Impurity
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1. GET ME OUT (Sullivan/Heaton)
The wardrobe's full of useless clothes, your winter coats are gone
The jackal pack is feeding, the motorway sweeps down
The council tries to bribe the rich just to stay in town
Ch: Get me out, get me out of this place
Get me out of this trap, get me out of my brain
Ysidro down to Melbourne, the pressure starts to build
The bullets fly at random when you least expect they will
Everybody feels guilty so anyone can pay
I'm just surprised it doesn't happen every bloody day
Ch: Get me out, get me out of this place
Get me out of this trap, get me out of my brain
So here come the nineties, the temperature is rising
I cannot seem to loose the stains when I wash my hands
One world is rising and one world is dying
And one has got it's precious head buried in the sand
Ch: Get me out, get me out of this place
Get me out of this trap, get me out of my brain
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2. SPACE (Sullivan/Heaton/Nelson)
You walk the thinnest of the ice, so easy to hurt
We drove through the dark in the pouring rain and barely said a word
So dress your wounds as best you can and close your tired eyes
Try to climb away from here towards the empty skies
And I'll meet you there, high above it all
In the kiss of air, the lover's breath
Visions rise from each little death
As Moses stands and turns his gaze away from the feuding tribes
Walks towards the mountains and through the rocks he climbs
God, he orders Moses - 'Bring the people to my will'
'Leave me be' cries Moses, keeps on walking up the hill
And I'll meet you there, high above it all
In the kiss of air, the lover's breath
Visions rise from each little death
And should the Devil come and should he say -
'All of this will I give to you, if you just bow down and worship me'
I'm on my knees.
"The white twisted clouds and the endless shades of blue in the ocean
make the hum of the spacecraft systems, the radio chatter, even your
own breathing disappear. There is no cold or wind or smell to tell you
that you are connected to Earth.
You have an almost dispassionate platform - remote,
Olympian and yet so moving that you can hardly believe how
emotionally attached you are to those rough patterns shifting steadily below."
(quotation from Thomas Stafford, astronaut)
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3. INNOCENCE
(Sullivan/Heaton)
Ch: We scream, you run - fall out
You scream and we're gone - falling out
There must have been times in the smoke and the beat on the dance-floor
When all of the doors, they were opening for you
There must have been times when you thought you were kings of the whole world
With the chemicals eating away at your reason
But now you're shut down, closed in
We build our own little jails
I've had to watch this thing so many times
Another little death of innocence
Ch: Now, we scream, you run - fall out
You scream and we're gone - falling out
None of us saw the clever image you hold of yourselves
The things that you thought were so cool were just a joke to everyone else
Didn't they tell you when you pulled a stupid expression
That when the wind changed you'd be stuck with it forever?
And now you're shut down, closed in, with all the money you owe
I've had to watch this thing so many times
Another little death of innocence
Ch: We scream, you run - fall out
You scream and we're gone - falling out
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4. PURITY (Sullivan)
The rains move in eastwards, in waves of succession
Drawing lines of grey across the sky
With history just as close as a hand on the shoulder
In hunger and impatience we cry
The battle against corruption rages in each corner
There must be something better, something pure
And the call it is answered from the caves to the cities
Come the dealers of Salvation on Earth
We've seen the restless children at the head of the columns
Come to purify the future with the arrogance of youth
Nothing is as cruel as the righteousness of innocents
With automatic weapons and a gospel of the truth
Ch: Revolution for ever, succession of the seasons
Within the blood of Nature, all raised to rot and die
This purity is a lie
Now immaculate conception in sterilised laboratories
How the vanity goes on
Or in the message of the preacher with his morals and obsessions
The wars that we wage upon ourselves
Purity is a virtue, purity is an angel
Purity is for madmen to make fools of us all
So forgive yourself my friend, all this will soon be over
What happened here tonight is nothing at all
Ch: Revolution for ever . . .
I will always see Brendan at that broken down piano
His fingers thick and red, shaking on the keys
Battered by the years of alcohol and working
Still playing with the faith that never leaves
So sit us down, buy us a drink, tell us a good story
Sing us a song we know to be true
I don't give a damn that I never will be worthy
Fear is the only enemy that I still know
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5. WHIRLWIND
(Sullivan/Heaton)
I felt a shiver in the heat-haze and the waiting time is over
Strange tongues on the airwaves as the voices call from distant lands
I saw which was the winning side but still I joined the other
And I'm in love with every strange unfolding day
As the storm begins to break cover
So let the whirlwind blow
- through the ice, the melting snows
- across the freezing skies and the tiny lights below
And so we shutter up the doorways as the ripples move towards us
For a moment stop breathing - She wakes and stirs beneath our feet
The Order try to stand their ground, while every battlefront is shifting
They still believe that they can hold the reins
But then they've got no sense of history
So let the whirlwind blow
- through the ice, the melting snows
- across the freezing skies and the tiny lights below
- the waters seething, bubbling out of control
- come on take my hand and we'll dive
A television blares in an empty room
The poisoned waters glisten
Goliath staggers round in a punch-drunk daze
Doesn't understand what hit him
I saw which was the winning side but still I joined the other
And I'm in love with every strange unfolding day
As the storm begins to break cover
Let the whirlwind blow
- through the ice, the melting snows
- across the freezing skies and the tiny lights below
- the waters seething, out of control
- we watch the oceans rise and the governments start to fall
- across the freezing skies until the lights go out below
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They found us in the courtyard at our table in the shade
We toasted our last few moments and then the end came
They took us back to the airstrip in that beaten up old car
And we rattled across the African scrubland in silence
Our hands locked together with cold steel cuffs
Sometimes I wish it was still that way
Now a whole world has died since then, so many faithless days
I was born alone and lucky and I'm just used to it that way
My dice still roll in sixes and yours still turn up ones
And I have taken my good fortune and I've run and run
But I always swore I'd come back for you
Is it too late now to come back for you ?
Now beneath this lonely junction on the northbound M6
We spray our words of signature on the concrete bridge
And between the words of wisdom and the slogans of despair
Someone's just gone and written 'I'm sorry' there
Well I always swore I'd come back for you
Is it too late now to come back for you?
You're the only one I'll ever love
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Across the flatlands we came out of nowhere special
Like a peasant revolution - makeshift weapons in our hands
We crashed the gates so hard we'd never heard that kind of sound before
And braced ourselves for victory and the spoils of the land
Defences melt away before our frozen blank surprise
From the palace now we stare into a million waiting eyes
Ch: I've got my trophies on the wall, the heads I've hunted down the hall
And I guard my winnings well, carry them with me when I fall
Now the daylight hours pass like the people I have lost
In the triumph of the hour, in the bloody cause - lust, lust for power
Like a vision she dances through the shafts of light
Everything I've ever dreamed about focused true and bright
And fortune opens up the ground, blackens out the sky
I kissed her once, I kissed her twice but I couldn't remember why
When I was young they taught me well to always play to win
But they never said what happens when you've won the bloody game
Ch: I've got my trophies on the wall. . .
And all desire is satisfied but still the hunt goes on
It's funny how this feeling stays with all the reasons gone
We've seen them fat and bloated those who once could hold a flame
I've run for home and words gone by but nothing seems the same
I can watch the world in secrecy from one side of this glass
From the other my reflection and I don't know which is worse
The streets are lined with glittering stores and a million fatted calves
I can catch myself sometimes these days and all I do is laugh, laugh
Ch: I've got my trophies on the wall . . .
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8. BURY
THE HATCHET
(Heaton/Sullivan)
Bury the hatchet with a smile and
a curse
The world is big enough for both of us
The pack's been shuffled now - we've got different hands
There's different enemies for both of us now
There's no one round here who remembers those times
When we were little kings of our own different sides
Was I the punk who stole your thunder
Or was it all just the other way round?
Ch: Now it's gone, done, the feud is over
Funny how vendettas just turn into a bore
Gone, done, the feud is over
I really can't be bothered anymore
Bury the hatchet with a smile and a curse
The world is big enough for both of us
But oh how that bitching was fun while it lasted
Until I got to realise no one really cared
Ch: Now it's gone, done, the feud is over
Funny how vendettas just turn into a bore
Gone, done, the feud is over
I really can't be bothered anymore
It's such a waste of my time, thinking of you
And all the stuff that I hear which may or may not be true
I never did like you, probably never will
But I bet you can live with that fact pretty well
People get to drinking, they get sentimental
Maybe I'm a bastard human after all
Bury the hatchet with a smile and a curse
The world is big enough for both of us
The pack's been shuffled now - we've got different hands
And this whole thing is just ridiculous
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9. ELEVEN
YEARS (Sullivan/Heaton)
Stevie said now don't look round they're watching us
Two girls in the corner of that dodgy club
And the grey eyes, the storm that I've come to know and wish for
Before I caught a breath, well, she was standing there.
We walked the streets of our town just talking
And the dawn broke grey and freezing through the deserted blocks
Just when your life is stale and there's reason there for everything
Something comes to kick you up inside
Eleven sweet years and no nearer home
A hundred thousands miles through this battle zone
Still high on the wire above the hollow darkness
Trying not to look down
No Rest for the wicked is still how it goes
Twisted up and turning in my bed alone
And separation pains like a blunted amputation
Pushing endless coins in the telephone
Eleven sweet years and no nearer home
A hundred thousands miles through this battle zone
Still high on the wire above the hollow darkness
Trying not to look down
So rest in these open arms and lie until they come for you
And tell me everything you've ever felt, tell me everything you want to see
. . .
Forever running even when we are standing still
Driven on and fired up as the whirlwinds blow
And shouting out inside "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of you"
Ten thousand footsteps echo down the Brixton Road
Eleven sweet years and no nearer home
A hundred thousands miles through this battle zone
Still high on the wire above the hollow darkness
Trying not to look down
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10. LURHSTAAP
(Heaton/Sullivan)
One swallow never made a spring
You can buy a crown - it doesn't make you king
Beware the trinkets that we bring
When the visionary dreams set hard and grey as flesh made into stone
You tore the statues to the ground crying - let my people go
And now they're gone, all is gone
But these changing winds can turn cold and hostile
The freedom passion and the two faced call
They dance together upon the wall
With nothing left to break the fall
Now twenty-five miles north in the great dark woods
The college buildings stand
And the ghosts of hope walk silent halls at the death of the Promised Land
All is gone, all is gone
But these changing winds can turn cold and hostile
And in the shadows of the crowded square, a thousand paper deals go down
And hungry sharks from everywhere smell the blood and head for town
Innocence starts to peel away - How money changes everything
The past it eats the future up and this blind desire eats everything
Now the rats they leave one stricken ship for another sailing past
Your world was going nowhere slow while ours goes nowhere fast
And now it's gone, all is gone
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11.
BEFORE I GET OLD (Sullivan)
I'm going to kiss the girls, make
them cry
Live too fast, still not die - before I get old
I'm going to see you raised above this place
Watch the moments shine upon your face
Before I get old
I'll watch the sun set over every sea
From every city wall, every mountain peak
Before I get old
The Northern Lights and the Southern Cross
The harvests and the miles of dust
And the blowing wind across the world
So wrap this coat around yourself
And leave what's done behind
There's so much left for us to do
And yet there's so little time
I'm going to pull the fences to the ground
Watch the twisted towers come crumbling down
And start again
I want to be a hero and a villain and a father and a son
Take care of my body and abuse it still
Until everything goes numb
So let's make this dance and never fear
That there's any real reason why we're all here
Live real fast, still not die
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12.
VANITY (Sullivan)
I'll teach you everything that I know now, Eddie
If you really want to take the time
But don't expect to get answers to anything, Eddie
There is just one thing I've learned
Through everything that I've done and tried
Everything I have justified
It's all vanity, all vanity - we try to have control
It's all vanity, all vanity 'cause Chaos rules it all
I always drive like a madman, Eddie
But you'll soon get used to that
I believe if you're moving fast enough, Eddie
You don't ever have to watch your back
I choose solid ground to make my stands
I stay off the streets at closing time
It's all vanity, all vanity - we try to have control
It's all vanity, all vanity 'cause Chaos rules it all
Remember how it was out at Bunglass
We climbed up to the peak and stood against the rocks
The photographs came - you couldn't see us
We were lost against the mountains like specks of dust
And the mirror never lies, it's just these foolish eyes
And we all see what we want to see
What we need to see, what we have to see
And so will you do just the same one day, Eddie
I've been to that place a thousand times
Looked over the edge so many times
Wanted to jump a thousand times
Well we talk about saving the world now, Eddie
It's our vanity gone mad
She'll survive us all perfectly well
When we're all long buried and dead
Clever monkeys with technology
Barely out of the caves and the trees
It's all vanity, all vanity - we try to have control
It's all vanity, all vanity 'cause Chaos rules it all
Eddie now let it go . . .
I turn my head away from here
Down towards the rolling seas again
I kneel and worship where I can
The ground comes swirling up and through these veins . . .
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