Lyrics
Vintage Violence
- Hello There
- Gideon's Bible
- Adelaide
- Big White Cloud
- Cleo
- Please
- Charlemagne
- Bring It On Up
- Amsterdam
- Ghost Story
- Fairweather Friend
Hello There
Hooked up on a fishing line,
Looking for the break of day
I've never been here before anyway
Its the line in my feet that's to blame.
Settled down in the mud
Giving everybody blood
It's just not such a beautiful thing to do.
Left the castle in Spain
In an ambulance all the way
Could it be that the clock's really stopped?
Hello, there.
Everybody, when's the next train out of here?
I'm sorry, but I'm much too young for this
I'll come back again next year.
He came to lend a helping hand
To the miller and the butcher's men
Someone took the tuba for a pony ride
And the music sounded so much better.
Taking turns having fun
When there's not enough sun
It was midnight when the chorus came
Then the piano collapsed in a heap on the grass
And they blamed it on a rock 'n roll song
Hello, there.
Everybody, when's the next train out of here?
I'm sorry but I'm much too young for this
I'll come back again next year.
Yes I'll come back again next year.
[top]
Gideon's Bible
Holding on, with both eyes, to things that don't exist
Peering through the cutting wrist, at grand old mother greedy
Rolling out the cotton ship, upon the carpet pillow
Throttling children callously, a messy day with Clancy
Gideon lied and Gideon died
The force of China felt
Gideon smiled as Gideon died
The thought of China held.
Rolling out the golden robes and other foreign language
Stretching out the verbs and nouns together in the greeting
Some that felt the blade often, some deep confused emotion
Struck eye first against the wall of China under fire.
Gideon lied and Gideon died
The force of China felt
Gideon smiled as Gideon died
The thought of China held.
[top]
Adelaide
I want to go home, I want to go home
I want to go back to Adelaide
It's time for a change, don't want to be late
It's probably night in Adelaide
In a day or two, I'll be there asking for you
To come back to Adelaide with me
The weather there is so good.
So pass me the phone, I'll go it alone
I'll whistle my way to Adelaide
There's no time to cry, I'll be there tonight
The trains and the boats and planes are on time.
But before I go, I'm knock-knocking on your front door
Be sure to say good-bye to your friends
And to all my friends back home.
But before I go, I'm knock-knocking on your front door
Be sure to say good-bye to your friends
And to all my friends back home.
Oh, Adelaide, Adelaide, I want you tonight
Adelaide, Adelaide, I want you tonight
[top]
Big White Cloud
When I stand, my back to the sea
A big white cloud, looking right down on me
Sound of sun, missing my eyes
Everything's clear, everything's bright
Big white cloud, big white cloud
Big white cloud on me
Big white cloud, big white cloud
Big white cloud on me.
Time to kill on the hill
Looking at bees, licking the trees
Looking for signs ....................
Oh how I love you,
Yes how I love you
Oh how I love you so.
Oh how I love you,
Yes how I love you
Oh how I love you so.
After all is said and done
Everything, is just like it began
Days that came, years again
Came in here once again
Oh how I love you,
Yes how I love you
Oh how I love you so.
Oh how I love you,
Yes how I love you
Oh how I love you so.
[top]
Cleo
Cleo, Cleo, won't you come around and play girl
Cleo, Cleo, won't you come around and stay girl
You can find the lines to say, if you try
Someone else has just confessed
To drinking up all your wine.
Cleo, Cleo, there's a way for you to find out
How you should say, what you think is the way out
Will you, won't you, will you see me through
Maybe you could help me find a thing or two about you.
Cleo, Cleo, now's the time for you to tell me
If you, want to, you can leave it up to me girl
After you have told me what you wanna do
I could tell you, that I loved you, if I thought that it would be true.
Cleo, Cleo, Oh Cleo I want you, me oh my.
Oh Cleo I want you, me oh my.
[top]
Please
Won't you help me please,
I'm growing old
A million years ago
Won't you help me sneeze,
I've caught a cold
Another way to go
Just hold on tightly
This shows on my breed
They speak so very slow
It gets so hard to follow
Slowly in the mist of captive eyes
To carry you from home
Hansom cab again from dawn till dusk
My power amphibious bride
I'll just leave you here like this
I'm sure you won't be missed
Before this night is done
These words won't seem so wrong.
Oh it can't be that bad
Back up in Trinidad
Come down and see me soon
When you get back from the moon.
[top]
Charlemagne
The manager is waiting to be paid
Along with priests and deacons of his court
A quartermaster, quite a man, a mistress of the line
Has found a last cent avenue of pain
A Mardi Gras just passed this way a while ago
Making hungry people of us all
Along the Mississippi you can hear the fiddlers play
Fandangos and boleros to the lord
Many times, many tried,
Simple stories are the best
Keep in mind, the wishful kind,
Don't wanna be like all the rest.
My uncle was a vicar in the big parade
Selling fountain pens that never write
San Sebastian gamblers never cheat nor lie
They know good fences make good neighbours
I wish I knew what time of year it was
What kind of people will be there
When gruesome tales of two cities ran
Running all the way
Father might have heard his prayers were answered
Inhibitions all the way from home
Consider now, consider then before the deed is done
The blood of consolation runs so true
Many times, many tried,
Simple stories are the best
Keep in mind, the wishful kind,
Don't wanna be like all the rest
[top]
Bring it on Up
Everybody's praying for the rains to come
And the snow is gonna fall, down on me
Lost up in the desert with a gun in my hand
And the locust gonna come to find me.
Started long ago, in my paper cup saloon
And the back-room boys still carrying that same old tune
We've just one bottle left, standing on the shelf
I'd better bring it on up, I'd better bring it on up
Time to get the wagon, and in the back of the car
With the sheriff and me, singing out of key
Sooner then than later, I was up behind bars
With that empty bowl laughing right at me
Started long ago, in my paper cup saloon
And the back-room boys still carrying that same old tune
Just one bottle left, standing on the shelf
I'd better bring it on up, I'd better bring it on up
[top]
Amsterdam
She's back from Amsterdam
And I think the journey did her well
Her face has lost it's touch
The tell tale signs of loneliness inside
But I love her still
And need her company still more
Come down, come down once more
And I think, the journey, did her well
She says she fell in love
With men who knew the way to treat a lady
Her life has settled for the best of things
That I couldn't give her
And it's not her fault, she's not the one to blame
Come down, come down, come down once more
And I do believe the journey did her well
Yes I do believe the journey did her well.
[top]
Ghost Story
It was seven o'clock in the morning
Too late to handle the day
At home it was only two thirty
The skin on my wrists turning grey
Stood up, wished us good luck
He changed his attitudes twice
The box in the corner shivered in fear
He was tired and hungry for days.
The next year she bought a new stomach
From Liverpool made in Detroit
Constantly passing old matches
Some sentries and millionaires
Who did? Gallagher did
The same old thing every time
Gave up, more empty cups
They were tired and hungry for nights.
It made life a little easier
To have Holland on the run
It didn't take that long to forget her
My old man and his gun
Rushed out, lions about
Wasting away on advice
A hundred and three, 400 or more
It'll haunt you for the rest of your life
[top]
Fairweather Friend
Words and music: Garland Jeffreys
Board boy, board boy, rolling down the road Board boy, board boy, what have you been told
Do you wear your jeans of blue?
Oh that way is paved with gold
Board boy, board boy what have you been sold
Yes boy, no boy, you don't have to use your head
It's alright boy, you can use your feet instead
You don't have to worry about the French emissary
You don't have to dread
Board boy, board boy, just listen to what I have said
You can ask my poor old fairweather friend
If the hills are hard to find
If the misty mountain tops of May
That'll make us change their minds.
Board boy, board boy, rolling down the road
Board boy, board boy, what have you been told.
You can smell the means by which your secret signs do unfold
Board boy, board boy, rolling down the road.