Recorded at Miraval Studios, France, May 1984
Produced by John Brand
Engineered by John Brand and Jacques Hermet
Bachelor Kisses recorded at Westside Studios, London, August 1984
Produced by Robert Andrews and Colin Fairley
Engineered by Colin Fairley
Backing Vocals: Anna Silva
Keyboards: Graeme Pleeth
Trumpet: Denis Gautier
Saxophone: Marc Fontana
Prophet on Part Company: Jacques Loussier
Brass & String Arrangements: Graeme Pleeth
This album is dedicated to Thomas, Denis & Jean-Marie Quef.
Cover Photo: Sheila Rock
Richmond Theatre, London
Cover Design: the Go-Betweens; Val & Steve
Layout: Martyn Lambert
Wait, yes, he'll wait,
The engine's running
At the gate.
Don't believe what you've heard,
"Faithful"'s not a bad word.
Oh, won't you save these Bachelor
Kisses now, they're for your brow.
Oh, won't you save these Bachelor
Kisses now, they're for your brow.
Hand, hands like hooks,
You'll get hurt
If you play with crooks.
Your hand, that's all he took,
The world opened up
For your looks.
Don't believe what you've heard,
"Faithful"'s not a bad word.
Oh, won't you save these Bachelor
Kisses now, they're for your brow.
Oh, won't you save these Bachelor
Kisses now, they're for your brow.
The arcade lights are hanging down.
The rain surrenders to the town.
The world of men don't mean a thing
When all they give you is a diamond ring.
Don't believe what you've heard,
"Faithful"'s not a bad word.
Oh, won't you save these Bachelor
Kisses now, they're for your brow.
Oh, won't you save these Bachelor
Kisses now, they're for your brow.
But don't be slave to Bachelor
Kisses now, they'll break their vow.
But don't be slave to Bachelor
Kisses now, they'll break their vow.
And I just say (what do you say?)
And I just say (what do you say?)
Bury them don't keep 'em.
And I just know (what do you know?)
And I just know (what do you know?)
Bury them don't keep 'em.
Praise to the vision
That pays for the angel.
Coins in communion
Ring like a halo.*
Lay me down
On my knees
By my bed
At night.
Lay me down
On my knees
By my bed
At night.
Hail to the generals
But hell to the public.
Bows for the bishop
And bones for believers.
chorus
Rap, rap, rap on the lid.
Rap, rap, rap on the lid.
Bury them don't keep 'em etc.
Lord above you filled the sea, watch it roll.
At your last port of call, you weren't saved.
chorus
big chorus section
The risk was hers, every bit hers; I gave her this warning.
Never love a man who has no sister, clings to your breast,
Only you know him.
And right here's for me; right here and nowhere else.
As collectors call; I will whisper as they fall.
You've Never Lived.
A great reputation she kept up, My God! she kept me up.
I'm no genius, just a former genius, a shadow of the genius
That I am.
And right here's for me; right here and nowhere else.
As collectors call; I will whisper as they fall.
You've Never Lived.
And its the Luckiest Charm and the Luckiest Charm.
And its the Luckiest Charm and the Luckiest Charm.
And it will do you no harm. It will do you no harm because
It's the Luckiest Charm Oh its th Luckiest Charm full of belief
And it will do you no harm. It will do you no harm.
And right here's for me; right here and nowhere else.
Right here's for me; right inside, right beside.
You've Never Lived.
And right here's for me; right here and nowhere else.
You're my Lucky Charm; Luckiest Charm I've ever had!
And it does you no harm; No-No-No-No-No-No-No.
You've Never Lived.
It's the Luckiest Charm and the Luckiest Charm.
Yeahs it's the Luckiest Charm and the Luckiest Charm.
And it will do me no harm, it will do me no harm.
That's her handwriting, that's the way she writes
>From the first letter I got to this her Bill of Rights, part company.
And what will I miss? Her cruelty, her unfaithfulness
Her fun, her love, her kiss, part company.
That's her handwriting, that's the way she writes
Like mud in the September rain it comes, back to me.
Part, part, I said part
Part company, made he men disappear
Cut my swathe and spread my fear.
Before we'd met, I hadn't wiped my feet
Seen myself naked or, part company.
And I said it before, do I have to say it again
A fine line of tears, part company.
That's her handwriting, that's the way she writes
>From her first words to this, our last night.
Part, part, she said part
Part company, made her men disappear
Cut my swathe and spread my fear.
Pick me up in pieces,
I'm scattered and broken,
Slow, slow music.
Pick me up in pieces,
I'm scattered and broken,
Slow, slow music.
By the time I was 16,
I knew the names of the planets,
Stayed away from the doorstep,
Was frightened of milk-bottles.
If you believe in orphans
There's still a chance for love.
(The hand that warms you also harms you)
I know I'm not an orphan
But I believe in love.
(The hand that holds you also scolds you)
chorus
So! don't wake the children,
Leave them in bed.
In the land o the dreamless,
They're better off dead.
If you believe in orphans
There's still a chance for love.
(The hand that warms you also harms you)
I know I'm not an orphan
But I believe in love.
(The hand that holds you also scolds you)
chorus
Remembered your name
Evidently, you've forgotten mine.
You know a lot of people
I know, a mind dulled by work and wine.
I got hired but I got tired of draining the pool for you.
I got tired but not so blue,
To see the cracks in you.
I got hired against my wish,
With better prospects, after this.
Ten leaves,
Ten leaves, on a river bank.
Just like the glass
>From the champagne bottles smashed where they sank.
chorus
Your interest in freaks
The side show, the low life holds nothing for me.
Because I have seen it
Almost been it, and it's not my cup of thrills.
chorus
Fade: on swimming pools, hiring and tiring, and
anything after this.
It is neither fair nor reasonable to expect sadness
to confine itself to it's causes. Like a river in flood,
when it subsides and the drowned bodies of
animals have been deposited in the treetops, there is
another kind of damage that takes place beyond the torrent.
At first, it seemed as though she had only left
the room to go into the garden and had been delayed by stray
chickens in the corn. Then he had thought she might
have eloped with the rodeo-boy from the neighbouring
property but it wasn't till one afternoon, when he
had heard guitar playing coming from her room and
had rushed upstairs to confront her and had seen
that it was only the wind in the curtains brushing
against the open strings, that he finally knew she
wasn't coming back. He had dealt with the deluge alright
but the watermark of her leaving was still quite visible.
He had resorted to the compass then, thinking that
geography might rescue him but after one week in the
Victorian Alps he came back north, realising that snow which
he had never seen before, was only frozen water.
I'll take you to Hollywood
I'll take you to Mexico
I'll take you anywhere the
River of Money flows.
I'll take you to Hollywood
I'll take you to Mexico
I'll take you anywhere the
River of Money flows.
But was it really possible for him to cope with the
magnitude of her absence? The snow had failed him.
Bottles had almost emptied themselves without effect.
The television, a samaritan during other tribulations, had
been repossessed. She had left her travelling clock
though thinking it incapable of funcitioning in
another time-zone; so the long vacant days of expensive sunlight
were filled with the sound of her minutes, with the measuring of
her hours.
He was brought up in a house of women
In a city of heat that gave its children
Faith in the fable of coral and fish,
Told them the world was something to miss.
I turn to hold you, you're gone.
Fingers let go, I'm gone.
That's just a little unkind
And just a little unwise.
That's just a little unkind
And just a little unwise.
The salt in the wind moves over the mudflats
Sticks to your skin and rusts up the lights,
Blows through the ferns that breathe in the dark,
I try to forget but it's so hard.
I turn to hold you, you're gone.
Fingers let go, I'm gone.
That's just a little unkind
And just a little unwise.
That's just a little unkind
And just a little unwise.
What was once is a falling star;
It'll hit you and hurt you and open your heart.
Burn in a river tangled with reeds
While a crane on the water silently feeds.
I turn to hold you, you're gone.
Fingers let go, I'm gone.
That's just a little unkind
And just a little unwise.
That's just a little unkind
And just a little unwise.
(repeat till cicadas join in the fun)
I WANT YOU BACK
Feel so sure of our love
I'll write a song about us breaking up.
"The Traffic Lights on the Street of Love"
Have just turned red...turned red, and
Man O'Sand to Girl O'Sea
Says it's love you'll get from me
Man O'Sand to Girl O'Sea
Says it's love you'll get from me
I want you back-
Say it isn't so.
Tears for certain there's no relief
I feel no better with wet cheeks.
And man I stand up to you
I feel it now...I do, and
chorus
So we break up, you leave my life
Leave, leave me alone, and
Man O'Sand to Girl O'Sea says it's love
Man O'Sand to Girl O'Sea says it's love
chorus
I want you back, I want you back, I want you back
Because I
Feel no better, Feel no better, Feel no better
chorus
You're the one, the one I need, need in times
TIMES LIKE THESE.