A Better Personality

Track 2 from the album Letters to Cyril Connolly.

I've been debating with myself for half an hour
And using all the hot water in the shower
Sometimes there's such a thing as too much choice
And other times you seem to lose your voice
And what if you get sucked into a crazy cult
Or the politicians fuck it all up
Is there somewhere you can buy
A better personality
A nicer pair of eyes to dry
A better view for them to see
Don't poke your finger in my chest and make a frown
You know I've given you a place where you're safe and sound
You're better than you know at causing pain
And people try to beat you but they lose the game
And nothing they can do can ever fix the rules
Since the politicians fucked it all up

We Do These Things

Track 1 from the album Letters to Cyril Connolly.

So we made it to the pad Wednesday morning
We could make some history or we'll die
I can see my family on the horizon
Counting down until they tell us to fly
We do these things
Not because they are easy
But because they are hard
Looking back we see a jewel in the darkness
Everything that ever happened, happened there
We're the only people with this understanding
Better make it back okay so we can share
Take the Eagle out to play on the Monday
It's so ugly when you see it up close
Walter Cronkite can't believe what he's seeing
And the baseball game has stopped to applaud

What's It Like To Always Be Wrong

Track 11 from the album Stigmata Playing Up Again.

Are you making a documentary?
A documentary all about me?
Are you in it?
What's the ending?
Are you with me?
Are we happy?
I need someone to correct me
What's it like to always be wrong?
Books and TV just can't reach me
What's it like to always be wrong?
Do I ask you too many questions?
Does it drive you to distraction?
Are you working as a boxer?
Punching people 'till they fall down?

Guerrilla Warfare

Track 10 from the album Stigmata Playing Up Again.

Projectiles rain down
My umbrella is torn
"Friend or foe" but I can't hear the answer
A doll is lying like a cliche in the mud
I've got the answer
(I think I've got the answer)
A trumped up charge and it's breaking my heart
I've got guerrilla warfare in my own back yard
You're taking hostages and doing their hair
You think you're Che Guevara!
The right wants to set me free from the tyranny of laziness
The left wants to run my life to cure me of laziness
And you just want me to do the washing up

Twenty Easy Payments

Track 9 from the album Stigmata Playing Up Again.

A mental patient is crying
They've shut him out tonight
Twenty easy payments, no need to think about it
Never a policeman in the way
It's chucking it down outside
Someone's gonna catch a cold
Twenty easy payments, they've got you by the bollocks
How you gonna feed yourself tonight?
What does it take to make you cook your own meals?
You've been here before and so you know how it feels
Make it a night and try and get someone killed
You're riding a misery-go-round*
I've come to cheer you up
Start at the beginning, end at the beginning
Is anything ever going to change?
* Clever!

Wedding of the Future

Track 8 from the album Stigmata Playing Up Again.

Wedding of the future, losing everything
Children grow up to hate you
Wedding of the future, burn your face in the sun
Park your bike in the water
Spread the butter thinly or you'll die
Light the firework carefully and hide
Wedding of the future, on a moon of Saturn
Sign your name where it matters
And if you're a monster, make your way to the car
Global media waiting for ya*
You're in a magazine!
* to rhyme with medi-ya

Hypochondria

Track 7 from the album Stigmata Playing Up Again.

It's to good to be here wasting time with you
We let the clock tick 'till our skin turns blue
You've got a hairstyle from the past
And that's a criminal offense
I've been looking for someone who can count to infinity
I can wait for a long time, forever
Are you looking for someone who has hypochondria
Who can wait for a long time, forever
You don't have to kill me every time you speak
You break my concentration once a week
There's something eating at my mind
You've got a decade to explain
We're racing with the raindrops to the ground
We're going to make the same unhappy sound
You're in a headline from the past
What will the government do next?