Lyrics For The Album After This One

[tinkerbell]

Farewell Erin -Cross between Back Home In Derry and The Mountains of Mourne! Thanks, mate.

                  THE BALLAD OF JESSIE JAMES

Autumn day on Raby Street, a funeral in Moss Side
Three thousand gathered in the church and on the stone outside
The family sit with shoulders bowed as the choir sing out hymns
The priest talks of justice and the people say amen
But watch these pious faces and see if you can't glean
How many here know who took out a boy of just fifteen

Oh Jessie James, no, you don't know a thing
About Jessie James, no, no one's going to sing
About Jessie James, so tell me if you can
How gunning down an unarmed child makes you some kind of man

2 am September 9, shadows in the park
And Jessie's back from a party on his pushbike in the dark
There's a semi-automatic trained on him as he rides
Two bullets hit his torso and he falls on his left side
And as he lies by the spinning wheel he's shot again in the hip
It's called an execution, man, it's not bad marksmanship

Oh Jessie James...

But the law say he was in the wrong place at the wrong time
So who called in to warn them an hour before he died?
And when his family needed them why did they steer clear
And where's his brother?  In Moorland, doing seven years
So Elmo's on suicide watch, counting who he's crossed
While all the kids in Moss Side hear another life's been lost

Oh Jessie James...

Media circus in the street and the pundits watch their tone
But from Hulme down to Longsight this area's a battle zone
So who shot Dorrie McKie full six years ago
And Ernest Clifford on this street just three months before?
Way back to Benji Stanley, and he was just fourteen
This place has been a killing field, but, nothing, nothing's ever seen

Oh Jessie James...

Now Jessie's mother's on the church steps crying, Enough's enough
Don't sit down with my son's blood on your hands
But you can't even hear her, you talk so big, you act so tough
And just a couple of blocks away's the attitude you understand:
A hard man sprayed in silver, an epitaph like this-
RIP To All the Fallen Soldiers Sadly Missed

Oh Jessie James, no, you don't know a thing
About Jessie James, no, no one's going to sing
About Jessie James, so tell me if you can
How gunning down an unarmed child makes you some kind of man

[rosie]

dunno what to say about that one Nick - sat here with tears in me eyes

[thisgardener]

another 2 shootings in mancs this last week end   

seems odd how so many people just switch off about it, princess park way one of the main commuter routes into mancs  goes right through the middle of moss side where this sinister gun culture has somehow got hold of the kids. the police will no doubt have another gun amnesty and speak more sternly again.

raised public awareness of whats going on may remove a few rose tinted glasses on their way into work

 this is manchester for pitysake not new york or bahgdad
 
well done nick

[Mrs. Beermonster]

Oh Jessie James, no, you don't know a thing
About Jessie James, no, no one's going to sing
About Jessie James, so tell me if you can
How gunning down an unarmed child makes you some kind of man

too f**king right

[tinkerbell]

Aren't You Going To Say Goodbye, John?

Shadows fall and shift and stretch away
Moments pitch and pass from grey to grey
And I have hold of nothing so I pray
Day after day, remind me, remind me

Plump up the pillows, straighten the quilt
Pull back the curtains, finger the tears
Tap on the wall of the house that Jack built
It's still there
Open the door on the dimlit stairs
A bent woman's figure climbs my way
Speaking gently, as if she cares
How is it today?
And I have to say

I don't know you, please remind me who you are
The rents in this fabric I fall through
Make each climb back seem so far
Day after day

On the street pavements glistening
Trees bow, cars swerve and veer
Mind what you say, you don't know who's listening
Out here
She walks me into a crowd of strangers
One of them clasps me by the hand
And flinches at the stab of my anger
To make it clear
So he understands

I don't know you, please remind me who you are
Holes in the material I disappear through
Make each claw back seem so far
Day after day

But then for a moment as I hear you talk
I understand what it is you say
The scene composes, I watch myself walk
In a familiar play
I touch the lines on your gentle face
I meet your eyes without dismay
I know this time, I know this place
It is today
And I have to say

I think I know you, I remember who you are
But as soon as I bear my weight I fall into
The emptiness that drifts so far, so far
Day after day

And shadows fall and shift and stretch away
Moments pitch and pass from grey to grey
And I have hold of nothing so I say
Day after day, remind me, remind me

[rosie]

you've done it again 


Do you have any cheerful ones left?  If not could you just post a token merry ditty for me? please?
or summat along the lines of 'how many b**t**ds make their buck' would do, I just need cheering up a bit.  Sorry

[tinkerbell]

you've done it again 


Do you have any cheerful ones left?  If not could you just post a token merry ditty for me? please?
or summat along the lines of 'how many b**t**ds make their buck' would do, I just need cheering up a bit.  Sorry

Sorry.  Seem to be bouncing off the news headlines at the moment. Dementia epidemics on the way and all that...I'll do the we'll-never-give-up-on-collective-subversion one next.  That won't be on the front pages!

[simply mark]

strange request, but have you thought of doing one in french?

[Mrs. Beermonster]

you've done it again 


Do you have any cheerful ones left?  If not could you just post a token merry ditty for me? please?
or summat along the lines of 'how many b**t**ds make their buck' would do, I just need cheering up a bit.  Sorry

Sorry.  Seem to be bouncing off the news headlines at the moment. Dementia epidemics on the way and all that...I'll do the we'll-never-give-up-on-collective-subversion one next.  That won't be on the front pages!

Yay 

[tinkerbell]

                              THE LAST MILE


So the streets of the heart are all covered with banners again
And we fall into step as we march through the dark leaden rain
But the lines of the law manoeuvre like soldiers
To shield the centre we'll see overthrown
For the core always yields to the lance of disorder
The music of chance that will bring these walls down

Can you make the last mile and break through the line?
Let's take it in the old style, that's your arm through mine

So it seems we've been walled in ourselves and our dreams turned to stone
Where once laurels gathered we're rolled over, stripped and alone
The signs that we followed tilted by tricksters
The messages carried all lifted by thieves
Yet our strength always surges from roots we discover
When all that remains is the urge to believe

Under the cold eye our frontiers become meaningless
Yet armed with the old lie they fight to claim all we possess
And so they divide us, one from another
Then swear that their causes we have to defend
But the old truth holds always: this man is my brother
This child my burden, this woman my friend

So we're gathered again where the heart cries out against wrong
And our power isn't measured in arms, but the lines of our song
Whatever we've lost will return, and however
We stumble and falter in shadows to come
If we meet on these streets now and always together
We shall overcome, we shall overcome

[Mrs. Beermonster]

I love it!  Bet it comes with a great danceable tune too

[tinkerbell]

I love it!  Bet it comes with a great danceable tune too

Thanks. Swedish dance as it happens! This one's probably more in tune with your current mood though...

                         ALL IN YOUR NAME

All in your name he sings like an angel
Drawn down the nave in his clean white smock
All in your name he's led from the chapel
To a small dark room where the door is locked
And your heart bleeds as the priest lifts his robes
And stands up, stands for Jesus on the cross
Yes, your heart bleeds as he nails and probes
One more soul that can't be lost

So praise to you Lord for you are good
You are the Saviour living and true
You are the Word made flesh and blood
So here he is on his knees again, giving, thanks to you

All in your name she lies with a lecher
And hides what she bears as he stands by his wife
All in your name she falls into labour
Alone in the woods with her newborn life
And your heart bleeds as she trails to the river
Holding her bundle close to her breast
Yes, your heart bleeds as she casts off her daughter
One more b**t**d laid to rest

So praise to you Lord...
Here she is on her knees again giving, thanks to you

All in your name he strives for his rights
Then finds himself with a gun in his hand
All in your name he stands up to fight
The hard-faced strangers who've taken his land
And your heart bleeds when they return fire
And swear on the cross that you stand on their side
Yes, your heart bleeds as he hangs on the wire
One more of your soldiers crucified

Praise to you Lord...
Here he is on his knees again giving, thanks to you

All in your name her palms slap the wheels
Bound for the hill where the icon weeps
All in your name she dreams that she heals
In the holy water that wells and seeps
And your heart bleeds as she strains and lifts
Herself, eyes turned up for a holy sign
Yes, your heart bleeds when she falls as she hits
One more rut on the road to the shrine

Oh praise to you Lord...
Here she is on her knees again, giving thanks to you

All in your name we tramp to the altar
Over the truth till it turns to dust
All in your name the preacher falters
Stained glass cracks and the censer rusts
And your heart bleeds for what we have received
When all that we swear by has been denied
Oh your heart bleeds, so who's been deceived
Is it the bridegroom or is it the bride?

Praise to you Lord for you are good
You are the Saviour living and true
You are the Word made flesh and blood
So here we are on our knees again giving thanks to you

[tinkerbell]

 THE BALLAD OF THE WARRIOR MONK

The pious knight with the dark blue eyes
climbed his tower to stand
and gaze with rage and avarice
towards the Holy Land

He swore faith to his lady
and with his son exchanged
pendants with rare jewels inlaid
set on a silver chain

Four months they marched through Europe
to reach Jerusalem
and there attacked and massacred
the citizens within

Now in the pious knight's quarters
he raped a Muslim maid
but as he slept she stripped his chain
and her escape she made

Edessa, long years after
the knight lived in swank
his zealous family settlers there
and his son a warrior monk

But of the pendant he had lied
till he came to his death-bed
then to his son the truth described
and left him desolate

Now vivid dreams assailed the monk
where a horseman galloped by
on a stallion with glistening flanks
a Moor with dark blue eyes

While all across the desert
tribe with tribe made cause
to rise and wage Jihad
against the Crusaders

An army under Saladin
they reached Edessa's walls
and laid siege to the horde within
but they refused to fall

So as the siege machines rolled in
they dug beneath the rise
and down among the earth and stone
was a Moor with dark blue eyes

And when the tunnels reached the core
the Templars lay in wait
and in the battle monk and Moor
both felt the charge of fate

They closed together fiercely
clashing blade on blade
until the Moor's breast was pierced
and on the ground was laid

The monk wrenched off his helmet
and met his dark blue eyes
and as he lay there living yet
his father recognised

He tore the mail from his neck and saw
the pendant on its chain -
Now by these jewels' spell I know
my brother I have slain

The monk raised his head and cried
my curse upon these wars
my curse upon all pious lies
my curse for a thousand years

He rode out as Edessa fell
into the wilderness
where his spirit wanders still
and his curse still rests

[tinkerbell]

THE DAMNED MAN’S POLKA
Drunk as a kite and high as a skunk
I rolled by the river among the junk
feet in the gutter, eyes on the spire,
when I reached his figure hunched by the fire
I thought he was naked, covered in dirt
but he was wearing a stained hairshirt
and bowed as he was with head downcast
I knew him somewhere from the past
He put out a hand without looking round
and pinned my ankle to the ground
and he said, Did you think you could go free?
Now you’re here to dance with me

Oh Jeez no, I cried, don’t land me with the joker
He said, that’s the kind of hand you need
when you dance the damned man’s polka

He rose and he thrust his face near mine
eyes like marble, seared and blind
ears and nose scaled with rind
the sealed mask of a sealed mind
But his mouth was a crater from cheek to cheek
which deepened with each word he’d speak
flecks of blood on his broken teeth
an open scar carved to preach
And I could feel from the waist down
he was naked as the day he was born
but just a mesh of skin and bone
as he pressed his body against mine

Oh Jeez no, I cried....

He clamoured as he swung me round
You were lost, boy, now you’re found
Be cleansed of your impurity
and set the pilgrim in you free
What ties you to your friends forsake
What binds you to your children break
The love of women weakens you
Only the love of power is true
So turn to the path of righteousness
and all your frailties confess
Yield to me all you possess
and I’ll lead you through the wilderness

Oh Jeez no, I cried...

I shook like a leaf, I was weak with thirst
but I knew he had me if I fell first
He told me to get on my knees and pray
And I said, They shoot horses, don’t they?
He grew more and more hallucinatory
So many tyrants I could see
from Cromwell turning reels with me
to the Ayatollah Khomeini
And he said, All men are born to serve
a master who commands their love
so crusade for my holy cause
and seize the road to paradise

Oh Jeez no, I cried...

Now I fought all night to break the dance
until I fell into a trance
and I looked into his promised land
where faiths collide and power commands
Then I saw the eternal killing field
where sons and fathers fall in war
and I spat into his mouth and swore
I’d break his back before I yield
So suddenly I was alone
wrestling shadows all my own
and I laughed as I walked into the dawn-
Sure, everybody must get stoned

Oh Jeez no, I cried, don't land me with the joker
He said, That's the kind of hand you need
To dance the damned man's polka

And that's it!

[Sid]

That must be the only song to contain the word hallucinatory 
Top stuff again Nick, don't how you do it.  So when will you be starting the follow up to the follow up to the new album then 
And while  were at it, is your piece in the new Rock 'n' Reel or will it be in a later edition (can't wait to read it).