Internal Exile

(dick/boult/simmonds)

He met the world as a dalkeith boy,
Raised from a shaft at monktonhall
In a well oiled cage,
That locked away his dreams,
An '85 veteran face from the gallery,
A ghost from the civil war in the family
He stood his ground on the picketline
'til all that he was left with
Were his father's cough
And his mother's eyes
That would hold a tear
For the very first time
When the government took his job away.
Now fist in hand he'll stand in line
Declare his name and mark his time
To some the only proof that they're alive

He could have been you
He could have been me
He could have been anybody
But he was born lucky

He made his first down payment
On a sharp italian suit
He sewed razor blades into the lapels,
See him sweating on the dance floor,
Cool dust oozing out of every pore
A hard man with a hard life,
And that's a story that he'll tell you
Down at easter road till his throat is raw
On a saturday, he knows the score
Till the whistle blows and,
The colours with their tempers fade away.

He could have been you
He could have been me
He could have been anybody
But he was born lucky

On the helipads at aberdeen,
Bound for platforms drilling oil rich seas,
Where the trawlers are getting fewer every year.
By the furnaces at ravenscraig,
By the padlocks holding john brown's gates,
In the desert, in the fields of south armagh,
Where the poppies grow,
Behind the hampden roar,
Behind the drums in genoa.
On the deck that rides a south atlantic swell,
Born to figh tout of the tightest corner.
You can bet on him with the odds against you.
They'll not put him down
No matter how they try.

(dick/simmonds/usher/boult)

If you really knew how i felt,
You wouldn't need to be here asking
Those questions,
Those irritating questions, moving in metaphors,
Speaking in tongues.

Your gunboat diplomacy,
You accuse me of heresy, of being irreverent,
My opinions irrelevant, when i smile at your smiles,
When you're speaking in tongues.

As we move to a stalemate,
You say a contract's a contract
& this is unnegotiable,
I question your morality, you question my reality
You're speaking in tongues

We are speaking in tongues,
Am i deaf because i cannot comprehend?
Though i try i just cannot understand.

Your entrenched opinions,
On the border of arrogance,
Dug in against the compromise.
A position indefensible, your actions illogical
You're speaking in tongues

You swear contradictions
Your tedious monologues, wielding authority,
Demanding subservience, demanding
I make your sense.
Demanding speaking in tongues.

(dedicated to rupert perry, md emi uk)

(dick/boult/simmonds)

I saw a blue umbrella in princes street gardens
Heading out west for the lothian road
An evening news stuffed deep in his pocket
Wrapped up in his problems to keep away the cold
Grierson's spirit haunts the dockyards,
Where the only men working are on
Documentary crews,
Shooting film as the lines get longer,
As the seams run out, as the oil runs dry.

Chorus: hey there laddie, internal exile!
When will you realise we've got to let go?
Hey there lassie, internal exile!
When will you realise we've got to let go?

Starlings wheeling round georgian spires,
And the fires of grangemouth burn the skies.
A lion sleeps in a tenement close,
In a country that's tired and deaf to his roar

(chorus)

They bury a wasteland deep in the wilderness
Poison the soil and reap the harvest,
Of blind indifference, greed and apathy
Sowed way back in our history
The fish are few the harbours empty
The keels now rot on our oil slicked shores
The sheep are gone, the farms deserted
We're out of sight and we're out of mind.

(chorus)

Like our fathers before us,
We've eyes for america.
Dream of a new life on foreign shores.
But wherever we go, we'll always know,
That the land we stand on, is never our own.


(chorus)

(speedy/keen)

Call out the instigators because there's something in the air,
We got to get together sooner or later because the revolutions here,
And you know it's right and you know that it's right.
We have got to get it together.
We have got to get it toggether now
We're together now.

Knock up the streets and houses because there's something in the air,
We got to get together sooner or later 'cos the revoluttions here
And you know it's right and you know that it's right
We have got to get it together
We have got to get it together now

Hand out the arms and ammo
We're gonna blast our way through here
We've got to get together sooner or later becaue the revolutions here
And you know it's right and you know that it's right
We have got to get it together
We have got to get it together now
We have got to get it together now
Now, we're together now, the revolutions here,
It's here, the revolutions here now.

(dick/usher)

Some times i feel i lost something
In gaining everything,
But i can't put my finger on what it was,
It's just one of those nagging feelings,
Like sitting with your back to an open door
Waiting on a favourite stranger.

I find it hard to talk about, its not easy
As you might expect
Just sitting here waiting, trying to accept
That there's something missing,
That there's something not quite there
And that's why you're sitting there.
Listening to me as i try to explain that

Chorus: you're my favourite stranger
But don't read between the lines,
I could say that i love you at this moment
In passing time,
But i could honestly tell you
I don't know why i'm here,
Sharing all my problems with you
When you've already got your own share,
From favourite strangers.

Maybe it's just i need an audience to
Pretend it's all an act,
But all i gain is your confidence
And a number in a filofax
On the terms that it's a first name
That'll run one day in split champagne
And i'll recollect and just accept
That you were one of my favourite strangers.

(chorus)

Sometimes i know i lost everything
In gaining something,
But i can't put my finger on what it was
Its just one of those nagging feelings
Like sitting with your back to an open door,
Expecting favourite strangers.