Suits

Me, i'm a nothin' double zero trying to do something
Me, i'm a screwball, tired of being put down
Tired of being shot down
I'm gonna put some ink on the white sheets
Gonna put some blood on the white sheets
Me, i'm no dummy

Me, i wear colours bright and righteous
Serve them with honour
Me, i'm a weapon, a gun for hire teaching the lesson
Gonna be the guy in the white suit
Gonna get my hands on the white suit
Cos me, i'm no dummy

Ducking and diving, thieving and lying, scrounging and sciving, surviving
Ducking and diving, thieving and lying, scrounging and sciving
Ducking and diving, me no dummy just surviving

Me, i got muscle, no qualifications needed to hustle
Me, i'm a killer ready for the role of the serial killer
Gonna get my hands on the white suit
Ready for the fitting of the white suit
Cos me i'm no dummy

Ducking and diving, thieving and lying, scrounging and sciving, surviving
Ducking and diving, thieving and lying, scrounging and sciving

Ducking and diving, me no dummy just surviving
I am just surviving look at me no dummy

I'm gonna shoot down the shopping mall gonna get me a name
When they catch me all dressed up i'm gonna blow them away
I'm gonna blow them away

(dick/cassidy/boult)

Here i sit in my bones, on the bones upon the hill
Staring out at the wild, blue yonder
Digging deep, i'd found buttons in my pockets
Naked now my skin begins to crawl
I dream suits, i see suits
Looking back, was there ever such a moment
Immersed in mystery i was witnessing a crime
Digging deep i came across a murder
Among the roots of our spreading family tree
We learned to love, we learned to kill
We taught ourselves to rule the world
I dream suits, i see suits
Do you see suits, can you dream suits?

There i stood, face pressed against the window
I know his number, but i'll never know his name
Behind the glass buried in the sockets
A recognition, my skin begins to crawl
We learned to love, we learned to kill
We taught ourselves to rule this world
But who's the one we're frightened of
We are the sons of 1470

The geese fly chevrons cross the night sky
Heading south, the hunters lead them on
Jets trail the hems of skirts of angels
A train threads along that very floor
So here we live in our bones, on the bones beneath the soil
Staring out, mortal in the darkness
Digging deep we try to find the answers
To all the questions that hatch within our skulls
We learned to love, we learned to kill
We taught ourselves to rule this world
For who's the one we're frightened of?
We are the son of 1470
I dream of suits. do you dream suits?

(dick/paterson/boult)

Rosebuds scattered across the lawn like the squares at waterloo
With bayonets of thorns repelling small children in search of lost tennis balls
Imaginary cannonballs that were fired at the legs of galloping cavalry
Resting their dreams in the shade of the apple trees
Toy soldiers drunk on warm lemonade
And the children dream of glory and fortunes of war
Safe in bed with stories of fortunes of war, fortunes of war

As the sun sets low on these playing fields
An army returns bearing swords and shields
Dustbin lids and raspberry canes they'll live to fight another day
For warriors medals, milk bottle tops
Battle flags fashioned from mother's old table cloths
Bright colours run in the summer rain

Sometimes when they fall they will pretend that their hankie is a bandage to stop the bleeding
And imagine city streets and desert storms and foreign fields
There's bullets flying, these are the fortunes of war

I heard a wheelchair whisper across a stale, stagnant gymnasium
Trailing an ivy league jacket like a matador
Through the jitterbug steps of the night before
I followed him down to the church parade
Where he makes his peace every armistice day
I watched him fade away, melt in the autumn rain

For sometimes when they fall they can't pretend
That the hankie is a bandage that can't stop the bleeding
They're out in city streets and desert storms or foreign fields
With bullets flying, these are the fortunes of war
While their children dream of glory and fortunes of war
Safe in bed with stories and fortunes of war
Of uniforms and glory, fortunes of war, fortunes of war

(dick/cassidy/boult)

They'll always find a place for you in the sidewalk cafes
No one ventures into the streets these days
Except strangers and those like me, looking for work
I noticed the smell when i got off the bus
And traced it down to a canal that ran
Right through the heart of the city
Like an open vein full of black rotten blood
A mirror surface broken only by the bubbles of gas
Escaping from the stagnating mess that lay on the bottom
Fuelled by the chemicals and effluent of the city
Which was fed, in turn, by the barges and the ships
That followed that line and created the waves across that
Surface to the dockside where they unloaded their holds,
The swarms of people clambering over them
I sat down in a cafe and i was holding my own
And minding my own business
And a voice spoke in my ears as if it recognized
That i was questioning the source of the smell

Have another beer boy, take it with a pinch of snuff
And my eyes were bedazzled, by the jewels in his silken cuff
And a voice rolled out from an ashen cloud from behind a long cigar
Son, you'll never need to smell the black canal

It was as if he'd read my mind, as if he expected it
And, as the afternoon was wasted, i became aware
I was becoming wrapped up in his world
I became aware of the smell from the bouquet in his buttonhole

It was taking me away from the canal
And away from my questions
I was aware that the perfumes were all around us
And he sold me the city, well at least he tried to with all his stories

All the silks out of china
And all the satins out of spain
All the powders for your noses
Will keep the stench at bay

Have another beer boy, take it with a pinch of snuff
Your eyes will be bedazzled, by the jewels in my scented cuff
And a voice rolled out from an ashen cloud from behind a long cigar
Son, you'll never need to smell this black canal

And my world was spinnin', my head was awash
With this promises and his beer
And i looked up as he reached down
And snorted the flower in his buttonhole
He smiled and his eyes lied
I was staring at a suit with no soul

No matter how you wash them
How you scrub and bleach and boil
You'll never get rid of the smell of the black canal
Of the black canal
Black canal
The black canal
The black canal
The black canal

(derek dick/foss paterson)

What would you do if it all broke up
What would you do if the doors were shut
And the pearls are being eaten by the swine
What would you do when the worms don't turn
There's nothing left nowhere to run
And it's looking slightly bleaker every day
Do you follow your heart, do you follow the drum
Do you follow the flag, do you shoulder the gun
Do you slow march off the edge with head held high
Do you do down gently without a fight
Do you take it on the chin and beg for more
When the sword is raised and the trumpet calls
You bow down, bow down, bow down to the emperor's song

Did you believe in the post-war dream
Do you hate dealing with machines
And one's picking up your prayer off the phone
You followed advice, you followed the work
You followed the rules, you gave it your lot
But a younger man's just taken on your job
We've all got long term contracts with the man upstairs
But who's picking up the options on our souls
When it's one life firm and the deal is up
You bow down, bow down to the emperor's song

What do you do when its all too much
When you're out of luck and out of touch
And you can't relate to anything they say
What you do when it gets too tough
When you want to say that enough's enough
You want to walk away and just throw in the towel
Do you go with the grain, do you go with the tide
Do you go with the crowd, do you go for the ride
Do you hang on in until the bitter end
There's a bandwagon leaving but it's not for me
I've swallowed all the hooks and want no more
But when the lights are dimmed and the curtain calls
You bow down, bow down, to the emperor's song

(dick/cassidy/boult)

You should have listened to what your mother said
You should have listened to what your father told you to do
But you always did just what you always wanted to do
Now you end up here singing in a gilded cage
And for half your life you were wishing you were half your age
Lady let it lie
It's hard putting down your family roots when you're living in
A mobile home, but there's always blood even in a rolling stone
You squeezed me hard for the white collar dream
But you woke up to a tie dye lifestyle and its choking me
Lady let it lie

Chorus
All the boys want to be all the girls want to be all the boys
I don't want to be me no more
All the boys want to be all the girls in this turnaround world
I don't want to be me no more

They once said i was a rising star declaring me a bright contender
When it all worked out i was just a pretender
I could never disagree if you said you were dissatisfied
But why you got to take it out on a guy that tried

But surely there's something left, something worth fighting for
Something out of all this mess that's worth building on
Maybe we can start again, maybe give it one more try
Or do we just walk away, and maybe fade and die

Chorus
All the boys want to be all the girls want to be all the boys
I don't want to be me no more
All the boys want to be all the girls in this turnaround world
I don't want to be me no more
I don't want to be me no more
Me no more

(dick/paton/cassidy)