KALEIDOSCOPE

 

Kaleidoscope

1980

 

- Happy House

- Tenant

- Trophy

- Hybrid

- Clockface

- Lunar Camel

- Christine

- Desert Kisses

- Red Light

- Paradise Place

- Skin

 

Happy House

This is the happy house -- we're happy here
In the happy house -- oh it's such fun
We've come to play in the happy house
And waste a day in the happy house
It never rains

We've come to scream in the happy house
We're in a dream in the happy house
We're all quite sane
This is the happy house -- we're happy here 

There's room for you if you say "I do"
But don't say no or you'll have to go
We've done no wrong with our blinkers on
It's safe and calm if you sing along
This is the happy house -- we're happy here in the happy house
To forget ourselves -- and pretend all's well
There is no hell

 

Tenant

Squatting on doorsteps -- following footsteps
Nocturnal habits are surveyed with interest
So we crawl into corners -- ignore any callers
And imagine our radiators clang for our neighbours 

When we crawl on all fours -- upon the cushioned floor
Still they cling to the walls and knock on our doors
And the tendency for tenants is tenacity 

The paint is cracked -- and the paper peels
The plaster falls and a body reels... softly 

Forty watt bulb swing from a light cloud
On lawnmower groan, the carpet has grown
But they have eyes at the keyholes and ears at the walls
And the tendency for tenants is secrecy... ssssssh

 

Trophy

Headhunters, headshrinkers, and long distance runners
Dust gathers on mementos -- Dust gathers on proud moments
Young voices grow thick and old
The cheers are distant wearing thin 

Take it to the wall
To be hung on the wall, to be viewed by all
A tribute in the grand hall 

Yes they're locked away or polished every day
For the maintenance man -- in the back of a van
Oh young voices grow thick and old
The cheers are distant wearing thin 

Take it to the wall
To be hung on the wall, to be viewed by all
A tribute in the grand hall 

Bring yourselves out from your showcase parties
But you've been shut away too long
You've been shut away too long
Frightened faces in the rain
Misplaced features lost down the drain
Oh wash away and start again 

Take it to the wall
To be hung on the wall, to be viewed by all
A tribute in the grand hall

 

Hybrid

It's a hybrid of me -- I'm a hybrid of he
You're a misfit of me -- I'm a misfit of you... in limbo 

Carbon copies run blue -- a reminder for you
But they're only skin deep crumpled shells in a heap
Marked cheap 

Surrogate heads of a no-no domain
Shoulders form rows to make waves again
Catch the next plane
When you walked through the door marked "enter if you dare"
Reasoned with a friend marked "do not bend"
Bit on that finger marked "handle with care" 

A tear soiled your cheek -- a broken finger on the floor
A mess in sawdust -- a shop window burst... no repairs 

It's a hybrid of me -- I'm a hybrid of he
You're a misfit for me -- I'm a misfit for you
In limbo... do you speak the lingo?

 

Lunar Camel

Chasing a monsoon over the dune
Oh fly me to the moon, get me there soon
I don't have to prove I'll last longer than you
One hump or two, any handicap will do against you 

I'll be there soon -- over the moon
I'll be there soon -- over the moon

Chasing a monsoon over the dune
Oh fly me to the moon, get me there soon

 

Christine

She tries not to shatter, Kaleidoscope style
Personality changes behind her red smile
Every new problem brings a stranger inside
Helplessly forcing one more new disguise

Christine - the strawberry girl
Christine - banana split lady

Singing sweet savages lost in our world
This big-eyed girl sees her faces unfurl
Now she's in purple now she's a turtle
Disintegrating

Christine - the strawberry girl
Christine - banana split lady

22 faces...

 

 

Desert Kisses

Desert kisses in the sand
Engulfing joints, engulfing land
Tidal fingers cling to rocks
A deadly grip, a deadly lock 

Cursed and pissed into the ocean
Willfully caused a great commotion
But only for a stifled moment
Then it was back to still life motion 

A sideways crawl, a sideways scrawl
The cancer crab is on us all
I kissed your face, I kissed the sand
I heard you sigh, there was no sound 

Thrashed and spat back at the ocean
But there was nothing, no commotion
Just my lonely, stupid notions
Trapped again in still life motion 

Sinking down -- with just my sound
Sinking down -- running on the moving ground
Sinking down
Sinking down -- without a sound
Sinking down -- sleeping on the moving ground
Sinking down

Desert kisses in the sand
Engulfing joints, engulfing land
Tidal fingers cling to rock
A deadly grip, a deadly lock 

Sinking down -- the world is round
Sinking down -- there's no-one around
Standing on the moving ground
Sinking down -- the world is flat
There's no-one here to question that
Sinking down -- without a sound
Sinking down
Sinking down -- the world was round
There was no-one around
Sinking down...

 

Red Light

She falls into frame
With a professional pout
But the Polaroid's ignite
Upon seeing their subject
And the aperture shuts
Too much exposure

Voyeur sucks into focus
Floodlit the glossy kiss-pit
But as emulsion drips down
The aperture shuts
Too much exposure

Come into this room
Come into this gloom
See the red light rinsing
Another shutterslut wincing
The sagging half wit sister
Pretty, pretty picture
Of an ancient nipple shrinking
That kodakwhore winking
'Til the aperture shuts

Too much exposure

 

Paradise Place

Look to the hills -- now look at my face
Do you notice my eyes -- are they in the right place?

There's a Mantovani backdrop -- to pucker-up a tummy tuck
A voice soft as lint -- mashed up with shades of pink

You can hide your genetics under drastic cosmetics
But this chameleon magic is renowned to be tragic

Look to the hills -- now look at my face
do you notice my eyes -- are they in the right place?

 

Skin

Mink, seal and ermine smother fat women
I have a noble cause for skin -- there's just too many of them
The only necessary cull -- curse the brain inside it's skull
Just a bitch in the manger to the balances of nature 

Cover me with skin and accuse me of sin
But you know what I mean
There's just too many of them
Give me your skin for dancing in 

Hairless and streamline -- fits like my own skin
Tattooed and sun-dyed -- it's warm and it's human
There was too many of them -- the animals like them
Shame about the smell but they're fine seeped in perfume