When we were soldiers

 Chalk and cheese were soldiers

When they went to war

Chalk went first into the fold

Cheese followed there after

They were inseparable

Brothers they were in arms

Oh, when we were Soldiers

When we were soldiers

When we were back on the farm

 

When the bombs fell in the East

Chalk went fighting the front

While Cheese fought foreign beast

Oh, but they had the same want

Keep me with my brother Cheese

Chalk said to Commander and master

But the commander set them East to West

And that was to be a disaster

 

Chalk was proud but never let on

He had loved the same woman

Back in their hometown

And Cheese was humbler and just

Kept his head down

In his heart he wanted Zita for his crown

 

And the days rubbed on

And the war did vanish

When they each returned home

The farmland was famished

Zita held them both in her arms

And they knew they were back on the farm

 

Oh, when we were soldiers,

What a time we had

Dashing headlong into the fray

When we were soldiers

All time stood still

We could never quite believe

We'd see this day

 

And Zita loved Cheese

But she loved Chalk still

Oh, and when the sparks flew

She thought of herself to kill

But Cheese married her

In that Church on the hill

And Chalk came tumbling after

 

Chalk fell down 

In every tavern in the town

The great war hero

Brought low

What deeds he had dared

On the field of warfare

The townsfolk weren't full to know

And too proud was he to boast

But a bitterness grew in his heart

Though he always was their toast

 

And Cheese had a family with Zita

And the bats flew out just to meet her

But the dark foreboding sky

Meant she thought she might die

On their next trip down to the coast

 

Chalk took a wife over the border

And they travelled down there to order

A home in the forest with the mountains

Looking by

And Zita felt the weight of the world

On her thigh

As she sat her child there to suckle him

By and by

I will name him Chalk after her father

And Cheese raised a stink

And went racing after 

Chalk, his brother in arms

Now enemies back on the farm

 

Chalk fought Cheese

Across Mountain trail

In the shadows of the great Transylvanian

Woods

And the pines did sway

And the wolves did wail

And the sword pierced Chalk’s heart

And that wasn't good

 

The chalk man fell like a tree in the forest

Geronimo cried the axman and the bears cried out

And Cheese's heart melted, and tears fell 

From his eyes 

And his soul grew dark under

Transylvanian skies

 

And he lived locked in his castle

For he had committed fratricide

To kill his own brother

No atonement could abide

And Zita raised two children

One Chalk and one Cheese

For each had a father

Who in their hour of need

Had answered the call of their country

And for their country did bleed

When they were soldiers

 

When we were soldiers

She sings to them

When we were soldiers

And lullaby’s them to sleep

Spring Street

 They're sweeping up the leaves on Spring Street

Tidying away the trash

Painting it all in a varnish

White washing their laundry and cash

They're cleaning out the cupboards on Spring Street

Making room for a new family to move in

Leaving their reasons on the door step

Throwing their letters in the bin

The workmen are fixing the pipes

The arabs drink outside costa coffee

After one of them nearly got in a fight

With a man over who was wrong and who was right

"I was alone!" he kept shouting, passers by stop and watch

in the street

On the otherside of the road, they are all white

Oh they're sweeping up the leaves on Spring Street

The leaves keep falling on Spring Street

And my time is nearly done

The London road so busy under

A clouded sun

Red buses passing so gently,

Like ships in the night

Geezers and wheezers and two-time sneezers

Squeezing by left and right

And Spring Street is telling its story

Like a year that turns on without proof

That tomorrow all this will look different

That tomorrow we'll live a new truth

There are race wars down on Spring Street

White washing walls and blackening teeth

The French harangue Nelson's Column and greet

The Spaniards who fill Trafalgar square beneath

The Germans are daisy bombing all the banks

Shy dalmatian dogs are begging for homes giving thanks

To the carriages and scooters, and pizza delivery boys

Who are dropping them crusts as babies drop toys

And Spring street is looking lovely this time of year

As winter makes a mockery of flower sellers

And street singers recite sonnets of Juliet

And Romeo is on his balcony shaving his chest

And the circus is holding a strongman contest

Who is the most freakish, who's strength will win the day

Saint Crispin rides a steel mare upon the copper chains that lay

Around the step of the museum where sweet children play

And Spring Steet is looking quite clean this way

 

In the circus all kinds of animals are there

Elephants in castles in long suited trousers

And penguins who dance in pairs

I took a trip on the circle line

and found an anathema there

How could I be travelling straight

While I was going round and round?

It was all too much for me to believe

And then I saw Paddington bear

He had made a home for himself on the platform

And the stations of Charing cross were there

I counted old Kentish town and an opprobrium

As the farmers' step wives all lived there

The dogs were selling newspapers in the stands

And I bought one for a paw-pound

He said put the lines back in the prison

For that is where the sentence is found

A rabbit hopped on the rails of the barley

And swayed as the tannoy announced

The next train at platform three is

The two fifteen to Plymouth

And I stepped on the rights of the fare

Spring Street was smiling in the cold light

And Samantha had cut off her hair

Samson was her barber in the Turkish restaurant

Where fat men and young girls sat so fair

I tried to piece together the puzzle

Of its myriad strands and wefts

And I with cloven hoof and cleft palate

Let King Oedipus disappear

The ships will go down out of sight

As the horizon is gathering sunlight

And the broken eggshells of Spring Street

Show the first path where new lambs bleat 

Mermaid

 I saw a mermaid in the sea

But she could not come up to me

I said the sea went way over my head

And she was in it and the sea was red

Come walk on water Jesus boy she said

I knew you were living, but I didn't know you were dead

She said I'm half fish don't you know

Not fully grown, not

Ready to bear human child

Come fisherman

She said,

Fisherman

Search for the souls

Fisherman,

I am half fish

But I'm not whole.

Fisherman greet me catch me 

And toll,

Toll the rocking ship's bell for me

By the time the clock's struck twelve

I will be free,

I will have grown

And be full woman not a girl

I'll leave behind my scales 

Keep my pearl

But it all was just as it had been

The fisherman unfurled the net

And set the mermaid free

Be my bird

 Don't be a turkey

Be a goose

But if you're gonna goosy gander

I'm gonna cut you loose

Don't be a chicken

Let me count on you

Darling just be my bird

You could be a little robin

You could be a blackbird bobbin

You be a Hawk in the sky

You could have an eagle eye

You could hear that chorus sing

You could even sleep on the wing

All you need to do is hear my word

You just need to be my bird

Don't you be dead as a dodo

Just nod your head while saying no, no

Don't you be an Albatross round my neck

Just climb my rigging til you reach my deck

And even if you fly hell for leather

I know that we'll still be birds of a feather

So darling just be my bird

If you want to catch the worm

You better feather your nest so we stay warm

You can be my night owl

Don't be a cuckoo on the prowl

You might walk proud like a peacock

Or Fly from the cloud as a thunder bolt shock

Out of the blue unseen

Be my bluebird Queen

Darling just be my bird

Be my kingfisher on the pond

Cast your fishhook eyes and I'll catch on

You can be my duck and I'll wash your back

It would be my luck if you washed me back

Be my lark and sing me song

When it gets dark I'll love you so long

As you just be my bird