Tigermilk - Belle and Sebastian
The State That I Am In
I was surprised
I was happy for a day in 1975
I was puzzled by a dream
It stayed with me all day in 1995
My brother had confessed he was gay
It took the heat off me for a while
He stood up with a sailor friend
Made it known upon my sister's wedding day
I got married in a rush to save a kid from being deported
Now she's in love
I was so touched I was moved to kick the crutches
From my crippled friend
She was not impressed cause I cured her on the Sabbath
I went to confess
When she saw the funny side we introduced my child bride
To whisky and gin
To whisky and gin
The priest in the booth had a photographic memory
For all he had heard
He took all of my sins and he wrote a pocket novel called
The State That I Am In
And so I gave myself to God
There was a pregnant pause before he said okay
Now I spend my days turning tables round in Marks and Spencers
They don't seem to mind
I gave myself to sin
I gave myself to providence
And I've been there and back again
The state that I am in
I gave myself to sin
I gave myself to providence
And I've been there and back again
The state that I am in
Oh, love of mine, would you condescend to help me?
Cause I'm stupid and blind
Oh, and desperation is the devil's work
It is the folly of a boy's empty mind
Oh, and now I'm feeling dangerous
Riding on city buses for a hobby is sad
Why don't you lead me to a living end?
I promised that I'd entertain my crippled friend
My crippled friend
I gave myself to sin
I gave myself to providence
And I've been there and back again
The state that I am in
I gave myself to sin
I gave myself to providence
And I've been there and back again
The state that I am in
I gave myself to sin
I gave myself to providence
And I've been there and back again
The state that I am in
I gave myself to sin
I gave myself to providence
And I've been there and back again
The state that I am in
I gave myself to sin
And I've been there and back again
Oh yeah
Expectations
Monday morning wake up knowing that you've got to go to school
Tell your mum what to expect she says it's right out of the blue
Do you want to work in Debenhams? cause that's what they expect
Start in Lingerie and Doris is your supervisor
And the head said that you always were a queer one from the start
In Careers you say you want to be remembered for your art
Your obsession gets you known throughout the school for being strange
Making lifesize models of the Velvet Underground in clay
In the queue for lunch they take the piss, you've got no appetite
And the rumour is you never go with boys and you are tight
So they jab you with a fork, you drop the tray and go berserk
While you're cleaning up the mess the teacher's looking up your skirt
Hey, you've been used
Are you calm? Settle down
Write a song, I'll sing along
Soon you will know that you are sane
You're on top of the world again
Monday morning wake up knowing that you've got to go to school
Tell your mum what to expect she says it's right out of the blue
Do you want to work in C & A? cause that's what they expect
Move to Lingerie and take a feel off Joe the storeman
Tell Veronica the secret of the boy you never kissed
She's got everything to gain cause she's a fat girl with a lisp
She sticks up for you when you get aggravation from the snobs
Cause you can't afford a blazer, girl you're always wearing clogs
At the interval you lock yourself away inside a room
Head of English gets you, asks you, what the hell do you think you're doing?
Do you think you're better than the other kids? Well get outside
You've got permission, but you've got to make the bastard think he's right
Hey, you've been used
Write a song, I'll sing along
Are you calm? Settle down
Soon you will know that you are sane
You're on top of the world again
Now you cool and you know
You're a star, you'll go far
Just think of me as a friend
Not just the boy who plays guitar
You're on top of the world again
She's Losing It
Lisa knows a girl that's been abused
It changed her philosophy in 82
She's always looking for a fight
She keeps the neighbours up all night
I go to her when I'm feeling slack
The girl's using me as a punching bag
I think that I could help her out
But the girl's got a lot to be mad about
But in the first moment of her waking up
She knows she's losing it, oh yeah she's losing it
When the first cup of coffee tastes like washing up
She knows she's losing it, oh yeah she's losing it, oh yeah she's losing it
Lisa met Chelsea at the knocking school
Chelsea didn't feel like following the rules
So they left that place for another school
Where the boys go with boys and the girls with girls
Chelsea was the one who's been abused
It changed her philosophy in 82
She says "inch for inch and pound for pound
Who needs boys when there's Lisa round?"
But in the first moment of her waking up
She knows she's losing it, oh yeah she's losing it
When the first cup of coffee tastes like washing up
She knows she's losing it, oh yeah she's losing it
She goes to the mirror to put on her stuff
She knows she's losing it, oh yeah she's losing it
When she doesn't speak to anyone till four o clock
She knows she's losing it, oh yeah she's losing it, oh yeah she's losing it
You're Just A Baby
You're just a baby, baby girl
So kiss me on the cheek and then go off to school
You're just a baby, baby girl
So kiss me on the cheek before you know what's cool
You will be leaving in the morning
And I won't be there to see you go off your head
Yeah you will be working in the morning
And I won't be there to see you go off your head
There must be a reason for all the looks we gave
And all the things we never said before
So what's the score?
There must be a reason for all the looks we gave
And all the things we never said before, before
You're just a baby, baby girl
So kiss me on the cheek before you know what's sweet
You're just a baby, baby girl
So kiss me on the cheek before you go to sleep
You will be working in the morning
And I won't be there to see you go off your head
Yeah you will be crying in the morning
And I won't be there to see you go off your head
There must be a reason for all the looks we gave
And all the things we never said before
So what's the score?
There must be a reason for all the looks we gave
And all the things we never said before, before
You're such a baby, baby girl
So kiss me on the cheek before you go to sleep
You're such a baby, baby girl
So let go of my hand so we can get some sleep
You will be crying in the morning
And I won't be there to see you go off your head
Cause you will be married in the morning
And I won't be there to see you go off your head
There must be a reason for all the looks we gave
And all the things we never said before
So what's the score?
There must be a reason for all the looks we gave
And all the things we never said before
So what's the
Reason for all the looks we gave
And all the things we never said before, before, before, before
Electronic Renaissance
...is the way to go so drop the pills and let's say hello...
Play a game with your electronics
Take a step to the discotheque and people
Go outside where there's someone watching cars go by
And the city tall with steeples
Hand in hand with the electronic renaissance
Is the way to go yeah
Hand in hand with the electronic renaissance
Is the way to go boy
Hand in hand with the electronic renaissance
Is the way to go
You're learning soon you will do the things you wanted
Since you were wearing glitter badges
If you work for much very longer
You'll be known as the boy who's always working
If you dance for much very longer
You'll be known as the boy who's always dancing
Monochrome in the 1990's
You go disco and I'll go my way
Monochrome in the 1990's
You go disco and I'll go my way
Monochrome in the 1990's
You go disco and I'll go funkadelic man
Is the way to go
So drop a pill and then say hello
I Could Be Dreaming
I could be sleeping
I could be dreaming
I could have ordinary people chasing me from town to town
Mission Impossible
They've got a spy for every blink of your eye
I'm feeling awkward
I'm feeling tongue-tied
They've got a knife for every time you take the same train into work
A family's like a loaded gun
Point it in the wrong direction someone's going to get killed
If you had such a dream
Would you get up and do the things you believe in?
Is he your husband?
Or just your boyfriend?
Is he the moron who's been beating you and keeping you inside?
I've never done this kind of thing
But if I kill him now well who's going to miss him?
I went up to the school
Took a walk up Castle hill
For every step there was a local boy who wants to be a hero
Do you want to do it now?
Outside the butcher's with a knife and a bike chain
La la la, yeah yeah yeah yeah
If you had such a dream
Would you get up and do the things you believe in?
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
If you had such a dream
Would you get up and do those things?
If you had such a dream
Would you get up and do those things?
While your head is clear
While your head is clear
[talking starts]
While your head is clear
While your head is clear
La la la la la la
... a kind of perpetual club... and other ... personages of the village, which held its sessions ... a small inn, designated by a portrait of His Majesty George the Third. Here they used to sit in the shade through a long lazy summer's day, talking listlessly over village gossip and telling endless sleepy stories about nothing. But it would have been worth any statesman's money to have heard the fine discussions that sometimes took place when by chance, an old newspaper fell into their hands from some passing traveller. Quite solemnly, they would listen to the contents, as doled out by ... the schoolmaster, a dapper ... man, who was not to be daunted by the most gigantic word in the dictionary.
We Rule The School
On a beech tree rudely carved
NC loved me
Why did she do it?
Was she scared, was she bored?
On a beech tree rudely carved
NC loved me
Why did she do it?
Was she scared, was she pushed?
Do something pretty while you can
Don't fall asleep
Skating a pirouette on ice is cool
Do something pretty while you can
Don't be a fool
Reading the Gospel to yourself is fine
On a bus stop in the town
We rule the school
Written for everyone to read
And to see
On a bus stop in the town
We rule the school
Written for anyone with eyes
In their head
Do something pretty while you can
Don't fall asleep
Driving from California to New York
Call me a prophet if you want
It's no secret
You know the world is made for men
You know the world is made for men
You know the world is made for men
Not us
My Wandering Days Are Over
Well, my wandering days are over
Well does it mean that I'm getting boring?
You tell me, I'm tired of listening to myself here
I'm tired of fixing things for Michael and the rest of them
Well my bip-bopping days are over
I hung my boots up and then retired from the disco floor
The center of my so-called being is the space between your bed
And wardrobe with the louvre doors
With the louvre doors
You know my celibate days are over
You put me straight on the finer points
Of my speech rehearsed in the mirror of my steamy bathroom
Where the lino tells a sorry story in a monologue
In a monologue
Six months on, the winter's gone
The disenchanted pony
Left the town with the circus boy
The circus boy got lonely
It's summer, and its sister song's
Been written for the lonely
The circus boy is feeling melancholy
It's got to be fate that's doing it
A spooky witch in a sexy dress has been bugging me
With the story of the way it should be
With the story of Sebastian and Belle the singer yeah
You know my one-man band is over
I hit the drum for the final time and then walked away
I saw you in a Japanese restaurant
You were doing it for businessmen on the piano Belle
You said it was a living hell
You said you were in hell
Six months on, the winter's gone
The disenchanted pony
Left the town with the circus boy
The circus boy got lonely
It's summer, and its sister song's
Been written for the lonely
The circus boy is feeling melancholy
Six months on, the winter's gone
The disenchanted pony
Left the town with the circus boy
The circus boy got lonely
It's summer, and its sister song's
Been written for the lonely
The circus boy is feeling melancholy
Kind of lonely
Kind of stupid
Really sorry
Kind of lonely
Pretty lazy
Melancholy
Melancholy
Melancholy
I Don't Love Anyone
I don't love anyone
You're not listening
You're playing with something
You're playing with yourself
I don't love anyone
You're not listening even now
You're playing with something
You're playing with someone else
And if there's one thing that I learned when I was still a child
It's to take a hiding yeah
I don't love anything
Not even Christmas
Especially not that
I don't love anything
I don't love anyone
Well maybe my sister
Maybe my baby brother too yeah
I don't love anyone
If there's one thing that I learned when I was still a child
It's to take a hiding yeah
And if there's one thing that I learned when I was still a child
It's to be alone
If there's one thing that I learned when I was still a child
It's to take a hiding yeah
And out in the street today
The kids are out playing having fun
I pass them by, I'm not a kid, no
I don't love anyone
I met a man today
He told me something really strange
There's always somebody saying something
He said the world was as soft as lace
But I don't love anyone
I don't love anyone
I don't love anyone
I don't love anyone
I don't love anyone
I don't love anyone
I don't love anyone
I don't love anyone
And if there's one thing that I learned when I was still a child
It's to take a hiding
Mary Jo
Mary Jo, living alone
Drinking tea, on her own
She wants... I don't know what you want
Mary Jo, living alone
Drinking gin, the telly's on
She wants
The night to follow day and back again (and back again)
She doesn't want to sleep
Well who could blame her if she wants?
The night to follow day and back again (and back again)
She doesn't want to sleep
Well who could blame her if she sleeps?
Well who could blame her if she sleeps?
Well who could blame her if she's sleeping?
Mary Jo, you're back with yourself for company
Keep telling yourself you're young
And it'll happen soon
Mary Jo, no one can guess
What you've been through
Now you've got love to burn
It's someone else's turn to go through hell
And you can see them come from fifty yards
Yeah you can tell
It's someone else's turn to take a fall
And now you are the one who's strong enough to help them
The one who's strong enough to help them
The one who's strong enough to help them
The one who's strong enough to help them all
La la la la la la la la la la la la la
Mary Jo, you're looking thin
You're reading a book
The State I Am In
But oh, it doesn't help at all
Cause what you want is a cigarete
And a thespian with a caravanette
In Hollywood
Your life is never dull in your dreams
A pity that it never seems to work the way you see it
Life is never dull in your head
A sorry tale of action
And the men you left for women
And the men you left for intrigue
And the men you left for dead
Life is never dull in your dreams
A pity that it never works that way
Life is never dull in your dreams
A sorry tale of action
And the men you left for women
And the men you left for intrigue
And the men you left for dead
The men you left for dead