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Active Ingredients

by Citizen Fish

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  • limited amount of cassettes
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    put out by Polish label Nikt Nic Nie Wie, with lyrics in English and Polish, last copies discovered in the basement!

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1.
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS The will to respond when the chase is on Sends people up trees cos when they're gone The carbon dioxide in the air Will put a sweat on the polar bears The ice will melt and we'll feel the freeze Of freshwater currents in the northern seas Then the population expands to squeeze Between frozen wasted and the overheated shade Will it be man made This recipe for disaster? Have we a part to play In this recipe for disaster The need to be fed cos if you're not you're dead Gave us the chemical safety net Now as we scan the ingredients We're back in the classroom feeling dense Then lists get made and facts displayed That tell us what's behind the names Sedation and addiction to Staying alive on processed food chains Will it be man made This recipe for disaster? There's human brains In this recipe for disaster The desise to resist when nature's twisted Animal/human rights restricted Leads to people who won't be led By the mainstreamlining in their heads Linking up to a new perspective It's a chain reaction cause and effective It's happening now fast not slow Active ingredients go go go! Now we're face to face With a recipe for disaster Have we something to say In this recipe for disaster? Is there a difference made To this recipe for disaster? Have we a part to play In this recipe for disaster? It depends what part you're after
2.
THE B.O.B. SONG Bob goes bouncing down the road to Bremen 24 hours goes to fast Drinks in elbow-crowded bars Mixing Becks and Kummerling 6 a.m. and where are we? In Bremen Bob goes bouncing down the road to Oakland Coffee pizza liquor store Sits in the sun it's California Get brown get down to the bay All the punks come out to play In Oakland Bob goes bouncing down the road to Bath Goes to the heart of the west country Where the grass is yellow and the cider's green - I reckon it's the other way round - Bubbling up from the underground In Bath Bob met a friend of a friend of yours Bob got a letter and wrote some more Bob saved up and got the plane Now Bob's in the kitchen going insane Bremen, Oakland, Bath and on Cos it don't matter where you come from If you think this is it you're in for a shock Cos the whole fuckin' planet is a big punk rock!
3.
Oslo 03:58
OSLO Well shake it up and fizzle it out Call it what you will There's nothing quite like getting out of your face To stop you feeling ill... But the next day you're out there and you're still stoned Only seeing policemen and feeling all alone You need a dose of vitamins you need some H2O Concentration comes too fast and then it tends to go And if you get all stoned again the whole thing just repeats So pull it up and wake it up with arms and legs and feet Then you get to be so knackered cos you're doing this and that You need to quit the madness and re-learn how to relax By the time you've reached the point at which you've lost the will to rush You'll be so relaxed that next day you'll be doing twice as much! So pour it down or cook it up, call it what you can There's nothing quite like food and drink to stop you going mad But the next day you're out there and you're still full Of alcohol, cholesterol, wind and piss and drool You need a pile of tablets, you need a place to sit The time it takes to run around has shrunk and doesn't fit Then gradually you lose the speeds Of fast and slow and ideas feed From work to play until the need To set the gap has gone So until then I think I'll spend The week re-living the weekend And vice-versa -he's off again Now where's that chorus gone? Open it up or close it down but take it when you go Cos there's nothing quite like going away to a place you hardly know And having a session of mental regress - yes yes I think we get the point... joint?! Pint?! O - S - L - O Good night!
4.
BITTER AND TWISTED I been hating so much for far too long I can't think of anything happy for a song It's all been covered in critical spit Dredged out and analysed bit by bit I hate this society it made me learn How to hate so much, now it's hard to turn This attitude it produced in me To something more/less B & T Bitter and twisted Waving our fists And taking the piss But who's the victim? It's easier to hate then it is to laugh Bitter and twisted Couldn't predict it Could end up seeming self-inflicted Or is it introspection gone too far? It's war in here cos it's war out there It's easier to say 'And we don't care' Third degree burns from the third world war It was fought on television so we all got the score Here's a commercial break in between The commercialisation of the human being Hungry eyes, and those that say There's no food left to eat today It's bitter and twisted When they insist It's always been like this - impossible To stop the crisis they've arranged Try to resist it Maybe you missed it The revolution just got pissed It's a choice, relax or drive yourself insane On the other hand it's a really nice day All the insanity's gone away Good to relax not feeling much, dot, dot, dot I'm not doing enough! Strength and weakness, chaos and order Happiness and hate all messing with the borders Turning my face from the outside view To 'have a nice day' now I'm splitting in two
5.
DIGGING A HOLE Settle back and take a viewpoint Heard before in wooden rooms Hatred of authority begins with Doing what you're told to do When advice replaces orders Hatred slowly turns to caution Caution fades with interaction Agreement - repetition - slogan Waving slightly the banner cries 'There's no room left to advertise/ Nothing left to advertise' In all directions seeing signs Of struggles lost to compromise Sometimes it seems like the problem's So deep that the digging's getting nowhere Sometimes we have to find solutions No more distractions We're digging a hole Just to make sure Has it got to the point where the problems are gone To the surface once dug up and revealed? Are they so in our face that they've come to replace The things that we used to call 'real'? Has it got to the point where the problems are gone Because they got questioned and discussed? Has it really all changed for the better these days? Imagine a 'Veggies'R'us' Acceptance is static retention Of orders delivered on masse We put ourselves outside the picture But still sit reflecting on glass So when the institutions call Check your conscience before you open the door Be happy knowing who you are And still digging holes Just to make sure We know what we're talking about We know what we found down here
6.
Sacred Cows 02:17
SACRED COWS Headlines all went mad cow disease sensation BSEized by panic in a big meat-eating nation They told us beef was safe then told us not to eat it Got banned from exportation but not from the supermarket Before someone else died But the people they all cried 'We need our meat and the money it makes' You can't get a better bit of profit on your plate Frightening to see how money and tradition Can over-ride the facts and force a position Now stickers in four-wheeled vehicles say 'I'm proud to eat beef' instead of 'My other car's polluting as well' So much that it's fucking up the food chain, hell What's that taste? It's animal waste The look on your face says 'What's that smell?' It's the stink of dead flesh It's the sunday best And other sacred cows But they've all gone mad now Well you'd be pretty mad too If what happened to cows happened to you Having your children taken away Forced to stand in a pen each day Fed the shit from other dead things Then chopped to bits... We all suggest you go vegetarian Then all these problems are all sorted out!
7.
Pills 01:48
PILLS I was taking all the pills to stop me feeling ill again Supermarket shelves collapsing at the till again Doctor couldn't help patients running out again Where's the next step up? All went blank for a couple of pages Hazy recollection of staring for ages I didn't know how, I didn't know when An easy choice became a trend Weakening the thrills less money to spend Someone had a car borrowed from a friend Memory distortion ten years on and back again Thrills a generation crash into the window pane Another empty parking space A friend of ours was here We drank a lot of beer Next day his Vauxhall Cavalier Had gone and disappeared Taking all the pills only went so far Did you get the thrills when you took the car? Driving up the price of running out of anything Caught in the distortion of escapism brutality He's wasted - escapist - overdrawn reality
8.
Habit 03:30
HABIT I wake up every morning and think today's the day That takes this repetition and throws it all away I stumble to the toilet then the kitchen for some food I cannot do without it but it's what I always do Here's the next door neighbour discarding his T.V. No more life in two dimensions Less then two weeks later his face is like a screen And now he's got a bigger one - habit retention It's a habit Well I had it And then I lost it And now I want it back again Manning the machinery and dreaming of the day He'll get to see some scenery and have a holiday And now he's won the lottery he'll never work again Unless of course they ask him back, the cycle never ends It's a habit Well I had it And then I lost it And now I want it back again There's people out there travelling so fast it's just insane Always rushing to get back there Home is where the car is parked and then it's off again The fear of immobility? But you're just sat there! I want to throw it all away- And now I want it back again Now he wants it back again You can't have it back again, no no no Habit is invisible until it falls apart Left clutching for security and groping in the dark What are we relying on so much that we get bored With having it, but losing it will make us need it more? I'm gonna throw it all away I'm gonna do something today Something that I haven't done before, it Could be almost anything I don't want to make a habit of it It's a habit Well I had it And then I lost it And now I want it back again
9.
ISOLATED INCIDENTS In the silence of next door Lives a man fought in the war Wary eyes through parted curtains Seems OK but can't be certain Uneasy feeling uninformed, or Out of touch it's, well, abnormal Maybe chat with that chap later Meanwhile need to read the paper Sex and fashion, competitions Popstars praising politicians Amusement park for our derision So assured of our position - None of it to do with us And now the turning of the page Produces yet another bomb Distorted children's faces freeze Where's the next one coming from? Isolated incidents Everyday events Bombs and guns in daily doses Fashion-nation with psychosis Public trials of private loners Staring blank into the cameras Feeds a need for reassurance Civilisation's working for us Takes a bomb to show the crack, and All we see is more distraction Headlines - violence, war and sex Disintegration nothing left Of civilisation - here's the news It's what we get accustomed to Unaware of getting used to Being scared of other people If the world is going crazy Staying in could be essential [Where've I seen that face before? Someone new moved in next door Next in the line of next door neighbours Maybe get to meet him later]
10.
Barking 03:00
BARKING Think back to a bar surrounded by craziness Unthinking drunken punk excess Lives exploding from the stress Of thoughts restrained by soberness Misconception misdirection Shredding lifelong friend connection Contorted faces barbed wire words Fighting talk that goes - heard ABC defences rise From loss of all pretences - why This is real as one perceives it But total shit as the other sees it Bang - two friends get separated I hate to see it generated One dog barks the other runs To get another bigger gun Observers stay but know the fun Has gone - you know that everyone Has half an idea what went wrong But being drunk the idea's gone The questions all get theorised The answer sleeps unrealised See you in the morning then I hope we see those two again Clinking glasses eye to eye Friends like that don't compromise
11.
HEARD IT ALL BEFORE I had writer's block I was put in the dock By critics of lyrics said it had to stop The time to whine had gone tick-tock Too much too long and over the top Too much too soon? Too little too late? It was 'the same old tunes' and they 'started to grate' Mere speech balloons this was never a debate Why you still looking for the sell-by-date? I'm feeling the cost of thinking It's all been said before Something got lost You knew it already Or just got bored With all this social observation Too much too soon? Too little too late? Any old excuse to disengage 'Don't get so mad' - 'We get tired of hearing it' - Have you seen where this picture fits? Into the frame of parenthood Sometime when it was understood That parents knew 'nothing' and couldn't 'relate' Now I'm hearing the same from people my age And into the frame of teachers and school Who always knew more but kept to the rules Teaching the same as they'd been taught before Never updating, no inner thoughts And into the frame of governments Who demonise our common sense Distort our real experience Democracy bows to its own pretention It's in your reflection Attention span at closing time? Don't talk politics! Make it rhyme! And catch the feet to dance a yard But politics makes us think too hard! The way we follow or lead or decide To co-operate or just stand aside The way we say 'What you doing today?' Or couldn't give a shit, how we work and play Is politics What we each decide To be true or lies It's time to decide Whether how we live is our own free will Are we running our lives? Or are we standing still?
12.
DEEP NEUROTIC I love it when you get neurotic! All the underside erotic thoughts The nightmare spikes But I'm grinning, it's exactly like Mirror talking in contempt Now I know no-one's exempt From releasing a hidden psychosis Split second revelations I feel you feel I know too much It seems I can't do anything right I know you know I feel too much It seems I can't do anything right And when the other real me And when the other real you Get close enough to be One out of two We'll back off denying as we even prove it By making excuses that far from remove it I feel you feel I know too much It seems can't do anything right I know you know I feel too much It seems I can't do anything right Personal shame at revealing ourselves Kills off the contact we need to survive If we tap at the source and say 'What the hell?' We'll know who we are and we'll feel more alive That's how the theories go But who's to say it's right? We contradict each other Then say the other's got it right We take it to extremes Just to conclude it feels alright When we stop talking to ourselves Who do we turn to to say right! Shut up! It's alright really!
13.
NOT FOR SALE + BREAKING A HABIT Why are you leaving? Something to believe in Just left the building here comes nothing Seen the revolution go full circle And now it's so much more relaxing Where are they going? Didn't they know it's Hard for us to feel rejected Contract-diction number one, 'it can be done Without losing our perspective' Some will come and some will go But some will stay despite temptation Music bought and sold back Is a shadow of its generation What it meant and what it means Is in our heads not on the screen Communication interaction Liveliness and satisfaction This is what we get from music Corporations just abuse it We keep our own company This culture is not for sale Why all the complaining? Nobody's the same when It comes down to hard decisions But how far do you take it? Do you need to make it? What's the price of your opinions? Ideas come and ideas go And some will stay to form the picture In our heads or on the screens Acted out or sold as culture It's a lifestyle revolution Just to share ideas for free Your revolution will not be televised Except on pay-per-view T.V. This is what we get for asking For someone else to do it for us A culture full of instancy This culture is not for sale Well they outlined all the options And gave us the directions And told us lead don't follow anyone It was hard to stop once started And the promises soon departed And we found out it was business and not fun Now where's the reason for it? The starting point's obscure, it's Getting hard to recognise a friend These men in suits and braces Have no feelings on their faces When they ask us to re-write that song again It's not just music it's not just views It's almost anything artistic It's not just art that's only part of Expression free from greed and profit This culture is not for sale

credits

released April 1, 1999

Voice/words - Dick
Guitar - Phil
Bass/voice - Jasper
Drums - Trotsky
obvious Trumpet - Jim
subliminal Trumpet - Barry

Recorded at Phil's Roadside Cafe, Warminster
engineered+mixed by Phil/Jasper
Nov 98 + Jan 99

Bluurg Records Fish 38

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