The Ballad Of miniMATTHEW
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

ALWAYS AN EXIT

“I was afraid I was going to die and then I was afraid I wasn’t.”

CORMAC McCARTHY

Blood Meridian, 1985

_

I was forced to take sides you were begging for it

You said there’s no peace of mind I can’t ignore it

Show me some integrity and I’ll show you some respect

Never forget there’s always an exit

I’m a peaceful man you make me wanna riot

Your life’s a euphemism for disappointment

There is no job too dirty for a scientist

Never forget there’s always an exit

Breaking stones for sweat and sweat alone

Talking in headlines

Easier to read than a palindrome

This is a threat there’s always an exit

This is a threat there’s always an exit

This is a threat there’s always an exit

Never forget there’s always an exit



[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

EVEN BETWEEN BROTHERS

“There are things that have to be forgotten if you want to go on living.”

JIM THOMPSON

The Killer Inside Me, 1952

_

When I was a child I lost my hearing for a while

Well, I say a while, it was really a whole summer

Everyone asked why I kept the broadest smile

Well, I told a lie and secretly blamed my brother

Even between brothers

Evil is soon discovered

I’m so sorry I lied

What can I say in defense?

It’s up to you to decide culpability in revenge

But I guess we survived

Though not exactly friends

At least we can cleanse our history and make amends

We both watched the ocean evaporate

Our experience was the same

But the debris of the sea rubs against the coast in a million different ways

He got his own back with the very next attack

An unspoken pact to create the biggest bloodstain

I ended up in Borstal and though it wasn’t all that awful

Scrunch a blank piece of paper into a ball

And you’ll never straighten it out again

Even between brothers

Evil is soon discovered

I’m so sorry I lied

What can I say in defense?

It’s up to you to decide culpability in revenge

But I guess we survived

Though not exactly friends

At least we can cleanse our history and make amends Even between brothers

Evil is soon discovered

I’m so sorry I lied

What can I say in defense?

It’s up to you to decide culpability in revenge

But I guess we survived

Though not exactly friends

At least we can cleanse our history and make amends


[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

GRANT McLENNAN DIED ON MY BIRTHDAY

“Nothing can better a poet, for he is actuated by pure love.”

HENRY THOREAU

Walden, 1854

_

There’s racing cars on the boulevard

A 21 gun salute

People hiding behind bodyguards

In thousand pound lime green fitted suits

Flashbulbs popping

Traffic stopping

Photographers in pursuit

In the morning the sheets’ll need washing

A busy night for the prostitutes

I just don’t know what to say

Opinions are useless anyway

Grant McLennan died on my birthday

There’s film stars passing out in cars

Unknown and abused

Secrets sold and whispers harsh

Newspapermen typing up dubious reviews

Planes are leaving

Hoteliers grieving

Incomes risen are reduced

End of deceiving that seeing is believing

A hundred sips of freshly squeezed orange juice

I just don’t know what to say

Opinions are useless anyway

Grant McLennan died on my birthday

I just don’t know what to say

The world’s an ignorant and lonely place

Grant McLennan died on my birthday

Cheap holidays where everyone pays

Fancy free and footloose

A tragedy waiting to happen everyday

No one left to sing the blues

I just don’t know what to say

Opinions are useless anyway

Grant McLennan died on my birthday


[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

STAY SAFE

“The strongest guard is placed at the gateway to nothing.”

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

Tender Is The Night, 1934

_

Punch me in the face

Please don’t make me wait

For any longer or for something harder

Twist my broken arm

Back into shape again

The pain is sweeter as the wound gets deeper

These kind of thoughts abort the contact high

I entertain all sorts of thoughts about the cut of the sharpest knife

I’m in no doubt I will pay for this

I stay safe by looking dangerous

It doesn’t matter where I am or how late it is

Every smile that I put out helps to lay the bricks

Between me and the life that I want

Between me and the life that I lost

Do I sound too serious?

My whole life has been an out of body experience

And I’ve found the most dignified act

Is to defend your body against attack

But you’ve got to lose or the game goes on forever

Not knowing the rules makes you different

But It doesn’t make you clever

No, it doesn’t make you

Where there is a cause

An army always forms

I’m a little selfish and a lot insane

Yet, I claim the jail doors

Motivate me to break more laws

Truth comes in sleep not on the back of a bus seat

I read clothes were used to separate

It doesn’t even take that much these days to kill countries

I’m in no doubt I will pay for this

I stay safe by looking dangerous

It doesn’t matter where I am or how late it is

Every smile that I put out helps to lay the bricks

Between me and the life that I want

Between me and the life that I lost


[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

CLEOPATRA AND ME

“Deprived of the past, the moment - the present - has little meaning, if any.”

PHILIP K. DICK

Now Wait For Last Year, 1963

_

Do you remember what you said about your Mother?

You said that she would murder you

Cut you, that’s why you’re scared of her

It’s circumstantial, doesn’t help us to unravel

Why you ruled us with a pencil

Swiveled us to metrosexual

You got too lazy to bother with sex

And I’ve got to know what’s gonna go next?

Cleopatra and me

Broke the family

She drank the wine and I’m left to clear up the mess

Dry clean her favourite dress

Close the eyes of this butterfly

What was the point you never told us what you wanted

You’re no idiot-savant

It went right past us like a comet

A simple remedy, I know you like the medicine

So run the bath like a coffin

And pour yourself a pint of gin

You got too fat to turn me on

I pinpoint the drink where I think you went wrong

Cleopatra and me

Broke the family

She drank the wine and I’m left to clear up the mess

Dry clean her favourite dress

Close the eyes of this butterfly

But still we made it from the bottom to the playlists

You can’t beg or steal or trade it

Why’d you bother it’s you favourite?

Let’s start a country, eat pig until we’re dumpy

The Queen’s not fat she’s frumpy

If you don’t like it then dump me

You got too lazy to command the town

And the jealousy threatens me now

Cleopatra and me

Broke the family

She drank the wine and I’m left to clear up the mess

Dry clean her favourite dress

Close the eyes of this butterfly


[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

I BELIEVE IN ROCK AND ROLL

“The wisdom of peasants shows itself in their ability to pretend they are fools.”

SHUSAKU ENDO

Silence, 1967

_

People can find solace in the strangest places

Some find it in being honest others find it in dropping H’s

On occasion I’ve found it in spending time alone

Going in and out of shops to look at records I already own

I’m not embarrassed to say

I depend on the electricity

Stand up

Be Proud

When the music gets too loud

Shout out to let them know

I believe in Rock and Roll

All my friends have either turned off or they’ve moved on

While I’m still here my life’s too short to ever consider having children

I’m never lonesome ‘cos the saintly and the righteous are legion

Who needs friends anyway when you’ve got this kind of religion

I’m not embarrassed to say

It makes me feel more alive everyday

Stand up

Be Proud

When the music gets too loud

Shout out to let them know

I believe in Rock and Roll

Stand up

Be Proud

When the music gets too loud

Shout out to let them know

I believe in Rock and Roll

I can find serenity at almost anytime

It keeps me sane at work even though I know I’m wasting my whole life

It’s only when the batteries die I’m left in the lurch

Just replace them and communion starts again back in the church

I’m not embarrassed to say

I depend on the electricity

Stand up

Be Proud

When the music gets too loud

Shout out to let them know

I believe in Rock and Roll

Stand up

Be Proud

When the music gets too loud

Shout out to let them know

I believe in Rock and Roll


[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

BECOMING MORE LIKE THE MOVIES

“The days no longer brought peace but ugliness.”

JOHN FANTE

The Brotherhood Of The Grape, 1977

_

More and more things are becoming like the movies

I don’t think you’d really react like this

If you hadn’t seen over a thousand movies

500 sweat-less sex scenes, it’s unrealistic

My life is more like the secret light under the door

What’s inside you’ll only find by putting your eyes against the floor

More and more things are becoming like the movies

I don’t think I’d really react like this

You can cry for me as though you’re just watching the movies

But you can’t turn off the TV and think it’s finished

This is our life and I’m gonna fight

Hold on tight and try to endure

No matter what you do to try and devalue

I can stare at the moon knowing I’m pure

It’s alright for the moment

It’s alright for today

They don’t always get it right

But then who does and who’s to say?

Lives are messy it’s our attempts

To keep them neat and tidy

That will knock them out of shape

And then create real misery

More and more things are becoming like the movies

And we’re forced to compete with ghosts on cliffs

Make up on perfect skin only happens in the movies

Where blood money’s too easy so we’re left with this

It’s alright for the moment

It’s alright for today

They don’t always get it right

But then who does and who’s to blame?

Lives are messy it’s our attempts

To keep them neat and tidy

That will knock them out of shape

And then create real misery


[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

THAT’S ENOUGH FOR ME

“The loveliest melody in the world becomes unbearably vulgar once the public start humming it.”

JORIS-KARL HUYSMANS

Against Nature, 1884

_

I know you won’t believe me but I sailed the Titanic

I saw the iceberg coming but no reason to panic

I jumped from the bow to the freezing sea

And as I went down I thought, “That’s enough for me”

I grew to know a girl well enough to presume that she was joking

When she said she only had an abortion ‘cos she didn’t want to give up smoking

I took off my skid-lid for her to see

If this is her idea of fun it’s too much for me

I can take almost everything that’s thrown

But for goodness sake, my pocket’s are full up with stones

Years before I gained notoriety for suggesting an election

I think I misjudged the public mood, funerals spark insurrection

From the opening shot and the first scream

My hands went up, I said, “That’s enough for me”

I’d been in trouble once before on a warm night at the local fairground

What she could see through broken glasses would have embarrassed a hellhound

She twisted from my grasp to get herself free

Saying, “Leave me alone and get your fucking hands off me!”

What I’ve read was unimportant

What I’m reading is

I never put my finger on it

It’s will-o’-the-wisp

I looked back on my life when I was young

Already ashamed of the things that I had done

To think I thought the house was enticing when I stood out in the cold

It never occurred to me it was the curtains which were red and not the bulb

I knocked on the door times 1, 2 and 3

Then I turned around saying, “That’s enough for me”

As punishment I had to endure another boozy lap-dance

It started quietly I wasn’t sure until she fell on my like an avalanche

Wrapped in her feather boa I couldn’t breathe

Or say the words, “That’s enough for me”

No, really, “That’s enough for me”

Seriously, “That’s enough for me”

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

CONTENDERS

“Life is my luxury, imagination is my wealth.”

WOLFGANG FLUR

I Was A Robot, 2000

_

We were contenders for a while

But my smile has never been in fashion or in style

They’ll trade you in for cheaper meat

This defeat is cushioned by it’s taste so sweet

And they all say if I go away

No one will care or even throw a wave

And they may be right

Yes, they may be right

But I tried

We were contenders but we failed

The ship sailed and I’m forced to question my place in this world

I would have done the things I should

If I could, but rejection is my only way forward

Don’t mistake my activity for aspiration

And I won’t confuse your bashfulness for brains

And they all say if I go away

No one will care or even throw a wave

And they may be right

Yes, they may be right

But I tried