All lyrics by Tony Taurus, copyright, 2005.
Too Hard To Say Hello
Well, it wasn't a dog that took a dump on your lawn/ I've got more ears out there than a field of corn/ let me tell you what I hear/ it 'aint good/ you've got low down friends slapping sneaky high fives/ you've got bees buzzing off out of the hive/ because there's blood in your honey/ yes, there's blood on your money/ because you're too hard to say hello/ too hard to say hello/ well, you've been around the world in 80 days/ but you couldn't get your head around what I say/ no comprehende/ mucho offende/ I am the albatross around your neck/ when I fly you hang high/ you tow me down like a brick/ and I've got to cut you off before I crash...
Always Giving Up Something
I was born a mechanic/ got given a screwdriver and as a child/ I jammed it in an electric socket/ I never had to be taught/ I went to school at St. Johns/ where the halls were dark and the days were long/ I wrote poetry about bullying/ with the blood of my victims/ and I got away with everything but murder/ yeah I've got a way with everything but love/ have to break a few eggs to make an omelette/ I had to break a few hearts to make up my mind/ I know I said I'd never hurt you in a million years/ but I've got to break a promise just this time/ I got away with everything but murder/ I've got a way with everything but love/ I got married just like my Dad/ I've still got my screwdriver and my bad attitude/ but deep down inside I'm a wild horse/ I can't keep my life or my mind on course/ of course my wife is everything/ but hey, I'm always giving up on something...
Find My Way Home
They say that all roads are leading to Rome but I'm going to find my way home/ there's no rest in the mess of the wilderness but I'm going to find my way home/ it's a five o'clock shadow in the valley of death, I'm going to find my way home/ and the shadows are long and strange like the dreams of Di Chirico/ this is where my heart is, I kick it along/ to the only place I don't get lost/ well, they damn me to hell and they're pointing the bone but I'm going to find my way home/ there's no floor, no walls, but something still calls so I'm going to find my way home/ and my heart is a drum beaten on by everyone but I'm going to find my way home/ and I can say with all conviction without a shred of contradiction 'there 'aint no place like home'/ this is where my heart is, I kick it along/ to the only place I don't get lost/ I was looking for the future in the feature of Geisha but I'm going to find my way home/ I spent some time in bed with 'ol Ruby Red but I'm going to find my way home/ I had some low down dealing with the rockin' and the reelin' but I'm going to find my way home/ and I walked 16 miles to the Queen of Denial but I'm going to find my way home...
Spent
Well you've been a long time in the fire and you shine like a polished dime/ your Daddy went and paid your ransom but you're living on borrowed time/ now you lie and you cheat and you steal and you live like you're tax exempt/ there's only one way to describe you, baby/ you're spent/ spent!/ S P E N T you're spent/ so you moved back east where the sun comes up and sets when you tell it to/ you lived by the sword until you fell on it and you were so poisoned, the flies did spit/ you're spent/ S P E N T spent/ so we tested a thousand spiders and we watched how they spun their webs/ we stole all the silk from China and we hung ourselves high from our fashionable heads/ you were the prodigal joke, you came back to me like a pillar of smoke/ and when the wind blew oh you blew away, you're paying your dues but there's hell to pay/ because you're spent/ S P E N T spent...
Little Star
Estrellita came down from the sky/ and she wrote my name in the sand/ Estrellita went out with the tide/ because she couldn't wait for no man/ and I don't think no I don't think I'm going to see that little star again/ not this side of heaven/ Estrellita hangs over my head/ like a sword over holy land/ at night I look up, my wishes float in the wind/ they're floating like motes in the air/ and I don't think no I don't think I'm going to see that little star again/ not this side of heaven/ Estrellita came down from the sky/ and she wrote my name on the sand/ Estrellita went out with the tide/ because she couldn't wait for no man/ Estrellita and the ocean took my name and I don't think I'm ever going to see her again/ not this side of heaven...
Tabloid Gospel
On television/ teenagers are wise/ we like the disguise/ of the right things to say/ Princess Di/ say goodbye/ say hello/ to JFK/ the marriages of Hollywood/ are dying in their beds/ and even if you heard about it/ it's just like you were there/ but I can't sleep/ for the pumping of my blood/ your thin hips and your fat heart/ are stuck to me like mud/ yeah babe, you're strong/ all dressed up in fantasy/ city lights and civil rights/ and you're a socialist at university/ the world's a smaller place/ and that makes you so much bigger/ still you try to block it out/ but you can't do that forever/ this is no window into heaven/ this is a doorway painted on a wall...
Happy No Year
The clouds hang so low/ I feel like a claustrophobe/ the rain is a roof/ it's falling down in pieces/ the ocean is reaching up for the land where I stand/ and you are asleep/ drowned deep/ this new man/ measures everything with words/ oh conviction/ make yourself be heard/ hung like a horse/ from the gallows of shame/ I lost my race/ I lost my name/ my puns are all intended like a punch in the face/ my friends eat me up like flame and I vanish without a trace/ this new man/ measures everything with words/ oh conviction/ make yourself be heard/ I've done plenty of things that I shouldn't/ and few of the things that I should/ now I'll set the sand on fire and capture every thought...
Easy Target
Ahead of myself but too far behind you/ I'm counting the burnt trees of history/ you took out the worm but the apple got bruised/ I'm working out a solved mystery/ if you want to ride your bike in the slipstream/ you're going to have to eat the dust of the bus/ but when push comes to shove, I like shoving my pushbike/ at the incoming path of love/ going to make myself an easy target/ and no one will ever miss me/ make yourself an easy target/ because you know you can be so hard to see...
Bipart
You were on the left wing/ I was in the right/ together we'd make a strange bird/ it could only fly by night/ you were on the FM/ I was on the A/ you played the hits while I fell to bits/ like the songs of yesterday/ no one thinks I'm relevant/ they've got my use-by date/ no one thinks I'm relevant/ because I can't relate/ and though I'm not too intelligent, I know chemistry/ and look at what it's done to me/ the monster it did make/ used to be I was real nice/ now I'm nice and fake/ roll me out like red carpet/ I'm the new campaign/ one cheque you can bank is that I'll come bouncing back again/ no one thinks I'm relevant/ check my use-by date/ though I'm not too intelligent/ I know chemistry...
As Luck Would Have You
You say there's no plot to this movie/ but you tell me how it will end/ you say that the jury is out to lunch/ but you've got a thousand crimes to defend/ here's the single best form of defence/ here's the ever-loving stumbling block/ confirm or deny, conform or defy/ you're tightly wrapped and dancing in the arms of sleep/ as luck would have you/ you're dancing in the arms of sleep/ give thanks for the sins of the fathers/ good looks and cancer and unquestioned answers/ live off the interest, die from the lack/ take the whole lot and put it on black/ and when it spins up red/ just reinvent the wheel/ you know if you own the casino/ youu're never going to lose the deal/ as luck would have you/ you're dancing in the arms of sleep...
Sandwhipped
All the clouds are down/ brought to the ground by their silver linings/ dying on the sand/ so much tainted froth/ the light bulbs over your head have popped/ they trinkle down with a tiny sound/ how many days does it take to change one?/ nasty things crawl from the ocean/ in the dark of a night that never was/ chased by a day that never came/ chased by a day that bears your name/ a blue whiplash across my back/ for every day I walk this place/ read my body like a map of places to avoid/ the neighbours, they've been talking about you/ they say: "since you lost your fangs, you suck"/ how they've forgotten the days when you brought the terror to their homes/ you crawl back into the ocean/ in the light of a day you thought would never come/ chased by a day that never came/ chased by a day that comes for every one/ chased by a day that comes for you...
Life Style City (LSC)
Anything that comes out of you isn't made to go back in/ nature says it's so, who are you to say "no?"/ why would you want the words back in your mouth?/ why would you ever want to bleed again?/ and I'll never eat anything with bigger eyes than mine/ no, I'll never eat anything with eyes ever again/ I love you neighbour, more than you love your own life/ I'll say it one day when it feels right/ meanwhile, back at the ranch, I've locked the door and turned out the lights/ I'm sitting in the dark, laughing, while you're stumbling around outside/ maybe rules are made to be broken/ but you seem like you're about to break/ cause and effect, then you pause and reflect/ you spin around and you do it all over again/ what you own always comes back to you/ after it's been all over the world/ when it returns the accent is strange/ it tells you of things you can't even name/ I am the one that remained/ a lighthouse keeper on a rocky shore/ there are 10 000 tourists around me/ they rape souveniers and break the law/ maybe rules are made to be broken/ you seem like you're about to break/ cause and effect, then you pause and reflect/ you spin around and do it all over again/ the rules were made to be broken/ maybe this time the outcome will change/ cause and effect, then the jaws of regret/ bite down and you hope you'll never do it again...
Talk Is Cheap When Speech Is Free
It's a fine day for hunting for vultures/ let's throw out some corpses and bring them on down/ we aim to please in a nasty old world/ the first ammendment is only a sound/ byte/ and it makes you feel alright/ and it makes you feel alive/ like you're the only one that's been outside/ you have the right to remain silent/ you're obligated to talk to me/ we have to talk about all the sex and violence/ to know how bad things can be/ vultures taste like people/ people taste like chicken/ people are just tasteless/ they're no food for thought/ any day is fine for hunting for vultures/ bodies are warm in the high desert sun/ ducks are too dumb and peacocks are pretty/ but vultures can bite on the end of my gun/ I want to tell you something not about sex/ I want to tell you something not about death/ I want to tell you something not about love/ I don't know what to say...
PAYL
Everything's been said before/ but there's nothing out there you choose to ignore/ it's a condition of living, this lust/ blood, sweat and tears that roll out of dust/ but that makes mud/ I digress/ who's going to clean up the mess?/ everything's been done before/ there's no new dance under this sun/ you took a waltz down memory lane/ forgot that the weather man said it would rain/ and that makes mud/ but I digress/ who's going to clean up the mess?/ pay as you learn/ make me stay and I watch you burn and then you blow away/ you think you've seen it all before/ you're a tar baby slapped with hating hands/ the dummy you suck is a cigarette/ nothing is what you give and you get/ but that makes mud/ I digress/ who's going to clean up the mess?/ pay as you learn/ you make me stay and watch you burn and then you blow away...
The Beast With Two Backs
The beast with two backs has only got one face and he doesn't know whether to laugh or cry/ he walks the desolate and lonely streets he looks to lie down in satin sheets/ he smashes mirrors into splinters of luck/ he cries himself empty and sweeps them up/ the beast with two backs is as blind as love, without the sanctity, a lower profile/ the beast with two backs is as blind as a bat, he navigates by playing Marco Polo/ he smashes mirrors into splinters of luck/ he cries himself empty and sweeps them up/ he types up third-hand gossip into reports/ he tries to poison the impulse in his thoughts/ the beast with two back never evolved he burns with the shame of getting old/ he's a salmon downstream on a free ride he's a waking wet dream that never makes high tide/ he smashes mirrors...
The Ballad Of No One
There's something wrong with Richie/ he always leaves the door unlocked/ there's something wrong with Richie/ he's got the face of a stopped clock/ and the world is in orbit around him/ he's one who can breathe in space/ and he reads his future in crosswords/ from newspapers out of date/ love's orphan/ where is your home?/ there's something right with Susan/ she's longer than a legal contract/ there's something right with Susan/ and the hair hanging down her back/ she practices practical voodoo/ and 20 kinds of martial arts/ she's got a belt for every stripe of the rainbow/ and she hates poetry that rhymes/ love's orphan/ where is your home?/ born south of heaven/ where else can you go?/ Richie never met Susan/ and they never had a love affair/ but their lives were marked by what they hadn't done/ and it made life harder to bear/ they suspected something was missing/ alone in their deafening thoughts/ a child never born is still a ghost/ it cries in their minds and tries to form words/ love's orphan...
How The Man Gets Home.
Well his words may be the blue seeds in the black soil of his song/ a thousand lifetimes been described by a man already gone/ and he doesn't know you so well that he might miss you when you're gone/ and grace is a train that pulls away from blame and that's how the man got home/ single minded, two fisted, 3, 4, 5, 6 strings that rattle in the baritone/ like any hurting thing/and he doesn't know you so well that he's gonna miss you when you're gone/ and grace is a train that pulls away from blame and that's how the man got home/ he rode the nagging of his first wife out into the woods/ and when he overtook it, it's there that he set down/ there wasn't enough space in the place for him and his addiction/ so he burned 1000 miles of state park to the ground/ chorus/ in the end it was a broken heart that caught up and killed him like all of the nights and drugs and fights never could/ the one who held his singing heart for a moment did desert him/ he was claimed by the one thing he knew was good/ chorus.
Beige
Vibe pirates hijacked my personal space/ while all those kids with their big cigars touch tongues with flick-knife grace/ I'm a fly on the wall, they all say they want to swat me/ and when I find out who 'they' are no one will stop me/ and I have seen the apocalypse and it's coloured beige/ I'm passive aggressive and highly unlikely to change/ and I'll paint you a landscape of hell from a gilded cage/ the concepts I conjure are buried inside my deep/ because plagiarists interrogate me in my sleep/ and I have seen the devil wear a dress and it's coloured beige/ and I have seen the terrorists and they're wearing beige...