Second Skin

 

Our first album was recorded in 1996 at Paul Smith's Shakespeare Studio in Lichfield - a marvellous experience, unless you were our livers.

When we sold out, we realised that with the experience gained on albums 2, 3 & 4 we could improve upon our performances, so we re-recorded it from scratch, in the home studio, and added a bonus track for good measure.

Please note - only the physical copy of this abum contains the bonus track (Mr O'Malley). Downloads are of the original "By the Skin of Our Teeth".

Lyrics

 

1. Life Goes On

I was walking down the track
I didn't need a push, but there's a wind blowing hard on my back
Looking for an alibi, a lame excuse, to keep me wondering why,
Why did I go? As if you didn't know.
I just needed to show, life goes on without you.

I was only seventeen when my heart got burned,
Chasing a teenage dream.
I couldn't see past my nose
I thought it was an angel, dressed up in a young girl's clothes.
How could I be fooled?
I didn't try the water, I just jumped into the pool,
But oh, she looked so fine, I thought I'd lost my mind.

CHORUS   And if I ever walk down this road again
                   Can't think of many things I'd change.
                   All through the accusations, the arguments, the pain,
                  This deep affection still remains.

Your memory it stays with me through all of my life.
It keeps coming round when I lie awake at night .
It doesn't matter now that you're gone,
'Cause we've got something that goes on and on ...

CHORUS            

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2. Miss You

Two stones skimming across the lake
We danced on the water then sank without a trace.
For a while we made the news.
Both struck with our big ideals,
Talk of love, but neither knowing how it feels.
Ships in the night, just passing through.

It's not that I'm bitter, just a little bit sad,
You see, you were the best thing that I'd ever had
And knowing you the way that I do,
I know that I'll miss you.

I'm gonna miss you when there's nobody there,
No-one to kiss, no fingers running through my hair.
For crying out loud, it never gets any easier.
Don't you know for what it's worth
I'd try to move heaven, I'd try to move earth
To beg a few hours, to steal a day.

It's the passing of time that I don't understand,.
It's like a beautiful flower that's died in my hand
But if one thing is constant and true,
I'm sure that I'll miss you.

Oh, I've been trying to say
It's not by chance that I'm acting this way.
And oh, I've been trying so hard.
You shuffle the pack, but it's fate deals the card.

From passion to pain, from lightning to rain
From a blaze of glory, to a hard luck story .

And now I'm hating myself for being alone at night,
For once in my life I got something right
And now I wish that I was lying, but I know it's true.
In spite of it all, I'm gonna miss you.
In spite of it all, I'm gonna miss you. 

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3. Storm Around Tumbledown

Only nineteen, so young and so keen,
He couldn't wait.
Sailing out with the boys, all the cheers and the noise
He didn't hesitate.
Finished his training and he knew what to do,
Just like an exercise, home in a week, maybe two
And the rain clouds gathered.

As they were landing, they were told
"Here's the test"
Said "We're headed for Tumbledown, come on boys
Do your best.
There's glory in victory, it's there for the taking,
You'll all be remembered, it's history we're making"
And the rain clouds gathered.

CHORUS     There's a storm around Tumbledown tonight
                     There's a storm around Tumbledown tonight.

Shells cracked like thunder, all around them they fell
And the bullets poured down on them
Like a rainstorm from hell.
"What am I doing here," he asked himself why?
"I'm only nineteen, Lord, I'm too young to die."
Still the rain clouds gathered.

CHORUS

An Argentine bullet, so swift and so true
It ended that poor boy's life in a second or two.
Now he'll no more suffer the fear and the pain
He'll never no more see the shores of England again
Still the rain clouds gathered

CHORUS & REPEAT     

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4. Alice

The photos on the mantelpiece look out beyond their frames
The dust that's settled on the glass has covered up their names
Images in black and white they're all that remains
Of the family and friends Alice knew.

She sits inside her living room, with the carpet torn to shreds
The sofa that she sits upon at night becomes her bed.
Dreaming in her innocence some day her prince will come
Patiently she sits for hours on end.

She says she remembers, she swears she always will
Mistletoe at Christmas, in Spring the daffodils
Sunshine in Summer, in Autumn the breeze
That blows away her wishes
Like leaves from the trees.

Alice says she doesn't mind
Though she gets a little down, from time to time
Alice says it's just her age
When you're getting on, you're not so strong

But Alice isn't lonely, she says she's all the friends she needs.
She's got a radio for company and that's fine.
But you watch her when you're leaving, see that smile upon her lips
And a tear sits in the corner of her eye.

She says she remembers, she swears she always will
Mistletoe at Christmas, in Spring the daffodils
Sunshine in Summer, in Autumn the breeze
That blows away her wishes
Like leaves from the trees.   

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5. Bound By Pride

You show me a future and I don't understand
You offer me a living, then you take it from my hand
Not just for the children, or the men there side by side
We were bound by hope we were bound by pride

Take a look at my hands, and the muscles on my back
My body is my living, I was born to walk this path
Like my father before me, this die was cast
Now you're telling me I'm finished, "You're a thing of the past
You're the end of an era, you're the last.

We don't build ships any more, we don't rule the waves
The fishing fleets have all but gone, sold out to a watery grave
You say that it's progress, marching on through time
Go tell it to the ship builders, the fishermen and the labourers
Who have earned their keep with sweat and blood
Go tell it to the lads from down the mines

Take a look at my house, take a look at me town,
Foundations built on coal, you might as well tear them down.
You get compensation for the money that you're owed
God knows you've earned it with your body and your soul,
That's the price you pay, that's the price of coal.

You show me a future and I don't understand
You offer me a living, then you take it from my hand
Not just for the children, or the men there side by side
We were bound by hope we were bound by pride

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6. Any Fool Can See

Feeling guilty, but I've done nothing wrong.
You're looking at me as if I've been telling you lies.
Don't act surprised, 
Don't ask what's wrong with me.
Any fool can see.

Don't understand this, it's making no sense.
I've nothing to hide, my honesty's my best defense.
Still you're not believing me,
Any fool can see.

Say, how long have we been together?
Seen some rough times, stormy weather.
But nevertheless, always seen it through
Me and you
I'm not a saint, but I'm nobody's fool
I have a conscience, I play by the rules
But still we don't agree
Any fool can see.

Don't draw the curtains, don't turn on the light
I want to sit and stare out at the moon tonight
Must be the madness in me
Any fool can see
Must be the madness in me
Any fool can see.      

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7. Hope I Never Grow Old

Names on a cross in a market square
Wreathes on the waves of a bitter cold sea
Black and white photos of faces that nobody knows
Long lost to their memory

Newspaper cuttings cast on the floor
Blown by the breeze they get lost with the leaves
As November comes round once more
Winter knocks on my door

CHORUS     Hope I never grow old
                     Hope I never grow old

To lie in your bed in the still of the night
A knock on the door makes your heart beat with fright
And you daren't walk the streets without walking in fear of your life
Hope I never grow old

When life's full of yesterdays and all that you've seen,
But you can't quite remember the places you've been
When you don't see the future, you just close your eye and then dream
Hope I never grow old

CHORUS

She lived in fear of God for the most of her life
Sure if he trusted him he's put this world right
And then after sixty years, a youth walks to her and sneers
"Your handbag or your life my dear"
Now it isn't it only God she fears

CHORUS    

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8. So Cold Tonight

Tell me all about yourself, for all the folks back home
Tell me what you think of being here
Tell me of the sandstorms and the sun that burns so bright
Tell me why you get so cold at night

Speak now in your own words, and we'll let the cameras roll
Speak and we will put you on the news
Speak and we will send the pictures out by satellite
Speak of why you get so cold at night

Give us all your best accounts of modern high tech war
I'm told that all you see are TV screens
Has pain been taken out of death, fear taken from the fight?
Tell me why you get so cold at night

Were you told this was the real thing?
Were you told it's not a game?
Were you told that there is hell right here on earth?
Were you told about that sniper when he held you in his sight?
Were you told that you would get so cold tonight?

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9. You Got No Business

You got no business in coming round here
You got no business at all
You got no business in knocking on my door
That's not your business after all

You got no reason for walking down my street
You got no reason at all
You got no reason for you and I to meet
I never asked for you to call

But now you're here, well I suppose you'd best come in
No sense in standing in the cold

I've got nothing else to do except reminisce about me and you
And how I feel much better on my own
Yes I'm sure that I'll be happier alone

You got no business in acting like you did
You got no business at all

You got no business in saying those things you said
That's not your business after all

But I'm not saying you're entirely to blame
I'm not casting any stones
Although the nights are long, I thing that I will carry on
I feel much better on my own
I'm not sure maybe I'm happier alone

You got no business in capturing my heart
You got no business, but heaven knows I'm glad you did
Make sure you catch me if I fall
Maybe that's your business after all     

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10. I Can't Love You Now

Rolling down a mountainside, going out of control
Scared of what's waiting, not knowing what's below
Losing my grip on things, I can't stand my ground
I can't face the future, all the walls are coming down

CHORUS      I can't love you now, like I used to do
                      And it's hard on me knowing that it's hard on you
                      If I could, I'd turn back the time
                     To when I was yours and you were mine

You give me lots of reasons, to try to make me stay.
Seems to me the truth is that there ain't another way
All I feel now is empty, there's a whole straight through my heart
I know I should carry on, but I don't know where to start

CHORUS

But still I worry about you, it's not that I don't care
There's no comfort in an empty room, there's no pleasure in despair
But I can't see what it is I want
There's a cloud just rolled across my sky.
And it's left me cold, and took away my light
I know there's something going wrong, but I just can't get it right

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11. Fragile Life

The sunshine's disappeared, the clouds roll in
I haven't felt so low, since I don't know when
Not long ago I thought I had it all then
It's such a fragile life we lead

And so we make excuses, who to blame
There's no-one but yourself, the facts remain
There's no use looking any more, it's all the same
It's such a fragile life we lead

CHORUS     Whether or not you go now
                     Whether or not you stay
                     Whether or not doesn't matter any more
                     There's nothing left to say

And so the circle slowly turns again
There's no escaping as the walls close in
The more I question the less I understand
Of this fragile life we lead

What lies around the corner I dare not ask
These eyes avoid the future, shielded behind this mask
There's no tomorrows when you're haunted by your past
In this fragile life we lead,
Such a fragile life we lead

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12. Someone Else's Bed

I hear the wind outside my door and the rain upon the glass
Another night and I'm on my own, I know it won't be the last
It's strange the way it gets to me
I thought that I would cope
Seems like everyone's laughing but me, 
I can't see the joke

I know I don't have to stay in there are places I can go
Friends I could talk to, but I don't suppose they'd know
What it's like to lose someone
Not just a lover, but a friend
What it's like to feel the way I feel, not knowing where it ends

CHORUS     And the worst part of it
                     I can't get out of my head
                     Is knowing that you're lying in someone else's arms
                     And someone else's bed

The days they are hard, but the nights they're murder
It hangs like a shadow, it slowly falls, aggravates and disturbs you
Knowing that it's coming scares the hell out of me
Knowing when I close my eyes it's your face that I'm going to see

CHORUS

The way that I see things now, this is as good as it gets
They tell me time's a healer, but I'm not taking bets
I gave it all, I gave everything
I left nothing in reserve
Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win
Sometimes you get what you deserve.

CHORUS  

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13. Mr O'Malley

Mr O’Malley he knows all the locals
He knows all the pretty girls, gives them the eye.
He’s always well dressed and he’s always well spoken,
Walks with a cane and he wears a bow tie.

Mr O’Malley he once lived in London.
He’s seen all the bright lights and he’ll tell you how
He once met the Queen down at Buckingham Palace.
She gave him a medal, and of it he’s proud

His house it is spotless except for the bedroom.
It’s never been touched since his wife passed away.
He says that she’s gone to see friends down in Oxford,
Sure she’ll be home in a couple of days.

Mr O’Malley he likes to go dancing
He always buys tickets, but he won’t go alone
He gives them to friends, he says he doesn’t need them
They’ll only be wasted, the wife’s not yet home

Mr O’Malley he eats at the station
He sits in the restaurant at a table for two
He books it for ten, but he never starts eating
Until he is certain the last train is through.

Then he smiles at the waitress, says “Maybe tomorrow.
I’m sure that she’s busy, there’s so much to do”.
Picks up his coat, gets his cane, pays his bill
Then wanders off home alone, says that “I’ll see her tomorrow. 

I’m sure that I will”

Mr O’Malley he knows all the locals
He knows all the pretty girsl, gives them the eye
He’s always well dressed and he’s always well spoken
Walks with a cane and he wears a bow tie.  

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