Excess Moderation

(difford/tilbrook)

Hey wait a minute
That's not right
I didn't want this to cause a fight
All i'm saying is
Nothing new
Listen to me, believe it's true
What's there to hide, it baffles me
Throw out those thoughts of jealousy
So don't you cry and hold your head
It's over
So wait a minute
Let me explain
Out of the blue she called again
To offer me
A peaceful meal
So we can talk see how we feel
It's nothing more than face to face
So trust in me i know my place
I know it's hard to let me go
It's over
All over

Have confidence
Have faith
There is no attraction there
And believe me
This way
I can wash her from my hair

Hey wait a minute
What's going on
I'm coming home where i belong
It's nothing more than face to face
Give me the time to pack my case
I know it's hard to let me go
It's over

What's there to hide it baffles me
Why should you waste your energy
But i won't leave if you're not sure
It's over
It's all over

(difford/tilbrook)

Funny words i cannot read
Trams and boats where strauss is street
Milky way and far out looks
On your bike and anne frank books
Down the disco it's clockworktime
Where's the humour where am i
This world's got smaller
I'm shaking lots of hands
Saying lots of things
That no one understands
You can shake my tree
But you won't get me
Where am i
I think i'm go go, go go, go go

Liquor store and rodeos
P i x and rock and roll
The freckled face the thin and fat
The drive-in films and drive-in macs
Strip and porno neon signs
Where's the building where am i

Buckingham palace trains all late
Funny little men all out in the rain
Car front deals and after pubs
Tenth year plays and seedy clubs
Iffy people don't seem to mind
Where's the action where am i

(difford/tilbrook)

My head was stuck in the cat flap on the door
Where i could see her walking on the kitchen floor
Down on my knees
Just like a dog
Begging for scraps that she said she hadn't got
She took her pen she poked me in the eye
As through the lock i looked to see my world inside
I kicked and swore
Void of all brain
I couldn't see that i was the one to blame

Cold shoulder
Like a slaughtered cow in a butcher's fridge
Cold shoulder
She had laid the plans where we built our bridge
To a better life
Cold shoulder

I had been chased by a hairbrush that she threw
Life was blurred when the hand of fate came into view
It smacked my face
I was released
I came back home where life became a feast

Cold shoulder
Like a slaughtered cow in a butcher's fridge
Cold shoulder
She had laid the plans where we built our bridge
To a better life
Cold shoulder
Then i fell over
Into a bush

(difford/tilbrook)

She plaits her hair, i bite my nails
We balance love on the scales
I wind the clock and go to bed
Our love is hanging on a thread
She gets undressed, i undress too
The draft is cold in my bedroom
We cuddle up and say goodnight
It's all the love there is tonight.
I can't be brave enough
She cannot say what we're feeling
Day after day
We're going through the motions
We find it hard to let each other go

She boils the eggs, i make the tea
Outside the sun shines on the street
We're at that point here love has gone
The fuse is lit, it won't be long
I take a walk, she cleans the house
This is the end, i'm in no doubt
But neither one of us can show
The slightest sign of letting go

(difford/tilbrook)

She's not a picture above somebody's fire
She sits in a towel with a purple hair dryer,
She waits to get even with me.
She hooks up her cupcakes and puts on her jumper
Explains that she'll be late to a worrying mother,
She meets me in piccadilly.
A begging folk singer stands tall by the entrance
His song relays worlds of most good intentions,
A fiver a ten p in his hat for collection.

She talks about office she talks about dresses
She's seen one she fancies her smile is impressing,
So maybe i'll treat her someday.
We queue among strangers and strange conversation
Love's on the lips of all forms of engagements,
All queuing to see tonight's play.

A man behind me talks to his young lady
He's happy that she is expecting his baby,
His wife won't be pleased but she's not been round lately.

The girl was so dreadful we left in a hurry
We escaped in the rain for an indian curry,
At the candle lit taj mahal.
My lips to a napkin i called for a taxi
The invite of eyes made it tense but relaxed me,
My mind took a devious role.

The cab took us home through a night i'd not noticed
The neon club lights of adult films and trini lopez,
My arm around love but my acting was her best.

We crept like two thieves from the kettle to the fire
We kissed to the sound of the silence that we'd hired,
Now captured, your love in my arms.
A door opened slightly a voice spoke in worry
Mum went to bed without wind of the curry,
Our secret love made its advance.

Like adam and eve we took bite on the apple
Loose change in my pocket it started to rattle,
Heart like a gun was just half of the battle.

(difford/tilbrook)

In peyton place my heart now beats
And floor boards creak where an angel sleeps
Her hair hung across her face
Like a bush hangs across a wall
She was short with a tidy smile
I could hear temptation call
From a fly in her ointment
To the big feather in her cap
It's a small world we discover
I had once worked for her dad
I was in gear making up stories
And we laughed at each other's tales
I watched her lips i wanted to kiss them
My train of thought went off the rails

In peyton place my heart now beats
And floor boards creak where an angel sleeps
In peyton place
I lie awake and hear the sound
That the angels make
In peyton place

The party was now ending
So she gave me a lift back home
Somehow i felt so nervous
She drove so slowly on the road
Next thing i knew she was in my arms
Her hair was all over my face
I brushed it aside she invited me in
Now my heart beats in peyton place

Her hair hung across her face like
A bush hangs across a wall

(difford/tilbrook)

He drove up to the motel
In his town and country car
He watched the working women
With the field hands from the farm
He walked into the lobby
With his pleased to see you smile
Scribbled on to the register
His fictitious name and smiled
The footsteps of a young girl
Came tapping along the hall
The outline of his features
Were shadowed on the wall
She stood a little nervous
Half lit by the neon light
That flashed in many colours
Through the darkness of the night

The skin on his face
Like a well worn saddle
Smiled as he said goodnight
At the melody motel
It was business as usual
As the girls wiped the tears from their eyes

His shirt lay by his bedside
His jeans down by his feet
She swallowed hard and mumbled
With the key between her teeth
On went the television
The picture flickering slow
Top cat in the alley way
As they sat there all alone

He drove back up his driveway
In his town and country car
His wife was cooking chicken
With a baby in her arms
The smell of home cooked dinner
Filled the air at home that night
Screaming officer dibble
In the tv's flickering light

Slumped in his favourite armchair
His face as grey as stone
His feet up on the table
Next to the chicken bones
He seemed to show no feelings
Picking corn out from his teeth
Police down at the motel
As the blood dried on the sheets

(difford/tilbrook)

Power station by the river
Grinding slowly to a stop
Clock still ticking on the mantle
Flames still flicker on the log
Coffee brewing in the kitchen
Where the door is open wide
Glass upon a hoovered carpet
Eyes are glowing in the night

It's the silence you can see
Hearing shadows behind me

All the buildings standing empty
All the trains are standing still
Cars are scattered by the roadside
There's no top upon the hill
Nails have scratched upon the outside
Of the empty chapel door
But i don't think that the father
Wants to live there anymore

There's no bone for you to pick
No more wax around the wick

Shot the arrow from the circle
At the apple on the tree
From a garden that was eden
Strange the fruit it bears for me
And the wind will spread the fire
And the rain will ever fall
If no one reads the writing
That's been written on the wall

Underneath the apple tree
There's a ghost who waits for me

The apple tree shakes its arms
Its fruit falls
Its fruits are tasting strange
The apple tree is shaking

(difford/tilbrook)

There she sits in an empty room
The look on her face says it all
A bruise appears round a crying eye
As the tear drops sadly fall
He knocked her over he hit her
And told her she's stupid
He's high as a kite once again
She knows that tough love is needed
To save the love of her friend

There he sits in a freezing car
She's in her bed in the warm
The cold light of the morning sky
Finds him cramped and looking worn
He wanders inside on tiptoes
And brews up some coffee
He's shaking and sweating again
She knows that tough love is needed
To save the love of her friend

They talk it over but it's not easy
Sorting it out
She cannot take it when he tells lies
And sneaks off out of the room
Returning like somebody's lost balloon

Tea leaves sit in an empty cup
No expression on his face
The tv's showing commercials
He's back in her arms again
No more the drugs and the drinking
Her heart can stop sinking
Now that he's home once again
She knows that tough love is needed
To save the love of her friend

They talked it over for hours and hours and hours

(difford/tilbrook)

When the hangover strikes
And i open my post
And the coffee is on
And i'm burning my toast
I let the battle commence
I see a sun in the trees
And a draught at the door
With my head in my lap
There's a day to explore
But i'm left without sense
As the hangover strikes
And i turn on the tap
But the water's too loud
And i'm caged by the fact
That the battle's not lost
Is it the hair of the dog
Or the baa of a lamb
In a sheepish attempt
To be half of the man
That i might be or was

When the hangover strikes
And a mirror reveals
That it's midnight or bust
And a drink does appeal
Now the battle is won
So the cure of the can
Pours its heart out on me
Though i'm feeling locked up
But i can't find the key
Well no damage was done

Poor poor poor, poor shaken one
Pour pour pour, pour me another one

(difford/tilbrook)

I've come across the desert
To greet you with a smile
My camel looks so tired
It's hardly worth my while
To tell you of my travels
Across the golden east
I see your preparations
Invite me first to feast
Take me i'm yours
Because dreams are made of this
Forever there'll be
A heaven in your kiss

Amusing belly dancers
Distract me from my wine
Across tibetian mountains
Are memories of mine
I've stood some ghostly moments
With natives in the hills
Recorded here on paper
My chills and thrills and spills

It's really been some welcome
You never seem to change
A grape to tempt your leisure
Romantic gestures strange
My eagle flies tomorrow
It's a game i treasure dear
To seek the helpless future
My love at last i'm here

(difford/tilbrook)

I think to myself when we kiss
Your husband is watching
From his portrait his eyes are looking down
On the slipper and stocking
Back against the bookcase
Down upon the floor
Empty the decanter
Slur again for more.
His house, her home, our future in a lover's world
Her son, her heart, her love for me, tomorrow's world

I laugh at myself when your son
Is watching cartoons
In the morning he's looking up at me
When we're in the bathroom
Sees me kissing mother
Doesn't blink an eye
Asks a lot of questions
Answers hard to find.

I talk to myself when i'm drunk
And she is still sober
Words are so few and far between
My arms reach to hold her
Hungry for the love
I rescued from the grave
The past is just a portrait
The future's ours to frame

(difford/tilbrook)

I'm faced with the facts
And a fist full of threats
I stand quite amused
At the end of the bed
I have no defense
For what i have said
As a handful of love
Whacks me right round the head
She's growling and stalking
And grabs from a pile
A book that she throws
And it missed by a mile
I'm holding a pillow
And as naked as sin
I'm backed to a corner
With a wastepaper bin
Then up on the mattress
There's no place to go
I'm guilty yes guilty
But there's no place like home

I rewind the hours
To see what went wrong
I plead for forgiveness
And i'm hit like a gong
It seems that i'm guilty
Of smiling too long
When recalling lovers
That now are long gone
I'm guilty you're guilty
So let me be stoned
The past is the present
When there's no place like home

Off with the shoes
And a whack round the head
Your ear rings like a phone
Some explanation
Might patch and mend
A love that's lost control
Now there's no place like home

(difford/tilbrook)

The head of a hunt on the wall by a painting
An upright piano stood locked by the door
In through the window
The light was fast fading
While i spilt my whiskey
All over the floor
Making a mess of my words so
I was trying
To impress the empress with
My wimpy tales
Fanning her face from cigar smoke
And sighing
I had come close to be miles
From her trail

She was the jewel that
Sparkled in darkness
She was the love
Of everyone's life
She was the catch at
Everyone's parties
She was the one with a tongue
Like a knife

Her bosoms curved perfectly
Lit by the fire
My mind launched away
In a sea of its own
Her grace and her tightness
I had to admire
Through a whore's breath of stories
I happily told

Trespassing my hand
Fell into hot water
She shot like a bullet
Right out of her chair
She led me away and i
Was then slaughtered
By the warmth of her body
And her love and care

Her tongue cut away
And the wounds slowly opened
I lay on the sails of the
Ship of romance
Drunk as i could be and
Broker than broken and
The head of my hunt
Was there in my hands

(difford/tilbrook)

I've come across the desert
To greet you with a smile
My camel looks so tired
It's hardly worth my while
To tell you of my travels
Across the golden east
I see your preparations
Invite me first to feast
Take me i'm yours
Because dreams are made of this
Forever there'll be
A heaven in your...

The indians send signals
From the rocks above the pass
The cowboys take positions
In the bushes and the grass
The squaw is with the corporal
She is tied against the tree
She doesn't mind the language
It's the beating she don't need
She lets loose all the horses
When the corporal is asleep
And he wakes to find the fire's dead
And arrows in his hats
And davy crockett rides around
And says it's cool for cats

(cool for cats...)

I never thought it would happen
With me and the girl from clapham
Out on a windy common
That night i ain't forgotten
When she dealt out the rations
With some or other passions
I said you are a lady
Perhaps she said i may be

Left my ring by the soap
Now is that love?
You cleaned me out you could say broke
Now is that love?
The better better better it gets
The more these girls forget
That that is love

But behind the chalet
My holiday's complete
And i feel like william tell
Maid marian on her tiptoed feet
Pulling mussels from a shell

(instrumental break: "separate beds")

The case was pulled from under the bed
She made a call to a sympathetic friend
And made arrangements
The door was closed there was a note
I couldn't be bothered
Maybe i'll choke
No more engagements

With where have you beens
And faraway frowns
Trying to be good
By not being 'round
And here in the bar
The piano man's found
Another nail for my heart

If you ever change your mind
Which you do from time to time
Never chew a pickle
With a little slap and tickle
You have to throw the stone
To get the pool to ripple

Sunlight on the lino
Woke me with a shake
I looked around to find her but she'd gone
Goodbye girl