MIDNIGHT TRAIN


This train leaves when the sun goes down
When the lights are low in the northern towns
Starts without a whistle, leaves without a word
Just a light turned red and a driver on board
Through the mountain lakes it's a downward track
Into Lancashire and the cities black
Where the rose was red and the cotton wove
Where the chimney's hushed and the cotton mills closed
Midnight Train like an echo
Of heavy rain falling down
Midnight Train's carrying something
That's like a poison from the ground
>From Nottingham down to Bosworth field
Past canals and forest and the rivers still
By the rails there's a boy who begins to wave
Feels the sting of the wheels like the chill of the grave
Midnight Train like an echo
Of heavy rain falling down
Midnight Train's carrying something
That's like a poison from the ground
When the sun comes up then it's London bound
Over rusty junctions and the underground
Heading east to the coast it's the end of the line
A terminal glowing with nuclear shine
Midnight Train like an echo
Of heavy rain falling down
Midnight Train's carrying something
That's like a poison from the ground
Midnight Train like a chain
Around the body of the land
Seven boxcars full of trouble
Waiting for Pandora's hand

PARTED FROM YOU


An endless road of breathtaking sights
Another town, another night
Where telephone bills replace bottles of pills
Love hurts and your voice thrills
Love hurts and your voice thrills

Now all this frustration brings a feeling of pain
When I put down the phone I want to call you again
When I write you a letter, when I send you a card
I'm soft, my body grows hard
I'm soft, my body grows hard

Mountains and rivers and beautiful views
Mean nothing to me, parted from you
Sunshine or snow it all becomes grey
As I think of you while I'm away

Days become weeks, or so it seems
But night's a release, with you in my dreams
But I wake, you're away and I think of how far
I feel like I'm trapped in a jar
I feel like I'm trapped in a jar

And mountains and rivers and beautiful views
Mean nothing to me, parted from you
Sunshine or snow it all becomes grey
As I think of you while I'm away

RABID UNDERDOG


We left our aching hearts
On that lonely pebbled shore
In the cold sea breath
And the light of the winters sun
I'll see you when we're both
A wee bit older
To drink and boast the things
I've never done,
A chemical plant belching
Sulphur over France
Like Trostre and Port Talbot
Works back home
And were all the girls bowled over,
By the handsome dashing soldiers
Who took an early bath at the Somme?

I never dreamt of home
In the bars of Amsterdam
My head was wild in the light
Of the winters sun
I was stoned out of my face,
And at one with the human race
In the company of policemen
Armed with guns
Stop the people's dance
The proles and paupers dance
From the Berlin wall
To the battlefields of France
All good people hide your shame,
For you know who takes the blame
Tommorrow they won't get another chance

Squandered all my guilders,
And my deutchmarks I had none
In Zurich I was milked
Of all my Francs
A timbered bar I staggered in,
By the wall in West Berlin
The barman looks and shoots
A steely glance
"Are you a friend
Of the British Government?"
I proudly reply "Not a chance!"
Das is good he says with cheer,
And fills me up with beer
Tonight we're going to celebrate the dance!

RAIN STEAM & SPEED


One man drills a powder-hole the colour of a bruise
One man sounds the bugle and another one lights the fuse
Blow up! Pick and shovel it! Carry the earth away
Brains and brawn with hammers drawn blasting through the
day

Rain is the cold
Steam is the burn
Speed is the way the world turns (round)

Draughtsmen and surveyors work at pegging out the shaft
Ten of us to breathe the dust, ten to do the graft
Underneath the Pennine range the bodies lie in racks
40 miles of steel and tile follow in their tracks

Some men build a monument
Some men build a tomb
Some men move the world around
To give them breathing room
Some men carve a statue
Of Isambard Brunel
Some men carved a tunnel into hell

Soon they'll build a tunnel under England through to
France
Will it make the tide run quicker? Will the flow of trade
advance?
Underneath the ocean there is limestone, chalk and sand
But coming up through virgin rock will be the human hand!

RESTLESS HIGHWAY


We drove from San Sebastian to Frankfurt on the Main
Watched winter turn to springtime and the snow turn
into rain
In the darkness on the motorway we lost our silhouettes
But knew that we were still alive by the tips of our
cigarettes
Monday was a carnival, flags yellow, red and blue
The bands were playing salsa as they burned the big
statues
Fireworks in the orange groves, red dust upon our
throats
Pretty girls in ponytails selling smack, crack and coke

Chorus:
Wheels are turning on the Restless Highway
Everybody's looking for a rendezvous
Chasing the horizon on the Restless Highway
Further and further from you

The northern towns of England look like Flanders in the
mud
Boxing rings and bookies, Chinese takeaways and blood
The neon lights are glowing like a furnace in the sky
I'm travelling on the highway thinking of lust and
suicide
Tuesday was a party with the barmaids lonely daughter
Love is best with strangers, it's a bargain not a
slaughter
It's playing cards with con-men in the corner of a
shebeen
Or a little touch of dying in the arms of a Josephine

Repeat chorus

We pass a shanty village on a Spanish mountainside
There was washy in the windows and horses running wild
We bought beer and Coca-Cola, sex in magazines
Told ourselves the village was a desolate place to be
Wednesday was a border, Thursday was a stage
Friday was a close shave with a golden razor blade
Saturday we found a place with the earth's crust
burning bright
Sunday was the seventh red city of the night

ROSETTES


We were 50 strong when we left our town
We took a train to the port
On the boat across we were 48
2 in the magistrates court

2 didn't get past the customs men
3 got drunk in the hold
4 got homesick straight-away
1 pair of feet got cold

Raising the flag, wild without regrets
Waving scarfs, singing hard, wearing our rosettes

The riot squad had a team of dogs
And they'd called up the water hose
We declared a war, and fought to a draw
For the glory of the rose

1 went down in a stumble
2 went into the sea
3 got scared and messed right there
1 of them was me

Raising the flag, wild without regrets
Waving scarfs, singing hard, wearing our rosettes

Run rabbit run with the pack
Better not look down better not look back
The day you turn will be the day you learn
The lie in the Union Jack

Matchday came, and we saw the game
they took us on at the gates
I caught the hammering of my life
At the hands of a heavyweight

I dreamed I heard a distant drum
Beat a requiem Someone's gained, someone's stained
Us, or was it them?

Raising the flags, wild without regrets
Waving scarfs, drinking hard, wearing our rosettes

Dress him in the flag, send him our regrets
Wear a scarf on his behalf, wearing our rosettes
Raising the flag, wild without regrets
Waving scarfs, singing hard, wearing our rosettes

SCARLET RIBBONS


Wander throught the streets
To the top of the town
Banshee wails and bawling
The people gather round
There's been gunfire, there's been drinking
You can hear the victory voice
On the chapel door and the courthouse
The posters say rejoice

Ribbons, scarlet ribbons
Carouselling in the sun
Ribbons, scarlet ribbons
There's one for everyone

There's one on the tree at the edge of the park
Two in the hair of the girls in the dark
Three on the soldier whose medals he shows
A fusion of colours, just like a rose

Ribbons, scarlet ribbons
Carouselling in the sun
Ribbons, scarlet ribbons
There's one for everyone

Ribbons, scarlet ribbons
Carouselling in the sun
Ribbons, scarlet ribbons
There's one for everyone

On the bells of celebration
In The bedrooms of the nation
On a lonely isle, so cold and bare
Lies a dead soldier, so fresh and rare

Ribbons, scarlet ribbons
Carouselling in the sun
Ribbons, scarlet ribbons
There's one for everyone

SHIRT OF BLUE


Hey now Tommy have you got a new shirt
is it the colour of fine bright blue?
Has your mother sent you off to your school?
From the street with a pretty view

Shall we wrestle in the old school yard
Like the other children do?
We can scuff these shoes You can tear your hands
And I'll rip that shirt off you

Hey there Tommy since you moved away
They've taken our town and they've made it new
And now there stands a chemical plant
Where the cherry orchard grew
And I married Lucy from the back of our class
Who once wrote letters to you
And we've got kids and we send them to school
From the street with a pretty view
Oh in your shirt of blue
Oh in your shirt of blue

(Chorus...)
Maybe Tommy
We grew up too quick
From the fields
Where the flowers grow
From a butterfly stick
To a baton and a brick
You changed your uniforms far too soon

Hey there Tommy shall we meet again
In the morning wet with dew
Me at the gates of the colliery
And you in your shirt of blue
Shall we wrestle in the muddy patch
like the other poor men do?
We can scuff our boots we can tear our hands
And I will rip that shirt off you
Oh in your shirt of blue
Oh in your shirt of blue

Chorus to End...

SILVER DAGGER


Don't sing love songs, you'll wake my mother
She's sleeping here, right by my side
And in her right hand, a silver dagger
Say's that I can't be your bride
All men are false, says my mother
They'll tell you wicked, loathsome lies
The very next evening, they'll court another
And leave you all alone to pine and cry
My daddy is a handsome devil
He wears a chain, five miles long
And on each link, a heart does dangle
For another maid, he's loved and wronged
Go court another tender young maiden
I'm sure that she can be your bride
For I have been warned and I've decided
To sleep alone for the rest of my life
Don't sing love songs, you'll wake my mother
She's sleeping here, right by my side
And in her right hand, a silver dagger

SMUGGLERS


The boat rides south of Ailsa Craig in the waning of the light
There's thirty men in Lendalfit to make our burden light
And there's thirty horse in Hazleholm with the halters on their heads
All set this night up on your life if wind and water speed
Smugglers drink of the frenchmens wine and the darkest night is the smugglers
lime
Away we ran from the excise man
It's a smugglers life for me
It's a smugglers life for me
Oh lass you have a cozy bed, and cattle you have ten
Can you not live a lawful life and live with lawful men?
But must I use old homely goods while there's foreign gear so fine?
Must I drink at the waterside and France so full of wine
Smugglers drink of the frenchmens wine and the darkest night is the smugglers
time
Away we ran from the excise man
It's a smugglers life for me
It's a smugglers life for me
Though well I like to see you Kate, with a baby on your knee
My heart is now with gallant crew that plough through the angry sea
The hitter gale, the tightest sail, and the sheltered bay or goal
It's the wayward life, it's the smugglers strife, it's the joy of the smugglers
soul
Smugglers drink of the frenchmens wine and the darkest night is the smugglers
time
Away we ran from the excise man
It's a smugglers life for me
It's a smugglers life for me
And when at last the dawn comes up and the cargo safely stored
Like sinless saints to church we'll go. God's mercy to afford
And It's champagne fine for communion wine and the parson drinks it too
With a sly wink prays "forgive these men, for they know not what they do"
Smugglers, drink of the frenchmens wine and the darkest night is the smugglers
time
Away we ran from the excise man
It's a smugglers life for me
It's a smugglers life for me
It's a smugglers life for me
It's a smugglers life for me