•RELIEF•
You can't make mother cry
You can't make her twist her ragged hair
You can't make mother groan
Even when her soldier sonny
Shakes his iron cocktail in the air
You can't make mother cry
You can't make her give consent
Though she flounders at the drainboard
Though her back be down there and bent
If sleeping brings relief
She can go lie down and slumber
Slumber
She puts her hands down into the sink
Scrapes the grunge up off the bottom
Down there beneath the dishes
Where the knives lie crossed and waiting.
She can't stop the kiddies talking
Their tongues be loosed upon the world
They flap until they lather
For the agony of millions
And if sleeping brings relief
They can go lie down and slumber
Slumber
And there'll be no release from anguish
For this slapstick generation
And there be no peace for all the kiddies
'Cause they're all too satisfied to care
And the field of gorgeous bodies
Primed and ready in the sun
And the white flag of peace
That is hanging
Limp and useless in the air
Limp and useless
Yeah
And if sleeping brings relief
You can all go lie down and slumber
And if sleeping brings relief
You can go lie down and slumber
Slumber
•INSIDE A FIREBALL•
Hey everybody - can't you hear me call?
I'm standing in a the street inside a fireball
Tomorrow's in the future - death is in the cradle
We're all day dreaming at the breakfast table
Down Main Street with the dust in my lungs
The blisters on my shoulder - the end has just begun
I'm swimming in the heat when the rads his my tongue
The remnants of my children are having too much fun
Inside a fireball
Inside a fireball
There's a big copper digger in the middle of town
The birds are on his head - the rags are hanging down
The grip on the grenade in his broken hand
As loose as the union's on the hot red sand
Inside a fireball
Inside a fireball
We will not die and it is no crime
You take the whole world upon your shoulder
For the very last time
Well I blasted my way through the barrier range
I ripped up the ground but nothing has changed
Bromide, sulphide, oxide, slag
We're cleaning out the can with an oily rag
I'll live on the dole or I'll die in the dust
If they turn up the shift then strike we must
The company's here but the money's all gone
But I'm still digging, I'm still strong!
Inside a fireball
Inside a fireball
Hey everybody, can't ya hear me call?
I'm standing in the street inside a fireball
Tomorrow's in the future - the oil is in the cradle
You're all chin waggin' around the conference table!!!
Inside a fireball
Inside a fireball
We, we will not die
And it is, it is no crime
You take the whole world upon your shoulders
For the very last, for the very last time
•LIVING DAYLIGHT•
I've been a life time running
Lookin' over my shoulder
Everyone along the way
Was tryin' to calm me down
I was almost a believer
I thought my time had come
To sit down and behave myself
I thought the old man had won
Out in the living daylight
Out in the living daylight
Into the living daylight
Out in the living daylight
Well I've been all around the world
I've seen poverty and war
The whole thing is still out there
And it's too small to ignore
I might die tomorrow
Or I might live another year
But I make out I'm gonna go forever
Things are pickin' up around here
Now my feet won't touch the ground
As the years go by
Give me a simple explanation
Cause all I wanna do is fly
Into the living daylight
Into the living daylight
Out in the living daylight
Out in the living daylight
Here comes the living daylight
Here comes the great outside
Like a morning bird on the barbed wire fence
It will not be denied
So now I remember
What I feel is what I know
I'm goin' round the long way again
That's not too far to go!
Out in the living daylight
Out in the living daylight
There I was in the middle of nothing
With red hot nothing all around
I got down upon my knees
Put my lips and kissed the ground
Out in the living daylight
•JANUARY RAIN•
They say everything that rises
Will be brought down
And anyone who's anybody
Is getting out of town
The high heels of the long weekend
Clatter in the street below
Somebody got pinned again
Underneath my window
The crowd roars on the wind
I call out your name
They're keepin' score on the radio
But it all sounds the same
You never build too high
In January Rain
You never build too high
In January Rain
Punters on the platform
Stagger throughout the yellow light
Force the door and slash the seats
We're all goin' home tonight
Up and down the nature strip
The Sunday drinkers ride
Faith is flowin' down the Esplanade
Drip tray and lemon tide
They say it's perfect one day
That's when it's raining again
Crouched upon the ocean
It's the city that I live in
You never build too high
In January Rain
You never build too high
In January Rain
Hunters & Collectors (all songs from) Human Frailty - 1987
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