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Read (Discography): 08 Dec 2000 Queen's Hall, Edinburgh

(Please note: lyrics taken from studio albums. Live versions may vary.)


I feel icy
I feel cold
I feel old
Is there something there behind me?
I'm sublime

I feel empty
I feel dark
I remark
I am mesmerised
By my own beat
Like a heartbeat
(In it's own beat)

Ally In Exile

An ally in exile
Receives an urgent dispatch
When he's already in trouble
Unable to relax
He recognises the cipher
Quickly resolves the code
The contents of the message
State, area and road

It was, as he feared
His cover's been blown
The extent of the network
Is now overblown
Overgrown the apparatus
To such an unwelcome event
The last word is sent

He knows that resistance
Is futile but still
He prepares for their arrival
He awaits the kill
Resistance is futile
He awaits the kill
He prepares the arrival
He sits perfectly still
Resistance is futile
He prepares for the kill

He breaks down in the theatre
But hopes not under these lights
Specifically those
Which gain strategic insights
By the best of good fortune
He had provisions in store
He doubles, then trebles
The locks on his door

Germ Ship

Germ ship
Aliens on board
Fatal attraction
Sponsored by Ford

Boiling Boy

Gifts of the west winds
Dark and deep
In secret sunset
Places creep

Lock up your hats
Lock up your hats

Progress with a vision
To practice with at home
A schism with an ism
To practice with at home
A collision with decision
To practice with at home

He transferred his soul
To his imagination
His atoms were excited
And he glowed in the dark
The boiling boy
Was a picture of confusion
But he had the advantage
Of a cold start heart

He Knows

In the Baron’s Nippon charger
The co-pilot a façade
In attendance tucked inside
Riding shot-gun talking hard was Bard
Though his kingdom was subsiding
Beyond the distant blue horizon
Elbow dancing in a fashion
Dressed in stolen threads of passion

Stardom's kingdom in scripted lies
The green room tango, hip no ties
Walk this way, get a wise guy prize
Fox-trot partners, cannibalise

Not belonging even caring; you embrace the ever-caring
Eyes of he who views unblinking
Who knows what you are thinking
Ignoring oceans crossing borders
Fulfilling arms providing borders
Awaiting sentence and what the word is
For you know who their lord is

We so greedy, with so much need
Of your attention, of all your love
We're hypnotised, with all your love

Advantage In Height

A brief Bombay, Colossus encounter
A holy rolling, rhino blessing

Two men in white, an advantage in height
In appearance unique, in action delivers

The light fades, the sun never never sets
A: a double blow, B: an immortal being

A creator lover, a bee-driver
A therez wipe-out, a therez wipeout


The time is too short but never too long
to reach ahead, to project the image,
which will in time become a concrete dream.

Another cigarette, another day,
'cos E is where you play the blues.
Avoiding a death is to win the game,
to avoid relegation, the big E.

Drowning in the big swim, rising to the surface

The smell of you
That's the lowdown

Another The Letter

Passed to hand, behind the curtain
The letter brings change, now things are uncertain
Hand to hand, the letter moves on
Like a series of shocks, but the contents are known

Oh faint heart, when the letter arrives
You suddenly find things getting life-size

Once the air rang with things unsaid
Now cruel outlines are easily read
Behind the curtain, in the yellow bulb light
The letter reads: I took my own life





Pink Flag

I was sold up the river to the red slave trade
The stores were gathered, the plans were laid
Synchronised watches at 18:05
How many dead or alive in 1955?

The pink flag was screaming, bugle boys sucked and blew
No time for confessions, orders given
Books were cooked on the 4th of the 3rd
How many seen or heard on the 12th of the 3rd?

How many dead or alive?


Are you level? How's your trim?
Do you rotate, eddy, or spin?
Are you game? What's your trick?
Do you vibrate, bounce, or tick?
What's your cut? Are you correct?
Do you detour, bend, or stretch?

We're milling through the grinder, grinding through the mill
If this is not an exercise, could it be a drill?

How's it with you? What's your form?
Your outline, shape, or form
How's your price? What do you cost?
Your value, profit, or loss
How's your skull? Does it fit?
Is your mind free, empty, or split?

Drill drill drill
Dugga dugga dugga