XTC Album

Drowning here in Summer's Cauldron
Under mats of flower lava
Please don't pull me out this is how I would want to go
Breathing in the boiling butter
Fruit of sweating golden Inca
Please don't heed my shout I'm relax in the undertow

When Miss Moon lays down
And Sir Sun stands up
Me I'm found floating round and round
Like a bug in brandy
In this big bronze cup
Drowning here in Summer's Cauldron

Trees are dancing drunk with nectar
Grass is waving underwater
Please don't pull me out this is how I would want to go
Insect bomber Buddhist droning
Copper chord of August's organ
Please don't heed my shout I'm relax in the undertow

When Miss Moon lays down
in her hilltop bed
And Sir Sun stands up
raise his regal head
Me I'm found floating round and round
Like a bug in brandy
In this big bronze cup
Drowning here in Summer's Cauldron

Laying on the grass, my heart, it flares like fire
The way you slap my face just fills me with desire
You play hard to get
'Cause you're teacher's pet
But when the boats have gone
We'll take a tumble, excuse for a fumble

Shocked me, too, the things we used to do on grass
If you fancy, we can buy an ice cream cone
Your mate has gone, she didn't want to be alone
I will pounce on you
Just us and the cuckoos
You are helpless now
Over and over, we flatten the clover

Shocked me, too, the things we used to do on grass
It would shock you, too, the things we used to do on grass
Grass
On grass
Things we did on grass

Meet you in the secret place
Scuffling in the dirt I wait
Whistle will blow, whistle will blow,
Share a joke the laugh's on me
But when I get you on your own we'll see
Someone might hear, someone might hear
You're a working girl now
You've got money of your own
Hmmm The meeting place
Hmmm The meeting place
Strolling under grimey skies
Machines that make you kiss in time
Smoke on your breath, smoke on your breath
Chimney never looked so good
Never looked the way it should
From lying in the bracken wood
Coat on the ground, coat on the ground
Take a walk down the lane
We'll be late back again
Hmmm The meeting place
Hmmm The meeting place

I can't hold you down
If you want to fly
Can't you see I'm all broke up inside
Well just you use your two X Ray eyes

Hurt like Kryptonite
Put me on my knees
Now that I've found out just what you're doing
With your secret identities

That's really super Supergirl
How you saved yourself in seconds flat
And your friends are going to say
That's really super Supergirl
How you're changing all the world's weather
But you couldn't put us back together
Now I feel like I'm tethered deep
Inside your Fortress of Solitude
Don't mean to be rude
But I don't feel super
Supergirl

I won't call again
Even in a jam
Now I realise you could be on a mission
Saving some other man

That's really super Supergirl
How you saved yourself in seconds flat
And your friends are going to say
That's really super Supergirl
How you stopped the universe from dying
But you're never going to stop me crying
And I feel like you're trying hard
To sweep me like dirt underneath your cape
Well I might be an ape
But I used to feel super
Supergirl

That's really super Supergirl
How you saved yourself in seconds flat
And your friends are going to say
That's really super Supergirl
How you're changing the world's weather
But you couldn't put us back together
Super Supergirl
How you stopped the universe from dying
But you're never going to stop me crying
Super Supergirl
I'm here in your Fortress of Solitude
Don't mean to be rude
But I don't feel super

Orange and lemon
Raincoats roll and tumble
Together, just liked fruit tipped from a tray
Pineapple wet heads
Watch new hairdos crumble
As scenery sunlight shifts away

Ballet for a rainy day
Silent film of melting miracle play

Apples and cherries
Are varnished in water
Despite, striped awnings bright dismay
I push my paintbrush
To conjure a new world
While this one is slowly washed away

Ballet for a rainy day
Silent film of melting miracle play
Dancing out there through my window
To the backdrop of a slow descending grey

When it rains it rains
All the colors in my paintbox
When it rains it rains
Tickets for the front row seats
Up on the rooftops

Orange and lemon
Raincoats roll and tumble
apples and cherries
Together, dropped in diamond disarray

Ballet for a rainy day
Silent film of melting miracle play
Dancing out there through my window
Behind the curtain silver falling
Ballet for a rainy day
Silent film of melting miracle play
Dancing out there through my window
To the backdrop of a slow descending grey

One thousand umbrellas
Upturned couldn't catch all the rain
That drained out of my head
When you said we were
Over and over I cried
'Til I floated downstream
To a town they call
Misery oh oh misery
Misery oh oh misery

And one million teacups
I bet couldn't hold all the wet
That fell out of my eyes
When you fell out with me
Now I'm crawling the wallpaper
That's looking more like a roadmap
To misery oh oh misery

How can you smile and forecast
Weather's getting better
And you'll soon forget her
If you let the sunshine come through
How can you smile and forecast
Weather's getting better
If you never let a girl rain all over you
And just when I thought that my vista was golden in hue
One thousand umbrellas opened to spoil the view

One million salt seas
Recalled from school atlas
Alas would be filled to the brim
Sunny Jim couldn't jump it
How can I be pleased
When I'm handed the keys
To a town they call Misery
Oh oh Misery

So with a mop and a bucket
I'll just say forget her
And carry on sweeping up
Where I've been weeping
The Jesters will creep in
To strike down the newly crowned Monarch
Of Misery oh oh Misery

How can you smile and forecast
Weather's getting better
And you'll soon forget her
If you let the sunshine come through
How can you smile and forecast
Weather's getting better
If you never let a girl rain all over you
Just when I thought that my skies were a June July blue
One thousand umbrellas opened
Two thousand umbrellas opened
Ten thousand umbrellas opened to spoil the view

Season cycle moving round and round
Pushing life up from a cold dead ground
It's growing green
It's growing green, well
Darling don't you ever stop to wonder
About the clouds about the hail and thunder
'Bout the baby and its umbilical
Who's pushing the pedals on the season cycle?

Summer chased by Autumn
Autumn chased by Winter
season cycle go from death to life
Winter chased by Springtime
bring a harvest or a man his wife
Springtime's turning
it's growing green
It's growing green, well
Darling, don't you ever sit and ponder
darling did you ever think
About the building of the hills a yonder
all this life stuff's closely linked
Where we're going in this verdant spiral
Who's pushing the pedals on the season cycle?
Round and round and round and round

I really get confused on who would make all this
is there a God in Heaven
Everybody says join our religion get to Heaven
I say no thanks why bless my soul
I'm already there!

Autumn is Royal
As Spring is clown
But to repaint Summer
They're closing Winter down

Darling don't you ever stop to wonder
darling did you ever think
About the clouds about the hail and thunder
all this life stuff's closely linked
About the baby and its umbilical
Who's pushing the pedals on the season cycle?
Season cycle
Darling, don't you ever sit and ponder
darling did you ever think
About the building of the hills a yonder
all this life stuff's closely linked
Where we're going in the verdant spiral
Who's pushing the pedals on the season cycle?

I've been praying all the week through
At home, at work, and on the bus
I've been praying I can keep you
And to earn enough for us

I can take humiliation
And hurtful comments from the boss
I'm just praying by the weekend
I can earn enough for us

Found a house that won't repair itself
With its windows cracking
And a roof held together with holes
Just because we're on the bottom of the ladder
We shouldn't be sadder than others like us
Who have goals for the betterment of life
Glad that you want to be my wife

But, honest, I've been praying all the week through
At home, at work, and on the bus
I've been praying I can keep you
And to earn enough for us

So you're saying that we're gonna be three
Now a father's what I'll be
Don't get me wrong, I'm so proud
But the belt's already tight
I'll get another job at night

But, honest, I can take humiliation
And hurtful comments from the boss
I'm just praying by the weekend
I can earn enough for us

Just because we're on the bottom of the ladder
We shouldn't be sadder than others like us
Who have goals for the betterment of life
Glad that you want to be my wife

But, honest, I can take humiliation
And hurtful comments from the boss
I'm just praying by the weekend
I can earn enough for us
I can earn enough for us

It's your big day, your big day
So you want to tie the knot
Tie it tight, don't let it rot, the memory of this day
Are you deafened by the bells
Could be heaven, could be hell
In a cell for two
Big day come and big day go
Life goes on after the show
But will your love have the fire and glow
Like on the big day
Statistics they don't say a lot
But can you keep what you have got forever together
There's a lesson to be learnt
Many fingers have been burnt with the touch of gold
Love can come and love can go
What your chance is I don't know
But if you have love then let it show like on the big day
You're a new recruit
The big day
in your wedding suit today
Like on the big day
yes you're looking fine
The big day
sign on the dotted line
The big day
it's your wedding march today

My heart is taken it's not lost in space
And I don't want to see your mooney mooney face
I say why on earth do you revolve around me
Aren't you aware of the gravity
Don't need another satellite

I'm happy standing on my feet of clay
I have no wish to swim your milky milky way
I say why on earth do you send your letters 'round here
Only to gum up the atmosphere
Don't need another satellite

So circling we'll orbit another year
Two worlds that won't collide
So circling we'll orbit another year
Moon still tries to steal the tide away

Don't need another satellite
Don't need another satellite

Abort your mission let's just say you tried
Before you glimpse I have a darker darker side
I say why in Heaven's name do you come on these trips
Only to freeze in a total eclipse
Don't need another satellite

So circling we'll orbit another year
Two worlds that won't collide
So circling we'll orbit another year
Moon still tries to steal the tide away
Don't need another satellite
Don't need another satellite

From pools of xylophone clear
From caves of memory
I saw the children at heart
That we once used to be
Borne on foaming seahorse herd
Compose with trumpeting shell
From lines across their hands
A song as new as new moon
As old as all the sands
Shrank to stagnant from Atlantic wild
Lost that child 'til mermaid
Smiled

Summoned by drum rolling surf
As laughing fish compel
The young boy woken in me
By clanging diving bell
Breakers pillow fight the shore
She wriggles free in the tide
I'm locked in adult land
Back in the mirror she slides
Waving with comb in hand
I was lucky to remain beguiled
Grown to child since mermaid
Smiled

The man who sailed around his soul
From East to West, from pole to pole
With ego as his drunken captain
Greed, the mutineer, had trapped all reason in the hold

The man who walked across his heart
Who took no compass, guide or chart
To rope and tar his blood congealed
When he found his self revealed ugly and cold

And the Sirens that sing
By your nose with its ring
They'll drag you in
For your sins

Now he sits all alone
And it's no place like home
It's empty skin
A bag to keep life's souvenirs in
The man who sailed around his soul
The man who sailed around his soul

The man who sailed around his soul
Came back again to find a hole
Where once he thought compassion and the truth
Had laid to warm his freezing carcass on return

The man who walked across his heart
Was doomed to journey from the start
Of every love affair he'd broken
All the lies he'd ever spoken
Tattooed on his arm
And the jellyfish stings
Even angels with wings
Who look too deep
And dare to peep

Now he sits all alone
Knowing flesh blood and bone
Is everything
He found the treasure he'd been seeking
The man who sailed around his soul

It frightens me when you come to mind
The day you dropped in the shopping line
And my heart beats faster when I think of all the signs
When they carried you out your mouth was open wide
The cat went astray and the dog did pine for days and days
And we felt so guilty when we played you up
When you were ill, so ill
What sticks in my mind is the sweet jar
On the sideboard. And your multicolored tea cosy
What sticks in my mind is the dew-drop hanging off your nose
Shrivelled up and blue
And I'm getting older, too
But I don't want to die like you
Don't want to die like you

Fire they cried
So evil must die
And yields are good
So men pull back hoods and smile

The scapegoat blood spilled
Spittled and grilled it crackled and spat
And children grew fat on the meat
Change must be earnt
Sacrificial bonfire must burn
Burn up the old
Bring in the new

Burn up the old
Bring in the new

Assembled on high
Silhouette against the sky
The smoke prayed and pranced
And sparks did their dance in the wind
Disguises wore thin with less and less skin
And the clothes that were draped
Was all that told man from ape
Change must be earnt
Sacrificial bonfire must reign
Reign over good
Banish the bad

Oh,Reign over good
Banish the bad, oh, ohh