Ashes for Dreams

A whirlwind romance threw me into your arms
Wedding bells morph into fire alarms
We dance over rubble. The siren, she calls
Our shadows flicker on bomb shelter walls

In the heat of the moment our hearts set ablaze
An overhead Rolls Royce Orchestra plays
Our guests now depart and at last we’re alone
Together forever as charcoal and bone

A whirlwind romance but It’s not as it seems
Our footprints are carbon. We have ashes for dreams

Ashes for Dreams

Porridge

We’re free to roam our open prison
But can’t help thinking “something’s missing”
To those for whom the rules apply
The choice is ours..we don’t or die

Been sucking on it way too long
The tipping point has been and gone
Your diktats fall like acid rain
You pull too hard, you only break the chain

We do the porridge
While you do the crime
So you have the watches
But we have the time

Drunk on power in love with the pain
It tastes too good to lose it again 
Here’s a thing you can all rely on
We’ll make this the hill we die on


With autocratic over-reach
You piss all over what you preach
We spend our evenings chasing ghosts
And gazing up at empty lamp-posts 

Torch and pitchforks fill the streets
Deafened by a million heartbeats
We smell their fear…ignore their cries
Their Empires crumble right before their eyes

We do the porridge
While you do the crime
So you have the watches
But we have the time…

Porridge

A Benylin Junkie

You’ll have to count me out, I'm a man off a mission 
Permanently stuck in the recovery position
Been diagnosed with bed-lag but that won’t paint me blue
If I can’t get some Night Nurse, then Calpol will do

And before anyone scoffs 
It isn't for kicks - it's for coughs
I'm asleep at the organ along with the monkey
I'm under control I'm A Benylin Junkie

Any kind of effort makes me feel lousy 
It did say on the bottle that it could well make me drowsy
That’s just the price I’m happy to pay
To stick my head in the sand and wish it all away

And before anyone scoffs 
It isn't for kicks - it's for coughs
I'm asleep at the organ along with the monkey
I'm under control I'm A Benylin Junkie

Gotta keep my head down I’m hiding from the sun
I’d get my shit together…but this duvet weighs a ton
On a snail-blazing quest to make things even easier
I'm a low-octane loser with a taste for anaesthesia

And before anyone scoffs 
It isn't for kicks - it's for coughs
I'm asleep at the organ along with the monkey
I'm under control I'm A Benylin Junkie

A Benylin Junkie

ZZ Tramp

He’s got legs
They look squashed 
They go up to what never get washed  
He’s got stains 
And no socks
He sleeps in a cardboard box

But all of the girls are going weak at the knees
They don’t mind the odour or even the fleas

I thought it was odd, but now it’s just weird
Women going crazy about a tramp with a beard

Bloodshot eyes
Broken skin
Methylated spirit securing the win
Ask his name
No one knows
Changes his mind like he changes his clothes

Stumbling in 
it was easy to tell
Accompanied by the most curious smell

I thought it was odd, but now it’s just weird
Women going crazy about a tramp with a beard

Can’t get a job 
Plays rock and roll 
I suspect that he signs on the dole
Spends his life 
on the road
Though you might call it “no fixed abode”

Dropped out of life
Now he’s out of the loop
He dines out in kitchens that only serve soup 

I thought it was odd, but now it’s just weird
Women going crazy about a tramp with a beard

ZZ Tramp

Puhleez

Breaking their hearts 
But your living the dream
With the worlds greatest 
Early retirement scheme 

Bleached blonde beanpole
Pixie and elf
A gigantic ice cream
That keeps licking itself

Hand-picked for stardom
You got all of the chops
And you’re fresh from the factory
On to top of the pops

Won’t rock the boat
Til some future rainy day
When the whole world is listening
You’ve got nothing to say

Now you’re campaigning
Though you didn’t seem to care
Before you had made yourself
A millionaire 

Hand-picked for stardom
You got all of the chops
And you’re fresh from the factory
On to top of the pops

A Jack And Jill studio 
The charade’s in the bin
One of them storms out 
if the other one comes in 

Try looking moody 
While you’re goofin’ around 
But the fists started flying 
Once filming shut down

You’d bury the hatchet
In each others neck
But you’d all get along
At the drop of a cheque

PuhLeez

Moon and Back

We’re prisoners now
To what was achieved
One giant mis-step
To forever deceived 

Blinding our eyes
To un-see what we’ve done
Is nothing sacred
Under the sun?

We commend you
To The Moon And Back
Couldn’t send you
To The Moon And Back
We’ll pretend you
To The Moon And Back
And defend you
To The Moon And Back

Carve what you will
On your tablets of stone
We sit on our tin-can
Duct-taped throne 

Stop cheating ourselves
Before it’s too late
Our time is short 
But Heaven can wait

We commend you
To The Moon And Back
Couldn’t send you
To The Moon And Back
We’ll pretend you
To The Moon And Back
And defend you
To The Moon And Back

Moon And Back

Reality Cheque

If we can’t take it down
We’re allowing the mission to creep
But you can’t wake the clown
Who only pretends he’s asleep
Cos he knows how it goes
And he chose to stand down
It takes guts and some nuts
And there’s not quite enough to go round

Unrealistic is what England expects
But we don’t have the funds to cash Reality Cheques

If we can’t dial it back
While we’re still able to choose
We’ll be on the attack
In a fight that we’re destined to lose
I see flying the flag
Becoming a drag
Cos we’ve hijacked a hearse
And we can’t get it into reverse

Unrealistic is what England expects
But we don’t have the funds to cash Reality Cheques

England Expects
A Reality Cheque

Reality Cheque

Boots On The Ground

It don’t repeat but it rhymes
And we sure live in interesting times
Gotta know when you’re beat
Or you’ll never get back on your feet

And you can’t understand
You’re just talking to the hand
And we don’t figure 
In any future they planned

Get your shit together
Hell for leather
Gotta stop pissing around
Cos you’ve been struck dumb
But the time has come
For putting Boots On The Ground

And you fall for it all
Over and over again
It’s big bucks and it sucks
Like a total eclipse of the brain

So you give them a pass
Like you’re smoking the wrong kind of grass
And wind up 
With bite marks all over your ass

Get your shit together
Hell for leather
Gotta stop pissing around
Cos you’ve been struck dumb
But the time has come
For putting Boots On The Ground

Boots On The Ground

None of What You Hear and Only Half of What You See

You must have heard the rumours
You take it to be true
You could find out for yourself
But then what’s a mug to do?


If you want a day of reckoning
I wouldn’t hold your breath
You know the truth is out there
And it scares you half to death


Fall for what you want to it’s all the same to me
If you buy now you’ll pay later and that’s a guarantee
They’re cooking up some crock ‘cos they’re as crooked as can be
Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see

Ritualistic sacrifice
Of any kind of threat
They throw you to the wolves
They don’t forgive and don’t forget

Fall for what you want to it’s all the same to me
If you buy now you’ll pay later and that’s a guarantee
They’re cooking up some crock ‘cos they’re as crooked as can be
Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see

None Of What You Hear And Only Half Of What You See

It’s a “No” From Me


I don’t see what they see
I can’t be what they want me to be
I hear them say “Yes”
And I’ve tried to care less
But we fail to agree and so it’s a “No” from me

I don’t hear what they hear
I don’t fear what they want me to fear
They don’t like my face
Or me taking up space
But I won’t disappear I’ll be scraping away the veneer

It’s a “No” from me
What else could it possibly be?

I don’t see what they see
I can’t be what they want me to be
I hear them say “Yes”
And I’ve tried to care less
But we fail to agree and so it’s a “No” from me

It's A "No" From Me

War Of The Roses

War!
And what it’s good for
It’s what we adore
And why we need more


V1

It’s good for morale
And exerting control
It’s good for the ego
If not for the soul

It’s good for the factories
Good for the banks
Taking out loans 
And turning out tanks

V2

Good for inventors
And sinister boffins
Firms that make bullets
And firms that make coffins

It’s good for the presstitutes
Hiding the facts
Impartial observers and
Street of shame hacks

V3

Mentions of Munich
Quick! Say “appease”
Claret-faced gammons 
Go weak at the knees

For the perfectly sane
It’s the worst of our fears
For others it means
The first hard-on in years…

War Of The Roses

Government Surplus

Now I'm government surplus
No longer required
It seems that my civil circus 
Membership has expired

I hear the national anthems
And I choke on the tunes
Unless I misunderstand them
They're gonna send in the goons

My security clearance 
And my future's withdrawn
My disappearance 
Surprises no-one

I came up with the facts 
Instead of the goods
The dark actor acts
And I'm dead in the woods

They wouldn’t dare have an inquest
In case questions are asked
And most people lose interest
Before the monster's unmasked

You can always recycle 
The honour you gave
Like St George and St Michael
Were just a pawn and a knave

Death is a picnic 
Compared to the pain
And what I was proud of 
Now feels like a stain

They called me distinguished 
On Her Majesty's list
Then they had me extinguished 
With a trick of the wrist...

Government Surplus

I carved our names in quicksand 
you've left me up on bricks and
You're up to your old tricks and 
what can I do?
I know that by tomorrow 
you'll have shaken off your sorrow
and be shaping up to swallow 
someone new

And I can't find a way and I can't make you see
And I can't make it back to where I want to be

Cos it's gone and it won't come back
So it's sometimes blue but it's mostly black
It'll always be there in the back of your mind
Ready to wreck whatever you find

First you said "believe me" 
you're never going to leave me
You made it look so easy 
then you packed
No sooner did I find you 
then you'd put it all behind you
You're too cruel to be the kind who'd 
want me back 

Now I curse the day I met you 
desperate to forget you
I don't know why I let you 
let me down
And the smile upon your face meant 
you'd picked up my replacement
From the nightclub bargain basement 
over town

Sometimes Blue, Mostly Black

Same Circus, Different Clown

We don't get involved
in our own affairs
We're like lions...
frightened of chairs
And we all wear a frown 
when they roll into town
It's the Same Circus, Different Clown

CH

And they twist and turn 
like acrobats
But there's no one pulling
rabbits out of hats
They feed us with lies and then custard pies 
It's the Same Circus, Different Clown


And we must perform 
Or they might forget 
to spoil us with 
some kind of safety net
And we all wear a frown 
when they roll into town
It's the Same Circus, Different Clown

CH

We don't hold out breath 
and we bite our lip
and we dance when 
the man cracks the whip
And we all wear a frown 
when they roll into town
It's the Same Circus, Different Clown

Same Circus, Different Clown

All The Things You Love

Nightmare out there
If we make it to the weekend we won't care 
We'll have something we can share

No one knows your name
And no ones gonna care from where you came
If you only feel the same

Feels like someone opening up the cage
Every time the Showband takes the stage

Excitement overload 
The sound check cracks the code
Made the music scene explode
When the Showband hit the road

Now we know 
We found ourselves a place where we can go
The music's loud and lights are low

It gets us off the street
Gives us somewhere safe for us to meet
Clap our hands and stomp our feet

Kids still buzzing make their way outside 
Newsflash sears the countryside
The journey home where worlds collide
Where were you the night the music died?

Written by Adamson/Bradley

Featuring the New York Brass

Sound Check (collaboration with Pompeyjazz)

What Would Joe Have Done?

What would Joe have done 
Would he just turn and run?
When you needed someone 
When the pressure was on

Joe would have done his best 
Screwed up like all the rest 

What would Joe have said 
Would he have left you for dead?
When you've done all you can 
And it still hits the fan

Joe would have said “You win
Whenever you don’t give in”

What would Joe have thought 
Would he be as easily bought?
When you’d lost it all 
And you were hitting a wall

Joe would have helped you see
 It’s all up to you and me

What would Joe have found 
If he’d still been around?
Joe would have known 
That you're not on your own...

What Would Joe Have Done?

Renegade

His ghost still somehow haunts the college halls
Though he never cast a shadow on their walls
Cruising through the corridors of power
Fools can swoon and swear devotion
Traitors set the wheels in motion

A power you can’t begin to comprehend
Signals the beginning of the end
A prophet rises up to lead astray 
He’ll tell you what you want to hear
His time has come the hour is near

Played
By a Renegade
Too late to change the choices that you made

Betrayed
By a Renegade
He’s gonna piss all over your parade

Take the red pill now before it’s gone
This Renegade is not the only one
Voices of dissent get shouted down
Is this the way it has to be?
No ears to hear no eyes to see?

You've been played
By a Renegade
Too late to change the choices that you made

Betrayed
By a Renegade
He’s gonna piss all over your parade...

Backing vocals and excellent additional ideas: John Bradley

Renegade

Eliza Lane

On this God-forsaken frontier
Winter’s cold and time’s are hard
I ain’t asking for permission
In my own back yard

I was hanging up my six gun
Washing away the Mark of Cain
I was building me a place to hang my hat
With Eliza Lane

If your eyes had ever seen her
You wouldn't need me to explain
How a man could gamble everything he's got
For Eliza Lane 

Then they’re flashing me their badges
To see how much a man could take
With their rules and regulations
Gonna make a big mistake

She possessed a grace and beauty
That could take away the pain
I found everything a man could ever want
In Eliza Lane 

Now they bring their Iron horse
I watch it glide across the plain
And I saw it turn its unforgiving gaze
To my Eliza Lane


It was always heading for a showdown 
To make the tragedy complete
My Eliza is not a stranger 
To men falling at her feet 

And they brought along a circus
I felt obliged to entertain
But they scattered when they heard the shots ring out
Down Eliza Lane

Even though she drove me crazy
There ain’t no prettier ball and chain
Than the girl I loved and had to leave behind 
In Eliza Lane 

Music, guitars and bass: Steve Wild
Lyrics: The Funeral Crasher

Eliza Lane

Person or Persons Unknown

Where’d we consent to be
Ruled by these pricks
They’re down on our ass like a shit ton of bricks
With the slightest excuse
At the drop of a hat
Building back better
And bollocks like that
 
Don't even know 
You’re under control
Don’t rock the boat and just
Do what you’re told 
We’ll never be shown
Who's on the throne
The world's being murdered by 
Person or Persons Unknown

We’re all in their sights
They’re itching to shoot
They only regard us as low hanging fruit
Flapping about like 
Puppets on strings
These are a few of my least favourite things

You think it’s OK
But you might just find
The shit hits the fan if you
Step out of line
Selling our souls
For the lowest of bids
Building a prison
To house all our kids

Don't even know 
You’re under control
Don’t rock the boat and just
Do what you’re told 
We’ll never be shown
Who's on the throne
The world's being murdered by 
Person or Persons Unknown

Person Or Persons Unknown

The Clown Show Must Go On

You might fool them…but I’m not blind
I don’t trust you. Change my mind. 

You’ve got the right to prove me wrong
Until then I guess The Clown Show Must Go On

Sussed you out and marked your card
Promises made. We can disregard

You’ve got the right to prove me wrong
Until then I guess The Clown Show Must Go On

I hear you talk. Alarm bells ring
I can only despair. At the whole damn thing

You’ve got the right to prove me wrong
Until then I guess The Clown Show Must Go On

With Mary Dunsford

The Clown Show (Must Go On)

Walk in Wardrobe

Well their envy’s true guess they never knew
How much heartache someone could be going through
Could they misconstrue and look up to
The kind of man who’d end up doing this to you

Find a new way out of that walk in wardrobe
find a better way than the way that you came in 
You could lose yourself in that walk in wardrobe
or find yourself and quietly shed that skin

You're still put upon though the kids are gone
Can this ridiculous charade be fooling anyone
With the curtains drawn for the denouement
When it all adds up to less than you had counted on

Now you’re on your way to a brighter day
And all your pain and suffering just fades away
You don’t have to stay in this cabaret
Doesn’t even have to matter what the neighbours say


Find a new way out of that walk in wardrobe
find a better way than the way that you came in 
You could lose yourself in that walk in wardrobe
or find yourself and quietly shed that skin

For Mary, the girl next door.

The Funeral Crasher

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