Fish [Marillion]

Just another nigger, a spooky piece of white trash,
Just another jewboy, spic, mick, yid, raghead motherfucker living on the planet.

(USA version: Just another wake up, a hostage of a sunrise,
Just another paranoid, victimised motherfucker living on the planet.)

Just before it kicks in

Just like a silver bullet,
Take a good look at yourself in the mirror and tell me that it's worth it,
Said it'll never happen, you said you'd never get caught out,
You settled in a habit, so now you're Mr Fixit,
Just another alien, living on the planet,
Living on the planet, living on the planet.
It's just one of those days when you know that something's gonna happen.

Another betrayal, lose another friend,
You know you never need them, on your own until the bitter end.
Just another pick up, just another kill, someone else's daughter, someone else's girl,
Living on the planet.
We are in another world, Living on the planet we are, we are,
And you know there's some days when you feel that something's gonna happen,
This is one of those days which you know that something's gonna happen,
And something's gonna happen.

Somedays you just wake up and you don't have any real sense of direction, you just can't find the will to get up and go through with it all, your next allotted 24 hour slice of destiny.
There's just a bad vibe and rather than a world of opportunities, it's full of threats and just too many negative variables.
I'd noticed these houses way up in the hills and I tried to imagine what it would have been like living up there isolated from the world, every night watching the fires crawl slowly down the valley, and knowing that one night it was gonna be your turn for the visit.
I tried to imagine what it would have been like hiding in a cellar with your family and the fear hoping that when they do come, when the dogs don't bark, and the silence is around you, you hope that they burn the whole house around your ears and they don't discover you hiding in the cellar because you've got nowhere to go, and you know that one day that something's gonna happen.
There's one day, just one day.

Just another village burning in the hills,
I saw it on the TV, just another thrill,
Someone else's problems, someone else's grief,
Someone else's children, living on the planet,
We are in another world living on the planet,
We are in another world living on the planet, we are, we are.

It's just one of those places that never exist till you've been there,
It's just one of those things that you never will see till you wake up,
And you know that somewhere there's somebody that's out there who thinks like you do.
And you hope that today is the day that it's all gonna happen for you.
And you know there's somedays when you feel that something's gonna happen.
This is one of those days which you know that something's gonna happen.

Maybe it's you or maybe it's me, maybe it's just the weather.
I just can't decide I can't make up my mind,
Tomorrow seems like forever.

It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
I'm just falling apart, as a matter of fact that is all it is,
That's all it is, that's all it is. Just a change of heart
That's all it is.

Maybe it's time, it's maybe too late, I just can't believe it's over,
If you just walk away, turn your back on me now,
Tomorrow will be forever.

It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
I'm just falling apart, as a matter of fact that is all it is,
That's all it is, that's all it is. Just a change of heart
That's all it is.

As the springtides shift the sands swelled by winter snow,
And the summer green melts to autumn gold.
I'm a man for every season but I live from day to day
Is that what you want? Is that all you want?
Is that all it is?

It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
I'm just falling apart, as a matter of fact that is all it is,
That's all it is, that's all it is. Just a change of heart
That's all it is.

At the end of the day please let me stay you know we belong together
I'll promise you now as I promised you then,
Tomorrow will be forever

I was thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking I was thinking.
Contemplating situations and the visions blew my mind.
In the gutter I was crawling as the shells justkept on falling all around me.

What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?

As the library was burning and the pages kept on turning back in history.
As the doorways they were full of refugees and lonely people staring at me,
they were asking of me.
What colour is God?
What colour is God?
What colour is God?

No matter what I say or do, it never looks like making any difference.
Don't keep on looking down at me as if I don't exist as if I'm not here.
Don't focus all your anger and resentment that you have,
don't blame it on me, don't blame it on me.

What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?

Black brother in an open sports car pulled over by suspicious officer,
uniform man got a nervous partner,
weapon was pulled from a shoulder holster.
White jogger see the roadside gangsta,
heart beat just a little bit faster,
rasta man speaking in the island patios,
gonna give you the righteous answer.

Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God?

What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?

No matter what I say or do it never looks like making any difference
Don't focus all your anger and resentment that you have
Don't blame it on me, don't blame it on me

What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?

Please, please, please tell me.
Please, please, please tell me.
What colour is God?

I want to be there in the morning, I want to wake up by your side.
If I can make it back I'll be there, if I can catch the early flight.
I'll bring you dragon's teeth from silver beaches, shells from Africa.
I'll give you China dolls and silken shawls, orchids for your hair,
Treasures drowned in sunken galleons, jewels from desert caves when I get there.

We'll see each other in the morning when the sun comes up
We'll see each other in the morning when the sun comes up
In the morning

I'll guard you from the monsters on the TV,
From the pirates in the corners of your dreams.
I'll keep you from the cold and safe from trolls, from the bad men while you play.
I'll hunt for crocodiles and snakes with smiles I'll keep them
Far away from your innocence in all it's wonder.

We'll see each other in the morning when the sun comes up
We'll see each other in the morning when the sun comes up
In the morning, in the morning, when the sun comes up

The car finally burned out around three. The blue beacon of a silent patrol car threw new shadows into the street turning the window into a flickering monitor screen.
I'd seen the kids torch the vehicle before I left on a nightly surfing run to a cybersex site in Chile. It wasn't as if they were getting rid of prints, everyone knew it was them. They didn't give a shit. They just wanted to see the flames, to throw a bit of light on a situation.
I looked up the hill at the spread of the estate. The streetlights glowed like campfires of an army on the eve of battle or fireflies trapped in the canopy of an immense jungle.
Jungle, young mental jungle,
Here in the jungle, in the jungle

Where men don't cry and husbands lie and you never have to justify a kickin'.
When mates jump in to save your skin if a chib is ever pulled out in a square go.

Jungle ride, jungle ride tell me when it's over.
Jungle ride, jungle ride tell me when it ends.
Oh here she comes round again, here she comes round again,
Here she comes round again, here she comes, here she comes.

The glazed eyes of porcelain clowns stare skywards at clouds of goldfish madly circling their own silent plastic worlds, high above the children who stuff ping pong balls like pills in the mouths of slowly rotating heads.

Intentions true as the arrow's flight
Wins a cuddly toy to while away an evening.
Outside this ring of light he'll claim his prize,
She'll sport lovebites just to prove to all he's been there.

Jungle ride, jungle ride tell me when it's over.
Jungle ride, jungle ride tell me when it ends.
Oh here she comes round again, here she comes round again,
Here she comes round again, here she comes, here she comes.

I crept along the edges of the parade, staying glued to the shadows where the dogs slept uneasily on their chains under the caravans.
I followed the drums and the pulsing light until I came across a clearing in the centre of which was the attraction.
And then I saw her, an angel in a chariot, her hair trailing behind her like the tail of a comet. And I knew that she was mine. I knew that we were destined to leave this place together. We didn't belong to this carnage and the knowledge of escape was the only thing keeping me sane.
But for now I could only watch and wait for this was an arena I dare not enter.

On the rim of the machine the animals had gathered.
Big cats at a waterhole waiting on the weak and wounded to stagger into their territory so they could exercise some violence and feed their starving reputations.
No climbdown in this standoff with the world.
They already know that they can never win the war but in this battle they're gonna do some damage.
The pack will follow the stragglers into the dawn. Young mental jungle.

Jungle ride, jungle ride tell me when it's over
Jungle ride, jungle ride, tell me when it ends
Jungle ride, jungle ride, tell me when it ends
Here she comes round again, here she comes round again
Here she comes round again, here she comes, here she comes.

When you're down to the last skin
And the limelight splutters to darkness in the death of a Zippo.
At the backstage door the last fan has long disappeared
With a plastic bag stuffed full of memories.
If only you'd signed them, if only to testify, if only to recognise that he existed.
That for a moment he stood there.
Side by side in the gutter on the hard cold shoulder of destiny.

You say never again this is the end and it's all gonna change you're determined this time.
Year after year you pretend it's for real and it's all gonna change you're determined this time.
Well happy birthday to me!

When you're the worm in the bottle.
You're the last one to leave and there's nowhere to go to.
And the minicab driver politely suggests you go home.
If you could only remember, just where that's at,
Just where you been, just where it went wrong.
You'll eventually find it.

You say never again this is the end and it's all gonna change you're determined this time.
Year after year you pretend it's for real and it's all gonna change you're determined this time.
Well happy birthday to me!

When you're down to the end line and they're writing you up and writing you off and it feels just like an obituary.
You feel it's all over. You want to drive on down to the beach
And just keep on swimming. But you're still treading water.

You say never again this is the end and it's all gonna change you're determined this time.
Year after year you pretend it's for real and it's all gonna change you're determined this time.
Well happy birthday to me!

Happy Birthday!

Doc: "Tattoo Shop"
Fish: "Hi Doc"
Doc: "Hey Fish, what are you doin'?"
Fish: "If you don't mind, we're gonna record this. Is that cool?"
Doc: "Oh that's cooler 'n hell. Hell yeah, 52's biggest dream man.
You know his biggest dream was, me and him go party with you."

On the trail of torn-out twisters, two angels on a mission came
Dust devils danced before them in the path of the hurricane.
On the road to Oklahoma, through the flatlands from L.A.
From the shadows in the valley, from a country where the lizards play.
While they drove they kept the radio on, why don't you singalong, singalong, singalong.

(Chorus:) Tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo Brother 52
Tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo Brother 52
I don't think so.

A man stands behind his shadow, a man stands behind his words.
These men are together with family to defend their rights in another man's world.
Most people stood against them, most people disagreed
With the need for all those weapons in our safe, secure society.
Paint the words and the pictures on another man's skin
We are lover, warrior, magician kings.

(Chorus):

Doc:"Fuckin' brilliant, man. OK, here's what happened. 52 barred the door shut from the inside. A gunfight started on the front porch. 52 shot back. You know...they come into his home with it, so he's protecting himself. The guy inside the house blew his brains out. Yeah, they made it look like he killed himself. But, no one believes he would, 'cause he's not that kind of man. That's all, I think, he wasn't afraid of death. You know, he believed in something to die for, that's what he did."
Some say he had it coming, others say he was sole to blame
But who says they've got the rights if any at all to blow the brothers away.
A man got a right to wonder, a man got a right to dream,
Without looking over his shoulder to choose the manner of the life he leads.
One man's thoughts on another man's skin
We are lover, warrior, magician kings.

(Chorus):

Doc: "What they have done, was they've come in and murdered him, for his bombs and his ammunition. Just like that Waco Texas or any of these other things, over here in the United States. Anybody that's stockpiling firearms and ammunitions is a threat to the government, so the government wages war against us. They tortured him, he went out but I'm sure he stood up like he was supposed to, you know? They smashed all the rings shut on his fingers with a hammer. It was all an orchestrated plan, man. The more.. the closer I was getting to it.. to the truth, the more they got everybody looking at me as being the guy that pulled the trigger. And what they did when they killed 52, is they broke the whole family up.
That's exactly what they wanted to do.
They wanted to break all of us up."

And then it was over and we took our applause.
We passed the peace pipe and thought no more
About the scenes that were missing, about the lines we had crossed.
And we smiled at each other and knew that the moment was lost.

I let you snuff out the candles, I let you blow out the flame,
And I knew that this time it would never be the same.
The smiles you had wavered, tears welled in your eyes
And I looked and I knew that this magic it was only a sign
For Sunsets on Empire it was only a dream.
I knew that it was broken when I heard you scream
I know you can't believe it. It meant nothing at all.
And we looked at each other and we smiled and the moment was gone.
Sunsets on Empire is this really the end
Sunsets on Empire left with a friend
Could have been a lover, could have been a wife
But when it comes right down to it all I want is a life,
Just a life.

You said it never mattered. You said it's just a thrill.
You couldn't beat it. Another bitter pill.
It never was a habit. A one off just for sure.
You never really thought it out but I hoped that one time
That you'd come back for more.

Sunsets on Empire that's where I am
Sunsets on Empire that's all we have.
To face a new beginning when you're so close to the end
And you looked at me gently and smiled,
Would you still be my friend?

You started to smile
Is this really the end?
Is this really the end?
Sunsets on Empire
The sun sets on Empire

We could talk for hours and we do about nothing,
And avoid talking about anything that could cause us problems,
that we couldn't ignore, and have to talk about, to sort something out.
We got to keep talking, Keep talking.

So we're talking, and that's something.
I'm really happy that we're talking,
It's sure to get us somewhere, make it better,
And then we're sorted just as long as we keep talking
Everything's gonna be alright.

I got secrets then you know that.
You've got secrets I want to know about.
But if you want to know what I know
That you know then, we got to start talking.
Let's be honest. We can't ignore it. Keep talking.

When I look into your eyes I don't know what to say to you,
When I'm standing face to face, I don't know what to say to you,
They said say it with flowers so I said it with flowers.
I sent you short red roses, short red roses.
Everything's gonna be alright.

We've been talking for hours, so have we got somewhere?
Can we say it's all worked out, it's all ok?
Let's go to bed, I'm tired, to be honest.
I just want to go to sleep, I'm tired.
Let's talk about it in the morning, let's talk about it in the morning.
To be honest, I'm tired.
I'm tired.

Welcome on board to those of you in transit en route from the horror
For most of you it's morning but we're really in the middle of the night,
Chasing the sun, chasing the sun.

Stay in your seats until the journey's over, follow instructions
Your fear is in the luggage secured within the hold
Do not walk outside this area, do not walk outside this area.

Here in the cabin under constant pressure, a cargo religion
Stacked in a holding pattern above the killing fields.

Do not walk outside this area, do not walk outside this area,
Do not walk outside this area, do not walk outside this area,
Chasing the sun, chasing the sun.

Way down below there are trenches carved in the hillside
Shadows on contours
Dug in with orders to fight to the last man caught in a ceasefire.

Do not walk outside this area, do not walk outside this area,
Do not walk outside this area, do not walk outside this area,
Chasing the sun, chasing the sun.

Gentlemen the briefing is as follows. At this moment both sides have withdrawn to their original defensive positions and have agreed a temporary ceasefire. I must stress that a very fragile truce exists and the slightest incident of provocation would create an extremely explosive situation.

I know they stare at the heavens where I will parley with angels,
With God's will, they will see me create another star
For my comrades in the darkness I will provide the light
With the souls of these unbelievers, I will create another star
I will create another star, I will create another star.

Chasing, we are chasing, chasing, we are chasing, chasing the sun
Do not walk outside, do not walk outside, chasing the sun.

Listen to me just hear me out, if I could have your attention
just quieten down for a voice in the crowd.
I get so confused I don't understand
I know you feel the same way you've always wanted to say
but you don't get the chance, just a voice in the crowd.

I don't know the score anymore; it's not clear anymore
I can't tell right from wrong anymore; I just don't understand.
I was sitting here thinking of exchanging a new world for old
like changing channels on the tv, or the dirt we stand in to gold.

When I was young, my father told me just the bad guys die
at the time just a little white lie
it was one of the first but it hurt me the most
and the truth stung like tears in my eye
that even the good guys must die
there's no reasoning no crimes and I never knew why
even now it still makes me cry.

If there's somebody up there could they throw me down a line
just a little helping hand just a little understanding
just some answers to the questions that surround me now.
If there's somebody up there could they throw me down a line
just a little guiding light to tell wrong from right
just some answers to the questions that I'm asking you
I keep a vigil in a wilderness of mirrors
where nothing here is ever what it seems
you stand so close but you never understand it
for all that we see is not what it seems, am I blind?

And you sit there and talk revolution
but can you tell me just who's in command?
when you tell me the forces we are fighting
then I'll gladly join and make plans
but for now only our t-shirts cry freedom
and our voices are gagged by our greed
our minds are harnessed by knowledge
by the hill and the will to succeed
and if that's not what you believe
would you let me know I'm not standing alone
that I'm not just a voice in the crowd

If there's somebody up there could they throw me down a line
just a little helping hand just a little understanding
just a little understanding to the questions that I'm asking you
If there's somebody up there could they throw me down a line
just a little guiding light to tell wrong from right
just some answers to the questions that I'm asking you
I'll keep a vigil in a wilderness of mirrors
where nothing here is ever what it seems
I'm scared to shout in case I draw attention from the powers
that preside over our minds and our lives
when they find what I want is the deadliest weapon, that is truth
Day by day it's getting louder
and day by day it's getting stronger
but when I can't scream no more and I need reassurance,
I listen to the crowd.

(And the boy stood, and stared at the hill. And the hill stared back)

(Dick/Simmonds/Boult/Usher)

I watch the TV every night,
I stay awake by satellite,
I hope and pray the nightmares,
Stay away today.

An oily shroud on a coral reef,
A black cloud's hanging over me.
When I hit on the remote,
The programmes stay the same.
Credo, credo, credo, credo.

An assegai slick with sweat and blood,
A shotgun barks at a rabid dog,
A shallow grave hugs a highway,
Beneath a bleaching sun.

chorus:
Credo, credo, credo, credo,
It don't mean nothin'; it don't mean nothin'
It don't mean nothin'; it don't mean nothin' to me.

When cancer sucks a young girl's breast.
When a company chains a young man's soul
When the coal dust stole
My grandad's breath away.

(chorus)

A tattered tramp tacks a windy wynd,
To close a crowded circle a brazier's light,
A man becomes a mountain, in the falling snow.
A mother screams and a baby cries.
The memory gone before the blood has dried.
A needle pricks the conscience,
To help it fade away.

(chorus)

The more you scream, the less you hear,
Or that's how it used to be.
But I just can't tell the difference
Anymore these days.
The open lips of an alter[1] boy,
A planet spins in a silent void,
The options are ever fewer
On the ground these days

(chorus)

[1] sic. Is this supposed to be altar? This is how it appears on the lyric sheet.

(Dick/Simmonds/Usher/Boult)

If you really knew how I felt,
You wouldn't need to be here asking
Those questions,
Those irritating questions, moving in metaphors,
Speaking in tongues.

your gunboat diplomacy,
You accuse me of heresy, of being irreverent,
My opinions irrelevant, when I smile at your smiles,
When you're speaking in tongues.

As we move to a stalemate,
you say a contract's a contract
& this is unnegotiable,
I question your morality, you question my reality
You're speaking in tongues

We are speaking in tongues,
Am I deaf because I cannot comprehend?
Though I try I just cannot understand.

Your entrenched opinions,
On the border of arrogance,
Dug in against the compromise.
A position indefensible, your actions illogical
You're speaking in tongues

You swear contradictions
your tedious monologues, wielding authority,
Demanding subservience, demanding
I make your sense.
Demanding speaking in tongues.

(Dedicated to Rupert Perry, MD EMI UK)

I heard a battle ragin
On the other side of the wall
I buried my head in a pillow and tried to ignore it all
Every night when I hear you
I dream of breakin down your door
An avengin knight in shinin armor to rescue you from it all

From this family business
Family business
How long does it stay
Family business
Oh, it's nobody's business
This family business
But tell me how long it should stay
Family business

When I see you in the supermarket
Sunglasses in the shade
Avertin your eyes from those starin questions
How were those bruises made
The children clutch tight to your legs
They've got so much they want to say
But daddy's sittin home drunk again
So they bite their lips and pray
Cause daddy don't like people pryin
Pokin in his family affairs
And if anyone ask from the social well
You fell down the stairs

It's family business
Keep it in the family business
Can you tell me how long it remains
Family business
Oh, it's nobody's business
This family business
Can you tell me how long it should stay
Family business

She's waitin at the bus stop
At the bottom of the hill
She knows she'll never catch it
She knows she never will
The kids are all she lives for
She's got nothin left to lose
Nowhere to escape to
But she knows she's got to move
Cause when daddy tucks the kids in
its takin longer every night
And the heaven that she's waitin for
Through the hell it lasts all night

It's family business
Keep it in the family business
Can you tell me how long it remains
Family business
Oh, it's nobody's business
Oh, this family business
Can you tell me how long it should stay
Family business

So I become an accessory
And I don't have an alibi
To the victim on my doorstep
The only way I can justify
It's family business
Family business
How long do we keep it
Family business

Hunched foetal in the corner of my soul
My fingernails are bleeding from climbing up the wall
This time you really hurt me right down to the core
And I'm desperately trying to find a reason to forgive you for it all

I saw your life as a shadowplay
In a trance I was held by the shadowplay
In the spell of the shadowplay
From Celtic illumination
I see the Celtic illumination
The Celtic

I never realized just how far we'd gone
I turned around and all that I saw was distance
Through an anger that burned everytime
That someone mentioned your name
I should have noticed, should have read the signs
We could have talked it out if there was a problem
It wasn't obvious then
But then it isn't really obvious now

I saw your life as a shadowplay
In a trance I was held by the shadowplay
In the spell of the shadowplay
From Celtic illumination
I see the Celtic illumination
The Celtic

I could have changed I could have settled down
I could have been whatever you wanted me to be
If you gave me the chance
But it seems that it's too late for that now
I thought I knew you thought we had it made
I'd thought it out, thought I had the answers
After all is said and done
The only thing I really know is your name

I sit and wait for the shadowplay
Let me in into the world of the shadowplay
I'll follow you to the shadowplay
Through Celtic illumination
Give me the Celtic illumination
Illumination

If I'd only had the patience, if I'd only had the time
If I'd only known the moment when you'd chosen to decide
If I'd only ever listened, if you'd only ever asked
If I'd known it was important, if I'd known it wouldn't last

Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay

Maybe if I'd noticed, maybe if I'd tried
Maybe if I'd worked at it, it never would have died
Maybe I was selfish, maybe I was blind
Maybe I was in the wrong and you were in the right

Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay

Could I have been a better man, was I really all to blame?
Was it me that was the problem, was it me that dealt the pain?
Did you never mean to hurt me, did you only try to show
That you really, truly loved me, that together we're alone

Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay

I see my life as a shadowplay
All around is the magic of shadowplay
In the world of the shadowplay is where I belong
Where all that I feared is how it is and will be
All that was hidden
Now you will see
All I could dream
You'll find now is real
All I could touch
Now you can feel
And the light that I follow
Is where the madness will end
Illumination, illumination
Shine on, shine on, shine on.

(Dick/Boult/Simmonds)

Dear friend, it's been a long, long while
I've been meaning to write you
But it was never my style
But what is these days now I'm a family man.

Do you blow sincere kisses to mistresses
Secrets in afternoons?
Do you wear your disguises, feign the surprises,
At the questions she asks when she dares to accuse?
Does your past lie under a dustsheet,
In the corner of a musty garage?
That's where I keep mine, now I'm a family man.

Are your horses still running when
The bookies shop close?
Is the band still together, did you ever
Get on the road?
We chased the same women, we drank
The same beer.
We came as a pair when we ran around here
How are you these days, now you're a family man?

Buy a drink for the boy in my place
At the end of the bar
Give my regards to Nina, slam a tequila,
I'll write you at Christmas or I'll send you a card,
And if you pass by you're welcome to drop in
And see me 'cos it's unlikely
I'll be round your way, 'cos I'm happy to be,
Where I am, living life as a family man

Do you still have your leathers,
Or did you give them away?
Do you still dream of Joni and sidewalk cafes?
Is your Norton still running, is the old man still alive?
Do you still get to Dalkeith, is your rent still as high?
But I suppose you've a mortgage, now you're a family man.

Dear friend, it's been a long, long while
I've been meaning to write you,
But it was never my style.
But what is these days, now I'm a family man.

Where beggars take cheques and children steal credit cards
From the pockets of wrecks that lie in the road
I came to in my future that was just yesterday
Unsure of my past, that's a knot in my gut

You buy me a drink then you think that you've got the right
To crawl in my head and rifle my soul
You tell me I'm free then you want me to compromise
To sell out my dreams you say you'll make it worthwhile

Oh, boys would you drink to me now
Here on the hill, halfway up, halfway down

You tell me I'm drunk then you sit back and smug a while
Convinced that you're right that you're still in command
Of your senses. I laugh at your superior attitude
Your insincere platitudes they make me throw up

The sooner you realise I'm perfectly happy
If I'm left to decide the company I choose

Oh, boys would you drink to me now
Here on the hill, halfway up, halfway down
Oh, boys would you drink to me now
Here on the hill, halfway up, halfway down
Oh for the company born to the company
Live for the company until I die

The sooner you realise I'm perfectly happy
If I'm left to decide the company I choose

The company I choose is solidly singular
Totally trustworthy, straight and sincere
Polished, experienced, witty and charming
So why don't you push off, this company's my own

Oh, boys would you drink to me now
Here on the hill, halfway up, halfway down
Oh, boys would you drink to me now
Here on the hill, halfway up, halfway down
Oh for the company, dream of the company
Live for the company until I die
Oh for the company, dream of the company
Drink to the company until we die
Until we die
Until we die

(Dick/Boult/Simmonds)

He met the world as a Dalkeith boy,
raised from a shaft at Monktonhall
In a well oiled cage,
That locked away his dreams,
An '85 veteran face from the gallery,
A ghost from the civil war in the family
He stood his ground on the picketline
'Til all that he was left with
Were his father's cough
And his mother's eyes
That would hold a tear
For the very first time
When the government took his job away.
Now fist in hand he'll stand in line
Declare his name and mark his time
To some the only proof that they're alive

He could have been you
He could have been me
He could have been anybody
But he was born lucky

He made his first down payment
On a sharp Italian suit
He sewed razor blades into the lapels,
See him sweating on the dance floor,
Cool dust oozing out of every pore
A hard man with a hard life,
And that's a story that he'll tell you
Down at Easter Road till his throat is raw
On a Saturday, he knows the score
Till the whistle blows and,
The colours with their tempers fade away.

He could have been you
He could have been me
He could have been anybody
But he was born lucky

On the helipads at Aberdeen,
Bound for platforms drilling oil rich seas,
Where the trawlers are getting fewer every year.
By the furnaces at Ravenscraig,
By the padlocks holding John Brown's gates,
In the desert, in the fields of South Armagh,
Where the poppies grow,
Behind the Hampden roar,
Behind the drums in Genoa.
On the deck that rides a South Atlantic swell,
Born to figh tout of the tightest corner.
You can bet on him with the odds against you.
They'll not put him down
No matter how they try.