"Beautiful"

She lay in bed all night watching the morning change
She lay in bed all night watching the colours change
She lay in bed all night watching the colours change into green and gold

The doctor told her years ago that she was ill
The doctor told her years ago to take a pill
The doctor told her years ago that she'd go blind if she wasn't careful

They let Lisa go blind
The world was at her feet and she was looking down
They let Lisa go blind
But everyone she knew thought she was beautiful
Only slightly mental
Beautiful, a bit temperamental
Beautiful, only slightly mental
Beautiful

She thought it would be fun to try photography
She thought it would be fun to try pornography
She thought it would be fun to try most anything
She was tired of sleeping

They let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind
They let Lisa go blind
She's looking like a queen
But if you knew what's going on in her life
There'd be a thousand barren mothers there to talk to her
If you knew what's going on in her life
There'd be two hundred troubled teenagers to sit with her
And to talk to her
If you knew what's going on in her life
What's going on in her life
What's going on in her life
There would be a documentary on Radio 4

She made herself a pair of orthopaedic shoes
She thought it was the answer to the fashion blues
She mad herself a pair of orthopaedic shoes
But she walked with a limp

"Put The Book Back On The Shelf"

Sebastian you're in a mess
You had a dream, they called you king
Of all the hipsters, is it true?
Or are you still the queen?

Like getting blood out of a stone
The city left you all alone
You came to dance, but there's no poignancy
When they all leave you standing alone

The wider issues of the day
Don't interest you, you'll have to pay
For looking at the floor
When people talk to you

You wrote a book about yourself
The people left it on the shelf
You'll write another one
Now you've got a story that's worth talking about

Are you happy with yourself?
Are you talking to yourself?
Are you happy with yourself?
Put the book back on the shelf

I know the company you keep
You're on the sofa hidden deep
While on the telly Sid James speaks
To you like God

You're always looking for a sign
But boy you blow it every time
You hear a voice begin to speak
You ignore it and go softly to sleep

"This Is Just A Modern Rock Song"

Emma tried to run away,
I followed her across the city,
She went out to the Easterhouse,
Because she liked the sound of it.

She didn't have a single penny,
She stuck a finger in the air,
She tried to flag down an aeroplane,
I suppose she needs a holiday.

I put my arm around her waist,
She put me on the ground with Judo,
She didn't recognise my face,
She wasn't even looking.

Laura's feeling just ideal,
Her horoscope was nearly perfect,
She's thinking of something to do,
Because she is The Birthday Girl.

She walked out to the edge of town,
She saw me lying in the park,
She took Emma by the hand,
They've got a lot in common.

I'll leave them to do what they want,
I'll leave them to do what they need to,
I'll go and play with words and pictures,
I'll admit I'm feeling strange.

[instrumental]

I'm not as sad as Doestoevsky,
I'm not as clever as Mark Twain,
I'll only buy a book for the way it looks,
And then I stick it on the shelf again.

Now I could tell you what I'm thinking,
But it never seems to do you good,
It's beyond me what a girl can see,
I'm only lucid when I'm writing songs.

This is just a modern rock song,
This is just a sorry lament,
We're four boys in corduroys,
We're not terrific but we're competent.

Stevie's full of good intentions,
Richards into rock 'n' roll,
Stuart's staying in and he thinks it's a sin,
That he has to leave the house at all.

[instrumental]

This is just a modern rock song,
This is just a tender affair,
I count "three, four" and then we start to slow,
Because a song has got to stop somewhere.

"I Know Where The Summer Goes"

I know where the summer goes
When you're having no fun
When you're under the thumb
I know where the summer dwells
If your underarm smells
And your kitchen looks like hell

I know where the summer goes
If you're scraping a pot, and your head is hot
Put your head down, put your thumbs up girl
With the smell of hot desk
And the glitter of your step
He was right, he's the upcoming guru of the city
No one told the city councillors

I know, you can tell me again
I've got my mobile phone
Full of silicon chips
No one likes a smart arse
But I've seen a pattern emerge
I will race you up the hill
Where the boy who made records out of postcard messages
And flowering cherries rain on kids like you

Look twice at the kid with the crimped
And overheated hair
They ran a book on his looks
Odds on was the noble pose and
The denim hard riff of the Irish Troubadour
But the boy came from nowhere to
Steal the hearts of lassies in the lavvies of the club tonight

"The Gate"

In the hope I'll forget I'll wait
It's a chance I'll take oh yeah
In the hope I'll forget I'll wait
For the time

In the spring I'll watch my step
While the night-time passes by
When a smile suits me all alone
I'll be fine

There's got to be a better song to sing
Before I hang upon your shoulder
Telling the truth it may be bolder this time
There's got to be a better song to sing
That makes a lonely one less cold oh
Before I hang upon your shoulder and cry

Watching friends playing in the dirt
Feeling hard but feeling hurt
By the sadness that wastes my time
It's a crime

Counting acts which I must add
To collect sad memories
From a past I'd soon forget
Swap or leave

There's got to be a better song to sing
Before I hang upon your shoulder
Telling the truth it may be bolder this time
There's got to be a better song to sing
That makes a lonely one less cold oh

Before I hang upon your shoulder and cry
At the gate I'll wave goodbye
To the friends that were my lies
And I'll see them off at dawn
Feeling wise
Feeling wise
Feeling wise

"Slow Graffiti"

There's a portrait
In a back room,
Which I keep for days upon, which I relent
And gaze for hours on the muscle skin and bone of some
Imaginary friend.

So how about it?
Show me please how I will look in twenty years
And let me please,
Interpret history in every line and scar that's painted
There in front of me.

It doesn't matter what I'm thinking
What I tell myself to do
I'll end up calling.

I stay in to defrost the fridge
Now the kid has gone to bed
A feeling of dread.
At least when she's around the troubles there,
It's worse to wake up with her falling round the room.

Listen Johnny; you're like a mother
To the girl you've fallen for,
And you're still falling.

Listen Johnny;
You're like a mother to the girl you've fallen for,
And you're still falling,
And if they come tonight
You'll roll up tight and take whatever's coming to you next.

"Legal Man"

L-O-V-E love, it's coming back, it's coming back
L-O-V-E love, it's coming back, it's coming back

Refer to our discussions, confirm the terms of our love affair
I exercise all options, and I know I'll see you there

BA-BA-BA etc. etc.

L-O-V-E love, it's coming back, it's coming back
L-O-V-E love, it's coming back, it's coming back

Not withstanding provisions of clauses 1,2,3 and 4
Extend contractual period, me and you for evermore

You're the Legal Man, you've got to prove that you're no liar
I'll render services that you may reasonably require

L-O-V-E love, it's coming back, it's coming back
L-O-V-E love, it's coming back, it's coming back

Get out of the city and into the sunshine
Get out of the office and into the springtime
Get out of the city and into the sunshine
Get out of the office and into the springtime
Get out of the city and into the sunshine
Get out of the office and into the springtime
Get out of the city and into the sunshine
Get out of the office and into the springtime

"Winter Wooskie"

Who's that girl?
She must be nearly freezing
Who's that girl out there
All that snow makes it hard so see her
Did she wave to me

And maybe I'm in love
Love love, love love
And maybe that's enough
That stuff, that stuff

Made a film
I made it through the window
Who's that star I cast?
All wrapped up in her winter wardrobe
She hurries by so fast

And maybe I'm in love
Love love, love love
And maybe that's enough
That stuff, that stuff

On summer days when the sun shines
I watch the tape
And through the snow, through the window
I watch her wave to me

Who's that girl?
She must be nearly freezing

"Jonathan David"

I know you like her
Well I like her too
I know she likes you
It's not as if I'm being sent off to War
There are worse things in this world

There's still room on my wooden horse for two
I was Jonathan to your David
You're still King

Well, I'd thought about her
I dreamed she'd come, I'd make my escape
I thought she liked me but somehow I was wrong
I know you don't want it this way
But it's O.K.

It's not like we'll be parted
It's not like we never know love

And she'll smile for you
She'll hold your hand
You'll be in love there's no other way
And I will make it some day

I know you like her
Well I like her too
I know she likes you
It's not as if I'm being sent off to War
There are worse things in this world

There's still room on my wooden horse for two
I was Jonathan to your David
You're still King

Visions of love recollected
Have we ever been true?
I know that I have, it's time for you to go
It's all in the stones that you throw
I want you to know

It's not like we'll be parted
It's not like we never know love

And she'll smile for you
She'll hold your hand
You'll be in love there's no other way

People say that
"We'll never change"
"We'll never change"
But I have

You and her in the local newspaper
You will be Married and you'll be gone

Married and you'll be gone

"Take Your Carriage Clock And Shove It"

In the board room the quiet man takes a
Second to think what to do
He's out of his seat and he's starting to speak
And he hears his own voice
For years and years he's done nothing but bow down and put up with all their demands
She sits like a viper and offers the clock
Without giving a damn
He takes it

"Honour forbids me but honour be damned
You have whined till you got what you want
I did the work and when things were going badly
You left us to rot"

He locked the door or the boardroom
And turned like the scene from the old country song
Towering over the table he's lost
He is drunk with it all

"You only
Came back to us when we'd turned it around
When we'd rescued your arse from the fire
Your contribution to all that we did was to say
it was dire"

"Night after day after night I've been working
Despite of you fucking us all
Now I'm going to die I don't care if you cry
Just please leave me alone
And spare your tears from yourself
We've had those till we're sick
You should leave while you still have the chance"

The others were shocked at this shameless disgrace
At the end of an honoured career
He paused in the silence to pull down his tie
And observe the melee