Confessions of an alien chimp Lyrics
This page includes original lyrics written by Tinplate Tiger.
The rights of Tinplate Tiger to be identified as author of this content have been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this page may be reprinted or reporduced or used in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means whatsoever, without permission in writing from the author.
Contents
Chimp with the mind of an alien race
Pity the sane
Carnival queen
Got to watch the quiet ones
TV Junkie
Doing time
Send me back
Not fooling
Driftwood
Follow your own star
Beneath a made up moon
When I sleep (I control my dreams)
Blue House
Kafka in reverse
Some place in between
I fear the next explosion
Chimp with the mind of an alien race
I'm a chimp with the mind of an alien race
I'm too busy with my thoughts to look you in the face
I see a million crazy patterns where you see random lines
It's an impossible puzzle to map you mind with mine
'Cause I'm a chimp with the mind of an alien race
I'm too busy with my thoughts to look you in the face
I see confusion every place we walk
You might as well speak Martian when we try to talk
I try my best to stay human, not stray too far off course
But I get more sense leaning on a fence talking to a horse
'Cause I'm a chimp with the mind of an alien race
I'm too busy with my thoughts to look you in the face
She sent me to a shrink, hell what did he know?
Had a shelf full of big books, but his neurons were way too slow
“She's right!” he said “You're distant, deluded and obtuse”
I said “Pass me your notebook doc. I'll jot down some empirical truths”
'Cause I'm a chimp with the mind of an alien race
I'm too busy with my thoughts to look you in the face
I'm a clumsy Casanova, an idiot savant
I don't know what I need, but I'll give you what you want
I'm at home in the jungle or the depths of outer space
But all you crazy humans make me feel so out of place
'Cause I'm a chimp with the mind of an alien race
I'm too busy with my thoughts to look you in the face
Pity the Sane
Pity the sane
With their regulation brains
Living and buying and dying
All wired up the same
I guess they don't wallow for days
In these lift-shaft plummets of shame
But all the same
I pity the sane
I pity the sane
They don't see stuff the same
Keeping to the rails while I'm
Heading round the bend again
I keep going up high then coming back down
Like I'm on some crazy merry-go-round
But I'd rather ride them painted horses
Than have my feet stuck to the ground
I tried being sane for while
See things the way other people see
But it didn't really suit my style
Weird shit always happens to me
I pity the sane
With their spick and span minds
I pity the sane
I'd rather stay one of a kind
And drown in surreal oceans
Freefall through strange flames
Than peer through standard-issue eyes
At that same dull view again
Carnival queen
It's five in the morning
She creeps from her box in the car park
Scuttles past the shuttered shops in the dark
Creeps into the transport cafe
He always opens up early
She has yesterday's rolls and bitter black coffee
She says she's still looking for somewhere to stay
A sink, a bookcase, some place
To lay her head at the end of the day
Look at her sat there, you'd never believe
She rode though town in a white limousine
When she was carnival queen
She's got a pitch outside the bookies
It's lucky for some
There's guy called Finn, bungs her a couple of quid
Each time he's won
She's reading vampire stories
Prefers horror to the classics
She don't mind the flowery language
But the endings are always so tragic
She says she's still looking for somewhere to stay
A sink, a bookcase, some place
To lay her head at the end of the day
Look at her sat there, you'd never believe
She rode though town in a white limousine
When she was carnival queen
On streets of shattered glass and scattered dreams
She passes her days
Lost in her books and her blankets
Got to keep the demons at bay
And sometimes she does feel frightened
When the voices get too loud
But she's never going back there
She's too proud
She says she's still looking for somewhere to stay
A sink, a bookcase, some place
To lay her head at the end of the day
Look at her sat there, you'd never believe
She rode though town in a white limousine
When she was carnival queen
Got to watch the quiet ones
Julie Dean's an elfen queen
Palace among the tangled trees
Wings tucked up inside her coat
Hidden like her schemes
Plays the part of an office cleaner
It's safer to work alone
All them sprays make her sneeze
But she's got to make some money
To defend her woodland throne
Got to watch the quiet ones
They aren't always what they seem
Behind those mild eyes
They've got the time to dream
Lennie is the driver of an eighteen wheeler
Interstellar Volvo truck
He's got a girl on every planet
Though on earth he never has much luck
Retroboosters for space cruisers
In distant galaxies are his load
Hugging the corners of the universe
Racing meteors down the ring road
Got to watch the quiet ones
They aren't always what they seem
Behind those mild eyes
They've got the time to dream
This is no singles night it's a masquerade
In a chateau in outer space
And the waiters are really courtiers
From some Alien race
“I'm queen of the wild woods” says Julie
“How about you?”
“I deliver rocket pistons across the solar system”
Says Lennie “How d'ya do”
She takes his hand and doesn't let go
And they waltz into the night
She don't mind his tattoos or his oil stains
His grip is gentle but tight
She climbs up into his space truck
And the elves come along for the ride
The world flies by as they enter hyperdrive
All somersaulting inside
Go to watch the quiet ones
They're space travellers in disguise
There's a whole other universe
Just gotta learn to reverse your eyes
TV Junkie
When I was a young boy mama threw the TV out with the trash
Came home one day and it was lying there with the screen smashed
Some programme blew her fuse, and she refused to pay the licence cash
Read every book I could find, listened to the radio
Read every book I could find, listened to the radio
Broadened my mind, lost myself in that rock 'n' roll
Begged my daddy for a guitar, every day I'd plead
Got me a junk store Eko played it 'til my fingers would bleed
Got myself a rented room when I was seventeen
With a little Fender amp, a big old beaten up TV
Well, I watched it every morning, I watched it every night
When the sound went I played my guitar transfixed by the flickering light
Oh I'm a TV Junkie mama, see what you done
You made a dead eye addict of you black sheep son
Now I'm getting older, the past is in the past
Stop by to see my folks, most times when I pass
They sit there in silence the remote by their side
Got the biggest damn flat screen 'bout ten feet wide
We watch that beast together, must be something in the blood
Now we're all TV junkies and out minds have turned to mud
Doing time
For five decades now I've been doing time
I can't remember, what was my crime?
Stood outside the classroom in the corridor
Or sat at the back with them teachers who'd just let a boy draw
They'd do anything to keep us weird ones quiet
No sense in wasting the strap, if you know the kid won't buy it
And there's no sense in looking back
When you've been so long on the same old track
And there's no sense in moving on
When you're so lost on the road that you've been on
I've been cooking up crazy movie plots
When I should have learned the tricks of a trade
Tying my mind in knots, unworried about my wage
Oh the ladders I could have climbed
If only I'd played by the rules
Wasting my time on rhymes when I could have had it all
But there's no sense in looking back
When you've been so long on the same old track
And there's no sense in moving on
When you're already lost on the road that you've been on
Now I'm sat here with a million doodles, a thousand scribbled songs
Nine unpublished novels about a loner whose life goes wrong
I've given up trying to figure out what puzzle I'm trying to solve
Content to strum away in this non-specific role
Watch the others push and shove by, all desperate to gain control
Watch as their lives rush by and slowly dissolve
There's no sense in looking back
When you've been so long on the same old track
And there's no sense in moving on
When you're so lost on the road that you've been on
Send me back
I'm a prowler on the fringes of this careless decay
Kicking through the litter of all we threw away
Crushed faith scraped across tarmaced gardens
Where the weak grew strong and their arteries hardened
All you own is stolen yet you cast me as the thief
For I won't wave my flag nor feast upon your beast
My cluster bomb daydreams fizz like wasps in your slick hair
You can't hide the urge to crush all that makes you feel scared
Why don't you...
Send me back, send me back, back to where I come from
Send me back, send me back, to the land where I belong
Send me back, send me back, to days when we knew right from wrong
Send me back, send me back, to when I knew the words of every song
Wild flowers push through concrete and snake out of line
Gypsy dancers jeering at your straight and narrow pride
In the churches of the lost you pray to pay your weekly costs
I'm still sorting through, adding up all mine
So I went and asked the priest, “Where will I end up when I'm dead?”
He listened to my confession and slowly shook his head
He said “I shouldn't worry son just 'cause you're a non believer
Your mongrel soul's so damned, the devil wouldn't want you either”
I said...
Send me back, send me back, back to where I come from
Send me back, send me back, to the land where I belong
Send me back, send me back, to days when we knew right from wrong
Send me back, send me back, to when I knew the words of every song
Bury me in California for that's where I was born
Send my head to Silesia, where my looks come from
Sever and scatter 'round all my gypsy parts
Then in mid ocean you may drown my mixed-up migrant heart
Not fooling
We hurt each other so many times before
Don't know what I was thinking of knocking at your door
I never expected you to ask me in
Never dreamed we'd do all those foolish things again
I'm not fooling, I'm not fooling, the way I feel is true
But I'm not falling, I'm not falling, again that way for you
Wild flowers break though pavements where we no longer walk
Grow strong in the shade where once we used to talk
My thoughts fell through the sky, spread roots into the clouds
I watched as we passed by and my head spun upside down
I never remember who first called it a day
Who tired of the fighting and drifted away
Now you want me back in your bed, but shut out of your heart
As long as you stay out of my head, I'm happy to play my part
I'm not fooling, I'm not fooling, the way I feel is true
But I'm not falling, I'm not falling, again that way for you
I'm not complaining, I'm just explaining, it's ok, yes it's ok
But I'm not falling, I'm never falling, again for you that way
My body could be anybody's
I genuinely don't mind
It's your decision what you imagine
Each time you close you eyes
I've never been here, never let you get near
Always floating up in them skies
I'm happy to stay close, but stay apart
It's better that way with no involvement of the heart
Driftwood
Great granddaddy was a sailor man
They never knew what land he hailed from
Found him after a storm on the sand
Never found the ship he sailed on
Wrapped in chains of golden weed
They laid him on a table to dry
The preacher's wife fell to her knees with a scream
When the waves awoke in his eyes
We are driftwood the sons of his sons
We keep drifting and his spirit lives on
And none of us knows where we're supposed to go
So we just go with the flow and the journey goes on
Granddad sold Irish linen
On the horses he made a killing
Had an eye for the ladies
Pissed away his winnings
Like a storm wind through a coastal cave
He howled his final sigh
By the dying whirlpools in his eyes
We were all hypnotised
We are driftwood the sons of his sons
We keep drifting and his spirit lives on
And none of us knows where we're supposed to go
So we just go with the flow and the journey goes on
Daddy wasn't a well man
The drifting was all in his mind
They put 440 volts through his frontal lobes
But a cure they never could find
He painted crazy canvases
Crashing waves far out to sea
They fade in grandma's hallway
I guess there's part of him in me
We are driftwood the sons of his sons
We keep drifting and his spirit lives on
And none of us knows where we're supposed to go
So we just go with the flow and the journey goes on
I've known a hundred beautiful women
All many fathoms out of my league
I can only imagine in my eyes
They saw that swirling of those seas
I wish I could harness the power
Of all that poetry, all the
Dreams that drown, I long to drag them to the surface
And let them breathe
We are driftwood the sons of his sons
We keep drifting and his spirit lives on
And none of us knows where we're supposed to go
So we just go with the flow and the journey goes on
Follow your own star
Do you gaze at the heavens and wonder
What in the world things have come to?
Where the hell you go from here?
You see no angels up there
No rhyme or reason down here
As you pass through the years
In the darkness there's a star catches your eye
Tiny, far away, but no one can take you piece of the sky
You've got to follow, follow your own star
When fortune is hiding
And you feel yourself sliding
Sideways towards the edge
When you heart is bleeding
'Cause your love is leaving
And you feel like you would rather be dead
In the darkness there's a star catches your eye
Tiny, far away, but no one can take you piece of the sky
You've got to follow, follow your own star
And when all of your plans
Turn to dust in your hand
Keep on moving down the road
When all seems lost
Never stop to count the cost
You'll go further if you carry a lighter load
In the darkness there's a star catches your eye
Tiny, far away, but no one can take you piece of the sky
You've got to follow, follow your own star
Beneath a made up moon
I was born in California
In a house down by the sea
The sound of the waves, the salt in the spray
The scent of the orange trees
We flew over the ocean
It seemed to happen too soon
Since then I've felt like a stranger here
Beneath a made up moon
Now my home from home has been knocked down
Ten lorry loads of brick and wood
A milk tooth gap in an English street
A muddy scar where childhood stood
The walls they crawled with rats and bees
I hear their wings, their running feet
Scratch and buzz still in my sleep
I guess that wrecking ball should have set me free
A house is made of bones and blood
A dam to hold back a human flood
Now the walls are gone I should feel relived
But the emptiness aches when feelings flee
We all need shelter, some place to say
To lay our heads at the end of the day
Now behind my guitar is where I hide, just wish
I was small enough to crawl in and curl up inside
When I sleep (I control my dreams)
I used to have terrible nightmares
I'd wake the house with my screams
Running from faceless monsters
Drowning in blood laced seas
Daddy told me to get a grip on them dreams
So that is what I did
Put them in a box inside my head
With heavy chains across the lid
Now when I sleep I control my dreams
I'm master of my midnight destiny
I star in each surreal scene
When I wake up life ain't what it seems
But when I sleep I control my dreams
Each night is like a vacation
Inside my mixed up head
I'm flying with strange angels
Cruising freeways with the living dead
Drowning in cherry pop oceans
Gliding through outer space
I can be anyone I please
I can go any time, any place
When I sleep I control my dreams
I'm master of my midnight destiny
I star in each surreal scene
When I wake up life ain't what it seems
But when I sleep I control my dreams
Now the real world seems crazy
Like it's falling out of control
All this fighting this greed and this madness
Like the planet's about to explode
I'm falling from the thirteenth floor
Inside out and upside down
Back to front, the wrong way round
Will I wake or sleep when I hit the ground?
When I sleep I control my dreams
I'm master of my midnight destiny
I star in each surreal scene
When I wake up life ain't what it seems
But when I sleep I control my dreams
Blue House
In the blue house there's a boy like a baby bird
He can only move his eyes
He lies trapped in the mud of fate
But in his mind he flies
There's a hustler had his head stoved in
By some gangsters with a spade
One morning his mind exploded like
A flesh and blood grenade
There's a skinny savant who trashes the place
Trails destruction everywhere
They used to button him up in a big old coat
Tie the sleeves to a chair
He reads Chekhov and Tolstoy
He can memorise every word
Sings along to the radio with
The sweetest voice you ever heard
Welcome to the blue house
It's the place you have to dwell
When your picture don't fit the frame
And the world don't wish you well
There's a mixed up kid who works there
Don't know if she were born boy or girl
She's got tattoos in every place
But they can't hide that white trash smell
Next door they built a halfway house
For the lowlife the law can't tame
They send them there from prison
Then send them back again
Welcome to the blue house
It's the place you have to dwell
When your picture don't fit the frame
And the world don't wish you well
Kafka in reverse
I don't need a lover, I need a mental nurse
But I'm trying to do a Kafka in reverse
Morph from an insect into a human being
Right now I'm some place in between
I can't sleep, I eat a lot of shit
Got a shiny hard shell, I like to live in it
Feels like my head is crashing into the light
Find me crawling on your kitchen floor late at night
Shrinking honeysuckle signals
The summer is soon to end
Sweetness I still need you
To be more than just a friend
You're the only one who can reach me
Stop me going round the bend
Give me time to crawl from this chrysalis
Maybe we can start again
You are the sun that shines on me
The morning mist, the autumn breeze
Comes from the ocean and though the trees
Lifts me up and lets me breathe
I don't need a lover, I need a mental nurse
To lead me by he hand from the pushchair to the hearse
I'm too busy fighting to have time to rehearse
But I'm trying to do a Kafka in reverse
Some place in between
Well I'm good, but I ain't good enough
I can be stubborn as hell, but I'm not really tough
We get on on well together, we have some fun
I know you really like me, I know I'll never be the one
I play no lead role in your dreams
Just a walk on role in a couple of scenes
Well, I ain't the man of your dreams
I'm just someone some place in between
I'm good with rhymes, but I ain't really a poet
I've got a reckless side, but I'm afraid to show it
You like the little things I say and do, rarely have to fake it
I'd swim the ocean for you, but you know I'd never make it
I play no lead role in your dreams
Just a walk on role scene after scene
Well, I ain't the man of your dreams
I'm just someone some place in between
I know you'd settle for good, but that ain't good enough
You say life ain't no fairy tale, and that's just tough
Once you dreamed a prince might come some day to rescue you
Now you hide your frown, I stick around, we both make do
With my bit part in your dreams
A walk on role scene after scene
I'm the man of your dreams
I guess you're happy with something some place in between
I fear the next explosion
I keep walking down the road
Searching for something, searching for something
You've been round the world I'm told
So teach me something, teach me something
In my mind is a fiery bird
Keeps screeching something, screeching something
I had a dream of a man in robes
He was preaching something, preaching something
I'm overloaded
My mind's corroded
I fear the next explosion
Through my mind will leave it broken
One winter I ran through deep snow
I was young, it made me feel strong
Now time flies, I'm getting slow
Everything takes so fucking long
The trees they seem to grow and grow
All summer long, all summer long
I'm heading for overload
My mind's just wired up all wrong
I'm overloaded
My mind's corroded
I fear the next explosion
Through my mind will leave it broken
The birds they fly and fly and fly
From tree to tree to tree to tree
I lie and pray for pain to come
Let the fever set me free
I pray for heavy rain to come
So I can hide beneath the sheets
My mind aches, my eyes are tired
But still I see and see and see
I'm overloaded
My mind's corroded
I fear the next explosion
Through my mind will leave it broken