Sleeping Giants

52 inches suspended from the wall
Desperation beamed onto the faces of all the boys & girls
You'd think that they'd realise by now that it's all a sham
Celebrity's celebration of "who I am"

We used to write letters we used to read books
We used to start fires we did more than just look
Teach us not think for ourselves anymore
Waving smoke and mirrors in such a stylish decor
Dragging us backwards by kicking a ball
Back to back coverage on news 24


As winter falls
So spring arrives
The beauty and grace
Of the summertime
If you've lost yourself
Get off your knees
How many more days
Will make up your years
Long Division

The boy from the north country
Grew up much faster than I ever did.
In 1945 he was lucky to be alive
Got dragged into Napoli
Leaving him shell-shocked
Battle weary and scarred
Dreaming of being back home
His Manchester back yard

Dear old Raymond he was further north,
Freezing in the Baltic sea
Was his view of the war
Thinking of his girl from Burnley
Whilst recouping up in Aberdeen
But for him it was not to be,
Left him for an American Marine

Two skinny kids banging an old leather ball
Up against a garage door
Didn't know that their time had come and gone
Those skinny kids didn't stand a chance
When life came crashing down around their ears
They put away childish things
Became men beyond their years

When I was a kid I thought that
long division was as hard as it got for me
As I just couldn't get it
You sat down and showed me, unravelled so much
mathematical theory
That you made me get it you made me get it
But you wouldn't stick around
You didn't need us at all
You left us but we never left you
And we'll be here for your call

Two skinny kids banging an old leather ball
Up against a garage door
Didn't know that their time had come and gone
Those skinny kids didn't stand a chance
When life came crashing down around their ears
They put away childish things
Became men beyond their year
Parade

The wine's disappeared and the vinegar stains
A half written note on her back page
There's a rage in the air for the killing on the lane
But what goes on outside stays outside

And we'll drink and we'll smoke
And we'll snort and we'll choke
For the lives and the loves on the parade
Celebrate or mourn
A passing unborn
For the lives and the loves on the parade

Taking her out for their 23rd year
A tenner for two plates at the local hero
Silence betrays more than just breathing
20 odd years of betrayal, pain and grieving

Scrambling home through the fields
That's now the estate we she lost her heart
To a boy with a car and easy cash
Made from vim, talc & flash

Drains filling up with un-seasonal decay
As a man takes the night with a bottle and a blade
Vengeance he seeks is the life he never had
Tonight there will be drink and their will be blood
    Detroit 65

    You had something missing
    From your day job
    So you took a holiday
    To a place a little left of centre
    Where you could hunker down
    Escape reality

    And now when I try to call you
    Twenty years later
    It breaks my heart
    What happened
    To that young disciple
    So enchanted with every day

    'cos all you listened to was Detroit 1965
    Your heart was as big as your eyes were wide
    If I ever get to see you again I won't remind you
    that
    Our future was beautiful
Burnt & Bruised

And down the metal shutters clatter
As trainee pharmacists stand and chatter
Waiting for the bus to take them home

Tags displaying no obvious wit
The council never gets the measure of it
Wipe them down only to see them the next day

But how bad was it there for her to move round here

Stand outside smoking fags
Watch the transit lives of carrier bags
Blowing up the parade and to god knows where

Mobile phone witter their treble
The daily curse of the compliant rebel
It weren't like that when he was that age

And how bad was it there for her to move round here

Government taxes and we're in debt
Grooming on the Internet
Good kids always stay inside these days

Third generation arrested growth
Desperate for the gluttony of oafs
Displayed on every wide screen TV

And how bad was it there for her to move round here

Sleep tight now my precious girls
Tonight we're safe in our new world
And one day we'll be on our feet again

We might be last but we're not least
Under the bed, no longer a beast
so tonight we say our little prayer

At least we are safe in here, at least we are nowhere
The Ballad of King Canute and European Bob

Like two battered ships passing in the night
It's been a while since we sailed these waters since you
flashed your a smile
From the cape of good hope to the filthy old dam
We navigated our bones through the shallowest Mediterranean
nights

Times were hard and fast
All of our plans were built upon a belief
That we'd master the sea


The years look like they been good to her
She radiated a beauty her teenage self could not reveal
In a wedding dress and bridal veil
You'd think that we'd have seen that but let's not worry about
the detail


Times were hard and fast
All of our plans were built upon a belief
That we'd master the sea


Our captain's a mess, half cut and undressed
Leading us too empathy and the Sound of Shoom


Those knots that you fashioned in your weathered hands
Made good by the years of experience, laughter, joy
From Ibiza to Shoom, Spectrum to The Trip
Canute's still gurning but Bob's on a different ship


Times were hard and fast
All of our plans were built upon a belief
That we'd master the sea
Here's The New Bob
Her sequins shimmer his creases cut
The sharpest lines with a knowing look
Whistling up some solidarity
From the likes of you and the likes of me

Were you a mod a punk or a skin
Di
d the clothes really matter more than trouble we were in
In hindsight it wasn't just tribes till death
It's not what's right but who's left

Well I hear what you say
But I won't follow your way
What seemed right yesterday
Is just a lie today

Here's John The Baptist striding across
Sales territories to tell us of
The new messiah who's come to save us
From the corrupt, the turgid and the lame pretenders

Using language that makes lies sound like truth
Where murder's acceptable to hide abuse
Perfection is something that means everything
Turning the facts into pure wind

Well I hear what you say
But I won't follow your way
What was right yesterday
Is just a lie today

But you and I have we've seen it all before
Did we ever believe what we saw
When they threw up their guts for all of mankind
To line the pockets of the scum and the slime

Beaten and bloodied sent to our beds
Where the lack of success plays with our heads
The bad guys win, the good guys lose
As the man in the tie bends over for the blue
s