Max Tundra

Spitting blood in a sink in a German hotel bathroom
A wet clot of red gum juice, souvenir of wisdom's ration
Rinsing face, drying hair, humming "Oh Engineer" by the brothers Larcombe
Thinking of the bands I never got a chance to spend my cash on
Che and his Caballero chucked it in when I said I liked them
Now I'll never catch them in a smoky room on Highbury Corner
I shall weep for them another day because I'm at the fulcrum
Of the Voodoo graveyard see-saw and I'm not the only mourner

What do we do when our friends split up?
Five little sevens then belly up
There's no more ash, no more soda pop
Why did those five have to make it stop?

At least we have Storm And Stress to show for the DC Implosion
Mushrooms grown on an upstairs Smalley wall
Are chopped down and moved away from
Five icemen melt without hint of a reforming notion
And the clan I saw perform the most give a bow and leave my kingdom
Talented friends and 25 eclipse the work of certain strummers
Steel-string chords and a railway or a globe, or Mr. Bickle's nonsense
Who can rescue us from the Embrace of these Monsoonless summers?
Don't rely on magic, friends because in rock there are no constants

What do we do when our friends split up?
Is there no way they can make it up?
If you bump into my penta friends
Be sure to ask if they meant to end

It was some change
Which came upon me
Or upon the room

Indescribably subtle
Yet momentous
Ineffable

It was some change
Which came upon me
Or upon the room

Indescribably subtle
Yet momentous
Ineffable

I isolate amino acids sometimes
I bottle them and sell them when the sun shines
Cold sores erupt if you don't keep lysine levels healthy
A tingle on your lip, should come and see me

Many foods are rich in arginine
Concentrate on the ones with more lysine
Highest levels of all in margarine

My attitude of sorrow for the dead man
Was hidden by my interest in his great plan
His dying 4/4 gasp withdrew his wait from the game
Now listening posts in Fnac will carry my name

An obiturary by Mr. Toop
Now he's gone there's one less laptop loop
With your help this time 'round I might recoup

Mariposa
Sin ninguna duda
Nos veremos
Un otro dia

Andy wore a garment made
Lovingly by the pigtail lady
Who now approaches the park
With a Parker and a sandwich

If he round the village ran
Corstophine can, so did the man
If he ran alone in the dark
Do, do, do, do, do, do, doo, doo

Thinking back to when I asked Naomi out
Sitting around in a wooden classroom
Planning my line with a friend from Cornwall
Hiding my erection with a book by Morrish
Misread smiles and summer promise

Intervening love between the years
Has made me understand
I'm glad Naomi turned me down

Soon will be the day you take my kingdom out
Panic at dawn on the Northcliffe prospect
You were a western biplane
Dropping bits of speaker on a textured runway
Teeth and death and bower feathers

If you want to book the band
Be sure to hear their album first
Or else you might upset your Shoreditch caterie

I live above a shop
I go downstairs and let the kitten out
She nearly knocks the box

I used to drive for a living, hairy arms fed the wheel thorough my palms
Twitching feet made patterns on pedals, reflexes honed in a twice-failed test
The pay man Lance kept me elastic bound in the echelons of West One
Slim chance of the odd long journey kept me clinging to him for too long
Locked in a car all day, came home and worked on Children At Play
I had no deal then, but I had fifty blank tapes in a bag waiting
I knew it wouldn't be long before I wrote Carbon Cones

Only last week, I noticed that the colours of the
Lights in my studio are the same as the ones you conjure in my mind
(Yellow and green, green pea green, cherry red and red and blue)
When my Amiga reads from a disk you know the
Green fills the room and your long summer dress fills my mind

My other jobs were none to speak of: "Make a coffee for the man in Avid One
Drop these lunches off then take this Betacam to a place on Dean Street"
Most posts seemed to involve the lifting of heavy boxes
A man of such small frame as I broke into several sweats a day
Whilst failing to procure even the hint of any musculature improvement
Heavy-lifting days are in the bin now, but I still dip into tempting
Wearing the odd suit, attending the odd interview
Subsidising the drum programming you hear today

Only last week, I noticed that the colours of the
Lights in my studio are the same as the ones you conjure in my mind
(Yellow and green, green pea green, cherry red and red and blue)
Just yesterday I was woken by a flashing of a
Light from my studio confirming that this timestretch was complete

Only last week, I noticed that the colours of the
Lights in my studio are the same as the ones you conjure in my mind

Six seconds in your company makes me feel upset
that I've only known you for six seconds yet
Every minute we haven't spent together
all of the hours we are going to
will come marching towards me in swathes

Hey, ah! There you are; play the piano in this next bar...

With a blow of an eastern breeze
on a flag of your face unfurled
I collide with you in this heat
under blanket of borrowed blue
Splitting silence with every smile
even ammonites hear us sing
and a rail on an outside road
rusting over with us in here
We shall settle a stack of woes
with affectionate angled arms
Will you lead me across this room
as we knock other couples pell-mell?
Promenade to a sweet dischord
In a London before the flood
to another an early fade
Nine behind us and three in front

I'm feeling flirty
Must be you heard me
My knee is hurty
I'm nearing thirty

I'm taken to task evade
Distractions fill up my nights
"Look at the Cakes I made"
I sing through a pair of stretched tights
Continuing down the page
The queen of Haverstock Hill
Onto a marble stage
Arrives and tells us about the

Cassettes and catgut
A squealing sackbut
I toast a pine nut
And serve it in my hut

Downstairs they're playing trance again
That awful bendy guitar
Up through the floor again
It's 9 AM 'til I cry
And Time And A Word, my friend
Inspires me more than guitars
Playing in four that end
Exactly how they began

Six months without an argument
A girl with tresses like yours
Is what I always meant
I should have done this before
The second or third attempt
At making somebody mine
Seems to have worked for now
I think I'm going to be fine

Michel, are you listening?
This message is for you
Perhaps you'd like to film it in that
Special way you do

Judging by your clients
It would cost a weighty fee
To make me an Around The World
Or Let Forever Be

Believe me when I tell you
I've liked you for a while
As no-one else approaches
Your magic, dream-like style

But now you've got a film out
Your fame will multiply
And all the bands that hear of you
Are wealthier than I

Michel, are you listening?

With astounding grace
I'll forget your face
Accidental she
Hasn't noticed me
We will never be

I'd like to be as articulate as Mr. L
Writing songs about Barbara of Seville
Such a wonderful way with a pen, when he's feeling unwell

I only sing about things that happen to me
I never learnt how to fill my songs with allegory
While my peers paid attention in English, I thought about how
I could undress the girl who appeared in my life with a 'pow'
Never mind that she slipped from my hand, because look at me now

Stir that dish with a spoon I found on the street
Every boy needs a meal that's protein replete
Sometimes I would faint in the days when I didn't eat meat

We soon lost count of the meals we had at your place
I stand and wash but the food won't come off my face
A pan of plain soup and a piece of stale bread in the bowl
A rusty meringue and a slice of a pig on a roll
Oh, the things we could eat if a casserole dish had a soul

He fled this town for a quiet house by the sea
A lesser risk of a chance encounter with me
Does he realise that I relocated in January?

A curving glance from a man on Charing Cross Road
A signal that I will have to write my own code
Long ago, when I used to be friends with a boy I betrayed
I was evil, how dare I end up with the one that he craved
But it turned out alright 'cause she's been by my side for an age