Stereophonics

"A Thousand Trees"

Standing at the bus stop with my shopping in my hands
And I'm overhearing elder ladies
As the rumours start to fly
You can hear them in the school yard
In the scrap yard
In the chip shop
In the phone box
In the pool hall
At the shoe store
Every corner turn around
It started with a school girl
Who was running
Running home to her Mam and Dad
Told them she was playing, in the change room of the local foorball side
They said tell us again, she told them again, tell us the truth, they find it hard to believe
'Cause he taught our I was steve, he even trained me, taught our John who's a father of three

Only takes one tree, to make 1000 matches
Only takes one match, to burn A thousand trees
A thousand trees

You see it in the classroom
In the swimming pool
Where the match stick men are made
At the scout's hall
At the football
Where the wise we trust are paid
They all honour his name
He did a lot for the game
Got his name knocked up above the sports ground gates
But they're ripping them down, stamping the ground
Picture gathers dust behind the bar in the lounge

Only takes one tree, to make a thousand matches
Only takes one match, to burn a thousand trees
A thousand trees

Wake up, and smell the rain
Shake up, he's back to stay
He hasn't been on a holiday
His growing seeds don't believe
Why he's been away
From the school yard
Changing room
Playing field
Bathroom
Phone box
Office blocks
Corners turn around
They keep doubting the flame, tossing the blame
Got his name knocked up above the sports ground gates
And they're ripping them down, stamping the ground
Picture gathers dust in the bar

Only takes one tree, to make a thousand matches
Only takes one match, to burn A thousand trees
A thousand trees
A thousand trees
A thousand trees

"Looks Like Chaplin"

I feel awash
Close down the street
Yeah Chaplin walks
Be 9:15
And I hear them, hear them call his name
And I see him, see him turn away

They take him in
And clean him up

They take him in
And strip him down
They dry his skin
And feed him wine
And I hear them, hear them call his name
And I see him, see him turn away

Ask's to use the phone

Yeah he lives alone, he lives alone
There's no one, no one home to phone
He sits alone at home
He call his home his own
His wife is still unknown

"Check My Eyelids For Holes"

I gotta lose weight I swallow honey is my stand up show still that funny
am I back for good I said that I said that I would be she's down waist low
trying to make me happy
because I like watching you it's time I tried tried to check
my check my eye lids
check for holes
two weeks late I gotta test for babies shop take is falling low
I'm not going back back to the
factory's because I like what I do it's time I tried tried to check
my check my eye lids
check for holes

"Not Up To You"

salt grips the road awaits his lift again street orange glow shades the odds against one
more sip a shoe a miss a shaving nick one extra kiss who's to know whatever! not up
to me not up to you swings don't swing the parks been dead for years how do you
know the last swing weren't your last for good hard book on freaks fresh summer
peach creased magazine sugar chocolate treat who's to know whatever! not up
to me not up to you the street's so long where she lost her pocket purse kept the last
picture of the man she committed first cracked windscreen rain french murder play
junk take away tired street parades who's to know whatever! whatever! not up to me
not up to you
not up to anything we do

"Traffic"

We all face the same way, Still it takes all day
I take a look to my left, Pick out the worst and the best
She paints her lip, greasy and thick
Another mirror stare
And she's going where?

Another office affair, to kill an unborn scare
You talk dirty to a priest, it makes you human at least
Is she running away, to start a brand new day?
Or she's going home, why's she driving alone?

Is anyone going anywhere?
Everyone's got to be, somewhere

She's got a body in the boot? Or just bags of food?
Those are models legs, but are they women's, are they men's?
She shouts down the phone, she missed a payment on the loan
She's go to be above the rest, keeping up with the best

Is anyone going anywhere?
Everyone's got to be, somewhere

Waits tables for a crook? You wrote a hardback book
You teach kids how to read, sell your body on the street
And nurse without a job, another up town snob
But have I got you all wrong, one look and you were gone

Is anyone going anywhere?
Is anyone going anywhere?
Is anyone going anywhere?
Everyone's got to be, somewhere

"Local Boy In The Photograph"

There's no mistake, I smell that smell
It's that time of year again, I can taste the air
The clocks go back, railway track
Something blocks the line again
And the train runs late for the first time

A pebble beach, we're underneath, a pier that's just been painted red
Where I heard the news for the first time

And all the friends lay down the flowers
Sit on the banks and drink for hours
Talk of the way they saw him last
Local boy in the photograph
Today

He'll always be 23, yet the train runs on and on
Past the place they found his clothing

There's no mistake, I smell that smell
It's that time of year again, I can taste the air
The clocks go back, railway track
Something blocks the line again
And the train runs late for the first time
Today

And all the friends lay down the flowers
Sit on the banks and drink for hours
Talk of the way they saw him last
Local boy in the photograph
Today

He's gone away

"More Life In A Tramps Vest"

I get camping eyes in the final hour
Last minute shoppers picking cauliflower
The fuss they make, you'd swear they were buying a car
They always moan, moan it's not so cheap
Cheaper still, cheaper still down the street
Lose my rag and tell them take your bag and shop down there
Closing down, they're closing down another road
One way, system steals the show
Mac the knife swigs a can and sings the day away

There's more life, more life, more life in a tramp's vest
There's more life, more life, more life in a tramp's vest

The flower man sits down in the street
Surrounded by, the stock he bought last week
Bring back the ladies wearing lipstick on their teeth
Make up, we make up a crappy joke
Sit back, relax and have a smoke
Mac the knife swigs a can and sings the day away

There's more life, more life, more life in a tramp's vest
There's more life, more life, more life in a tramp's vest
There's more life, more life, more life in a tramp's vest
There's more life, more life, more life in a tramp's vest

I get camping eyes in the final hour
Last minute shoppers picking cauliflower
Mac the knife swigs a can and sings the day away

There's more life, more life, more life in a tramp's vest
There's more life, more life, more life in a tramp's vest
There's more life, more life, more life in a tramp's vest
There's more life, more life, more life in a tramp's vest

"Billy Davey's Daughter"

I never knew her name
I only knew her fame
she lived near my town
another goldfish to drown
well I just past the bridge
that parts us from them the bridge
that she used again and again again
I remember when they found her
billy davey's daughter the word gets around
billy davey's second daughter threw herself
to dirty water billy's left with nothing but a
dream he dreams

"Too Many Sandwiches"

Shopping spree for the family tree, haven't seen your family tree, in quite a while
Too many sandwiches and wine, sherry stains down your best mans tie, what a speech
The band arrive, the grannies cry, the singers tongue's's in the bar maids mouth, what a voice
Grandpa drunk a drop or two and his head's still stuck down the portaloo, what a man

You bought a sequin dress for your chicken breasts, the discos late and he's overpaid tonight
You got a diamond ring and a man who sings, the man who sings made love to the bar maid twice
And that's just tonight

The blue rinsed hairs lift up their chairs
The bands too loud, they're off down stairs what a noise
The bride and groom they dance their dance
The singer mimes there's still a chance, the bar maid smiles

You bought a sequin dress for your chicken breasts, the discos late and he's overpaid tonight
You got a diamond ring and a man who sings, the man who sings made love to the bar maid twice
And that's just tonight

You bought a sequin dress for your chicken breasts, the discos late and he's overpaid tonight
You got a diamond ring and a man who sings, the man who sings made love to the bar maid twice
Grandpa drunk a drop or two and his head's still stuck down the portaloo, what a man
The bride and groom they dance their dance, the singer mimes there's still a chance tonight
And the bar maid smiles

"Goldfish Bowl"

the same long faces in the workman's hall caramel crisp counts
his birds cliff chip's lines up his dominoes kingfisher lead singer
calms his nerves
I'm drinking sinking swimming drowning working smirking learning
burning sleeping thieving cheating beating I'm eating I'm deep in a
goldfish bowl It's sink or swim
the hall down town just burns to the ground my boxing ring turned to ash
red head ginger bread sells tickets at the door stella sleep walks in the sand
I'm drinking sinking swimming drowning working smirking learning burning
sleeping thieving cheating beating I'm eating I'm deep in a goldfish bowl It's sink
or swim they're looking in
hard up outta luck time to ride the village bike a bike been used ten times or
more grape vine here's the wife lays down her royal flush
I think I've lost another wife

"Last Of The Big Time Drinkers"

Ten minutes flat after that day at the factory
I'm Drinking like a dog in the sun
I don't need to eat or sleep a wink, at the weekend
Drop my guts

And I can't wait for my next drink
The first one is gonna sink
I'm the last of the big time drinkers
I take pride in my work
Last of the big time drinkers

The beer don't taste the same without my name painted on my glass
I don't live to work, I work to live, I live at the weekend
I nearly spent a week in the sun
Come home with my bird, sheets thrown out the window
And sunday morning comes

And I can't wait for my next drink
The first one is gonna sink
I'm the last of the big time drinkers
I take pride in my work
Last of the big time drinkers

The beer don't taste the same without my name painted on my glass

And I can't wait for my next drink
The first one is gonna sink
I'm the last of the big time drinkers
I take pride in my work
Last of the big time drinkers

Just give me half a pint of slops
Last of the big time drinkers
I take pride in my job
Last of the big time drinkers

"Same Size Feet"

A weeks too long, not to ring
Re-colours her hair, and waits for him
Not cat against dog, just head over heels
Sex twice a day, best time in years
Oh no, why hasn't he phoned?
She has to wait until he's on his own
Lying and Denying so nobody knows
I'll tell her this week is what he tells
Her to keep her on loan
He'll buy her one day

Sex drives, oral highs, cheating wife's spouse
Cream cakes, coffee dates, floral gifts, goodbye
Pass the way for the day had a change of kind
Sex change, to mundane for the average mind
Oh no, she just can't see
Where he is and where he's been
Looked prim and straight
Like she's always been

All that she saved for went missing again
She could be, she could be, she could be wrong
She could be, she could be, she could be wrong
She could be, she could be, she could be wrong
It looks like, it looks like, it looks like the worlds gone wrong

They found a body in the lake
maybe it wasn't really his name
Same colour, same weight, same size feet
It's the not knowing that kills you
Oh no the clocks stopped slow, everytime you're on your own
ya' hide from the spies so nobody knows
Scratch through the pages on the lazy days news for a clue
Still looking for you

"I Stopped To Fill My Car Up"

i stopped to fill my car up
the car felt good that day
i didn't know where i was going
but it felt good for a change
a five and a pocket full of silver
i paid the lady no change
and then it started to piss down
i started driving again
and then i looked up
and looked in the mirror behind me
a man round forty in the back seat
must have stepped in when i was empty
so why's he sat there just waiting
likely to smash my face in
he had a bag full of money
he said just drive me away
i didn't know where i was going
yet it felt good to be strange
and still i look up
and look in the mirror behind me
curiosity is over
he stepped down from the car
he pulled a gun from his jacket
said i was going to die
it gives me so much satisfaction
to watch you beg and cry
well i just made up this story
to get your attention makes me smile
i never looked up or looked
in the mirror behind me

"Plastic California"

plastic california
looks like blackpool
outta date
some love some hate
it's all your competition
it's not my occupation true
but it's what you do
some love some hate
i like pink architecture
flip back my red strip deck chair
prove we got nothing to prove
gin stroke amnesia problems
overhearing talk of hollywood
we wish we could ya should
some love some hate
it's a beautiful place for nature
and all the beautiful people make it true
but you look good as you
some love some hate
makes me feel great
i feel new d'ya feel new, ha, ha
well i'm pleased to meet you

"She Takes Her Clothes Off"

she's got another fantasy
she lives in flat number twenty three
picked first prize for carnival queen
and now she takes her clothes off
collects the covers off her magazines
she longs to be another teenage dream
the problem is she's turning forty three
she still takes her clothes off
she got the nick name porta bubble joan
they found her dead dead as nails at home
and she said i'm gonna be another marilyn
bleach my hair and get real thin
and everybody's gonna wanna dance with me
she loved to have her little fantasies
she longed to be the wife of jimmy dean
but jimmys head sits in jimmys knees
she loves to take her clothes off
police are looking around at twenty three
they found her hanging from her swollen
feet they saw her dance last in woolworth
street
she loved to take her clothes off
she got the nick name porta bubble joan
they found her dead dead as nails at home
and she said i'm gonna be another marilyn
bleach my hair and get real thin
and everybody's gonna wanna dance with me
everybody wants to be the carnival queen
everybody wants to be the carnival
king or queen
we all read the books
she takes her clothes off one by one
off again

"A Minute Longer"

they're calling out
come on lets go
but i'm miles away
to a year before
laughs from a glass
drank to the past
on the old green seat
like velvet to the hand
think i'd like to stay a minute longer
would you like to stay a minute longer?
last one for some
sick from the rum
i play golf on the carpet with someone
crash back to date
few things i hate
but i'd rather us live
in the present day

"Is Yesterday, Tommorow, Today?"

it's another way to get through the day
picking up ripped cigarette boxes
hoping that one remains
yellow lucky day suck deep and bathe
for the next ten minutes spent coughing
all the pleasures craved
write down all the things that
you'd like to say
write down all the things that
you'd like to change
write down all the places you'd
like to stay
write down anything that you want
is yesterday, tomorrow, today?
is nothin' gonna change the way
cracked rock top wall let the ash to fall
left alone to wait i've never looked at
things i've liked only things i hate
you're not the first today not the softest
face
was there any that you liked
was there any thay you didn't fake?
write down all the things that
you'd like to be
write down all the things that
you don't believe
write down all the places you'd
like to see
write down anything that you want
is yesterday, tomorrow, today?
is nothing gonna change the way?
because everything that's you
and the things that you like to do
and all of the things that are
come back again
is yesterday, tomorrow, today?

"T-Shirt Suntan"

he was walking 'round to you one said
french afternoon so he called in to a shop
for two he brought himself an ice drink a
totally tropical nice drink then he saw
what he thought was you in a room he
tought about goin' over but you were
always much older abd your sex dressed
breasts impressed too he'd really like to
get it together before the twelve of never
so he's coming over it's when all the
phases come around
the clothes you wear the sex and love
it's enough for the time outta touch out of
luck he always liked them older so that his
top lip touched on her shoulder
lionized undisguised kill for you like to
show you his teeshirt suntan like to show
you his minute head stand then a gun spun
open from you to me to me to you

"I Wouldn't Believe Your Radio"

travelling through
a tunnel under sea
you never know if it cracks in half
you're never ever gonaa see me
but you can have it all if you like
you can have it all if you like and
you can pay for it the rest of your
life...life
i wouldn't believe your wireless radio
if i had myself a flying giraffe
you'd have one in a box with a window
but you can have it all if you like
you can have it all if you like
and you can pay for it the rest of your
life...life
life in the summer's on it's back
you'd have to agree that that's the crack
so take what you want i'm not comin'
back

"Half The Lies You Tell Ain't True"

you could lick or chew tongue in style
tonight champagne drag queen suit pinstripe
outta line it's time to try how blisters
on your feet blisters up your spine
if i could choose from two
i'd mime to be a smile
but when you rely on a lie that's true
and no one believes in the things you do
'cause half of the lies you tell ain't
true i'm gonna find out i'm gonna find a
piece of you
you could pick and lose diesel dreams for
crime i should win and choose colours
undersize a naked fake that's a face that
fits
for two sex brings out the spies hanging
from your feet hollywood star style but
when you rely on a lie that's true
no one believes in the things you do
'cause half of the lies you tell
ain't true
i'm gonna find out, i'm gonna find a piece
of you

"Just Looking"

there's things i want
there's things i think i want
there's things i've had
there's things i wanna have
do i want the dreams
the ones we're forced to see
do i want the perfect wife
the word perfect ain't quite right
shopping every day
take it back the next break
they say the more you fly the more you
risk your life
i'm just looking i'm not buying
i'm just looking keeps me smiling
a house i seen another coulda' been
you drenched my head and said what i said
you said that life is what you make of it
yet most of us just fake
i'm just looking, i'm not buying
i'm just looking, keeps me smiling

"Pick A Part Thats New"

i've never been here before
didn't know where to go
never met you before
i've never been to your home
that smells not unknown
foot steps made of stone
walking feels familiar
you can do all the things that
you like to do
all around underground pick a part
that's new
you can do all the things that
you like to do
all around upside down pick a part
that's new
people drinking on their own
push buttons on the phone
was i here once before
is that my voice on the phone
that last drink on my own
did i ever leave at all
confusions familiar
so what's new to you?

"Hurry Up And Wait"

we wait to wake to get a ride in the rain
buy a ticket they can check we can claim
so we don't spend what's our own for a
seat a place to stop a green light a red
cross they run around naked doing old
things like the ones before
wait for a break so you can take a little
something that'll make your next break
come along a little quicker than the one
before wait for an answer spy a sweet
dancer as she walks from the door of the
hall wish you waited for your wedding
vows so hurry up and wait
but what's worth waiting for?
we wait to get warm the car starts from
cold stall to make a first move magazines
made the rules to make us lose wait for
your dream man the house you could both
plan the car in the sales ad the wet dream
with the man you wished that you had
a watched pot never boils sugars seconds
to dissolve see your appetite lost foods
relevance is lost inside
so hurry up and wait
but what's worth waiting for?
so join the queue me and you
wait in line it takes our
time to be satisfied

"The Bartender And The Thief"

when you think about it he's watching
every word you say hey dazed and when
he's sussed you out he calls her up and out
she comes and hustles us
the bartender and the thief are lovers
steal what they need like sisters and
brothers
met in a church a night to remember
robbing the graves of bodies
dismembered
he watched the lesbian talk she kissed and
groped but mostly talked in lust crushed
he couldn't make the call his eyes were
gripped on licking tongues enough's enough
failed for once
long digging gone fishing love
drinking
the bartender and the thief are lovers
steal what they need like sisters and
brothers
met in a church a night to remember
robbing the graves of bodies
dismembered
saved what they stole to meet at the alter
place where they first set eyes on each
other
flew to the sun to start life all over
set up a bar and robbed all the locals

"Roll Up And Shine"

why don't you take a look in my mouth
why don't you take a look at yourself
so why don't you take a look around
so why don't we take a look inside
roll out the shock parade
free falling from a stage
performance and cocktails
roll up and shine
I hang the devil from a circus wire
face up seats four in love spittin fire
so why don't you take a look around
so why don't we take a look inside
it's time to live it's time to love
it's time to do what's afraid of
it's time to breathe time to relieve
it's time to shine
so why don't you take a look around
so why don't we take a look inside
roll out the shock parade
free falling from a stage
performance and cocktails
roll up and shine
bring on your shock parade
freaks falling from the stage
performance and cocktails
roll up and shine