1. |
War Baby
04:05
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War Baby
Only the very young and the very beautiful can be so aloof
Hanging out with the boys, all swagger and poise
I don't even care what other people are there
I just stare and stare and stare
I see your shadow in the swimming pool
I see your face in the shaving mirror
Time and time and time again
I follow your footsteps so quietly up the backstairs
And I hope and I pray you're never going to find me there
Smooth skin and tenderness long ago on a dark night
Wish I could see you once again just to remember it was true
I want to be still beside you - quiet and still beside you
Listening to your breathing and feeling your warmth again
War baby - you were a
War baby - this means
War baby - I'm scared, so scared
Whatever it is you keep putting me through
I don't think I could stand another ten years of this fighting
All this stabbing and wounding - only getting my own back
I don't want to batter you to your feet and knees and elbows
When I'm kneeling like a candle at the foot of my own bed
Corresponding disasters every night on the TV
Sickening reality keeps gripping me in its guts
All my friends talk and joke and laugh about Armageddon
But like a nightmare it's still waiting there at the end of every day
War baby - you were a
War baby - this means
War baby - I'm scared, so scared
Whatever it is you keep putting me through
I don't think I could stand another ten years of this fighting
All this stabbing and wounding - only getting my own back
But later that same evening we were out in the car talking
When I suddenly wondered who the hell it was we were trying to fool
Co you were the first one that I ever wanted
And it's you I come home to at the end of every day
Like a mother-sucking baby, demanding and so helpless
A little old balding man, all wrinkles and bulging eyes
War baby - you were a
War baby - this means
War baby - I'm scared, so scared
Whatever it is you keep putting me through
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2. |
Cabin Boy
03:26
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Cabin boy
I wanna go to Frisco bay
Drink my liquor and spend my pay
Sling my hammock and hoist the boat
Knuckle under and learn the ropes
Action stations, all correct
Trim the rigging and swab the deck
Hard to starboard - man ahoy
I wanna be your cabin boy
All night...all night
Cabin boy work night and day
Cabin boy goes all the way
Man the capstan, work the pump
Cook and carry and fetch and hump
Set the sextant, strip the guns
Bite the biscuit, beat the drums
Do the hornpipe - jump for joy
I wanna be your cabin boy
All night...all night
I wanna be your cabin boy all night
I wanna be your cabin boy all night...
Set the sextant, strip the guns
Bite the biscuit, beat the drums
Do the duties I enjoy
I wanna be your cabin boy
All night...all night
I wanna be your cabin boy all night
I wanna be your cabin boy all night
All night.
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3. |
Blood Brother
05:25
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BLOOD BROTHER
Ben was born in Lincoln county and he grew up in the fens
Teased and bullied by his brothers in a family of ten
Sociable and easygoing - helping out around the home
While his inner life ticked on like an unexploded bomb
Just waiting for his moment
Going shopping with his mother like a whippet on the leash
Always straining at the traces - out of sight and out of reach
And anytime the house was empty he would work out on his own
Disappearing on his bike in the middle of the night
And stealing from the kitchen
Open your eyes...
Open your eyes...
Open your eyes... here I am
I'm your blood brother
Well he saved up his allowance and he studied like a slave
Worked his passage to Australia... to try and make his getaway
I was single when I met him - he was bitter and nineteen
And he so reminded me of someone I used to be
A long long time ago
Open your eyes...
I said, open your eyes...
Open your eyes... here I am
I'm your blood brother
Now the years have been and vanished and I've lost a lot of friends
I do twenty at the pool and take my kid to school
Since the party had to end
But at a benefit last Sunday we met again - as if by fate
I barely recognised Ben when he grabbed me again
And whispered in my ear
Open your eyes...
He said, open your eyes...
Open your eyes... here I am
I'm your blood brother
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4. |
Congo Blue
04:34
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CONGO BLUE
Smalltown city on a weekday evening
Pubs are shutting and the streets are heaving
Looking for a little bit of late night twistin
Hear the muffled thumping of a big sound system
Bass in the bowels of a crowded bar
Squeeze through the beefcake steaming in the dark
My friends are restless, talking by the door
But I'm dazzled by the flash and razzle on the dancefloor
Blue, blue, Congo Blue...
Blue, blue, Congo Blue...
Sweating and deafened in the strobing light
Transfixed by a vision in the northern night
Your face so radiant, full of animation
Dancing and glancing with a hint of flirtation
Knowing and flowing with amazing grace
Shirt hanging down, flapping over your waist
Can't help laughing, got a hard attack - cause you're
Grinning and singing and you're looking right back, I said
Blue, blue, Congo Blue... do you really mean it
Blue, blue, Congo Blue... or are you laughing at me
Never imagined I'd run into you here
Here of all places after all these years
All my life I've been waiting, aching
Too many nights of searching, hurting
Summoning the courage up to bridge that gap
Walk right over and begin to chat,
Wishing I was fitter now, wishing I was younger
Wishing I could hide my raging hunger
Blue, blue, Congo Blue... do you really mean it
Blue, blue, Congo Blue... are you laughing at me
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5. |
You Tattooed Me
04:58
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YOU TATTOOED ME
Stranded in Antwerp in June '54
Streets full of refugees and rumours of war
In a queue at the station a stranger arrived
You walked up and fixed me with wild hazel eyes
But the hotel was crowded - I followed in fright
You slammed the door behind us and smashed out the light
You said "why try to fight it?" to my racing heart
When we nuzzled like animals and kissed in the dark
We wrecked the bed, spent the rent
and left there without a cent
We drank the fare, never made the train
Till 25 I was barely alive and I wondered what hit me…
When you tattooed me
You tattooed me... tattooed me
Tattooed me (tattooed me)
And I wondered what hit me when you came
Shacked up in basements behind broken doors
Bugs in the blankets and glass on the floor
Cold, broke and hungry, having quarrels and fights
Coughing blood through the winter I felt so alive
And on one fatal day you signed your life away
I was too weak for alarm
I was drunk and asleep; as you left for the fleet
You tattooed your name on my arm
You tattooed me (tattooed me)
You tattooed me (tattooed me)
Your name with a needle on my arm
With the peace in Geneva the world crawled away
From the brink of oblivion - we all breathed again
And when you deserted no more letters came
My life cut to pieces I started again
And when I was on the mend I drifted to Zaventem
And worked there unloading the planes
I paid my way on a thousand a day
And I never did see you again
But you tattooed me (tattooed me)
You tattooed me (tattooed me)
The mark of the needle remains
You tattooed me (tattooed me)
And I knew that we'd never meet again
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6. |
Martin's Gone
03:10
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MARTIN'S GONE
Martin's gone… Martin's gone
Things will never be the same again
Now Martin's gone
I told my mother and the boy next door
The girl at the garage and my brother in law
I talked to the doctor and I told my boss
The launderette lady and the corner shop
I told the postman, then I told a gag
I told Claire Rayner and the local rag
I told the barmaid and the landlord too
I told everybody in the world I knew
Martin's gone… Martin's gone
Things will never be the same again
Now Martin's gone
I told our father and my favourite guys
Ten Hail Marys and a few white lies
I told the Samaritans, I told my dog
I talked to the telly and the talking clock
Back on the wagon when the nights are dark
I drive by the diner where I made my mark
Martin's gone… Martin's gone
Things will never be the same again
Now Martin's gone
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7. |
Roaring Days
05:46
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ROARING DAYS
One roaring morning at the break of day
Me and my buddy were still wired awake
Though the fog was freezing and the streets were cold
We went hell for leather up the coastal road
Stopped the Honda on a cliff
My buddy threw up, I rolled a spliff
In the glorious autumn...
Of our roaring days
The mist made haloes in our hair
As we came down slowly through the market square
A fresh fruit trader gave us one plum each
We sucked and swaggered till we hit the beach
Shouting down the esplanade
Two shifty misfits acting hard
In the glorious autumn
Of our Roaring Days
The tide comes in, the tide goes out
We go our separate ways
Our roaring twenties came and went
And vanished in a haze
Driven, drunken, discontent
Our oats were sown, our savings spent
In the glorious autumn...
Of our Roaring Days
In a jacked-up Datsun gleaming on the slip
Saw a teenage greaser eating eel and chips
We admired his styling - how we laughed and lied
Till he asked my buddy if he'd like a ride
Radio blazing Queen and Quo
All greased up, no place to go
In that glorious autumn
Of our Roaring Days
The tide comes in, the tide goes out
We go our separate ways
Our roaring twenties came and went
And vanished in a haze
Driven, drunken, discontent
Our oats were sown, our savings spent
In the glorious autumn... of our Roaring Days
We were deaf and selfish - we were smug and dumb
And our bleak mid-winter was still to come
My buddy turned ugly - and so did I:
He took my money and never said goodbye
But in my daydreams now and then
I long to wake up once again
In the glorious autumn...
Of our roaring days
The tide comes in, the tide goes out
We go our separate ways
Our roaring twenties came and went
And vanished in a haze
Driven, drunken, discontent
Our oats were sown, our savings spent
In the glorious autumn...
Of our Roaring Days
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8. |
The Wedding
05:42
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THE WEDDING
It was a winter Sunday in the centre of town
In the middle of the advent madness
Fading daylight, gusts of rain
Christmas carols playing on the brain - and on the radio
I could see the other guests arriving
In their Range Rovers and MG midgets
Sprayed lime green and vomit orange
Princess Di lookalikes in county twinsets
And down-at-heel Cambridge playboys
Wearing Moss Bros suits and hand-me-down sports jackets
The theatrical profession at prayer... and I felt so out of place.
Heads were turning and the whispering spread
As you stood in the aisle staring straight ahead
Like Lazarus risen up from the dead in a formal morning coat;
Prayers were offered and a lesson was read
As one or two crocodile sniffles were shed
And somebody whispered "Doesn't she just look wonderful"
With a dry crack in the voice.
But I felt like a leper and a traitor too
To everything we once knew was true
You avoided my eye and I knew that you knew
And something in my heart screamed no...
Because it isn't the bride that I wanna kiss
It isn't your friendship I'm gonna miss
And it's not that I wanted a life like this
But I'm doing fine... I'm doing fine
Still I remembered all the places and people we'd known
All the summers we spent on that disused aerodrome
All the double-edged jokes in our private code
In our very own private language
And if I could still ride my bike home across that windswept runway
Well I'd do it again today...
And now here we were all these years later
Still living in the shadow of a mushroom cloud
As we mumbled the Lord's prayer together
And asked for the peace which passeth all understanding;
And if I sound bitter it's because I'm alone
Under alien colours, in an alien zone
And though I know the language well it isn't my own
And I really don't belong here
Because it isn't the bride that I wanna kiss
And it isn't your friendship I'm gonna miss
And it's not that I wanted a life like this
But a part of my childhood died
No, it isn't the bride that I wanna kiss
It isn't your friendship I'm gonna miss
It's not that I wanted it to end like this
With water and wine, water and wine...
Well I guess I'm just paying my respects to you
For the sake of who we used to be...
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9. |
Blond And Blue
03:53
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BLOND AND BLUE
Well you know how the last seven years
Haven't been all that easy
Sometimes I'd feel so weak
Cause I can't seem to speak when I'm angry
All those things that they say
hen they stand in your way
Just seemed to eat me up deep down inside
Well they force you to crawl - and when you make it
Then they all want to own you
Blond and Blue
You fight like a tiger
You're blond and blue
You'd better come home
All that smiling and lies
All that long swallowed pride
Used to make me choke up
All those high-flying friends
Keeping up with the trends
That couldn't wait to get the blade in
For your own peace of mind
Try and give me some sign
And show me you still want me
After so many years can you take it
Now it's here for the asking?
Blond and Blue
You fight like a tiger
You're blond and blue
You'd better come home
So for both of our sakes
Won't you give me a break
So I can prove that I won't use you
When you're so terrified
I can't stand to stand by yet again
You're blond and blue
You fight like a tiger
Blond and Blue
You'd better come home
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10. |
Ricky
03:54
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RICKY...
We hear you're leaving, that's okay
I thought our little wild time had just begun
I guess you kinda scared yourself, you've turned and run
But if you have a change of heart...
Ricky don't lose that number
You don't wanna call nobody else
Send it off in a letter to yourself
Ricky don't lose that number
It's the only one you'll want
You might use it if you feel better
When you get home
I've got a friend in town, he's heard your name
We could go out driving down Slowhand Road
Or we could stay inside and play games, I dunno..
And you could have a change of heart
Ricky don't lose that number
You don't wanna call nobody else
Send it off in a letter to yourself
Ricky don't lose that number
It's the only one you'll want
You might use it if you feel better
When you get home
I can tell you all I know
The where to go, the what to do
You can try to run but you can't hide
From what's inside of you...
You tell yourself you're not my kind
But you don't even know your mind
And you could have a change of heart...
CHO: Ricky don't lose that number
You don't wanna call nobody else
Send it off in a letter to yourself
Ricky don't lose that number
It's the only one you'll want
You might use it if you feel better
When you get home
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11. |
Long Hot Summer
04:44
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LONG HOT SUMMER
Hey Joe, get up and go
Wouldn't like to tell you twice
Hey mac, get off my back
Didn't ask your advice
There's all this heat out in the street
Telling us to move along
It's gonna be a long hot summer
From now on
Hey man, I don't understand
We ain't hardly bothering you
Say fag, you're just a drag
We ain't nearly finished with you
There's all this heat out on the beat
Telling us we don't belong
It's gonna be a long hot summer
From now on
Hey Dan, give us a hand
We won't make it alone
But we can all make a stand
Next time the whistle's blown
So get your feet out on the street
When you hear the heat is on
It's gonna be a long hot summer
From now on...
Look out sisters, look out brothers
We won't be fooled again
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12. |
Coldharbour Lane
06:29
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COLDHARBOUR LANE
The first night I dared to come out on the town
It was hard believing my eyes
Met a fresh faced teacher in a big leather coat
On a dancefloor crowded with guys
And though he never told me he loved me
I know he never told me no lies
Hoping... moping...
Freezing at the bus stop in Coldharbour Lane
Blew it... knew it...
Hitting the bottle I could hardly remember his name
Wasn't too easy
It wasn't slow
You wanna leave me
You'd better go
Time out taking the tube into town
To the upstairs room on the right
Stuck in the middle but feeling the need
To keep it up night after night
One time I hit the jackpot
Made out with the hottest in sight
Grinning... winning...
He was a slim dark mover
With devastating eyes
Fun night... one night...
He came and left me there barely saying goodbye
Boozing... cruising...
Bitterly sipping a half pint of 'E'
Who's he... choosing...
Clenching my toes
And just wishing to God it was me
Wasn't too easy
It wasn't slow
You wanna leave me
You'd better go.
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Tom Robinson London, UK
Tom Robinson (b.1950) is a UK songwriter & broadcaster first known in the 70s as an anti-racist and LGBT campaigner. He released 19 albums between 1975-2001 with various bands and has co-written songs with Elton John, Peter Gabriel, Dan Hartman and Manu Katché. He's an award-winning presenter at BBC Radio 6 Music, and released Only The Now (his first album in 19 years) in October 2015. ... more
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