1. CITIES ON FIRE

So fire it is, to make our dark streets clean again
Like a reset button on our lives
Like hands of God just dusting off the blackboard

And with all we worked for gone
And all we cherished lost
We can start again

So play your violin
And breathe the sulphur in
Take it on the chin
As London sheds its skin

Play your violin
And try to hide your grin
As it burns away your sin
And London sheds its skin

"Where are your churches and libraries?
Where are your books and your memories?"

We burned it all
We burned it all...


2. WE'RE ALL GOING HOME IN AN AMBULANCE

At school the choices I made
Were rock and roll bands
And getting good grades
But brains and wearing all black
To some of these guys
It's like a red flag

The taste of anyone's fist
Is not a good vibe, or something I've missed
I was intimidated, assaulted, and for what?
I hope they choke

Shrugged off the shit in my youth
Like growing up pains or losing a tooth
But it's not a matter of age
They're everywhere
These people don't change

When I was in New York,
A woman tried to start a fight with me
Because she thought I was Jewish,
And somehow it felt wrong to tell her the truth
That I wasn't
I pray to God she chokes...

You're going home in a fucking ambulance
You're going home in a fucking ambulance
You're going home in a fucking ambulance
We're all going home in a fucking ambulance!

I once saw a man
With blood on his face
From beating up black kids
And I could hardly breathe

Your race, your faith
Or just your clothes incite
They drink and they fight
It's not safe out tonight

Your race, your faith
Or just your clothes incite
They drink and they fight
So don't go out tonight

Don't!

And if your mum and dad hit you as a child
I feel sad for you, but that's no excuse for it
Who says it's okay to behave in this way?
I can't help but feel it's us

For the sake of our own skin
We walk away, and it's like we all say
That's alright, it's alright, it's alright...
That's alright, it's alright, it's alright...
That's alright, it's alright!

I wish I had the guts to stand up for myself
And for the others as well against these fuckers

Choke...


3. SUFFOCATION OF THE SOUL

I thought that I was full of
Such hope and light and such love
But all my words, I wrote them for you
And all my songs, I sang them for you

Photos of me, they all show
A staring man, I don't know

You know that I've been through
All this nonsense with you
And all my words, I broke them for you
And all my plans, I snapped them in two

I could create like it was stealing
I love to sing how I was feeling
I had a soul that burned for beauty
But who gives a shit?
I must admit
Oh yes...

I've lost it a little bit

I can't breathe this atmosphere
Wait 'til I get out of here
'Cause I have wasted year after year
And smile I may, but it's insincere my dear

My dear...


4. DEADLY LETHAL NINJA ASSASSIN

Soft little body, swollen by the sun
Waiting for the break that he knows will never come
Four brittle limbs weak from under-use
And a head full of words

Long green hair, funny looking dude
Big mouth on him and a wicked attitude
And at first impression he must seem kind of rude
But he does his best, yeah

Anyway...

I want to be just like you
Get myself a job and a really cool tattoo
I want to be just like you
Get myself a job and a really cool tattoo
I'm walking home beside you
Your hair is long and blonde
And your eyes are both bright blue
I want to be just like you in all I do

Jimmy got drunk on his way to class
Swinging from the roof, showed everyone his ass
And if you ask him why, he shakes his head and laughs
There was nothing for it

Stacy got laid, boyfriend number one
Took him to her room and had a little fun
She's wearing out her voice telling everyone
And you can't ignore it

And anyway...

I want to be just like you
Get myself a job and a really cool tattoo
I want to be just like you
Get myself a job and a really cool tattoo
I'm walking home beside you
Hair is long and blonde
And your eyes are both bright blue
I want to be just like you
Get myself a job and a really cool tattoo
A really cool tattoo...

Don't take it so hard
Don't take it so hard
Don't take it so
Don't take it to heart
Don't take it...

Don't take it so hard
Don't take it so hard

It is only 'cos I like you
You are everything I wish I could be
Maybe if I'm like you
Baby, would you like me?

You're dressed like a Victorian at a swimming pool
You're dressed like a Victorian at a swimming pool
You're dressed like a Victorian at a swimming pool
You're dressed like a Victorian at a swimming pool

You are dressed like a deadly lethal ninja assassin -
All in black...

I want to be just like you, yeah

I want to be just like you
Get myself a job and a really cool tattoo

I made you Trent Reznor
Spinning on his back with a motorised action
You made me a red and black scarf
I wear it round my neck, but no motorised action

No motorised action...


5. AN ACT OF KINDNESS

I'm trying to make up my mind
Madness or cruel-to-be-kind?
Your mother was sick or blind
When she gave her child away

But what she did, she did out of love
She must have meant it as an act of kindness
And having never had a kid myself
I cannot understand the pressures

"You must be sick in the head,
You need a hospital bed" she said
"Properly fed," she said
"Or you're going to wind up dead"

So you were put in the hands of science
Strangers who understood better than mothers could
It was really "for your own good".

See, we find these ways to justify it all
Are they really working?

I'm trying to make up my mind
I'm trying to make up my mind

I'm trying to make up my mind
It gets harder every time
I see a baby-mother
Or think about growing up and having kids

Oh God, she must have done it out of love
I must believe it was an act of kindness
I keep imagining the film 'Girl, Interrupted'
With less attractive inmates

"All of the things that you feel,
They are a fucking disease" they said
"We diagnosed it with ease" they said
"There is no hope of release" they said

So you found yourself
Inside a prison with no escape
Tied to a gurney with thick red tape
Nursing a wound that is mother-shaped

"When can I go back home?
I want to make a fucking call
All these pills do is make me sleep..."

One two!
One two!
One two!
One two!

You wished you could unmake yourself
Become something else
To be something awful
"To be smoke and shadow."
Smoke and shadow

Smoke and shadow
Smoke and shadow
Smoke and shadow
Smoke and shadow
Smoke and shadow

I understand the idea, that A.D.D. is an imbalance
Depression that is an imbalance of chemicals
It makes sense

But couldn't you argue that everything is?
Joy, fear, anger, sadness?
Can you diagnose love?
Can you diagnose loss?
See, we find these ways to justify it all
But is it really working?


6. CRUSHED UNDER THE WEIGHT OF THE ENORMOUS BULLSHIT

I can still remember
When I first heard the riff
That opens 'Nevermind' up
My neck-hairs stood up stiff

And since those first discoveries
I've tried to recreate
The feeling I had back then
But nothing sounds that great

Please give me an album
That I love straight away
That I don't have to grow into
After constant play

See, I buy a lot of records
And take most of them back
'Cos I feel that disappointment
After just one track and

I can't move on...

Last band stole my heart
Was Every Time I Die
I loved every second
But now three years gone by

When I heard 'Worship and Tribute'
I thought my dreams come true
But listening to most other bands
It seems they all did too

I don't like these rays
These rays are so light
The rays are light
Razorlight, razorlight, razorlight, razorlight

All this eighties indie
Sounds like shit to me
'Cos I don't like Joy Division
I don't like Morrissey

Or their new impersonators
The kings of MTV
Suckling at the teat of
The fucking enemy

I can't move on.


7. GOOD LUCK

Long ago, I woke up early
For a job I used to love
But then, one Saturday morning
My boss gave me the shove

He made it clear that
I was not needed anymore
He had to hire in some other guy
While we were away on tour

But a few words in his defence:
There was no bullshit pretence
And it made perfect business sense
So he sent me away, and I wanted to say

"Okay. Well, good luck.
I hope I never see you again.
Good luck, yeah..."

There was this girl I slept with
She got inside my head
And when I say 'slept', I don't mean just sex
I mean we shared a bed

I thought that we were married
I thought we'd be okay
But then she made it clear that
She didn't feel that way

She said "It was lovely at the start
But there's a space inside my heart
And I think we have grown apart

So go take a hike."
Man, I was just like...

"All right. Well, good luck.
I hope I never see you again
'Cause if this is goodbye..
Then, good luck. Good luck.
I hope I never see you again
'Cause if this is goodbye...
I hope that you die."

'Cause if you hurt me
I will hate you -
It's just as simple as that.
It's not mature
And it's not progressive,
But that doesn't alter the fact that...

If you hurt me, I will hate you
If you hurt me, I will erase you
If you hurt me, I will hate you
If you hurt me, I will forget you
I will forget you


8. AGONY / AGATHA

Just a big bass line and drums
Got guitarists sucking their thumbs
For a bar or two that's how to do it!

Press the keys, it makes it swell
I don't pretend I can play very well
But I like what piano brings to it

Before the idea gives way
I press 'Record' and I press 'Play'

'Cause like a pain in my head
It won't let go!
Like a beast in my bed
I can't say no!
Like a crack in the windshield of my soul
It is agony, Agatha

Just a verse and a chorus now
In my brain, playing around and around
And around on a loop under my bonnet

Sometimes when I'm trying to write songs
I imagine I turn the radio on
And think about what I'd like to hear on it

Thumping drums and chords
That's what I'm all about
Add bass and keyboards
And you've got everyone rocking out! Yeah!

'Cause like a pain in my head
It won't let go!
Like a beast in my bed
I can't say no!
Like a stain on the carpet of my soul
It is agony, Agatha...

Oh Agatha, it's agony...


9. THREE HAIL MARYS

I am regret
I am doubt
I am alone
I am without
I am despair
I am guilt
I am the sand on which I built
I am malaise
I'm wasted youth
I am agression
I'm ugly truth
I am refusal
I am attack
I got the world sat on my back

And I can't stand the weight
And I can't stand the weight
And I can't stand the weight
And I can't stand the weight

I am revolt
I am abuse
I am 'gave up'
I am excuse
I'm pessimism
I'm jealousy
I am impatience and bigotry
I am a pain
I am a bore
But when you sing
People tend to listen more
Is this a song?
Well no, it ain't
This is a musical complaint

I got hate
I got rage
I got enough for twice my age
And this feeling of distaste
Will not desist, it will not stop

And I can't stand the weight
And I can't stand the weight
And I can't stand the weight
And I can't stand the weight
And I am going to break

These things in my heart
Dark and disgusting
Feeding and growing
Taking over

All of us are born the same
The same as Pol-Pot
The same as Christ
And it's all within my frame
To do something awful
Or something nice

Say three hail marys for me

Girl, your mouth is open wide
And I can see everything inside
You better keep your mouth shut for now
Ah, girl, yeah your mouth is open wide
And I can see everything you hide
You better keep your mouth shut

Girl, your mouth is open wide
And I can see everything that you hide
All of the times that you lied
So keep your mouth shut
Keep your mouth shut
Keep your mouth shut
Keep your mouth shut
Keep your mouth shut

Where'd you get that face?
How's about you bring it back to my place
And keep your mouth shut?


10. BLOOD BUNNY LARKHALL

Your taking sides
Your wrong or right
Your run or fight
Your choice

Your taking sides
Your taking sides
Your taking sides
Your taking...

I feel like reading books is
Wrapping me up in layers of history
Layers of history

And I feel like singing songs is
Wrapping me up in layers of history
Layers of history
Oh yeah

Your holding hands
Your making kids
Your growing old
Dying

Everything you do
Now matter how small it might seem to you
Affects something else
Trust me, it's true!

'Cause I feel like being here is
Wrapping me up in layers of history
Layers of history

And I feel like seeing this is
Wrapping me up in layers of history
Layers of history
Oh yeah

I feel like breathing in is
Wrapping me up in layers of history
Layers of history

Just simply existing is
Wrapping me up in layers of history
Layers of history
Oh yeah

I feel like being here is
Wrapping me up in layers of history
Layers of history

I feel like feeling this is
Wrapping me up in layers of history
Layers of history

Oh yeah


11. SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING

Do you remember our best adventure?
Stealing off to climb Westers Hill?
Creeping out of our house at midnight?
Do you remember on the way down after
I cut my leg right open on that fence
And I cried and I cried?

It was just a hill we climbed that night
But it felt like...

The Top of the world!
"Top of the world, ma!"
Top of the world
I'm on top of the world

"Our teachers had faith in their lessons
Their doctrine, but these facts are unreliable,
These cracks are undeniable," you said

"Do you feel the warmth beneath your feet?
That's 'cause the Earth is so very old."
They should have warned us years ago
We should have been told
That secret kept by Mum and Dad which covered everything:

"At first it's dark
And then it's light
And then it's dark again..."

You're bleeding, but it's alright
'Cause we'll stay awake the whole night
'Cause I found a rock in an ancient place
And it's older than the human race
So let's build a fire, a homing light
For astronauts and satellites
For scientists with soldiers' hearts
For pioneers of Earthly arts

You and me we're dead in the blink of an eye
We've been and gone we're dead in a blink of Earth's eye.