DECEMBER

December is the cruellest month
but this year for once my cheeks are warm
After long years in the wilderness
I'm ready for the storm
Let them throw all their cannonballs
let all their strong men come
I'm ready to go anywhere
through venom, sick and scum


December isn't always cold
This year she's mine and I know why
Somewhere a flower has to grow
for every flower that dies
I'm stricken with fever
but my heart is strong as steel
I'm ready to go anywhere
I can believe! I can feel!


December is a trusted friend
I always recognise her face
It's a plague of fools thrown aside forever
by her soft and silent grace
She is reckless as a mayday
gentle as a stone
and ready to go anywhere
to carry me back home


December fell deep in the bleak midwinter time
when Jesus Christ howled a saviour baby's howl
a primal truth as pure as ice
And though we crucified him on a cross
and dragged his words from prayer to curse
He was able to go anywhere
He was almost one of us

A GIRL CALLED JOHNNY

I remember Johnny
Johnny come lately
I remember her shoes like a ballerina
A Girl called Johnny who
changed her name when she
discovered her choice
was to change or to be changed


I remember a Girl called Johnny
black as hell, white as a ghost
Don't talk about life and death she'd say
I've had enough of both
A Girl called Johnny who
was not scared
They would have torn her to pieces
but who would dare ?


I remember a Girl called Johnny
The train came to town - boy! She got on it
without looking back, with barely a word
If she said Goodbye well I never heard
But the noise goes on
the noise,the jazz
and the truth is in somebody else's hands
and the house that a Girl called Johnny built
is now just so much
ashes and sand

THE THREE DAY MAN

I'm the three day man
It's three days too long
Everything is in its right place
but something is wrong
Time is on wheels
and my lips shake
You have to live
with every decision that you make


But that doesn't mean I'll be your slave
It doesn't mean you're here to stay
It doesn't mean we're friends for life
You know I want you
you know I love you
but I'll never need you any way


Sixes and sevens
Oh, how it rains !
Sleep is a station
Life is a train
People snatch instinctively
for whatever crutch they need
but I promise not to abuse you
if you don't abuse me


And that means I'll never be your slave
It means you're not here to stay
It means we're not friends for life
You know I want
you know I love you
but I'll never need you any way

GALA

Gala hangs from the window frame
dressed in black and white
Her face is colourless
in the moonlight
She turns around and her lips move
but the words just drop away
She leans on the back of a chair
and her arms begin to sway
She and I can hear voices
talking in the room next door
saying things we used to say
that we don't believe in any more
We've seen too many castles crumble,
made too many mistakes
Who could have known that one house
could hold so much heartbreak ?
Then the clockbell rings,
the wind blows in
Gala makes for the door
Her eyes blaze,
her hands are shaking
She opens her mouth and roars
"Gala doesn't want !
Gala doesn't need !"
She claws at her face with her nails
till it bleeds
She runs downstairs in her poor bare feet
She stumbles outside and into the street
Then her mother is there
and her voice is soft
as she pulls Gala close
She soothes Gala's cuts
and gently chides
and Gala knows
that Gala needn't worry
No, she needn't be afraid
for there are sailors on the sea tonight
in ships that God made
Look ! They cast out a line
with a heave-two-three-four
and they sing as they pull
our lost souls aboard

WHERE ARE YOU NOW WHEN I NEED YOU ?

Hey Johnny, where are you now when I need you
now when I need you so bad ?
Just one word come straight from your heart
would make me feel so glad
Death and disease waltz together like starlets in this place
and I sure would like to see your honest face


Hey Eddie, where are you now when I miss you
now when I miss you like hell ?
If you were here I know you'd make me
believe again in myself
You don't owe me nothing and I'm not calling you away
so please don't feel accused when I say


Where are you now when I need you ?
When I need you so bad
When my head's almost exploding
and the tension drives me mad
and maybe you wonder do I really believe I need you
but I do


Hey stranger where are you now when I dream about you
in nightmares every night
You are on a big wheel miles above me
almost out of my sight
And just as I wake you shout down something that sounds like
"Why are you not free ?"
but by the time I'm dressed you're just a memory


Where are you now when I need you ?
When I need you so bad
When my head's almost exploding
and this tension drives me mad
and maybe you wonder do I really believe I need you
but I do


Hey Mama, where are you now when I hurt for you
when I hurt for you so hard ?
If you heard this song I know you - you'd come somehow
no matter how far
There's a hundred things I want to say to you
they go rushing around my head
But when we meet, like we always do
we leave the best things unsaid
and my god, isn't that lonely - isn't that lonely as hell
to know the truth always
but be too scared to tell


Where are you now when I need you ?
When I need you so bad
when my heart's almost exploding
and the tension drives me mad
and maybe you wonder do I really believe I need you
but I do
but I do

I WILL NOT FOLLOW

You say that you will carry the torch
You say youwill beat the winning drum
You'll be there when the saints roll in
with a back made of rubber, heart made out of tin
How many times does the snake crawl out of its skin ?
You'll change your spots but I will not !


You say you'll put your trust in that old American flag
You say that there is still no place like home
but you'll go to war when your papers come,
surrender your nerve to a Gatling gun
come back home maimed, tell everyone
you'll be happy with the time you've got
but I will not !


I will not follow
I will not follow
I will not follow


You say you'll wear the colours blue and grey
You say you'll wear the colours black and red
You'll wear whichever colour shines most bright
so you can shine like Blake's eternal tiger in the night
You say that you will carry the torch
You say you will beat the winning drum
You say that there is still no place like home,
no place like home sweet home
You say that everyone's gotta change their spots
but I will not, no I will not !


I will not follow
I will not follow
I will not follow
I will not follow

IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU

Can I believe my ears ?
Is this really you
pacing the floor with one eye on the door
watching the winners go through ?
Why do you hang back now ?
Why'd you hesitate ?
You know fires don't burn
for he who waits
Out of all the people
that I ever knew,
if one should have made it
it should have been you


I know who I'm looking for
but I can't believe my eyes
The sight of you with your head hung low
is a sick sad surprise
Why do you hang back now ?
Why'd you hesitate ?
How dare you throw it all away then tell me
"Aw man, it must have been fate"
Out of all the people
that I ever knew
there had to be one I could believe in
and it should have been you


A gift that dies is a tragic thing
and it happens all the time
but a gift that's wasted, thrown to hell
is the worst of crimes
I saw you hang back now
I watched you hesitate
You're a well respected man but bullshit !
You could have been great


Out of all the people
that I ever knew
There should have been One !
And it should have been you

THE GIRL IN THE SWING

Do you see them coming through fields of snow ?
Do you see them riding through fields of snow ?
One rides for a woman who has no name
One rides for a king
And one just rides and rides and rides and rides
for the Girl in the Swing


They race like phantoms in the Belmont light
Can you see them follow the Belmont light ?
They ride through places where the walls are white
and the noble voices of women sing
They raise up their throats and they sanctify the night
with a song
for the Girl in the Swing


You just asked me, do I know what love is ?
Well, sure I know. Sure I know what love is
It's the thief of my sleep,
a boy and his dog,
a red rubber ball,
these old foolish things,
a rain that falls a long long way from home
It lives
in the Girl in the Swing

SAVAGE EARTH HEART

Let me see the savage
I want to see the savage coming crashing through your face
I want to be there when the savage comes
I want to be there when the savage comes
When your savage earth heart
cuts through


I want to be a witness or a victim to your spell
crafted in lightning, dressed in shadows, clear as a bell
I want to be there when the savage comes
I want to be there when the savage comes
When your savage earth heart
cuts through


Will you lay all of your deepest, wildest secrets bare ?
Will you let all of those rumbling Old Gods take rage ?
I want to be there when the savage comes
I want to be there when the savage comes
When your savage earth heart cuts through


Then I was take smoothly by the vulture of the soul
the hideous strength that numbs the tongue
Oh and he led me, poor shivering cinder through the fields of hell
to doubt my friends and to hate myself
but when my savage earth heart cuts through...
when my savage earth heart cuts through...
When the savage earth heart cuts through...
and the vulture
of the soul...
laid waste

SOMETHING FANTASTIC

Call her Ruth because she knows her Christ
Call her Sandy because her heart is like ice
You can call her whatever you wish
nothing can change the person she is


Call her Maria though her real name's Eve
Don't slam the door or you'll wake her as you leave
You can tell by the pictures on her wall
she never really knew you at all


Everywhere I look is like looking in the waste
I can't see any courage or hope in your face
You say "Hey there's no point searching any more
whatever I find I'll have found before"


I must be looking for something fantastic
All this "reality" gets such a test
Take what you're given, I'll take my time
you in your small corner and I in mine

READY FOR THE MONKEYHOUSE

Your face is like the moment when
the sexist hero traps the slippy villain
with the weasel face
You don't have to speak
- your expression is the truth that your words don't say
and the truth won't go away
In many dark corners
I have asked myself about this;
did you do it out of malice
Did I fall or was I kissed ?


Would you ask your friend
with the cowboy jacket and the boots up to his knee
would he shut his mouth for me ?
I've heard just enough
all I want to hear about pipes and drums
and how little time it takes the klutz to come
The golden gift of silence
is I don't have to hear him speak
So would you get him out yourself
before I put you both back in the street


Now the story shifts
and we see a young man standing in the wings
too old before his time
Collecting grey hairs, he's proud and he's scared
and he says he doesn't care
- how can he be so blind ?
So how did you corrupt him ?
You must have got him where it counts
Now he's so numb he's ready to freeze
and I'm ready for the Monkeyhouse !

ANOTHER KIND OF CIRCUS

Billy and Eve
are getting ready to leave
their empty room
and their sad bare walls
They'll get burned but they don't care
they know what they'll do when they get there


Rose and Trudi
are hearing voices
telling them it's high time
high time they made their move
They'll get burned but they don't care
they know what they'll do when they get there


Me and Ruthy
we're late again
but our hearts are in
the right direction
We've been up together most of the night
convincing each other what we're doing is right
No sense in living something you don't believe
so we're all ready to leave
all moving on
to another kind of circus

A BOY IN BLACK LEATHER

Jackie was one of the crowd
who hung out at the Cross Keys Hotel
She was a real bright kid,
thought I knew her pretty well
Beach parties at night
we ran down town in the day
till a boy in black leather
came and took Jackie away


We were all in The Keys one night
sitting, laughing and joking
Billy'd got himself a new job
Ros had given up smoking
I was crazy for Jackie
I was almost ready to say
when a boy in black leather
came and took Jackie away


He was standing at the bar
when I went up for a drink
Then he and she just started talking
I didn't know what to think
Billy pulled me into an argument
about the big bad world today
I looked up and a boy in black leather
was taking Jackie away


After that things began to get dull
I took up with Billy's sister Molly
but that got really kicked on the head
when she upped and went to college
I got to thinking about Jackie
and as Autumn moved into grey
I thought about a boy in black leather
who came and took Jackie away


Then this month I saw her
The girl I knew had all but gone
Tight jeans, mohair sweater
Her hair was chopped off peroxide blonde
I crossed the road towards her
thinking of something to say
when a boy in black leather walked over
and together they hurried away

JACK OF DIAMONDS

I'm still looking
for the Jack Of Diamonds
but it's so hard
living through every card in the pack
There are too many Spades to dig with
There are too many clubs to get hit with
and I've got fifty four hearts
to get all broken up with


Words of "Jack Of Diamonds" by Los Haward
Reverb 2 Music