1. |
In Frost Sandals
00:54
|
|||
|
I had your shadow followed
In frost sandals
No wasted couplet lumbered in
Chest freezer, one previous owner
Now unloved, fly tipped
The layby lads have a home at last
|
||||
2. |
The Gulf Between Us
02:15
|
|||
|
That couple you can't add up
Might make sense at home in the gulf between us
That oil on polythene
"Ill-advised" claims Shirley MacLaine
But what does she know of the gulf between us?
What passed as a message was lost in midstream
In the gulf between us
We don't count much
We cast everything in to the gulf between us
And it can stay there
|
||||
3. |
||||
|
Hell, what's with all the fire?
The tar and feathers' bit?
Got to spit them out
Having to split the cost
I thought of you last of course
Can we get out of these serial traps?
Can we get out of these work clothes?
Iron is hard on the ankles
What if it makes you choose?
What if they make you jump?
Haven't got a place to run
Haven't got a place called heaven
So, they don't get a place called hell...just this
All the plans in flame
All the ends the same where they should be
The Virgin Mary ain't where she should be
Cross the abortion picket line
Their tent is infested with him
Their tent is infested with him
Can't look beyond them
Their cheeks bear red not rouge
I know their placards are crude
What if they make you choose?
And think more of an unborn child
Than a brown one in the reeds
Haven't got a place at all
Save the stuff you lent me
Save that patch on your floor
Haven't got a place at all
|
||||
4. |
Save Yourself
03:50
|
|||
|
Your hairdresser roots are showing
That grand salon came to nothing
Your perm solution did not last long 'round here
The crows chose dead branches to perch on
Every higher purchase gift was a let down
No matter who you wasted them on
Fifty two ain't old to not go out the door
For twenty six years or more, you made economies
But you could not save yourself
You could not save yourself
You could not save yourself
Your housebound slippers are slowing
The ornamental cats say nothing
Pausing for thought will not catch on, not here
For the vultures have new bones to pick on
Knocking on the never-never never helped anyone
Your new resolve will not live long
Fifty two ain't old to move beyond the door
Could you put by anymore?
You made economies
But you could not save yourself
You could not save yourself
Sick of getting by, fed up of making do
Scraping by, getting through
Why don't you save yourself?
Save yourself
Save yourself
Save yourself
You could not save yourself
|
||||
5. |
Fanfare For Tonsils
01:13
|
|||
|
The fanfare for tonsils subsides
The Garden of Eden has been closed a while
But for me I'm just the same
I'm still everything
For the hermits aren't alone
In thinking that they're special
There's an old way and there's a new way out
My friends might hold the door for me
In the hope that being natural
Causes me no further harm
The fanfare subsides again
Another day equals another try
Where melody is a prophecy fulfilled
|
||||
6. |
Outside Prison
00:36
|
|||
|
I capitulated to caprice once too often
And it left me in the prison I'm in
The guards here are harder to please than our father
So, forgive me for whatever it is
I am supposed to have done (whatever it is)
Tell them I've been a good boy
For much longer than you think I've been
I've been bad but I've done the time (over and over)
I pleaded for parole wanted out from the cold
You should try being out on the outside sometime
|
||||
7. |
||||
|
Cloud bisected at horizon then France
Is it a limited plane?
Fell to earth as a hapless feather
We'll be together again
There'll be no where, there'll be no when
Just a passing thought
A feared forgotten happy nothing
A December walk
Across the sand and bands of pebble
In blood rust strips
Who can muster direct words on days like this?
There'll be no why, there'll be no when
Just a guarded fear
To which all the captors
Will not draw near
A Breton field, a Lisbon lane
A Stockholm of snow and ice
A Matsuyama pine trail, Andalusian night
There is a helical walk if you change your mind
These daily courses are finite
But they keep us alive
Cloud bisected at horizon then France
Cloud bisected at horizon then France
|
||||
8. |
Heavy Hint
01:28
|
|||
|
Here is a hint
Here's a heavy hint
Jaffa Cakes aren't fruit
Neither one of you
Ever grew on trees
Or had a day's release
Salad makes you happy
But it comes and goes
This from one who knows
And got killed by grief
You're on top of that
Your life's a click track
This losing attitude
You'd do well to lose
It is holding you down
Don't let this peter out
Comb that lick down
Let this peter out
Here is a hint
Here's a heavy hint
|
||||
9. |
Harper's Goldfish
02:50
|
|||
|
David's daughter had a fish
She named it Professor Harold Hill
Much better than a fish named Spotty or Goldie he thinks
He lasted two years longer than other fish born at the same time
He sure was clever at staying alive
We're going to listen closely to the lesson he gave us
Professor Harold Hill, goldfish
Giving your pet a last name and tenure
It's more than is needed but children think clearer
Let's remember to remember
A goldfish, a professor
Harper's goldfish resembles a flattened phoenix
Harper's goldfish looks like a long flame
Harper's goldfish
|
||||
10. |
Fell In The Well
01:50
|
|||
|
Fell in the well with drowned puppy dog
Who barked out a name in the dark
Of its owner, its handler, its giver of Chum
In death, in death, they are one
I fell in the well with an old puddy cat
Who jumped at the chance to return
To the lightless before
Not knowing you're born
And the cold, cold thrill of the fall
|
||||
11. |
Bracelet Paste Thinly
00:20
|
|||
12. |
Her Dad's A Mason
02:29
|
|||
|
Humble Jeanie had a nanny
Fooled no one her account was empty
We see her in Waitrose every Tuesday
Buying soya milk
Her friend told me her dad's a mason
He wears a dress down at the lodge
Unhappy Jeanie had a fiancé
Please expand on your tales of plenty
We see you in Waitrose but you can't trick us
Fur coat, no knickers
Your friend assures me your mum is drinking
Herself to death
Yes...good to hear...retribution
Posh girl fascination
|
||||
13. |
||||
|
Tenth iteration of paradise
The service is good
All the food's home cooked
But I preferred the last one
It was all you could drink
And man came first in paradise
All the women undead were there to serve
Ad when they drew your blood
And restored your hair
Part your friends on paradise
Looks just like home looked before you left us
You know you can't die
No one dies here
|
||||
14. |
It's No Coincidence
02:59
|
|||
|
It's no coincidence
I heard them both at once
Signal sent two thousand and one
Carbon copied again
It's a harmonic arrangement
The past folds forward over the sliding now
You can't empty your head of the old tunes and the old ways
And I wouldn't ask you to anyhow
You are going to have to live with both
There is no forward motion only vertical composition
Marks on the stave are well-behaved
So, know your place upon the scale
You can't swap a time for a place
This can only happen once
Yet the infant you tags along
Would you really want them gone?
It's a harmonic arrangement
You are circling over your own head
Seeing the missed the forks and the lost love and the failings
Wouldn't want you to lose this view
You are going to have to live with both
There is no actual forward motion only vertical composition
Marks on the stave are well-behaved
We know our place upon the scale
Up on the scale
You look a little lost like Claude Debussy
I've never had a thought that you could not read
Oh, it's no coincidence
It's no coincidence
|
||||
15. |
Of Free Will
00:55
|
|||
|
Fate's claim upon me now
Determined at birth
To have it all in neat, causal chains
Sequence first and called
A nice man digs your grave
An axiom at rest
To die before you're conceived
Makes a mockery of surprise
Of the unknown, of mystery
Of the entrance, of the exit
Of free will and how we lost it
|
||||
16. |
Someone Else's Wedding
02:14
|
|||
|
Oh, look onlooker
Low high street gawper
Say, here comes the bride
To brighten up your day, lightless until now
Sure beats a drumless parade
You & I have got nowhere
'Cos we can't control our limbs
Was the highlight of your day walking in on someone else's wedding?
Thought once you had lost it
Within winter coat pocket seams of confetti and rice
That was your dietary need then
Only adding colour to your weekend
Leaving the rest black and white
You & I will have nothing
If we can't control our tongues
Was the highlight of your year vowing at someone else's wedding
That we would be stuck with each other
If we could not control ourselves
Was the highlight of your life weeping at someone else's wedding?
|
||||
17. |
Not Us I Don't Trust
00:52
|
|||
|
Tiring of sleepless weeks
Dream of love's young dream
This could be late fatigue
It's not us I don't trust
No more louse invasion
We will stop all occasions
|
||||
18. |
||||
|
All the see-through folk are sniffing Windolene
(Opaque causes)
Just to clarify now I'm frosted
I used to have a voice (cough) but I lost it
Let us rest here for a while
I have never been the type to cling on for long
When there's no reason not to...
Say what I mean
Mean what I say
Will we see July?
Will you ignore me on the other side?
All the upright types are lying down again
(Transparent orders)
Held them very dear like they mattered
Threw them against the wall and they never shattered
Arrested here for a while
I have never been the type to try hard for long
When there's no reason not to...
Say what I mean
Mean what I say
Will see see July?
Will you ignore me on the other side?
Now adjusted to face front
On their tank a concern oblong
Descended on a frozen lake
Try to stop claiming that it's all ok
Say what you mean
Mean what you say
Will we see July?
Will you forget me on the other side?
We we see July?
Don't leave me on the other side
|
||||
19. |
High On The Spring
00:55
|
|||
|
High on the spring with a baby in your arms
The day she turns a teen, will it hit you kind of hard?
And when you've had it with K-pop offences
And bedroom solitude which we invented
Think of being
Remember being
High on the spring with a baby in your arms
|
||||
20. |
Rex Is A Day With Fleas
00:14
|
|||
21. |
Nell Becomes A Witness
03:08
|
|||
|
Wanting it to be true
Is not the same as believing, believe me
I want you to know that I'm trying
To convince myself
We'll amount to something
More than the others clawing away at the dirt
Believing we are better is making it worse
Needing it to be real
Is not the same as any real need
Who needs to know if you are trying
To convince yourself you'll stop at nothing
No more empty fridges or waiting for your luck to change
Fate puts on weight when you're hungry
Pounds fall away on the scale
Wanting them to be found wanting
And pass sentence we find fitting
Is not the same as natural justice
I want you to become a witness
|
||||
22. |
||||
|
Know them folks on the deck of the boat
They put a hole in the hold below
On purpose...just to stop us
They could not stand the sight of promised lands
If the biscuits ran out in the mid-Atlantic, what then? What if?
The very thought of hunger pains
Defeats the risk in greater gain
But I think the weevil sacrifice was worth it
Join in!
Read the small print in my Bible first
But to double check I asked baby Jesus
Yeah, we did the sums between us
He promised me the earth
I bought a wooden cross...funds pending
Nagged to death by my dead wife, Gretchen
This is what you get for over stretching on a wooden cross
I bought a wooden cross funds pending
I know my ways need mending
Erected it on my lawn last weekend
I bought a wooden cross...funds pending
|
||||
23. |
Coma, Semi-Cologne
00:09
|
|||
24. |
My Life Coach Is Dead
01:10
|
|||
|
A causal leap
Cut to a new thing
The purple prose led us here
To reality deferred
For the fantasy we prefer
Forget all the names you read
My life coach is dead
Threw herself off a bridge
At eight twenty six
In light of all this
|
||||
25. |
Only Younger
00:47
|
|||
|
Hold on longer
Won't get better
Only younger
That thing for which people clamour
|
||||
26. |
||||
|
You leave me no choice at all
Not to laugh
Bereavement office closed Wednesday
The stairs are steep all week
Pudding brought from the pantry
Made her suffer in her sleep
You left me no choice at all
No grown up is mature enough
Bereavement office closed Wednesday
He met his maker online
She met her match completely
Made her cry all night
|
||||
27. |
Near Death Inexperience
01:20
|
|||
|
To see the cliff top
To see temptation
Spread out before us
As an impossible view
Near death, near death inexperience
I would not recommend
The ending, the ending
And the friends, I need them to stay
Not to grieve or shrink from life
We remark on the evergreen tunnel overhead
|
||||
28. |
The Old Oak Is Sawdust
05:14
|
|||
|
There is still to make amends
There is still time to better yourself
But if past form is any guide at all,
Oh God, you're going to need some help
I guess you could still be a kept man
I mean she seems happy cleaning out your cage once a week
And the dish she leaves on the arm of your chair
Is nearly good enough to eat
Your life savings won't last the week
You do know you are low and beholden
To a loan shark with gold teeth
Who only smiles when you say your friends are coming
It's good to remember you at your height
See you in the Tabernacle of the Sun
When you descended the wooden stairs,
We thought you were the only one
Who could find a way out from under
That pile of rags you called a bed
Stinking of Dettol and dole
But with your own thoughts in your own head
Under an October sun after four
You looked like you were carved out of wood
A tear fell like varnish
Those gathered understood
We hung on your every word
Waited for your demands
Caved into every whim
Mistook you for a leader of men
There's no time like yesterday to hurt you here and now
There's no feeling like regret to cut you down to size
Timber! The old oak is sawdust
Felled right before us
To dry out in the sun
|
||||
29. |
||||
30. |
||||
|
Two weeks ago was golden light
There's no one in the gutter with eyes quite like hers
They warn me in a way I can't explain
Lured me from the garden and led me away
Two weeks from now I won't describe
There will be no one in the field with a mouth like yours
The teeth alone, the jaw a trap
The tongue and lips conceded that you were the only one waiting
You were the only one who retained any faith in
The failing body before you, beside you
Can't get any better beside you, for you
Two years ago our plans were dry
The rooms were still fluid and our minds were not set yet
On a future fork of A and/or B
Paths to a present too bleak for me
Two years from now we can't foretell
The signs in the scan that made you mine
They found a fault and cut it out
Or, they missed a few to lower me down
Into the not-silk lining, economy version
"Doesn't he look drawn?"
"Lifelike even"
The failing body before you, beside you
Can't get any better for you, beside you
Beside you
Beside you
|
||||
31. |
Fear Of Four
00:38
|
|||
32. |
Visiting Hours Are Over
01:25
|
|||
|
I'm asking you to concentrate
That urgent thing can wait
Yeah, that warming feeling you had
Was you wetting the bed
Visiting hours are over
Can I turn you on your side?
Then at least one of us can breathe alright
I'd gladly switch rasping roles and all
Not to see any more of your fucking bedsores
Visiting hours are over
Can I run a comb through your hair?
It's the only part of you still here
That doesn't respond to my touch
Like I'm a cattle prod
Visiting hours are over
Visiting hours are over
|
||||
33. |
Run Wild When I'm Gone
04:37
|
|||
|
We can prepare and prepare and not be ready
Convert me to ash
It will be easier to carry me over the hill
Find a place you can hide me
Don't stay home, don't dwell in the past
Don't hang around my grave
Like those other saps
Run wild when I'm gone
I command you, run wild when I'm gone
Don't think of me for long
Save the thought stops you from
Loving, living, being while you can
The pain seems acute now
But it will subside like everything else
Run wild when I'm gone
I implore you, run wild when I'm gone
I know you'll love me the same
Even if you find another man
No need to tend a flame
No need to keep my name
I will not be watching, I will not be thinking
I will not be judging, baby
I only want you to run wild when I'm gone
Run wild when I'm gone
It won't be so long before you're infirm yourself
And I will haunt you if you wasted your life
Worrying about who came before
Put your make up on, get ready to go out
And run wild...run wild
Run wild when I'm gone
Run wild when I'm gone
Run wild, run wild
|
||||
34. |
Narrowing Path
01:08
|
|||
|
So, imagine the music
A music to disapprove of
Diagrammatic snuff
That thinks itself forward
Onto that narrowing path
With death at the end
Gasping for breath
In laughable love
That keeps it at bay
Just long enough
To finish the thing
I mistook for the end
|
||||
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
Santa Sprees recommends:
L'Autre Cap (KLP179)
by Maher Shalal Hash Baz
Another peerless and singular recording from the peerless and singular Maher Shalal Hash Baz. Toppling over music in a dull, upright age.
go to album
What's Tonight To Eternity
by Cindy Lee
An ash-grey projection of Mary Weiss sings damaged, death throe pop for end times in the vertignous reverb of a canopy underpass. Brilliant even by Cindy Lee standards.
go to album
One of the greatest albums of the 2010s. Long may he write and record music as vital and vivid as this.
go to albumIf you like Santa Sprees, you may also like:
Interim Report, March 1979
by Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan
supported by 28 fans who also own “Fanfare For Tonsils”
Amazing!!! I missed out on the vinyl. Hopefully there’s a 3rd pressing of this release in the future. So far, my favorite album of 2021
go to album
An Evening With The Home Current
by Castles in Space Subscription Library
supported by 27 fans who also own “Fanfare For Tonsils”
Head noddin foot tappin funky beats for all the family
go to album
Hermetic Topography
by Zebularin
Stuttgart collective Zebularin create densely atmospheric pieces that meld digital noise with analog free jazz.
go to album
