Excess Moderation

(holland)

Give me iko
I wanna ball the wall here
Shuffle in dumaine
Hear the hookacumbi
Meet my tipatina
Love her hold her tightly
Wanna see her swaying
In new orleans nightly
You know i wanna be there
Drinking in the morning
Holler in the evening
Dr. jazz dr. jazz
Bake my jelly roll
You quicken my pulse
You make my rhythm slow
Crawfish gumbo
Rhythm from the jungle
Big chief rocking
I follow the voodoo king
Oolamalawaladollar
That's what the fez he sing

How long must it be
How long must i wait
Till highway 49 takes me to your gate
I eat a bowl of gumbo
That creole child will serve
Sit on the verandah
Happy in a dixie world

Maybe on sunday
Head for baton rouge
Dancing with the cajun
Twist away my blues
Then a drop of rain
A trickle in my eye
I look up and smile
At the rhythm that never, never dies

(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)

I bought a toothbrush, some toothpaste
A flannel for my face
Pyjamas, a hairbrush
New shoes and a case
I said to my reflection
Let's get out of this place
Past the church and the steeple
The laundry on the hill
Billboards and the buildings
Memories of it still
Keep calling and calling
But forget it all
I know i will

Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered
What's been going on
Now that you have gone
There's no other
Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered

I'm at the car park, the airport
The baggage carousel
The people keep on crowding
I'm wishing i was well
I said it's no occasion
It's no story i could tell

At my bedside empty pocket
A foot without a sock
Your body gets much closer
I fumble for the clock
Alarmed by the seduction
I wish that it would stop

I bought a novel, some perfume
A fortune all for you
But it's not my conscience
That hates to be untrue
I asked of my reflection
Tell me what is there to do

(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)

Acid casualties and angry young men
The litmus test of a guitar and pen
Revolve around date sheets lost lonely rooms
And this is my home and i will leave soon
For a house with a tower
Where there's visiting hours
And the day leaves its taste on a spoon
The black eye of the camera bruised by my blush
Leaves another chin and another hair cut
The image in focus the shot aims to kill
And i'm cropped at the waist as i run through the mill
So i'm lost for an encore
The kodachrome wants more
Now i'm snapped with my head in the still

The contract's been signed with a stroke of my blood
I'm drowned by the name that sinks in the mud
Thrown from emotion to swim back to the shore
Where the sound of a drum beats time to applause
Now my life's in danger
Of ending up stranger
Than the stranger who walked on the shore

Stranger than the stranger
Who walks by my bed
Shares in my life
Lives although dead
Stranger than the stranger i am sure
Stranger than the stranger on the shore

(difford/tilbrook)

The crown of the kingdom is given to the woman
The kingdom of the kitchen where she says she shouldn't,
There on the stainless steel her cigarettes and matches
Whistles to the radio to every hook she catches,
But the frowns
Eider downs,
Tie her down
But she likes to wear the crown of the kingdom.
She like the recipes a touch of oriental
Steaming up the windows burning egg on metal,
Sees in a catalogue a shiny new appliance
Another role swallowed by the wonders of science,
Lobster hands
Omelette pans,
Understand
How the crown can stick like jam in her kingdom.

He's been so busy and she's been neglected,
The problem is computed and always it's rejected,
Out of her heart i catch a spark,
And being smart
The crown is left out in the dark now there's no kingdom.

Fed up with the glory she abdicates her title
Sitting at a bar stool she gives her day's recital,
The family watch in horror
As she staggers up the hallway
Makes herself a sandwich
As they're looking through the doorway,
She goes to bed
Leg by leg,
Nothing's said
There's no crown upon her head there's no kingdom.

Press the button on the toaster
It's a woman's world,
Tuck the sheets in on the bed
It's a woman's world,
Take your apron from your holster
It's a woman's world,
Shoot the crown off of your head
It's a woman's world.

(difford/tilbrook)

I lied to you, i've cheated too
So what friend can i be
But still you stick through thick and thin
Hoping that you'll change me
I towed the line then fell behind
Our love began to wane
The pressure grew and then i knew
That things were not the same
The truth
It's the toughest thing to explain
The truth
Playing tricks with me again
When the truth has to be told
My blood runs hot and cold
The truth is not my middle name

You threw a rope attached with hope
Way down into the sea
Where lovers swim so deep within
The tides of mystery
For what it's worth i don't deserve
A girl as strong as you
You're worth much more than me i'm sure
Accept this as the truth

(difford/tilbrook)

Tonight i take her from her parents
I came along to her rescue
Without a word about arrangements
She came along without a clue
So i said my love i want to take you
A place i have inside my head
And so it seemed i had to love you
With some cards and separate beds

Her mother didn't like me
She thought i was on drugs
My mother didn't like her
She'd never peel the spuds
So we took off together
And stayed at mrs. smith's
Breakfast at half seven
Where you can view the cliffs

The moon was full and in our window
I could see her turning in her bed
I was loved but all in limbo
There was time to pass but not to spend
Soon i saw that this was silly
Spending all my wages on this peach
When we could sit so very pretty
And get our heads down out on the beach

Her father seemed to like me
I helped him fix his car
My father seemed to like her
And i couldn't see the harm
In going off together
To see the pier and lights
So we could be together
In separate beds tonight

(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)

She was full of lies and boredom
It came as no surprise that she would cheat
Her nails were long and sharp
But she didn't play the harp
She wasn't an angel i told her
But she wasn't able to understand my words
Rich pickings in reverse
I wasn't shakespeare
It's simple
Did she expect me
To kiss her feet

A very acidic tongue
Waggled in her head
Life was lots of fun
At times i had to smile
In front of everyone
We seemed the best of friends
Life had just begun
When on the roof a tile began to slip
The house of love caved in and that was it

She was full of tears by nature
It came to me so clear that she would creep
Her eyes were stale and spun
Like marbles in the sun
She wasn't a princess i told her
And so i witnessed the slaying of my life
That lasted half the night

I wasn't jesus
Believe me
Our love was seedless
And incomplete

(difford/tilbrook)

The full moon's glowing
Blood red in the sky
It hangs like fire
On this winter's night
I sit on feelings
That hang in suspense
Nothing in my life makes sense
A question mark hangs with the stars up above
As i'm driving home to the one that i love
Sometimes i can't see the trees for the wood
Loving you tonight feels good
The moonlight changes
From red into white
It sits on tree tops
Asleep for the night
I see the signpost
The road slowly bends
Nothing in my life makes sense
A flashing tail light speeds across the sky
My head's cooking trouble as thoughts seem to fry
The last temptation was misunderstood
Loving you tonight feels good

I'm faced with the ultimate truth
What if i see things don't improve
I know they could
Loving you tonight feels good

The sun is rising
There's mist all around
She sleeps beside me
And i feel so proud
Am i in heaven
With her by my side
This is how love feels tonight

(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)

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 moths at the window
They can see the light
The crickets crick in the dark
My pen runs out of ink
As i start to write
The feelings that are in my heart
This headache won't subside
I've got you on my mind tonight
The silence of the telephone
Doesn't bother me
But i wish that it would ring
I'm confined to quarters
I'm in solitary
I'm the man who would be king
The small hand's on the five
I've got you on my mind tonight

The loneliness for loving you
Is some price to pay
But are my pockets deep enough
The chorus of the morning
Keeps me awake
So busy with the thoughts of love
As i slowly close my eyes
I've got you on my mind tonight

Just as i go off to sleep
A car pulls up, i hear a beep

Good night

(difford/tilbrook)

If i didn't love you i'd hate you
Watching you play in the bath
A soap suds stickle back navy
A scrubbing brush landing craft
Your skin gets softer and warmer
I pat you down with a towel
Tonight it's love by the fire
My mind goes out on the prowl
If i if i if i if i if i

If i didn't love you i'd hate you
I'm playing your stereogram
Singles remind me of kisses
Albums remind me of plans
Tonight it's love by the fire
The wind plays over the coals
Passionate looks are my fancy
But you turn the look into stone

If i didn't love you
Would you sit and glow by the fire
If i didn't love you
Would you make me feel so
Maybe love me
Oh if i didn't love you

If i didn't love you i'd hate you
Cocoa mugs sit side by side
It's time to poke at the fire
But it's not tonight
Looks i find
Taking a bite on a biscuit
The record jumps on a scratch
Tonight it's love by the fire
The door of your love's on the latch

If i, if i, if i
Didn't, didn't, didn't
Love you, love you, love you

Some fantastic place


(difford/tilbrook)

She gave to me her tenderness
Her friendship and her love
I see her face from time to time
There in the sky above
We grew up learning as we went
What a voyage our life could be
It took us through a wilderness
Into the calmest sea
Her smile could lift me from the pain
I often found within
She said some things i won't forget
She made a few bells ring
So simple her humility
Her beauty found in grace
Today she lives another life
In some fantastic place
She showed me how to raise a smile
Out of her bed of gloom
And in her garden sanctuary
A life began to bloom.
She visualised a world ahead
And planned how it would be
She left behind the strongest love
That lives eternally
I have the hope that when it's time
For me to come her way
That she'll be there to show me round
Whenever comes that day
Her love was life and happiness
And in her steps i trace
The way to live a better life
In some fantastic place