1. |
The Writing
06:10
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The Writing
He wrote to her again today
His hand was shaking and his skin was pale
He couldn’t find the words to say
All of his emotions were scrambled
Hissing like the eggs in the saucepan
Hissing like the snakes in the pit
Hissing like an angry Desperate Dan
Hissing ‘this is it!’
She wrote to him about her work
She’d been dancing on the Saturday
Behind that letter something lurks
She couldn’t quite express it
Rattling like a train at full steam
Rattling like an un-oiled excuse
Rattling like a door in the slipstream
Rattling and shaking loose
Crying for a friend or pen pal
Crying for a soul to confide
Crying for a lover but somehow
Crying left them drowning inside (rpt)
Across their posts their dreams collide
Mistakes are not drawn in fine type
Is passion spelled out on the screens
Or is it lying to their hearts
Pounding like the drums in an epic
Pounding like a quake at full bore
Pounding and so energetic
Pounding them into the floor
Crying for a friend or pen pal
Crying for a soul to confide
Crying for a lover but somehow
Crying left them drowning inside (rpt)
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2. |
Sulphur and Heat
06:20
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Sulphur and Heat
Halfway down the runway the engine explodes
Collective gasp of surprise
All senses switch into survival mode
You can see it all there in their eyes
Staring Death in the face
It’s all back to his place
For a snifter of Sulphur and Heat
You protest you’ve been good
Sadly misunderstood
But the quicksand still sucks at your feet
Speed around the long curve and the traction expires
The gravel slips beneath the wheels
Fight it back frantic but it never tires
Nowhere to dig in your heels
Staring Death in the face
It’s all back to his place
For a snifter of Sulphur and Heat
You protest you’ve been good
Sadly misunderstood
But the quicksand still sucks at your feet
Standing on the edge just as it crumbles away
A swift downward lurch in the shale
Scrabble for purchase but you’re gone anyway
In the last Doppler shift of your wail
Staring Death in the face
It’s all back to his place
For a snifter of Sulphur and Heat
You protest you’ve been good
Sadly misunderstood
But the quicksand still sucks at your feet
We’re all so fragile and so easy to break
It’s just in cartoons that we bounce
Face the dragon , grab the tail of the snake
Looking for danger to trounce.
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3. |
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Another Slow Day(for fast women)
There was a certain look in his eyes that night
Reflected from the stark blue light
Shining from the pumps
Sitting there alone with his lukewarm beer
Wondering why he ever came in here
Another low life dump
And his eyes are glazed
And his head is swimming
In the cigarette haze
Its been a slow day,
A slow day
A low, slow day
For fast women
He is thinking back twenty years ago
Had everything he needed to know
To get him through the day
He had real thick hair and a very thin waist
Its in reverse, to his distaste
He’s forgotten what to say
And his eyes are glazed
And his head is swimming
In the cigarette haze
Its been a slow day,
A slow day
A low, slow day
For fast women
He drinks his beer and gets to his feet
Heads off down those empty streets
Making for his home
Too many drinks and cold memories
Those lost lovers and old enemies
Have left him here alone
And his eyes are glazed
And his head is swimming
In the cigarette haze
Its been a slow day,
A slow day
A low, slow day
For fast women
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4. |
Harpies
03:56
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Harpies
There’s something, very nasty in the air
There’s something very threatening, about the ladies at the bar.
There’s something very cold about their stare
I’m feeling very, very scared, like running for my car.
Harpies drinking Pernod
Lips as red as blood clots
Harpies at the disco, they’re all
Hanging, round the meat lot
Hanging, round the meat lot
A chemist’s shelf of makeup in their room
A tanker load of cheap perfume, parked discretely round the side
Rouging, up their cheeks to make them bloom
They’ve got all the trappings of a hooker on the slide
Harpies drinking Pernod
Lips as red as blood clots
Harpies at the disco, they’re all
Hanging, round the meat lot
Hanging, round the meat lot
Faces, painted up like mannequins
Silver nails, translucent skin, like an early Hammer Horror.
Their eyes are, just like black holes sucking on
My blood this evening – they will be after yours tomorrow.
Harpies drinking Pernod
Lips as red as blood clots
Harpies at the disco, they’re all
Hanging, round the meat lot
Hanging, round the meat lot
Beauty’s in the mind
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5. |
The Rage
07:18
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The Rage
Too late to choke back angry Words
To halt the arrow of the curse
Witness the damage
You can’t manage to reverse
And in a second’s thoughtless rush
Propelled by anger, mindless thrust
You make a statement
No abatement, you can’t hush
And in the heat of argument
The cut and parry of dissent
Red faced you bellow
In your hell of discontent
And hard the blood pulse in the veins
Your hand are slipping from the reins
You’re losing grip
A red haze slips across your brain.
Then hit the climax at full tilt
Attacking forces, blood is spilled
And you feel righteous
And your might must never wilt
Full on, you wallow in your power
You are the master of the hour
You stand there feted,
You’re decorated, in full flower
That red rage crashes on the shore
Control is lost in anger’s roar
The temples pulse, the heart explodes
Rise up as hot invective flows
You let the wild beast off the leash
You've given mayhem its release
Wide eyed and rampant there you stand
All reason gone – no master plan.
As the adrenaline slips away
And, claws retracted, there you sway
Looking around you
The red pound turning to grey
And now you wonder if, in haste
You maybe made some huge mistake
Now so uncertain
Almost hurting and defaced.
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6. |
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Follow My Leader (in the dark)
Sharp, like the bolt of the taser strike
Left twitching and thrashing on the floor
Marked, like the man left on the spike
Rooted to the spot, nailed through the core - and
Follow my leader in the dark
A Game we play with blinded eyes
Follow my leader in the dark
And when we stumble – no surprise.
Taste the tang of the cordite rush
Blinded by the tracer and the flare
Waste our time on blind, mad, trust
Pull apart the tunic, the chest laid bare - and
Follow my leader in the dark
A Game we play with blinded eyes
Follow my leader in the dark
And when we stumble – no surprise.
Lied to and brainwashed by patriot scams
Tricked into giving again, again, again, again
Spied on and controlled you’re in their hands
Fooled into singing that old, old refrain - and.
Follow my leader in the dark
A Game we play with blinded eyes
Follow my leader in the dark
And when we stumble – no surprise.
Interred, at the last, with military honour
Fold the flag neatly for future use
Confer the medals, but you’re still a ‘goner’
Parents and lovers can only accuse – and
Follow my leader in the dark
A Game we play with blinded eyes
Follow my leader in the dark
And when we stumble – no surprise.
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7. |
Happy
05:53
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Happy
Don’t tell me your name
I don’t want a label to store you by
In that place in my brain
That haven of succubi
I don’t want you to write down your number
I don’t want to call you up
Make another blunder
I don’t want you to trip me up.
Not now when I’m riding high
Not now when I’m in the sky
Not now, I don’t want to lie
Not now, not now, not now
When I’m happy
Just give me your hand
I don’t want a relationship
This is uncharted land
This is our mystery trip
I’ll just use my, use my eyes
Photo engraven images
Before the light dies
I will absorb the vestiges
Of your beautiful face
Of your unspoken grace
Of the filigree trace
Of your presence
‘Cause I’m happy
Don’t tell me the time
All of those minutes are millstones
Just spin me your lines
All of your markers and milestones
Oh yes and don’t just say ‘goodbye’
That is always a lonely word
A word with tears in its eyes
The saddest sound I ever heard
Like a wave on a beach
Like a life out of reach
Like someone gasping for speech
Grab the moment
And be happy
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8. |
Blank Moments
05:47
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Blank Moments
It's like staring out the window on a late night tube
The pattern slowly changes but you're not sure if it moves
All alone and all exhausted but you haven't got a thing
Somewhere in your head an alarm bell rings
Blank moments
They torment
Blank moments
Waste away your life
You've been driving through the city, but you don't recall the road
Now with a jolt you wake up, 'cause the truck ahead just slowed
You've just come fifteen miles with your eyes blank and dead
And it hasn't left a trace of memory in your head
Blank moments
They torment
Blank moments
Waste away your life
I've been staring at this paper with a pen clasped in my hand
Now it's covered with my spider scrawl I barely understand
So I read it through and sign my sign with deft accomplishment
Was it me who crossed the T or was it one of them
Blank moments
They torment
Blank moments
Waste away your life
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9. |
This Torch
05:58
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This Torch
I’ve held this torch for you for so long
My fingers burnt down to the bone (rpt)
I suppose I ought to cut and run,
The situation’s out of hand
It looked unsafe when we begun
Our ideals always seemed so grand
I’ve held this torch for you so long
My fingers are burnt to the bone
I’ve built an altar to you in my heart
And that was made of light, not stone
Now from the distance where I stand
And Look at this and wonder why
When you were just there by my hand
I somehow let you slip on by
I’ve held this torch for you so long
My fingers are burnt to the bone
I’ve built an altar to you in my heart
And that was made of light, not stone
A fleeting glance, a passing touch
So electric you always seem to me
And I’ve been looking at you now
It feels like an eternity
I’ve held this torch for you so long
My fingers are burnt to the bone
I’ve built an altar to you in my heart
And that was made of light, not stone
The elastic that connects us
Sometimes it’s so tight it feels like pain
It sends us hurtling together
Don’t let us fly apart again.
I've held this torch for you for so long
My fingers burnt down to the bone (rpt)
Just one quick kiss and you are out of the car
And then I’m driving home alone
The time we had didn't go far
Now it’s back to the telephone
And the city lights dim in the rear view mirror
And the flames in my heart still scorch
The headlights dotted along the road
But all I can see is this torch
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10. |
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(just some of those) Skeletons
A time consumed
A lifetime eaten in that anaconda way
And he presumed
There’d be happy ending, waiting for him, at the close of play
And as that sun was going down
Across the skyline of the town
Across the furrows of his frown
Across a life exhumed
He took the path
And followed blindly as his fate led on and on
To cry – or laugh
Or sit there mutely, as the clocks ticked – wonder where the time’s all gone
And as the path so steep and winding
And the truth not for the finding
And the darkness far too blinding
And the silence not a fitting epitaph
Back in that town
A place he’d left so long before back in his youth
An origin found
Extrapolate his life, from there, on to some higher truth
But focus held from his eyes
He hears his young self as it cries
He hears his former lover’s sighs
His heart is not just beating now it pounds
And they’re just some of those skeletons
Your closet has no room for
The dust that lies in long locked rooms
You’d never find a broom for
Or find some way to pick it up
Or carpets you could sweep it under
As you wander endless corridors
Of locked rooms without number
That light you saw at tunnel’s end
You made your destination
Is something large and metal.
And it’s just leaving the station
Forget the past – and take the life you choose!
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That Legendary Wooden Lion Brighton, UK
The original Wooden Lion formed in 1972 and played many gigs in London as well as a lot of the free festivals from Windsor to Watchfield. This version of the band reformed in 2007 and released this album in 2011
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