Boomtown Rats - Mondo Bongo

Straight Up
The Elephants Graveyard
This Is My Room
Another Piece of Red
Hurt Hurts
Please Don't Go
Fall Down
Go Man Go
Under Their Thumb... Is Under My Thumb
Banana Republic
Whitehall 1212
Mood Mambo

Straight Up

Hey, she'll set the world a light
She's looking lost with life
But no-one's on fire
And still she burns
She waits her turn
Straight up.

Sometimes at least it seems
She hears the whole place scream
But she finds sleep
With light hand relief
She's going deep
Straight up

She holds no convictions
Which means she never doubts

Day falls into night
She draws the blind
Calls it a day
And when she wakes
Sees nothing's changed
Straight up.

She just stands there waiting
Waiting for something
Anything at all
Nothing at all
Not at all.

The Elephants Graveyard

Did you slip the noose when the beast broke loose
The elephants graveyard ain't the place to be
And white turns black, dies of heart attack
The elephants graveyard needs the change of scene.
You got the money, but who needs the tension
And fear's no cheaper on the old age pension
There's just one thing that I forgot to mention
What've you got to lose when you know
You're guilty 'till proven guilty
Isn't that the law
Guilty 'till proven guilty
That's what we saw
Do the blue rinse shuffle with the beach boy muscle
Waiting all your life for this golf cart life
You see the judge and then you check the jury
She does her hair and calls the lawyer curti
It's Disneyland under martial law
Titch on the TV tell me what you saw
They wre guilty 'till proven guilty etc....
Justice isn't blind
It just looks the other way
Not from want of trying
I have nothing left to say
The sky burns bright, 24 hour night
And you don't pay death duties when your on death duty
You came here looking for the peace and quiet
The healthy air and the healthy diet
The sea's so calm but the street's a riot
Taken years off your life when you've no years left to give
Yeah you're
Guilty 'till proven guilty etc.
Shame shame shimmy shame.
Shame shame shimmy shame.

This Is My Room

I can sleep alone
I know how
I stay here on my own
And now.

I wake from sleep with little rest
It's 10 by 9 and in a mess
A window shut but facing west
A worn out rug, an old address
And
This is my room
Yes
This is my room

I often stay at home
I often sleep alone
I know how

Another Piece Of Red

I was reading in New Zealand about Ian Smith
I was thinking they were lucky to be rid of that shit.
The people here can still believe in stiff lips and stiff collars
They're speaking deals in English
But they're making deals in dollars.
They're breaking up an empire
Nobody's buying British
They're calling for an umpire
Nobody's playing cricket
The flags are coming down everybody stands saluting
But somewhere in the distance, I can hear somebody shooting.

And another piece of red left my atlas today.

It's so long Hong Kong and no more Singapore
Those steaming nights of Malta
Goodbye Gibraltar
I'll give you arms for Africa
I'm hungry for India
The sun's set on Australia
And vive le Canada

Theyre breaking up an empire
Nobody's buying British
Calling for an umpire
It really isn't cricket
The flags are coming down
There's a minimum of looting
Somewhere in the distance I can see somebody shooting
And another piece of red left my atlas today.........

Hurt Hurts

I don't want to listen
But I think I see you screaming
And it hurts.

Instant Solzhenitsyn
I get salt mines when I hear your voice
It hurts.

Kiss the hurt off her Kung Fu tongue
I turn off when she turns on
That's why I'll say
Hurts hurts.

Who an' what an' where an' when an' why an' how an'
Which you bitch
It hurts.

The false teeth shake an' rattle
When the slack mouth tittle tattles
And it hurts.

Kiss the hurt on her Kung Fu tongue
I come off when she comes on
That's why we say
Hurt hurts.

My ears are bleeding
My stomach's so sore

I slice the hurt off her Kung Fu tongue
We come off when they come on
That's why we say
Hurt hurts.

Hard side
Tough inside
She cut you with stiletto style
Boy, it hurts.

I lick the wound, she tears the eyes
You scratch her back and she'll claw mine
That hurts.

My eyes water
My mouth's so dry

Kiss the hurt off her Kung Fu tongue
I turn off when you turn on
Then I might say
Hoit hoits
Hurt hurts.

Please Don't Go

I was walking down the street
I was walking down the street with the queen of hearts
She does the monkey, the polish and the spit,
I do the all-age favorite the epileptic fit.
Polo-neck, polo-neck, she don't wear a shirt
I suppose it's because it disquises the dirt.
Hey, where are you going with that hat on your head?
"Down to the graveyard to visit the dead."
Please don't go
A worm in one ear and a slug in the other
It doesn't look like her, are you sure that it's mother?
Please don't go....now please.

Fall Down

Put your head between your knees and breathe real deep
Let it in
Let it out
Until it's over.

I might scribble, I might scrawl
I might claw at the wall
I might storm and rage and thunder
Oh Christ but then later
In the incinerator
Something inside seems to fall asunder.

I need to scream every now and again
Try to understand it's only me
Not only cripples have a need for crutches
And if they
Ever take
You away
From me........I'd

Fall down....fall down and lie still
Fall down....moving in for the kill
Fall down....putting several boots in
Lie helpless
God help us
Our heads up
We'd scream.

Put your head between your knees and breathe real deep
Let it in
Let it out
Until it's over.

Go Man Go

These are danger days
What sort of day is this?
These are troubled times
D'ya know what time it is?
There it goes again
Another gear being slipped
I must be near the sea
A single cod n' chips
A cup of tea for three
An' 6 including v.a.t.
Around the rugged rocks
A round trip there and back
The helter-skelter's free
(Don't tell mad Charlie that)
I'd send a bloody card
But he'd want a bloody snap.
I'd stay at home today
But the world said
Go man go
Everybody said
Go man go
The local postman said
Go man go
Do-do, oy, oy vey.
I feel so down, so low, too tired to think
I feel so low, oh no, well what do you think?
My feet slow down, ah so well, I can't lift my head
A fevered brow, ho no, think I'll stay here in bed
Thunder over Tokyo
Pressure on my eyes
Hi-fi on their heads
While they tidy the tides
Dear Aunti Fifi
You should see this place
They'd grow a cushion on your back,
An' a flu mask on your face
I'd stay at home today
but the world said
Go man go
In Japanese they said
Hayacho cho wazza woko
I heard someone say
Go man go
And we went
Do do oy oy vey.

Under Their Thumb... Is Under My Thumb

Under their thumb
Kicked and beaten like an angry rabid dog
Under their thumb
Squashed and squeezed like a dried-up, rinsed out worm
You can't do a thing
Best lie still 'til you wait your turn
Can't do a thing
Your day will come
You're under their thumb

Under their thumb
And now you feel you're not alone
Under their thumb
And now you feel the pressure zone
You can't do a thing
Revenge is sweet but it's sugar free
Can't do a thing
Your day will come
Now you're under their thumb

Banana Republic

Chorus:
Banana Republic
Septic Isle
Screaming in the Suffering sea
It sounds like crying
Everywhere I go
Everywhere I see
The black and blue uniforms
Police and priests

And I wonder do you wonder
While you're sleeping with your whore
That sharing beds with history
Is like a-licking running sores
Forty shades of green yeah
Sixty shades of red
Heroes going cheap these days
Price; a bullet in the head

Banana Republic
Septic Isle
Suffer in the Screaming sea
It sounds like dying
Everywhere I go
Everywhere I see
The black and blue uniforms
Police and priests

Take your hand and lead you
Up a garden path
Let me stand aside here
And watch you pass
Striking up a soldier's song
I know that tune
It begs too many questions
And answers to,

Banana Republic
Septic Isle
Suffer in the Screaming sea
It sounds like dying
Everywhere I go
Everywhere I see
The black and blue uniforms
Police and priests

The purple and the pinstripe
Mutely shake their heads
A silense shrieking volumes
A violence worse than the condemn
Stab you in the back yeah
Laughing in your face
Glad to see the place again
It's a pitty nothing's changed

Banana Republic
Septic Isle
Suffer in the Screaming sea
It sounds like dying
Everywhere I go
Everywhere I see
The black and blue uniforms
Police and priests

Whitehall 1212(Instrumental)

 

Mood Mambo

Somewhere up town late last night around 9 o'clock
There was a black snake crawling up the
Latin American stairs
With his
Slicked
Black
Cockroachair
He was greasy lightning
He was looking for someone else
He said "I know you, you know me, heyheylezzosee.....
I'm in the Mood to Mambo..."
Yeah Bongo Crazy man.
Someone else pulled out a gun and said
"It's a little too late for that sort of thing...
If you think that you're the white/black snake don't go messing with me...
I'm not in the mood"
Somebody else pulled,
I said "Don't be rude....just say Bongo Crazy man"
Yah...been there
Done that
given every tit-for-tat
I'm for me
You're for you
Let's keep it that way
Okay??

Meanwhile
Later on underneath the river
Some frogman slipped
On his black beret
Over his skin
Tight rubbersuit.
Black boots
Looking for a place to go
An dive
Heading for the nearest divers skive
Looking for love
On the cheap rate
Go!
Gonna make it down
with you wan
D'ja see?
He said
"Crazy bongo
I'm in the Mood to Mambo"

Meanwhile
We can watch the come
Dancing competitions
From the Midlands International Danceband Orchestra.
Lifting up their frilly chiffon skirts
They whirled and they twirled
In the late night rustle
To the beat of the muscle
Of the drum man
Inanin
he's picking up the beat on the bongo skin
He was lookin for love underneath that din.
He was looking for me
He was looking for you
Till I walked up to the woman
And I said
(with a shoe)
I'm in the mooooood tooooooo mambo
Bongo Crazy

sssshhhh....
Let me into one of the secrets of this place
Y'see thelate night
Flick knives
glitter through the window
Careful where you go boy
Those knives are
Flick
Flack
Flagging through the dark, man
They're gonna cut
your
skin
I talked to Fr. Murphy and he swore he wouldn't tell
But some of those boys are gonna go to hell
See they're in the Mood to Mambo
Crazy Bongo
cha cha cha
The fog horns scream
And the boys go "Woo Woo"
I don't mind
Cos I'm with you
We go bongo crazy
Yes we do
No we don't
Bongo crazy!!


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