The Verlaines : Some Disenchanted Evening

Indie Rock / New-Zealand
(1989 - Homestead Records / Flying Nun Records)
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Lyrics


1. Jesus What a Jerk

Hey look at that guy, look at what he's worth
Rolls his cigarettes backwards
Jesus, what a jerk
He's got hay in his hay loft, flowers in his dirt
Revolts against his heartbeat every time it hurts
But he don't say a word - he's paralysed his song bird
It never used to be that difficult to sing

But I am no longer gonna help you
If you complain that I don't spit in your eye
I've got enough trouble ending up in hell before my time

Lost all his marbles, all his energies
Sunk in the ocean, bottom of the sea
But he got to know better, learnt some sympathy
Hurting other people vanished by degrees

And they said, "There's your crow's feet."
"There's your stay at home freak."
It never used to be that difficult to sing

But I am no longer gonna help you
If you complain that I don't spit in your eye.
I've got enough trouble ending up in hell before my time...

Oh I'm so impressed with the things I think about
I feel these things I'm never wrong about
I steal from the rich and I give it to the poor
They're so damn dumb that they don't know what it's for
They can't work out what they're supposed to use it for

And as he gets old, he digs a bigger hole
He's got itty-bitty creatures clinging to his toes
And he crawls on the floor, makes a lot of dough
Everybody loves him everywhere he goes

But I don't think he knows
He's closer to a stone's throw
To the place where it's impossible to sing

But I am no longer gonna help you
If you complain that I don't spit in your eye
I've got enough trouble ending up in hell before my time
In hell before my time
In hell before
My time..............



2. The Funniest Thing

Don't take me anywhere
Don't send me presents anymore
I've not got much; the piss is gone
You've taken it out of me so long
Those sweet mellow eyes - I've read them entirely wrong

Hey, could you have told me any earlier
Here's me thinking no-one was a better man
How long have you been living with him anyway?

You know the funniest thing about him
Is when it's time to go
He'll be the last to know

Hand me the big surprise
Turn 'round and close my eyes
And as a result my finger's burnt
My character is a bloodied shirt
Those sweet mellow eyes have made me entirely worthless

Hey, could you have told me any earlier?
Here's me thinking no-one was a better man
How long have you been living with him anyway?

You know the funniest thing about him
Is when it's time to go
He'll be the last to know...



3. Whatever You Run Into

You know some things about yourself
You know how to keep them in
You think you know your mind
Will hold you through thick and thin

Or whatever the weather throws at you
There will always be shelter here for you
And anything that you want is served for you
I know you need your sense of false security
Your clause to get you out

'Cos whatever you run into
Whatever you run into
Whatever you run into
Will lay you out

You take a selected group of friends
Whose reputations you fear
You're making all the noise
But they see you're still here

They don't care if you don't do what you say
Sit and talk like you did the other day
It doesn't alter a damn thing either way
You haven't moved and you can't do that much else
Except change the clouds

'Cos whatever you run into
Whatever you run into
Whatever you run into
Will lay you out

I know persuasion holds you back
Services that you owe
You try and fight it out
Paralysis still grows

And I can see that you're giving up the ghost
Can't get hold of the things you want the most
You chase your dream and the same old story goes
Like something throws you up in the air
And you land in a public house

'Cos whatever you run into
Whatever you run into
Whatever you run into
Will lay you out



4. Faithfully Yours

I would never have dreaded the sight of your face
If I had got lonely in some other place
But the devil must have intended to divorce me from grace
Oh how like an angel I have fallen
I don't really remember the depth of my state
I don't even remember if I question my faith
But I dreamed I wasn't a human, I was really a snake
Is that any worse than what I woke up to?

I am, you are, all of my dreams come true
Still waters run deep and blue
But it isn't as deep as the trouble I'm in with you

Someone call me a witness to say I'm insane
Someone tell her my double had taken my place
But the land is lag of a lawyer who would argue my case
And I am both a gaoler and a prisoner
This habit's older than Adam, the ordinary say
But you ain't never seen nothing no ordinary way
I can say as I stand here there's no blood on my face
But if I ever see I know there will be

I am, you are, all of my dreams come true
Still waters run deep and blue
But it isn't as deep as the trouble I'm in with you



5. Damn Shame

Somebody answer my front door
Somebody answer the telephone
The sun's an affliction
Someone's work of fiction
God tormenting all his drinkers
Get out of bed if you're still in there

Somebody answer my front door
Tell them that I am alive no more
No bygones be bygones
No shoulders to cry on
Just this piercing winter's morning
Brandishing its branding iron

You're an embarrassment -
You do not have the right to speak
After what you said about me last night
Shit doesn't bounce - it sticks
It's something that you should get used to
It may follow you the rest of your life

Don't try to persuade her of my better nature
All there is is black as ink
And front page of the morning paper

You're an embarrassment -
You do not have the right to speak
After what you said about me last night
Shit doesn't bounce - it sticks
It's something that you should get used to
It may follow you the rest of your life

You're an embarrassment -
If I were you I'd hope you'd shoot me
There's no act to follow that of last night
You've got a way with words that no-one else can emulate
I don't think anyone's that crazy to try

You're an embarrassment -
Do you know who you tried seducing?
You've got the world convinced you're out of your mind
Your foresight is next to none
You wove that rope and hung yourself
You're gonna feel it for the rest of your life

You're an embarrassment to be so sick in reputation
You should be quarantined and never let out
Your behaviour's beyond belief
It does not fear the burning question

Good morning... how you gonna live with yourself?



6. This Train

Hot sun or rain come
You can't stop this train that you're on
You can't hold no brakes on
You're out of control
And station by station you're waiting
For the golden barrier to welcome you home

Good soldiers and sailors keep both of their eyes wide open
They're usually rude to all curious man
But they told you that Jonah did not see the whale
And he was never the same way again

It must be so lonely where you ride
Wishing only at your side
The only one who knows you well
Each night is more familiar
Each one as cold as winter

You play down the hole within you
For another round they call you
Just one more town implores you
They're holding letters for you
All say how they adore you

You can't turn back now as a
Great crowd has come down
You think how it's all been worth it
The press hounds all hang round

The door of the train
And station by station
It all goes the same
These golden barriers to welcome you home
It must be so lonely
She sends her embraces by mail
Kisses by phone



7. Down the Road

Down the road and after all the money's gone
I'm only rich in reminiscing what is gone
One more blue dawn with a view I can't afford
I was king, now I'm pawned
They changed the rules to hell and gone
So let them move me

All I did the kids were always running down
I told them that they'd have time to think it out
When they're old, slow and ugly and got nothing to their name
They don't have much to say now I've been replaced
With a half-arsed kid half my age
His suit don't fit, for him they pay half the wages

I won't starve and I don't need money to burn
I never set my heart on foreign cars and trips all over the world
And I don't have to be concerned
Cos what you don't spend, you don't have to earn
And I don't need that bundle of nerves
It took me to get to work each day

But where do I go
When my day is already over at 8 am
By Monday, all the money's gone




8. We're All Gonna Die

I walk in the room and I look at my feet
There's death in the air but I lie through my teeth
And the message received is as clear as it's deep
That the Romans are feasting their eyes

It's not my idea of sport anymore
And I wouldn't have come if I'd been here before
As they leer and cavort
And they roll on the floor
And it's only a quarter to nine

And we're all gonna die
By the end of the night
We've got nothing to save
Our precarious lives
It's a question of time
They've got blood in their eyes
And they're all drunk as lords
And we're all gonna die

I used to expect some respect to be shown
But I'm watching my dignity sink like a stone
Where it's kicked and it's thrown
But I hope that they don't
Have other distractions in mind

And we're all gonna die
By the end of the night
We've got nothing to save
Our precarious lives
It's a question of time
They've got blood in their eyes
And they're all drunk as lords
And we're all gonna die

Dear God, I can't be what I'm not
But always a favour I'll owe
If you let me go home
Cos I'm dead if you don't



9. Anniversary

She said, "Sunshine will haunt you
And blue sky will taunt you
And beauty will court you with lies."

She said, "Autumn will bore you
And spring time will ignore you
And the cold wind will warm you at night."

And she asked me what kind of creature was I
That I harboured no rain in my eyes

Tell me why
Your cheeks are drier than mine
Are you too fragile to cry?

She said, "Laughter will hurt you
And children will disturb you
And dirges will serve you with light."

And she said, "By the time
That you open your eyes
There will not be a shoulder in sight."

Tell me why
Your cheeks are drier than mine
Are you too humbles to cry?

She said, "Sunshine will haunt you
And blue sky will taunt you
And beauty will court you with lies

And the next time you're bent
On a violent end
Don't take me along for the ride."

Tell me why
Your cheeks are drier than mine
Are you too frightened to cry?



10. Come Sunday

I don't need to get drunk you understand
It's just that tonight's an occasion
And although I've not brought the little lady along
There's no way I'm gonna win
Try to think things through
You never ask what you would do

When I went home he didn't attack me
When I told the old man we're gonna be married
There's no debate the motion's carried
It must be carried through

I've got prospects of working the land
The kid's got to have education
Whatever I sow I will reap when it's grown
It's better that way in the end

Your lives are idle dreams
Here in this bar room you think that you're free
And the old man looked overbearing
As under his breath he started swearing
He didn't say yes but then he's hard of hearing
He's hard of hearing me

The old man once said that you got to beware of what's behind you
The crudest of lures will catch you a sprat
But the trout is reliably wiser

People come out once in a while
They do not talk, they bellow
The stomach's grief is away underneath
They say things they don't even know
My mind has been made
'Til the dawn let abandon reign

Why do you whitewash the wall on Sunday?
Why do you build great ugly stone walls?
Why do you?



11. It Was

He stayed to see the end of an era come around
While the road to the north filled with people getting out
And he mistook the dawn for the sun as it was going down
He had a song in his heart like the joy of spring
And he felt like he could have tackled anything
And he was sure in his mind that his great design
Was gonna stand the world upon its head with admiration

It was
A monumental failure
Everyone was saying, "Well I told you."
After all he's nothing but a dreamer
Who never should have tried achieving anything else

I saw him before he was hidden in a shroud
Before all his dreams had come crashing to the ground
And I hear by rapport it would break your heart to see him now
Well he cracked like a bell and he turned to drink
Just a dull thud in place of a crystal ring
And the smile on his face
Still has not been traced
It hit the road the day before the final performance

It was
A monumental failure
Everyone was saying, "Well I told you."
After all he's nothing but a dreamer
He's just a dreamer
Who should have tried achieving anything else
He should have had the sense to keep his dreams to himself

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