1. |
On Concrete
03:15
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Because they’re on Concrete
You have to give them lots of vitamin C
Because they’re in Buildings
You have to give them minerals that they need
They’ll never feel the sun, on their backs
There’ll never be deficiency ‘cos there’s no lack
Of essential things so that they can live
They can’t expect to live for free so they must give
Because they’re on Concrete
You have to keep them tied up all of the time
Because they’re on Concrete
You have to tether them for your peace of mind
They’ll never feel the sun, on their backs
They can’t expect to live for free lie down and relax
So you trim them up, for their own good
They’d only make some mischief if they felt they could
What’s all the fuss, just a bunch of Animals
Because they’re on Concrete
They wouldn’t know what to do with a field
Because they’re in Buildings
You now have so much more control of their yield
They’ll never feel the sun, on their backs
They can’t expect to live for free lie down and relax
So you trim them up, for their own good
They’d only kick and scratch and bite if only they could
KICK, SCRATCH, BITE, SHOVE
What’s all the fuss, just a bunch of animals
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2. |
At the Local A&E
05:16
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It was at the start of summer, I think it was the first of June
I was feeling off colour, I was sounding out of tune
So I called the operator, and attempted to explain
What had happened to me lately, and where exactly was the pain.
He asked a lot of stupid questions, how old I was and where I lived
So I told him I’d been crying, that I’d been leaking like a sieve
He said ‘you better see a doctor, just as fast as you can see
By ambulance or helicopter, down at the local A&E
There were 27 people, ahead of me in the queue
If I could I would have jumped it, but that I knew I wouldn’t do
I’d have to like it and to lump it, and have to take my turn
So I waited seven hours, while the pain inside me burned.
When at last the doctor called me, I was feeling pretty low
He said ‘I want to hear your story’, He said ‘I really want to know.’
I said ‘Doctor, can you help me, I’ve reached the end of my little road
I was hoping you can tell me, how to lighten up my load?’
So he prodded and he poked me, tried to find out what was wrong
I hadn’t got tuberculosis, or infection of the lung
Then one of the nurses stroked me, that’s when I really fell apart
And then he gave his diagnosis,‘you’ve only got a broken heart’
I said ‘Doctor, what do mean ‘Only!’ - tell me man, are you for real?
I’m sick and tired of being lonely, have you any idea how that feels
I need some major medication, something from your secret store
This is my final destination – Doc, I can’t take it anymore’.
The doctor looked at me kindly but put on a worried frown
He said ‘I don’t want to get your hopes up, wouldn’t want to let you down
It’s true we have our uses, but we wouldn’t know where to start
We can fix the cuts and bruises, but we can’t fix up a broken heart.
'We got the doctors and the nurses; we get the patients day and night
Sometimes we send them home in hearses, sometimes we send them home alright
Sometimes we just don’t have a clue here, we just have to let ‘em be
There’s only so much we can do here, at the local A & E’
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3. |
Hole in my Heart
05:09
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There’s a hole in my heart that’s shaped like you
Whatever I say or whatever I do
Wherever I go or whatever the thrill
Like a trace of an echo from a distant hill
There’s a space that I recon only you can fill
Only you can fill
When you went away, it wasn’t the same
Nobody cried and nobody got blamed
But you took a knife and you wrote your name
You wrote it deep in the places where nobody else goes
I keep on trying but nothing else grows
And over the years, they come and they go
It’s as if they know
Only you can, only you can, only you can fill
I look at that hole every now and again
Strange how it hasn’t changed a lot since then
So what are we going to do about it my friend?
Well it might stay empty for the rest of my life
But that’s OK ‘cos I can do what I like
And nothing else matters since you took that knife
And you wrote your name
Only you can, only you can, only you can fill
There’s a hole in my heart that’s shaped like you...
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4. |
Hot Cat
05:50
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The Cat crawled over on the old tile roof
Head held high, tail aloof
As if anybody needed proof that he was king for miles around
The moon was heavy and the wind was still
As the Cat leaped up onto the window sill
With unbelievable skill and looked in at what he found
The Cat took in the uninspiring view
As he gazed in pity at the human zoo
Then he thought of better things to do and jumped off to do the rounds
The Cat knew never in a million years
Did he want to be living with the human drears
Had to be the ultimate fear, the ultimate bad news
The night air turned and he picked up the scent
Of some Punk who probably had never paid the rent
He yawned, and got ready to repair the dent in his domain
He spotted the intruder on a dustbin lid
Bold as brass but he was just a kid
Who would regret that he’d ever made a bid to be someone tonight
But the Punk was foolish and the Punk was young
And the Punk needed showing how it was done
And he’d never show his face this way again
The Cat was smarter and he knew the score
And he couldn’t take a trespass at his own back door
He walked away with his head held high,
Howled a message up at the sky, he was a
HOT CAT
He thought of the Grey with the delicious face
That he met last week up at the jeweller’s place
Remembered the style, remembered the grace, and she
Posed just like a queen
He groomed himself to the very last hair
And jumped up hoping he would find her there
With luck he would surely get his share of action for the night
But the Grey was ready and the Grey was sweet
And the Grey was burning up in heat
And the Cat could hardly wait to take his prize
The Grey went crazy with desire
And the Cat completely quenched the fire
He walked away with his head held high
Howled a message up at the sky, he was a
HOT CAT
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5. |
Incurable Disease
04:59
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I’m a bore
A smart-arse middle-class smug self-satisfied bore
I’ve got twenty-seven ways to talk about my latest saw
I used to think I was interesting but I don’t no more
I’m, I’m blind.
See the papers, watch the news, read the books and I’m blind
Most times I wonder what the hell’s been going on in my mind
Can’t see that there really isn’t any more time
I’m a fool, a first class B-Arts super over-educated fool
Most times I wonder why the hell I ever went to school
Every time they ring the big bell I just drool
It’s a mess, a real rock-bottom, 24-carat style mess
How we’re going to clean it up is anybody’s guess
Maybe the first thing we ought to do is confess
Confess to how we did it, confess to our part in it
All stuck our fingers in the pie
Don’t think about tomorrow, write off the things we borrow
Cross our hearts and prepare to die
So what’s the point in trying, when everybody’s lying
Can’t see the wood for all the trees
Cash in the future then you
Live for today like when you’ve
Got some incurable disease
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6. |
APB
04:25
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APB
Dredge the lakes and water courses
Saddle up your horses
Get this circus on the road.
We need an
APB
Mobilise all your resources
Co-ordinate your forces
Let’s share the load.
APB
Saturate the social media
Google Earth and Wikipedia
Nothing’s out of bounds.
We go from
AtoZ
Search the mountains and the valleys
Check the back roads and the alleys
Until she’s found.
We’ve got ourselves a situation, got a missing person on the loose
Check with friends and all relations, there’s not a lot of time to lose
Each hour that passes by, seems like a year
I can’t believe that someone can just simply disappear, we need an
APB
Light up the Bunsen burner
Let’s see if we can’t turn this water into wine
Can’t you see
There is no other option
Can’t stop ‘til we’ve exhausted every line.
We’ve got ourselves a situation, got a missing person on the loose
Check all ports and railway stations, haven’t got a
Lot of time to lose
There hasn’t been an earthquake or some kind of eruption
I’m not ready to believe in alien abduction, so an
APB
Is now the only answer
The only chance to let her know she’s not alone.
Put out an
APB
Get her face in all the papers
Sooner or later we have got to get her home.
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7. |
3rd of November
04:47
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Fog on the waterfront, ice on the wind
Boats leave the harbour and the children play in
The moon rose up slowly and pulled a grave face on the
3rd of November, remember that day
The swell of the ocean, lamp on the beam
The scream of the seagulls and the smuggler’s wild dreams
Made music and dancing, with salt on our lips on the
3rd of November, down among the tall ships
Four trawlers departed, specks on the sea
Each one of those crewmen was so well known to me
The horizon it took them as we gazed from the shore but the
3rd of November had a secret in store
At one hour past midnight, a storm from the west
Put the waves in a turmoil, and fear in the breasts of those
Men in those small ships and the lives that they lent and the
3rd of November was set on revenge
The radio went silent at a quarter past three
Save a hiss and a crackle there was silence at sea
The coastguard he called out to sound the alert...
he splash of the lifeboats then began the sea search
All four ships went missing, with the loss of all hands
Not one thing ever washed up, from one single man
We stood on the quay-side and prayed for some sign and we
Could not believe this was the end of the line
Fog on the waterfront, ice on the wind
No boats leave the harbour and the children stay in
A silence hangs over us, the flag’s at half-mast and the
3rd of November is a part of our past
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8. |
Coal in the Hole
03:46
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Keep the coal in the hole
Oil under the soil
Leave the gas in the crack at the back
Keep the coal in the hole
I know it’s going to be tough
To say enough is enough
Got to learn that you simply can’t burn
Any more of that stuff
Trouble brewing in the bayou
In the everglades
People putting up roadblocks
Man the barricades
They want to build a pipeline
All the way to the sea
Messing with the alligators
We’re begging everybody please, please, please keep the coal in the hole
There’s a fracas in the farmyard
People getting uptight
They’re chaining onto the railings
Getting ready to fight
They don’t know what’s going to happen
To the water and the air
Maybe start a little earthquake
Doesn’t anybody care so, no, keep the coal in the hole
We got a number of options
There’s wind and there’s the sun
Split a little more uranium
We can get this done
Be just a little more careful
Not so over the top
Turn off a load of light-bulbs
Just one thing that’s got to stop, we’ve, got, to keep the coal in the hole
Keep the coal in the hole
Oil under the soil Leave the gas in the crack, (at the back / don’t frack)
Keep the coal in the hole
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9. |
Square Peg
04:55
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Me, I'm living this illusion
Taken me a long time
Come to this conclusion
That I'm a square peg baby
I'm a square peg darling
I'm a square peg baby, in a little round hole
Yes I'm a square peg in a round hole
Fish out of water out of control
I'm scoring nothing 'cept for own goals
I'm a square peg baby, in a little round hole
Yes I'm a square peg in a round hole
It's got no bottom and it's black as coal
I'm slowly slipping down this long pole
I'm a square peg baby, in a little round hole
And some of us take the high road, some take the low
Some get caught in the crossroads and they can't work out which way to go
Some end up on the good road, some on the bad, but you know
Me, I'm living this illusion
Taken me a long time
Come to this conclusion
That I'm a square peg baby
I'm a square peg darling
I'm a square peg baby, in a little round hole
Yes I'm a square peg in a round hole
I'm going nowhere and it's getting awful cold
They gave me silver but I wanted gold
I'm a square peg baby, in a little round hole
Now some of us are on the outside, always looking in
Some can't find the handle, they can't work out how to begin
Some are in the thick of it, some are stuck out on the thin
Me, I'm living this illusion
Taken me a long time
Come to this conclusion
That I'm a square peg baby
I'm a square peg darling
I'm a square peg baby, in a little round hole
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10. |
After the Tempest
04:27
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A dirty whitewashed chapel cowers in some half-forgotten bend
As if to shrink away from powers it can’t begin to comprehend
Can’t begin to comprehend
Can’t begin to comprehend
Last night the elements descended, judge, executioner and jury
All legal processes upended,
Unleashed all their primal fury
Like sores the roads broken blisters issued a mocking summons
Daring passers-by to go the distance: ‘Are you mice or are you human?’
Great unwashed and dusty rocks gleaming, deprived of all their cover
Lay blushing as if they’d been stripped by an impatient lover
Scavenging citrus fatten up on casualties they can find
Purple, shiny aubergines were flattened, whimpering between the pines
For the first time in their lives bore witness
To their essential unfitness
“Come off it – this is nothing but a taster, a little bitty rinsing off with water
The real battleground is later, amputations, wounds and slaughter
We keep the real thing in reserve, it might at some point be quite fun
When we decide you next deserve it, show you how it’s really done
We Gods have got things up our sleeves
That you down there would not believe
You down there would not believe”
So now what happens to the water that wreaks this playful devastation?
Smirking, laughing to itself and sliding, on to its next muster station
Don’t blink: you got to keep your eyes on sneering triumphant forces
Marching over the horizon, massive hammer- headed horses
They wait with barely concealed mirth and choosing their own time and place
They thunder back onto the earth and wipe the
smile from off its face
Wipe the smile from off its face
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11. |
Time Flies
04:17
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Time flies
No one knows
Where it comes from, where it goes
Blue eyes
Strings and bows
Gone forever, I suppose
Time rolls
Round and round
Disappears without a sound
One way
No reverse
Out across the universe
Talk about me
Talk about you
Talk about things, we’re going to do
Talk about him
Perhaps about her
Perhaps about us if you prefer
High time
Low time
My time
Show time
Time to go time
Just make sure it’s prime time
Time ies
Day and night
Only slows at speeds of light Good times
Short or long
Here today and then they’re gone
Talk about me
Talk about you
Talk about things, we never do
Talk about him
Perhaps about her
Perhaps about them if they prefer
Time flies
Disappears
Out into the atmosphere
Blue skies
Cold and clear
Christmas came too soon this year...
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The Missing Persians England, UK
Four men, originally from Oxford, play some songs written and sung by Chris. An Americana, bluesy vibe with harmonies aplenty. Third album on its way.
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