After A Fashion
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After a fashion which is Purely the mood that takes me I'll set my mouth on fire And kiss you till you blister The tears I cry Out overhead Spell out a word All for you Watch the thin boy in dark clothes Falling over pianos Trips on the moving carpet Plays like he's deaf and dumb and blind The answer is Quite obvious Oblivious To all but you After a fashion She's the answer After a fashion I'm the question |
Information: Written January 1979 Door, Door LP/CD (1979) |
Blast Off!
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This time it's the truth This time nothing's gonna fall on through These books Are broken up Blast off! Wham! bam! Right off the shelf Right off the shelf Blast off! This is it - the last one This one's the final-in-a-fair-field-of-wheat This building Will may be fall down Blast off! Down! down! Down! down! The ground Down! down! The ground Blast off! OK now This is it. |
Information: Release The Bats 7"/12" (1981/83) It's Still Living LP/CD (1985) A Collection... LP/CD (1985/87) Junkyard CD (1988) Hits LP/CD (1992) Live 81 - 82 CD (1999) |
Blundertown
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Blundertown is drowned in no brainstorm Smothered in mud at the foot of a river The colour vague is slapped around stupid Blood dries to a very dull colour I'm drowning, and there is no relief from... It's only 12,000 miles to heaven But the car is broken and we're all well spoken I've met three people but I don't think they like me And we all talk about the state of the weather I'm drowning, and there is no relief from... And everything I say are my own thoughts Don't listen to my very dull brother I'm drowning, and there is no relief from... |
Information: Written November 1980 Nick The Stripper 12"/7" (1981) Prayers On Fire CD (1988) A Collection... LP/CD (1985/87) |
Bones To Borneo
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A pile of bones A wooden carving Lots of white violins A few squabbling skulls A birch broom A man Some human pyramids (sung: [unsure/A colony of mice]) El Greco Some men A chalk circle A smelly Turkish bath A runaway carriage Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop the carriage Before it gets to the road |
Information: Written w/ N. Cave, December 1979 |
Death By Drowning
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To get a breath of fresh air A tempestuous sea A howling gale Dirty weather Hang around until lunch Death by drowning Death by drowning It's an absolute dump To get the tips of your toes wet To be suntanned His skin's peeling To build sandcastles Death by drowning Death by drowning To get out of one's depth Carried off by the current Lovely sea trip The sea is only A stone's throw from the beach Death by drowning Death by drowning Freshly painted boats |
Information: Written August 1979 Hee Haw EP (1979/83) Hee Haw CD (1988) |
The Dim Locator
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Inanimational items elude I, and In-an-emotional-motion I swallow my Motive of quicker location is slammed my Dim chance of skipping this THICK world is THIN They call me Dim I am the Dim Locator, Dim Locator LOCO, LOMO, LOCO, LOMO, L'WOW,WOW,WOW LOCO, LOMO, LOCO, LOMO, L'WOW,WOW,WOW Intrigueinometry treads on my trail Entriggering traps for a gross gang of ghost types Who later are packed in a cast IRON trunk these things have been known, to get out of their wraps Don't call me Dim I am the Dim Locator Dim Locator LOCO, LOMO, LOCO, LOMO, L'WOW,WOW,WOW,WOW,WOW,WOW. Fog fished and filtered is filling my case book, of Friends who fall foul of my files trip and Break Neck are stacked in the woodshed for further good use Theres some certain people who shouldn't start fires So call me Dim! I am the Dim Locator! Dim Locator! DON'T CALL ME DIM! |
Information: Junkyard LP/CD (1982/88) It's Still Living LP/CD (1985) Live 81 - 82 CD (1999) |
Dull Day
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The light from the window Falls on the floor And after it breaks I cut my feet On the little bright pieces (I glow in the dark) But only when night falls It's falling it's falling It falls My head is a night-club Club-clubbed to dull drums Beating too slow To dance or to breathe or to dance I insist that you cut in (I a la flambe) I'm drinking I'm drinking I'm drunk |
Information: Prayers On Fire LP/CD (1981/88) |
Guilt Parade
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The drumming deceives you The blood in your veins And it pounds in a tattoo It brings you to rags And the Guilt parade The guilt parade Parade, parade The happy monotony It drags like a nail And it ladders your mealy mouth Into splintering smiles And the Guilt parade The guilt parade Parade, parade Wave and say hello Wave and say hello Wave and say hello Wave and say hello |
Information: Written September 1979 The Birthday Party LP (1980) Hee Haw CD (1988) |
Ho-Ho
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Worn and gnawn A little hole Just a small hole Letting in a sick wind In small puffs Yo-ho-hole Yo-ho-hole Through which blow A small sick wind Yo-ho-hole Yo-ho-hole Puff puff The sick wind blows Slipping stitches leading to So slight a hole Slipping in a sick wind Slippery sickly wind Yo-ho-hole Yo-ho-hole Across the threshole A little sick wind Yo-ho-hole Yo-ho-hole Yo-ho The sick wind blows |
Information: Prayers On Fire LP/CD (1981/88) Drunk On The Pope's Blood LP/CD (1982/94) |
I Mistake Myself
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I mistake myself For the sillhouette I used to know Cold on the stairs Written and locked In the bottom drawer No pain in denial? I mistake myself As you walk in my room And I write my name On the back of my hand Sitting alone in the dining room No pain in denial? I mistake myself For pieces of paper In various editions I guess I'm quite complete Must I hold my breath And turn blue No pain in denial? Take a look Over your shoulder My face and the world Staring in your window Quiet. I'm talking I can't hear what I'm saying The shape I've made Is the hand that bites me I mistake myself I mistake myself... |
Information: Written October 1978 Door, Door LP/CD (1979) |
The Red Clock
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The red clock goes drip toc Drip toc as it rains cats and dogs That break on the footpath Put your hand out the window Get stripped to the claw bone The red clock goes The red clock goes The red clock goes drip toc Drip toc it's the wine of the times Stains Antoinette's gown Don't walk in the garden There's hands from the hedges |
Information: Hee Haw EP (1979/83) The Birthday Party LP (1980) Hee Haw CD (1988) |
Riddle House
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The street is very wide And I can't see across it My house isn't clear to me The cars move inbetween And I say "Question: When is a door not a door?" And I say "That's not right! Answer: When it's a jar" The numbers soft as soap And tend to bend in addition They're much to wan for me I prefer some consistency And I say "Question: When is a door not a door?" And I say "That's not right! Answer: When it's a jar" The window's open wide I can't see out of it The view is not very there Sometimes I look for it |
Information: Written December 1979 The Birthday Party LP (1980) Hee Haw CD (1988) |
The Running Goat
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Kling, klang goes the bell As it rattles around the neck Of a beast that is running Not on four but on two legs And then the running goat jumps up To cut your hair with scissors I sit in a cornfield Where I drink with a scarecrow Who's trailing a forearm It's all dried up and withered And everything in the garden shed Turns into a man and kills you You lie on the carpet You flip like a big squid For the running goat has Taken all your bones away And everything in the garden shed Turns into a man and kills you | Information: |
Scatterbrain
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Scatterbrain Stutterbrain Knows my face Calls my name Blunts my hand Cuts the cord Try to write out Breaks my fingers Scatterbrain Soft toy brain Lose the world In a glimpse Ugly face(/turn away) Turn your head(/ugly head) Swims a river Of thick sleep Scatter brain Tatter head My discard Lights my bed Fall into Those dear dead arms Holds me so tight Kiss me to sleep |
Information: Written March 1979 Scatterbrain 7" (1979) Drunk On The Pope's Blood LP/CD (1982/94) A Collection... LP (1985) |
Several Sins
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This is a dead letter tale. If I could make this print talk. You made a deep mark/deep mark on me, And only saints say such things as these. So I slid under the floor, Under the oak and the iron. With you under oak and iron, Under the thick and under the thin, Where only fire grows . . . I forgot to tell you several things - Ma I forgot to tell you several things - Ma I forgot to tell you 'bout the 7 sins And I spat dead letter words, And all the breath that I own. Imprinted one word in red/I read. And only saints say such things as these (About the marks on your throat) Under the oak and the iron. Under the fat and the thick and the thin, And all of that, and a few 100 more And only fire grow I heard the fire grow Alone in the . . . |
Information: Written w/ H. Howard Junkyard LP/CD (1982/88) |
Until I Die (Cracked Portrait)
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Until I die Life is a cut of me Cracked portrait I, My footprints a story Rubies and pearls Mine for the exchange The mark of the beast There on my shoulder By your side |
Information: Written March 1979 |
Waving My Arms
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It's all rough and tumble The commotion of new And we feel rather shiny In our signalling suits And explode into ho, ho, ho, ho, ho It's our manifesto And we won't get to sleep For 50,000 years And we won't get to sleep For maybe 5 minutes Waving my arms In motion About(/around) a lot |
Information: Written July 1979 The Birthday Party LP (1980) The Friend Catcher 7" (1980) Hee Haw CD (1988) |