Read (Discography): The Peel Sessions

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

I Am The Fly

Crawling, over your window, you think I'm confused
I'm waiting for the divergent wasp

To complete my current ruse

You use a plate-glass screen
To protect my chosen target

But there's an air-pellet hole
I can crawl through to you

I am the fly in the ointment
I can spread more disease than the fleas
Which nibble away at your window display
Yes, I am the fly in the ointment
I shake you down to say please as you
Accept the next dose of disease

Culture Vultures

What we do is what we do
No more no less, to hear to view
To see straight through. In a roundabout way
Circle slowly while we play
Which the hunter, whom the prey

Dragged down in open country
Struck down in fullest flight
Back break at daybreak, falling at midnight
Victim of the culture vultures, no chance they won't pick me
They've got no stomach, yet they talk of bravery

What we are is what we are
No more no less, below or par
To feather and tar? On the appropriate day
Circle slowly while we play
Who will praise? Who will prey?

Cornered in a silent place
Choked by the conditioned air
Headache as eyes awake, stricken at sunrise
Victim of the culture vultures, no chance they won't pick me
They've got no stomach, yet they talk of bravery

106 Beats That

If he had a room, he'd paint it white,
survives the day, prefers the night,
build slight

Got a head for figures
No time for bicker(er)s
(Or so he says)
Prefers the company of a woman

Finds it more physical (that's an important word),
always seen first then heard,
such a rare bird

With praise he glows, with change he grows, finds that important, hates waiting, it's not stimulating, likes celebrating, I can't understand why that is so funny, that is sex

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

A Mutual Friend

As a mutual friend it was difficult to pretend
That I was anything less than concerned

Hearing of your troubles
Has forced me to double
My interest in your current affairs

It's no use despising a new unknown horizon
Now your son has set his sights on the moon

So precipitous a decision has clouded your vision
And altered the pitch of your tune

Please don't turn a deaf ear to the noises you hear
While savagely your love you prune
For he might replace the old with the moon
He might replace the old with the moon

In March, April, May, and June
July, August, September, soon
He might replace the old with the moon
It could be October
November, or even December
So in January and February, remember

He might replace the old with the moon
He might replace the old quite soon

The Other Window

He took his seat on the foreign train
He thought it pleasant to travel again
Mindful of the journey's end
He read again the letter from his friend

Time passed as it often does

The seat was hard, the carriage fetid
He was dressed for summer, but still he sweated
It was better than being home
Feeling the cold, and living alone

Time passed slowly

Around him people spoke in French
Despite schooldays it made no sense
Occasional stares caught his eye
He was tempted to smile, but

Being shy, time passed

When he looked through the window
For the thousandth time
He saw a black horse fighting for its life

In a barbed wire fence
Fatally tangled
The more it struggled
The more it was strangled

Time sped up

He turned away
What could he do?
The other window
Had a nicer view

Time passed painfully

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

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