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Read (Discography): 10 Nov 1979 Jeanetta Cochrane Theatre, London

(Please note: lyrics taken from studio albums, where available. Live versions may vary.)

An Unlikely Occurence

[Instrumental]

Crazy About Love

A group of fliers make a staunch denial of fiddling the weights
They're dispatched to the southern extremities
She throws a letter
She puts the southern states
Out of the window
Before the north
Some undies fade
On a piece of land
She doesn't show her true feelings
In a strip of Dundee
Automation's too much for him
Initially being unhealthy
Fortunately, he's brave
(He's not smart)
(When he's) at the piano
Ideas lane and come away on top
She's pointed an animal out in church
Which reveals right
In the best possible environment but essential
It makes little difference to Vidal
She pointed at him and screamed unshaven
It's a story of Carmen and crazy about love
She and I both take Diana out, to where?
A fellow from Indonesia with a broadcaster's manner
11 selected prisoners
Sounding naturally as the crown
Entertainers
Aludes to the right to be free possibly
Are to be brought on for a song
A racket of soldiers and politicians
I quickly arrange an air
Instead of these songs
In the fighting out east
They get neither number right
It's what one does
They get neither number right
When one is unable to take off
They get me the number right
When one is unable to take off
When one is unable to take off

Hit up
I'm barely running
Hit up
A learner walks out
But a new one makes sweeping changes
Nasty at heart, remember you didn't get neither number right

When one is unable to take off
A group of fliers staring blankly towards the ground make a staunch denial of fiddling the weights
They're dispatched to the southern extremities
When one is unable to take off
When one is unable to take off
She
It's a story in common
We've got one in the fighting out East
To where
That's what one does when one is unable to take off
Eleven selected prisoners
Entertainers are to be brought in
For a song
A racket of soldiers
And politicians
I quickly arrange an air
Instead of these songs
They get neither number right
Ideas men
Make sure you clean in the corners
For little Jack has already won this
So take care
So take care
A group of fliers
A group of fliers
When one is unable to take off
When one is unable to take off
I'm barely running
Hit up, a learner walks south
Hit up, a learner walks south
When one is unable to take off
When one is unable to take off
Make sure you clean in the corners
Make sure you clean in the corners
Make sure
Various prisoners
Various prisoners
Unshaven
Unshaven
Unshaven
A group of fliers

Remove For Improvement

A reply was not expected
The question was not asked
And then without warning
Glasses were raised in a toast
The guest turned on his shower
After writing a suicide note
And then without warning
Glasses were raised in a toast

A simple act of kindness
Missing a sense of loss
And then without warning
Glasses were raised in a toast
Graced by his presence
A handsome pleasance
A self-conscious past
Some room for improvement
Remove for improvement

The Spare One

A hand that's opened
Reveals much to a mind that's closed
It holds a fragile head
In tender care
Don't be so worried
You're one who should be spared
You're one who should be spared

Don't be so worried
You're one who should be spared
The embarrassment
The pain, the need to [it's always the same]
First I say I love you
And then you're silent
How I adore your island
How I adore your islands
You're one who should be spared

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

Lorries

I'm mourning the passing of a moment
A blackened silence, uneasily as led
I cannot forgive your tears as an answer
Or is this an excuse for your selfishness?

I came, it was so
I wanted to go

Irrational in the extreme
It makes such perfect sense
I'm just at that lost moment
I'm cold without regret

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

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

Ally In Exile

An ally in exile
Receives an urgent dispatch
When he's already in trouble
Unable to relax
He recognises the cipher
Quickly resolves the code
The contents of the message
State, area and road

It was, as he feared
His cover's been blown
The extent of the network
Is now overblown
Overgrown the apparatus
To such an unwelcome event
Incommunicado
The last word is sent

He knows that resistance
Is futile but still
He prepares for their arrival
He awaits the kill
Resistance is futile
He awaits the kill
He prepares the arrival
He sits perfectly still
Resistance is futile
He prepares for the kill

He breaks down in the theatre
But hopes not under these lights
Specifically those
Which gain strategic insights
By the best of good fortune
He had provisions in store
He doubles, then trebles
The locks on his door

Over My Head

[I had to come down my way?]
[In hot water sticking around the bush?]
That's because [?]
Out of my head, over my head
[It was my mistake?]
[I thought before I took into the air?]
[?]
Out of my head, over my head
[I've got all my priorities strange?]
[They're coming home to roost anytime?]
[We made our afflicted?]
[When we dropped our arms?]
[I wouldn't be here tonight?]
Out of my head, over my head
[There's nothing missing?]
I thought before I took to the air
[?]
Out of my head, over my head

Our Swimmer

Displaying an interest in forward propulsion
Our swimmer glides (moves) with no actual motion
The stroke he's using needs timing and skill
The effect is graceful, but the progress is nil

Neither backwards nor sideways, it's part of the thrill
The element he performs in is perfectly still
No problems with friction, it's easy for him
It is what he was born to, to swim and to swim

He turned head on tail, tail in head
He thinks that this cycle will get him ahead
Leaden-limbed, his state becomes alarming
Progress expected, not forthcoming
The effect is graceful, but the progress is nil
It is what he was born to, to swim and to swim

On Returning

You'll be sorry when the sun has roasted you to
Lobster red, nothing said
When yellow has turned green to brown, divide by four
Multiply by nine, describe your divisions, anatomical derision

Lobster head and lobster feet
On arriving with a third language
Tucked into your briefcase, next to your toothbrush
Along with a copy of the Nouvelle Observateure

While your sons and daughters who registered nought
Under intensive electronic scanning
You regard your body with regard to events
Which with nothing planned

Never lacked a sense of theatre
On returning with the tan you've gained
A head of world service, the best of your culture
An evening of fun in the metropolis of your dream