Lyrics
Real Estate
Cant help but laugh, to see signs that sell little slabs of topsoil for a koffer full of cash so many bits of paper with deadmen printed on.
Smart people feed their kids swapping names on titledeeds.
These official documents have as much to do with this living land as a finger does the moon that its pointing at.
"Do not let thy seed fall on barren ground. Go forth and multiply."
And the silos are full of missiles not wheat. The heaven's skin is an everwidening hole.
Chorus:
ALL THESE GRAND PLANS WILL ROT TO DUST: NO ONE OWNS THE LAND; THE LAND OWNS US!
She cared for us so good.
Our skin's strong and brown.
See these stones at your feet are teeth, these scattered sticks are thighbones.
Devil shoots it if moves - if it doesnt devil cuts it down.
Skin of plants eyes of blue, peer through three-legged eyes.
Paint big ochre lines across these rolling hills. Devil making real estate, next rain will wash those lines away.
And the silos are full of missiles not wheat.
Its getting so everybody can feel the heat.
Chorus:
ALL THESE GRAND PLANS WILL ROT TO DUST: NO ONE OWNS THE LAND; THE LAND OWNS US!
Some black winter soon this forest full of for sale signs, drive-in banks and diamond mines roulette wheels and storm drains monuments and watermains, will just be rust and dust.
We hang like parasites, from this planet's skin.
Digging, felling, ploughing, burning, building, blasting, just when we least expect it our host might just reject us.
And the silos are full of missiles not wheat and this sort of poison is no man's meat.
Chorus repeat.
Big Fat Hans
BIG FAT HANS - driving in his new car
BIG FAT HANS - you know he's gonna take you far
BIG FAT HAIMS - he thinks he's pretty smart,
he dresses up junk and calls it ART!
BIG FAT HANS - he' s gotta look groovy
BIG FAT HANS - his life is his own movie
BIG FAT HANS - he' s running this street,
his brain is electricity, his body is meat!
All over the world / every ghetto has its king
Big fish in small ponds / stick their fins in everything
People pay their dues for now
But who knows what tomorrow will bring!
BIG FAT HANS - Always pulls the girls
BIG FAT HANS - gives them diamons and pearls
BIG FAT HANS - he' s skimming every scam,
he lives like a god and forgets he' s a man!
BIG FAT HANS - he's never what he' d like to seem
BIG FAT HANS - likes to keep his hands clean
BIG FAT HANS - he's always talking dirty
BIG FAT HANS - he looks 18 but swears he's over 30
CHORUS REPEAT
BIG FAT HANS - like his champagne, coke and hash
BIG FAT HANS - he always pays cash
BIG FAT HANS - he 's always on the ball,
its hard to talk back with your back against the wall!
INSTRUMENTAL & portrait
BIG FAT HANS - he's gotta earn his pay
BIG FAT HANS - he sleeps all day
BIG FAT HANS - he hangs in trashy bars,
he tickles the waitresses and listen to guitars
CHORUS REPEAT
INSTRUMENTAL
BIG FAT HANS - has a hunch he won't live long
BIG FAT HANS - can't afford to put a foot wrong
BIG FAT HANS - gotta a sprint to stay ahead,
He keeps having dreams that he wakes up DEAD!
Late
Maybe its sunrise. The sky’s so black, its hard to tell. ++ At a guess it is light! ++ Check out to see what’s goin’ on. ++ Bicycle empty, the bed is gone. ++ Walls scream out in silent accusations, climb trees in a flood of information. ++ Wooden answer the door slams shut! ++ The bluntest blade is the one that cuts. + + Clock ticks to the beat of a heart. ++ Out of nowhere a little voice asks. ++ What's the time? What's the time? ++ Stupid question - Not the time! ++ Push it away - What is time? ++ It just wont go! SOMETIMES EVERYTHING IS NEVER ENOUGH. STAY HUNGRY JUST TO KEEP IN TOUCH. SPEND A LIFETIME TRY TO SHED A SKIN. PASS IT OVER TO THE NEXT OF KIN. ++ Woke in fright cant slip back into that sweaty tangle of indigestable dreams. ++ Open eyes stare empty hard at the clock! ++ Hands sweep the city sleeps. ++ Sea of heads on pillows, licking Freudian wounds, before another awful dose of cold reality. ++ Under-standing ear confess. Listen! (repeat) ++ Listen carefully - Got the time? ++ Time to kill - Got any time? ++ Time it well - It's not the time! ++ ALL THINGS ARE EQUAL BUT THEY DONT ADD UP! EACH PAGE WILL TURN DRINK FROM AN EMPTY CUP. RIVERS BLEED, THE DICE COMES DOWN. IF YOU SWIM FOR LIFE, YOU GOTTA DROWN. ++ Back home the castle's in ruins. ++ The servants of illusion have packed their bags. ++ Bad ideas crawl in through the plumbing... ++ If only an imaginary friend would call. ++ She'd ask - Are you alone? ++ We're so alone, (repeat to fade)
Rats in the Cellar
All began with a telegramme,
some distant uncle up and died,
in a bar room brawl, Calcutta.
Another black sheep in the family.
In his will he left me
an old colonial homestead, upstate,
a set of golf clubs and a beat up jalopy.
'Weeeeell' i said to myself,
time to don the family yoke!'
So i gathered essentials, quit my seedy
downtown motel tossed them in the wagon
and headed down highway 42.
Great expectations! The place was a dump!
From the out side a shambles —
the inside a museum
held itself togther with gravity
and lots of home-spun luck
Dust and sobwebs, hallowed relics
lots of stray cats.
Sure took some elbow-grease
to get that mother clean!
When i was done, i made myself a coffee,
sat down and read the local newspaper.
Front page story caught my eye,
It all got me to wondering,
Maybe i've moved in next to some psycho-pervert?’
Enough procrastination! Its time to tackle the cellar!'
A deep breath handful of flashlight,
I went down the stairs.
A big iron door — i pushed it open
suddenly all these big, dark, warm shapes threw themselves at me my flashlight fell on the floor
they're bitin at me 'THERE'S RATS IN THE CELLAR!'
Square One
Batten down the hatches / disconnect the bell
Fold the feelers down / slip back into the shell
At noon whisper secrets / down the bottom of a well
All your best intentions / they can go to hell!
I' M SHAKING HANDS WITH LONLINESS
I'M ON SPEAKING TERMS WITH MISERY
I' M A SYCOPHANT OF YESTERDAY
SINCE THE MOMENT YOU STOPPED WANTING ME
Pulse was getting softer / doctors took no risks
Our house was in a coma / a sickness of the bricks
We did our best to fill the cracks /but the mortar wouldn't mix
It reeked of euthanasia /every time we kissed!
CHORUS REPEAT
You cant go chasing happiness / gotta make it stick around
The world is rich with accidents / that explode without a sound
Guess its better to be drawing breath / than to moulder in the ground
I' m gonna wade out of this wicked mess / catch the next bus out of town!
CHORUS REPEAT