Read (Discography): Behind the Curtain

Mary Is A Dyke

[words by George Gill—lost in the mists of time]

Too True

Too true, too true

Saying something's got to be a way
Of saying nothing in another way
Don't use your ears, don't use your eyes
I'll give you something, don't you realise

I've got something, you've got nothing, and it's
Too true, too true

Look again and I might have changed
I'm just the same, only rearranged
I'm in the mirror, only you ain't looked
A missing page from your picture book

Just Don't Care

Just don't care now

I just don't care, I just don't care
I just, I just, I just don't care anymore

Oh no, oh yeah, oh no

Would you like to see what that silence was meant to mean?
Would you like to see what violence these eyes could send?

But I just don't know
You know, 'cause I just don't care

TV

Well, I hope you feel better
I can fly a jet a
And the water feels wetter
Any girl, I can get her

On TV

I can fly to India
Afghanistan, America
Any place I want to see
Any place I want to be

I could make a million cry
Sit down, see them die
I can be anyone
It's a lot of fun

My TV

And when I've had enough
I don't switch off
I turn my set to channel 3
It's the only place to be

New York City

I want to go to New York City
Where the buildings are too tall
I want to go to New York City
Where even angels fall
Here comes one now!

I want to learn to say, "Hi, Mac"
And I shall bring a movie back
I want to get too too excited
When I go to New York City
I'm going now

Pink Flag

I was sold up the river to the red slave trade
The stores were gathered, the plans were laid
Synchronised watches at 18:05
How many dead or alive in 1955?

The pink flag was screaming, bugle boys sucked and blew
No time for confessions, orders given
Books were cooked on the 4th of the 3rd
How many seen or heard on the 12th of the 3rd?

How many dead or alive?

Love Ain't Polite

I say, love ain't polite
It's not just a thing to write songs about
Playing guitar, bearing a face that reeks of sincerity
Recognise that life has a bigger beat
Go in the back door, you don't get affected
I'm sorry, it's true, but someone should give you
A kick where it hurts, stupid flirts
Many faces [?] ability
Too much, too soon, take the beat, positive
[Technically?] make you all behave yourself
I say, ba ba ba...
Oh, love ain't polite

Oh No, Not So

Uh oh, he said he was a neighbour
Not so, waiting for a saviour
Uh oh, is anyone in labour?
Not so, waiting for a saviour

You never thought (didn't think) that help would arrive in time
You're a sad one, such a sad one
You didn't think that beauty can but end in time
You've a bad time with (in) the pipeline

They said it was a raper
And then he tried to knife her
Uh oh, you should have read the paper
Not dumb, waiting for a saviour

You didn't think that time could drag so slow
Feel him heaving, feel like screaming
Now the lights are starting as your pulse lets go
Now your bullet, save the bullet

It's The Motive

Patches of fog in the wilderness
Patches of fog in the wilderness
So did he tell the truth
Or was he forced to confess
Under such duress

It's never the lie
It's the motive
Patches of fog in the wilderness
Patches of fog in the wilderness
She just promised me
Which shows a loneliness
The sonic chess

Patches of fog in the wilderness
Patches of fog in the wilderness
Sincerely voiced
Or was it forced to confess
Emotional progress

Practice Makes Perfect

Practice makes perfect, yes I can prove it
Business or pleasure, the more that you do it

Please dress in your best things, this course was unplanned
'Cos you see up in my bedroom I've got Sarah Bernhardt's hand

Practice makes perfect, I've done this before
Never for money, always for love

Please dress in your best things, and don't make a fuss
'Cos you see up in my bedroom Sarah's waiting for us

Sand In My Joints

I've got sand in my joints
I'm counting the grains
And they're so sharp
I'm feeling the pain

I'm like King Canute's daughter
A lamb to the slaughter
My feet in the water
It's not what they think

It's not what it seems

Stablemate/Stalemate

Courting disorder [a something] to be proud of, a knife edge
You get into order a passing [continuum of ?]
I've been left in
Thank God, not left out

In Stalemate, stalemate, stalemate, stalemate
Applause

I looked at my watch, it must start eleven decisions
They never say never, and I cannot find in my delusions
Whom am I kidding?
It's probably not myself

I Feel Mysterious Today

Always cause for concern
When you're feeling quite bright
And your filament burns

I feel mysterious today
Everything is humming loudly
I feel mysterious today
Everything is coming this way

Is it ever appealing
To stand on a ceiling?
Observe the tension grow

Going walking abroad
Minus hat before dawn
Bats in profusion there

Did you ever conceive
That you too can leave
Exactly when you like?

Underwater Experiences

I bet your underwater experiences came in handy
When you bit the hand that offered candy
And (which) flashed the smile that sank the ship
And reached the post before the pip
Where salient green depths still refract
To bend the mind and burn/hide the facts

I bet you never learned that you had a track for the vertigo/I knew your head for heights was (but still) responsible for the vertigo
Well I was far too willing to go slow
Launching into attractive space
Falling from that pure state of grace
32 feet per sec per sec per sec per sec
To free my mind and break my neck

Dot Dash

Mist closing in, getting thicker
One drops out, becoming quicker
Lights grow dim, they glimmer
The chances smaller, the odds are slimmer

Dot dash, dim flash, don't crash

Loosening my grip
Be sure to tread carefully
Steering a passage
Finding a line

Crosses on fire, crossfire
Progressive acceleration, skidding but the expression
Remains pan, radiators for all
Radial, I'm still in control, I understand, a hand, a hand moved me

Driven by self-propulsion
Turning right across the stream
The risks increased with sustained leisure
Courting death, so ill at ease

Options R

If you keep on repeating, repeating the words
It becomes increasing, increasingly absurd

It's so L-O-V-I-N-G

I'm intending to

Pretending

I thought I was in, but now I'm trying to get out
I'm learning the twist, ignoring the shouts
It's so A-D-O-R-I-NG
I'm enquiring
Perspiring

My options are open and it's limiting me
Things are so trying, so trying for me
It's so T-R-Y-Y-Y-YING
I'm spying
Something

From The Nursery

So truly jolly, an Xmas dolly
I talk on request, I'm never depressed
I'll wink a good time till someone pokes me
One big blue eye out

So simply heady, a birthday teddy
Punches make me bleat, this bare soul is sweet
Keeping you warm at night till someone rubs me
Hey, a fun-filled toy

Free on a tightrope lives the animal soap
Safe, used, been tested, body molester
Amphibious charm, scum in several baths
Has blurred my features

Would you like to say
What that silence was meant to intend?
Would you like to see
What violence these eyes can send
To your heart
From the nursery

Marooned

An unwilling sailor adrift from Arctic waters
As the water gets warmer, my iceberg gets smaller

As he pours more petrol on, he feels no fear
As the flames get nearer, his thoughts get clearer

A blue-white polar bear arrives at the end
Diverting his attention, his feelings froze over

I'm only a runaway AWOL at the logical start
Not present in the present, overboard with limited future

And I'm standing alone, still getting a thrill
While the ship is afloat, he's losing his boat

No Romans

Display austerity or a supreme reality
Fog is clearing, on a finely ground land
Standing still with an itchy feet
Playing the odds and moving beats
Firm release on our stance
Seize the issue, take the chance

However much you care to buy
[filling?], searching, low profile
What you think is perfectly clear
Touching, caressing
Getting so close

Another The Letter

Passed to hand, behind the curtain
The letter brings change, now things are uncertain
Hand to hand, the letter moves on
Like a series of shocks, but the contents are known

Oh faint heart, when the letter arrives
You suddenly find things getting life-size

Once the air rang with things unsaid
Now cruel outlines are easily read
Behind the curtain, in the yellow bulb light
The letter reads: I took my own life

40 Versions

I never know which version I'm going to be
I seem to have so many choices open to me

It's not hard to see another unique event
When you miss the beginning and you miss the end

I've got forty versions all dying to get the part
And so with a change of mind comes a change of heart

A total eclipse arrives now and Niagara Falls
No loss of blood yet and no further calls

I never know which version I'm going to be
I get the feeling my mind is deceiving me

In between are where only edges can be seen of the spaces

Blessed State

Closing doors
Opens eyes
To the fatal gift
Of a well timed lie
Loved in the flesh
And (but) butchered in the mind
Oh what a pearl
What a well made world

Holy globe
Eternal home
Sacred sphere
So glad I'm here
Oh what a pearl
What a well made world

A Touching Display

With all the front
And more besides
Bitch, thrust, and parry
And a few asides
With considerable charm
You chose not to decide

I really like you
Becomes my massage
I really want you
Becomes my message

But how long can we sustain
Ourselves apart?
The pressure's increasing it
Squeezes my heart

I bought a ticket
You took a walk
So much to say
We're unable to talk
Suffering in silence
Our eyes give it away
So close as we part
A touching display
Colouring my thoughts
Predominately grey and

Fighting bravely
Will she save me?
From what or who
I do not know

Once Is Enough

It's sinister

I'd attempt a casual structure
Preceding interaction
Symphonic in persuasion
Noblesse oblige

Each minister

Is just a drop compared with
Having double vision
It's desirable in part
Refuse the ruse

Deciding each devise
If you don't think twice
Once is enough, once is enough
Preparing its demise
It's something you'll devise
Once is enough, once is enough

In passing

You sprang a leak instead
You'd sooner see its piety
You'd replied in its course
Before you

Resume transmission

You retiring

I'll respond with curtained thought
A pause for intermission
My advise is simple

Stepping Off Too Quick

Stepping off too quick
Not about to die
Stepping off too quick
Not about to die

It's just the facts
Can't weigh me down
I don't regret
What went before

Indirect Enquiries

You gained respect as we passed
Not a wave, a gestured wink
I was forced to think
I couldn't ignore
I've seen you before

Joking aside, face to face
It's the one I cannot place
A hint might enlarge your imprint
I think I've had a taste of a savoury
Denial would be a waste

Lying prone
Hiding in a column, between SALE and ZDRK
Sky, sand, and moorland, shepherd's delight
But not in the sun
Which stops you from walking

I might find you
But I lack the patience
Passed a corner, you'd been stolen
Ate a meal, you'd been defaced

Map Ref 41°N 93°W

An unseen ruler defines with geometry
An unrulable expanse of geography
An aerial photographer over-exposed
To the cartologist's 2D images knows
The areas where the water flowed
So petrified, the landscape grows
Straining eyes try to understand
The works, incessantly in hand
The carving and paring of the land
The quarter square, the graph divides
Beneath the rule, a country hides

Interrupting my train of thought
Lines of longitude and latitude
Define and refine my altitude

The curtain's undrawn
Harness fitted, no escape
Common and peaceful, duck, flat, lowland
Landscape, canal, canard, water coloured

Crystal palaces for floral kings
A widespread waving span of wings
Witness the sinking of the sun
A deep breath of submission has begun

A Question Of Degree

Once a question of degree
Now circumstances corner me
Demanding my attention
Leaving little choice
Posing several questions
Distilling in one voice
Confusion not in words

I didn't want a problem
I didn't simply fall out
I was thrown at great speed
From a passing car
I didn't touch the ground
Till I landed at your door
Oh don't touch my luggage

I can easily (surely) manage
To struggle inside

I hide my shaking
Thus protect my pride
I can surely manage
To tremble/struggle inside
Gathering myself
And spreading it around
Rivers are submerging
Flowing underground

Can I really manage
To survive outside?
Can I really manage
To survive outside?
Can I?
Can I?
Can I?
Can I?

Two People In A Room

Two people in a room
Facial movements betray
A private display
Of nervous disorder
And mutual torture

Two people in a room
Bloody image is conjured
But no one is injured
The weapons are chosen
But the action is frozen

Two people in a room
Positions are shifted
The ceasefire uplifted
The lighting is fierce
It's intended to pierce
Any cloak of deceit
And encourage retreat
And God they're so gifted
My God they're so gifted

Former Airline

When you reach the point
Is it different enough?
Tell me what it's like when you reach the point

When you draw the line
Is it straight enough?
Tell me what it's like when you draw the line

When you go too far
Is it near enough?
Tell me what it's like when you go too far

When you've seen too much
Is it almost the same?
Tell me what it's like when you've seen too much (jump in the flames)

When you know it all
Is it really there?
Tell me what it's like when you know it all

When you've had enough
Is it just the start?
Tell me what it's like when you've had enough