RED AND BLUE: LYRICS

( Click here to listen to the album )

I am writing to you /
because I think /
you are the only one /
who will understand /
the significance /
of what I am trying to say

(stop)

***

Vistas, mountains, weapons, shopping
I declare this business closed!
Violence gathers at the border
Indiscriminate and brutal
A threat to our democracy
We must work together
To thwart this scourge against humanity
In the context of our special (special) relationship

Water, iron, money, intelligence
Our experts are red-hot in anticipation of a call from your experts
A scourge against humanity
We'll bring the perpetrators down

Vistas, mountains, weapons, intelligence

***

(black as a starless sky)

The news arrived of Saigon's surrender
And suddenly the shadows seem to have lengthened

(black as a starless sky)

***

The photographs are beautiful
The sea... the sun
Memory... guilded
Picture... perfect
Landing... handshake

Smile for the cameras!
I declare this business closed!

In every sense a memorable occasion
And the hospitality and the generosity

(stop)

The photographs are beautiful
Shining... transaction
The sun... the sea
UNITY
Festive... greetings
Vacation... meetings

Sign here! Sign here!
Why won't you look at me?

(and the splendid glass eagle by Steuben on my desk as I write)

***

(US nuclear weapons tests 1981-1991...)

We are floating
Thank you for your message
(blast him into space)
And proceed
With a manned space station programme
(British astronauts)
Thank you for giving us these wonderful opportunities
We accept

***

The alliance marches together into 1984
In the hope that, as you have said yourself
It should become the year of dialogue
Echoing your tribute to your delegation
Creating a more stable and safer world

***

Your voice is faint / I can hear you
Afraid of the hail of gunfire / Be not afraid
We will pull together a government
Those people on the islands are remarkable
The announcement to the press that our forces are onshore
She's a wonderful person / She's captured our city by storm
There's a lot of work to do yet / Oh yes
But, we are colloids
We are an emulsion / A foam
WE GEL
I love to hear your voice / I feel pleasure
I must return to debate in the house
Go get 'em
Eat them alive

***

Tell him I've got my fingers crossed
Tell him I've got my toes crossed
Tell him I've got everything crossed

***

This is a premonition
We exist in a time of saturated images
We observe ourselves
Playing ourselves
On the television
Amorphous
Fashioned in latex
Colour-coded red and blue
This is a premonition
A record of our mutual concern
For democracy
And for liberty
The essence of our special (special) relationship
This is the inauguration
The beginning of our cooperation
And consultation between your government and mine

***

Fall... I could speak to her for hours...
Fall into a swoon...
Tell me everything about him...
I liked her immediately...
Tell me, who's that woman on the other side of the room?
She was warm, feminine, intelligent...
Looking at me from the corners of your eyes...
A kind of mocking distain...

Warm / Buoyant
Feminine / Intelligent
We were soul mates / Elected
Like movie stars / Make speeches
The barrier failed / I've stopped the clock
The snare opens / It's losing its identity
And adjusted for GMT / And coming from nowhere

HE WAS RISEN FROM POVERTY

Let the sky open
Let the silky ship descend
Let the helicopter pull the leaves from the lawn
LET'S MEET
At Aspen, Colorado
(handshakes)

Let the sky close
Let the silky ship ascend
LET'S MEET
Let the ice freeze on Moscow

Mountains, vistas, money, shopping
Weapons, Leningrad
Moscow, water
Iron, intelligence

***

Let this be the last attempt
This nation's injury was my distress

***

By the way / Since we're here
I should say / What I heard
At the time / Of the strike
The bread strike / There in Britain
LET THEM STARVE
No wait / I'm losing the plot
You said / As the barrier failed
As I stopped the clock / As the snare opened
It's not so common here / It's not an expression
We would use / There's an ocean between us
Get to the point / Quickly now
You told them,
"You must use your loaf".

(stop)