healing.
Faded scars are painless - just an itch.
We are forgiven.
What on Earth are you doing, God?
Is this some sort of joke you're playing?
Is it cause we didn't pray?
Well I can't see the point of the word without the action
Are you just hot air, breathing over us and over all?
Is it fun watching us all?
Where's your son? We want him again!
And next time you send your boy down here
Give him a wife and a sexy daughter
Someone we can understand
Who's got some ideas we can use, really relate to
We've all read your rules, tried them
Learnt them in school, then tried them
They're impossible rules, and you've made us look fools
Well done, God, but now please...
Don't hunt me down, for Heaven's sake!
You know that I'm only joking, aren't I?
Pardon me I'm very drunk!
But I know what I'm trying to say, and it's nearly night
time
And we're still alone, waiting for something unknown,
still waiting
So throw down a stone, or something!
Those foreigners are at it again
When will they learn to fight like our men?
There's nothing new under the mirror
And it's time for one more bedtime story
Get beauty sleep for morning glory
How insensitive I must have seemed
when he told me that he loved me.
How unmoved and cold I must have seemed
when he told me so sincerely.
Why, he must have asked, did I just
turn and stare in icy silence?
What was I to say? What can you say
when a love affair is over?
Now he's gone away, but I'm alone
with the memory of his last look.
Vague and drawn and sad, I see it still,
all his heartbreak in that last look.
Why, he must have asked, did I just
turn and stare in icy silence?
What was I to do? What can one do?
It's a beautiful day
To see my brain??
It's a beautiful day
For a daring raid
I can see my brain??
From a far
So I open the hatch and I drop the first batch
It's a shame to miss the place
But ill see the film within days
But ill get to see the replay of my beautiful day
Relive my day
My beautiful day
Relive my beautiful day
When I open the hatch
And I drop the first batch
How they got no time
To flee total success
We could hear it
Before the shutters were open
The wind on the beach
Then we found
Miniature sand dunes
On the concrete of the balcony
And a dead leaf, zig zagging
Scratching an urgent message in Sanskrit
Before hitching a ride on a frisky gust
A plastic bag caught by a rail
Rearing to go
In such a flap we see it free
To join a page of last week's news
Racing high above the undulating beach
And the invisible flying sand
Casting a fast moving shadow
Stroking the beach clean
Yesterday's footprints vanished
Replaced by smooth rippling
Wave formations, a copy of the sea
No one walking
Not even the dogs
I love suspense,
the thrill of the unknown.
What will I say?
I can't predict.
Where will all this lead?
I don't want to know.
Just take a chance,
things can't get much worse.
Who knows?
They might improve.
There's always hope.
When will I learn to trust myself,
embrace mystery,
Do do do do do do do do
Do do do do do do do do...
You (?) (at the light?) when the dark descends
So I don't mind when it's that time again
Perfect time for you you
For you you
For you you
I feel you when night comes again
I'm tumbling down
(It's falling?)
You gave me money stuck in my memory
Just like you
You're here where you should be
You you you
You you you
You you you
You you
Is it you, love love?
(?) away with the night
And when day comes you'll (?) (there?)
So terrible to lose you
When the morning comes
You you
You you
You you
You you
You you
You might have a lot to say.
There might be a price to pay.
Just beware.
They might smile and nod their heads,
while they wish that you were dead.
Just beware.
Your friends might not be what they seem.
Take it from me,
if you're not careful
you might get hurt one last time.
It's just a warning,
beware.
Don't get caught off your guard.
Evil lurks in all our hearts.
Just beware.
You won't last very long,
even if you are strong.
Just beware.
Don't trust anyone.
They might be your enemy.
If you're not careful,
you might get hurt one last time.
It's just a warning,
beware,
beware,
In-between lost in noise
Somewhere, somewhere
In-between got no choice
But to be here
Somewhere, somewhere
If you can hear me
If you're still there
Stay tuned
There is more to come
Oh don't start searching
I'll get back to you
Riding waves trying to reach
Somewhere, somewhere
Cannot share this moment with you
I'm particles in the air
You can't see me
But I'm here
So if you can hear me
If you're still there
Stay tuned
There is more to come
Oh don't stop searching
Stay tuned
There is more to come
Oh don't stop searching
I'll get back to you
I'll get back to you
Pa arrives in the city of the closed doors,
Greeted by miners from Asturias.
His limousine streaks past giant shiny moneyboxes,
Huddled together for warmth.
He is deposited in his inner chamber.
Later, Pa meets the bear, impersonates a tree
To confuse the hell's gates dogs' sense of smell,
And rests for chess with no-one.
Then (amongst the closed doors) he shrinks,
Is dwarfed by rabbits, expands again
To invade the destiny of fourteen mysterious others,
Strangely clad, captured by a camera,
carefully arranged, with a space for his image.
A plot hatched by fate.
Pa looks for diversion in the written word,
Meanwhile, the mundane world seeks solace in illusion.
An imprisoned rainbow gives shelter to the homeless.
A painted machine registers the weight of mystery,
And for background interest a kilometre of women
Queue to kiss a wooden foot, patiently.
The Queen had been.
But no information, in the city of the closed doors,
On Christian Spain.
Elsewhere, bare buttocks wait their turn.
In vain. No guides available. All busy in the Prado,
Followed by shuffling feet. Fascinated. Perhaps.
Outside again in the mundane world,
In the city of the closed doors,
Living men impersonate sleeping saints,
On sundry raised surfaces, (like benches).
Art objects seat beadless (beneath coats).
Performance artists simulate poverty and beg.
A day's begging pays the entrance fee
To the Cinema of Terror. A golden gas mask
Throw the torturers off the trail, amongst
The grazed walls of the city of the closed doors.
Pa escapes,
Samples the delights of raw fish, good wine,
Closes the door of his inner chamber,
Bring out your foghorns,
the mist has descended.
The alley's never been blinder.
What light there is,
is too diffused
to indicate any direction.
What light there is,
Orange,
Fierce orange of the egg shaped fireball
Plopping into the ocean
As the earth tips backwards towards night
Orange,
Scratched orange of the gas bottles
Delievered, for lack of pipeline
Dragged to the door by the man in a wig
Orange,
Soft orange of two full moons
One high, one low in a puddle mirror
Roger's in the archive looking up casement
Martha's in the government digging up the basement
Rebel into representative for the voter
Shadow backhencher couldn't get a word in
Turned up anyway ... issues burning
All consuming ... drinks in the cabinet
Spent a lot of time just examining the building
drinks on the house? you must be joking
Corridors of power cuts toy telephone bills
Long time no see underneath the floorboard
Looking for the roots of the family treetops
Toe's in the water but you've only got ten.
Fingers in the eel pie poke around tip top
Tunnelling a wormhole Eartha Kitty catfish
Meadow brown peacock ... pupa-larva-caterpillar
Hibernate in winter of our discotheque no
End in sight .. more like a spiral ... coil
Or curler ... just unwinding ... very slowly
Revealing endless disappearing pipelines
Genuflecting ... bowing deeply ... it
Don't take a weathergirl to see where
The wind is blowing ... what the wind is bending
Isobars are opening ... sex to midnight
Cabinet shuffling homeward bound ... taking
A detour ... rendezvous do ... chapel in the valley
Of the blown up doll ... that's not Martha
Shunting in a siding ... she got homework
Up to here
Roger's in the footnotes up to his elbones
Verse and chapter disinterred
Borrowing a bookcase don't come easy
The weight of the evidence in parenthesis
Beggars tightly furled belief
Heads on blockabeater repetition on the line
Shell shock supertroopers ... whirl banking oil palm
Intercontinental drift ... over the rainbow
Over the sea to ska rocker skintone
hirsuit missed a link and that's not all
That he got missing inna thousand years of
Orthotoxic waste disposal ... god proposal
Jealous sky ... whatever is a girl to do
To break the service in its tried and tested
And found wanting state of oh! boy network
Stewardship?
Little Johnny Aardvark never hurt
Nobody ... Martha friend and Roger too
Tone down a little ... sotto voce ... some tall order
Given that four minutes seems eternity time
In the bushed up world of waspish Vsigns
A-sides sui-C-side salads of the bad young B-sides
What's the point of digging deeper just to lay
The ghost of Sala Hal-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub?
"Don't give up" the dead man cried
"There's more of us than there of you
Soon you'll all be on our side ... forever more or
Lester Young died ... 'Fat Girl' also ... blowing all
the blues
Away side ... dust ain't just dust ... trust us like we
Live forever ... broken loose from greystone tether
Keep on tiptoe through the archive ... we are dead
But you are alive ... Martha yes and Roger too
When bombers bomb again,
I need your lullaby.
Fires are burning.
The nightmare's begun.
The world is dark again,
I need your lullaby.
Sleep has gone.
Night is long again.
Sing me your song.
Let me sleep.
Bring me peace.
When bombers bomb again,
we'll need your lullaby.
Children cry.
Houses burn again.
Once more.
Sing songs to soothe them,
to dry their tears,
to drown the screams of war.
The world's gone wrong again,
I need your lullaby.
Night is long.
and sleep's just a dream.
Sing your song,
stay close to me.
Sing to me.
Hushabye.
The world is dark again,
I need your lullaby.
Sleep has gone.
night is much too long again.
Sing me your song,
let me sleep.
Privatise next
the air force, then
the police force,
Royal Family,
let them be
private at last.
Set them free,
let them go home.
Save a bomb on union flags.
Privatise the sea.
Privatise the wind.
Don't just tinker
with unseeded cloud,
you got to sell
weather itself.
Set it free.
Don't waste good air,
Poetry in motion is what you've become
From the front and from behind you're a star
Sideways, on the top and underneath
Close inspection reveals that you're in perfect nick
You'll perform like a dream
Is it worth it?
A new winter coat
And shoes for the wife
And a bicycle
On the boy's birthday
It's just a rumor
That was spread around town
By the women and children
Soon we'll be shipbuilding
Well, I ask you
The boy said, "Dad
They're going to take me to task
But I'll be home by Christmas"
It's just a rumor
That was spread around town
Somebody said
That someone got filled in
For saying that people get killed
In the results of their shipbuilding
With all the will in the world
Diving for dear life
When we could be diving for pearls
It's just a rumor
That was spread around town
A telegram for a picture postcard
Within weeks
They'll be reopening the shipyard
And notifying the next of kin once again
It's all we're skilled in
We will be shipbuilding
With all the will in the world
Diving for dear life
Oh look there's a dead rabbit... all flat... completely
flat... oh there's another one...
what's in the gutter... oh it's a... one of those
polystyrene... um boxes... that's all... take away...
there's chips in there... didn't really want to finish
the chips... that's unusual...
I'd been walking for hours
Needed a rest
Take a good look around
No where to rest
There's a shop
Selling gentlemen's suits
Further along
An estate agent or two
And a takeaway sign
Over a dusty door
Shiny photos of food
Slightly micro-waved
It's a Methodist hall
No smoking
No dogs
It looks pretty grim
In the Methodist hall
Despite a poster which says
That its there for us all
And it's a beautiful day
For walking away
There is a kind of compromise you are master of
Your endless gentle nudging left us polarised
It's hard to talk to enemies – and we are enemies
What we had in common makes it even worse
You're proud of being middle class (meaning upper class)
You say you're self sufficient (but you don't dig your own coal)
I think that what you're frightened of more than anything
Is knowing you need workers more than they need you
"A herd of independent minds" Chomsky got it right
It takes a weekly packet
To keep the shrink in pocket
It costs a pretty penny
Just to stay afloat
It takes a lot of lolly
Trying to be jolly
When the interest keeps mounting
In the bank and in my person
It takes a bit of doing
Just feeling up to scratch
Work work work
From dawn to dusk
My id is raw
My ego breaking
From months of toil
To separate my real self
From its husk
Everybody loves me
Everyone but me
It's costing cash to melt the ice
I've sweated blood to hear I'm nice
To hear I'm nice
It takes a weekly packet
To keep the shrink in pocket
It costs a pretty penny
Just to stay afloat
It takes a lot of lolly
Trying to be jolly
When the interest keeps mounting
In the bank and in my person
And it takes a bit of doing
Just feeling up to scratch
Work work work
And it's work work work
It's work work work
From dawn to dusk
My id is raw
My ego breaking
From months of toil
To separate my real self
From its husk
From its husk
It takes a bit of doing
Just feeling up to scratch
Work work work
From dawn to dusk
It's work work work
Work work work
Over an ocean away
Like salmon
Turning back for Nayram
To the delta
With the rivulets tumbling down
Glide over sand
Around the rocks
Back through the wavering weeds
And the turds
In the way
Riversmell
On the route
Along away
Over gravel
The weirs of the tributaries
Against the icy waterflow
Hold on,
can't walk faster,
can't get up the hill.
Oy! You!
Wait for me,
I'm out of breath,
I'm ill.
Slow down.
Slow down.
Hey! You!
Bin that Bebop.
Ditch the dancing.
Night's for lying down.
Bit that Bebop.
Ditch the dancing.
Don that duvet,
Cook the cocoa.
Turn that music down!
Slow down.
Slow down.
Cut those capers.
Keep your hair on.
I should worry.
You should coco.
Dirty stop-out.
Why? Oh why? Oh why?
Slow down.
Slow down.
Night's for lying down.
(Sweet dreams,
old chap,
Not nit not nit no not
Nit nit folly bololey
Alifi my larder
Alifi my larder
I can't forsake you or
Forsqueak you
Alifi my larder
Alifi my larder
Confiscate or make you
Late you you
Alifi my larder Alifi my larder
Not nit not nit no not
Nit nit folly bololy
Burlybunch, the water mole
Hellyplop and fingerhole
Not a wossit bundy, see?
For jangle and bojangle
Trip trip
Pip pippy pippy pip pip landerim
Alifi my larder
Alifi my larder
(I'm not your larder,
jammy jars and mustard.
I'm not your dinner,
you soppy old custard.
And what's a bololey
when it's a folly?
I'm not your larder,
I'm your dear little dolly.
But when plops get too helly
I'll fill up your belly.
I'm not your larder,
Deep in the forest
the omens are bad,
a cloud passes over the moon
Devil Wind
bends the trees,
a cloud passes over the moon.
And the moon takes a peep
when the Gypsy girl sings,
and her song rises up
from the dark to the light,
like smoke to the sky,
when the Gypsy girl sings
at the river's edge.
Deep in the forest
the omens are bad,
a cloud passes over the moon.
White wolf waits,
grey wolf howls
at the girl by the river's edge.
The bullet head boys
with their baby blue eyes,
their donner und blitzen,
the lily white gadje
religiously hatching their plots
in the eyries of eagles.
But the moon's keeping watch
at the Gypsy girl sings,
sees her song rising up
like smoke to the sky
from the dark to the light,
when the Gypsy girl sings
at the river's edge.
Like the sun on the forest
her song rises up, from
the ashes of Auschwitz,
the death camp at Lety,
the white cliffs of Dover,
the song of the Roma
lives on and on...
Trees grow tall
though the winds blow cold,
tall trees grow.
Tall trees grow
where the cold wind blow,
Trouble isn't my middle name,
left in peace would make my day.
You started the fire, not me,
camouflaged in mystery.
Plundering, murdering,
raiding coast to coast -
good old days of gore,
and now you tell me
I should learn to deal with you all,
bow to you and praise the Lords
for everything, everything
you won for us.
After all that was before,
there weren't no Amnesty International,
nobody to check you.
Don't give me that "polis",
I'm her yesterday man
well my friends that's what i am
I'm her yesterday man
well my friends that's what i am
that's what i am, her yesterday man
Please tell me something have you met an angel
Someone too lovely to live on earth
Well yesterdeay i thought i met an angel but
she wasn't worth but she seemed to be worth
Oh, what a fool i have been
I was shure taken him
Yeah, i'm her yesterday man
well my friends that's what i am
I'm her yesterday man
well my friends that's what i am
that's what i am, her yesterday man
Get some of the good kind and some of the bad kind
Some of the others or in between
But all that i can say she is the worse kind
Well i think you know what i mean
And yet for all i say
i take the bad anyday
Now i'm her yesterday man
well my friends that's what i am
I'm her yesterday man
well my friends that's what i am
that's what i am, her yesterday man
...oh come a little closer baby don't get tell me
you gonna leave me, you leave me, i know that, i know
And as history slips out of view
Bated breath for the nine o'clock news
reassembled right before your very eyes:
Innuendo, rumour and lies
Endless fun and games
Steal a headline, name some names
We're so proud that our press feel so free
To manipulate them, you and me
And as each campaign begins
To absolve us of our sins
I see freedom sold by the yard
Plans were unveiled, the press informed
Residents muttered their doubts and fears at meeting
A brace of councilors voiced concern
Some assent was murmured
There were advisers
And expert guidance had been sought
Whom to trust? Who could know?
Just what that meant, expert
People are so ungrateful, it's quite hard on chairmen
Directors of planning must be given
The right to make plans
Just as say, the woodworm must bore
Palestine's a country
or at least used to be.
Palestine's a country
or at least used to be.
Felahin, refugee
(Kurdistan similarly)
need something to build on
rather like the rest of us.
Palestine's a country
or at least used to be.
Palestine's a country
or at least used to be.
Felahin, refugee
(deportees similarly)
need something to build on
rather like the rest of us
Palestine's a country
or at least used to be.
Palestine's a country
or at least used to be.
Felahin, refugee
(Kurdistan similarly)
need something to build on
rather like the rest of us.
Palestine's a country
or at least used to be.
Palestine's a country
or at least used to be.
Felahin, refugee
(deportees similarly)
need something to build on
rather like the rest of us
got.
Seaweed tangled in our home from home
Reminds me of your rocky bottom
Please don't wait for the paperweight
Err on the good side
Touch us when we collapse
Into the water we'll go head over heel
We'll not grow fat
Inside the mammary gland
Seaweed tangled in our home from home
Reminds me of your rocky bottom
Please don't wait for the paperweight
Err on the good side
Touch us when we collapse
Into the water we'll go head over heel
A head behind me
Orlandon't tell me, oh no.
Don't say, oh God don't tell me.
Oh dear me, heavens above.
Oh no, no I can't stand it.
Stop please, oh deary me.
What in heaven's name?
Oh blimey. Mercy me. Woe are we.
Oh dear. Oh stop it, stop it.
(repeat previous lines backwards)
You've been so kind,
I know, I know.
So why did I hurt you?
I didn't mean to hurt you.
But I'll keep trying,
and I'm sure you will too.
I want it. I want it. I want it. Give it to me.
I give it you back when I finish the lunchtea.
I lie in the road, try to trip up the passing cars.
Yes, me and the hedgehog, we bursting the tyres all day
The Lords and ladies pass a ruling
That sons and girls go hand in land
From good stock and the best breeding
Paid for by the servile class
Who have been told all lie in state
To bow down forth and face their fate
It's so easy, so, so easy
All righteousness did build thy arrow
To shoot it straight into their lies
Who would expect the mighty sparrow
Could rid our world of all their kind?
Rising up and taking back
The property of every man
Oh, it's easy, so, so easy
Rising up to break this thing
From family trees the dukes do swing
Just one blow to scratch the itch
The law's made for and by the rich
Monica Vasconcelos:
It's that look in your eyes
Telling me lies
So many promises broken
What can I do?
What should I do?
Try to love you just as you are
'Cause I'm never going to change a thing about you
Never ever going to change a thing
Try to love you just as you are
Should I leave, should I stay
Should I call it a day
There's so much to say that's unspoken
In your way you've been true
But all I can do
Try to love you just as you are
'Cause I'm never going to change a thing
No I'll never ever change a thing about you
Try to love you just as you are
Robert Wyatt:
It's that look in your eyes
I know you despise me
For not being stronger
What can I do?
What should I do?
I've always loved you just as you are
And I never tried to change a thing
Never tried to change a thing about you
Always loved you just as you are
Will you leave, will you stay?
There may come a day
When I'm weak and I'm stupid no longer
In my way I've been true
I've lived just for you
I'll always love you just as you are
I never tried to change a thing
Never tried to change a thing about you
We could hear it
before the shutters were open,
the wind on the beach.
Then we found miniature sand dunes
on the concrete of the balcony
and a dead leaf zig-zagging,
scratching an urgent message in Sanskrit
before hitching a ride on a frisky gust.
A plastic bag caught by a rail
rearing to go, in such a flap
we set it free
to join a page of last week's news
racing high above the undulating beach,
and the invisible flying sand
casting a fast moving shadow
stroking the beach clean.
Yesterday's footprints vanished,
replaced by smooth rippling wave formations,
a copy of the sea.
No one walking,
not even the dogs.
Relatively used to coping with the darkness underground,
cub and brownie blink as they emerge.
Overhead the stars are piercing, glaring on their new home.
I know I cannot leave this place
full of memories
Things like the way they knew us
all over town
We used to walk the streets together
We could be seen
Past shops where people knew us
Yeah, people knew
I've got to choose between tomorrow
and yesterday
I can't stop to think about
my life, here today
Maybe I'll find someone to get you
off my mind
Take me away from here
and leave it, leave it all behind
Memories can hang you up and haunt you
all your life, you know
Get so you cannot stay
and yet cannot go
I could find out where she's gone
Today I feel so unhappy
Streets seem so empty now
There's a mushroom on my eyelid
There's a carrot down my back
I can see in the distance
A vast quantity of beans
To you I'm just a flavour
To make your stew taste nice
Oh my god, here come the onions
And – I don't believe it! – at least a pound of rice
There was a time when bacon sandwiches
Were everyone's favourite snack
I'm delicious when I'm crunchy
Even when I'm almost black
So why you make a soup with me
I just can't understand
It seems so bloody tasteless
Not to mention underhand
Now there's no hope of getting out of here
I can feel I'm going soft
Dirty waters soak my fibres
The whole saucepan's getting hot
So I may as well resign myself
Make friends with a few peas
But I just, I can't help hoping
That a tummy ache will bring you to your knees
Bring you to your knees
Bring you to your knees
Bring you to your knees
Woman wishing for wings,
(Too large a lump to pass for bird),
Hopes that by wishing hard enough
She will cast off the ballast.
And the swallows
Will politely accept her waving arms
As wings,
And she will join in with them,
And she will rise up with them,
And she will
Not nit
Not nit
No, not nit Nit
Folly bololey
Alife my larder
Alife my larder
I can't forsake you
Or for squeak you
Alife my larder
Alife my larder
Confiscate
Or make you late you, you
Alife my larder
Alife my larder
No nit not
No nit not
Nit nit folly bololey
Burly bunch the water mole
Hellyplop and finger hole
Not a wossit, bundy, see?
For jangle and bojangle
Trip trip pip pip pip pip pip pip landerim
Alife my larder
Alife my larder
I'm not your larder
Jammy jars and mustard
I'm not your dinner
You soppy old custard
And what's a bololey
When it's a folly?
I'm not your larder
I'm your dear little dolly
But when plops get too helly
I'll fill up your belly
I'm not your larder
It's so easy to decide on a name
It's a name caller's game
It's so easy to look down from above
Helicopter vision
Get the picture when you're outside the frame
Retrospective my eye
Call it art and you can say what you like
It's a name caller's game
Your perspective describes where I stand
Out of line, out of mind
Calling myopia 'focus', of course,
Makes it easier still
Gharbzadegi means nothing to me
Westernitis to you
...We get so out of touch
On a dilemma between what I need and what I just want
Between your thighs I feel a sensation
How long can I resist the temptation?
I've got my bird, you've got your man
So who else do we need, really?
Now I'm here, I may as well put my other hand in yours
While we decide how far to go and if we've got time to do it now
And if it's half as good for you as it is for me
Then you won't mind if we lie down for a while, just for a while
Till all the thing I want is need
Till all the thing I want is need
I want you more than ever now
We're on the floor, and you want more, and I feel almost sure
That cause now we've agreed, that we got what we need
Then all the thing us needs is wanting
I realized when I saw you last
We've been together now and then
From time to time - just here and there
Now I know how it feels from my hair to my heels
To have you on the horns of my dilemma
- Oh! Wait a minute! -
Over - Up - Over - Up - ... Down
Down - Over - Up - Over - ... Up
Living can be lovely, here in New York State
Ah, but I wish that I were home
And I wish I were home again - back home again, home again
There are places and people that I'm so glad to have seen
Ah, but I miss the trees, and I wish that I were home again
Back home again
The sun shines here all summer
Its nice cause you can get quite brown
Ah, but I miss the rain - ticky tacky ticky
And I wish that I were home again - home again, home again...
Living is easy here in New York State
Ah, but I wish that I were home again
Just before we go on to the next part of our song
Let's all make sure we've got the time
Music-making still performs the normal functions -
background noise for people scheming, seducing, revolting and teaching
That's all right by me, don't think that I'm complaining
After all, it's only leisure time, isn't it?
Now I love your eyes - see how the time flies
She's learning to hate, but it's just too late for me
It was the same with her love
It just wasn't enough for me
But before this feeling dies
Remember how distance can tell lies!
You can almost see her eyes, is it me she despises or you?
You're awfully nice to me and I'm sure you can see what her game is
She sees you in her place, just as if it's a race
And you're winning, and you're winning
She just can't undertsand that for me everything's just beginning
Until I get more homesick
So before this feeling dies, remember how distance tells us lies.
Singing a song in the morning
Singing it again at night
Don't really know what I'm singing about
Kick me Hardy
Without one sweet push from your shine covered boot
I don't think, I just know I'll be grounded forever-
more over turn me – you can hardly miss me
I'm the one face down in the mud on the ground
I'll be stuck here forever, unless you come over
And kick me Hardy
I'm the best football you have got
I'll beat the lot
I'll take the cake
Be masterful, be my hero and be
-lieve me Hardy
If it's tough you want, then it's tough you've got
I mean if this is only a question of toughness
Survive me Hardy, or deflate me straight away
Beating shit out of me takes the hell out of you
If I'm nothing without you, then why stick it out?
You can pass me over
But I'm the only chance you've got
If you asked me
Here's my advice
Use me to go hell for leather and back
Kick me Handy
Without one sweet push from your shine covered boot
I don't think, I just know I'll be grounded forever-
more over turn me – you should just be thankful
That when it comes to the crunch, I'm the best of the bunch
At the end of the day you could easily say
That I come in handy
I'm the best football you have got
I beat the lot
I take the cake
Be masterful, be my hero and be
greatful Handy
If it's tough you want, then it's tough you've got
I mean if this is only a question of toughness
Survive me Handy, or deflate me pronto
Beating shit out of me takes the hell out of you
If I'm nothing without you, then why stick it out?
You can pass me over
But I'm the only chance you've got
If you asked me
Here's my advice
Oh my wife is tall and short,
She won't do what she ought.
She never lies, but then again,
She lies down all day long.
My wife is fat and thin,
She's generous and mean,
She's –––––, and
Her secret's safe with me.
My wife is old and young
So sweet with her poison tongue
On her evenings off she blackmails toffs,
But her secret's safe with me.
My wife is tall and short,
She hangs out down the port,
Says "Hello sailor, how's your dad?"
But her secret's safe with me.
My wife is sour and sweet,
She dit dit dit delete,
She's lalala ladida, butter
No need to wipe your feet,
The welcome mat's not there.
But just take care
before you dare to
step inside my door.
Something unbelievable
has happened to the floor.
Something unbelievable
has happened to the floor.
Something unbelievable
has happened to the floor.
Something unbelievable
These rooms won't give you shelter.
They're open to the air.
The upper storey's out of reach,
the stairs no longer there.
Beyond all understanding,
You've blown my house apart.
You've set me free
You've set me free
You've set me free
You've set me free
to let you know
You've set me free
to let you know
You've planted
everlasting hatred in my heart
You've planted
everlasting hatred in my heart
My rooms won't give you shelter.
They're open to the air.
The upper storeys out of reach,
The stairs no longer there.
(9x)
You've planted
Simplify
Reduce
Over-simplify
Simplify
Reduce
Over-simplify
What we call freedom in the North
means our freedom to use you
and if you don't co-operate
we'll cut off your supply lines.
But you'll be free to re-connect
if you beg our forgiveness.
You say I over-simplify.
Well yes, so did Albert Einstein.
Simplify
Reduce
Over-simplify
Simplify
Reduce
Over-simplify
There simply is no middle ground –
Pentagon über alles.
There never was a middle ground,
that's the point I was making.
There's no such place as middle ground
Left or Right of the equator.
Simplify
Reduce
Over-simplify
Simplify
Reduce
I really envy Christians
I envy Muslims too
It must be great to be so sure
As I'm talking to a Jew;
He said pray to god for mercy
He said get down on your knees
He said ask him for forgiveness
He said when you do say please (do us a favour)
And I've got no one to turn to
When I'm sinking in the ship
I feel so sad and lonely
No one to tell me what to do
He said well I shouldn't grumble
We all have our ups and down
If you just ask him nicely
He'll iron out your frown (I said do us a favour)
And if I don't believe in will power (keep ya hair on)
Self expressions such a fraud
I mean how can I express myself
When there's no self to express
Be serious
Then he put a lid on it
Do us a favour
Do us a favour
I really envy Christians (do us a favour)
I envy Muslims too (do us a favour)
It must be great to be so sure (do us a favour)
Probably do want you (do us a favour)
Do us a favour
Do us a favour
When I've got no one to turn to (do us a favour)
When I'm sinking in the ship (do us a favour)
Feel so sad and lonely (do us a favour)
No one to tell me what to do (do us a favour)
Be serious (do us a favour)
Do us a favour
Do us a favour
And I don't believe in willpower (do us a favour)
Self expressions such a fraud (do us a favour)
How can I express myself (do us a favour)
When there's no self to express (do us a favour)
Be serious (do us a favour)
Be serious (do us a favour)
Be serious (do us a favour)
Be serious (do us a favour)
Beeee serious (do us a favour)
Be serious (do us a favour)
Be serious (do us a favour)
...the dust... a building... the universe...
Do us a favour
Do us a favour
Cuckoo Madame
with your teddy bear eye,
yellow fingers clinging to the chain link fence.
Bombers above you.
Bombers behind you.
Disapproval hounds you,
ugly rumour surrounds you.
Solitary madam,
we never understood, you
never told us of your battle
with the cuckoo baby blues.
Cuckoo Madame,
it's no wonder you're shy.
You're Greta Garbo,
you're the witch of Salem.
You're anti-social, and
you are too bloody lonely
for the likes of us.
We never knew of your battle
with the cuckoo baby blues.
When you saw that egg crack
it froze your blood.
You knew you had to fly then,
had to say goodbye,
had to fly before you saw another mother
feed your chick.
You knew it would break your heart.
Inamajo Inamajo man is dead man is dead
Inamajo Inamajo man is dead man is dead
Well it's September seventy seven
Port Elizabeth weather fine
And it was business as usual
In police room 619
Oh Biko Biko Biko oh Biko Biko Biko
Inamajo Inamajo man is dead man is dead
Now when I try to sleep at night
I can only dream in red
You know the outside world seems black and white
With just one colour: dead
Oh Biko...
Inamajo...
Now you can blow out a candle
But you can't blow out a fire oh no
Once the flame begins to catch
The wind will fan it higher
Oh Biko...
Inamajo...
Inamajo...
And the eyes of the world they're watching now
they're watching now
Patty lives up in the attic now
Her feet rarely touching the ground
Haunted by waltzes with Harry
Harry's hat hanging here in the hall
Memories fading for patty now
There? s nothing and no one to trust
Just the tick and the tock
Of the damnable clock
As the world that she does turns to dust
Patty stays up in her attic now
In silence except for the sound
Of the tick and the tock
Of the damnable clock
While the world that she knows disappears
Drinking in riddles
Waving to trains
Waving to trains that no longer run
Thinking in riddles
And waving to trains
At last I am free
I can hardly see in front of me
I can hardly see in front of me
And now love please listen
To what I say
I can't go on living life this way
I've tried and I've tried
To make you see
You call this love
All this lying, my friend, it just can't be
At last I am free
I can hardly see in front of me
I can hardly see in front of me
And now love, please hold me
Come closer, my dear
It feels so good, just having you near
But who am I fooling
When I know it's not real?
I can't hide
Picture the scene.
"Hello, how are you?"
"Well I'm a green and yellow pinky blue."
Dead alternative.
"Oh then, please step right into our nursery.
Just pick a group that you can relate to,
now the grown-ups have gone."
After the party's over, my friend,
there will be nothing you can put your finger on.
David's on piano, and I may play on a drum
And we'll try to make the music work, we'll try to have some fun
But I just can't help thinking that if you were here with me
I'd get all my thoughts in focus and play more excitingly
I love you still, Caroline
I want you still, Caroline
I need you still, Caroline
If you call this sentimental crap you'll make me mad
'Cause you know that I would not sing about some passing fad
And if my attempts at rhyming aren't convincing to your ear
Then memories betray you through the passing of the year
I love you still, Caroline
I want you still, Caroline
I need you still, Caroline
You must think it doubtful that I mean the words I sing
Or that all attempts to reach you this way could not mean a thing
But you must admit we both thought we'd be man and wife
And that I could make you happy for the best part of your life
I love you still, Caroline
I love you still, Caroline
I love you still, Caroline
I love you still, Caroline
Beyond the dotted line
Over the border
Out of control
Behind the dotted line
South of the border
Beyond the pale
Life is sheep,
for wool and lots of meat
we buy and sell.
And pets are just a luxury;
ornaments for you and me.
Life is sheep.
If you live on a farm,
instead of names,
the animals all have numbers
Like so many of you
I've got my doubts about how much to contribute
to the already rich among us...
How long can I pretend that music's more relevant
than fighting for a socialist world?
Someone watching us knows I'm bad
Black plastic along blue black wall
Small square (for faces) where dead men can look through
Run along and see the prison bath
Throw a stone along an empty road
You and your friend will be found
Outside the daydream
I realised my fists were clenched,
I stretched my fingers to relax.
Still not sleeping, I tried counting sheep.
One by one,
They leapt across the fence
Constructed for them,
Right to left,
Across the fence I bad constructed.
Having jumped,
They refused further direction.
Each sheep, where it landed,
Refusing to exit, remained.
(Certain a vast writhing heap
Growing fast on the left).
Try as I might,
I could not stop them entering
Once again.
Try as they might,
Not one could leave the stage.
I realised my fists were clenched.
I stretched my fingers.
Each sheep were it landed,
Refusing to exit, remained.
(Creating a vast writhing heap
Growing quickly on one side).
Try as they might,
Not one could leave the stage,
Try as I might,
I could not stop them entering,
Once again.
No longer daring to close my eyes,
Still not sleeping.
I realised my goose was cooked
Stalin wasn't stallin'
When he told the beast of Berlin
That they'd never rest contented
Till they had driven him from the land
So he called the yanks and English
And proceeded to extinguish
The fuhrer and its vermin
This is how it all began
Now the devil, he was readin'
In the good book one day
How that lord created Adam
To walk the righteous way
And it made the devil jealous
He turned green onto his [Incomprehensible]
And he swore by things unholy
And he made one of his own
So he packed two suitcases
Full of greed and misery
And he caught the midnight special
Going down to Germany
Then he mixed his lies and hatred
With fire and grim stones
Then the devil sat upon it
That's how Adolf was born
Now Adolf got the notion
That he was the master race
And he swore he'd bring new order
And put mankind in its place
So he set his scheme in motion
And was winnin' everywhere
Until he [Incomprehensible] and got the notion
For to kick that Russian bear
Stalin wasn't stallin'
When he told the beast of Berlin
That they'd never rest contented
Till they had driven him from the land
So he called the yanks and English
And proceeded to extinguish
The fuhrer and its vermin
This is how it all began
Yes, he kicked that noble Russian
But it wasn't very long
Before Adolf got suspicious
That he had done somethin' wrong
'Cause that bear grabbed the fuhrer
And gave him an awful fight
Seventeen months he grabbed the fuhrer
Tooth and claws, day and night
Then that bear smacked the fuhrer
With a mighty armored core
And Adolf broke all records
Runnin' backwards to Krakow
Then Goebbels sent a message
To the people everywhere
That if they couldn't hit the fuhrer
God, then hit that Russian bear
Stalin wasn't stallin'
When he told the beast of Berlin
That they'd never rest contented
Till they had driven him from the land
So he called the yanks and English
And proceeded to extinguish
The fuhrer and its vermin
This is how it all began
Then this bear called on his buddy
The noble fighting yank
And they sent the fuhrer runnin'
With their ships and planes and tanks
Now the fuhrer's havin' nightmares
'Cause the fuhrer knows damn well
That the devil's done roast welcome
On his residence in hell
Stalin wasn't stallin'
When he told the beast of Berlin
That they'd never rest contented
Till they had driven him from the land
So he called the yanks and English
And proceeded to extinguish
The fuhrer and its vermin
Faith may not be such a bad thing.
Hope can still feel pretty good.
I'm as mad as any hatter,
I feel safer touching wood.
I like totem poles and icons
(icon tact is de rigeur).
So ring dem bells and pump that organ,
chants for him and hymns for her.
'Bracadabra hocus locus,
magic mush, no room for doubt
as wailing walls induce psychosis
(beat your braincells inside out).
Transcendental art's religion,
thinking you'll improve your mind,
when all it does (if you're in luck)
is camouflage the daily grind.
Nature's harmony's a discord
if you listen with both ears.
Poor Gaia's up to here in white noise.
She cannot assuage your fears.
Superstition's like religion;
bonsai version – faintly sad.
And I know that (I must admit it)