Track Listing:

1. Apparition No.12

2. Holding Your Hand

3. This Girl Is Taking Bets

4. Saviours and All

5. St Luke’s Summer

6. The Things We Never Said

7. Seen It All Before

8. Benzedrine

9. Movie Kisses

10. Take Me Home

11. Keep Up

12. Saying Nothing

13. Inverigo

14. Fever Beats (video)

NB. Fever Beats Video only on re-issued album

Lyrics

Apparition No. 12

Hey now my red
Clouds're rolling in
To catalogue and number every stone cold dream
And I've seen Sal thumbing his way up to the stars
I've seen angels in the shooting galleries
And heroes in the bars

I've seen a death warrant out on the moon
I saw what happened when the prophet spoke too soon
And I heard the radio sneeze into the evening
And all the bat-squeak singers selling fake hope to the sleeping

I've seen the cover up of cold hard facts
Burning acid holes in the magazine racks
I saw Jenny have a baby in the street
Where they're playing blind mans bluff between the dying and the concrete

I've seen a paper corpse holing up a doorway
I heard the lonely voices singing "yeah I did it your way"
And I held the future up to a looking glass
It bears a striking resemblance
To the embers of the past

I've seen the chorus-girls the ribbon and the rot
Seen electoral debates on the glass-rim of a whiskey shot
And I caught the glimmer in a hurricanes eye
I’ve seen these AK-47's with their noses to the sky

I smelled the ghosts of the ashes and the orchids
I've got promises tattooed on the insides of my eyelids
And I'll be watching when the Richter reaches 10
I bled by these weapons babe and now I'm one of them.


Holding Your Hand

I'm gonna haunt you
I'm gonna haunt you
Through the playgrounds
Through the fires
You'll be saluting at the stars
And I'll be holding your hand

I'm gonna haunt you
I'm gonna haunt you
Out on the other side of luck
Where every business deal is struck
I'll be holding your hand

Yeah Yeah
I'll be holding your hand

I'm gonna haunt you
I'm gonna haunt you
In your ashes and your smoke
Like the punch line to a joke
I'll be holding your hand

I'm gonna haunt you
I'm gonna haunt you
On every knife edge
Every trip
And on every needle tip
I'll be holding your hand

Yeah yeah
I'll be holding your hand


This Girl Is Taking Bets

Am
This Girl is a stencil of a brushstroke in the rain
E Am
She’s a ghost of the city she’s a body through the windscreen
This girl is the snowfall where the spring should have been
E Am
She’s the stains on the pages of a top shelf magazine

This girl is a black eye she’s a bruise on your knee
E Am
She’s the ashes of the people that you really meant to be
This girl’s the resurrection she’s the comeback
E Am
She’s the absinthe and whiskey she is poetry and Prozac

F G
Am
This girl is taking bets this girl’s a silhouette cant you see

Am
This girl is the flutter of fake lashes in the mirror
E Am
She’s a ragged edged fedora or a Spanish souvenir
This girl is the clean cut she’s the frozen ground
E
She’s a knife drawn down the side street when there's no-one else around

This girls a forged ticket to a Lloyd Webber show
E Am
She’s the far end of the graveyard up where the nettles grow
This girl is the rainbow in the dewy eyed stares
She’s the name tag on the toe of your long dead love affairs

This girl is taking bets....

Am
This girl is the wild smile the icy stare
E Am
She’s the crackle of the static she’s the curses she's The prayers
This girl is the junkie in the children's matinee
E
She’s the 4 minute warning
Am
She is hell to pay

Am
This girl is the plunge pool she is cocaine and Kodak
E Am
Now she's out setting sail on the ocean of the soundtrack
This girl is the shaking hand the rattling cup
E Am
With a button and a note saying things are looking up


Saviours and All

Did you really believe
It would be
A different voice it
Inevitably
Will all come down to one of two choices
So come on now we've got our sides to pick
There's the shining ocean
And there's Old Nick
But I don't like hellfire
And you get seasick

And Oh here it comes, here it comes, here it comes now darling
Oh here it comes, here it comes, here it comes free falling
Oh you and me, you and me and that old glass ceiling
And the radio the saviours and all

There’re cracks in the road
There’s a pact
Between the ozone and the tarmac
Its closing time
And the drunks
Sing some stray lines of Bacharach
Its too late now to even out the score
As you drain the glass and raise your hand for more
So I'll take cover while you just take the floor

And Oh here it comes, here it comes, here it comes now darling
Oh here it comes, here it comes, here it comes free falling
Oh you and me, you and me and that old glass ceiling
And the radio the saviours and all

Baby is it drama is it comedy
You know my character witness just went down for perjury
Any-one else got any good ideas
Or will we just lay low until the black smoke clears

And Oh here it comes, here it comes, here it comes now darling
Oh here it comes, here it comes, here it comes free falling
Oh you and me, you and me and that old glass ceiling
And the radio the saviours and all


St Luke's Summer

Propped my eyes open with some chemistry
I've got a three hour drive and a man to see
The blue bruised sky is closing in
Cover up well because it looks like rain

She got Tiffany earrings from a limejuice sailor
Rich man, poor man, tinker, retailer
Casey Jones working on the SP line
Has got the union at his throat and he's running out of time

So blow the man down boys
Yeah blow the man down boys
And the tricks that he employs
Are buried in this St Luke's summer noise

She asked the electorate to cut a little slack
Waving a litre of whiskey and a union jack
Saying I'm not in the business of right and wrong
So lets get by on a wing and a folk song

And Jesus went to talk to Omie Wise
She said I never did trust religious guys
And the heat is rising from Octobers throat
She says uptown boy
Hey can you dance the tango?

So blow the man down boys...........

Call up the captain we've got Kreuger on the line
He's got a box of chocolates and a valentine
And MI5 have got a bone to pick with Moses
While Matthew and the big guy just play ring-around-the-roses

A pearl knit sweater and a gasoline rag
He's got a fistful of stars and an old dog tag
Get to Parchman Farm by number 9 bus
And send the children to the gum tree to wake up Nicodemus

So blow the man down boys..........


The Things We Never Said

Could you say that again babe
I've not heard that one before
You're looking four years older
You're looking for the door
I lipsticked "Fuck You" on the mirror
As a mark of my respect
And wandered out into the street
Well what the hell did you expect
And the old laundrette is hissing our song
Like it doesn't give a damn
And the cars are all french kissing
In some lonely traffic jam
And I've been talking to the radio
Cos it doesn't answer back telling it
How they showed our love in monochrome
Before it all turned black....

There's the sand, There's the spade
That dug the trenches that we made
Babe our foundations are built on all the things
We never said.

I dressed myself up in tin plate armour
But you got me in the end
Yeah you really sunk your teeth in
Spitting all that sweet pretence
But I'm pretty good at curtain calls
In fact I've been practising my swan song
And you keep trying to tell me that
You'd been trying to tell me all along....

There's the sand, There's the spade
That dug the trenches that we made
Babe our foundations are built on all the things
We never said.

Here's hoping you and her are happy
A little fairy tale to be
Hope you stay together and don't pollute
Any more fish in the sea
And next time I bump into you
Put your hands where I can see them
So that I can strip search your eyes
To check for any hidden feeling.


Seen It All Before

Kerosene Kathy is bringing in the mail
Its a 50/50 choice
Pass go or go to jail
You can see her with her matches on the pavement in the rain
Glowing by the light of this southbound train

She's shouting good Christian soldiers stamp their ration book with failure
And twinkle little Stalin's hung his hat up on my nail you're
Gonna wish you had of fought
When your last breath comes
Cos we never want for nothing 'cept a little freedom

And I've seen it all before
And I've seen it all before

Well they brought me to the bars when I was fourteen
A sexy little girl and a seedy little magazine
The painted out my life
On a page of black and white
Cos there's no call for justice when you're dealing in spite

And I landed on a tightrope on the hookline of a dare
A little ragged at the edges but not beyond repair
With a hole in every pocket and half a bag of tricks
But it was nothing that a tenner and a bullet couldn't fix

And I've seen it all before
And my money is on anger
They say the form is good
They say the odds are stacked
And this side of Birmingham's a good place to be
When they finally light the match
And I've seen it all before

Just wait till they see me out on the front page
Just wait till they remember how they stroked this rage
Shining like a penny in the back slum gutter
Like a single note sonata in the train conductors stutter

Make sure they get to see me when I'm hanging from the ceiling
Get each detail of exactly how they're feeling
Cos Five have got the rights to the docu-soap shows
They'll buy the truth off with some donuts and a sweet red rose
And I've seen it all before


Benzedrine

Meet me by the key-light moon in the park
They've got their clothes and their diet conscience
But are they art?
Riot squad, the old mod, his perfume tears
Singing if you wanna do it right
Right then
Do it right here

And oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling
Benzedrine

Pock-marked self indulgence taking to the stage
They are powdering their noses with each critical acclaim
And Sam-I-Am fighting hard and clicking down the gears
Singing if you wanna do it right
Right then
Do it right here

And oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling
Benzedrine

Road-side manner in the dumb down medicine
You pick me from the gutter and then tell me what a mess I'm in
Your pop-picked junkies and their global saccharine
Give us something stronger 'til we all join in again

And oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling
Benzedrine

Cross culture, camera courters, candy for the masses
They are firing every pixel to give boundaries to the classes
And Bullseye chasing veins like a bee stung bear
Singing if you wanna do it right
Right then
Do it right here

And oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling
Benzedrine


Movie Kisses

Tell me
Are you really leaving?
I fell so far
I'm almost on the ceiling
You said I've got a way with words
I'm not so sure
But baby I know I got away with murder

So then
Here we are full circle
And I'm tired
Of the romantic hard-sell
You know those sentimental lines are where we went wrong
Cos all those movie kisses just last too long.

So lets push the curtains back
Lets give this love a heart attack.

Now babe
Get out your theory
And we can
Explain away the mystery
Cos you painted me in chromakey blue and kept me thin
So I would disappear when you put your landscape in

Guess I had my red shoes on
So strike a match and lets move on

Here it is
The not-so-happy-ending
We've done
Our picket fence defending
We did Bogart and Bacall and now the spotlight's gone and anyway
All those movie kisses just last too long yeah
All those movie kisses just last to long and
All those movie kisses just last too long


Take Me Home

I came in like a jackdaw
On the drift of an outlaw
I heard there's a warrant out
For my arrest
Among the cute little puritans
The ghosts and the hooligans
All tying nooses
I'll willing to bet

But I'm older now
Braver
The wise imitator
You don't know yet but you're gonna
Take me home

I've got the epilogue notes
In the folds of my coat
A new deck of cards
And the shreds of your dream
Between the merry-go-round
And the soldiers of sound
I'm here holding my own Halloween

Cos I’m older now.........

I'm where the smoke folds
On the corner
I'm where the light is arching its back (take me home)

I'm where the oil is meeting the water
And the train's screeching
Down the track (take me home)


Keep Up

Up the sky I will hang out of the window
See its pink veneer
Hear the motorway soprano
And the Front Street road pitches to the river bank
The drivers side is hanging off and rusted
And as for me I don't want to get adjusted
So I'll head out of this cage before they shut the gate

Keep up oh
Keep up

Mr. White boy he's worth a packet
But poor Joe's pickin' fleas off his mohair jacket
Teaching them trapeze every Saturday in the square
And I don't know why she's doing what she's doing
Yeah I'm confused is this rack or is this ruin
Call me when you decide you want her knees up round your ears

Keep Up oh
Keep up

Joe shakes his head says he don't know where the bones is
You'll be six feet down before you catch up with the Jones's
And there you are planning your big getaway so
Strip the sky I will hang out of the window
See its pink veneer
Hear the motorway soprano
And the front street road pitches to the river bank


Saying Nothing

Enter my
November Boy
With eyes like the sea
The radio sings "Love Me Do"
Yeah I agree
And I've used up
Every sentence that
Love has to offer
So silence or
Some recycled line
Now which would you prefer

Here's hoping that you thought to pull your window down cos the
Dogs are still barking Debussey in rounds and the
Night-time noises are leaning to confer
I'm saying nothing it makes my feelings
Just a little louder

Come aboard
This soapbox
Or just pull me down
Been taming rats
In every corner
Of this god-awful town
Its just you and me now
Our alibi's
Have gone off to bed
So its up to us
And our seasoned smiles
To remember what is said

Here's hoping .........

There's something between your teeth
And if you cant stand the heat........

Here's hoping ...............


Inverigo

We are late like a midnight train that’s running nowhere
We are sticks we are stones we are broken bones we are hot air
We are under the guillotine trying to fix our hair

There’s computers clicking binary genius into the night
There are formulas, remedies, reasons, there is hindsight
There's the smell of artillery, There's the sky alight

We are bedrock we're underground we are sharp as the rain
We are gathering pace we are thunder wrapped in cellophane
We are running from the storms of our youth into more of the same

There's a motorway service station on a January day
There's a lunchtime radio show there's the shit that they play
There's the percussion of buttons and keys in a cybercafe

We are some distant TV channel a lesson grown old
We are rhythm and rhyme, partners in crime we are fools gold
We are free as the wind through the trees or so we are told

There's some faded out manuscript paper and an old clarinet
There is cash on the table there's a tapestry alphabet
There's the moon and the tide and all the songs not written yet
There's the moon and the tide and all the songs not written yet