Before I Tell My Tale

And I took a boat from Greenwich
As midnight rose
Politicians line the wharf
Flares in their hands
It is said that they
Hadn’t come to say goodbye
Come to watch me drown and forced to pray

And from my meagre barge
I took a step upon the back of my beautiful whale
And I swear I could feel its heart
If you’re gonna kill me
Kill me now
Before I tell my tale

The pirates of this land
They take just what they need
Theres no dignity to that
Just a whale nations hallelujah
And a man must surly die
You’ve violated all the world
Old fishermen in bars they sit and cry

Death threats and connotation
Is how you subject life to you
Metaphor of man
Forgive them beautiful whale
The harpoons design is one of hate
If you must shoot me
Shoot me now
Before I tell my tale

And the men in suits grown numb
They wear extinction on their tongue
As they plunder
The seas once more of oil
Rockefeller's lonelier than god
Freedom will not be allowed
On song and land and sea and cloud

From ocean floor to the Karman line above
I swear I am in love
With this leviathan of life
Oh beautiful whale
Let me reach upon your eerie soul
And if you must kill me
Kill me now
Before I tell my tale

Nostalgia for Trains

Come with me
And I’ll show you where we breed
Out past the progress of man
Its endlessly sad
The hurt and hate we fear
Been through Dachau
She said it takes two hours every day to forget the pain

Ketamine
Dopamine
And the songs he sings
In black and white as in photography
Nostalgia for trains

And on the sea
He is not the king but the thief
And of his dreams they wake tragedy
And the birds of peace
And cubic space beneath
He will hunt your life and ours the same

This is your will today or tomorrow
And I hurt like never before
What price paid for liberty
Nostalgia for trains

We mapped the world in slavery
From railroad to great sailing ships to the cotton fields
And there to set mankind free
Progress has a charge on beautiful things
This world is more and less because of you
And the animal is hungry for the time before you came

From whale oil we make nitro-glycerine
Here comes the great destructive metaphor of man
We kill the whale to kill our own
Like weeping for another fallen war
I hear the rhythm of the box car roar
Nostalgia for trains

At his worst he’s off the rails of tragedy
But at his best he come as a locomotive of love
He shines a light on the things we have yet to see
And it will reach your door
Oh let him in
His gift is for the world
And a man will come and take away your shame

With science and art
We become god
Tell the dolphin the oceans have no more walls
Nostalgia for trains

Horse

To my love out reach your soul
I’ve seen men stand their flags in your angel hole
And I cried all night I could hear you moan

Shine the stars upon your clothes
Still the music of the ghetto rose
Don’t forget to thank the horse that drives you home

We find her heart in a sea of thorns
Industry grew on flesh and bones
Genius declared by having nothing to prove

There is a place
Where the jury cries for more

Kaddish upon their dead it roared
Deaths the violin makers final reward
And I’ll re-string my heart just for you

New soldiers come in new whaling boats
New captives sit in new stripped coats
And your litigious prayers weigh upon my soul

The story told shall be told again
For the billion times we’re betrayed by men
Don’t forget to thank the horse that drives you home

Holocaust and the Whale

Sixty-three miles from space
The holocaust and the whale remains
My sad little requiem
Bring em all in
Bring em all down
Bring em all hunted again
Where are the dead
Where are the whales
Such a sedative achievement for men

By the bay beneath an alabaster moon
With the grace of a dancer he sung
With sonar we chase ya
Our poison’ll kill ya
The harpoon not our only gun
You beautiful angel
Emotion divine
Of sea monsters there is only one

The music from Stalag 8 cries
You die in those trains young and old
And if this is his reach
The reach of their hate
To remember will haunt you till cold
The guards make you hang
The ones you loved most
The survivor’s dies forever I’m told

Sixty-three miles from space
The holocaust and the whale remain
You sacrifice life
For hatred and wealth
Nobody else here to blame
And what of the camps
What of the ships
In disguise but always the same

And you chased em to the end of the world
To prove our supremacy over superior design
Man versus nature
Nature verses god
You light whale oil and dance to it blind
What of the screaming
What of their song
There’s such horrors at the end of the line Holocaust and the whale
Holocaust and the whale
And the whale
Holocaust and the whale

As the last great tattoo shall fade
Still the kingdoms of slavery survive
The humble shall kneel
Before their own kind
Light up your hatred and dive
The holocaust and the whale
Are the markers of man
Is our conscience the last thing to arrive

Holocaust and the whale
Holocaust and the whale
Holocaust and the whale
And the whale
And the whale
And the whale
And the whale
The holocaust and the whale
Holocaust and the whale
The holocaust and the whale
Holocaust and the whale

Dignity

Dignity
Dignity

In the belly of a whale
I met my wife
She’ll haunt and hold me
Rest of my damn life
And I got this prayer
Help me survive
I am a fallen whale man
Hunting the last whale alive

Dignity Oh Dignity

And I got down on my knees
A man prepared to die
In the belly of a whale
Tears a drowning man can’t cry
Through all of her instinct
Her celestial body flows
And all the worlds alive
In concentration camp clothes

Dignity Oh Dignity

We fell famously asleep
And we dreamt each other’s dream
From the belly of a whale
I could feel everything
To the ends of the world
On a moonlit lullaby
And we live our most down here
When you know you gonna die

Oh Dignity Oh Dignity

And I cry as they hunt her
For she swallowed me whole
They want their money
She just wants my soul
Beware what you don’t know
For the oceans she can’t drink
You’ve seen a big world
Down here it’s bigger than you think

Oh Dignity Oh Dignity

And the serpents of god
Beneath ferocious seas
And I taste her emotional heart
We chose what we believe
But I fear the oarsmen now
They’re hungry for her blood
I hold Dignity my whale
She’s way off our scale of love

Dignity Oh Dignity

She took me diving down
To the deepest ocean floor
Where I could see the world
I could feel every war
From the belly of the whale
To the holocaust of men
I knew ships and polluted seas
And our nuclear requiem

Oh Dignity Dignity

And she squeezed me with all her love
So that I would understand
And then she beached herself
And I crawled upon the land
When your hungry heart is full
When your great ships have all set sail
You can’t have dignity
The last great ocean whale

From the belly of the whale
The last great ocean whale
Oh Dignity
Oh Dignity
Oh Dignity
From the belly of the whale
From the belly of the whale
Oh Dignity
Oh Dignity
Dignity
Dignity

Dignity

Unthink the Whale

You can’t unread what has been read
And you can’t unsay what has been said

You can’t unsee what fed your eyes
And you cannot unhear the touched childrens cries

And if I were alive I’d fall on my sword
Unthink the whale he is the Lord

And I will be free and it will be loathed
A woman should never be afraid to stand there unclothed

You can’t unring what has been rung
And you can’t unsing what has been sung

And you can’t unfind what has been found
And you can’t unarrive where it is that you’re are bound

On the killing floor oh the blood it poured
Unthink the whale she is the Lord

And I will be free and it will be loathed
A woman should never be afraid to stand there unclothed

I took to the page for the wisdom imbued
I am exquisite in grace in my solitude

If your empty find the things that you lack
In a time of progress there’s no going back

When original and cool is no longer adored
Unthink the whale it is the Lord

And I will be free and it will be loathed
A woman should never be afraid to stand there unclothed

Unthink the whale
Unthink the whale

And you can’t unseek what has been sought
And you can’t unfight in wars that you fought

And you can’t unwant what it is that you yearn
And you can’t unimagine and you can’t unlearn

Lay the harpoon at my feet and its murderous umbilical cord
Then unthink the whale set free the Lord

And I will be free and it will be loathed
A woman should never be afraid to stand there unclothed

Unthink the whale

*Bass by James Cornford

Female Revolution

This is for the slave girls
And their lonely little fuck friends
Who gave up on nature
Closed her eyes
As he corrupted her song
And he caged birds and grew in temper
Threw penguins on fires
Poured his whiskey in its blow hole
Girls now its time to be strong

And you can see it in his energy
All the evil he stands for
Hold your body to ransom
Make him accountable for his actions
Help him rise the best he can be
And not the worst thing of all
And he got away with murder
You can hear it in the peel of his bells
But you came from her woman
You gave her the worst word you could think of
His religion controls her
His inequality stole her
Leave him
He’s just a cold-hearted bore

But her monkeys a monster
And she’s broken by the 3rd child
Disgraced by her husband
Everything he touches begins to looks like a war
You got a dream for her tattoo
Pimped for her payroll
Pass her around
We sharpen our fingers
Designer whore
The holocaust and the whale
Is embossed above all our achievements
She cries for the abuse of her liberty
To rise above all your horrors
He’s all annihilation and penis
He’s a million lies long

You doubt if he loves you
And soon fear that he does
And theses are the songs
The songs girls hate men with
And take back that word he gave you
This is not another fucking love song

He’s still learning to love
But it’s isn’t really in his nature
He’s a hunter a fatherer
A senator a frightened little boy
And he dreams to be a woman
Hold on to that
Play him, release him, show him
There’s no more world to destroy

Bring on the female revolution
Come on do it for your children
Its what it takes to be free
Turn it up loud where’s your voice
Drop the veil drop the chastity
Fight back without war
And she’s not going to bend over
Anymore while you stand
Keep your hands to yourself
This is her story now
And those black woman songs
You remember
Well they become law

And those black woman songs
You remember
Well they become law And those black woman songs
You remember
Well they become law

Nantucket Sleigh Ride

On the Nantucket sleigh ride
They take your line and dive
Hold on boys this whale is gonna run
But he’ll come up exhausted
Spouting out black blood
Harpoon split his heart and sunk his lung

From Africa’s tears of slavery
To the slavery of a marriage
Would you raise your black fist up in defiance
When all the world are making bombs
And justifying guns
Man of woe and man of hate and violence

We’re on the Nantucket sleigh ride with you
Life’s a Nantucket sleigh ride with you

Speeding through the lives we live
Wailing at the wall
Till the bombers come blow apart the girl
Sex lubricated in whale oil
Your pleasure their pain
There’s so much hatred in this world

There’s blood on all our leaders
But its our blood not yours
But you you don’t love anything at all
From religion to kings queen
To emperors and democracy
Each form of control takes less and less time to fall

Hand the world to a breast-feeding woman
We’re on the Nantucket sleigh ride with you
Life’s a Nantucket sleigh ride with you

The money-men and the captain
Giving orders to burn the dead
Holocaust bed awaits the whale men below decks
We close our eyes and speak our lies
Just talk about ourselves
And we all carry pictures of other people having sex

Follow orders of timekeepers
Follow orders of the kneelers
From the president
From the army
From the state
Follow order on the whaleboats
Follow orders in the death camps
Social media gonna tame ya
Blamers gotta blame
Haters gotta hate

Hand the world to a breast-feeding woman
We’re on the Nantucket sleigh ride with you
Life’s a Nantucket sleigh ride with you

Nothing shall be untouched by us
Ask the buffalo
From space now you can see the brown footprint we trod
Would your deity be proud of you
Kill the elephant for its ivory
Carve it into effigies of god

Hold on tight to the reigns of hell
Tigers panda man
When hungers greed death it wont be long
On the Nantucket sleigh ride
You thrill as you watch em die
They fished the seas in my hometown till all the fish were gone

Hand the world to a breast-feeding woman
Life’s a Nantucket sleigh ride with you

Zoo

You burn down the forest
Polluted the sea
You dress em in chains
What freedom will be

You take away their homes
So we can stare at a few
You take away their rights
They’re less human than you

Concentration camp blues
Is this the final solution
Down at the zoo

And you catch em on high
And you fish em so low
You put em behind bars
No place left to go

So here we come brother
Nature’s death squad
You put your own kind
In ghettos with god

Concentration camp blues
Is this the final solution
Down at the zoo

Concentration camp blues
Is this the final solution
Down at the zoo

Respect for the Dead

There’s a hole in my boat
I’m gonna drown there’s no doubt
And if I ever get to meet your god
I’ll tell ya now we’ll fall out

And I look down and see a lot of kings
Oh mighty beast you were my muse
The oceans no paupers grave
And Allen Ginsberg singing Father Death Blues

I’ve seen it
I’ve seen it
Your respect for the dead

I’ve seen it
I’ve seen it
Your respect for the dead

And I don’t want to be saved
I’m not lost I’m just alone
Herman Melville I’m coming to find ya
And I call for the writers come carry me home

And Hemingway’s got to catch me a big fish
Sartre's philosophy scribbled on the ships map
And the Sperm Whale clicks hells other people
I gasp my last breath and nod to that

And I’ve seen it
I’ve seen it
Your respect for the dead

I’ve seen it
I’ve seen it
Your respect for the dead

And oh it’s growing dark now
Ocean feed me your fine etiquette
And the water flows away my manuscript
And extinguishes my last cigarette

And I’ve seen it
I’ve seen it
Your respect for the dead

I’ve seen it
I’ve seen it
Your respect for the dead ×