1. |
The Tell Tale Hound
03:21
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Squatting on the map like a big black stain
Was a dirty old town where it always rained
Where there ain't no cars and there ain't no trains
It's enough to drive a man insane
But the one little thing that kept me there
Was a pretty young woman with auburn hair
Locked in a loft at the top of some stairs
I dreamt some day I'd take her away from there
She was born with more than original sin
And raised in shame at a Holiday Inn
I stood at her window shouting let me in
She opened up the shutter with a bottle of gin
And said "Boy Boy lower your voice
My dog can't sleep with all this noise
You see this beast sitting at my feet
My daddy left him to keep a watch on me"
So home I ran to hatch a plan
I'd lull that dog to sleep if I can
And take that girl by her lilly white hands
And show her what kind of a man I am
But each day I'd play a new lullaby
I'd sing all evening and I'd sing all night
But nothing would close that damned dog's eyes
He'd laugh as my love intensified
"Boy you've got to do better than that
That dog's treating you like a flesh doormat
Quit playing around like a big pussy cat
I won't wait forever and that's a fact"
So I scaled the wall and I swam the moat
I found the dog and I slit his throat
I threw him in the water to see if he'd float
But he sank right down with a bubble and a croak
So I tapped on her window and she took me in
"It's about time I started living in sin"
I looked at her face and I saw her grin
She said "Boy you don't know the trouble you're in
You freed me from that hideous hound
But you'll find it's harder to put him down"
Then I looked at the floor and saw a puddle by the door
I smelt wet dog and I felt his paw... on my shoulder
So I ran and ran
Running as fast as I can
I've been running as long as my memory spans
Chased all across this desolate land
That dog ain't no best friend to this man
Ever since he turned his back on death
I've known know peace and I've known no rest
At night he sniggers at an unknown jest
My pulse is set to the rhythm of his breath
Many years have passed and ever since
That dog has sat where I once kept my conscience
All I wanted was to get a little bit of respite
So I came to the day where I took my own life
I skipped from a cliff and down I fell
Passed purgatory and went straight to hell
The devil was there with a long leather lead
You can guess who he had waiting for me.
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2. |
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You ought to know by now
You're not welcome round here
But you still prowl round
And all day long
I hear your voice down my telephone
But I've made my choice to go on alone
You can't run from my love
Run from my love
You can't run from my love
I love you too much and you're mine
The embers of what I was
Once drenched in devotion's creed
Glow again because
Now I know
I need only one shadow
I can provide my own echo
Without you here
Telling me
You can't run from my love
Run from my love
You can't run from my love
I love you too much and you're mine
I remember the forgetting
But not what was forgotten
That day I gave you a piece of my heart
You took the lot
and your tragicomic histrionics
Suggest if love's a plague then this one's bubonic
Something precious inside me Darling take me home
Fell with a mighty sigh I don't want to die alone
Love reared its vengeful head and said You can't run from me.
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3. |
Shards Of Glass
03:17
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Shards of glass and blood on my shoes
She had so much to say and so little to prove
There was writing on the wall
Everyone around was walking tall
She said "You want a piece of me?
You've gotta come and take it all"
I'll see you in hell my friend
When this world has reached its end
He agreed to love me the way I though he should
Bound by a golden ring he was bound to me for good
For many years I wore his marks without complaint
And took his kisses like so many coats of paint
And I said
I'll see you in hell my friend
When this world has reached its end
I drew her close to me and I breathed her name
Her hair was like honey dew and novocain
I told her it was more than a case of wounded pride
And she let out a scream that tore the mountain side
And I said
I'll see you in hell my friend
Shards of glass and blood on my shoe
I just killed somebody I biblically new
There was writing on the wall
Everyone around was walking tall
She said:
You want a piece of me?
Come on and take it all!
I'll see you in hell my friend
When this world has reached its end
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4. |
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No one could love you more than I
But some could love you better
We avenge the mind when we deceive a fool
You say I'm being kind but I'm just being cruel
I swallow up your virtue
Spit it out and make it hurt you
And from love's leftover gristle I serve insipid gruel
Remorse?
Of course!
It was my fault not yours
A heart heavy with hatred
Pumps its poison from the source
Yeah, some could love you better
The clocks in your old photographs were ticking just for you
We were toasting the dawn from the wrong side of morning
With a chill wind bleeding through
Romance? No chance
We're just two love-torn forlorn bundles of bone
The sound of your tears is music to my ears
You might as well water a stone
And your feelings were transparent
Like a cold stillborn heart
You told me you were leaving me
But I said No Your Not
'Cos some could love you better
We've been bickering for years
And I don't know where we're bound
You say we're moving forwards
But the Earth's still going round and round
The burden of love is a crippling one
And passion's partnered with pain
Our love was once like a ray of sun
But now it looks like rain
Bitter with the salt of human things
You were an angel until I clipped your wings
Now you say we're through and I should go
I say no no no
Some could love you better
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5. |
Letter In A Casket
03:10
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I was all yours
'Til they took you from me
And led you away
You were unsure
Until I calmed your worries
And said we'd meet some day
And with a drum and a fife you told me on your life
You'd be here in one year and take me for your wife
Lover, lover, lover, lover, lover
Ten score or more
Times you swore you'd left your
Wandering behind
But one day a man came
Bearing a list of names
Called to the front line
Each day I'd pray some word would come my way
And we'd still make the same date for our wedding day
Lover, lover, lover, lover, lover
And they say you were slain
On the very first day
Before you could write me
But you called my name when Death came
And made you leave your burnt frame
To war's mercy
And though it hurt my pride I became a rich man's bride
But you're still the one I'll be buried beside
Lover, lover, lover, lover, lover
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6. |
Dripping With Dew
03:16
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I laid myself down on the ground
Fingers dripping with dew
But I wasn't with you honey
No I wasn't with you
I'd been dancing to a different tune
Seeing all the colours between blue and blue
I spent all day reading Machiavelli in a glossy magazine
Jesus looked down at me funny through the pup TV screen
Someone was pumping Mozart through their mobile phone
An item on the news told me they'd just cloned The Stones
And I
Laid myself down on the ground
Fingers dripping with dew
But I wasn't with you
Since you left me in the gutter I've been living on my knees
I woke up pale this morning and now my mother's called the priest
My fortunes took a tumble when I first came to this place
I only did it baby to see the look upon your face
When I
Laid myself down on the ground
Fingers dripping with dew
But I wasn't with you
Well I was led astray by a bright young thing
Who gave me shelter beneath her wing
She led me down a sodden path
My blindfold slipped
She began to laugh
Her lips pulled back across her teeth
She tore apart the earth and sank beneath
She told me this deed would stay with me forever
And we'd share a bed in hell together
And I
Laid myself down on the ground
Fingers dripping with dew
I saw a man at the heart of a gathering crowd
With his hands in the air
He was talking loud
He said to us "You'd better gather round
And write this down"
He said "Love's not something that is so mundane
Like a view from a bridge or a walk in the rain
It's an un-healing hole burnt right down into your soul
That filters out the same-old-same-old
Or at least that's what I'm told."
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7. |
Love Struck Me Down
04:24
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8. |
Thick Carpets, Old Lifts
02:09
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I fold down the corners on the pages of my life
And skip over the chapters that I wasted on my wife
I know I'm not too rich
I know I'm not too tall
But sit down darlin'
And tell me it all
I like my hotels with thick carpets and old lifts
I like to eat my grapes sour with pips
I know I'm not too handsome
I know I'm going bald
But sit down darlin'
And tell me it all
I was just a girl that kept her feelings well hid
And my conscience stayed quiet about the things that I did
I locked up my heart but gave a man the key
He wasn't much to many but he meant a lot to me
We wandered to and we wandered fro
Drank a lot of liquor a did a lot of blow
Oh I was the fruit and he was my rind
I was the clock and he was the time
You know what they say about love
You know what's always being sung
But relationships are more like chicken pox
You've got to get immune when you're young
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9. |
Matilda & Claude
03:41
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Matilda killed her kitten Claude when she was nearly six
She pinned all four of its playful paws to a tiny crucifix
And upon the rood it mewed and mewed
To each of its nine lives did cling
But as fate required
The beast soon expired
And Matilda started to sing
La la la la...
Do we ever reach an age where we're not all terrified
Of a tiny idea that could alter us inside
And twist us away from the lies that we're told
That make us spend too much of our time
Being too young or too old
La la la la...
And all you pitiful proud people are just pieces of the past
Chipped away from the same old fading plaster casts
And the shades of our age have now all turned to hotter hues...
Tragedy isn't ready for me
But it's hungry for you
La la la la...
And Matilda filled her heart with woe
Such suffering and sore sorrow
That ripped and tore with tooth and claw
And left her youth enraged and raw
The world that swirled outside her thoughts
Laughed at all her stalled onslaughts
And thought it such a charming thing
When they heard Matilda sing
La la la la...
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10. |
Your Love
03:11
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Only you can slow my heart
And make it sink like a greasy lump in the washing up
But in those times of talk and touch
You said you'd be my muse
If I'd be your crutch
Yodelodelodelodelodeehoo
I took an oath in your damp undergrowth
You said you're looking for love
I said I think it's close
Wrapped in lace you offered me grace
But your pillow talk was like a slap across my face
Yodelodelodelodelodeehoo
But there's two sides to what I'm saying
I was drawing chalk lines while you were praying
You say I'm so sweet but I'm full of conceit
I'm a man of my word but my word is deceit
We swore l'amour on the blossoms
By the autumn they were all rotten
Honey I'd forgotten those times
And the day you became my bride
I died just a little bit inside
Because girl
Your love your love your love
Is not enough not enough for me
We went through the blow like children in the snow
All the way to limbo where the good pagans go
You carved my name on a big black tree
Then said what about me
I said girl
Your love your love your love
Is not enough not enough for me
And there's a midnight rainbow curling up inside you
Shining like a counterfeit sun
(a really dim one)
You seemed unconvinced
You said you liked your words minced
And talked about forever
I screamed NEVER NEVER NEVER!
Your love your love your love
Is not enough not enough for me
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11. |
Turn Out The Light
03:51
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Can you care too much
You say it depends
If I poured all the world's love into your cup
Would you ever say 'when'?
And all this disarray
Well it's okay
Lay these things down on me
The dawn once shone on our happiness
You rose early each morning to tie the frail fastenings of fondness
While I lay and slept
You and I
We'll get by
So lay these things down on me
You warmed me
But seldom like the sun
It came closer to a cold kiss on a warm night
In a building that's burning down
Me and you
We aint got a clue
So lay these things down on me
Take a long hard look at me now
Take a long hard look at me now
Take a long hard look at me now
And I'll be the last thing you see before I
Turn out the light.
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12. |
Dying Of Something
03:34
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Don't take this down I'm just thinking aloud
But I don't like your town I don't like this crowd
There's hatred in the air and a warning in my ear
I've got to get away cos the people round here are
Dying of something I don't want
Don't try to talk me down I'm not listening no more
And it's a sixteen cigarette walk from my floor to your door
Now your foaming at the mouth no one's making any sense
Jesus Christ no wonder I'm feeling so tense
You're dying of something I don't want
Now my skins burning
Heart's stopped yearning
World's not turning as fast as it should be
Now the rain's falling down and I don't mind
You're telling me we'll get wet but it wouldn't be the first time
Three forty five stuck in a compromise
Put on your black shoes
We're going outside
Cos someone in the next room has just died
Of something I don't want
Now my skins burning
Heart's stopped yearning
World's not turning
Now my skins burning
Heart's stopped yearning
World's not turning
Now you stay away from me cos I know what you've got
You've been eaten away like a moth-eaten cloth
Now you've started to rot and I an't help you not
Cos I'm saving my pennies to buy my soul back from God
Hold me! Hold me!
Hold me like you've never held nobody before
Your race is almost run
I can't take no more
Cos you're dying of something I don't want.
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Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six Manchester
Between 2006-2016 the Bedlams relentlessly peddled their peculiar brand of Dirt-Swing, capturing the imaginations of every species of listenership, winning support from the likes of Supergrass, The Mighty Boosh, Har Mar Superstar, UB40, Mark Steel, The Hell’s Angels and BBC Radio, inspiring stage invasions, dancing in the aisles and a confused mixture of exhaustion and bonhomie wherever they went ... more
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