Coming From Reality / After The Fact Lyrics

Lyrics taken from the South African CD bookletand the original US release of Coming From Reality with modifications,corrections and re-interpretations by Brian Currin with help from Eva Rodriguez and Toshio Nomura. Updated February 2008 for Light In The Attic CD release.

Bonus Tracks on 2009 re-issue:

CLIMB UP ON MY MUSIC

Have you ever had a fever,
From a bitter-sweet refrain,
Have you ever kissed the sunshine,
Walked between the rain.

Well, just climb up on my music,
And my songs will set you free,
Well, just climb up on my music,
And from there jump off with me.

Well, there was a girl named Christmas,
Did I tell ya she drank gold,
She wasn't very hard to capture,
But she was rather hard to hold.

Well, just climb up on my music,
And my songs will set you free,
Well, just climb up on my music,
And from there jump off with me.

Have you ever been in darkness,
And your mind could find no peace,
When you woke up after midnight,
Found your swans had turned to geese.

Well, just climb up on my music,
And my songs will set you free,
Well, just climb up on my music,
And from there jump off with me.

A MOST DISGUSTING SONG see original lyric sheet

I've played every kind of gig there is to play now
I've played faggot bars, hooker bars, motorcycle funerals
In opera houses, concert halls, halfway houses.

Well I found that in all these places that I'veplayed
all the people that I've played for are the same people
So if you'll listen, maybe you'll see someone you know in this song.

A most disgusting song.

The local diddy bop pimp comes in
Acting limp he sits down with a grin
next to a girl that has never been chased
The bartender wipes a smile off his face
The delegates cross the floor,
curtsy and promenade through the doors,
and slowly the evening begins.

And there's Jimmy "Bad Luck" Butts
who's just crazy about them East Lafayette weekend sluts
Talking is the lawyer in crumpled up shirt
And everyone's drinking the detergents
that cannot remove their hurts

While the Mafia provides your drugs,
your government will provide the shrugs,
and your national guard will supply the slugs,
so they sit all satisfied.

And there's old playboy Ralph
who's always been shorter than himself,
and there's a man with his chin in his hand,
who knows more than he'll ever understand.

Yeah, every night it's the same old thing
Getting high, getting drunk, getting horny
At the Inn-Between, again.

And there's the bearded schoolboy with the woodeneyes
Who at every scented skirt whispers up and sighs
and there's a teacher that will kiss you in French
Who could never give love, could only fearfully clench

Yeah, people every night it's the same old thing
Getting pacified, ossified, affectionate at Mr. Flood's party, again

And there's the militant with his store-bought soul
There's someone here who's almost a virgin I've been told
And there's Linda glass-made who speaks of the past
who genuflects, salutes, signs the cross and stands at half mast

Yeah, They're all here, the Tiny Tims and the Uncle Toms,
redheads, brunettes, brownettes and the dyed haired blondes,
Who talk to dogs, chase broads and have hopes of being mobbed,
who mislay their dreams and later claim that they were robbed

And every night it's going to be the same old thing
Getting high, getting drunk, getting horny
Lost, even, at Martha's Vineyard, again

I THINK OF YOU

Just a song we shared, I'll hear
Brings memories back when you were here
Of your smile, your easy laughter
Of your kiss, those moments after
I think of you,
and think of you
and think of you.

Of the dreams we dreamt together
Of the love we vowed would never
Melt like snowflakes in the sun
My days now end as they begun
With thoughts of you,
and I think of you
and think of you.

Down the streets I walked with you
Seeing others doing things we do
Now these thoughts are haunting me
Of how complete I used to be
And in these times that we're apart
I'll hear this song that breaks my heart
And think of you
And I think of you
And think of you
and think of you
And I do

HEIKKI'S SUBURBIA BUS TOUR

Did you read the Sunday paper
about the strong stomached 25
Who from an expedition
All came back alive
From that hostile country
Where only the stones survive
On Heikki's suburbia bus tour one.

Picture-taking tourist
The war was half a deal
The natives can't believe it
It all seems so unreal
Just to ask the question,
Now how does it feel
On Heikki's suburbia bus tour ride

2,752 un-scheduled stops
Watch them kill the crabgrass
But look out for the cops
Hospitals for flowers
The matron ladies cry
Itchy trigger fingers
as our caravan walks by
Overcrowded laughter
'cause they're all four gallons high
On Heikki's suburbia bus tour ride

Read the Sunday paper
though you may disagree
About the maiden voyage of poets A to Zee
None confuse to answer
That happiness is free
On Heikki's suburbia bus tour ride.

SILVER WORDS

Baby I ain't joking
And it's not what I'm smoking
I really think you're nice
Don't think I'm kidding
And don't think that I'm bidding
If silver words are your price

But oh if you could see
The change you've made in me
That the angels in the skies
Were envious and surprised
That anyone as nice as you
Would chance with me

But oh if you could see
The change you've made in me
That the angels in the skies
Were envious and surprised
That anyone as nice as you
Would chance with me

SANDREVAN LULLABY - LIFESTYLES

Instrumental introduction (guitar/violin duet)

The generals hate holidays
Others shoot up to chase the sun blues away
Another store front church is open
Sea of neon lights, a boxer his shadow fights
Soldier tired and sailor broken
Winter's asleep at my window
Cold wind waits at my door
She asks me up to her place
But I won't be down anymore

Judges with metermaid hearts
Order super market justice starts
Frozen children inner city
Walkers in the paper rain
Waiting for those knights that never came
The hi-jacked trying so hard to be pretty

Night rains tap at my window
Winds of my thoughts passing by
She laughed when I tried to tell her
Hello only ends in goodbye

America gains another pound
Only time will bring some people around
Idols and flags are slowly melting
Another shower of rice
To pair it for some will suffice
The mouthful asks for second helpings

Moonshine pours through my window
The night puts it's laughter away
Clouds that pierce the illusion
That tomorrow would be as yesterday...

Instrumental coda

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

Don't sit and wait
Don't sit and dream
Put on a smile
Go find a scene
I'm sure you'd meet
Someone who would really love you

Don't sit and hope
Don't sit and pine
If you've been hurt
Make up your mind
I'm sure you'd find
Someone who would really love you

I don't know why you sit around
I only know if love is gone
Don't sit alone with your pride

To whom this may concern to say
Don't wait for love to come your way
Don't waste your time
Make up your mind
And make it happen

I don't know why you sit around
I only know if love is gone
Don't sit alone with your pride
Listen to me and you would see
Just how fine your romance could be

I don't know why you sit around
I only know if love is gone
Don't sit alone with your pride
Listen to me and you would see
Just how fine your romance could be

IT STARTED OUT SO NICE see originallyric sheet

It started out with butterflies
On a velvet afternoon
With flashing eyes and promises
Caught and held too soon
In a place called Ixea
With it's pumpkin oval moon

It started out so nice

Genji taught Orion
Sea-purple harmony
While Kogi hit secrets into seashells
And even the ocean laughed
beneath that celestial canopy

Cuz it started out so nice

With the dust of stars they intermingled
Durock of Avon would only jingle
Marble money tunes
As pale earthly circles swooned

Volume left Bohemia, a triangle for his thumb
Questions fell but no one stopped to listen
That eternity was just a dawn away
And the rest was sure to come
Leaves, caught in winter's ice

Abandoned circus grounds of flower captains
Prisms in a palm one way it happens
The air was silver calm
The softly met were slowly moving on

Then all things in common suddenly grew strange
Now the Wurs were chasing other rainbows
Trying to find where the wind blows
To empty corners past dusty memories

Now in the third millennium the crowded madnesscame
Crooked shadows roamed through the nights
The wizards overplayed their names
And after that the Wurs never bothered to have
Summer reasons...again,
but it started out so nice
it started out so nice

We started out so nice.

HALFWAY UP THE STAIRS

I'm only halfway up the stairs
Not up or down
I'm only halfway up the stairs
Since you let me down
So won't you tell me
Tell me please
What you're gonna do
Cause you know I wouldn't be halfway with you

I don't want to seem impatient
And please don't think me fast
but we've got something going
And I don't want to let it pass
so won't you tell me,
Tell me please
What you're gonna do
'Cause you know I wouldn't be halfway with you

I don't want to seem impatient
And please don't think me fast
But we've got something going
And I don't want to let it pass
So won't you tell me,
Tell me please
What you're gonna do
Cause you know I wouldn't be halfway with you

CAUSE see originallyric sheet

Cause I lost my job two weeks before Christmas
And I talked to Jesus at the sewer
And the Pope said it was none of his God-damned business
While the rain drank champagne

My EstonianArchangel came and got me wasted
Cause the sweetest kiss I ever got is the one I've never tasted
Oh but they'll take their bonus pay to Molly McDonald,
Neon ladies, beauty is that which obeys, is bought or borrowed

Cause my heart's become a crooked hotel full ofrumours
But it's I who pays the rent for these fingered-face out-of-tuners
and I make 16 solid half hour friendships every evening

Cause your queen of hearts who is half a stone
And likes to laugh alone is always threatening you with leaving
Oh but they play those token games on Willy Thompson
And give a medal to replace the son of Mrs. Annie Johnson

Cause they told me everybody's got to pay theirdues
And I explained that I had overpaid them
So overdued I went to the company store
and the clerk there said that they had just been invaded
So I set sail in a teardrop and escaped beneath the doorsill

Cause the smell of her perfume echoes in my headstill
Cause I see my people trying to drown the sun
In weekends of whiskey sours
Cause how many times can you wake up in this comic book and plant flowers?

The 3 songs that are not on ColdFact or After The Fact, transcribed by Brian Currin November 1997.

I'LL SLIP AWAY

And I'll forget about the girl that said no
Then I'll tell who I want where to go
And I'll forget about your lies and deceit
And your attempts to be so discreet

Maybe today, yeah
I'll slip away

And you can keep your symbols of success
Then I'll pursue my own happiness
And you can keep your clocks and routines
Then I'll go mend all my shattered dreams

Maybe today, yeah
I'll slip away

Cause you've been down on me for too long
And for too long I just put you on
Now I'm tired of lying and I'm sick of trying
Cause I'm losing who I really am
And I'm not choosing to be like them

And if you get bored and you got loneliness
Or it's dislike for me you express
I won't care if you're right or you're wrong
I won't care cause you see I'll be gone

Maybe today, yeah
I'll slip away

Maybe today, yeah
Maybe today, yeah
Maybe today, yeah girl
I'll slip away

CAN'T GET AWAY

Born in the troubled city
In Rock and Roll, USA
In the shadow of the tallest building
I vowed I would break away
Listened to the Sunday actors
But all they would ever say

That you can't get away from it
No you can't get away
No you can't get away from it
No you can't get away

Schooled on the city sidewalks
Coldness at every turn
Knew I had to find the exits
I never, ever would return
Scoffed at the prophet's omens
That said I would live to learn

That you can't get away from it
no you can't get away
no you can't get away from it
no you can't get away

Going unaided toward the west coast
Stopped in the sleepy town
Left my change and walked out
I didn't even turn around
What they were getting next to
Was that old familiar sound

That you can't get away from it
no you can't get away
no you can't get away from it
no you can't get away

In a hotel room in Amsterdam
On a wild and windy August night
As a cloud passed over a cold moon
My heart was seized with terror and fright
Seeping up through the floorboards
Coming in through the walls
Coming in through the doorway
Ringing up and down the halls

That you can't get away from it
no you can't get away
no you can't get away from it
no you can't get away

no you can't get away
no you can't get away
no you can't get away...

STREET BOY

Street boy
You've been out too long
Street boy
Ain't you got enough sense to go home
Street boy
You're gonna end up alone
You need some love and understanding
Not that dead-end life you're planning
Street boy

You go home but you can't stay
Because something's always pulling you away
Your fast hellos and quick goodbyes
You're just a street boy
With the streetlights in your eyes
You better get yourself together
Look for something better

Street boy
You've been out too long
Street boy
Ain't you got enough sense to go home
Street boy
You're gonna end up alone
You need some love and understanding
Not that dead-end life you're planning
Street boy

Your sister says that every week
You just come home to eat and go to sleep
And you make plans you never keep
Because your mind is always in the streets
You better get yourself together
Look for something better

Street boy
You've been out too long
Street boy
Ain't you got enough sense to go home
Street boy
You're gonna end up alone
You need some love and understanding
Not that dead-end life you're planning
Street boy

There's one last word then I'll conclude
Before you pick up and put on your attitude
Bet you'll never find or ever meet
Any street boy who's ever beat the streets

Street boy
Street boy
Street boy
Street boy
Street boy
Street boy

Sweet boy

All lyrics written by Rodriguez

Rodriguez Info

More Rodriguez Info

Discography

Coming From Reality / After The Fact Lyrics