Skip The Budgie

7:27 minutes (6.83 MB)
 

A fight, and what happens when people get that blind rage but don't really mean it...

Lyrics

A cracked bowl and a broken cup,
In an early morning storm...
Like there wouldn't be another day -
Fights, lies,
There couldn't be another day
When you were never there,
I was never there...

I don't know how it happened,
Bloodstains on the wall...
You look at me with empty eyes,
Hear a siren call
I didn't see you fall.

Is it any wonder that I feel like this?
I never thought that I would live to see another day
All the broken china cups are worth the risk,
They're the only way that I can make you stay...

It's all so quiet now,
Echoes in the wind...
Your hair is falling down
Your face to rings of pearls...
Always a classy girl.

(chorus)
('middle 8')
(add-on bit to the end)

6:34 minutes (6.02 MB)

This is one of the oldest 'proper' songs I wrote, obviously Stuart and Kieron helped to mold it into what you hear here, I'd originally intended it to be fast all the way through, but Stuart was having lactic acid problems. this is also why there's a slow bit before the Guitar solo...

Lyrics

Tired, I'm too tired for the lies of the man
Fight, human rights are the height of all you can.
You, they're watching you as you follow your leader down
Christ is only one, just a man like those around you.

(chorus)
Don't back up,
Don't look back down
Don't try to run
Don't make a sound

Trust the way I see, the way I lead you on
And who said he's just a man? Did they see him die?

(Chorus)
(middle 8)
(guitar solo)
(chorus)

Love is all we have, all we need to stay alive.
And we have been standing by,
as we fell apart...

5:07 minutes (4.69 MB)

Another one of the oldest tunes ever, this is a dark tale of a nasty man who stalks ladeez of tha night. Lyrics by Kieron Cheek, music by me, Stu and Kieron... We always though it was a bit on the cheesy side, but back in '99 / 2000 it was one of our most popular songs (with our three fans...)

Lyrics

I call myself the Love Doctor
Doctor Love
I'm the iron hand
in the velvet glove
You know me from your nightmares, baby
You've seen me on TV
I'm everywhere baby
Can't get away from me

So don't you try to understand it
There ain't no other way
It's me on the scene

I saw you at midnight
working love street
and I beckoned you over
just easy meat.
Hi there honey,
are you looking for a good time?
A nod and a smile
and you were all mine, mine, mine!

CHORUS
Middle 8:

The tension's rising now I've got you alone
and though you don't yet know it
you're never gonna make it home...
Gonna give you to the darkness behind my eyes
and you'll live there forever
You're gonna be immortalised

CHORUS

I've got no problem
with the blood on my hands
It's an ancient cycle
I know you'll understand
I'm the destroyer
death and rebirth
walking in the darkness
I stalk the earth!

CHORUS

7:20 minutes (6.72 MB)

Simply put, this song is about robbing a bank. Stuart wrote the words, we all wrote the music...

Lyrics

Well I looked at you and you said ‘let’s do it’
And we walked into the bank
I knew as soon as you pulled the gun
it was a bad idea, a stupid plan...

‘Pay Up’, as you pointed the pistol,
I turned to ice inside,
The cashier started loading the gear
and someone started to cry...

('chorus')
Shit happens

The cash was in the bag
but I still had nagging doubts
We backed towards the door
never saw the man whose gun was out

One shout, two shots and a stagger
I didn’t see him fall You pulled, I pushed and we both panicked
then we were out the door

Shit Happens

(middle '8')
Of course the men outside were on to us,
They had cars and gas and guns
So fast we never had a chance,
we were fugitives wanted on the run.
Misunderstood what they were shouting,
One trigger-happy cop turned around,
Although in slow motion, I saw you drop.

Shit happens...

5:34 minutes (5.1 MB)

Although written post-snow crash, I always intended this song to be part of the band. It was the first song where I actually felt like I'd worked out how to use compression, and that you could hear everything that was going on! It was also fun playing two guitar parts... drums are just samples off a Computer Music magazine CD.

Lyrics

I heard some people say that you have been playing away
When I went down,
and I am looking at a different picture
Of the uncontrollable crowds
And there has to be a logical reason
why they played it down
and you weren't the last to see me
as you were walking away

(chorus)
When the man in the middle spoke up you cried
And I ran undercover til I nearly died

When they threw the gas in I was still playing away
to the ever-loving crowd,
and the thought of having to face the black army today
couldn't last, so I wrote it all down.

(chorus)
I see the fear behind their eyes
And it's all just a cover for their lies

(middle 8):
You held all the cards you know I never realised that someone quite so beautiful as you could tell so many lies and when we sit here undecided the detritus of you crime I wonder if we really needed you to get us here and why why why did you go?
I wanted you to think again,
I wish that you would think again
As you say wait in line...

(chorus)
I though you looked back before you dived
and I though you smiled into my eyes

So I waited and I watched as you were walking away
and my hands were being tied
You looked like the essence of your soul had been taken away
and I didn't mind being the fall guy.

5:49 minutes (5.35 MB)

(I don't know why this track doesn't play! the mp3 seems fine! AAargh!)

A kind of 'dark cabaret' song, Drums were written in Fruity Loops, guitar parts by me and lyrics is me too.

LYRICS:

Hey, would you like a little piece of the pie?
Hey, would you like to know the truth behind the lies?
And would you look me in the eye?
Or would you rather die?

If it were up to me
I wouldn't let it out of my sight but you all,
you all seemed so comfortable

Hey, is it true they sacrificed a man in the confusion?
and is he really still alive?
And another round of drinks for fellow workers
there's a fire in the sky

I don't believe that they can make you all so cold and lonely
I don't believe you're indestructable

(middle 8)

Hey, when you address the crowd,
did you think that they were listening?
It's how they'll get you in the end,
it's where the river meets the sea.
If it were up to me...
If it were up to me...

I don't believe that they can make you all so cold and lonely
I don't believe you're indestructable

5:48 minutes (5.31 MB)

I wrote this song right at the end of Snow Crash's existence as a band, so had to record everything myself. It's nuts crazy funk and tells a story about megalomania, magic and the close correlation between these and madness. Note the use of Native Instruments Hammond B4 plugin, Fruity Loops for the drums, and a cheap flanger...

LYRICS

Did you ever hear the one about the one-eyed man,
how he opened up a grimoire in another land?
Coz when you’re seeing in mono you’re seeing red
and if anyone can the one-eyed man can

When the magic got out he knew the book was bad,
Saw too many others had the same thing that he had.
Tried to build an army but it drove him mad,
got into his brain like a thousand-eye freight train

Formed his plan in Astrakhan,
If you ever need a pickup then the one-eyed man
can

I ain’t making excuses for the following war,
no-one really knew what they were fighting for.
He knew everyone’s secrets but he wanted more,
like all the little cities on the Caspian sea shore

As soon as the East was one-eye land,
he moved into Europe in a big old transit van
The Americans failed to put up a fight
and the rights of the righteous fell by the wayside

CHORUS

And if the universe seems smaller than it did before
now you see in stereo and more...
You were never satisfied, got more powerful and I
can’t escape your omnipotent stare

CHORUS

So we covered our heads in hats of lead
and cowered in the back of a nuclear shed in Cannes
But the pressure was high and people died
and the man with the plan in astrakhan went mad

Now you’ll see him in the square with the scientist hair
selling ices to the masses with a maniacal stare
You should never try to talk coz he cannot lie
and he’ll show you the method of your demise

(if anyone can you know the one-eyed ice cream man can)

Drives his van, in Astrakhan
If you ever need a pickup then the one-eyed ice cream man can

5:43 minutes (5.24 MB)

This one is about making decisions.

LYRICS

She looks at you across the top of her glass and smiles
And you think to yourself what harm is there inside?
If I don't talk too much you won't know how it feels
If I don't laugh too loud I'll make believe it's real

While you watch the drops falling off the table you don't hear
Aspersions on your character
You wonder why you came to be insulted
As you are, a pool is growing on the floor

And do you hurt? How do you live?
Do you see you're suffocating me
What do I feel, why can't I breathe?
Now I'm the one to leave

Within your head you know the truth immortalised
A shining path to seeing with tomorrow's eyes
But when she speaks out, suppressing undercurrents
Of the war, it's not worth fighting anymore.

And do you hurt? How do you live?
Do you see you're suffocating me
What do I feel, why can't I breathe?
Will it ever be the same again?

What did I say? What can I do
To prove that it was always you?
The one who taught me to believe
And it's not over yet for me

And do you hurt? How do you live?
Do you see you're suffocating me
What do I feel, why can't I breathe?
Now I'm the one to leave

7:38 minutes (7 MB)

Old, old song from the Snow Crash days...

LYRICS:

And if you wind up standing alone
The world can seem so small
And if you're needing a friendly smile
Don't come to me.

(CHORUS)
I could never understand
why you always had to try me, why me?
It's only a little way behind
but it's always how you find me
and I can't get away from you

So if you find that I'm not helping,
sometimes you should leave
I am locked inside
a tiny world of my own

CHORUS

(the missing middle 8)
When you look at me with your brown eyes I wanna cut you up
to see what you have got that makes you so one-sided
this is not a dream, it's how I feel and it is so fsked up
the world is closing in, and I can't escape it now

So when you wake up and realise
that we could never last
don't look back, just keep on walking
and try to forget

4:36 minutes (4.22 MB)No words, no real name working title: Storm...

3:14 minutes (5.16 MB)

We just wanted to start with something funky, a sort of break to show off what we could do and wake everybody up before we launched into the plangent rock.

The first minute or so is cut off due to an over-taping error, if I ever get my hands on a 4-track recorder again we might get to hear the whole track!

10:02 minutes (13.66 MB)

13:37 minutes (18.3 MB)

7:16 minutes (9.06 MB)

Well it was mostly an experiment, but we did record the whole thing so here you go... not my finest hour!

12:49 minutes (16.2 MB)