BEWARE
Beware of the land, beware of the sea
Leave four yellow roses in the fork of a tree
Leave a charm 'neath your pillow, tie knots in a chain
Thump hard on the altar 'til the angels complain
'til the markets do tremble and the gaggle gets feed
Beware of the green, beware of the seed
Beware of the sand, beware of the stone
We're alive on an ocean that's dry as a bone
And the ghosts in this desert confuse all the light
They're blazin' a trail as they creep through the night
'til nets hang above'm and snares lie beneath
Beware of the eyes, beware of the teeth
Beware of our smiles, beware of our tears
The walls all have voices and the voices have ears
They stare without speakin' 'til the data's erased
'til the screen's blank like snowfall and the clerk sits amazed
Yes the way Satan's grinnin' can't mean many things
Just beware of the princes, beware of the kings
THE BOTTLE AND THE GLASS
She's the one I'm here to get
Me darlin's on a jet
Watch'em come and go like bees around a hive
Sweet phoenix from the ash
She'll be loaded down with cash
And I ain't spent big since 1985
They say at least ten minutes yet
One last drink and cigarette
I need my best girl to get out of this fix
She wears a water pistol rose
So that everybody knows
She's good at tellin' jokes, at playin' tricks
And I won't miss the heartaches
I won't miss the tears
The bottle and the glass
The bottle and the glass
And when she steps down off the plane
I'll order real champagne
With a stolen ring I'll kneel down on the floor
Then we'll drink all her perfume
And roll around a room
The mornin' finds us wakin' up for more
BRING A KISS
One two three four five
They’ll eat our dust up, we’re gonna drive
We’re closin’ in, we gonna roll
So plant that foot, ditch the cruise control
For a thousand hours I been vacuum hearted
I met some women but their jaws weren’t parted
I never phoned and I chucked their numbers too
I’ll be there before the streets get lighted
You’ll hear a roar before my truck gets sighted
I’m just around the bend from where magnolias grow
I can bring a kiss to you
A B C D E
I’ll pinch the pick up and they’ll be lookin’ for me
Between the lines like I’m written in code
I’m closin’ in on an open road
Let’s wag the tail of this madding journey
Hey call the priest and your Mum’s attorney
I’ll be there, I’ll be ‘round for you
‘cross the night to track the scorpion crawling
It’s bitter cold but these wheels aren’t stallin’
I’m just around the bend from where magnolias grow
I can bring a kiss to you
THE CALIFORNIANS
Lookin’ up it’s half past ten
Gone half ten. Saw the numbers revolve
Of course drip to the ground!
Breathin’ in I ate my words
Eat my words. They twist as they fall
Loop around you
Here and there imagine that
Well imagine that! seems our life gets served
With pie in the sky
But don’t forget it’s like a date
Just like a date, don’t let me down sweetheart
Leave me outside
The inter-city rolls right in to town
I can hear that filthy diesel slowin’ down
How unwelcome could it be
When that daylight train takes you from me?
But I don’t suppose I made that plain to you
Where’d I score such faded lines of view?
‘cause in between the platform and the door
It’s just your promises once more
Down South the clock don’t work
Damn clock don’t work and then the fog begins
Enshrouding the shore
Overtake the tumbling sun!
Big tumbling sun clinging to the day
‘cross this chequerboard bay
The Californians all seem quiet
Red numbers flicking through the night
The breeze’s whistle ‘cross the park
Keeps reappearing in the dark
CAN'T TURN YOUR HEAD
I'll tell you 'bout the bind you’re in
Your friends are thick, your woman's thin
There's not enough of nothin'
Down the line to nowhere
I'll tell you 'bout the bind you’re in
- You can't turn your head
Too much been said
You can't turn your head
I'm talkin' 'bout a false alarm
A fevered dream of fatal charm
Like mother reads a fable
To blessings at the table
I'm talkin' 'bout a false alarm
You're workin' on a tragic case
The skull behind the human face
The telephone keeps ringin'
The pimps that call keep singin'
You're workin' on a tragic case
CLICK
Stop! guards are armed, dogs got teeth
They get paid to get you
Well, false alarm, things are calm
Mister Big stay sleeping
Back in my room I resume
Look for work for nothing
More rubber stamps, dotted lines
Paper chains of welfare
- For you and me, you-oh, me-oh
The big-shot's armed and his men are ready, men are ready
No Cary Grant and Sophia Loren
No second thoughts, no hesitating, hesitating
Smell, creaking floors, dripping taps
All the neighbours listening
Here in my head the sphinx is dead
The riddles made to fool me
I see I'm blind, hear I'm deaf
There are no surprises
They have the day, the cause is lost
One more dream that’s over
CROWN'S GRAVE
My name is Swain and I lived a hard life
Then come to this country and married my wife
I worked the big sites, a dog-man on the crane
'til the comp'nies went bust, the jobs down the drain
I sold what I had to go North if I could
Got a lease on ten acres, for two years it was good
A bad season came, swung our luck around
The sheep all got blown, there were cracks in the ground
But our life got changed by a call from the town
"There's a man out there hidin', his name's Jacky Crown"
Yes later that night he came onto my land
Broke into the room with a knife in his hand
"Look out Jacky Crown 'cause they know you are here
You should leave while it's dark just to be in the clear"
"Wait a minute!" Crown said, "Just go close the door
I've been locked up three years but I lived here before
And I pulled this big job on an Adelaide store
There's a fat Christmas payroll buried under your floor"
My wife she got up as calm as a pool
She laid out a table, gave a feed to this fool
He ate all he could 'til the plates were all clean
And I stood there shakin' 'cause Jacky turned mean
He went to get up but felt pretty sick
Then he died like a dog, it was painful but quick
My wife turned and smiled and showed no alarm
She'd poisoned his food with bait for the farm
If it ever gets out we can plead self-defence
Now we're ten thousand richer with a grave near the fence
DIAMONDS IN WINE
The crowd's disappeared through the smoke
The candle's dripped down
While the band's goin' home
And it's like I'm explaining some joke
Though I see tears are prepared
In my old lover's eyes
An arrow tattooed through a heart
Sinks in the skin
We've stolen too much precious
Time, oh my dear
Authentic thieves
Too many small crimes
And if this is the end
Then we've lived our nine lives
And it's here that the old road divides
We must let those days fade
Like diamonds in wine
I cheated, I read the last page
There were no plans laid
Our hearts from the fire can
Rise disengaged
So I leave you this night
With my kindest of goodbyes
DIRTY RIVER
And so she’s mildly confused
These days are blinking like an old cartoon
Uneasily amused
The clock starts dragging ‘cause he gets here soon
North of our dirty river
We’ll catch the streetlight shiver
Define the sharp crowd you and I
I cleaned the car and I borrowed a tie just for you
Where there’s a high-hat snappin’
The smallest dream can happen
The moon’s reached our corner of the sky
To form a ring I give both of my hands just to you
Coloured numbers and bars on the screen
The lens is spinning but Big Brother’s bored
And as distant as he’s ever been
She can’t believe sometimes she gets ignored
FALLOWFIELD
The senseless grey
Up the hills it all starts with the rain
The umbrella crowd must float down Wilmslow Road again, and again
Pay the fare and bus departs
'til there beside the church
Old Scruffy Murphy hugs the Queen of Hearts
In Fallowfield
The dark conceals the pretty nurse's face
Outside at night you can only hear the drums and bass, and bass
It's sorted where the best pubs are
And I'm on a mission here
Where the tall taps drip and shine behind the bar
FLATTENED RIDGE
I see that town, the Scotsman’s wall
Our wishing well, the dusty hall
The pretty nurse is bored she’s been this way before
Eyes fixed on the door
The tower rings, she grabs her things and flees
To Flattened Ridge, the branches groan
The lonely dog, the scattered stone
The crowded flowers there unfold themselves to you
When any sign will do
The paintbrush clouds all colour in the dew
The whistles howl back down the line
For Pierrot and Columbine
And Father Time’s so mean he absently connives
In willow pattern lives
As the stretching light prepares its bite we’ll see…
FLOWER
I knew you as you were unbroken
Such thieving style without nothing left to crave
And now you kneel beside this token
A lock of hair and a flower for his grave
I believe you had some destination
And would have made it but got caught up in the wave
Just lost control of situation
A lock of hair and a flower for his grave
When from the trance you were awoken
That second day you were married to the brave
The bone was rolled, the curse was spoken
A lock of hair and a flower for his grave
The river rose, the bridge was burning
The men had gone - just the fool was left to rave
And not a word of him returning
A lock of hair and a flower for his grave
And later on you've not changed nothin'
Without a witness you've been taken for a slave
Remained in chains and kept on loving
A lock of hair and a flower for his grave
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES (THAT NEVER GET DIZZY)
I've got friends in high places that never get dizzy
They're livin' it up at the top of this city
Down the hallways of power I'm swingin' doors open
And letting you beggars eat cake
I've got high placed friends with whom I'm relaxed
I'm rakin' in packets and never get taxed
And I've cooked all my books, erased all the traces
Of those friends in high places
My old mate at the top I've got by the jocks
He leaves brown paper bags in my private box
To buy him some shares in that comp'ny off shore
Hey, it's all in the name of his wife!
I've got friends in high places who never get dizzy
The lackeys are crawlin', the suck-arses busy
They're a bit short on mirrors 'cause they've all got two faces
Those friends in high places
I've got friends in high places, yeah on top of the job
I'm in league with the devil, in cahoots with the mob
I'm doin' deals under the table
While I ride on that gravy train
I've got friends in high places hear the three tenors sing
Let bleedin' hearts grumble, cash registers ring
The jangle of jackpots, the roar of the racers
Those friends in high places
GIRL WITH BOYFRIEND
She come she go can act can't sing and me hang round
She suck and out or breathe and in she dance off beat
She kiss and blonde brunette and kiss she eyes and mouth
He don't I do he's old I'm new her love's a lie
- What can I do?
When will you be?
Do without you
Be without him
Sweet face she paint in black in white with flashing eyes
Her lips her neck herself myself she make me think
Though hard to please his girl's caught me in spider's web
I'm in between her laugh and scream I'm hers she's his
She speak her heart with sex with art with drumming tongue
She soft and warm it's wild like storm 'cause love means trouble
We nice we tease we seem so free but then she don't
He's hers I'm hers she's his she's mine so cruel so mad
HEARTS WILL BREAK
Hearts will break
It goes without sayin' that
Hearts will break
When these wheels will groan
And it's hard to leave
But I'll see you later
Heart of glass be heart of stone
It dispels all fear
To be so near
Shelter from the crowd outside
My friend, my guide
The translation's tough
It's not enough
But it makes no sense this frozen town
Seems upside down
HERE'S TO HEARTBREAK AGAIN
Sittin' here so lonely for Michael
I take back all the things I said
Third glass in my hand, a photo from Redfern
And this letter he's left on the bed
I wonder who could make him so happy
And could I ever please him again
Want the key in the door, his steps up the stairway
But if he comes there'd be no-one knows when
This joint's in a mess, broken windows
There's pools on the floor when it rains
We've fallen apart, I've slipped back in the river
Drink up here's to heartbreak again
HEY BARMAN
Before I came to this mornin'
She'd took my pay and caught a train
Been itchin' to leave for months and an army
Couldn't stand in her way
Well I stuffed up let's face it
So again I'm alone in town
Hey barman
One more round could drown the pain
Hey barman
Set 'em up, it's the same again
Love only lasts in stories
The TV, the silver screen
I s'pose it goes without sayin' too much
In my life that's the way it's been
Hearts are won and then they go
But I always end up here
You wish that I'd quit ravin'
Well fair enough I'm just a fuckin' clown
But barman first some juice from that bottle
See I've put my money down
To drink again to my honey
Sink a few for Auld Lang Syne
THE HOUSE
I left the house the way it was
I left the doors to bang and swing
I left the clothes there in the wardrobe
And I didn't move a thing
I left the dust to gather cobwebs
And I never turned a page
It's been twelve months and a fortnight
And it sits there like a cage
There's no fire, no connections
There's no light
When the sun sinks down it's your glassy eyes
Fill the night
I left the old chair in the corner
I left your fags up on the shelf
You can float around for hours
And drink the cheap port by yourself
I left the drumming tap still dripping
The paint to flake and peel
A pattern for a jumper
A doll without a wheel
Yes it sits there like a prison
And you’re walkin' through the chairs
I can see you in the mirror
As you're floatin' up the stairs
(c)2010stooke
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