1. |
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Let's go to long ago
Talkin' 'bout your Year Zero
That's when this little dance begins.
Back in your mama's womb
Floating 'bout in the gloom
Not so much a person as a thing.
Then you feel something
A kind of beat
As the beat begins a-thumpin'
You just have to kick your feet.
Your mum gives a shout
As you groove and move about
And your little heart begins to sing...
Now with a whoop and a holler and a hallelujah
Let's dance to the music of time
Feel your body bumpin '
And your hearts go....
It may seem peculiar
With its crazy rhythm and rhyme
But soon you'll be dancing down the years.
And while you're sashaying
And your body's swaying
You'll be loving that swing
But when the band stops playing
There's no delaying
'Cos that means just one thing.
It starts with a whaaah
And ends with an uuurgh
As you do the shuffle and sag.
We're in this thing together
It's the anno domino rag.
So from the day when you arrive
You've got your own private jive
It's like a daily boogaloo.
Lead the dance or lag behind
Grab someone and bump and grind
Together you can do the coochy-coo.
As long you are using
Your little toes and feet
If you're winning or you're losing
Just tap-tap-tap to keep the beat.
Turn your virtues or your faults
Into a twist or a ballroom waltz
The dance you do is up to you.
On your toes, on your knees,
Crawlin', glidin', prancin',
Fast or slow, as you please,
As long as you keep dancing.
Oh-oh, gotta go, time goes by so quick.
Can't stop that old clock,
It goes tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-...
Bad news, there's comes a day
When you're kind of old and grey
You're getting down to your last chance.
But you're still here, staying alive
'Til a bony chap with a cloak and scythe
And says, 'Excuse me, may I have the next dance?'
'Til-then -
With a whoop and a holler and a hallelujah... etc
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2. |
The Sha-La-La-La Song
04:22
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When I was young a long, long time ago.
I went to school far from home.
And every night with my little radio
I knew that I would never be alone.
Under my pillow, when it was dark and it was late,
Voices from across the sea.
Radio Lux, Fab 208,
With Ricky, Don and Phil, and Bobby Vee.
Sha-la-la-la-la,
Shoo-be-do-be-do,
Shing-a-ling-a-ling,
They were playing my song.
Wish upon a star,
Baby, I love you,
Crying in the rain,
They kept me strong.
Candy kisses, a homecoming queen,
It was all such a mystery.
But I knew if I could slip away into that sunny teenage dream,
What a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful world it would be.
And now when life gets cynical and I'm feeling kind of low
I'll sing one of those magical old songs that go -
Woah-woah-woah-woah -
Sha-la-la-la-la... etc
So here we are, the years have flown
I'm still standing here somehow.
And all those old songs have had little songs of their own
Like this sha-la-la-la song I'm singing now.
Sha-la-la-la-la... etc
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3. |
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Picture the scene, a village green
As the summer clouds all billow
A spreading oak, some crusty old folk,
The crack of a ball on willow
That Olde England was all very well
'Til I found your distant shore.
And from that day, your foreign ways
Have made me love you more.
So when people claim
I'm not quite the same
Since I became European, [***]
That I've started to stray
From the true English way
I find myself agreein'.
This green and pleasant is all very well
But sometimes it seems so grey
And now we're to part, it's breaking my heart
Here's what I have to say...
Adios, auf Wiedersehen,
Europa, mein amour.
Maybe you'll miss me
But I know I'll miss you more.
How I wish we could remain
Together down the years
But that's all passed
So let's raise a glass
And say skål, saluti, cheers.
I start the day
With an orange pressé
And a double cappucino
Then soon after one
I smoke a gitane
With a glass or two of vino.
Then I'll take a rest, a long siesta
And spend afternoon in bed
Then I walk down the street and kiss the strangers I meet,
Hand in hand with my best friend Fred.
I listen to Georges Brassens
Or maybe Kurt Weill
Or sometimes a light aria.
Then some fado
And 'Via Con Me'
Or 'Ne me quitte pas'.
John, Paul and George are all very well
We love them yeah yeah yeah
But I prefer dansant
To an old-fashioned chanson
By a chansonnier
Adios, auf Wiedersehen... etc.
Dein ewiges Jammern es dauert mich
Dein heulendes Wind Gesicht
Aber jetz wo du gehst, gestehe ich
Mir fehlt bereits heute dein nebliges Licht.
Frenetico, agitato, non cambian, l'inglese.
Un giorno questo, l'altro quello -
Oh Dio, they're driving me crazee....
Oh, I'll miss your brio and your Sturm und Drang,
Your bella dolce vita.
Your che sera, your je ne sais quoi,
They made manana sweeter.
This stiff upper lip is all very well
But it makes it so hard to smile.
So now that we're through, it's a sad toodle-oo
From this lonely sceptr'd isle.
Adios, auf Wiedersehen... etc
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4. |
Memories Are Company
03:16
|
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When you're feeling lonely and the world is getting cold
Memories give shelter from the storm,
And all those disappointment that down the years you hold
Each and every one will keep you warm.
Like when your mummy left you at school and didn't wave bye-bye
How your daddy never kissed goodnight,
That game when you were just a kid
Of hide-and-seek, you went and hid
They said they'd find you but they never did
They left you up a tree -
Memories are company.
The teacher who was rude about a poem that you penned
Just because he said he didn't rhyme.
The girl you took to the school dance who left with your best friend
How it really hurt you at the time.
Later on they married, and on their wedding day
They invited everyone but you.
Take these grudges every night,
Shine them up so nice and bright,
Hold on to them very tight,
And you will soon agree
Memories are company.
Something once said by your ex,
She laughed at you during sex
You still from the effects
In ways no one can see
Memories are company (So don't move on)
Memories are compa - (Never let them go)
Memories are company.
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5. |
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The old boy in the next seat was going to blow a fuse
He was shaking, he was scarlet in the face.
And the air all around us turned a deeper shade of blue
As he yelled out, 'You're an effin' disgrace!'
And my boy was beside me, wide-eyed at all this rage
It was his first game in this ground.
And the away end was going crazy, they were like monkeys in a cage,
They were singing, 'Going down, going down.'
But way down below us, Macca played a hopeful ball
And Budgie's pass brought Banno into play.
And we were all on our feet again as that stadium rocked
'Cos happiness is just a goal away. ***
So thank you to my team
Thank you for the good times,
The memories that somehow always last
When the players and the games have long since gone.
'Cos when you've got a team
There'll always be a next time
And the future will be brighter than the past
And though we stumble and we fall ***
The game carries on.
Now the years are tumbling by, and nothing's quite the same
Now and then I'll catch them on the screen.
My boy and I talk on the phone about the latest game
We'll remember the things that we have seen.
There was Trevor's overheader, Wegerle's mazy run
Those days when we were proud to be a fan.
And Bailey's New Year hat-trick and that crazy Moroccan
Who took us all the way to the promised land.
When every game was a story, every game was a song,
Every game was a dream of what might be.
We knew that on the road to glory something always will go wrong
But they're out there to play for you and me.
The boys are all singing, it echoes around.
The world is so far away from inside this ground.
They say Banno's now a handyman and Macca's dead and gone
Reality's a game of flesh and blood.
But in a million memories, they'll keep playing on, ***
Our heroes of the plastic and the mud.
'Cos you can change opinions, change your horses in midstream,
You can change your husband or your wife.
You can even change your politics but once you've got a team
That's it - they'll be playing for your life.
So thank you to my team.... etc.
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6. |
Forty Degrees
03:26
|
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Forty degrees, forty degrees,
That fat old sun's got the world on its knees
But I'm still going strong
Gonna keep on playing all day long.
An old guitar, a cheap cigar -
With these two things a guy can go far
If he's just left in peace
In these forty degrees.
You may say I'm wasting my time,
You may claim I under-perform.
But taking things slow - that's no crime
It's the calm before the storm.
This world is rough, but I'll hang tough,
Gonna work it all out if I'm here long enough
Under this deep blue sky.
I'll find the reason why.
That big old lion taking a doze
After his jungle feast.
His eyes may be closed but you'd be wise to know
He's still the king of the beasts.
Forty degrees, forty degrees,
You can run, you can hide, you can do what you please
But I'll get this little song done
Under that fat old sun.
I'll get this little song done
Under that fat old sun.
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7. |
Fake News
05:40
|
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Well, I was online, feeling fine when these words are what I found.
They read 'Lovely Asian women are in your local town.
Koreans, Thais and Filipinas with pleasing ways and shy demeanours,
And every oriental queen has a thing for the older guy.'
So I went on down to my local town, my heart was in a whirl.
I looked in Browns the butchers for an oriental girl.
But there was no Korean at the old Co-op, no Malaysian Miss at the Oxfam Shop
No Bangkok babe at the town bus stop
Then someone told me why.
(It was) Fake news, fake news
I felt my poor heart break news.
'Cos how can you ever know what's really true?
When wrong is right and black is white,
It just depends on how you feel.
'Cos everything is fake news
That's the only thing that's real.
So I went back online, feeling not so fine in my lonely situation.
But then I thought my luck had changed with a surprise communication.
It was from this Nigerian prince with a billion dollars to dispense
Into my account - he said five per cent's
On the side for me.
So I emailed a few details and the prince replied with thanks.
I dreamt that night of all that cash rolling into my bank.
The next day I skipped out of bed with dollar signs in my head
But all the figures in black had turned to red
Now how could that be?
{Oh no, it was) Fake news, fake news, he took all he could take news.
How can you ever tell what's really true?
When wrong is right and black is white- it just depends on how you feel.
'Cos everything is fake news, it's the only thing that's real.
Once we put our trust in the real thing
Seeing is believing, we'd agree.
Now everybody wants the ideal thing -
First we believe - then we decide what we shall see.
Now I'm back online, feeling fine - I'm a happy man.
I'm not broke or all alone 'cos I can choose just who I am.
Sometimes I'm a teen, all wild and free, or a party girl out on a spree,
Or a nun or a celebrity,
No day is quite the same.
The party girl on the social whirl might hook up with the celeb
But they've been seen by the weirdo teen who's lurking on the web.
The three of them have all kinds of fun, you won't believe the stuff they've done
And that's before you've met the nun
In this wonderland of shame.
(Where it's all ) Fake news, fake news, I can have and eat my cake news.
'Cos, if I want, everything is true.
Now wrong is right and black is white, it just depends on how I feel
'Cos everything is fake news, it's the only thing that's real.
Fake news, fake news, they're the stories that we make news
And is we want every single one of them is true.
Now wrong is right and black is white, it just depends on how w feel
'Cos everything is fake news, it's the only thing that's real.
Yes, everything is fake news - it's the only thing that's real.
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8. |
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Maybe it's this glass of wine or the time of day
But the ghosts are out tonight.
I see a boy, a ukulele, he's smiling as he plays
In the fading light.
And as he's looks on down the road
Waiting, out of frame,
In the shadows, through the trees are
The players and the game.
He plays an old-time three-chord tune
'My Darling Ellie Rhee'
About the fields of yellow corn
Down in Tennessee.
And somewhere way on down that road
Is the man that he became.
If he knew then what he knows now
About the players and the game.
And sure enough, his time will come and he'll play his part
In the thick of it at last.
He'll cut the deals and get along, he'll break heads and hearts
For the game is hard and fast. ***
And when you play, you play to win
In that there is no shame
Except for those in the way
Of the players and the game.
So welcome to this ship of fools - keep just one thing in mind,
It's the oldest of the oldest rules - my babies, please be kind.
He'll think that it will never end, the way that game is played, ***
It never stopped or slowed
But one day he'll find himself, all alone again
As they dance on down the road.
And so it turns and turns and turns,
So different, so the same.
If I knew then what I know now
About the players and the game.
So carry me back to Tennessee, that's where I long to be
Amid the fields of yellow corn with my darling Ellie Rhee.
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9. |
Me Too
05:22
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I saw a politician on the screen the other night.
Sweating like a pig, he was under those studio lights
A frozen grin upon his face and panic in his eyes.
I saw that politician drowning in his lies.
But then I got to thinking about this life of my own
And what the Good Book tells us about casting the first stone.
Yes, even as I watched him in my haughty disdain
I heard two little words deep inside my brain.
(They went) Me too - me too, I've told some lies
Me too, I've made some dodgy compromises
If we're talking about integrity
It's guilty, it's guilty, guilty, guilty me.
I saw a film producer on the daily news.
A nasty piece of work he was with his bullying abuse.
A moral Neanderthal, a groper and a perv.
I think we can all agree he got what he deserved.
But then I got to thinking about other gender crimes
And the bad things being done by some villains of our time
With their inappropriate suggestions and their clumsy, clumsy moves.
And I heard two famous little words even as I disapproved.
(They went) Me too - there are some things I would forget
Me too, some breaches of basic etiquette
Maybe I once put my hand on someone's knee
(Or maybe not) But it's guilty, it's guilty, guilty, guilty me.
Well, there are saints and there are sinners, there is wrong and there is right.
That's the way we think these days - it's clear as day and night.
With the good guys on the one side, apportioning the blame,
And bad guys on the other, all languishing in shame.
But then I got to thinking about the human way
And how each of us is different in our many shades of grey.
So all you angels out there can flap your holy wings
While the rest of us sinners will dance around and sing.
(We'll go) Me too - I think we should all confess
There's been times when we should say 'no' but we still said 'yes'.
Let's all admit in our deep honesty.
It's guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty me.
I think I may be heading for a place in purgatory,
Where they keep all the people who are not as they should be.
The boozers and the lairs, on the lam or on the pull,
Those who strayed in the name of 'living to the full'.
And at the end of every day, we'll admit what we've done wrong
And gather 'round this great big fire and sing the Me Too Song.
And the guys will go - Me too!
And the women will join in and go - Me too!
And even the little kiddies will join in, they'll go -
Me too, me too, oh mama, mama!
Then we'll all sing the Me Too Song.
And it goes like this -
Me, me too, the whole world over. Me too, me too, it's the same old song.
Me, me too, the whole world over. Me too, me too, it's the same old song.
Me, me too, the whole world over -
And that, ladies and gentlemen is the Me Too Song.
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10. |
I Fool Myself
04:00
|
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I never get aces or the roll of the dice.
When it comes to rat races, I'm down with the mice.
I'm just getting by, a regular guy.
If we met on the street, you'd look right through me.
From my head to my feet, there's not that much to me.
So how do I make the grade?
There's a trick of the trade.
I fool myself I'm doing fine.
I'm top of the heap, I'm in my prime
When I walk in the room, I'm so hip and cool.
You won't want to cross me - I'm nobody's fool.
I make believe I'm someone else.
Someone who looks a bit like me
The rope that I walk is on the last thread
The rocks are below, so I stare straight ahead
'Cos if I look down, I know I'll be dead
Just a poor little fool.
There I was at a party when she happened to pass.
I thought she'd ignore me - she was out of my class.
But then she turned to see lucky me.
Now I'll never know just what it took
But I remember that smile, that laugh, that look
Then we were on our way
She's still here today
Because - I fooled myself, and I fooled her too.
She fell for it good, it's strange but true.
I see in her eyes a superior feller
We've been together so long, it's too late to tell her.
Look at me, I'm someone else - I'm the guy who got the girl.
With the rugged good looks of a Hollywood star,
He and his babe - they're going far
Cos they're happy to be just what they are
Two little fools.
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11. |
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From a town that folks called Forever, there's a story as ancient as sin,
A tale of an innocent maiden, and a man, and an old mandolin.
She was a rich man's daughter as fresh as the morning in May
And he was a silver-haired outlaw, riding by in the heat of the day.
He looked down at her from his saddle and tipped the rim of his hat.
Her heart kicked like a bronco, he smiled and she smiled back.
He gave his horse some water as they sat in the shade of a tree
And he sang to the girl on his old mandolin in a voice that was weary and free. ****
Time is a hard-ridden pony
And the buzzards are circling above
But no one alive will catch us
For the trail that we're taking is love.
She could see the best in the outlaw where others just saw the worst.
She could see the child in his sad blue eyes and he saw the woman in hers.
That night while coyotes were howling, by the light of a prairie moon.
She lay in the arms of the outlaw in a room 'bove the old saloon.
Oh, what a night to remember from a story she'd never been told.
The gift from the silver-haired outlaw was rarer by far than gold.
As he lay there, she traced with her fingers the scars on his leathery skin.
When she slept, she dreamed of freedom and the song of a sweet mandolin.
Time is a hard-ridden pony...etc
When the sun rose in the morning, catching the girl's golden hair,
She opened her eyes, she was alone - just an old mandolin on a chair.
The rich man was wild in his fury, he rode with the rage of the just, ***
But the silver-haired outlaw had vanished in the heat and the sand and the dust.
At the end of a lane in Forever, they say a candle still burns.
It lights the path to a cottage for when the outlaw returns.
In a rocking-chair, you see her - you can hear a soft mandolin.
And floating across the warm night air, is the song that she likes to sing.
Time is a hard-ridden pony... etc
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12. |
Saved By a Song
05:20
|
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I met an older woman, divorced and 29.
I was a young fool, I didn't understand
What she had in mind.
And though it was the city and the summer of love, we were both alone,
Two strangers in Chinatown, far away from home.
We walked to Buena Vista , me and this lonely ex-wife.
The smell of grass was in the air as we talked of love and life.
And beyond the trees the music played - there was a party in the park
And somewhere something was changing in the gathering dark.
We were saved by a song, turned by a tune.
Who's to say that we were dreaming that long-lost afternoon?
And sometimes I think of what might have been, what life had in store.
The stony path of duty, the suit behind the door.
Then somewhere in the shadows of my memory, I'll find that gentle day
When music drifted through the air across a misty bay.
And I was saved by a song, turned by a tune.
Who's to say that I was dreaming that long-lost afternoon?
And all the roads we'll travel by, they shine beneath the stars.
And all across that western sky, the sound of a blue guitar.
Some talk of revolution, of the tide of history.
Some cling to the sweet illusion of peace and harmony.
And maybe in wiser times than these, they'll begin to see the light,
The campfire glow beyond the trees, burning through the night.
And they'll all be saved by a song, turned by a tune.
Who's to say that they were dreaming on that long-lost afternoon?
Who's to say that they were dreaming...?
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Terence Blacker England, UK
'Classic folk blues in the making.'
FATEA MAGAZINE
'We need cheering up right now and
this singer-songwriter, sometimes tender, sometimes sardonic, is just the ticket.' SUNDAY TIMES
Huge fun... it put a big smile on my face.'
TOM ROBINSON, BBC6 Music
'One enormously satisfying album.... humorous, beautiful, deadly, a real treat for the senses.'
LIVERPOOL SOUND AND VISION
... more
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