urst - this aint sham-pain
I've watched hopes wither on the vine
The fruits of labours toiled in vain
I reap soul-grapes at harvest time.

Anno 1999 - a classic year for Vintage Whine.

[CHORUS :]

Since it's drawn - I must sup the cellarage of sorrow
yet fate refills my tarnished cup each time i drain the dregs
Their poison cannot kill me - new strength from it i 'll borrow
my maudlin is a caudle that would fill a thousand kegs.

Here's one for the road - afore ye go
drink deep sweet lads and lasses
Those blighted crops you gladly sow
shall one day fill your glasses
Brood for decades - pure hate distilled
then bottled up much longer
Revenge - a draught i'll serve you chilled,
when time has made it stronger

Non-cordial - it's bile bouquet.
Laments ferment the patience schnapps
Cask full of mulled futile dismay
My well-aged-rage - you 've turned the taps

Anno 1999 - a classic year for Vintage Whine.

[CHORUS :]

Since it's drawn - I must sup the cellarage of sorrow
yet fate refills my tarnished cup each time i drain the dregs
Their poison cannot kill me - new strength from it i 'll borrow
my maudlin is a caudle that would fill a thousand kegs.

Anno 1999 - a classic year for Vintage Whine.


3. On With Their Heads!

Here's just a few of the changes I'll make
when mankind appoints me king of Planet Earth
So pass me my crown (my scepter and gown)
Hear the first proclamation of Martin the I

Leaders who lied so that innocents died
pretending to cry, they beg for One's pardon
Protest? (well they might) - when imapaled on spikes
on the grounds that surround Buckingham palace garden

If there is a world left for the meek to inherit,
these bastards would bomb it the moment they get it
Bogged down in a mire - lost all sight of their goals
thought they gained the whole world - they've forsaken their souls

"On with their heads!",I'm the clown prince of fools
"if you don't get the joke it's your loss"
Love and laughter you see are the new currency
'cause greed's coinage is not worth a toss

Preachers who teach us that god loves his children
instruct us to pray - and then prey on our kids
They'll not squeal with glee as the answer to me
placed in coffins of offal - I'll anil down their lids

There's still plenty of poisonous fish in the sea
rich with more complexes than vitamine B
If trawling for assholes you'll net a fine catch
with skulls full of saw dust (well I've got the match!)

"On with their heads!",hear my royal decree
"shut your mouth" - "it could open your mind"
What a chance there would be if someday we could see
one-eyed man in this land of the blind

"On with their heads!" now my word is the law
and your ignorant bliss is high treason
when the "thought-police" call for you, they will have a ball
cause the wise don't get mad they get even

"On with their heads!",I'm the clown prince of fools
"if you don't get the joke it's your loss"
Love and laughter you see are the new currency
'cause greed's coinage is not worth a toss

Crack-pot patricians - fascist politicians
wheelers and dealers - big-shot money makers
Mass redundancy down the frawd factory
now notice has been served on all liberty-takers

Those still unaware that a new age must dawn,
shall wake with their necks on the block come the morn
On my ferry to Styx everyone pays the toll
it's time to rock the boat - empty heads start to roll

"On with their heads!",hear my royal decree
"shut your mouth" - "it could open your mind"
What a chance there would be if someday we could see
one-eyed man in this land of the blind

"On with their heads!" now my word is the law
and your ignorant bliss is high treason
when the "thought-police" call for you, they will have a ball
cause the wise don't get mad they get even


4. The Silver Cloud's Dark Lining

Sailing of the century - a human life raft floating
the jaws of the void approaching - growing closer by the hour
Played lottery with destiny - could not believe you'd lose
Collect your one-way ticket for "the Good Ship Earth's" last cruise

So play today
go make your hay beneath a warm sun shining
But bear in mind one day you'll find the silver cloud's dark lining

Poor general intelligence - all that is rank promoted
Distended bellies bloated - gorged on candy-coated lies
Though honest as the day is long - dark nights are drawing in
yet for one grow tired of this - a devil sick of sin

So play today
go make your hay beneath a warm sun shining
But bear in mind one day you'll find the silver cloud's dark lining

Stand in line and pay your dime, to watch Atlantis rising
When do you'll see right through to the silver cloud's dark lining

Oblivion comes calling - expel your last breath praying
Hear the hounds of Hades baying - find there's nowhere left ot run
Across the fence midst greener grass a serpent winks his eye
for each of us he's baked a slice of home made apple-pie !

So play today
go make your hay beneath a warm sun shining
But bear in mind one day you'll find the silver cloud's dark lining

Played lottery with destiny - could not believe you'd lose
Collect your one-way ticket for "the Good Ship Earth's" last cruise

So play today
go make your hay beneath a warm sun shining
But bear in mind one day you'll find the silver cloud's dark lining

Stand in line and pay your dime, to watch Atlantis rising
When do you'll see right through to the silver cloud's dark lining


5. A Well Beside The River

A song i dedicate unto those who share my need
to give their all - and should they fall strive on til they succeed.

though my belly aches with hunger - weary limbs tremble and shiver
i'd rather go where waters flow - no well beside the river.

It's spur has driven some to Hell on an unbridled desire
no pain - no gain - the strongest chain's forged in the hottest fire

I pity you - who's eyes so blue have never known ambition
yet can spit your judgment at me like some crazed, despotic queen
This dull existence merely half-life - (a glazed comatose condition)
too scary to try - so born to die sat at your sewing machine

Discontentedly accepting all the world's prepared to give her
it's fate that she stagnates just like a well beside the river

Life's one almighty, ducking - school we've built with our own hands.
We can swim and burn or sink and drown
'cause either way we're damned.
I'm so proud to be the tupping fool - your foul, fantastic freak,
at least each moment I've spent on this earth was totally unique.

So little man with such big plans to stand upon the stage,
Why do you squabble in the dirt - you should be reaching for a star?
By far the greatest gift that I can give on making the front page,
it is: instead of punching faces why not practice your guitar.

More beauty has been composed than jealousy can tear and sliver.
Wilst troubled waters bubble -you're a well beside the river

Life's one almighty ,ducking - school we've built with our own hands.
We can swim and burn or sink and drown
'cause either way we're damned.
I'm so proud to be the tupping fool - your foul, fantastic freak,
at least each moment I've spent on this earth was totally unique.

There's a dirty job I've done for all my life without
time-off called being me.
Though the hours are long and my pay is poor - I can't resign it's
all I'm qualified to be!

[CHORUS:]

Life's one almighty ,ducking - school we've built with our own hands.
We can swim and burn or sink and drown
'cause either way we're damned.
I'm so proud to be the tupping fool - your foul, fantastic freak,
at least each moment I've spent on this earth was totally unique.

Though my belly aches with hunger - weary limbs tremble and shiver,
I'd rather go where waters flow - no well beside the river.


6. No Strings Attached

Now the final curtain's fallen,
for no show goes on forever,
if the world's a stage - mine's empty.
whilst upon it you'll tread never.
As the instruments lie silent in their coffins made of wood,
i rest assured they'd say these words - If say these words they could;
Whatever happened to the songs - the music that we made,
and the joy we shared together as on me your fingers played?
Are chose symphonies forgotten - with our cases closed and latched'?
Dreams now dusty, old and rotten - empty shells (no strings attached).
Amidst the dying candle-light,
I sit forlorn, alone,
a space once filled with laughter bright,
the place my heart called home
Now the puppets are my company - but wood and straw can't speak;
though it by chance they came to life I'm certain they would weep;"
"What am I without your tender touch -
the hands to hold and guide me,
what purpose has a puppet with no puppeteer beside me?
I do not care I have no hair - my painted face is scratched.
but fear my wooden heart will shatter with no stings attached.

[CHORUS:]

No mourners assemble in this white-elephant's graveyard,
a dearth of bloom upon my tomb - an absence of forget-me-nots.
For Romeo I understudied - this sepulchre dark and bloodied,
It's my final resting place - amongst these "cloak-and-dagger' props.
Your kiss turns princes into frogs - and passion-plays to monologues.

Now last and least- the minstrel-takes his bow upon the stage,
he's played a fool and played the prince - (but never acts his age).
And If for once not lost for words- l wonder what he d say,
to win fair maiden, slay the dragon, keep dread foe at bay?

"Though I am not a wealthy man - my heart is pure and true,
and the only riches that I have - the love I feel for you.
Now my life is robbed of meaning
Iike a purse of hope that's snatched.
Must I spend my whole time dreaming -
living life no strings attached?"

[CHORUS:]

No mourners assemble in this white-elephant's graveyard,
a dearth of bloom upon my tomb - an absence of forget-me-nots.
For Romeo I understudied - this sepulchre dark and bloodied,
It's my final resting place - amongst these "cloak-and-dagger' props.
Your kiss turns princes into frogs - and passion-plays to monologues.


7. Bury Me

You came, you saw, you conquered as a woman of your word.
so to say farewell like Judas is a thing i find absurd.
You shook my world - (you sucked me in then spat me out in bubbles),
the effects of your affections stay the cause of all my troubles.

[CHORUS:]

The only thing you never did was have the decency
to kiss this corpse and nail the lid - came on and bury me!

I placed you on the pedestral - you tossed me in the gutter
it seems your lies were like those thighs - spread easier than butter
I'm first to go, so last to know how fickle is your passion
now my bones hang in your closet though my face is out of fashion

[CHORUS:]

As vultures circle round my head, far as the eye can see,
I walk this world (the living dead) - high-time to bury me !

You laid me to death - now lay me to rest
a sticky sweet-nothing to get off your chest
It's all pillow-talk at the end of the day
the cat's got your tongue - with so much left to say

I'm not the knave you 've fooled - behind the mask you wore
my beguiling, smiling virgin hides the cunning of a whore
Cause your ego needs an offering - 'tis i the coffin fits
so I martyred like St.Edmund with your name upon my lips

[CHORUS:]

"Oh, do it hurt ?"
Oh'boes it not! - I died with each degree
just one small detail overlooked - the need to bury me !

I 'm just the shade of something you remembered to forget
stood like Banquo by your bedside - you just haven't seen me yet
Every notch upon the headboard - each twist in your string of lovers
is a tear on your pillow - fate serves you as serves the others !

[CHORUS:]

"You swore to always stay my friend - why even this can't be
Kept your back turned until the end whilst i begged ; Bury me !"


8. Cancer Of The Heart

There's a simple diagnosis for this vicious symbiosis
feel the growth of rogue psychosis
we are the cause - we are the cure
Across each continent and nation
spread without discrimination,
we refuse our medication - yet inject the virus pure.

Father, mother, sister, brother. Everyone infects each other.
Insidious, incestuous love ?
(A feeling more akin to hate)
Vying constantly for power
and changing sides with every hour,
in homes built with machine-gun-towers,
(the sights trained on the garden-gate).
Seems we made our greatest error when we named it at the start
for though we called it "Human Nature" - it was Cancer of the heart

[CHORUS]

To show compassion makes you weak
so don't dare turn the other cheek,
Try hard to hide the fear you feel
with a heart of stone and nerves of steel
A naked-ape in the human zoo
you amaze me with the things you do
I watch your pride before the fall
and realise I don t belong at all.

WE try to leave the past behind us
racing onwards - blind and mindless
now the milk of human kindness won't serve for one cup of tea
We sate the hunger - quench the thirst
then lock our doors - expect the worst
be sure and always do to others first what they could do to thee !

It's the biggest contradiction - in terms language could impact
something neither humane or natural - just "Cancer of the heart"

[CHORUS]

To show compassion makes you weak,
so don't dare turn the other cheek.
Try hard to hide the fear you feel -
with a heart of stone and nerves of steel.
A naked-ape in the human-zoo.
you amaze mo with the things you do.
I watch your pride before the fall,
and realise I don't belong at all.

It's replicating culture sprawls when you see red as 'Rose-Bengal'
The anti-body's common sense - intolerance it's best defence.
Microscopic minds can't diagnose the cause before
the symptom shrows.

A grave threat to the rational health -
(be your own physician - heal thyself!).

Seems the biggest contradiction-in-terms language could impart,
something neither humane or natural -just'Cancer Of The Heart'

[CHORUS:]

To show compassion makes you weak,
so don't dare turn the other Cheek.
Try hard to hide the fear you feel -
with a heart of stone and nerves of steel.
A naked-ape in the human-zoo.
you amaze me with the things you do.
I watch your pride before the fall,
and realise l don't belong at all.


9. Little Miss Take

Thought I'd got it right - for once I'd sought and found perfection.
when you said "I love you you addressed your own reflection.
I'd prayed up to the heavens for a goddess of desire,
the best they had on offer was one devil of a liar!
You can't be accused of procrastination
one brief separation - the dream went stale
You sever all ties with a swift laceration
leave so many loose-ends- (thereby hangs my tale)

[CHORUS:]

Were you scared that the truth could have made you fatter ?
The Oueen of Hearts - you dealt me a pack of lies
then laughed in my face like it didn't matter
that you'd crossed my heart and I hoped to die.

Licked my wounds and hugged my chains
believing you pre-menstrual
unaware love could be blind to torture cruel and mental
stn regret I must confess I realised too late
you re-define endearment as 'the tender side of hate"

I'm already broken - so don't kick me better
What colour's the sky in your world - is it green ?
It seems I'm not even worth one paltry letter,
cast off like a tampon - you stamp on my dream

[CHORUS:]

Were you scared that the truth could have made you fatter ?
The Queen of Hearts - you dealt me a pack of lies
then laughed in my face like it didn't matter
that you'd crossed my heart and I hoped to die.

Could it possibly be that In your dictionary "Love' and "Lies" are defined
both the same?
I know how you can catch your ideal man
join a singles-club for the insane

The prize for my stupidity'- a noose about my neck
Nest time that she says "Good day" make sure you go and check
Mislay your smile - this dacryphile is turned on by sighs
When she has her eye on you - good fortune and good flies

You can't be accused of procrastination,
one brief separation - the dream went stale,
You sever all ties with a swift laceration.
leave so many loose-ends - (thereby hangs my tale).

[CHORUS]
Were you scared that the truth could have made you fatter?
The Queen of Hearts - you dealt me a pack of lies,
then laughed in my face like it didn't matter,
that you'd crossed my head and I hoped to die
Both sickened to learn (and yet glad to discover).
that Venus once held me with (ch)arms so fake
I'd have once sold my soul for this faithless lover,
now I couldn't give a damn for my little Miss Take.


10. Something To Cling To

Sometimes life feels like an ocean,
cruel and far too cold to mention.
Though you raise a great commotion - still no-one pays you attention
There's no sail on the horizon,
when the shark-fins gather near,
you watch your chances of surviving scuppered -
(sink, then disappear),

[CHORUS:]

All I need, all you need, all we need, is something to cling to.
(Watch your chances disappear when the shark-fins gather near),
All I need, all you need, all we need, is something to cling to.
As your 'fair-weather-friends' stand waving,
from the comfort of their yacht,
(it's strange how when you needed saving
they conveniently forgot).
The countless times you've stopped them sinking,
fought to keep their lives afloat,
and hauled them upwards, (without thinking).
to the safety of your boat.

[CHORUS:]

AIl I need, all you need, all we need, is something to cling to
(Fight to keep your life afloat - far from the safety of your boat)
All I need, all you need, all we need, is something to cling to

So tired and numb - your limbs now weaken
and you slowly start to wonder;
Should I not admit I`m beaten,
let these waters drag me under?
Feel a peace and calm descending,
ceasing fears, and cares, and crying.
Knowing that your life is ending,
reconcile yourself to dying.

Then as if from out of nowhere.
(and just when you least expected).
floats a single piece of driftwood - by some unseen force directed
It's a gift life often brings you.
when you thought all hope long gone.
sometimes a single dream to cling to.
gives you strength to carry on.

It seems the wisest words that I know,
(three which some dead scholar wrote)
are simply these: - "Dum spiro spero"
meaning; "WHILE I BREATHE I HOPE".

[CHORUS:]

All I need. all you need, all we need, is something to cling to,
(The wisest words man ever wrote are simply "While I breathe I hope").
All i need, all you need, all we need, is something to cling to.


11. By George

[Instrumental]