The Pogues

"Modern World"

"Modern World"


Mary's selling flowers
On a stall in EC1
Tonight she'll be out looking for some fun
Her mate Gerry's in the basement
He hasn't got a home
But prides himself that he's got most things done

Meanwhile I'm up on the roof
Waiting for the sun to shine
I haven't got an excuse
So I'll just keep my head down

David's in the city
He's just made a deal
And the boys they want to take his trousers down
So they buy some little pills
Which will make poor David ill
And the find themselves in some club downtown

Meanwhile I got off the roof
'Cos the rain keeps pouring down
And I haven't got a clue
Why there's faith in all these clowns

This is the modern world...

Jim and Jane hit the grapevine
'Cos they're looking for a party
A secret number knows where it can be found
So they pick up Pete and Sheila
And they head down the M40
But someone said they closed the country down

Meanwhile I've locked myself in the kitchen
Waiting for the storm to pass
And if there's too much damage
I think I'll get the fuck out fast

This is the modern world...

"Muirshin Durkin"

"Muirshin Durkin"


In the days when I was courtin',
I was seldom done resortin'
In the ale house and the playhouse,
And many's the house between
I told me brother Seamus,
I'll go off and get right famous,
And when I come back home again,
I'll have seen the whole wide world

And it's goodbye, Muirshin Durkin,
I'm sick and tired of workin'
I'll no more dig the praties,
I'll no longer be a fool
As sure as me name is Carney,
I'll go off to California
And instead of digging praties,
I'll be digging lumps of gold

Farewell to all the girls at home,
I'm bound away across the foam
Off to seek me fortune
In far Amerikay
There's silver there a-plenty,
For the poor and for the gentry
And when I come back home again,
I never more will say,

Goodbye, Muirshin Durkin,
I'm sick and tired of workin'
I'll no more dig the praties,
I'll no longer be a fool
As sure as me name is Carney,
I'll go off to California
Where instead of diggin' praties,
I'll be digging lumps of gold

And goodbye, Muirshin Durkin,
I'm sick and tired of workin'
I'll no more dig the praties,
I'll no longer be a fool
As sure as me name is Carney,
I'll go off to California
Where instead of diggin' praties,
I'll be digging lumps of gold

Goodbye, Muirshin Durkin,
I'm sick and tired of workin'
I'll no more dig the praties,
No more be a fool
As sure as me name is Carney,
I'll go off to California
Where instead of diggin' praties,
I'll be diggin' lumps of gold

"My Baby's Gone"

"My Baby's Gone"


You got to weep
You got to wail

You got to drag yourself on hands and knees bleeding
Another mile along the trail
You got to laugh in the face of the devil
When he's haning on to your shirt tail
You got to hold down the lind of the coffin
And hammer in the last nail

[Chorus:]
My baby's gone so far away
She's never coming back to me

You to live
You got to learn
How to find your way to the end of the night
When there's nowhere left to turn
How to keep the last embers of the fire alight
When there's nothing left to burn
How to say goodbye to the ashes that fly
From the cheap metal urn

[Chorus]

She said go to sleep
You got to save
Your anger and rage for the living
'Cuase they're no damn good in the grave
And don't waste your time in forgiving
The ones who just don't know how to behave
There's heaven and hell in the world that you live in
But I'm in a different place

[Chorus]

"Navigator"

"Navigator"



The canals and the bridges, the embankments and cuts
They blasted and dug with their sweat and their guts
They never drank water but whiskey by pints
And the shanty towns rang with their songs and their fights

Navigator, Navigator rise up and be strong
The morning is here and there's work to be done
Take your pick and your shovel and the bold dynamite
For to shift a few tons of this earthly delight
Yes to shift a few tons of this earthly delight

They died in their hundreds with no sign to mark where
Save the brass in the pocket of the entrepreneur.
By landslide and rockblast they got buried so deep
That in death if not life they'll have peace while they sleep.

Their mark on this land is still seen and still laid
The way for a commerce where vast fortunes were made
The supply of an Empire where the sun never set
Which is now deep in darkness, but the railway's there yet.

"Night Train To Lorca"

"Night Train To Lorca"



Across the dark and dusty plain
Where scars of old dry rivers run
Night unfolds, a coal black shroud
Across the hard and stony ground

Distant stars shining bright
In the cavern of the night
All is still and silence screams
To the thunder of the Lorca train

Flaming steal swift as wind
Wires hum the rails ring
Smokestack burning fiery sparks
Rise up to the stars

Towns asleep by empty roads
Churches rise from crooked roofs
Cloaked in darkness nothing stirs
Grow smaller darker disappear

See the moon so still and cold
A million stars that shed no warmth
Your nightmares all come out to play
In the silver light
Wait for sunrise in the east
Long shadows crawl across the plain
The ghosts of night will disappear
And lay your fears to rest

Steam hissed up, the hot coals glowed
The furnace blazed, the wheels they rolled
On tracks of iron, straight and cold
The silver moonlight danced

The flames are in the fireman's eye
Orange in the engines glow
Gleaming pistons whirling cranks
Wait for dawn the rooster's crow

"Once Upon A Time"

"Once Upon A Time"



The hour's late and the lights are low
I'm walking home just kicking stones
I waited at the deopt you never showed
You missed the last bus hours ago
I remember the first time
I saw you on the street
You looked so pretty my heart skipped a beat
I can't wait any longer but I still feel the heat
I'm down but I'm still on my feet

I walked on down the old fairground
Up from the docks blew a lonely sound

I sat for a while on the cold hard ground
Watched the stars slowly turn as the earth spun around
As the past falls behind up ahead there's a crack
Of light shining bright through the night so black
Like a runaway train rolling down the track
From here there's no turning back

Listen to me baby
Once upon a time
My heart was an ocean
You swam against the tide
THe time is past for grieving
My tears have all run dry
I'll leave you with my love
And now I say goodbye

The bottles broke the glasses are cracked
The cards are all dealt and the chips have been stacked
The lamp shades busted and the curtains are torn
THe door keeps knocking but there's nobody home
I stood by the road brushed a tear from my eye
Cursed the cars and the rain and the rolling grey sky
I turned around turned my back on that town
And I never looked back again

"Oretown"

"Oretown"



The night stank of diesel
And a stranger came to town
A cold wind blowing
And the rain pouring down
Street lights flicker
And the power lines moan
The moon beat down
On a river of bone
Someone put the lights out
No one make a sound
You won't find a thing
Down in Oretown

Foundry spits fire and smoke
Air's foul and choking
Sky full of sulphur
Mountains flat and broken
Black fogs and whirlwinds
Thunder and rain
Open drink madness
And purple mad pain
The circus is over
Exit the clowns
Nobody's laughing
Down in Oretown

The ship's in the harbour
Cargo's been pawned
Barrooms spilling sailors
All shipwrecked at dawn
Smelling of salt and rust
Uniforms torn
Came looking for flowers
Only found thorns
Dreaming of mermaids
In pearly white gowns
tain is sleeping
Down in Oretown

There's a madman down on mainstreet
Eyes all aflame
Laughing in the thunder
Of the Number 9 train
Selling old postcards in rusty frames
A thousand views of Oretown
And they all look the same
Dressed up in sandals
And a barbed wire crown
A lot of people loose their minds
Down in Oretown

Lock up the lawman
Let go the thief
Rounding up the grey men
Nail them to a tree
This town was a palace
This town was aglow
Then the sky burned orange
And the iron river flowed
The night stank of diesel
A stranger came to town
The night folded over
Down in Oretown

"Pachinko"

"Pachinko"


I'm walking down Roppongi
The night is hot and smoggy
I drink a little coffee
A sake and a beer
I run into a ginja man
He speaks but I don't understand
He grins at me and takes my hand
And whispers in my ear

[Chorus:]
I play Deji Pachi
I play Deji Pachi
I play Deji Pachi
In my Pachinko dream
I go Uchi Domi
I go Uchi Domi
I go Uchi Domi
In my Pachinko dream

My senses all asunder
I stand and stare in wonder
There's bright light and there's thunder
In Pachinko land

Well versed in the way of Zen
My pockets lined full of yen
I walk the aisle and back again
And sit at Domo's hand

[Chorus]

I'm on the lexus fever
My hand tight on the lever
I'm shrieking like a diva
Staring in a trance

Turn the handle to the right
A stream of silver balls in flight
It screams and howls a blaze of light
The earth moves below me
I'm laughing tears of sheer delight
As I go Uchi Domi

[Chorus]

"Paris St. Germain"

"Paris St. Germain"



The City of Light is dimmed now by the winter,
No gut full of wine could keep out this frost
We'll shiver and sigh by the ice on the river
Ask the dull heavens, "The hell have we lost?"

My heart's too empty to speak true of sorrow
What's dust is but dust and as dust shall remain
If only I could, I would make it tomorrow,
I'd make it tomorrow where you'd live again

I'll lay myself down in the mist and the heather
I'll lay myself down and I'll wait for your call
The bell rings last orders, we're walking together
While the boulevards burn and crumble and fall
The boulevards burn and crumble and fall

My heart's too empty to speak true of sorrow
What's dust is but dust and as dust shall we fall
The bell rings last orders, we're walking together
While the boulevards burn and crumble and fall
The boulevards burn and crumble and fall
The boulevards burn and crumble and fall