1.13 Steps Lead Down
When nobody knows she puts on secret clothes
And lies in the meadow with her hands tied behind her back
I won't refuse if you know how to use it
Just stop playing that ugly drug music
Chorus：
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
There's commoners and kings
And everyone's a prisoner of
Paper and glue
And a decent pair of scissors
So tonight i'm drinking to your health
Because i just can't stand myself
She stands and fails
On fashion fingernails
Her lovers have her walking 'round
On instruments of torture
And one of them is poisonous
The other is a thief they say
So what one could give to her
The other cannot take away
When nobody knows she puts on secret clothes
And lies in her splendour for a picture opportunity
Cover up that bruise, put on patent leather shoes
Just stop playing that bad mood music
Chorus
2.All The Rage
1-2-3,2-2-3
The twitching impulses to speak your mind
I'll lend you my microscope and maybe you will find it
Is it in that ugly place that's just behind your face
Where you keep my picture still despite the fact
That you had me replaced
Chorus：
Say 'goodbye'
Baby can't you act your age？
You know why
I'm going to give it to you straight
Although i'll never be
Unhappy as you want me to be
Still it's all the rage
I'll probably play along
Left to my own devices
Spare me the drone of your advice
The sins of garter and gin
Confession may delay
You know the measuring pole
The merry boots of clay
I've heard it all before
You'll say it anyway
Chorus
Alone with your tweezers and your handkerchief
You murder time and truth, love, laughter and belief
So don't try to touch my heart, it's darker than you think
And don't try to read my mind because it's full of disappearing
ink
Chorus
Although i'll never be
Unhappy as you want me to be
Still it's all the rage
3.All This Useless Beauty
It's at times such as this she'd be tempted to spit
If she wasn't so ladylike
She imagines how she might have lived
Back when legends and history collide
So she looks to her prince finding he's so charmingly
Slumped at her side
Those days are recalled on the gallery wall
And she's waiting for passion or humour to strike
What shall we do, what shall we do with all this useless beauty？
All this useless beauty
Good friday arrived, the sky darkened on time
'til he almost began to negotiate
She held his head like a baby and said 'it's okay if you cry'
Now he wants her to dress as if you couldn't guess
He desires to impress his associates
But he's part ugly beast and hellenic deceased
So she finds that the mixture is hard to deny
Chorus
She won't practice the looks from the great tragic books
That were later disgraced to face celluloid
It won't even make sense but you can bet
If she isn't a sweetheart or plaything or pet
The film turns her into an unveiled threat
Nonsense prevails, modesty fails
Grace and virtue turn into stupidity
While the calendar fades almost all barricades to a pale
compromise
And our leaders have feasts on the backsides of beasts
They still think they're the gods of antiquity
If something you missed didn't even exist
It was just an ideal -- is it such a surprise？
4.Couldn't Call It Unexpected No.4
I saw a girl who'd found her consolation
She said 'one day my prince of peace will come'
Above her head a portrait of her father
The wilted favour that he gave her still fastened to the frame
'they've got his bones and everything he owns
I've got his name'
Well you can laugh at this sentimental story
But in time you'll have to make amends
The sudden chill where lovers doubt their immortality
As the clouds cover the sky the evening ends
Describing a picture of eyes finally closing
As you sometimes glimpse terrible faces in the fire
We'll i'm the lucky goon
Who composed this tune
From birds arranged on the high wire
Who on earth is tapping at the window？
Does that face still linger at the pane？
I saw you shiver though the room was like a furnace
A shadow of regret across a young mother's face
So toll the bell or rock the cradle
Please don't let me fear anything i cannot explain
I can't believe, i'll never believe in anything again
5.Deep Dark Truthful Mirror
One day you're going to have to face
A deep dark truthful mirror
And it's going to tell you things that i still love you too much
to say
The sky was just a purple bruise, the ground was iron
And you fell all around the town until you looked the same
Chorus：
The same eyes, the same lips, the same lie from
Your tongue trips
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Now the flagstone streets where the newspaper shouts ring to the
boots of roustabouts
But you're never in any doubt, there's something happening
somewhere
You chase down the road 'til your fingers bleed
On a fiberglass tumbleweed
You can blow around the town, but it all shuts down the same
Chorus
So you bay for the boy in the tiger-skin trunks
They set him up, set him up on the stool
He falls down, falls down like a drunk
And you drink 'til you drool
And it's his story you'll flatter
You'll stretch him out like a saint
But the canvas that he splattered will be the
Picture that you never paint
Chorus
A stripping puppet on a liquid stick gets into it pretty thick
A butterfly drinks a turtle's tears, but how do you know he
really needs it？
'cos a butterfly feeds on a dead monkey's hand,
Jesus wept he felt abandoned
You're spellbound baby there's no doubting that
Did you ever see a stare like a persian cat？
Chorus
6.Hurry Down Doomsday
The man in the corner of this picture has a sinister purpose
In the teeming temple of the railroad kings
He's planting a trashy paperback book for accidental purchase
Containing all the secrets of life and other useless things
But i can't bring myself to look
Wake up zombie write yourself another book
You want to scream and shout my little flaxen lout
Hurry down doomsday the bugs are taking over
She sleeps with the shirt of a late, great country singer
Stretched out on her poor jealous husband's pillow
In time you can turn these obsessions into careers
While the parents of those kidnapped children start the bidding
For their tears
But i can't bring myself to look
Wake up zombie
Get yourself off the book
You want to scream and shout my little waxen lout
Hurry down doomsday the bugs are taking over
Forget about beethoven, rembrandt and rock and roll
Forget about mickey mouse, marlboro and coca cola
Forget about cadillac, mercedes and toyota
Forget about buddha, allah, jesus and jehovah
Hurry down doomsday the bugs are taking over
Any day now a giant insect mutation
Will swoop down and devour the white man's burden
Starting out with all of the sensitive ones
Better make like a fly if you don't want to die
Look out there goes gordon
But i can't bring myself to think
Wake up zombie
Kick up a big stink
You want to scream and shout my little saxon lout
Hurry down doomsday the bugs are taking over
7.I Want To Vanish
I want to vanish
This is my fondest wish
To go where i cannot be captured
Laid on a decorated dish
Even in splendor this curious fate
Is more than i care to surrender
Now it's too late
Whether in wonder or indecent haste
You arrange the mirrors and the spools
To snare the rare and precious jewels
That were only made of paste
If you should stumble upon my last remark
I'm crying in the wilderness
I'm trying my best to make it dark
How can i tell you i'm rarer than most
I'm certain as a lost dog
Pondering a sign post
Chorus
I want to vanish
This is my last request
I've given you the awful truth
Now give me my rest
8.Kinder Murder
Here in the bar, the boys like to have fun
There's a wager lost and an argument won
There's a stone-washed damsel on a junk food run
It's a kinder murder
There's a ladder to heaven from a battered stiletto
Spitting out the words that he put into her mouth
See her in silhouette going down south
It's a kinder murder
It's a kinder murder
She could have kept her knees together
Should have kept her mouth shut
It's a kinder murder
It's a kinder murder
Jimmy took her down to the perimeter fence
He was back in half an hour, he said he left her senseless
Then he went back to his regiment
It's a kinder murder
The officer said it has to be denied
There's a tear-stained would-be teenage bride
All the family pride in the little ram-rider
It's a kinder murder
It's a kinder murder
She could have kept her knees together
Should have kept her mouth shut
It's a kinder murder
It's a kinder murder
The child went missing and the photo fit his face
Dishonoured jimmy just read about the case
He said that he was just taking up space
It's a kinder murder
Jimmy took his best friend's keys from the pile on the table in
a flash
He was dreaming of the pigskin seats and the walnut dash
The knickers in her handbag and the one false eyelash
It's a kinder murder
It's a kinder murder
She could have kept her knees together
Could have kept her mouth shut
9.London's Brilliant Parade
Outside my window
Not long before sleep arrives
They come with their sirens
And they sweep away all the boys
Busy draining the joy from their lives
They never said their prayers out loud
And while i'm dreaming
There's a passing motor car
That broadcasts a popular song
And a girl appears to be saying
'do you think that i'm going to go far？'
First chorus：
Just look at me
I'm having the time of my life
Or something quite like it
When i'm walking out and about
In london's brilliant parade
She's one of those girls that you just can't place
You feel guilty desiring such an innocent face
But of course they knew that when they cast her
Along with the red routemaster
And the film takes place in an mgb
And a perfect re-creation of 'the speakeasy'
Everybody looks happy and twisted
Though she probably never existed
For old times' sake
Don't let me awake
I wouldn't want you to walk across hungerford bridge
Especially at twilight
Looking through the bolts and the girders
Into the water below
You'll never find your answer there
They sounded the 'all-clear' in the occidental bazaar
They used to call oxford street
Now the bankrupt souls in the city
Are finally tasting defeat
Second chorus：
Don't look at me
I'm having the time of my life
Or something quite like it
When i'm walking out and about
In london's brilliant parade
When i'm walking out and about
In london's brilliant parade
From the gates of st. mary's, there were horses in olympia
And a trolley bus in fulham broadway
The lions and the tigers in regents park
Couldn't pay their way
And now they're not the only ones
At the hammersmith palais
In kensington and camden town
There's a part that i used to play;
The lovely diorama is really part of the drama, i'd say
10.My Dark Life
She says, nobody wants to believe
You're the same as
Everyone
What makes makes me
Unique
My dark life
There was a kink in the
World
Sent that statue
Tumbling
An invitation east
So we can watch it all
Crumbling
She came on like a light
And so softly she spoke
You don't know
You don't know about
My dark life
And you think you're a
Guest
You're a tourist at best
Peering into the
Corners of
My dark life
Now that you, you tear
Your dreams
From consumptive
Ballerinas
She'll stand on tiptoe
For you
In a grey and tattered
Tutu
She stay's where
She is
Cause of voyeurs like
These
With an accusative look
That says
My dark life
Rubber men await you
There
In each beguiling alley
To shake you and to
Pierce you and remind you of
My dark life
Enter the pious elite
In their preening finery
And bang the tambourine
They're dining on rice
Paper scenery
See how the villain
Attracts
Envious glances from
Everyone
She's waitressing by day
It doesn't bring in
Much money now
And as strong concealed
Arms
Set off bells and alarms
In the strangest
Locations of
My dark life
But the fantasies
Slipped
As he tipped her in
Cigarettes
She tries to smile very
Graciously
When she wants to kill
Him
Now the victory is sweet
You get down upon your
Knees
It's the perfect
Position
For kissing west on
Leather
So they came from ugly,
Texas
And from nameless,
Tennesee
From peculiar, missouri
And from places closer
To me
All the cream of
Heartless england
Cheer the carnival is
Over
And members of army
Bandsmen
Played america the
Beautiful
11.Poor Fractured Atlas
He's out in the woods with his squirrel gun
To try to recapture his anger
He's screaming some words at the top of his lungs
Until he begins to feel younger
But back at his desk in the city we find
Our trembling punch-drunken fighter
Who can't find the strength now to punish the length
Of the ribbon in his little typewriter
Poor fractured atlas
Threw himself across the mattress
Waving his withering pencil
As if it were a pirate's cutlass
I'm almost certain he's trying to increase his burden
He said 'that's how the child in me planned it;
A woman wouldn't understand it'
I believe there was something that i wanted to say
Before i conclude this epistle
But you would forgive me for holding my tongue
'cause man made the blade and the pistol
Yes man made the waterfall over the dam
To temper his tantrum with magic
Now you can't be sure of that tent of azure
Since he punched a hole in the fabric
Chorus
A woman wouldn't understand it
A woman wouldn't understand it
12.So Like Candy
Here lies the powder and perfume
The pretty clothes are scattered 'round the room
And it's so like candy
Here lies the lipstick and the face
The coloured tablets keep it all in place
And it's so like candy
So like candy
Chorus
What did i do to make her go
Why must she be the one
That i have to love
So like candy
Here lies a picture of a girl
Her arms are tight around that lucky guy
And it's so like candy
And in her eyes a certain look
I thought i'd seen the last of long ago
And it's so like candy
So like candy
Chorus
I remember the day that picture was taken
We were so happy then
But that's so like candy
She seemed so sweet to me i was mistaken
Oh no not that again
But that's so like candy
She just can't face the day
So she turns and melts away
Here lie the records that she scratched
And on the sleeve i find a note attached
And it's so like candy
'my darling dear it's such a waste'
She couldn't say 'goodbye', but 'i admire your taste'
And it's so like candy
So like candy
13.Sulky Girl
She wears a wedding ring her sister lent
To throw them off the scent
Just let them guess, it's what they expect
Who in the world has bitten her neck？
She's discovered wearing last night's dress
The carnal and cunning, she couldn't express
Who do you think she's trying to impress？
Chorus：
I think you'd better hold your tongue
Although you've never been that strong
I'm sorry to say that i knew all along
You're no match for that sulky girl
She left her european town
Before she let the family down
She couldn't stand the massacre game
So she dyed her hair and adopted another name
With the evidence of passing out stamped on her hand
She glows in the dark
He thinks she's from another planet
Chorus
Sulky girl
I'm sure you look a picture when you cry
Threatening the silent treatment doesn't qualify
It's like money in the bank
Your expression is blank
But while the chance appears
You'll be nearer to tears
He said 'hello, my pretty flower'
Just trying out his tycoon power
Avoiding the mirror, her pitying stare
She said 'you're mistaken, your money's no good in here'
Just some stupid little know-it-all
Who thought she looked easy; he's not that astute
He'll pay for the distance
Between cruelty and beauty
Chorus
So i won't tell you again
What do you gain
By blackening her name
She's smarter than you
Oh isn't it a shame
You're gonna lose that sulky girl
Sulky girl
I saw you practising your blackmail faces
Suddenly you're talking like a duchess
But you're still a waitress
I saw through your pretence
But in my defence
There are a few events
I think will spare the censor
14.The Birds Will Still Be Singing
Summertime withers as the sun descends
He wants to kiss you. will you condescend？
Before you wake and find a chill within your bones
Under a fine canopy of lover's dust and humourous bones
Banish all dismay
Extinguish every sorrow
Eternity stinks, my darling. that's no joke
Don't waste your precious time pretending you're
Heartbroken
There will be tears and candles
Pretty words to say
Spare me lily-white lillies
With the awful perfume of decay
Banish all dismay
Extinguish every sorrow
If i'm lost or i'm forgiven
The birds will still be singing
It's so hard to tear myself away
Even when you know it's over
It's too much to say.
Banish all dismay
Extinguish every sorrow
If i'm lost or i'm forgiven
The birds will still be singing
15.The Bridge I Burned
I'm walking down times square in the electric daylight
The sailors on shore leave stand out in their perfect white.
I'm up here with my spying glass at the window of the world
For better or for worse - it's a perverse universe, my love.
Now i know, i should have never walked over the bridge i burned
Now i know, somehow i don't feel so alone.
You mutter underneath your breath - it echoes round the world
Everybody comes from nowhere.
There is hope, it loops up in the air
Now i know, i should have never walked over the bridge i burned
Now i know, somehow i don't feel so alone.
You said i used to be handsome if you screwed up your eyes
Professors and vampires drank up all the tears i cried.
Now there's a bird at my window, he feeds upon the pain
And sometimes he sings to me - a mocking bird in the twilight of
infamy.
Now i know, i should have never walked over the bridge i burned
Now i know, somehow i don't feel so alone.
Now i know, i should have never walked over the bridge i burned
Now i know, they've burned one sinner and the others are set to
follow
Now i know.
Now i know.
Now i know.
16.The Other Side Of Summer
The sun struggles up another beautiful day
And i felt glad in my own suspicious way
Despite the contradiction and confusion
Felt tragic without reason
There's malice and there's magic in every season
Chorus
From the foaming breakers of the poisonous surf
The other side of summer
To the burning forests in the hills of astroturf
The other side of summer
The automatic gates close up between the shanties and the palace
The blowtorch amusements, the voodoo chalice
The pale pathetic promises that everybody swallows
A teenage girl is crying 'cos she don't look like a million
dollars
So help her if you can
'cos she don't seem to have the attention span
Chorus
Was it a millionaire who said 'imagine no possessions'？
A poor little schoolboy who said 'we don't need no lessons'？
The rabid rebel dogs ransack the shampoo shop
The pop princess is downtown shooting up
And if that goddess if fit for burning
The sun will struggle up the world will still keep turning
Madman standing by the side of the road saying
'look at my eyes, look at my eyes, look at my eyes, look at my
eyes'
Now you can't afford to fake all the drugs your parents used to
take
Because of their mistakes you'd better be wide awake
Chorus
The mightiest rose
The absence of perfume
The casual killers
The military curfew
The cardboard city
An unwanted birthday
The other side of summer
The dancing was desperate, the music was worse
They bury your dreams and dig up the worthless
Goodnight
God bless
And kiss 'goodbye' to the earth
The other side of summer
17.Tramp The Dirt Down
I saw a newspaper picture from the political campaign
A woman was kissing a child, who was obviously in pain
She spills with compassion, as that young child's
Face in her hands she grips
Can you imagine all that greed and avarice
Coming down on that child's lips
Well i hope i don't die too soon
I pray the lord my soul to save
Oh i'll be a good boy, i'm trying so hard to behave
Because there's one thing i know, i'd like to live
Long enough to savour
That's when they finally put you in the ground
I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down
When england was the whore of the world
Margeret was her madam
And the future looked as bright and as clear as
The black tarmacadam
Well i hope that she sleeps well at night, isn't
Haunted by every tiny detail
'cos when she held that lovely face in her hands
All she thought of was betrayal
And now the cynical ones say that it all ends the same in the
long run
Try telling that to the desperate father who just squeezed the
life from his only son
And how it's only voices in your head and dreams you never
dreamt
Try telling him the subtle difference between justice and
contempt
Try telling me she isn't angry with this pitiful discontent
When they flaunt it in your face as you line up for punishment
And then expect you to say 'thank you' straighten up, look proud
and pleased
Because you've only got the symptoms, you haven't got the whole
disease
Just like a schoolboy, whose head's like a tin-can
Filled up with dreams then poured down the drain
Try telling that to the boys on both sides, being blown to bits
or beaten and maimed
Who takes all the glory and none of the shame
Well i hope you live long now, i pray the lord your soul to keep
I think i'll be going before we fold our arms and start to weep
I never thought for a moment that human life could be so cheap
'cos when they finally put you in the ground
They'll stand there laughing and tramp the dirt down
18.Veronica
Is it all in that pretty little head of yours？
What goes on in that place in the dark？
Well i used to know a girl and i would have
Sworn that her name was veronica
Well she used to have a carefree mind of her
Own and a delicate look in her eye
These days i'm afraid she's not even sure if her name is
veronica
Chorus：
Do you suppose, that waiting hands on eyes,
Veronica has gone to hide？
And all the time she laughs at those who shout her name and
steal her clothes
Veronica
Veronica
Did the days drag by？ did the favours wane？
Did he roam down the town all the time？
Will you wake from your dream, with a wolf at
The door, reaching out for veronica
Well it was all of sixty-five years ago
When the world was the street where she lived
And a young man sailed on a ship in the sea
With a picture of veronica
On the 'empress of india'
And as she closed her eyes upon the world and
Picked upon the bones of last week's news
She spoke his name outloud again
Chorus
Veronica sits in her favourite chair and she sits
Very quiet and still
And they call her a name that they never get
Right and if they don't then nobody else will
But she used to have a carefree mind of her
Own, with devilish look in her eye
Saying 'you can call me anything you like, but
My name is veronica'
Chorus
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