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SKYCLAD LYRICS
"History Lessens" (2002 Best of/Compilation)
1. Penny Dreadful (Full Shilling Mix)
2. The Silver Cloud's Dark Lining
3. Isle of Jura
4. No Deposit, No Return
5. Brimstone Ballet
6. Constance Eternal
7. Building a Ruin
8. Emerald
9. I Dubious
10. Jumping My Shadow
11. A Bellyful of Emptiness
12. Kiss My Sweet Brass
13. Bury Me
14. Single Phial
15. By George
1. Penny Dreadful (Full Shilling Mix)
Forgive me if I'm out of order -
this new "music" has no soul.
It may be good for making money,
(sadly that is not my goal).
Integrity and honesty are words that you don't understand,
but you're the best - it says so in the penny dreadful in your hand.
I saw you in the magazine,
they're calling you messiah.
They must be living in a dream -
they couldn't be more wrong.
If we'd played this riff more punk,
than may be we'd have had a million seller.
But this piper's tune is not for sale,
(I'm glad to say I'm not that kind of fella).
D.J.s, V.J.s, pimps and trollops,
never mind music - this is bollocks.
I saw you in the magazine,
they're calling you messiah.
They must be living in a dream -
they couldn't be more wrong.
Turn on, tune up, cash in, sell out.
Turn on, tune up, cash in, sell out.
Stand your ground behind the times -
and refuse to follow fassion.
Write your poetry with anger,
(and then sing it with a passion).
Painted faces in a circus - images that spring to mind,
when I read my penny dreadful filled with pictures of your kind.
I saw you in the magazine,
they're calling you messiah.
They must be living in a dream -
they couldn't be more wrong.
Commercial suicide's appealing after
ten years on this losing streak.
'Cause I'd rather be called sour and bitter
than be deemed the flavour of the weak.
I saw you in the magazine,
they're calling you messiah.
They must be living in a dream -
they couldn't be more wrong.
Extra, extra, read all about it!
I saw you in the magazine,
they're calling you messiah.
They must be living in a dream -
they couldn't be more wrong.
2. The Silver Cloud's Dark Lining
Sailing of the century - a human life raft floating the jaws of the void approaching - growing closer by the hour Played lottery with destiny - could not believe you'd lose Collect your one-way ticket for "the Good Ship Earth's" last cruise So play today go make your hay beneath a warm sun shining But bear in mind one day you'll find the silver cloud's dark lining Poor general intelligence - all that is rank promoted Distended bellies bloated - gorged on candy-coated lies Though honest as the day is long - dark nights are drawing in yet for one grow tired of this - a devil sick of sin So play today go make your hay beneath a warm sun shining But bear in mind one day you'll find the silver cloud's dark lining Stand in line and pay your dime, to watch Atlantis rising When do you'll see right through to the silver cloud's dark lining Oblivion comes calling - expel your last breath praying Hear the hounds of Hades baying - find there's nowhere left ot run Across the fence midst greener grass a serpent winks his eye for each of us he's baked a slice of home made apple-pie ! So play today go make your hay beneath a warm sun shining But bear in mind one day you'll find the silver cloud's dark lining Played lottery with destiny - could not believe you'd lose Collect your one-way ticket for "the Good Ship Earth's" last cruise So play today go make your hay beneath a warm sun shining But bear in mind one day you'll find the silver cloud's dark lining Stand in line and pay your dime, to watch Atlantis rising When do you'll see right through to the silver cloud's dark lining
3. Isle of Jura
All around me strangers scurry - In a crowd but all alone. Got to hurry - pack my worries, Feel the arms that I call home. I am lonely - I am lost, Inside my private holocaust. [Chorus:] O' steel angel please carry me - Fly me to my love, From cold Earth far beneath me To the Heavens high above. All aboard but fly so-low (Chocks away) The engines start. Crossing oceans of emotion that circumnavigate my heart. Have you ever talked to someone, Not recalled a single word? The gentle rhythm of the humdrum, It was the only sound i heard. Why was I not so astute to stow My dreams a parachute? O' steel angel please carry me - Fly me to my love, From cold Earth far beneath me To the Heavens high above. It seems they never sensed how time was passing, Deep in the silence and the cold. Sat living, breathing, drinking, laughing - While Death lay sleeping in the hold. Then my eyes beheld a vision, A beaty Brighter than the Stars One singe spark - and then ignition, Bathe my flesh and heal the scars. The hand that dared to touch God's knife, But 'Isle Of Jura' - I love life. O' steel angel please carry me - Fly me to my love, From cold Earth far beneath me To the Heavens high above.
4. No Deposit, No Return
I remember my grandmother sat with her radio,
tea cup and walking stick set by her side.
As her old fingers reached out to turn up the volume,
I learnt what it meant to be bursting with pride.
She told me some tales of wars great and last,
black and white film stars sha'd liked in the past.
Taught me a few songs she'd learnt as a child,
stunned by her wisdom I listened and smiled.
She said to me "Lad, if you'll be a musican,
go out and be one - but one with conviction.
If there's just one lesson the young ought to learn,
it's pay no deposit and get no return."
Get no return.
Pay no deposit and get no return.
On time faded photographs I've seen an airman,
Stood next to the wings of a flying machine
and given the choice well I think I would rather
have done what I've done than have seen what he's seen.
I think that the Old Man feels really quite proud,
when he sits at the wheel and turns it up loud,
but imagined his son a lawyer or broker,
not sat on a bus full of drinkers and tokers.
He said to me "Son you can do as you please,
but always stand stright - never crawl on your knees.
If there's just one lesson the young ought to learn,
it's pay no deposit and get no return."
If there's just one lesson the young ought to learn,
it's pay no deposit and get no return.
Get no return.
Pay no deposit and get no return.
I've such a short time to tell you so much,
words come second best to a kiss or a touch.
Far thicker than water this blood we all share,
So please don't think that for you I don't care.
Fate may have driven us all separate ways,
but can't sever ancestry - splice D. N. A.
If life seems a road thats uneven and long,
to know where you're going just look Who you came from.
Many have said I take after my mother,
for her '67 was not a good year.
Though often I make her annoyed like no other,
through thick and through thin she has always been near.
Sometimes in the cold now I catch myself smiling,
'bout some stupid joke or a christmas tree shining.
I stood there so small 'neath that glittering tower,
it's memory a beacon in my darkest hour.
She said to me "Martin, whatever you'll be,
there's no such thing as a meal thats for free.
If there's just one lesson the young ought to learn,
it's pay no deposit and get no return."
If there's just one lesson the young ought to learn,
it's pay no deposit and get no return.
Get no return.
Pay no deposit and get no return
5. Brimstone Ballet
"Though I may seem callous" cried old Thomas Malthus, "Paupers are better off dead. That we have to feed them is something we need Like a musket shot straight through the head." Not much of a smiler - our man Wat Tyler (Died for the working man's fight). Was daring such a treason a justified reason For ending his days with his head on a spike? In order to see pearly factory gates - We all learn our places (pre-destined fates). God fearing people with minimal goals, Led to the slaughter - "tools with souls". Save us from hellfire - Save us from dancing the Brimstone Ballet. When the church and its leaders sought new ways to bleed us - It didn't take them long to find, Fear of perdition beats nuclear Fission at making the mill-wheels grind. Ban contraception - a shrewd move says I Plenty of slaves born to suffer and die. Say "Go forth and multiply" when you want more. When you've too many just send them to war. History's wounds will not heal overnight - They pray for my soul as they set me alight. Remember the maxim "Arbeit Macht Frei" - Thought up by a christian with God on his side... It's a hell made by christians with God on their side. The work goes on in babylon - Enslaving us from birth, With promises of paradise - They've made a hell on earth. Save us from hellfire - Save us from dancing the Brimstone Ballet. Well I think that Satan was God's best creation - He's kept him in business for years. It's not common sense making mankind repent - But eternal damnation it fears. They're not slow to realise - they know every trick. Drive human donkeys with God on a stick. Tom Torquemada - he sings like a dream, Lucrecia Borgia plays lead tambourine. In order to see pearly factory gates - We all learn our places (pre-destined fates). God fearing people with minimal goals, Led to the slaughter - "tools with souls!" Save us from hellfire - Save us from dancing the Brimstone Ballet.
6. Constance Eternal
On wednesday the seventh your flight departed, you waved us goodbye - we stood on the ground as one journey ended another one started - you passes overhead (your wings made no sound) This world's just a rock - mow a little bit lighter, for me there's a void where your smile once shone. A new star is born far bigger and brighter than all of the others - that's where you have gone. Over the stormclouds you float high above me, knelt in the dojo we offered a prayer. Yassi was smiling - you saw how she loves me, I'm sure you look forward to meeting her there.... One with the light that was sent here to guide you, forgotten the cripple asleep in her chair. You dance hand in hand - Bernard standing beside you, you're Ginger Rogers and he's Fred Astaire. Constance in eternity, Constance in eternity, Constance eternal.
7. Building a Ruin
My life is a sentence that carries no pardon, I can't put you out of my misery now, So stunned by beauty of this madhouse garden - I've taken my chances (then lost them somehow). This body's a temple - a shoddy construction, I'm digging my grave - while boring the well, I'm paving a path to my own self destruction, I won't be content 'til I see me in Hell. No I won't be content 'til I see me in Hell. I've looked back on my time - the names and the faces, A child long ago that I nearly forgot, And felt like someone who'd just stepped on the place where the last stair should have been - (then found it was not). Life's just a process of delamination, Stripping your hopes - dissecting them gently. I've opened my heart - and to my consternation when I peered inside it was small, dark and empty. [Chorus] My friends turn to me - wonder what I am doing, drinking and smoking like somebody died. I said "Leave me alone I'm just building a ruin, The spirits are sunken - so the wreckage must rise." I'm building a ruin - I ruin a building, My bridges are burned out - my tunnels are filled in. It's all a game I believe - the longer you play it the harder it gets. The most I can hope to achieve now's my breakfast, a priest with a blindfold and last cigarette... My friends turn to me - wonder what I am doing, drinking and smoking like somebody died. I said "Leave me alone I'm just building a ruin, The spirits are sunken - so the wreckage must rise." My friends turn to me - wonder what I am doing, drinking and smoking like somebody died. I said "Leave me alone I'm just building a ruin, The spirits are sunken - so the wreckage must rise." I won't be content 'til I see me in Hell.
8. Emerald
Down from the glen came the marching men With their shields and their swords To fight the fight they believed to be right To overthrow the overlords. To the towns where there was plenty They brought plunder, swords and flame When they left the town was empty And the children would never play again. From the graves I heard the fallen Above the battle cry By the bridge near the border There were many born to die Then onward over the mountain And outward toward the sea They come to claim the Emerald Without it they could not leave.
9. I Dubious
I am the king of all that I survey
beware my son it could be yours one day.
Hier transparent to a dynasty -
dog - emperor of woe and misery.
It sent me mad but now it makes me furious
I'm shadowed by a doubt - I dubious.
Too many handshakes - not enough sincerity.
Promises of glass break - spilling poisoned trechery.
I'm a founding member of the Pessimist Society,
I talk to my reflection 'cause I trust it not to lie to me.
Jesus loved Judas - Judas kissed Jesus.
Ceasar loved Brutus - Brutus killed Ceasar.
I am the king of all that I survey
beware my son it could be yours one day.
Hier transparent to a dynasty -
dog - emperor of woe and misery.
It sent me mad but now it makes me furious
I'm shadowed by a doubt - I dubious.
Playing noughts and zeros - on my Boolean table.
We're warts and all heroes of this true - life fable.
I'm the entertainer at the Bunkcupt Club reunion,
if there's a church of failure - I'll kneel and take communion.
Wed to Delilah - shorn in my sleep.
Sentenced by Pilate - and nailed up to weep.
I am the king of all that I survey
beware my son it could be yours one day.
Hier transparent to a dynasty -
dog - emperor of woe and misery.
It sent me mad but now it makes me furious
I'm shadowed by a doubt - I dubious.
10. Jumping My Shadow
["And ever has it been that love knows not it's own depth] [until the hour of separation." - Kahlil Gibran] Maybe someday someone will love me for what I am (instead of what I should be.) Until that day I'll just sit here weeping, chasing dreams is like shadow leaping. The face behind the mirror - an unrecognised reflection, his eyes look old and tired - filled with bitter recollection. The cross that he has carried was a burden I have made, It's a baptism of tears - they are the seas in which I bathe. 'Cause there's a fire in my heart - but I can't breathe for the smoke, seems that I'm living proof my life's a practical joke. There's a wind in my sails (but I have lost all my direction), with no stars to guide me now you're not here beside me anymore. Somehow, somewhere you will discover a love so sweet that it tasted like no other, and on that day may you both drink deep from that grail we found - but then failed to keep. It's a season I've learned well - some things just cannot be, the key that will unlock your soul is someone else (not me). If you should remember - hope you smile and wish me well, as I walk my path to heaven through ten thousand miles of hell. I stand alone against the cold grey sky, it was blue that day (but not as blue as I). I left my hearts high on that Roman hill, I'll wait a thousand years but it will be there still. Holding hands in silence as the day came to an end, we climbed up there as lovers - then we walked back down just friends. I've know my share of heartaches, never thought of them as bad - but had never quite imagined I could ever feel this sad.
11. A Bellyful of Emptiness
I'm twenty six years old - please tell me what have I got A monopoly on misery - I guess that's my lot Ten years of eating bullshit leaves it's taste in your mouth And I think the time has come for me to spit it all out... 'Cause at the end of the tunnel I see A dole-queue that's beckoning me. Yes living hand-to-mouth it can be fun for a while Simple things please simple minds - do you see me smile? I've broke my bread and fishes - turned my water to wine But I'm sick of walking tightrope on the poverty line I left my home and family - I've pawned all my dreams Took a second mortgage on my soul to further my schemes Now my body's in the pages of "exchange and mart" Ten pounds or nearest offer for one slightly broken heart. And at the end of the rainbow I found A crock of shit there on the ground. Have you had a bellyful of emptiness Do you feel like me we're all just wasting our time If it's true inside each cloud's a silver lining Why does it shine on other lives but not on mine? I've had a bellyful of emptiness I've got a pocketful of nothing at all In real-life fairy tales the frog stays a frog And the serving girl can't be the belle of the ball. You're not the belle of the ball Get back in your cinders and crawl How many other fools like me Have lost their lives contractually Believing there must be far more Than nine to five - the factory floor? Have countless thousands watched their dreams Corrupted into things obscene By money minded bastards who Don't give a damn for me or you? Now my wallet's getting thinner like the hair on my head By the time I hit the "big Time" I'll be buried and dead Tell me how can you resent me for the money I've spent On the only habit I indulge (that's paying the rent)? No-one said this life was easy Christ I've known that all along But it needn't be this difficult that's why I wrote this song The sex and drugs and rock 'n 'roll were never meant to last And the bailiffs knocking on your door don't need a backstage pass! Be sure that you read between their lines There are claws in the contracts we sign. Have you had a bellyful of emptiness Do you feel like me we're all just wasting our time If it's true inside each cloud's a silver lining Why does it shine on other lives but not on mine? I've had a bellyful of emptiness I've got a pocketful of nothing at all In real-life fairy tales the frog stays a frog And the serving girl can't be the belle of the ball.
12. Kiss My Sweet Brass
13. Bury Me
You came, you saw, you conquered as a woman of your word, so to say farewell like Judas is a thing I find absurd. You shook my world - (you sucked me in then spat me out in bubbles), the effects of your affections stay the cause of all my troubles. [CHORUS:] The only thing you never did was have the decency to kiss this corpse and nail the lid - came on and bury me! I placed you on the pedestral - you tossed me in the gutter it seems your lies were like those thighs - spread easier than butter I'm first to go, so last to know how fickle is your passion now my bones hang in your closet though my face is out of fashion [CHORUS:] As vultures circle round my head, far as the eye can see, I walk this world (the living dead) - high-time to bury me ! You laid me to death - now lay me to rest a sticky sweet-nothing to get off your chest It's all pillow-talk at the end of the day the cat's got your tongue - with so much left to say I'm not the only knave you've fooled - behind that mask you wore my beguiling, smiling virgin hides the cunning of a whore Cause your ego needs an offering - 'tis I the coffin fits so I'm martyred like St.Edmund with your name upon my lips [CHORUS:] "Oh, do it hurt?" Oh does it not! - I died with each degree just one small detail overlooked - the need to bury me! I'm just the shade of something you remembered to forget stood like Banquo by your bedside - you just haven't seen me yet Every notch upon the headboard - each twist in your string of lovers is a tear on your pillow - fate serves you as serves the others ! [CHORUS:] "You swore to always stay my friend - why even this can't be Kept your back turned until the end whilst I begged ; Bury me!"
14. Single Phial
I have walked the earth so many times before your birth, Today is only yesterday's tomorrow. And as a Gardner in Eden it was i who sowed the seed then I've come to reclaim this life you borrow. Singing 'ring a ring o' rosies' for your final lullabye, Have you any prayers to make before you wave your last goodbye ? I bring 'a pocket full o' posies' - lay a wreath to ease my guilt, As the light's go out forever not one drop of blood was spilt. [Chorus:] As yet unwritten history - Once more i stride the lightning road Identity a mystery - My burden is Pandora's load. Traversing endless centuries - Disguised behind Death's lipless smile, I hide that my intention is to pour this single phial. I'd have rather seen your face almost any other place Still here we meet - always the way in this profession And as i gaze into your eyes - i see the glimer within dies, From ther moment i first make my dark confession. How could i swear i would be there for you, until your dying day, Certain in the knowledge that it's not that far away? So you leave me sitting here bewildered as a new dead ghost, While i try to justify destroying that which i love most. As yet unwritten history - Once more i stride the lightning road Identity a mystery - My burden is Pandora's load. Traversing endless centuries - Disguised behind Death's lipless smile, I hide that my intention is to pour this single phial. The dark millenium is ending - final daze of the decayed And a reign of tears is falling - it's the judgement eve parade. Though I wash my hands a thousand times - still the guilt remains, She stole my heart - I took her life ... (And yet i never knew her name). As yet unwritten history - Once more i stride the lightning road Identity a mystery - My burden is Pandora's load. Traversing endless centuries - Disguised behind Death's lipless smile, I hide that my intention is to pour this single phial. Out with a whimper - not with a bang. And they all gathered round while the church bell rang. Singing 'bring out your dead' they 'll stretch for miles, To be bourne to their graves in single files. [Chorus:] As yet unwritten history - Once more i stride the lightning road Identity a mystery - My burden is Pandora's load. Traversing endless centuries - Disguised behind Death's lipless smile, I hide that my intention is to pour this single phial.
15. By George
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