Forgive me if I'm out of order -
this new "music" has no soul.
It may be good for making money,
(sadly that is not my goal).

Integrity and honesty are words that you don't understand,
but you're the best - it says so in the penny dreadful in your hand.

I saw you in the magazine,
they're calling you messiah.
They must be living in a dream -
they couldn't be more wrong.

If we'd played this riff more punk,
than may be we'd have had a million seller.
But this piper's tune is not for sale,
(I'm glad to say I'm not that kind of fella).

D.J.s, V.J.s, pimps and trollops,
never mind music - this is bollocks.

I saw you in the magazine,
they're calling you messiah.
They must be living in a dream -
they couldn't be more wrong.

Turn on, tune up, cash in, sell out.
Turn on, tune up, cash in, sell out.

Stand your ground behind the times -
and refuse to follow fassion.
Write your poetry with anger,
(and then sing it with a passion).

Painted faces in a circus - images that spring to mind,
when I read my penny dreadful filled with pictures of your kind.

I saw you in the magazine,
they're calling you messiah.
They must be living in a dream -
they couldn't be more wrong.

Commercial suicide's appealing after
ten years on this losing streak.
'Cause I'd rather be called sour and bitter
then be deemed the flavour of the week.

I saw you in the magazine,
they're calling you messiah.
They must be living in a dream -
they couldn't be more wrong.

Extra, extra, read all about it!

I saw you in the magazine,
they're calling you messiah.
They must be living in a dream -
they couldn't be more wrong. 
				

Life's really a chocolate box -
some do without - others have plenty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
From the cradle to the grave,
point your ladle to the gravy.
"Food comes first, then morals" they say,
the end of the world's three hot meals away.
Two average men eat their average meals
but destiny waits at their table.
One is served gruel while the other chews veal,
(but they're both spoon fed lies, lies from the cradle).
Life's really a chocolate box -
some do without - others have plenty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
Tragic moments for the masses-
work is the curse of the drinking classes
"homo homini lupus" we cry-
humanity fades like the moon in the sky.
You can't cook an omlette without breaking eggs,
(first they are cracked and then beaten).
The only things cracked around here are our heads,
recepies for disaster that we keep repeating.
Life's really a chocolate box -
some do without - others have plenty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
Here's a real beggars banquet,
a brace of rats in a blood stained blanket.
Meanwhile, gentlefolk high in their chateau,
dip silver spoons into black forest gateau.
Come lords and ladies - raise glasses in toast
to the "other-half" dying to eat.
'Cause they who receive feast deserve it the most,
it's a literal dead-end (Inequality Street).
Life's really a chocolate box -
some do without - others have plenty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
Life's really a chocolate box -
some do without - others have plenty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
				

She came down from the Western Hills when we were not prepared
I turned deaf ears to words of warning now I'm running scared.
Casting caution to the wind now that the cat's away
I say my grace - fill my face (then for forgiveness pray).
Gon knows I was an honest man - the same as any other
Who loved his wife - worked all his life to keep his family
Until the 'beast' that never sleeps beneath my silken covers
Reared its head and bit its thumb at my morality.

[Chorus:]
Her passion for passion - it will devour
Cruel are the thorns of this delicate flower
Her lust for lust - it will consume
A siren song summons all men to their doom.

She whispered of her innocence - (a plea I must contest)
While baptising helpless sinners with a missionary zest
She will exorcise your demons - then exercise your thighs
Await your 'second-coming' with a hunger in her eyes.

Her sweetmeats are the souls of men - she'll gorge herself to bursting
And for yours her heart is thirsting - as a spider craves a fly
No mortal man could ever hope to suit her as a suitor
Sh'll rewrite the Kama Sutra if you'd care to watch her try.

[Repeat Chorus]

I reach for heaven - desire drags me down
When fools choose their king I'll be heir to that crown
A strange kind of madness I cannot condone
If you are without sin come cast the first stone.
				

Vibrant and real I lie 
Mantled by the open sky
The wind and waves my lullaby
I am the land.

Why do you view me with
Eyes unable to see
The beauty in all that is pure
When it's left to live free?

So hot the fires within my breast
Rock and steel can't stand their test
Yet songbirds in my green beard nest
I am the land.

That which is so strong and old
Cannot be bought or sold
Mine is the green and gold
Wealth without end.

Ruled by the ebb of my oceans
Slaves to the dusk and the dawn
Your petri - dish civilisations
Are buried and born.

I watch as you live
With your heads in the sand
Unable to hear the cry of the land.

I was once a 'Happy Hunting Ground'
Then one day the eyes of science found
A blue - green planet
Spinning round a shining star.

The timeless giver of all life
Offered as a sacrifice
The priceless finds it's price
In the greed of man.

You bury your fears
And your heads in the sand
So you'll never hear the cry of the land.
				

A girl read my runes in the warm dressing room,
It was then that I started to think
There has to be something really worth hunting -
I reach for another strong drink.
For ten lonely years - that's my reward.

My ego and I we have faced many dangers.
Fear and self loathing have never been strangers.
Nobody knows of the depths we have been to -
Or all the fine messes we've got ourselves into.
For ten lonely years - that's my reward.

In my world far removed from the actual -
Safe in my small amorality capsule.
I cruise far aloof from the other world's laws-
Hiding behind tinted windows and doors.

I'm so tired of living -
Too weary to cry,
Too stubborn to give in -
Curl up and die.
This whole situation has I must confess,
All the tell-tale signs of another fine mess.

I've been run aground - a ship in a bottle,
Caught in the eye of the storm.
Deep in my strife found the meaning of life -
You're dying the moment you're born.

My heart bears the scars even time can't disguise,
If you only knew what I've seen through these eyes.
Oftimes overwhelmed by the feelings of doubt,
I have crawled in a bottle to shut them all out.

Will I drown in the sweat of this chemical dream,
With far too much blood in my alcohol stream?
When Mr. Jack Daniels has read my last rights -
His friend 'Billy Whizz' comes to turn on the lights.

First we were plastered in Paris,
Then we were frying in Greece.
Caught between heaven and hellfire,
Send for an ambulance - fetch me a priest.

I've been run aground - a ship in a bottle,
Caught in the eye of a storm.
Deep in my strife found the meaning of life -
You're dying the moment you're born.

"A band on ship" the captain cried,
We bought damnation duty-free.
Now we're floating with the tide -
"The silent whales of lunar sea."

I've been run aground - a ship in a bottle,
Caught in the eye of the storm.
Deep in my strife found the meaning of life -
You're dying the moment you're born.
				

There's a beast in the cellar
There since this building was made.
He's lurked in the shadows
From when its' foundations were laid.

From my "double-helix" he taunts me
His primal voice roars
It mocks my humanity
Turning the key in locked doors.

Sins of emission - an animal trapped in a civilised mind
Sins of emission - my formal facade for the deaf, dumb and blind.
Sins of emission - spilling my seed now the harvest is sown
Sins of emission - come feast on a banquet of blood, flesh and bone.

Though we try to deny
This primordial drive in us all
We will cease to exist
When we no longer heed nature's call.

I'm a puppet of lust and my instincts are pulling the strings
No, love's not an angel - it's merely a monkey with wings.

Sins of emission - enticing and thrilling
Sins of emission - the flesh is so willing
Sins of emission - down under my skin
Sins of emission - we're all "in like Flynn."

Temptation's the one thing we'll never resist
It flirts like a maiden that yearns to be kissed
Is throwing the cradle to hells raging fires
More sinful than nursing unacted desires?

Hold tightly the reins
Of your bestial instinct to breed
He's an unwelcome guest
In the "house-trained" existence you lead

How long can you muzzle this wild brute creation of yours?
You can't quarantine the primeval with walls, bars and doors.

Sins of emission - an animal trapped in a civilised mind
Sins of emission - my formal facade for the deaf, dumb and blind.
Sins of emission - spilling my seed now the harvest is sown
Sins of emission - come feast on a banquet of blood, flesh and bone.
				

A wise man's son and Wednesday's child in each other found a friend,
And searched together for the treasure hiding at the rainbow's end.
To wise man's son and Wednesday's child all is white that is not black,
They dance in symbiotic deadlock - one step forward two steps back,
Playing karmic snakes and ladders (all your sins will find you out),
When all your gains are lost in vain on cosmic wings and roundabouts.
At the roadside manhood's flower - blighted by a wayward youth,
Has cast its seed on well-worn pathways - borne on winds of whispered truth.
We march to drums of our own choosing - each of them keeps different time,
As you are free to live your own life so I am free to live mine.
Now wise man's son and Wednesday's child can recognise their own mistakes,
And to these ends they make amends for every promise that they break.
Both wise man's son and Wednesday's child view the world in red and green,
Await the day when they die laughing - thinking of the sights they've seen.
I tell you now if they were given chance to live their lives again -
Wise man's son and Wednesday's child would make the same mistakes as then.
At the roadside manhood's flower - blighted by a wayward youth,
Has cast its seed on well-worn pathways - borne on winds of whispered truth.
We march to drums of our own choosing - each of them keeps different time,
As you are free to live your own life so I am free to live mine.
				

Look what you get for following leaders,
who lead from the rear - where are they now?
Look what you get for following leaders,
who lead from the rear - where are they...
Where are they now?
What did we learn in history lessons?
How to sit quiet at the back of a class
with so many things open to questions,
it's too late to cry - there's no one to ask.
Life's an education - a multiple equation,
everybody finds their own solution in the end.
"To be or not to be" is a very lengthy question,
has somebody please got a sharpened pencil they can lend?
What did we learn in history lessons?
How to sit quiet at the back of a class
with so many things open to questions,
it's too late to cry - there's no one to ask.
Marching in time down a production line,
what did that teach you about life in the dole queue?
The Law of Relativity - (life's relative misery).
The Law of Probability - (it's probably contrived).
Newton's Law of Gravity - (we face a grave reality).
The Law that runs the jungle - (only the strong survive).
Look what you get for following leaders,
who lead from the rear - where are they now?
The path of least resistance - a bland text book existence,
don't expect to find the answers printed at the back.
The only sound advice that's carried me through life -
when the cards are stacked against you - play the joker in the pack.
What did we learn in history lessons?
How to sit quiet at the back of a class
with so many things open to questions,
it's too late to cry - there's no one to ask.
Marching in time down a production line,
what did that teach you about life in the dole queue?
				

Show me a politician who's a man we can trust
And if I ever meet him then I think I'll have him stuffed
Look out of the window - see not one happy face
The only splash of colour's the graffiti 'round the place.

It's hard to even crawl
With your back up against the wall.
I find it hard to sleep at night
I feel that the worst is yet to come
Social helter-skelter
Ride the downward spiral has begun.
Are some people just born bad
Or is it how we all become?
Human termites driven mad
In the concrete mound of the rising slum.

The people who are dark fear the people who are fair
And hippies live in terror of the guys who have no hair
The saddest thing of all - what I really find grim
Is we haven't yet noticed what a mess we're all in.

It's hard to even crawl
Now your back's up against the wall.
I find it hard to sleep at night
I feel that the worst is yet to come
Social helter-skelter
Ride the downward spiral has begun.
Are some people just born bad
Or is it how we all become?
Human termites driven mad
In the concrete mound of the rising slum.
The "whether man" says that the outlook's not great
A few outbreaks of murder with some isolated rape
I ask my doctor his advice, this is what he says,
"Get yourself some cancer boy, before you die of aids."

It's hard to even crawl
With your back up against the wall.
I find it hard to sleep at night
I feel that the worst is yet to come
Social helter-skelter
Ride the downward spiral has begun.
Are some people just born bad
Or is it how we all become?
Human termites driven mad
In the concrete mound of the rising slum.
				

I have walked the earth so many times before your birth,
Today is only yesterday's tomorrow.
And as a Gardner in Eden it was i who sowed the seed then
I've come to reclaim this life you borrow.

Singing 'ring a ring o' rosies' for your final lullabye,
Have you any prayers to make before you wave your last goodbye ?
I bring 'a pocket full o' posies' - lay a wreath to ease my guilt,
As the light's go out forever not one drop of blood was spilt.

Chorus:
As yet unwritten history-
Once more i stride the lightning road
Identity a mystery-
My burden is Pandora's load.
Traversing endless centuries-
Disguised behind Death's lipless smile,
I hide that my intention is to pour this single phial.

I 'd have rather seen your face almost any other place
Still here we meet - always the way in this profession
And as i gaze into your eyes - i see the glimer within dies,
From ther moment i first make my dark confession.

How could i swear i would be there for you, until your dying day,
Certain in the knowledge that it's not that far away ?
So you leave me sitting here bewildered as a new dead ghost,
While i try to justify destroying that which i love most.

Chorus:
As yet unwritten history-
Once more i stride the lightning road
Identity a mystery-
My burden is Pandora's load.
Traversing endless centuries-
Disguised behind Death's lipless smile,
I hide that my intention is to pour this single phial.

The dark millenium is ending -final daze of the decayed
And a reign of tears is falling - it's the judgement eve parade.
Though I wash my hands a thousand times -still the guilt remains,
She stole my heart - I took her life ...
(And yet i never knew her name).

Chorus:
As yet unwritten history-
Once more i stride the lightning road
Identity a mystery-
My burden is Pandora's load.
Traversing endless centuries-
Disguised behind Death's lipless smile,
I hide that my intention is to pour this single phial.

Out with a whimper - not with a bang.
And they all gathered round while the church bell rang.
Singing 'bring out your dead' they 'll stretch for miles,
To be bourne to their graves in single files.

Chorus:
As yet unwritten history-
Once more i stride the lightning road
Identity a mystery-
My burden is Pandora's load.
Traversing endless centuries-
Disguised behind Death's lipless smile,
I hide that my intention is to pour this single phial.
				

I remember my grandmother sat with her radio,
tea cup and walking stick set by her side.
As her old fingers reached out to turn up the volume,
I learnt what it meant to be bursting with pride.
She told me some tales of wars great and last,
black and white film stars sha'd liked in the past.
Taught me a few songs she'd learnt as a child,
stunned by her wisdom I listened and smiled.
She said to me "Lad, if you'll be a musican,
go out and be one - but one with conviction.
If there's just one lesson the young ought to learn,
it's pay no deposit and get no return."
Get no return.
Pay no deposit and get no return.
On time faded photographs I've seen an airman,
Stood next to the wings of a flying machine
and given the choice well I think I would rather
have done what I've done than have seen what he's seen.
I think that the Old Man feels really quite proud,
when he sits at the wheel and turns it up loud,
but imagined his son a lawyer or broker,
not sat on a bus full of drinkers and tokers.
He said to me "Son you can do as you please,
but always stand stright - never crawl on your knees.
If there's just one lesson the young ought to learn,
it's pay no deposit and get no return."
If there's just one lesson the young ought to learn,
it's pay no deposit and get no return.
Get no return.
Pay no deposit and get no return.
I've such a short time to tell you so much,
words come second best to a kiss or a touch.
Far thicker than water this blood we all share,
So please don't think that for you I don't care.
Fate may have driven us all separate ways,
but can't sever ancestry - splice D. N. A.
If life seems a road thats uneven and long,
to know where you're going just look Who you came from.
Many have said I take after my mother,
for her '67 was not a good year.
Though often I make her annoyed like no other,
through thick and through thin she has always been near.
Sometimes in the cold now I catch myself smiling,
'bout some stupid joke or a christmas tree shining.
I stood there so small 'neath that glittering tower,
it's memory a beacon in my darkest hour.
She said to me "Martin, whatever you'll be,
there's no such thing as a meal thats for free.
If there's just one lesson the young ought to learn,
it's pay no deposit and get no return."
If there's just one lesson the young ought to learn,
it's pay no deposit and get no return.
Get no return.
Pay no deposit and get no return.
				

Hear my tale - I'm norman normal, always humble, mild and meek.
In my bank a lowly banker - run-down brach on nowhere street
'till one day a stranger called - a fetid bible black he laughed,
said "Sonny I don't want your money, I don't need an overdraft.

Boy you have a great potential, don't you let it go to waste.
My offer ends - so it's essential that you hurry on (make haste!).
For a life of milk and honey sign along the dotted line...
Thirty years of girls and money - at the end your soul is mine!"

No one can dissuade me - I'm donw on my knees,
my conscience says "No" - my libido "Yes please!"
If I put my pen to paper for eternity I'm damned.
If I don't I'll never be the singer in a fiddel band.
Can anyone blame me? - I don't think they'd dare,
my soul says "No way" - But my mouth cries "Oh yeah!"

Here I am - your good friend norman, not so humble anymore.
Others age - but I look younger, stronger that I did before.
I used to drive a Fiat Panda - now a lime green Cadillac.
Guess my story goes to show not all the 'devils' own' dig black.

I know there is a price I must pay for my thirty years misspent,
when my satanic manager recoups my soul (100%).
I'll meet him at the crossroads, midnight chimes - my time has come
to party with the 'porno-queens' down by the shores of acheron.

I'll party on in acheron!

No one could dissuade me - I fell to my kness,
my conscience said "No" - my libido "Yes please!"
I have put my pen to paper and eternally am damned,
I've squandered my immortal soul by singing in a fiddle band.
Could anyone blame me? - I don't think they dare,
my soul said "No way" - but my mouth cried "Oh yeah!"

'Evil I did dwell - Lewd did I live' -
It's a small price to pay for the gift that he gives.
Was it all worth it? - I'm too drunk to tell,
I swap my cocaine for the brimstone of hell.

The end.
				

Now the final curtain's fallen,
for no show goes on forever,
if the world's a stage - mine's empty.
whilst upon it you'll tread never.
As the instruments lie silent in their coffins made of wood,
i rest assured they'd say these words - If say these words they could;
Whatever happened to the songs - the music that we made,
and the joy we shared together as on me your fingers played?
Are chose symphonies forgotten - with our cases closed and latched'?
Dreams now dusty, old and rotten - empty shells (no strings attached).
Amidst the dying candle-light,
I sit forlorn, alone,
a space once filled with laughter bright,
the place my heart called home
Now the puppets are my company - but wood and straw can't speak;
though it by chance they came to life I'm certain they would weep;"
"What am I without your tender touch -
the hands to hold and guide me,
what purpose has a puppet with no puppeteer beside me?
I do not care I have no hair - my painted face is scratched.
but fear my wooden heart will shatter with no stings attached.

No mourners assemble in this white-elephant's graveyard,
a dearth of bloom upon my tomb - an absence of forget-me-nots.
For Romeo I understudied - this sepulchre dark and bloodied,
It's my final resting place - amongst these "cloak-and-dagger' props.
Your kiss turns princes into frogs - and passion-plays to monologues.

Now last and least- the minstrel-takes his bow upon the stage,
he's played a fool and played the prince - (but never acts his age).
And If for once not lost for words- l wonder what he d say,
to win fair maiden, slay the dragon, keep dread foe at bay?

"Though I am not a wealthy man - my heart is pure and true,
and the only riches that I have - the love I feel for you.
Now my life is robbed of meaning
Iike a purse of hope that's snatched.
Must I spend my whole time dreaming -
living life no strings attached?" CHORUS:
No mourners assemble in this white-elephant's graveyard,
a dearth of bloom upon my tomb - an absence of forget-me-nots.
For Romeo I understudied - this sepulchre dark and bloodied,
It's my final resting place - amongst these "cloak-and-dagger' props.
Your kiss turns princes into frogs - and passion-plays to monologues.
				

My life is a sentence that carries no pardon,
I can't put you out of my misery now,
So stunned by beauty of this madhouse garden -
I've taken my chances (then lost them somehow).

This body's a temple - a shoddy construction,
I'm digging my grave - while boring the well,
I'm paving a path to my own self destruction,
I won't be content 'til I see me in Hell.
No I won't be content 'til I see me in Hell.

I've looked back on my time - the names and the faces,
A child long ago that I nearly forgot,
And felt like someone who'd just stepped on the place
where the last stair should have been - (then found it was not).

Life's just a process of delamination,
Stripping your hopes - dissecting them gently.
I've opened my heart - and to my consternation
when I peered inside it was small, dark and empty.

Chorus
My friends turn to me - wonder what I am doing,
drinking and smoking like somebody died.
I said "Leave me alone I'm just building a ruin,
The spirits are sunken - so the wreckage must rise."

I'm building a ruin - I ruin a building,
My bridges are burned out - my tunnels are filled in.

It's all a game I believe - the longer you play it the harder it gets.
The most I can hope to achieve now's my breakfast,
a priest with a blindfold and last cigarette . . . .

Chorus
My friends turn to me - wonder what I am doing,
drinking and smoking like somebody died.
I said "Leave me alone I'm just building a ruin,
The spirits are sunken - se the wreckage must rise."

I won't be content 'til I see me in Hell.
				

[Instrumental]