Seemless
Hollywood Records • 1996
- 1 Mutate Me
- 2 Locksmiths & Lawyers
- 3 T.A.I.L.
- 4 Getting Nowhere
- 5 Seemless
- 6 Actual Size
- 7 For A Wounded Wren
- 8 After Birth
- 9 Regarding Earthlings
- 10 May I
- 11 The Way Down
Richie Birkenhead - vocals Peter Moses - guitars Tony Bono - bass Drew Thomas - drums, congas Victor Axelrod - Hammond B3 organ Rick Parashar - Engineer, Mixing, Producer John Plum - Engineer Ray Martin - Engineer Greg Griffith - Assistant Engineer George Marino - Mastering Geoff Ott - Assistant Engineer
Mutate Me
Lest we fall in, hold on tightly Tooth and nail To the crumbling sandstone walls of this ancient hole in the world At the bottom one dies and becomes like them Undead like them Unfeeling like them Unhealing like them It will take more than love to frighten me I've had a lot of experience in the field So, evolution must kick in I want to be mutated Upgraded to missing link Between the races: Human and...whatever is to come Don't want to be this any longer No I am not like them I am unlike them They've nothing for me Nothing for me Nothing for me It will take more than love to frighten me I've had a lot of experience in the field So much more than love to mutate me Because I've had an awful lot of experience for real So, desperate for it, I go looking until she says so convincingly to me There's nothing for you Nothing for you Nothing for you It will take more than love to frighten me I've had a lot of experience in the field So much more than love to mutate me Because I've had an awful lot of experience for real
Locksmiths & Lawyers
She slips away again And I help my people disagree with me I cry to be Dave's friend He won't have me So... Skin stripped away again My shelf life waning I'm in the market for a good baptism I'll cry for God as I'm reborn She won't have me And what they ought to be is useless If all were honest they'd be useless Useless If all were honest none would be used We trip away again And I sell my people on a new improved me at a nominal fee I cry to Aladdin Sane He won't have me And what they ought to be is useless Lawyers and locksmiths ought to be useless Useless If all were honest none would be used And then some broken heroes' hearts are just hard-to-find spare parts She slips away again And I help my people disagree with me I cry for my dead friends They won't have me
T.A.I.L.
T.A.I.L. It is a pity that she never sees So many faces he hides from her And he is as amphibious as they come And as they come he's promising her everything Everything Oh, if she only knew everything And he thinks he is so pretty, but he never sees His own reflection staring right back at him The water's always rippling Shimmering And I won't see things his way No, I don't know him I don't owe him anything She loves him He's not there He is Amphibious Everywhere Everywhere She wants to leave And she wants to believe the countless lies he tells her And she tells a few herself But, let me say in her defense She lies in self defense It's a pity that she's never been to many places He hides from her He says he loves her He tells us all that When she wakes up She'll leave Leave She's going to leave him Leave him She loves him He's not there He is Amphibious Everywhere Everywhere Everywhere It's not the mere fact that she's reptilian Though you'd think that it would be Wouldn't you? It's in the way he takes The way she gives so willingly as they've done all their lives She loves him He's not there He is Amphibious Everywhere You know, she'll wait there Or anywhere And everywhere Anywhere Everywhere Everywhere Everywhere
Getting Nowhere
Getting Nowhere Monarchs and heads of state rarely stay up late That's why they're healthy, wealthy and wise Are you surprised again at my getting off the point again? Well, we can play this tired game all night or fight until we're tired ourselves And morning lights the boards we're treading Where is this heading? It's too late We're getting nowhere at all We went through it all Getting nowhere Where did it all go? Kings, queens and potentates don't want soulmates They understand fate would never allow such unions to last I am now part of Her Majesty's past And I have never been happier Although I must admit I've never been happy at all It's too late We're getting nowhere at all Oh, but I loved you so We went through it all Getting nowhere Where did it all go? Are you surprised again? Will you ever close your eyes and see my eyes again? It's too late We're getting nowhere at all Oh, but I loved you so We went through it all Getting nowhere Where did it all go?
Seemless
False modesty It becomes you Wouldn't dream of it Would you? Cold honesty It betrays you Shouldn't hurt a bit, but it does All around you now Nothing but the ashes Seem less like lies than ghostly wall-mounted eyes Flamethrower mouth burning bridges Didn't think of it Did you? Fame promises to await you Will not miss it for the world Will you? All around you now Nothing but the ashes Seem less like lies than ghostly wall-mounted eyes And all around me now Sparks and amber flashes Seem more like flies Why? False modesty It becomes you Would not dream of it Would you? All around you now Nothing but the ashes Seem less like lies than ghostly wall-mounted eyes And all around me now Sparks and amber flashes Seem more like flies
Actual Size
Streamlined like an aeroplane wing And turbulent on your way home Beeline to the safety net thing And I would think you'd rather be alone But you need them and you want them Just to have them for your own Pain and pleasure at your leisure All your own Ego Ego Ego Go Go Feels fine for a moment or two Or is it just a break from all the strain? Sun shines on the rest of us, too And, truth be told, in this light you look plain You need them and you want them Just to have them for your own Fans are family No, you can't be on your own Ego Ego Ego Go Go See you run Hear me call See you fall Don't you care at all? You need them and you want them Just to have them for your own Fact or fiction? Contradiction? I don't know
For A Wounded Wren
For a Wounded Wren Sometimes sublime Always too little time Never ever anything you planned You muse upon the fundamentals You lose hope Hang on I'll be over soon Hang on For a while This will all be over soon It's the only consolation I can offer you Never ever anything you dreamed You muse upon the fundamentals You lose hope Hang on I'll be over soon Hang on For a while This will all be over soon It's the only consolation I can offer you I hope it's true Sometimes sublime Always too little time Never ever anything you planned You muse upon the fundamentals You lose hope You ponder your mere existence You lose hope Hang on I'll be over soon Hang on For a while This will all be over soon It's the only consolation I can offer you I hope it's true I hope it's true
After Birth
The boy who plays with dolls Looks out a window at Orion Knows he'll be hunted down by the cowards and the sportsmen Again Minds at rest tend to stay that way So stay wide awake The girl who wants to be Much more than a mother Is told It is not ladylike Leave ambition to your brother Lies in motion tend to stay that way My emotions keep me awake Keep me awake The one who's skin is brown Looks with love at a pink-skinned lover Knows they'll face harder times And they will not run for cover Minds at rest tend to stay that way So stay wide awake Lies in motion tend to stay that way So stay wide awake
Regarding Earthlings
On the days that Stepdad lets the children play Mother cries as they suck all her blood away Stepdad gives permission as long as they pray And Mother forgives again Yes, Mother is prone to forgiveness Though she's known to throw tantrums at times She'll huff, puff and blow your house in She'll smash you when you're out of line And He who the children pray to is not their Heavenly Father in truth He sells them their Daddy's old books Twisted, perverted, rewritten to suit On the days that Stepdad lets the children play Mother cries as they drink all her life away Stepdad gives permission as long as they pray And Mother forgives again The deeds of the naughtier kids have always been justified With allusions to Stepfather's word So let it be written Though it's all lies Mother looks after her own In spite of the evil you do And Father might one day come home Then He and your Mother will punish you Mother, please Though some of your children are vampires Mother, please Know some of your children still love you Father, please Know some of my sisters and brothers have hope for you Father, please Know some of your daughters and sons still have hope On the days that Stepdad lets the children play Mother cries as they tear all her flowers away Stepdad gives permission as long as they pray And Mother forgives again On the days that Stepdad lets the children play Mother cries as they take all her jewels away Stepdad gives permission as long as they pray And Mother forgives again Mother, please Though some of your children are vampires Mother, please Know some of your children still love you Father, please Know some of my sisters and brothers have hope for you Father, please Know some of your daughters and sons still have hope
May I
May I love you madly like a boy? Kiss you sadly? Feed you tears and drink your skin? Invite myself right in? May I? Her Half-child voice falls on my head like warmest ocean waves Gently and deliberately drowning me And willingly I drown If I ask politely Will you watch as I die nightly? Will you think me tactless if I act less like the man I am? May I? Her Half-closed eyes like those on a tired tigress Gently and deliberately melt my bulletproof mirrorshades And Knowingly Lovingly Peer inside at my real eyes And I can't help but smile No, I can't help Would you think me thoughtless If I thought less of myself from time to time, Or if I knowingly, willingly lost what's left of my mind Oh, I can't help but smile No, I can't help
The Way Down
Never picked for schoolyard games I was the child pariah you laughed at when my eyes betrayed the fact that I was sad Although I tried so hard to fall into place and keep a confident smile on my face Please accept my humble thanks For all the gifts you've given me I keep them all in pristine form I take them with me everywhere Hid inside my books and dreams I befriended many monsters and enlisted them as escorts Between my house of horrors and the Institutes of Insensitivity and Intolerance Once again my gracious thanks For everything you've left to me Although it's heavier than granite I take it with me everywhere And so for now I thrive and fly in this illusory sky But I'm weighted down for the way down The way down The way down Yes, even now I cry as I climb Because I've no doubt I'm weighted down for the way down The way down The way down Late to bloom Too little room in my awkward body for my uncomfortable soul Please respect my disrespectful thanks For all the shit you've given me I take it with me everywhere I take it all everywhere And so for now I thrive and fly in this illusory sky But I'm weighted down for the way down The way down The way down Yes, even now I cry as I climb Because I've no doubt I'm weighted down for the way down The way down The way down As for my crimes What can I say? You say they've paid I say I'm weighted down for the way down The way down The way down