1. |
sweet sleight
02:27
|
|||
try to see the writing on the wall:
three feet high, caps lock, bold Avalon
not quite the voice of a generation gone
nor quite of the present one
not that anyone's counting
sweet sleight, sweet sleight
it'll be a sweet sleight, sweet sleight...
try to check your pride before the fall
stop passing off your weaknesses as virtues
you don't deserve the world but you're owed the few
born in another era
it wouldn't even occur to you
somebody's luck is gonna run out
somebody's luck is gonna let him down
|
||||
2. |
third life
02:57
|
|||
old skin
young eyes
new warmth
hold hands
swap lives
move on
and you ought to know by now what's what
one so bright and so artful
i want a life full
are you even mine?
are you even known?
is your third life something out of sight?
in the afterglow
with the white-noise radio
did a micro-doubt show briefly as the light
let me in on a secret love that wanes then grows?
an end
that fails
to show
well you ought to know as good as gets
one so kind and so careful
why are you fearful?
there's something and nothing to be done
i just want it over
the war has barely even begun
the struggle is over
there's something and nothing to be done
keep turning it over
|
||||
3. |
golden age
02:43
|
|||
strolling around
scrolling through junk
pushing your luck
bearing the brunt
atrophied news
multiple views
something you heard
something you learned
read the reviews
diligently
put your name down
demonstratively
energy turned
to zeroes and ones
something is lost
but sometimes... something is won
it's a golden life, you know
it's the only one i know
washing your hands
tending your stock
scanning your feed
building your stock
working from home
nobody's home
first admit nothing
then the u-turn
turn them all down
as a routine
when they appeal
let them all win
wasting your time
wasting my time
how i'd love to cut out the middle man
it's a golden life, you know
it's the only one i know
i'd dearly love to cut out the middle man
take back public life from the private hand
i'm strolling through sunshine where no one sees
not scrolling through crap living out false dreams
|
||||
4. |
||||
les hommes are full of beans:
brazil et costa rica
and in london coffee bars
chzech barristers make ends meet as baristas
le soleil et les hommes
le cafe et les dames
ils n'ont pas l'esprit d'où le café vient
les hommes love summer warmth
in short-sleeved shirts and shorts
cut just above the knee
where no one has to tell me
le soleil et les hommes
le cafe et les dames
je n'ai pas l'esprit d'où les hommes viennent
oh I drift to infinity
oui, je d'erive a l'infini
|
||||
5. |
hook
02:46
|
|||
a skeuomorph's a redundant reminder:
decorative, it serves no end
another misadventure in capital letters
can't believe i lost two friends
i've got those feelings again:
free floating shame to no end
i need a hook to pull me along
need to be doing - not to be done
don't let me resort to that schtick
if life is a confidence trick, i'll be caught out
you strive now
cos once you had to
but knockbacks are getting old
(i know) you placed your bets on arnos grove
but the world favoured old kent road
i've got those feelings again:
free floating shame to no end
that was just a feeling
a moulded plastic screw head
that was just a feeling
a camera shutter sound effect
and it will pass
|
||||
6. |
the emperor
01:18
|
|||
(lyrics adapted from a poem by kevin reinhardt)
he's a desperate boy
he owns a lost poem
chases buses he's missed
blowing kisses at them
in the hope that they will stop
and let him on
a desperate boy
he owns a pair of shoes
that he's never worn
cos he had the blues
when he had no shoes
till one day on the street
met a man with no feet
he's a desperate boy
he goes CD shopping in service stations
“hey kev, this is 'real country'"
you didn't think i'd let this one pass me by
he's a desperate boy
he wants to sleep all day
with a hundred butterlfies
in the shape of a miracle
hovering a foot above his head
just so that you can all watch
I suggested, if he were to do this, do it on a sunday
he's a desperate boy
|
||||
7. |
time, please
03:40
|
|||
that photograph:
pale brown hands so neatly clasped
perched upon a sandpit in a tyre
the time ahead was such a comfort to you as a younger man,
so why not now when you're in the middle of that precious span?
more time is all that you need
more life goes off while you plead
you aimed so high
so why still on your knees?
some scraps remain:
long hair, suit and biker chain
defiantly, you stared into the lens
the life ahead was such a very special place when you were young
so why, just now, does it look a little pasty and undone?
if scraps remain
keep them one arm's length away
defiantly, staring out the end
|
||||
8. |
||||
richard feynman
marie curie
michael faraday
max planck
princess stephanie of belgium
johan gutenberg
ben franklin
the minor planets
the major stars
that they're named after
could all be ours
i've got to know all that they are
got to know all that you are
herodotus
francis bacon
audrey hepburn
et moliere
jean sibelius
george gershwin
miles davis
gottlob frege
jerry lewis
jodie foster
arsene wenger
sherlock holmes
cleopatra
martin luther
meg ryan
ivan franko
i'm hurtling through life at a hundred miles an hour
and i'm not sure what i'm taking
i'm falling right through space
40,000 miles an hour
and i don't know where i'm heading at all
|
||||
9. |
ready to hand
02:03
|
|||
10. |
on the meter
03:31
|
|||
i've got a potted history
embroidered on my memory:
got noticed in my twenties
now i'm out on the margins
but that's not really how it is
i was barely on the meter
yet somehow that's the story
i've memorised for parties
i've never been a striver
i don't think i'm a scrounger
feel like i'm being told off
the best already sold off
the screen inside a london cab
depicts another london cab
'my life as a russian doll'
all bets are off
back in the old days
you really loved me
but nothing i do
is good enough now
you think it's easy
to nail a memory
but only old songs
sound good to me now
they cannot say i didn't try
they might just say i shouldn't have tried
i've waited on the sidelines
i want to go much further
you seem to be the right one
my time down here is over
i'm willing to go with you
i want to feel much younger
|
Streaming and Download help
If you like The Melting Ice Caps, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp