No Flags Etc. - Lyrics



These lyrics are all taken from the latest No Flags Etc release "From DNA To Yesterday "

Some days I get it all so wrong,
But my star sign gets it so bang on.
It says if I get through today,
I just might get you today.
So, come on be my Frescobaldi,
I need it now and I need it badly.
A la carte and Cartier,
You've got more click than old Man Ray.

So when I go with you,
Will you promise that,
When I go with you,
You won't bring me back.
Don't bring me back.

With your wisdom and your pearls,
You're a dress rehearsal for the other girls.
You love to work, you love to win,
But you've still got time for the simple sins.
You ring the minute I get home,
It's the only time I kiss the telephone.
Run your Midas fingers through my hair.
Gold's up in price, but I just don't care.

You say you're thirty four,
But I don't believe you,
Take ten years off for good behaviour.
This is great, everything's expanding,
Like Prague in spring,
Before the tanks rolled in.
I love to love the likes of you,
It's the only thing I really want to do.
I'm your lover, hold me up to the light.
Now lets go and make a living from everything in sight.

Calling sister Jane,
Step into the warm and out of the rain again.
I'll dry you down,
Lend you a smile, while I hang up your frown to dry.

And though I know the things I say,
Could never take the fear away.
Just hold on, and I'll be strong for you,
Sister Jane.

My brother James,
Living your life, while others achieve your aims.
Your mother's child,
You shine in her eyes, while you're driving your father wild.

And though they know the things you do,
Serve to hide the good within you.
Live your song, but don't take too long,
My brother James.

Father dear,
You said so much, I just refused to hear.
I knew best,
The kind of knowledge, that doesn't stand the test.

And though I know the things you see,
Are causing you to fear for me,
Just in time, maybe life will rhyme for you,
Father dear.

A mother's pain,
Born through love, is something you can't explain.
It's in her eyes, it'll be your comfort,
Whenever you need to hide.

And though you know the things she'd say,
Were never meant to drive you away,
That's how it goes, her pain still grows,
A mother's pain.

You see me slumped,
This suits you well.
You rain down God,
Ring the Temperance Bell.
The spirit moves,
By me that's fine.
You've gone too far,
I let it pass this time.

Come rush, do me wrong,
Let it rain down God, rain down God.
Scoop me up, fill my cup,
Rain down God, rain down God.

I believe,
That in this glass,
There's more truth to find
Than in the Latin Mass.
I know, I know
Why Quakers quake.
They see the magic
Of the big milk shake.

Come rush…..etc.

Nailed my diet
To this cell door,
It's anything
In a gill or more.
You rain down God,
This suits me fine.
I've gone too far,
I'm passing out this time.

Come rush…..etc.

I'm right, a well done sum.
Not your line, but a good enough one.
You and I add up so neatly,
I puff and blow while you smile sweetly.
You know me now, know me all the way,
From DNA to yesterday.

Day by day you skin me smaller,
Line by line dissect the text,
Then interrogate the entrails,
Like a latter-day haruspex.
You come equipped with fruit-bat ears,
A forensic kind of mind,
And, curiosity satisfied,
Don't disclose what you find.

Now you'd love to love me,
But there's too little of me left,
Since you fixed me with your gimlet eye
And my confidence went west.
Now you'd love to love me,
But I'm suddenly not there.
You've eaten all there was to eat
And left a mess of bone and hair.

My favourite Czech says,
We're making history with hindsight.
My favourite Czech's right,
We're making history with hindsight.

History with hindsight is giving what you get,
So you know, what to expect.
History with hindsight is warning all the president's men,
You're voting again.

Not even my favourite Czech,
Can tell us for certain.
If I were eighteen, and knew what I would know now.
I would invite them all around for an almighty row.

History with hindsight is giving what you get,
So you know, what to expect.
History with hindsight is warning all the president's men,
You're voting again.

That's what they say at the corner shops,
Going out for papers that they don't read.
That's what they say at the bus stops,
Going out for air that they don't breathe.
If I were eighteen, and knew what I would know now.
I would invite them all around for an almighty row.

History with hindsight is giving what you get,
So you know, what to expect.
History with hindsight is warning all the president's men,
You're voting again.

Now the exiled king,
In widower's weeds.
Has traded PVC and leather,
For brown brogues and tweed.
He's apple pie and motherhood,
Blah, blah, blah and bluff.
But a finely wrought exterior,
Hides the spooky stuff.

Deep inside he's mine,
Deep inside this meat is mine.
Deep inside - no sleep tonight,
Deep inside he's mine.

His second hand suit,
Has no silver lining.
Worn out pockets,
Tailor-made for hiding things,
From the keepers of the faith.
To the keepers of the keys.
No-one keeps their secrets,
As secretly as he.

Deep inside he's mine,
Deep inside this meat is mine.
Deep inside - no sleep tonight,
Deep inside he's mine.

Dusting off that old hat again,
He might ask me to adorn his face.
Trotting out that same old chat again,
'Cos his nose is so much bigger than that other place.
He's hoity and he's toity.
Like that Carly Simon guy,
But, short term memory shot to hell,
He can't remember why.

Deep inside he's mine,
Deep inside this meat is mine.
Deep inside - no sleep tonight,
Deep inside he's mine.

They say that every village has one,
So why should yours be different?
I can't believe it took you all this time,
To work out what the smile on my face meant.

You're the only person in this world,
Who could blame me for the weather.
You're the only person, the only girl,
Whose name you can never remember.

Playing Chinese Whispers with yourself,
You turned '' I love you " into being left on the shelf.
But I know a boy and what he wants to do,
He wants to get his hot little hands all over you.

You've never had it so bad,
I never had it at all,
We never understood at all.
You've never had it so bad,
I never had it at all,
We never understood at all.

Words have no meaning, but come all the same.
To a girl who can't even spell her name.
Whatever, whatever, whatever she yawns,
Pulls on her boots and waits for the dawn.
You always claim I don't care enough.
But that's just nickel and dime stuff.
You're the soap on the rope around my neck.
Love's blindest date , I'll have to check.

You're the only person in this world,
Who could blame me for the weather.
You're the only person, the only girl,
Whose name you can never remember.

Beset by reasons not to,
What became of our gorgeous boy?
Just look at the state he got to,
As he cries to the sky,
“These fists ain't toys”.

Too much time spent navel-gazing,
When he should be raising Cain,
Got all these wheels in motion
And not a penny to his name.

Chorus;
Take a house,
Fill it with things.
Take a magic lamp,
Rub it till it sings.

Wanted to be Burt Bacharach,
Turned into Bertholt Brecht,
Now he casts about a jaundiced eye,
Rounds up the usual suspects.

And so he boarded the pater-noster,
And painted red he coloured the town,
Never once thought of the ambulance back,
Or the cost of his evening gown.

Chorus;

At home in snugfit misery,
The morning after the Lord Mayor's Ball,
He thinks of the world and the women in it
And vows to himself he'll have them all.

Now he's up on that roller-coaster,
All dressed up, he dressed me down
And this time tomorrow there'll be a host of
Reasons why he's got to leave town.

Chorus;

Tears of a woman
Freeze on the face of an angel,
Taken for granted
For such a long time.
She says she'll get through it all,
She swears that her lesson is learned,
But her heart never heals that well,
So she hides all the scars that she's earned.

So many dreams lost,
So many promises broken,
Lies come too easy
From a man with her child's eyes.
How long must she pay the price
For one time when she should have known better?
A yes, when she really meant no,
He said he would never forget her.

Love for her children,
A pride in their every action,
Stops her from leaving,
Allows her to go on believing
In love, but there's no love at all.
As he shouts, she stares at the wall.
His rage and his fists come too fast.
Pain and tears are all that will last.

For dreams there is no charge,
So take and never give back.
Fill all your pockets
And laugh as you help him to pack.
He swears that his lesson is learned,
He cries as he goes through the door,
So enjoy all the time you have now,
When you wake he'll be back for more.

There's a place we used to go to get our pictures done,
The photo booth behind the covered market.
With your slate grey eyes, and my X ray smile,
We were a pair - at least it looked like it for a while.

I was living my days in darkness and light.
Black and white dreams enlightened my life.
As dawn came, revealing the cracks in the ceiling,
Smiling, you said you would be leaving – you're going soon.

And I wondered why you never asked me to go with you.
You said “I'll carry your picture wherever I go.”
But if you want to find me, you know it honey,
I'll be lying low.

You sang me a goodbye song
Evoking bittersweet memories
I sang it a hundred times
‘Til I realised what it means.

Now I'm living my dreams, it's a colourful life,
Kaleidoscope days, discotheque nights.
As dawn finds me gazing at cracks in the ceiling,
I don't think of you, just your hairline receding.

I don't wonder why you never asked me to go along with you.
You see I tore up your picture a long time ago,
And if you want to find me, you know it honey,
I'll be lying low

Everything they say about her,
Lies, lies, lies,
And she cries, cries, cries.
Every time they gather round her,
Feels like something's got to give,
Because she belongs to the world
And the world expects so much.

CHORUS
She don't care, she don't care, (about money)
She just wants to be wonderful.

Everyone who's ever met her,
Tries, tries, tries,
To be her saviour.
And everywhere the people take her,
She just can't help but make love happy.
And if anything happens to her,
Will you promise to make it up?
Because…

CHORUS
She don't care,she don't care, (about money)
She just wants to be wonderful.

The demolition man who said,
" There's no place like home, " is dead.
He fell from a skyscraper,
Must have been a pushover.

He said as he fell down,
" I can see the whole of town.
I can see I've got it wrong,
The world's too big for one."

My, my worst habit,
And I, I can't stop it.
Is diving, yeah, out the window,
Of my fourth floor office.

Lucky I land in a pile of sand,
Brush myself off and take you by the hand,
To a place I call my own,
But it's too big for one.

CHORUS
The world's too big for one,
End to end it goes on and on.
The world's too big for one,
It's as wide as it is long.

Sometimes we wake and our only friend is the sun.
Sometimes we all go one by one.
The days are mountains that we climb,
Why? Because they're there.
Why can't we curl up with the cats?
It all seems so unfair.

CHORUS
The world's too big for one,
End to end it goes on and on.
The world's too big for one,
It's as wide as it is long.

REPEAT CHORUS AND FADE

Hey, I think you'd better write this down,
There'll be testing at ten, eleven, twelve and one.
Come plunge your hands in this sack of knives,
It's going to make a mess of everyone's lives.

My right hand man, he'd know what to do,
Shake the rain from his coat, cuss an oath or two,
Light a tab, scratch his head,
Turn out the light and fall into bed.

Say, driver, take me where you will,
I'll be waiting for you on this window sill,
And we'll tiptoe hand in hand
And scatter our ashes all across this land.

My right hand man, he'd know what to do,
Shake the rain from his coat, cuss an oath or two,
Light a tab, scratch his head,
Turn out the light and fall into bed.

He's the one who wouldn't spare my blushes,
Couldn't be hushed, was always rushing.
I heard him then, I hear him still,
I'm waiting for him on this window sill.

Oh happy he, who tastes the truth in what he sees,
That's my little right hand man and me,
We'd shoot for the moon,
Or just shoot the breeze.

My right hand man, he'd know what to do,
Shake the rain from his coat, cuss an oath or two,
Light a tab, scratch his head,
Turn out the light and fall into bed.