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Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter

Death May Be Your Santa Claus

(Ian Hunter/Verden Allen)

How long 'fore you realise you swing
How long 'fore you realise you sting
From the good to the bad to the ugly change
How long 'fore you start to rearrange
How long how long 'fore you realise that all's strange

How long will it take to turn you around
How long will it take to bend you down
It makes you believe in the [real] exchange
How long will it take for me to rearrange
How long how long 'fore you realise that all's strange

Well I don't care what the people may say
I don't give a - anyway
I don't care what the people may say
I don't care what the people may say
I don't give a - anyway
I don't care what the people may say

How long 'fore you realise what you missed
How long 'fore we get out and may get pissed
You get all the books from the Corn Exchange
Really mad at this outrage
How long how long 'fore you realise that all's strange
I don't care what the people may say
I don't give a - anyway
I don't care what the people may say
I don't care what the people may say
I don't give a - anyway
I don't care what the people may say

How long
How long
How long
How long
Won't you tell me how long
Won't you tell me how long
Won't you tell me how long
Won't you tell me how long
How long will it take
How long will it take
How long will it take (yeah)
How long will it take

Your Own Backyard

(Dimucci/Fasce)

I've been sitting here thinking
When I started out drinking
I went on to the dope surely just to change my life
I cried a tear in a beer for me
I lost everything near and dear to me
Namely my children and my wife
I've an idea of having a good time
Was sitting up there with my head between my knees
Well I knew everything there was to know
Everything except which way to go
I cried oh God please take me will you take me please

(Yeah) Many a time (well I) swore up and down
I don't need none of this junk that's a floating round
I could quit - let me finish what I've got
After all this stuff sure costs a lot
Then I get my feet back on the ground
Now I can't tell nobody how to live their life
Even though inside we're all the same
All these things are toys I was playing with
You know, you know we're all losers in the end

(Well now) since I've been straight
I haven't been in my cups
I ain't shooting downs I ain't using ups
You know I'm still as crazy as a loon
Even though I don't run out and cop a spoon
Thank the good Lord God well I've had enough
I've got a friend and his name is Robert Zimm
He told me "Don't need to be stoned to know a friend
Believe me you're all beautiful people just the way you are
Tell me, what has that stuff done for you so far?"

I've been sitting here thinking I've been winking I've been blinking
Well I don't have to sit around no more on the nod
With my head in the air (you know)
I can do anything I can do it straight I can do it so much better now
But its gotta start right back in your own back yard
Yes it's gotta start back your own back yard
Everybody has their own beautiful back yard
You might find oil wells in your own back yard
You might find anything in your own back yard
You might even find Mad Shadows in your own back yard
(Who knows what you might dig up)

Jerry Sousa tells me: Dion did an interview in which he explained the lyrics in "Your Own Backyard." The line is "I've got a friend and his name is Robertson." This refers to American Baptist minister and politician Pat Robertson, whom Dion credits with helping him to get off heroin. That said, it sure sounds like Ian sings "Robert Zimm".

Darkness Darkness

(Young)

Darkness darkness be my pillow
Take my hand let me sleep
In the coolness of your shadow
In the silence of your deep
Darkness darkness hide my yearning
For the things that cannot be
Keep my mind from constant turning
Toward the things that cannot see (no, no)

Darkness darkness long and lonesome
With the day that brings my happiness
I have found the edge of silence
Oh I am in depths of fear
Darkness darkness be my blanket
Cover me with the endless night
Take away take away the pain of your way
Fill the emptiness with light (na na na na)

Darkness darkness be my pillow
Take my hand let me sleep
In the coolness of your shadow
In the silence of your deep
Darkness darkness hide my yearning
For the things that cannot be
Keep my mind keep my mind from constant turning
Toward the things that cannot see

The Journey

(Ian Hunter)

All the changes they will take their time
In the morning dust they'll begin to rise
Halfway to a borderline
Well I can see the end
For the very first time

Well I know I lost just a little bit on the journey
When my mind's been split by little things that didn't fit on the way
Oh I know I lost just a little bit on the journey
'Cos I'm trying so hard to get going

There's a man on a bridge called suicide
And he hides his head while the coast is dark
And the river drags and the water sways
Oh his rags've seen better days

And I guess he lost just a little bit on the journey
For his mind was split by little things that didn't fit on the way
(Oh) Yes I know he lost just a little bit on the journey

For every gift he had to give
For every life (yeah) he had to live
Well they meant nothing without her to guide him on his way

Well he told her he was a leader
Of a well respected [load]
But when he tried to leave her
Well she looked right down her nose
Many times he tried to make her believe in herself
But she wouldn't listen to a word he said

Well he followed her though the darkness
All the chances I take
He followed her though the wilderness
Her mystery to break
Many times he tried to make her believe in herself
But she wouldn't listen to a word he said

So for 40 days and for 40 nights
Well they tied my hands made see the light
And the angel screamed in my nightmare ride
And the changes left (yeah) but they will take their time

And I guess I lost just a little bit on the journey
Yes I know I lost just a little bit on the way
I know I lost just a little bit on the journey
Oh I know I lost just a little bit on the journey
Yes I guess I lost just a little bit on the way
Yes I know I lost just a little bit on the journey
(Everybody's got a journey)

Sweet Angeline

(Ian Hunter)

Oh Angeline, I love you, your mouth is like a stain
and when I close my eyes each night, I often hear you sing
Imagination's hidden book, you wrote it on the wing
And when I vowed to comfort you, well you swallowed everything

Angeline, oh my Angeline
My Sweet Angeline - you have rendered me unseen
I would cry a million smiles for my Indian City queen

Well your body it is broken in so many different ways
And when I stoop to find your head, well it disappeared in haze.
your blood flows like the finest juice - the kiss of burgundy
and where it comes from no one knows, but where it's going I can't see

Angeline, oh my Angeline
My Sweet Angeline - (y'know) you have rendered me unseen
I would cry a million smiles for my Indian City queen

Angeline, oh my Angeline
You little Angeline - you have rendered me unseen
I would cry a million smiles for my Indian City queen

And your crystal-coloured cardboard bins - attack me from the paint
and I think that I am getting lost among the swollen states
oh rescue me or bury me, for I care not what you do
there is just one thing that I want to say am I really you

Angeline, oh my Angeline
My Sweet Angeline - you have rendered me unseen
I would cry a million smiles for my Indian City queen

Second Love

(Verden Allen)

I know you have a second love
Another one you're thinking of
What is there now that I can do
I'll always feel the same for you

Why does it have to be this way
Maybe before we'll change some day
I only hope that you will stay
Can't keep going on this way

Well if you go away from me girl
Well I know that you're not the one to blame
When I see the tears come running from your eyes
It'll make you start
It'll make you start to realise

I'm crossed between your second love
It ain't just me you're thinking of
And what is there now that I can do
I'll always feel the same about you

The Moon Upstairs

(Ian Hunter/Mick Ralphs)

Well my brother he was a drinking man
And I asked him for release
He said this won't do you no good
And sent for the police

Well they busted me for nothing
'Cos they said I was insane
So they let my body go
But they locked away my brain

Well I wandered freely as a bird that had broken both its wings
And I hated them and they hated me and I hated everthing
And I realise that to survive well my body is not mine
And I feel neglected feel rejected
Living in the wrong time

And to those of you who always laugh
Let this be your epitaph

And my head is down and I'm called a clown by comedians that grace
The living stage of every page of worthless meaningless space
But I swear to you before we're through you're gonna feel our every blow
We ain't bleeding you we're feeding you but you're too f*cking slow

And to those of you who always laugh
Let this be your epitaph

The Wheel of the Quivering Meat Conception

(Ian Hunter/Guy Stevens)

This isn't a song in the true sense of the word - it is an end-of-session jam (sounds a bit like 'The Journey'); but I have included it anyway.

This has been
the Mott the Hoople
light orchestra, [who've] been
playing some goodies
and some newies
and some oldies
and some filthies
and some weirdies
and some queries
just for you