Stereophonics--Word Gets Around

A THOUSAND TREES

Standing at the bus stop 
With my shopping in my hands
When I'm overhearing elder ladies
As the rumours start to fly 
You can hear them in the school yard
scrap yard
chip shop
phone box
in the pool hall
at the shoe stall
every corner turned around

It started with a school girl
Who was running
Running home to her mam and dad
told them she was playing 
in the change room
of her local football side
They said tell us again
So she told them again
They said tell us the truth
They found it hard to believe
Cause he taught our Steve
He even trained me
Taught Uncle John who's a father of three

But it only takes one tree to make a thousand matches
Only takes one match to burn
A thousand trees

You see it in the class room
In the swimming pool
Where the match stick men are made
At the scouts hall 
At the football
Where the wise we trust are paid
They all honor his name
He did a lot for the game
He got his name knocked up above the sports ground gates
But now they are ripping them down
Stamping the ground
Picture gathers dust behind the bar in the lounge

It takes only one tree to make a thousand matches
Only takes one match to burn 
A thousand trees

Wake up and smell the rain
Shake up he's back to stay
He hasn't been on a holiday
His growing seeds don't believe
Why he's been away in the school yard
Change room
Playing fields
Bathroom
Phone box
Office blocks
Corner turned around
They keep doubting the flame 
Tossing the blame
Got his name knocked up
Above the sports ground gates
But now they're ripping them down
Stamping the ground
Picture gathers dust in the bar in the lounge

It takes only one tree to make a thousand matches
It only takes one match to burn 
A thousand trees


LOOKS LIKE CHAPLIN

I feel the wash close down the street
Yet Chaplin walks feet nine fifteen
And I hear them call his name 
And I see him turn away
they take him in and clean him up
they take him in and strip him down 
Dry his skin and feed him wine
and I hear them call his name
and I see him turn away
Asks to use the phone
Yet he lives alone
There's no one home to phone
sits alone home alone calls his phone his own
his wife is still unknown


MORE LIFE IN A TRAMPS VEST

I get camping eys in the final hour 
last minute shoppers picking cauliflower
the fuss they make you'd swear they were buying a car
always moan moan it's not so cheap cheaper still
cheaper still down the streets 
I lose my rag and tell them take your bag and shop down there
closing down
closing down
Another road one way system steals the show
mac the knife swigs a can and sings the day away

There's more life more life more life in a tramp's vest
flowers man sits down in the street surrounded by stock 
he bought back last week
bring back the ladies wearing lipstick on their teeth
make up we make up a crappy joke sit back relax and have a smoke
Mac the knife swigs a can and sings the day away
There's more life more life more life in a tramp's vest


LOCAL BOY IN THE PHOTOGRAPH

There's no mistake I smell that smell
It's that time of year again
I can taste the air 
Clocks go back
Railway track 
Something blocks the line again
And the train runs late for the first time
pebble beach we're underneath a pier
Just been painted red
where I hear the news for the first time
And all the friends lay down the flowers 
sit on the banks and drink for hours
talk of the way they saw him last
local boy in the photograph
today he'll alwasy be twenty-three 
yet the train runs on and on past the place they found his clothing


TRAFFIC

We all face the same way
Still it takes all day
Take a look to my left
Pick out the worst and the best
She paints her lip
Greasy and thick
Another mirror stare
And she's going where?
Another office affair?
To kill an unborn scare?
Talk dirty to the priest?
Makes them human at least
Is she running away?
To start a brand new day?
Or she going home?
Why's she driving alone?

Is anyone going anywhere?
Everyone's gotta be somewhere

She's got a body in the boot?
Or just bags full of food?
Those are models' legs
But are they womens are they mens?
She shouts down the phone
Missed a payment on the loan
she gotta be above the rest
keeping up with the best

Is anyone going anywhere?
Everyone's gotta be somewhere

Wait tables for a crook?
Wrote a hardback book?
You teach kids how to read?
Sell your body on the street?
A nurse without a job?
Another uptown snob?
But have I got you wrong?
One look and you were gone

Is anyone going anywhere?
Everyone's gotta be somewhere


NOT UP TO YOU

Salt grips the road 
awaits his lift again
Street orange glow shades the odds
Against one more sip a shoe a miss a shaving nick
one extra kiss who's to know whatever!

not up to me, not up to you

Swings don't swing the parks been dead for years
How do you know the last swing weren't your last for good
hard book on freaks fresh summer peach
creased magazine sugar chocolate treat who's to know whatever!

not up to me, not up to you

the stree's so long where she lost her pocket purse
kept the last picture of the man she committed first
cracked windscreen rain French murder play
Junk take away tired street parades who's to know whatever!
Whatever!

not up to me, not up to you
Not up to anything we do


CHECK MY EYELIDS FOR HOLES

I gotta lose weight
I swallow honey 
Is my stand up show still that funny?
Am I back for good?
I said that, I said that I would be 
She's down waist low trying to make me happy

Because I like watching you it's time I tried tried to
check my eye lids, check for holes

two weeks late I gotta test for babies
shop take is falling low I'm not going back 
back to the factories
because I like what I do
It's time I tried, tried to check my
check my eye lids, check for holes


SAME SIZE FEET

A week's too long not to ring recolours her hair and waits for him
no cat against dog just head over heels
Sex twice a date best time in years
oh no why hasn't he phoned 
she has to wait until he's on his own
lying and denying so nobody knows
I'll tell her this week is what he tell her to keep her on loan
he'll buy her one day

sex drives oral highs cheated wives and spies cream cakes coffee dates
floral gifts goodbye passed away for the day had a change of kind
sex changes too mundane for the average mind 
oh no she just can't see 
where he is or where he's been
looked prim and straight like she's always been
all that she saved for went missing again
she could be wrong it looks like the words got around
they found a body in the lake
maybe it wasn't really his name
same coulur same weight same size feet
it's the not knowing that kills you 
oh no the clocks stopped slow
everytime you're on your own ya hide from the spies so nobody knows
scratch through the pages of the lazy days news for a clue 
still looking for you!


LAST OF THE BIG TIME DRINKERS

Ten minutes flat after that day at the factory
I'm drinking like a dog in the sun
I don't need to eat or sleep a wink at the weekend
Just rot my guts and I can't wait for my next drink
the first is gonna sink

I'm the last of the big time drinkers
I take pride in my work
I'm the last of the big time drinkers
The beer don't taste the same without my name painted on the glass
I don't live to work I work to live
and live at the weekend
and maybe spend a week in the sun
I come home wet the bed
throw my sheets out the window
and Sunday morning comes and I can't wait for my next drink
the first is gonna sink

I'm the last of the big time drinkers
I take pride in my work
I'm the last of the big time drinkers
The beer don't taste the same with my name painted on my glass

And I can't wait for my next drink
The first one it's gonna sink

I'm the last of the big time drinkers
I take pride in my work
I'm the last of the big time drinkers
just give me hops or the slops
I'm the last of the big time drinkers
I take pride in my work
I'm the last of the big time drinkers


GOLDFISH BOWL

The same long faces in the workman's hall
Caramel crisp counts his birds 
Cliff chip's lines up his dominoes
kingfisher lead singer calms his nerves

I'm drinking sinking swimming drowning working smirking learning
burning sleeping thieving cheating beating 
I'm eating
I'm deep in a goldfish bowl
It's sink or swim

the hall downtown just burned to the ground
My boxing ring is turned to ash
red head ginger bread sells tickets at the door
stella sleep walks in the sand
I'm drinking sinking swimming drowning working smirking learning
burning sleeping thieving cheating beating
I'm eating
I'm deep in a goldfish bowl
It's sink or swim, they're looking in

Hard up outta luck time to ride the village bike
a bike been used ten times or more
grape vine here's teh wife lays down her royal flush
I think I've lost another wife


TOO MANY SANDWICHES

Shopping spree for the family tree
Haven't seen your family tree in quite a while
too many sandwiches
and wine sherry stanins down your best man's tie
what a speech the band arrives
the granny's cry
singer's tongue's in the bar maids mouth
what a voice
Grandpa drunk a drop or two 
his head's still sunk in the portaloo
what a man
you bought a sequin dress for your chicken breast
the disco's late and he's overpaid
tonight you got a diamond ring
and the man who sings the man who sings made love to the barmaid twice
and that's just tonight
the blue rinsed hairs lift up the chairs
the band's too loud
they're off down stairs
what a noise
the bride and groom dance their dance 
the singer mimes there's still a chance
the barmaid smiles


BILLY DAVEY'S DAUGHTER

I never knew her name
I only knew her fame
she lived near my town
another goldfish to drown
Well I just passed the bridge
that parts us from them
the bridge that she used again and again
again I remember when they found her
Billy Davey's daughter
the word gets around
Billy Davey's second daughter threw herself to dirty water
Billy's left with nothing but a dream
He dreams....