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Thirst

by Citizen Fish

/
1.
Feeding 02:40
FEEDING We're feeding on facts we're feeding on fiction Feeding cos we need to eat Supplying our minds with information But half of it is incomplete They used to wrap chips in newspapers Now they microwave fast food We end up picking at rumours In the hope of a grain of truth Do you know what you are feeding? Do you know what you are fed? We say we don't believe all that we read But is anyone reading at all? Or merely feeding on what's being fed In the hope of feeling full? We all need to be resources Rather than receptacles There's too many lies and rumours To recognise them all Do you know what you are feeding? Do you know what you are fed? Do you repeat what is worth repeating? Or store it all inside your head? Be a source of information Inspire debate, protest and go! Feed on food for thought reaction If no-one feeds it, grow your own!
2.
Popsongs 03:44
POPSONGS You'll never make the charts if you sing about repression Cos pretending to be in control is a national obsession Even when the self-control is let loose as aggression "Oh you know he doesn't mean it maan"-"It's his natural expression" Some say the constant hammering is following the beat And popsongs heard to pass the time will break up the routine In some hazy day pre-radio you'd hear the hammers sing Now they shout above the popsongs, go unnoticed and give in It claims to break up the routine, becomes a part of it But no signs of improvement in the way the hammers hit You see the way the workers act when the chains relax a bit Does it indicate their mental state as happy clean and fit? After daylong happy tunes its prime reaction time Blob out horizontal to the spectacle sublime Replacing conversation space with pleasantries that rhyme Have a good weekend folks, just make sure you're back by nine So when the batteries went flat and the D.J. went off air The atmosphere in the factory made everyone aware They'd been replacing interaction with dependency on sound So when the popsongs came back on they turned the whole thing down
3.
CITY ON A RIVER I see the rubble alongside the river and shout "It's time we started looking again!" We seen it before, except then it was standing Seen the demolition, hand in hand We watch the cars zoom past Seems like nothing's ever gonna last Is this change? Or merely destruction? Wait a few months and here's the construction Of another supermarket, as shops close down Redundancy money like a dressing gown Barely hiding the naked fear Of being recognised - "I used to work here" Staring at the rubble was bad enough So we look to the river instead Comparison, no! It couldn't be so! This one flows and the other is dead But the swans have gone with the current - moved on And the trees have rotted away The bridge that joined workers and nature Now a viewpoint to view the decay We walk round the city a few times more The repetition makes us numb Built on a river that keeps the score Of replaceable scenery - what was won Is lost - and the cost is rising Pride in the city and its horizons Killed by the slow destruction Of places to live - now the only function That reaps rewards is profit And the making of it Can't afford to look after the poor If they really want more - we've got it The price is lifelong dedication To the status quo of this consumer nation Offer no alternative, don't talk back Work for twenty years then get the sack Or not! How much have you got? What kind of strength can take you The length of the ladder? Can you reach the top? Is it madder Or saner to stay off the rungs And start complaining? About the endless waste, the draining Off of human inspiration Where people and labour And buildings and nature are wasted Got a taste of it Stood by the rubble by the river on a bridge
4.
Used To Work 02:30
USED TO WORK Up in the morning, out to the block Into the office it's down to the boss Up down and sideways straight across Who sets the motion? Who gets the job? I just got a promotion The people are bigger up there Get a suit to fit Routinery scenery go holiday The distance we go is set by the pay Ambition retrieval, "We'll get there one day" Who sets the distance? Where do you stay? I just got an extension The office had run out of space Getting on with it Out of the office, back from the block Came worker and workload set by the clock Checked in on family, checked out the box It's not what you're getting, it's what you haven't got This bloke just won a million quid And he's gonna keep his job Got used to it
5.
Plasticash 03:42
PLASTICASH Swindon town are going down Another division today With the introduction of 'Mondex' cards Personality on display Out with those tiresome coins and notes It's a credit card status mirror to show You're a flexible reliable upbeat type Choosing to follow the 'optional' hype Believe consume then pay Here it all is to choose or refuse All your statistics, the portable you Name and number, size and amount Of transferable credit in your bank account Swindon town are being taken down The disinformation highway Consumer credibility testing ground Believe consume then pay The 'optional' tag is original stance You don't have to do it, but now here's your chance Gradually the rich and social elite Will be forcing the standards for us all to meet And once reported to be a success By those who do the consumer tests It'll be standard procedure across the nation Like satellite dishes - infatuation Believe consume then pay Novelty rat race acceleration Into a future with all hesitation Set aside by the fear of alienation From society - It's all connotation You are what you carry on plastic cards And plastic cards are carrying you When all you contain and all that you are Is lost - well what will you do? But we refuse to play Create a false desire then feed it
6.
SCENE 496 : CAFE IN MELKSHAM How now the rose in red and pink and white Its petals soft as blades of metal Melting in the noontime rays And frosted cold again at night How now the rose in sharpened thorns Its underlying nature warns That beauty holds itself above proximity: A 'Do not touch' sign on its stem That, unconsidered, wreaks revenge On those whose jealousy condemns - - - - Screaming baby in a café A mewling child that will be wild In its persistence to inflict Its misery upon the ear It's times like this I get too near To kids to ever want to be parental On the verge of going mental Shrieking spikes and lacerations Ruining my concentration Over there Another angled child was dangled From a chair aware of crying in the air And walked away from mother's smile To pass one on to the screaming child Who, seeing some consideration Stopped its wailing emulation Of tanks on slopes with failing brakes- That other kid had what it takes As we all like to think we do But we just sit and let it pass While this bright kid got off its ass And made the difference for us all Just by being natural Just by being natural I doubt that kiddie's name was Rose It was probably something like Brian But it knew what to do, the instinctive approach And somehow it stopped the kid crying
7.
WORDS ON OVERTIME Sometimes something good Needs understating to be understood Needs towing back from the cliché status That empties meaning from the phrases Used so often - once they held The singularity of the bell When words on overtime ring false cheer Cos everyone's saying them, it numbs the ears Picking up catchlines The wrong word at the wrong time Lost you future friends The wrong word at the right time Started up a trend The right word at the right time Is only in your head Sometimes something bad Needs overstating in a sense gone mad When pain fear and grief Become too easy to believe Then the feeling isn't coming through When we daily consume oversimplified gloom Reported by strangers We fear anything we're not set to receive And feel alienated So when someone's pain gets in our faces We need to hear different phrases That we can believe What kind of worlds have we created Where basic feelings need re-creating To avoid the perceptions of fiction and cliché Being received? How long before via screen mentality Will we all forget how to tell the reality Apart from the act? There's the duality Careful how you feed
8.
TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER Wind blows strongly in its rush to arrive In your face for as long as you like or hate it We place ourselves either for or against And then later on we replicate it Back in the box with the gas masks off We stare at the blocks through the double glazing Wishing the air was cleaner, aware Of a forecast declaring us crazy Mindset in concrete headset on loud To cover the noise and avoiding the crowds Lungs on the run and breathing too fast No time to talk the air doesn't last So back to the edge where the wind hits you hard This is the reason you get out of the car But then you feel lost and go back to sitting Inside the car and then back to the city When the air is polluted, the sun is reputed To give us all cancer, and the rain starts to sting We get immune to it, hoping/assuming it Will somehow get better...better stay in Now we talk about the weather a whole lot more Running out of conversation and running back indoors We position our excursions and forget how to explore Until the wind blows strong enough to make us want some more
9.
CATHOLIC SEX CONFESSION The voice at the box had finally lost Years of frustration in a drunk night of passion And declared in confession To the nearest professional Guilt control know it all: "For once all my pride was illusion A false self-exclusion From pleasures so vast they can hardly be named." And was told in a cold voice "You should feel ashamed- The church knows its business and needs the control Of the body in order to manage the soul Sexual freedom destroys any faith In a church that says freedom begins at the grave So we frown on the physical and ban contraception Abortion and women from being the pope Its down in the bible that god is a man And abstention and caution are how we all cope Did you use contraception? You didn't? That's good The pope doesn't use it, no reason you should Unless she gets A.I.D.S. or a pregnancy, mind I suggest you get tested and see what they find No doubt she'll keep any offspring concealed From the press and the like, get some funds from the plate Now time marches on and I'm late for a meal Hail Mary times ten. Don't do it again." They met face to face in the church the next day Without knowing who the other one was "I've had it I'm finished" said one "and I leaving There's nothing left here I can truly believe in." "But why?" asked the man, and she said " Because I'm a nun and I'm pregnant and I don't want the baby But you will say no to whatever I choose You never say yes and you only say maybe When someone you personally know gets abused This body is mine not a baby machine But in the eyes of the church I am trash So I quit your hierarchical sexist regime To be me! Is that too much to ask?!
10.
Criminal 02:54
CRIMINAL Here in the Criminal Justice Act It says it's illegal to even react By marching against the sudden new lack Of freedom of movement, assembly, and that Goes for everyone, cos now we're all dispossessed Little joy in the illusion that they can't mess up our heads As we're taking life as being a reward We're constantly told that we can't afford To live it - not the way we do Cos now we're breaking the law - is it me or is it you Who thought we could live without heeding it? Now the boundaries have shrunk to fit To lifestyles Based on total social complicity To work ethic, media, domesticity Staying silent in response to freedoms Being so curtailed we forget we need them To exist - variety breeds tension Then people debate what was never mentioned Before - ideas deal with feelings And laws try to shape the ideas that we deal in At the point where the ideas Have spread enough distance To call it a lifestyle We start to meet the resistance Here in the Criminal Justice Act All our paranoias turn out to be fact! They really are out to get you! So party on, dude! Now we've all been criminalised For refusing to be led They can't control our movements They can't close down our heads And if you start to think they can They've won another round Toward completion of their plan To keep the people down The more we get pushed The more we push back Destroy the Criminal Justice Act!
11.
WHAT CHARLIE SAID Be as honest as you can be Question orders, accept ideas Make a meal of what you're eating Don't be scared of social fears Pass the plate before it gets heavy Have what's given, give what's gained Spot the gaps but know connections See how freedoms are retained Play with work and work with play Make it all come back some day Be more entrance than departure Know somehow something you're after That's what Charlie said Under the influence It turns the senses to directions Never known before It sets us up and keeps the score Provides a point to reach, then we've got there And start again I don't agree with it I think it's really good Here's something else to fit And now it's understood My head's struck in advice Under the influence I had to ask him twice And then it all made sense Come here and pull up an edge And tell me your name I'm no longer sure I've met you before And I'd like to meet you again
12.
Fill Me Up 03:14
FILL ME UP Do you know what you are eating? Oh fill me up with food The stomach's ringing hunger bells Sometimes anything will do Beware the wind that coke can bring It dries the parts it reaches Cultural deserts carry the can Coke adds life then bleeds it Be watching out for indigestion Long time since you touched a cow Farming forms to fit consumption That pain is what you eat, not how Do you know what you are breathing? Oh fill me up with air The lungs are wringing out the smells For something fresh to wear Cars that fume in queues for more petrol To get to somewhere else to breath Air conditioning through acceptance Extra for the weathermen to read As air gains the status of grades Quality recedes as any of it gets praised Will they put it in bottles like they did with the rain? OxyGenerico in profit again What we eat and drink and breathe Filters down through industry Creates our life expectancy Do you know what you are drinking? Oh fill me up with water All bar the lungs are in on this one Ninety percent and way important Tap on the back says don't use the tap Scarcity value or it just tastes crap Privatised and purified Its raining chemistry outside What we eat and drink and breathe Creates our life expectancy Choking the consumer dies Clutching burger, coke and fries

credits

released October 1, 1996

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

Recorded and mixed with Kevin Stokes
River Studio London
1-10 May 96

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Citizen Fish Bath, UK

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