Dance
Like There’s No-One Watching
One
Day You’re Going To Go Away And Never Come Back
Question Authority
1970s London squat
rhythm and blues
the keys to your heart
Ladbrook Grove
A sense of purpose, a
political agenda
Punk hooligan, hoodlum
sloganeering
The Westway, riots
Knives
Make an impact
Amphetamine fuelled
Hammersmith Palais
Jamaica
Rebel Truce, 2 7s clash
Inflammable incendiary
one-liners
European seventies
terrorist
Share the idea(l)
Encourage others to think
for themselves
Do it yourself
Drugs, guns and gangs
16 tons, out on parole
rude boy
give knowledge and
inspiration; confidence
rock ‘n roll Americana
cowboy, gangster
never take your boots off,
like a battle weary general
guerilla South American
style
talk the talk, act the
part
take the role head-on
hip-hop New York City
film stars
never be afraid of
contradictions or paradoxes
beat box
Far-east apocalypse jungle
Stick to your guns, even
when your theories have been shot to pieces
Stick to your guns
Back to the roots
Stick to your principles
Busker
World service
Make a difference
Make the statements bold
Eco-warrior
Man of the people
Do not be frightened to
make mistakes
You have the right to be
wrong
Building bonfires and
tents
Frustration and anger can
be used to great effect
It’s either black or white
– never see in grey
The life, the legend, the
myth
Spokesman for the
dispossessed and disillusioned
Challenge the
establishment
Will the world remain the
same when it’s over?
A shot gun suicide?
Overdosed on a cocktail of
drugs?
Murdered by a fanatic?
Killed by rock and roll?
No
Took the dogs for a walk
Into the Sommerset
countryside
And died in the kitchen
Just an ordinary death
Like any man can
An everyman
Never loose the edge
Adios Joe
Question authority
Ignore Alien Order
Bang the drums and blow
the whistles
As for me there’s a
fantastic guitar
A battered Fender Strat
That bears the legend and
a legacy that lives on.
On the farside we live
under heavy manners
Where we follow two steps
behind
Where we play second
fiddle
In a hot bed of nostalgia
Formerly known as
Excitement, freedom and
hope.
There’s megaphones and
satellites
Surprise, surprise there’s
extra added
Consumers swallow from the
rich mouthpiece
Automatons do robotics
going through hoops
Gymnastics acrobatics
going head over heels
Let the dogs off the leesh
Let them growl and bark
We want an alternative,
another view
Where no alternative
exists to a nanny state
We have the right to
choose
The right to be wrong
Told what to wear
How to look what to eat
How to cook, what to buy
How to live, how to die
Eat McDonalds
Kill an Arab
Drink Coca-Cola
Just because there’s a law
doesn’t mean it is just
Another’s foe doesn’t mean
he’s my enemy
And another’s friend
doesn’t mean he’s mine
Ignore, ignore, ignore
What the papers say
Ignore, ignore, ignore
What the people say
Only you can see what’s
real
Only you can find the
truth
Look long
Search hard
Ignore alien order
I saw the flames of London
burning
I lisetened hard to london
calling
They sell you lies of the
New World Order
Remember all that life has
taught you
Repel the advances
Turn off the news
Ask hard questions
Seek out the truth
Soulmate
The chances of meeting
that someone special
In a world full of
billions
Are billions to one
I have looked in the
darkness for as long as I can remembre
Reached for the sky
Cried to the sun’s
reflected glory
Saw the clouds come and
move by
Rolloing over the moon at
midnight
I have seen constelations
forming patterns
That reflect our dreams
and hold up our faults
And all the time the
heavens remain the same
Time etches my skin
And echoes fade
Once in a lifetime, just
once in a lifetime
Is that what you’re
saying?
That it’s true and it’s
perfect
And now it’s gone
What now?
Sucked out and hollow
A zombie destined to walk
forever
Destined to roam the earth
In search of…. Nothing
Because what was wanted is
gone
What was searched for is
gone
What was promised is gone
What is there left to do?
Something elusive was
found
That precious gem was
uncovered
The discovery was
discovered
The breakthrough was seen
through
The summit climbed
I touched the stars
I travlled the on the wind
Rode the storm
The sea, the moon, the
universe held in my hand
In my heart
All that I wanted
All that I needed
My desire, my spark, my
fire
We watched from heaven and
saw the lightning strike
Burn and fizzle and fade
We closed our eyes and
slept
But it doesn’t strike
twice does it?
Good or Bad
This is nature but nature
is god’s creation
This is science and this
is man’s doing
Genes are primed ready and
waiting
Good or bad
Constrained by evolution
We must speed up
Use the technological
revolution
We must speed up
For the sake of humanity
To be the best
To want the best – a
conditioning
Natural selection selects
the fittest and the strongest
We want what’s best for
the future
For our children
This is just nature
Accelerated!
Good or bad
Not god’s creation this is
man’s science
Science is the new god
Man is god again
To be perfection
To be fit, strong and
healthy
To have wisdom
To be beautiful
We select well
Invitation only to our
exclusive club
No moral outrage
Just a gradual creeping
accepatnce
Screen out disaese
By vacination,
innoculation
Genes are primed ready and
waiting
It’s the haves and
havenots
Segregate the people
Put up the barriers
The haves have it
And the havenots are pure
Clean and pure and
handsome
Living in utopia
Away from the wastelands
Away from the carrier
mutants
Away from humanity
Where is humanity?
Genes are primed ready and
waiting
Nature’s given us the
tools to progress
We are not pre-programmed
Nurture is fate
Good or bad
Born with a blank sheet
That circumstance can
penetrate
Good or bad
The Little Voice
The little voice in the
back of your mind
Keeps talking to you
Guiding and leading
Just when you think that
all is perfect
When you think that dreams
come true
It’s always there to
remind
The voice at the back of
your mind.
The little voice at the
back of your mind
That nags away
That acts as a break
That lights up as a
warning light
Just when you think that
this is forever
When you think that we’ll
be together
When you think that dreams
can come true
It’s always there to
remind
The voice at the back of
your mind.
The little voice at the
back of the mind
That says “we’ll see it
through”
That skies will be blue
The voice that grows
louder
That shouts and screams in
dreams
Through skies of blue
That we are through.
I am silent
Deaf
All is silent
But a voice is calling
“the end”
or “help”
or “please”
or “stay”
or “I”
or “love”
or “you”.
Dance Like There’s No-One Watching
Let’s dance honey
It’s later than you think
Perhaps we’ll do it later
Do it after tea
I’ll just watch this
Think about something else
instead
Wait till we’ve had kids
After school
When they’ve left school
Who knows?
Put it off until later
Why do it today when you
can put it off tommorrow?
We can always wait
Let’s not rush into
something
We’ve plenty of time
Why gamble to take the
chance?
A leap of faith into the
unknown
It maybe a happy landing
Why do that when we can
play it safe?
Let’s call it quits
Why bother?
The script won’t change
Already written and
printed
Date stamped with an
expiry date
The same routine, confined
parameters
Our boundaries sealed
The future is all planned
out
And anyway what would the
neighbours think?
Our parents? Our friends?
Yes failure is an option
but we’ll never know
It could be this way or
that
But does any of it matter?
Perhaps, maybe,
Could be that we’re not
that bothered
One way or another
It could be that we’re too
scared to dance
To take a chance
To go hand in hand into
the sunset
It’s getting close to
midnight
Let’s have the
conversation of our lives
Perhaps there is something
that you wish to say
I certainly do
But maybe it doesn’t
matter
The tide is coming in
On the beach feeling the
sand between our toes
Free and wild
Waves crash down
uninhibited
Lets dance barefoot
Dance like there’s no-one
watching
Or walk away and leave.
Cluster
Mobile phones pushed to
ear
Pass on the news
Masts erected to
distribute the word
Passes on the news
The architecture of the
countryside
Passes on the news
There’s a cluster coming
There are only so many
things you should put in your body
Like food and water and
maybe sexual organs
At least you know what it
is
At least you know what is
coming
There’s a cluster coming
Incinerators sublimate
hydrocarbons
Churn, pump out, burn
A Goodyear as the Michelin
man melts
Pass on the news
There’s a cluster coming
Superbugs mutate
Antibiotics become impotent
Overcome human defences
Pass it on
There’s a cluster coming
Mushroom clouds our plate
From Japan to the Ukraine
Showers down a deadly rain
All thrown in the melting
pot
In the DNA stew
There’s a cluster coming
A hot spot; an unexplained
incidence
Radiation causes cancer
Radiation cures cancer
Disrupts the proteins
Rearranges disengages
Unravel, pass down
To our children’s children
and beyond
How ironic that the kill
could cure
And that the cure could
kill
There’s a cluster coming
At this stage, at this
point in time
We have no benefit of
hindsight
It’s only when generations
develop
That we will truly know
There’s a cluster coming
Strangers In Our
Town
They held a meeting in
town last night
It was a public meeting by
private agreement
About the situation
There were people there
that I knew
People with whom I’d been
to school
Some of my family were
there
And on the steps of the
town hall
Amidst a lightning strike
of flash bulbs
It was announced it had
been decided
By unanimous agreement
That they didn’t want
these people here
Strangers in the town
Strangers to their ways
They didn’t want them
hanging about
Talking, staring, looking
for trouble
Speaking their language
Smoking foul smelling
cigarettes
Their different clothes
Their different ways
Didn’t want them in their
pubs
On the streets
Seeing the local girls
The first ones had come
here looking for work
They had skills of the new
technologies
Learned on the high seas
They were a caste apart
Next came evacuees from
the bombed out cities
Then the survivors from
the slums
They brought with them
strange foods
Strange accents, strange
customs
These were the strangers
in our town
And all the time England
shrank
Became connected
Hamlet, village, town,
city, country
And in the heart of the
country
They built their spires
and structures
To communicate to the
world in many voices
In many tongues
Hamlet, village, town,
city, conurbation, country, continent, world
All the time the world
shrinks
Becomes connected
Called to Tirana and
Tehran
Somalia and Kazakhstan
There are strangers in our
town
People whom I don’t
recognise
People whom I don’t
understand
The Brummies, the
Geordies, the Cockneys
Strangers in the town.
Cartography
For as long as I can
remember
I have been accused of
having no plans
Well listen hard accusers
Your perceptions were
wrong
I had plans
I had schemes of dreams
I had my maps and charts
all worked out
I prepared well
Did my homework
It’s just the plans were
not theirs
My journey was mine
This house that I built
Was to my specifications
To my own designs
I was the planner
I was the architect
Architect of my own
downfall
The foundations were built
on sand and promises
It started to crumble
And along this road
I wandered off the
straight and narrow
A miss is as good as a
mile
Way off target
Off the mark
Head down and face up
I hacked through the
jungle
Got lost in desert
wilderness
Visited places not marked
on the map
Places that had no name
Stayed in the lost
villages
Found myself on my knees
in the bush
Places and depths that no
man had entered before
Lost bearings where
magnetism held no sway
Over needle and compass
All I could do was follow
the stars
You always said you should
explore
Go to all four corners of
the globe
However, do balls have
corners?
Surely it’s just arcs upon
arcs
Going on for infinity
So with the map ripped up
Our plans in pieces
Which way now Columbus?
A guess, I guess is as
good as it gets.
Crazy
I say lie, they say truth
I say black, they say
white
I say peace, they say
fight
They say pragmatic, I say
fanatic
I warn, they deny
I say war, they say peace
They say war, I say
apocalypse
Crazies
I see mountains, rain, and
joy
I see destiny, autonomy
I see crazy
They see resources, power,
bitterness
They see destruction,
exploitation
Power, glory
They see me
Crazy
They see me crazy
I see perversion,
sickness, greed
The whoring for blood,
gold and oil
They see me as a bringer
of doom
Multinational
conglomerates for the common good
Genetically modified food
for the common good
Uranium depleted shells
for the common good
Crazy. Crazy. Crazy.
To see it as I see it
The way it is to me
Destiny
Autonomy
Crazy, them or I?
These Days
You used to be able to
tell where you were in the world
By the changes of the
seasons
You used to be able to
tell where you were in the year
By the colour of the sky
Now there are margins and
everything is done by degrees
By way of an example
The farmer at the bottom
of the road
Making hay and harvest
Leaving six inch spikes
that would shred skinny legs
The end of the summer
marked by fire in the fields
Burning the stubble,
erasing the stalk and deeper the root
Blackening the earth
Darkening the sky
Sending sparks to the
masts
Signalling in autumn
Rolling onto conkers and
schools
August Bank Holiday, Town
and Country festival
Held up as a ritual to the
end of summer
A citroen car with seats
still covered in plastic
Sky clouding giving way to
thunder and lightning
My arm glued by sweat to
the sheeting
Suddenly released with a
crack
Frightening my parents.
Tomorrow I will change my
bedroom around
And start afresh
These days you never see
such things.
Spaghetti
Bolganaise
There’s hunger in my belly
So let’s chew the fat
tonight
Serve up some foot for
thought
Here is the recipe for
success; for a successful life
Keep it safe
Keep it simple
Don’t overcomplicate
To use a football analogy
If in doubt kick it out
As a child never had the
appetite
Never got the taste for it
Just something to fill the
gap
Between playing and the
telly
You could set your watch
or the day of the week
By what was served up
Fry-up on Monday
Mince on Tuesday
Wednesday stew
Chops on Thursday
Fish on Friday
And so it came to pass and
I ate up and grew up
First love adults acting
grown up
Doing some cooking
Mince, onions and
spaghetti
Too dry no taste, no
finesse
Did all the right things,
but in the wrong hands
With no experience
Made all the right moves
It didn’t taste quite
right
And so it came to pass
Added more spice, tried
rice and pasta
Became more adventurous
But it was to the
bolagnaise that I kept returning
Slaved away over a hot
stove
Testing, preparing,
blending, perfecting
Added pepper, more garlic,
bacon, cheese
My piece de resistance
The crème de la crème
Nigella and Jamie eat your
hearts out
Served up a real feast
For the girl who wanted
more
But breakfast wasn’t on
the menu
The cupboard was bare
Had to show her the door
And so it came to pass
Bit off more than I could
chew
It all became unpalatable
Didn’t have the stomach
for it
More hot meals than you
can shake a stick at
So defrost the mince
Humble pie is a dish best
served lukewarm
The prodigal son has
returned
Back to eat you out of
house and home.
One Day You’re
Going To Go Away And Never Come Back
Tonight they’re looking
for you
There’s police in our road
Blue lights echo in the
alleyway
But by now you’re faraway
I hope you’re safe out
there tonight.
I remember as a child
Always dreading the day
day you’d go away
It was then that I learnt
to pray
Counting the days from
Monday to Friday
And your safe return
Because one day you’re
going to go away and never come back
I’ve always had this fear
of abandonment
It’s left it’s mark on me
A scar that is permanent
It leaves me lonely here
I hug you like a child
I want to take in every
last detail
About what you said, what
you wore
Your taste, your smell,
your sound
I look into those deep blue
eyes
I want to remember
everything
Your face, your hair, your
skin
Because one day you’re
going to go away and never come back
Why do you have to go
away?
When you know you can stay
When it’s safe and its
warm in here
The world outside is so
cold and lonely
And there’s people out
there
Who want to turn your head
Turn your head away from
me
Take you away from me
Because one day you’re
going to go away and never come back
I’ll see you on Friday
Or another day
See you in the morning
Just serving as a warning
One day I’m going to go
away and never come back
Never come back
Goodbye
Weapon Of Mass
Seduction
In Baghdad say it loud
That a cloud of gas
Whose mass is greater than
argon
Has gone and dispersed
To make matters worse
Confirming our worst fears
That at best, in the West
Has become seduced
By the mass produced fumes
Of blended perfumes
Of rose petals, jasmine
and spices
That diffuses tensions,
confuses senses
And causes a chemical
rection
Inducing mass attraction
Scientists have proved the
connection
Of unprovoked instant
attraction
Intelligence sources say
The spray could be
deployed
In shops and outlets
within
Three quartes of an hour
And not knowing the power
Innocent women will apply
to the neck
Not knowing the affect
On unsuspecting males.
The power perfume houses
of Paris, New York and London
Seek a UN resolution for
the abolition and destruction
Of such a weapon of mass
seduction
So lets deconstruct the
myth
Of the right to defend
As a menas to an end
To point the nozzle, to
pull the trigger
To protect and feel bigger
Than the little man inside
Who quotes the
constitution
Of a scent totting
institution
The stars and srtipes
conevention
Of safety catch prevention
And as thousands of kids
will testify
Beyond the truth, beyond
the lie
Who are marked by the
fragrance of dead flowers
To pinpoint the spot where
they fell
The stench of death that
no-one smells
Masked by economic
contradiction
The car is a weapon of
mass destruction.
Keep Missing
Settle down
Let’s face each other
The battlefield lies ahead
of us
You can take your chance
and face potluck
Play cat and mouse
Attack and defend
Probe and push
Take your best shot.
We have the nights ahead
of us
The days between
And dreams of castles and
unions
Strategies and plans
There is no conversation
No-one says a word
Just a game plan
Looking for a breakthrough
A way ahead
Or a way out
Thoughts transmitted by
moves
That fail to come to
fruition
It’s eight by eight
The square root of sixty
four
You make your move
And I’ll make mine
Think three steps ahead of
you
But again you block my
path
Time after time we play
this game
Just pawns moving around
Always end the same
No-one gets what they want
Always keep missing
Comes to another stalemate
You tak black and I’ll
take white
I am the king
You are the queen
And you’ve your own right
by your side
The church is whispering
in your ear
The knight is ready
So how come we still keep
missing?
Café Cubana
Well you’re down the
Comedy Store
Laughing over drinks
I can see your eyes from
here
Well I’ll tell you
something as you’re smiling through the smoke
I bet they never told the
joke
Of the boy from the bunker
Who just upped and went
And left for Cuba
He was too scared to fly
To leave the country
To leave the sanctuary
To cross the boundary
To breach the border
No wonder you were board
With me.
You see I’ve left it all
behind
I’m working in Joe’s
Tune-Up shop
Got my powder-blue
overalls
And black peaked cap
Needed some training but
now I’m well on my way
Mess with engines, metal
and grease
Get dirt under my nails
but it washes away
Nothing is permanent,
nothing sticks
Do oil changes, mess under
the bonnet
Use hammers, screwdrivers
and wrenches
Get cuts and grazes
But it’s fun
And at night
I head for the Casas De La
Trova and the Café Cubana
A soft salty breeze blows
in from the Gulf of Mexico
Where the buildings lokk
ready to slide into the ocean
There’s a glass of rum in
my hand demanding to be drunk
There’s sound and laughter
Blasts of samba, funky
mambo
Bongo players play an
Afro-Cuban beatbox
Septeto Nacional and Beny
More
And at dawn I walk down by
the harbour
Watch the girl pick
pebbles in the tide
On which she paints sea
scenes
Then sells them to the
tourists
Who call for more
I guess none of this is
funny
But I guess it just goes
to show
That such things can be
done you know?