Terrorism
Terrorism
You're writing your diary in innocents' blood
You're vain and you're ugly, you're no Robin Hood
You don't steal from the rich to help the poor
You just take life from both and what is more
You break your bread and drink
But post-confession you'll still stink of
Terrorism
Terrorism
But you're Sikh, Jew, Muslim and Christian, you say
Now which religion will you wear today?
And in whose Bible do you find your cause
That says bomb children in department stores?
I hope your god is pleased
To see all creation on their knees for
Terrorism
Terrorism
Angel of death with black woolen mask
Freedom they bring you is a long wooden cask
They never doubt that right is on their side
When right is rifle-shaped where can you hide?
Don't want daughter sweet
To be target practice in the high street
Terrorism
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Terrorismo
Terrorismo
Stai scrivendo il tuo diario nel sangue degli innocenti
Sei vano e brutto, non sei Robin Hood
Non rubi al ricco per aiutare il povero
Rubi soltanto la vita a entrambi e quel che e' peggio
Spezzi il pane e bevi
Ma dopo la confessione ancora puzzi di
Terrorismo
Terrorismo
Ma sei sikh, ebreo, musulmano e cristiano, tu dici
Ora, che religione indosserai oggi?
E nella Bibbia di chi troverai la tua causa
Che parla di bimbi-bomba nei grandi magazzini?
Spero che il tuo Dio sia compiaciuto
Nel vedere tutto il creato in ginocchio per il
Terrorismo
Terrorismo
Angelo di morte con maschera di lana nera
La libertà che porti è un lunga bara di legno
Non dubiti mai che la ragione sia dalla tua parte
Quando la ragione assume la forma di un fucile dove ci si puo'
nascondere?
Non volere una dolce figlia
Che possa essere obiettivo nella strada
Terrorismo
(traduzione di Paolo Di Modica)
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Extrovert
Yes, it's true
I want that apple, just like William Tell
No more floor gazing, no more head down the well
I'm feeling extrovert
I should be shaking the stars instead of hugging the dirt
I swear!
I'm really burning, fit to boil up the sea
Human volcano at a zillion degrees
I'm feeling extrovert
Instead of quiet and shy I'm really dying to flirt
I feel like someone else
Yes I do, yes I do, yes I do
I feel like someone else
I feel new, not so blue
I feel
Extrovert
No hidden message, nothing political
You needn't listen, I just wanted to show
I'm feeling extrovert
I am the lion who's roaring not the mouse that gets hurt
I feel like someone else
Yes I do, yes I do, yes I do
I feel like someone else
I feel new, not so blue
I feel
My trumpet plays for you
I'm gonna blow it now
(Originally for Skylarking: It's the only vocal
I ever did while drunk. But this gives me the opportunity to
finally thank Todd Rundgren for producing that album and ask him
to forgive me for making it appear that I did not like him)
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Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen
There's too many cooks in the kitchen
There's too many minds on the job
There's too many cooks in the kitchen
Everybody wants a piece of the action
Cooking the books and getting their fractions wrong
What we need is law and order
Everybody knows
Can't have chiefs without the injuns
Stepping on their toes
There's too many cooks in the kitchen
There's too many daps in the pie
There's too many cooks in the kitchen
Everybody needs a place in the rat race
Playing games of power, it's only a cat chase
Too many too many too many etc.
Too many cooks in the kitchen
(The Colonel is Colin. He did this in about
1979. He took a pseudonym so as not to make it seem that the band
was into the Archies. It's a mix between a joke and an actual poke
at getting on the charts. That's his dentist, Bent Larsen, playing
guitar)
[by The Colonel]
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Looking for Footprints
I want a back seat
Because I'm dead beat
I'm respirating
Two soles of the alien
Gives us sleepyheads, sleepyheads
The road ahead it takes us to our bed
Sleepyheads, sleepyheads,
Our minds they race but our bodies are dead
Just like looking for footprints
Looking for footprints
The lights are twisted
Each one is misted
Two, four, and counting
Head nod in twenty
(Originally recorded for Go 2. Done in 1978 it's
the earliest song on Rag & Bone Buffet)
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Heaven is Paved With Broken
Glass
Heaven is paved with broken glass
Since your hammer struck my heart
This world, a hell of trees and grass
All is wrong like north gone south
There's a bad taste in my mouth
Everything was stars
'Til you had a notion to leave
Beauty marks turn scars
Bet you had a laugh up your sleeve
Congratulations love love love love
You made a fool of me and physics
Heaven is paved with broken glass
Since your hammer struck my heart
This world, a hell of trees and grass
All is wrong like north gone south
There's a bad taste in my mouth
Everything was gold
'Til you thought you were above me
Soldier turns to rogue
Pretty turns to pretty ugly
Congratulations love love love love
You made a fool of me and physics
And I'm feeling cheated
And I'm feeling used
And what's even worse is
You just look amused
Heaven is paved with broken glass
Since your hammer struck my heart
This world, a hell of trees and grass
Since your hammer struck my heart
Heaven is paved with broken glass
(I put out a dub album in the U.K. called Take
Away: The Lure Of Salvage under my name not XTCs but it was
comprised of XTC dub tracks. This one I stripped from Roads Gridle
The Globe on Drums And Wires)
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The World is Full of Angry
Young Men
Gone are the days
When hate filled my heart
I feel now I am a happy man
I laugh now at values that I had
All through my youth
I was shouting and no one would hear
Blind to the ways
Of the people who now I hold dear
It's loud and clear
The world is full of angry young men
Chip on the shoulder,
An ideal in their head
The world is full of angry young men
Who think life owes them something
But you only get out what goes in
There was a time
When I fought the world
I see now
It was just an act to stage
I see clear
The colours through the haze
As time goes on
Your opinion will change like the weather
Things that you said
Now seem small
They just don't seem to matter
I look for the better
The world is full of angry young men
Chip on the shoulder,
And an ideal in their head
The world is full of angry young men
Who think life owes them something
But you only get out what goes in
There was a time I was lost in the dark
I ran a race I didn't know where to start
Now I've changed my ways
Seeing better days
I'm turning my world upside down
The world is full of angry young men
Chip on the shoulder
And an ideal in their head
The world is full of angry young men
Who think life owes them something
But you only get out what goes in
Angry young men
What you put in is what you get out
(We started working on this during Mummer but
ran out of time so it became a b-side)
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Punch and Judy
(Gather 'round!)
Punch and Judy did it truly and were married in a haste
In love, maybe, using the baby as a kind of romance paste
She's grown fatter, her hair cut shorter, looks much older than
nineteen
He's a drinker not a thinker, baby spoiled his could have been
This must be make-believe
This must be make-believe
This must be make-believe
'Cos who do we know, dear, who acts like that?
No-oh no-one!
Punch and Judy
Punch and Judy in a semi on a brand new council plot
Sunday lunchtime, beer-for-Punch time, while his dinner's far from
hot
She grows tired, cab is hired, she goes round to see her friend
He comes back late, fool is irate, we will see his temperament
Punch and Judy in a quandary, she's walked out and he is mad
Now he's grown up, can't smash home up, retribution must be had
Punch and Judy had a baby who brought them to married bliss
Mr Punch has drunken hunch that he must punish kid for this
Punch and Judy
(From the English Settlement sessions)
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Thanks for Christmas
Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the love and happiness that's snowing down, all
around
Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the winter friendliness that's snowing down, all
around the world
It's nearer, children's eyes shine clearer now
As they decorate the trees, all across the seven seas
It's nearer, yule log fires burn clearer now
In the winter's frosty air, sing with us and we can share our
Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the love and happiness that's snowing down, all
around
Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the winter friendliness that's snowing down, all
around the world
It's dawning, Santa's reindeer yawning now
All their festive work is done, filling houses up with fun
It's dawning, here is Christmas morning now
Greatest day of all the year, listen out and you will hear our
Thanks for Christmas
It's such a shame it's only one day every year
Three hundred and sixty-four days full of doubts and fear
You've been saving your love up, let it out, 'cos Christmas is
here
Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the love and happiness that's snowing down, all
around
Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the winter friendliness that's snowing down, all
around the world
Thanks for Christmas
(I have a soft spot for Christmas songs. For
this I wanted the female staff at the Virgin Records office to
sing it and we'd put it out under the name 'The Virgin Marys' but
they thought it would be sacreligious, so the band did it under
the name 'The Three Wise Men')
[by The Three Wise Men]
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Grazie per il Natale
Grazie per il Natale
Grazie per l'amore e la felicità che scendono come neve,
tutt’intorno
Grazie per il Natale
Grazie per l’invernale amicizia che sta nevicando in tutto il
mondo
Si sta avvicinando, gli occhi dei bambini brillano più chiari
ora
Mentre tutti, attraverso i sette mari, decorano gli alberi
Si sta avvicinando, il fuoco dei ceppi del solstizio bruciano
più vividi ora
Nell'aria gelida dell'inverno, canta con noi così che possiamo
condividere il nostro
Grazie per il Natale
Grazie per l'amore e la felicità che scendono come neve,
tutt’intorno
Grazie per il Natale
Grazie per l’invernale amicizia che sta nevicando in tutto il
mondo
Sta albeggiando, le renne di Babbo Natale ora sbadigliano
Tutto il loro lavoro festivo è concluso, riempiendo le case di
divertimento
Sta albeggiando, ecco ora la mattina di Natale
Il giorno più grande di tutto l'anno, ascolta qua fuori e
sentirai il nostro
Grazie per il Natale
È un tale peccato che sia solo un giorno all’anno
Trecento e sessantaquattro giorni pieno di dubbi e paura
Tu stai tenendo dentro il tuo amore, lascialo uscire, che il
Natale è giunto
Grazie per il Natale
Grazie per l'amore e la felicità che scendono come neve,
tutt’intorno
Grazie per il Natale
Grazie per l’invernale amicizia che sta nevicando in tutto il
mondo
Grazie per il Natale
(traduzione di Paolo Di Modica
grazie a Paolo Lanzoni)
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Tissue Tigers (The Arguers)
I shout this, you shout that, the clouds coming
over are looking awful black it's all hot air,
you say go, I say stay, clear blue sky goes
Sheffield grey it's all hot air.
I've grown
immune to your claws pussycats, I know
all your threats are tissue tigers crawling
across the table to me all your threats are
tissue tigers ripping 'em up is easy for me now.
I'll shout this, you shout that, an eye for
heart and a tit for a tat you easy tear. think
your stripes are yellow and black I can only
see the yellow one down your back you easy
tear.
I've grown immune to your claws
pussycats, I know all your threats are
tissue tigers crawling across the table to me
all your threats are tissue tigers ripping
'em up is easy for me now.
we argue all life long, you'd swear that
black was wrong throw tantrums like
queen kong I've trapped you in my song
all your threats are tissue tigers crawling
across the table to me all your threats are
tissue tigers ripping 'em up is easy for
me now.
(From English Settlement)
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I Need Protection
Oh, I need protection
Nothing is safe and
Nothing is truly sacred
If you want to stay alive
Keep your body from the undertakers
Sing out!
Oh, I need protection
Have you ever had a threat?
Have you ever had [call / cold] [pause to make] stare?
You can see it on TV
From the pleasing safety of your armchair
Sing out!
Oh, I need protection
When it slap you in the face
Will you take [down] [far / Barth] to consider
What will you do
when he says to you, "Stand, deliver"
Will you take to your heels
And fight to brazen your features
Yeah, it won't go away
With just one click of your fingers
Sing out!
Oh, I need protection
Protection
(Colin needed this to keep the 'Too Many Cooks
In The Kitchen" single from warping)
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Strange Tales, Strange Tails
Strange tales
Scribbled on a uniform
Strange tails
Scribbled down in cuneiform
It had been written
You had been bitten
You're now a cat
Where you used to be a kitten, now
Strange tales, strange tails
Strange tales
Scribbled on the shelter walls
Strange tails
Scribbled as the idol falls
Strange tales, strange tails
(One of the two worst songs we ever recorded,
originally for Go 2)
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Officer Blue
Officer Blue
Really love the things you do
Even when I was just eight years old (eight years old)
Officer Blue
Is it true what they say?
That when you work you're still at play (still at play)
Oh Officer Blue
I really love the things you do
It's magical
People in a human zoo
Officer Blue
Cast a shadow on the wall
But by torchlight even mice look tall (they don't fall)
Officer Blue
In a blaze of human form
And your stripes and badges to conform (you conform)
Officer Blue
Really love the things you do
Even when I was just eight years old (eight years old)
Officer Blue
Is it true what they say?
That when you work you're still at play (still you play)
(The other worst song, for Black Sea)
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Cockpit Dance Mixture
Man acting like a farmer and he's treating the
woman like a poor cow
He got to treat you better from now
But man is just a baby and he's needing your milk of kindness I
vow
To drink as much as you will allow
All the way through history
Man machine, no mystery
All the way through history
Girl have the brain to act just like the weaker sex
Down in the cockpit
Man need the woman to pull him right out of it
Down in the cockpit
Man need the woman to pull him right out of it
Queen wants the castle back from the rascal
Queen wants the castle
Now!
The girl tribe are growing up and filling the world full with a
new soul
To get so far they paid a high toll
Try not to make the same mistakes as man has made or you'll fall
in that hole
And you will see us changing our role
(Oh! Look what is this creature down in that hole?)
(Some say they were called men.)
(And this is Guy, an adult lowland gorilla, chuckling in the
London Zoo.)
(An early attempt, 1982 I think, to dub a song
with a dance mix in mind. That was new back then, I like the Guy
The Gorilla vocals)
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Pulsing Pulsing
Pulsing pulsing
There's a beat in his arm still
Pulsing pulsing
Like the throb of an anthill
Pulsing pulsing
No death in the rain
I've been washing my hands
In the stuff I wash my brains
I'm pulsing
You're pulsing
Who's pulsing?
What's pulsing?
Pulsing pulsing
There's a lump in his throat still
Pulsing pulsing
At the site of a crash throw
Pulsing pulsing
No push in the vein
I've been washing my hands
In the stuff I wash my brains
(A b-side for a single from Drums And Wires
about blood and where it goes)
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Happy Families
Have you got Miss Fortune, she's the daughter of
rich parents,
all she does is cry. One four-letter word is all she wants
but you can't buy love so there's no supply.
Will you take young Master Charge, the boy who's living well
beyond his father's means. (Happy families.) See his mother
kill herself with work to keep her dandy in the latest jeans.
(Happy families.)
Happy families is a kid's game. Happy families is your main
aim. It starts out with a dealing in the middle of the night,
and ends up with a full house if you play your cards out
right. Mum says Dad is cheating, you should see the grown-ups
fight for happy families, the game that's sure to please.
Have you got young Master Race the bigot son who, like his dad,
is fooled with fear. (Happy families.) Not so much a sun,
more of a stormtrooper, to burn the books when Dad's not here.
(Happy families.)
Happy families is a kid's game. Happy families is your main
aim. You start out with your first cub and you think that
life's a song. You'll end up with a wolfpack if you lay your
cards out wrong. Dad says Mom is cheating, you can see the
children long for happy families, the game that's sure to please.
Have you got Miss Carriage, she's the girl who wants a baby
that she cannot find. (Happy families.) Strange, the ones
who want to win the race are usually the ones who fall behind.
(Originally for Mummer. This was in the John
Hughes movie She's Having A Baby but it's heard only as an
instrumental mix coming out a transistor radio)
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Countdown to Christmas Party
Time
Countdown
Countdown to Christmas
Countdown to Christmas party time
We're so happy
We want you to be happy too
We're so happy
And we want to share the secrets of happiness with you
Grab a woman beneath the mistletoe
Kiss her lips and make her glow
No more fighting, no more fuss
Ah, it's Christmas!
Countdown
Countdown to Christmas
Countdown to Christmas party time
We're so happy
We want you to be happy too
We're so happy
And we want to share the secrets of happiness with you
Eat and drink and dance some more
Invite the whole street through your door
Sing out loud, don't swear or cuss
Ah, it's Christmas!
Countdown
Countdown to Christmas
Countdown to Christmas party time
Countdown
Countdown to Christmas
Countdown to Christmas party time
We're so happy
We want you to be happy too
We're so happy
And we want to share the secrets of happiness with you
Countdown
10 days
Countdown to Christmas
9 days
Countdown
8 days
Countdown to Christmas
7 days
Countdown
6 days
Countdown to Christmas
5 days
Countdown
4 days
Countdown to Christmas
3 days
Countdown
2 days
Countdown to Christmas
1 day
Ah, it's Christmas!
(To keep 'Thanks For Christmas' from warping)
[by The Three Wise Men]
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Blame the Weather
When your love's flown out the window and the
pain comes through the door once again you've
missed the boat and you're stranded on the shore,
And you find out that what you had was never
yours at all,friends and lovers that you knew
so well will never take your calls
So....... you blame the weather, oh-oh,blame
the weather, oh-oh, blame the weather, oh-oh
can't you see you're in your prime,you're
turning creases into lines.
If you play the game you've got to be prepared
to take a knock, you get put down so many
times but you keep on getting up, so put
your tears away and don't forget to worry
is a crime, nothing bears thinking about too
much, you'll be old before your time
so ... you blame the weather, oh-oh, blame
the weather, oh-oh, blame the weather, oh-oh
can't you see you're in your prime, you're
turning creases into lines.
the pool of tears you left to drown in (dry up,
dry up) the helping hands that never came (dry
up, dry up) the years you lost out to another
all went up in flames
so .... you blame the weather, oh-oh, blame
the weather, oh-oh, blame the weather, oh-oh
can't you see you're in your prime, you're
turning creases into lines.
(From English Settlement)
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Take This Town
Living in a rabbit tunnel
Keep the doggie in her kennel
Mustn't let her see the world
Oh, no!
Don't treat her like that
Oh, no!
Don't treat her like that
Living under Mum and Daddy
Carry hope just like a caddie
Mustn't let them see you're killed
Shout it clear for all to hear
You won't shoot this bird down
Shout it clear for all to hear
We're going to take this town
Turn a deaf ear to the orders
Keep them as your perfect daughters
Mustn't let them know their minds
Turning on to only music
Breaking from their childhood attic
Mustn't let them open the blinds
It's time she stopped being your ornament
It's time she put that in the past for permanent
You can't hold her if she wants to roam around
You can't hold her dream and keep it gagged and bound.
We're going
We're going to
We're going to take
We're going to take this
We're going to take this
(The only new song especially written for Times
Square, this really bad movie. Again, it's heard on a transistor
radio! We're not going to do any more songs from movies because
they're always on transistor radios)
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The History of Rock 'n' Roll
So, let's briefly summarize what we know, shall
we?
The 50's
The 60's
The 70's
The 80's
(There was this project called Miniatures. Each
cut was supposed to be less than a minute. I went for the gigantic:
a history of rock 'n' roll in 22 seconds. The 50's: an echoed
hiccupping vocal of the word 'well'. The 60's: A snatch of a
fuzzbox riff in indian scale. The 70's: A power chord. The 80's:
At the time, this was done in 1981, the 80's threatened to go
horribly synthetic, and a lot of it did, so the 80's is an
electronic fart. The 90's? I suspect that will be a bit of a James
Brown drum rhythm")
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Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down
Wait till your boat goes down
That's when you'll need me most
Wait till your boat goes down
And you're washed up on some foreign and
Unfamiliar coast
Yachting's fine
Sailing round and round in social circles
In a sea of diamonds and wine
Wait till you need a shoulder
A girl's best friend's not any consolation
when you're that much older
Skiing's grand
Drawing classic lines around the millionaires
and moneymen from Switzerland
Wait till you need a shoulder
A girl's fox furs won't warm your heart
When you're that much older
And if you're late and man he sees you when you're young and
looking good
Watch the big fish swim right out to take the bait you offered
like you
knew they would
Too much caviar only points to middle aged spread
There won't be room for many playboys in your single bed
Wait till your boat goes down
That's when you'll need me most
Wait till your boat goes down
And you're washed up!
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Aspetta Fino A
Quando La Tua Barca Affonda
Aspetta fino a quando la tua
barca affonda
Sarà quando avrai più bisogno di me
Aspetta fino a quando la tua barca affonda
E tu sarai buttata a riva su qualche costa straniera e
sconosciuta
Andare in barca è bello
Veleggiare in circoli sociali
In un mare di diamanti e vino
Aspetta fino a quando avrai bisogno di una spalla
La migliore amica di una ragazza non è una consolazione
Quando tu sei troppo vecchia
Sciare è grande
Disegnare linee classiche intorno ai milionari
e uomini di affari dalla Svizzera
Aspetta fino a quando avrai bisogno di una spalla
Le pellicce di volpe di una ragazza non riscaldano il tuo cuore
Quando tu sei troppo vecchia
E se sei in ritardo e certo che lui ti guarda quando sei giovane
e prestante
Guardi il pezzo grosso nuotare allo scoperto per prendere l'amo
che tu gli hai offerto
come già sapevi avrebbe fatto
Troppo caviale mostra solo la varietà di uomini di mezza età
Non ci sarà spazio per tanti playboys nel tuo letto singolo
Aspetta fino a quando la tua barca affonda
Sarà quando avrai più bisogno di me
Aspetta fino a quando la tua barca affonda
E tu sarai buttata a riva
(traduzione di
Paola Di Giorgio)
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