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Kentucky Avenue



Well Eddie Grace's Buick got four bullet holes in the side
and Charlie DeLisle is sittin at the top of an avocado tree
Mrs. Storm will stab you with a steak knife if you step on her lawn
I got a half a pack of Lucky Strikes man so come along with me
and let's fill our pockets with macadamia nuts
and go over to Bobby Goodmanson's and jump off the roof

well Hilda plays strip poker when her mamas cross the street
Joey Navinski says she put her tongue in his mouth
and Dicky Faulkner's got a switchblade and some gooseneck risers
that eucalyptus is a hunchback there's a wind down from the south
so let me tie you up with kite string and I'll show you the scabs on my knee
watch out for the broken glass put your shoes and socks on
and come along with me

let's follow that fire truck I think your house is burnin down
asnd go down to the hobo jungle and kill some rattlesnakes with a trowel
... and we'll break all the windows in the old Anderson place
and we'll steal a bunch of boysenberries and I'll smear em on your face
I'll get a dollar from my mama's purse and buy that skull and crossbones ring
and you can wear it round your neck on an old piece of string

Then we'll spit on Ronnie Arnold and flip him the bird
and slash the tires on the school bus now don't say a word
I'll take a rusty nail and scratch your initials in my arm
and I'll show you how to sneak up on the roof of the drugstore
I'll take the spokes from your wheelchair and a magpie's wings
and I'll tie em to your shoulders and your feet
I'll steal a hacksaw from my dad and cut the braces off your legs
and we'll bury them tonight out in the cornfield
just put a church key in your pocket we'll hop that freight train in the hall
we'll slide all the way down the drain to New Orleans in the fall

Tom Waits
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Solsbury Hill



Climbing up on Solsbury Hill
I could see the city light
Wind was blowing, time stood still
Eagle flew out of the night
He was something to observe
Came in close, I heard a voice
Standing, stretching every nerve
Had to listen, had no choice
I did not believe the information
Just had to trust imagination
My heart going boom, boom, boom
"Son", he said, "grab your things, I've come to take you home"
To keep in silence I resigned
My friends would think I was a nut
Turning water into wine
Open doors would soon be shut
So I went from day to day
Though my life was in a rut
'Til I thought of what I'll say
Which connection I should cut
I was feeling part of the scenery
I walked right out of the machinery
My heart going boom, boom, boom
"Hey", he said, "grab your things, I've come to take you home"
(Hey, back home)
... When illusion spin her net
I'm never where I want to be
And liberty she pirouette
When I think that I am free
Watched by empty silhouettes
Who close their eyes but still can see
No one taught them etiquette
I will show another me
Today I don't need a replacement
I'll tell them what the smile on my face meant
My heart going boom, boom, boom
"Hey", I said, "you can keep my things, they've come to take me home"

Peter Gabriel
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Life in a northern town




The Salvation Army band played
And the children drunk lemonade
And the morning lasted all day, all day
And through an open window came
Like Sinatra in a younger day
Pushing the town away, oh

Ah hey ma ma mommy doo-din-nie-ya
Ah hey ma ma ma hey-y-yah
Life in a northern town
Ah hey ma ma ma ma

They sat on the stoney ground
And he took a cigarette out
And everyone else came down to listen
He said in winter 1963
It felt like the world would freeze
With John F. Kennedy
And The Beatles

Yeah, yeah
Ah hey ma ma mommy doo-din-nie-ya
Ah hey ma ma ma hey-y-yah
Life in a northern town
Hey ma ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma ma hey-y-yah
All the work shut down

The evening turned to rain
Watched the water roll down the drain
As we followed him down to the station
And though he never would wave goodbye
You could see it written in his eyes
As the train rolled out of sight...bye-bye
...
Ah hey ma ma mommy doo-din-nie-ya
Ah hey ma ma ma hey-y-yah
Life in a northern town
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma mommy doo-din-nie-ya
Ah hey ma ma ma hey-y-yah
Life in a northern town

Ah hey ma ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma mommy doo-din-nie-ya
Ah hey ma ma ma hey-y-yah
Ah hey ma ma ma ma

Make it easy on yourself
Society's so -
So hard to desert
So hard that you know
Make it easy on yourself
Life in a Northern Town, we'll get back up
Ah hey ma ma mommy doo-din-nie-ya
Ah hey ma ma ma hey-y-yah

Dream Academy
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Nothing Ever Happens


Post office clerks put up signs saying "position closed"
And secretaries turn off typewriters and put on their coats
And janitors padlock the gates for security guards to patrol
And bachelors phone up their friends for a drink
While the married ones turn on a chat show
And they'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow
Gentlemen, time please, you know we can't serve anymore
Now the traffic lights change to stop, when there's nothing to go
And by five o'clock everything's dead
And every third car is a cab
And ignorant people sleep in their beds
Like the doped white mice in the college lab
And nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
The needle returns to the start of the song
And we all sing along like before
And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow
Telephone exchanges click while there's nobody there
The Martians could land in the car park and no one would care
... Close-circuit cameras in department stores shoot the same movie every day
And the stars of these films neither die nor get killed
Just survive constant action replay
And nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
The needle returns to the start of the song
And we all sing along like before
And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow
And bill holdings advertise products that nobody needs
While angry from Manchester writes to complain about
All the repeats on T.V.
And computer terminals report some gains
On the values of copper and tin
While American businessmen snap up Van Goghs
For the price of a hospital wing
And nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
The needle returns to the start of the song
And we all sing along like before
And nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
They'll burn down the synagogues at six o'clock
And we'll all go along like before
And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow

Del Amitri
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