The Devil And The Hole
On a tempered crag in a sea of sin,
A spit of land like a splint of skin,
Three hundred miles with nothing but crows
And forty poor baptised christian souls
They built a tiny little town with a wall made of stone
To keep temptation out and their goodness all alone.
But a woman on the ground long widowed, long wild,
Felt the world rising round her and she cried for a child.
She had a face like stone in the wake of weather,
Her hands turned white as they clasped together,
She prayed to the Lord,
Prayed to the Lord,
Prayed…
But the Lord ignored.
She said “God aint got no time for me
So if he don’t mind old Beelzee
Will get some bouncing boy to be
Some little pride and joy for me.”
Well the Devil said “Don’t cry my dear,
Wipe away those little tears,
If you really want a son
Come on and let me give you one.”
It was a warm winter night when the child was born;
His mother would tell no one where the seed was drawn
But the people looked upon him in a certain light
And said there’s something in his smiling that’s not quite right.
The years went by and the boy grew tall,
With every passing day there grew a crack in the wall
And when the first stone fell it roused the town,
The people took the child and tied him down
And the lashes on his back were like rays from a red sun,
He’d lost all sense by the time they’d done
And as they maimed and they mauled he pointed to the wall,
He cried “there’s a light
“But all you people see is a hole.”
Low and behold.
***
Love At A Price
I may not be the best but I’m the best you’ll get.
I don’t care what Jesus said, if I die I’m staying dead.
As the first lovers sank down into the mud:
That’s when the blueprints of utopia were drawn out in blood.
Hi-Dee-Hi-Ho
You promised a lot but no,
The road to bliss is best walked alone.
I stole your heart but I threw it away
Because Hey,
You said crime don’t pay.
Well I may be your top shelf,
I may be your bottom drawer,
But you’ve been holding my hand
And now you’re telling folk it’s yours.
When you got on your knees and begged me to stay
I heard the footsteps of fidelity walking away.
Hi-Dee-Ho-Hi
It’s alright for you but I
Am through with love and I’m through with love’s lies.
I stole your heart then I threw it away
Because Hey,
You said crime don’t pay.
So long, get a move on
Before all our wrongs turn all too right.
I could have killed for you darling
But I’d never risk my life
For love at that price.
You held the hem of my heart as you worked your way in,
I felt the blame in your tears like glass under my skin.
Grimy with the grease from your face and your fingers,
There was love between us once but you know it never lingered.
Hi-Dee-Hi
Who would want me to want to too?
There’s an answer but it sure ain’t “I do.”
I stole your heart then I threw it away
Because Hey,
You said crime don’t pay.
So long, get a move on
Before all our wrongs turn all too right.
I could have killed for you darling
But I’d never risk my life
For love at that price.
***
Shards Of Glass
Shards of glass and blood on my shoes
She had so much to say and so little to prove
There was writing on the wall
Everyone around was walking tall
She said “You want a piece of me?
You’ve gotta come and take it all”
I’ll see you in hell my friend
When this world has reached its end
He agreed to love me the way I thought he should
Bound by a golden ring he was bound to me for good
For many years I wore his marks without complaint
And took his kisses like so many coats of paint
And I said
I’ll see you in hell my friend
When this world has reached its end
I drew her close to me and I breathed her name
Her hair was like honey dew and novocain
I told her it was more than a case of wounded pride
And she let out a scream that tore the mountain side
And I said
I’ll see you in hell my friend
Shards of glass and blood on my shoes
I just killed somebody I biblically new
There was writing on the wall
Everyone around was walking tall
She said:
You want a piece of me?
Come on and take it all
I’ll see you in hell my friend
When this world has reached its end
***
Dripping With Dew
I laid myself down on the ground,
My fingers dripping with dew.
But I wasn’t with you honey
No I wasn’t with you.
I’d been dancing to a different tune,
Seeing all the colours between blue and blue
I’d spent all day reading Machiavelli in a glossy magazine,
Jesus looked down at me funny through the pub TV screen.
Someone was pumping Mozart through their mobile phone,
An item on the news told me they’d just cloned The Stones
And I
Laid myself down on the ground
Fingers dripping with dew
But I wasn’t with you.
Since you left me in the gutter I’ve been living on my knees,
I woke up pale this morning and now my mother’s called the priest,
My fortunes took a tumble when I first came to this place,
I only did it baby to see the look upon your face
When I
Laid myself down on the ground
Fingers dripping with dew
But I wasn’t with you
Well I was led astray by a bright young thing
Who gave me shelter beneath her wing,
She led me down a sodden path,
My blindfold slipped,
She began to laugh:
Her lips pulled back across her teeth,
She tore apart the earth and sank beneath,
She told me this deed would stay with me forever
And we’d share a bed in hell together
And I
Laid myself down on the ground
Fingers dripping with dew
I saw a man at the heart of a gathering crowd
With his hands in the air,
He was talking loud.
He said to us “You’d better gather round
And write this down”
He said “Love’s not something that is so mundane
Like a view from a bridge or a walk in the rain;
It’s an un-healing hole burnt right down into your soul
That filters out the same-old-same-old…
Or at least that’s what I’m told.”
***
You Can’t Run From My Love
You ought to know by now
You’re not welcome round here
But you still prowl round
And all day long
I hear your voice down my telephone.
But I’ve made my choice to go on alone.
You can’t run from my love
Run from my love
You can’t run from my love
I love you too much and you’re mine
The embers of what I was,
Once drenched in devotion’s creed,
Glow again because
Now I know I need
Only one shadow,
I can provide my own echo
Without you here
Telling me
You can’t run from my love
Run from my love
You can’t run from my love
I love you too much and you’re mine
I remember the forgetting
But not what was forgotten
That day I gave you a piece of my heart
You took the lot
and your tragicomic histrionics
Suggest if love’s a plague
Then this one’s bubonic
Something precious inside me Darling take me home
Fell with a mighty sigh I don’t want to die alone
Love reared its vengeful head and said You can’t run from me.
***
The Tell-Tale Hound
Squatting on the map like a big black stain
Was a dirty old town where it always rained,
Where there ain’t no cars and there ain’t no trains,
It’s enough to drive a man insane.
But the one little thing that kept me there
Was a pretty young woman with auburn hair,
Locked in a loft at the top of some stairs
I dreamt some day I’d take her away from there.
She was born with more than original sin
And raised in shame at a Holiday Inn
I stood at her window shouting let me in,
She opened up the shutter with a bottle of gin
And said “Boy Boy lower your voice
My dog can’t sleep with all this noise
You see this beast sitting at my feet?
My daddy left him to keep a watch on me.”
So home I ran to hatch a plan
I’d lull that dog to sleep if I can
And take that girl by her lilly white hands
And show her the kind of a man I am.
Every day I’d play a new lullaby,
I’d sing all evening and I’d sing all night
But nothing would close that damned dog’s eyes,
He’d laugh as my love intensified.
“Boy you’ve got to do better than that,
That dog’s treating you like a flesh doormat.
Quit playing around like a big pussy cat,
I won’t wait forever and that’s a fact.”
So I scaled the wall and I swam the moat,
I found the dog and I slit his throat,
I threw him in the water to see if he’d float
But he sank right down with a bubble and a croak.
I tapped on her window and she let me in,
“It’s about time I started living in sin”
I looked at her face and I saw her grin,
She said “Boy you don’t know the trouble you’re in.
You freed me from that hideous hound
But you’ll find it’s harder to put him down.”
I looked at the floor and saw a puddle by the door
I smelt wet dog and I felt his paw… on my shoulder.
So I ran and ran
Running as fast as I can,
I’ve been running as long as my memory spans,
Chased all across this desolate land,
That dog ain’t no best friend to this man.
Ever since he turned his back on death
I’ve known know peace and I’ve known no rest,
At night he sniggers at an unknown jest.
My pulse is set to the rhythm of his breath.
Many years have passed and ever since
That dog has sat where I once kept my conscience,
All I wanted was to get a little bit of respite
So I came to the day where I took my own life;
I skipped from a cliff and down I fell
Passed purgatory and went straight to hell,
The devil was there with a long leather lead,
You can guess who he had waiting for me.
***
Matilda And The Screw
Run your key across my cage just one more time tonight.
Slip your hands between the slats,
I promise I won’t bite.
The world outside is a prisoner of someone else’s lies,
But these iron bars tell me truths every day and every night.
Some call me “The Straight and Narrow”
Because they’ve all been down there once.
I saw my fortunes in the tarots:
They weren’t worth a second glance.
All those years alone in here don’t really mean a thing,
I can still sing like I was sixteen.
You believe me don’t you darling?
Oh jailer, jailer, jailer,
I’ll be your jailbird if you fancy that,
You can be my pussycat.
Don’t tell me tales of life outside,
They only make me sad.
Reward the other girls for good behaviour,
I know you prefer me bad.
I regard all broken hearts as reasonable wear and tear,
All you see of mine is yours
(just please don’t look in there).
Oh jailer, jailer, jailer,
I’ll be your jailbird if you fancy that,
You can be my pussycat.
My intentions were never dark you know,
They just only come out at night.
Angels cast strange shadows
Because they’re closest to the light.
A Siren’s only as deadly
As the rock on which it clings
But I can still sing like I was sixteen,
You believe me don’t you darling?
Oh jailer, jailer, jailer,
I’ll be your jailbird if you fancy that,
You can be my pussycat.
***
Theban Sacred
When the angels killed the heat in me
They told me I’d been blind but they could make me see.
Lord only knows,
Lord only knows where we go.
So I took their hands
And I dragged them down
One by one I watched them drown.
Lord only knows,
Lord only knows where we go.
Now my conscience lies by my side,
We got on well
But I’m glad it died.
Lord only knows,
Lord only knows
But does he know
What I know about him now?
Now I’m going away to some foreign land,
I’m going to join the Theban Sacred Band.
Lord only knows I don’t want to fight,
He also know darkness is my light
But now
Does he know what I know?
When those angels killed the heat in me
I said won’t you kindly let me be?
***
Mary
You’ve got to be at least half cannibal
To go fishing for mermaids.
Fate’s a curious animal
And yours is always getting delayed.
There’s a Jonah in our love boat,
There’s cholera among the crew
And a beast emerging from the depths
Is looking at you.
Mary, you’ve been cheating on me.
You say you’ve been transforming
And that nothing’s staying the same,
Well let me into that chrysalis darling,
Let me be a part of your change.
You’ve put the shun in my seduction,
The lame in my flame,
You’re the con in my convictions,
The sham in shame.
Mary, you’ve been cheating on me.
You ain’t the man in this romance.
You ain’t the air in my affairs.
I asked the Lord for a decent chance
I must have slurred my prayers.
You ain’t the only one who’s cried
‘Cos I ain’t the only one who’s been bored.
So by the time these flowers have died,
Which one of you boys will have brought me more?
We’re caught in a love triangle
And geometry’s not on my side.
My heart’s going through the mangle
And next it’ll be my pride.
You say I’m a low down lying louse,
An adulterer pending bail;
Well I may have kissed your sister once baby
But I promise I didn’t inhale.
Mary, you’ve been cheating on me.
You ain’t the man in this romance.
You ain’t the air in my affairs.
We’re making music but you don’t dance,
I’m looking down but you don’t dare.
And I know I was your prize
But you weren’t ever mine,
You can’t predict this kind of shift in the weather
This is a rain that came
From a clear sky.
Mary, you’ve been cheating on me.
***
Thick Carpets, Old Lifts
I fold down the corners on the pages of my life
And skip over the chapters that I wasted on my wife.
I know I’m not too handsome,
I know I’m not too tall
But sit down darlin’
And tell me it all.
I like my hotels with thick carpets and old lifts,
I like to eat my grapes sour with pips.
I know I’m not too rich,
I know I’m going bald
But sit down darlin’
And tell me it all.
I was just a girl that kept her feelings well hid
And my conscience stayed quiet about the things that I did,
I locked up my heart but gave a man the key,
He wasn’t much to many but he meant a lot to me.
We wandered to and we wandered fro,
Drank a lot of liquor a did a lot of blow.
I was the fruit and he was the rind,
I was the clock and he was the time.
You know what they say about love
And you know what’s always being sung
But relationships are more like chicken pox:
You’ve got to get immune when you’re young.
You’ve got to get immune when you’re young.
***
The Light
Midnight.
Have you got a light?
There there, it’s alright.
That old flame found me again
And in her I swear
I saw Heaven silhouetted by the light of Hellfire.
There was nothing I regretted more than that desire,
Walking the high wire,
Trading the net for the noose.
Hey darling why are you always looking down?
If you’re dreaming of the Devil
He will surely come around,
Trip your treasons up
Then tease them out.
These treacheries are easier the truths.
Sirens always sing the same sad songs,
Don’t you worry though,
We’ll only hear them once.
Leaving love to chance
Was the worst way we could ever go.
Slow…
Fade that moon’s glow.
Stay close,
Stay close.
Let me be the card up your sleeve:
I don’t want to play,
I just want to be played.
Because I’ve seen Heaven silhouetted by the light of Hellfire,
There’s been nothing I’ve regretted more than that desire,
Love’s idle empire,
Cheering all the cherubs on to war.
Hey darling why you looking so mean?
You know I haven’t sought a single soul
Since I was seventeen,
Just a string of magazines
That suckled all the sickly and the sore.
Sirens always sing the same sad songs,
Don’t you worry though,
We’ll only hear them once.
Leaving love to chance
Was the worst way we could ever go.
Heaven silhouetted by the light of Hellfire
There was nothing we regretted more than that desire,
Love’s Final Empire,
Chasing all the cherubs on to war…
Torn.
Stay until dawn.
Sanctus,
Sanctus.
You’ll be
A strange memory
But tonight
Won’t you give me a light?
***
Tonight
You had me packed like an artefact in the cotton of your ambition
But there was something in my condition
That made me long for a little more.
You had me squeezed for at least the last two years of marriage
But some mistaken adage made you blind to what was in store.
I’ll be waiting up when you get home tonight.
I made a cat-flap for my jealousy so it could roam where it wanted.
It had a sorry tail that it flaunted
But every night it would come home
(Unlike you).
But I made do
With those slivers of deceit,
Those tributes left at my feet
For which your conscience will atone.
I’ll be waiting up when you get home
Tonight.
Now I’m fraught and overwrought
Like a bird among the rafters,
But it’s not laughter that I’m after,
Just a grim and knowing sneer.
As for you:
When I’m through
You’ll be sore down to your ligaments.
I’ve known no love without disfigurement,
I’ve known no fondness without fear.
I’ll be waiting up when you get home tonight.
I’ll be waiting for you
I’ll be waiting for you
I’ll be waiting for you
Tonight.
***
Love Struck Me Down
Love struck me down way too young.
I wish I’d known what I know now.
Love struck me down,
The silver lining only served to conceal the cloud.
It lay in wait pretending
To be some kind of happy ending,
Love struck me down.
It hollowed me out and wore me like a crown.
Love struck me down
It got me bewitched,
Now word’s going round that I’m cupid’s new bitch.
Love struck me down,
It saddled me up and rode me around.
I looked to the sky and saw Cupid fly by
With a bow in his hands and a glint in his eye,
Tattoos on his shoulders where there should have been wings,
He was clinking a chain made of old wedding rings
And towering above on a dark cloud stood love
Cramming her claws into a pair of black gloves.
She told me politely
“I think you’ll grow to like me”
Down came Aphrodite and said “You can’t fight me”
Love struck me down way too young,
Pinned me to the ground and ripped out my tongue,
Love struck me down
And fed me in chunks to her slavering hounds
Once you’ve seen what I’ve got to show
Beneath my halo
You’ll never ever want to go
(and nobody need know).
If another tempts you away
I’ll make them pay,
So stay with me
Love speaks a tongue that none can translate,
It stands at our rudder with no other shipmates,
I’m sure that my mother told me I should just wait
But I took Love’s bait.
Now it’s too late.
I’ve got to get out of here…
***
Your Love
Only you can slow my heart
And make it sink like a greasy lump in the washing up.
But in those times of talk and touch
You said you’d be my muse
If I would be your crutch.
I took an oath in your damp undergrowth,
You said you were looking for love,
I said I think it’s close.
Wrapped in lace you offered me grace,
But your pillow talk was like a slap across my face.
There’s two sides to what I’m saying:
I was drawing chalk lines while you were praying.
You say I’m so sweet but I’m full of conceit,
I’m a man of my word but my word is deceit.
We swore l’amour on the blossoms
But by the autumn they were all rotten.
Honey I’d forgotten those times.
The day you became my bride
I died just a little bit inside
Because girl:
Your love, your love, your love
Is not enough, not enough for me.
We went through the blow like children in the snow,
All the way to limbo where the good pagans go.
You carved my name on a big black tree
Then said “what about me?”
I said girl:
Your love, your love, your love
Is not enough, not enough for me.
There’s a midnight rainbow curling up inside you,
Shining like a counterfeit sun
(a really dim one).
You seemed unconvinced,
You said you liked your words minced
And talked about forever.
I screamed NEVER NEVER NEVER!
Your love, your love, your love
Is not enough, not enough for me.
***
The Debtor’s Wife
It began with a gift
But died with a debt
And if redemption’s on the cards
Well it hasn’t happened yet.
He said if you need anything from me
All you got to do is ask,
But he wore that sincerity
Like a halloween mask.
I owe, I owe
I owe so many folk
I’ve got nowhere to go.
I owe, I owe
Won’t nobody help me get out of this hole?
His words were sweet as honey
But that honey attracted flies.
I knew he never meant to really love me
He just wanted to synchronise.
I said beware the things you sow
Because one day you’ve got to reap them.
He said what’s the use in making promises darling?
You’ve only got to keep them.
I owe, I owe
I owe so many folk
I’ve got nowhere to go.
I owe, I owe
Won’t nobody help me get out of this hole?
Each morning he’d fall through my door,
All frail foul and thin,
Beauty may be all around us but there’s certainly nothing good within him.
I know a gambler’s got no ties,
Just a suitcase and a trunk,
But I soon came to realise that there were more days behind us than in front.
I owe, I owe
I owe so many folk
I’ve got nowhere to go.
I owe, I owe
Won’t nobody help me get out of this hole?
Now the stitching has frayed and all the cupboard’s are bare,
He’s got his head in his hands but he’s lost the luxury of despair.
It’s true I ain’t possessive and it’s true I don’t need wealth,
But if he wants to be a martyr now
I’ll hammer the nails myself
I owe, I owe
I owe so many folk
I’ve got nowhere to go.
I owe, I owe
Won’t nobody help me get out of this hole?
***
Short Supply
(Written by Nick Wright)
The landlady sings
But she sings for no money
Because she’s madder than a hatter
She’s quicker and leaner
Than a wildcat
Waiting in the afternoon sunshine
Eyeing up the birds
Looking out for its next mealtime
Because music and laugher
Are always in short supply
I’ve had a lot to drink
And I’m going to drink to the last drop tonight
The money in London
You spend on your rent
It’s dead money, no good
When it’s £4 a pint
And the taxes they put on the cigarettes you smoke
You’re given the choice
Of dying clean or dying broke
Music and laughter
Are always in short supply
I’ve had a lot to drink
And I’m going to drink to the last drop tonight
I’m going to drink to the last drop tonight
***
Hold On To Me
There’s no such thing as free love Honey
But I’ve tried every brand of cheap
And I caught a brief glimpse of machinery
Beneath those morals we keep
I may have outlived my optimism
And laid it in a pauper’s plot
But I’ve realised
As we age we don’t find
Who we are
We only see who we’re not.
Hold on to me
Girl you’ve got nobody else
Don’t tease me with your passions
Just burden me with love
It’s too warm for all these fashions
And too cold for what I’ve been thinking of
This receding tide of vitality
Has made the remainder all the more dear
We can tame any one of their tiny toy gods
With a little dose of human fear
Hold on to me
Boy you’ve got nobody else
Love is filling my heart
The same way water fills a lung
Our immortality won’t last forever
So let’s enjoy it while we’re still young
Baby you’re my purgatory
You’re in every single flame that tickles me
We ain’t heading for a happy ending
But we’re primed for eternity
Hold on to me
