Richard Thompson Album

That gorilla you're dancing with
May not have too long to live
He's putting his hands in the wrong places
Time to rearrange his face
He's gonna dance with me instead
And I'm gonna tap dance on his head

Don't tempt me, don't tempt me, don't tempt me
I'm half way out of my seat

He's got the looks, he's got the lolly
Driving me clean off my trolley
Doing the jitterbug, doing the jive
Doing the shimmy, snakes alive
That's not a dance, that's S-E-X
Ban that couple, certificate X

Don't tempt me, don't tempt me, don't tempt me
I'm half way out of my seat

Oh I'm a patient man but it's out of hand
If there's one thing that I can't stand

Get your mittens off my gal
Or you'll end up as mincemeat, pal
I've got friends, mean sons
They've got knives, chains, guns
Gas grenades, knuckle-dusters
Lazy Susans, blockbusters

Don't tempt me, don't tempt me, don't tempt me
I'm half way out of my seat

I'm sitting here calm as I can
While you polish the floor with another man
I'm not mad, I'm a cuddly toy
Just keep me away from laughing boy
You say he's a relative, some hope
If he's your uncle, I'm the Pope!

Don't tempt me, don't tempt me, don't tempt me
I'm half way out of my seat

I started to cry, they put gin in my cup
I started to crawl, and they swaddled me up
I got up and run, they said "Easy, son,
Play up, play the game"

They told me to think and forget what I'd heard
They told me to lie and they questioned my word
They told me to fail, better sink than sail,
Just play the game

Oh, towers will tumble and locusts will visit the land
Oh, a curse on your house and your children and the fruit of your hand

They said "You can't win. You can't win.
You sweat blood. You give in.
You can't win. You can't win.
Turn the cheek. Take it on the chin.
Don't you dare do this. Don't you dare do that"
We shoot down dreams, we stiletto in the back
Oh the nerve of some people, the nerve of some people,
The nerve of some
I don't know who you think you are, who you think you are

Oh what kind of mother would hamstring her sons?
Throw sand in their eyes and put ice on their tongues
Ah better to leave than stay here and grieve
And play the game

Don't waken the dead as you sleepwalk around
If you have a dream, brother, hush, not a sound
Just stand there and rust, die if you must
But play the game

Oh, if we can't have it, why should a wretch like you?
Oh, it was drilled in our heads, now we drill it into your head too.

They said "You can't win. You can't win.
You sweat blood. You give in.
You can't win. You can't win.
Turn the cheek. Take it on the chin.
Don't you dare do this. Don't you dare do that"
We shoot down dreams, we stiletto in the back
Oh, the nerve of some people, the nerve of some people,
The nerve of some people
I don't know who you think you are
The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people
The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people
The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people
The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people

Oh trouble becomes you, it cuts you down to my size
And you never were less than perfect in my eyes
But I lost my way somehow
For three hard winters I held it in, till now
Oh now I can't help it, oh Jennie my love
Oh Jennie my love

Now you pin up your hair like you did when first we met
How many days of his life can a man regret
And if my tears were a train
Then I'd cry all the way back into your arms again
Now I can't help it, oh Jennie my love
Oh Jennie my love

Now I count the times we spent and the times we missed
Now I stand here, love unsworn and lips unkissed
And oh how hard I tried
To kill the vision of you as another man's bride
Oh now I can't help it, oh Jennie my love
Oh Jennie my love
Oh Jennie my love
Oh Jennie my love
Oh Jennie my love

Tropical night, malaria moon
Dying stars of the silver screen
Oh she danced that famous gypsy dance
With a hole in her tambourine

I was young enough and dumb enough
I swallowed down my Mickey Finn
She'd hijacked a few hearts, all right
I went into a tail spin

Oh, don't sing me, don't sing me
Don't sing me no more gypsy love songs
Don't sing me, don't sing me
Don't sing me no more gypsy love songs
Don't stir it up again

I put my arm around her waist
Says she "Young man, you're getting warm"
The room was going somewhere without me
And she laughed as she read my palm

Oh, don't sing me, don't sing me
Don't sing me no more gypsy love songs
Don't sing me, don't sing me
Don't sing me no more gypsy love songs
Don't stir it up again

Oh stillborn love, passionate dreams, pitiful greed
And the silver tongues of the tinker girls
Who throw the book of life at you
But they don't know how to read

She was a third generation Transylvanian
I was the seventh son of a seventh son
I begged the band "Don't play that tune.
Please don't beguine the begun"

When I awoke, she'd cut and run
She stole my blueprints and my change
Just a horseshoe and a note on the bed
And all it read was "Strange"

Don't sing me, don't sing me
Don't sing me no more gypsy love songs
Don't sing me, don't sing me
Don't sing me, don't sing me
Don't sing me no more gypsy love songs
Don't stir it up again

Well, the angels came to see me today
Said "We've taken your racehorse away"
And I believe it was that bookmaker from . . .
I believe that he put one in a pail
Oh, the finest in the field only measure to our shoulders
They only ever see our heels
And I believe every sporting man will cry
I believe they'll see everything come passing by
She won the Lanark Silver Bell
And she stole every heart away
She stood her stand at sixteen hands
And I'll ride her easy
But they've taken, taken my racehorse away
There's a racecourse in the sky
And that's where all the racing horses must go by and by
And I believe every steward, lord and groom
I believe that they're calling her home
She would look me in the eye
And that was all she had to say
She stood her stand at sixteen hands
And I'll ride her easy
But they've taken, taken my racehorse away
They've taken my racehorse away
They've taken my racehorse away
They've taken my racehorse away
They've taken my racehorse away
Taken my racehorse away

When the spell is broken
When the spell is broken
How you ever gonna keep her now
You can't cry if you don't know how
When the spell is broken
When the spell is broken
All the joy is gone from her face
Welcome back to the human race
How long can the flame
Of love remain
When you curse and fight
And never see like
Or hear like spoken
When the spell is broken
(Can't cry if you don't know how)
(Can't cry if you don't know how)
When the spell is broken
(Can't cry if you don't know how)
Oh when the spell is broken
All your magic and your ways and schemes
All your lies come and tear at your dreams
When the spell is broken
(Can't cry if you don't know how)
When the spell is broken
Now you're handing her that same old line
It's just straws in the wind this time
When love has died,
There's none starry-eyed
No kiss, no tears,
No farewell souvenirs
Not even a token, when the spell is broken

Don't swear your heart
From the very start
Love letters you wrote
Are pushed back down you throat
And leave you choking, when the spell is broken
(When the spell, When the spell, When the spell is broken)
When the spell is broken
When the spell is broken
(When the spell, When the spell, When the spell is broken)
When the spell is broken
When the spell is broken

(Can't cry if you don't know how)
(Can't cry if you don't know how)
(Can't cry if you don't know how)
(You can't cry if you don't know how)
(Can't cry if you don't know how)
(Can't cry if you don't know how)
(Can't cry if you don't know how)
(Can't cry if you don't know how)
(Can't cry if you don't know how)

In the dark, who can see his face?
In the dark, who can reach him?
He hides like a child.
He hides like a child.
Keeps his finger on the trigger
You know he can't stand the day
Shoot out the lights.
Shoot out the lights.

Keep the blind down on the window
Ah, keep the pain on the inside
Just watching the dark.
Just watching the dark.
Ah he might laugh but you won't see him
As he thunders through the night

Shoot out the lights.
Shoot out the lights.

In the darkness the shadows move
In the darkness the game is real
Real as a gun.
Real as a gun.
As he watches the lights of the city
And he moves through the night
Shoot out the lights.
Shoot out the lights.
Shoot out the lights.
Ah, shoot out the lights.

It was cruel of you to stand at my door and take my hand
Like a drowning man I clung to my defenses
And ten years is a time but your looks, love, it's a crime
And I lost my tongue in the tangle of my senses
And I never was to know that I'd come to miss you so
But time winds down and I turned my back long ago

But I still dream, oh darling I still dream
Oh I still dream, oh Lord knows I still dream

On the killing floor I stand with a stun gun in my hand
Like a cowboy shooting badmen on the range
And nothing satisfies and the soul inside me dies
As I duck each punch and never risk the change
And now you look at me with that same old used-to-be
Oh but time winds down and I turned my back long ago

But I still dream, oh darling I still dream

Ah but now you look at me with that same old used-to-be
But time winds down and I turned my back long ago

But I still dream, oh darling, darling I still dream
I still dream, oh Lord knows, Lord knows I still dream
Oh I still dream, oh darling, darling, darling I still dream

[No lyrics]

Oh the drones on the corner don't look her in the eye when she comes out to play
And three times now at the Club Chi-Chi they've turned her away
Last week she was the belle of the ball but another week passes
It's time to cast off crutches, scars and pebble glasses

She's got everything a girl might need
She's a tribal animal, yes indeed
But she hasn't got a bone through her nose, through her nose
Hasn't got a bone through her nose
She hasn't got a bone through her nose, through her nose
She hasn't got a bone through her nose
Hasn't got a bone through her nose, through her nose
She hasn't got a bone through her nose

Oh she gets her suits from a personal friend, Coco the clown
She got dustman's jacket, inside out, it's a party gown
If it's bouffons, she's got bouffons, if it's tat she got tat
She got hoochie coochie Gucci and a pom-pom hat

She's got everything a girl might need
She's a tribal animal, yes indeed
But she hasn't got a bone through her nose, through her nose
She hasn't got a bone through her nose
She hasn't got a bone through her nose, through her nose
She hasn't got a bone through her nose
She hasn't got a bone through her nose, through her nose
She hasn't got a bone through her nose
No!

Well, her ma writes cook books, she wrote one once, and it sold one or two
Her pa's in the city, he's so witty, he calls it the zoo
Her boyfriend plays in Scritti Politti, Aunt Sally's brown bread
In a few more years she can marry some fool and knock it on the head

She's got everything a girl might need
She's a tribal animal, yes indeed
But she hasn't got a bone through her nose, through her nose
She hasn't got a bone through her nose
She hasn't got a bone through her nose, through her nose
She hasn't got a bone through her nose
She hasn't got a bone through her nose, through her nose
She hasn't got a bone through her nose
She hasn't got a, Oh she hasn't got a, Oh

In this dirty old part of the city where the sun refuse to shine
People tell me there ain't no use in trying
Now, my girl, you're so young and pretty
And one thing I know is true,
You'll be dead before your time is due, (I know)

Watch my daddy in bed and dying
Watch his hair been turning grey
He's been working and slaving his life away, (Oh yes I know)

He's been working so hard
I've been working too baby, (every night and day)

(Chorus)

We've gotta get out of this place
if it's the last thing we ever do
We've gotta get out of this place
Girl there's a better life for me and you

Now my girl you're so young and pretty
And one thing I know is true
You'll be dead before your time is due, (I know it)

Watch my daddy in bed and dying
Watch his hair been turning grey
He's been working and slaving his life away (I know)

He's been working so hard
I've been working too baby,

(Chorus)

Somewhere baby
Somehow I know it baby

(Chorus)

Believe me baby
I know it baby
You know it too

Jerusalem on the Jukebox, they talk in tongues on Coronation Street
Heaven help the Pharisee whose halo has slipped down to his feet
A thousand satellite comedians have died for your sins
Jerusalem on the jukebox, little angels, beat your wings

At poolside picnics they chant for Ferraris and furs
Their muscle-tone sharpens but their hold on reality blurs
You can have your cake and eat it, and never have to puke up a thing
Jerusalem on the jukebox, little angels, beat your wings

In the bathroom mirror they try that Joan of Arc look again
Two parts Ingrid Bergman to one part Shirley MacLaine
The wounds of time kill you but the surgeon's knife only stings
Jerusalem on the jukebox, little angels, beat your wings

In video-suburbia the blue light flickers and flames
Ecstasy and holy blackmail are the favorite games
And God has the sharpest suit and the cleanest chin
Jerusalem on the jukebox, little angels, beat your wings

The bride checks her hair and her make-up,and here comes the groom
What one-eyed monster comes slouching into your front room
Rudolph Valentino or the curse of the two-legged things
Jerusalem on the jukebox, little angels, beat your wings