1. |
Short Sun
00:40
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2. |
We're Back
01:27
|
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We're back! We're back!
I imagine you are going to say, "Who cares?"
"Who are you?"
"You have not been missed at all"
"But you're back from precisely where we cannot say"
But we're back! We're back!
And we're the same, yeah, we're the same
But you knew that already
Because no one ever changes or goes away for long
O, we're back! We're back to punish your indifference
The first time around, how could you miss all these hits?
We're back! We're back to give you another chance
To fall in love with things like this....
|
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3. |
||||
Caught you out, caught you out with all your real friends
On the town, on the town where we'd never been
And you looked five years younger than me
And you looked five times happier than then
Yeah, you look like you fit in again
With the herd and the crowds and the din
Caught you out, caught you out with a single friend
In a place, in a place we would never frequent
And he looks five years younger than you
You looked ten times happier than when
You would drag me along unwilling to
Nightclub scenes with happy people in them
I should think of your feelings but I don't care anymore
I should think of you less
Yeah, I should think of your happiness but I don't care anymore
Guess I should think of you less
Caught you out, caught you out with your real love
On a street, on a street you were floating above
And you still look five years younger than me
But you look a little greyer than when
We'd pretend to be something we weren't
And pretend that these meetings don't hurt
|
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4. |
Enough Is Not Enough
04:36
|
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I'm as fat as a pig, I'm as pure as a lamb
I give light to the world from the palm of my hands
To have a heart like mine you need more funds than trust
That's why I hide it in a place you won't look
For a single percent it is one and the same
For us lovers of life who have no complaints
Have a home of my own but I want what is yours
Own the roof up above now I want the floor
Understand why I am removing the rug
Enough is not enough
Enough is not enough
I am as lean as a streak, I am as light as a lamp
I give light to the world. Do I get any thanks?
I know what is mine. Have no need to exchange
A veil and a ring for the blood in your veins
For us chosen ones it is one and the same
For those lovers of life who have no complaints
Surely I pay you enough to look up your skirt
Installed a ceiling of glass now I want the earth
One day of rest and six days of work
Enough is not enough
Enough is not enough
There are things that I own and things that I don't
Don't need them all but that's not the point
A long death drive to get more stuff
Enough is not enough
I'm as high as a hog, I'm as brave as a lion
A living life lesson to the poor that I am trying
To let the piss trickle down from my normalised theft
Shouldn't want for more. I can't settle for less
For us single percent it is always the same
We will sail through life and still have complaints
It's the will of the world to which we must bend
The natural order of things, I know it won't end
Nature's way to accrue more stuff
Enough is not enough
Enough is not enough
|
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5. |
||||
The birds and bees are arranging themselves
For cameras rendering nature on the lobby cards
Print this version of events and don't think too long
Press record on unpopular song
We are caged in with others behaving themselves
They want for nothing with no one else
They want for nothing with no one else
And so on
And so on
And so on
Present this version in a carpet bag
Prevent this version in a carpet bag
And never let on we did it ourselves
And so on
And so on
And so on
They want for nothing with no one else
They want for nothing with no one else
|
||||
6. |
||||
Scream your head off
Cry your eyes out for attention
It's loud and it's clear
Do not disappoint me, dear
Hope this is no false alarm
I'm dropping my plans for you
I'm diverting my attention to you
To save you from harm
What more do you want but my undivided attention?
Is that a pencil behind your ear?
I made a note to ignore the wolf
Now you have my attention
And your updated status is clear
Is it privacy you crave or attention?
Are those roses? Are those roundheads?
I've only got two modes of being
I am kind of here or I am not here
So to get any consolation or to get any more attention
It's a fucking arms race
I can see now
But those bruises need attention
And that black eye needs attention
Yeah and your scars need attention
And your neediness needs attention
Yeah, your neediness needs attention
Your neediness needs attention
|
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7. |
||||
Two green arches of paint
And I'll buy the farm and the hill that it's built on
Two quick washes of grey
And I'll see the geese flying in Atlantic formation
That red paint on your sleeve
The PVA film on your jeans
I don't need any convincing these things are real
Six thin lines of ink
I have a sphinx in the desert sun
Four thick twists of black
It's transmogrified back, meow, meow, meow
That unvarnished chip on your nail
Is how these illusions prevail
I don't need any convincing these things are real
Some will tell you look harder
Suspend your disbelief
Some will argue this surface has nothing
Underneath
One white circle of paint
I'll know what it ain't
That we'll agree on
One short dab of blue and you'll see it, too
Then we can start on
The yellow gloss on the walls
The dried paint on the doors
I don't need any convincing these things are real
I don't need any convincing these things are real
|
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8. |
||||
Heba had the peasants trampled underfoot
She had always been gifted like that
To come into her sphere
They flatly refused
Some of those love letters weren't meant for you
O, Heba
We are your children
We were mistaken
To think
O, Heba you have no need to be good
Still wouldn't love you if you were
Because you were born
A miserable queen
We are not supposed to know what it is you have seen
O, Heba
Are we your children?
Were we mistaken to think?
To think
|
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9. |
They Got Friends
03:23
|
|||
They got friends online
They got friends at school
They got friends that are strung out and friends that approve
They got friends
They got friends with jobs
They got friends with hope
They got friends on strings and friends on dope
They got friends
They got friends with no dads
They got friends with no mums
They got friends who are friendless and friends who are bums
They got friends
They got friends with leopards and exotic pets
They got friends with nothing and friends with lots
They got friends
They got friends who are strong and friends who are weak
They got friends with promise and friends past their peak
They got friends
They got friends who are deep and read philosophy
They got friends who are shallow like you and me
They got friends
They got friends who are weird and friends who say they are
They got friends with connections and friends with scars
They got friends
They got friends engaged and friends who are bored
They got friends who are perfect and friends who are flawed
They got friends
They got friends they trust and friends they don't
They got friends they'll sleep with and friends they won't
They got friends
They got friends on glue
They got friends on speed
They got friends on tap
They got friends in need
They got friends
They got friends who are pretty and friends who are plain
They got friends who are loyal and friends who ain't
They got friends
They got friends with futures and friends with pasts
They got friends for five minutes and friends that'll last
They got friends
They got friends nearby and friends who have fled
They got friends that are living and friends that are dead
They got friends
They got friends on their own and friends with friends
They got friends in love and friends who pretend they got friends
They got friends
They got friends
They got friends
|
||||
10. |
In A Mess
02:52
|
|||
3,2,1,4
I made fourteen figurines for you from the finest trifles
We have grown together like lichen on bark and barrel towers
You know I am compensating for the times we last left
Who can take down your address when it is plainly in a mess
It's in a mess, it's in a mess, it's in a mess
I made sixteen kilobytes for you of the finest binary
You took all the stories home and made the endings happy
Bells tolled every Sunday painter learn to mix acrylic
Orthodox palettes are cleaned with rags but you were always worth less
It's in a mess, it's in a mess, it's in a mess
I concede what I've achieved is under new inspection
There's a bit one minute in when it was pure / "objection"
Now I repeat it to make a pattern
When you think it means much more
It really doesn't
It's in a mess, it's in a mess, it's in a mess
It's in a mess, it's in a mess
|
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11. |
When It's Not Easter
02:00
|
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12. |
The Devil
03:01
|
|||
I can see freedom, I can't see trouble
I can't see the point in seeing double
Yeah, we drank and drank and drank until the feeling was gone
And the visions wore off and we were left alone
There is a devil living in this cage
He is twice your size
She was half your age
It spoke to us three times a day
And it took all our strength
To get him to stay
Now there'a hole filled with soap
And we imagine it's our nature
Yeah, there's a sewer filled with soap
And we imagine it's our nature
There was a devil. Was there a devil? There is a devil. Is there a devil?
There was a devil. Was there a devil in the deed?
Be more guarded. Be less guarded. Could you be guarded?
Be more guarded. Be less guarded. Be more guarded in the deed.
The devil has come
The devil is done
The devil has won
The devil is done
The devil. The devil. The devil.
The devil. The devil. The devil.
The devil has come
The devil is done
|
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13. |
||||
I
I'm walking out
On the previous me
I am resolved to change
A change that has overcome us all
And kept me awake
When you were asleep
I am walking out
I am walking out
I
I'm walking out
On the model home
I helped to build
I am immune to change
For change read dropping old ideals
Once held to be real
I am walking out
I am walking out on
This borrowed dream
These tedious times
These memes, these tides, the trappings, the callings
And to what end?
And then to pretend to choose
The ambition or the murderous muse?
I know, I know you will follow me out
Onto the ledge
I am walking out
I am walking out
I am walking out
I can leave this way
Or via the trap door
And fall out into the void
An unthrilling region
I'd rather avoid
I am walking out
I am walking out onto the ledge with you
|
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14. |
||||
Can't you detect that I had two phases?
One when I was in love and one when I was faking
O, let's move on
What I once held dear needs replacing
There's a length of chain with your name on
Let's move on
If I was any more narcissistic, I would begin to write
A one-man musical about my life
Starring me and no one else
Do you think it's a cry for help?
These things can't be undone
So, let's move on
Let's move on
When we argued in Carnac, I wasn't really with it
The rocks took it hard and begged for your forgiveness
O, let's move on
I've been watching tombs of Indians in the fag ends of Rome
With the mysteries of Lisbon thrown in for fun
I won't change
I wish I could be more direct like you
And not waste time trying not to be rude
The curse of a civil tongue is for cat people living alone
These things can't be undone
So, let's move on
Let's move on
These things cannot be undone
These things can't be undone
So, let's move on
Let's move on
So, let's move on
These things can't be undone
So, let's move on
Let's move on
Let's move on
|
||||
15. |
Premises
01:58
|
|||
Plants come to cultivate
Thoughts come to incubate
Banks rush to speculate
About you
Rubber-spined invertebrates
Were blamed for the mess you made
These husks we will dessicate
Around you (spread them out!)
What's the basis of your premise, love?
(I cannot see it)
What are these cases of such precious love?
Crowds tend to dissipate
When people affiliate
With all known associates
Except you
On which subjects predicate
The object of a pearly gate
Only oysters appreciate
The real you
What's the basis of your premise, love?
(I cannot see it)
What are these cases of such precious love?
|
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16. |
Demands
03:10
|
|||
Our fates intertwined like a neck and a noose
Two planks of wood proving they're useless
She looked like a bullfrog and dressed like a princess
Hasn't been seen through for four or five minutes
You know I'm fond / You know I'm fond of
All distractions that demand my attention
So, how could I live without these demands?
Our fates intertwined like an arrow and target
Punctures her heart but at least she can hide it
Fought like a champ, made up like a hostess
The wine in the face was just part of the process
You know they're bound / You know they're bound to
All distractions that demand their attention
And, how could they live without these demands?
Their fates intertwined like a wrist and a razor
The blood in the bath he was saving for later
Poured on the tiles, poured in the glass with
And drunk with a creature she was caught in a trap with
Fate's in reverse when you know that it's nonsense
A glimpse of the future before it can hurt you
This tune will resolve in the way you expect
Starts as a strength, ends as a defect
You know I'm fond / You know I'm fond of
All distractions that demand my attention
So, how could I live without these demands?
You know they're bound / You know they're bound to
All distractions that demand their attention
And, how could they live without these demands?
All distractions that demand my attention
So, how could I live without these demands?
|
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17. |
||||
When Jad Fair wrote a song about my brother, it took a while
He was working with Kramer. He was stopped in the middle by thunder
He rhymed Britain with smitten because he can
He is Jad Fair
And it’s all good, it’s all fine
And he knows what a brother is: Jad and David. Me and Graham.
Art and music. Music and film
Me and my brother, we go back a way
We used to make tapes. Make their covers
Lying on the floor entombed in music, wrapped in paper
From paper / cuts from Jad to me to Graham
When he first heard Half Japanese, he found them funny
For one song, for one song
Then he knew, then he knew, then he knew
There would be no more Beatlemania
And we never wanted to be like them.
Being awkward was a badge
We could not join in with anyone only with each other.
Art, he has it made. He has made it
Music, he has it made. He has made it
Film, he has it made. He has made it
Family, he has it made. He has made it
He is a good man
It’s not a charmed life. He has made it
When Jad Fair wrote a song about my brother,
He hardly knew but he knew
Yeah, he knew
|
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18. |
||||
Well dressed in a white cube
Well shoed
Heels
With the squeak of pumps on hard working concrete
Skimmed pretty in grey paint period
Sobs over drone period
The audience fails to notice
Their failure even
Polite applause (in situ)
Say "room" not "site"
Say "room" not "space"
Say "get" not "source"
Polite applause
The audience fails to notice
The audience fails to notice
The audience fails to notice
|
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19. |
First Night Alone
00:40
|
|||
The first night alone and it could be worse
I could be riddled with cancer
I could be dead in a hearse
With no one at the funeral
Except for those who have been paid
By an evil employer
At minimum wage
The first night alone and it could be worse
I could be dying of pneumonia
I could be under a curse
Set by demons hell bent on telling me that
Your first night alone
Won't be your last
Alone
|
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20. |
Masonry Bees
01:56
|
|||
When the masonry bees find flaws in your house
Will you drive them out? Or will you let them be bees?
Masonry bees
When the weeds of July find fissures in your drive
Will you let them survive? Will you let them be weeds?
Summer weeds
|
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21. |
This Misery
02:44
|
|||
There were head lice
In the teeth
Of the tortoise
Shell comb
You took home
To melt
In the tar
In the street
There was daylight in the evening
When you called for no reason
But I knew you were leaving the world I knew
I can't help thinking I can't help
This misery you've made you've made yourself
The rain streams like a grey rope
The leaves and twigs therein have no hope
Of returning to their tree
As you to me
Was there daylight in the evening
When you called me for a reason?
Could I tell then you were leaving the world that I knew?
I can't help thinking I can't help
This misery you've made you've made yourself
I can't help thinking I can't help
This misery you've made you've made yourself
This misery
This misery
This misery
This misery
|
||||
22. |
Push Him On The Spikes
02:40
|
|||
Embedded all week in this hierarchy
You would do the same for me if you could, if you could
Climbing out of the hole you're in
Would take twice as long with him (yes, it would)
So, push him on the spikes, baby
Impale him in the pit below
And we will go on walking by the river
Yeah, we will go on walking by the river
Yeah, we will go on walking by the river on our own
Push him on the spikes, baby
Impale him in the pit below
Push him on the spikes, baby
Impale him in the pit below
And we will go on
We will go on
We will go on
|
||||
23. |
Astrid Plain
01:13
|
|||
With your blue hair non-committal
A Swiss role
Pricey leggings
You grassed us up
And we held it against you, Astrid Plain
You did the decent thing
You did decent things
Look up Astrid Plain
Still out there
Out of reach
Not an art school levelling
A way of defeating common yobs
Never went out alone
The perch, the parrot, the higher places
There's a mountain air surrounding Astrid Plain
Astrid Plain
Astrid Plain
|
||||
24. |
Your Questions Answered
00:29
|
|||
25. |
||||
There are some notes here upon this stage
And I hate what they're saying
About our freedom to move around
They want us to talk about our feelings whereas
There are some clear directions from overhead
Others have no problem swallowing them
Why can't we follow them into
That eternal, restful place that makes sense of life?
Will we recognise it for what it is?
We are retreating from the brink of reason
Faith should be the preserve of children
No miracles will help you
No god will guide you
No heaven awaits you
Nothing awaits you
There are some dry leaves in this book
Upon which I have sworn
To remove you from this box
And place you on these lawns
Where the wet grass upon your skin
Will make you young again
And keep you from caving in
When the devil says he has won
Will you recognise it for what it is?
Sentimental nostalgia for universal truth will kill us all
Longing for the certainties of faith will kill us all
This will kill us all
|
||||
26. |
||||
Still, it's a calor flame of inhibition
And it flickers still despite my years advancing
O, leave us clinging to your side
What do aunt's really know?
For bearing. They went first. The hard way.
The ox gravel path
Roots are one thing but not the only thing
Stopping me
God help us
Drawn from the hellstone
A pit of pure poison
Effects are not symptoms
Weekends aren't seasons
Causes aren't reasons
Some cliche helps Kristeva says
Alive or dead
I composed this
I must be this
I composed it
I must feel it stopping me
Stopping me
|
||||
27. |
It Is Only Timing I Lack
01:06
|
|||
It is only timing....timing I lack
It is only fortune...fortune we lack
When you found me, I was not up to much
When you unearthed me, I was covered in mud
It is only timing...timing...timing...time...I lack
I mixed fortune with pleasure in bulk
When you found me, I had nothing
You loved me more when I had nothing
You loved me more when I had nothing
When you unearthed me, I was covered in mud
When you came out, you were covered in blood
|
||||
28. |
The Future Knows Best
04:50
|
|||
Sure we fall out now and then
I cannot stop this happening
We will rejoin like they do in all songs
And in future songs
O, the future knows best
Read blueprints, stole golden plans
Handed handouts in our hands
Had no visions, had no dreams
I wrote living with hope was beyond our means
O, the future knows best
Precognition of the morning sun
As it hits us one last time
And this thought will strike us again
In the final flame
O, the future knows best
The years add up and then subtract
From our mutual future span
We cannot escape these cells
Unless we think of something else
O, the future knows best
We can break up now and then
Form a new thing or regress again
To the furrowed field we know
Ain't it lonely when you're out on your own?
O, the future knows best
Precognition of an evening bulb
As it is turned off one last time
Will we have this thought again
In the final frame?
O, the future knows best
O, the future knows best
O, the future knows best
O, the future knows best
With no foreknowledge you are always becoming
With high foreknowledge you are being your self
With no foreknowledge you are always becoming
With high foreknowledge you are being your self
|
||||
29. |
||||
Every time reminds me of a better time
It makes ageing such a terrible thing
The past folding into all that is good now
One day, it will leave us alone
Every place reminds me of another place
So I don't care where I am
I can live in my head alone
It's so hard for you to move in
To that same house again
Sorry it's full of places only I have been
Everything reminds me of something else
And it makes growing old such a terrible thing
I'm reminded of you again
When I'm just sitting on my own
With nothing but the breeze
Moving through the trees
You again
Faced with you again
I think of all the living friends
I'd rather see
Here again
Oh God not here again
There must be other places
You'd rather be
Everyone reminds me of someone else
You cannot be yourself
No matter how hard you try
You're an amalgam of the previous
The dead and those preceding us
You're a version of someone less flawed
Who I loved more
|
Santa Sprees
The Anglo-Japanese band Santa Sprees have been advancing the art of unpopular song since 1994. Making questionable progress from the low-skilled, no-fidelity, no wave of their earliest cassettes to the largely futile primitive avant bubblegum of today, releasing ten collections to date on a trail of defunct labels and media. ... more
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