The Slow Crack

Transaction

How much do you want
How much do you want it
How much are you willing to spend
Superseded model bargain number special profit margin
How much were you willing to lend
The Church Discography
The man at the desk
Who takes everything he can find
It's more a transaction than a bribe
The Church Discography
How much did you get
How much do you get it
How long are we going to wait
Something in this information, something fine a new formation
How much are you paying off late
The Church Discography
The girl at the bar
Who drinks anything she can find
Avoids this transaction in her mind
The Church Discography
The voice in your ear
Who says anything it can find
Enter that transaction blind
The Church Discography
How much do you want
How much do you want it
How much are you willing to spend
Superseded model number bargain special profit margin
How much are you willing to lend
The Church Discography
The man at the desk
Who takes everything he can find
More a transaction than a bribe
The Church Discography
The girl at the bar
Who drinks anything she can find
Avoids this transaction in her mind
The Church Discography
The voice in your ear
That says anything it can find
Enter this transaction blind
The Church Discography
I'm outside your house
I see everything you can't find
More a transaction than a sign

 

Fireman

Fireman, I didn't expect to see you again
The fever burning, hatred in flames
I guess we just keep playing these games
The Church Discography
Hush now baby, don't you cry
Momma gonna build you a great big fire
And if that fire can't melt your bones
You won't be smoking all alone
The Church Discography
It's the fireman
A heat haze summer falls all over this land
The dry roots crackle, the smoldering sun
Now you've got to suffer for everyone
The Church Discography
Hush now baby don't you weep
Daddy's gonna get you well away from this heat
And if the heat still singe your hair
There's just one man who can take you there
The Church Discography
And if that man has turned to ash
Daddy gonna change things with the lure of cash
And if that money can't soothe your burns
There's just one man who can make you learn
The Church Discography
It's the fireman
I didn't expect to see you again
The fever burning, hatred in flames
I guess we just keep playing these games
The Church Discography
Fireplace, fireside
Fire when you see the whites of their eyes
Fire ahead, fire below
Fire such-and-such and so-and-so
Firewood, firewheel
Fire extinguished, fire and steel
Fire a shot when you need to feel
Fire one up for after the meal

 

Woman With Reason

Got no hands and he got no bones
Probably end up in an old man's home without that girl
Stranger than fiction that's what it seems
Always says exactly what she means
Yes she does
She's a woman, woman with a reason
She's got reason
The Church Discography
Points to the sun and gives you the moon
Always early afternoon
Her book puts the true Mexican kings
They give her rubies, lots of things
Yes they do
She's a woman, woman with a reason
She's got reason
The Church Discography
Hangs on to the sky like it was a coat
Head ablaze and her hair afloat (hey now woman)
She lives in the day and she waits for the night
She don't mind, she says it's alright
I do believe it is
She's a woman, woman with a reason
She's got reason
The Church Discography
Got the soul of a Cocteau book
The way she acts and the way she looks
I can't explain
She's warm like the sun
Tries to touch everyone
That woman
She's a woman, woman with a reason
She's got reason
The Church Discography
It doesn't matter about the time or the season
That woman's got so much reason
Woman with a reason
Gotta be with the Mexican kings
They give her rubies and lots of things
Woman with a reason
It doesn't matter about the time or the season
That woman's got so much reason
Woman with a reason
I can't begin to explain
That woman she got
Woman with a reason

 

Favourite Pack Of Lies

I am not the kind of man given to extravagance
Even so I must confess a weakness for your elegance
I came in through this door to another world
A world that's been waiting for me
Golden rays, and perfect days
I'm so amazed by this sorcery
The Church Discography
Tell me again how many men
Before me drifted now and then
And never realized
Say I'm the first, say I'm the worst
Should have been here when the bubble burst
My favorite pack of lies
The Church Discography
I am not the kind of man, given to violence
And you know, I will go to the limit of my tolerance
I fell into this web without bloodshed
I lost my head and you found it for me
Distant drums and fortune hums
I'm overcome by the mystery
The Church Discography
I am not the kind of man, given to extravagance
Even so I must confess a weakness for your elegance

 

Something That Means Something

The oceans are drying, the children stop crying
We're trying, we're dying to leave this island to you
No recovery, each day's a terrible discovery
Under the wound they cover me, is this true
The Church Discography
What do you want me to want
Something that means something
What do you want me to want
You don't have a clue, do you
The Church Discography
The cities are stinking, now keep quiet I'm thinking
I'm linking this unthinking ritual to you
No recovery, and all these sins don't bother me
Under the skin another me, which is you
The Church Discography
A cry from Venus, I know she's above and between us
She's been with us, seen with us, dreamed of us too
No recovery, I wish this earth could mother me
I hope these skies don't smother me, just like you do

 

Consider Yourself Conquered

Attracted by the metals in your teeth and in your earth
We faint in amazement
Along congested reefs our leviathans are berthed
In a jagged arrangement
The Church Discography
Consider yourself conquered
Consider yourself conquered
The Church Discography
Of that gray and mournful day when you set foot on the shore
I have dreamed in a fever
I dream about the engines and the noise outside my door
And the grim receiver
The Church Discography
Attracted by the scent of the hunt on the wind
We arrive in profusion
We fight amongst ourselves and prepare for the night
In a drunken confusion
The Church Discography
Now listen, I don't need no documents or deeds
When I see your defenses
Our war god doesn't care where he spills his seed
Or loses his senses

 

Like A Ghost

[rev. Sept. 16, 2004]

At the Place Pigalle I'm sitting in a chair
Waiting for some service, taking in the air
My life spins past
As I'm thinking of you
The waitress comes up I look her in the face
Say "Bring me something fit for the human race"
She doesn't hear a word
She looks right through
The Church Discography
Like a ghost (take a look before I melt away)
The Church Discography
Twelve o'clock when the wine runs out
Go out on the balcony, hear someone shout
I look below
Is that my body on the street
Check the mirror, nobody home
I can't find a razor, can't find a comb
We've got to have a talk
'Cause you're dressed in a sheet
The Church Discography
Well I really start to worry when I stand in the queue
It's starting to pour and I don't know what to do
Funny thing is
That I don't get wet
The Church Discography
I hail a cab but he sails out of sight
What's my name, what's my age, what am I doing in this night
These questions and answers
I try but I forget

 

Ariel Sings

Full fathom five thy father lies
Of his bones are coral made
Those are pearls that were his eyes
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell
Hark, now I hear them
Bell

 

A Minute Without You

Diamond-hard heartthrob fakes displeasure
As his duty finish rests around his needs
God, his face is like a sunken treasure
Being dragged up from the violent seas
And it's one for the woman that's never been had
Two for the women that were always unclad
Three for the wind knocking at the door
Four someone you know who we are looking for
The Church Discography
Overwhelming hunger descended on me
Stretches from the cradle to the factory
A minute without you is just too long
A lifetime beside you and it's gone like this song
The Church Discography
They bring down the angels from the troubled sky
Put them in a cage to make baby cry
The Church Discography
Madison Avenue choked by the dust
Don't wanna be there but I know I must
The Church Discography
Overwhelming hunger descended on me
Stretches from the cradle to the factory
A minute without you is just too long
A lifetime beside you and it's gone like this song
The Church Discography
Overwhelming panic descended on me
Chase me from the grave to the nursery
A minute without you is just too short
A lifetime beside you and I'm bound to get caught
The Church Discography
Early in the evening gonna pull down the hood
Let the silence rush by 'cause it feel real good
Seven stupid prophets say it'll end in rain
But the fire in their eyes is gonna burn you again

 

Surrealist Woman Blues

I once had this woman, a surrealist woman
She changed before my very eyes
One minute revolving, next minute dissolving
I wish that it had been otherwise
The Church Discography
I followed her home, I followed her back
I followed her where I did not choose
She swallowed me up, she swallowed me whole
I got the surrealist woman blues
The Church Discography
I went to the seaside, the surrealist seaside
It was hot, lord it was so cold
One minute of laughter, then tears ever after
Ocean in motion and uncontrolled
The Church Discography
I once had this woman, a surrealist woman
She changed before my very eyes

 

Song Of Solomon

[rev. July 22, 2003]

You are altogether beautiful
Oh girl companion of mine
And there is no defect in you
There is no defect in you
The Church Discography
With me from Lebanon my bride
With me from Lebanon, may you come
May you descend from the top
From the top of Anti-Lebanon
From the top of Samir
Or even Hermon
From the lairs of lions
From the mouths of leopards
You have made my heart beat
Oh my sister, my bride
You have made my heart beat
By one of your eyes
By just one pendant of your necklace
The Church Discography
Open to me, oh my sister, my girl companion
For my head is filled with the dew
The locks of my hair with the drops of the night
I've put off my robe, how can I put it back on
I've washed my feet, how can I soil them
The Church Discography
I am asleep, but my heart is awake
To the sound of knocking, my dear one knocking
My dove, my blameless one
Until the day breathes and the shadows have fled
She'll go my way to the mountain of myrrh
To the hill of frankincense

 

Starling St.

[rev. July 10, 2006]

Music in Starling St. sounds like the wind
Down the cafe when the daylight has thinned
Harry and Dorothy say let's begin
You clap your hands for a jug of fine wine
The Church Discography
Two-legged Joe with his both ways bet stare
His house down the lane and the life he leads there
You notice he's gone and he just doesn't care
He claps his hands for a jug of fine wine

 

The Slow Crack - 2004 Reissue Bonus Tracks

This Asphalt Eden

I walk alone
This asphalt eden I must have outgrown
Just flesh and bone
No indication, no way to get home
Now feel their hands, and their demands
And understand the way that it could have been
The Church Discography
I remember myself as I wanted to be
When you walk past my cage I'm gonna set myself free
If it was obvious then, well it's just history
It's too late, it's too dark to see
The Church Discography
They speak their names
They still walk in fire and can't feel the flame
They stake their claims
But this place was taken before trespassers came
Now feel their hands, and their demands
And understand the way that it could have been
The Church Discography
If it was obvious then, well it's just history
It's too late, it's too dark to see

 

Never Come Back

Well I came to this land where the snow and the sand
Cover my footprints with ice
The cool gray sea calls me "come and be free"
And I almost take that advice
The Church Discography
And in the night I cling to the names
Of the women I wanted and the men that I blamed
And their scorn that scorches my tracks
One thing I know you can never come back
The Church Discography
Oh darling please meet me in the dark empty streets
Won't you bring me the things that I need
No one is waiting where she used to stand
Just the jagged thorns of the weed
The Church Discography
And in the day they drink their hot wine
And I long for the things that can never be mine
So your pretty clothes do not unpack
As plain as the day you can never come back

 

Shell

[rev. Dec. 28, 2006]

Hello sweet creature
Won't you give me some blood-like guarantee
I've been listening to myself too long
And they're making a prophet out of me
I'm as empty as a shell can ever be
The Church Discography
I've been walking through the desert
No, it must have been the library
Reading a book which once gave me hope
Now it's making a fool out of me
I'm as empty as a shell can ever be
The Church Discography
Lazy dreaming, half remembering
Half remarking to myself
Never noticed that the crowds were leaving
Never looked for anyone else
The Church Discography
Now it's market day almost any day
Yet they give away their love for free
I'm just waiting for a ship to come
And it's making a slave out of me
I'm as empty as a shell can ever be
The Church Discography
Lazy dreaming, half remembering
Half remarking to myself
Never noticed that the crowds were leaving
Never looked for anyone else
The Church Discography
Hello sweet creature
Won't you give me some blood-like guarantee
I've been listening to myself too long
The Church Discography
I've been walking through the desert
Must have been the library
The Church Discography
I've been walking through the desert....

Back to Lyrics Page

STEVE KILBEY
THE SLOW CRACK

TRANSACTION

FIREMAN

WOMAN WITH REASON

FAVOURITE PACK OF LIES

SOMETHING THAT MEANS SOMETHING

CONSIDER YOURSELF CONQUERED

LIKE A GHOST

ARIEL SINGS

A MINUTE WITHOUT YOU

SURREALIST WOMAN BLUES

SONG OF SOLOMON

STARLING ST.

THE SLOW CRACK 2004 REISSUE BONUS TRACKS

THIS ASPHALT EDEN

NEVER COME BACK

SHELL