There tonight

Well the sun is down
And the light comes on
And you need someone
Just to hold you tight
Well don't be afraid to call
There's no need to write
Just pick up the phone
And I'll be there tonight

In a sandy plain when the wind is savage
And the passengers compain
In the railway carriage
Don't walk out into the storm
Just sit tight
Think of me as your all
And I'll be there that very night

In the super city
Where the crowds are so busy
You can lose your soul
You can lose the fight
Just keep control
Just hold tight
I'm on a roll
And I'll be with you tonight

Need you tonight

Just because I said to you
That I didn't need your light
It doesn't mean that I meant for you
To leave me alone tonight

Oh lady bring your shoe horn
Cinderalla's shoe's too tight
Oh lady I want to be reborn
So don't leave me alone tonight

If the shoe fits then wear it
That's what they always told me down south
And if the cap fits then wear it
Just don't look down in the mouth

Now I know you are one to care
But you turn your head
Like your underwear
And I can't make head nor tail
Of all these things tonight

The river with its tongue

The river with its tongue so cold

Speaks in slow vowels rolled

The bridge with its mouth bowed

Swallows all that it is told

And the bank side buildings' walls

Listen with ears numbed to stone

Strange gases emit and drift

Along the surface water sunlit

And race at faster speeds yet

Than the river boat captains can bet

Like a substance unknown to man

This life force moves with a mysterious plan

When asked who will understand

It answers only that women can

Yet lions guard the gates of freedom

For some things of stone may still have reason

And ideals of ancestors long dead bones

Resonate with the striding feet of tourist season

Pret a manger

Black coffee
 Black coffee
 Are you waiting are you?
Please take all this from me
Are you waiting? Are you waiting are you?
I give you bags for free

Somewhere way out in the solar system
A father is skype calling his son
And he's pretending to shoot a gun
Bang! Bang!
And then amid the mist
He asks if she is ok

And England is surrounded
In this quiet pale blue sky
That imbues everything
With a sense of calm at least

Bang! Bang! He says

Beyond the Pale

Isn't it all a bit beyond the pale?
The way he sits up there
With the wind in his sail
And preaches to us about
Rights and wrongs
Just as if he would write a song

Its all just a little bit beyond the pale

The way he talks like Jesus from his mouth
The way they hang on his words down in the south
The way he loves to tweet but like the ugliest bird
You find what he says is so absurd

Its all just a little bit beyond
The pale

What he says are un truths and lies
The false proclaimations written on blue skies
When on the horizon there are storm clouds gathering
Yet his lips keep moving in a kind of blathering

Its all just a little beyond
The pale

They have their influencers in the courts
Their traps are laid their victims caught
And as we malaise on complacent beds
He's off with his designs for more warheads

Its all just a little beyond
The pale

What can we do but swallow our pride
Stick our heads in the ground or turn aside?
If this is what our fathers did then war would abide
But instead they fought for liberty and in freedom's name died

So is this all just a little beyond
The pale?

Transubstantiation Road

The lay-bys are filled with ladyboys
And the car parks are filled with Carmens
Next to it is Elektra
Who is fixing the electricity substations

In Transubstantiation road
Jesus is running the pig market
And we are all on his rig
Every hook he hangs up in his stall
Has another carcass on it

The meaning in the tides is seen
By a fairy queen who grows
Cannabis and runner beans
On Transsubstantiation road

But each of us is merciful
Show me the pardoned man
He comes to us with his hands clean
And leaves in a caravan

In the wheel barrow he brings
Norse Gods filled with snow
And books on many catastrophies
That he says we ought to know

I leave them in my pockets
Until the bedbugs begin to bite
Then I fill my socks with all the words
That I want to write

The hotel is on the corner
Older than a cigarette
And its been burning the midnight oil
Since Romeo snubbed Juliette

The fastness of the street cars
Is a problem for the pets
Who howl both day and day
about the landless suffragettes

A snooker queue for the toilets
Is lined up black and white
And then the Pink knocked in the hole
The red and yellow over night

You wouldn't think it mattered but
There must be order to the game
And if there's not then Transubstantiation road
Should be given another name

I asked again for clarity from the Judge who
Heard my case
He said nails are sold in charity
By the Angels who run the race

And then he raised his gavel
And let the hammer fall
I was pinned like poster criminal
Against the courthouse wall

Let me out this prison cell
I need some worldy rest
Take me back to Arizona
Let me see and feel the Mid-West

I've been inking up my promises
In a garden of good intent
But all my stepping stones lead back
To the room I decide to rent

And it wouldn't be quite so bad
If the rain was heaven sent
But the King has built his castle here
And he's awaiting the day of judgement

I see him in the garden too
Sweeping up the leaves
He used to be a famous stuntman
On the film sets for the crew

But since then they've moved the scenery
And cast another scene
And he is left acting out the action sequence
of a plot that's a has-been

I know it's not a life for me
But still I wrestle with her ghost
You see she comes to me
In the hours when I need her most

And this road is full of souls
Who used to live in fame
Its just now when they lay down their flowers
Nobody remembers their name

And beautiful young maidens dance
In silence through the fields
And the cameramen roll on for hours
Because of the aesthetic appeal

But some little old lady
Stares over her crooked nose
And shouts about love and despair
And the Emperors new clothes

Because change is like a stranger
Who everybody sees but nobody knows
As he's walking handing out his flowers
Down Transubstantiation road

Wit and wendy
Galey, Whaley Wh Smiths
Oxfam in the rain

Missing Australia
Missing what you don't have
Missing what you do

Staying home feeling sick
Staying sick feeling home
Feeling homesick

Smoking from the roof tops like a chimmney
Climbing to the rooftops like a monkey
Sitting on the bus stops like a lackey