1. |
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Golden teeth and a diamond ring
my love, they don't mean a thing.
On the cutting floor
On the cutting floor
O lord, let's waste no more.
In the gutter, on the roof
oh no, they have got no proof
On the killing floor
on the killing floor
my love, I want no more.
The devil's beard is made of gold
I want back what I sold
The price is low and the cost is high
oh lord, I want what's mine.
The pornographic song they sing
the climax is a diamond ring
Call a taxi end the night
my love, I don't want to fight.
Let's make up our minds what to do
Let's waste no more time if we're through
Wasted paychecks, dirty gold
I want back what I sold
Back to back, push to shove
oh lord, I need your love.
On the cutting floor, gold teeth and a diamond ring
my love, they don't mean a thing.
On the killing floor
on the killing floor
oh no, I want no more.
Let's make up our minds what to do
Let's waste no more time if we're through
I want to be home with you
I can't be alone with you
|
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2. |
Auction Block
04:04
|
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It was handed down as part of the past,
it was made by hand and it was made to last
Put it up on the auction block
Get a hammer to break the lock.
I built a machine out of steel and wood
with a piece of tin for a makeshift hood.
Put it up on the auction block
Coughing smoke in fits and starts.
It's a forerunner of ten year's bad luck
while blindfolded and leaning on a crutch.
And a horn will blow when you light your pipe
and a cock will crow when the moment's right.
If the ship of state were to run aground
and the king was weighed and a cure was found
If they got confused trespassing and bold
And they turned the screws trepanning for gold
I could tear it down and remove all doubt
I could drink pure mud until the sun burns out
You've got to make it new
You've got to make it new
You've got to make it new
You've got to make it new
Brothers sisters build build a union strong
raise the wages high with hammer and tongs
Put it up on the auction block
drop your guard and take a walk
They tap their hollow canes on the cobblestones
and in the rosebushes where the drunkards moan
Put it up on the auction block
Midnight handshakes in a parking lot
It's a forerunner of ten year's bad luck
while blindfolded and leaning on a crutch
And a horn will blow when you light your pipe
and a cock will crow when the moment's right
If the ship of state were to run aground
and the king was weighed and a cure was found
If they got confused trespassing and bold
And they turned the screws trepanning for gold
I could tear it down and remove all doubt
I could drink pure mud until the sun burns out
You've got to make it new
You've got to make it new
You've got to make it new
You've got to make it new
It's a forerunner of ten years bad luck
if you don't look down and you don't fuck up
You've got to make it new
You've got to make it new
You've got to make it new
You've got to make it new
|
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3. |
Hollow Earth Society
04:21
|
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Just because the earth is hollow
doesn't mean we can't bang around.
With all these vitamins to swallow
take a shovel and dig it down.
Eleanor
is a granite rock
sturdy as an eagle's feather
calm despite the coming weather
I want her to be mine.
There's a ghost who's making speeches
to a stormstayed coroner
while drowning in some frozen nowhere
shooting off his dampened flares.
There's a mad dog in parlour with a bad disguise.
He says his best girl's at the harbour making bedroom eyes.
But Eleanor
is a granite rock
sturdy as an eagle's feather
calm despite the coming weather
while out braving the elements
sends her postcards to Presidents
Who knows what they're gonna do?
Who knows what they're doing all the time?
I want her to be mine
I've seen electric patterns and telltale signs.
Who knows what they're doing all the time?
|
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4. |
Ultimatum
03:30
|
|||
Nervous backseat driver
offering reminders
in a phantom landscape
charging towards some holy grail.
Send an ultimatum,
come out with your hands up.
I know what you're made of,
this doesn't need to get rough.
Don't you know how it brings me down
we're not going to keep chasing our love round.
And if I can't meet her demands
I hope there's somebody else who can.
Fashion plates in plainclothes
staking out in unmarked vans.
broken pink umbrellas
downstream from the tar sands.
Send an ultimatum
come out with your hands up
I know what you're made of
this doesn't need to get rough.
Don't you know how it brings me down
We're not going to keep chasing our love round.
And if I can't meet her demands
I hope there's somebody else who can.
Maybe there's nothing to see,
nothing to see in the dark.
Maybe you and me
should never be apart.
|
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5. |
||||
Welcome home you noisy bastards
you've been gone far too long.
I had thought that
you might never return
but goddamn it there you are.
People sleeping in their beds
can pretend that you're not here.
Until you start to lose you heads
and make your presence clear.
There's a great fish
sinking in the ocean
with heavy lidded eyes.
When harpoons come
crashing into his fins,
his anger's slow to rise.
Jet streams turning into steam,
clouding up the sky.
Minnows take shelter down below
as boats start to capsize.
Your number's coming up.
|
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6. |
Slander Debunked
03:11
|
|||
In the pockets of your overcoat
keys and papers with your scattered notes
I can't hold it all in my head, darling
I go melting like an isotope
You've had your name dragged through the mud
They will be calling for your blood
This is slander that we will debunk
truth is bald-faced as a cloistered monk
I can't hold it all in my head, darling
the train is sinking and the ship is sunk
You've had your name dragged through the mud
They will be calling for your blood
|
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7. |
||||
The matador chauffeurs
a bull to the red carpet
magnesium flashbulbs for
a news-hungry bull market.
Roast hog and lamb shanks for
the black dog on the back staircase.
I say he has no soul
Calling for soup bones.
A long-armed eunuch
with asbestos gloves
has a hard time
demonstrating his love.
Twelve o'clock comedian
with a wink and a gun
reading out the lottery
keeps the jury hung.
His concubine is restless;
she's ruining the mood
with the garbled cryptoquotes
she's howling at the moon.
|
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8. |
Unring A Bell
02:35
|
|||
If you know Thelma who was carnival queen
they caught her with the mayor
and now people are steamed.
They'll run her out of town
to some distant shore
the grit in her eye could polish a floor
You can unring a bell
Tell me what you're trying to sell
Pass it down the gunpowder trail
Like an empty water pail
If you had three hours that you wanted to spend
We could take a rickshaw to an opium den
and let all the colours bleed themselves to death,
roaring at the lions on the family crest
I can tell that trouble's closing in on me
and that the troubleshooter's lost at sea.
We will go where
the wind has no bones
And the street-lights aren't driving me blind
You can unring a bell
Tell me what you're trying to sell
Pass it down the gunpowder trail
Like an empty water pail
You can unring a bell
Don't you think that I can tell
That trouble's closing in on me
And the troubleshooter's lost at sea
|
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9. |
Cakewalk
02:46
|
|||
Stolen watches back in '38
stowed away inside a packing crate.
A hynoptist with a quivering lip
couldn't talk talk talk me out of it
It's a cakewalk on pavement crumbs
wet socks and a faithless tongue
I'm gonna come through
I'm gonna come through for you
Risked my money for a ticket home
on a pinstripe suit and a pocket comb
We put our nickels on the rails,
stretch them out to pay your father's bail
It's a cakewalk on pavement crumbs
wet socks and a faithless tongue
I'm gonna come through
I'm gonna come through for you
Rusted cranes, all deaf and dumb
They raise their antlers to the sun
Drove home through the smokestacks
to the basement flats and the stock collapse
and the cinder block towers paying gravity tax
|
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10. |
Armchair General
03:31
|
|||
These saints and these martyrs write letters in braille
to the Chamber of Commerce and villains in jail
Misers and spendthrifts have sleepless nights
their knives on their grindstones and hope in their sights
I want a North Pole funeral pyre,
drinking pruno, accusing liars.
I'd cut your hair and I'd dye it white
we'd walk like priests with our downcast eyes
when your sleeping, safe and sound,
I'll go home through the underground.
Usurpers and turncoats feel no regret.
They'll ransom your daughters for all they can get
Grifters and swindlers wear toothy grins
they'll steal all I own while singing me hymns.
I want a North Pole funeral pyre
drinking pruno, accusing liars
I'd cut your hair and I'd dye it white
We'd walk like priests with our downcast eyes
when your sleeping, safe and sound,
I'll go home through the underground.
Long in the tooth and much too thin
at the beach with tattoos fading.
If I can't have you by my side,
I'll be restless, but I'll abide
|
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