Frank Turner

[fox69]

"Reasons Not To Be An Idiot"

"Reasons Not To Be An Idiot"



You're not as messed up as you think you are
Your self-absorption makes you messier
Just settle down and you will feel a whole lot better
Deep down you're just like everybody else

She's not as pretty as she thinks she is
Just picture her after she's had kids
I bet she sits at home and listens to The Smiths
Deep down she's just like everybody else

So why are you sat at home?
You're not designed to be alone
You just got used to saying "no"
So get up and get down and get outside
'Cause it's a lovely sunny day
But you hide yourself away
You've only got yourself to blame
Get up and get down and get outside

He's not as clever as he likes to think
He's just ambitious with his arguing
He's crap at dancing, yeah and he can't hold his drink
Deep down he's just like everybody else

I'm not as awesome as this song makes out
I'm angry, underweight and sketching out
I'm building bonfires on my vanities and doubts
To get warm just like everybody else

So why are you sat at home?
You're not designed to be alone
You just got used to saying "no"
So get up and get down and get outside
'Cause it's a lovely sunny day
But you hide yourself away
You've only got yourself to blame
Get up and get down and get outside

Amy thinks that life is lacking in drama
So she fell for horoscopes, fake healing and karma
She's so wrapped up in her invisible armour
She'll never grow into herself
And it's OK thinking me and all my friends are just wasters
But saying that I can still see through her heirs and graces
I bet she's scared her life won't leave any traces
Caught up like everyone else

That's not the point anyway
Oh darling, I felt compelled to call you up to say...
So why are you sat at home?
You're not designed to be alone
You just got used to saying "no"
So get up and get down and get outside
'Cause it's a lovely sunny day
But you hide yourself away
You've only got yourself to blame
Get up and get down and get outside
Get up and get down and get outside
Get up and get down and get outside
Get up and get down and get outside
Get up and get down and get outside
Get up and get down and get outside

 

[fox69]

"Recovery"

"Recovery"



Blacking in and out in a strange flat in East London.
Somebody I don't really know just gave me something
To help settle me down and to stop me from always thinking about you.
And you know your life is heading in a questionable direction
When you're up for days with strangers and you can't remember anything
Except the way you sounded when you told me you didn't know what I should do.

It's a long road up to recovery from here, a long way back to the light.
A long road up to recovery from here, a long way to making it right.

And I've been waking in the morning just like every other day
And just like every boring blues song I get swallowed by the pain
And so I fumble for your figure in the darkness just to make it go away.
But you're not lying there any longer and I know that that's my fault
So I've been pounding on the floor and I've been crawling up the walls
And I've been dipping in my darkness for serotonin boosters,
Cider and some kind of smelling salts.

It's a long road up to recovery from here, a long way back to the light.
A long road up to recovery from here, a long way to making it right.

And on the first night we met you said "Well darling, let's make a deal.
If anybody ever asks us, let's just tell them that we met in jail."
And that's the story that I'm sticking to like a stony-faced accomplice
But tonight I need to hear some truth if I'm ever getting through this.
Yeah you once sent me a letter that said "If you're lost at sea,
Close your eyes and catch the tide my dear and only think of me."
Well darling now I'm sinking and I'm as lost as lost can be
And I was hoping you could drag me up from down here towards my recovery.

If you could just give me a sign, just a subtle little glimmer.
Some suggestion that you'd have me if I could only make me better.
Then I would stand a little stronger as I walk a little taller, all the time.
Because I know you are a cynic but I think I can convince you.
Yeah, cause broken people can get better if they really want to.
Or at least that's what I have to tell myself if I am hoping to survive!

It's a long road up to recovery from here, a long way back to the light.
A long road up to recovery from here, a long way to making it right.

So darling, sweet lover, won't you help me to recover,
Darling, sweet lover, won't you help me to recover,
Darling, sweet lover, won't you help me to recover,
Darling, sweet lover, one day this will all be over.

 

[fox69]

"Redemption"

"Redemption"



I was walking home to my house through the snow from the station
When the Springsteen came clear in my headphones with a pertinent question
Oh is love really real and do any of hope for redemption
Or are we are merely biting our time down to the lonely conclusions
Darling let me take your hand as I talk you through this
How loneliness edged into deep seeded psychosis
Lying away in crowded hotel rooms focused on takers
With my feelings laid clear on the ceiling
I don't think I can do this
I don't think I can do this

Well I tried so hard to not turn into my father
But if I only ever skip out his choices will I ever choose better
Oh the sad truth is the grass it will always seem greener
So I left you alone in a restaurant in London in winter
You deserved better

Out of trash some might back in my ears
Sound comes clear and brings the awful truth that I can't stand what I've done to you
And it's written clear in my diary today should have been our anniversary
But I'm far way and I'm far apart
And you're back home with a broken heart
And loves is real and I can escape
I'll only ever have myself to blame
These failures shift and save me in the night
Like a fever I can't break try as I might
Wake me darling I need you take me home
But I know in the end redemption is mine and mine alone
So if each of us is made of a tally of mistakes and successes
Then the hour in the restaurant makes my score less than impressive
If each can be redeemed with the courage by which he confesses
So darling I miss you, your music and your musk and your kisses
I don't think I can do this

 

[fox69]

"Richard Divine"

"Richard Divine"



Richard Divine made up his mind to take the last few steps
to the bathroom door from his bedroom floor and to lock himself in.
Steady young hands, meticulous plans,
disposable razors and a blisterpack filled with strong sleeping pills,
and a bath of hot water.
He carefully wrote a funerary note
on his best writing paper to set out the facts,
and sealed it with wax, and left it in the kitchen.
He left it out so his parents would know what there was waiting for them:
pale cold skin and blood seeping in to the landing carpet.
He said he’s not for sale, said that he felt hounded,
crowded and surrounded by this life he didn’t choose.
But everybody plays this game on a daily basis.
They’re not heroes, they’re survivors,
and it’s not Shakespearian if they lose.
So do what you want, do what the voices tell you,
but don’t ever say that we didn’t warn you.
He said he’s not for sale, but he bought into his failure.
He’s telling tales that hammer nails right into open palms.
A martyr in reverse, he’s best at being worst,
the rest of us are cursed but we keep calm and we carry on.
So Richard, here it is: none of us are blameless, huddled here like strangers,
shameless in our lists of all the changes we say we need.
But I think that you knew that,
you can’t pretend it’s news that when you cut yourself you’ll bleed.

 

[fox69]

"Riot Song"

"Riot Song"



Last night the kids sent London alight
Started out in Tottenham and the flames spread through the night
But they didn't burn the banks down, and they didn't fight the cops
They just burned down their own ends and robbed the shops.

Most of us just stood and watched it burn
Just ordinary people, who are working hard to earn
Earning money for the weekend, and some peace to see their folks
And last night we watched it all go up in smoke

Make no mistake this ain't no bullshit insurrection
It's anger mixed with greed without a plan
But don't pretend that you're not part of the solution
You can't just keep your head down in the sand

So fuck the cops, and fight the thieves
Step up defend your own communities

And today don't expect Westminster to care
They pass the laws then hit the suburbs
Where they breathe the cleaner air
In an atmosphere unsullied, by burning cars or by hate
To the post codes where there are no sink estates

But it shouldn't be their problem anyway
It's a battle on our doorsteps, and it won't just go away
So if you give a single damn about the city where you live
You'll step up now and ask what you can give

Because these kids they are our neighbours, and our children
And if they say that they don't give a damn
It's up to us to show them it's a problem
To steal the shit you want just 'cause you can

So fuck the cops, forget the thieves
Step up defend your own communities
Tomorrow we stand together oh we're never on our own
Put out the fires, this city is our home

 

[fox69]

"Rivers"

"Rivers"



Our history runs down our rivers
Down our rivers to the sea
Reminds us of the things that matter
Home and heart and history
And all our sins will be forgiven
Washed away to set us free
By the rivers that run through our homesteads
By myth and modal melody

I traced these rivers from the cities to the seas
To remind me of what I already know
I traced the shorelines through a thousand histories
To remind me an island is my home
An island is my home

I traveled far across this country
Northumberland to Southern Downs
I wandered up the rolling Humber
And down the Thames to London town
Countless lives were lived and lingered
In the cuts, swerves, and the fells
I left a tapestry called England
And life and those who lived it well

I traced these rivers from the cities to the seas
To remind me of what I already know
I traced the shorelines through a thousand histories
To remind me an island is my home
An island is my home

Round here the sky is a little closer
A little closer to the ground
It's hard for someone to get lost here
Harder still to get found
Though I've seen a thousand rivers
From the Mississippi to the Rhine
The only place that I'll lay my hat down
Is by an English riverside

I traced these rivers from the cities to the seas
To remind me of what I already know
I traced the shorelines through a thousand histories
To remind me an island is my home
An island is my home

So place your trust into the sea
It's kept us safe for centuries
It shaped our shores and steadily
Its care has brought us, come
When I die, I hope to be buried out in English seas
So all that then remains of me
Will lap against these shores
Until England is no more

 

[fox69]

"Rock & Roll Romance"

"Rock & Roll Romance"



You and I could have a rock ‘n’ roll romance
We could fuck in our clothes, we could sleep in our pants,
And I could crash at yours, you could crash at mine
We could stay in bed 99 percent of the given time
Leave all the loveless lonely behind.

Because you’ve been searching up and down and all around
And there’s no nice boys in London town,
And I can sympathize because I’ve been searching too
And I’ve yet to find a girl half as good as you.

You’re just not paying attention.
You’re sitting in your kitchen and you’re bitching about rejection
We’re cheating the world out of a fairtytale of a conclusion
And that’s not really fair on us all.

 

[fox69]

"Romantic Fatigue"

"Romantic Fatigue"



I have to admit that I am one of the many
Who thought that a guitar would win him a lady.
My teenage years, they were a feminine drought,
And I thought that a serenade would help out.
And it seemed to be working for a couple of years –
I wrote a few songs and they wrought a few tears.
But when I hit my twenties, it ran out of steam.
I seemed to be suffering from romantic fatigue.

And I never know which song I should play her –
Each melody is a memory of a not-forgotten failure.
So when I get out my guitar tonight to do what I do,
Remember, I probably didn’t write this song for you.

So as I have mentioned, the shelf-life was short.
The scheme wasn’t working, despite what I thought.
The ladies all left me alone in the end,
So I had to switch all the names around and then sing it again.

And every life-long love, and every best friend,
Slipped away into the past.
Take my words with caution – I can’t pretend that you’re the first,
You won’t be the last.

I never know which song I should play her –
Each melody is a memory of a not-forgotten failure.
So when I get out my guitar tonight to do what I do,
Remember, I probably didn’t write this song,
No I certainly didn’t write this song,
No I never, never wrote a song for you.

 

[fox69]

"Sailing"

"Sailing"



If I had been born two hundred years ago
I would have been a sailor, and sailing I would go
I’d sail around the Capes and across the seven seas and then back home
If I had been born two hundred years ago

And I would know the waters, and the waters would know me
I would cut across the waves, and be as happy as can be
I’d be landless, I’d be loveless, I’d be flight and fancy-free
I would know the waters, and the waters would know me

And when I think about the place and time where I was born
I wonder if the hands of faith had slipped and placed me wrong
‘cause there are ships I could have sailed and sailors boots I could have worn
When I think about the place and time where I was born

But the ocean is still out there, magnificent and wide
She’s got open arms to hold me, and endless space to hide
And the only things that hold me back are things I hold inside
The ocean is still out there, magnificent and wide

Sailing I should go

 

[fox69]

"Sailor's Boots"

"Sailor's Boots"



If I had been born two hundred years ago
I would have been a sailor, and sailing I would go
I'd sail around the Capes and across the seven seas and then back home
If I had been born two hundred years ago

And I would know the waters, and the waters would know me
I would cut across the waves, and be as happy as can be
I'd be landless, I'd be loveless, I'd be flight and fancy-free
I would know the waters, and the waters would know me

And when I think about the place and time where I was born
I wonder if the hands of faith had slipped and placed me wrong
'cause there are ships I could have sailed and sailors boots I could have worn
When I think about the place and time where I was born

But the ocean is still out there, magnificent and wide
She's got open arms to hold me, and endless space to hide
And the only things that hold me back are things I hold inside
The ocean is still out there, magnificent and wide

Sailing I should go