| Disc 1 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |
| 3:34 | 
|
|||
|
Bells are chiming for victory Theres a page back in history 45 They came back to the world that they fought for Didnt turn out just like they thought 45 Here is a song to sing to do the measuring What do you lose, what do you gain, what do you win? Nine years later a child is born Theres a record, so you put it on 45 Nine years more, if were lucky now Nine-year-old puts his money down 45 Every scratch. every click, every heartbeat Every breath that I held for you 45 Theres a stack of shellac and vinyl Which is yours now and which is mine? 45 Bass and treble heal every hurt Theres a rebel in a nylon shirt But the words are a mystery, Ive heard Til you turn it down to 33 and 13 Cos it helps with the elocution Corporations turn revolutions 45 So dont just weep and shed Just change your name instead What do you lose when it all goes to your head? I heard something peculiar said: Perhaps hes got a shot and now hes dead 45 Bells are chiming and tears are falling It creeps up on you without a warning 45 Every scratch, every click, every heartbeat Every breath that I bless Id be lost, I confess 45 |
||||||
| 2. |
| 4:23 |
|
|||
|
I want a girl to make a mess To do no wrong she must confess And then perhaps hitch up her dress 'Cos when the flashbulbs explode She's such a sensitive soul I want a girl who is helpless and frail Who won't pull on my ponytail I want a girl who has no past She's made up now But that won't last 'Cos when she sits on my knee And then she whispers to me "Can't you see I could be I could be Your spooky girlfriend" The broken toys are all scattered in the attic Newspapers play with the words of the fanatic While the greeting cards are your most poetic lyric And the flat champagne is sweet sugar syrup I want to paint you with glitter and with dirt Picture you with innocence and hurt The shutter closes Exposes the shot She says, "Are you looking up my skirt?" When you say "No" She says "Why not?" I want a girl to turn my screw To wind my watch, to buckle my shoe And if she won't her mother will do But when she does as she's told We'll all turn platinum and gold But when she sits on my knee I hear her whispers to me "Can't you see?" "I could be your spooky girlfriend" |
||||||
| 3. |
| 3:32 |
|
|||
|
Who dries your eyes when you cry real tears? Who knows or cares what an imitation is? Only you do You can paint his nails Make him wear high heels Why waste time altering the hemline? Or do you? Tear off your own head Tear off your own head It's a doll revolution You can bat your lashes You can cut your strings You can pull his hair with your moveable fingers It looks so real If one won't do it, so collect the set Dress him in pink ribbons Put him in a kitchenette How does this feel? Tear off your own head Tear off your own head It's a doll revolution What's that sound? It will turn you around It's a doll revolution They're taking over And they're tearing it down It's a doll revolution You can pull and pinch him 'Til he cries and squeals You can twist his body 'til it faces backwards Those plastic features You could make somebody a pretty little wife But don't let anybody tell you how to live your life Broken pieces Tear off your own head Tear off your own head It's a doll revolution Tear off your own head Revolution |
||||||
| 4. |
| 7:07 |
|
|||
|
I exit through the spotlight glare I stepped out into thin air Into a perfume so rarefied "Here comes the bride" Not quite aside, they snide "She's number four" "There's number three just by the door" Those in the know, don't even flatter her, They go one better "She was selling speedboats in a tradeshow when he met her" Look at her now She's starting to yawn She looks like she was born to it But it was so much easier When I was cruel She reaches out her arms to me Imploring: "Another melody?" So she can dance her husband out on the floor The captains of industry just lie there where they fall In eau-de-nil and pale carnation creation A satin sash and velvet elevation She straightens the tipsy head-dress of her spouse While her recalls a honey house There'll be no sorrows left to drown Early in the morning in your evening gown But it was so much easier When I was cruel The entrance hall was arranged with hostesses and ushers Who turned out to be the younger wives nursing schoolgirl crushes Parting the waves of those few feint friends Fingers once offered are now too heavy to extend The ghostly first wife glides up stage whispering to raucous talkers Spilling family secrets out to flunkeys and castrato walkers See that girl Watch that scene Digging the "Dancing Queen" Two newspaper editors like playground sneaks Running the book on which of them is going to last the week One of them calls to me And he says, "I know you" "You gave me this tattoo back in '82" "You were a spoilt child then with a record to plug" "And I was a shaven headed seaside thug" "Things haven't really chang |
||||||
| 5. |
| 3:56 |
|
|||
|
Hang my head and shut my eyes What kind of justice is this? Fool I was, I thought that you fought fire with fire Got to me more than just a soul for hire Speaking for myself I wouldn't take the fame, the fees, the glory For whoring in the practice of the law I make my case stop and stutter Soul comes unglued from the uppers Blood is seeping in the hole A mother's eye is weeping I see every human kind And still the truth is distant I see every evil men do and desire Got to be more then just a soul for hire When it's time to give protection To the ones who need it most, who are desperate I get distracted from my job Streams of ink and piles of paper What are the breaks? Jump out the window? Parole? Escape? Blood is seeping in the hole A mother's eye is weeping Hang my head and shut my eyes I can't see justice twisted I see every evil men do and desire Got to be more than just a soul for hire When it's time to give protection To the ones who need it most, who are desperate I get distracted from my job Streams of ink and piles of paper To hand them over to dopers and kiddie-rapers Corrupt in every twisted grudge And that is just the judge Hang my head and shut my eyes What kind of justice it this? |
||||||
| 6. |
| 4:02 |
|
|||
|
15 Petals One for every year I spent with you Jewels and precious metals will never do I love you twisted And I love you straight Id write it down but I cant concentrate Words wont obey they do as they please And all I am left with are these... 15 Petals One for every year I spent with you Jewels and precious metals will never do The thorn is blunted The perfume will fade I stand where sun is set I crave the shade Down in the tavern with Mary and Jane Palms reached for alms as they throw 15 Petals... One for every hour that were apart Tears and useless battles Ill never start Mussolini highway Theres a frankincense tree I picked some up there to carry with me You take me to places where Id never go I love you more than you know 15 Petals Scattered in the path where you will tread 15 Petals Of vivid red One wine-bar vamp with the polythene face Ein Panzer Kommander with no hair in place The crowded battallions drilled holes in the square |
||||||
| 7. |
| 4:04 |
|
|||
|
Hear silver trumpets will trill in Arabic streets of Seville Oranges roll in the gutter And you pick them up And peel back the skin To the red fruit within But the flavour is Tart And the flavour is Tart Is it something you crave? And you say that you only feel bitterness When you know it's a lie, lie, lie Wild with a blackberry bush There were blossoms of cherries to crush There, at the edge of the asphalt tempting fingertips They stain your hand, press too hard They'll colour your lips But the flavour is Tart And the flavour is Tart Is it something you crave? 'Cos you say that you only feel bitterness Would it kill you to show us a little sweetness? Repeat chorus Odd, where nothing else grows It was something like love that she chose Always a creature of habit When pity would do She wore down that heel with no feeling She kept on her shoes Repeat chorus Nylon was hung from a peg And a kohl black seam ran down her leg Fishermen look for their nets And send their regrets The bug lay there broken She spoke, "Is this some kind of joke?" But the flavour is Tart |
||||||
| 8. |
| 3:22 |
|
|||
|
If dust could only talk What would we hear it say? Before it's brushed aside Just as it's swept away It's just the evidence It's of no consequence It's only flesh and bone Why don't you leave it alone? If dust could only speak Caught in a falling beam If dust could only cry If dust could only scream For it's the single witness that might testify Could I spit out the truth? Or would you rather just swallow a lie? But dust is always caught behind a coat of pain Beneath the marble fingernails of kings and saints And in the theatre curtain where they hang a drape Or in the ticket pocket where your hands escape Before they start to wander Or they start to shrink You rub your eye a little and appear to blink And then she caught you staring She knows what you're thinking What got into you is not a ghost as such It was just dust Here comes the juggernaut Here come The Poisoners They choke the life and land And rob the joy from us Why do they taste of sugar? Oh, when they're made of money Here come the Lamb of God And the butcher's boy, Sonny Well, I believe we just Become a speck of dust |
||||||
| 9. |
| 2:23 |
|
|||
|
Sugar cube drop into a yellow cup What makes the world just waking up Revolve? Dissolve Who know where on earth it's going to stop? I can't hear you 'cos we're breaking up Dissolve And the stones in the track make work for the mechanic The birds all fly from the branches in a panic And a back-fire echoes down the hillside As the last headline report dies Dissolve Ice is melting a the distant Pole The gin and tonic glasses overflow Dissolve The precious little else that I could say Your stupid tear of laughter washed away Dissolve While the poisonous light pours from the picture palace And it flickers on, tries so hard to be scandalous A child keeps beating on a toy drum And the tablets dropped on your tongue Dissolve "So salute me in moving frame" "I might not be there when you look again" The mourning border card behind the clock The hour that he passed, unwound and stopped Dissolve |
||||||
| 10. |
| 6:43 |
|
|||
|
You did it 'cause you wanted Alibi, alibi And you took it Cause you need it Alibi, alibi But if I've done something wrong there's no "ifs and buts" 'Cause I love you just as much as I hate your guts Alibi, alibi, alibi... And you don't need anybody Alibi, alibi But you are the only one that knows this Alibi, alibi You deserve it 'cause you're special Alibi, alibi Maybe Jesus wants you for a sunbeam Alibi, alibi But if I've left something out I apologize But if you look in my eyes Then I'm sure you'll see... Alibis, alibis, alibis... Sometimes I'm so forgiving Everything seems bad to me But I can't go on living With this alibi, alibi, alibi... "Insane," what a mundane Alibi, alibi And you only wanted to be famous Alibi, alibi Sorry, but your mommy doesn't love you Alibi, alibi Stop me if you've heard this... Alibi, alibi But if I've done something right then don't be surprised There are soldiers who will kill but refuse to die But if I've done something wrong there's no "ifs and buts" 'Cause I love you just as much as I hate your guts Alibi, alibi, alibi, alibi... You were weak... You couldn't help it Alibi, alibi But you never had a pony Alibi, alibi And you don't need anybody Alibi, alibi But you are the only one that knows this Alibi, alibi You deserve it 'cause you're special Alibi, alibi Maybe Jesus wants you for a sunbeam Alibi, alibi And you're such a people person Alibi, alibi And I will be true to you forever Alibi, alibi But you're stupid and you're lazy Alibi, alibi Maybe we can make the future better Alibi, alibi And you don't need anybody Alibi, alibi But you are the only one that knows this Alibi, alibi You deserve it 'cause you're special Alibi, alibi Maybe Jesus wants you for a sunbeam Alibi, alibi Sometimes I'm so forgiving Everything seems bad to me But I can't go on living With this alibi, alibi, alibi... You were happy when you were poor And more honest and that's your... Alibi, ali |
||||||
| 11. |
| 3:04 |
|
|||
|
If only dust could talk What would we hear it say? Before it's brushed aside Just as it's swept away It's just the evidence It's of no consequence It's only flesh and bone Why don't we leave it alone? If only dust could gather into lines of chalk Around a silhouette detective fiction walks For it's the only witness that can testify Can I spit out the truth? Or would you rather just swallow a lie? Why did they dam the land? How did they flood the plain? Did they erase the name? And wipe away the stain You kept your mouth well shut Appeared to turn your coat Now there's a name for you but it's stuck in my throat If dust could only mutter Or in laughter trill If it could warn and whisper from the windowsill But it's the only witness that can testify Can I split out the truth? Or would you rather just swallow a lie? Here comes the juggernaut Here come The Poisoners They choke the life and land And rob the joy from us Why do they taste of sugar? Oh, when they're made of money Here come the Lamb of God And the butcher's boy, sonny If dust could only gather in the needle track Then it would skip a beat and it would jump right back If dust could only gather in a needle track Then it would skip a beat And all the sense I lack |
||||||
| 12. |
| 3:42 |
|
|||
|
There is a button and there's a switch There is a needle and there's a dial There is a lever I want to lift And still you treat me like I'm a child Daddy can I turn this? Daddy can I turn this? Will it be very dangerous? Or will it taste nice? You wash your hands with perfume and spice I'll tell you when I want your advice Daddy can I turn this? Daddy can I turn this? Is anybody acting your age? You got a girl you keep in a cage You give her present after a while A birthday cake containing a file Daddy can I turn this? Daddy can I turn this? The flashing lights go running 'round and 'round It spits out money It tastes like honey So drink it down It leaves the slightest chemical taste It could be most unfortunate Earrings that jangle before they're seen She slaps your face like a tambourine Daddy can I turn this? Daddy can I turn this? Daddy can I turn this? Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy |
||||||
| 13. |
| 3:11 |
|
|||
|
This is a calling card Maybe it will be a farewell note The poison fountain pen now requires the antidote But if I avert your gaze And I should become a shrinking flower Just punch me on the arm This could be our finest hour 'Til now this was my view But I'm counting on you How am I ever going got make you see? Nothing in this ugly world comes easily I want you to be My lovely hooligan Come by and smash my pane 'Til I can see right though My little blue window This is a fingerprint Maybe you will feel a fond caress But when you start to speak Are you tempted to confess? Well, I was a gloomy soul Never thought I see a brighter day The dark interior Blows those silver clouds away 'Til now this was my view But I'm counting on you How am I ever going got make you see? Nothing in this ugly world comes easily I want you to be My lovely hooligan Come by and smash my pane 'Til I can see right though My little blue window |
||||||
| 14. |
| 5:04 |
|
|||
|
I spy for the "Spirit of Curiosity" All the scandals of each vain monstrosity I gossip and I pry and I insinuate If the failure is great Then it tends to fascinate A tornado dropped a funnel cloud with twenty tons of rain Though she had the attention span of warm cellophane Her lovers fell like skittles in a 10-pin bowling lane But nothing could compare with the explosion of fame So you jumped back with alarm Every Elvis has his army Every rattlesnake his charm Can you still hear me? Am I coming through just fine? Your memory was buried in simple box of pine Did her green eyes seduce you and make you get so weak? Was there fire engine red that she left upon your cheek? It's such a shame you had to break the heart You could have counted on but the last thing you need is another Episode of blonde Revolving like a jeweller's figure on a music box Spangled curtain parted and night-club scene unlocks Pinned and fixed and fastened in a follow spot Arms thrown out to everyone, she's giving all she's got To the last gasp of a wounded bandeon Tiny man imploring to the ceiling fan This stolen feeling Amplified up through a busted speaker Blaring, blasting, advertising, distorted beyond reason Into the street where petty crime-coats shadow panic drunkards, Half out of the taxi cab the barker seized my elbow He thought I was another lonely, likely pilgrim looking for St. Telmo Repeat chorus I tried to keep a straight face but you know it never pays He would stare into those eyes and then vacation in her gaze She was a cute little ruin that he pulled out of the rubble Now they are both living in a soft soap bubble The film producer's con |
||||||
| 15. |
| 4:59 |
|
|||
|
Signal fading, listen to what I'm saying Testing, testing This better be worth all of the breath I'm wasting Maintaining radio silence from now on Barricaded in the talk radio station Hostage taken The red "On Air" light shines on Something cheaper that passes for free speech Will have to do Hear him coming through loud and clear Trickling in your ear He'll tell you anything you want to hear The tape starts running He's going to tell you something The strings start strumming Another humdrum conundrum Signing off now Maintaining radio silence from now on But there's one thing I should have said "The hostage will end up dead" It's just a comedy The hostage is me So pay the ransom Beyond the run-out groove Get my wife down here A helicopter on the roof No police marksman Maintaining radio silence from now on Mystery voices Drowned out by too much choice That's not to mention The sad waste of this wonderful invention Maintaining radio silence from now on Libraries filled up with failed ideas There's nothing more for me there I trust in tender ink and gentle airs Do those drug dealers still polish women made of wax? Gangsters and world leaders Require the same protection from attack From this distance it's hard to tell the difference Between a king and a jack Between a poet and hack Maintaining radio silence from now on |
||||||
|
