Lyric sheets for a lost concept album
for John Andersson
1. Lord Peter Quits the BandHis lordship’s riding the underground
With a golden baboon sitting on his knee
And while the baboon sits and looks around
His lordship’s combing its golden hair
And singing it lullabies shiny as beer
They’re a crime-busting duo
And they’re guarding the city
And they say click-clack, click-clack, click-clack
His lordship bailed on the honeymoon
And rode the tvärbanan to Alvik and back
And sat on the platform with open flies
And a grasshopper jumped from between his thighs
Which are harder than sugar
And whimper like meadows
When he says hush-hush, hush-hush, hush-hush
His lordship’s eyeliner’s started to run
As he watches Miss Vane climb the scaffold steps
Then he stalks through the grounds of the royal estate
In a harlequin costume and naked feet
He’s packing a pistol
With red bees for bullets
And Miss Vane’s lovely throat goes snick-snack, snick-snack
2. Lord Peter Has His SecretsSomewhere beneath the inlet
Beneath the grey horizon
He scrabbles among the reed beds
Frantically looking for his grandmother’s musical box
Its revolving dark interior
Absorbs those black dimensions
When the boys catch fire under water
And grebes dive up to break the surface of the sun
3. Track three (lost title)He tethers his steed
By the methadone clinic
And heads into Söder
To gamble for eyes
Starts in the wet bars
Around Medborgarplatsen
Cops a feel at the bar
As he orders his port
And cuts quite a dash
With his white-painted forehead
Playing nursery poker
And chancing his arms
The planes of his face
Start to glitter like harpies
The sway of his torso
Leaves marks on the stairs
As he laughs at the pearls
And police in his boudoir
And scatters glass shards
Through his own scalding hair
And dances in fountains
Does coke in the ladies
And ejaculates chaffinches
Over his hands
Then hotwires the sculpture
Of George and the Dragon
And impresses the ladies
With his knowledge of Greek
Spends the dog-end of night
In the bell-end of labour
Wakes up in the icehouse
With scars on his back
4. Tender Raven LullabiesHush little raven, don’t you squeak
Daddy keeps his black tongue inside his beak
And when that black beak breaks and falls
In the night that tongue will come after us all
And if it catches you on the stair
Then mummy will love you in the rocking chair
And if it catches you under the bed
The mummy will love you with a swollen head
But if it catches you on the wing
The Little Lord Raven will speak and sing
And if he flies as he sings so fine
He’s just gonna break this spine of mine
5. The International Language of IceQueen of scaly creatures
Her fist becomes a cloud
Sky glitters beneath her
As all the world goes west
Chorus:He drinks it down, he wipes his chin
Oh Peter let the darkness in
Beast of other natures
Repetitive as coal
Burials and fractures
In complementary coils
Chorus:He drinks it down, he wipes his chin
Oh Peter let the darkness in
Cuss-words in the pantry
Discharge of a vice
Sun cream on a latchkey
The earth swallows the sea
Chorus:He drinks it down, he wipes his chin
Oh Peter let the darkness in
He drinks it down, he wipes his chin
Oh Peter let the darkness in
6. The Man in the Blue MaskHere it comes like an eel again
Suckling livestock to drain the fen
There’s a man waiting
In a blue mask
With a scrumping-halter
In his golden hand
And he pays off the gardener
And he’s waiting for night
And he’s cranking the juicer
In the greenhouse
There’s a man standing
On the castle grounds
And he’s wearing skis
That are made of rifles
That shoot small bells
Right into the crowd
Here it comes like an eel again
Suckling livestock to drain the fen
7. SunrisePeter wants to go dill-fishing
Clod-clipping, skinny-dipping
Declare war on the shamans
And ride oily steeds
Through the forest of pigs
He checks out at sunrise
King of kings, lord of flies
With hieroglyphs behind his eyes
His chauffeur puts the car into drive
Nobody lives in the woods
Pdf version available to download here.
