Frank Turner

[fox69]

"Our Lady Of The Campfire"

"Our Lady Of The Campfire"



Tonight is her night, and the city holds is breath,
caught twixt life and death, as she rolls in from the suburbs,
the garrison flees and the city will burn.
Corinna rides like Boadicea tonight.
London town trembles at the sight.
Because tonight is her night.
And the youth course through the streets to lay down at her feet,
and she runs a regal eye to choose who lives and decide who dies.
Corinna rides like Boadicea tonight.
The fearful crowds part ways without a fight.
Corinna rides like Boadicea tonight.
London town trembles at the sight.
She keeps her counsel, smiles when she speaks now, from ear to ear.
She’s getting married, or so they tell me, when the spring is here.
She hums a tune from a song she knows from warm summers past,
a song that was sung by kids around campfires in the quiet southwest.

 

[fox69]

"Out Of Breath"

"Out Of Breath"



One, two, three, four

Oh, somewhere down the road, well there's a ditch or there's a hole
Which marks the spot where you will lie when you are cold
And you can run, you can hide, you can bitch and you can whine
But you will never save your life

When you meet death
Be out of breath
And say you're pleased to see him because you're tired

Now you can go down with the wreck or you can scurry from the deck
But there's no way to save your skinny little neck
And you can pray to who you please, and you can fall down on your knees
But your feet will still get wet

When you meet death
Be out of breath
And say you're pleased to see him because you're tired

Of wondering how much time you've got left
Of worrying that you're no good at chess
It's your funeral anyway
Choose your game
Then let's play

When you meet death
Be out of breath
And say you're pleased to see him
In fact you're waiting for this meeting
And well frankly his timekeeping leaves a lot to be desired
So tell that hooded huckster that he's fired

 

[fox69]

"Pancho & Lefty"
(originally by Townes Van Zandt)

"Pancho & Lefty"
(originally by Townes Van Zandt)



Living on the road my friend
Was gonna keep you free and clean
Now you wear your skin like iron
Your breath's as hard as kerosene
You weren't your mama's only boy
But her favorite one it seems
She began to cry when you said goodbye
And sank into your dreams

Pancho was a bandit boys
His horse was fast as polished steel
Wore his gun outside his pants
For all the honest world to feel
Pancho met his match you know
On the deserts down in Mexico
Nobody heard his dying words
That's the way it goes

All the federales say
They could have had him any day
They only let him hang around
Out of kindness I suppose

Lefty he can't sing the blues
All night long like he used to
The dust that Pancho bit down south
Ended up in Lefty's mouth
The day they laid poor Pancho low
Lefty split for Ohio
Where he got the bread to go
There ain't nobody knows

All the federales say
They could have had him any day
They only let him slip away
Out of kindness I suppose

The poets tell how Pancho fell
Lefty's livin' in a cheap motel
The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold
So the story ends we're told
Pancho needs your prayers it's true,
But save a few for Lefty too
He just did what he had to do
Now he's growing old

All the federales say
They could have had him any day
They only let him hang around
Out of kindness I suppose

A few gray federales say
They could have had him any day
They only let him go so wrong
Out of kindness I suppose

 

[fox69]

"Pass It Along"

"Pass It Along"



Somewhere in the back bar by the side of a motorway
Someone takes a breath and takes the stage, then starts to play
In the back of a thousand bars and by the side of a thousand roads
Worn wood, rusted bronze and honest toil explode.

They cast long shadows in the evening sun
But when the morning comes they’ve moved along
They cast long shadows in the evening sun
But when the morning comes they’ve moved along

Hey hey Mr. Dylan I have written you a song
About the river of new singers that still rolls along.
So here’s to Ragan, here’s to Marwood,
Here’s to Tim and Jonah too
Here’s to the ones who have to take the stage and sing the truth.

They cast long shadows in the evening sun
But when the morning comes they’ve moved along
They cast long shadows in the evening sun
But when the morning comes they’ve moved along

Sing till you sweat for the spirit of the age,
Sing life to lines that are dead on the page,
Sing for your sorrow, your wisdom, your rage, sing out.
Sing for the records you played till they broke,
For the parts where you insisted that nobody spoke
Sing for the words that you know but they still make you choke
Sing out.

Cast a long shadows in the evening sun
And when the morning comes, pass it along
Cast a long shadows in the evening sun
But when the morning comes, pass it along
Cast a long shadows in the evening sun
And when the morning comes, pass it along
Cast a long shadows in the evening sun
And when the morning comes, pass it along

 

[fox69]

"Pay To Cum"
(originally by Bad Brains)

"Pay To Cum"
(originally by Bad Brains)



I make decision with precision
Lost inside this manned collision
Just to see that what is to be
Perfectly my fantasy

I came to know with now dismay
That in this world we all must pay
Pay to write, pay to play
Pay to cum, pay to fight

And all in time,
With just our minds
We soon will find
What's left behind

Not long ago when things were slow
We all got by with what we know
The end is near. Hearts filled with fear
Don't want to listen to what they hear

And so it's now we choose to fight
To stick up for our bloody right
The right to sing, the right to dance
The right is ours... We'll take the chance

A peace together
A piece apart
A piece of wisdom
From our hearts

 

[fox69]

"Peggy Sang The Blues"

"Peggy Sang The Blues"



Peggy came to me in my sleep
In the middle of the night,
On a friday night last week
she whispered "hush child now don't be scared"
I got me a few words of wisdom that I came back to share
and she said

It doesn't matter where you come from,
It matters where you go
No-one gets remembered
For the things they didn't do

I said Peggy won't you stay here for a while
We can drink whisky, we can play cards and we can get wild
She said we'll play poker and we'll play for keeps
I've only played angels lately and they never let me cheat

It doesn't matter where you come from,
It matters where you go
No-one gets remembered in this listless life
For the things they didn't do

And you can say I had a good time
And you can say I had class
And you can say that I was born beneath
A ceiling made of glass
But I always kept an open house
And yeah I always did right by my friends
And when I got to St Peter's gate I told the people
I'm not the one who needs to make amends

'Cause better times are coming
Better times ahead
And no-one gets remembered, my deathless child
Don't waste too long in bed
And Peggy said

It doesn't matter where you come from,
It matters where you go
No-one gets remembered, in this listless loveless life
For the things they didn't do
(no no no no no)

Peggy sang the blues, as I drifted off
while Peggy sang the blues, as I drifted off
while Peggy sang the blues, as I drifted off
while Peggy sang the blues,
Peggy sang the blues

 

[fox69]

"Photosynthesis"

"Photosynthesis"



1,2,1,2,3

Well I guess I should confess that I am starting to get old
All the latest music fads all passed me by and left me cold
All the kids are talking slang I won't pretend to understand
All my friends are getting married, mortgages and pension plans
And it's obvious my angry adolescent days are done
And I'm happy and I'm settled in the person I've become
But that doesn't mean I'm settled up and sitting out the game
Time may change a lot but some things may stay the same

And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I will not grow up
And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I yeah I won't grow up

Oh maturity's a wrapped up package deal so it seems
And ditching teenage fantasy means ditching all your dreams
All your friends and peers and family solemnly tell you you will
Have to grow up be an adult yeah be bored and unfulfilled
Oh when no ones yet explained to me exactly what's so great
About slaving 50 years away on something that you hate,
about meekly shuffling down the path of mediocrity
Well if that's your road then take it but it's not the road for me

And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I will not grow up
And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I yeah I won't grow up
And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I will not grow up

And if all you ever do with your life
Is photosynthesize
Then you deserve every hour of these sleepless nights
That you waste wondering when you're gonna die

Now I'll play and you sing
The perfect way for the evening to begin
Now I'll play and you sing
The perfect way for the evening to begin

And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all yeah I won't grow up
And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I will not grow up
And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I will not grow up

 

[fox69]

"Plain Sailing Weather"

"Plain Sailing Weather"



Just give me one fine day of plain sailing weather
And I can fuck up anything, anything.
It was a wonderful life when we were together,
And now I've fucked up every little goddamn thing.

Amelie lied to me, this was supposed to be easy.
I found the one damn person to help me fall asleep in the night.
But sleeping gets tiring, and dark reminds me of dying,
And as long as this feeble heart is still beating,
You will find me rushing through every room, switching on all the lights.

The problem with falling in love in late bars
Is that there's always more nights, there's always more bars.
The problem with showing your lover your scars
Is that everybody's lover is covered in scars.

Things got fractious, and I felt faithless,
At that moment just before the dawn when everything falls apart.
But baby I didn't mean it, for things to get desperate.
I let slip my guard, let go of the rudder,
Now we're drifting in the current away from one another.

So give me one fine day of plain sailing weather
And I can fuck up anything, anything.
It was a wonderful life when we were together,
And now I've fucked up every little goddamn thing,
Every little goddamn thing.

I've been skirting round the rim of doing something
Brave, and not just standing, but jumping in,
Of making circles into squares, of laying down
The bare facts like a burden I can't bear.
And I can almost find the words, but I can see the way you'd
Fold your hands, speak my name like a curse
Upon your pretty lips, the pressured white behind your fingertips.

And when you see me for all that I am
I couldn't make mistakes to make a difference any more.
I'd throw myself down on my knees, at your hands,
And beg you for forgiveness for my fuckups and my faults.
And maybe you'd relent and return my hope for our forever,
Lift up your precious hands, and then bring yours and mine together,
So just give me one fine day of plain sailing weather.

 

[fox69]

"Poetry Of The Deed"

"Poetry Of The Deed"



They're coming out of the walls, they're coming up through the streets,
they're quicksilver wracked by some invisible beat.
Right outside of your door the very stones come alive.
They are the spring in the step, the distant look in the eyes.
Put your Baudelaire away and come outside and play.
Me and all my friends are poets of the deed,
we're exactly what this country needs.
We scratch until we're drunk, we drink until we bleed.
We are what we believe.
Pentameter in attack, iambic pulse in the veins,
free verse powered of the street light mains,
an Iliad played out without a shadow of doubt
between the end of the club and the sun coming out.
Leave Kerouac at his desk, we have romance in our risks.
And here's what we believe: before we get bored, let's be inspired,
let's ignore the applause and set the theatre on fire,
fight every war like the drunks in the choir,
put our art where our mouths are: Poetry of the deed.
So enough with words and technical theses,
let’s grab life by the throat and live it to pieces.
We can choose, we can change,
and if we don't, we're just afraid of living life
like we're loved and in love and alive
to all the things we could be if we just believed
that life is too short to be lived without poetry.
If you've got soul darling now come on and show it me.
But life is too long to just sing the one song,
so we'll burn like a beacon and then we'll be gone.

 

[fox69]

"Polaroid Picture"

"Polaroid Picture"



Man, we used to be brothers
Superheroes and warriors
Cowboys and Indians, train drivers
Everything rolling through the endless summers

But everything changes
You got married had children
And I don't have your number
The one I can remember is the place you used to live with your parents

But in the stillness of the moment it takes for a Polaroid picture
To capture our faces forever
The world has turned a touch on it's axis
And the only thing certain
Is everything changes

Man they closed the Astoria
At the end of last summer
The place we earned our pedigrees
Scene of our victories
Sanctuary in the center of London

Now they're building a railway
To drag the vanquished to Versailles
And the singalongs go on
But they're singing different songs
In rooms that we don't know on the other side of the city

In the stillness of the moment it takes for a Polaroid picture
To capture our faces forever
The world has turned a touch on it's axis
And the only thing certain
Is everything changes

So honey I just need a little time
To take a little time with it today
To savor all the triumph and tragedy
Before it slips away
Before it slips away

Let go of the little distractions
Hold close to the ones that you love
Cause we won't all be here this time next year
So while you can, take a picture of us

Let go of the little distractions
Hold close to the ones that you love
Cause we won't all be here this time next year
So while you can, take a picture of us

Take a Polaroid picture
(Let go of the little distractions)
Take a Polaroid picture
(Hold close to the ones that you love)
Take a Polaroid picture
(Cause we won't all be here this time next year)
Please take a Polaroid picture
(So while you can, take a picture of us)

Take a Polaroid Picture
(Let go of the little distractions)
Please take a Polaroid Picture
(Hold close to the ones that you love)
Take a picture of us to show
(Cause we won't all be here this time next year)
We all want you to see where our time goes
(So while you can, take a picture of us)

So in the stillness of the moment
Make sure you take a Polaroid picture
And keep it with you forever
To remind yourself that everything changes
But there was this one time
There was this one time
When things were okay...