I Can Smell the Coffee

Experienced in life
He died
To let another
Be inside

The Fear Grows

It was you who first told me
You'd seen saucers in the sky
It was you who first said it
You can see it in the eyes
A serial is stalking
A someone he has to meet
A sniper is successful
On the south side of the street

What do you know?
It starts to show
The fear grows
What do you know?
You

It was you who first told me
You'd bought a baby in a bar
It was you who first said it
You can see it in the stars
A suicide is swinging
From a soiled and stolen sheet
And someone else is stealing
The children of the street

The Outlook Is Exotic

Are you living in the future
Are you running from the past
Has your life become uncertain
Will your run of good luck last
Are you coming, are you going
Are you settled, should you stay
Are you footloose, are you rootless
Could you leave here any day?

Is time hanging, is it dragging
Have you found a better way
Are you eating, are you sleeping
Are you happy with your day
Are you willing are you able
To give it another chance
Do the bears shit in the forest
Where the happy people dance?

I've searched in front and behind me
For symbols to remind me
Of this land and its stories
Of its marshall past and glories
Where the shaman talked covete
Found the power of tradition
Ancient contacts and emissions
Urine borders and suspicions

Sharing blood and food and hay
Overcame the violent way

Is your face still in the frame
Is your movie on review
Is your situation vacant
Have you better things to do
If it's said they can replace you
With any one of ten
Don't you think the time has come
To be moving on again?

Skip the Sausage (at the Terminal Hotel)

The next day was much as the previous
You know how they talk of the walls closing in?
Well I was looking for a door, an exit
Check in at a hotel
That's what you do
No phone, no view, no you
A no place to call home
A place to return to late
To wash, to write tomorrow's script
To look for lost hope, to find sleep
Everything happens quickly in 12 by 6
Breakfast is a sad experience
What have all the inmates done wrong, to be here?
Jesus, I'm only passing through
Skipped the sausage again
Good idea, skipping the sausage
Time to check out, again

You can lose a limb
Train changing at speed
You can lose your skin
That's guaranteed
You can lose your mind
When you're melting down
You can lose yourself
If you shift your ground

I can't stop thinking about it
Must stop thinking about it

Health Warning (Act Today)

They're from the east
They're from the west
They still think
They're the fucking best

Fuck off you Nazi bastards
Act today, don't delay

Red, white, and blue
This one's for you
If you still think
You're one of the chosen few

Once of the left
Now of the right
Are you the hammers
For another crystal night

Stays on the ground
For a long, long time
Like anthrax
If you don't want a replay
Act today

Two too State

Punch and Judy
They ran the show
They thought that it
Would grow and grow
Both believed that
They were blessed
To have it all
To have the best
They caught the wave
They rode its crest
Enjoyed the trappings
Of success
And in an arc
Of upward glide
Forgot their friends
And lost their tribe

They worked to hard
At to belong
They played it safe
Did nothing wrong
Judy drank
She said for stress
He marched abroad
The beak express
But one black day
The market fell
And everything then
Went to hell
I saw her trip
I saw him slide
They lost their grip
They lost their tribe

You're on
Your own
Think

When they last wrote
And here I quote
She lives alone
He's gone remote
While she thinks east
He drinks up west
Nothing is more
Somethings are less
They lost the house
It's fine address
New postal code
Reads p. V. S.
And in the split
They found the lies
But lost their home
And lost their tribe

It was the lies
Which paralysed

Smart Material Love (Waves)

I disappear
I fly in stealth
And in the air
I heal myself
Invisible
My skin is smart
Always listening
To your heart

On lovewaves

Drawn by your fire
I see your smoke
Wrapped in my
Acoustic cloak
I know your front
I know your track
And how your plans
They're feeding back

Every impulse
You load and send
I absorb
Decode and tend
I watch you pray
Prepare for more
For I alone
Know what's in store

Eyes Fly

I can't wait to meet again
I can't wait to meet
In your surprise
In your surprise

I can't wait to see again
I can't wait to see
Through your eyes
Through your eyes

My finger is walking
It's long distance spell
There's a delay in the heavens
The sea's in my shell

I can't wait to be again
I can't wait to be
Where your heart flies
Where your heart flies

Answer to your Question

Across uncharted oceans
Navigating by the stars
Over great mountain ranges
Through landscapes, as yet, unscarred
Here comes Johnny

Some trust in heaven
Others to luck
Some kill for pleasure
Others with a look
Some lives are over
Before they've begun
The answer to your question's
On the tip of my tongue

Some love the word
Others the sword
Some own Maserati
Others buy Ford
Some save souls
In the name of the Lord
The answer to your question
Is what can you afford?

Some they take coffee
Others trade tea
Some worship the sun
Others the sea
Some leave their mark
On our history
But my question to you
Is do you love me?

Is this life for you
Or only a game?
Is this life for you?
Are you staking a claim?

Watch out!
Here comes Johnny

So Sick and Tired (on a Diet of too Much)

Sliding down
The polished hill
A one on one
On brown and amber
Jumping fences
Surfing camber
Go-go-a-go-go
Auto pilot

The captain
Puts you in control
The novice
Joins the holy chapter
An enthralled soul
Receives his mantra
Hear him chanting
Pa-pa pa-pa

Defences fail
And a warning sails
High above the heads
Of the crowd of too much
A vision strange
Closes in range
They part and scatter
At the thought of its touch

Behind the curtain
A shadow plot strange
A discussion of colour
And chemical change
Floodlit and pale
He embarks on a tale
Its pain frees them of so much
Turning their eyes
Baptised they rise
Pawing them eating
The earth which they clutch

They curtain went up
A finger pressed down
And all of my doubts
Were tripled and gone

Trust and betrayal
Are both found in the male
Between the lines
It's not mentioned as such
Hoping for change
Vows are exchanged
So sick and tired
On a diet of too much

Out of the corner
And on to the floor
Was now and not then
Not maybe but more

Hear him chanting
Pa-pa pa-pa

Eclipsed

I was staggering blindly
Focusing madly
When I tripped and I fell
The earth came up to seek me
I'd been eclipsed

I was polished in public
Demolished by three
I was falling so slowly
When the earth flew up to meet me
I'd been eclipsed

This thrill-seeker was looking
For the ultimate high
His life, his life
This thrill-seeker was looking
For the ultimate high
But it almost cost him
But it almost cost him
His life, his life
Finding out why it crashed
Finding out why it crashed

I prepared for a landing
I never had planned
For years and for years
But the earth knew how to greet me
I'd been eclipsed

I'd lost all I'd cherished
In one moment of fear
The fur flew then settled
As the earth returned to treat me
I'd been eclipsed

Is this all?

Forced migration
Frontier crossings
There have been
A few delays
Minutes turn to hours
As hours turn to days

Is this all?
It's so big
Is this all?
It's so very, very small
Is this all?

Generous greetings
On arrival
For new arrivals
Marks the pull
Reply a troopers
Are in action
Heads are empty
Mouths are full

In a lifetime
In a flicker
As empires fall
As nations rise
At that moment
In an instant
As new life forms
As old one dies

Is this all?

• MNW
• CD, 1997

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