These are the lyrics to Steve Kilbey tracks that appeared on the Karmic Hit Previews & Rarities compilations.
All these tracks have since been released on other albums.
[Also appears on Addenda Two]
[rev. Sept. 2, 2013]
Where'd you get the stolen impression
Where'd you get the wrong direction
Where'd you get the answer where there isn't one
Where'd you get the idle nerve from
Where'd you get the angle uncut from
Where'd you get the ending when it's just begun
Everybody searchin' for gratification
No one's got a grip on the situation
I just can't believe the things you say
How'd you ever expect to feel it
How'd you ever expect to steal it
How'd you come to be here when you can't get in
How'd you think it was gonna end up
Why'd you wanna send your friend up
How's it gonna be when the cold sets in
Everybody's down for a New Year's honor
They're all working on a new persona
I just can't believe the things you say
When do you think it's gonna get better
When do you think you'll break these fetters
When do you learn to ask for another one
When do you stop counting your blessings
When do you stop learning your lessons
When do you understand it isn't much fun
Everybody's trying to do their best
And the wicked don't get no rest
I just can't believe the things you say
["I just can't believe the things you say" repeated in the backround in a round to end of song]
Where'd you get the stolen impressions
Where'd you get the wrong direction
Where'd you get the answer where there isn't one
Where'd you get the idle nerve from
Where'd you get the angle uncut from
Where'd you get the ending when it's just begun
Everybody searchin' for gratification
No one's got a grip on the situation
I just can't believe the things you say
How'd you ever expect to feel it
How'd you ever expect to steal it
How'd you come to be here when you can't get in
How'd you think it was gonna end up
Why'd you wanna send your friend up
How's it gonna be when the cold sets in
Everybody's down for a New Year's honor
They're all working on a new persona
I just can't believe the things you say
[Also appears on Addenda Two]
[rev. Jan. 24, 2002]
The standing invitation to the back of beyond
Beyond which no man dares tread
They do the bossa nova in Wilmington and Dover
In clover, over your head
Saddle your cow
We're leavin' right now
Take off your skin
Or we'll never get in
The drummer's name is Jerry
The singer she is Sherry
The trumpet man is called something Dutch
The vibraphone is shimmer
The room is getting dimmer
A glimmer, a touch too much
The gang is all here
They're drowning in beer
Pull up a chair
Or just lay on the stairs
It's getting faster
It's getting tighter
It's getting easy
Downtown tonight
The bartender is tender
Hey big spender, can't you lend me a dollar or two?
And ain't that Maureen by the cigarette machine?
And ain't that Hortence, too?
Breathe in the smoke
Laugh at this joke
You'll have to shout
If you want to get out
It's getting faster
It's getting tight
It's getting easy
Downtown tonight
[Also appears on Addenda Two]
[rev. Sept. 2, 2013]
Max Sharp was an aquanaut
With the gills and fin
Especially bred for the ocean bed
Waterproof head and skin
Going down to the submarine town
20 fathoms deep
Whoever thought a man a-breathin' water
I wonder if there's trouble with the bubbles when he sleeps
Mermaids in underwater glades
Playing with electric eels
Deep sea shock of Davy Jones' Locker
Rockin' from his head to his heels
One was quite a dish but she was half a fish
If only, he wished, she had legs
I guess he saw her, hooked on Neptune's daughter
Now they're expecting their first eggs
Na na na-na na na na
Na na-na na naaa na
Na na na-na na na na
Na na-na na
Max Sharp was an aquanaut
With the fins and gills
He swims where he pleases in the Seven Seas
Jesus, what a thrill
But the Navy boys with the sonar noise
Sailing in the tubs of tin
Got him with torpedoes in the back of his Speedos
Holy Toledo, that was the end of him
Na na na-na na na na
Na na-na na naaa na
Na na na-na na na na
Na na-na na
[Repeated 4 more times]
[From a demo reel dated Dec. 14, 1983. Also appears on Artifacts]
[rev. Sept. 9, 2013]
I'll make it brief, it worked like a charm
French cigarettes and a girl on my arm
On Tuesdays I knew, on Wednesdays I guessed
They never asked why, they said I knew best
Congratulations, gorgeous blue tints
Our room is swimming and I feel like a prince
The garden is open (make up)
And the rain blends (break up)
Her house is empty (shake up)
A means to an end
Rough stones are wet, just you and me
Her body's a mass of geography
The Eiffel Tower is fizzing champagne
Absent minded I drink it again
It puts the velvet in vanity
I hope this dark night will carry me
The garden is open (make up)
And the rain blends (break up)
Her house is empty (shake up)
A means to an end
A wagon of dreams comes over the bridge
Destination: the sleep of the rich
In the narrow lane she stands 5 foot 4
Destination: the sleep of the poor
How long this lasts, I've no idea
It could be a minute, it could be a year
The garden is open (make up)
And the rain blends (break up)
Her house is empty (shake up)
A means to an end
Make up, break up, shake up
A means to an end
[Repeated to end of song]
[Also appears on Freaky Conclusions]
[rev. Sept. 9, 2013]
The fire suggests goodbye
It's the end of abstract embraces
Cold water daylight scattered
A week to get it out of the body
I've forgotten all my best lines
Like incense in the fan mail
The puppet's got hold of its strings
Are you calmer in your armour?
Goblin skinny fingers tugging on my...
Mechanism
The blues is in your answer
You nod but it means nothing
Just a perfect stranger
You sing your stupid anthem
And the world becomes transparent
A ball quite old and silent
A network of temptation
Left smouldering and ruined
Reptile little captains biting on my...
Mechanism
The rest has taught us nothing
Reappear with both guns blazing
And waste the ticket seller
Who wasn't even in your story
And it's fools like him who catch you
When the government is falling
And the endless past is calling
Until the words become undrowned
Desperate dying signals getting on my...
Mechanism
The book remains unopened
The gift has been returned
The Incas gone forever
But it's nothing worth repeating
So we sit among our gardens
And never lift a finger
And never dream to argue
Or even poke the ashes
Wonder what I'm doing in another year or...
Mechanism
Mechanism
Mechanism
Mechanism
Mechanism
Mechanism
[Also appears on Addenda One]
[added Sept. 3, 2013]
Left me lonely on the shore
Left me burning for some more
Yeah, it's okay to disappear
Say farewell to once held dear
Gone for good
Gone for good
Gone for good
Gone for good
Left me waiting for the kill
Left me sitting with the bill
And it's okay if you vanish now
Guess that I'll get home some how
Gone for good
Gone for good
Gone for good
Gone for good
Gone for good
Gone for good
Gone for good
Gone for good
[Also appears on Addenda Two]
[added Dec. 9, 2005]
Been away so long
Long ago when I met you
And it felt so wrong
But I couldn't forget you
I was lonely
And I missed your light
I was lonely
In the Australian night
In the Australian night
In the Australian night
And I traveled so far
But there was something about you
Then they made me a star
But I was nothing without you
I was lonely
And I missed your light
I was lonely
In the Australian night
In the Australian night
In the Australian night
Aeroplanes and photographs
Summer days we played for laughs
Dressing up and dressing down
Driving 'round and 'round this town
Aimed for the moon (and you)
You might hit the stars
Now I'm back to stay (I'm back to stay)
And I would never desert you
With you every day (in every way)
And I could never hurt you
'Cause I was lonely
And I missed your light
I was lonely
In the Australian night
In the Australian night
In the Australian night
[From a demo reel dated Dec. 14, 1983. Also appears on Artifacts]
[rev. Sept. 9, 2013]
Don't touch the snake who beckons you, his eyes are full of ice
You'll be slippery just like he is, living on many mice
And I see you're beginning to undergo a subtle change of scale
It's not the first time that I've noticed, and there on hangs a tale
The royalties that they bring at you almost brush your ears
Some people just arrived from another world that isn't far from here
And I see you're beginning to understand that your circulation's been weird
And you squeeze the life out of everything, exactly as I feared
I see your beginning
[Repeated to end of song]
[Also appears on Addenda Two]
[added Dec. 9, 2005]
Hey Krishna
Hey Rama
Oh Vishnu
Narayana
[repeated 4 times]
Oh Krishna
Oh Rama
Oh Vishnu
Narayana
[repeated 7 times]
Oh Krishna
Oh Rama
Hey Vishnu
Narayana
Hey Krishna
Hey Rama
Hey Vishnu
Narayana
[repeated 4 times]