Category: Low Birth Weight

Bad Patient

Bad Patient

There’s rain on the line between his ear and mine
Lost in translation, bad patient
I’m a terrier, a black sheep, half-relation
He’s French, a hack, white, Caucasian
We fuck in sadness, a cold frustration
Then we’re fine for a while, our hearts adjacent
He types, I read and we clash on the keys
He corrects, I direct the bones of the text
But he’s silent, too ill, too fragile, too still
And I’m violent and rash, slow down for the crash

 

(Lyrics – GA Johnson)

Crown Estate

Crown Estate

Look at that rich girl twitch –
Like me she can’t sit still
How would you want it seen?
Just like when you were ill?

When you hear the way they talk –
The rosy cheeks of the ruling classes
You can argue all you like –
They swear by early nights

Never meant to be like this –
A lot colder but the people were warm
If anyone was coming to get you –
Armed only with a sugar bowl

Used to leave your back doors
Used to leave your back doors open
Used to leave your back doors
Used to leave your back doors open

All the houses on the Crown Estate all look the same
That nut from four doors down wandered in by mistake again
And said to your old mum,
“I think it’s best that you sit down
I’ll make a cup of tea
And you can show me what a woman looks like with her head turned inside out”

Used to leave the backdoors, etc

 

(Lyrics – Simon Rivers)

Dark Secrets Look For Light

Dark Secrets Look For Light

Get me an ugly wife
No man will look twice
I can fall asleep at night and dream of someone else

I found an ugly wife and she’d led an ugly life
Take my hand, this ray of hope,
Crawl out of this hole

She weaved her spell on me
And I fell hopelessly
I swore to put it right
I blessed her every night

Tried to put the truth away
Cruel water finds it’s line
Cruel mouths are open wide
Dark secrets look for light

I ran back to the flat and found her hanging there
Silk nightdress, fallen chair
I found her hanging there

Wait til the end turns white
I closed my eyelids tight
Here comes the blinding light
This light will guide my life

 

 

(Lyrics – Simon Rivers)

I Am The Sub-librarian

I Am The Sub-librarian

I am the sub-librarian
Come in on the council bus –
Chalk Farm to Highgate Woods
Sportsbag of borrowed books

A steady diet of Brautigan
‘Tapestry’ on the walkman
Paranormal ill-health from dusting off the top shelf

I am the sub-librarian, counter girl, tea-maker
I am the sub-librarian, swan feeder, spectacle breaker
I am the sub-librarian

 

 

(Lyrics – GA Johnson)

 

 

 

Snow Drums

Snow Drums

Three on the backseat as we drive home from rehearsal
There’s snow on the drums
The snare shudders like a cold ghost between my mittens

In the trunk, guitars slide like dead over dead
It’s stopped snowing
We think we see foxes

I breathe a canvas on the window
To write your name on the landscape

The sky is a grey flint from coast to coast
With birds frozen in

Magic Trees share the dashboard with a Playdoh Jesus
Grapelli and Reinhardt lock horns on the radio

I draw a black skull on my jeans, not thinking,
Through to the skin
The headlamps come on at five

I miss you bad

 

 

(Words – GA Johnson)

Snowfall Soon

Snowfall Soon

Rain starts on you as your goodbye runs me through
Goodbye is nothing new but it’s last breath when said by you
And this world shrinks to a room
Weather inside : snowfall soon
No bookcase can rescue a man
Only a letter of sorry can

Handle with care if only you dare
I’m sensitive, touch sensitive
Handle with care if only you are
I’m sensitive, touch sensitive

I have a photograph
Mid-heaven, post-laugh
Eyes shine ridiculous
Illuminate the both of us
In the fold of a camera’s eye
In the time it takes to sigh
I open up an ashen heart
Pour out a thousand whys

Handle with care if only you dare, etc
Write or I’ll die
Handle with care, etc

 

 

(Lyrics – GA Johnson)

The Fun Of The Century

The Fun Of The Century

Could it be that you drove me into your fleet of hand-melt candy?
Could it be that you sent me falling off the roof backwards, gently?
Do not let my words depress you –
I’m here to uplift you now
(I’m here to uplift you now)

Her eyes have gone south –
Terrible lies she denies
Could it be that you broke me into a sheet of rain swept sideways?
Could it be that you wrote me a dead attempt?
It just plain scares me
Do not let my words distract you from all the fun you demand –
From the fun of the century

No more glistening wet poems in your honour,
Captain of alienation, New York, money, compassion

 

 

 

(Lyrics – GA Johnson)