The Horrors : Strange House

Garage Rock / United-Kingdom
(2007 - Loog)
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Lyrics

1. JACK THE RIPPER

Walking down the streets of London late at night
Night is crawling and something's here
I've seen him late, late, no
No, no, Jack the Ripper

Every now and then my mother calls
The ripper, Jack the ripper
Running around disturbing growls
The ripper, Jack the ripper
I've seen him, in my dreams
Oh no, no

Jack the ripper
Jack the ripper
Jack the ripper
Jack the ripper

Now my mother's dead and buried
The ripper, Jack the ripper
We found her bones everywhere
The ripper, Jack the ripper
I've seen him in my dreams
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

Walking down the streets of London late at night
The ripper, Jack the ripper
Night is crawling and something's here
The ripper, Jack the ripper
I've seen him in my dreams, oh no

The ripper, Jack the ripper
The ripper, Jack the ripper

Just screams
Just screams


2. COUNT IN FIVE

Count
Yeah, I count in fives
I do it everytime
And if another number confronts me
I will cut you in half

Irrespective of the subject I will make it apply
No matter what the object I will count in fives
Tell me the location I will stand outside

Oh yeah
If you give me too many
I will multiply
Force too many into my hand
And I will not comprehend

Irrespective of the subject I will make it apply
No matter what the object I will count in fives
Tell me the location I will stand outside

Oh yeah
Another number confronts me
And I force it to divide
The first time with someone holding my hand
The second, me holding it out

Irrespective of the subject I will make it apply
No matter what the object I will count in fives
Tell me the location I will stand outside

Oh yeah
If you try to deceive me
I feel it burn in my hand
Now watch the numbers run to me
As I count them in fives


3. DRAW JAPAN

Butcher the paper with a ravenous pen
Carving out trees and scoring skin
Animals too placed in plastic cages
Carted around these filthy pages
I will draw Japan, I will draw Japan, hey

Spectres holding sceptres with fingers thin
Empty vessels asserting, we are still King
We are still King
Black stuff running like nosebleed danger
Swarming towards the source of the noise
I will draw Japan, with fervent hands, hey

Black cells depict a foreign land, I draw Japan
Sleeping city emits no sound, in this compound
No beast awalks in this compound
No beast awalks in this compound

I will draw Japan with a ravenous pen
Hungry for oil and iron and tin
To your left a concrete factory
Smoke billows, fists punch, Victory
And my hands start shaking, and Japan starts shaking, hey

And I begin to draw out Japan in the shape of a man
Seen rushing through a market town, through the compound
No beast awalks in this compound
No beast awalks in this compound
No beast awalks in this compound
No beast awalks in this compound


4. GLOVES

Today I found a baby's glove
Lying on the drainage board, so still
Yesterday a leather glove
From the slim fingered hand of a woman

The next time I saw one
It was lying half frozen
And twisted on the kerb
And I couldn't take it

Now I have my own private collection
All lined in rows when you open up the wardrobe doors
Now I have no room for my obsession
Lined up and labeled in neat little packets

The next time I saw one
It stuck inside my head
And became all that
I could think about

And through wax seals and padlocks
A hand through my ribcage
Past the choking I saw palms and fingers grasping
Shoulders, collarbone, crushing
I imagined myself
Hacking desperately at a sea of appendages,
Forward and right
Freeing myself like a butcher,
Feeling the mash of bone and sinew
Running slowly down the front of my body
And I couldn't take it any more

I said, I've got to go
I've got to get out of here
I've got to go
And I ran down the street
I've got to go
I've got to get out of here
I've got to go


5. EXCELLENT CHOICE

Morgan moves back to the familiar charms of his fiery days when Morgan still felt something
No longer, Morgan's like a slave, three feet of paper and a family of four
Morgan wonders why his wife is so slow, blames his wife for his slow love
He shakes his head as he climbs into bed
Grits his teeth as he moves between the sheets
Morgan feels like sudden laughter when he sees
He doesn't sleep much on account of a terrible pain in his head
And sometimes Morgan sits up in the loft reading from a book of children's stories
Jaws no ordinary sucking harder, sagging eyelids and pocked cheeks
Intelligent the television buzzes and crackles and preaches
Morgan feels like his family have made a conscious effort to cause him misery.
His taste buds have deserted, sneaking away from his wife's cooking
Morgan dreads the family meal, clenching one hand under the table
The bland wall hangings nod at the food in recognition
They are all too familiar with one another

Now, listen
Well I don't want to question your decision
In my opinion you've made an excellent choice
I don't want to put the doubt in your mind
In my head , well, you're just fine excellent choice
Excellent choice, excellent choice

Morgan's work for minimum wage is no comfort whatsoever
He thinks about the items that have sapped his money over the years
shoe polish, oven cleaner, vacuum bags, sugar substitute
A pathetic collection of unwanted gifts and dream-sapping commerce
Any creative reserves once stored are long gone.
Morgan seethes at the realisation he has given his children too much of the little he has
Morgan wishes his family dead

Now, listen
Well I'm not trying to alter your opinion
I'm so happy that you've finally found your voice
I don't want to put the doubt in your mind
In my head, well, you're just fine excellent choice
Excellent choice, excellent choice
Excellent choice, excellent choice

Lacking imagination, and full of despair, Morgan turns tail and leaves without a word
The door shuts compliantly as he moves outside
Morgan crunches down the path with regular, driven feet
pushing through the grey clouds escaping his mouth.
Approaching the train tracks, he sighs, lays flat across the line, and shuts his eyes.


6. LITTLE VICTORIES

I press your hand in mine however cautiously,
I keep a smile right to myself
And I lapse into the grasp of an overriding obsession
And I get sick as I watch my interests fall into suspension

This winter
So cold, Creeping down your arm
Stealth soldiers, Creeping around your palm
It's so hard, hard to understand
Little victories won creeping around your hand

The sickness has taken hold through violent, blurted syllables
Escape my mouth under my breath
The voice of pricking dread is whispering insistent in my ear
My paranoia galvanised by your gaze, so austere

This winter
So cold, Creeping down your arm
Stealth soldiers, Creeping around your palm
I know it's hard, hard to understand
Little victories won creeping around your hand

I pinned your crest to my chest, hoping it might start to look right
There was hushed talk of young boy's corpse lying face down in some river
His hands used to move like mine
I can't stand myself this morning, I am practically that boy
No strength to endure, Ghostly insecure, Pallid through lack of choice

This winter
So cold, Creeping down your arm
Stealth soldiers, Creeping around your palm
I know it's hard, hard to understand
Little victories won creeping around your hand
Creeping around your hand


7. SHE IS THE NEW THING

She's a special girl, you know
The kind I'd hope to see
Hanging on a wall
Watching me cross the street

I wonder how long it will be
Before I'm sick of her
And I no longer care
Where she goes or has been

'Cause she's the new thing
'Cause she's the new thing
She is the new thing
'Cause she's the new thing

She is the new thing
She is the new thing
Another new thing
Feel my stomach sink
As I cast myself in
She is the new thing
Always the new thing
Staring at her
Alterior girl

Once she had me on my knees
Enamoured with disease
Now, she fails to impress
A different sickness
A different kind of sickness
Lacking any interest

And I, sunk in apathy
Totally absorbed in me
Sitting vacant on my own
My senses lying prone

She was the new thing
She was the new thing
She was the new thing
Another new thing
Another new thing
Another new thing

She was the new thing
Another new thing
Feel my stomach sink
As I curse my slow limbs
She was the new thing
Another new thing,
Staring at her,
Alterior girl,
I cast myself into whatever she brings
Another new

With sickness,
It ends how it begins
First mine then hers
And then the cycle blurs
As my actions reoccur
Through no fault of my own
Through no fault of my own
Through no fault of my own
Through no fault of my own
I am a new thing
I am a new thing
I am a new thing
I am a new thing


8. SHEENA IS A PARASITE

Sheena is a champion of self-reliance
As soon as she needs it
She knows just where the knife is
Her fingers aren't so fast anymore
It's been 29 years since she came to these shores

Sheena is a Parasite
Sheena is a Parasite
Sheena is a Parasite
Sheena is a Parasite

Send her back to the sea they cried
But Sheena spat bile ‘till they let her lie
She claims she's working for the Lord
But you know what she's looking for

Sheena is a Parasite
Sheena is a Parasite
Sheena is a Parasite
Sheena is a Parasite

Sheena's ambition sneers at your routine
And behind that glass she sits, cold
If Sheena was buried no one would care
She hates everyone she knows, no one

Sheena is a Parasite
Sheena is a Parasite
Sheena is a Parasite
Sheena is a Parasite

Send her back across the sea
Back across the sea


9. THUNDERCLAPS

Watch them speak in thunderclaps
No one more or much as Jack
It's a knock them dead show:
Pipes and joints, greased hinge and bone
One more for the slaughterhouse
For the slaughterhouse

Force from the butcher, machine-like
One mighty hand at shoulder height
Feet tread heavy on the black floor
Look at the breadth of those fingers
One more for the Chopping board
For the Chopping board

Cast me in this violent light
Pull my hands from my eyes

Hours go by in thunderous form
I can't go on I can't go on

I'll do myself in
I'll do myself in
I'll do myself in
I'll do myself in


10. GILL SLEEPING

(Instrumental)


11. A TRAIN ROARS

Outside a Train roars
The clatter is deafening
Louder than everything
Drowns what you were saying

And the Boys get on the back of that train
Their clamour is deafening
Louder than everything
And they accept no warning

And me in my brilliant red shirt
And my shirt hangs open at the neck
The Train is always passing through
The Train is always passing through

Male passengers turn their heads
Following the passage
Of a beautiful Duchess
Running from carriage to carriage

And it ploughs through the city
And everyone rides the Train
It ploughs a primal instinct
To rail against better sense

The train is always passing through
The Train is always passing through
The Train is always passing through
The Train is always passing through

And me in my bloodstained shirt
My body hangs open at the neck
It is always passing through
It is always passing through
The train is always passing through
The Train is always passing through
Through me
Through me
Through me


12. DEATH AT THE CHAPEL

On a night of weddings he decides to change the setting,
And as he feels himself start to sicken,
Oh too late for Jimmy,
Adjusts his goggles as the fog begins to thicken.

Under shadow of the chapel he saw Jimmy run for cover,
And pushing down on the accelerator,
Oh too late for Jimmy,
Ducking down as the young man flew over the bonnet.

A heart as black as coffee he smashed into John and Betty,
Screaming, "No one will ever love you!"
Too late for John and Betty,
And the realisation hit them like a fist,
Like this.

You know what's next for Eddie as he dives behind a pillar,
Looking back on his motorcycle,
Oh too late for Eddie.
Turning around to face the cackle behind him

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