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Life Size

by Citizen Fish

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1.
OVER THE FENCE Can't stop this constant nod Just met two peas from the next-door pod Seems like making a brand new friend But all this shaking never ends Invitations to join in things I haven't done since seventeen Photos from places I still haven't been Postponing and phoning faces unseen Slightly nervous... Thinking backwards... Up & over it! Someone else's experience Someone else is over the fence No more blank comparison sketch No more false impressions left Had to go...things to do... you know How it is...it went from this To further over and back again Always make it back again Further over and back again Always make it back again Further over and back again Always make it back again
2.
Revolution 02:36
REVOLUTION When 'the people's revolution' Is the stuff of science fiction Then the sense of evolution is deranged Into thinking your solution Is the easy contradiction To the way you had the problem re-arranged Which is obvious to me But can't you blinkered visionaries All comprehend how unrealistic it must be? To alter all the problems Till the facts are all forgotten And solutions blow out on the morning breeze When will you come to realise The more you tend to theorise The actuality of life recedes? And the daily devastation - Maybe daily revelation - Is forgotten in the future you conceive So any people's revolution Is not down to your conclusions Concerning how we change to suit your needs For if everyone is what they are Change can only go as far As people want to change their destiny
3.
OUT OF CONTROL I used to smile at the camera But now it's on every corner And everyone is staring Ignorant or tired of caring Or just completely used to feeling Watched all the time Or holding back a sense of freedom That comes out late at night Out of control Orwell's future science fiction Ended up a near prediction Smug the rebel's lonely chorus 'We saw it before it saw us' Flick the page to a few years later The novelty is out of date - a Problem redefined has gone Now we're told it's what we wanted Out of control Now everyone's on camera And everyone's an actor Here's a random factor Someone took away the screen E-motion pictures in 3-D Beyond control the human being Is freer than the one projected Being watched to keep control Of 'crime' - A buzzword has its hold Another such is 'you' - it makes us Follow where the message takes us Either down the path to silence Where no-one says more than they're told Or to the realisation Our containment needs permission Our acceptance paves the way That makes it worse when we get old Grandad had so much to say But all his anger had gone cold Tried and tested, failed suppressed Then new technology invested Here's the future human being Silent, nervous, dead or screaming No! This is out of control!
4.
Picture This 02:35
PICTURE THIS Well they said it couldn't be done But they always had it in mind A picture machine! Like a radio But a three-dimensional kind Seeing what words could only say Extending the views so far away So much to see, so much to show Let's see how far this thing can go What's on T.V.? Well they said it shouldn't be done But they always had it in mind Charging a fee for the quality And a bigger one to advertise Too many viewpoints go unheard When money talks so undisturbed Here's the market - fill the blanks For exploitation we say thanks What's on T.V.? Well they said it couldn't be done But they plugged into our minds A one-way delivery feeding tube Of reality simplified Now our thoughts are in mass production Our nerves de-densitized This apex of invention Has replaced our ears and eyes Well I'd rather sing songs about nature Being happy or having fun But I asked at the desk when I got here And they said it couldn't be done Too much T.V.! More at ease with songs against T.V. That's something we all know about And we'd rather get off on the hatred Than imagine the living without I been watching too much telly Almost turned my brain to jelly Now I'm playing my cassettes Get back to the music before you forget! Turn it off!
5.
INTERNAL RELEASE Sat round a table, "What do you do?" I put my neuroses on public view Everyone sat round something to say But contracting it all into "Have a nice day?" When I said "Well no not really" Aiming to let go of a lonely feeling I sensed a tension unexpected Normal question got redirected Didn't it? You know I was taught That that's what friends are really for This is a cry for communication This is a sample of alienation So I looked up from starting what may never end To see you looking for another friend Are all your acquaintances so happy inside Simplistic answers are the only replies You get? And so it goes on If everyone's happy then what could be wrong? Needing to know that surrounded by plastic Transient values and rapid-fire thrills This internal release need not be so drastic As to create perceptions that none of us feel This is a cry for communication This is a sample of alienation
6.
Autographs 04:22
AUTOGRAPHS After the gig and keen to share The end result of feeling aware But it's autographs that you want me to sign I write my name but it's not even mine... It's yours, hang it up on your wall I hope you get over it, do a bit more Cos playing the game is the game itself Where all you get told is all you can tell Labels define, and their opposition Defines as well, puts you in a position Label it 'alternative', what does it mean? A token cog in the music machine It's always easier to follow the leader Lowest common denominator All dressed up as a motivator Fuck the system? Yeah see you later Fuck the system times four Seems like we heard it all before Several years back we all got a clue Resistance fed what we said we'd do Now several years on it's like it all belongs To the history books - well that's how it looks The regeneration of the blank generation Forgetfulness, that's all it took Rebellion into fashion And fashion creates names To be signed on bits of paper It's all part of the game A continuance of the process All you want is autographs Where has all the meaning gone? Why do I have to ask?
7.
Back to Zero 02:36
BACK TO ZERO Had a friend he would spend all his time going mad Never heard more absurd his new versions of 'Crazy Horses' Finger to the head, everybody said he was cracked He was out there, but somehow he always came back- Back to zero Then he got put away up to the hospital Back to zero They let him out - Now he's got nothing to say The lesson learnt was to never return to that place Creating fear with control of your character on prescription Now he smiles like his files are being held to his face If he did resist a bit it wouldn't fit and there he goes again Back to zero He plays it safe but feels deranged Back to zero Just waiting for the call - We're taking all you know away They call you mad, feed you drugs, say you're cured and you're free To keep in line with the threat they can do as they please Scapegoats for the rest of us until we sus it's all you & me In and out of institutions, repetition & exclusion Lies they sell you Make you doubt your sanity But when they tell you You must come back where you've just been You'll have no chance to tell them "No! I'm O.K. now!" Back to zero
8.
CHOICE OF VIEWING Your poison is my antidote What keeps you down keeps me afloat Perceiving, as you believe in it That media shapes were never meant to fit The holes you create to fit them in But you adjust and the fiction wins again The pictures from the T.V. screen Contain a lot more then what it really seems But to be there seeing it all for real Is it too much to contemplate? Is it too much to feel? Cos the image is all, until it disappears To be instantly replaced What do we do with the information? Who selects your choice of viewing? Why don't we lose the hesitation That keeps us looking instead of doing? The first thing to do and now not later Quit the position of mere spectator Be your own motivator Look to the inside, be the creator Not for others to blindly follow - See how the influence works - But to give you a space that isn't so hollow Where no-one but you has the words And the pictures to fit what you're saying From what only you have thought out When the media form your opinion You forget what real life's about What do we do with the information? Who selects your choice of viewing? Why don't we lose the hesitation That keeps us looking instead of doing? It's your life, what are you doing?
9.
LOSE THE INSTRUCTIONS Get mad as loud as possible! Lose the instructions, lose control Everyone does it when they're on their own Nobody hears so no image gets blown Every intention scared of the critic It's never enough being called 'pathetic' Sometimes anger starts to invade The outside image we're given to play Sometimes thoughts can't replace intuition Taking too long reaching no decision Are you creating or folding under? I heard you scream it sounded like thunder But hollowed out amidst the fashion All the scorn without the passion Here's the original, here's the reaction All laid out - smug satisfaction No! It's all pre-arranged Someone did it once so we do it again Routine monotony kills us all So lets get unpredictable!
10.
SOMEWHERE TO GO I hear the sound of bells & sirens Wired alarmed & face to face Intruder in exclusion zone Looking for a sleeping place Locks and clocks and iron bars Barking dogs, securicars Electric lights & concrete grass Getting scared to even ask CH- Somewhere to go -- Without being arrested Somewhere to go -- Without being scared Somewhere to go -- Without being questioned Somewhere to go -- Where somebody cares Put on screen to serve the public Here's the problem now drop the subject Asked some questions unrequested Next day quietly arrested Token trials to stop the rumours Hordes of desperate non-consumers In a rush to beat the systematic Silencing of their existence CH- And they bought in all their cameras And they made a film about us About my friends and all their problems Now we're on the television They made a documentary Showed it late night on T.V. Raising audience figures For the regular advertisers The public conscience shivered Then turned the T.V. over This is homelessness delivered Too close to home CH-
11.
SHRINK THE DISTANCE If we're gonna say O.K. To submission at the border Who if anyone will say "I don't believe in law & order"? All the thoughts of alienation Feeling guilt through association Appearance altered fit the plan Making it as easy as we can CH- All you got is regulation All I got is inspiration All I get is your resistance I just wanna shrink the distance Welcome? Hardly - face the flag Total strangers rape my bag I had no room to pack the bomb Where do you think I'm coming from? Travel broadens the mind And here's the threat to human kind If you go so far you leave behind All the notions in your mind CH- Freedom comes in losing stability So-called 'forced' to use your ability To cope with unknown situations Soon destroys the notion of nations But I just want to see the planet before I die How can it be so hard to cross this borderline Between what's yours and what is mine? I just want to see the planet before I die Separate lands it's all possession Guarded with some warped obsession Of control - you wanna come in? It all depends on where you've been I'm sick of doing what I'm told Stay at home, grow up, feel old Feeling young is not quite knowing- Until you've gone - just where you're going CH-
12.
Will Swap 02:53
WILL SWAP If I want a bargain, I avoid the high street shops I check the local papers to see who needs what I've got And who has what I can't afford when I can't afford a lot Someone else in this position, OK let's do a swap! CH- Will swap- what have you got? Ain't got no money - don't own it can't loan it Ain't got no credit --won't get it yeah forget it Will swap this poverty for all the things I need property Things you've never seen before are left outside to rot There's food & furniture in skips and most are still unlocked Surplus raw materials are shelves & building blocks If you don't want it, someone will, why not do a swap? CH- Will swap- homelessness for squats Hunger for surplus tons of food Anger for a reason, so few have got so much With so many hopelessly demanding "Will do anything" - "Anything will do" So here's the barter system on the pages at the back Will swap commercial interest for a rummage in your sack Will swap your c.c.t.v. for an unrecorded chat We'll swap a few priorities and watch the wall street crash

credits

released June 1, 2001

Voice/words - Dick
Guitar/voice - Phil
Bass/voice - Jasper
Drums - Trotsky

Recorded by Steve Evans at Nam studio, Holt, February 2001

released on Honest Don's

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Citizen Fish Bath, UK

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