Strawberry Fields Forever

by John Lennon

Let me take you down
'Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever

Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It's getting hard to be someone
But it all works out
It doesn't matter much to me

No one I think is in my tree
I mean it must be high or low
That is you can't, you know, tune in
But it's all right
That is, I think it's not too bad

Always, no sometimes, think it's me
But you know I know when it's a dream
I think I know, I mean, a 'Yes'
But it's all wrong
That is I think I disagree

Hole in My Shoe

by Dave Mason

I looked to the sky
Where an elephant's eye
Was looking at me
From a bubblegum tree

And all that I knew
Was the hole in my shoe
Which was letting in water

I walked through a field
That just wasnt real
Where 100 tin soldiers
Would shoot at my shoulder

And all that I knew
Was the hole in my shoe
Which was letting in water

I started to fall
And suddenly woke
And the dew on the grass
Had soaked through my coat

And all that I knew
Was the hole in my shoe
Which was letting in water

I Want You

by Bob Dylan

The guilty undertaker sighs
The lonesome organ grinder cries
The silver saxophones say I should refuse you
The cracked bells and washed-out horns
Blow into my face with scorn
But it's not that way, I wasn't born to lose you

I want you
I want you so bad
Honey, I want you

The drunken politician leaps
Upon the street where mothers weep
And the saviors who are fast asleep, they wait for you
And I wait for them to interrupt
Me drinking from my broken cup
And ask me to open up the gate for you

I want you
I want you so bad
Honey, I want you

Now all my fathers, they've gone down
True love, they've been without it
And all their daughters put me down
'Cause I don't think about it

Well, I return to the Queen of Spades
And talk with my chambermaid
She knows that I'm not afraid to look at her
She is good to me
And there's nothing she doesn't see
She knows where I'd like to be, but it doesn't matter

I want you
I want you so bad
Honey, I want you

Now your dancing child with his Chinese suit
He spoke to me, I took his flute
No, I wasn't that cute to him, was I?
But I did it because he lied
And because he took you for a ride
And because time was on his side

And because I want you
I want you so bad
Honey, I want you

Royal Jelly

by Dan Bern

Mailboxes drip like lampposts
In the twisted birth canal of the coliseum
Rim job fairy teapots mask the temper-tantrum
O say, can you see 'em?

Stuffed cabbage is the darling of the laundromat
And the sorority mascot sat with the lumberjack
Pressing, passing, stinging
Half-synthetic fabrications of his time

The mouse with the overbite
Explained how the rabbits were ensnared
And the skinny scanty sylph thrashed the apothecary diplomat
Inside the three-eyed monkey within inches of his toaster-oven life

In my mind, I'm half-blind
My inner ref is mostly deaf
I'm smell-impaired, if you cared
My sense of taste is wasted
On the phosphorescent orange peels
Of San Francisco axe-encrusted frenzy
So let me touch you
Where the royal jelly gets made

Coloratura singers bringing weeds and social clingers
Hangers-on and fancy flingers to the dress ball
Mushrooms and bowling pins, stovepipe hats and other things
I can't recall from juvenile hall

We're so unlucky and stuff
Woodrow Wilson never had it so tough
Dairy Queen and Vaseline and Maybelline
Paul Bunyan and James Dean

Allegory agencies of pre-Raphaelite paganry
And Shenandoah tapestries compared with good mahogany
Collapsing the undying postcard romance

With feline perspicacity by the university
That night I held a paucity
Which you deemed common courtesy
I wasn't what you thought I'd be
I shouldn't have invited you to dance

In my tree I'm halfway free
And in my chair one-quarter there
In my dream one-sixteenth cream
In the coffee of the courtier
Of the sycophantic assistant to the king
So let me touch you
Where the royal jelly gets made

Holland 1945

by Jeff Mangum

The only girl I've ever loved
Was born with roses in her eyes
But then they buried her alive
One evening 1945
With just her sister at her side
And only weeks before the guns
All came and rained on everyone
Now she's a little boy in Spain
Playing pianos filled with flames
On empty rings around the sun
All sing to say my dream has come

But now we must pick up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry on

And now we ride the circus wheel
With your dark brother wrapped in white
Says it was good to be alive
But now he rides a comet's flame
And won't be coming back again
The Earth looks better from a star
That's right above from where you are
He didn't mean to make you cry
With sparks that ring and bullets fly
On empty rings around your heart
The world just screams and falls apart

But now we must pick up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry on

And here's where your mother sleeps
And here is the room where your brothers were born
Indentations in the sheets
Where their bodies once moved but don't move anymore
And it's so sad to see the world agree
That they'd rather see their faces fill with flies
All when I'd want to keep white roses in their eyes

Touch of Grey

by Robert Hunter

It must be getting early
Clocks are running late
Paint-by-number morning sky
Looks so phony

Dawn is breaking everywhere
Light a candle, curse the glare
Draw the curtains, I don't care
'Cause it's alright

I will get by
I will survive

I see you got your list out
Say your piece and get out
I guess I got the gist of it
But it's alright

Sorry that you feel that way
The only thing there is to say
Every silver lining's got a
Touch of grey

It's a lesson to me
The Ables and the Bakers and the C's
The ABC's, we all must face
And try to keep a little grace

I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright

Cows are giving kerosene
The kid can't read at seventeen
The words he knows are all obscene
But it's alright

I will get by
I will survive

It's a lesson to me
The Deltas and the East and the Freeze
The ABC's, we all think of
And try to keep a little love

The shoe is on the hand it fits
There's really nothing much to it
Whistle through your teeth and spit
'Cause it's alright

Oh well, a touch of grey
Kind of suits you anyway
That was all I had to say
And it's alright

I will get by
I will survive

Supersonic

by Noel Gallagher

I need to be myself
I can't be no one else
I'm feeling supersonic, give me gin and tonic
You can have it all, but how much do you want it?

You make me laugh
Give me your autograph
Can I ride with you in your BMW
You can sail with me in my yellow submarine

You need to find out
'Cause no one's going to tell you what I'm on about
You need to find a way for what you want to say
But before tomorrow

'Cause my friend said he'd take you home
Sits in a corner all alone
He lives under a waterfall
Nobody can see him
Nobody can ever hear him call

You need to be yourself
You can't be no one else
I know a girl called Elsa, she's into Alka Seltzer
She sniffs it through a cane on a supersonic train

And she makes me laugh
I got her autograph
She done it with a doctor on a helicopter
She's sniffing in her tissue, selling the Big Issue

When she finds out
No one's going to tell her what I'm on about
You need to find a way for what you want to say
But before tomorrow

'Cause my friend said he'd take you home
Sits in a corner all alone
He lives under a waterfall
Nobody can see him
Nobody can ever hear him call

Already Yesterday

by Steve Kilbey

It's already yesterday
We're off the calendar
I heard the sirens play
Just like an orchestra
Mechanical bird of prey
Sing for your emperor
Last broken flash of love
Still in the camera

We don't feel those locks and chains
We won't listen to the lizard part of our brains
Giving the orders
Another morning we'll be gone
I start the car for Ten Mile Beach
And maybe Avalon across the water

It's already yesterday
And nobody's answering
Disconnected, drift away
Nobody's questioning
Head silver, feet of clay
Who is surrendering?
They fall in our heyday
I am remembering

We can't feel those aches and pains
We won't listen to the voices in the city rain
Giving the orders
Another morning I'll be gone
I start the car for Violet Town
And then to Babylon, over the border

Like a Rolling Stone

by Bob Dylan

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, 'Beware doll, you're bound to fall'
You thought they were all kidding you

You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hanging out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it

You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say, 'Do you want to make a deal?'

You never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you

You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're all drinking, thinking that they got it made
Exchanging all precious gifts
But you'd better take your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe

You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal

One Rainy Wish

by Jimi Hendrix

Golden rose, the color of the dream I had
Not too long ago
Misty blue and lilac too
Never to grow old

There you were under the tree of song
Sleeping so peacefully
In your hand a flower played
Waiting there for me

I have never laid eyes on you
Not like before this timeless day
But you woke and you smiled my name
And you stole my heart away

Walking on Water

by Nate Wilson

Under the burned-out skies of dark December
Lonely visions passed me by
It was a voice I heard that whispered softly
And carried me away
To a place of fires and fallen angels

And in my final hour all was golden
Burned the buildings to the frozen ground
All that I saw was changed at once before me
And high above the fields
I was filled with glorious delusions

Found today burning in the rafters
As the walls began to fall
Hauled away, a wall of angry faces
'Round the instrument of gods

If I see Saint Lucilia walking on the water
I'll turn and walk away
And it's a fine line between the work of devils and of angels
And in the end it's all the same

After the flames died down I remember
Alone imprisoned by the force of hands
I waited 'til silence came to lay my head down
And in my darkest dreams
I caught sight of the threads of my unmaking

Attics of My Life

by Robert Hunter

In the attics of my life
Full of cloudy dreams unreal
Full of tastes no tongue can know
And lights no eye can see
        When there was no ear to hear
        You sang to me

I have spent my life
Seeking all that's still unsung
Bent my ear to hear the tune
And closed my eyes to see
        When there were no strings to play
        You played to me

In the book of love's own dream
Where all the print is blood
Where all the pages are my days
And all my lights grow old
        When I had no wings to fly
        You flew to me

You
flew
to me

In the secret space of dreams
Where I dreaming lay amazed
When the secrets all are told
And the petals all unfold
        When there was no dream of mine
        You dreamed of me

Elephant Stone

by Ian Brown

Burst into heaven
Kissing the cotton clouds
Arctic sheets and fields of wheat
I can't stop coming down

Your shrunken head
Looking down on me above
Send me home like an elephant stone
To smash my dream of love

Dreaming till the sun goes down
And night turns into day
Rooms are empty, I've got plenty
You could move in right away

Seems like there's a hole
In my dreams

Didn't your bed and bookshelf go
And run, run, run away
These four walls saw the rise and fall
And your midnight getaway

Seems like there's a hole
In my dreams
Or so it seems
Yet nothing means
Anything
Anymore

Stella Blue

by Robert Hunter

All the years combine
They melt into a dream
A broken angel sings
From a guitar

In the end there's just a song
Comes crying up the night
Through all the broken dreams
And vanished years
Stella Blue

When all the cards are down
There's nothing left to see
There's just the pavement left
And broken dreams

In the end there's still that song
Comes crying like the wind
Down every lonely street
That's ever been
Stella Blue

I've stayed in every blue light cheap hotel
Can't win for trying
Dust off those rusty strings just one more time
Going to make them shine

It all rolls into one
And nothing comes for free
There's nothing you can hold
For very long

And when you hear that song
Come crying like the wind
It seems like all this life
Was just a dream
Stella Blue

Well, I Never Did

by Dame Victoria Bennett
AKA Stephen Fry

Oh yes, I'll never forget that one! That was taken before they pulled down the gasworks and built that Netto Superstore. Oh, he looks good in his Littlewood's Keynote cardie, does our Alan! I said at the time, I said, 'Alan, if you want to get on in the world, you'd be wise to write down everything I say, because it's gold, is what I say. And don't hog the Peak Freenes, lad. Pass them 'round.'

Lovely boy, he was. Teeth weren't his strong feature, of course, and his hair wasn't what you might call Leslie Howard, but I always say, 'Teeth is teeth. What does it matter so long as you've got your wealth?'

He said, 'I can't wait to get out of here, Auntie Ivy, and make my fortune down south.'

I said, 'Alan,' I said, 'I may not be as cabbage-looking as my tongue is a fisherman's doily, but what's London got that you won't find in the Arndale Centre in Todmorden?' Well, he was stuck for a reply. I said, 'You want sophistication, you stick with us up here, love.' He knew I was right, bless him. I mean, we've got a body shop in the parade now. You can't move for Volvos in the autumn months. But then he's always had his head in the clouds, has our Alan.

Caught him trying to scour a milk pan with a tea bag once. I said, 'It's all very well knowing long words, but if you can't tell the difference between a box of brillo pads and a packet of Typhoo One-Cup, you'll never get on.' I'll go to the back of our fridge....

He did leave, though; got a scholarship to Oxford. I said, 'You make sure as there's somewhere as you can buy Kendall Mint Cake and a good bar of Wright's coal tar soap, because they've no idea, down there.' Well, I mean fancy ideas and tropical mix croutons are all very well, but they don't get the Vimto buttered, do they? For all your fine Italian red lettuce — which to my mind tastes as bitter as a Skipton wind.

He said, 'Auntie, I'll be fine.'

Well of course, I didn't know him when he came back. Green corduroy jacket and duffle coat, horn-rimmed spectacles you could eat parsley out of, and a head crammed with I don't know what. And books, you've never seen so many! Some of them that dirty I blushed to the roots of my Playtex. I said, 'Those books are going straight into the Hotpoint and no buts.' Came up lovely, they did. Amazing what a bit of Lenor can do if you've a mind.

No, but that Oxford and his smart friends, they've changed him. Ideas, that's what it is. I said, 'What use is ideas when you've a capon to baste and the tally-man's due any minute? Name an idea,' I said, 'that can get the front steps scrubbed, the sausages pricked, and the navel oranges squeezed in time for a meat tea and finger buffet.' Well, he didn't know which way to look.

These Oxford types, they're all apricot facial scrub and yesterday's suet turnover: to look at them you'd think a packet of Bachelor's Savoury Rice wouldn't melt in their Vosene Medicated, but they've no savvy. I could take a Black & Decker nose drill to the pack of them and still have change left over for a bag of peanut brittle.

Left home, of course. Got involved with the BBC, all party eggs and tomato chutney. Next thing I know, he's got a damehood and a brand new hostess trolley to show for it. They'll fall for anything, them Londoners.

Well, I'm off down to Morrison's for a jar of melon lip balm and a four-pack of interuterine devices. Got that Pat Routledge 'round for elocution lessons at twelve. Tarra!

Debaser

by Black Francis

Got me a movie
I want you to know
Slicing up eyeballs
I want you to know
Girlie so groovy
I want you to know
Don't know about you
But I am un chien andalusia

Want to grow up to be
Be a debaser

I've Been Delivered

by Jakob Dylan

I could break free from the wood of a coffin if I need
But nothing's as hard as getting free
From places I've already been
I've been waist-deep in the burning meadows of my mind
In the engine, in cold December
Shooting fire from the hose

Now turn off your lights
'Cause I'm not coming home
Till I'm delivered for the first time

I was first-born to a parade that follows in rows
Down a narrow, cold black river
Faceless shadows moving slow
I would move swift when the sounds of a trumpet would blow
I've been the puppet, I've been the strings
I know the vacant face it brings

Now the bells of curfew
They may ring before I'm through
But soon I'll be delivered for the first time

You might keep clean in the back of an angel motorcade
It doesn't matter who walks in
You know, the joke is still the same
You'll just wake up like a disposable lover, decomposed
I've been gone, I've been remembered
I've been alive, I've been a ghost

So now if downtown explodes
I'll still be on this road
Till I'm delivered for the first time

I have drawn blood from the neckline when vampires were in fashion
You know I'd even learn to cut my throat
If I thought I could fit in
'Cause I once heard that you gotta learn how to blend in to this mess
Where nothing's hard, nothing's precious
And nothing's smooth or flawless

Now no more amused
Just screaming to
Be delivered for the first time

Now I'm 10 miles in the deep and mighty blue sea
Looking back, towards a long white beach
Burning up into yellow flames
And I just wave back like a little boy up on a pony in a show
'Cause I can't fix something this complex
Any more than I can build a rose

So just keep on letting go
'Cause I must be close
To being delivered for the first time

Now I'd rather bleed out a long stream from being lonely and feel blessed
Than drown, laying face down
In a puddle of respect
I was once lost in the corridors of the arena in blindfolds
I've been the bull, I've been the whip
I just pulled down the matador

So now, turn on your lights
'Cause I'm coming home
I've been delivered for the first time

Whistling in the Dark

by John Linnell

A woman came up to me and said
'I'd like to poison your mind
'With wrong ideas that appeal to you
'Though I am not unkind'
She looked at me
I looked at something written across her scalp
And these are the words that it faintly said
As I tried to call for help

There's only one thing that I know how to do well
And I've often been told
That you only can do what you know how to do well
And that's be you
Be what you're like
Be like yourself
And so I'm having a wonderful time
But I'd rather be whistling in the dark

A man came up to me and said
'I'd like to change your mind
'By hitting it with a rock,' he said
'Though I am not unkind'
We laughed at his little joke
And then I happily walked away
And hit my head on the wall of the jail
Where the two of us live today

Cage & Aquarium

by John Flansburgh

Somebody's reading your mind
Damned if you know who it is
They're digging through all of your files
Stealing back your best ideas

You cover your windows with lead
Even keeping the pets outside
Then you hear a moment too late
This sound coming over the phone

This is the spawning of the cage and aquarium
Don't wait a moment too soon
Used to be different, now you're the same
Yawn as your plane goes down in flames

Once in a Lifetime

by David Byrne

And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself, 'Well, how did I get here?'

Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground
Into the blue again
After the money's gone
Once in a lifetime
Water flowing underground

And you may ask yourself, 'How do I work this?'
And you may ask yourself, 'Where is that large automobile?'
And you may tell yourself, 'This is not my beautiful house'
And you may tell yourself, 'This is not my beautiful wife'

Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was

Water dissolving and water removed
There is water at the bottom of the ocean
Under the water, carry the water
Removed water

You may ask yourself, 'What is that beautiful house?'
You may ask yourself, 'Where does that highway go to?'
And you may ask yourself, 'Am I right? Am I wrong?'
And you may say to yourself, 'My God, what have I done?'

Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Look where my hand was
Time isn't holding up
Time isn't after us
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was

After the rain holds up
Same as it ever was
Then a twister comes
Here comes the twister
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was