Spike

Is it all in that pretty little head of yours?
What goes on in that place in the dark?
Well i used to know a girl and i would have
Sworn that her name was veronica
Well she used to have a carefree mind of her
Own and a delicate look in her eye
These days i'm afraid she's not even sure if her name is veronica

Chorus:

Do you suppose, that waiting hands on eyes,
Veronica has gone to hide?
And all the time she laughs at those who shout her name and steal her clothes
Veronica
Veronica

Did the days drag by? did the favours wane?
Did he roam down the town all the time?
Will you wake from your dream, with a wolf at
The door, reaching out for veronica
Well it was all of sixty-five years ago
When the world was the street where she lived
And a young man sailed on a ship in the sea
With a picture of veronica

On the "empress of india"
And as she closed her eyes upon the world and
Picked upon the bones of last week's news
She spoke his name outloud again

Chorus

Veronica sits in her favourite chair and she sits
Very quiet and still
And they call her a name that they never get
Right and if they don't then nobody else will
But she used to have a carefree mind of her
Own, with devilish look in her eye
Saying "you can call me anything you like, but
My name is veronica"

Chorus

She's a feline tormentor, not any vaudeville wife
But with a drunk-town lament he leads her a miserable life
But when he's full of that beer-champagne
She pads, paws, pads, paws and claws

And if he should wake up in some terrible dive
And he don't know if he's so-so
But he's so surprised he's alive
"come on little honey, let me under your hive"
She pads, paws, pads, paws and claws

She pads, pads around the bedroom, practicing ways to flirt
He paws, pours another drink and anything in a skirt
Anything wearing a necklace
He thinks of claws scratching his back he's
Going out there he's not coming back

She's got spider-leg fingers, sharpened whenever he strays
And she carries a bird-purse, with all of her womanly ways
'til he's drinking hairspray, she knows that he never would dare
She could be in pictures if she wasn't all covered in fur
He's coming home now and here's the surprise
You wouldn't believe the lies that he tries
She cut him down to her favourite size
She pads, paws, pads, paws and claws

She pads, paws, pads, paws and claws

Hush my little one don't cry so
You know your daddy's bound to go
They took his pride
They took his voice
Don't upset him now, don't make a noise
They said "you're lucky son you've still got a choice"
Last boat leaving

Don't waste your tears
It's not as if i'm in chains
I don't want to go now, it would be better for
You, too, if i don't look back when we sail

Hush my dear, while i whisper it in your ear
We're not going to sail tonight
We're going to disappear
And it feels like a punishment, but i don't know what for
Take care of your mother, son, it's you that she adores
'cos no matter how long we sail we'll never reach the shore
Last boat leaving

So dry your tears
It's not as if i'm in chains
When you go to school, son, you'll read my story in history books
Only they won't mention my name

So hush now, my darling, my sweet little one
I hope that you never have to do what i've done
Do you know what i've done?
Why i'm going away? on the last boat leaving this stinking town
It's the last boat leaving, it's the last boat leaving

You've had my innocence, you've had my heartbreak
You've taken the place where i once belonged
Now what more can you take?

All the children testified that miss macbeth
Wore a fishbone slide in her cobweb tresses
Her eyes were black like first foot coal, clutched as white as chalk-dust
Her fingers sweated india-ink and poison-pen letters
There is a hungry hanging tree, just below your bedroom window
You can hear her take a broom to beat out a tattoo on the ceiling
Her bloodless face ran red inside but was she
Really evil, was she only pantomime

Now the chalk on the wall says that somebody
Saves, that somebody's face has just been washed off the pavement
Into a puzzle where petrol will be poisoned by rain
Miss macbeth saw her reflection
As confetti bled it's colours down the drain

Chorus:

And everyday she lives out another love song
It's a tearful lament of somebody done wrong
Well how can you miss what you've never possessed?
Miss macbeth

Well we all should have known when the children paraded
They portrayed her in their fairytales, sprinkling deadly nightshade
And as they tormented her she rose to the bait
Even a scapegoat must have someone to hate

And everyday she lives out another love song
"you're up there enjoying yourself, and i know it's wrong"

Well how can you miss what you've never possessed
Miss macbeth

Sometimes people are just what they appear to be
With no redemption at all
We try to walk upright when we can't even crawl

Miss macbeth has a gollywog she chucks under
The chin and she whispers to it tenderly then sticks it on a pin
And it might be coincidence, but a boy down
The lane, that she said "went white as he could do," then doubled over in pain

Chorus

Bentley said to craig "let him have it chris"
They still don't know today just what he meant by this
Craig fired the pistol, but was too young to swing
So the police took bentley and the very next thing
Let him dangle
Let him dangle

Bentley had surrendered, he was under arrest,
When he gave chris craig that fatal request
Craig shot sidney miles, he took bentley's word
The prosecution claimed as they charged them with murder
Let him dangle
Let him dangle

They say derek bentley was easily led
Well what's that to the woman that sidney miles wed
Though guilty was the verdict, and craig had shot him dead
The gallows were for bentley and still she never said
Let him dangle
Let him dangle

Well it's hard to imagine it's the times that have changed
When there's a murder in the kitchen that is brutal and strange
If killing anybody is a terrible crime
Why does this bloodthirsty chorus come round from time to time
Let him dangle

Not many people thought that bentley would hang
But the word never came, the phone never rang
Outside wandsworth prison there was horror and hate
As the hangman shook bentley's hand to calculate his weight
Let him dangle

From a welfare state to society murder
Bring "back the noose" is always heard
Whenever those swine are under attack
But it won't make you even
It won't bring him back

Let him dangle
Let him dangle (string him up)

With their cardboard hands by their sides,
Here's a naked man and lady
And they're yours to cut out and keep
So you can dress them up maybe
They don't know just who they are, or who they're supposed to be
You can make them happy or sad
Or assume their identity

So here they are in the departure lounge
It's the "gateway to the east"
She is just another mail-order bride
She doesn't know he's a kinky beast
So he gives her a picture of maradona and child
She wants to "roll and rock"
As he spills his beer over her, bumps and he
Grinds, as he repeats "bang-cock"

Chorus:

There must be something that is better than this
It starts with a slap and ends up with a kiss
Begins with you bawling and it ends up in tears
Oh my little one, take that chewing gum out of your ears

She might as well be in the jungle
She might as well be on the moon
He's away on a business trip, in dusseldorf, but she's becoming immune
To the lack of glamour and danger in a west-german city today
The nearest she comes to the "dynasty" he promised her
Is a chinese takeaway

Chorus

Though he only taught her three little words, it
Doesn't matter if they're dirty or clean
He can only control what they look like
He can never possess what they mean
Now he wants to whisper in her ear
All the shrinking nothingness
But something always comes between them,
I wonder if you can guess

Chorus

You're a fine one, oh yes you are
You're a fine one just like me
And we're friends now, oh wouldn't you say?
We've been friends now, oh haven't we?
Stay at home tonight if you know what's good for you
I can't say more it would be telling
For if you don't what will become of you
Just isn't worth any king's shilling

I will answer when they make that call, pull upon this ragged uniform
Up 'til now i know it's been your trade
Spit and polish the potato parade
Stay at home tonight if you know what's good for you
I can't say more it would be telling
For if you don't what will become of you
Just isn't worth any king's shilling

Please don't put your silly head in that pretty soldier's hat
You've done your duty, that's enough of that

I don't know if what i'm doing is right
I don't know if you should be forgiving
But for me it seems it means my life
While for you it could just be a living
Stay at home tonight if you know what's good for you
I can't say more it would be telling
For if you don't what will become of you
Just isn't worth any king's shilling

Please don't put your silly head in that british soldier's hat
You've done your duty that's enough of that

You're a fine one, oh yes you are
You're a fine one, just like me

I'm going to make you even fear the dream you dream
So don't even think about it don't make a wish
You think that i don't see you as you trawl those young weak fish
Hooked on those poor wonders, 'til they want you alone
Though they can't tell a cuckoo-clock from the squeals of saxophones
That's when they'll fear my name
Stalin malone

I'm telling you the day will come when this man gets what he merits
Though people still wear animal skins to ward off evil spirits
Only wife-swapping and witchcraft woke the dormitory town
'til horse's heads up in the trees came dripping down
Yes, horse's heads up hung in the trees after the bird had flown
Did you wonder of my whereabouts as the barrack-room was blown
Did anybody call my name?
Stalin malone

In a room called creation, where you all obey my laws
Where seconal is gravity and pain is like applause
You think that this phenomenon is some coincidence
But i've got people everywhere, you're under
My surveillance, in the pocket of my pants
Okay, she left me, but i'll soon get over that
Falling out of the "blood tub" and rolling, on my back
Waking up to the one o'clock gun with a punch and judy bird
Reaching out for a gelignite beer that fills me up with murder
To overhear forbidden songs her lover must have known
Between the pity and advice...
"there's no one here to help you now, but speak after the tone"
Leave for me a message of hope
Stalin malone

Now the church door is a roller-shutter with padlocks and keys
Just like all of the other dispensaries
The saloon is like a casket, stained wood and human dust
Stale with conversation that hangs on your clothes like smoke
The wooden clock said she would dance dressed only in flower
As the jazz band drowns the hysterical bird that it spits out on the hour
I'd drop out of sight and disappear, turn up in another town, but somehow
I just can't seem to put it down, put it down, put it down
I just want to hold her now in that i'm not alone
But do i have to see her fall into his arms before i can atone..
Get my jacket on, get my story straight, i'm leaving on my own