KEVIN COYNE LYRICS

KEVIN COYNE LYRICS - R

Rabbits (poem) (Kevin Coyne - 1969-70) (LET'S DO IT)

Curses fall on the underground rabbits with white fluff inside their ears.Let them wilt and loose fur and sniff and chew with their yellow front teeth and the cages they've built for themselves. I want them to stand for ever admist the cherry trees, neglected and fighting off the rapidly growing vines. Don't ever let them rest. Rabbits are gutless followers of any sick smell or idea. They don't deserve the freedom of the open fields or the taste of the wild fruit that grows in the long grass. Rabbits, black and white, grey and white, light brown with speckled ears that cut out the sound. Only good for stews and salads. Only good for eating crisp letuce leaves. Only stupid rabbits.

I can see the field in front of the empty manor house. I can see the huge patches of nestles, the prickly thorns hiding in the clumps of tender young grass. Can you hear the voices? Can you see the summer shirts of the boys playing football under the trees? I don't like the trees. They're too big and ugly. Nobly and angry with age. There's a small brook running, full of smooth round stones by the neglected flower beds. Have you ever thrown stones in that brook? The gardener's hut is falling down. The soft old boards are sinking into the soil. Can you see the rusty lawn mower?

Boys. You know I was once a boy. I was a bully, carrying marbles in a leather pouch. The boys laugh and I know they don't believe me. Of course I was once a boy. And I bet the barns are still full of ?? waiting for oversize apple pies. I remember the old man with the thin grey moustache who used to guard the apples. I remember his voice. I remember the crooked stick he used to carry. Boys. I was once a boy.

Rabbits jumping all over the garden. Rabbits eating and watching, rabbits running away from the dogs. Rabbits are frightened of everything. Frightened of frogs and newts. Frightened of the wind if it blows too hard. You're a rabbit, aren't you?

The big red ball sails over the fence. The game of football is over because the ball has gone into the garden of an unfriendly man. A man who cuts all balls in half. Why doesn't someone try to get the ball back?

A rabbit with a broken leg hopping across the lawn. A black cat watches the rabbit. The rabbit can see the cat but it is too slow to escape. The cat catches the rabbit and kills it. The door opens and a man comes out. He shouts at the cat. The cat runs through a hole in the fence with the dead rabbit. The man has big ears like a rabbit. He has a small twiching nose. The rabbit was his child's pet.

Rabbits everywhere. Demanding rabbit food and rabbit sounds. We're in a world of rabbits. A world of hop and skip. My neighbours are rabbits. They have short city tails and neat white paws. Everyday I hear rabbit radio and watch rabbit television. And there's a shortage of grass in the world. All the rabbits are eating it. Rabbits never plan for the future.

It's dark. The man creeps into his garden to pick up the big red ball. He takes it into the house and stands it on the kitchen table. His wife ramages in the ?? and brings out a carving knife. The man carefuly cuts the ball in half. He throws the two pieces into a large cardboard box under the kitchen sink. The man laughs loudly. His wife claps her paws.

The rabbits. The gentle creatures were abandonning the underground to take over the world. I refuse to become a rabbit. I refuse to grow a tail and fill my ears with fluff. Why should I live in cage and watche the world through a wire grill? The fields of my youth are crammed with chewing chumping rabbits. The angry old gardener is swallowing his roses.

The future grows clear in my head. It's a bold earth future without greenery. Already our houses are getting smaller. Tall french windows are being replacde by small mesh-filled holes. Their smell is everywhere. I'm planning to escape to the jungle. Perhaps to the desert, to a place where rabbits can't live. Our children haven't got a chance. They're born meak and mild now. Sniffing nervously at the world.

Tonight the rabbits are eating. I can hear their smily chewing outside my window. Rabbits always eat together. They eat in crowds with their tails all erect. Tonight, I plan to escape. Tonight, I plan to leave the warm smell of fur behind for ever. I want to remain a man. I want to fight off my enemies and keep myself clean. I don't want to become a pet.

My case is packed. It's midnight. All the rabbits are asleep. I take a last look at my home and leave. I will never return. The night is thick with their smell. Their ramshackle hutches crouch like hunchbacks at the roadside. Silence almost speaks. The world is in total darkness. I don't belong to this rabbit world. I'm not sure where I belong. But I don't belong to this rabbit world.

Radio (Hans Pukke/Kevin Coyne - 1988) (EVERYBODY'S NAKED)

Hey honey there's a man in the moon singing you a silly tune

He'll be talking, talking soon, turn your radio on

Here's the sun up in the sky, it's like a ball of fire

You can see it flying high, turn your radio on

Chorus: Turn it on (nine times), turn it up, turn it on

Turn it on (nine times), tum it up, turn it on.

Everyone in the city tonight, they're smiling, smiling bright

They can hear, hear the light, turn your radio on

There's hope and there is joy for every girl, every boy, hi hi hi foy loy, turn your radio on

Chorus

Getting dizzy with the feeling, feeling, feeling x2

In the jungle hear them loud baboons, monkeys, a happy crowd

What a little happy crowd, turn your radio on

You can hear the lions roar, you can see heavens door

You can see the golden floor, turn your radio on,

Chorus ad lib

Rainbow Curve (Kevin Coyne - 1977) (BEAUTIFUL EXTREMES)

Down at the Rainbow Curve, men in overalls were fighting their wives, fighting and wrestling.

Some of them used knives, plasticine molded knives made out of coal dust.

I, an aspirant man of property, watched their doings and sayings and said:

This is nothing. You see that strangled me, I couldn't see what they'd seen, what they known although I know and I knew all the time.

Down at the Rainbow Curve, there were dresses made out of silk, cheap and awful like goldfish in a bowl, eyes that didn't mean a thing, burning flames of fury beneath sausages in the pan, eyes that said to me: Prove to me that you're a man.

And I didn't know nothing, no, oh, I'll put on my other voice and complain:

You don't know me, no no you never knew me, you never knew part or find out my name.

But I was right and you were wrong so I suppose we just carry on

Appreciating other each other from a distance now

You like anything I like nothing now

Get back into your hole where you come from. That's what they say to me.

Get back into your hole where you come from. But no so explicitly

Raindrops on the River (John Pigeon/Kevin Coyne - 1984) (LEGLESS IN MANILLA)

When you lose your mind, friends get hard to find

Harder to trust, running out of hope

Getting hard to cope (x2)

Dreams turn to dust, there's not an end in sight

You're looking without a light (x2)

Chorus: It's just a raindrop on the river

It's just a wave out on the sea

Like a dark cloud that's drifting in the sky

When it's gone, it won't mean a thing to me, a thing to me

When you're feeling low, it's so hard to know

What's wrong or right, wishing you were dead

Going off your head

Losing the fight (x2)

There's nothing else to do but hold on and see it through (x2)

Chorus

Raindrops on the Window (Hans Pukke/Kevin Coyne - 1991) (WILD TIGER LOVE)

Raindrops on the window, kids toys on the floor, got a funny awful feeling, can't pay these bills no more

Landlady's knocking, crashing on the door, it's a sad sad feeling when you always will be poor

Chorus: In a few short minutes you're going to pour me a glass of wine, going to put your arms around my shoulder, tell me everything's going work out fine, just fine

Raindrops on the window, kids toys on the floor, got a funny awful feeling, can't pay these bills no more

Run over to the window, let's tear these curtains down, maybe the sun is shining, there's love always around (in here)

Chorus - Solo - Chorus (x2)

Raindrops on the window, kids toys on the floor, got a funny awful feeling, can't pay these bills no more

Landlady's knocking, crashing on the door, it's a sad sad feeling when you can't pay these bills no more

Raindrops on the window, kids toys on the floor

Rambling Germany Blues (Kevin Coyne - 1979) (ARCHIVES )

Talk about Munich, talk about Berlin, talk about the cities, the cities of sin

Talk about me, talk about you, don't you touch me with your wire, that's not the thing to do

Talk about Dusseldorf, talk about Eichendorff, talk about Regensburg, talk about a big iceberg

Don't you touch me with your, with your wire, just you touch me with your teutonic fire

When we spoke yesterday we were lovers, you undressed in front of me like a brother

You said I never worked for a living at all, you said I should go and view the Berlin wall

You said my sense of history was corrupt, I had a missing value, a missing duct

You had me screaming in my last nightmare, the worst thing you said was I didn't care

Talk about Dachau, talk about Auschwitz, talk about anything but don't talk about the truth

Talk about where you are, talk about what was not, the truth remains and I give it all I've got

You said I didn't know anything at all, my father was dead and it was all to do with the war

I told you I don't mind but please leave me alone, I've got a good memory and my memory is my own

I've got a good memory and my memory is my own

Is that my memory calling back to me? Is that my memory or is it my father's memory? You know you could be right

Ready for Love (Hans Pukke/Kevin Coyne - 1990) (ROMANCE ROMANCE )

Alleluia, gonna get through to you

Oh I'm so proud of you, ready for love

Alleluia, honey will this do you?

Oh I'm so proud of you, ready for love

Alleluia, gonna get through to you

honey will this do you, ready for love

Weary and willing and evil too

This kisses I just can't miss

Honey, will it do for you?

Weary and willing and evil too

This kisses I just can't miss

Honey, will it do for you?

Alleluia, gonna be true to you

honey will this do you, ready for love

Alleluia, gonna get through to you

Honey I'm so proud of you, ready for love

?? and willing and evil too

This kisses I just can't miss

Honey will it do for you?

Weary and willing and evil too

This kisses I just can't miss

Honey will it do for you?

Alleluia, gonna get right through you

Gonna get down to you, ready for love

Alleluia, honey will this do you?

Gonna be true to you, ready for love

Weary and willing and evil too

This kisses I just can't miss

Honey, will it do for you?

Weary and willing and evil too

This kisses I just can't miss

Honey, will it do for you?

Alleluia, gonna get right through you

Cause I'm so proud of you, ready for love

Alleluia, honey will this do you?

Gonna be true to you, ready for love

Alleluia, gonna get down to you

Alleluia, gonna get down with you, ready for love

Alleluia, I'm feeling (...)

Really in Love (Henry Beck/Kevin Coyne - 1993) (TOUGH AND SWEET)

Don't you know that the world is wise when I look in your eyes, heavens's gate is open so wide (x2)

Don 't you know of the joy you bring, makes my heart sing, Hallelujah, I'm really in love

Don't you know that I love you (x2)

(Repeat everything three times)

I really love you (x3)

I'm really in love (x3)

Redlight (poem) (Kevin Coyne - 1992) (BURNING HEAD)

Barracuda face in some astronomical bar across the way, looking at me. Cheese teeth too, lips smeared pink, yellow open hole shouting "Give us a kiss!". I'm just a baby here, tauty hands, tauty tapping feet, waiting for the knife, angling for danger. "Why this?" asks a friend, sipping coffee, print perfect, just a little self-righteous. No reply. Why state the plainly obvious. I like it; I hate it. A clear view of hell is necessary sometimes. And anyway, ugliness is sublime, most of the time, if you listen to mad old God

Reggie in a Chicken World (Kevin Coyne - 1975) (POLYTECHNIC)

(sorry, sound is really too bad for that one...)

Relaxing With Bonnie Lou (Kevin Coyne/Nick Cudworth - 1971) (STRANGE LOCOMOTION)

Well I've got the fire, I've got the home

My girl's near me, I'm never alone

She's so nice and she knows just what to do, what to do

Oh I love you girl, I love you girl

Come here baby, you're out of this world

You're my girl

I'm relaxing with Bonnie Lou, oh yeah

When I get home, I'm tired and full of woe

She follows me wherever I go

Pat my hair, makes me sit on down, sit on down

Oh come here baby once again

I want to love you since I don't know when

I'm relaxing, relaxing, I'm relaxing with Bonnie Lou, oh yeah

Bonnie Lou she's a cutie though she's fat and old

I love her, she loves me

My girl's never cold

Come here baby, oh show me what you can do

I've got my beady eyes on you

I want to relax, I want to relax with my Bonnie Lou

Well Bonnie Lou she's a cutie though she's fat and old

I love her, she loves me

My girl's never cold

So come here baby, show me what you can do

I've got my beady eyes on you

I'm waiting here, waiting for you to open the door

Yes I love her, she loves me

She knows, she knows what to do

I'm relaxing, relaxing, with my Bonnie Lou, oh yeah

Relaxing, with my Bonnie Lou

She knows just what to do

When I come home she's there

She knows how to care

Bonnie Lou, my Bonnie Lou (x2)

Right in Hand (Kevin Coyne - 1974) (BEAUTIFUL EXTREMES) (see also One Fine Day)

I've seen you standing in the pouring rain

Your face all red and tear stained

Somebody told me to let you go

Drive you out into the wind and snow

But don't you worry cause I'll always love you so

Don't you worry cause they'll never make me go no they won't.

And one fine day the sun will shine

And the world will be yours and mine

Everything will go as planned

Don't you know the matter's right here in hand.

I love you but they tell me to stop

Pointing fingers at the village shop

Old crones with wagging tongues, they moan, and more

Soon they'll be sending policemen to my door

Don't you worry cause I love you more and more

No matter what they say now

Don't you worry cause I love you more and more, darling

And one fine day the sun will shine Oh and the world will be yours and mine yes

Everything will go as planned The matter's here and it's right, right in the palm, the palm of my hand.

I tell them but they never listen to me

But I don't listen and they know they can't see

Gonna chase you, gonna chase you, gonna bring you down

I don't mean I'm gonna hurt you but you know I'll always be around

Locked in tight and barred, you're homeward bound

Firmly in mind, yes, you're homeward bound

Come home with me

Right On Her Side (Kevin Coyne - 1974) (BLAME IT ON THE NIGHT)

Well she's got a furry hat

And she's got a funny cat

And she leaves notes on the door

And she's always got clean floors

Yes she's got right on her side

Well she's got right on her side

Well the neighbours never say

That she has a busy day

But she keeps herself to herself

And she don't want nobody else

Cause she's got right on her side

Yes she's got right on her side

Well she's got right on her side (x2)

Well she always says her prayers

And she always dusts the chairs

And she never poses bare

In front of windows that are there

'Cos she's got right right upon her side

Yes she's got right on her side

Well she's got the right on her side

And she cooks her little meals

And she never ever squeals

And you never see the weals

Of the life scars that never heal

Andshe's got life on her side (x2)

Oh she's got life and light right on her side

Oh she's got life and right right on her side, oh she has yeah

Well she's never ever rude

And she's never ever crude

She's never been known to swear

What would she do if a man was there?

She'd still have right right on her side

Well she'd have right on her side

Well this lonely little lady

Well I think we'll call her Mabel

But I do not know her name

Is she lonely

Or is it just me, am I saying

She's got right on her side

She's got right upon her side

Well she's got right right on her side

River Of Sin (Kevin Coyne - 1974) (BLAME IT ON THE NIGHT)

River of sin, the river of sin

You be careful - don't fall in

Yellow and dirty and the surface is dim

Black as coal right to the rim

Yes the river of sin

The river of sin

Don't fall right into the river of sin

I'll leave you but I'll be back again

A long long tale to tell you but I don't know when

Mascara'd eyes sparkling like the dew

I am one of that poxy crew, a sailor

Sailor

The river of sin

I'm falling right in

I'm sinking down in the river of sin

I'm sinking

The river of sin

I'm falling in

Falling right back in the river of sin

Acorns growing up on a tree

Green pastures but they're not for me

Quiet river and it's all so wide

Health and perfection on the other side

It's the river of sin (x3)

It's it's it's the river of sin

So relax and enjoy it al

Before you go before you fall

Noises noises in my ears

Too many wines and too many beers

Rivers of Blood* (Kevin Coyne - 1978) (PEEL SESSIONS )

Travelling to Munich on a train

Wasted faces in the rain

Boxes of light with photographs

Uniformed figures standing staring, not one of them laughs

What did you do in the war, Daddy? What did you do, what did you do?

I did my duty, son. That's why I expect of you, expect of you

I don't want no more, don't want no more, don't want to see no more rivers of blood

Children ?? marching up the Wandsworth Road

Their arms up raisd in little salutes

Their fathers approving, they're smiling on

Saying, "Well done, well done, give them son!"

What did you do in the war, Daddy? What did you do, what did you do?

What did you do in the war? Son, I expect, expect the same of you

No more, no more, no more rivers of blood

Give the children a chance (x2), give us all a chance

We can dance (x5) no no

No more, no more, no more rivers of blood

* read interesting comments about this song by members of the Kevin Coyne Group

Rockin' on (Kevin Coyne - 1982) PUMERENT

Rockin' on, rockin' on, rockin ??

Moving on, moving out, doing the best I can

I feel good, I feel good, never felt better before

I feel so high I can fly, see me leave the floor

See me leave the floor

We're rockin' on, rockin' on, feeling like we did before

Moving out, moving on, feet don't touch the floor

I feel high in the sky, I can't say it no more

What do I know, here I go, I can't say no more

I can't say no more

Rockin' on, rockin' on, rockin ??

Moving out moving on, doing the best I can

I feel good, I feel good, never felt better you know

I feel high, touch the sky, feel that golden glow, feel that golden glow

Rockin' on, rockin' on, rockin ??

Moving out moving on, doing the best I can

I feel good, I feel good, never felt better before

My feet feel high, feel the sky, my feet don't touch the floor, my feet don't touch the floor

Rock 'n' Roll Hymn (Kevin Coyne/Archie Leggett/Tim Penn - 1975) (MATCHING HEAD AND FEET)

Let the kids rock 'n' roll down to their baby souls

I hope they never get cold, I hope they never become old

Now old men and business men, they're starting to learn

Hey rock 'n' roll (x2)

One two three four, who's that knocking at my door?

Everybody (x6)

Rock 'n' roll

Now don't get excited, it's just rock 'n' roll

They've been doing it for so long, take a look at your soul

Old men and business men are starting to learn

Hey rock 'n' roll (x2)

One two three four, who's that knocking at our door?

Everybody (x6)

Rock 'n' roll

And now you can do it, I know you can do

I'm just an old man but I can still boogaloo (oh what's that?)

Old men and business men never get old

Hey rock 'n' roll (x2)

One two three four, who's that knocking on everybody's door?

Everybody (x6)

Rock 'n' roll

You've gotta rock'n'roll, hey baby, driving me crazy, I say ooh rock'n'roll

Room Full of Fools (Robert Coyne/Kevin Coyne - 1999) (ROOM FULL OF FOOLS)

Where's the action, where's the fun? (x2)

Nothing happening here, not a single spark of joy

Chorus: Just a room full of fools (x4)

What am I doing here, and how did I arrive?

What am I doing in this place and how the hell did I arrive?

I'm messed up, mixed up, messed up, mixed up (x2)

Chorus

That's how it goes

Hey baby, what's wrong with you?

Give me a smile or something, help me to lift the dark

I can't dance, can't sing, can't do a single thing (x2)

My arms are dropping down by my side

Chorus (x10)

Roses in your Room (Kevin Coyne - 1976) (BEAUTIFUL EXTREMES)

I say now people they hurt each other all the time

They try to control each other's soul and mind

But now I've changed and I've found in you

Well something that is sparkling, loving and true to me

Chorus:

And the sun don't seem so dark, the shadows don't seem so sharp

And I can almost hear the harps, I'll put some roses in your room

Loving is never easy to try

You just might lose and we just might be made to cry

But I found you and we can share it with the world, we know it's not hard to do

Chorus. x2

Make way, we're running together

We're running, we're running, never mind the mood or the weather

Well I've got your love and that's all I need

We can share it with everyone, come on and join us, please

Chorus

I'll put some roses in your room, in everybody's room

Rougher than Rough (Kevin Coyne/Christopher Strubl & Van Bluus - 1986) (VAN BLUUS)

It's OK, it's alright, it's alright by me

It's alright, I can see, I can truly see

I was wrong so many times, I'll make it up to you

I'll get it right, right this time, I'm gonna tell the truth

Chorus: Rougher than rough, tougher than though (x2).

It's OK, I was totally wrong, I was totally blind

It's alright, you can tell me again, tell me the truth anytime

I was wrong but now I'm right, you showed me the way

And I'm glad I'm a liberated man and I'm on my way

Chorus

It's OK, we're good friends, I'm learning all the time

It's alright, it's good for my head and good for this body of mine

Yes I'm free, I'm so free but I know just where to go

It's OK, it feels so good when you know, when you're in the know

Chorus (repeat)

Rusting Away (Kevin Coyne - 2002) (SUGAR CANDY TAXI)

I saw you waiting at the bus stop, I saw you rattle your teeth

I saw you cry just a little, I saw the sadness beneath

I saw your husband waiting in his green grey overcoat

I saw his red handkerchief, I saw his rattling teeth

I saw his silvery grey hair and I wondered, yes, I wondered if he cared

I imagined your yellow canary at the window gazing at the blue

I saw your garden full of pansies, your gate swinging in a mild wind

No oil, needed oiling, iIt was rusting away

Rusting away (x4)

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