Readymades

Readymades LP, 2002

Salt Fare, North Sea

Salt fare, North Sea (repeats)
Roll on, roll off
With these words I drown
Topmast secured
Hatches battened down
Sometimes I think
It must be different on land
But from the mast I can only see tyrants
Still in command
Fish and Chip supper
Battered, no bones
Hung, drawn and quoted
And drifting alone
One thousand lashes
For the Age of Reason
Salt for your wounds
When the cod's in season
Salt fare, North Sea (repeats)
We reach the horizon
And sail over the edge
Drunk on our memories
More sober than a judge
I'm wasting time
That I can't afford
I know I'd die on the gallows
Before I'd die of being bored
Drifting along, drifting along (repeats)
Salt fare, North Sea (repeats)

Jacob's Ladder

Jacob's ladder
Like rusty old nails
At the bottom of the sea
Telling no tales
For the good of the Admiralty
You jump when you're told to
Through the open door
And the King of Norway
He's the man you all died for
On this Jacob's Ladder
The only way up is down
Three days in the water
Watching all the secrets drown
Jacob's Ladder
And they sent him to the wars to be slain, to be slain
And they sent him to the wars to be slain
(Repeats)
A thousand lifetimes
Left standing at the docks
In the bar down in Whitehall
They're sure the boat won't rock
In a file marked 'Secret'
In a drawer kept closed
Nobody wonders
Because nobody knows
About this Jacob's Ladder
The only way up is down
Three days in the water
Watching all the secrets drown
Jacob's Ladder
And they sent him to the wars to be slain, to be slain
And they sent him to the wars to be slain
(Repeats)
On this Jacob's Ladder
The only way up is down
Three days in the water
Watching all the secrets drown
(Repeats)
Jacob's Ladder
(Repeats)
O Bulldog Leader, sooner or later we'll dig up the body and try your cadaver (repeats)

All In Vain

I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish (Repeats)
But it's all in vain (Repeats)
Different colors, different faces
Different schools in different places
Scour the morning papers, all in vain
Evening after, who remembers?
Say your prayers for the great pretenders
I see nothing but flowers, all in vain
I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish (Repeats)
But it's all in vain (Repeats)
All the gravestone elegies
I-never-met-you memories
And every T.V. picture, all in vain
All your questions, deep as skin
Seperate worlds to put them in
Another might-have-been, all in vain
I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish (Repeats)
Color blind as tse-tse flies
Sucking all our difference dry
And as we sleep they multiply (Repeats)
All in vain (Repeats)
Multiply (Repeats)

Home With Me

Your world, my world (Repeats)
San Christobal on New Year's Day
Sunny beach, L.A.
Blue and coral Kirkstall skies
Timorese sunrise
Fairfield Horseshoe in the snow
Clashing worlds in Tokyo
All the bars in County Cork
Heavy rain, New York
I sailed the seven seas
Carved my love on trees
I brought the whole world home with me
Home with me
Your world, my world (Repeats)
Barcelona cobbled streets
Paris, 1968
Words along the Berlin wall
When it's just about to fall
I sailed the seven seas
Carved my love on trees
I brought the whole world home with me
Home with me
Your world, my world (Repeats)
Gracelands, Memphis, Tennessee
Killing time, Napoli
Autumn Warsaw, grey and green
Kronstadt 1917
I sailed the seven seas
Carved my love on trees
I brought the whole world home with me
Home with me
(Repeats)

If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me

If it is to be, it is up to me (Repeats)
And as we sail, blows wild the gale (Repeats)
Sweet flows the water, yellow as royal piss
Speech turns to stammer, your lips are too tight to kiss
I've never seen rabbits looking as scared as this
And as we sail, blows wild the gale (Repeats)
A five times champion wouldn't row as fast
Caught in the eddies between future and past
Blowing a hurricane from the Royal arse
And as we sail, blows wild the gale (Repeats)

Don't Try This At Home

It's a long walk to the gallows
It's a small step to swing free
The crying in the tower
For my conspirators and me
Gunpowder and modem
And a dream of liberty
And then they'll tell you, 'Don't try this at home'
Oh yes they'll tell you, 'Don't try this at home'
If you walk on the beach with King Canute
You'll be walking back alone
Tonight he'll dine on oysters
While we fall like green acorns
We'll be putting down our roots
Right in the centre of the storm
Oh but they'll tell you, 'Don't try this at home'
Oh yes they'll tell you, 'Don't try this at home'
The cry of gulls
The hum of streets
The buzz of phones
The march of feet
We'll meet tonight
To draw up plans, exclamations, ampersands
Somewhere across the water
They're storming palace gates
Scared of the moth-flame metaphor
We fall asleep and wait
Singing for a future but the chorus comes too late
Because they'll tell you, 'Don't try this at home'
Oh yes they'll tell you, 'Don't try this at home'
Don't, don't, don't, don't (Repeats)
Don't try this at home (Repeats)
Try this at home (Repeats)
So we're coming to the last dance
I've got another request
With your best foot forward
We'll lay this ghost to rest
(Repeats)

Song For Len Shackleton

I'm not the kind of man
Who'd live a quieter life
Just for a minute's silence
One, two, three, four
Some say it all without a word
Silence can be mightier than the sword
They took the two three five
They turned it upside down
Why run away to the circus
When the world is full of clowns?
Live has got everything to offer
It's just there for the getting
There, just for the getting

Without Reason Or Rhyme [The Killing Of Harry Stanley]

I wish, I wish, but it's all in vain
It is a great thing that we have an unarmed police force in this country. It is perhaps an even greater thing that a force that is unarmed is able to shoot so many people.
On hands and knees
Floors like these
Washing away
Red from grey
Hearts will ache
Shotgun-shaped
No remorse
Of course, of course
Of course there's an explanation
Why you sing without reason or rhyme
Why you sing
Without reason or rhyme
Everyone
Must be wrong
This explains
Where he lays
Hearts can kill
And they will
Filed reports
Of course, of course
Of course there's an explanation
Why you sing without reason or rhyme
Why you sing
Without reason or rhyme
(Repeats)

Don't Pass Go

Didn't he know it was a waste of time?
All stitched up by a thin blue line
(Repeats)
Well the facts said 'yes'
But the judge said 'no'
Go straight to jail
And don't pass go
He didn't understand
And he told them so
Go straight to jail
And don't pass go
Don't pass go
There ain't no justice, just us (Repeats)
Didn't he know it was a waste of time?
All stitched up by a thin blue line
A little self-protection
They don't want to know
Go straight to jail
And don't pass go
And he won't say sorry
Play the old Jim Crow
Go straight to jail
And don't pass go
Don't pass go
Didn't he know it was a waste of time?
All stitched up by a thin blue line
White paranoia
It runs the show
Go straight to jail
And don't pass go
You want table manners
You get rule of law
Go straight to jail
And don't pass go
Don't pass go
Didn't he know it was a waste of time?
All stitched up by a thin blue line
(Repeats)
Don't pass go
(Repeats)
There ain't no justice, just us
(Repeats)

One Way Or The Other

Peace won't come (Repeats)
By words alone
With the world in front of you, you've only got a certain space to go. I go to me factory, and go there, that's supposed to be my bit of seeing the world. The whole world in front of ya, you're waiting, seeing things that haven't been discovered.
No pretty please, pretty pretty please (Repeats)
One way or the other
Something's got to change
Humdrum has a stammer
Saying 'w-w-w-whatever'
One way or the other
No pretty please, pretty pretty please (Repeats)
Peace won't come by words alone
Peace won't come by words alone
I'm so low on order
But high on what I want
And I've got your number
And I'm coming over
One way or the other
No pretty please, pretty pretty please (Repeats)
One way or the other (Repeats)
Peace won't come by words alone
Peace won't come by words alone

When I'm Bad

They try in vain our minds to chain
They try in vain our minds to chain
I'm up in the stars
I'm looking down at the gutter
When I'm good, I'm very good
But when I'm bad, I'm better
Oh barman fill this glass again
And keep on pouring 'til Death says 'when'
Oh barman, fill it to the top
And we'll be drinking 'til the singing has to stop
They try in vain our minds to chain
They try in vain our minds to chain
A B C D E F G
The only notes that matter
When I'm good, I'm very good
But when I'm bad, I'm better
Oh barman, fill this glass again
And keep on pouring 'til Death says 'when'
Oh barman fill it to the top
And we'll be drinking 'til the singing has to stop
They try in vain our minds to chain
(Repeats)
Me and all my friends are coming 'round to your house
And we're not going to go until we get thrown out
(Repeats)
Oh barman, fill this glass again
(Repeats)
They try in vain our minds to chain
(Repeats)
To chain (Repeats)

Sewing Up Crap

I don't know (Repeats)
Chain, chain, chain (Repeats)
A cut-price empire
Clean-cut lines
A perfect body
And a dirty mind
The rules of this game
Say we all look the same
Chain, chain, chain (Repeats)
We'll put a spin on it
We'll take a pencil to it
We'll make a virtue out of keeping oh so quiet about it
I don't know, and I don't want to know (Repeats)
Chain, chain, chain (Repeats)
Talk about child's play
Count the birthdays
A stitch in time says 'Just look the other way'
The rules of this game
Say you don't know her name
Chain, chain, chain (Repeats)
We'll span a hundred years for it
We'll make a killing out of it
And we'll corner the market
By keeping oh so quiet about it
Chain, chain, chain (Repeats)
Working for The Gap
Sewing up crap
(Repeats)
One up the chimney goes
Two hawks a tray of matches
Three braves the weaving floor
All pray for the life of Four
Five down the pit descends
Six plows in fields and meadows
Seven spins the handloom round
Eight lies in th' burial ground
(Repeats)

After Shelley

Anybody can press a button and blow a ship up. Anybody can use an atom bomb. Anybody can pick up a big whip and whip you. Anybody can stick a knife into you. Anybody can pull a trigger. But where's the man with the character, as can take a punch on the nose and keep his temper, keep control of himself?
Sho lo, lu la lo, sho lo, lu la (Repeats)
The seed you sow, another reaps
The wealth you find, another keeps
The clothes you weave, another wears
The arms you forge, another bears
The songs you write, another sings
The heart you lose, another wins
The food you bake, another eats
(Poison-laced and oh, so sweet)
Rock and Roll
Check your pulse
Art or death
True or false
Can't stay young
Can't grow old
Overpriced
Undersold