H O L L Y   W A L K E R

M  O  D  E  R  N     L  I  F  E  
I see why you don’t go out
It’s the internet isn’t it, the sick voyeurism
It’s enough to bring anyone down
Clutching desperately at the BBC broadcasters
For some clarity, a rarity
But when you meet these people at parties
They’re saying

You will have to get yourself a laptop
Start up a goddamn blog
Don’t complain this is modern life
We’re all wrong, what do you mean?
There’s no one here to set us right
You will have to get yourself a laptop
Start up a goddamn blog
Don’t complain this is modern life
Talk’s cheap, throw it up, then delete

I smashed up my desktop
It had the reins and was running me around like a pony
Wasn’t sure where my friends were
There was an awful preoccupation with stupid little videos
We’re young we’re creative things
just updating our statuses
Cos the madmen tell us this is really gonna sell us
They say
You will have to get yourself a laptop…

In this modern life
A neat commercial enterprise
A self promoting paradise
Be sure to message goodbye
Can’t you see why
Diversion from the burden and the grind

And so we kill time
Truth too hard to find
Make it up then never mind
In this godless, modern life

You will have to get yourself a laptop…

In this modern life
You trip and fall they replay it online
In this modern life
Truth too hard to find
Make it up then, never mind

P  E  N  E  L  O  P  E
Penelope, it’s always you and me
Laughing in the flipping face of adversity
Oh I just want to watch a hundred worst celebrity surgeries
And be happy

But what’s this fresh calamity
Some new tragedy
Now my heart’s bleeding, I’ll all wound up
It’s tea time and that’s me time but as usual something’s blowing up

P-p-people keep nervously breaking down
Can p-p-people stop nervously breaking down

Penelope, stone cold joker
Found the meaning of life on your sofa
Wasting time, making rhymes
Ridiculous and so sublime

But what’s this fresh calamity...

P-p-people keep nervously breaking down
Can p-p-people stop nervously breaking down

Penelope, you give me no grief
You only give me great punchlines
Aren’t other people a drag?
I wish you’d give them a piece of your mind
The funny piece
Of your mind

S  T  E  R  I  L  E     F  A  C  I  L  E
Sterile facile pop music
Lacking substance still I’ll abuse it
Shallow lifestyle, still I choose it
Like a sedative I’ll use it

Fine art’s fine
But I want to roll out of a vending machine
With all the glamour of a diet coke
Rise above the cliché, you say, to a higher state
None of this common small talking like
I’m horny it’s Mr Hudson does it for me
But life is boredom
It’s throwing away empty plastic containers
Trashing years of love and faithfulness for this

Just for this one aching collision
Body to body and I’m coming on strong
Raw drive, animal appetite
To be alive and be alive and be alive and be alive

Sterile facile pop music
Lacking substance still I’ll abuse it
Tacky, lacquered, saccharine
I’ll beat the shit of the shitty beat machine

The bank is a bomb shelter
Don’t explode this myth
Success equals happiness
Without that what’s left?
Relationships stall, decay and downfall
That’s why I’m back in the game I want the thrill of it all

Oh this one aching collision…

Sterile facile pop music
Lacking substance still I’ll abuse it
Shallow lifestyle, still I choose it
Like a sedative I’ll use it
Like a gentle soul I’ll bruise it
Like a final spliff I’ll twos it
Like an addict I’ll excuse it
Like a drunken kiss I’d do anything for this

Just for this one aching collision...

P  A  N  I  C     B  R  E  E  D  S     P  A  N  I  C
He held me in his arms
One last time
And said I’ll see you love
On the other side (he said I’ll see you)

Panic breeds panic
And the memories rush like a lynch mob
And the shaking and the sobs
And the heightened thrill of emotion
Panic breeds panic
And I’m dancing wildly with a fire extinguisher
It’s pandemonium but

He holds me in his gaze
One last time
And says it’s been a joy
To know you in this life (but now I’ll see you)

Didn’t take precautions I didn’t call my local social services
I didn’t do a thing but run in circles shrieking
Panic breeds panic
Don’t you lose your head if you do you’re dead
Don’t you drop dead! But he said

I’m all out, I’m done in
This time they really got me, I can’t win
I’m all out, I’m dead beat
I only pray heaven tastes just a sweet as you

Panic breeds panic
And I’m living in a Hitchcock movie
Don’t come any closer to me
It’s the heightened thrill of emotion
Panic breeds panic
And I’m questioning when did it all go wrong
What have I done, what have I done

But he sung out my name one last time
Said I’ve let go now of every earthly bind
Because I’m all out, I’m done in
This time they really got me, I can’t win
I’m all out, I’m dead beat
I only pray heaven tastes just a sweet as you

Panic breeds panic breeds panic
So I whispered keep calm
But he held me in his arms one last time
Said I’ll see you love on the other side, but now I’m all out…

T  H  E     A  N  G  E  L     I  S  L  I  N  G  T  O  N
I just can't be the woman I wanted
It's normal to feel disappointed
Life and strife prove insurmountable
My diary's full until I'm old
I'm tired, I need someone to hold
Life and strife prove insurmountable

I split his heart for a split second
God knows how we got that far
Was it because we had both known people to leap
Crying I'm flying! I'm flying!
Then watched them hit the deck
And break their necks

And the church bell's ringing
And the bar bell's ringing

I just can't be the woman I wanted
I'm broke and everyday I have to think about it
Timing always is your downfall
My diary's full until I'm old
I'm tired, I need someone to hold
Timing always is your downfall

I split his heart...

And the church bell's ringing...
And the hard work's getting too much for your hands and your voice
You've no choice

It's a cool shadowy day in the Angel Islington
And you and I feel obliged to live it
So we come downstairs, come downtairs
Crying I'm down here, I'm down here
On the ground
The only sound
The church bell ringing...

M  Y     H  E  A  R  T     I  S     A     S  C  R  U  N  C  H  Y
My heart is a scrunchy
Unbunch me
Aaaaah
Let me kiss every paving stone between your house and mine
Let me lick the yellow lines
Your chest rises, my chest rises
Your chest falls, my chest falls
My head is a bad night out
Find me, remind me what I'm about

Let me marry the bus stop
There is only one place I want to go now
Let me kiss every paving stone between your house and mine
Do you understand, romantic man?

My hope is dead drunk
My faith on benefits
I cross my fingers for you baby
Please let us stick
Your chest rises...

Let me be fifteen again
Help me spit chewing gum on my troubles
Can someone have a party soon
Can you and me undress each other across a crowded room
Can only laughter matter
Let's forget the morning after

My fears are up in my throat
My nerves are on a knife edge
My mind rehearses just in case I face the worst
It's you brings me back, brings me back, brings me back

Let me marry the bus stop...
Do you understand, romantic man?
I am abandoned to you

D  O     I     L  I  K  E     J  A  Z  Z  ?
People ask me do I like this, do I like that
Do I like jazz, maybe big band, maybe deep throat rap?
Not sure I haven’t tried that one before
Am I good enough, can they hear my stuff
It’s a rare thing, a genius, this business is tough
And do I like jazz?

I wish I’d stayed on stage and wound around you in that backless dress
Without rest for nights on end sweating liberally
and never even stopping to piss or drink
Simply gyrating for you to the very best quality beats and bass
Sweet and graceful

They want glam, they want skin-tight
I need kicking into shape and you need to take the bait
But tonight
It’s not about them, it’s no audition
It’s just a new tune, a big fat groove and some shapes some moves
And when I see the toilet attendant getting her grind on
Well I know the music’s our communal good mood

Dancing’s a personal thing
You may like your body but does anybody else?

People ask me if I’m this way or that
Am I bold or do I hold back
Am I cut out for a life like that?
It’s not about the money
It’s not about what you can buy
I believe in loving
And I just shop ‘til I got enough

But I might be ill and so I need to see my doctor
And I might be sad and so I need to see my shrink
And I might be happy so I need to see my boyfriend
All the time I’m losing time

They want glam, they like skin-tight...

People ask me if I’m this way or that
Am I cut out for a life like that?
I haven't tried it yet but yeah ok I guess
It's just a new tune...