Society Says

Society says that little boys must play out in the sun all day
Play football until the sunset or wander far away
They are supposed to like fighting, play soldiers, think war is fun
Like spooky cartoons and monsters, their homework is never done.

Everybody join the fight to show this rubbish up for what it is
And if we're successful, people will be able to express themselves.

Society says that little girls must be willing to help at home
Look after their appearance, use make-up and brush and comb
They are supposed to love romance, think boys to be uncouth
They must be shy and helpless, leave the men to speak the truth.

Society says that when you're alone you're lonely and left out
And when you've done something good, don't let people see you're proud
We are supposed to be modest, keep quiet about success
But nobody else will praise you when you've given of your best.

Society says that everyone must find happiness through love
We have to make some advances or get left upon the shelf
We're supposed to focus our lives upon just one
Until we've met our match we're excluded from the fun.

Society spreads its old-fashioned lies through all of us at times
Quite often its words are silent, implied in subtle mimes
Think about your opinions, did they come from in your head ?
Maybe you'll find that some are society's views instead.

They Would Say That Wouldn't They

People to our left and right, try to tell us what is right
For everyone who states a view, a thousand more say "that's not true"
There isn't time to take each voice, decide if it's a valid choice
Let selfishness make up our minds, then say to others of our kind-

They would say that wouldn't they?
Their selfishness stands in our way
So take no notice of them when they moan
'Cos they're the crowd who look after their own.
We're the ones who'll fight for fairness, everyone will be all right
Except the people who were selfish, they will suffer - serve them right!

Look at them they cannot know, how we live and where we go
They don't know what we all need, they are driven on by greed
Even if they do us good, they serve themselves we've understood
Besides they're not like one of us, ignore them and forget the fuss.

If you think this song derides the people on a certain side
Ask yourself if it's not true, it slams the other people too
Neither side will compromise, they hurl insulting names and lies
Though selfishness made up their minds, they say to others of their kind-

Sex Goddess

Just last year no-one recognised Anita, now she's a household name
Lots of cash and anonymous musicians have given her world fame
Some switch off, others rush to turn the sound up, when she comes on T.V.
Love or hate her she cannot be ignored is she just like you or me?

Poor Anita hasn't got a friend, 'cos there's no-one on her plane
She can't talk to anyone at all, she's surrounded by her fame
She'd like to have a friend who didn't care about her millions or success
But the record company can't afford to change her image as a Sex Goddess.

Go to see her in concert on a world tour, crush in through the door
The hall is filled with worshipping disciples that gaze at her in awe
She taunts and teases the people in the front row, reaching out to touch
They laugh or cry or fall into a faint, the hysteria's too much

It blows her mind when each tiny thing she wears will appear in all the shops
How does she feel when each tiny move she makes gives the audience deep shocks
Her body's known to several thousand people from posters on the wall
Her words are read by just as many people, and cherished by them all.

The Long Night

I pressed my face against the glass to get a better view
They talked of it a lot in class but now it must be true
The sky was black and all was dim, no mutant lived out there
You've never seen a place so grim like death it was so bare.

Our food supplies are running low and nothing can we grow.
We are the only humans left and we won't last out long
But when we die we still won't know what we've done wrong.

No bird was singing in the breeze, no coloured flowers here
Where were the things that they called trees, I looked and shed a tear
What happened twenty years ago that made our planet die
What left us in this state of woe, but more important why ?

A tiny light was getting through the swirling mass of shit
And in a while its name I knew, the Sun, that was it
It must have been our great Goddess, who sits up there unseen
That left us in the hopeless mess,and what does NATO mean?
What does NATO mean ?

Receding Horizons

When you're a child you're confined in a small world
Made for you by mum and dad
You see other towns whizzing past from the back seat
This much experience you've had

Sometimes your parents will take you on outings
Places you've not seen before
But there's no need to worry 'cos they know the way
That's what your parents are for

We all start out with receding horizons
Most of us call a halt somewhere
Then we let our frontiers closer
Whisper words from shrunken squares
So the children find themselves
Enclosed by parents lack of dare.

As you grow up travel out on your own
Discover the world's really there
You find that you're in unfamiliar surroundings
Is it exciting or bare ?

Are you a person who loves new adventures
Moves now and then just to change ?
Or are you secure in a town you know backwards
Most of the world's out of range ?

Some people keep their receding horizons
Some settle down in one place
Some people think that the World is their oyster
Some shut the door in its face

Sybil

Instrumental

Safe & Sorry

I know a girl, we pass each day
She takes my feelings far away
I really only know her name
But she and I we play this game

How can I know what she's thinking
when I don't have the courage to say something to her ?
I just can't approach her
when I can't be sure what she's thinking of me.

Sometimes when I catch her eye
She looks as if she's getting high
But is it real, I'll never know
'Cos she don't let her feelings show

Her smile is like a shining ray
She's dressed in purple every day
She used to live up in the sky
There's no excuse for wandering by

It's better to be safe than sorry
So I'm always being told
But now I've lost my chance to find her
Could have won by being bold.

Body & Soul

For thousands for years before scientists came
The alchemists made an extravagant claim
We'll take common metals you find in the dust
And change them to gold so they'll never rust
But it was a decoy, a cover, a fake
For telling the truth they'd be burnt at the stake
By using their magic they'd strive for their goal
To take living men and convert them to soul.

An attractive belief held for thousands of years
People cling to it strongly to silence their fears
We must accept that we just won't be missed
In a Universe after we've ceased to exist.
I don't believe the people who say "There is more than this"
My body and my soul aren't separate, that's a forlorn wish.

The church couldn't stand what the alchemists taught
It said they were evil to seek what they sought
Everyone had to subscribe to the view
That only the humans had souls; that they knew
Later it seemed we've evolved from the beasts
The concept was brought up to date by the priests
The soul was your consciousness, ego and id
It still lived for ever, they kept on the lid.

Then medical science gave everything names
Implied that our souls were no more than our brains
But how can a physical soul survive death
That's most world religions denied in one breath
Today we can see how a character's changed
By chemicals found in our bodies and brains
Do senile people think clearly with God ?
And are schizophrenics in heaven not odd ?

Musicians

Learned to play a violin when she was only five
Practised scales and 'Three Blind Mice' she made them come alive
She could play just anything straight from her music stand
Only ever happy when a bow was in her hand

Musicians play for pleasure, so why do they scorn each other
They're no threat, to each other's world.

Suites and solos, fugues, concertos all these she could play
Leader of an orchestra gives well sufficient pay
She had always sneered at all the pop-stars on T.V.
"They can't play their instruments, yet they earn more than me".

Messed around on people's pianos when he was a boy
Never had no lessons though the keyboard gave him joy
Bought himself a synthesizer, learnt about its sounds
Joined up with some others and they did the concert rounds

Signed up with a record label had a few big hits
People clapped and cheered him in the instrumental bits
He had always sneered at the musicians at the proms
"They are so old-fashioned, next to no-one sings their songs"