Catfish Rising

Roll yer own. don't mean you got no money.
Only that you got no opportunity to shake it with that friend of mine.
Roll yer own if you can't buy readymade;
You won't be satisfied when you feel the sudden need
To unwind.
You know what moves you in the wee hours
When there's nothing on the answerphone.
And if you don't get enough of that electric love
Don't try to get by ---
Roll yer own, roll it when there's no-one listening:
When those re-runs play on the late-night
Black and white tv.
Roll yer own, roll it when there's something missing
And those wild cats howl, running in the moonshine.

Roll yer own: you got to hit that spot.
Roll yer own when your hands are hot.

She drifted from some minor festival.
Didn't look like any sumrner of love:
Just a thousand weekend warriors in a muddy field.
She was the hand to fit my glove.
Funny thing, the innocence of the lonely.
Funny thing, the charm of the young.

See how she moves just like two angels (in white innocence).
Yet one of them is on the run.
The other's tapping at my car window
And i'm squinting through the sun
Trying to see if she's some child of the nineties:
Or just another dangerous fantasy of mine.
Yeah. white innocence.
She was white innocence.

A perfect hole was in her stocking:
It made a perfect window to her heart.
I could have moved among her waterfalls:
Her misty curtains drawn apart.
Did she see warm safety in my numbers
To want to hitch a ride this way?
Felt like i was taking her to market now
To be sold as the last lot of the day.
Funny thing, the distance of the lonely.
Funny thing, the charm of the young.
White innocence.

She pressed the button, lowered the window:
Let her hand trail in the slipstream of the night.
A frost from nowhere seemed to lick her fingers:
I could have warmed them, but the moment wasn't right.
Obvious, she was headed nowhere special:
Yes, well it was even obvious to me.
I was doing some, some watching, some waiting:
She'd been here before, most definitely.

There was the promise of early bed-time.
There was the promise of heaven on earth.
Think i was sending out low-voltage electricity:
Played it right down for what it was worth.
She turned and looked at me in white innocence
And with the clearest eyes of forever grey
She rested one small hand for a second on my knee:
I stopped the car. she walked away.
Funny thing, the wisdom of the lonely.
Funny thing, the charm of the young.
Away you go now.
White innocence.

I'm banered and bruised. i got lines i can't use.
My head won't deliver. well, i'm sold down the river.
But i'm turning again.
Yes, `n' i'm turning again.
Well, i'm turning again.
And i'm turning again.
Wearing gold-tipped boots, black jacket and tie.

Well, i've been second to none:
This horse was ready to run.
Now i'm has-been and used:
Disarmed and de-fused
But i'm turning again.
And i'm turning again.
Yes, `n' i'm turning again.
I'm turning again.
Wearing gold-tipped boots, black jacket and tie.

I'm egg over-easy
And i'm washing-up squeezy.
Appliance for sale:
Fat wind in my sail
And i'm turning again.
Yes, `n' i'm turning again.
Well, i'm turning again.
Yes, `n' i'm turning again.
Wearing gold-tipped boots, black jacket and tie.
Well, i'm turning again.

I was in my watering-hole with some ugly friends of mine
When he door came off its hinges like a cork from fizzy wine.
He said, ``my name is jesus: i'm the leader of the band.
Got to set up my equipment, if you boys can lend a hand.''
Oh yeah. when jesus came to play.

He set that bandstand jumping. yeah, and he cranked it up so loud.
And he moved up to the microphone: had the attention of the crowd.
He said, ``my name is jesus: going to turn your head around.
I'm going to make this easy. got no time to mess around.''
Oh yeah. when jesus came to play.

``i got no twelve disciples, and i got no cross to bear.
If you thought they had me crucified, i guess you weren't there.''
Oh yeah. when jesus came to play. when jesus came...

He sang about three or four numbers, but we'd heard it all before.
We boys were getting restless: no girls were moving on the floor.
Those parables, they were merciless and the tables overturned.
And there were no minor miracles
But false prophets they were burned.
Well, maybe he was jesus;
But his hair could have used a comb.
Long before he hit the last notes, we boys had all gone home.
Oh yeah. when jesus came to play.

Oh jesus, is it really you?

Well, i don't care to eat out in smart restaurants.
I'd rather do a vindaloo: take away is what i want.
I was down at the old bengal, having telephoned a treat
When i saw her framed in the kitchen door.
She looked good enough to eat.
(and i mean eat.)
She was a tall thin girl.
She looked like a tall thin girl.
She said, ``whose is this carry-out?''
My face turned chilli red.
Well, i don't know about carrying out,
But you can carry me off to bed.
(and i mean bed.)
She was a tall thin girl.
She moved like a tall thin girl.
Maybe i can fetch for it,
And maybe i can stretch for it.

I may not be a fat man and i'm not exactly small
But when it all comes down, couldn't stand my ground.
This girl was tall.
(and i mean tall.)

Big boy doane, he's a drummer. don't play no tambourine
But he's madras hot on the bongo trot,
If you know just what i mean.
Stands six foot three in his underwear;
Going to get him down here and see
If this good lady's got a little sister `bout the same size as me.
She was a tall thin girl.
She looked like a tall thin girl.
Well, can i fetch for it?
Well, maybe i can stretch for it?
Well, am i up for it? or do i have to go down for it?

All of you sit up in bed. don't think in straight lines ahead.
Can't sleep? head spin? don't think in circles, it'll do you in.
Think back to the dream you had; no sense of being good or bad.
Jump to the left, jump to the right. think round corners into night.

Let's go in wet corridors: dive down drains.
Draw strength from machinery, it's al] the same.
Thinking round corners. think round corners, i say.

Pretty girl with neon eyes: best man between white thighs.
Bridegroom didn't know a thing: got his love in lights,
She wears two rings.
Think back to that dream you had.
Blue boy sorry, pink girl sad.
Yellow cow, big-eyed moon all coming round the corner soon.

Let's stand in rapids: cling to carnivals.
Spit life from the maypole in savage ceremony.
Let's go in wet corridors: dive down drains.
Draw strength from machinery, it's all the same.
Thinking round corners. think round corners, i say.

Paper cowboys, tin drums banging where the white man comes.
Landowners with whips and chains but soft in bed amidst
Warm rains.
Thinking back to the dream they had. jack and jill.
Jack the lad.
Homestead. home free. how about leaving some for me?

Let's bathe in malt whisky: covet gold finery
Through the eyes of a jackdaw, dressed to the nines.
Let's go in wet corridors: dive down drains.
Draw strength from machinery, it's all the same.
Thinking round corners. think round corners, i say.
Thinking round corners.