Steve Harley

I've just been speaking to the one who holds the key
When she asked me would I like to wait and to see?
Would I like to try and explain?
Would I like to try and explain?
How my heart is feeling tonight with all the strain?
And I said I could take much more from such a friend
Although I hoped we weren't very far away from the end
For the time it's a-getting late,
Yeah, the time it's a-getting late
And my heart is hurting a little bit from the weight

She just said:
"i've got a bed here for you
I've got a bed here for me


So you can look into my eyes
And tell me what you see . . .'

She's like a rosebud in my heart and in my dreams
See her flow into the night like rivers and streams
How I'd love to lie in her arms
How I'd love to lie in her arms
But I don't seem able to win her with my charms

She just said:
"i've got a bed here for you
I've got a bed here for me
So you can look into my eyes
And tell me what you see . . .'

Make mine old time, or i'il spit in your eye
It's better than lying, anytime . . .
I'm horrified of modern times, I'm trying
Very hard to keep up my guard
Everything's becoming drag, we'd best be off
Escape the bad- could be very sad
Misery coming over me, I'm thinking about
Going blind and don't want to see.

Shift around this one-song town
Like a sparrow with a broken wing -feeling blue!!!
Terrified to step outside, it's so easy
To make a suicide come true
Masturbation-getting off; you can scoff
Your ideals offer nothing new!
I'm getting ready to run and hide,
Looking for a suitable bitch to crucify.

We're all beginqing to
Testify, testify-it's getting fierce
We're all beginning to testify,
Testify, to be cavaliers
How does it feel now you've testified?

Love to have God next to me with his
Hands around my throat in harmony
Take away the silver tray, fetch me water


God, give me strength, I'm in pain
Seeing, blow-job blues and boogaloos
Ten little niggers hooked on absinthe and daffodils
Telling tales of white gardinia,
Honky-tonking all the love that's in ya!

We're all beginqing to
Testify, testify-it's getting fierce
We're all beginning to testify,
Testify, to be cavaliers
How does it feel now you've testified?

Long-tailed coat, a silly joke; they drink
Like men then see them choke on coca-cola
Morgue-like iips and waitress tips and you
Shuffle around on your sabrina hips
Make mine old time or I'll spit in your eye
It's better than lying-anytime
Horrified to step outside, trying very
Hard to keep up my guard.

We're all beginqing to
Testify, testify-it's getting fierce
We're all beginning to testify,
Testify, to be cavaliers
How does it feel now you've testified?

and Louise,
cowering into nowhere
speaking in terms of a
foreign land


where winter lies easy
and she will surmise the guise
of chateau eyes
and rise . . .

Lazy stage-star; wanna be a raver
You've gotta make it all happen insane
Crazy raver; wanna be a big star
You've gotta make it all happen again
You want it easy but you don't understand
They'll crush your diamonds in a one-night stand
You'll be a "Biggie" then you'll be a "nobody-at-all"
So while you're there you'd better show us a ball
And wear your sequins or wear nothing at all
Take us to heaven with our backs to the wall
The climbing's hard but it's easy to fall
Oh! here's a monkey with a message for us all
Go be a Crazy Raver, oh! oh! yeah
Go be a Crazy Raver



Maybe lady; wanna be my baby
Go to heaven in your satin and lace
Crazy baby, gotta dress so shady
Then come and meet me in some far-out place
We'll go together like water and sand
Be seen together walking hand-in-hand
A pair of swells who've got nothing to do but romance
You'll be a rhapsody, The Belle o' the Dance
Become a stir and play the public nuisance
Ascend a stairway up to Paris in France
Become the lady of the Dietrich stance
Then pick the one of your nouveau fancy
And be a Crazy Raver
And be a Crazy Raver

So now we're on a death trip
listen to the blood drip
oozing from a curled lip
ever thought of dying slowly
ever thought of dying totally unholy

someone's trying to fool us
maybe it's your daughters
can you hear the Walrus
offering a sad solution
he's calling out for teenage revolution
and "Can you think of one good reason
to remain?"

To you afficianados
fooling with bravado
to keep me on my guard-o
and cause a consciousness explosion


it's getting difficult to keep my mind in motion

images of sunshine
lease, to make the words rhyme
let me die in eight-time
let me write a tale to no-one
let me write a tale to make you think you're someone
and "Can you think of one good reason
to remain?"

Interval: We'll grow Sweet Ipomoea
To make us feel much freer
Then take a pinch of Schemeland
And turn it into Dreamland
"Softly, Lautrec," she whispered in awe
"Build me a picture of children at war"

Let them come a running, take all your money and hideaway
Let them come a running, take all your money and flee
Let them come a running, take all your money and hideaway, hideaway

It was summer or maybe spring, I can't remember
It was summer or maybe spring, I can't recall
We found our hearts and stole them from our bodies
(We couldn't understand the Villain's call)
We'd often recall the beginnings
We'd often try in vain to change it all
We couldn't help but keep ourselves from sinning


In summer, in summer or maybe spring, or maybe spring, or maybe spring

It was summer, or maybe spring, I can't remember
It was summer or maybe spring, I can't recall
We'd try to always calm our elders
(But always we did seem to fall)
We'd never try to tame the burning embers
(It didn't seem to matter how we'd fare)
It seemed we couldn't ever escape December
But it was summer, summer, or maybe spring, or maybe spring, maybe spring

You've done it all, you've broken every code
and pulled the rebel to the floor
You spoilt the game, no matter what you say
for only metal - what a bore!
Blue eyes, blue eyes, how come you tell so many lies?

Chorus: Come up and see me, make me smile
Or do what you want, run on wild

There's nothing left, all gone and run away
Maybe you'll tarry for a while
It's just a test, a game for us to play
win or lose, it's hard to smile
Resist, resist, it's from yourself you have to hide

Chorus: Come up and see me, make me smile
Or do what you want, run on wild

There ain't no more, you've taken everything
from my believe in Mother Earth
How can you ignore my faith in everything
Cos i know what Faith is and what it's worth
Away, away, and don't say maybe you'll try

Chorus: Come up and see me, make me smile
Or do what you want, run on wild

You've done it all, you've broken every code
and pulled the rebel to the floor
You spoilt the game, no matter what you say
for only metal - what a bore!
Blue eyes, blue eyes, how come you tell so many lies?

Chorus: Come up and see me, make me smile
Or do what you want, run on wild

There's nothing left, all gone and run away
Maybe you'll tarry for a while
It's just a test, a game for us to play
win or lose, it's hard to smile
Resist, resist, it's from yourself you have to hide

Chorus: Come up and see me, make me smile
Or do what you want, run on wild

There ain't no more, you've taken everything
from my believe in Mother Earth
How can you ignore my faith in everything
Cos i know what Faith is and what it's worth
Away, away, and don't say maybe you'll try

Chorus: Come up and see me, make me smile
Or do what you want, run on wild

Exhibition yourself we'll hold a show on the shelf
Now we can feel a change is on the way
You're not a skin or a spiv
boy who are you trying to kid
You're jolly handsome, super, wizard, okay?
Would you resort to telling
all your friends lies
When they can see right through
your flimsy disguise?
We all consider you far out
so there can be ltttle doubt
You're gonna make it in a big, big way

Chorus:
Oh we can feel a new existence beginning
And the yobs have made a go at forgiving
And the new man he appears to be winning
What a shame such a bore!
I don't wanna turn on tonite
Said I don't wanna turn on tonite

You put your hand in the air
and when they ask you say "Yeah"
And they'll be happy to believe
you're both kinds


Then shake a fist or a leg
and prove the image is dead
Or the chances are you'll trip up their minds
Oh you're too cute to be a big rock star
But if you're cool you may not push it too far
Oh just believe in yourself
and take a tip from the elf
And sing a boogie to the image fatale

Oh we can feel. . .

You feel Lorretta's deep breaths,
you put a hand on her breast
You feel her come on like some movie-star chick
You slide her body across
you fight so hard to be boss
But sweet Lorretta she knows all the tricks
So you perform like it's your very best show
You turn her on but she's never gonna know
Then you can shuffle your hips
or M-M-Mae West your lips
But you're the same old thing we've always known

Oh, we can feel. . .

Mr. Soft, turn around and force the world

To watch the things you're going through

Mr. Soft, believe everything they tell you

And be dammed if they'll thank you

You paint everything so cruel,

Coming on like Mr. Cool;

Paint your face and shut the gate,

No one's coming home till late

Don't you know, life gets tedious enough

Without this extra grudge to bare

You, so slow, shift your ideas, make your mind up

In a jiffy, let' s be fair



We'll be taking off tonight,

Turn off your eyes and shut the light,

You're the most, you're so unreal,

We'd all be dead without your spiel!

Mr. Soft, go to town and bring the dawn in,

In the morning on your way

Mr. Soft, put your feet upon the water

And play Jesus for the day

You begin to hear them mumble,

Spot the Starman, rough-and-tumble,

Fight the good fight, sling your axe,

Watch the speaker lead the packs

She, got my number and she - chasing me so far
Me, out of slumber, I can do with no faut-pas
Mixed-up and bleeding, I's high on beleiving
It's all surreal
Slip on a T-shirt, me - gotta look so cool
Me Biba braces are making me so cruel
She, dinosaur and me, her He-whore
Sleep Muriel

Chorus: Oh! See her move so right in her big baggy strides
And her golden top made of satin
See her wriggle her hips, take the almighty piss
This is Muriel the Actor who's rapping, ping - ping

She, dresscd to kill and Me, looking so jolly
I know she will 'cos she's a lady of folly
She's seventeen, oh! You know what I mean
She's a circus girl


Across the ring on a gay light fantastic
For anything, oh! She'll bust her elastic
She, so inviting, me - given up fighting
I'm all in a whirl

Chorus:

A superman in a comical moment
Jump through the fan, you're the inhuman showman
Oh! hear the roar of the crowd call for more
So gullible..br> Me, took ma band on the road for a liftuup
She took my hand and she said "never give up"
Oh schizophrenia, I know you, I been yer
So subtle....la la la

Chorus:

Simply lorraine sings for a while
In a three-octave harmonica style
It's easy to see her harmony
Stabbing at my songs from behind
Trying to stick her cosmic philosopher's
Words into rhymes
Nobody can tell it the same
To her everything's just like a game
But she'll make it seem some big machine's
Driving you clean outa your mind
Come on admit it, that's just the limit,
We've travelled from mad to sublime

Oh she's a lady from a background of pearls
Who's tormenting and bending my world
My only vice is the fantastic prices i
Charge for being eaten alive¡­


So nina can paint dragons on guitars
She can roll up a victorian vase,
That gal can sweep, skip,
Jump and leap into a room full of clowns,
No one'll tame her, no one'll claim her,
'til she's been at least all around
Doreen is a hunk of a man,
She can wipe every boy from the land
But lorraine can fly it way outa sight
Then bring it on back to the fold
Give me a chance, I want romance,
Don't give me your love quite so cold

Oh she's a lady from a background of pearls
Who's tormenting and bending my world
My only vice is the fantastic prices i
Charge for being eaten alive¡­

I been losing my head

I been losing my way

I been losing my brain cells at a million a day

I been so disillusioned

I'm on suicide street

I seen everything

In every shape

I seen l984 in a terrible state

I seen you Quazimodo

Hanging on my gate

Oh! he was so hung-up and wasted

Oh! he was so physically devastated

He was young enough

He was well-slung enough

I seen my own epitaph

I been to heaven and back

Was introduced to St. Peter; we were having a chat

I felt him losing his mind

So I began to retreat



Desdemona and me

We had a ball in a tree

She read my palm in a moment: it was shocking to me

Oh, we were so mystified

Began to scream out of fear

Oh! she was so hung-up and wasted

Oh! she was so physically devastated

She was young enough

She was well-slung enough

I been writing a song

We all been singing along

It's like a wild schizophrenia - wondering where we

belong!

Sling it all out the window

Start all over again...

Come into my heart

Come in and tear me apart

I wanna be claustrophobic - got a passion - ha ha!

I'm so confused I wish I could die

Hark to rouall's white insanity
Clowns in drag concealing vanity
This is hardly paradise
We're still in search of petty scorn

Images so dead, in mourning
Clap and cheer the man performing
This is hardly paradise
We're still in search of petty scorn

Couch my disease in chintz-covered kisses
Glazed calico cloth, my costume this is
Come to pablo fanque's in indigo
We'll show you pastel shades of rhyme

It's okay to laugh in harmony
See the white-faced auguste's army
Come to pablo's-fanque's in indigo
We'll show you pastel shades of rhyme

Take a letter ophelia, write
"sorry desdemona." bright
Peeking through the nimbus covers
We see the twisted tale of man


Catch us in the cornfield hiding
Me, maryse and moonbeams gliding
Peeking through the nimbue covers
We see the twisted tale of man

Careless, caress, curt up beside me
Visit, sleep and smile and drown me
March together, slay like nero
Now we have something you understand

Oh! the clown, his stare is eyeless
Shall he make you laugh or cry.yes
March together, slay like nero
Now we have sometning you understand

It is time to hide my body
Shall we start to speak of holly
I don't wanna be that superhero
'til you have something we anderstand

Heard they're moving pisces into june
Shall we put together a platoon
I don't wanna be that superhero
'til you have something we understand

Thinking lots of a pretty face
When we were yong, such smashing days
We'd pass the time in such pleasant ways
Happy just to be iiving-oh yeah!
Too many summers controlled our heads
Too many memories - so many dead
We fall behind but we also lead them
Listened all the time to a singular band

Put our resources into one appollo
We only had to watch and follow
Then swoop around like a possessed swallow
Thinking only of winning ¨c oh yeah!


And all the iime defending ourselves
Brushed aside all the tempting sea-shells
Charging-up like battery cells
Looking all the time for a singular band

You and me getting everywhere now
On the land and in the air now
Got no worries of getting there now
(consider what we're attempting-oh yeah!)
And now we have lots of pretty clothes
Many friends and many foes
Looking wonderful but heaven knows
Who will want us now we're turning into singular band

Pop paper people printing "rebel insane"
They in my head and digging into my brain
I need umbrella to keep out the rain
I can't hope to keep the pace I have made
Maybe I'll settle in the country and fade

It's all too much for me to handle with ease
I'm sinking fast- I'll soon be down on my knees
Dreams of loretta and lorraine and louise


I can't hope to be the "devil-may-care"
Maybe I'll settle with you all in my hair

Broke three fingers last night
Ain't got the energy to fight
They tell me everyfhing's gonna be all right
I can't dope to do more than my best
It's so easy. this is really no test!

to.moonn6pence from.shootingstar



Tumbling Down
by Steve Harley

Gee, but it's hard
When one lowers one's guard
to the vultures

Now, me I regard it
A torturous hardship
that smolders

Like a peppermint eaten away
Will I fight? Will I swagger, or sway?

Tee hee, milady
She cries like a baby
Scold us

See her tumbling down

Heil to the monkey
We're having a funky reunion
Wasted and sunk
he can only have Sunday communion

He's got nicotine stains in his eyes
He's got nothing to protect but his pride
Oh smothered a kiss
Or be drowned in blissful confusion

See her tumbling down
See her tumbling down
See her tumbling down