the sympathy thief
As I have never developed any completed lyrics for most of these songs, the titles are about as self-explanatory as things get. However there are a few tracks on this album that mean rather more than their titles suggest.
01 approaching it sideways
02 doesn't have to be this way
03 Stealing
04 friends of bob
Bobby is a veteran
He's done his share of tours
Bobby is a hero
in front of one and all
But recently he was ambushed
Got caught in a wall of fire
Now he is in Tennessee
Kept alive by tubes and wires
The light is fading in his eyes
As the light dims in ours
Bobby will soon be traveling
And we'll be sending flowers
He's done his share of tours
Bobby is a hero
in front of one and all
But recently he was ambushed
Got caught in a wall of fire
Now he is in Tennessee
Kept alive by tubes and wires
The light is fading in his eyes
As the light dims in ours
Bobby will soon be traveling
And we'll be sending flowers
The story of a decent, kind, pillar of the community sort of guy who does one last tour of duty and is now lying maimed and dying in a Vet hospital.
I’m not a big fan of the saying, “Thank you for your service!” but your heart has to go out to the individual pain and suffering incurred during the fighting of pointless wars.
I’m not a big fan of the saying, “Thank you for your service!” but your heart has to go out to the individual pain and suffering incurred during the fighting of pointless wars.
05 flesh and blood
06 distressed by your distress
07 little girl
See that little girl
See her cute smile
Now see her at twenty years old
What do ya think of her now?
Little girl, little girl,
What will you become?
Old and knowing,
If you are a lucky one.
See her cute smile
Now see her at twenty years old
What do ya think of her now?
Little girl, little girl,
What will you become?
Old and knowing,
If you are a lucky one.
A song about the optimism of, say, a five or six year old girl doing her joyful ballerina routines, and all the obstacles, traps and hardships she is likely to face once she is an adult.
Isn't it shocking how predatory that phrase 'little girl' sounds?
Isn't it shocking how predatory that phrase 'little girl' sounds?
08 not this time
You think you’ve got away with it again this time
This time, I wouldn’t be so sure
This time I’m not enjoying this moment
This time you’re out of the door
This time, I wouldn’t be so sure
This time I’m not enjoying this moment
This time you’re out of the door
09 No shit!
I’m not going to explain the exact details of this one, but it is based on being saved from a life-threatening situation.
10 june 1997
|
Had we met on Queensway
In 1982
What would have been our story?
How would our lives have been?
We fell in love so much later
All those might-have-beens
So much would have been avoided
It could all have been a breeze.
In 1982
What would have been our story?
How would our lives have been?
We fell in love so much later
All those might-have-beens
So much would have been avoided
It could all have been a breeze.
My wife Kathleen and I have discovered that we were in Prague at exactly the same time in June 1997, fifteen years before we finally got together. Kathleen and I were also in London at the same time during 1982/3, and Kathleen was living in Bayswater which was my favorite part of London to visit at weekends from my native Clapham.
11 Pity me / kyrie eleison
Waiting for something
Waiting for anything
Waiting for nothing sometime
Money's all gone
Wife’s on the run
And she says none of the kids are mine
Everywhere there are roads
Roads and road and roads
But none of them lead me to me
There's no drop left in the bottle
The pills have stopped popping
And the butts are just ash in my mind
Waiting for anything
Waiting for nothing sometime
Money's all gone
Wife’s on the run
And she says none of the kids are mine
Everywhere there are roads
Roads and road and roads
But none of them lead me to me
There's no drop left in the bottle
The pills have stopped popping
And the butts are just ash in my mind
Doesn’t need much explanation except for the Kyrie Eleison bit. Someday I want to write a full Mass, so I am writing it in bits, one piece per album.
12 sister
I’ve got two sisters, both of them wonderful. But they don’t like it if I write to them together, so it has to be one at a time.
13. snowbitch
Please tell me what it is about your smile
Please tell me what is happening behind your eyes
Please tell me what is bubbling in your mind
Something mischievous, something funny,
Something cranky, something kind.
Please tell me what is happening behind your eyes
Please tell me what is bubbling in your mind
Something mischievous, something funny,
Something cranky, something kind.
I need to work on the lyrics for this one. This one definitely deserves lyrics.
14. glorious tales
15. days
16. This town
You know this town
You know our rules
If you're not out by nighttime
You'll be in the news
Not having you kids
Messin' with our views
Run, boys, run
Run, boys, run
You've got the speed
We've got the guns
Run, boys, run
Some of us
Will be having us some fun
Bam-Bam
B-Bam-Bam-Bam
You know our rules
If you're not out by nighttime
You'll be in the news
Not having you kids
Messin' with our views
Run, boys, run
Run, boys, run
You've got the speed
We've got the guns
Run, boys, run
Some of us
Will be having us some fun
Bam-Bam
B-Bam-Bam-Bam
Inspired by the Jackson, Mississippi, civil rights killings on June 21, 1964, of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner.
17. Romanov overture
Incidental music for a TV series or movie about the Romanov dynasty in Russia.
Instruments used during the recording of ‘the sympathy thief'
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