Communication Breakdown

1. Communication Breakdown

C. Herbertson

 

We shot him in the morning

The youngest kid in the war

Propaganda said deserter

The soldier boys weren’t sure

I had to phone somebody close to me

To talk these scenes from out of my head

When I got through to you

You had something to do

And you couldn’t hear a word I said

 

In our communication breakdown

Somewhere on the line

Communication breakdown

I think I’m going out of my mind

 

War declared on America

They say our boys are fighting back

There’s some talk around about a victory

But who gives a damn about that

We’ll steal a couple of guns

And shoot our way through the crowd

Sink a drink and fall in bed

And make beautiful love

 Until the lights go out

And the radio goes dead

 

In the tallest tall building

I’ll meet you when they’re gone

And we’ll watch through broken windows

For the soldiers coming home

Don’t tell them where you’re going

The corpses on the street

They won’t listen to your stories

But they’ll see when I fall at your feet

 

In our communication breakdown

Somewhere on the line

Communication breakdown

Somewhere on the line

I think I’m going out of my mind

Because the soldiers ain’t coming home

Because nobody’s coming home

Drums, Mark Bloomer; bass, Richard Waltner; guitars, backing vocals and fiddle, Andrew Cadie[H1] 

 

2. BFBS RADIO

C. Herbertson

Churches falling

Angels scowl

Crusaders in a foreign land

Gargoyles cry

The old priest lied

Cathedrals in the sand

Too brave to live

Too young to die

The stone walls understand

BFBS radio

R and R not long to go

Forces sweetheart cheerio

Daddy he is coming back

And we will wave a union jack

To welcome our hero home

Christmas bells

Heaven or Hell

Salaam or be damned

Auld lang syne

One last time

Hold my hand

A call to prayer

But who dares

Behold the man?

Apocalypse now

If Westminster allows

A green unpleasant land

Dressed to kill

But dancing still

To the military band

Too brave to live

Too young to die

Is this the Promised Land?

 

Piano, Matthias Keul; strings and bass melodica, Andrew Cadie

 

3. Lord Gregory

R. Burns

 

O mirk, mirk is the midnight hour,
And loud the tempests roar,
A waefu‘ wand’rer seeks thy tow’r,
Lord Greg’ry ope thy door.
An exile frae her father’s ha‘,
An a‘ for loving thee;
At least some pity on me shaw,
If love it may na be.

Lord Gregory, mind’st thou not the grove,
By bonnie Irvine-side,
Where first I own’d that virgin-love
I lang, lang had denied.
How often didst thou pledge and vow
Thou wouldst for aye be mine?
And my fond heart, itsel‘ sae true,
It ne’er mistrusted thine.

Hard is thy heart, Lord Gregory,
And flinty is thy breast:
Thou dart of heav’n, that flashest by,
O wilt thou give me rest!
Ye mustering thunders from above,
Your willing victim see!
But spare, and pardon my false love
His wrongs to heav’n and me.

Guitar, Craig Herbertson; melodicas and fiddle, Andrew Dadie

 

4. Big Brother

C. Herbertson/Andrew Cadie

 

Bright stars in the sky shine on me

I’m still in the shade where I always will be

I’m not your lover. I’m not your friend

I’m you’re big brother. I’ll be there at the end.

Tell me you hate me. Tell it again

There’s no need to cry. There’s a pleasure in pain

Some walk the broadways. Some breathe in the air

I search for cobwebs when they’re not there

Time was I fooled you with the dregs of a smile

The warmth of your heart, the hollow child

Now it’s not over. It never began

Switch off your TV. The TV’s still on

Tell me you hate me. Tell it again

I’m deaf to your crying as the father of pain

Is the fever still burning, do your hands tremble still?

Are you blind to the moment, but seeing it all?

Are you watching the windows, are you dreading the stairs?

Has the sky overwhelmed you? Is there anyone there?

Drums, Mark Bloomer; bass, Richard Waltner; guitars, melodicas and trumpets, Andrew Cadie

 

5. Always Rains in England

C Herbertson

Dodging trains in Dortmund

Essen S-Bahn 8

And like a bike in Münster

Never going back

Step the streets of Bochum

Puppet man on show

And every German winter

Watch it snow, watch it snow

Reading cards and letters

On empty esplanades

Where the heart grows colder

Than the Eis Cafés

Always rains in England

Late Autumn leaves fall

Miss the rain in England

Miss you most of all

In Köln a statue’s standing

For tourists at the Dome

All waiting for a movement

From a man of stone

To the juggler back in England

Whose hoops can kiss the sky

To the lady playing violin

It’s an English lullaby

 

If you see a single snowflake

Blown from a foreign land

Place your warm hand on the window

Watch it thaw

While your fire is burning brightly

You stay close and warm inside

And if your winter heart is melting

I’ll be there

When English rains are over

And the snow is here to stay

Just like the ghost of Christmas

I’ll never go away.

 

Drums, Mark Bloomer; bass, Richard Waltner; picked guitar, Craig Herbertson; rhythm and lead guitar and trumpets, Andrew Cadie

 

6. The Lotus Blossom

C. Herbertson

 

Within the lotus blossom

There are dreams of man unknown

And everywhere you wander

There secrets shall be shown

A strange forgetful paradise

Whispering from corridors

The skulls of prophets loom

Shattered by their failures

And prophecies of doom

For mankind

The lonely race

And I have seen

A thousand sad white horses

Scattered on the shores of distant lands

In my dreams

Sad eyed mermaid children

Draw pictures in the sand

Portraits of a concept

No one understands

They fade away before your eyes

Mansions aged and crumbling

Shadows on the wall

You think that you have seen her

But she’s not there at all

Still you chase her echoed call

 

Guitar, Craig Herbertson; whispering, Andrew Cadie

 

7. Back Room Darling

C. Herbertson

 

And may I remind you

Some day you will find her

Walking down Rose Street

Or in some shady bar

That backroom darling

Swiftly disarming

Cool as the wind

On the Pentland hills

And if she tells you

That love is her reason

Please don’t believe her

She’s said it before

That West End baby

Never says maybe

Only says lay me

On the hotel floor

But if she stays

Isn’t life sweet?

A moment’s love

Is no defeat

So if she calls you

Or throws you a smile

Take her and use her

But don’t be beguiled

That back room darling

Has no prince charming

She’ll lay you out

In the heartache morgue

 

Drums, Mark Bloomer; bass, Richard Waltner; guitar and fiddle, Andrew Cadie

 

8. The Ghost of New Orleans

C. Herbertson

A street car named Desire

Lights the lights on the funeral pyre

Madame Duvall is not retired

She’s looting Brando’s Jeans

Top hat coat tail

Call the baron if all else fails

Death’s head and a banshee wail

On Mississippi steam

And is she the girl of your dreams

That sweet jazz queen

Pretty miss New Orleans

You can put her in a bottle for fifty cents

But don’t tell Evangeline

She’s a ghost of New Orleans

The Duck girl’s on the prowl

Voodoo chil’ starts to howl

On Bourbon street a Jazz band growls

The name of sweet Maxine

Sin city New Orleans

Ever fall in love with a burlesque queen

Ever Banjo Annie as she kissed Jim Beam

Y’all know what I mean

This ain’t Sesame Street

Here’s where the lost and lonely meet

Graveyards drowning at your feet

Sister Gertrude on a tambourine

And she sings….

Hallelujah….

Hallelujah….

 

Drums, Mark Bloomer; bass, Richard Waltner; fiddle, Andrew Cadie; guitar, Craig Herbertson

 

9. Song 18

C. Herbertson

Shall I compare you to a summer’s day?

You are more beautiful

The summer sun will burn and fade

Winds shake the darling buds of May

And everything will have its day

Changed by chance and passing time

Eternal summer you’ll remain

Remaining beautiful

Death can boast that you are his

All things in life he wills to claim

While men have eyes and they can see

While they walk and while they breathe

With these words I give to you

See this perfect summer’s day

You are more beautiful.

 

Guitar, Craig Herbertson

 

10. Candlelit Waltz
C. Herbertson/Matthias Keul

Evening falls, fumbles his bowtie
Laying a mantle to cloak the sun
Still hours, standing in darkness
Breathing the perfumed air

You, heavenly dancer
Stealing candlelight from the stars
Flickering flames,

They all were dancers,

Now lanterns brimming with oil

Awed by your beauty, owing their story,
to light hearted movement

Lady in waiting

Heavenly dancer, dancing on starlight

Awed by your beauty light hearted movement

Bride and groom, harlequin spangles

Moonborn magpies thieving the dawn

Love and light lost between darkness

Eclipsed by your sweet joy

Morning smiles through cinnamon rafters

To kiss the shadows deserting the halls

Here I stand in this mansion of memories

All the old things are gone

Piano, Matthias Keul; bass melodica, Andrew Cadie

 

11. Sunset

C. Herbertson

Cherie dreamt of Russian blood

Wearing art and rubber gloves

She kept a diary full of secret thoughts

Clandestine meetings but no one turned up

Tintoretto on the sloping crawl

Siamese cats in every hall

She had drawer full of babushka dolls

And through the mirror on her bedroom wall

She saw the Sun set

But she’d forget

 

And the artist in the room above

Always used to speak of love

But she’d forget

The hunchback moon would break his bones

To the thrill of God on her telephone

She kept her kitchen full of encaustic wax

So her icons and angels could never relax

 

Cherie prayed that love would grow

Like the flowers who spoke to the girl below

She built a Buglass on her window sill

Ephemeral art that couldn’t keep still

 

Drums, Mark Bloomer; bass, Richard Waltner; guitar, backing vocals, trumpets and strings, Andrew Cadie

 

12. Jesus will you Save me Now

Craig Herbertson

I was born in the Land of Cakes

Never heard of Tennessee

I never knew my father

And I guess he never knew me

My mammy worked hard to feed us

Cruel was the devil’s cure

The church wanted all of our money

But we stole it back for the poor

Jesus will you save me now

Jesus will you save me now

I ain’t been good but I ain’t been too bad

So Jesus will you save me now

At thirteen I was drinking whisky

At fifteen I played pool in bars

At sixteen I had my first woman

I missed out on fancy cars

There’s a drought in Arizona

There’s a flood in New Orleans

There’s soldiers dying out east

Who know what it all means

Guitar, Craig Herbertson

 

Recorded and mixed by Andrew Cadie at Wishing Well Studio, Weisenheim am Sand

http://www.andrewcadie.co.uk

except piano, recorded by Matthias Keul at Triple S studio, Cologne

http://www.matthiaskeul.de

Songs arrangements by Craig Herbertson except Communication Breakdown (fiddle tune, band arrangement), Winter (strings), Always Rains in England (brass) and Ghost of New Orleans (Band arrangement) Sunset (Band arrangement, strings, brass) by Andrew Cadie

Produced by Andrew Cadie