Pieces

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SUDDEN GETAWAY

How do we know when to stop looking?

How do we know when to make our stake?

All I know is somewhere something’s cooking

What say we make a sudden getaway?

I got myself a good companion

And I swore I’d never stray

There’s nothing like a little reckless abandon

Nothing like a little getaway

Farewell to the bitter life

Farewell to the nine to five/daily grind

Gonna leave it all behind

I’m gonna leave all my past failures

Gonna leave them debts unpaid

Gonna forge me something greater

Gonna make a sudden getaway

Come on baby, the engine’s purring

And the night’s eating up the day

It don’t matter which way we’re turning

It’s time to make a sudden getaway

Farewell to the passion play

The undertow of the everyday

Farewell exponential decay

Farewell to the bitter life

Farewell to the tears in her eyes

Gonna leave it all behind

Gonna make a sudden getaway

COMPANY GIRL (NEEDS A COMPANY MAN)

You’re sure on the scene

You’re so well connected

Perfectly affected

Yet you’re playing it safe

You’ve got them all keen

You tag ’em and bag ’em

Hitch to their wagon

As they spring from the gate

Oh, flash in the pan

A company girl needs a company man

You know they all want you

So maybe they’ll take you

Break you and fake you

’Til you get the top

You learnt all the right lines

You reference the right bands

Shake all the right hands

But still you’re a flop

Go sell out!

It’s all so obscene

The way that you do this

Absorbing their fluids

Like a bloodsucking leech

Did you feel it go deeper?

Feel it grow harder?

Hey, mascara martyr

What’s that in your teeth?

THE MF BLUES

Seems I’ve gone done it again

Got to feeling happy
Just to have my hopes dashed again

That woman don’t want me

So I’m gonna get smashed again

I’m heading down the corner to get me a drink

Cos I’ve got the motherfucking blues again

I’ll open up a bottle of wine

Just like I’ve done a hundred fucking thousand times

Wait for the feeling to flood my tortured mind

But man, let me tell you

There ain’t booze enough to sate me

Cos I’ve got the fucking blues tonight

I wonder when this will end

I wonder when this shit will end

All these lonely nights

With the blues as my only friend

All these lonely nights

Only booze has an ear to lend

I know it ain’t healthy but I’m down on my luck

And I got the motherfucking blues again

I know it ain’t healthy but I’m lonely as fuck

And I got the motherfucking blues again

AIN'T THAT WHAT THEY SAY?

You take a job

You earn some money

Cash in your dreams

Ain’t that what they say?

Keep your head down

Ask no questions

And you’ll hear no shit

Ain’t that what they say?

At this age it seems to me

It’s getting harder to be free

To be who we wanted to be

Have some kids

Tell ’em they’re special

Make the circle complete

Ain’t that what they say?

Hear that thunder rumbling?

See that lightning break the sky?

Could it mean a change has come

Or is it just one more of their lies?

There’s no road map

No prescription

No plan B

That ain’t what they say

CHARING CROSS

Oh my baby, I’m so sorry

For the stupid things I said

I didn’t mean them, I just let the demons

Do their dance around my head

I guess I know that I’ve really done it now

Oh my baby, I’m so sorry

For letting the drink take the wheel

Come the morning, I am sorting

The dreams and nightmares from what’s real

Yes, I know that I’ve really done it now

Oh my love, is this enough?

These simple words I write to you?

Cos babe I promise, I swear I promise

I’m sorry for all that I put you through

But I know that I’ve really done it now

Yes, I know that I’ve really blown it now

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES

The days are getting shorter now

And the nights are getting long

I don’t pay it any mind

No, it don’t worry me none

Cos though the wind rattles our windows, babe

I know that I’m safe with you inside

Though there’s trees out there uprooted, babe

No wind could blow me out of line

They say it’s gonna rain down

Say it’s gonna rain down

Let’s just batten down the hatches, babe

And honey, let it rain

We’ve got food up in the cupboard, darling

And a light upon the stove

We’ve got blankets we can huddle under

When the thunder starts to roll

And sure there’s confusion, honey

There are wild wolves roaming out there too

Just come a little closer babe

I know something we could do

If you go out with fifty layers

You’ll wish you had fifty-one

In here the fire’s burning

And the whisky is good and strong

No matter what’s out there, lover

Be it wind or rain or snow

Be it nuclear explosions, babe

There’s one thing that I know

That whether there be riots, darling

On election day

As long as we’re together, honey

I know we’ll be okay

GHOSTS

I’m driving on a quiet moonlit night

No one around, there’s not a soul in sight

Take my car through my old neck of the woods

The memories flood back from childhood

Don’t know what forces led me here

I don’t know why my eyes are wet with tears

But I swear from somewhere in the night

I can hear somebody sing

I remember playing on these streets

I wonder if these streets remember me?

There are houses now in the fields

Where we used to go

To have a smoke where our parents wouldn’t know

If the younger me could see me now

I wonder if he’d feel let down somehow

And I swear from somewhere in the night

I can hear them ghosts sing

I won’t pretend I was ever the perfect son

Can’t pretend to take back what I’ve done

But in my deeds somewhere there hides the truth

I miss you

I can’t go back to change what’s been said

Rattling chains haunt me now instead

And I swear from somewhere in the night

I can hear them ghosts sing

Driving back to my new hometown

To get some rest and lay my burden down

Kiss my wife as she sleeps, get into bed

Can’t stop these thoughts running ’round my head

We can never change where we’ve come from

Can’t get it back when it’s all gone

And I swear from somewhere in the night

I can hear them ghosts sing

REQUIEM

Inequality’s worse than it ever was

Tax breaks for the rich shift the burden on to us

That vile maxim stands, proud as a steeple:

“All for ourselves and none for other people”

How will they privatise the NHS?

Underfund and undermine it, feed stories to the press

As complaints roll in, they’ll tell us there’s a new way

“We can make it better, but now you gotta pay”

“We can kiss it all better but now you gotta pay”

Concentrated wealth
Means concentrated power

The rich keep getting richer
While the poor put in the hours

Democracy’s a lie to make us feel free

Plutocracy don’t feel like freedom me

And oligarchs don’t feel like you and me

We only get one go around at this existence

We made currency king
While Guanyin cries in the distance

We’re distracted by ads as the 1% blows it

They never help the world, they only try to own it

Never saved the world

Social mobility has ceased to exist

You’re born poor, you’ll stay poor, that’s just the way it is

That vile maxim stands, proud as a steeple:

“All for ourselves and none for other people”

PIECES

Grains of sand fall by the barrelful

Separates us from the animals

Chasing something impossible

Fighting something unstoppable

Pieces of skin torn off in strips

Pieces that never seem to fit

Some folks are born but never live

Pieces that never seem to fit

Electrons flying though invisible

Look for something unconditional

Love is rare, instinct is criminal

All those protons irresistible

Pieces of wood that float adrift

Pieces so big they’d sink this ship

Bound by a word, a lie, a kiss

Pieces that never seem to fit

No matter how hard you try to change

Can’t filter life from the pain

When hearts collide there are always waves

Rippling out as reason fades

SEE YOU WHEN I SEE YOU

We were just little boys keeping our heads down

Trying to find a way to leave this town

We were just little boys following our dreams

But we got caught in the gears of that machine

See you when I see you

I hope it’s not too long

Through all the strikes and gutters

A brother’s love goes on and on

The men they came from New York
They came over from LA

But nothing we were promised came our way

Some of us got married, some of us had kids

But none of us sold out nor wished we did

See you when I see you

I know it’s been a while

Since the magic and the madness

The music and the miles

And folks say:
“If you’d just come along in the prior century…”

But the world it was not built for dreams

Just “what will be will be”

If you never get your hopes up
Then you’ll never be let down

But we were just little boys trying to leave this town

Maybe everything we’ve done

And all that we’ve achieved

Will vanish like a whisper on the breeze

But when all is dust and ashes
And I’m doubled up with age

I’ll take those good times with me to my grave

See you when I see you

I hope it’s not too long

Just know until I do

That I’ll be singing you this song

For every broken promise

For every might-have-been

For everyone left hollow

Just for following their dreams

See you when I see you

Once more for old time’s sake

Let’s hit that road together

While the world goes up in flames