1.Makes No Difference

I see in your eyes that they don't refuse
And I see in those same eyes a huge reflection
Of whatever the back-drop sees

And you'll wipe it good and you'll wipe it clean
And say, "I'll see you in the death machine tomorrow
Unless somebody's god intervenes."
And I'll see you there but you sure won't see me

I see in your eyes that they look over
To bluer sky and greener clover
But you're only allowed to see through me

And I walk home and I try to sleep
But it's quiet in the death machine this evening
Since I left the pub with the key
And I'd give it you back but you'd only foot the bill on me

And so the tiller man will take hold
The shady bastards will come to make you bleed
And you'll wipe it good and you'll wipe it clean
And say, "I'll see you in the death machine tomorrow
Unless somebody's god intervenes."
And the day will come and it'll make no difference to me



2. You Forget Love

Three cheers for the money men
For they alone can get what they seek
Is it better having failed in being strong
To succeed in being weak?
And if you're told exactly what to have
You grab it just as quickly as you can

The fireman came around
And put all the fires out
And cried everyone down
'Cos nobody had the heart to please themselves

You forget love, you forget love
Doesn't hold up on a weak heart
And being beaten down doesn't easily get up
You forget love, you forget love

Those men in England sending bills across the water
Tend to make you feel you ought to give up
And when you're tethered there forever
You have to seem as if you do it for love
Whatever pays you back for what you've done
It will never be what you wanted

The fireman came around
And put all the fires out
And cried everyone down
'Cos nobody had the heart to please themselves

You forget love, you forget love
Doesn't hold up on a weak heart
And being beaten down doesn't easily get up
You forget love, you forget love



3. Take Good Care of It

Take good care of it
Camel cigarettes
The heady remembrance
Take good care of it

You're making accusations
In the end it's come to nothing at all
And there's no clear place where it faltered
And I dream of being like I was before

Take good care of it
Camel cigarettes
My heart bordered on lunatic
I didn't want to get rid of it

We used to have
Something cutting here
But one day it just got up and died
Here I am and I'm trying to deny it
Is it sane or in vain or is it goodbye?

Take good care of it
Camel cigarettes
The heady remembrance
Take good care of it

'Cos in the heart below where the laurel sits
It's not really alive but it resembles it a little bit



4. Just Mum

A hint of insecurity
An untouched insecurity
A tragic hero's flaw and what it brings

And you know as you sleep
How glad you would feel
Not to feel anything... just sleep

Got too many things on my mind
To talk of one at any one time
And I cannot escape this strange disarray
And I make my way to places
Where there's no conversation

And you talk of vices, you think you're in the clear
You don't know the costumes that they wear
Mine's writing; yours is fighting your nature
And you don't know the ins and outs of desire
You don't know what makes a person tire
Which vice will make them love and which will hate you

I see the chain and where it bites
In all the things that might turn out
At level best we'll just survive
And the lame dog crawls away

The chained dog waits for light to break
And the question to disobey
Goes down in your boots and there it stays
And there's blame on your side; blame on mine
And there's too many things to talk of at any one time

And you talk of vices, you think you're in the clear
You don't know the costumes that they wear
Mine's writing; yours is fighting your nature
And you don't know the ins and outs of desire
You don't know what makes a person tire
Which vice will make them love and which will hate you



5. Slow Sad Love Song

Slow sad love song, while lying in bed
My brain is alive, my body is dead
Going over the things she said
She had me well read

Asked if you'd take the time to find some common ground
All you had to do was choose it and there I'd be found
Tones of resignation: "I'll probably see you round."
Beautifully put down
A beautiful put down

Sitting in your bedroom and you've sung all your last regrets
Buzzing white lines on the screen of your TV set
Re-light the last portion of your cigarette...
The only thing that you spared me to love was your breath
And now it's gone
So long, it's been good to know you
So long, it's been good to know you
So long...
To know you



6. Only Dream Left

I'm labeled unbred, on sight unclean
Got a message from home, saying it don't exist no more
Cos we're sick of the sight of you using so freely the door

Got a bunch of good friends, they treat me so well
They pay me a lot of money, but it's under the thumb
But it keeps me in a crowd, and I don't have to speak to anyone, anyone

But it comes to the point, it's wearing me spare
All the lessons to be learnt grow pale by compare
You're the only dream left -
The only dream left

I'm disheveled, I've been leveled by the mirror in my room
Got a ghost I got to cope with - it won't be ignored
And it's more trouble now than I ever considered before

It's a debt that needs paying with a sliver of soul
All attempts to forget it have flown out the door
And I'd like to take heart but the force of my grip is so poor
Far too poor...

But it comes to the point, it's wearing me spare
All the lessons to be learnt grow pale by compare
You're the only dream left
The only dream left...



7. Dippy's Last Trip

Dippy likes smoking cigarettes
Dippy likes alcohol
Dippy likes all kinds of soul destruction
I think it's got him gracefully old

Can't continue chafing the bit
My fingers are all minus the tips
A friend got railroaded
His pick-ups got eroded
I remembered that on Dippy's last trip

Puts me off retiring early
Puts me off being admired
Puts me off all sorts of social clap-trap
I think it's got me gracefully high...

Frustrated at the price that is
My fingers are all minus the tips
A friend got railroaded
His pick-ups got eroded
I remembered that on Dippy's last trip...



8. Bird-Dog

Where, oh where did the age come from
That struck with such a sour note?
It's a shame that the muse that brought you here
Keeps donning the dog skin coat
But the news is out this year
That the easy-pleaser road is here

And she's a picture dressed in hay
And all the preachers up and run
Here it is Christmas every day
And no-one gives nothing to anyone

I hold my point of view
It's lying I hate the most
But the bird that sang love in your ear
Has swallowed a fatal dose
If there's poison in your cup
Well you picked your tree: Now bark it up

And if I live to seventy
And all of my bones begin to seize
Oh Lord don't leave, don't leave to me
A one and only way to dream

The bloodshot eye sees paradise
And knows just where it lies
Dissolves into grief
That this crazy machine does not go there...

I saw the picture, saw the play
I read the book along the way
I didn't need to see the end
Cos every end was just the same

There wasn't a hell of a lot to tell
He wrecked whatever he'd undertake
He got old, he got slow
And every death was on his face

But I never thought I'd see the day
The dog of honour disappear
He bought a boarding house for slaves
And drinks imported German beer

Once the bird has stopped its mouth,
Once you're in this dream you don't get out

I love this imported German beer
They know how to make it over there
The bird returns to soothe my ear
I love this imported German beer...



9. Icarus Missed

Icarus missed
The populace did not...

A rare sea-bird flies once in a while
High up in the blue sky
People shoot at it like lunatics
And take aeroplanes

Icarus missed
The populace did not

Trivia... Trivia
He's a head bird, he's an idiot, he's an artist
And he's way above your head

Wisdom was a pearl before it was a swine
You can't let yours wallow I can't with mine...
They cut your legs off when the blood
Couldn't face up to that task anymore...

Icarus missed
Who twisted the arrow

Trivia... Trivia
It's a head-bird, it's a trivia-killing trogon
And it's way above your head

The story is untrue of how he came to fall down
The sun was never that hot:
He was shot from the ground!
He was shot from the ground!
He was shot from the ground...


10. CD Jimmy Jazz and Me

Saw a guy drunk where the people would dance
And men of similarity laugh out of charity
And long-faced women cast to agree
Look sideways and up, and quietly leave
And I cannot hate or despise or deplore
'Cos I've stood and watched from both sides before
I lean on the dance floor
I can't think straight any more

Asked me why I never wrote you a song
When you thought you'd given me enough to work on
And now you find that I've lost my tongue
And I turn my back on the way you get your fun
You don't know what struck me dumb
You're on the run

C.D. Jimmy Jazz and me
Fucked off to Paris to write of the sea
Too much beauty in one foul sweep
And the brilliant sun made me blind on the beach
So I made it back to confusion row
Where encased in four walls my mind could cope
We live in hope