SKYCLAD LYRICS

1. Words Upon The Street

With laptops made of calfskin, wrought to spread the holy will
Disseminating dogma, using lapis, gold and quill
And the word was with the few and the few were very strong
A mass communication where you feel you don't belong

Now the words that flow between us run like torrents through the air
Connecting everymen at any moment, anywhere
Seems that what's important at the end of the day
Down through all the ages, just the same old things to say

Sure, the aldermen and theigns did tarry, warmed in winter halls
With new ideas and learning locked up safe within their walls
Till the patrons all did strive, with the "Blue Plague brigade"
Victorian reformers will be smiling in their graves

To hear how the news spread between us
Something good to tell the world?
Though it's mostly dumb and they say it's cheap
There's a talk plan made for everyone

To think some people deny this...
In a free state, tongues too should be free
And in desperate lands, the disaffected hand
Sprays "Save the world" upon the street

Now the words that flow between us run like torrents through the air
Connecting everymen at any moment, anywhere
Seems that what's important at the end of the day
It's mass communication and we call can have our say

We may speak of creature comforts, but still our greatest feat
Is to see and hear and understand the words upon the street

2. Still Small Beer

Wake up Jacob now, wake up John
Day's a-wasting, great things to be done
Super-highways don't build themselves
Estates and empires by the stroke of twelve

Where we fit in the scheme of things?
We're just debris blown by the wind
So forget your woman and the water can
We're all working for the man

He's got money now, he's got fame
He's got letters running after his name
He says "We are where we must be
And we are what we must be"

Still small beer
Got the message loud and clear
Still small beer
For what we're worth, it's still small beer

Head down Harvey and tail up Tom
In this man's army, there's no spoils to be won
Spit and polish, keep your muzzle clean
We're just cogs in this war machine

Best foot forward, do we march in fear?
We're all cloggers and minions here
So know your station and make no mistake
As you brew, so you shall bake

All our effort and all our time
All together in the firing line
But an honest soldier is never forgot
Whether he die by musket or pot

Still small beer
Got the message loud and clear
Still small beer
For what we're worth, it's still small beer
Still small beer
Drink up and get out of here
Still small beer
For what you're worth, it's still small beer

And we sing our song to the sun
"Beer! Beer! Beer!" cried the soldiers
"Brave fellows are we"

And we sing our song to the sun
"Beer! Beer! Beer!" cried the sailors
As we heave along the way

What we're worth and what we're not
We'll make the best of what we've got
But they made it plain, so it would appear
That he who thinks beer's not Shakespeare

Still small beer
Got the message loud and clear
Still small beer
For what we're worth, it's still small beer
Still small beer
Insignificance
Still small beer
Insignificance

3. The Well-Travelled Man

Seems so many years now since he set off down the road
For the bright lights of the city and his story to unfold
No strings, no family plans, no ties to hold him down
His first avowed intent, to leave this dormitory town

At first, he lay just dreaming till he hit upon a plan
To be a true civilian and a well-travelled man

His father told him: "Listen son, the world lies at your feet
Great lands of opportunity and strangers all to meet"

So seize the day, go make your mark,
'cause fortune loves the brave
So many places to be seen
Before you see your grave

See the stars shoot over Cape Town
Where the oceans all converge
Ride the desert train at midnight
Even sail the universe

Gather round, come one, come all
Listen best ye can
Raise a glass and give a cheer
You can see all at once he's a well-travelled man

That long and dusty trail, it ran to anywhere but home
Dined equally with pagan chiefs and emperors of Rome
Through ages dark and winters long, lost in the strangest lands
Through countless revolutions saw man's cruelty to man

Been a butcher, been a saviour
Been a friend you wouldn't choose
Built temples and filled graveyards
For the side that couldn't lose

Would you walk with him as spirits
In the quiet of the night
And seek to have the power
For to set the world to right?

Gather round, come one, come all
Listen best ye can
Raise a glass and give a cheer
You can see all at once he's a well-travelled man

Gather round, come one, come all
Listen best ye can
Raise a glass and give a cheer
You can say what you like, he's a well-travelled man

Seems so many years now since he set off all alone
To see the wonders of this world, prove the stories he'd been sold
Seeks the "milk of human kindness" and he takes it where he can
From the yachts of Monte Carlo to a teahouse in Japan

But now, he sits forsaken with a beer glass in his hand
Won't anybody listen to the well-travelled man?

4. Black Summer Rain

I understand this fault is mine
I'm basking in reflected light
Why should I run, why should I hide?
Why should I take another's prize?

You don't see it, you just don't see it
But you're up to your neck in it now

Black Summer Rain
Black Summer Rain
Black Summer Rain
Black Summer Rain

Dark brooding thoughts that cross my mind
Like clouds across your sunny sky
They weather, they weather in me
And I understand this serpentine

You don't see it, you just don't see it
But you're spoiling this perfect day

Black Summer Rain
Black Summer Rain
Black Summer Rain
Black Summer Rain

Like a maelstrom around you, it blinds you
Hiding behind all those lies
Condescending, aloof when we find you
But you're in for a nasty surprise

You don't see it, you just don't see it
But you're up to your neck in it now

Black Summer Rain
Black Summer Rain
Black Summer Rain
Black Summer Rain

5. Babakoto

Bush of ghosts is burning
In the forests of the night
We hear spirits call to move our souls

Hear their voice in many things
Animals and birds and trees
Babakoto and his kind

They will help us sing our song
Reach across the gulf of time
They will help us sing our song
We must try and understand

Commutate a falling leaf
Catch the breathing of the sands
Raindrops on a windowpane we must understand

Spirits move amongst us all
Ask the ancients of this world
If we only read the signs

They will help us sing our song
Reach across the gulf of time
They will help us sing our song
We must try and understand

Standing in the dark
This non-spiritual man
Blessed by ignorance
Twentieth century damned
Staring at the dawn
With a shotgun in his hand
Blood by reasoning
Technological

Standing in the dark
This political animal
Blessed by ignorance
Twenty-first century damned
Staring at the dawn
With a camera in his hand
Desire is reasonable
Technological

6. Hit List

A list of needs to get me started
Help me organise my day
Get up, get dressed and get reminded
Exactly what I need to say

Everything is architecture
Everything's political
It's all pride and prejudice
Don't tell me that it's art!

A cool head for calculation
These things occupy my mind
I work better independent
Deal with one thing at a time

Buzzwords buzzing through my brain
Repetition makes the point...again
Your vile vowel movements, they bother me
Don't bother to buzz me again

In the evening when the west light glares
And the storm beats out to sea
Can you find you if you sit and stare
Is your soul lost on the breeze?

Let's start again and stop pretending
Forget the furniture of war
Communication's never ending
Make things better, know the score

Everything is architecture
Everything's political
It's all pride and prejudice
Don't tell me what it is!

A list of needs to get me started
Evaluate, prioritise
Certain things must be decided
Taken one step at a time

In the evening when the west light glares
And the storm beats out to sea
Can you find you if you sit and stare
Is your soul lost on the breeze?

(Counterpoint 1):
All these things I hear could make me live in fear
Could force me not to care or drive me to despair)

(Counterpoint 2):
Everyone lets you down, yes

(Counterpoint 3):
Sooner or later, more or less

7. Superculture

Councillor, I love your city fair
With its vistas and its good clean air that we all breathe
Councillor, I love your city fair
With its moguls and its gurus who sing "boom or bust"

It's okay because we're free men and in God we trust

Love your superculture
Bigger, brighter future
They make it better every year
Love your superculture
Even if it's overdone
Overblown and over here

Councillor, I love your city fair
With its curfews and its social care and "by your leave"
Councillor, I love your city fair
With its civic pride and its eyes fixed firmly on the prize

It's okay because it's legal, down in black and white

Love your superculture
Bigger, brighter future
They make it better every year
Love your superculture
Even if it's overdone
Overblown and over here

Superculture, we're living under
Superculture, we're going under

I believe in the God's deliverance
I believe in reverence
I believe in association
I believe in consumption

Even though it's fatally flawed
Even though it won't be ignored
Even though I don't feel good
Even though I don't see why I should
Even though I'm by myself
Even though it's not good for my health
Even though I'll never be missed
Even though I won't make a fist

Sirrah Sirrah, can you hear my voice?
We're the underclass who have no choice of what gets done

Love your superculture
Bigger, brighter future
They make it better every year
Love your superculture
Even if it's overdone
Overblown and over here

8. Which Is Why

You say that it's good reason, "an eye for an eye"
"A queer bird the fish, sir" must be my reply
For fresh meat and lodgings I'll stand by your side
If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride

All the days after, said all the days after
All the days after, let fortune decide
Always and after, sing, always and after
Death, debt or disaster, let fortune decide

When absurdity starts to make more or less sense
Embrace all your demons, then banish them hence
When clarity flows in the sweet by and by
And questions are answers, you'll know which is why

So, if you seek wisdom, I'll tell you once more
But if you want answers, you've got the wrong door
Ask me no questions and you'll get no surprise
"The truth is a cow, sir, that sceptics despise"

All the days after, said all the days after
All the days after, let nature decide
For always and after, sing, always and after
For lust, love and laughter, let nature decide

When absurdity starts to make more or less sense
Embrace all your demons, then banish them hence
When clarity flows in the sweet by and by
And questions are answers, you'll know which is why

Your lips on my own when they printed "farewell"
Had never been soiled by the beverage of hell
But they come to me now with the bacchanal sign
But the lips that taste liquor, they taste so divine

All the days after, said all the days after
All the days after, let wit be your guide
Oh, you may laugh sir, said oh you may laugh sir
For madman or master, let wit be your guide

When nonsense begins to make more or less sense
Life's riddles and puzzles, just banish them hence
When lucidity flows in the wink of an eye
And questions are answers, you'll know which is why

9. Modern Minds

Lord knows I've been drinking again
Caffeine and alcohol
And taking of that opiate and where that leaves me
...I don't know

Asking all those questions 'bout democracy
Society and "all that jazz"
Go to run a check on reality
Is anything just what it seems?

We can work it out
We've got modern minds
There's nothing to be scared of
We've got modern minds

Lord knows I'm a willing man
And you shouldn't want to stop a willing man
You could never hurt me like I hurt myself
So, let me go, abuse myself

A chorus of dead eyes say "Let's help you down"
And if I listen, then I'm lost
Singing songs of lust and obscenity
They're tempting me, they turn my head

We can work it out
We've got modern minds
There's nothing to be scared of
We've got modern minds

On fire, my mind's on fire...

If it's forbidden to forbid
How come it feels like I never lived?
And if I flatter to deceive
How come it feels like I never lived?

I know what I like, they won't change my mind
I know what I like, they won't change my mind
Rhythm, colours, form, I know what I like
I know what I like, they won't change my mind

10. In The... All Together

Another dawn, another date
Another meeting of the ol' G8
To change the world, make history
Not compromise or hesitate

Try something, try anything
Try help the situation
Amidst the cries and demonstrations
We hear the plans of favoured nations

"If it could be done", they said, "the sooner then, the better"
"It would be good if it was better than the way it was before" they said
In the mire all together, when there's so much to admire
It seems "the emperor's new clothes" is such a seasonable attire

The issues are of great import
The problems very clear
From fevered minds and tortured brows
There's such a lot to fear

From climate change to debt relief
Surely couldn't come much bigger
All the power that is nuclear
Whose finger's on the trigger?

On the horns of this dilemma with death's spectre in the wings
Where democracy is waning, clearly it's a "people thing"
Yes, we're in it all together and all our wishes are laid bare
We taste "the truth without the trimmings" and we find it meagre fare

Welcome to "a day in the life show", starring you and me and all
It's better than your realiTV, you just couldn't make this stuff up
As pandemics spread around the world...
We've got pestilence, famine, fire and flood for the people in glasshouses

Now the good will is all over and we're left with nothing good
It seems "the best laid plans of mice and men" get trampled in the mud
Yes, we're in it all together, right up to our nether lip
In this cesspit we inhabit, only takes a slip

"If it could be done", they said, "the sooner then, the better"
"It would be good if it was better than the way it was before" they said
They said nothing too explicit, there's no meat upon the bones
"We'll just have to wait and see", they said, "just see how it goes...", they said





SKYCLAD LYRICS