"Stay Loose"

I was choking on a cornflake
You said "Have some toast instead"
I was sleeping maybe three hours
You said "You should get to bed"
I was waiting at the church door
For the minister to show
I was looking at the new year
You said "Walk before you crawl"

I was feeling like a loser
You said "Hey, you've still got me"
I was feeling pretty lonely
You said "You wanted to be free"
I was looking for a good time
You said "Let the good times start"
With a quiver of your eyelid
You took on someone else's part

Maybe I'm a little greedy
You said "Think before you speak"
Sometimes I'm a little seedy
You said "Everyone is weak"
Now I feel a little better
Is there something I can do?
But I never heard the answer
I never had a clue

But what about me
I don't really see
How things will improve
If all you want is to stay loose

There's a little echo calling
Like a miner trapped inside
If I tell her of this moment
She will in me doubts confide
And she's on me like a blanket
Like a stalk of wilting grass
I'm not sure about her motives
I'm not sure about her past

But my faith is like a bullet
My belief is like a bolt
The only thing that lets me sleep at night
A little carriage of the soul
If it starts a little bleaker
Then the year may yet be gold
Happiness is not for keeping
Happiness is not my goal

But what about me
I don't really see
How things will improve
If all you want is to stay loose
But what about them
You play mother hen
To a gaggle of gangling youth
All you want is to stay loose

I was living through the seconds
My composure was a mess
I was miles from tenderness
It was dark outside, the day it was lying in pieces
Everything is flat and dreary
I couldn't care what's in the news
Television is the blues
Television is hysterical laughter of people

And I know it could be me
I'm always asking for more
I keep running round in circles
I keep looking for a doorway
I'm going to need two lives
To follow the paths I've been taking

"Dog On Wheels"

When I was a boy I was confounded by you
Now I'm still a boy I am indebted to you
Every song I ever wrote was written for you
Written for you

Now I'm feeling flat you seem mile away
I'm so tired that down on the pavement I'll lay
Till the blossom on the tree comes falling on me
Fall on me

From my window I can see the mountains in snow
From my window I will shut my eyes and let go
Promise me you'll always be around when I call
And when I fall

On the river bridge up on the wall, looking down
On the river bridge, to me a vision was shown
If I could hold on to things till I was full grown
Peace would I know

To my dog on wheels I'll tell my pleasures and woes
To my dog on wheels I'll tell my secrets and more
Then one day in spring I'll take him down to the road
Anything goes

"String Bean Jean"

I got my fingers dirty at the school of rock
Yeah I got my fingers dirty so I took a walk
I went up to the country park and hung around till after dark
Till the girls got home
Till the girls got home

Did I tell you 'bout the one I know, she's on the rag
She spent the summer day inside her sleeping bag
Yeah she spent the summer day inside until it's time to work
And she works all night
Cause the girl's all right

The girls have got a house that's like a caravan
And it's like your holidays whenever you go round
And we always have a laugh and then we all get in the bath
To save on the leccy bill
Me & Jo & Phil'

I had to leave them in the morning
I left the keys around the way
I had to catch a bus
I had to leave them in the morning
I left the keys down in the caf'
I had to go to work

And when Jo was short of cash I had to give her some
But I didn't really mind cause I was fit for once
So she paid the leccy bill and got the shopping and she still had
Some for the cinema
So we all went out

She asked me "Do I need to lose a bit of weight?"
And I told her "Don't be stupid 'cause you're looking great"
And I call her String Bean Jean because the label on her jeans says
Seven to eight years old - well that's pretty small
Seven to eight years old - that's pretty small
Seven to eight years old - that's pretty small
Seven to eight years old

"Belle & Sebastian"

I left the school I left my job
You saw me looking like a slob
When I was young you were the only fun in town

Everyone thought it was a shame
For Belle and the boy Sebastian
Belle was ok but oh Sebastian
Went too far again
Crashed his car in the rain

He wants to love and he wants to care
But when the boys are queuing up to tell her she's a star
Poor Sebastian is heading for a fall

Everyone thought it was a shame
For Belle and the boy Sebastian
Everyone thought it was a shame
Belle was ok but oh Sebastian
Went too far again
Crashed his car in the rain
Oh Sebastian wrote his diary that
He would never be young again
But you will
Fellow, you are ill
You'd better take a weight off of your mind and listen
To what other people say
Cause things are going wrong your own way

"Lazy Line Painter Jane"

Working the village shop
Putting a poster up
Dreaming of anything
Dreaming of the time when you are free from all the trouble you're in
In the mud, on your knees
Trying hard not to please
Anyone, all the time
Being a rebel's fine
But you go all the way to being brutal

You will have a boy tonight
You will have a boy tonight
On the first bus out of town
On the first bus out of town

Let's see your kit for games
All the girls look the same
You are challenging style for running miles
You're running miles in some boys jumper

Boo to the business world!
You know a girl who's tax free on her back and making
Plenty cash
While you are working for the joy of giving

You will have a boy tonight
You will have a boy tonight
And you hope that she will see
And you hope that she will see

You will have a boy tonight
Or maybe you will have a girl tonight
And you hope that she will see
And you hope that she will see

You are in two minds
Tossing a coin to decide whether you should tell your mum
About a dose of thrush you got while you were licking railings

But you read in a book
That you got free in Boots
There are lotions, there are potions
You can take to hide your shame from all those prying eyes

Lazy Jane, all the time
Painting lines
You are sleeping at bus stops
Wondering how you got your name
And what you're going to do about it

You will have a boy tonight
You will have a boy tonight
And you hope that she will see
And you hope that she will see

"You Made Me Forget My Dreams"

You made me forget my dreams
When I woke up to you sleeping
We had peace for a night at least
But the trouble starts today
This morning you'll say
"I'll see you sometime, maybe" and I
Fall back to uneasy sleep

You made me forget my dreams
I was building a space rocket
With the boy who played bass guitar
With the boy who's wearing flares
He didn't care
He lit the fuse and ran for a mile
The space rocket went up in style
The space rocket went up in style

I'll lend you two hundred quid
For a flight across the ocean
Maybe things will look better there
Because they couldn't be much worse
Than tears and a curse
For men with guns, maturing in age
Will always pay a shitty wage
They'll always pay a shitty wage

You made me forget my dreams
When I woke up to you sleeping
There was blood on the sheets again
And the view outside the window
Of gardens in bloom
Obscured by all the trouble we had
I think I better make a move
I think I better make a move

"A Century Of Elvis"

We were sitting in the living room on the sofa, the wrong way round, looking out the window.
It was quiet, and then in the car park across the road we saw Elvis - look, there beside the postman's van,
and he was walking round the postman's van, looking in the open door.
He looked as if he was thinking about getting in, but then the postman came back, and he swaggered off,
walked past the window and down the stairs, and then at the bottom of the stairs right by the caretaker's office,
he started licking the pavement.
Every night now since we moved in that new house there's this noise outside the door at just about half seven or eight o' clock every night.
And if we go and look outside the door, Elvis'll be standing there waiting to be let in.
And then he wanders into the living room, maybe sits down on one of the chairs or even lies down on the floor.
He doesn't say much, he just stays there for an hour or two, watching the TV.
We talk to him a bit, and then around ten o' clock, he'll go away again, and not come back until the next night.
There's a lot of lanes and stuff around here, around the house - although it's right in the middle of the city
it seems quite like the country, it's dead hidden - safe I suppose, made for night living.
There's a lot of squirrels and birds, and Stuart says he's seen about nine foxes there
when he's jumped over the fence on his way to Prior's Road.
Sometimes you can go out walking, and when you've been out for a wee while even you don't know where you are anymore,
so it would be pretty hard for anyone else to find you.
I suppose that's why he spends so much time there, that's why he's come to live there, or maybe it's just the squirrels.
I read about somewhere that he likes squirrels quite a lot.
There's these two videos that we got for wedding presents - called the e-files
e-files one and e-files two about how Elvis is supposed to be still alive.
And one time when he came round we were watching one of those, but he didn't say anything he just sat on the armchair.
He was playing with his collar a bit, and we watched it right through and then when it finished
he just got up and walked off into the mist and didn't say anything.
The first few times he came round I didn't speak to him at all, I wasn't really sure what to say.
And Karen spoke to him quite a lot - she seemed to know what to do more than I do.
He had quite a strange manner though, he'd go into your stuff and look through it,
then he'd maybe pick something up and play with it for a wee while, but he'd never make any comment about any of it.
Seemed pretty rude to me.
I just watched whatever Karen did, and listened to how she talked to him and then,
after a while I started to copy that, and tell him a few things,
not really bothered about whether he responded or said anything back or not.
I think the first time I spoke to him we were sitting up on the mezzanine and I said that I would tell him about me and wee Karen,
and how it was that we'd come to be living there.
I thought he probably liked the fact that we were living there because he came round so much,
so I thought he might want to know how it was that it came about.
We did it all over backwards, I told him.
First of all we got to know each other, and then a while after that we met,
and when we'd known each other for about seven years we decided to have an anniversary,
and that went quite well, so after the anniversary we had a honeymoon, and that went well too,
so after that we decided that we would get married.
That's why we're living there now. I used to think my dad was Elvis, but I haven't told him that yet.
I haven't told my dad either...

"Photo Jenny"

I'm in a mess, I'm in a dress
There's nothing from here till tomorrow morning
How will I get there?
I don't do drugs
All my friends are on their holidays

I go outside, it's not so bad
I saw my friend and he couldn't believe that
The girls were holding hands
The girls are holding hands
Don't be a fool
It's 1995, the girls are just friends

They got the drugs I could use but then I don't need any
All that I want is a photograph of Photo Jenny
How will I get one? I don't know
How will I get one? I don't know
How will I get her to strike a pose?

It's getting cold, I'll catch the bus
I saw my friend when she's finished working
Get some fish and chips
What's on the box?
'Man about the house' with Paula Wilcox

You see the boy/girl's at the bar
Everyone thinks she's really ugly
But I shut my eyes
And the star of it is Photo Jenny

"A Century Of Fakers"

There are people going hungry every day
They've got nothing on their plates
And you're filling your fat face with every different kind of cake
And if you ever go lardy, or go lame
I will drop you straight away
That's the price you have to pay
For every stupid thing you say

There are people going lonely, and they'll stay
Lonely fay into the year
Because you're making blinkers fashionable
And fashionably you'll say
"All is equal in love and war" and
"I'm sorry, but I've got some things to do"
And you pretend to read a book you'll never finish till the day

That the author dedicates it
To A Century Of Fakers
They took your mould and they burned it on the fire in history today
Yeah, the author dedicates it
To A Century Of Fakers
He was an anarchist, he tried his best but it wasn't good enough

Did I say I would see you soon?
Well I'm sorry, but i just came off my bike
And my face is scarred
And chance has barred me seeing you tonight
I was over the other side of the city
And if the truth be known I'd say
That you look great from there before you shaved your golden hair today

Everybody's trying to make us
Another century of fakers
They took you mould and burned it on the fire of history today
Everybody's trying to make us
Another cool decade of fakers
Another century of fakers

"Le Pastie De La Bourgeoisie"

Sunbeam shone, mousy girl on the end pew
You'd stay home, oh if only they let you
Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie

Municipal pool, you're a junior life saver
But you're friends are all serious ravers
Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie
Reading Judy Blume
But you came too soon

You're too tall, much too tall for a boyfriend
They run and hide, from your buck tooth and split ends
Don't be scared, like the books you've read
You're the heroine
You'll be doing fine

Wouldn't you like to get away?
Bestowing the memory of good and evil
On the ones you left behind
The heartless swine

And you love like nobody around you
How you love, and a halo surrounds you
Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie
In the Autumn cool
Say cheerio to school

Listen Dear, I've been watching you lately
If I said all these things you would hate me
Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie
At the church bazaar
I nearly went too far

Wouldn't you like to get away?
Give yourself up to the allure of
Catcher In The Rye
The future's swathed in Stars and Stripes

Wouldn't you like to get away?
Kerouac's beckoning with open arms,
And open roads of eucalyptus
Westward bound