Lyrics

INDEX

Black Light

Garage Rock LP 2010
Whale
Roofie
Leeds Brig, Sunday Morning
Shudder
Maybe,then
A Penny for your Thoughts
Ring out the Bell, Lloyd

Monkey Fist E.P. 2009
Monkey Fist
Knives
Erato
A Vase with no Eyes

Repetition with Variation E.P. 2008
No.1 King of the Slums
Saturday Night in the Swim
Michael

Early Songs 2006
Ligament
Ninety-nine
Ouija Board
The Surprising Arm

 

Black Light (unreleased)

drunk myself sober enough times to tell
that this is gonna hurt in the morning, well, well, well.
but I've no intention of rising at dawn
so bring on the backlash, i've slept through much worse

I've felt your mouth working, at night when the press
is closed for the evening, and your blue eyes make sense
so bring on your asides; your dirty goodbyes
we ain't scoring points here; we've got a fire

that shines, christina, a black, black light.

Index


Whale (From Garage Rock)

A sliver of silver
A diamond shot glass
A sharp inhalation
From the belly of the whale

You beam like a moto
So much trust in your eyes
Your funny little smile
As you wallow in the lake

And I am alright now
There’s space enough here
Resting up inside the man
For a little while and wait

Until she turns
To drag and to squeeze
To suck on my oxygen
Like Jenny Green Teeth

Bean-Fionn
Dragging me under
But don’t it feel good?

A sliver of silver
A diamond cut glass
A sharp inhalation
From the belly of the whale

Index

Roofie (from Garage Rock)

Seen you before so put some cash in your mouth
Seen you on the street with all that shit on your blouse
We’ll put money into you, yeah, if you just entertain
Think you fit the demographic? Come on now, get it on

The roof is caving

Do you wanna be a porn star, cash in on sweet ATM?
Load up on red-bull and Viagra, spray a tan; hit the gym
While everybody’s getting fat for turning up unrehearsed
Make it easy on yourself, downscale effort, keep it pure

The roof is caving

Give us a drink and make it blue
Give us an hour and we’ll make you
Give us a dawn and paint it grey
One memory striped, one memory saved

The roof is caving in

Index

Leeds Brig, Sunday Morning (from Garage Rock)

It used to rain when we were young
But it never rained quite like today
The Sun would shine and keep us warm
But now he hides his broken face away
         
Let it come, let it come, Let it come, let it go

It used to fog upon Leeds Brig
But now the view goes out for miles
Where we would fly as high as kites
Before the bailiffs stole our pretty songs away

Let it go, let it go, let it go,
Let it come, let it come, let it come
L et it go...

Go Johnny go ...

And my ghost would stand so quiet still
A long black ribbon in it’s hair
And now the space follows me here to stand
On the bridge with Louis le Prince and feel the rain

Let it come, let it come let it come,
Let it go, let it go, let it go,

I'm always happy when it rains.

Index

Shudder (from Garage Rock)

Spit on it, before you stick it in again
I need the poison you’ve got dripping on your tongue
Before you twist it, maybe pull it in and out
I hear you’re good at that. Well, well, well.

I keep my eyes fixed on my pretty little room
It’s getting warm now, like I always knew it would
But still the drum beats they keep breaking on through
One, two, three, four, hasn’t anybody told you?

My handshake, my face aches
My skin cracks. My blood runs cold.

Don’t creep when you’re tripping up the staircase
Shout loud when you’re banging on the door
Witness happy messengers are eager
Witless for success

Grind down your heel upon the picture-frame
Burn down your dainty little bridge
Cross off the things you maybe should’ve done
Scratch out the names on your list

My handshake, my face aches
My skin cracks. My blood runs cold.

So twist it just a little bit more
Before you stick it in. I never felt anything
The first time. Still I grew a yellow smile
And now I’m sick of it. Right about now

It’s only touching without feeling
It’s only shopping with little reason
It’s only filling a little downtime
It’s only squeezing the dreams that were mine.

My handshake, my face aches
My skin cracks. My blood runs cold.

Index

Maybe,then (From Garage Rock)

I’m in your debt in - so many ways
I tried enlisting but - I haven’t the time.
Hands grip me tightly a - cross my flat chest
Keeping me warm they’re - keeping me safe
Trains buzz through the window - and the girls on the door
Laugh at their reflections - as they get onboard
Black sky in the fog-light - I want to turn back
To face the fire again.


We ain’t ever coming down
We never left the ground in the first place

Watching our Gaia spin - round dear Old Sol’s
Pretence of rising and sinking on low
Barely a secret - it’s not quite like that
Exactly
Trains puke their - thoughts in a lump on the grey
Keys jangle in rhythm at the cusp of the lay.
Friends kissing at doorsteps - with one gloved hand cupped
Darling we are both fucked …

We ain’t ever coming down
We never left the ground in the first place

Index

A Penny for your Thoughts (From Garage Rock)

I spy a little tunnel at the end of the light
That’s not surprising we’ve been delving with our boots on the line
I’m stealing postcards I can send out when the timing is right
And I have dug your hole

Stop, stop, stop, stop the voices
Wait, wait, wait til the morning
When you come ‘round a-lying
All late in bed, sad, and crying

Well your Daddy is rich and he’s working away
And your Ma’s good-looking
And you’ve sterling enough to keep yourself real thin
Sure we can’t fail to take it all in

Stop, stop, stop, stop the voices
Wait, wait, wait til the morning
When you come ‘round a-lying
All late in bed, sad, and crying

Well here’s a penny for your thoughts
And here’s a dollar for a magazine
Now you can look at all the pictures
While we’re busy. Watch us now

I hear that times are hard, I see it on your face
I hear you shout enough “I need a holiday”
I need a holiday, I need a holiday
I gotta get away…..”

Index

Ring out the Bell, Lloyd (From Garage Rock)

Ring Out the Bell, Lloyd

Ring out the bell, another ship has gone down
Send out the volunteers, don't think we'll find that much now
Flotsam and jetsam, maybe a pretty spine of wood
Will wash up twenty years from now when memories have blurred

I should've minded the lighthouse lamp instead of trawling out to sea
There's little left to chant now, except abide with me

I've got a tattoo of a dancing girl - she shivers when I shake
I got line burns on my hands and I got swallows on my neck
And I wish I was on dry land with a heart that's true to me
Give me days of wine and feasting and then send me back to sea

SMS don't mean so much when you're so far from land
Still I wish I was in your car though, your thigh under my hand
We could park up here and watch the shining saffron city lights
Roll back home and plug into the mains and sleep all night

But the water's rising now and it will not be long
Until attention's hauled away from this lost, fallen, mother's son
As the sea and sunset fuses, in a cobalt swell
And the storm o'er comes all comfort and the daylight washes out

Ring out the bell, Lloyd
Another ship has gone down....

Index


Monkey Fist (From the "Monkey Fist" EP)

Those six degrees are hard to beat
While minds still roll from the machine
That rising grinds against the Sun
With bight galore to hitch it down with a …

Monkey Fist, Figure Eight, Overhand, Heaving Line.

The hemp was rot, the plastic burnt
The die were cast, the tables turned
We fly before the trading winds
That country lost; stout in the gin of a

Monkey Fist, Overhand, Figure Eight, Heaving Line.

Still water – flat liner
Broad-forder – is this luff?

Monkey Fist, Figure Eight, Overhand, Heaving Line.

Index

Knives (From the "Monkey Fist" EP)

Getting higher every day
Scraped my shins against the Sun
While the wings I built myself
Have melted in the ocean

Don’t worry about vertigo
The trick is simply never look down
Our sick bags at hand and one step at a time
I’m sure we will see you anon.

Getting bolder every night
Drowned our doubt in double doses
Take a walk and feel the fire
Of landing lights that guide us in

Don’t worry if the rain comes in here
It’s only ever passing on through
Our storm Macs will hold and our hearts burn brighter

I’m sure we will do it again

Index

 

Erato (From the "Monkey Fist" EP)

Erato
Get on board
Send a line
Or two this way

Lift us up with the buzz of your personal fuss
It’s getting harder to just get along here

Fill the hole
In the wall
Let me beat
A tune on your mirror

Lift us up with the buzz of your personal stuff
It’s getting harder to just get along here

Turn it up
Light a torch
Shine a lamp
On the fire

Make it loud make it clear
Let your voice drown the din
Make it mean, let it ring
I’ve a need for this …

Up with the buzz of your personal stuff
It’s getting harder to just get along here

Index

 

A Vase with no Eyes (From the "Monkey Fist" EP)

You keep on cooking but you can’t come in
We only salivate to MSG
We only want it if it comes in a box
We’ll only take it if it’s out of the tin

Just like a vase with no eyes
A vase with no eyes
A vase with no eyes
A vase with no eye, eye, eye, eye, eyes…

You keep on shouting that you’ve nothing to say
You used to sell it now you can’t give it away
Your shoulders’ rolling ‘cos you can’t take the wait
Your dreams are moldy ‘cos you’re sleeping in late

Just like a vase with no eyes
A vase with no eyes
A vase with no eyes
A vase with no eye, eye, eye, eye, eyes…

You keep reflecting but we haven’t the time back
We molly-coddled you with milk-breathed lines
The Occum’s razor-sharp cream that we sip
High floods the space between us good as your script

Just like a vase with no eyes
A vase with no eyes
A vase with no eyes
A vase with no eye, eye, eye, eye, eyes…

Index


No.1 The King of the Slums (from the "Repetiton with Variation" EP)

He's an old school fight club thing scares the wind right out of me
And he'll sign any piece of paper in sight
Gives my conscious grief from pub to pub to club
Then wishes me don't be lonely sticks a pound in my hand for luck

You gotta roll with the rollers

He's a retired j-bird saves a virtual fortune
On electricity back in the days of the florin
Mumbles how the stretching boys built their tidy lighters
From knotted vest string, razors and boot polish tins

Maybe its best not to ask until you’re straight
And I've no intention of drying out just yet

So give me one more but gimme two more and make us free more man
Cos that teddy boy thing gives you away somewhat
Roll on the digital pictures, i hope that they last
Do you fancy that beer now that balcony and hit of sweet release?
 I seem to have retired somewhat prematurely

Well yeah so what?
Well now knocking on sixty and hats off to you lads
Fill up your glasses and carry me home
Fight it or fuck it its just scare them stroke annoy them now
Well its a habit like smoking i guess and I...

Managed to give that one up for a while
Like i give up this, like i give up that
Like i loose weight, like i apply the processes
I just wanted a drink, i just wanted to read my book
I just wanted to check out the girls on the table next to us
Looking kinda busy, talking about nothing in particular very much, thank you
Not asking a great deal, i'm pushing paper for the government i did not elect
Making out with the hoi polloi i did not select
When i get drunk, i get quiet, when i get loud
I catch myself and I say ssshhhhhhh!!

Who died and made you the king of the slums?
Who cried and christened you Sir Knight until Dawn?
Who went and made you the scourge of our dreams
Some boy? some girl?
Answers, answers on a postcard please ...

Old man you scare the shit right out of me

Index

 

Saturday Night in the Swim (from the "Repetiton with Variation" EP)

Walk in shy with your head down low
Like you don't want to be here - like you'd rather stay home
And watch a little T.V. and do some dinner for one
Take a paperback to bed or just a little soft porn.

Saturday night - out with the school in the swim
Nothing to say - nothing to do
But get on the trip that'll carry us all through this

Drift in the corner with a composite smile
Gotta keep it all together maintain some self control
There ain't many paths open you ain't practiced before
You could do this in your sleep until you wake up alone

Saturday night - out with the school in the swim
Nothing to say - nothing to do
But get on the trip that'll carry us all through this

Don't hold your breathe too long
Don't let the gap slip through your fingers
Maintain your motion
Your grip on the beat we are called to

Didn't mean to do it again but when the options are tight
And there's a river of alcohol and plenty to bite
And I get bored of the silence so I'm catching the wind
That's turning stupid to meaningful, and useless to fit

And I duck and I stumble and I fake it's a dive
And I wait in the current for the turn of the tide
And I wait for the whites of the eyes of the prize
No Cognito Ergo Sum - get up and do it and ride

Saturday night - out with the school in the swim
Nothing to say - nothing to do
But get on the trip that'll carry us all through this

Don't hold your breathe too long
Don't let the gap slip through your fingers
Maintain your motion
Your grip on the beat we are called to

Index

Michael (from the "Repetiton with Variation" EP)

Out of the sand into the sky
A pillar of fire, a blinding white light

Borne with the wind that flows from the word
Building momentum, a maelstrom of sound

And it serves the will and it never feels
In one hand a sword, in the other a shield

And it sees tomorrow and it knows the past
As it takes all colours and grinds them to dust

Index



Ligament

wait til your father gets home
you know his brother's always doting on his precious little girl
you couldn't wait til I was gone
Your eyes are gonna bruise with symmetry now
I'm washing my hands of you, son
I can't believe what you've become
We give you everything and this is how you start repaying
I hope for your sakes that your father is not drunk
He's gonna kill you when I tell him,
But I'm telling all the same

So what? she's old enough to know
And we're so bored an' all, sitting in our room
that's why her mother sent her here
I'm sure you heard about the boy that she was made to loose?
She likes my shiner, it reminds her how we look the same
You know she really is a special kind of pink-eyed girl
They're gonna get him when I tell them,
But I'm telling all the same
They're gonna put him on the west wing
Where they'll drive his head insane
That man's a power-freak
And where's the sound that gonna bring him down?

We're only playing cos we're bored
And it's so easy - it's absurd...

Index

Ninety-nine

Skinny white boy with no sense of rhythm
Skinny white boy with no sense of rhythm
Skinny white boy with no sense of rhythm
Skinny white boy with no sense of rhythm

Skinny white girl with no sense of rhythm
Skinny white girl with no sense of rhythm
Skinny white girl with no sense of rhythm
Skinny white girl with no sense of rhythm

Skinny white kids with no sense of rhythm
Skinny white kids with no sense of rhythm
Skinny white kids with no sense of rhythm
Skinny white kids with no sense of rhythm

Skinny white world with no sense of rhythm
Skinny white world with no sense of rhythm
Skinny white world with no sense of rhythm
Skinny white world with no sense of rhythm

 

Index

Ouija Board

Hey. Wake up.
I need to ask you a favour

Of course each questions loaded; we spent three years on it
We think that you are playing games when you are fast asleep
There really was no danger; although we saw it then
It’s just a little colder. The sky a little grey

It’s just a question of timing,
It’s just a question of time

Være eller ikke være

The one that got away at fourteen on a whim
The father of your downfall, yeah, we could still be him
Best buy your way through college; we went and towed our lines
Got best in class for confidence Xanax, Fluoroxetine and wine

It’s just a question of timing,
It’s just a question of time

Være eller ikke være

A vase with no eyes, now we’ve outlived Christ
And it wasn’t all that easy; not much good advice
We wish you all the best; don’t need to meet your friends
There are no easy answers still there it goes regardless

Always moving the same way, fish and dots and pharmacy
Another who would take you, but you’re so indecisive
Still black, I guess, it suits you; you’re morbid when you drink
You never could get over how you found that you could think
You’ve gone and let her drown again; you’ve simply stood and spied
And railed against the facts at large instead of here and now
Of course each question’s loaded; we spent four years on it
We think that you are playing games when you are fast asleep

Være eller ikke være

 

Index

 

The Surprising Arm

Too close to the floor, I see you’ve already been
The little marks on your cheekbones tell it like it is
Turn up on time win the prize, we’re gonna pull it off this time
A little practise and a little disguise, a little less sugar and a few white lies

We’ve got something for meetings, and something for outings
In a tight fit suit jacket and a short straight fringe
In a post-something haze we’ve forgotten to reference
Your Mötörhead top shop shirt cropped at the waist

And you’re mother should know because we once took her dancing
In the eye-liner rushing of a dance floor beat
And your father should too although he never says much now
But keeps a lock firmly left tightly undone

Locked yourself in a butchers shop boy; once more into the breech
You scratched your mark in hard and true now we can see it for what it is
We are reward for the nine-while-five. We are the buzz that kicks
We are the nights when you feel your skin rush soft against the headboard, sinking in

Just like the good doctor said in the summertime
You buys your ticket and takes the ride
You only check when you wake up saying
Let’s celebrate tomorrow’s news today

Too close to the floor, I see you’ve already been
The little marks on your septum tell it like it is

Sometimes we find your letters moving
The pictures stir and warm the eyes
We hear the sound of Friday evening
Echoing again

Index

 

(c) All lyrics monmon