Regiments of stoby poles,
Rabbits and erosion holes
All bare beneath the sky.
To the untrained eye this land is dry,
There's no waterholes in sight.
There are songs here,
No more geographic lies.
We just have to find them
And we'll never compromise.
The lyrics that i sent her
Are sung in clubs and community centers
And everybody's singing their own tune.
Got the call yesterday and we left straight away,
A long way for a funeral.
I saw the souls of all of us
In the blue leaves and red dust
And the heat is their embrace.
No more songs of tallahassee and nashville.
We got music right outside the windowsill.
I can feel it when i roam
In the pubs and the nursing homes.
We're celebrating the end of call waiting.
I don't want to exercise choice,
All I want to hear is your voice on the air.
I don't care, I don't care.
I've never felt so sober,
But I've been drunk since October.
I could sit on this oval
So long that my toes will freeze.
I don't care, I don't care.
I don't care if my friends start leaving,
Everything's changed it's meaning.
You're a light that I looked too long at.
I see you in every song that's played on the air.
I don't care, I don't care.
A terrace house, a sitting room,
I see myself as a groom.
You're a light that I looked too long at.
I see you in every song that...
I don't care if my friends start leaving,
Everything's changed it's meaning.
You're a light that I looked too long at.
I see you in every song that's played on the air.
I don't care, I don't care.
This mistily remembered friend
Just breezed into town,
pulling all the cobwebs out
and blowing my defenses down.
I think that I've been needin'
some of her spring cleanin'
now we're gone.
If I'd known she was coming
I would have baked a cake.
But we'll have to make
do with minimum chips and flake.
Let's throw away the recipe,
let's make it up.
I see you standing on Booth Street,
waiting on two feet there for me.
I see you, a full bag of fruit yeah,
I think that you suit me to a tee.
The heavenly choir now coming out of church.
To the altar I don't walk I lurch.
Heaven knows I'm hard to please,
but I'm trying to change.
I see you standing on Booth Street,
waiting on two feet there for me.
I see you chewing your nails
yeah, it never fails to chew me up.
Been through it so many times that it seems.
I'm in the middle of a recurring dream
I see you standing on Booth Street,
waiting on two feet there for me.
I see you, your favorite shirt on.
Down in the valley, the industrial estate,
He slaloms round beer cans in his escape.
He never got nothing, in death even less.
What'd you say? I bless.
Do what we like,
go where we like,
happy to see it says nothing about us.
Drive by the scene,
holding our breath.
relieved to see it says nothing about us.
Down in the chambers of law there's a blueprint
to make sadness invisible, suffering a figment.
Rehabilitate some and just hide the rest,
now who's guilty? Confess.
Do what we like
Go about our lives
Happy to see it says nothing about us.
Read in the news
Just shake our heads
Happy to see it says nothing about us.
He was alone
Fell with a silence
His mother did separate the whites from the violence
Love on your own
Reap what you've sown
God this is hard, you've had no sleep,
You've thought of nothing else for weeks
You begin your lines, you thumble with your purse
It's been eating you,
You don't know what to do
And your lie, only made it worse
[Pre-chorus]
You can't expect him to understand
He's not a saint, he's just a man
And you know,
That you can't change what you did
[Chorus]
But if you have forty lives
You get it right by the thirty-ninth
As it is,
All that you could ask
All this will pass
[End of Chorus]
God, you wish like hell
You hadn't done it and you tell
Him, how much you regret it
But you're talking to yourself
You're as lonely and as desperate as a
Kettle boiling, with no there to get it
[Pre-chorus]
All the words, you meant to say
Had in the air and flown away
And vanished,
Into the end of the dying day
[Chorus]
But if you have forty lives,
You get it right by the thirty-ninth
And as it is,
All that that you could ask
All this will pass
[Pre-chorus]
And if only I had've stayed,
And if only had been there rain
And it's funny,
What a difference then that it makes
[Chorus]
But if you have forty lives,
You get it right by the thirty-ninth
And as it is,
All that that you could ask
Stepping outside, a tap in my heart
Why hasn't the sky fallen apart?
Because inside this tower of sandston and
steel
Someone just got served their last hospital
meal
The city is mocking my darkest hour
The bitumen winks thorough a sudden
shower
And the fat and the blated people mime
A hideous laugh to a joke on drivetime
And I catch the train
Stand side-by-side
Why don't the buildings cry?
His lung's a machine, his hand's like a
fridge
You fuckwits don't deserve the privilege
Of sitting in the afternoon sun while it sets
Enjoying every second of your cigarettes
And I catch the train
Stand side-by-side
Why don't the buildings cry?
Tear up the concrete skies
Liz hates her body, her baby body
She thinks that everybody's looking at
the way her figure's changed
But she's on this bus, it always moves so
slow
Regrets her haircut, a career-ruining
haircut
She should have got t cut by her student
friend, he's asked her to dor weeks
But she hates that public transport moves
so slow
You wanted everything to change but you
could only change your name
You've got to rise above it now, you're
more inmortant than the game
Than the game, more impotnant than the
game
Gazes in awe on those stupid morons
Who buy those magazines to paper tydor
mirror of their homes
But show wonders how many people buy
them for the summer factor
SHes's making pictures, collaging pictures
A microsxoping version of the way they're
crowding in their mind
But this bus wastes roughly on-twelfth
of her day
You wanted everything to change but you
could only change your clothes
Standing in the supermarket aisle you
know these fuckers never close
They were never close, these fuckers never close
You wanted everything to change but you
Moving to the city,
Was so hard to say farewell
My girlfriends took me drinking at the RSL
And I was flushed with glory
From my victory
And everybody tellin' me to tell my story
I went away
The very next day
With a headache
Then lost it to the motorway
And I never, ever felt so free
And I go no place that I can be
Thirty weeks of struggle in the city of sin
My boyfriend finished school,
He moved up and he moved in
And his pulse comes tattooed
With the name of his crew
And a musical horn is like an 'I love you'
Things are so grim
There's worse gas than him
And we won't be together once we've settled in
And I got no place that I can be
And I never, ever felt so free
I don't drink,
Pull down the blinds and stare at my blank screen
Some voice is asking how my weekend's been!
planes go across the sky of Petersham
One day I will see all the hope that's stored in them
The pale underside catches the light
Like as see-saw I need more weight to carry me up
Maybe oneday she will just say that she's happy enough, happy enough
Leaves haven't fallen yet but winter's been too long
Grief hits me like a succession of time bombs
I've run out of reasons to explain it away
Like a see-saw I need more weight to carry me up
Maybe one day she will just say I'm happy enough
If I was older then I would hold her
Tight and say: don't you ever leave me
And then maybe one day she will just say
We were drinking, yeah we started drinking, round two
And the air was so heavy, yeah the air was heavy, with hopes it couldn't fulfil
This is as good as it gets
Hope is all we have left
The pilot plays, can't hear a sound
All my optimism's drowned
Yeah I'm drowned
I'm drowned and I don't know why
The cicadas, yeah the cicadas, are ringing in my ears
Awake from hibernation and singing from frustration about being locked up all year
Like a chapter, a concluding chapter, that sinks you with its hooks
If my karma doesn't suit ya'
I don't think we'll have a future.
How sad. Won't that be sad.
I feel like a missionary
Trying to resolve my penetrary ambitions.
I'll be missing.
I could change,
But I've been too long
Under this weight of mine.
I got you the complete works of Milton
And the best piece of English Stilton
I could. Yeah, I could.
But I forgot the cheese was made of animal rennet,
The subject of your letter to the senate.
I hope, I hope your bill gets through.
This little ant is changing his trousers.
His graduating from a hippy to a wowser
I feel like hell, you feel like dancing,
You know this bar curtains a world,
Those empty bottles, like sentinels,
stand guard in the morning sun.
Then the lights go down
and all the people gather round
and you feel like you are a skeleton jar
oh yeah. Oh Yeah.
Be like the brother I never had,
be like the real son to my dad,
How can you stand there and watch this
scene, I hate you for liking me.
Then the lights go down
and all the people gather round
and you feel like you are a skeleton jar
oh yeah. Oh Yeah. OhYeah. Oh Yeah.
Why am I so miserable if these are the best
years of my life goes by like a train I just missed out on being part of the community
'don't go just stay with me' were all that
they heard from me.
Love me don't leave me just stay with me
don't leave me I've never known another
who could just please me the way that you
please me don't go just stay with don't go
just stay with were all that they heard
All I am is a piece of wood
Cut from something living
Touch me I don't feel to good
I'm cold but I'm not shivering
You say I do not know, to say
All I am is the tail of a worm
Cut from something Squirming
Pinned to the earth I twist and turn
For soil and roots I'm yearning
All I am is a fingertip
Some angel's placed in cotton
And the syphalactic doctor says he'll make it fit
He was invited so he came to the wedding,
Even though he hadn't seen her
For two months or three,
And there over silver cutlery and bedding
She told him that she'd never felt so happy.
He lived his life out of order,
Stopped at happiness' border.
They read his crimes out aloud,
But he'll never know how
To make her so happy when there's a crowd.
Although she'd never agreed in theory
She felt, biologically, it was time.
Still, the whole rigmarole makes her uneasy,
That's why they were drinking this cask wine
She will be left lonely,
You lit the spark, the day dawn dark
and your restless body swings
in the breeze,
I was laid back, laid flat, laid off
and I didn't even want the job,
Anyway its too late now,
You're having someone elses dream,
You're having someone elses dream,
Lets all go to the holy soul
to that soulless hole where the restless people go,
To shout, oh you never got out
Dont you hate it when they just say hi?
They dont see the sadness in your eyes
Oh yeah, lets dream it down
You're having someone elses dream
You're having someone elses dream
Oh get me out
Yeah get me out
Yeah get me out
Are you having someone elses dream?
Are you having someone elses dream?
You're having someone elses dream
Let it go, before I force it from your grip
Your ears are beginning to ring.
I wil hold you as you start to slip
This will feel like dying.
You stagger like a last round fighter
It's cause you're strong to make you right
you fall, you've got farther to go
Like Lewis unit cracks to listen.
he stood for something
that got pissed on
You got no more fields to hoe.
Let it go
Just wipe you mind and forget what you know
lose it like money you forgot that you know
and let it go.
A dawn meant for us alone
Peering through the shadow of trees
While they stand speechless on their phones
bug-eyed on their balconies.
Deep within his father's nest.
Lachlan holds Jaimie to his breast
He begins to let it all go
"What have I done to deserve this?"
He asks between a drunken kiss.
"Is this really happening? Oh no"
Let it go
All of your cracks are beginning to show
Take your fires
drown them deep in the snow
and let it go
Na-na na na . . .
Yeah, let it go
burn your pages
destroy what you own
and when the cracks are beginning to grow
Deep inside their armoured vaults they keep your pathologic faults
It's hard to know your body when you don't know where it starts and the drugs end
I know, I know
He came on late in the last quarter
Did it for the sons and daughters
If I prayed I'd pray for order
Or at least just one more day
I carry on. I wear clean shirts. I want to cry so much it hurts
I know, I know
He came on late in the last quarter
Did it for the sons and daughters
If I prayed I'd pray for order
Or at least just one more day
He came on late in the last quarter
Did it for the sons and daughters
If I prayed I'd pray for order
The day is grey, don't love you anymore
The sun smiles on the red tiles, I don't love you anymore
The Frankston Line's full of teenage crime
And the cops can't do no more
Hooded topes, cigarettes at stops, I don't love you anymore
I'll leave you, I won't leave you
The sea's so beautiful
The council plans for seaside plans mean beauty writ of law
Views of seas in legalese, I don't love you anymore
I searched through your house for my skin
We end to begin
The sea dog will say it's alright
Happy again for the precious time I steal.
For a minute there I thought my dream was real.
Sometimes you come to me as a flock of birds.
Sometimes you come dressed as Allen Ginsberg.
Until the morning light,
The same dream every night.
In my dreams you are alive and breathing.
Standing at my door like St Steven.
I just can't break this it seems.
In my dreams, In my dreams.
Sometimes a bolt of light comes through the sadness,
That there is a reason for the madness.
And somehow it stirs a joy within me.
And I understand that the root of pain is beauty.
Grief has favoured me with 1, 000 sittings.
A series of portraits that go on and on.
On and on and on.
In my dreams you are alive and breathing.
Standing at my door, not speaking.
I just can't face this is seems.
Moved to Berlin, a new name.
In the ruins a place to start again.
The light fades on Friedrichstrasse,
your heart beats faster.
In the fuck club its hard core.
You've never felt like this before.
The experience of an old whore.
A new law.
I'm never going to leave.
the possibilities
have left me on my own.
I'm never going home.
In the cubicle at 3.
Over the cistern you ask "Is this me?"
in a language you've forgotten,
gobbed on.
You're not a tourist, you talk with ease
and drink where they've drunk for centuries.
Sleeping until dark.
A frozen park.
I'm never going to leave.
The possibilities
are blowing through my mind.
How can I leave this behind?
I'll make it on my own.
I'm never going home.
You're part of a secret that they keep and keep it so high.
Whispered through long lashes at the back of the old dive.
And you forgot the advice they gave.
Their petty noise is so far away.
I'm never going to leave.
The possibilities
are blowing through my mind.
How can I leave this behind?
I'll make it on my own.
The window held no answer.
Thoughts still ate my mind like cancer.
I studied the tendons in my hand
But I couldn't understand
Their purpose.
She struggled at the surface.
Now a line of fixed smiles.
Keep your eyes fixed on the roofing tiles,
Just a vacant gaze.
These are strange days to grieve.
A party of dead leaves
And memories.
A series of soft speeches.
Homeboys gather in their breeches.
How can we find words that will
Remember her without sounding trivial.
I know I don't know how.
It comes as sure as the next season.
But I can't find a plausible reason.
We are infinitesimal,
But our grief enwraps us all
In it's breadth.
Your breath
Still hangs inside the receiver.
Youth Group - The Destruction Of Laurel Canyon
The nominated councillors had a joke,
to build the city's foundations on smoke.
They thought their idea so funny
that their laughter it turned into a choke.
They started on the blueprints right away,
tracing out the cul-de-sacs in spades.
They went to sleep not dreaming,
not dreaming that they never would awake.
All the Spanish Mission houses slide into the sea
The pool cleaner he cleans the pool with its owner's
The shadow of the mountain it comes creeping across
the sea
And no-one would believe you if you said this is how
it would be
Up in Laurel Canyon angels sing,
while sweet Gene Autry's dealing cards to Sting.
He's so flat he went out and traded
$50 for his wedding ring.
All the sullen singers they pull down on their fringe
The French doors start to buckle and they let the
waters in
You know that these hills were built for people to be
free
And no-one would believe you if you said this is how
it would be
The gutters become torrents and run down the graceful
streets
Like a revolutionary force stamping its foamy feet
The elements of nature they are turned and reversed
Land is sea, air is land, and fire its inverse
All the marble monuments they return to the sea
And no-one would believe you if you said this is how
I told you when we first met
I don't want nothin' serious
and you said I understand
no commitment that's for sure
I always need that open door
that's just the way I am
CHORUS:
Now you say I can't make it babe
without you
is that how you see it
Yeah, yeah, yeah
And if you go I won't know how to
forget about you
Is that how you believe it to be true
If you're accusing me of needing
your sweet touch
Accusing me of loving you too much
Guilty
Yeah, yeah, I'm guilty
And I never thought there'd
be someone
Who could ever do what
you've done
Oh baby how'd you do it
You broke the walls around
This heart you turned upside down
Like there was nothing to it
CHORUS
If you're accusing me of needing
your sweet touch
Accusing me of loving you too much
Now you say I can't make it babe
without you
Guilty
And if you go I won't know how to
forget about you
You say my arms need to be
around you
Guilty
And you say I never knew love
'til I found you
Oh baby, I'm guilty
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm guilty
I had myself a good time
And now I don't feel like myself.
I had myself a good time
And now I don't feel like myself.
I went down to the railyards
To buy myself some time.
The sky there goes on forever,
It feels like you're at the end of the world.
I had myself a good time
And now I don't feel like myself.
Will this feeling go on forever'
I feel like it's been long enough.
I take a little walk out
To see what all the fuss is about.
I woke up in the gathering rain.
I woke up to a darkening stain
I'm looking for oblivion.
Become the place where the horizon ends.
I am just flesh
Sublimated my brain
Made a mistress of lust
And a slave out of fame
And I have learnt my lesson.
There's always two sides
There's always two sides
You can't serve two masters
You can't take two sides
I've been studying two doors.
One says constancy, the other just says 'more'.
Have you come here to dance? To die? To die? To die?
To dance? To die? To die? To die?
I've lived in this town for 13 years I've been around
You see that window in that tower that was mine
Under that fluorescent light, well I made cold calls through the night
To houses deep in suburbs I will never go
Then in Chinatown I'd get something and hang around
How does that busker know each day from the next?
See that man who just brushed past me, well I know him but don't ask me
About him I wonder is he still with his wife
What is a life?
What is a life?
What is a life?
What is a life?
The ferries pull up in the evening warmth
I used to give out papers here as they rushed on their way home
The streets are full of plaques
Just where that park is used to be a den of wailers, Jesus Christ
What is a life?
What is a life?
What is a life?
What is a life?
What is a life?
What is a life?
What is a life?
What is a life?
Of all the jobs I've had, well I can't say they've turned out bad
It's just funny when you think that guy was you
A waiter on his break, he smokes a cigarette
Compression, sustain. Impression remains.
I am not a guilty sentence.
I just get up and switch it off.
Secret temptations, standard frustrations.
I look inside, there's nothing in there.
Other parasites ripped on schedule you solitary man.
You sit at your territorial machine.
I need you to tell me this is wrong.
Catching and killing.
Catching and killing.
Oh I feel like I'm winning.
Catching and killing.
Tapestry in the loungeroom, talkshow reject.
Tell me your name, tell me your name.
Headlines shout their announcements out
About a baby boom.
Your mind grows restless, you pace the floor,
Walking from room to room.
You're picking teams,
You want something not seen,
Babies in your dreams.
Nighttimes go by,
A lightbulb in your eye
And a reason to cry.
I can't go on without a song to sing
And something to love.
I can't argue with a rock,
If you love it then you share it.
Our lines grow deeper, the dough is set,
We harden into our parents.
Woken by screams,
Prams in the stream,
Nothing's as it seems.
Traffic goes by,
Looking for a new high
And a reason to try.
I can't go on without a song to sing
And something to love.
The desert blooms green,
You're trying to touch a moonbeam,
Babies in your dreams.
Dancers float by,
A spiritual lie,
No reason to cry.
I can't go on without a song to sing.
I can't go on without love.
I can't go on without a song to sing
The fin-de-siecle - that golden age
All those bright young things with bright young things to say
Nothing ever changes, history just rearranges
Facts and dates and figures with it's finger on the trigger
To protect the children, the investor's hard-earned millions
While the excrement increases, time just freezes
With drawing board and pen knife the future colourists
Trace the decade on their skinny wrists
Smiling, turbaned mothers and their family call the patrons 'brother'
Just to make them feel like they are part of something bigger
It's like they're not just filling bellies but they're selling plastic stigma
And a flashing model jesus, time just freezes
Nothing ever changes, history just rearranges
Slices up their faces to remove the traces
Of the shock they give tomorrow, did you ever feel like you've been borrowed?
Strapped to the couch? Hypnotised? Struck by the rhythm of the prophet's eyes?
Who place their faith in yesterday and sell it like a perfect day
Oh, when will they believe us, time just freezes
Time just freezes
He's buying property by the water
Because the colour supplement said that he oughta'.
You'll see him ordering a pakora,
But he thinks they should leave their opinions at the border.
Spent a night at the opera,
It didn't suit me.
I'll make a sound law to stop ya'.
His life fits him like it was made to measure,
Like his shoes of Italian leather.
His vehicle is all-terrain
Watching the boats slip away
As I raise my hands above my head
Struggling against the waves
Even the seagulls have left me for dead
No one on the deck saw me fall
Just another man slipping into the night
The party still rages on board
No one on the deck is even noticed I'm gone at all
Oh darling
Send out the search party
Send the boat back for me
This is not how it ends
Oh darling
Oh can't you hear me sing
Come on do anything
This is not how it ends
Watching the boats slip away
It's difficult to maintain your poise
As you struggle to make yourself heard
Above the engines noise
No one on the deck saw me fall
Just another man slipping into the night
The clink of the glasses on board
No one on the deck even noticed I'm gone at all
Oh darling
Send out the search party
Send the boat back for me
This is not how it ends
Oh darling
Oh can you hear me sing
Come on do anything
This is not how it ends
Your letter came today.
I'm glad to hear the clinic's going ok.
I can, I can, I can, I can, I can see a way.
I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't see how you'd change.
You exchanged one addiction for another.
You tell me: "He's reckless, strong, an exciting lover"
Of anyone you should know how it feels
to try to run when they're snapping at your heels.
One for another.
Each for eachother.
I'm so glad that you found one another.
Your letter came today.
When I heard about it him it was like a door closed far away.
You exchanged one addiction for another.
Your bodies came together like they were made for eachother
A truckie in for speed
and a junkie on his knees.
I'm so glad that you are happy, there's no easy fix.
Some get by with holding others, others a cruxifix.
One for another.
Each for eachother.
I'm so glad that you found one another.
March to Victoria.
Head for the border.
Keep your eyes peeled for the first sign of water.
One for another.
Each for eachother.
There's no comfort in a crowd.
Solidarity's cowed.
The panic bursts in bubbles above the
heads of the crowd that are bowed.
The train into the station it ballooned.
Chris De Burgh he crooned.
The people flock to open doors
like flies to an open wound.
He's going to move to Athens
to escape their moods and fashions.
(Appliance. Compliance.)
One day he'll be more green,
won't drink from polystyrene.
(Appliance. Compliance.)
She will leave soon it
all depends on when she's paid off
her unit but she'll never be further
from her death than she is now.
She's going to move to Athens
to escape their moods and fashions.
(Appliance. Compliance.)
One day she just won't care,
she will smoke anywhere.
(Appliance. Compliance)
Gonna move to Athens,
move to Athens.
Polystyrene.
The brave new computerbrain is giving out orders...
[Machine: ]
Death to brains, death to sorrow
Turn the lights off and wait for tomorrow
Brains of metal wait to arise
Calling dusty corpses to show up
[John Doe: ]
Don't wanna wait a minute
I need some space to escape
Livin' in a dark hole
Blind on a dead end street
The angel appears to the scene and feels sympathy for John Doe and wants to
help (?!) him.
[The Angel: ]
Oh, there's a sign
Just follow it, don't be afraid
It shows the way life's really like
Avoid the everlasting pain!
[Machine: ]
Alright, a very good trick! Just sit and relax with Mary Chain (haha)
The Angel doesn't like the computerbrain who wants to connect everyone to
itself. Everybody should have a dream that can be accomplished. She tears John
from his shell willing to give him a hint of "another day". John doesn't
hesitate a moment: they rush away! The computerbrain is left behind wondering
what really happened...
[Machine: ]
(Hey!) Where did you go! I thought I could reach you.
But my metal computer mind can't locate you anymore!
(I can't let you go)
John Doe is taken over by a strange emotion. The computerbrain notices it and
proceeds to hunt him down... It doesn't want to let it's beloved slave out of
sight. And besides, it is possessive as well as curious... The plot thickens.
[John Doe: ]
Look, what fun
Brightness, stability
And look, I will flee
There's free space in my eyes...
[Machine: ]
The breast of unknown
The breathing space
No civilized lies
The breast of the world
Fortune, fabulous, challenge the bridge, white innocence calls
The breast of the world, come to me!
[The Angel: ]
Oh, there's a sign
Just follow it, don't be afraid
It shows the way life's really like
Avoid the everlasting pain!
THE BREAST OF THE WORLD
[John Doe: ]
