1. |
One By One
03:38
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The general's army came in threes and fours
The rebel army fell one by one
The general cried as he warmed up their guns
Let them come, let them come
One by one, let them come
Well I guess that night we could have called it a day
Because to go outside was to sign our own lives away
In all truth, yeah we now have the vice
But if all my good comes with bad I will take it twice
And in the end there was fighting in the road
The one sniff of blood they need to tear to the bone
Well through soldier's eyes we see enemies
But they look the same, so what do we really see?
Men in blue or suits and ties
Either way we will never forget that night
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2. |
Hotel Kigali
02:49
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Endless conflict all the weakened suffer
Apathetic, dims the fire in their eyes
Hidden councils govern writhing borders
Early warnings for another genocide
Never history forget Rwanda
The world stood idle letting murderers decide
Foreign interest stirs a nest of hornets
The vulnerable stung the hardest every time
Romeo oh Romeo bore witness to the world
Armed with just a mandate to defend it on his own
Like a lion on a leash held restrained by a mouse
As the devil turned the land into a charnel house
Blood red memories, the horrors that you've seen
Post card holidays in Hotel Kigali
I get a shiver up my spine each time I think
Of the million specters left to linger on the brink
Paul oh Paul do you carry the torch of genocide?
Surely not forgotten yet the tears your people cried
I will believe it if it's vengeance that you seek
Never served will it be, targeting the meek
The guns that one your war if loaded long enough
Are going to fire back at you when they do go off
Romeo oh Romeo we need more men like you
Humanity that no machete can cut through
Endless conflict all the weakened suffer
Apathetic, dims the fire in their eyes
Hidden councils fuck with writhing borders
Deaf to the warnings, ignorant of genocide
Never history forget Rwanda
The world stood idle letting little children die
Foreign interest stirs a nest of hornets
The vulnerable are stung the hardest every time
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3. |
My Only Fear Is Worry
03:46
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We don't have any money, we don't have much time
Although we keep on telling ourselves things are fine
And if we have to worry, that is no good
My only fear is worry, is that understood?
Trying to make it through the Autumn
Without a working teleporter
Too much time sitting in that room
Simply working on our bad attitudes
And so we entered colosseums
Faced off with hordes of angry demons
Packed up like a tight little cube
It all went up in smoke and then was gone
Three came down with the sunlight
Postcards, metaphors of fun
We blended in with the wildlife
Hoping to catch a glimpse at one
They blazed like hay in a bonfire
Well made children of the sun
But they faded into the quagmire
Unaccustomed to the guns
And if that gives your heart a tremor
Face off with your mental dilemma
Head-butt a wall or two
Maybe you'll call yourself a fighter
Now get yourself a true opponent
Get them to punch and kick and beat you
Pray that it conditions you
To take a punch and maybe you'll survive
In the Spring of Ozymandias
Do you believe he really triumphed
When all that's left behind is ruin
That all imploded with a bang and a boom
And all we hear is news of violence
Too few stories of benevolence
What else is a poor boy to do?
But try to make it through this world alive
We don't have any money, we don't have much time
Although we keep on telling ourselves things are fine
And if we have to worry, that is no good
My only fear is worry, is that understood?
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4. |
Valerie Rose
03:34
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The first time I saw Valerie
she seemed well out of my league
Her darkness kept me at bay
afraid of the mystery
Downtrodden, brokenhearted
that's when the trouble started
Softly she beckons to me
I've been seduced by Valerie
Val was life of the party, big thrills, a little naughty
Chanting her mantra, remember the good times
She's just my summer fling, I can leave any time
A well placed cruel comment, portent of storms coming
Trapped within courtship, so desperate and fool-hardy
Icy tear drops, they well up in her eyes
Cascade down translucent lids, there chrystalise
This spark between us burns up and liquefies
Yeah yeah
It's now too late to work it out
This heart's so far past breaking
Shout over words that call me out
Valerie Rose has a hold on me
Her kiss cause shakes and fits, scream like a lunatic
Naked and in a rage Val left me alone now
My head is aching from all of the holes in the wall
Revved up and strung-out, tanked up yet blacked out
Caught up and left out, so desperate and fool-hardy
Hot burning anger smokes in my sweat-stream
Flows out of vacuous pores, sheds off her skin
Self-immolation guts, caves my head in yeah
Yeah yeah
It's now too late to work it out
This heart's so far past breaking
Shout over words that call me out
Valerie Rose has a hold on me
The last time I saw Valerie
She left me down on my knees
Defeated, confused and fey
Shot down by hyper-misery
Downtrodden, brokenhearted
Can't remember how it started
Softly she digs me my grave
I've been seduced by Valerie
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5. |
Problems and Solutions
03:09
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Meditating on life's problems and solutions
for too long can leave a person quite insane
So why am I awake, 4am on a Tuesday
Trying to sort out all these issues in my brain
Could it be that we have reached our limitations
I'm starting to think everyone looks the same
Fit to burst with all this useless information
When I leave this world at least I'll leave a stain
Words trickle down in ripples, sleep comes to me in waves
Ideas come in a strange hour, kind fate if still awake
Whipped so hard and fast like pistol cat-o-nine tails
Little fingernails tear flesh right off the bone
Angry silence and blank stares gives me an idea
Staying with it to appear as hard as stone
Come again but this time don't bring so much pressure
I get the bends every time you go away
Eighteen years ago I got a ticket number
I've been waiting since, near time I had my say
Tunes run from me in rivers, the right words on rare days
Ideas come in a strange mood, cruel fate to be this way
Words trickle down in ripples, sleep comes to me in waves
Ideas come in a strange mood, cruel fate to be this way
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6. |
Sing, Clap and Dance
02:31
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They came in the night armed with guns and machetes
High as the sky, young boys, men before their time
They crawled through the jungle like army ants on carrion
Committing unspeakable acts and though we cry she'll always
Sing, clap and dance
Sing, clap and dance
Liberians united for reconciliation
and democracy to stay Charles Taylor's hand
They charged down from Nimba into Montserado
In Monrovia they fired their mortars into civilian camps
Sing, clap and dance
Sing, clap and dance
Singing and clapping, clapping and dancing
Sing, clap and dance
They forced her to the ground while two men had her daughter
Pointed guns held her down with her husband by her side
They forced her to watch him as they cut off his head
And when she cried out they screamed "Sing, clap and dance."
So that's what she did as they finished their crimes
And to this day she is a broken woman
That's how we saw her in that refugee camp
And still she did (and will forever)
Sing, clap and dance
Sing, clap and dance
Singing and clapping, clapping and dancing
Sing, clap and dance
Sing, clap and dance
Sing, clap and dance
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7. |
Gettalong
04:34
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Do you know what time it happened?
Cigarette smoke and beer stained jackets
Oh how long can you keep having fun
forever it seems when you're twenty-one
A trip, a hit, a toke for freedom
But will it end when your brain is bleeding
Oh look at all those pretty things
you itch and scratch, there's bugs beneath your skin
Calling my so-called friends who can only lend me attitude
You will get what's coming to you
Calling all my real friends who still believe and speak the truth
Don't listen to a word they say
You'll inherit the world someday
Accommodating the evil agents
Lying back like a dying patient
Oh is this what they teach in school?
Exploitation is the golden rule
Live in fear of a final recall
A cataract to the outside world
Obeying all the prophecies
God and Devil thought up in the trees
Calling my so-called friends who can only lend me attitude
You will get what's coming to you
Calling all my real friends who still believe and speak the truth
Don't listen to a word they say
You'll inherit the world someday
The hills have eyes so watch your behavior
The hills have ears so watch what you're saying
The river-mouth you know will be talking
The hills tell lies so watch what you're listening to
Let's get along
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8. |
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Hey Dost, do you know what's right?
Do you know what's right? Do you know what's right?
Shah Shuja never put the fight to the English side so he paid the price
Galbuddin rode into Kabul on a fine old horse it was a Charlie-horse
The U.S. only learnt the risks like the soviets did it took them fifteen years
In the elegy of time we will just seem like a weekend's span
But will we ever look beyond the modern days of the common man
All the blights on our past are destined to repeat again
If we never ever look beyond the common ways of the modern man
Hey academic did you know that when you'd come back home
you'd see a puppet show
And no say would you get, no way,
all the foreign aid funded zealot crusade
Najibullah danced the kozachok
but he found it tough with his legs cut off
Ashraf Ghani should beware, I don't think they care
for that country-rock in Kandahar
In the elegy of time we will just seem like a weekend's span
But will we ever look beyond the modern days of the common man
All the blights on our past are destined to repeat again
If we never ever look beyond the common ways of the modern man
Hey television did you tell of the overseas hell, of the refugee hell
Does news tell of any abuse or where it lays its roots
so many to accuse
No coverage given to the fact the initial attack
it was a government backed
Hey Dost do you know what's right? I think you know what's right
Yeah you know what's right
In the elegy of time we will just seem like a weekend's span
But will we ever look beyond the modern days of the common man
All the blights on our past are destined to repeat again
If we never ever look beyond the common ways of the modern man
If the warning signs are ignored
the consequences always come on home
Till one day the West may play Kabul City Limits on the radio
Take a page out of history, the past is prologue, we're at chapter ten
It's better that we look beyond the common ways of the modern man
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9. |
Poison in the Pills
02:09
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On a hill with a chapel, a kindly old couple
The groundskeeper and the head librarian
Her I recall well, each smile for the children
He kept well to himself and seldom spoke
I thought nothing of it, his labor defined him
Intent, immersed in his work, he did it well
But was he so reserved at home with the family?
Was there a sadness behind those smiling eyes?
Who could have guessed how this story would end?
Of every man I've ever met there was never one like him
Revenge was his heroin, singing poison in the pills
Was he a jack-in-the-box who had been winding for years?
Taught, ready to spring
Or was he beat down by society?
Poor little Denis
A logical idea, a patent invention
No-one could criticize what Denis made
But Heron said no thanks, our methods are fine thanks
And they sent him back on his way, it was a shame
The taste in his mouth left as bitter as strychnine
the same that he used to show them how that it could be done
And all of the children who thought highly of him
Were lucky not tohave been the ones
Who could have guessed how this story would end?
Of every man I've ever met there was never one like him
Heron was his nemesis, singing poison in the pills
Was he a cat on the step who needs a pat on the head?
Every now and then
Or did he see himself as a godhead?
Poor misled Denis
Who could have guessed how this story would end?
Of every man I've ever met there was never one like him
Revenge was his heroin, singing poison in the pills
Was he a wolf on the prowl detecting blood in the air?
Did he pity his victims?
Is that why he hung himself in his prison cell?
Poor little Denis
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10. |
Ghosts (Under the Radar)
04:16
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They all tell me that we don't belong here
They all tell me that this is no home
And they all seem to speak empty promises
But they will see that we're not alone
And we don't have opportunities
Banging upon our front door
And we live like ghosts, under the radar
Yeah we're shocked and empty in bank
But we are not poor
Like we're diseased, no-one will take us
Like a deep freeze, we're out in the cold
But they will see their Rome is now burning
So don't cry to me, because you have been told
And we don't have opportunities
Banging upon our front door
And we live like ghosts, under the radar
Yeah we're shocked and empty in bank
But we are not poor
They all tell me that we don't belong here
They all tell me that this is no home
Do you know how it feels when you have to start over?
And everything behind you means nothing at all
And we don't have opportunities
Banging upon our front door
And we live like ghosts, under the radar
Yeah we're shocked and empty in bank
But we are not poor
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11. |
This Old Scene
04:10
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We came here by the longest roads and
We ruined it in the shortest time
Friendships forged in the fires of pity
Tend not to be the most rewarding or stand the test of time
Her figure casts the longest shadow even
though she stands with her back to the sun
Sunstroke has never been a problem
With a skin so thick it could never let anything in
But we care about you
We care about you
We care about your ways, your moods, your feelings
We care about your state of mind
We care about you
So don't you try to run away
Don't you hide
From this old scene
So soon it seemed we've grow much older
You'd think that we would grow more wise
But we left a bloody mess in our ruin
Unraveling the binding on our family ties
I know that you can feel forgotten
I know you can feel undermined
I know it can feel overwhelming
Is everybody else round you doing fine?
But we care about you
We care about you
We care about your ways, your moods, your feelings
We care about your state of mind
We care about you
So don't you try to run away
Don't you hide
From this old scene
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