A
Album - 29 agosto 1980 - Debaser id 64048

Spring light in a hazy May
and a man with a gun at the door
Someone's crawling on the roof above ---
all the media here for the show
I've been waiting for our friends to come
Like spiders down ropes to free-fall
A thirty round clip for a visiting card ---
admit one to the embassy ball

Caught in the crossfire on Princes Gate Avenue
In go the windows and out go the lights
Call me a doctor. Fetch me a policeman
I'm down on the floor in one hell of a fight

I'm just a soul with an innocent face ---
a regular boy dressed in blue
conducting myself in a proper way
as befitting the job that I do
They came down on me like a ton of bricks
Swept off my feet, knocked about
There's nothing for it but to sit and wait
for the hard men to get me out

Calm reason floats from the street below
and the slow fuse burns through the night
Everyone's tried to talk it through
but they can't seem to get the deal right
Somewhere there are Brownings in a two-hand hold ---
cocked and locked, one up the spout
There's nothing for it but to sit and wait
for the hard men to get me out

Through clear skies tracking lightly from far down the line
No fanfare, just a blip on the screen
No quick conclusions now --- everything will be fine
Short-circuit glitsch and not what it seems
Fylingdale Flyer --- you're only half way there
Green screen liar ---
for a second or so we were running scared

On late shift, feeling drowsy eyes glued to the display
Dead cert alert, lit match to the straw
One last quick game of bowls --- we can still win the day
Fail-safe; forget the things that you saw

They checked the systems through and they read A-o.k.
Some tiny fuse has probably blown
Sit back; relax and soon it will just go away
Keep your hands off that red telephone

They said protect and you'll survive ---
(but our postman didn't call)
8lbs. of over-pressure wave seemed to glue him to the wall
They said protect and you'll survive

E.M.P. took out the radio ---
(and our milk-man didn't call)
Flash blinded by the pretty lights,
didn't see his bottles fall
or feel the warm black rain arrive

Big friendly cloud builds in the West
(and our dust-men haven't called)
They left the dual carriageway at a hundred miles an hour ---
a tail wind chasing them away

And in deep shelters lurk below, sub-regional control
who sympathise but cannot help
to mend your body or your soul
Self-appointed guadians of the race with egg upon their face
When steady sirens sing all-clear they pop up,
find nobody here

And so I watch two new suns spin ---
(our paper man doesn't call)
Burnt shadow printed on the road --- now there's nothing there at all
They said protect and you'll survive

See black, see yellow with little notebooks drawn
See grey stripes bowling down the street
Silver streaks and T-shirts so precisely torn
Strange foreign chaps in white bed-sheets ---
Uniforms

See golden halo'd men of high renown
prance to the politicians' beat
Well tailored in unswerving elegance
with shoes by Gucci on their feet ---
Uniforms

How do you know who the hell you are?
Wake up each day under a different star
Dressed to the nines, meet yourself going home
like a clone, smartly dressed in your pressed uniform

White battle dress on green pitch, proud eleven
Beneath the swelling box so neat
the teeming millions of the future fly ---
the spinning cricket ball to cheat
They're all uniform

Met a man just the other day ---
said his name was Jim. Boy, won't you take a look!
Got a car for you --- it's a real steal
Cleaned it right down --- new brakes, clutch and here's the hook
Yes, it's a 4.W.D. (low ratio)

Cash to Jim. I took it home
through the deep mud. Plugged happy as a boy in sand
Fitted wide tyres, spotlight, a winch as well
and some brush bars up front to complete the plan
Now it's really a 4.W.D. (low ratio)

Take you down to the edge of town
Where the road stops, we start to hold the ground
Well, I'm blessed! Got traction in a special way
Hold the roll bar, slide back, feel me pull it round
Let me show you my 4.W.D. (low ratio)

[Instrumental]

We saw the heavens break and all the world go down to sleep
and rocks on mossy banks drip acid rain from craggy steeps
Saw fiery angels kiss the dawn
Wish you goodbye till further on
Will you still be there further on?

And troubled dynasties, like legions lost, have blown away
Hounds hard upon their heels call to their quarry --- wait and play
Before the last faint light has gone
Wish you goodbye till further on
Will you still be there further on?

The angry waves grow high --- cut icy teeth on northern shores
Brave fires that flicker, cough --- give way to winds
through broken doors
And with the last line almost drawn --- wish you goodbye till further on
Will you still be there further on?