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1. |
Satiromastix
05:27
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Ixion spins and Athena scores
Now the bull from the sea has come back from the wars
She’s taking a turn around Jericho’s walls
Looking down on her besiegers
She said you’ve been banished he asked her what for
She said you’re a thief and he said you’re a whore
When she said ‘that’s subjective and it comes to us all’
He was inclined to misbelieve her
As the marks on the masonry fade out and fail
The dead men departing bid fondly farewell
And Acropolis crumbles she’s painting her nails
So on I’ll go, now I don’t want to leave her
City of God thy bonds will be free
Once Lysistrata throws you the key
But I’m changing my spots and I’m crossing the sea
And I groped for the door and it opened for me
Sunrise in the morning and I’m fresh out of words
She’s been lighting the pyre I’ve been writing her verse
I’ve been kissed by the muse but she hit on me first
So on I’ll go and I’ll try my best to please her
Stripped of his majesty bartered and sold
The King came North on the London road
We watched as his garrison plundered and stole
Resigned to the procedure
They took all we offered they took all we owned
They found what we’d hidden they kept what we’d loaned
And his blessing upon us though freely bestowed
Didn’t help to make things easier
So we suffered in silence biding our time
Through the tolls and the tariffs the levies and fines
Because what’s yours will be yours and what’s mine will be mine
But what is Caesar’s due we’ll gladly give to Caesar
City of God on a flood tide bore
With the tears and the smears and the fear of the Fall
And the cleansing fire of that terrible sword
And its curse were dispersed and defied and ignored
Sunrise in the morning I’ve nothing to lose
I’ve been writing inspired by her striking the fuse
There’s a deal on the table that I cannot refuse
So on I’ll go embattled and beleaguered
Flower of England as Queen of the May
Came back to the stage in a West End play
You picked her up out along Memory Lane
Put her in a cauldron boil and drain
But don’t fall asleep on the job don’t let it burn dry again
The Devil finds work for idle men
Oh no sir I have the matter in hand
And I know how hard to pull the lever
Now Ixion’s pinned and Athena’s abroad
The bull from the sea went and fell on his sword
The girl in the photograph’s vanity’s cured
And we’re proud of her demeanour
The marks on the masonry had nothing to tell
The clock on the church chimed the quarter bell
As the King on his donkey rode back down to Hell
For all I know …
City of God thy bonds will be free
We’ve come to live and to reign in thee
Still stands the church clock at ten to three
And the cat’s in the kitchen so he can’t catch me
Sunrise in the morning as high as it goes
I’ve been planting in rhyme I’ve been ploughing in prose
With my ring on her finger the spell on me grows
So on I’ll go although I’m an unbeliever
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2. |
Mosley or Slump
04:56
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Mosley or slump Mosley or slump
Chaos needs occupation stop the rot and man the pumps
Mosley or slump a face upon the screen
Brownshirts on the newsreels and in Time and Lifestyle magazines
Now marching off to war in a midnight mass parade
A pale impersonation of another man’s crusade
To torchlight bearer’s song and Mitford sisters’ sighs
But there is no strength in Unity just madness in her eyes
Mosley or slump the writing’s on the wall
Your revolution’s over now there’s nothing Left at all
Your effort was in vain your vision strange but true
But the people you believed in never once believed in you
But strode another path their benedictions gave
By dreams of wealth of leisure and celebrity betrayed
And their hands upon the cross by debt and mortgage nailed
Were taxed then with a lottery that paid for Sadlers Wells
Mosley or slump freedom of choice
It’s the popular vote for the popular voice
Mosley or slump and the people will see
Come swiftly make history come strictly come dancing with me
Mosley or slump as expectation fades
And English towns and villages become English everglades
Where pitbull passions thrive and aspirations rot
Where life is beer and football because life without is not
A charter then enshrined for electoral respite
In a pact of xenophobia to guarantee the Right
In a melting pot of greed of ignorance and vice
That heeds no politicians if they cannot dance on ice
Mosley or slump to bleed or to bruise
Which side of the bed are you going to choose?
Mosley or slump terror or pain
Did you sharpen the knife before you opened the vein?
Mosley or slump ride me to ruin
I don’t know what I want I don’t know what I’m doing
Mosley or slump see I know how it looks
But I was only warming my hands while they were burning the books
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3. |
Timelines
05:18
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Strike mission flown white-winged Pegasus turns for home
Target marked as Recon roans engage and intercept you
Lancing on air harridan fast in a mountain lair
Serpent-tongued with snakes for hair to armour and protect you
From love under will shock awe terror by smoke concealed
Broke convention turned your spears and petrified I left you
Black Hawk come in on the radio
CASEVAC ready to go
See men down and see men drown
And leave the dead for the crows
Centuries had passed Minos toppled to dust and ash
White-winged Pegasus out to grass finds time for introspection
Through slack-water days in our cool grey city not far away
With time to sleep and time to play sometimes for self-deception
Black Hawk come in on the radio
Battery light is low
With a song to spare but the dead won’t care
And an epitaph ready to go
Now time standing still with time in hand has time to kill
Casts no long shadows on distant fields where in centuries past I fought you
And I tried everywhere but the bridges we’d burned were beyond repair
So I kicked and I bit and I pulled your hair til I’d no one left to talk to
So in time back again by steamship clipper and diesel train
Old and no wiser I homeward came and like a sickness I have caught you
Timeline
All the time
Time lies
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4. |
Monty's Brothers
05:03
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The desert wind a dry Sirocco
Was blowing hard across the coastal plain from Egypt to Morocco
Fortunes turned we ran away
Backwards to the delta to retreat in disarray
We lost Tobruk we lost Gazala
Because we’d nothing that could penetrate their heavy frontal armour
Outperformed and undergunned
We could only keep on running til we’d nowhere left to run
They used the ground and the wide open spaces
They turned their anti-aircraft guns around and shot them in our faces
So we learned this bitter lesson
That valour is the biggest indiscretion
Then word came through a new commander
Had been sent to shake things up again by General Alexander
I knew the name and one hears rumours
And then I met a chap who’d served with him on Army Group manoeuvres
He said ‘He’s hard obsessed with winning
Doesn’t gamble drink or smoke and that he’s terrified of women’
And his ears stuck out like a pair of handles
As if to stop his hat from slipping with their perpendicular angles
And his knees were white as lilies
There was nothing to suggest he was a modern day Achilles
But when he spoke it lit a fire
And suddenly we’d found a new messiah
In good old Monty thanks for victory
For the footnote we played in history
For his platitudes and his propriety
And all the joy we found in his society
For our place at the hinge of destiny
For the goal and the opportunity
To lay our bones here for all eternity
Let this song then our valediction be
At Alamein he took a chance
We dug in along the ridge and there we halted their advance
Low on fuel and low on water
Their shipping interdicted by our bombers out of Malta
And the Fox became the quarry
As we piled it on in General Grants and General Motors lorries
Then came Torch and Patton landed
And suddenly the struggle was no longer even handed
And their rout became a scramble
As they were caught between the hammer and the anvil
In defeat he was unbeatable
But in victory the dish became uneatable
But he was our mage he was our Merlin
Although he ballsed up Market Garden and he never captured Berlin
We loved his style we loved his tricks
We loved the way he didn’t dwell too long on casualty lists
We loved the man we loved the hour
And his expression of impatience when he talked to Eisenhower
But he was no saint, he was no god
And it was ordinary soldiers in whose giant steps he trod
So when you dwell upon his name
Don’t forget the rest who died along the way
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5. |
Seven Summers
06:11
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Seven long hot summers passed
As seven rolling vistas
Seven prides for seven kings
And seven sleeping sisters
73 to Newington Green
Dalston Junction in between
Clapton Canonbury Camden Town
Homerton Hoxton and Hackney Downs
Given the dream I’ve been living in seems such a surreal world
I was hoping that I’d never have to get out and live in the real world
Back to back living day to day
In the love of the common people
Who we never quite trust as they hate our guts
Because the papers say we’re evil
Nosey neighbours keeping watch
Nervous twitch as you change the lock
Safe as houses safe in bed
All fall down with an eighth of Leb
Charity chips and living in skips exciting
Cigarette butts on the tube train floor inviting
So what’s your occupation? What’s your name?
What are your aspirations?
High Court Judge Crown Prince Prime Minister?
Where’s your indignation? Where’s your shame?
Status flag and nation?
Three white doves on a black bend sinister
Hither page come stand by me
And if thou know’st it telling
Yonder peasant who is he
On the overground from Welwyn
He’s the Prince of Peace my liege
Of iambic verse and minor keys
Bard of Hertford come to reign
Southbound platform Moorgate train
So the unfathomable soul of punk with his carrier bags and flares
Opens a night of three chord thrash to a room that’s not prepared
Travellers want to use my bath
And can they run a wire
To hook up the truck til winter’s past
Smoking round the fire
They’re telling me how I should live on the road
Get off my back and dump my load
City living’s not for me
As they shit in my toilet drink my tea
They’re telling me how they fought with the pigs at the Beanfield
Telling me I need to get out and go walk in the green fields
I’ve got 5-4-3-2-1
Eastbound train on a Broad Street run
Worked empty stock from Croxley Green
In Richmond, Twickenham, Kew and Sheen
They spectral dance before the dawn
Mushroom-picking on rich men’s lawns
B4 headcode Platform 5
Unlocked and loaded, third rail live
We’ll watch the workers coming home
As westwards wend their weary bones
As we race against the tidal flow
Through Willesden Junction Camden Road
Signal failures, points and delays
Sign on the wall says have an awayday
Bands in the park for anarchist May Day
Every second Thursday is going to be a pay day
So signing day comes round again
I’m bleary-eyed and yawning
Booth 3b at 9am
And I sleepwalk through the morning
Claims and papers signs and forms
UB40 roached and torn
Personal Issue and a bulletproof screen
Scented Giro pink and green
‘I am an angry passionate soul crying out in this tortured mediocrity’
Head up my arse looking back down the hole is my accommodation with your bureaucracy
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6. |
Grantchester
06:46
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Just now the skylarks have come home to roost
The twilight quiet and midge-diffused
Backfilled with shadows emblazes the sky
With sunset low and contrails high
With the fading close of play inbound
Airliners pierce sporadic clouds
Through pink into gold and empurpling blue
And the chemtrail theorists’ poisons strew
Still tethered the neighbours’ unfed dog
At night’s fall choirs its monologue
April’s failures still ungroomed
Retiring shy have yet to bloom
But heads unbowed incline to sleep
As the ink across the garden creeps
Bats unleashed with sightless cries
On cabbage moths and silver-Ys
In vectors dance on slippered wings
And there are countless country garden things
In the heavens. The North Star is duly logged
While the grass below is still waterlogged
If I could afford it I’d get on a train
And I’d ride up and down the depleted remains
Of the lines I remember through towns I once knew
Defeated dismembered divided in two
Memories threaten slow frames pass
Steam heat high in second class
Empty stations amber lights
From the Citadel Northbound overnight
We’d measure each passing mile and chain
Then southbound change ride back again
Public relations designed to confuse
Mix bright-eyed lies with half-veiled truths
Service and quality are watchwords today
Saying ‘we’re giving you less and you’ll have more to pay’
Merchant princes come and go
Leaving footprints cast in glass and stone
Market forces yet prevail
Divisive, sly, and unassailed
And clever. We smile as we hold the door
Nor bite the hand we’re working for
So here we sit a race apart
And we’ve no one to blame but our foolish hearts
We sold the ox and plucked the rose
And now we’ve nothing to show but the Emperor’s clothes
Faithful nation set in pawn
By toothless lions and unicorns
Land of grocers windows dressed
Where Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori is still in store
And God knows not worth fighting for
In England’s green and pleasant land
Cap the arch gold plate our chains
Watch the money go tumbling down the drain
In England’s green and pleasant land
So we’ll get what we’re given, we’ll take what they say
Then we’ll clean up the mess at the end of the day
The bindweed and ivy old bicycle frames
And all that baggage and trash that you won’t throw away
But in this garden I made for you
It’s still summer 1972
The cat’s asleep the harvest’s in
So we can sit here and watch the spiders spin
Forever. The first birds waking calls
Find none astir on England’s shores
Lord of the Flies has left the stage
Lined with pyramids raised on the minimum wage
In England’s green and pleasant land
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7. |
Janet's Tithe
05:45
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Tousled witless sleep-benumbed
Midnight whistles at my door
Nightjar bids me wake and come
Leads me up to Carterhaugh
I fetched my pony from the yard
Hitched my skirts above the knee
Set off northwards riding hard
To watch the Hallows witan meet
By unbroken paths we strayed
By matted bracken blackened bark
To the coven’s hidden glade
In the tractless forest dark
To keep my silence watch and hide
And see the Devil take his tithe
Seven years my love has gone
Seven years in silence passed
Were seven years a widow scorned
To see him standing there at last
And to the Devil make his bow
And to Titania on her throne
A lover’s kiss upon the brow
I saw his armour white as bone
I saw her hand upon his thigh
I heard the whisper in the trees
I saw the triumph in her eyes
And all the fairies on their knees
I knew she’d played him for a fool
And to the Devil paid her due
Stepped from my hiding place revealed
Notched an arrow found its mark
Beneath the rising breasts concealed
Where one presumed she had a heart
Fairies twittered at my feet
But steady-eyed she raised a hand
And in acceptance not defeat
Girl she said I understand
But I would remind that you are a changeling
Into this transient world of pain
But you seek another country
With Titania there to reign
Disenchanted charming wild
You are my once begotten child
Deathly silence filled the air
Expectant seconds gathered pace
My actions caught her unawares
Transfixed the smile upon her face
I’d learned of love I’d learned to care
Of faith of charity and hope
But as the white knight stood and stared
I put an arrow through his throat
And though the Devil tried to curse me
I shot him bleeding as he fell
Cut him down and showed no mercy
I sent him spinning back to Hell
I felt the power within me soar
And the fairies’ shock and awe
Now her enchantment has been broken
With all her edicts and decrees
And her spells as if they never had been spoken
And all the fairies will be free
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8. |
Harrowing of Hell
04:44
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In this land of kings
Of saints and heroes we speak and sing
If we make up our minds we can do anything
We lay our hand we play our spin
Kicking open any door that won’t let us in
By dice commanded we creep and sting
But God who in his wisdom gave the sparrow wings
Made oceans rise and the compass swing
To show
What we need what we fear how to steer through the ice floes
It was a long time ago
Late September and summer showing
Rust on the branches and the stubble mown
By Greenland geese skeins overflown
When into this scheme of things
By lancers banners and riders ringed
Comes St George playing the Dragon off against everything
Neighbours friends and next of kin
Is that his badge that I see you wearing on your sleeve?
Will you hand him manna? Remain or leave?
Do you believe what you see or only see what you believe?
And will you bend the knee?
No that’s no barrier no
There isn’t any time any place anywhere that we won’t go
Make us bright as silver
Make us good as gold
And when the martyrs and the madmen
Make our blood run cold
Make us warm as summer roses
Soft as summer rain
And so let us remain
So let the Dragon take St George
Let her plunge the life from him, break his sword
Crack open his armour and eat him bloody raw
Expend his armies, blunt his force
And when she’s battered down the Queen of the day
And her grand stone palaces blown away
Harrowing over the rubble let her fury play
Nor stone unturned nor trace remain
Then let her take to her wings and rise
To where God is hiding behind the sky
Naked and foolish in his human guise
To cleanse and burn and cauterise
And so
We can see what we need now we know what we don’t know
Look out below
Listen out for the morning watch for the warning crow
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9. |
Canard's Grace
04:43
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Sweet green the valley in the deepest slumber lies
All around the eaves the swallows and the martins stoop and fly
And all along the riverbank the old dog otters lie
And watch the muddy waters slowly trickle by
My father called me over to his library by and by
Disdainful was his summons and in bleak distemper I
Put on my winning smile and donned a callow guise
To dazzle him to charm and to paralyse
My father as blood stock was bartering me
Like flies around me thick they crawled so willing and so keen
And soon a suitor had accepted had a price for me agreed
And all his blessings gave the blushing bride to be
Great vapours then affecting oh I weeping swore
While trying hard not to stamp upon the library floor
I said I'll marry him for love and for nothing more
Nor your money take nor honour pawn
This looks just like my daughter then my father cried
This mad gorgon all dressed up here as a Lammas bride
But deep birchwoods of cunning all within you lie
Deep malice and ill manners hide
Then my mantle I ripped and my bodice tore
Rare vases I smashed as I slammed the door
Great man-eating leopards deep within me roared
And with hammers smashing smote the manor walls
So how much will you pay me and when
To bite back my laughter and promise me forever and amen
To honour me obey me and together all our wedding night to spend
To have and hold and then give back again
But I'll manage I'll marry my word I gave
And I'll hound the poor fool deep into an early grave
With grief his bedfellow and courtesan made
Unwilling there together laid
So how much will you pay me and when
To drag my white body bag down to the altar wrapped in chains
Where you’ll slip the ring over my finger and I’ll promise once again
To have and hold and to throw away
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10. |
Katherine
05:43
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It’s been a year or so I would say
The second week in May
Lambs were out in the green fields
The children down in the courtyard played
There were guests in the hall to stay
For a neighbourhood wedding on the following day
I went for a walk to the clean moors
And slowly strolling bent my way
Seeing through the eyes of God
I sunlit lands uplifted trod
Friend to the fox and the hare
And all of broad creation there
Everything happening at last
Faith restored and winter past
But I sang from a heart of brass
Like a man who’s come in from the cold too fast
Then a jackdaw spoke up from a tree
‘I’m sick of the sound of your voice’ said he
Your love is in trust neither fool nor free
And a love to be fought not won must be
Her kiss is the price of your ruin
Her tongue and her touch your bleak undoing
So he leaped from the branch with an angry cry
To dwindle south in the hot blue sky
Katherine I pray
Now that you’ve found me how long will you stay
Nightfall offered no clue
As the bats embattled in the twilight flew
We sat and we talked or serene in thought
Watched as deepening shadows drew
Shards on the silver lawn
And a pale moon rose as the night wore on
But the Devil knows what between arose
And advanced before the dawn came on
Morning rose confused
With life at a slant and the light askew
The dogs were scared but the cats just stared
And the cockerel would not do
The rookery silent froze
As I puzzling paused to greet the crows
The frogs sat fast in the millpond
For reasons undisclosed
So hey how does this find you?
What did you do?
What did they make you say?
What could they prove?
How did they make you stay?
What did they say they would take away from you?
That it would make you pay
Make you rue the day
You tried to break away
So now a year’s gone down the drain
The grass is slick and wet with the rain
But the crops can rot in the fields
As the wheels get stuck in the ruts in the lane
And Katherine’s arms displayed
In a crude tattoo on my red flesh flayed
Says ‘thanks for all the dreams boy
And thanks for the mess you made’
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11. |
Broadlands
04:38
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Feel the lapse of hours pass time has betrayed me
Flower-lulled in sleepy grass cocooned like a baby
Memories come back to me and frequently amaze me
Of all the things I could have done had I not been so lazy
Born and raised in the mystic vale and Norfolk’s wet polders
Where the broccoli stems and the curly Kale by the wild wind’s blown over
We have no friends and we have no fun as we just get angrier and older
Doubled down beneath the weight of the chips on our shoulder
We styled ourselves as gentlemen we were spotless and stainless
But in the gambling halls and drinking dens our conduct was shameless
We had apes for friends and ginger gentlemen who shall remain nameless
And oh The Sun will shy us down when we become famous
We travelled far we travelled wide and sampled every flavour
From Poland cold to the rolling plains of Saxony and Westphalia
Where side by side to the coalface hired we rented out our labour
And we've had seasons in the sun that we've not been paid for
We won't rise for the morning cock
We won't rise when it's cold
We won't rise when the fire guard warns fire down below
We won't rise before the sun is up
We won't rise before noon
We won't rise when the warning cries
Of the siren sounds too soon
But where have all our summers blown now the days have grown shorter
Ambitions to the winds have flown but their wings have all faltered
And fortune free gave back to me the plain gold ring I bought her
With all the bread and fishes gone and the wine turned to water
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12. |
Mercury Rising
05:04
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A cold moon disguised as Mercury rising in Venus
Divided we stand just a line upon the sand drawn between us
As the end of the story foretold
Soft she on moth-wings serene interceding
With Lichtenstein beam paints a face upon the screen now receding
And there at the end of the road
All her mete words and kindness unfold
Pawns threaten kings centre game begins the proceedings
Knights countermand, Bishop wrings his hands disbelieving
And with Rook Queen and Castles in tow
It’s into the Endgame we go
Will we still be friends when you’ve turned me to stone
Will we last forever all time or will bitterness show
In the cracks in the facings the track marks and holes
Rats in the basement and the paths we once rode
Spiralling round into the valley down below
Marching skyward banners raised
By hands invisible the gentle and the brave
Beside their silent sisters prayed
Cut to action as the song began to fade
I rang the bell and ran away
Now I’ll live to fight another day
And I’m armed, damned, time out of hand hasn’t cured me
As the recollections fade let that Watergate parade pass before me
And lead me backward in anger and so
I wonder will I ever know
And when you’ve turned me to stone
When I’m crumbled into dust and overthrown
Will your cover then be blown
Or will you still be the power behind the throne
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Blyth Power UK
Since 1984 Blyth Power have been playing and recording original music, which although regarded by many as fitting into the folk rock catergory goes so much further. Based around the lyrics of songwriter Joseph Porter, the band's sound is unique, and there is an atmosphere to Blyth Power that adds a depth to the music, and makes them more than just another pop group. ... more
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