XTC Album

You put your cleanest dirty shirt on
Then you stagger down to meet the dawn
You take a ride upon a bus, it's just a fuss
You know it keeps you born
You get to know a morning face
You get to join the human race
You get to know the world
Has passed you by

Who cares? You might be dead
Who cares? You stayed in bed
Who cares? You wrote the note
Who cares? You might have spoke

Wake up!

You take a snack to fill the gap
And then you're ready for another shift
Your attention was diverted
By the girl who smiled and made the lift
The radio is blaring out
It's in one ear and then it's out
You didn't notice that the record's over

Who cares? You might be dead
Who cares? You stayed in bed
Who cares? You wrote the note
Who cares? You might have spoke

Wake up!

In the road a crowd had gathered
And a man was close to dead
The blood is running down the gutter
While you're yawning, nothing's said
His body's wriggling like an eel
They got no sense, no touch, no feel
Somebody better go and get a blanket

Who cares? You might be dead
Who cares? You stayed in bed
Who cares? You wrote the note
Who cares? You might have spoke

Who cares?

Do something for me, boys
If I should die at sea, boys
Write a little note, boys
Set it off afloat, saying

Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Village and city girls by the quayside
Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Watching and waiting by the sea

Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Quiet or witty girls by the quayside
Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Watching and waiting there for me

I think about your pale arms waving
When I see the caps upon the green
And the rocking roller-coaster ocean
Think about you every night when I'm fathoms asleep
And in my dreams
We are rocking in a similar motion

Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Village and city girls by the quayside
Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Watching and waiting by the sea

Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Quiet or witty girls by the quayside
Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Watching and waiting there for me

I think about the salt sea rolling
Down in pearly tears upon your cheeks
Just like the day the harbour pulled away
I think about your warm white sheets unfolding
The more I have to drink
The more that I can think to say

Do something for me, boys
If I should die at sea, boys
Hey, write a little note, boys
And set it off afloat, saying

Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Village and city girls by the quayside
Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Watching and waiting by the sea

Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Quiet or witty girls by the quayside
Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Watching and waiting there for me

Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Village and city girls by the quayside
Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Watching and waiting by the sea

Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Quiet or witty girls by the quayside
Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Watching and waiting there for me

Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Village and city girls by the quayside
Bless you, bless you, all of you pretty girls
Watching and waiting by the sea

Here he come again
Dress in all that skin
Like he was still human being

Look at he long ears
And he big brown eyes
And with them the truth he is seeing

Isn't it a shame you kicked that girl
Isn't it a shame she kicked you back, jackass

She really shake you donkey up
She really make you donkey up
She really shake you donkey up, quite a packet

She really shake you donkey up
She really make you donkey up
She really shake you donkey up, quite a packet

How she carry you
Over thick and thin
Ice you still dug you spurs in
Now you forced to walk
Laden down with shame
It's not just you back that's hurting

Isn't it a shame you kicked that girl
Isn't it a shame she kicked you back, jackass

She really shake you donkey up
She really make you donkey up
She really shake you donkey up, quite a packet

She really shake you donkey up
She really make you donkey up
She really shake you donkey up, quite a packet

Now children saddle him for riding
Pick a fight with love and she will
Tan your hide in

She really shake you donkey up
She really make you honkey up
She really shake you donkey up

She really shake you donkey up
She really make you donkey up
She really make you donkey up

She really shake you donkey up
She really make you donkey up
She really shake you donkey up, quite a packet

She really shake you donkey up
She really make you donkey up
She really shake you donkey up, quite a packet

Yeee, haw! Shake you donkey!
Yeee, haw! Shake you donkey!
Yeee, haw! Shake you donkey!
Yeee, haw! Shake you donkey...

It's raining on the beach
She inches close but out of reach
The waves look painted on
Seagulls screaming

The sea is warship grey
It whispers "Fool!" then slides away
Black coastline slumbers on
Seagulls screaming kiss her, kiss her

And all the flags that flap on the pier
Spell why on earth do you want
The fog hides much but one thing is clear
She's nearer

Dead deck chairs under shrouds
And life belts gape like minstrel mouths
Her hair still smells of salt
Seagulls screaming kiss her, kiss her
Kiss her, kiss her, kiss her, kiss her
He who hesitates is lost

If you want her, you should tell her
Take her by the hand If you hesitate
If you wait, November wins her November will win her
She returns to sand
So get ahold of the girl

I say I like your coat
Her thank-you tugs my heart afloat
I nearly didn't hear for
Seagulls screaming kiss her, kiss her

He who hesitates is lost

Ah, well, that's this world over
Ah, well, next one begins

Will you smile like any mother
As you bathe your brand-new twins?
Will you sing about the missiles
As you dry odd-numbered limbs?

Ah, well, that's this world over
Ah, well, next one begins
Ah, well, that's this world over
You sadly grin

Will you tell them about that far-off and mythical land
About their leader with the famous face?
Will you tell them that the reason nothing ever grows in the garden anymore
Because he wanted to win the craziest race?
That's this world over

Will you smile like any father
With your children on a Sunday hike?
When you get to a sea of rubble
And they ask, "What was London like?"

Ah, well, that's this world over
Ah, well, next one begins, it begins, it begins
Ah, well, that's this world over
You sadly grin

Will you tell them about that far-off and mythical land
And how a child to the virgin came?
Oh, will you tell them that the reason why we murdered everything upon the surface of the world
So we can stand right up and say we did it in his name?

That's this world over
Or so it seems
That's this world over
The end of dreams

That's this world over, over, over and out
That's this world over, over, over and out
That's this world over, over, over and out
That's this world over, over, over and out
That's this world over, over, over and out

Smalltown, snoring under blankets
Woken by the clank
It's just the milkman's dawn round
Smalltown, hiding undercovers
The lodgers and the lovers
Are asleep 'round Smalltown

Shiney grey black snake of bikes
He slithers
Bearing up the men and boys
To work
We're standing in poplar lines
Making alarm clocks that'll wake our wives up
Don't ask us, we haven't the time
We're racing the hooter that'll signal life's up

Smalltown, crouching in the valley
Woken by the Sally Army
Sunday marchround
Smalltown, coughing in the toilet
Who on earth would spoil it
Would they pull down Smalltown?

If it's all the same to you
Mrs Progress
Think I'll drink my Oxo up
And get away
It's not that you're repulsive to see
In your brand new catalogue nylon nightie
You're too fast for little old me
Next you'll be telling me it's 1990

I have lived here for a thousand years or maybe more
And I've sheltered all the children who have fought the wars
And as payment they make love in me
In squeaky beds
In bicycle sheds
Inside of their heads
As singles and weds
As Tories and Reds
And that's how I'm fed
And that's how I'm fed

Smalltown, snoring under blankets
Woken by the clank
It's just the milkman's dawn round
Smalltown, hiding undercovers
The lodgers and the lovers
Are asleep 'round Smalltown

Smalltown, crouching in the valley
Woken by the Sally Army
Sunday marchround
Smalltown, coughing in the toilet
Now who on earth would spoil it
Will you pull down Smalltown

Smalltown
Smalltown

I bought myself a liarbird
He came with free drinks just to blur
The lies falling out like rain
On an average English summer's afternoon

I bought myself a new notebook
Sharpened my guitar and went to look
If this biz was just as bongo as the liarbird made out

All he would say
Is "I can make you famous"
All he would say
All he would say
"Just like a household name" is
All he would say

Methinks world is for you
Made of what you believe
If it's false or if it's true
You can read it in your bible
Or on the back of this record sleeve

I bought myself a liarbird
Things got more and more absurd
It changed to a cuckoo
And expanded filling up with all I gave

I bought myself a big mistake
He grew too greedy, bough will break
And then we will find that liarbirds
Are really flightless on their own

All he would say
Is '"I can make you famous"
All he would say
All he would say
"Just like a household name" is
All he would say

Methinks world is for you
There's no handing it back
If it's false or it's true
You can read it in your prayer book
Or on the side of a cornflake pack

I gave away a liarbird
A couple less drinks and now I've heard
The truth shining out like sun
On an average English winter's afternoon

Reign of blows
Reign of blows
Reign of blows cascading down upon your shoulders
Far too many men dressed up as soldiers
The lamb is brought to the ground
Under the weight of the Crown
A crown of thorns and dark deeds
The swastika and the hammer and symbol
Are sickles that reap only weeds

Reign of blows
Reign of blows
Reign of blows precedes a storm of revolution
People have no place in their solution
So torture raises its head
Decked out in blue, white, and red
And iron maidens will slam
And by the half light of burning republics
Joe Stalin looks just like Uncle Sam

Reign of blows
Reign of blows
Reign of blows has washed away the corpse of Abel,
Cain is now the king in every Babel
I just don't care who you are
When death draws up in his car
And talks in terrorist tones
Remember violence is only a vote for the
Black Queen to take back the throne

Reign of blows

What was I supposed to do?
I turned around with the world and she simply was there
My blood ran like ice right through
She had your face and your lips
And your eyes and your hair

You're the wish you are I had
You're the wish you are I had
You're the wish that I had

I wonder if she knows that when I made her up
I made her eat an apple
And I made her drink a cup or two

Wish wish wish wish wish
Wish wish wish wish wish for you

Who'd believe me if I said
I brought an angel to earth by the power of mind
Think I'm going off my head

She caught the same bus as me and she sat down behind

You're the wish you are I had
You're the wish you are I had
You're the wish that I had

Little did I know that on a rainy day
All the little wishes I had put away
Would bring you

Wish wish wish wish wish
Wish wish wish wish wish for you

Well if wishing is bad bad bad
Then send me to hell hell hell
But if you take my wish away
Then this cold world would burn as well

You're the wish you are I had

Hot as golden sand in fields
We whiled away the hours
I'm thinking of the days we had
Enormous superpowers

Yes, I'm sleeping, my mind's on the blink
I thought a page like it's written in ink
When I remember distant days
I remember many things

But most of all (I remember the sun)
Most of all (I remember the sun)
Most of all (I remember the sun)

Squinting at the sun through eyes
Screwed up by a fireball
Tarmac on the road is soft
Chaff burns in a smoke wall

Yes, I'm weeping, a teardrop attack
I give emotion at the drop of a hat
When I remember days at school
I remember many things

But most of all (I remember the sun)
Most of all (I remember the sun)
Most of all (I remember the sun)

Sun that worked on overtime
Fueled our bodies, kindled fire in our minds
Burning scars soon disappear
Like heat that hangs like water on the road

But most of all (I remember the sun)
Most of all (I remember the sun)
Most of all (I remember the sun)
(Most of all) I remember the sun
(Most of all) I remember the sun
(Most of all) I remember the sun
I remember (The sun)
I remember

Me train running low on soul coal
They push and pull tactics are driving me loco
They shouldn't do that no no no
They shouldn't do that

Me train running low on dream steam
They pull me whistle too hard me bound to scream
And they shouldn't do that no no no
They shouldn't do that

Think I'm going south for the winter
Think I'm going mad in this hinterland
Between young and old
I'm a thirty year old puppy doing what I'm told
And I'm told there's no more coal
For the older engines
Me train running low on soul coal

Think I'm going south for the winter
Think I'm going west and my sprinter's speed
Is reduced to a crawl
My rails went straight, but straight into the wall
It's the wall on which they dash the older engines

And all my servants are leaving
Imagination gone packing
Can't find the wound from where I'm bleeding
He's just a nut and he's cracking

Hammer goes down
Brakes all scream
Me and a couple of empty carriages
Slide down hill still
Next stop bad dreamsville

Think I'm going south for the winter
Me train running low on soul coal.