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Living Like the Spiders

 

The setting sun it hides

It seems like it has run out of plans

And it’s looking really grim again

That’s how I know – well, what do I really know?

 

The city sighs, dust is floating by

And all the things you’ve ever done

Will join this dust

And disappear someday

 

Living like the spiders

Or like lions

Birds break through the wires

And now the brightest shade is gone

 

The rising sun it shines

Expectations are up in the sky again

But it’s looking pretty dim again

That’s how I know – well, what do I really know?

 

Living like the spiders,

Or like lions

Birds break through the wires

And now the brightest shade is gone

 

You yield and sigh, dust is clouding skies

And all the things you’ve ever known

You’ve reaped and sown

And they’ll reappear someday

 

Disappear

 

Our Time Is Up

 

What d’you mean if the truth be told?

All I hear is stories told

And I think I’ve heard it all before

 

I don’t believe but I often guess

I’d rather not be tried or pressed

I think it’d be an awful mess

 

This is jolly nice company

whispering their apologies

fumbling with their fantasies, and not caring

 

If it’s all smashed to smithereens

kills a hundred thousand dreams

cause it’s nothing like they’ve ever seen, it’s twisting their dreams

 

Underneath the surface here

And slowly growing year by year

Underneath the words and woe

 

Clashed broken memories

Whispered wishes and stranded dreams

Nothing’s like it used to be

 

That’s why the oceans are rising high

the rain is pouring from the skies

the sky has gone it took all the birds inside,

to a better sky

 

So I think our time around here’s up

you’d better give it, give it up

cause big ideas blow things up,

and they mess you up

 

Distress

 

You catch those bloody diseases cause of all the distress

You excel at what I thought I did best

But if you say jump, I’m not sure that I will jump with you

And if you forget your dreams again, what will you cling to

 

Friday night or Saturday morning,

Feeling light and terrified,

Is it friendly fire or scare tactics,

The more it moves the more it seems like it’s been

Forty nights in the desert,

It’s like the birds moved to the west,

It spells disaster or dire need,

It surely got the best of you.

 

The changes with every season can’t clear all this mess

I guess it feels like the banter turned into some test

But if things stay like the best years have been spent

Don’t bother coming back again, cause none of this will ever mend

 

To All Delight

 

Parading around under studio lights

His eyes are shining his teeth are white

And he feels alright

 

He hates to be dull so to all delight

Here’s a show to set your world alight

Because he wants it to

And he is sure that you’ll want it too

 

Right or wrong just sell it all

Another contest won, it’s a beautiful song

You gotta love it, you gotta win

But listen to the mess that this music is in

They feed it like fodder to the animals

 

Parading around under studio lights

Catering to kicks cause it sells alright

It sells like souls you see

 

Setting the stage for another night

Playing tricks to rig another fight

It feels alright to you

And to so many others

It feels right too

 

Well I guess this is another one

A bit like that line from My Iron Lung

A total waste of time and in this pantomime

You’ve got one minute not a second more

If you don’t agree there’s the door

They feed it like fodder to the animals

 

The Chief

 

I see you standing there

You’re looking really, really small

They’ve got your back against

The white, wired and humming wall

who-ho-ho-ho

 

He’s got a rapist’s rep

And you’re acting deaf and dumb

You’re walking out of step

To the beat of a different drum, drum

 

I hear machines taking charge, taking lives

Taking pretty much everything

I hear machines taking charge, taking lives

Taking pretty much every single thing

 

I see you standing there

You’re looking really, really tall

The window open wide

A dog’s barking, a summons to all

 

Everything You Need

 

Putting on a smile when you’re hitching a ride for reasons unknown

Never leaving sight of your favourite child although he’s fully grown

Until the race is run and the setting sun has lost to the powers that be

Till it’s said and done or dead and gone, but it’s somehow still alive

 

Placing your bets on something that’s set and will never be

East or west, do the best you can and you will see

That the race is run and the bet’s been won by the powers that be

It’s said and done and dead and gone, but it’s somehow still alive

 

Hush little baby, don’t you think maybe

The tide will wait this time

And everything you need for turning the tables around

 

The racing rats live off the fat of the land and on a killing spree

Their minds on this, their hearts on that quite randomly

And now the race is run, and the setting sun has lost to the powers that be

It’s said and done and dead and gone, but it’s somehow still alive

 

Space Travel

 

Some would say it’s time to go

To some place I don’t care to know

I would like to live without fear

From this storm they say is dangerously near

 

I want to stay right here

Feel the minutes as they disappear

I will stay right here

Way down below the stratosphere

 

There’s no real haste except your own

Breathing real tense for a storm that won’t blow

I don’t believe a single word you say

You and me we’re finished in any case

 

Somebody Else

 

Hey kid don’t you worry,

I think it was somebody else

 

Relax don’t you hurry

I’m sure it was somebody else

 

I think it was somebody else

I think it was somebody else

A cloud of smoke the sun dispels

I think it was somebody else

 

Hey kid don’t you worry

These are just empty shells

 

You know you’re judge and jury

No need for casting magic spells

Cause you’re just fooling yourself

 

Demons

 

Forget about rhyme and reason

Commit an act of treason

Give up your job for freedom

Give in to the sun and seasons

Spit out the words you’ve eaten

You haven’t been beaten

Sing us those words for freedom

 

There are no real reasons

And no transparent meetings

Forget about death and demons

You must have been dreaming

Dance till the dark ends reason

Wake up to another season

Forget about death and demons

 

Dead End Days

 

I woke up this morning fresh from the dead

left all my dreams underneath my bed

and said hey, what is wrong today?

 

I asked a man politely which way is best,

all roads lead nowhere, he put me to the test

and said hey,

don’t you go that way

wait for the lights to change

it’s better to be safe than dead

 

it’s like shooting blanks on a firing range

like chasing shadows, it’s a little strange

So what is wrong when all the people say

they’ve got a feeling that it’s somehow not okay

it’s not quite clear, they can’t explain but

they don’t ever want to lose their way

 

the weary heads against window panes

the weary limbs riding transit trains

suggest it’s early days

these are dead end days

 

Second Thoughts

 

Speak up – Show you care

You will – Find a Way

Face up – Take in

What I say – Begin

Now begin

Speak up, show you care

About the minor details and the major flaws

You will, Find a way

Around every little detail anyway

Speak up. You will – Show you care

 

Got paid this time, but still it seems, you need what’s mine

You toe the line, and twist your words, sign of the times

You trick and treat, and steal the show, you’re selling your heart and soul

 

Speak up , you were there

When the fuss and fear turned into despair

You will, have your say

It seems you’re not listening, listening anyway

 

Modern Spooks

Dries van Oosterhout

Sjoerd van Assendelft

Jeroen van Gils

Robert Giesselbach

 

All songs by Dries van Oosterhout
Except 1, 5 & 11: Dries van Oosterhout & Sjoerd van Assendelft
Produced by Dries van Oosterhout & Paul Fitzpatrick
Mixed by Paul Fitzpatrick
Mastered by Tammo Kersbergen
Artwork by Judith Aardse