In the news

 Well it's all in the news

Yes it's all in the news

Yes you can talk softly or follow your muse

You can walk down

Long winding views

But word will get out

Yes it's all in the news

It's all in the news, yes it's all in news

The simple life's quashed, underfoot it's bruised

You can pull on your strings

And make puppets to amuse

But don't wait to look, for it's all in the news

The city sleeps softly

Like a shallow stream

Waking at the noises come

Into its dream

Well you can set foot or try to lose

But the fox hound will catch you

And you'll be in the news

Their leaders mean to puzzle you

To outwit or confuse

Nothing's clear nowadays

They will lie and abuse

Only hold a lamp up to each word they say

Take it with a pinch of salt

Maybe the truth will have its day

It's all in the news, yes it's all in the news

They will take you to the mountain

And they will make you pray

And if there is no fountain

For to drink from or pay

Throw your money in your shoes

For a rainy day

It's all in the news, yes it's all in the news, they say

You can treat them kindly

But more will come your way

You can beat them harshly

With the soul of your blues

But the stain never vanishes

Yes it's here to stay

Cos it's all in the news, it's all in the news

They'll write the last word

On the letter of the day 

the whole hog

 You only went half a pig

I was giving it big

I went the whole hog

No snuggery fig

I went the whole hog

The full grog

I went Phileas Fogg

On the world's cog

I didn't go quarter llama

I went full pyjama

I went whole moon

no semi sunrise monsoon

Pigs might fly

Well why can't I?

I went the whole hog

I tried to take it full pelt

Put my pedal to the metal

I was going full tilt

No piggy in the middle

Full dress no tartan kilt

I went the whole hog

Not playing leap frog

On the bottom of the bill

I was the last act

I had time to kill

I needed to check my facts

It was not unfulfilled

I completed my contract

I went the whole hog

I got fully skilled

But it was show time

In the paddy field

I had to pick rice

To make my meal

But it was versa vice

Not a mixed deal

There was no sacrifice

I was not half peeled

I sucked on bitter lemons

I swallowed bitter pills

I went to seven elevens

With fifty dollar bills

And climbed the stairs to heaven

Though some I skipped

I spilled

The milk for the cat

Who never learnt to heel

She had 9 lives

But I knew summer's chilled

The lives that made that

Out of earshot revealed

I went the whole hog

now nothing's left concealed

bird woman

 The woman who turned into a bird

Haven't you heard

She lay down in bed to rest her head

And awoke in a flutter of feathers

From her skin had grown quills

And like the ribs of Adam

Given her chills

In the fridge of Iron

Railings that made her bed

She sprang from the springs

And onto her wings

Turning wildly up in the air

Knocking off vases from places

Then she flew down the stairs

And out of the door 

To the new morning thaw

As the sun called her

Up to the sky

She was free as a bird

Unchained from the woman

to whom she said good bye

Goal Keeper

 The ballad 

Of the Shepton Goal keeper

He thought he'd be a goalie

But he ended a cell sleeper

Deeper undercover

Of the setting sun

You see he's black and white

As a holy nun

Goal keeper

Goal keeper

Now where do you lie

Down in the flowers

Where the sick go to die

Or up in the rafters

With the booms and the bats

Yard bird singing softly

Like a sweet alley cat

Goal keeper Goal keeper

Ring the half time bell

For whom the bell tolls

You know of so well

Bring out your guards

And shuffle your suns

Goal Keeper, goal keeper

So hard when the new day's begun

Shoot straight my pretty

And aim for the heart

I'm in front of the squad

Let the firing start

I open my mouth

But my tongue hangs down

Goal keeper

For England

For King and for Crown

Sing softly my pretty

Let the new day come

The trees whisper briskly

Of change

The murmurs

Of starlings

The circling buzzards

All over the prison walls

With the bandits of hazard

gaol keeper

 He was out on the wing he was in the midfield

He walked the square mile

His legs he did feel

Open air and the blue tent

The blue tent of sky

Was his pitch as he hitched

Another prison lullaby

Sleep softly sleep quiet

Behind

Your hard Iron bars

See wisdom in miles

As the jailed bird jars

Sing like a Canary inside of your cage

Smell gas Or the oven

Or the times of our age

Where is he, how is it?

And where does it come from?

On the Western front

Front, under the shadow of a gun

A cannon rings out

In the new days sun

But sing softly Canary

For we've only just begun

Goal keeper, gaol keeper

Between the posts

Hold your line

Don't let it cross

The shot of Holy Ghost

For if he comes in

He'll surely

Kick down the gates of hell

And let all those lost souls

Right out of their cells

Gaol Keeper

Gaol keeper

Now where is your soul?

In the dungeons

Or is it deeper

Right down in hell

Hold the ball that you've caught

And don't let it fall

To the ground

Kick it hard

And back over the wall

They are playing

They are playing somewhere outside

The match whistle blows

And it's a game of two sides

The voices they yell

But of course you have heard

With your eyes like a buzzard

And Your ears like a jail bird

Gaol keeper, gaol keeper

The disease of greed

 There is a disease and it rises in the tide

And it coughs in the nation

And is spread by the pride

The gods are taking over

And the wild wind blows

In the railway sleepers 

It lies in the throes

It seeps in the heart

From your head to your toes

It gets in your blood

Before you even knows

It's the enemy of love

It's a canker on the rose

Its like the nectar of Gods

And people are the bees

But if it gets in your blood

Then it will make you bleed

Because you've stood on it where you trod

It's the disease of greed

And they push and they shove 

From Suffolk to Greece

They will push out love

It'll wage war in place of peace

And as everyone knows

Wickedness never will cease

You've got it and it shows

The disease of greed

It shows in your face

Your smiles they crease

The little slip of a dove

Carrion crows of unease

They shelter above

In the crown of the trees

But you've got nowhere to go

When you've got

The disease of greed

When you're caught between desire

And the path of the priest

It's like being trapped between

The Devil and the deep blue sea

Keep well your garden

And hoe down the weed

Before its grip starts to harden

In the disease of greed

The horse shoes and the scarlet paint

 oh the horse shoes

And the scarlet paint

All these things are so worn out

And blood ties 

In blood shot eyes

Oh the horse shoes

And the scarlet paint

What makes you live a life without taint

The horse shoes and the scarlet paint

What takes you from sinner to saint

The horse shoes and the scarlet paint

I walk and I want to shout

All these things I have no doubt

For when I was a child

Then I played in the gravel

With the horse shoes

And the judges gavel

Oh the horseshoes and the scarlet paint.