In the light of a Spanish morning, Generalissimo miles away
A war between brothers and sisters
Outsiders leading the way
Feeling as if it is safe here, no army to twist the knife
Just people trying to make it through
And building themselves a life

From out of a clear blue sky came the pain
Politics delivered by burning rain
And things will never be the same again

The underground stations are choking
While the thunder rages above
And we hope and we dream of a better day
When we’ll laugh, and we’ll play and we’ll love
When the lights come on all over the world
A return to the days we once knew
So you just get by as the world goes mad
There’s not much else we can do

From out of a cold night sky came the pain
Politics delivered by burning rain
And things will never be the same again

An August day, a Japanese dawn
Like so many others before
Ryutu bids farewell to his wife
And heads out of the door
Then apocalypse comes in the blink of an eye
Hell as the sky turns to fire
And everything’s gone from the face of the earth
A whole city, a funeral pyre

From out of a clear blue sky came the pain
Politics delivered by burning rain
And things can never be the same again

Exiting from the old subway
On the corner of Seventh and Main
Just a morning going to work for a buck
Same old story again

Then time freezes, we stand and we stare in our shock
As the first of the planes hit the tower
And you try not to think about what you are seeing
And it just gets worse by the hour

The world drops in just to pay us a call
Before it had seemed so remote
Now the CNN images we casually watched
Are wrapped around our throat

And from out of a clear blue sky came the pain
Politics delivered by burning rain
And things will never be the same again

“Designer Poverty”
Song lyrics by Steve Hale

There’s a guy we all know, he lives down our street
The kind you never hope to meet
A kind of anti-social elite
That you want to ignore but you can’t
His kids are the same, ear-rings a plenty
Smoking at ten, prison at twenty
Drinks till he looks at you like he’s demented
And you hope there are brains but there aren’t

Wears his England shirt with a tear in his eye
Loves his processed burger and American pie
As the wrapper gets to casually fly
Out the window of his German car
Pirate videos, knock off clothes
Lives his life but why he don’t know
The midday drinking will someday show
How he pushed himself too far

If it ain’t on the TV it don’t exist
Got no opinions, at least till he’s pissed
Ignores all the news he shouldn’t have missed
By not reading between the lines
No he don’t read between the lines….

“Messenger”
Song lyrics by Steve Hale

Sunday Morning, weather fine, still in bed at half past nine
Trying to sleep off the night before
When the messenger pigeon for organised religion
Comes pecking at my door
So she smiles her sweet smile, misses me by a mile
And she gives me her suggestion
While she tells me she’s got the answer right there
But I didn’t even ask the question Now I know in her heart she believes it all right
Every word, every line, every feeling
But the programme she’s fed is ingrained in her head
And I don’t find that too appealing
Got no problem with God, he’s no problem to me
And if I want to find him I’ll do it
I won’t need a map so stop preaching your crap
About life and how to get through it

Two hours later, the TV is showing
The kids on the misery mile
Being spat on, and sworn at by angry young men
With their bigotry I find so vile
Then the news shows me how a young man killed himself
And everyone who was stood near him
‘cause the God in his head and the crap he’s been fed
tells him non-believers will fear him

So where is the messenger now, I would ask
When I really need her to show me
How God’s got the problem under control
If she thinks that, she just don’t know me
So I’ve heard all the arguments for and against
All the rhetoric, all the advice
But I’ll use Sunday mornings to catch up on sleep
Someone else can have her advice…

“Ashes Of An Old Flame”
All the car parks, in all the Safeways in all the whole damn world
She had to walk into mine
It was the day that I dreaded for all those fifteen years
It was heartache time
I was just sixteen when she chewed me up
Spat me out and laughed out loud
With the same disregard for how I would feel
Playing to the crowd

So here she is….

Four kids later, a mortgage down the line
On forty smokes a day
And the two things I admired the most
Have headed down Mexico way
The hair I used to dream of caressing
A mass of rat tails waiting
For a modicum of self respect
She should be contemplating

She smiles at me through smoke brown teeth
And tells me I look good
And I’m aching to tell my one time lover
That I look as good as she should
But something inside me holds me back
‘cause I know that I’m not that way
and we say our goodbyes and go our own ways
- my life begins today
- Yes, my life begins today….

“The Man With No Soul”

He’s walked past me on a busy street a hundred times a day
The man in the suit with the thousand dollar smile
That you just can’t push away
He’s the doctor, the lawyer, the judge and politician
The priest that you look to for hope
He’s the man that you want to have in your corner
When you feel you just can’t cope

Where has he been hiding, when the children get abused
What corner does he run to when the drugs are being used
When a battered wife sits in her room and makes up new excuses
Or another kid puts his mind to a hundred evil uses

I saw the man on TV, had a smile upon his face
He spoke about a thousand jobs disappearing into space
It’s the way of the world, I heard him say
There’s nothing we can do
Thanks for that, the lady said,
And now, some local news

Where has he been hiding when the wars are being fought
When the schools ain’t got the money to make sure the lesson’s taught
Which fence has he been sitting on while evil men get going
They hope you’ll vote for them come what may
Without the bloodstains showing

The man with no soul he lives all around
In his cosy little nest
With his comfy life, and his perfect wife
And to hell with all the rest
He’s the man you hoped you’d never be
That you never could become
He’s you, he is me, the man with no soul
Looking out for number one

“Ding Dong, Christmas Song”

The Christmas I remember didn’t start in mid-September
Eight little reindeer, ain’t they cute?
Sold to the man in the Armani suit

“Sold”

“The Other Me”

Stare into my eyes, you don’t see no mad intent
I’m an average Joe, take me as you find me
Pay my bills and pay the rent
I go out of my way to be a good guy
Mr clean, no hidden agenda
And I’ll talk things through if that’s what it takes
But, hey – stay off of my fender…..

Once I’m in the seat, out in the street
The devil in me rises
And you’ll see the guy that you thought you knew
Is full of bad surprises
It’s no good trying to analyse why
Cause I am my own creation
Inside the metal, glass and paint I sit
And breed my indignation