Graham Parker

You stop in the old cafe where you used to play pinball
And look for the air-raid shelter but it's gone and the cafe seems so
small and all the gardens that had trees and stolen apples
now have small businesses flourishing in cinder blocks
Then they will call your name and hand you a gold watch
Then they will call your name but it doesn't sound like much
And you'll never discover why it's like an old lover
you can't touch anymore It doesn't mean much anymore
when you go back in time
back in time

You head down to the local try to find a focal point
A scratch in the wallpaper but it's all been wallpapered over
Down at the newsagents it's all pornography
And you try to get high again but it's like time-lapse photography
Then they will call your name and hand you a medal
Or something more practical like a whistling kettle
and it'll test your metal Just try to keep grinning
knowing that this feeling is indulgence worse than sinning
trying to go back in time
yeah

Photographs with a glossy finish letters lovers never finished
And there in a dusty drawer a necktie you once wore
And a girl you tried to court made you feel about two feet short
Where is she now today? What would she have to say?
Then they will call your name and hand you a pension
A bottle of pills that guarantee life extension
and give you a mention in the local boy makes good section
But all the old news is like print stains across your mind
when you try to go back in time


Yes all this old news is just print stains across your mind
when you try to go back in time
Back in time
back, back in time

The kid's left home, the kid's got a kid of her own
Don't knock that door, don't knock it, nobody's home
The mystery sign, turn off and follow it blind
The interstate is jammed and crammed with exhaust mist
It only leads to somewhere you'll never miss
You'll never miss

Get on the blue highways, follow the blue highways
You know that they're there,
you know that they're there
Where the real America lies

The rusty chrome, the shutters swing open and closed
Don't knock that door, don't knock it, nobody's home
The blood runs cold, the blood runs cold
There must be gold where fools are
That's what we are, that's what we are

Get on the blue highways, follow the blue highways
You know that they're there,
you know that they're there
Where the real America lies
Blue highways, blue highways, blue highways

Cupid draw back your bow
And let your arrow go
Straight to my lover's heart for me,
for me -
Cupid please hear my cry
And let your arrow fly
Straight to my lover's heart for me

Now - I don't mean to bother you but I'm in distress
There's danger of me loosing all of my happiness
For I love a girl who doesn't know I exist
And this you can fix,
so.....

Cupid draw back your bow
And let your arrow go
Straight to my lover's heart for me,
Nobody but me -
Cupid please hear my cry
And let your arrow fly
Straight to my lover's heart for me

Now - Cupid if your arrow makes her love strong for me
I promise I will love her until eternity
I know between the both of us her heart we can steal
Help me if you will,
so.....

Cupid draw back your bow
And let your arrow flow
Straight to my lover's heart for me,
o nobody but me -
Cupid please hear my cry
And let your arrow fly
Straight to my lover's heart for me


Now - Cupid, don't you hear me,
I'm calling you,
I need you,
Cupid
help me . . .

The mona lisa's sister doesn't smile
She tried to pose but only for a while
Leonardo sent her home since then she has lived alone
With her few belongings and a copy of a painting of herself unhappy
She is going to burn it when she's ready

Get started, start a fire
Get started, start a fire
Get started, start a fire
Get started, start a fire

Marilyn was lying all alone with an empty bottle by the phone
Kennedy was not around she was cold when she was found
But she'd gone where the goddesses are sleeping
Where the molten tongues of flame are leaping
Or where the angel's hearts are beating

Get started, start a fire
Get started, start a fire
Get started, start a fire
Get started, start a fire

Joan of arc was burning at the stake somebody had made a big mistake
She had lit a cigarette in an aiport where you get
All your fingers taken off for smoking.
Meanwhile up the road a factory's choking
The ones who killed her work there I'm not joking

Get started, start a fire
Get started, start a fire
Get started, start a fire
Get started, start a fire

Get started, start a fire
Get started, start a fire
Get started, start a fire
Get started, start a fire

The dreams and hopes of men are powered by addiction
And who am I to say that this is an affliction
When everybody gets suckered in and lives their lives like fiction
Writing their own stories of success

They say they want you for your colourful evocation
The way you turn a cliche into a sensation
But all they ever wanted was that same vibration
The one that shimmers round success

Success success
Success success
Success success
Success success
All you ever need:
Success

You can't be happy while someone else has a fistful
They glow from TV screens healthy strong and fiscal
And everybody slaps their back while you're alone with a wristful
Jerking to the rhythm of success

Success success
Success success
Success success
Success success
All you ever need:
Success

All the dirt's lying under the carpet
He swallowed a drink and then checked her heartbeat
Her wedding gown has been burned to ashes
Fanned by the flutter of her false lashes
One last chance to kiss again
She looked so good he looked so sane
Not forever could they last
Under the mask under the mask
Under the mask of happiness
Under the mask of happiness

She got colder with each incision
No-one knew he had a fatal vision
One last chance to kiss again
Your mother knows her baby's pain
Not forever could they last
Under the mask
under the mask
Under the mask of happiness
Under the mask of happiness

Under the mask, Under the mask,
Under the mask, Under the mask,
Under the mask, Under the mask

Look at them walking look at them kiss
What a picture of domestic bliss
Laughing and laughing like clockwork toys
Until they're broken girls and boys

One last chance to kiss again
she looked so good he looked so sane
Not forever could they last
Under the mask, Under the mask,
Under the mask, Under the mask,
Under the mask, Under the mask,

Under the mask of happiness
Under the mask of happiness
Under the mask of happiness

You're always kidding me something's happening but it isn't true
You're getting rid of me you know exactly what I'm trying to
Oh baby I am drained of colour I can't go anywhere
You just left me in another grey area

You say you're loving me but it's nothing but a red rag
You call this ecstasy but suddenly it's let the stone drag
Oh baby I have just discovered I don't belong anywhere
Your love left me in another grey area
Another grey area

When I start thinking can't stop sinking
Everybody left me holding the baby
Everything's the same no-one took the blame
That's the colour of another grey area
That's the colour of another grey area

I can't follow it the information that is coming through
I never swallow it the black feeling that is all blue
Oh baby I've just discovered I can't go anywhere
Your love left me in another grey area
Yeah You left me in another grey area
That's the colour of another grey area
Another grey area

Another grey area
Another grey area
That's the colour
That's the colour

Better listen to me, You better stay blind and you better not see
You think it feels alright but you don't have to lie awake all night

Fumble with the money and fumble with the keys
Somebody has to end up on his knees
Go to a funeral dressed in pink
Stop to love and not stop to think

Big fat zero
Big fat zero
Big fat zero

They all lose their cool
They all see the money and they start to drool
They all shuffle their feet
They shuffle their cards and they turn up the heat
They tell you

Fumble with the money and fumble with the keys
Somebody has to end up on his knees
Go to a funeral dressed in pink
Stop to love and not stop to think

Big fat zero
Big fat zero
Big fat zero

Big fat zero
Big fat zero
Big fat zero
Big fat zero
Big fat zero
Big fat zero
Big fat zero
Big fat zero

Her heart is nearly breaking, the earth is nearly quaking

The Tokyo's taxi's braking, it's screaming to a halt

And there's nothing to hold on to when gravity betrays you

And every kiss enslaves you-oo-oo

She knows how hard her heart grows under the nuclear shadows

She can't escape the feeling repeating in her head

When after all the urges some kind of truth emerges

We felt the deadly surges


Discovering Japan--an --an

Discovering Japan--an --an

The GIs only use her, they only ram right through her

Giving an eastern promise, that they could never keep

Seeing a million miles, between their joke and smiles

She heard their hard denials [don't pause]


As the tears dropped sideways down her face, face

I woke up talking in the tongue of a different race, race

And as the flight touches down my watch says 8:02

But that's midnight to you,

Midnight to you Midight to you
I dreamed headlong collisions in jet lag panavisions

I shouted sayonara it didn't mean goodbye

But lovers turn to posers show up in film exposures

Just like in travel brochures
Discovering Japan Discovering Japan

(x6 and fade)

I used to think that it all stopped happening
by the time you reached twenty one
They said there's nothing like the first love you get boy
They were wrong, oh so wrong,
they hung on and hung on, to their dream, I know

CHORUS
Life gets better yeah
When ever I'm in her arms
Just to know I'm not the average fella
I'm the one, I'm the one for her

Well it's a shame what they do to these young kids
Just encourage them to act like clowns
And then they think that they don't have much longer
Knocked up the first time she let em get down
Put four walls around and then scream, but I know

REPEAT CHORUS

Life stretches before me an endless mystery
And nothing can bore me, when she's with me
I feel the heartbeat of the world in the hands of this girl
But it takes so much time to, to finally see, see, see

I get a thrill when I think how it really is
Noone can ever take that away
They try to put rubber bands around your heart
But they're wrong, oh so wrong, they hung on
and hung on, to their dream, but I know

Life gets better yeah
When ever I'm in her arms
Just to know I'm not the average fella
I'm the one, I'm the one for her

Oooh Life gets better yeah, When ever I'm in her arms
Just to know I'm not the average sucker, I'm the one, I'm the one for her

Oooh Life gets better yeah, Oooh Life gets better yeah
Oooh Life gets better yeah

A Bm A D
Everybody just looks ugly now information don't compute
A Bm
I draw a blank every time I think
E A
the football crowd is going to give me a boot

CHORUS
D A E
And Saturday night is dead Saturday night is dead
G
It don't matter what they say
G A
You've got to use your own head some day
D A E (intro chords)
Saturday night is dead Saturday night is dead Yeah it's dead

The ultraviolet light hurts me so it used to be my friend
I used to know a good place to go but now it's nothing like it was then

CHORUS (WORD VARIATION)
And Saturday night is dead Saturday night is dead
It don't matter what they say I'm going to the funeral Sunday
Saturday night is dead Saturday night is dead Yeah it's dead

BRIDGE
A G A G
It must have been murder it ain't no accident
A
Oh no it means nothing to me
G
The clock goes tick tick tick in my head
D
Saturday is dead Saturday is dead (solo over A and Bm)

A Bm A D
I look inside to find a place to hide but there ain't no place I know
A Bm A
It's just as well that I'm stupified it makes it easy
G E D
It makes it easy to deliver the fatal blow
(Intro chords)
Deliver deliver deliver

CHORUS (FIRST

You have to do your best to come up to par,
from straight off the production line like a car,
Till everything you put on is a put-on,
and you don't know who's face you're gazing upon

Could be anyone you're sending out there tonight,
is it any wonder all the lights are too bright?
And you need temporary beauty,
and hope to God that it doesn't rain

You need temporary beauty,
even though it might be love in vain

The world is full of little people like you
They have to read a book to learn what to do
They hang around in second hand stores for clothes
And every kind of pressures steps on their toes
Love doesn't fall out of a magazine
You mustn't always believe what you see

Ah-ah-ah temporary beauty, ah-ah-ah temporary beauty,
Ah-ah-ah temporary beauty

You might be the sweetest little girl in your heart
But still the world ignores that and tears you apart
You think of the parties you'll never attend
You dream of someone who's more than a friend
Love doesn't jump out of a magazine
You mustn't always believe what you see

And you need temporary beauty,
and hope to God that it doesn't rain
You need temporary beauty,
even though it might be love, (3 times)

Did they tear it out, with talons of steel
And give you a shot, so that you wouldn't feel
And washed it away, as if it wasn't real

It's just a mistake, I won't have to face
Don't give it a name, don't give it a place
Don't give it a chance, it's lucky in a way

It must have felt strange, to find me inside you
I hadn't intended to stay
If you want to keep it right, put it to sleep at night
Squeeze it until it could say

You can't be too strong You can't be too strong
You can't be too strong
You can't be too strong You decide what's wrong

Well I ain't gonna cry, I'm gonna rejoice
And shout myself dry, and go see the boys
They'll laugh when I say, I left it overseas

Yeah babe I know it gets dark, down by Luna Park
But everybody else, is squeezing out a spark
That happened in the heat, somewhere in the dark, in the dark

The doctor gets nervous, completing the service
He's all rubber gloves and no head
He fumbles the light switch, it's just another minor hitch
Wishes to God he was dead

But you can't be too strong You can't be too strong
You can't be too strong
You can't be too strong You decide what's wrong
Can't be too hard, too tough, too rough, too right, too wrong
And you, can't be too strong
Baby you can't be too strong...

There is always some advantage to be wielded and brought to bear

It's a lonely occupation keeping others out of your hair

Fingers on all the switches talk in whispers talking soft

You know all my favourite bitches you know what gets me off

But try to reach a vital part of me My interest level's dropping rapidly

It's all excuses baby all a stall I just don't get excited

I've been running round in circles and jump jump jumping out of cars
They put animals in cages specimens in jars
It's summer now there's no temptation and baby nails digging under skin
It don't give me the right sensation it's just another thing
You try to reach a vital part of me My attention span is dropping rapidly

It's all excuses baby all a stall We just don't get excited

Don't get excited No Don't get excited Don't get excited

Talk about it talk about it all night long
Think about it think about it nothing's wrong
Don't get excited Don't get excited Don't get excited
Don't get excited Don't get excited Don't get excited Don't get excited

Baby listen without thinking you better be without demands
Now don't get edgy and don't start blinking and don't start making any plans
You try to reach a vital part of me My interest level's dropping rapidly
It's all excuses baby all a stall We just don't get excited
Don't get excited No don't get excited Don't get excited

There is always some advantage to be wielded and brought to bear

It's a lonely occupation keeping others out of your hair

Fingers on all the switches talk in whispers talking soft

You know all my favourite bitches you know what gets me off

But try to reach a vital part of me My interest level's dropping rapidly

It's all excuses baby all a stall I just don't get excited

I've been running round in circles and jump jump jumping out of cars
They put animals in cages specimens in jars
It's summer now there's no temptation and baby nails digging under skin
It don't give me the right sensation it's just another thing
You try to reach a vital part of me My attention span is dropping rapidly

It's all excuses baby all a stall We just don't get excited

Don't get excited No Don't get excited Don't get excited

Talk about it talk about it all night long
Think about it think about it nothing's wrong
Don't get excited Don't get excited Don't get excited
Don't get excited Don't get excited Don't get excited Don't get excited

Baby listen without thinking you better be without demands
Now don't get edgy and don't start blinking and don't start making any plans
You try to reach a vital part of me My interest level's dropping rapidly
It's all excuses baby all a stall We just don't get excited
Don't get excited No don't get excited Don't get excited

When I had you to myself
I didn't want you around
Those pretty faces always made you
Stand out in a crowd
But someone picked you from the bunch
One glance was all it took
Now it's much too late for me
To take second look

Oh baby give me one more chance
To show you that I love you
Won't you please send me back in your heart

Oh darlin' I was blind to let you go
But now since I see you in his arms
I want you back
Yes I do now
I want you back
Ooh ooh baby
Yeah yeah, naw

Trying to live without your love
Is one long sleepless night
Let me show you girl
That I know wrong from right

Every street you walk on
I leave tear stains on the ground
Following the girl
I didn't even want around
Oh baby give me one more chance
To show you that I love you
Won't you please send me back in your heart

Abuh buh buh buh
All I want!
Abuh buh buh buh
All I need!
Abuh buh buh buh

E b e ac#m e a e

Love gets you twisted, love gets you twisted all the way

The hearts are enlisted, the hearts are enlisted to break each day

G#m e

I try to straighten out but Im too wrapped up to see

C#m ab

I dont know how its supposed to be



Love gets you twisted love gets you twisted inside out

I knew that it existed I knew that it existed I had no doubt

When shes in my arms I get tangled up its true

I cant see the other point of view



A e c#m f#

When love gets you twisted love gets you twisted

E aba

Love gets you twisted

B a b a

Screw yourself up screw yourself up

B b e

Screw yourself screw yourself up



The solo seems to be c#m (2 bars), b-e-a-b then rpt x1



I try to straighten out but Im tangled up its true

I cant see the other point of view

Love gets you twisted love gets you twisted love gets you twisted

Screw yourself up screw yourself up screw yourself, screw yourself

E b ea

When love gets you twisted

When love gets you twisted

When love gets you twisted



Repeat and fade /pre>

E b e ac#m e a e

Love gets you twisted, love gets you twisted all the way

The hearts are enlisted, the hearts are enlisted to break each day

G#m e

I try to straighten out but Im too wrapped up to see

C#m ab

I dont know how its supposed to be



Love gets you twisted love gets you twisted inside out

I knew that it existed I knew that it existed I had no doubt

When shes in my arms I get tangled up its true

I cant see the other point of view



A e c#m f#

When love gets you twisted love gets you twisted

E aba

Love gets you twisted

B a b a

Screw yourself up screw yourself up

B b e

Screw yourself screw yourself up



The solo seems to be c#m (2 bars), b-e-a-b then rpt x1



I try to straighten out but Im tangled up its true

I cant see the other point of view

Love gets you twisted love gets you twisted love gets you twisted

Screw yourself up screw yourself up screw yourself, screw yourself

E b ea

When love gets you twisted

When love gets you twisted

When love gets you twisted



Repeat and fade /pre>

Capo at 2 (intro D Em G Em D
Em G G C
So all of you be damned we can't have heaven crammed
Am C D
So Winston Churchill said I could have smacked his head
Em G G C
And all of those infected waiting to be collected
Am C D
I must get out at any price before the feeling gets too nice

CHORUS
Em C G D
Just can't get, just can't get no protection
Em C G D
Just can't get, just can't get no protection
Em C G D G C
Just can't get, just can't get no Can't get no protection,
G C G C D
protection, protection

Every bomb is detonated every switch is thrown
And everybody tells me don't be scared act as if you never cared
So I wear a blank expression to conceal my real impression
Turn off all the information radios just pick up that station

REPEAT CHORUS Then Em/G Am/C which repeats over BRIDGE

So turn off this sound I'm ready to go down
I don't know myself, I don't you either
You're full of disease it's something I discovered
I know you've been mixing with Big Brother's brother
It ain't the knife in the heart that tears you apart
It's just the thought of someone
It's just the thought of someone
Em Em
It's just the thought of someone sticking it in, sticking it in

So if you think that's funny I'm not really laughng honey
Your love letters are confetti I ripped them up my hands were sweaty
And then those ghastly faces recur in nightmare places
Happy hours come and go much too short and much too long

CHORUS Then this rhythm again Em/G Am/C

Turn off all the information radios just pick up that station
Protection protection protection
It ain't the knife in the heart that tears you apart
It's just the thought of someone sticking it in
Protection protection Switch it off switch it off switch it off
Protection Switch it off switch it off switch it off
Protection protection You want to hide? You want to hide?
You want to hide, hide, hide? Protection REPEAT AND FADE

Capo at 2 (intro D Em G Em D
Em G G C
So all of you be damned we can't have heaven crammed
Am C D
So Winston Churchill said I could have smacked his head
Em G G C
And all of those infected waiting to be collected
Am C D
I must get out at any price before the feeling gets too nice

CHORUS
Em C G D
Just can't get, just can't get no protection
Em C G D
Just can't get, just can't get no protection
Em C G D G C
Just can't get, just can't get no Can't get no protection,
G C G C D
protection, protection

Every bomb is detonated every switch is thrown
And everybody tells me don't be scared act as if you never cared
So I wear a blank expression to conceal my real impression
Turn off all the information radios just pick up that station

REPEAT CHORUS Then Em/G Am/C which repeats over BRIDGE

So turn off this sound I'm ready to go down
I don't know myself, I don't you either
You're full of disease it's something I discovered
I know you've been mixing with Big Brother's brother
It ain't the knife in the heart that tears you apart
It's just the thought of someone
It's just the thought of someone
Em Em
It's just the thought of someone sticking it in, sticking it in

So if you think that's funny I'm not really laughng honey
Your love letters are confetti I ripped them up my hands were sweaty
And then those ghastly faces recur in nightmare places
Happy hours come and go much too short and much too long

CHORUS Then this rhythm again Em/G Am/C

Turn off all the information radios just pick up that station
Protection protection protection
It ain't the knife in the heart that tears you apart
It's just the thought of someone sticking it in
Protection protection Switch it off switch it off switch it off
Protection Switch it off switch it off switch it off
Protection protection You want to hide? You want to hide?
You want to hide, hide, hide? Protection REPEAT AND FADE

A Bm A D
Everybody just looks ugly now information don't compute
A Bm
I draw a blank every time I think
E A
the football crowd is going to give me a boot

CHORUS
D A E
And Saturday night is dead Saturday night is dead
G
It don't matter what they say
G A
You've got to use your own head some day
D A E (intro chords)
Saturday night is dead Saturday night is dead Yeah it's dead

The ultraviolet light hurts me so it used to be my friend
I used to know a good place to go but now it's nothing like it was then

CHORUS (WORD VARIATION)
And Saturday night is dead Saturday night is dead
It don't matter what they say I'm going to the funeral Sunday
Saturday night is dead Saturday night is dead Yeah it's dead

BRIDGE
A G A G
It must have been murder it ain't no accident
A
Oh no it means nothing to me
G
The clock goes tick tick tick in my head
D
Saturday is dead Saturday is dead (solo over A and Bm)

A Bm A D
I look inside to find a place to hide but there ain't no place I know
A Bm A
It's just as well that I'm stupified it makes it easy
G E D
It makes it easy to deliver the fatal blow
(Intro chords)
Deliver deliver deliver

CHORUS (FIRST

A Bm A D
Everybody just looks ugly now information don't compute
A Bm
I draw a blank every time I think
E A
the football crowd is going to give me a boot

CHORUS
D A E
And Saturday night is dead Saturday night is dead
G
It don't matter what they say
G A
You've got to use your own head some day
D A E (intro chords)
Saturday night is dead Saturday night is dead Yeah it's dead

The ultraviolet light hurts me so it used to be my friend
I used to know a good place to go but now it's nothing like it was then

CHORUS (WORD VARIATION)
And Saturday night is dead Saturday night is dead
It don't matter what they say I'm going to the funeral Sunday
Saturday night is dead Saturday night is dead Yeah it's dead

BRIDGE
A G A G
It must have been murder it ain't no accident
A
Oh no it means nothing to me
G
The clock goes tick tick tick in my head
D
Saturday is dead Saturday is dead (solo over A and Bm)

A Bm A D
I look inside to find a place to hide but there ain't no place I know
A Bm A
It's just as well that I'm stupified it makes it easy
G E D
It makes it easy to deliver the fatal blow
(Intro chords)
Deliver deliver deliver

CHORUS (FIRST

Did they tear it out, with talons of steel
And give you a shot, so that you wouldn't feel
And washed it away, as if it wasn't real

It's just a mistake, I won't have to face
Don't give it a name, don't give it a place
Don't give it a chance, it's lucky in a way

It must have felt strange, to find me inside you
I hadn't intended to stay
If you want to keep it right, put it to sleep at night
Squeeze it until it could say

You can't be too strong You can't be too strong
You can't be too strong
You can't be too strong You decide what's wrong

Well I ain't gonna cry, I'm gonna rejoice
And shout myself dry, and go see the boys
They'll laugh when I say, I left it overseas

Yeah babe I know it gets dark, down by Luna Park
But everybody else, is squeezing out a spark
That happened in the heat, somewhere in the dark, in the dark

The doctor gets nervous, completing the service
He's all rubber gloves and no head
He fumbles the light switch, it's just another minor hitch
Wishes to God he was dead

But you can't be too strong You can't be too strong
You can't be too strong
You can't be too strong You decide what's wrong
Can't be too hard, too tough, too rough, too right, too wrong
And you, can't be too strong
Baby you can't be too strong...

Did they tear it out, with talons of steel
And give you a shot, so that you wouldn't feel
And washed it away, as if it wasn't real

It's just a mistake, I won't have to face
Don't give it a name, don't give it a place
Don't give it a chance, it's lucky in a way

It must have felt strange, to find me inside you
I hadn't intended to stay
If you want to keep it right, put it to sleep at night
Squeeze it until it could say

You can't be too strong You can't be too strong
You can't be too strong
You can't be too strong You decide what's wrong

Well I ain't gonna cry, I'm gonna rejoice
And shout myself dry, and go see the boys
They'll laugh when I say, I left it overseas

Yeah babe I know it gets dark, down by Luna Park
But everybody else, is squeezing out a spark
That happened in the heat, somewhere in the dark, in the dark

The doctor gets nervous, completing the service
He's all rubber gloves and no head
He fumbles the light switch, it's just another minor hitch
Wishes to God he was dead

But you can't be too strong You can't be too strong
You can't be too strong
You can't be too strong You decide what's wrong
Can't be too hard, too tough, too rough, too right, too wrong
And you, can't be too strong
Baby you can't be too strong...