1. |
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2. |
Roy
02:59
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Roy
Walking home from school together
Each scorching summer’s afternoon
You with your shaggy haircut
And your platform shoes. And the radio played
‘Don’t give up on us, Baby’
Your dad had a bread van
You wore a velvet jacket
You always were a fancy Dan
Upon these playing fields, immune to cold
Gather all the poor souls who never grew old
The tide of youthful joy recedes
Leaves nothing except mud and weeds
Recedes the youthful tide of joy, Roy
To the secondary modern
Off to ‘Stebo’ you must go
You were gone but not forgotten
To your friend in the grammar school
An also-ran at age eleven
How unbelievably shoddy
If I got given Elvis
You got Showaddywaddy
Upon these playing fields, immune to cold
Gather all the poor souls who never grew old
The tide of youthful joy recedes,
Leaves nothing except mud and weeds
Recedes the youthful tide of joy, Roy
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3. |
On The Parcels
02:47
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On the Parcels
Not as deadly as digging for coal
It’s long hours but it pays more than the dole
On the parcels
Too old for McDonald’s, too soft for security
Too unattractive for the sex industry, so you go
On the parcels
Yeah that’s the life for me!
I wouldn’t say that it was heaven-sent
But aspirations, they don’t pay the rent
On the parcels
It’s like a repository
For futures that were never meant to be
On the parcels
You went to grammar school but still can’t make ends meet
What’s the Latin for ‘I can’t afford to eat’?
So you go, On the parcels, Monsieur Marsaud
Won’t you please aidez-moi, please aidez-moi tout suite?
Illuminated by halogen beams
This floating graveyard, this place of dead dreams
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4. |
Bom Bom Bom
02:29
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5. |
Heading For The City
02:06
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Heading for the City
Returning home to the old neighbourhood
Getting a haircut and eating fast food
Buying new clothes, going for a swim
Hi-tops and low riders, working out at the gym
In a camper van that you borrowed from a hippy
Travelling from the backwoods heading for the city
Over the rooftops, over terracotta tiles
Hanging from white awnings, speeding down green canals
Fighting square-jawed thugs brandishing clubs
Looking for prayer wheels, assisted by Tibetan monks
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6. |
Desmond Douglas
03:29
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Desmond Douglas
It’s dinner time at a Birmingham secondary modern
The other pupils are playing outside
But you stay in the classroom, you stay in
To practice your footwork
There’s not much room so with
Tables and chairs you collide
Chorus:
You were told to keep out of the way
When you played at the YMCA
Desmond Douglas, you leave without qualifications
To work ‘on the buses’, West Midlands Transport
Now the sound of your plimsolls
It echoes around the bus stations
A job in the office, considerate bosses
Make sure you don’t damage your hands
Desmond Douglas, the financial rewards are meagre
Like Union players who had to ‘go north’
Desmond Douglas, you headed for the Bundesliga
To ply your trade for Borussia Dusseldorf
There’s a faraway look in your eyes
As you produce a forehand disguise
With a squeak of your Dunlop ‘Green Flash’
And a twirl of your famous moustache
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7. |
Romeo Kilo
02:23
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8. |
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Send this film back to Leni
If you should find it
Then please send this film back to Leni
It was supposed to be part of a picture she was working on
If you don’t mind
Would you please send this film back to Leni?
It was in one of the cameras that she hung from a balloon
Chorus:
Send this film back to Leni
Please send it back soon
Send it back to her without further delay
Leni’s camera got itself caught in some branches
That’s where it has stayed for the best part of a century
Instead of the spectacle it was supposed to be filming
It captured everyday life indiscriminately
Chorus:
Send this film back to Leni
Please send it back soon
Please dispatch it without further delay
No beautiful boys
With blonde hair and blue eyes
But the poetry of the everyday
Hey, hey, hey, hey
It’s coming your way
Hey, hey, hey, Leni
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9. |
Student Of The Game
01:49
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Student of the Game
He's a keen student of the game
“We went to school together
And our ages are the same”
Says he of facts-and-figures fame
Yeah, he's a keen student of the game
Chorus:
When did talking the talk
Become walking the walk?
Ask the student of the game
When did talking the talk
Become walking the walk?
He's a keen student of the game
I went to sleep and woke up
In a live video stream
His subject knowledge is insane
Yeah, he's a keen student of the game
(Chorus)
He's a keen student of the game
Don't come to me for my opinion
During half-time
You'll only have yourself to blame
To my eternal shame
My punditry's comparatively lame
Ask the student of the game
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10. |
Only The Hours
02:26
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Only the hours
I waited all night in the bedroom dark
When you returned in the pre-dawn hours
My apprehension turned into sadness
Hope draining away like blood from a face
And I realised that I’d known for a while
And realising it, I released a bird
I left the room and with an empty heart
As light and hollow as a table tennis ball
I left the room with an empty heart
And then I followed my bird along the hall
Through a maze of my own design
While all around me the world was coming alive
Only the hours
Only the hours
But the bird keeps on singing this song to me
Only the hours
Nothing but time for company
But the bird keeps on singing this song to me
Rien que les heures
But the bird keeps on singing this song to me
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11. |
Chapman and Miles
02:30
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12. |
Drinking Tea in Cars
03:39
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Drinking Tea in Cars
Drinking tea in cars
Drinking tea in cars
If you're travelling a distance
Or not going very far
On the way to Cwmllynfell
Or the Planet Mars
Drinking unassumingly
Or to riotous applause
Drinking to indulge yourself
Or for a good cause
With some pain au chocolat
Or with petit fours
You can drink it in your jumper
You can drink it in your drawers
You can sip it from a beaker
You can slurp it from a vase
Drinking unassumingly
Or to riotous applause
Drinking to indulge yourself
Or for a good cause
Just plain old Typhoo or New Zealand Oolong
Russian Caravan or some Lapsang Souchong
While studying a copy of
J.K. Huysmans’ À rebours
Drinking in the here-and-now
Or in the before
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13. |
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Monte Carlo is a state of mind
A state of mind
A first glimpse of the white sand below
Beneath the clouds, through the cabin window
With a daiquiri in either hand
As the aeroplane came in to land
With a twirl of his moustache,
The travel agent said “You don’t need cash,
And our aircraft never crash,
Just close your eyes, and off you go
To the casino…”
A state of mind
Monte Carlo is a state of mind(me)
And I dream about it all the time
My id is playing my ego
In a game of vingt-et-un
At the casino…
A state of mind
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14. |
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You’re Leaving us, Geoffrey
You’re leaving us Geoffrey for destinations unknown
You’ve emptied out your desk and disconnected your phone
You’ve cleared away your photos, the record of your life
Packed your Wisden Almanac, the trouble and strife
Chorus:
Down the Long Room you take one last stroll
Not stopping for autographs or photo calls
With customary focus upon your end goal
You’re leaving us Geoffrey
Plainspoken ex-sportsman, the removal crates are stacked
With your matter-of-factness and your trademark lack of tact
With the traditional values you held so dear
And all the other stuff that’s not needed round here
Down the Long Room you take one last stroll
Not stopping for autographs or photo calls
With customary focus upon your end goal
You’re leaving us Geoffrey
(Chorus)
The white noise is hissing as the light grows dim
Consigning your dissing to history’s bin
The nightwatchman calls to you with countenance grim
“You’re leaving us Geoffrey”.
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15. |
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THE HEPBURNS Wales, UK
The Hepburns are a Welsh indie band from Llanelli, South-West Wales. They have recorded thirteen albums, two EPs, one single and three BBC sessions. 'Electric Lliedi Land' was released in September 2020, followed by a cover version of Vic Godard's 'I'll Find Out Over Time'. They also contributed to three Corona Underground Projects. A new album feat. Estella Rosa is due for release in Oct. 2021. ... more
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