We Love the City This is London, not Antarctica, so why don't the tubes run all night,
You are my Girlfriend, not Molly Ringwald, so why won't you stay here tonight,
This is sixth form poetry not Keats or Yeats, and now we find the part that we both hate. We love the city because it lets us down, We love the city NOT the suburbs that surround.
We love all the dirty things, that lead us to think, that maybe true love could be found.
We love the city because its how we live, We love the city cause it never loves us back.
We love it all because sometimes, even though they're hard to find, it contains all the virtues we lack. I am intrigued, not merely curious as to why it takes so long to change your mind.
I am competent, not merely adequate, its impossible for me to be unkind.
This is embarrassing, not merely awkward and I have ignored much greater feelings We can hold those aspirations down with bad luck and half hearted frowns,
But fear alone will never bring us down, that can only happen in the small towns, And if you don't love me now, if you don't love me now, if you don't love me, then you can't have me, you can't have me now. The Greedy Ugly People
I had her on the carpet twisting and squirming about,
Trying to guess what she needs,
Trying to guess what the fuss was about.
She had a conscience that surely did need pricking,
I was there for the picking as she would soon find out.
The Greedy Ugly People are not like us,
They don't feel the love that she and I would die without.
I had her on a chair in the middle of the living room,
And then we went to the bedroom, where we were making spoons.
When we went out she started clicking her heels,
She was sticking her chest out, cause she was starting to feel.
Love don't stop no wars, don't stop no cancer,
It stops my heart.
Good fruit If it doesn't mean a thing, then don't say anything.
But it means something, more then we can say.
But you kissed me so, even though,
Your heart said no, so when will you phone?
Lost feelings of love come flooding back,
Every time you cry, you give me little heart attacks.
Love seems strongest when its new,
But that's something I can't prove,
I can't prove that I love you.
Oh I need you here, so make your reasons clear,
Is it me you fear? Oh I fear I'm losing you.
It's time to choose, you know I can't stand losing.
It's my mind your bruising, as well as my heart.
You were just there, in the right place,
You smoothed out the wrinkles on my face.
You got to sort the good fruit from the bad fruit,
Darling, I'm not supposed to feel this,
Not when your leaving.
You, oh you should stick around,
To hear me hit the ground,
Its such a pretty sound.
If you felt it weeks ago,
Then where did those feelings go?
Oh surely you must know,
Cause I'm not supposed to feel this,
Not when you're leaving
Painting and Kissing I'm in love with Linda, I think she understands me.
She's down in the dumps, she lives on Holloway Road,
I met her in the Wig and Gown, We couldn't talk with the music so loud
but I could tell she was intrigued,
She took me down to her basement, she showed me all of her paintings,
She sure couldn't paint, but she could kiss.
East London will never forgive, all my wrong doings but still it's the place where I live,
North London has a place in her heart, she's far too strong for me that's what I thought at the start,
I'm not that strong
After a week or two ,I thought our love was true,
She was my girlfriend, but I couldn't call her my girlfriend.
The first time that she came to my house, she bought Chardonnay, now I buy Chardonnay, almost every day.
And as her kissing got worse, oh her paintings improved, but what does that prove, it proves nothing.
On March the 23 rd she said something so absurd,
She said 'You love to be in love, but your never really in love.'
She said 'You love to be in love, but your never really in love.'
Every single day, I get down and pray, that she'll change her mind
Hold Me Closer I want a single bed, I want a simpler life,
But I want you by my side, I'm so confused.
I want you wishing something, that might come true,
Oh, I'm so confused, but I'm in love with you.
Hold me closer tonight,
Hold me closer tonight,
Say you will,
Hold me still,
Till the morning,
Till the morning.
You said you'd walk me down to the river side,
When I'm by your side, I'll walk miles and miles.
When we're old and grey, we won't talk this way,
We are stupid and dumb, but we're only young.
Hold me closer tonight,
Hold me closer tonight,
Say you will,
Hold me still,
Till the morning,
Till the morning.
I owe you my heart,
Do you understand?
I owe you my eyes and ears and hands. Don't Go Put on your underwear, pull your tights over your knees. Button up your blouse, zip up your skirt put on your tiny shoes we're going out I have never loved you more then I do right now, hold on.
It's much better then before when you talk I listen and we do it on the floor.
I have never loved you more then I do right now, hold on.
Don't go, don't change, just stay the same,
Don't leave don't try, don't ask me why.
I love you so much but the language lets me down,
Don't don't change, just stay.
Kick off those shoes, undo your blouse, drop your skirt, pull down those tights, Take off you under wear, lets got to bed, it's getting late. I have never loved you more then I do right now. hold on. The Greater London Radio
It's a red, red glow above the skyline,
Feel the city twitch,
Feel the city wake.
It's a black, black sky by 6pm,
Makes me feel inspired,
Makes me feel alone.
I'm coming home to you.
The Greater London Radio tonight,
Says no matter what I do I can't speed my love to you.
Traffic's caused a roadblock in my heart,
Hold on my sweetheart,
Hold on my sweetheart,
I'm going to mend my wicked ways,
Now I've lost my friends I have something to say.
The city has no faith if we've no faith in the city,
But this is my home, this is where I want to be.
And on the radio, it's the evening news,
But all I think of is you.
I used to think it was our politics not how we treat people,
That taught us who we are,
I was wrong.
I can't make it OK.
As Soon As You're Ready I will polish your shoes,
I will bring you good news,
Put a smile on your face, tidy your place,
As soon as you're ready.
I will build you a ship,
Out of matchsticks,
And float it down the Thames, when we've made amends,
As soon as you're ready.
As soon as you're ready.
As soon as you're ready.
I will rattle you cage when you act your age
As soon as you're ready.
Baby clean up your paws,
We could both drink some more,
But to rush it too soon on a beautiful moon,
Would be a terrible waste.
As soon as you're ready.
As soon as you're ready.
I'll have you bang to rights, I'll have you up all night.
As soon as you're ready.
She Can't Sleep No More
She works every morning in the greasy cafeteria,
She makes little pastries and stuffs them with cheese.
The coffee burns her knuckles,
Every time she spills it.
She's alone, she's bereft.
When he moved to Hackney in 1990,
He bought in little trinkets but she turned him down.
She can't sleep no more,
She can't sleep no more,
Since he's gone.
She wrote clumsy poetry,
She let him read it.
He told her it was perfect,
But she scrunched her nose.
She can't sleep no more,
She can't sleep no more,
Since he's gone.
All the ambition that they'd been storing up was flushed down the lavatory,
She didn't love him but she knew he was what she needed.
He started wishing it, she started dreading it,
She burnt her party clothes.
Now there's nowhere to go since she burnt those party clothes.
She said she didn't need him,
He didn't believe it.
He moved to the country,
And started sleeping around.
She can't sleep no more,
She can't sleep no more,
Since he's gone.
The Cure For Evil It took a little time, it took a little wine,
To make a window, to make you mine.
It took a little look, that made you shudder,
It took a little tear to draw you near
But all the while you knew your smile,
Would make it easy to fall in love.
It took a little word, a stupid something,
To make you hold me, to make you cling.
It took a little stroke, from my hand,
To make you kiss me, to understand.
But all the while you knew your smile,
Would make it easy to fall in love.
Will you want me if I grow boring?
Will you want me if I grow ill?
Will you want me when I grow colder?
Will you want me? Will you kiss me still?
There's far too many ideals fighting for the air time,
I was shameful back in '96 but I'm not so careless now.
And all those brutal discos that taught me how to pine.
I've no regrets for what I did but I regret I had the time.
Will you want me? Is it too late?
Will you want me? Don't hesitate.
I've been spiteful, you've been kind,
Will you want me in six weeks time?
When you're in the bathroom and when you've locked the door,
I am dirty in the bedroom, I've not felt this way before.
Don't let my hands go idle, when they feel this much for
you, Can't you tell this much is true when I hold you.
If I sometimes seemed ungrateful, If I doubted you sometimes,
If I called you by the wrong name, I was out of my tiny mind.
Cause you were the one with sexy shoes,
You frazzled my mind I forgot what I knew,
Oh you were the one, so console me.
The Day that Thatcher Dies
We will laugh the day that Thatcher dies,
Even though we know it's not right,
We will dance and sing all night.
I was blind in 1979, by '82 I had clues,
By 1986 I was mad as hell.
The teachers at school, they took us for fools,
They never taught us what to do,
But Christ we were strong, we knew all along,
We taught ourselves the right from wrong.
And the punk rock kids, and the techno kids,
No, it's not their fault.
And the hip hop boys and heavy metal girls,
No, it's not their fault.
It was love, but Tories don't know what that means,
She was Michelle Cox from the lower stream,
She wore high-heeled shoes while the rest wore flat soles.
And the playground taught her how to be cruel,
I talked politics and she called me a fool,
She wrapped her ankle chain round my left wing heart.
Ding dong, the witch is dead, which old witch?
The wicked witch.
Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead. Your Head to Your Toes
It's a beautiful road from your head to your toes, I will travel it with my fingers barely touching.
It's a sight to behold from your head to your toes,
I will worship it with kisses and cheap wine.
What do you want with me, now you've seen me at my worst?
What do you want with me, can't you see it's absurd?
I have nothing to offer but a small selfish heart.
But I love you from your head to your toes, I do.
It's a valley, so divine, at the base of your spine.
Sometimes I rest there and wish.
We've a nest here to build, we have memories to kill,
Let's waste sometime for a while.
What do you want with me, since you've seen I've been bad.
What do you want with me, can't you see it's so sad?
I have nothing to offer but a small selfish heart.
But I love you from your head to your toes, I do.
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Other Information
With Too Pure actually liking a record we were putting out they decided to give it a bit of a push and make a limited edition. This version is very sought after and pretty much impossible to get now. It has a different slipcase cover and the album itself has a CDRom section with the videos for Good Fruit and I Took Her Love for Granted.
There was also an extra CD which featured four live tracks recorded for the John Peel show. A month or so before the album the John Peel show asked us to do a live set from their maida vale studios into the show. We decided to get the whole We Love the City  band together with Amelia and the brass section, which we only did twice. The fact that we were a 'John Peel' band never stopped being a thrill, we had already done several sessions for him including an acoustic set at his house but this really felt like something special. The audience consisted of our friends and a few competition winners.
 Also there was lots of free booze to 'settle' our nerves. In the past when ever I'd heard people playing live on the radio or telly I always thought, how come they don't forget their words? Nobody forgets their words on live radio On this occasion I found out that people do indeed forget their lyrics particularly if they're the lead singers of Hefner.
 In the second verse of Good Fruit I just froze. Nothing was ever going to make those words come back to my mind. It was completely blank. We were standing in a circle and its quite something to look at 7 members of your band with dropped jaws over the fact that you've decided to do the song as an instrumental on live national radio1.
 As said earlier it was always a big thrill to be a 'John Peel' band. He seems like a lovely guy and pretty much as he is on the radio , but with ruder words, though even though we must have met as many as ten or so times I hardly know him, the one thing you never feel like doing with John P is talk about music, it just seems naff right?
 (photo credits; all these phtos were taken by a chap at the bbc whose name I forget. From the top; Amelia, the four of us and John Peel, Antony and his kit, David Gedge, John Peel and me, Miti, assistant engineer Nick me and Simon, I'm showing them what to do, John Peel production team Lynn and Anita with a promotional Good Fruit pavement painting. Jack, and Me at a grand piano.) |
