[Instrumental]
				

Life's really a chocolate box -
some do without - others have plenty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
From the cradle to the grave,
point your ladle to the gravy.
"Food comes first, then morals" they say,
the end of the world's three hot meals away.
Two average men eat their average meals
but destiny waits at their table.
One is served gruel while the other chews veal,
(but they're both spoon fed lies, lies from the cradle).
Life's really a chocolate box -
some do without - others have plenty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
Tragic moments for the masses-
work is the curse of the drinking classes
"homo homini lupus" we cry-
humanity fades like the moon in the sky.
You can't cook an omlette without breaking eggs,
(first they are cracked and then beaten).
The only things cracked around here are our heads,
recepies for disaster that we keep repeating.
Life's really a chocolate box -
some do without - others have plenty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
Here's a real beggars banquet,
a brace of rats in a blood stained blanket.
Meanwhile, gentlefolk high in their chateau,
dip silver spoons into black forest gateau.
Come lords and ladies - raise glasses in toast
to the "other-half" dying to eat.
'Cause they who receive feast deserve it the most,
it's a literal dead-end (Inequality Street).
Life's really a chocolate box -
some do without - others have plenty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
Life's really a chocolate box -
some do without - others have plenty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
It sticks in my throat - my stomach's in knots,
while your box is so full - mine's perpetually empty.
				

Forgive me if I'm out of order -
this new "music" has no soul.
It may be good for making money,
(sadly that is not my goal).

Integrity and honesty are words that you don't understand,
but you're the best - it says so in the penny dreadful in your hand.

I saw you in the magazine,
they're calling you messiah.
They must be living in a dream -
they couldn't be more wrong.

If we'd played this riff more punk,
than may be we'd have had a million seller.
But this piper's tune is not for sale,
(I'm glad to say I'm not that kind of fella).

D.J.s, V.J.s, pimps and trollops,
never mind music - this is bollocks.

I saw you in the magazine,
they're calling you messiah.
They must be living in a dream -
they couldn't be more wrong.

Turn on, tune up, cash in, sell out.
Turn on, tune up, cash in, sell out.

Stand your ground behind the times -
and refuse to follow fassion.
Write your poetry with anger,
(and then sing it with a passion).

Painted faces in a circus - images that spring to mind,
when I read my penny dreadful filled with pictures of your kind.

I saw you in the magazine,
they're calling you messiah.
They must be living in a dream -
they couldn't be more wrong.

Commercial suicide's appealing after
ten years on this losing streak.
'Cause I'd rather be called sour and bitter
then be deemed the flavour of the week.

I saw you in the magazine,
they're calling you messiah.
They must be living in a dream -
they couldn't be more wrong.

Extra, extra, read all about it!

I saw you in the magazine,
they're calling you messiah.
They must be living in a dream -
they couldn't be more wrong. 
				

All the seats are taken in the house that makes the rules
All the seats are taken in 'The parliament of fools'

The discontented winter howeld, when I first came up to vote
They swept in on a sea of change, but I'm glad I missed their boat
As communities were taxed and torn, utilities got floated
And for eighteen years the 'true blue' cause
prevailed and was promoted
How do you cast your vote in a parliament of fools ?
How do you cast your vote in a parliament of fools ?

How I took me off a college for to learn philosophy
Studied Paine and Machiavellin spin and sophistry
But coming from a county that was redin tooth and claw
For a one-horse-race some lobby-fodder-donkey
was brought forth
How do you cast your vote in a parliament of fools ?
How do you cast your vote in a parliament of fools ?

All the seats are taken in the house that makes the rules
All the seats are taken in 'The parliament of fools'

Armed ith this liberal knowledge, I set off to London town
To see 'the seat of wisdom' and hear justice handed down
Not 'a semblance of normality', an assembly of insanity
I'll not become a member of of this parliament most foul
How do you cast your vote in a parliament of fools ?
How do you cast your vote in a parliament of fools ?
Yes, all the seats are taken and our confidence is shaken
How do you cast your vote in a parliament of fools ?
				

Where they sit around
And get a round in while the getting's good
They'll make the most until the money's gone
They're coming out to celebrate, to sing and dance and to escape
A crazy world where everything seems wrong
Drinking to forget and to remember allthe glory days
The days we stood apart and we stood strong
Though the beer befuddles sense
It can't provide them recompense
They settle for anotherdrinkingsong

Where the 'busy man finds recreation'
the 'idle man finds business'
The 'melancholy man finds sanctuary'
The 'stranger may have welcome'
and still within these self-same walls
The 'citizen may find some courtesy' 
From 'rose and crown' to 'cock and bull'
all history is written there
To folklore, myth and legend we belong
Come Masons, Plumbers Carpenters,
Come Cricketers and huntsmen
All join in anotherdrinkingsong

Well you can keep your 'long-hours culture'
your lusting for adventure
There's life aplenty down 'The tap 'n' Spile'
Forget youroccupation down 'The Salutation'
This tragi-comedy will make you smile
From quaint barstoll philosophy to subtle innuendo
It's funny how the tribes all get along
Curse abstinence and temperance, come celebrate insouciance
And join us in anotherdrinkingsong
				

O come ye young of Hamlyn - you who know my tune so well,
Where it beckons you must follow - be it Heaven (be it Hell).
Forget your mothers grieving as I pipe you down the street,
With a shilling in my pocket - and the sky beneath my feet.
Chameleons bask in the 'arc-lite' reflection - awaiting a chance curtain call,
And here from the wings I have watched them and wondered if
God does exist after all.
On life's Ferris Wheel all the dreamers ride free (from the top you can only go
down),
No-one but yourself is to blame if you presume to walk upon water then drown.
Now your bridges are burned - it is time that you learned there is no turning b
ack,
All your airs and graces should vacate their places for the qualities you lack.
Though empty vessels made most sound - not one wise word was said,
Vainglory hunters seek their prey where angels fear to tread.
FOLLOW ME - follow and I will lead,
With truth that hurts like stick and stone.
When rats that scuttled ships departed -
Birds of a feather sought their own.
To make their dreams a lantern that outshines the brightest star,
Turn whispers into battlecries the winds shall carry far.
When hearts shielded by conviction - keeping beats so pure and strong,
Are at last as one united (a communion of steel - The Sword of Song).
We gathered together as sister and brother to dance when the world was abed,
Until the next dawn in the grey light of morning these lambs to the slaughter w
ere led
Out of the shadows these vagabonds congregate (those who have stuck to their
guns), While tinseltown satellites frantically circulate orbiting mirror-ball s
uns.
I will not play a part in this infantile farce - your offer I decline,
Building walls of pretension to conceal your intentions was just a waste of tim
e.
Though in your life of make-believe the best things came for free,
Why should I trust my plans in the 'capable' hands of a shallow fool like thee.
FOLLOW ME - follow and I will lead,
With truth that hurts like stick and stone,
When rats their scuttled ships departed -
Birds of a feather sought their own.
The goose that lays the golden egg - I'll sacrifice and bury it,
If you don't believe me watch me as upon its grave I spit,
Worldly treasures have no worth - but self-respect is beyond price,
And Hell's the best alternative when faced with your fool's paradise.
Some say I bite the hand that feeds - but to these disillusioned eyes
'tis sweet revenge to watch it bleed (it has only fed me lies),
The dead horses you were flogging could not rise and stand upon its legs,
Behold the leper-minstrel has been cured and nevermore shall beg.
				

A wise man's son and Wednesday's child in each other found a friend,
And searched together for the treasure hiding at the rainbow's end.
To wise man's son and Wednesday's child all is white that is not black,
They dance in symbiotic deadlock - one step forward two steps back,
Playing karmic snakes and ladders (all your sins will find you out),
When all your gains are lost in vain on cosmic wings and roundabouts.
At the roadside manhood's flower - blighted by a wayward youth,
Has cast its seed on well-worn pathways - borne on winds of whispered truth.
We march to drums of our own choosing - each of them keeps different time,
As you are free to live your own life so I am free to live mine.
Now wise man's son and Wednesday's child can recognise their own mistakes,
And to these ends they make amends for every promise that they break.
Both wise man's son and Wednesday's child view the world in red and green,
Await the day when they die laughing - thinking of the sights they've seen.
I tell you now if they were given chance to live their lives again -
Wise man's son and Wednesday's child would make the same mistakes as then.
At the roadside manhood's flower - blighted by a wayward youth,
Has cast its seed on well-worn pathways - borne on winds of whispered truth.
We march to drums of our own choosing - each of them keeps different time,
As you are free to live your own life so I am free to live mine.
				

Hands locked in darkness - a nocturnal greeting
We flutter like moths round the brazier's flame
Shrouded in shadow - our clandestine meeting
Here where past and present are one and the same.

No-one dies in Cardboard City
Faces only fade away
Eat your pride and take their pity
Fight to live another day.

And did those feet in ancient times
Walk bare upon these lonely streets like mine?
Does God watch us from that penthouse high above
His children down below who live on air and love?
Wrapped in old headlines beneath this shop awning
I shiver in silence and wait for the morning.

No-one cries in Cardboard City
That would be a waste of tears
Eat your pride and take their pity
Like you have so many years.

Youth of our nation - A lost generation
Like lepers we march to the chimes of Big Ben.
Exiled and rejected by powers elected
Our cries from the gutter don't reach number ten.
Give us this day our daily bread
Before the headlines read "bring out your dead."
Chip-wrapper flowers are blown onto this cardboard grave
My spray paint epitaph upon the wall it says...
"Here lies the bones of some poor homeless vagrant
He died as he lived, in the shit on the pavement."

No-one dies in Cardboard City
Faces only fade away
Eat your pride and take their pity
Fight to live another day.

No-one cries in Cardboard City
That would be a waste of tears
Eat your pride and take their pity
Like you have so many years.
				

I'll sing to you of days departed,
Times when men proud and stouthearted carved their names on history's bloody pa
ge,
The corpse of chivalry long dead
Is turning in his loamy bed indignant at your new 'enlightened' age
White-collared knights at boardroom tables dream their own financial fables,
Fight to make their incomes larger - mounted on their 'credit charges.'
Held within the safety of this mundane existence -
Facing endless grey Mondays of dull nine to fives,
We all climb the social ladder with a dogged persistence,
Forging chains we shall carry for the rest of our lives.
We cannot see through clothes may maketh man they cannot give us shelter -
On this mortal helter-skelter if our loyalties are torn,
Between the values we believe in and the egos we are feeding -
We stand all together naked as the day we were born.
And so cast off the lies that are our lives and find the truth within.
SKYCLAD - the veil has lifted,
SKYCLAD - now I see through,
SKYCLAD - your mask of illusion, SKYCLAD - to the fake that is you.
Financial wizards read their spells from filofaxes
Concrete hells of their own making pass for Avalon.
These men self-made by shrewd investing spend their weekends child-molesting,
Lost in 'green-belt' dreams they do no wrong.
Your mortgage payment rocket -
Like your blood pressure rising,
Executive stresses are the dragons you fight.
In your Armani armour you are practically shining,
So have no code of honour - you must always be right.
Just give me a simple life - my tastes are not demanding,
And whatever life may hand me I'll accept it with good grace;
For I'm just a simple lad with few ideas about my station,
So ale and song will apt suffice to keep me in my place.
How can you know the cost of everything yet never see its worth?
If you think because you've paid the piper you should call the tune -
Well think again my friend life is a gain of chance,
By Fate's command we win or lose,
But still retain the right to choose
If we should stumble on - or shed our cares and dance
SKYCLAD - the veil has lifted,
SKYCLAD - no I see through,
SKYCLAD - your mask of illusion, SKYCLAD - to the fake that is you.
You charge each other for the time and breath it takes to say 'good morning,'
But the truth is slowly dawning - things are getting out of hand,
We all pursue our shattered dreams along the roads to our own ruin -
Watch our empires sink and wash away like castles made of sand.
And so cast off the lies that are your lives and find the truth within
				

There's a "Fat Cat" sitting in a Caddilac
Riding ten feet off the floor
Who says "I used to do a little, but I couldn't get enough
And so a little got more and more."
Well I've nothing to show for all these years -
But it still makes me smile
That the ones you always hear the most
Say nothing that's worthwhile.

No gold, no frankincense or myrrh we bring
Just faith and this "burnt offering"
So raise your voice with mine and sing
A hymn to long lost causes.

[CHORUS:]
Pledge allegiance to pretence
The white flag of indifference
You sought a grail forged of fools gold
And on the quest your souls were sold.

Living the life of milk and honey
I bet it tastes real sweet
Now the "chicks" are queueing cus
They all want screwing down on
Institution street.
Does it feel so cool when you act
The fool with "Charlie", "H" and "E"?
Well to my way of thinking there's
A whole lot of nothing where your
Brains should be.

This planet burns and you couldn't really care
That your head (unlike the Earth) is full of air
If there's anybody in there - time has come to face the real world

[REPEAT CHORUS]

They're walking tall yet heading nowhere
Shouting loud but saying nothing
So empty-headed, hollow hearted
Tell me how this farce got started

If there's anybody in there - time has come to face the real world.

[REPEAT CHORUS]
				

She came down from the Western Hills when we were not prepared
I turned deaf ears to words of warning now I'm running scared.
Casting caution to the wind now that the cat's away
I say my grace - fill my face (then for forgiveness pray).
Gon knows I was an honest man - the same as any other
Who loved his wife - worked all his life to keep his family
Until the 'beast' that never sleeps beneath my silken covers
Reared its head and bit its thumb at my morality.

[Chorus:]
Her passion for passion - it will devour
Cruel are the thorns of this delicate flower
Her lust for lust - it will consume
A siren song summons all men to their doom.

She whispered of her innocence - (a plea I must contest)
While baptising helpless sinners with a missionary zest
She will exorcise your demons - then exercise your thighs
Await your 'second-coming' with a hunger in her eyes.

Her sweetmeats are the souls of men - she'll gorge herself to bursting
And for yours her heart is thirsting - as a spider craves a fly
No mortal man could ever hope to suit her as a suitor
Sh'll rewrite the Kama Sutra if you'd care to watch her try.

[Repeat Chorus]

I reach for heaven - desire drags me down
When fools choose their king I'll be heir to that crown
A strange kind of madness I cannot condone
If you are without sin come cast the first stone.
				

My mind was a timebomb
That was set to explode
So I packed up my cares
Into the sunset I rode
A path to hell that's paved
With good intentions.

Well I guess you and I
Will never see eye to eye
But if there's one thing I'll be 
Glad to know when I die
It's that I never entertained your
'Can't Conventions.'

Two men gaze from behind
Their prison bars
One man sees dirt
The other sees stars

I'm just thinking aloud
Isn't thinking allowed?

Just let your mind wander
It may never come back
Set off on a new train of thought
On life's track.

I'm just thinking aloud
Isn't thinking allowed?
Why is nobody thinking?

How can you call me a failure
Or a social defective
When to find your own mind
You'd need a private detective?
I'm not a statistic or 
A regular family man.

I don't give a damn about public relations
I'll never live up to
Your great expectations
You can take or leave me
Just the way I am.

Your straight jacket emotions
Only stifle and kill
The spirit within us all
I call free will.

I'm just thinking aloud
Isn't thinking allowed?

Two men gaze from behind
Their prison bars
One man sees dirt
The other sees stars.

I'm just thinking aloud
Isn't thinking allowed?