1. |
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Gonna change the world
Overthrow the state
Start an insurrection, re-invent the human race
Burn up all my bridges
Be master of my fate
But if I’ve not made it to the barricades,
would you mind keeping my place?
First, I need a cup of coffee
Gimme some eggs and bacon too
Don’t start the revolution in the morning, boys
I don’t get up till after two
You know when there’s rebellion
I’m Johnny on the spot
Always looking for a cause, just tell me what you got
When you’re marching, I’ll be with you
Just might take some time
But sooner or later, I’ll be there, standing on the picket line
Karl Marx had an alarm clock
That rang out in the dark
John MacLean had a fevered brain
He got up with the lark
And Old Leon, at the crack of dawn
Just loved to greet the sun
Castro’s head was out of bed, before the birds had sung
Gimme some time to take a shower
Pick out some clothes, pull on my shoes
Don’t start the revolution in the morning, boys
Till three pm it’s up to you
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2. |
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Ah heard while walkin a ma lane,
Twa corbies oan a deid man’s banes,
“Here’s meat a-plenty fir us that’s nane
We’re feastin here, pal, have an eyeball
Feastin here, pal,oh aye o eye”
Noo corbies thole the rain an snaw
Their lives are no tae bricht at aa
But naethin swaggers like a craw
“We’re feastin here, pal, have an eyeball
Feastin here, pal,oh aye o eye”
There’s much in corbies tae admire
Tho some despise their drab attire
It disna shaw the glaur an mire
An there’s aye the chance o eyeballs
Aye, there’s aye that chance, oh aye o eye
Tho in appearance dull an dun
They like a croud, they’re fu o fun
It’s wan fir aa, an aa fir wan
“We’re feastin here, pal, have an eyeball
Feastin here, pal,oh aye o eye”
They clear the laund o things deceased
As, whan Man’s foolish fechtin’s ceased,
In formal black like unco priests
“We’re feastin here, pal, have an eyeball
Feastin here, pal,oh aye o eye”
If life is teuch an haird tae bear
And ye’re complainin it’s no fair
Jist tell yersel there’s folk oot there
Wid gie their eyeteeth fir an eyeball
Wid gie their eyeteeth fir an eye
Sae tak yer cue frae oor freend Craw
An whan the winds o cruel fate blaw
Then fluff yer feathers oot an go
Oot lookin fir that tasty eyeball
Just lookin fir that eye, o aye, o eye
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3. |
My Foolish Heart
03:13
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Had a woman way back when
And she was fine to see
Held me tight throughout the night
And made a man of me
But I was young, balked at the fence
I’m older now and I’ve got more sense
But now she’s gone
My foolish heart
Suzie wasn’t built for speed
She just went in and out
Like JayLo and Beyoncé
She shook it all about
She wanted more than I could give
I lost twenty pounds and the will to live
But, oh, those fond memories,
My foolish heart
Carolina, tell me true
Why won’t you let me in
I give you all my money and
You throw it to the winds
You break my heart and run around
You’ve done the deed with half the town
But I still love you, oh,
My foolish heart
Now, I know that there’s women –
And more than one or two – who if this
Song makes me a million
Will form up in a queue
Now, I don’t care what their motives are
I’m too old to be particular
Come on, Baby, drive my car
Oh, my foolish heart
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4. |
Fickle as the Moon
04:08
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Ah wis a boy of 18 summers when Ah met ye
Lookin for some meanin oan the road
Ye hid left yer hame and faimly back in Paris
Quand tu m’as dit “Bobby, je t’aime”
Ah gied ye aa ma hert an sowel
We wur mairrit in the founess o oor folly
A sunny dey in Edinburgh toun
Wi a cast o lang-hairt revolutionaries
An ma mammy wondrin
Whit her crazy son wis daein nou
Ye wur untrue tae me, darlin, in yer fashion
An yer fashion wis as fickle as the moon
Aa ye left wir empty relics o oor passion
An the bitter ash o love that burnt tae brightly an tae soon
Ye remindit me o some exotic flouer
Patchouli perfume, beads an flowing gouns
An yer slightly fracturt English wis like music
As Ah daunst there tae yer tune
Till aa the melody ran doun
Hivvin tastit somewhit o the jeys o freedom
Ah shoulda kent ye widna bide fur lang
Efter three months Ah wis left alane and empty
Teuk three year tae realise
Whit felt sae richt coud gang sae wrang
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5. |
Lest We Forget
03:17
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There’s a crowd there at the Cenotaph
Auld sodjers staunin smert
Behind the politicians an the Queen
Wi the memory o their comrades
Wance mair tearin at their herts
Aa the fallen wans they’ll nivver see again
An the ancient words are spoken
But tae whom are they addressed?
Tae the auld lads wha have paid war’s bloody debt?
Or tae them that’s staunin up the front
That buy an sell the bombs an guns
An nivver hear the words “Lest we forget”
“Lest we forget” the wars that no-one ever wins
“Lest we forget” the broken minds, the shattered limbs
There’s a crowd there at the Cenotaph
As the vendors o the guns
Wha’ll sell tae onybody
Place their wreaths
An somewhere else a sodjer dies
Civilians in their turn
An poppies bring nae comfort
Tae the deid
Nor tae the wans that’s wounded
In their bodies or their minds
Good friends they lost, an some they’d barely met
The wans that made it hame
An the wans they left behind
Nae reminder needed here lest they forget
“Lest we forget” we pay the piper
Wi the armaments we sell
Sae that we may live in peace
While ithers die in Hell
When the crowd’s gone fae the Cenotaph
The ghosts are staunin yet …
Lest we forget
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6. |
Next Best Bed
04:18
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Sung by my daughter, Alice ('Tis a diitty for a lady to sing).
Lyrics adapted from the prose poem ‘Anne Hathaway’ from The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy. Published by Picador, 1999, © Carol Ann Duffy. Reproduced by permission of the Estate c/o Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd., 20 Powis Mews, London W11 1JN. Additional lyrics by myself.
The bed we loved, a spinning world
Of forests, castles, cliff-tops, seas
And in it he would dive for pearls
Catch shooting stars which fell to earth
As kisses he gave me
My love who lived and laughed with me
Lies still inside my widow’s head
But once he wrote my very dreams
And held me on that next best bed.
Some nights his touch would spark a dance
And he would move me to its time
Like pages from his writer’s hands
My body’s echo, assonance
Became his softer rhyme
Romance and drama, laughter, love,
Played by touch, by scent, by taste,
In our best bed, our guests above,
How dull the lives that they dreamt of
And slept their prose away.
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7. |
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Jonah he didn’t want to speak out
Ran away and he took sail
A storm blew up and he went down
Right inside a whale
If you speak your mind in these troubled times
You might end up in jail
They’ll steal your soul and swallow you whole
You’ll be sitting in the belly of the whale
Sitting in the belly of the whale, boys
Sitting in the belly of the whale
It’s warm and dry, though the ocean’s outside
You don’t have to worry ’bout the winds and tide
You can’t see where you’re goin
And the air is growin stale
But at least you’re aware, there’s so many don’t care
That they’re sittin in the belly of the whale
We all like our home comforts
Don’t want to tax our brains
Some take the view there’s better things to do
Than marching in the rain
But we’re all in this together
They’d better get off their tails
If they sit around gonna slide right down
To the exit of the belly of the whale
The moral of this ditty
The message of this song
It’s time to cut our way out
For we don’t have very long
‘Fore we all end up digested
Like night soil in a pail
No place to hide for Jonah’s tribe
We’re all sitting in the belly of the whale
Last Time:
(They’re turnin’ brown)
Sittin in the belly of the whale
(And slidin’ down)
Sittin in the belly of the whale
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8. |
Hallowe'en
03:58
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Midst graveyard stones, and auld dead bones
Where witches sip their barley brew
A brownie fiddler bows a reel
And all the fey folk dance it round
As those who oft repentantly
Confessed and begged redemption
Now show no shame as round they twirl
With partners neither
Law nor Kirk would sanction
It’s Hallowe’en, and we’ve risen from our graves
Hallowe’en, unforgiven and unsaved
Hallowe’en, one night we’re not Old Satan’s slaves
Every Jack O’Lantern soul
That ever robbed a begging bowl
Has come to Earth to scare you all
On Hallowe’en
There’s horseshoes hanging on the doors
All closed and barred and locked-up tight
As through the curtains drift their prayers
That we’ll not visit them tonight
For we’re the ones that walk the Earth
But once in every curséd year
My pleasure ‘tis to howl and screech
And laugh at how you run when I draw near
We’ll whistle through your letterbox
And down your chimney we shall come
Your bedroom doors, we’ll make them creak
And fright your souls to Kingdom Come
But pay no heed if you should hear
Our show is naught but bluffing
That we are only wind and air
Sound and fury, signifying … nothing
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9. |
Peerie-Fool
05:51
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Peerie-Fool, spin an weave
Fur a princess tae deceive
Spinners, spin, an teasers, tease
Thee neem she’ll nivver chance hid!
Maak the threed, spin fur yer life
Seun Ah’ll hae whit ne’er wis mine
Keep the cloot an win the wife
Play the fiddle, dance hid!
Queen’s dowters in a giant’s lair
Tae weave his wool tae cloot sae fair
The trows cam knockin at the door
But twa turned them away
Withoot their help, they lost their hides
The third the peerie fowk let bide
An asked them wance they were inside
Whit favour they wid pay
A yellow-heided peerie bern
Then asked whit wark she wantid deun
A trade instead o payment taen
Her hert or guess his neem
Tae weave her threed he made a vow
An took the wool back tae his knowe
Aa through the night worked every trow
Tae help him win the game
An owld wife tae the princess caem
Tae tell her o the trow’s real neem
The princess thowt tae play a game
When the bern caem near
“Ah think thee neem is Tooriebeuy”
Peerie-Fool, he jumped fir joy
“Or is it maybe Bobopoy?”
He’s won her, that wis clear
But laughter turned tae rage an pain
When he fand oot she kent his neem
“Oh, Peerie-Fool, Ah’m won the game!”
He cursed an ran away
The cloot wis piled inside the door
It covered every inch o floor
The giant tellt her “Weave nae more,
Thoo’llt live anither day.”
The princess funnd her sisters’ skin
Pat skin and boady back again
A muckle caisie they hid in
Alang wi half his gair
She covered them wi grass sae high
Sae they escaped the giant’s eye
Said ‘twas a gift tae feed the kye
Her mither held sae dear
When thoo returns just een mair load
Thoo’llt hae tae kerry up the road
An then I swear tae man an Goad
Thee wark will aa be deun
The wife hid in the caisie-oh
The giant geed whar she wid go
Whar watter biled an mighty blows
Laid him deid on the ground
Peerie-Fool, span an wove
The threed that wid a giant claithe
But then she did deceive them baithe
An bravely she did chance hid!
Peerie-Fool in shame has fled
The giant at her door lies deid
An wi his gold sae weel she’ll wed
Play the fiddle, dance hid!
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10. |
Up in the Mornin
02:23
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(Lyrics by Robert Burns)
Cauld blaws the wind frae east to west,
The drift is driving sairly;
Sae loud and shrill’s I hear the blast,
I’m sure it’s winter fairly.
Up in the morning’s no for me,
Up in the morning early;
When a’ the hills are cover’d wi’ snaw,
I’m sure its winter fairly.
The birds sit chittering in the thorn,
A’ day they fare but sparely;
And lang’s the night frae e’en to morn,
I’m sure it’s winter fairly.
Up in the morning’s no for me,
Up in the morning early;
When a’ the hills are cover’d wi’ snaw,
I’m sure its winter fairly.
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11. |
One Size Don't Fit All
04:10
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Big Bum Bella had a skinny little fella
His name was Moustache Sam
She shook like a jelly on a gyroscope
And he looked like a matchstick man
Ah, people talked, as they always do, said
“Who’d have ever thought of teaming
up those two?”
Well, Bella and her fella just took a bow together
And this is what they sang:
One size don’t fit all
Short, fat, skinny, or tall
We come in different shades
Swing in different ways
One size don’t fit all
The other half of your orange
Might be a grape or a melon ball
Even ugli fruit can look quite cute
‘Cos one size don’t fit all
Sergeant Stan was a tough policeman
He lived with Sydney Shine
Stan played football on a Saturday
And Syd liked dress design
You’d never have guessed that they’d get on
But they both liked Abba and Celine Dion
Like the Ancient Greeks they’d sing this song:
One size don’t fit all
Old Fred Slade was eighty-eight
When he married his Honey Bun
She’d just turned thirty, talked kinda dirty
And they seemed to have a lot of fun
Well his doctor warned him ’bout his amorous bride
Said sex was virtual suicide
Said Fred “Well, if she dies, she dies!”
One size don’t fit all
You mustn’t criticise it
One size don’t fit all
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12. |
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There’s a wind blaws in the highest trees
As Ah walk oot ma lane
It sings sae clear, it sings sae fierce
O Liberty an Hame
There’s naught Ah’ve heard
Wi sweeter tune
Tae move ma sowel tae cry
That Ah wid live till past that morn
When dreams come hame tae bide
When dreams come hame tae bide right here
An base deception’s gaun
When we can turn oor ship o State
Tae face toward the dawn
Then let the winds o Freedom roar
We sail upon the tide
An port nae langer seems sae faur
When dreams come hame tae bide
Though aa the slaves o powers great
Deride oor sense an worth
Their witless taunts, their perjur’t claims
We’ll treat as they deserve
An grasp oor future wi baith haunds
Tae pit the past tae flight as
Scotland wakes frae slumber and
Her dreams come hame tae bide
Wi canny thought Ah chose ma way
Ah’ll no turn back again
The rich man’s press, reaction’s crew
Ah fear nae mair than rain
Sae gang wi me oan Freedom Roads
An lift yer heid wi pride
That we aa live on Scotland’s shore
Whaur dreams come hame tae bide
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13. |
Bess Millie
04:07
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She selt winds tae sailors, an luck charms tae whalers
An blissins tae Hudson’s Bay men
They wid come tae Bess Millie, an pey her right freely
Tae mak sure they’d see land again
Fore they’d tak sail fae Orkney, they’d struggle up Brinkie’s Brae
An the spaewife the islands aa kent
For sixpence wid sell them a breeze in a bag
An they’d aa coont hid money weel spent
Whin the revenue cutter cam up tae the islands
Tae pit doon the smugglers’ schemes
She curst Captain Phillips, an threitent his crew
Tae send them aa tae Fidler’s Green
But the Captain he stuid firm an telt her he’d burn doon
Her hoos gin she didna gie in
Sa they made an accord, an she blisst aa on board
Even offert tae sell him a wind
Eyes blue as the seas whar folk claimt she’d bin seen
Conversin wi selkies an trows
Near a hunder year owld whin she telt Walter Scott
The tale o the pirate, John Gow
No a teeth in her heid, bit still shairp as a blade
An the author wrote doon every line
Then she bylt up her tea an she spak him a spell
Sa the rest o his travels war fine
She selt winds tae sailors, an luck charms tae whalers
An aa their hopes oan her war peend
Bess Millie the spaewife o owld Stromness toun
A real seafarers’ fair-wither freend
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Bob Leslie Glasgow, UK
Bob Leslie's music is now available on a "NAME YOUR OWN PRICE" basis!
****************
“I can think of
no other songwriter who has mined this rich vein
with such lyrical ease and with no mean ear for melody. ”
Alan Reid, Battlefield Band
... more
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