Based on “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield
Daddy, dear, let’s have a garden party, please
We’ll have cricket, cake and tea
On the lawn by the secret garden wall
Grand marquee, we’ll have it all
So they danced to a band in uniform
So entranced by the magic and the wonder of it all
Oh so oblivious
The clock chimes and the second hand turns minutes into hours
Down the lane they could hear the sweet refrain
But it failed to stop the tears
A man had died
Thrown from his horse as it had shied
from a traction engine fright
Widow cried
With a family of five who would provide?
Now it was nearly time to pay the rent
What would become of them?
The clock chimes and the second hand turns minutes into hours
Into days,
and years pass away
Based on “The Saint” by V.S. Pritchett
Stood afloat on a punted river boat
Underneath the hanging willow tree
A mortal man betrayed by gravity
Overboard he is clutching onto straws.
Out of touch. Out of touch with nature’s laws
The secrets of a saint are revealed
Don’t let them see
A serpent lives inside of me
Don’t let them be.
The truth is better left unseen.
Are you out or are you in?
You must swear allegiance
Drink some of this party gin
It will test your credence
But don’t let the day’s emotions rise to the surface here
Don’t you blink or roll your eyes
Just control your heart cause the water’s cold
And it’s deep and dark
How will you survive holding to thin ice?
Are you so certain that help will arrive?
Anyone out on the streets is surely on the fringes
Hidden by the tall concrete
Dodging pointing fingers.
And now that the night has fallen here in this world of fear
Inner synced to double think
And control your heart cause the water’s cold.
And it’s deep and dark
Sinking like a stone You are all alone
Are you so certain that you will survive?
And control your heart.
Down the periscope
Clear and seal the hatch
Down below the waves, silently attack
All of our thoughts are with those on dry land
Time to put your heart in the mountain side
Deep below the ground
Time to seal the doors
Purify all floors
Notify all this is not just a drill
All aboard was the call.
Ship sails tonight
No one can find you on that ocean
So big, so deep, so far, so wide
So you drift on the wind and the waves for miles
Time to check the compass
Calculate the charts
Check the readings on the dials
In the distance see that bright star fall
Bright star falling
Bright star calling
On the bridge at the wheel do you feel in control?
See if you looked below the surface, you’d realize that ship was full of holes
See you’ve been taken in water now drip by drop
You are listing toward starboard
Was it dash dot dash or dot dash dot?
You can’t remember
To the rescue, see that bright star fall.
Here for you
Ready or not
Bright star falling
Bright star calling
Now you’ve found that the engines and the power are gone
There is no one left to tell you where it all went wrong
Now the water is rushing in around your feet
Still don’t send a mayday
No signal of distress, no emergency
In the distance see that bright star fall
Fallen leaves on the pavement down below
Soon to be undercover of the snow
They were bringers of light into their world
Cast aside here they lie and wilt and curl
Till they are blown away
You can’t believe it
Put your fist right through the wall
What if things were different, you weren’t spinning in free fall?
But they’re the only cards you hold right now
Take them with you as you travel south
See they’re the only cards you hold right now
Take them with you as you travel south
Re-distribute
Circle lies unbroken
Read this tribune
Confidence unspoken
Quench your thirst to stop the pain
Pay the man to make it rain
Punches thrown into the dark
Murky water, hungry sharks
One more down the water hole
Shiny teeth just freed your soul
Re-distribute
Circle lies unbroken
Read this tribune
Confidence unspoken
Withered hands and shattered knees
Spinning wheel and pressured steam
See an end to wages rise
Robotize production lines
Fire Wire and USB
Crumbling towers of industry
Circle lies unbroken
Confidence unspoken
No regard, stone, wood or straw
Wolves still waiting by the door
Mouth is full of sharpened steel
Going to make those piggies squeal
Demon? Vampire? Holy Ghost?
Something’s got you by the throat
Circle lies unbroken
Confidence unspoken
Oh, Great Market, honor Thee
We still worship at your feet
The twistory of empires grand
Guided by an unseen hand
Ownership or to be owned?
Blood is caste, can’t break the mold
When sugar, shackles, cotton trees are the foundation of the free
Narrator: Pulled into the crescent drive. Black Limousine.
Butler: Oh, Sir, what a nice surprise. How long has it been?
The Slithering Committee of Excessive Praise: Well we’re honored here to have you.
Your guests await to greet you.
Primed Minister: Gentlemen, we must address the issue at hand.
Dice to roll and cards to fall in far away lands.
General Conglomerate of Awfulness: Well, we’re glad you feel as we do.
We must proceed. It’s our move.
General Pullover: Pass word to command. Alert for the Air, Sea and Land.
Admiral Belligerence: You’ll be fighting savages. Boys take my word.
Primed Minister: Hungry children’s mouths to feed are not your concern.
Minister for the Justification of the Unjustifiable: See their self determination
has undermined relations.
General Consensus: Password to command. All go for the Air, Sea and Land.
Admiral Belligerence: Take no prisoners. Don’t let them see the sunrise in the morning.
Ruffle the Rump. Blast of the Air
Fixed with a do-anything stare
Everything you want is just out of reach
Every time you fight it ends in defeat
Oh, why can’t we see? Cards are changing constantly
If zoid is not coid everything’s void
All that you know has been destroyed
Hope is standing there in front of your eyes
Desperation makes you give in and try
Oh, why can’t we see? Cards are changing constantly
Oh, how could we know? Open doors so quickly close
Everything’s glass, but glass is not glass
Knock down the walls, dig up the path
Memory is at the root of the pain
Drink this potion and we’ll take it away
Oh, why can’t we see? Cards are changing constantly
Oh, how could we know? Open doors so quickly close
Constantly we try
Turn the key Access denied
Based on “The Phoenix” by Sylvia Townsend Warner and “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe
A noble lord of strawberry had built an aviary
To make a myth and legend true, he traveled to the East
After he died, who would preside over the Bird of Fire?
A phony wizen wonder man
No one could outbid higher
Constantly burning The Sun gives us heat day to day
Whilst it is turning The Earth holds us on to the clay
When without warning it stops and it throws you away
Mountains to dust and a phoenix ascends from the flames
A noble prince of royalty in castle quarantine
His subject servants by his side
They pander to his needs
And in the halls of decadence, cavorting and alive
The prince will stand in disbelief
The red death has arrived
Constantly burning The Sun gives us heat day to day
Whilst it is turning The Earth holds us on to the clay
When without warning it stops and it throws you away
Man turns to dust and the phoenix ascends from the flames
A boy stands on the promised land
Beside a hilltop house
His heart’s desire holds out her hand
The valley bells ring loud
A girl is told to not grow old without a place to call home
Stay with your kind and you could find vast riches of your own
The air has changed
Will it ever be the same?
Like the last time I saw your face
The lights were so bright that we couldn’t go outside
Had to keep it all on the inside
What if their worlds were able to succeed?
And if words were able to appease?
Words and harmony
Too much to lose
A man is told to hit the road and leave his house and home
His family now is torn apart
His Story won’t be told
Two leaders preach freedom and peace
An act they shall renege
For if they put and end to this, then who will buy grenades?
If you knew the truth would you change your mind?
If you could see the future would you change the way you live your life?
A hundred steps ahead of any given lie
Would you make a difference? Would you even try?
Now you lie awake
Why do you refuse to dream?
Where will you run?
Down to the water’s edge?
The ocean’s roar is drowned now by the bleating drone
of the living dead.
No strength to swim, no boat to float, no ray of hope
Now that you can hear, now that you can see, this nightmare called reality!
How many lifelines?
How many lifetimes?
From underground
They walked right in to town
To assimilate and infiltrate
And create a hybrid human race
A whole army of unwitting slaves
Nailed down
Are you trapped inside a box?
If you are I think you’re out of luck
Please don’t ask, How could they take more?
See, they must re-pave their swimming pools, their tennis courts
With a word
They speak with no reserve
Can you believe what you just heard?
When the money trickles down it’s plain to see
You don’t mean anything
The clock chimes and the second hand turns minutes into hours
Into days
And years pass away
