Read (Discography): 21 July 1988 Astoria, London

The Queen Of Ur And The King Of Um

Painted statues in underground streams
With invitations to the Pharaoh's dream

They stare at themselves, there's a need to be seen
Walking mirrors in the Pharaoh's harem

And here they come
The queen of Ur
And the king of Um

Tainted Matthews in car-key relations
Gilt invitations to the blue queen's ball
They stare at themselves, there's a need to be seen
Talking pillars in the blue queen's hall

Fading tattoos of empty stations
Great expectations at Vince's loyal mince
They stare at each other, there's a need to be seen
Crack-head mirrors, licking the soiled mint

Olympic statues from terminal stations
Sifting invitations to the market floor
Steering into the future, it pays to be seen
Polishing mirrors, keeping the score

A babbling gaggle, a scrabbling rabble
Fighting invitations to the emperor's shilling
They stare through themselves, there's nothing to see
Hand-picked recruits for ghostly pursuit

In Vivo

With colour in your life there's a reason to explode
To set the world on fire
To skid and leave the road
In a black and white life there's a column of smoke
You don't burst into flame, you stop
When you're broke

In vitrio in vivo
The revolution's begun
In vitrio in vivo

In a star-filled world, the full moon crosses the sun
Four minutes up
Two million's gone
And bang: he invades
The son of a gun, the son
Of a gun

The chemical defeater saved the elephant's life
A wild type junk genie
With a car-bra heaven wide
And bang, he invades
The son of a gun, the son
Of a gun

Kidney Bingos

Natural splits sunburn jets pride marks smart bets
Strikers luck pitch backs heap tips pit slacks
Dressed pints demon shrinks bread drunk dead drinks
Stretch clubs models box draw skin black shocks

Money spines paper lung kidney bingos organ fun

Flag stunt rock stone dole axe crash dive
Breath thrift take speed double take weekends
Skull row drugs hall colour bars sex calls
Sparkle finds rented rings pretty things clipped wings

Gold street spy fleet scandal food poor treat
Fire run club gun rule mob burn some
Bomb time pop crime stock frame steady climb
Fresh name donor game fair meat all the same

The Finest Drops

The island monkeys love the dark
No one is home, they're thin-skinned sharks
Hue exchanging gives sea-leg walks
No one is home, the chemicals talk

Load up the spoiled goods
Hook up the spoiled gods
Fill up the kindness cups
Drink up the finest drops

Feeding frenzy, sleepless attacks
No one is home, power attracts
Death on a raft, life in a whale
No one is home to finish the tale

Paint it red, light it in blue
No one is home over at zoo
Lashing together, a timbre design
No one is home, no one is blind

The last boat launched, cling to the rail
No one is home, they're in full sail
Forging chains, caught on the tracks
No one is home and they're not coming back

The island monkeys love the dark
No one is home, they've gone for a walk
The island monkeys love the dark
No one is home, the chemicals talk

Silk Skin Paws

You have nothing to fear
I'm just making enquiries
Dog bone hunting
Gives you back to yourself
Standing before me
The gargoyle turns
Jutting jaws and
The stubble burns

I shift the blame
To the worm in the bottle
I shift the blame
To anyone standing before me

I check-up the once-over
Give yourself an opening
Keep your mouth shut
In the event of an accident
Contact the following
A certain air
An invading smile
Inbreeding seals the flaw

Silk skin paws
Hang by both feet
Embracing the world
Hang the expense
Breugels cut corners
Wring out the senses
I have nothing like it
I've seen nothing like it

German Shepherds

I saw three dogs flying/f——ing, there was a man on the end
Squaring the circle and studying zen
I saw a drunk old lady pissing in a bin
It was far too high, she couldn't stop
The man with the photograph failed to appear
In that kind of rain where an umbrella's no use
The bird lay bleeding, I couldn't break its neck
I get anonymous phone bills from a pope I've never met

Don't start me off
It's beginning, to, and back again
Don't start me off

Right now, there's a man who could take advantage
I wouldn't like to spend an hour locked inside him
He always had an eye for it, we all threw a shoe
Nicely underlined, our table turned again

Public Place

In this public place
Pigeons move busily
Through the contents
Of a man's life
In this public place
His last mortal remains
Reflect a private lake
In this public place

Lies fly in formation
Candid fiction spreads its wings
It's deceptive at this angle
Does truth dance?
Does truth sing?

The private hedge pissers
In anxious alleys
The village boy-wide-men
With a game on their hands
Wait for the sign
That will take them to Heaven
Wait for the sign
Only they understand

In this public place
A carved tree
Burst through an atheist's heart
And broken promises
Drifted into the shape of footprints
In this public place
Lies fly in-formation
Candid fiction spreads its wings

It's A Boy

Hook fear lashing
Spit-gas sinking
Tired reflections
In a broken eye

You're a strange one
Are there any more like you?
You're a rare one
I want one too

Head collectors
Private view
Flood damaged
In a baby plague

Effete means funny dreams
Offence on refusal
Look out Dr. Up
It's a boy as usual

The Offer

About to make an offer of something
Once seen & taken apart
This is the shape of interference
Please do not adjust your heart

Now touching the edges of something
Wanting to find tune the response
Could I ever erase the influence?
Brushing in against what's (already) understood

Dredging shifting basic phrasing
Once seen and taken to heart
I felt your red colour
I scratch your head again

Staring trying embracing gazing
I shot your silver dollar
Fill the space within your heart
You wear my golden collar

Eardrum Buzz

No switch in this dark, but you search anyway
This is the night, here in the day
One thing remains perfectly clear
It's the buzz buzz buzz in the drum of the ear

Zee zee zee, zum zum
Buzz buzz, buzz buzz in the eardrum

Now you live in the world of the wave
And you scratch your name on the walls of the cave
Instincts never leave you perfectly clear
There's always a buzz buzz buzz in the drum of the ear

Marco Polo has lost his way
The Louisville Lip has nothing to say
One thing remains perfectly clear
The buzz buzz buzz in the drum of the ear

Custard Jack has lost his Mac
Captain Flash won't give it back
It seemed to them both perfectly clear
The buzz buzz buzz in the drum of the ear

Buffalo Bill, deprived of will
Chasing a hamburger down the hill
It seemed to him perfectly clear
The buzz buzz buzz in the drum of the ear

Adolf turned out very nice
Hannibal is afraid of mice
One thing remains perfectly clear
It's the buzz buzz buzz in the drum of the ear

Boiling Boy

Gifts of the west winds
Dark and deep
In secret sunsets
Places creep

Lock up your hats
Lock up your hats

Progress with a vision
To practice with at home
A schism with an ism
To practice with at home
A collision with decision
To practice with at home

He transferred his soul
To his imagination
His atoms were excited
And he glowed in the dark
The boiling boy
Was a picture of confusion
But he had the advantage
Of a cold start heart

Drill

Are you level? How's your trim?
Do you rotate, eddy, or spin?
Are you game? What's your trick?
Do you vibrate, bounce, or tick?
What's your cut? Are you correct?
Do you detour, bend, or stretch?

We're milling through the grinder, grinding through the mill
If this is not an exercise, could it be a drill?

How's it with you? What's your form?
Your outline, shape, or form
How's your price? What do you cost?
Your value, profit, or loss
How's your skull? Does it fit?
Is your mind free, empty, or split?

Drill drill drill
Dugga dugga dugga

Ahead

Lips growing for service, eyes steady for peeling
Bring on the special guest, a monkey caught stealing

Standard reward in corners, it's full-board in new quarters
Kneeling for pleasure ensures a good time

I remember, I remember making the body search
That it was nothing but enough for ahead

Someone is taking you, someone has taken me
T. V. doesn't understand a word that matters

Scattering desire to smouldering fires
Someone has taken you, someone is taking me

Over Theirs

Something snapped, over and over
Something snapped, over the horizon
Something burst, over and over
Something burst, just out of sight

Like a rope on the border, over and over
Like a damn on the boundary, just out of sight
Over and over, just below the skyline
Over and over, just out of sight

Something broke, over and over
Something broke, over the way
Something dropped, over and over
Something dropped, just out of sight

Over and over, just below the skyline
Over and over, just out of sight
Over and under, under the sideline
Over and under, just out of sight