[ Introduction | Song Index | Updates ]
(Sullivan)
Home was by the water, childhood days were easy
Until they came and dammed the river about three miles down the valley
The foreign men arrived with all their diggers and their trucks
And they cut down all the skyline trees that stretched across our hills
And they came and saw my father with the soldiers standing guard
And put the piece of paper in his hand
We watched the waters rising as we packed up our belongings
My father sat and broke down as we loaded up the wagon
My brother went and saw the building men for one last time
Don't lie to us, don't lie to us but all they did was lie
And not a word was spoken as we left our valley home
Through the dusty roads I lay and watched the sky
Home is by the railway now on the outskirts of the city
The rains they come in torrents now, come beating on the shanty
At night we watch the rocket flares lighting up the sky
There's talk they closed the border up just ten miles to the North
And the young men head out westward as the curfew siren calls
And the Army trucks come move in with their guns
----------
(Demo) - Vengeance - The Whole Story 1980-84 -
Double CD (12/12)
(Instrumental demo) - Once Were Warriors - Bootleg CDR (2004?)
25/01/85 - Justin Sullivan - Apples & Snakes, London
|
(Sullivan/Nelson/Dean/White/Gill)
I get so angry and helpless
There's no way back from this spiral
Something always has to give
And nothing is given for nothing
The drug is in my veins now
Your life is your own for the taking
My body must be slowing down now
But my heart is at the speed of flying
I'm walking out, I close the door
I'm down the steps for the last time
You can lose too much to ever want to start
Over again - over again
When I look back and think about it
All I see is her face staring into mine
I feel the child holding onto me
I'm smelling his sweet smell of innocence
The world has become too silent
This night it seems everlasting
The clocks ticking on like dripping water
But the hands are not moving
I'm walking out, I close the door
I'm down the steps for the last time
Then dawn breaks open in faded blue
And the sounds of the city waking
I'm walking out, I close the door
I'm down the steps for the last time
But the grass is soaked with fallen dew
And the sun is almost rising
----------
High - CD (8/07)
Anthology - Double CD (2/11)
|
The Day the World Turned Day-Glo
(X-Ray Spex)
I clambered over mounds and mounds
Of polystyrene foam
And fell into a swimming pool
Filled with fairy snow
Ch:
And watched the world turn day-glo
You know you know
The world turned day-glo you know
I wrenched the nylon curtains back
As far as they would go
And peered through perspex window panes
At the acrylic road
Ch
I drove my polypropolene
Car on wheels of sponge
Then pulled into a wimpy bar
To have a rubber bun
Ch
The X-rays were penetrating
Through the latex breeze
Synthetic fibre see-thru leaves
Fell from the rayon trees
Ch
----------
29/04/11 - Metropool, Hengelo
|
(Sullivan)
To the thoughts of the many from the minds of the
few
Voice of reason, censored view
The truth is the News and the News is the truth
As if that'll do as a lame excuse
For killing the slavers, taking the slaves
Burying the dead, then robbing the graves
Stealing the modesty from heroes brave
Making the tears gush like waves
Ch:
Deadeye watches, still the
killing carries on
To the rhythm of the gunfire and the voices of concern
Deadeye claims to be some conscience for us all
But I was never born to be some fly upon the wall
Window dressing and the tinsel wreath
Stealing the pity and the widow's grief
Sentimental with a furrowed brow
Pinning the heart on the blooded
sleeve
Ch
And yes I've crouched beneath the glow
Dazzled by it all
But this is not the world I know
Or people I recall
To the thoughts of the many from the minds of the
few
Voice of reason, censored view
A little knowledge is a dangerous
thing
Here is the butterfly,
here's the wing
Ch
----------
Vagabonds - Maxi CD (2/89)
Vagabonds - 12" (2/89)
Vagabonds - 7" (2/89)
B-Sides and Abandoned Tracks - CD (9/94)
(Remastered) - Thunder and Consolation - Double CD (5/05)
The Collection - CD (10/04)
(Demo) - Demos for Thunder and Consolation - Bootleg LP
Mar.-Apr. 88 - Red Sky Coven - UK
Tour
Sep.-Oct. 89 - Red Sky Coven - UK, Germany Tour
Nov.-Dec. 93 - Justin Sullivan and Dave Blomberg - Europe Tour
|
Instrumental
----------
(Instrumental demo) - The Attack - Bootleg CDR (year?)
|
(Sullivan)
The world is held in a spider's web of roads, it's
easy to go wrong.
There are so many crossroads you might just stumble upon;
There are voices in my head, strangers just waiting there.
I lied when I swore that I never knew who I'd been talking to. He said
How do you want it, how do you do, how do you want it to come to you?
And so down the stairway, down the hall, past
familiar blood-stains on the wall,
I double crossed myself and find I'm at the open door
And what a welcome I received, arms around each other
It was hard to tell which one of us was the more pleased . . .
How do you want it? How do you do? How do you want it to come to you?
IF YOU LOOK FOR ME, YOU WILL FIND ME
Some do anything not to be lonely, some do anything
just to stay in the game,
Some build a wall around themselves and pretend everything's the same,
Mirror, mirror on the wall –
tell me that I'm loveable
Tell me that I'm here at all . . .
How do you want it, how do you do, how do you want
it to come to you?
IF YOU LOOK FOR ME, YOU WILL FIND ME
They took me down to the tree of knowledge and said that I
must resist
And all I could think was – what kind of stupid joke is this -
Not to want to know and feel
everything that exists
Behind the curtain drawn by self appointed control freaks and their
apologists
And then there's all that crazy superstitious stuff
About remembering to take salt
for throwing over . . .
RIGHT HAND LEFT SHOULDER
While all I could hear was the best tunes playing through the glass,
It's strange what you can understand but still never really grasp
And all you have to do is learn to turn the other way
As people around you suffer - well, it's easy, people suffer every day
And then you find you're in a trap of your own making, it holds you in
its clutch
Because once you touch the poison, you poison everything that you touch
IF YOU LOOK FOR ME, YOU WILL FIND ME
----------
Winter - CD (8/16)
Winter - Double LP (8/16)
Devil/Winter - 7" (8/16)
|
(Sullivan/Dean)
So you found your way out there to the edge of the
world
Where the falcons fly but you're still pinned to the ground
So up the stony pathways like Moses
before
To stand high on your mountain and look down on us all
Ch:
They call this faith, they call it a Devil's
bargain
Or just following on to the end
There's a thousand little tricks and games of control
And the withholding of love is the cruelest of all
People are like trees, they sway and they bend
But you stand like a rock and face into the wind
Ch
And the closer to the sun, the colder and thinner
the air becomes
But you were never scared of anything or anyone
You stand like a statue as the animals come
To take from your hand, to eat from your hand
There's a dusty old photograph I'll always recall
Maybe it's true what they say - it
takes a piece of your soul
You were jumping from the bridge and falling into space
Looking back at the camera with that smile on your face
Ch
----------
Between Wine and Blood - Double CD (9/14)
Between Wine and Blood - Double LP (9/14)
(Christmas 2014 shows) - Between
Wine and Blood Live - Triple CD (4/15)
(Christmas 2014 shows) - Between
Wine and Blood Live - DVD (4/15)
|
(Sullivan/White)
The chase was hard (to the water)
The chase was long (to the sunlight)
Through the searing heat of the midday sun
I'm out of breath, I am gasping out
I'm almost gone, I am almost gone
My heart it is beating, my heart it is pounding
Looking back, there's something there
Against the rocks, burning clear
I see his shape with the horns
and spear
It's a very long way, far, far away
From your hometown streets
and all those rusting mills
And they never could understand
Why you had to go, why you had to go
So did you make it safe to the promised place?
And did they take you in like
you were part of them?
You wanted it so much – all those days of dreaming
You gave it all your faith, you gave it all your faith
And I remember the night we passed each other
You were like the last on Earth, still praying, still praying
My heart it was pounding, my heart it was beating
With him standing there with the horns and spear
It's a very long way, far, far away
From your hometown streets and all those rusting mills
And they never could understand
Why you had to go, why you had to go
----------
Between Dog and Wolf - CD (9/13)
Between Dog and Wolf - Double LP (9/13)
(Between Dog and Wolf Tour 13) - Between Wine and Blood - Double CD (9/14)
|
(Sullivan)
You can make a fire out of anything,
You can warm your hands on the plastic burning on the frozen ground
When the only word is 'when'.
You can make a camp out of anywhere
Polythene sheets and rope until they come to pull it down -
You just start again.
Ch:
Winter storms and the snow flying,
Razor wire and the gulls crying,
Cross the water or die trying.
You can make a little hope out of anything
Follow the latest rumour to an empty concrete yard
On the edge of town
Where there's always someone to take your money,
There's always someone to make a promise and go to ground -
Another face to forget.
Ch
You can lie awake through the long dark night
And count the trucks as they go passing by,
The ships loading up and sailing out for the promised land -
You can listen to the wind as it whips up the sand from the dunes
And dream and dream that it blows and blows
All the fences in the world down to the ground . . .
You can end the journey anywhere
You can lose your hold on the axle frame and fall into the road
And under the wheels
You can fall right through the world and disappear
Playing a game of hide and seek just one too many times
Until the time that you're not found.
Ch
----------
Winter - CD (8/16)
Winter - Double LP (8/16)
|
(Sullivan/Nelson/Dean/White/Gill)
We were brothers there, we were running away
In a mountain town on the other side of the world
And I remeber the night as clear as day
I wanted to leave but you had to stay
You were high on romance
And on a one-on-one with Fate
You stepped outside just for a moment
For a cigarette and to watch the stars
And that was all you said
And one by one we came outside,
Shouting for you, shouting for you
The laughter swallowed by the trees, shouting for you
Ch:
Do the gods take the children,
Do the gods take the children
That belong to them, that belong to them?
Do the gods take their children,
Do the gods take their children
Their mark upon you, their mark upon you
And the hours turned to days
And the days began to stretch
And the shepherds combed the hills
The way they search for straying sheep
Before they're taken by the wolves
And I tried to think about who was there
Put pictures of you everywhere
But there were only questions
And the local police shrugged their shoulders
Said the files are all still open,
Empty pages, nothing more
Ch
And for a while in hometown street
There were candles lit in every window
But soon it dwindled just to one,
And the frantic phone-calls became shorter
And no one speaking English now and nothing much to tell anyhow
This wilderness we carry with us
It's like a dream of innocence
Ch:
And the gods take their children,
And the gods take their children
Their mark upon you, their mark upon you
Do the gods take their children,
Do the gods take their children
I miss you, I miss you
----------
Today Is a Good Day - CD (9/09)
Today Is a Good Day - Double LP (9/09)
| |
(Sullivan/Heaton/Morrow)
They started work this morning
Down at city square
They're pulling down the statues
Of our great grandfather's hero
The new books said he wasn't such a great man after all
And anyway remember that the times
they are a-changing
Ch:
Pull it down, drag it down
Till there's nothing to look up to
But the brand names on the posters all around
They proved on television last night
God was just a lie
He never made the world at all
It was just some sweet old fashioned rite
So melt down all the ornaments
Move out all the graves
And let us build the disco that we need for our young 'braves'
Ch:
Pull it down, drag it down
Till the hopes and dreams of all the ages
Past are shattered on the ground
We think we are so clever killing heroes, killing
magic -
till everything that's sacred is brought down to our level -
for Mammon is a jealous
master - leaves no room for any other
All the questions left unanswered
All the answers gone forever
So bow to the woman in the finest fur
Bow to the man with the ace street cool
Bow to the woman with all the power
Bow to the man with all the money
In whose sight are we equal now?
Now that we've killed God
----------
No Rest for the Wicked - CD (5/85)
No Rest for the Wicked - LP (5/85)
(Remastered) - No Rest for the Wicked - Double CD (5/2005)
(Janice Long Show) - Radio Sessions 83-83 - CD (6/88)
(Janice Long Show) - Radio Sessions 83-83 - LP (6/88)
(Janice Long Show) - Vengeance/Radio Sessions - Double Picture CD (6/95)
(Janice Long Show) - Smalltown England - Double CD (97)
The Collection - CD (10/04)
Anthology - Double CD (2/11)
(Janice Long Show) - Vengeance - The Whole Story 1980-84 - Double CD (12/12)
Videos 86-89 (Bootlegged Bootleg)
- Video (89)
(London Astoria, 16/12/03) - Live
161203 - DVD (5/04)
(Duesseldorf Philipshalle, 16/04/90) - 1980-2010 - Triple DVD (2/11)
(Nottingham Rock City, 28/02/89) -
Like a Storm - Bootleg CD
(Nottingham Rock City, 28/02/89) - Sadistic
Pleasures - Bootleg 7"
(Duesseldorf Philipshalle, 16/04/90) - Heroes of
a Ghost Town - Bootleg CD
(Duesseldorf Philipshalle, 16/04/90) - European Tour '90 - Bootleg CD
(Duesseldorf Philipshalle, 16/04/90) - Vagabonds - Bootleg CD
(Duesseldorf Philipshalle, 16/04/90) - We Are Old, We Are Young . . . -
Bootleg LP
(Duesseldorf Philipshalle, 16/04/90) - State of
Mind - Bootleg CD
Sep.-Dec. 84 - Northern Europe, UK
Tour
Jun. 85 - UK Tour
Feb.-Mar. 86 - UK Mini Tour
Jan.-Apr. 89 - Thunder and Consolation Tour (Europe, UK)
16/04/90 - Philipshalle, Duesseldorf (WDR Rocknacht)
Jun. 90 - UK Tour, Europe Festivals
14/02/91 - Marquee, London
Mar.-May 91 - Europe Tour (Partly as Raw Melody Men)
Mar. 85 - Justin Sullivan - UK Mini Tour
| |
The man can't sleep tonight
There's something on his mind worth thinking
He wonders how far he ever stretched away from the past
Does he know he's going nowhere
I don't know if he knows it but
Does he know he's going nowhere
But his hands are weak
Something dies, something lies
Waiting inside
Through the trees and
Past the houses
Will he never fly
Past the trees and
By the light glow
Will he never go
The man can't sleep tonight
There's something on his mind at last
He wonders how far he ever stretched away from the past
Does he know he's going nowhere
His hands are weak as his
spirit weeps
Does he know he's going nowhere
I don't know
Something dies, something lies
Will hel never go
Through the trees and
Past the houses
Into the rainy sky
Past the trees and
Past the streetlights
Will he never go
----------
(Keighley Funhouse Bar, 14/09/81) - Unreleased
Songs 83-85 - Bootleg Tape
14/09/81 - Funhouse Bar, Keighley
Many thanks to Monty for help with the lyrics!
|
(Sullivan/Dean)
You came to me because I'm not like you
I came to you because you're not like me
But there's a reef of jagged rocks
Between the shoreline and the sea
Yes, I forget the things that you can't forget
You say the things that I will not say
And there's a smear of blood red sky
Between the nighttime and the day
Stop blowing away - find a way through
The stars that we are following are
The ones that move in circles around the sky
You needed me because I'm not like you
And yes I needed you because you're not like me
And the waves will forever break
Between the shoreline and the sea
Stop blowing away - find a way through
The stars that we are following are
The ones that move in circles around the sky for us tonight
----------
Winter - CD (8/16)
Winter - Double LP (8/16)
| |
Drummy B (Billy McCann Version)
(Sullivan/Heaton)
The bonfires
blazed across the city
The smoke swirling into the sky
We were standing shoulder to shoulder
Billy McCann and I
Our faces ruddy and burning
As we stared into the flames
But I know now the things that we saw that night
Were not the same
Ch:
And I see you as I walk away
Standing by your barricade
It's all over now between us
Billy McCann goodbye
So we'll sit up at the bar for the last time
The way we used to do
And I'll toast the love that you showed me
And the faith I gave to you
And we can drive out and watch the sunrise
From the top of the Glenshane
Pass
And I won't make you answer the questions
I've always tried to ask
Ch:
Now I see you as I walk away
Standing still by your barricade
It's all over now between us
Billy McCann goodbye
I see you as I walk away
Standing by your barricade
And though you never will forgive me
Billy McCann goodbye
----------
Living in the Rose (The Ballads EP) - Maxi CD (6/93)
Living in the Rose (The Ballads EP) - 12" (6/93)
B-Sides and Abandoned Tracks - CD (9/94)
(Live Justin Sullivan and Friends,
2002) - Ocean Rising 1- CD Single (4/03)
(Europe, UK Tour 02-03) - Justin
Sullivan and Friends - Tales of the Road - CD (3/04)
(Nobody Else) - Feb.-May 98 - Nobody Else Tour (UK, Europe)
23/07/96 - Justin Sullivan - Kaue,
Gelsenkirchen
Aug. 98 - Justin Sullivan - Germany Tour
| |
(Sullivan/Heaton)
----------
May 92 - UK Tour
|
(Sullivan)
And everything laid before us now - nothing to
conceal
I'm going back to the Nature Gods,
the only thing that's real
And yes I heard the voices raised, I heard all the words you were
saying -
It sounds just like everything sounds - the sound of something praying
Ch:
Echo November -
Through mists the ghosts appear.
Try to remember
Everything that got us here.
It takes you like a river in spring - so fast you
don't know you're going,
There isn't time enough to stop and see just where the bodies are
hidden.
We climb aboard the wheel of
fortune spinning round with dreams of winning
The lucky ones that make it to the top, they try to stop the wheel
spinning
Ch
And it all begins somewhere rattling chains twisted
and bound
And it's all going somewhere but we cannot chase it down . . .
We sacrificed all the things we love to get more of
nothing -
Shouted out from the city walls but they were too busy fighting
Ch
----------
Winter - CD (8/16)
Winter - Double LP (8/16)
|
(Sullivan/Heaton)
Stevie
said now don't look round they're watching us
Two girls in the corner of that dodgy club
And the grey eyes, the storm
that I've come to know and wish for
Before I caught a breath well she was standing there
We walked the streets of our town just talking
And the dawn broke grey and freezing through the deserted blocks
Just when your life is stale and there's reason there for everything
Something comes to kick you up inside
Ch:
Eleven sweet years and no nearer
home
A hundred thousands miles through this battle zone
Still high on the wire above the hollow darkness
Trying not to look down
No Rest for the
wicked is still how it goes
Twisted up and turning in my bed alone
And separation pains like a blunted amputation
Pushing endless coins in the telephone
Ch
So rest in these open arms
And lie until they come for you
And tell me everything you've ever felt
Tell me everything you want to see
Forever running even when we are standing still
Driven on and fired up as the whirlwinds blow
And shouting out inside
I'm proud of you, I'm proud of you
Ten thousand footsteps echo down the Brixton Road
Ch
----------
Impurity - CD (9/90)
Impurity - LP (9/90)
(Remastered) - Impurity - Double CD (5/05)
The Collection - CD (10/04)
(Nobody Else) - New Model Army . . . & Nobody Else - CD (8/99)
Red Sky Coven Volumes 1 & 2 - CD (1/99)
Oct.-Dec. 90 - Impurity Tour (UK,
Europe)
(Nobody Else) - Feb.-May 98 - Nobody Else Tour (UK, Europe)
(Acoustic) - 25/07/98 - WOM Record Store, Karlsruhe
23/07/96 - Justin Sullivan - Kaue,
Gelsenkirchen
Aug. 98 - Justin Sullivan - Germany Tour
Jan. 99 - Red Sky Coven - Germany Tour
|
(Sullivan)
Long after the golden winter sunsets fade beyond the
dusk,
We'd drive this way out of the city and up towards the west
And we'd pull to the side of the road at the top of the hill, kill the
lights and keep the engine running
And when our eyes got used to the darkness we could see the storm
coming.
It's not that I believed in what you said but I
envied you your faith.
Still innocent after all the years, bringing your little fire to the
blaze.
We all find ways to live with ourselves to pretend we're moving on
Because if our eyes got used to the darkness we'd see the damage that
we've done.
Now all is militant beats and tribal flags and
everything just for show.
When no one listens much to what you say, then all you're going to say
is NO.
Paramilitary guards in cheap uniforms, security lights brighter than
the sun
Because if our eyes get used to the darkness, we'll see the damage that
we've done.
And now the shadows merge and drift apart
On these twisting, turning paths
And all is liquid, no place to fall,
There is no edge, just the night singing . . .
And if we get used to stillness, we'll feel the air
breathing
And if our ears get used to silence, we'll hear our hearts beating -
Come on into the jet black night with all the animals and the rivers
running
And when our eyes get used to the darkness we can see the storm coming -
And maybe out beyond the blackest storms, we'll see the furthest stars.
----------
Winter - CD (8/16)
Winter - Double LP (8/16)
[ Introduction | Song Index | Updates ]
01/04/99; last update 23/07/17