The Pace of Life

Video, Digital, Compact Disk, Teletext
Born of technology, what will they think of next
Poor confused mind can't keep up with the pace of life
Used to be fun now it's more like the race of life

Try to keep up, it's so hard, and it's gonna get worse
Take the advice of the men who you're ready to curse
But there will come a time when you've missed the boat
Then you will have to give up; leave it all to the men in white coats

The pace of life is too fast for me
I've been left behind by technology
All the men like me have to trust and hope
A computer's mind alone can cope

First in labs, then at work, now at home here they come
Born to help scientists, now they help everyone
Micro-invasion of privacy: database
Ten years time, thanks to them, we will all live in space

But it may be that they save us all from world war
When can they fix it so secrets can be no more ?
World could disarm with no fear of surprise attack
When the leap forward comes, we'll keep our minds in tact

Miss Top Secret

She lives independently, hoping no-one ever sees inside her
Her life runs along just fine tries to always be so kind- not to much though
And her worries never show, never lets nobody know what she's feeling
Has a front for all her friends, never knows quite where it ends, or if it does, oh yeah

Never gives a thing away
I tried so hard to find a way
Oh will I ever hear her say
" I care about you" ?

On the face of it she's fun, gives a smile to everyone around her
She is popular in town, never seen to wear a frown, always happy
But you know it's not all real; isn't quite the way she feels, that's so secret
Somewhere deep inside her mind there's her true-self; hard to find, but it is there, oh yeah

Cardboard Cut-out Characters

Take the train each morning, they travel up to town
Train is full of people but no-one makes a sound
Sitting reading papers or wrapped up in a book
Is it superficial ? Let's take another look

The World is filled with people just like this
The rank and file of the population
The cardboard cut-out people thrive
A vital part of civilisation

Daddy works in London to pay the mortgage bills
Mummy does the housework and takes the headache pills
Debbie does her homework to strengthen all her skills
Everything's so normal for humans without frills

Each of us has work to do boring old routines
But that shouldn't force us to live the life of machines
Cultivate some interest that's different from the rest
Always bear in mind it's the difference that's best

Steam Traction

Instrumental

On the Surface

I've never been one who just goes by appearances
Take it from me nothing's quite what it seems
I've been wrong many times when I judged people's characters
Even those people I thought I knew well

If you make up your mind that someone's a non-entity
You'll never know how much fun they might be
Who says we have to stick labels on everyone ?
Why not just let them live their life free ?

Things aren't what they seem .... On the Surface
You're not how you look .... On the Surface
Don't form your ideas .... On the Surface
Things aren't what they seem .... On the Surface

After you've known me since we started going to school
You might expect that you knew me quite well
Can you be sure what you know is the real me ?
Try as you might there's just no way to tell

You might be sure that you know someone inside-out
Nothing they do can surprise you at all
People can change in response to environment
Miss a few years you don't know them at all

Be ever so careful of what you might seem to be
Make sure they think what you want them to think
Never just leave them to think what they like of you
They might reshape you the way that they want

The Eye

You live in a place where death leaves no trace
There's no freedom of thought, people's lives can be bought
And all of the time, you must toe the line
There's nothing to try, being watched by the Eye

All of us protect ourselves from other people's stare
Our privacy's important and our barrier's always there
All of us hate scrutiny, we think it's very odd
Yet we seem to like it if the Eye belongs to God

She's just another girl, not new to the World
She don't communicate, and now it is too late
The Eye is watching her, in love since the debate
She liked it at first, but it became a curse

No ordinary man, he does what he can
No time for himself, unlimited wealth
The whole World wants to know, the Eye has to see
No place he can go escapes publicity

"Your every thought and deed will always be perceived"
This Eye is always there, its omnipresent stare
"You're on this Earth to serve, you'll get what you deserve"
Why do thousands relish this
When others fight for freedom from the ever-present influence
"The Eye is watching you"

Invasion of the Slime Monsters

The slime monsters are here
They're telling the World they have nothing to fear
They study the people and they make observations
While giving them all the complete explanations

The Slime Monsters - they came from the planet Tharg
A planet different to Earth in many ways
A peaceful race, they came in the name of science
They'd study us, and share all their knowledge with us

They're visitors come from outer space
The humans will keep them well in their place
They're algae type creatures, but they move and they think
They're more peaceful than us but we think that they stink

Gradually, the people began to resent their presence
The Slime Monsters were unaware of this new development
Occasionally, a little child would insult one of them
And be put in place by his hypocritical parent

Our prejudice starting to show
Why do we want them to pack up and go ?
They're slimy green monsters and they come from the planet Tharg
How can they help us when our prejudice is so large ?

The Slime Monsters began to realise how people felt
They were intrigued by this illogical resentment
Why should the humans hate them when they came to do such good ?
They said nothing and continued with their work

I remember when I was a child
I saw all the films and played all the games
We zapped all the aliens surrounded by cheers
See how the prejudice builds up through the years

One day, a unit of resistance attacked one of their ships
The Slime Monsters had hoped it wouldn't come to this
Quickly they completed their mission on the Earth
And then headed back across space to their home

Maybe our feelings are built in
Nothing's as clever as our kith and kin
A world full of xenophobes; appearance means worth
No passing alien would visit the Earth

Ambition

As we grow from child to adult we have many future plans
Of the things we will accomplish as a woman or a man
We have just made up our minds what we'd like as a career
When we pass exams at school brings the situation nearer

What is left when ambition is realised ?
What can I do with the rest of my life ?
My age caught me up despite all the exercise
I've got the house, the kids, the car the job,
my savings and my wife!

Now in twenty-five years time or so our world's become deranged
We're conditioned with ambition and it's very hard to change
We must find some new ideas, we must make some big decisions
We must reconcile our fears, maybe we should get religion ?

Now in thirty-five years time or so our life has settled down
We remember well our teenage years, the young receive a frown
We have come to terms with age and we know its limitations
When it's time to turn the page, we can feel so much frustration

Bring in the Smaux

For three years now I have been in debt
I've run over the deadline the bank has set
I thought my shares would be gold by now
But they've crashed through the floor though I don't see how

The Country's a wreck so we must take steps
To make sure that there's no-one much too far in debt
If the deadline is passed you default on the loan
They will bring in the Smaux, who will smash up your home

Bring in the Smaux, they'll smash up your home
Go through your life with a fine toothed comb
There's nothing left, it's razed to the ground
You must live your life in the dreaded compound

The Smaux are huge furry creatures and
They have large metal clubs and guns in their hands
They're so strong and they smash everything to dust
That's the price that you pay if you betray trust

Beside the house is a tall grandstand
Lots of people will come to watch it will be crammed
The rest of the World watch on live T.V.
The event of the month; everyone must see

You'll spend your life working off your debt
The sum you were lent must in time be met
You mine greenon ore, breath its deadly fumes
Then in twenty years time, freedom may resume

A capitalist society is taken to extremes
We've got freedom of enterprise but things aren't what they seems
The Banks are the companies that keep us on our feet
The Smaux are the sequestrators no-one likes to meet
We all live on credit 'cos it helps us to disguise
The fact that the western world is heading for demise

Oh why did I borrow money that I couldn't pay back
Oh why did I borrow money that I couldn't pay back
Oh why did I borrow money that I couldn't pay back
Oh why did I borrow money that I couldn't pay back