New Academics

The Apple	Fuzz Lyrics It's easy to get lost in your own subtle mysteries As yet another draught becomes part of your history Friday night might be spent narcissistically But lips' sweet flavours divert attention blissfully Another kiss and I'm back where I ought to be Propping up the bar, gorgeous female creature next to me Herds of laughing words graze my cheeks, prompting necessity This recipe requires a crisp blue hundred for our revelry That's when the news hit Innocent titbit let slip from your loose lips I felt the earth tip Instant cooling of the blind fool between my hips How could you have been here just the night before? When you swore you were at your mate's watching wickets fall? While we were chasing, you were scoring far from the white ball Jaw clenched, I feel anger thaw Now you've escaped from your eyes With every breath emphasised And I'm saying; "Hey girl, it's easy to talk about love when you haven't loved helplessly" A glow lights my face See all your sins are erased And I'm saying: "Hey girl, it's heaven to lie in your arms, but your heart is gonna strangle me" The next fine Thursday finds us out at Melville's Star again Me and my girl slide inside to take refuge from the rain Knocking Bells down the drain, applying ice to the pain But the cancer remains from where trust had been maimed Watching her fingers flick filters, adding links to the chain The ashtray a towering monument to shame "Come on get over this"; I think, returning focus to my drink I'll shake off the cuckold's stink, pull it all back from the brink, but That's when the bomb dropped From her guilty brow sweaty beads of truth belly flopped Straight down into her whisky shot Choosing alcohol over a role in this latest plot You claim to have arranged to spend the night with your mother But I know she's in the Cape visiting your gay brother It's another lie, why do you consistently rely On my mind being blind to the proof (chorus) Woken by a stirring in the cage Animate arteries come creeping slowly Rolling over my spine Winding ever tighter round the throat Tentacles turning, tension burning I am journeying into your headlights (chorus)
The Apple	Late Night Dancer Lyrics Wheeling down these corridors of tar Car-bound pupils rarely stray I avert my eyes from advertising 'cause it sets my gorge rising Can't afford what they're selling anyway The newspapers are even worse They pain the nation in a hearse And charge mourners for a peek into the casket Politicians at the masthead pepper the deck with lead Swerving to avoid the metaphor, I almost run through a red Some things never change, they simply alter their appearance Staying positive becomes a question of endurance Actions are defended with mercurial passion Seems as if the truth is always subject to fashion trends 'Round the clock there's no stop to the city's rhythms Every little ripple sends a wave through the box I live in So I push up the volume to mask my indecision Headphones define my headspace (chorus) Now you can take to the streets bearing loaded petitions Try to canvas my vote, but I'm not really listening Come and knock on my door, man you won't get an answer 'cause I'm no warrior, I’m just a late night dancer Late night dancing's not idle prancing It's an expression of disassociation Granted for most it comes with a dose of chemically assisted elation And we're not rattled by the dark, loadshedded from zone to zone It's always been all power to the party Now there's just none in the home Traversing the suburbs, poster-boards jump out and hit me Wielding exclamation marks they lay into my sanity Fingers fondle dials, fumbling for isolation Music realigns the mind and channels all frustrations out 'Round the clock there's no stop to the city's rhythms Every little ripple sends a wave through the box I live in So I push up the volume to mask my indecision Headphones define my headspace (chorus) We're all captive audience to a political puppet show Where self-righteous swaggers are the dance of the day This is not to be confused with what we do Our elegant moves will not cost you This self-indulgence is conducted entirely at our own personal expense We're so numb to reality, we won't even challenge you For your seat on the fence (chorus)
The Apple	Big Wide Open Lyrics Those butterflies fly by in the February sky Take wing and run rings, once run wings tire Try another dimension for tension prevention Drop guard and close eyes, feel your terror subside We touch sides at some point, stop hogging that joint The breeze flows free on my tan, nature's extractor fan Keeps us below the radar and out of the back of SAP cars That charge past, sirens flailing limply as the heat blasts (chorus) We like to chill and get grilled in the Blue skied, sun dried, big wide open space That's where our fears are erased Come work it out, mess about, to discount daily grind 'Cause when the hours turn to days you need the Blue skied, sun dried, big wide open space Make your escape from the race Come leave it all behind Lapping our heavenly ground with waves of bristling sound Come the hazard-sign bees as they bustle around Humming humdrum anthems for harmonious hearts The flowers entice them with their parts Such botanical tarts Every city needs these places Tranquil lungs, green saving graces A sheltering gap in between the scales of the beast Too high up on its back for industrial claws to reach (chorus) And I try to find the space And I try to find the space to breathe... So to escape the rat race with mercurial grace You've got to pull the middle finger on life's blistering pace Stop chasing your tail; take a break from the trail It's a salve to your youth more powerful than the grail Now as the sun summits it's zenith My eyelids slide together Heart light as a feather, floats high on simple pleasures Take a break but leave the Kit-Kat, it's just going to make you fat Kick your worries in the face, find a big wide open space (chorus)
The Apple	4am Lyrics Dawn's light fingers tap sonatas across exposed skin Jacking up my leaden eyelids and sliding right in Retina reel and explode with the solar overload Dragging consciousness screaming from my bruised frontal lobe Into a world tinged with regret, the aftertaste of excess Twisted cans and shaking hands, empty bank bags and rolled rands Half-baked plans and sweat glands in perpetual flow I turn and lean into oblivion, pray for darkness to close What you going to do for pain when you Feel a little heartache How're you gonna regulate Vacuum soul cleaner with violent demeanour You've got to read between the lines when you're Reaching for a clean slate Sometimes it pays to medicate Vacuum soul cleaner with violent demeanour I try to hide my brain away, but I know it's too late Seems some moonlight demon surgeon dropped by to operate Inserting spiny strands of hangover crisscrossing my skull Every movement tears a fresh rent through the cranial cell It’s a lie to think that I'm gonna fly when this high wire snaps Not viable to rely on pills to drag me out of the cracks In filthy floors between grey walls deep beneath the mine dumps Hear the city's siren song screaming through in triumph (chorus) Slow down, it's nearly 4 AM on sandy shores Your head spins like a matador Man in this town, you're just a sponge of insecurities That come to the top with the city's squeeze Watching daylight, assault the make-up on crumbling facades 'Till the grime runs like mascara marks On these streets lined with concrete teeth, pockmarked and cavitied Only night can bring sweet remedy (chorus)
The Apple	Balcony Confessional Lyrics You passed me the last straw Said you didn't think you could do it anymore I frowned; 'Are you sure' 'Cause right now I've got a snowballing itch That's not going to be cured by the usual six pack Of amber fluid, so other plans had been brewed But you were being wise and I knew it So arm in arm we trekked back through the mud Coming on, coming up to the centre of the floodlit festival Knowing the best was still to arise As first light made its move on the skies And shouts and laughter become moans and sighs We stepped off pathways bent to turn circles in my tent (chorus) Oh sacrificial lamb, wherever you stand Please know you'll always be part of me Bittersweet chemicals cannot be washed from my sheets Your blood has entered these arteries From my balcony, the city seems a glowing tapestry of cold light Into which your carelessly held cigarette burns and bites Smouldering holes in the woven glow Without a word you end its life in the ashtray below I flow to my feet, our bodies gently meet Fingertips greet a sketchpad of skin Where another lover committed unforgivable sins With his needles and ink, long before she could legally drink The stink is on me too I'm just another face in the line-up it's true All men who've taken without giving Sucking love out of the living (chorus) Opened my mouth for the truth But the lies were the first thing that moved I tried to suck them back again But their wings were too strong I watched them crawl into your ears And relieve all your reasonable fears Reached out to grab hold of their tails But the damage was done (chorus)
The Apple	Nervous Passengers Lyrics Sunday's creeping weeping pessimism is a creature of leisure Conducting post-mortems of the universe with particular pleasure I've tried to bar it from my flat, but it's too clever for that Wrapped up in newspaper pages, it rages across the welcome mat Or masquerades as clear fact and hangs out on a lamp-post Slipping in through the car window, this parasite's found a host An easy path to my couch, where it will deepen my slouch Leach all positivity from the environment Until I'm checking out all the visa requirements (chorus) Keep your hands on my eyes 'Cause if this plane goes down It's a long way to the ground Fill my ears with your sighs Before the panic breaks loose I'm a man with no parachute So in an act of refuge, I forge a world without news Your glorious curves form the axis around which it moves Sweet smiles and leers make up the atmosphere Keeping the air clear, denying negative fear The dank rank conditions it needs to appear But still, the deepest recesses of my brain Where paranoia is maintained Remain infected with the optimist's bane Bulging black cocoons hanging in the mental gloom Start crumbling when you leave the room Depression's moths emerge in clouds of doom (chorus) Dreamers in silver tubes scream through the sky Rolling and diving from flack that comes rising up Out of the muzzles of venomous souls Political fumbling, populist rumblings Democracy's despots on thrones built of poverty Clipping my wings with their destruction of honesty (chorus)
The Apple	Dreamtime Soldiers Lyrics With just three fingers on the wheel I'll guide this rusting hulk of steel Scream through the ratios 'till five And slide my hand onto your thigh The veld explodes outside the door So dry it burns you to the core Day dreams contort, writhe and entwine Crashing headlong into mine (chorus) Some of us have to be strong Some of us have to be dreamtime soldiers I don't want to wait too long I don't want to wake up bleeding, reeling Some of us may not last long Choosing to bruise or be lost forever I don't want to wait that long I don't want to wake up choosing, losing time Towering stages and bright lights Empty clubs on weekend nights We raise a bottle for the pain Swallow hard and don't complain Working those weekends to the core To keep the voices off the floor You'd light a cigarette and sigh Look everywhere but in my eyes (chorus) Time, dodging digits as I run Across the surface of the clock Sweeping hands to duck and dive Each second I gain brings a minute of pain Won't you help me to unwind? Escape these cogs and wheels that grind From dusty dawn to bleeding dusk In the city without pity Never letting up (chorus)
The Apple	The Apple Lyrics At the turn of the century The skies were set ablaze by our saviour's re-entry As God sent his son down to earth Saying; "Boy, it's time you got back to work" Touching down in the city of sirens He went looking for a job, but nobody was hiring As hunger slid its hands 'round his throat Peace and love packed up their bags and eloped (chorus) In a suit on the seventh floor Satan preaches to the board Keeping the profits/prophets lining up It's always useful to moralise from air-conditioned paradise The apple is never large enough Jesus squatted down on a pavement in Hillbrow Ring of thorns replaced with a razor-wire crown The guilty rolling past where he skulked In SUV's that they filled up with their bulk Anger surged through his frame with its hot flow Picking up a half-brick he destroyed a car window And grabbed a wallet from its place on the seat Saying; "Forgive me father, but tonight I must eat" (chorus) Around the corner from the scene Two constables licked their fingers clean Of wors and beans Until their grooming rites were surpassed By the screaming of the middle class And breaking glass All attention to the street They saw a man flee through the stifling heat In sandled feet In a blur of sound and might They cut him off just past the traffic lights And read the lord his rights Peering down from his steel and glass tower Satan saw his chance for an increase in power And secured the full weight of the law Via a series of transfers and phone calls When Jesus pleaded guilty at his court appearance The magistrate decried him with gleeful vehemence; "Since you seem to show no sign of remorse, The maximum sentence is my only recourse" (chorus)
The Apple	Blood is the Receiver Lyrics The week's rough lines fade behind Trying times slip out of our minds We find ourselves out past two bells All hell's breaking loose, a long night on the juice I say; "Either it's go home now, Or see this thing out the only way we know how" You just smile; you've been mulling it over for a while Quick fingers on your phone flick to contacts and dial Blood is the receiver I feel lighter, rhythmic breather It's a bold heightening of perception Let the lights in from all directions (chorus) Raise the walls, tenderness surrounds Feel your love lift me off the ground Tie my soul directly to your hands Pull the strings, just to watch me dance Stealth games, idling in the January rain Winding down my window and asking for names A short sharp interchange, flawless exchange Change up into first and move the gear out in a burst of adrenaline Appropriate to the state we're in Skating on thin ice, but grins soon rise to the surface The night is filled with purpose Full throttle to the spot, hesitation is worthless Blood is the receiver I feel lighter, rhythmic breather It's a bold heightening of perception Let the lights in from all directions (chorus) Treading water in a sea of faces Falling in love with a stranger's graces Fingers graze the lasers In my eyes you're the man, but I know you know that This is not the time for emotional chitchat Or verbal backslaps as speakers wrap that Burrowing bass up against my spine, a delightful parasite I invite it to wind hard coils around these limbs Its rhythmic whims are the driver for my every motion Following my master with complete devotion Lids rolled down I (chorus)
The Apple	In Transit Lyrics Sunday's made for skimming stones Casting ripples through reflection and offloading the world Watch the water winding over your hands As they pull pebbles from out of the sand Downstream I embrace the day Knowing all its flowing graces could be subject to change Pick a winner from the edge of your palm And send it reeling off underarm Until something I said starts to loop in your head And the volume can't be whittled down Every turn of the phrase adds a wall to the maze And another story on your frown Because the needle is stuck and it's carving a rut 'Round the edges of your sanity An impassable moat in which logic won't float And your mind sinks dangerously (chorus) And so you yearn to soar off with the birds But your soul is bound to this human form And paralysed by words Your orchestra brings back that old refrain To remind how you're glued to a spinning world That'll bring you 'round again Sweetness rots easily When you're swinging from your brain's rouge chemistry And the rollercoaster never stops You're either plummeting or surging back up This bright morning could suddenly fade Right back into the shackles of life's callous parade 'Til your spirit's under chain and lock Swinging hammers at imaginary rocks All the mistakes that you've made come wielding a blade To assault former serenity Your eyes solidify and start searching the sky For escape from cold reality Brittle frost starts to climb up the rungs of your spine As its fingers grope for tortured minds 'Til the world turns grey and all beauty decays Frayed hearts beat colour-blind (chorus)
The Apple	Poker Face Lyrics From the moment you're born you're just another man's pawn Shuffled from square to square in a system devoid of care But when the (k)night falls, you might find space to manoeuvre To advance across life's board and return your own ruler And sure, moolah's the evil axis on which the planet rotates But it's by no means the only factor that should stand to motivate Your own confident scheming to build a world from your dreaming And beam up out of the confines of other's limited minds (chorus) You've got to bet on yourself, it's the only way Slide the chips over your name and step into the fray All of life is a gamble, just a series of plays So keep hustling 'til your dying day So when your cards are dealt, hold them up tight and near Unless you're carving battlelines, which is a dangerous idea Because the drugs don't work, they'll only make you hurt And shorten your stride, leave you lagging far behind The rest of the race Everyone's out on the track vying for first place Or in the parking lot spraying one another in the face with cans of mace The pace is relentless, so harness your dementia Ignore all the conventions Don't become someone else's henchman (chorus) When victory comes you will not back off the dice Because once you've been bitten by this approach to life The venom's simply too strong, it courses thickly along The passageways to your heart, until its halls become marked By their fresh pumping beats, uplifting rhythm unique To your own brand of elation, so enjoy the celebration But just remember that complacency's always looking for martyrs You don't want to end up hung-over further back than you started (chorus)
The Apple	Fuck for Freedom Lyrics She said; "No-one's worth the saline" Between her legs a frozen river Well I used to lie between those thighs But the growing cold forced open my eyes Winter's visions now defeat me Deplete me Delete me Something all beautiful must come Exploding reloading revelation Giving me power, razing my fears Reviving my demons, let them draw near Fiery forge for broken souls Hammering grinding making me whole You've got your reasons, playing your role But I fuck for freedom, give me control You should never raise a private god No matter how well she wields a rod From the pedestal of my design She will keep me squirming on the line Still these nylon ties defeat me Deplete me Delete me (chorus) I didn't know the flesh could bruise like that I didn't know a jaw could hang so slack I never saw your hands coiled up to swing Until my body sang with pain's sweet sting Miles and miles of tightening skin Creases that rise with a smile Heartbeat to heartbeat our nerves meet within Singing us over denial My body screams for more Your flower's an open sore The rubber's flecked with blood You draw me back into the bud Writhing oblivious to pain I plug myself into your mains Our flesh conducts every pulse Circuits completed, limbs convulse

City of Strange	Chromatic Lyrics Light bulb glows, just got a notion My brainwaves ripple like the surface of the ocean Something good is on the rise It starts in my belly and moves up to my eyes 'Cause when I get stressed I'm inclined to forget The feelings that I feel in the middle of a set But let me remind you, I'm not always rhyming I've got to pay my rent, each rand is heaven-sent But this city is very pretty, but the wages are low And the tips tend to be shitty But hey, I can't moan - I've got time on my phone If there's petrol in my tank, who needs money in the bank? Need a place to stay, I know a girl down the way Who will let me stay over if I sleep on the sofa Once upon a time I could have chosen the bed But I blew my big chance, which worked out for the best (chorus) I'm going to push it back and blow some steam off Before I lose my mind I'm going to pack that pipe that makes it alright Alright, alright, alright We like to bounce to big beats From hip-hop through to garage like those UK boys the streets But; "hey man", just play me whatever gives that vibe If you're down with Johnny Walker then you'll know what that implies It's a rhyme drop, system shock flowing through your mind 'til your sneakers start to wiggle and your phobias unwind All this available at super low rates Call me now on my cell, don't hesitate Because in five minutes time the planets will be aligned And you'll know, 'cause the flow will take a boot to your behind You'll figure it out sooner or later I'm just too high right now to provide interpretation Lying on the table you're about to be equipped With a dish like Cartmann, it's a very tight fit None of this would've happened if you'd stayed at home Pizza, beer and DVD's, damn it man I'm gone (chorus)
City of Strange	Snake woman Lyrics My heart's all a titter Valves don plus fours and make my chest boards shiver With a swing-song beat that warms my cold feet Moving tiny corpuscles through the vascular streets But my poor brain strains in a different vein Though supplied it's not allied to the ruby-red lanes Instead it struts and strains on retinal reins Slavering to the pink piper's refrains My dexterous digits work over time I'm standing up straight and spitting on white lines These passionate crimes aren't on the decline Between the x and the y lies a sharp incline As a wise man once whined as he wound up to pound Takes all kinds to bend minds, which I also have found And drowned sorrows in hollows, huddled round peeling bottels As my brain is blotted and throttled (chorus) Why don't you love me, love me, love me Don't you feel, feel me Don't you love me, love me, love me The way that I love you Why don't you need me, need me, need me Don't you feel, feel me Don't you love me, love me, love me The way that I love you I may be merely a man, but I can't stand losing the upper hand To five second clips of the elliptical wonderland Their tactics are underhand, I can't take my eyes off scan I would if I could, but I'm too weak to take a stand Beneath dermal layers, the thermostat wails Leaving mercurial snail trails across my entrails What does this entail, feelings that can't be retailed Super hot females, everyday male tales These are free, not sold in sales Emotions may be cheap and bumpier than the Braille But some things can't be hung on clothes rails And if I were to try them on the best salesman would fail To dip me back into that deep dark vat The primal slime where you lose track of the facts With your boner sonar cranked up to the max Bumbling like broken down bats (chorus) Why don't you love me... (chorus)
City of Strange	Chunky Lyrics Got to groove, that's how we like it Raw energy focussed into the mic We love this thing more than lovers love spring Their hearts opening as the feathered choirs sing All need to medicate has diminished of late As we've moved to a new beat, let it be your soul's seat Drop inhibition, turn the key in your ignition Can you feel the heat, or have your feet been cast in concrete Too many things the world should know are top secret Kasparov lost to Big Blue, but I'll defeat it I'll just reveal my hairless chest and overheat it Flick the power switch and then hastily beat a retreat Over to the Sunny Side of the Street Bask in the glow of Satchmo and the sound so sweet A great Darwinian feat Innovations are mutations that can never be complete (chorus) Raise your hearts and let us bring it to you Smile those smiles that generate the voodoo We keep it grooving as the crowd starts moving 'Cause we like, like, like Come on now, don't leave us hanging Use those lips to get this place banging Look me in the eyes, I tell no lies 'Cause we like, like, like Let's take a rain check This is far more than just casual entertainment I've got a very serious engagement To my black book and it's time to make payment Watch me watching you, we're equally confused If I had a clue, I swear I'd make the first move But as a jar of Black Cat I'd be chunky not smooth I always lose In these games of social intrigue I am easily fatigued Tried the sangoma, he referred me to the tea leaves But the 'Bos and the Earl couldn't see eye to eye On what was written in the sky Turn it up and flip me over, this side is done We fried our minds too many times to carry on So now we cling tight to the sides of this pan Enjoy the heat and avoid the Teflon (chorus)
City of Strange	Meredith Frowned Lyrics My love loves lovers who love to love her in lovely scenes So we tear into the open air, carefree in filthy jeans We drag our lust down the river bank and across the surging weir 'Til bush and brush inspire our trust and strangulate all fear No sting of stone, no bite of bug, nor treachery of thorn Can keep us down from rising up as fingertips are drawn Across drowning flesh, my baited breath Sings up and down your fertile chest oh half-moon crest, I cannot rest Until your every sigh's addressed (chorus) Meredith knelt down She spread her hands out on the ground She turned her eyes to me to say; "Dear, I hope you're not leading me on here" Meredith Frowned The smell of latex mingles with the dank, rank breeze The bruised, sighing souls of a million decomposing leaves Raise goosebumps between the lumps of dirt clumped to my knees I raise my eyes from off the ground and gaze into the trees Then in a flurry of zips and blue-tinged lips we slip Tips through hoops of hips, heaps of blessed flesh trip Through shadowy palms, stained brown by the ground The very hollow in which we wallow seems to swallow all sound (chorus) I chase my love through open veld Down twisted woods and lush greenbelt We wrap ourselves around dappled shadows And wade knee-deep through raging shallows Wedged between rotten roots as we finger the fruits Of dangerous karma, don't let the girl harm herself Pull her out of the filth, put your love back on the shelf (chorus)
City of Strange	Spiral Lyrics We blow phat/fat like Helmet Lotti going down on Pavarotti I think now would be the time to go; "Ewwww!" If the structures we're providing aren't overly exciting Take a trip to the bar and get boozed They say that if you snooze you lose And that I'd be better off playing the blues But I just don't have a long enough fuse And enough cool shit to let loose (chorus) We've got a long, long way to go And a hard, hard line to toe It's a long, long way to fall Down, down, down I like a big bass sound, I like to roll by hand I'd like freedom for all and free one-night stands I love my burnt out wheels and shady late-night deals Old jazz recordings when I'm short on ideas I don't trust the man, 'cause he's always on my back Don't believe all I read, I've got to know for a fact I'm into sneakers and jeans, I don't throw rocks at the queens I use vodka and beer to keep my hands and nose clean (chorus) Down we go, that lethal spiral Spinning that grin off your face faster than Mydol It's not to be taken lightly I toss and I turn in my sleep about it nightly Why take the risk when the odds are so slim? Very few have walked these paths and come up smiling But I guess it's just meant to be So we'll keep on pushing 'til we reach our dreams (chorus) Come down to feel me Come down to be me
City of Strange	Line Lyrics This thing has run its course I'm exhausted, I'm pregnant with silence My dreams run endless scenes of sex and violence I'm breaking the girl who doesn't exist Fabrication for elation with a psychotic twist Although my ears hear choirs and my eyes see flowers The space in between is besieged by dark powers Nature's violence inspires us to erupt off the cuff Undercurrents unrelentlessly bruising, losing ground With your fingers on my spine and my head wide open It's easy to see what this means to me With no guarantee that we can relate You can forget nature in harmony Rivers rush through and carve their own destinies It's inescapable and your blood flood did the same to me All valves pumping sumptuous tyranny Your hands became glorious claws that left me raw Spreading deep beneath the pores And soul flaws are exposed when clothes are disposed Skin glows, eyes roll I'm bruising, losing ground With your fingers on my spine and my head wide open I freeze time in my mind and rewind With no guarantee that she'll do the same, no (chorus) Lying on the storeroom floor with your face in my neck Breathing my scent to life 'Cause all I ever wanted from you Was a line of your hell Slice of your heaven A pen bent to my hand, I stand on the edge of the Vaal Watching the weir steer beercans through the roiling roar As the debris shoots free, I see myself in its place Body pummelled by the tumult, lungs explode in the green-grey Stone choked, branch-spoked current of shame My mind is channelled through the falls in this self-indulgent vein I remain the same ape when you draw back the drapes All my years bring no escape I'm bruising, losing ground With your fingers on my spine and my head wide open She's playing me, fingernails still flaying me I'm just praying for a second of doubt, yeah (chorus)
City of Strange	Plastic Soul Lyrics What's that noise, knives out for one another Just a few moments ago we were closer then brothers But your snail trail's got under my fingernails And I've got to dig it out before my composure fails And I flail out with this forked tongue A set of bared fangs and my grazed, flayed lungs Spraying particles of pissed off across the divide Until they lodge in your ears and burn a hole in your smile Internal heating, the pressure builds inside me Anger is steaming through widening cracks I reach out for logic, its touch is barely cooling Chaos is peaking, I bend and snap (chorus) I can't be always, always on time I can't be tied up, toeing every line I can't reeling, whole and in control I put all the damage on my plastic soul Now I don't mean to be mean or cause a scene, it's just me Things get risky when my temperature gets crispy hot And veins go throb Pulsing, growling soaked in flammable rage One small spark and I'm ablaze Internal heating, the pressure builds inside me Anger is steaming through widening cracks I reach out for logic, its touch is barely cooling Chaos is peaking, I bend and snap (chorus)
City of Strange	Hearts Profound Lyrics Pin drops, one of many props The night uses to remind us who's boss and who's not You begot these fears from the cradle to present years As your mind was overpowered and all reason soon devoured By the dark imagery running through our ancestry Perpetually re-enforced by the media's present course As Gordimer observed as she lay above the rand Barb-wire ivy sunk its roots into homes across the land Shift position on the couch, uncomfortable truths are coming out For many years they were disguised, but always lurking in your eyes The inevitable debris always rises to the top Jung scours the low-tide so he can fill his cracked pot Generations on, and we still sing the same songs Though the pitch may have changed, the key is still your brain Enclosed in its cave, resonant with mental waves As it drives this human casket, we go (chorus) 'Round, 'round Wedging rubber souls against the concrete Centre of town How can you express what you can't repeat? Something we found Covering the globe in a heartbeat Hearts profound You say it's not the dark ages, but the days are still dark If you took your sunglasses off you might be in for a shock You spend your life digging for gold down in the gloom and the cold Come up for air once in a while, you'll find there's less to be reviled Than you were led to believe by the satellite feed When Bush comes to shove he doesn't do it gently But indeed like Mr T, bling bling 1980's Except this time it's for the WASPs and not the A-team Struggling to see past the snow on my TV Which channels should we choose, when channelling these moods? And nasty grooves where we allude to both the complex and the crude Oiling their sweaty palms, others choose to drop all qualms and take arms Boots moving in macabre trance Left, right, left, right - grave bound dance I take a chance and flick the remote off Carte Blanche 'Cause life's not really like that, we go (chorus) But that's enough about them, let's talk about me I was raised in a test-tube, laboratory number three At least I know my culture, it's slowly going green That's just a symptom of venting too much spleen I learnt my first great lesson when I lost my glass home People living in test-tubes shouldn't throw stones No relation to Dolly, yes a sheep, but no clone Plus she likes to stand erect when the cameras are gone A wear long-johns when she's been shorn 'Cause they keep her body warm Wedge a fat Cuban in her cloven protrusion Recline on the sofa with a herbal infusion Yes I understand your confusion, this is no verbal illusion Or contusion of the truth, the polygraph went through the roof Did you register my blush, pressure changes in the cuff Go easy on me please, I need compassionate relief And my aorta ought 'ta pipe up soon (chorus)
City of Strange	Going On Lyrics The sheer sound of more beer rounds stirs emotions profound As I rise to the occasion, falling flat on the ground All judgement long gone, adjudged a barrier to fun Swiftly voted off the island by a panel of one The sun may come soon, still pursuing the moon I take my last chance to howl a familiar tune With concrete as my seat, howling fades to a bleat With my ears ringing off to a murder of beats Smoke in the air, had another wild one Losing all fears, 'cause you know I got the feeling That we're bringing it back, bringing it back Bringing it back, you know we're bringing it back Pass another beer, I'm way past counting Dry your shiny tears, 'cause you know I've got the feeling That we're bringing it back, bringing it back Bringing it back, you know we're bringing it back (chorus) 'Cause I feel it in my bones As my senses overload my eyeballs glow And I know, know, know We've got it going on It comes rolling off my tongue And exploding out my lungs 'Til my brain sets sail And I know, know, know We've got it going Some days I appraise the sideways gaze Of those who refuse to lighten up and blaze Through the haze I take my blades and strike them astray Cross the lion with the tar and melt it all away As you crawl through the door you'll see four on the floor Stumbled steps and bass flex dated late '74 We'll ignore your withered stares and superior airs Steal a line from Clarke Gabel that had Scarlet in tears Smoke in the air, had another wild one Losing all fears, 'cause you know I got the feeling That we're bringing it back, bringing it back Bringing it back, you know we're bringing it back Pass another beer, I'm way past counting Dry your shiny tears, 'cause you know I've got the feeling That we're bringing it back, bringing it back Bringing it back, you know we're bringing it back (chorus)
City of Strange	Change Up Lyrics I pull up to the stop street, fingers tapping to the beat Smile and point at the Big Issue on my passenger seat A couple months out of date, but it's still working great "Why fix what isn't broken?", as the old proverb states Which I guess I should relate to my rusty garden gate A couple hinges short of swinging with the fence that it truncates I wince, turn my thoughts to matters of great import Drop the handbrake to the floor and ease my car across the tar Eyes ajar, mind far, far away Just enough grey matter to move my body through the day I sway to the breeze and fluttering oak leaves Trapped against my engine fan, leading to this driver's tan From just above my elbow down to my right hand Digits fly in the wind tunnel, to the rhythms of my favourite bands That pan left and right in the headphones Because the radio's long gone, boosted right outside of Stones (chorus) Because, you can't believe all the things that you read It's time to wake up If you struggle up the stairs when the lift's down for repairs It's time to shape up If you are lying to yourself about the feelings that you felt It's time to break up When you're cruising 'round the bend with the revs up in the red It's time to change up You can change to Mainstay with the ship and the wave I'd rather stay as I am, my liver's turning to jam Traffic slams, a snarling beast in the February heat I turn the volume up in an attempt to compete with the Minibus taxi carving new lanes through the street Zigging and zagging as if the driver's three sheets to the wind On Skokiaan, battery acid works a charm The constable can only watch and make adjustments to his crotch For behind the Ray-Ban lies a complicated man Though his methods may be crude, they're all part of the grand plan Mediterranean moustache a reliable indicator That his mood swings more violently than a South-American dictator Catch you later, I slide through a gap in your smile If you want to get home, you've got to be in the zone Where time slows and we're all pros surrounded by average Joes My foot sinks to the floor, 1300 can still roar (chorus)
City of Strange	People Lyrics Down to the station, standing ovation I miss my train which fills me with elation No desire to be where I've got to be It's just another half-hour I can spend with me Know I should be enthusiastic 'bout a life filled with plastic It's better in the end, it guarantees you friends This is what they say from here to Bombay A universal truth, just look to the proof Take this short break to contemplate how we relate Standing at the bar with a fistful of silver Make eye contact and get the cold shoulder Standing at the bar with a handful of hundreds Leave that evening with plenty of new numbers But we don't play that way, take it day by day Look to Mahatma, Nelson and Che This is our contribution to social revolution I know it's not much, this hypocritical slush (chorus) Everywhere I go I'm confounded by the ebb and flow of crowds of people Paranoia strains on the reins to my brain as I'm surrounded by people Watching me, judging me, can they see my frailty? Got to get away from people I'm about to lose control What should I write next? I'm easy perplexed By the need for coherence, there's too much interference Meaningful is purposeless, it's quite unlikely to impress Upon the fluid intellects of those who come here to de-stress But I'm afraid I digress, put it in the blender Which button should we press? First choice is the one marked vex What will be the outcome, I can only guess Why should we sit, roll over and die Chase the stick thrown by some invisible guy Who's reputed to be living in grace up high If we don't suck him off then he'll send us to fry My sense of humour is black like a puma Poised to pounce with those verbs and nouns Rhythmically allied to the sounds we provide Skins, strings and lips all on the same trip (chorus) The ball's now rolling as I'm trolling for the metaphor Suppose it’s fitting that the fittest survive my spitting jaw 2AM, desk-lamp wards off the dark Tiny mind running riot like a twisted theme park I embark on my quest to get this nonsense of my chest The slope is pretty sheer, your powers are useless here Yell out for Yoda and his friendly green shoulder But it's no use, 'cause he's in Noordhoek doing yoga (chorus)
City of Strange	Off the Rails Lyrics Back in the lazy days we used to ride trains to catch waves Clicketty-clack through False Bay Rickety tracks take us back Laughing and arsing through mouths of corn snacks You better believe it when I say that things have changed Time turns minds and teaches new kinds of games Late nights chopping whites in the city of strange Jo'burg tends to rework the paths in your brain Sometimes I'd give my life to journey back again Hang from straps in broken carriages hissing through the rain Feast eyes upon the scandals of vandals on the main line Rushing by "Your ma se poes" in black and white Each letter more than four foot high Why did we leave this simple life? Yearnings and burnings from the crotch to behind the eyes Give rise to all manner of lies You can stare at my feet, but you avoid my eyes (chorus) Your crime is standing on the border line Refusing to choose and just biding your time Your jaw is sure to stay shut My pulse starts to stride and strut We try to live life with an open mind But what's appearing our hearing turns eardrums blind The speaker reeks of mistrust Spit it out, you're starting to break up Now when it comes down to it, you're a bit of a shit I still love you like a brother But I'm looking for another to lean on And vent spleen on On the right kind of night we'll call Mike Take flight and get bean strong I long for a return to the sun Salt spray and sex wax all that's filling my lungs But you stung me on the most tender bend of my soul The bell tolls, you better hurry back to the fold (chorus) I don't want to choose the rails I don't want to
City of Strange	Sudden Hemisphere Lyrics She sits alone, spent cone a smouldering microphone Hate waits, behind floodgates To swarm in verbal form A delicious, vicious storm Her head begins to shake as the clouds mass to break Skin stretched tight over knuckles That whirl into a scream, leaving furniture buckled As muscles once taught relax into motion Unstoppable on top of all this soul commotion (chorus) Burn through the violence of silence Raise tattered plumes and bring your tattoos to life A sudden hemisphere of inertia's only going to hurt you Never going to get you through The hollow rings of empty Do as you're meant to, breathe elemental fumes You're nobody's porcelain, but every now and then Your veneer wears thin, so burn through Unattachable strings have strung her along And tied her lies into a song that's been sung To too many ears, with too much aplomb Smoothing too much plaster over oozing wrongs And dark oceans beat hard against the soul The toughest dyke surrenders to the tiniest hole As anger wrangles control of her whole being She turns to face herself across the ring, and (chorus)
City of Strange	Would Smoke Lyrics Barman whines and a brass bell chimes Grab the final round, it's closing time My offer to buy is politely refused Secret relief, 'cause I'm down to ones and twos Make your assault on the bar, sliding into a spot You always get served faster in that low-cut top I stop my gyrations and proceed to stare As your hands flash rands through the malted air I'm a romantic at heart, but my heart is deep and dark And closer to my loins than anatomical charts Are inclined to reveal, forget Danielle Steel The real world's even worse, I keep my heart in a hearse And rehearse the same scenes that play out in my dreams I have to flip through Freud just to know what they mean In the dark of the night sparks are hard to conceal And when they fade it takes time for our vision to heal (chorus) All the joints that we never smoked And all the bullshit that we never spoke You know that when I left this time I almost lost my mind All the smokes that we never burnt And all the fresh angles that we never worked You know that know I'm feeling fine But I almost lost my mind On the right night in the city stars crowd the heavens But look again, they're just satellites and 747's My cynical side sidles to the fore But I cut the volume, 'cause your optimism's got me in awe Wish I could place a voltmeter in the depth of your brain Measure the change in the current when you mention my name Oh man I'm losing my grip, circuits about to trip So I'll just mumble goodbye, leave you alone with the sky I hate to use tired clichés, 'cause they make me scream But it's appropriate to say confusion reigns supreme Come on and raise the handbrake, drop the car out of gear Straighten my antenna so that the picture will clear Perched upon my ivory tower, I watch the scenery roll by Let my hair down like Rapunzel, but the tower's too high Me and my ego hit the bar by the end of the night To share a drink with Alice 'til we shrink out of sight (chorus)