Lyrics

(In Alphabetical Order)

_______________________

All You Want

A clock with no face has no hands
No hands to guide it
To guide it through the night
A clock with no face has no sense
No sense of direction
No sense of direction

Nonsense!
Nonsense!

Are you a broken child?
Do you have direction?
Do you? Hmm?
Do you have a hand
To guide you through the night?
Do you? Do you?
Do you ride the carousel?
Would you like to see the show?
Would you like to get away from bittersweet
Bittersweet

Smashing out the stained glass
we could be all you want
Smashing out the spyglass
we could be all you want all you want

Are you a broken clock?
Do you want a full revival?
Do you want some kind of guarantee of your survival?
Do you want a cigarette?
We can take all that we see
So much more than bottled beer and dirty magazines
Are you a broken child?
Do you have direction?
Do you have a hand
A hand to guide you through
To guide you through the night
Would you like to be taken in, my friend?
Right this way to the egress, regret and loss of innocence

Smashing out the stained glass
we could be all you want
Smashing out the spyglass
(don’t look too closely)
we could be all you want
all you want

Almost Imaginary

Moving forward never taking back a sense of freedom
We never stay long we can hide our tracks
Time and space mean nothing when we are
Floating on something
No it is nothing at all
Like when you dream you’re falling
Almost imaginary

Dreams cannot stop us
We will slide through
Dreams cannot stop us
We will slide through
Slippy in thistles invisible
The first time was sidelong and always impossible
Almost too good to be true
This place will never be home but it will do

Floating on something
No it is nothing at all
Like where you dream you’re falling
Almost imaginary

Dreams cannot stop us
We will slide through
Dreams cannot stop us
We will slide through

(Dreams cannot stop us)
Time and space mean everything
(Dreams cannot stop us)
Falling-falling-falling
(Dreams cannot stop us)

Ants Under Glass

Green light flash
The world turns red
I cannot scream
Goliath eyes are turning
The nightmares emerge
The night is cold
I cannot sleep or dare dream
A blinding glare
The massacre of mankind

Another flash
They sweep at night for survivors
A vivid sense of aimless calamity
I am wet to the skin under the rainfall
I cannot scream
A heat wave burst
They have to catch me first

Death is coming

Do I wander alone in this city of smoke
Death is coming
I can hear them killing machines miles away and so close behind me
I drift through the chaos
A bruised and weary man
I see the hell that is here
I see a reason to fear
I see the town where I lived and it is all on fire

Death is coming
Death is coming
Death is coming
Death is near
Death is near

Giants in armor one hundred feet high
no words could ever fully describe
These are the days of hideous panic
spreading like a gout of ink or blood
We are splashing across the butcher paper
The white- hot splendor of alien terror
Like a scene from old’ Pompeii
Cities and families incinerated
I’m stealing a horse if I can find one alive
I expect nothing but thundering death
There is still hope there has to be hope
With a whip and a revolver and I must keep my head

Death is coming (death is near death is near)
Death is coming (there has to be hope)

Black Iron Road

There is a big black bridge and it spans over hundreds of blocks
So those below catch the trash that is thrown
There’s a plague don’t you know going ‘round, a horrible pox
Sick are the shades walking pale and afraid
They sob, “Why, oh when will it stop?”

The bridge it is called Black Iron Road
The red wind it blows

There is a pitch-black bridge a creaking leviathan over us
Some come below with a bullet in their bones
There’s a well in our town where we throw the cold ones down an abyss
Sad are the days waking pale and afraid
Crying, “Why, oh god! Make it stop!”

The bridge it is called the Black Iron Road
The red wind it blows
The bridge it is called the Black Iron Road
The red wind it blows

Thunder is a train
The sky is predatory
The light of the day never comes down this way
The sun will never burn away the murders of the night
Clamor and fight all you like
The scarlet riders still come down on the breeze
Whatever those smoke and grease machines are hauling
Is falling into us
We need another fix real soon

The bridge it is called the Black Iron Road
The red wind it blows

There are ghosts, travelers say
Stay away from the place down below

Carriage Driven Horses

(To be sang by Lillian Wynn):

The driven snow
Shows you home
A sugar cube trail
Behold her pale coat
It is a habit
You cannot run from it
It is a gamble you cannot win
I do not and so you do
I will not and so should you
I halt and so you run
I hurt and so will you

Now you are forest for the trees blind
Like carriage driven horses
You have bit off more than you can

The driven snow
Shows you home
A sugar cube promise
Behold her pale coat
You believe it keeps you
You believe it keeps you warm
I do not and so you do
I will not and so should you
I halt and so you run
I hurt and so will you

Now you are forest for the trees blind
Like carriage driven horses
You have bit off more than you can

Now you are forest for the trees blind
Like carriage driven horses
You have bit off more than you can
Now you are forest for the trees blind
Like carriage driven horses overturning

Chaser

Stranger pick your poison no we do not carry wine
We are glad to know you we already know your kind
Stranger why the hurry here is something to imbibe
A dark and dirty drink called Waiting To Die

It is a lovely eve for a high-strung soul
Through the decay into the watering hole
Change our blood to alcohol and wait for the last call

We raise our cracking glasses to another day in hell
This oasis is the very place the angels fell
What are you afraid of Stranger?
Come on down the bitter brine
Another drink another song and then its closing time

It is a lurvy eve for a vodka soul
Through the wreckage into the watering hole
Change our blood to alcohol and wait for the last call

Stranger wet your whistle with us dregs and ne’er too wells
We are glad for your company I know it’s hard to tell
Stranger where’s the fire?
This round is on the house
A shot of Nice to Know You
From the below the bar it pours and pours

It’s a lurvy eve for drunken show
Through the dismay into the watering hole
Change our blood to alcohol and wait for the last call
Wait for the last call

Dawn/ Worst of All

(Traditional)

Elijah the breaker boy has the black lung
Elijah is one of the lucky few
& it looks to me the rest of his story is no fun at all

The caged bird has flown
Dead and gone like all the others
All the men and the boys
All the boys in the mine

Henry oh Henry the husband of Bonnie
Oh Bonnie your man has left you
& when it feels too cold Bonnie wears her dear Henry’s coat

The caged bird has flown
Dead and gone like the others
Lost in the tunnels
Their narrow coal homes

Worst of all were the children of Quincy
They have a history of wandering
When the ground fell down the twins were never found

The caged bird has flown
Dead and gone like the others
All the rain is a black veil of suffering & it falls on the Caroline Mine

The Caroline Mine
Death and injury
Under the surface
Your sons and mine
Suddenly silent

Dirty Old Silver

Molly
She has a switch and a blade
She got it made in the shadow of doorways
She gets under your skin
She’s a daughter
A daughter of sin

This terrible frame oh the sound of dirty old silver
With a gun in her gowns, she stares you down
Cold, this terrible turn, turn, turn

Olivier
He got one thing on his mind these days
A dream of monies what come and stay
Family, oh how he misses them
He’s a seventh son
A victim of circumstance
He won’t last in this terrible place
Whoa, no!

This terrible frame oh the sound of dirty old silver
With a gun in her gowns, she stares you down
Cold, this terrible place
Ha-ha-ha

Now old Master James
He got one foot in the grave these days
A slave to danger love and laudanum
Mistress Molly, oh how she kisses him
She plays mother
She milks him to the last
No discipline too strict in this terrible thorn

This terrible frame oh the pound of dirty old strange
With a gun in her gowns she stares you down
Cold, this terrible turn, this terrible frame,
this terrible place, this terrible thorn, this terrible lie,
these terrible streets, this terrible night, this terrible life,
this TERRIBLE…!

The Drop

(To be sang by a FILTH PILGRIM):

Remember they will remember you not how you lived
Remember they will remember what you could not give
Always looking out for others was my first mistake
All things to all cost us all more than you think

Mark my words, my dear
You and I have you and me to fear
Here we are at the drop

I am the cream what make your days grow sour
The hour has come I am changing your gold to lead
I should have known you were never one for fighting
I curse your virtue
How could I have trusted you?

Mark my words, my dear old friend
You and I are getting closer to an end
Here we are at the drop

You believe in taking the easy way
I believe in synchronicity
You believe in things I cannot see
I believe in the power of hypocrisy
I am the grain what make the bread go bitter
The winter has come
No more field of dreams
Your kind will delight to my demise
I curse your virtue
A curse on your virtue a curse on your virtue a curse of your virtue

Mark my words my dear
You and I have you and me to fear
Here we are at the drop- at the drop
Mark my words my dear
You and I have you and me to fear
Here we are at the drop

Mark my words my dear
You and I have you and me to fear
Here we are at the drop
Mark my words my friend
You and I are getting closer to an end
You will have your turn at the drop

Elephant Head

(To be sang by CLIVE THE BARKER):

Captain Nobody he saw the elephant
He tried to snuff it but candles like that stay lit
Up goes the looking glass
Look out world the future passes
Alibis won’t save us now
Nobody listens
Nobody cares
Happened all too quickly
Happened all too fast
He cried out when she fell across the frightened creature’s path
In order to control his grief and make a plea at sanity
There is no word as accident in his vocabulary

“Atlantica” is under fire

Captain Nobody has vengeance on his widowed brain
He turned his tide of panic
Nobody looks away
Up comes his ire and bile
Nobody hides away
Down where the tears surround him
Nobody stakes his claim
Happened all too quickly
Happened all too fast
He cried out when she fell across the charging monster’s path
In order to avenge his love and for his child never born
His wishing well is deep and red with iron clad and hammerhead
Captain Nobody he fought the elementals
He tried to snuff us out but candles like us work it out
Down goes the serpentine
Look below the Captain has gone
Memories won’t save him now
Memories cannot save him at all

Look out world

Captain Nobody he saw the elephant
He tried to snuff it out but candles like that stay lit
Up goes the looking glass
Look out world the future passes
Alibis won’t save us now
Nobody listens
Nobody cares
Happened all too quickly
Happened all too fast
He cried out when she fell across the charging monster’s path
In order to avenge his love and for his child never born
His wishing well is deep and red with iron clad and hammerhead
Happened all too quickly
Happened all too fast
He cried out when she fell across the line of their defense
In order to control his grief and make a claw at sanity
There is no word as accident
There is no word as accident

“Atlantica” is under fire
Her beauty fell now from hell he chips away

The End Again

(To be sung by FELIX, THE ROLLING FIRE):

Smoke down to the daybreak every time
& I am counting down to 1 from 99
The old gods are dead
Here, take mine
& we are counting down to 1 from 89

The end again mm-mm-mm
The end again mm-mm-mm
The end again mm-mm-mm
Begin again

Broke down in the gray smoke all the time
& I am counting down to 1 from 69
The gold disc is descending
Take your time
We will be counting down to 1 from 49

The end again mm-mm-mm
The end again mm-mm-mm
The end again mm-mm-mm
Begin again

I burn down to the first light every time
& I am counting down to 1 from 29
You smother me in reverie
& we are counting down to 1 from-mm-mm

The end again mm-mm-mm
The end again mm-mm-mm
I blaze again mm-mm-mm
I raze for you mm-mm-mm
Only for you mm-mm-mm
I will rise

Ever After

It started ugly
Savagery and broken sky
It was the time of maybe never
After all
Lonely and miserable
Tragedy to see you
You were so beautiful
Like broken dolls can be

After all the venom taken
We were told was Sauvignon
This is what our progress got us
After all it’s all in fun
After heaven has gone dark
After all our time has gone
This is how the music ended
After all has come undone

Lovely when stars were falling
Glimmering like tears
Only a breath from the finish
After all
I wonder how I still am standing
Was there a ghost within this shell
Or is this the place of ever after
After all

After all the worlds colliding
After all the drama fades
Dust to dust, ashes to ashes
After all it’s all for show
After heaven has gone dark
After all our time has gone
This is how the play has ended
After all has come undone

After all the venom taken
We were told was Sauvignon
This is what our progress got us
After all it’s all in fun
After heaven has gone dark
After all our time is gone
This is how the music ended
After all has come undone
After last chances are let go
After we are next in line
This is how the curtain closes
After all that’s all for now

Frozen Mood

Below and making the most of my time inside with my fever dream
I’m all alone in my frozen mood taking in the half-light pulse
Adrift and holding the past in my mind diving down below it all
Like the shark I cannot stop or I may never swim again

Trying to keep going
Trying to keep from running down
Trying to keep my Grand Work moving
Trying to stay my course
Trying to keep my demons down
Trying to keep my Grand Work running

Then she proceeds to interrupt my stream
Rage exudes the indelicate signal

Afar and taking account of mankind outside with their war machines
All alone in my frozen mood I take to bed my fear and loathing
Awake and willing the stone-faced captain
I have no name I have no home no
Turn to surface once again and take the world back down with me

I am trying to stop steering
Trying to keep the pressure down
Trying to keep my Grand Work moving
Trying to stay my hunger
Trying to keep my demons down
Trying to keep my Grand Work running

Then she proceeds to interrupt my stream
Wrath ensues with indelicate signals

Goodbye 1870s

To your patent to the universe that you created
To your headache to the shape of the 1880s
I’m glad that we don’t hear you any more
I’m tired of fighting in your old-fashioned war

To the lights to the lead painting in your homes
Sunday night fears from Raw-head and Bloody-bones
I’m glad that we don’t hear you any more
I’m tired of fighting in your old-fashioned war

Goodbye Seventies
1870s

To your patent to the universe that you created
To your prescription for the million vials of 1880
I’m glad that we don’t hear you any more
I’m tired of losing in your steam fashion war

Goodbye Seventies
1870s

Kiss The Earth

(To Be Sung By Mister Jaguar):

Some of us have strange ways & some of us can’t stay away &
Some of us have wet ways
Some of us have odd jobs & some of us have fine positions &
Most of us survive the best we can

All clay
We are all clay
Bone & muscle
Work & play
Around & round we go
Where we fall we fall alone
Clay to mud
Flesh & blood
Kiss the earth
Kiss the dirt

Some of us have leeway & some of us have gin ways &
Some of us have toffee & some of us have the fear
Some of us have shadow ways & some of us have righteous ways
& some of us used to be so good at being bad

Water to wine
Parchment & twine
Bone & muscle
Work & play
Around & round we dance
Where we fall is all that lasts
Clay to mud
Flesh and blood
Kiss the earth
Kiss the dirt hey

All clay
We are all clay
Bone and muscle
Work and play
So pull the lady from the lake
This could be your great escape
Clay to mud
Flesh and blood
Kiss the earth
Kiss the dirt

Lemon Lime Girls

(To be sang by Clive the Barker):

Lemon lime girl under the street lamp
Pretty as sin all dressed in cholera
Living dead girl pretending to enjoy
Lemon lime girls live and learn lemon lime mm
Syphilis and her sisters
Jaundice and her muses
Dancers on the broken glass
Dancers on the broken glass

Lemon lime boy turn for a coin
Pretty as sin all dressed in cholera
Dolly mop babies eat you alive
Lemon lime boys live and learn lemon lime-lime
Syphilis and her sisters
Jaundice and her muses
Dancers on the broken glass
Dancers on the broken glass
Syphilis and her sisters
Jaundice and her muses
Dancers on the broken glass
Dancers on the broken glass

Lemon lime girls against the green wall
Pretty as sin bound up in cholera
Lemon lime girls are what you expect to find
In the blind love alley of crime love
Lemon lime girls
They do not have long
Line their pockets
Keep them warm
Syphilis and her sisters
Jaundice and her muses
Dancers
Dancers

Lemon lime girls
Lemon lime girls
Lemon lime girls

Long Time Gone

(To be sang by Ulysses Pomerantz):

I will be gone for awhile
Searching for my heart in the low places
I will be out in the wild, wild spaces
Hold me, child
I’ll be gone a long, long time

The bread is good the stove is warm
You will be fine now you must be strong
You cannot follow where I must roam
The burden I must haul alone
Your father loves you never doubt
You will be always at my heart
Your photograph in cameo
Will keep me from the dark and cold

I will be gone for awhile
Searching for my heart in the low places
I will be out in the wild, wild spaces
Hold me, child
I’ll be gone a long, long time

I will only be wrong when I am not strong enough
I will only be hated when mistakes are made
It will only be death when there is nowhere left in the world
Nowhere left in the world

It will only be cold while the storm holds
It will only go bad when that is all I have
It is only the end when there is no one left in the world
No one left in the world

Then I’ll be running home to you
I’ll throw my loving arms around you
I will be secure no more harm befalls you
Until then I’ll be a long time gone
A long time gone
A long time gone

Mister Soot’s Little Black Book

Got gallies on
Gone trolling for bit o’ fun
Under the bridge where they keep the real ladies!
Her name was Christina
Strumpet by trade
A character in Mister Soot’s Traveling Parade

It’s really quite handsome
It’s never a tiresome night when the petticoats twirl
It’s never a dull scene when his girls emerge
From the steam in their carnival colors

The calliope song
Goes rolling for far too far
Under the bridge where they don’t know for daylight
The trollops go by and
String up passersby
No mercy for debtors in Mister Soot’s black book la-la-la

It’s almost like magic
It treats for the tricks
Under the bridge where the wonders reside
Come give them a go but leave when you’re told
No horses for beggars in Mister Soot’s book

But it’s really fantastic
It’s rarely so tragic when a boy or a girl buys a girl
It’s never a washout with nine pairs of tits out
From the steam
Here they come in their carnival colors, come on!

Old No. 9

(To be sang by the SPIRITS OF THE OLD No. 9):

We walk into the desert wind along the desert rail
With bent hearts and stitched on wings
Across the Tamarisk plains we tell our tale of woe
To those who would hear such things
We are the spirits-we are the spirits
Arrived at the end of the line
We are the spirits-we are the spirits
The line that fell to earth

We walk into the desert wind along the desert rail
With bent hearts and stitched on wings across the Tamarisk Plains

We are the spirits of the Old No. 9
We dine at the End of the Line
We are the spirits of the Old No. 9
The line that fell to earth

We look into the blasting sound along the mountain rail
With ticking clicking flickering form across the windswept sands

Where we are now
Stars pulled down
Where we are now
Stars pulled down

Gravity is slipping
The caterwaul cry
Happy as the devil in blue
Gravity is slipping
The caterwaul cry
Happy as the devil in the blue suit
Here come the devil in the blue suit
We are the spirits

Where we are now
Stars pulled down
Where we are now
Stars pulled down

Open Arms, Empty Air

listening to my thoughts talk in strange affected accents
done waiting for my youth to get me by
looking for that cloud of rain to burst with sound and vision rage
open arms, empty air
open arms, empty airs

pardon me I make my way
got to get out
to the observation deck I go staring down
pardon me I slip away
I’m going overboard
will I fall to heaven or to the ocean’s floor

listening to my thoughts talk soft and gray and delicate
done waiting for the useless march of time
looking for a sweet release to end it lightning quick
open arms, empty air
open arms, empty airs

hurriedly I take my leave
I have no reason
to hang about this rusted wreck
I know how this will end
don’t mind me I always lean this far against the rails
find some joy in guessing when my balance fails
soaring over the brittle earth
roaring over forests of branches bare
overfilled with primal drive
we are the streamline
we are the streamline

listening to my thoughts talk in screaming flight of fancy plots
done waiting for those winds of change
looking for a perfect place to punctuate the rat race
open arms, empty air
open arms, empty airs

pardon me I make my way
have to get out
to the observation deck I go staring down
don’t mind me I always seem this far off the rails
find some kind of happiness in all life’s little fails
in these cold distances vacant and barren
we are the streamline
we are the streamline
we are the tendrils
we push through the sky-ways

Rest beyond the Bend

(Performed by Squeezebox Sam Koskela):

Jerry licked his lips he liked the lady at the platform of the station
The girl with the pretty face and the thick legs
Jerry walked right over he knows her type he smiles to himself
Self-deluded dilated Jerry
Jerry is a coral-monger
He offers the platform lady with the pretty face and her thick legs
A private viewing back at his gallery
Just she and he and poor Jerry can feel the distant quake
He knows he has lost his prize bird his turtledove at the station
With her parasol her spectacles
The girl with the pretty legs and thick face
She must be an idiot!
Jerry yells over the roar and whistle
He believes with all his tiny polluted heart is coming
Around the bend and then recalls
Poor Jerry recalls those distant years
When a pretty girl used to stand and wait for him
Right there on the platform with her pretty face and parasol
Sad Jerry he makes his way along the tracks
With pockets full of coral and his dirty hands in bandages and
There hasn’t been a train through here in years

The Skeleton Goes to Town

With a barker shot and a plea for pennies (Skeleton goes to town)
Turn of a screw and daring-do too (Skeleton goes to town)
With a bone yard crawl and a priestly scowl
You know he’s not sugar and tea
With a tall blue hat and a blade in his cane
Quiet as a treason just give him a reason
he will cure you from the ills of breathing
Yes he will yes he will
The Skeleton goes to town

With a crack and a kick and a walking stick (Skeleton goes to town)
Judiciary and Executioner too (Skeleton goes to town)
With a bone yard crawl and a priestly scowl
He’s a crusher, he’s a choker and a don
With a graven pallor and no saving graces
Quiet as a treason just give him a reason

Hey-hey-hey-hey-one day we pray-hanging and draining in the public square
Hey-hey-hey-hey-we say one day hanging and draining in the public square

Plenty of years in the muck has driven him
Crooked as a pig tail
Vigil as a flat fixer
He puts the stab in constabulary
He wants to catch you at it
Lock and stock and throw away the key

Hey-hey-hey-hey-one day we pray-hanging and draining in the public square
Hey-hey-hey-hey-we say one day hanging and draining in the public square

With a barker shot and a plea for pennies (Skeleton goes to town)
Turn of a screw and daring-do too (Skeleton goes to town)
With a bone yard crawl and a priestly scowl
You know he’s not sugar and tea
With a tall blue hat and a blade in his cane
Quiet as a treason just give him a reason
Skeleton is painting the town tonight
Skeleton is going to town tonight
Tonight Skeleton is going to town