SEVENTEEN
I ALWAYS HANG MYSELF WITH THE SAME ROPE
SHIVER
MISERABLE
JIM
HERE SHE COMES-A-TUMBLIN’
HYMN
JACQUELINE
CHINA DOLL
THE TROUBLE
LETTER TO CHARLIE
ROSARY
VICTORIA
GONE!
SEVENTEEN
When I was seventeen
I met a man
Gave him all my dreams
Told him all my plans
Plans to rule the earth
Plans to tear apart
Plans to be the queen
Of his broken heart
The sorrow is…
When I was seventeen
I met a boy
(and) together we would dream
but always destroy
So in love with his pain
Turning deathly pale
He would always reign
In our fairytale
The sorrow is …
Young and full of pride
We raged and spat and screamed:
“Put out all their eyes
Never let them see”
His heart was always drunk
Pity for the ones
The ones who knew him well
Now I never will
When I was seventeen
He took me in his arms
And he swore on to me
To keep my safe from harm
But everything must end
And everyone must pay
My fairytale friend
He only fades away
When I was seventeen
I met a man
Gave him all my dreams
Told him all my plans
Now I’ll never tell
All that I have seen
And we said farewell
When I was seventeen.
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I ALWAYS HANG MYSELF WITH THE SAME ROPE
you once cut a friendly figure haunting and bereft
now you cast an ugly shadow guilty and obsessed
so why must you always play the victim? it’s time that i wasn’t your hero
I’ve got troubles of my own that you used to care for
Now all I desire is to run so far away from those open and angry
arms I am not your possession
now I once tried to love you dearly compromised my heart
but I paid the price and clearly I have played my part
so cry if you want to but the blood runs cold, cold to the touch and cold to your
bones I shudder from your empty tears now
call me anything you want to justify this situation that’s all in your
mind now come on be a man about it so
why tell the truth
when it’s easier to put the blame on you I was
bored with no hope but I always hang myself with the same rope
now I dress in sorry silence wearing all my pain
now you think you’re caving in WELL violence is my friend
so how can you blame this all upon me I tried but my patience is wearing
thin and as I give you keep on taking
take me off the pedestal that you’ve created and you’ll see that now you
hate me is this the only way?
SO why tell the truth
when it’s easier to put the blame on you I was
bored with no hope but I always hang myself with the same rope
so why must you always play the victim it’s time that I wasn’t your hero
I’ve got troubles of my own that you used to care for
now all I desire is to run so far away from those open and angry
arms I am not your possession
SO why tell the truth
when it’s easier to put the blame on you I was
bored with no hope but I always hang myself with the same rope
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SHIVER
He’s all alone, Stuck to the ceiling
chewing my bones, eliminate feeling
I wasn’t there, Why should I care?
He shivers brightly and ever so nicely
It’s not a please, More of a must
So if you please, So if you must
I wasn’t there, Why should I care?
He shivers brightly and ever so nicely
But I don’t give a damn
A man is just a man
He’s all alone, Stuck to the ceiling
chewing my bones, eliminate feeling
I wasn’t there, Why should I care?
He shivers brightly and ever so nicely
But I don’t give a damn
A man is just a man
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MISERABLE
Well it’s good to be a little open minded
To the way that other people see the world
But I can’t get by your obsession with leather
And the way you think it’s fun to hurt yourself
What’s that skeleton inside your cupboard?
What’s the use in hiding how you live?
What the use in being so damn secretive
Your body’s taken all that it can give
She’s got issues of the sexual kind
Her happiness depends on being cuffed up and blind
She’s got problems cos she’s desirable
And it wouldn’t matter much but you’re miserable
I can only imagine what you are thinking
And my guess is that you haven’t got a hope
All those nights that you cannot remember
If you keep on swallowing you’re gonna choke
While everyone behind your back is laughing
Saying that you’re running out of luck
All those drugs and all that you’ve been drinking
Half the time you’re too drunk to fuck
She’s got issues of the sexual kind
Her happiness depends on being cuffed up and blind
She’s got problems cos she’s desirable
And it wouldn’t matter much but you’re miserable
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JIM
So do you still
Think of me?
While you’re masturbating slowly over Kiera on TV
Clinging on
There’s hope at hand
Is your last romantic question – would you sleep with a dying man?
But it’s the end
Last curtain call
Now the band is breaking up and your big heart is feeling small
Now that you’re sick
You don’t belong
Every colour that you loved for right is wrong
But it’s not over
Like I told you
What’s another drink to settle any argument?
And how I wish
That you’d get thin
And as shallow as I am, that is a sin
You never knew
I hate inside
Did you think I told you truthfully, cos every one was a fucking lie
And at the end
I will not call
You’ll be the only one to blame, and the only one to fall
Now that you’re sick
You don’t belong
Now then here’s a song about you – are you happy that you’re wrong?
But it’s not over
Like I told you
What’s another drink to settle any argument?
I’ve got a mind to hurt you now
Forgive me while I take a bow
Cos I know deep down in your heart this must be killing you
I watch you walk away
So happy that I’ll never say:
“keep your mouth shut darling because I know where you live”.
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HERE SHE COMES-A-TUMBLIN’
Here she comes a tumbling
Tumbling from the sky
I stop to question liberty
I ask my mother why
Here she comes a tumbling
Arms and legs and eyes
Oh Ivory there’s three of me
and each of us is blind
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HYMN
I danced at your wedding
For the bride and the groom
I danced through the shadows
And I danced in that room
And I gave up salvation
Just to dance at your death
I waited there and I held my breath
I danced on the pavements
But I stepped on the cracks
It hard to dance with the devil on your back
And I looked up to heaven
But the angels replied:
"You will dance till the day you die"
But don't be afraid my dear
Close your eyes and dry your tears
I will not forget you and I will not lie
I will dance till the day I die
I danced over water
But I drowned in the sea
Devils swam all over me
And I fell through the darkness
Right to the deeps
Swallowed whole while the angels weep
But don't be afraid my dear
Close your eyes and dry your tears
I will not forget you and I will not lie
I will dance till the day I die
I will not forget you and I will not lie
I will dance till the day I die
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JACQUELINE
Those sleepy eyes
You’ve been up all night
He won’t call
You can’t make him care – at all
Jacqueline
It’s just the little things
He makes you do
He’ll tear you in two
Remember when we used to sing – our song
He will never let you belong
You’re going blind
We moved away
Your house is now your prison
You’re heart’s gone grey
You’ve gone too far
And I can’t tell
I guess you’re old enough now
To go to hell
Remember when we used to sing – that song
He’ll never let you belong
Remember when we used to sing – that song
He’ll never let you belong
Remember when he breaks your heart.
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CHINA DOLL
He wakes up to shave with a rusty razor
Blade that dim reflection says that ‘he’s a man’ to
Day and not a boy which until previously had been
Employed by those who know
It’s a pleasure
And Oh you’re a treasure
I feel better
With just a measure of
Poison for the lady who’s expecting his dear baby
And it’s only a matter of time
Till he wakes up face down on the
Bedroom floor and his wallet-is-gone-and-it’s-almost-four
He meant to meet the girl…
But it seems that someone else
Took initiative
In fulfilling this
And you won’t forgive
Such a sensitive
Subject for her slim physique I wish to hold my tongue but speak cos
It’s not a baby, It’s a china doll
You’ve got some nerve – You’re never here at all
She tells you maybe just to make you fall
But she’s no lady she’s just mean and
Cruel to be kind
And Saintly inside
Now I need to lay my head down to
Rest this situation’s gone from a mockery into a
Mess she’s not your type I under-
-stand it’s not that
easy to let it go
and you’ll never know
how to take it slow
and be comfortably
blind to all her cruel convictions
shame that you can’t see that
she’s playing you all for a fool
SHE’S GOT A BONE TO PICK WITH EVERYONE I KNOW
So stop
Your
Cry-
Ing
There
Be-
Low
cos
It’s not a baby, It’s a china doll
You’ve got some nerve – You’re never here at all
She tells you maybe just to make you fall
But she’s no lady she’s just mean and
not my problem
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THE TROUBLE
Honey, Sugar, Lover, Ever
Baby this one is for you
Alcoholic, (so) catastrophic
You gave me something to do
You tie me up in a ball in a cup in a black Cadillac in the box of a Jack in a moment of truth in a mistaken youth I am tragically yours in a page in a book
Sweetheart, (my) darling, slightly charming
Wrap me in nettles and thorns
Precious letters, maybe it’s better
If you had never been born
You come inside like a victory bride but you’re all dressed in crimson and blacked out your eyes and so exaggerated so much that you rip at the seams and I tear out the dice on your lips
Headache, staring
Toothache tearing
Earthquake, bearing
How am I meant to believe?
…in someone quite like you
I know once you loved me too
The price you pay is critical
Why did I stay? It’s pitiful
Incoherence, (my) disappearance
Where did my dignity go?
Daytime nightmares, get your fair share?
No, well I didn’t think so
You slip away into slumber I lay and I crumble and pay for the price on your head and I hate to admit that your conscience is clear when you know what you did and you won’t shed a tear
Shaking, Burning, in-the-grave turning
Burden your demons on me
Seething, writhing, raging, caving
See how I split into three
Ivory runs as the night overcomes and I’m left with the cold and the dark and the numbness so unsympathetic I said no I meant it I pointlessly argue my case as defendant
Headache, staring
Toothache tearing
Earthquake, bearing
How could you go make me bleed?
…on someone quite like you
I know once you loved me too
But the price you pay is critical
Why did I stay?
It’s goddamn fucking pitiful.
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LETTER TO CHARLIE
Tie me down Charlie Brown
Wrap me up in a hospital gown
I’ll suck your thumb
Eat bubblegum and cry alone in the dark
The dark worries me does it bother you?
But I am the walrus I am the truth
Stealing lines, side-step the mines
Jump on a crack
Break your mother’s back
Eight track telepack
Tap her head and watch it crack
Read what you can dream what you don’t
The oblivious headaches and the bitter barbiturates
Curl in a ball learn to love the restraints
Well its hard to feel rejected when your head is a stone
Look at me and what I have done
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ROSARY
Pages and pages and pages of poetry
I am not doing so well
Teach me the Bible, the scriptures, disciples
and baby teach me how to spell
My mother and father they got for a daughter
I wish that I could have been more
They were so proud when I learned how to walk
but since then I just lay on the floor
Then I lay
Rosary’s safe and my pillow is hair
I’m coming to town, I’ll call you when I get there
Nightmare explosions, and gentle corrosions
I never back down from a dare
But you wasted the gift that I tried hard to give
and you think that it’s all so unfair
but after you spit and you stab and you seethe
do you really expect me to care?
That you lay
Over and under, backwards and blundering
Let me get out of your hair
Making me hate, I hope that you’re wondering
How will I ever repair?
But you’ll be so sorry when you find my body
Riddled with all your complaint
And all of your smoke and your mind is a joke
Did it hurt you so much that you lay?
That you lay
I lie down here, I lay down with the flies and the lilies you despise.
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VICTORIA
Victoria, I hate to be the one to tell you this:
It’s gone beyond
Everyone’s idea of a joke
I know you’re here
On every surface I can smell you near
The scent of cigarettes and Belvadere
Victoria
Morning came, you changed your name
Into a V
no one knows
What you saw, that made your poor
heart bleed
Triumphantly
You did declare your only love was me
So how could he
shut you away?
But when I sing
I hear you end and then I begin
It’s sickening
in a curious way
But he was strong, his arms were long
Longer than yours
What a cruel finishing, diminishing
Just to be sure
He’ll know your name
And I now I know I can feel your pain
Again and again and again
What have I done?
My cell is cold
I am so empty and unconsoled
Once was so proud and so very bold
Oh, Victoria
I was alive, so many times
Under your spell
It’s just as well
You are gone, I won’t be wrong
in hell
All of your ashes still burning
Voices that call in the night
I feel as if I have carried you all of my life
Victoria, I will remember nothing else,
Victoria, you were the one
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GONE!
Now you’re gone it’s not so funny anymore
We took your name and dragged it all across the floor
To say that you did not deserve it isn’t true
But just to clear up this confusion we hate you
To say that this was your idea is simply mad
You can’t take credit for what you have never had
I’m sorry if you feel that you were underpaid
It’s time you went to lie in that bed that you made
Happy Girly, Get up early
Paint my face my hear is curly
No-one likes a sour surly
Suck on that now WATCH the birdie
Eat until your eyes fall out
now no-one notices your pout
I know that you can do without
You’re truly
Gone! Again and everybody wonders why
They claim your bodiy part and trample on your pride
I know one day you will remember who we were
For now you’ll runaway to be a…
Happy Girly, Get up early
Paint my face my hear is curly
No-one likes a sour surly
Suck on that now WATCH the birdie
Eat until your eyes fall out
now no-one notices your pout
I know that you can do without
You’re truly
Gone, Don’t say that I’m the one to blame
I’ll shut you up before you dare blacken my name
I hope I never see your face again
I hope you’re nearly and sincerely now you’re truly now you’re really Gone.
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