1. |
Reign of Terror
02:37
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2. |
Bag of Bones
02:35
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Bag of Bones
Gave up on the booze and soon his work declined
Emptied out the bottles emptied out his mind
No more phantoms left to murder with a chair
Inspiration drawn from fighting with the thin air
I will make you happy with this bag of bones
Come inside and you can warm this bag of bones
See his stringy figure striding through the town
Local disrepute disguises world renown
The corpses in his books could found another state
Sympathy will tear us down but envy makes us great
I will make you happy with this bag of bones
Come inside and you can warm this bag of bones
Nightmares for the nation now they’re coming true
That could never happen in the critic’s view
Craves the comfort he denies everyone else
Wants a fan to take his bones and nurse them back to health
I will make you happy with this bag of bones
Come inside and you can warm this bag of bones
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3. |
Back to Eden
03:20
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Back to Eden
The birds and the beasts
Just get on with the race
Don’t quit in disgust
Or retreat in disgrace
But gone is the ardour that drove us
The life for the moment
You’d immortalize
A miaow to the great
And a woof to the wise
Compelled to record every movement
Feel like you’re under hypnosis
Don’t have the will now to turn a page
Drugged by machines in small doses
To revive a primeval age
Back to Eden
Spontaneous gesture
The cure for our plight
For a world sunk in thought
And a world drowned in rights
Could this ball of string lead to Eden?
The grounds are heavily guarded
Submachine guns and flaming swords
Innocence once discarded
Now under siege from the screaming hordes
Back to Eden
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4. |
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I don’t care what you did in the 90s
I run my fingers down the grooves
Of your old battle scars
This empire started in a garage
Selling stolen cars
Do they think their new exposés
Show you the error of your ways?
I don’t care what you did in the 90s
The darkness concealed by that dignified air
This scandal-mongering – we’ll nip it in the bud
You cannot shame us we’ve chosen not to care
Nostalgic for the time when you
Had nothing to your name
You tire of all the hassle
Shifting assets shirking fame
“I didn’t make this world on my own
Who among you can cast the first stone?”
I don’t care what you did in the 90s
The blood that you spilled for this luxury yacht
I do not ask how you procured these finer things
We can’t regret a past that we forgot
Locked inside the castle
Trapped with your ill-gotten gains
Not a soul to talk to
Share their pain or pick their brains
If there’s not enough wealth to go round
It’s cause we’ve built our new burial mound
I don’t care what you did in the 90s
And I wish the rest of the world felt the same
Maybe they’re envious of the way you can just move on
They’d be held back by a gnawing sense of shame
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5. |
The Beast at Bay
03:40
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The Beast at Bay
Can you see past the romance
To the cardboard box that’s waiting
Can you feed on illusions
From the muse who drives creation
She comes by at the oddest times
And is used to being hated
But she only smiles at the wily child
And nods to the initiated
They long to see the beast at bay
The concentration of their fears
The distillation of their rage
They want it tamed
Maybe one day
In a hundred years
They’ll march him out
And put him on parade
How can you keep your purpose
In a world of mass distraction
Can you make a meal of misfortune
And a battlefield from inaction?
Worshipping the products
Fashioned for the here and now
Everything else can gather dust
Don’t need them anyhow
That’s how they keep the beast at bay
…
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6. |
The Cave
03:02
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The Cave
Here’s a cave we can find shelter
Out of the rain
Never mind if it keeps on
We’ll be punished again
And if there’s something
We have left behind
Then it can wait
And if there’s somewhere else
We have to be
Then we’ll be late
We didn’t think on this clear morning
There’d be a storm
Found an old piece of tarpaulin
I’ll keep you warm
How long before they notice
We are gone
What will they do
They’re not surprised
That everything goes wrong
When I’m with you
Huddle up cause we’re not leaving
Weather looks bleak
Devices are not receiving
Call back next week
Our home routine’s a prison
Think of all the fuss we’d save
I’d rather spend my life inside this cave
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7. |
The Old Believers
03:29
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The Old Believers
Now the vault is bare
Shifted to the cloud
More room to sell these shiny things
That make their owners proud
Sun-worshippers
Of a future day
Will arrange these shiny things
To drive the clouds away
Still I’m counting on the old believers
Not to let us down
Though the clouds release a deluge
We won’t drown
We boasted we were free
Only to wake in chains
The work of ages up in smoke
Now only iron remains
Count on the civilized
To turn each other in
The golden billion still believes
We’re in a state of sin
Still I’m counting on the old believers
Not to let us down
Though we’re swamped in prohibition
We won’t drown
Humans were born to err
It is inevitable
They’ll let themselves be poisoned
Long before they drink their fill
Agents stop the fun
Salvation is at stake
They’ll come and shoot the barrels up
That brew will form a lake
Still I’m counting on the old believers
Not to let us down
They will teach us all to walk on water
We won’t drown
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8. |
Demon in the Studio
03:41
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Demon in the Studio
What have you got cooking there?
Does it stimulate the soul?
Post-punk says our arts correspondent
Grandma called it rock and roll
The cooking channel’s always on
Watching helps to keep you thin
The outside world is so overweight
You’re happy that tonight you’re staying in
The guru of groupthink
And the maven of mean
They can’t fight the demon in the studio
The ghost in the machine
What are you concocting there?
Does it simulate a soul?
Might as well fire the other members of the band
Play the music by remote control
My sworn enemy in print
Don’t you know I’m on your side
We’re putty in the hands of the thugs who rule the land
Child’s play to break up and divide
The guru of groupthink
And the maven of mean
They can’t fight the demon in the studio
The ghost in the machine
The shaman of salesmen
With his magical flask
He can’t beat the demon in the studio
The monster behind the mask
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9. |
Nature's Way
02:13
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Nature’s Way
Upon the eventide
Crickets will scratch a symphony
But as they tell me here
Music’s not always good for me
Sounds can’t hurt you now
Just therapeutic droning
As machinery shuts down
The straps will hold this time
And sleep is the best medicine
It’s part of nature’s way
Nature’s way
Today I will not flinch
When people attempt to talk to me
Hope soon they’ll make me well
And I can rejoin society
I threw the baton down
And stormed out of the concert hall
I did not take the prize
I wouldn’t sign their letter
And they called me mad
To try and stand in nature’s way
Nature’s way
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10. |
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King and Fool Rolled Into One
Skip the prayer for breakfast
Our times don’t need responsibility
Make isolation splendid
I’ll forget the laws handed down to me
You can obey the regulations
But I do not understand
Why you hang on to the rulebook
When things get so out of hand
Like the modern-day crusaders
I would like to have my fun
I’d be the king and fool rolled into one
King and fool rolled into one
I’d be the one to ask strange questions
And the one who has no answers to provide
I’d be split right down the middle
For every dumb mistake I’d blame the other side
And I would ring my bells as the apocalypse arrived
And promise juicy bonuses for any who survived
And strum upon my lyre as I was reaching for my gun
I’d be the king and fool rolled into one
King and fool rolled into one
We’d be dividing up the kingdom
Neither hand aware of what the other’s doing
Disgusting our opponents
Who know they’re always guaranteed compulsive viewing
If the situation’s hopeless
I’ll be sure to make it worse
I’ll rely upon the poet to explain it all in verse
And if it gets too hot then I’ll declare war on the sun
I’ll be the king and fool rolled into one
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11. |
Delete the Past
04:14
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Delete the Past
Fellow iconoclasts
Don’t be so lame
Why topple statues
When you could erase a name
Remove all record
And do it fast
Fascists make back-ups
We must delete the past
Delete the past
No one need ever know
They ever lived
So let them go
The weight of history
Will no longer overwhelm
Expunge all evidence
From the public realm
Next up is Tasso
And then Camoes
Erase their memory
And the issue of their loins
Their mouldering epicules
Leave us aghast
We’ll throw them overboard
We must delete the past
Delete the past
Statues in a row
We will smash their heads
Let the hatred grow
Delete the past
Books from long ago
Make a lovely blaze
Bathe in the afterglow
Delete the past
Don’t reap the crop they sowed
Cast that burden off
We’ll take another road
Delete the past
Ghosts will cease to groan
When they are laid to rest
They will stay unknown
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12. |
Victory March
03:15
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Victory March
Tanks have no need of drivers
Planes are remotely controlled
They will assemble to fill up the square
Without any living soul
Admire this parade without people
We’re fighting our wars with these drones
They should be honoured
And so they have gathered
As if they would seize the throne
It’s a victory march
We cannot follow
When we’re locked up
All freedoms gained appear so hollow
And our patience is gone
It’s hard to be brave and decisive
If we’re all scared in our homes
Where is the courage
That overthrew logic
To face the beast alone?
We hope for a speedy conclusion
But no one can say when or how
When each day’s a holiday
We can’t distinguish
Between the then and now
It’s a victory march
We cannot follow
When we’re locked up
Defeating tyranny seems hollow
And our patience is gone
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Simon Patterson and the Bichan Orchestra Auckland, New Zealand
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