1. |
Clever Boy
03:14
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About one step away
from calling the whole thing off
Ha ha, ha-ha
Clever boy, clever boy!
Fiddling with the toys
About one minute off
just hanging my hands aloft
no room
for improvement:
Just start the clock and I'll stock
Didn't want to sing before
Maybe I was insecure
Maybe I thought that destiny was mine
Now I realised that normal life is fine
About one kiss away
from marrying you anyway
Haha, ha-ha
clever boy, clever boy
would you pity me or get annoyed
I'm about one minute off
Just begging for the crock pot
No room
for improvements
Is this really the one you love?
Didn't want to sing before
Maybe I was insecure
Maybe I thought that destiny was mine
Now I realised that normal life is fine
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2. |
Woods Lane
03:40
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You don't want to admit it
No one wants to be the first to say it but
those were the glory days,
weren't they
And if we had the time to relive it
I'd have to make a special effort to appreciate
all of the lazy days
We had a home,
we had a place of our own
to get grown.
You filled our books with your pictures
and poems
We stayed up,
overslept,
and we
mostly got along
at Woods Lane
You don't want to admit it
No one wants to be the first to say it but
those were the glory days
weren't they
And if you ever share a rented cubicle
with people this unusual and beautiful
make time for all the games
We had a home,
we had a place of our own
to get grown.
You filled our books with your pictures
and poems
We stayed up,
overslept,
and we
mostly got along
at Woods Lane
And here's to every piss in the bath
You can just laugh it off
For every thoughtful reprieve with the stars out
For ever night by the door
that I hadn't locked
and to Angie for taking the bins out
Here's to Angie for taking the bins out
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3. |
/$p£nd£r
03:58
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I recognise you from a mile off
In a flood of empty smiles,
out,
feeding feeling to the fire
Peepers pilfered for the pyre
He's out for the punching,
or to get punched
Got distracted when he got a hunch
she might be game,
Well I had plans,
they can be rearranged,
I don't know anyone's name
When the credit comes a-callin' lately
Ohh I want nothing to do with it
It's why you're acting like a diva,
spending in a fever,
rushing to be rid of it.
And I opt out
this human drought
brought about
by fiscal doubt.
It's hard to bother when you're wrecked
except for things you can't forget,
like how you missed out on rough sex
when you were shy and twat-dressed
I'll buy us a drink man,
what can you sink man?
Can hardly breathe mate,
can you tell?
I think you're a dick
I think I might be sick,
I think I might have a few issues with myself as well
When the credit comes a-callin' lately
Ohh I want nothing to do with it
It's why you're acting like a diva,
spending in a fever,
rushing to be rid of it.
And I opt out
this human drought
brought about
by fiscal doubt.
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4. |
The Alchemist
05:54
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How many times a day do you ask yourself,
'Does everybody feel this way?
And would that make it okay?'
Do you often feel besides yourself
at all the senseless violence;
reprehensible politics;
and where do I fit in to all of this?
Seven billion human beings
with real thoughts and real feelings
just as vivid as your own,
and just by chance this house is your home.
For the time being.
Well what on earth do I do now?
This is the question.
The only thing that I can be sure of,
is this handful of real people
that I love.
With you at the precipice,
guiding me through like an alchemist
Or a prophet, maybe:
something holy.
one of
Seven billion human beings
with real thoughts and real feelings
just as vivid as your own,
and just by chance this house is your home.
Seven billion human beings,
each one by comparison amounts to almost nothing
this considered,
it would seem pointless to be
anything
but nice,
be kind,
clearly that's what everyone would like.
One in seven billion,
and you're no more important than a single one of them
you're
free
to be.
And though it's all too easy,
to linger on the details,
you inhale.
You exhale,
and you're free
to be.
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5. |
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When I wake up tomorrow
I will be of the generation
who watched the war wage on
without their consent
for the second time
When I wake up tomorrow
I won't demand an explanation
and I'll be dressing across
the seasonal stock
when the bombs fall off
Well what's the point in that?
And tell me, what the hell is happening?
Why I seem to spend most evenings
trying to comprehend the dying,
stewing,
drumming up some grief,
falling short of understand,
feeling guilty for conceding,
more human just for trying,
but still swallowed up in
self-affirming,
second hand statements;
oh who would have the gall to state
that war is entertainment;
the point is I will never truly sympathise
or try it,
increasingly I find myself
fall extremely quiet.
And everybody thinks that
Everybody else has lost their minds
I guess it's just a sign of the times
I cover my eyes and I think of something nice.
When I wake up tomorrow
I will be of the generation
Who spoke out but
couldn't hold their words,
couldn't hold their drink
perpetually perverse to the course
(or so I've heard)
When I wake up tomorrow
And I require consultation
I want a witness to this,
none of it
was carried out in my name
Once again I am left wishing I could opt out,
I abstain,
from this fickle and archaic piss,
parading around as culture,
should I retire will you wake me in the very distant future
When we've figured out a way
to do this properly
and we can play like normal kids
Not like this.
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6. |
Apple & The Tree
05:06
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What is it like
to be gold standard all the time
To be born to a silver spoon
and damn well demand it
ah,
what are you like,
you think about that all the time.
But for every life I covet,
there's a thousand lives of suffering,
just covered up, dismissed and deemed redundant.
Who ever really learned
to eat what's on their plate first,
appreciate their place,
and be grateful?
And who uses their ambition to disguise an ignorant submission
to not thinking,
who?
It's me, it's me, the apple and the tree.
(you're always complaining)
What have I got
to get het up on?
You said.
Well why do I feel cheated out of something
that never could have existed?
Well that's it.
Be who you are
You can be anything if you work hard
Not strictly true,
you can only do what you were born to do
Just fidget for those in charge.
You don't want to be anything you want to be,
you've already got there.
It's me, it's me, the apple and the tree.
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7. |
Endings
03:20
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This old habit that I can't shake off.
Oh I think I might be better off
just selling up what little I have got,
how many songs must I wash my hands of?
Before I admit it,
that it's hurting
to be not that good
and know I'm never gonna write a Hounds Of Love,
am I?
And at the end,
when you count
everything
I'll just have starts,
I won't have endings.
At the end,
when you count everything,
No closers,
there'll be just beginnings.
This second verse that I can't finish off
Oh, something, something, sad millennial,
don't want fame,
but what if no one ever knows my little name?
Cold calling choruses
to no one now.
Well I'll admit it,
that I mean it
and what's more I'm bothered if you like it this time
And at the end,
when you count
everything
I'll just have starts,
I won't have endings.
At the end,
when you count everything,
No closers,
there'll be just beginnings.
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8. |
Normal Life Is Fine
05:14
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Last song of the night,
you break out into the light.
Or trail off on a detour
to find some evening afterlife
You know that you can't keep this up
forever, but you don't want it to stop
And fear you'll never be old enough
You want to hold on to that precious feeling,
but you know that it might rot
if you hold on to it long enough
I don't want you to cry,
I want you to be alright.
I know it's not the life,
the sights,
or sounds you had in mind.
You did not touch the sky,
break free,
or kiss in milky twilight.
But normal life is fine,
and good things will happen when you smile.
So you're setting your sights
on a simple and quiet life.
At first your conscience and your ego fight
then it starts to look like it'll be alright.
You promised not to give up on those dreams
but then those dreams gave up on you.
Oh yeah but they were bound to.
You're smart, you have conviction,
there's a million things that you could learn to do.
The whole world is waiting for you.
That's why I don't want you to cry
I want you to be alright,
I know it's not the life,
the sights,
or sounds you had in mind
You did not touch the sky,
break free,
or kiss in milky twilight.
But normal life is fine,
and good things will happen when you smile.
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Tom John Hall Derby, UK
THUNDERCHILD 24/11/23 via Year Of Glad ⚡️
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