1. |
Day
03:04
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Day – and old Maureen comes
With her plastic bags
And her fags and beer
To sit on a bench
And watch the day go by
Over the bridge the first trains come
Bringing fresh waves of commuters
Who ride from the suburbs
To sit in offices full of telephones and computers
Up in the flats a baby cries for its mother
And two lovers cry out to each other
Before the alarm tears them from each other’s arms
To the world of work – and its folly
But this town is full of drinkers and smokers
And park-bench-sitters like me
All wondering if we’ll ever be
What we were meant to be
The sun goes down
And the clouds drift overhead
And day ends as it began,
With all the world has left unsaid:
Maureen in a daze
The baby lulled to sleep
And through the darkening terraces
The long shadows creep
But this town is full of drinkers and smokers
And park-bench-sitters like me
All wondering if we’ll ever be
What we were meant to be
This town is full of drinkers and smokers
And park-bench-sitters like me
Wandering
Through their days
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2. |
Letterkenny
02:39
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The streets here have names that recall
Some country or county or city or village or town
Where the feet that stagger on pavements here
Once skipped along a wall
Mary came from Donegal
If you ask her the reason she ended up her
It would seem that she didn’t have any
No she cannot recall why she came to east London
Or why she left Letterkenny
There was a young man she once loved and married
And a child conceived and carried
But over the years they went their ways
And in Bethnal Green Mary tarried
Mary came from Donegal
If you ask her the reason she ended up her
She will only answer you vaguely
No she cannot recall why she came to east London
Or why she left Letterkenny
She claimed from a broken chapel
Francis Of Assisi
And with pottery boots and geraniums
and garden gnomes
On her patio stands he
And a faded flag of Ireland
Flaps in the soft evening breeze
Mary came from Donegal
And she’s too old and tired
To ponder the mystery
No she cannot recall why she came to east London
Or why she left Letterkenny
Why she lives all alone
All alone in east London
And why she left Letterkenny
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3. |
The Passing Of The Bride
02:31
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Please come now Mr Peters
It is time for us to leave
At the third left down the corridor
There’s a place for you to breathe
We’ll make a cup of tea
With a biscuit on the side
But we cannot make amends for
The passing of the bride
Church bells were ringing
Flowers In her hair
It was a blessing she was unaware
Oh what became of his lady fair
She must be an angel in heaven
Oh Mr Peters
It is best you did not stay
We have done all within our power
But she has passed away
We’ll telephone a taxi
And homewards you will ride
May the world go past in silence for
The passing of the bride
Oh Mr Peters
She is dead, she is dead
We have another patient
Waiting for her bed
We’ll make that cup of tea
With a biscuit on the side
Now you have your life to contemplate
The passing of the bride
Church bells were ringing
Flowers In her hair
It was a blessing she was unaware
Oh what became of his lady fair
She must be an angel in heaven
Oh she must be an angel in heaven
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4. |
Eastside
04:01
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Dance for your daddy my little laddie
Dance for your daddy my little one
You shall have a little fishy on a little dishy
When the boat comes in……
All of his dreams were written on slips
Slips of white paper, he floated like ships:
The scratch-cards, the numbers
The race and the draw -
Every week they were crumpled
And thrown on the floor.
Monday the horses,
Tuesday the dogs
Wednesday the arcade - to spin the fruit cogs
Thursday the Bingo,
Friday the brokers
(With the last of the brass tongues and pokers)
Saturday the lottery - and another sod has got the nod
Sunday to Church and pray
(So help me God)
I need some money for plumbers to mend
I need some presents for children to send
I want a house with a garden I’ll trim
Oh when will that bloody boat come in?
There goes the brewery.
There go the pubs.
No rolling barrels and empty the tubs
There go the shipyards.
There go the docks -
And those boats they never more come in.
They found him in the evening
With a tinny on the go
The credits were running on
A television show.
There were odds – there were evens
Down the cracks of his chair
And a stack of bills
But no winnings there
He died, he died
Waiting for his boat to come in
Down came his sweet chariot
But his boat it never did come in.
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5. |
Murder In Bow
03:53
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There’s been another murder in Bow
Fourteen police cars went screaming past that’s how I know
And I don’t think they were heading out for sandwiches
Or catching a cross-eyed teenager with an aerosol can
Or an enterprising house-wife dealing blow
No there’s been another murder in Bow…
(chorus)
And they say run run to the country
The towns of Kent and Essex are calling you by name
But wherever you stray in England today
You’ll find it’s just a little less of more or less the same
There’s been another murder in Bow
And the high street traffic has come to a standstill
And the blokes at the kebab lab stand outside the shops
And they ask me what was going on, cos I came from that direction
I left moments before the cops
Gangsters buy their underwear in the designer boutiques round here
There’s been another murder in Bow…
And tomorrow they’ll be a headline in the local news
And a myriad of stories from which to choose:
A shove off a tower-block balcony
Or a crack-head who killed a man for his broken down TV
Or a street-fight that ended with the plunge of a knife
Or a husband who’s done in his unfaithful wife
There’s been another murder in Bow
And old ladies shake their heads and say it’s time to go…
(chorus)
The gangsters, the strangers, the police-cars
The ambulance and the fire-brigade
Are chasing down the road wherever you
Just remember next time there’s a murder in Bow
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6. |
Happy Hour
02:42
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Roll out the barrel – rolling heads around
We’re going to get well out of it – by sundown
Cos we’re all good mates and we’re
All in it together
Making the most of things as they are
Its what we live for
Yeh we’re keeping the economy going
Keeping the hops and barley crops growing
Simply by drinking in the happy hour
The beer is cut-price – they’re fighting over us
Us losers we’re valuable customers
Drinking in the summer sun
They can call us what they want…
Dilute reality if you see what I mean
So God bless the breweries and God save the queen
We’ll raise a glass to you all
Cos it’s the happy hour…
(chorus)
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7. |
Pigeons
03:04
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It was the bidding of the London Mayor
To stop feeding pigeons on Trafalgar Square
But if you want to feed some pigeons
You’ll find plenty her
On a Stepney roof overgrown with creeper
That in Winter looks like wiry hair
And an old lady from Russia
Who has lived there for thirty years
Well she scatters bread on the ground
And the circling pigeons flutter down
And oh they have no beauty and no song
Such hateful birds –
They shit on cars and wreck the pavements
They nest under blackened arches
And up on the ledges of untidy tenements
And oh they have no beauty and no song
I’ve lived in Birmingham and London
And everywhere I go
I see old immigrants with plastic bags full of crumbs
Wandering to and fro
And they scatter bread on the ground
And the circling pigeons flutter down
An oh they have no beauty and no song
Just shabby grey
With no colours but to their own
They flock the parks, crowd the ramparts
But some people take them to their hearts
Although they have no beauty and no song
Although they have no beauty and no song
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8. |
Wildlife In The City
03:06
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Goldfish and terrapins swim in the canal
And parakeets have been seen in the trees
Turned out by owners who didn’t want them anymore
That’s why they’re living free
It’s a hot summer night
And there have been many
And it’s a wild life in the city
The water is clear
And the weather is warm
And it’s a new life for you, Julie
Lonely hearts, divorcees, students and refugees
Parked on the parched grass outside The Palm tree
The places where they came
Couldn’t hold them any longer
They had to find another way to be
Goldfish and terrapins are fully-grown
Living a wild life in the city
All of the wild things have fled and flown
And it’s a new life for you, Julie
And Phil whizzes up
In his mobility machine
And blasts his stereo
To the crowded scene
And there’s nothing stopping him or you
From doing what you want to do
So just do
What you want to do
It’s a new life for you, Julie….
It’s a new life for you, Julie….
It’s a new life for you, Julie….
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9. |
Aches And Pains
02:43
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Well the man in the chemist spoke
Like he’d had a few
He’d been sent by the police
‘Cos there was nothing they could do
He’d been diagnosed
With some disease or other
But someone had stolen his prescription
For his aches and pains
Oh and it as was a Sunday
And he couldn’t face going to the doctor’s again
Anyway he knew his medicine
TEMAZEPAM was its name
For his aches
For his aches
For his aches and pains
Well the chemist
Couldn’t give the thing that he was after
And he couldn’t give out CODEINE either
Not without that little piece of paper
That was signed by a doctor…
So the customer began to get stroppy
And made as if to go -
But could he have some KAOLIN & MORPHINE
For his trouble down below
For his troubles
And his aches
For his aches
For his aches and pains
Oh what’s the world coming to?
What’s a poor man meant to do?
Someone stole his prescription
And on a Sunday too!
Oh I’m sorry said the pharmacist
He held up a mallet – but I do have this.
Oh go on then, the old boy said
Just a nice, neat, quick hard bang on the head
For my aches
For my aches
For my aches and pains
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10. |
Ballad Of A Rogue Trader
04:21
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His face was ghost-like in the glow
Of the computer screen
And his mobile and desk phones
Were ringing
They wanted a man with unbridled ambition…
Now London is calling
London is hauling you in
And the cleaner is waiting to wipe down your desk
And empty out your bin
How do you turn shit into gold?
(For the first is his current position)
In a hole, Dig it deeper
Throw in another few million
Oh London is calling
London is hauling you in
And floor by floor the janitor
Turns off the lights in the building
Oh Life is short, but the day is long.
People toil, till the soil, hammer steel
Clamber down the mines
But he had no knowledge of such things
The security guard lets the staff
Out of the door
But Mr Dean went by way of the stairs
To the 25th floor
Oh London is calling
London is hauling you in
But Mr Dean has left the building
Oh life is short, but the day is long
Life can be so short, but the day is long
A farmer plants a grain of rice
Into his paddy field
And he has no knowledge of
Such things
Such things
Such things
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11. |
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Come with me my friend
From the King of Burgers to the World’s End
Past the signs for Quicksilver
And The Fair Game Keeper
Fly fly away for Holidays To Remember
We’re taking a trip down Eliot’s streets
Of mutters, retreats and sickly sunsets
So glad to have you with me
In this bid to fight my misery
Come with me my friend
From the King of Burgers to the World’s End
Come with me my friend
From the King of Burgers to the World’s End
Through these desperate streets we walk…
(Break)
Come with me my friend
Through the swing doors to the World’s End
To the corner we take our chair
Beneath the neon’s livid glare
Where I will try not to sigh
Too long into my beer
We’re taking a trip down Eliot’s streets
Of mutters, retreats and sickly sunsets
So glad to have you with me
In this bid to fight my misery
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12. |
Under A Tree In The Sun
02:18
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Sweet child of the world
Talking to me
Under a tree in the sun
Your voice bouncing
Off a satellite to me from
Under a tree in the sun
Nothing but sky and air
Between you and here
Nothing matters to me
But this thought I have of you
Under a tree in the sun
Over these dust tracks
These ridges, ravines I roam
It’s like the surface of the moon
How I wish that I could be with you now
Under a tree in the sun
Oh these roads, these roads
That take me away
Will one day lead me home
Where I’ll sit beside you
Under a tree in the sun
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Miodes London, UK
London-based songwriter on the fringes of experimental folk, pop and electronica!
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