Deaths and Entrances

Pubwards we crawled again

The queue had skewed around the bend

And me the last of all my friends

Halloween in Galway 

‘I’m sorry buddy not tonight’

Peter mutters steely eyed 

The lads are in and out of sight

Concerned as always

 

I wandered lonely as the crowd

Turns a darker shade of loud

My brain picks apart and teases over

All I might do wrong 

While someone dressed as Jesus 

Is wailing Redemption Song

 

Past the couple having dinner

Both staring at their phones

Past the broken-hearted Cupid 

Saying ‘How could I have known?’

After he said ‘Don’t be stupid’

Turned Houdini with the truth

Now she’s banging back a bottle

Of 100% proof 

 

Past the Robin Hood who’s handing food

Out to a homeless girl

Says ‘I remember how it feels

To be forgotten by the world’

Then looks into the camera

Says ‘Poverty must end’

Checks his Rolex and steps back into

His new Mercedes Benz

 

Past the David Foster Wallace

Bandana in his hair

Who mentions Dostoyevsky when he’s sure someone can hear

Then argues with the barman on existential themes 

And heads into the bathroom to Google what it means

 

Saying ‘I’m not shy I’m understated

The Mona Lisa’s overrated 

Stop trying to make me perfect

Cause being human’s complicated.’

 

I’m sorry buddy not tonight

I’m sorry buddy not tonight

 

Then back down to earth again

Having beaten myself round the bend

With me’s that lead to bitter ends

I see your face

 

There’s a gravity about you

Something in the eyes

One of those conversations

Where you don’t need to try

The game of who can tell

The most earnest lie

My hopeless rumination

Clocks out for the night 

Until you say ‘take off your mask’

You reach out to find the clasp 

I say ‘I can’t’ and watch you gasp  

Laughing, you say ‘Goodnight’

Bills and Pills

Hannah’s into Charlie

Charlie is a speedfreak

David likes to dabble but he’s scared to be in trouble

Jack’s smoking is chronic

I swear Matt’s an alcoholic

Karen turns to pills when the bills threaten to double

 

But the bills keep coming

So the pills keep coming

 

Girls no longer longing for a wizard on a 6-string

My Wonderwall cover drowned out by

Bickering and bitching

Strangers in the sitting room

Danger in the kitchen

If everybody’s talking

Is anybody listening?

 

The bills keep coming

So the pills keep coming

 

There’s a bang bang on the door

She’s not waiting for the man any more

He knows her well, she’ll take what she can, and

He’d sell water to a drowning man

 

The bills keep coming

So the pills keep coming

Mayday Mayday

Seven sullen faces off a train
Clock into the office once again
‘It’s just for now, it’s just for now’
He must explain
And hope is anaesthetic for the brain
The shame
When money makes a miser out of me
The Sun shines brighter on the far side of the street
Empathy’s in entropy

And apathy is free
And I can’t bear too much reality

No I can’t bear
Too much reality
You know what makes a miser out of me?
No I can’t bear
Too much reality
You know what makes a miser out of me?
Money money

I’m begging to borrow
Someone else’s tomorrow
The wolf is knocking at my door today

 

Mayday Mayday

I need a payday

I’d be a sellout already
If I had something to sell
I’d be your ‘Bell Boy’
Boy I’d be your Del boy as well
And I’m a traitor
Waiting for cause to betray
But ignorance is peace
So the blue pill if you please

 

Cause I’m a sad sad boy
With a big big dream
In the ad-mad world
Of the Big Wigs’ scheme
And I’ll cast my pearls
Under this pigs feet again
And again, and again, and again

 

I’m begging to borrow
Someone else’s tomorrow
The wolf is knocking at my door today
The wolf is knocking at my door today

 

I need a payday

Covet, covet, love it, covet,
It’s Money money

Mayday mayday
I need a payday

The wolf is knocking at my door today

Mayday mayday
I need a payday

Maybe maybe
Someday they’ll pay me

Enough is Never Enough

It was a Tuesday

And it was... bleak

 

Torn from the wreckage of a broken home

Only knows the love that he was shown

He barges into a café he owns

To bark marching orders

At poor Kitchen Porters

Fresh from the microwave

A sandwich is thrown

On a chipped plate

The kitchen is in a state

There's no need for pruning

When business is blooming

 

And his grandmother was a proud Filipino

Slips his mind as he

Dips his toes

Into the world of a well-known racist

Who explains it all in words he knows

 

These fingers were made for pointing

And enough is never enough

 

The busker boy's chasing the dream

By the beggar with the card machine

And passing by the suit and tie Won’t cast an eye

Too fixated on a screen

And ‘blessed are the meek’

I've heard them say but honestly

There's no romance in poverty

When dinner is a novelty

 

And these fingers were made for pointing

And enough is never enough

Trudging Galway streets alone

I can't help thinking, not to blame,

Romantic Ireland's dead and gone

It's with O' Leary on a plane

And everybody loves to bitch

Factions speak louder than herds

When rags to riches

Turns wags to witches

Fine feathers don’t make fine birds

These fingers were made for pointing

Hall of Fame

This club’s become a hall of fame

For all my pride and all my shame

I’ve got nobody else to blame

The intent may differ

The end’s always the same

How many mistakes do you reckon it will take

Before I realise it’s a choice that I’m making?

Another vodka and dash please

Counting coppers at the bar then dropping to my knees

As they fall

And I can’t keep my eyes open at all

 

This job has got a hold on me

And all my insecurities 

Should I still be here at 23?

Am I just deluded and is this how life should be?

How many mistakes do you reckon I will make

Before I recognise the right path to be taken? 

A curry cheese chips in the hand

Lights guide the way to a seat near a man 

I don’t know 

Where I spill half the curry sauce on his coat  

Cause I can’t keep my eyes open at all 

No I can’t keep my eyes open at all

And I can’t tell if I’m hoping to fall

Cause I won’t keep my eyes open at all 

And I’m stumbling back home

It’s pissing down and I’m alone

Mumbling the words to some old song

I hardly know

Will I ever be the man I try so hard to be?

Now, I’m too drunk to care

So ‘Living On A Prayer’ will have to do

 

This club’s become a hall of fame

For all my pride and all my shame

I’ve got nobody else to blame

 

The intent may differ

The end’s always the same

Car Song

The Corsa courses up the back street

Of course

I’m caught in the middle of the back seat

And forced

Between Danny and Jack

Hannah’s got shotgun 

Calming Charlie down about the College work she’s not done

Danny’s quite quiet, he’s usually a riot

I crack a joke and hope but he’s sat moping and defiant

While he’s channelling a Whistler

Jack’s rolling a Rizla

Living on the dole smoking bowls at his sister’s

 

A left and a right, a left and a right, a left and a right

What’s left when the writing’s on the wall?

 

Starsky and Hutch come up fast in the Astra

Glance at us, the smoke is cast in the Ashtray

See I’m not a nun, I’m no Fidel Castro

And Fed’s will find any half reason to catch you and

That’s it with tyrants, live for a victim

David was minding his own when they nicked him 

A blast of the sirens then passing in silence 

Now they’re chasing new Droogs to call Ultraviolent

 

A left and a right, a left and a right, a left and a right

What’s left when the writing’s on the wall?

  

Then pause to review

The tussles and tears of the crowd in the queue

Crawling up the walls

And applauding the slew of inhibitors fleeing

I’m stunned by a scene

Such a sickening feeling

 

There’s Danny’s girlfriend walking hand in hand

With the ringer for the singer of the local wedding band

Looking to my left to see if he’s noticed

He’s staring straight ahead eyes glazed unfocused

‘She broke up with me the other day’

I gasp 

‘You never thought to tell me?’

‘Well you never thought to ask.’

 

A left and a right

A left and a right

A left and a right

A left and a right

A left and a right

Danny’s Working Like A Dog

Danny’s working like a dog

Can’t help feeling unfulfilled

GOGO Café’s not the place to be at 23

Instagram’s a gallery of

Happy people looking well

The only thrills that he can get

Are killing him or so it seems

 

Keep talking about leaving

Still be here in October

Comfort is deceiving

It’s better safe than sober

 

Danny’s working like a dog

 

Look here comes another passion

He’s making all the lists and all the charts

Another brain wave comes crashing 

The fact of fashion’s it never lasts 

He’s got the photo with the cap and the gown

But he’s feeling none the wiser now 

Us friends don’t let it get him down

There’s no dreams to dream up 

When there’s drink to drink up and

 

Keep talking about leaving

Still be here in October

Comfort is deceiving

It’s better safe than sober

 

Danny’s working like a dog

 

Now I’ve been working like a dog

But can’t get a penny ahead

Kicking back at failure 

Now Australia is the plan

Danny’s packed his bags and I say

‘Hey, why don’t we stay instead?

The dreams we had as children

Don’t have to fade away’

Danny says ‘You think that if we

Met now we would still be friends?’

As he leaves

He turns to me

‘You’ll get out in the end’

 

As long as it’s beating

We’re not fully beaten

I can’t find the right words to…

 

It’s so hard to care 

For problems elsewhere

When you can’t mend the problems at home

Feels So Real

There’s a buzz in the air

By the glow of the lamps 

The city’s a lady

The city’s a tramp 

 

I said I’d be there by 6

But it’s already 8

It’s a state of the times

That time’s at the stake

When there’s history to make

 

Tripping over bottle tops

Skip round syringes

Trollies in the river

And gates off their hinges

 

It feels so real to me

 

There’s a laugh on a park bench

And doves on the scene

The city’s the size of 

The places you’ve been,

The people you’ve seen around

 

Sirens whine 

As hopefuls line

Up for the club

Looking for love in the dark

Blind man’s bluff of the heart

 

Tripping over bottle tops

Skip round syringes

Trollies in the river and

Gates off their hinges

 

It feels so real to me

 

And a 20 foot sign says

‘You’ll never find love

You’ll never find love

No, you’ll never find love

Until you buy these gloves’

Then through a chink in the night

The last of the light

Hits your delicate face

And I smile

I smile

 

And it feels so real to me

Advertise Me

Coffee beans

By any means

A latte to die for

Throwing stones

At broken homes

And leaving your wife for 

A younger model

 

Go through the motions

To sell the emotions

You go through the motions

To sell the emotions

 

The feeling creeps into my bones

Advertise me

Advertise me

Advertise me

 

Paying twice

The average price

For organic lentils  

Then fly away 

By private plane

For Environmental

Convention Weekend

  

Go through the motions

To sell the emotions

Go through the motions

To sell the emotions

 

The feeling creeps into my bones

Advertise me

Advertise me

Advertise me

  

Say ‘vanity’s insanity’

While suntanning my back

Complain about consumers

From the comfort of my Mac

You know we only want to show 

The things we think we lack

Yeah, I know

 

Analyse me

Appetise me

Sanitise me

Canonise me 

Panic buy me

Have you tried me? 

Saddened eyes see

Satisfied me

Standardised me

Have a nice me

Advertise me

Modern City Living (All We Are)

It’s tearing us together

Leathered into the ground

All my trying to be clever 

When there’s feelings around

And I cannot tell whether

It’s the meaning or sound

But words are ash in my mouth

 

Tried calling out for help

He was on the other line

While time was running for his health

Shame saunters in with a sigh

Says ‘I’ve found an off the shelf

Identity you should buy,

So the world can watch you comply’

 

Look into my eyes

I’ve been seeing stars 

Does it come as a surprise 

I should fall short from the start? 

I’ve been thinking 

All it takes

Is all we are

All we are

 

Send in the clowns

With lines forever crossed 

The truth is nowhere around

She said ‘I’m so lost 

That I don’t wanna be found. 

But it's not worth us talking about’

 

Look into my eyes

I’ve been seeing stars 

Does it come as a surprise 

I should fall short from the start? 

I’ve been thinking 

All it takes

Is all we are

All we are

 

What’s the difference between

Comedy and tragedy?

The only difference

Is the context of the agony

All we are

Modern City Living (Poem)

The price of food is climbing up

The price of booze is flying up

The price of nice is nasty

While objective news is drying up

The price of being human is a looming sense of doom

And soon your fuming in your room

Consuming soundtracks to the gloom.

Because the space between the dream

And the reality, it seems,

The fear your actuality

Is tatty at the seams,

Has you scheming for some meaning

For some reason not to scream,

It’s distraction through destruction

And destruction by all means

 

 

And the price of beans is criminal

The price of bread is grim and all

Our narcissistic vim has us

Convinced that life is winnable

The price of toothpaste? Laughable.

The price of milk is halfable

The wages stay the same and now

The café’s are un-staffable

The streetlamp din

Is deafening

As runaway time hurtles

My Vertigo’s

Nowhere to go

So sends me round in circles

And we’re all acting a part

So keep calm and Cary Grant

As Sgt Pepper steps up for

None but the lonely heart.

There’s gold to be gleaned

Between the streets and the screens,

And you spend your days sieving,

That’s Modern City Living

Life In A Day

Staring at the ceiling

Chewing on my tongue

Necking back those feelings

Forgotten never gone

Everyone looks happy

What have I become? 

Overshare to cabbies

The lonely hanger-on

 

This club is overrun 

With souls lost in a song

The romance and the rapture

Am I the only one? 

Don’t give me the truth though

Afraid what I might find

This endless game of Cluedo 

Forever on my mind

 

I can’t get you out of my mind

Get you out of my mind

Get you out of my mind

Get you out and

 

I left my worries at the flat 

They drove me round the bend

They were still there when I got back 

And they’d invited over friends

So tell me that you love me

Whisper in my ear

Take these photos of me

To a jury of my fears

Pause and replay

A life in a day

Nails scratch at details

What will they all say? 

Don’t give me the truth though

Afraid what I might find 

This endless game of Cluedo 

Forever on my mind

  

I can’t get you out of my mind 

Get you out of my mind

Get you out of my mind

Get you out and

I can’t get you out of my mind

Get you out of my mind

Get you out of my mind

Get you out of

 

And everyone looks happy

What have I become? 

Over share with cabbies

The lonely hanger-on

 

Get me out of my mind

Get me out of my mind

Get me out of my mind

Get me out of my mind

Get me out of my mind

Lost In The Moment

So you’re sitting there flummoxed

Sifting through loans

And you’re sick to your stomach 

Of living alone

And then all of a sudden 

You realise you’ve grown

Five years have gone by

Five years have flown 

And you wait and you wait and you wait

And you’re scared

Your patience is thinning

And so is your hair

And the crowns all but gone

And your crowd have moved on

And you’re left there to wonder

Where did it go wrong for you? 

 

Get lost in the moment

We lost the moment

 

We’ve never been closer

Never been further 

Anything private 

Tossed out in the merger

We shook hands as partners

On a common mission

I’m starting to think 

This was an acquisition

Well what does it matter?

Your world is polluted 

When your favourite actor 

Said something stupid

Now you’re glued to the box now

Glued to the box now

Sunset is rain checked

Nature’s under the cosh 

Gosh, I’m glued to the box now

Glued to the box now

Give me a moment

No the moment is lost

 

Get lost in the moment

We lost the moment

 

So you’re sitting there flummoxed

And sifting through posts

And you’re sick to your stomach 

Concocting ripostes

You crave validation 

From those you don’t know 

Their thirst is insatiable

Put on a show

Be everything always

Nothing at all 

Drown in humility 

While you float in the pool 

Be flawless, be human

It’s all an illusion

If you feel confusion 

You know who’s at fault?

It’s you

 

Get lost in the moment

We lost the moment

 

This is your moment

Here is your moment

This is your moment

Here is your moment

Wait just a moment

Give me a moment

Hang on a moment

We lost the moment

Get lost in the moment

We lost the moment

Westway

Dressed to impress

Stuck on the Westway

‘The best days are over’

You say

Stressed to duress

It’s Danny’s big day

‘You’ll be ok, 

Ends are beginnings’

 

Doesn’t matter where you are

Everybody plays a part

Your scene’s about to start

Leave before the movie’s over 

 

Preachers, wedding bells and speeches

‘I’m speechless’

He says again and again and again

Priest has nothing left to teach us

The bar tab runs 

As the beer tap runs

 

Doesn’t matter who you are

Everybody plays their part

Your scene’s about to start

Leave before the movie’s over 

Crawling down the hallway 

Nostalgia racks the bones

The glory that was Galway

The grandeur that was home

And I’m so alone tonight

Dally in the alley as the 

Sunset stains the sky

Wet cheeks under bed sheets

It all comes out at night

I’m so alive

 

Doesn’t matter where you are

Everybody plays their part

Your scene’s about to start

Now leave before the movie starts again.