LET'S GO HOME
This is the last of the albums where the songs were written around lyrics. From ‘The Sympathy Thief’ on, the music is nearly always devised as instrumentals from the get-go.
01 listen up!
Listen up
What is happening here?
I’ve got single-vision
And this girl is all I can see
She is walking in my direction
And she is mesmerizing me
Hello, self, I’m glad you’re here
I need some help or perhaps a prayer
I’ve lost my mind to someone else
Entranced by a face with flashing lights
Can’t even ask, “Your place or mine?”
Black holes dot my sense of time
I’m flat-out drunk but not with wine
What is happening here?
I’ve got single-vision
And this girl is all I can see
She is walking in my direction
And she is mesmerizing me
Hello, self, I’m glad you’re here
I need some help or perhaps a prayer
I’ve lost my mind to someone else
Entranced by a face with flashing lights
Can’t even ask, “Your place or mine?”
Black holes dot my sense of time
I’m flat-out drunk but not with wine
‘Listen Up!’ is about when a guy who never gets the girl he wants suddenly finds the most exciting girl in the room chatting him up for real. It can probably happen, but sometimes you may have to switch country first. And if you are a chunky Brit you should definitely try the US (cue that hilarious scene in ‘Love Actually,’ an otherwise far from hilarious movie).
02 life's a changing
Forget about the ex
(You can remember the sex)
Forget about the wife
Unless she’s the love of your life
Forget about the kids
If they bitch and moan
Forget about the job
If it grinds you to the bone
This is how life should be
This is how life should be
This is how life should be
Life is a-changing
Life is a-changing
Life is a-changing
For me
(You can remember the sex)
Forget about the wife
Unless she’s the love of your life
Forget about the kids
If they bitch and moan
Forget about the job
If it grinds you to the bone
This is how life should be
This is how life should be
This is how life should be
Life is a-changing
Life is a-changing
Life is a-changing
For me
Here the narrator decides he is fed up of living according to everyone else’s agenda. Of course, he may just be a selfish bastard, but he thinks he has been bending over backwards for far too long.
Song
03 get some
A life of attrition
Has never been my ambition
You’ve got to enjoy what you do
I’m a man on a mission
More go-get than contrition
What you don’t grab you’ll lose
Has never been my ambition
You’ve got to enjoy what you do
I’m a man on a mission
More go-get than contrition
What you don’t grab you’ll lose
Another carpe diem song. It must have been something of a fixation at the time.
04 nostalgia for america
Oh, America, America! It’s got a bit weird at the moment, hasn’t it? Everything anyone ever claimed about the place seems to have been thrown out of the window.
But it will all sort itself out in the end. Americans are too good-natured and liberal to succumb to white supremacy, misogyny and homophobia forever.
But it will all sort itself out in the end. Americans are too good-natured and liberal to succumb to white supremacy, misogyny and homophobia forever.
Song
05 takeaway
You take away my dead-end job
Then you take away my remaining dreams
You leave me in this burning town
I know I was a man who could never be
Thanks so much for reminding me
Now I know who I really am
Then you take away my remaining dreams
You leave me in this burning town
I know I was a man who could never be
Thanks so much for reminding me
Now I know who I really am
For the people who feel they are left behind in the techno-rush and globalization of the modern world. Not everybody can be a whiz kid.
Song
06 let's go home
Been away from San Francisco too long. Worse, had just spent three months in rural California, or ‘Calibama’ as I call it. The Shining City never looked shinier.
07 everything I can see
Everything that I can see
Seems to belong to you and me
The railway track and the Christmas tree
Are just backdrops to our lives
Seems to belong to you and me
The railway track and the Christmas tree
Are just backdrops to our lives
A love song to my wife, Kathleen.
Song
08 Fly up to the angels
I realize now I’ve got it all
It’s hard to climb, so easy to fall
So with you I’ve made my call
We both know that this is heaven
You in my heart and in my soul
So much wonder, and so much more
As we fly up to the angels
Your body next to mine
As we fly up to the angels
This moment feels divine
As we fly up to the angels
All quivering inside
And then we kiss
Our hearts beating in time
And then we kiss
Together over time
Together over time
But if you do not live within your dreams
Life is exactly what it seems
Need a little magic each day
We are where we’re meant to be
Loving each other for eternity
All my life, my love, my all
As we fly up to the angels
Your body next to mine
As we fly up to the angels
This moment feels divine
As we fly up to the angels
All quivering inside
And then we kiss
Our hearts beating in time
And then we kiss
Together over time
Together over time
It’s hard to climb, so easy to fall
So with you I’ve made my call
We both know that this is heaven
You in my heart and in my soul
So much wonder, and so much more
As we fly up to the angels
Your body next to mine
As we fly up to the angels
This moment feels divine
As we fly up to the angels
All quivering inside
And then we kiss
Our hearts beating in time
And then we kiss
Together over time
Together over time
But if you do not live within your dreams
Life is exactly what it seems
Need a little magic each day
We are where we’re meant to be
Loving each other for eternity
All my life, my love, my all
As we fly up to the angels
Your body next to mine
As we fly up to the angels
This moment feels divine
As we fly up to the angels
All quivering inside
And then we kiss
Our hearts beating in time
And then we kiss
Together over time
Together over time
Another love song to Kathleen. It’s just that kind of relationship.
09 lullaby
Sleep tonight, sleep tonight, my love
There are no monsters outside our heads
Peace reigns out all over this magical world
Who could be afraid tonight?
Sleep tonight, sleep tonight, my love
The demons are safely all tucked up back in hell
Chaos has fled and order guards this land
Who could be afraid tonight?
There are no monsters outside our heads
Peace reigns out all over this magical world
Who could be afraid tonight?
Sleep tonight, sleep tonight, my love
The demons are safely all tucked up back in hell
Chaos has fled and order guards this land
Who could be afraid tonight?
I think I wrote this before Trump made his run for President.
Song
10 edge of extinction
There are few trees on my horizon
This tree is my one and all
Been living on the edge of extinction
Been living here all of my life
I’ve been perched on this branch as a buzzard
I’ve been perched on this branch as a hawk
Matters of prey just rule my day
Matters of prayer just rule my thoughts
This tree is my one and all
Been living on the edge of extinction
Been living here all of my life
I’ve been perched on this branch as a buzzard
I’ve been perched on this branch as a hawk
Matters of prey just rule my day
Matters of prayer just rule my thoughts
Somehow with the climate crisis personal survival gets less personal.
Song
11 love's probation
If love is the answer
It’s a very strange question
The sort of thing
That brings on indigestion
Life is hard
Without that complication
I’ve been to that prison
And now I’m on probation
You can keep your Valentine
I won’t be yours
And you won’t be mine
It ain’t the place
And it ain’t the time
When love sucks
It sucks in every way
Yeah, I know you’ve heard
That it can strike any day
That there are thousands of people
Who find it OK
But thousands ain’t so much
With billions in the way
It’s a very strange question
The sort of thing
That brings on indigestion
Life is hard
Without that complication
I’ve been to that prison
And now I’m on probation
You can keep your Valentine
I won’t be yours
And you won’t be mine
It ain’t the place
And it ain’t the time
When love sucks
It sucks in every way
Yeah, I know you’ve heard
That it can strike any day
That there are thousands of people
Who find it OK
But thousands ain’t so much
With billions in the way
One of those ‘I’m not in love’ unrequited love songs.
Song
12 rock stars
On our street
There is everything you can smoke
Everything you can drink
Everything you can eat
On our street
There is quite the elite
Rock stars
Rock stars
Rock stars
Rock stars
Rock stars
Rock stars
There’s black tooth
Who’s had too much meth
And brown tooth
Who’s had too much death
And blue tooth
Who isn’t on her cell
Screaming at a God in full retreat
You don't exist
You're just faking it
Which is almost a prayer
When you think about it
There is everything you can smoke
Everything you can drink
Everything you can eat
On our street
There is quite the elite
Rock stars
Rock stars
Rock stars
Rock stars
Rock stars
Rock stars
There’s black tooth
Who’s had too much meth
And brown tooth
Who’s had too much death
And blue tooth
Who isn’t on her cell
Screaming at a God in full retreat
You don't exist
You're just faking it
Which is almost a prayer
When you think about it
If you live in the center of San Francisco, you can’t miss the homeless people, the ‘rock stars’ of the title being something of a triple-entendre.
You really are likely to meet genuine rock stars, but only a few of the rock stars of Market Street and the Tenderloin serenade you with music.
You really are likely to meet genuine rock stars, but only a few of the rock stars of Market Street and the Tenderloin serenade you with music.
Your working days are over
You’ve got sidewalk instead of clover
If only you could wake
To find a roof over your head
Your life is slowly passing
Amid friendships, tales and laughing
And if at times it can be gruelling
You’re living it for free
There’s Tommy
Flashing his one-tooth smile
Who wants a contribution
‘Cos I haven’t given for a while
And there’s Streetsmash
Who’s kicking everything
Especially his life
But it could be anything
And Danny
With his weeping sores
Never getting better
As he grimes them up some more
You’ve got sidewalk instead of clover
If only you could wake
To find a roof over your head
Your life is slowly passing
Amid friendships, tales and laughing
And if at times it can be gruelling
You’re living it for free
There’s Tommy
Flashing his one-tooth smile
Who wants a contribution
‘Cos I haven’t given for a while
And there’s Streetsmash
Who’s kicking everything
Especially his life
But it could be anything
And Danny
With his weeping sores
Never getting better
As he grimes them up some more
Song
13. but i was just a kid
Memories of doing really stupid things … but I was just a kid.
Not that the Internet ever forgets.
Not that the Internet ever forgets.
Song
14. what if nothing matters?
What if nothing matters?
What if no one even cares?
If everything we do
Trails off into thin air?
What if this is just a dream
A dream that must be told
The outcomes unclear
The origins unknown?
Of wars
Of soldiers
Of foes
Of might
Of rights
And wrongs
And reasons to fight
Of impossible glories
Of unreasonable defeats
Of overwhelming victories
And desperate retreats
What if these are stories
We are told to tell ourselves
For reasons obscure
Like from sugar to caramel?
What if there is no future
And there never was a past
And the good guys are just lucky
And the bad guys never last?
What if no one even cares?
If everything we do
Trails off into thin air?
What if this is just a dream
A dream that must be told
The outcomes unclear
The origins unknown?
Of wars
Of soldiers
Of foes
Of might
Of rights
And wrongs
And reasons to fight
Of impossible glories
Of unreasonable defeats
Of overwhelming victories
And desperate retreats
What if these are stories
We are told to tell ourselves
For reasons obscure
Like from sugar to caramel?
What if there is no future
And there never was a past
And the good guys are just lucky
And the bad guys never last?
Song
15. thomas the turkey
Thomas the Turkey must be tried
For all his sins nationwide
He fed the oppressor and lost the plot
Then he lost the fucking lot
Tom must die, Tom must die, Tom must die
For all his sins nationwide
He fed the oppressor and lost the plot
Then he lost the fucking lot
Tom must die, Tom must die, Tom must die
Written on Thanksgiving Day 2015 as the fat from the turkey I was cooking set fire to my hair.
Somewhat along the theme of ‘John Barleycorn must die.’
Somewhat along the theme of ‘John Barleycorn must die.’
16. Living like an emperor / perfect world
So here we are
Floating on air
Dancing on love
Living in our perfect world
Skirting the ocean
Welcoming the moonlight
Barking at the sea lions
Living in our perfect world
Floating on air
Dancing on love
Living in our perfect world
Skirting the ocean
Welcoming the moonlight
Barking at the sea lions
Living in our perfect world
When you are making it living in one of America’s great coastal cities, you really do feel like you are living like an emperor in a perfect world.
Instruments used during the recording of ‘let's go home'
Guitars:
Epiphone Les Paul Custom Shop Special
Epiphone Dot Studio
Fender Stratocaster (Mexican-built)
Gretsch Streamliner
Ibanez Gio
Savannah acoustic
Bass:
Sterling SUB
Keyboards:
Yamaha P-115
Epiphone Les Paul Custom Shop Special
Epiphone Dot Studio
Fender Stratocaster (Mexican-built)
Gretsch Streamliner
Ibanez Gio
Savannah acoustic
Bass:
Sterling SUB
Keyboards:
Yamaha P-115