Shriekback: Lyrics to "Tench"

Tench:
Sexthinkone / A Kind Of Fascination / Accretions / Mothloop / Here Comes My Hand:Clap.

All songs published by EMI Music / Virgin Music © 1982.

All songs written by Dave Allen, Barry Andrews and Carl Marsh except 'Sexthinkone', 'A Kind Of Fascination' and 'Mothloop' co-written with Brian Nevill.

Lyrics reproduced with permission from members of the band.

Thanks especially to Barry Andrews for answering my queries with patience and good humour; some of these were something of a struggle!

• Sexthinkone
  [Note: The single version omits the first two and last two lines of the text shown in italics.]
  
  In the relative calm
  Of an all night party
  I played some strange games
  Under her bed
  Our bodies moved
  A new foreign gymnast
  Dull conversation
  Went over our heads
  
  In that relative calm
  Of that all night party
  I found some strange things
  Under her bed
  When our bodies moved
  As easy as breathing
  Dull conversation
  Over our heads
  
  Critical themes
  Reduced to an outline
  Shaded in fleshtones
  Inside her bed
  Our bodies spoke
  All night I listened
  Limbs leaving their thoughts
  Outside my head
  
  We ride like this we swim like this
  Live like this in homes like this
  And work like this in holes like this
  Shout like this we run like this
  And breed like this in beds like this
  Fall like this go round like this
  And laugh like this we drive like this
  Learn like this we try like this
  We walk like this impress like this
  Live like this we talk like this
  We love like this we kill like this
  Cry like this we sleep like this
  We ride like this we swim like this
  Live like this in homes like this
  And work like this in holes like this
  Shout like this we run like this
  And breed like this in beds like this
  Fall like this go round like this
  We laugh like this we drive like this
  Learn like this we try like this
  We walk like this impress like this
  Live like this we talk like this
  We love like this we kill like this
  Cry like this we sleep like this
  
  
• A Kind Of Fascination
  
  Always striving with the elbows, always moving from the knees
  Building up and demolition, both burn up some energy
  Take it in and shit it out, six foot down and still descending
  Grab a shovel - celebrate - only got what we don't need
  
  In the wake of predecessors, all inherited responses
  Are all in the movie now getting colder all the time
  Starting to regard the prison with a kind of fascination
  Facing up to history: facing what we do not need
  
  We can get what - we don't need
  We can get what - we don't need
  We can leave what - we can't eat
  We can leave what - we can't eat
  
  Doing damage to ourselves, belated action of the past
  A perversion of tradition and we carry on the line
  There are dead things lying round, they offend but stay unburied
  We are cinema for now, only cinema for now
  
  We can get what - we don't need
  We can leave what - we can't eat
  We can leave what - we can't eat
  
  Coming out the other end, a sentimental point of view
  We can contemplate each other but the other is no fool
  We are in this anyway, breathing in what you breathe out
  Couldn't think of nothing better, only got what we don't need
  Only got what we don't need
  
  Doing damage to ourselves, belated action of the past
  A perversion of tradition and we carry on the line
  There are dead things lying round, they offend but stay unburied
  We are cinema for now, only cinema for now
  Only cinema for now
  
  We can get what - we don't need
  We can leave what - we don't eat
  We can get what - we don't need
  We can leave what - we don't eat
  We can get what - we don't need
  We can leave what - we don't eat
  We can get what - we don't need
  We can leave what - we don't eat
  
  We can get what - we don't need // We can leave what
  We can leave what - we don't eat // - we can't eat
  We can get what - we don't need // We can leave what
  We can leave what - we don't eat // - we can't eat
  
  We can get what - we don't need
  We can get what - we don't need
  We can leave what - we can't eat
  We can leave what - we can't eat
  We can get what - we don't need
  We can get what - we don't need
  We can leave what - we can't eat
  We can leave what - we can't eat
  We can get what - we don't need
  
  
• All The Greek Boys (Do The Handwalk)
  
  They go brown in the sun
  Spend the summer
  Without speaking
  So much time on their hands
  Their hearts are full of everything
  All the little Greek boys...
  
  This way, flashing teeth
  Wearing wicked smiles
  Chewing olives
  Spend so much time
  The wrong way up
  They do most things
  Why not say so
  All the little Greek boys...
  
  So hard so hard so sharp so drained
  So sharp so drained so sharp so drained
  So sharp so drained so sharp so drained
  So sharp so drained so sharp so drained
  You know what the Greek boys do with their time
  You know what the Greek boys do with their hands
  
  They go brown in the sun
  Spend the summer without speaking
  So much time on their hands
  Their hearts are full of everything
  All the little Greek boys do the handwalk
  
  
• Accretions
  [Note: The words in bold only appear on the original album version (on 'Tench' and US copies of 'Care'). The words in italics only appear on the O'Dell remix version (as it appears on 'The Infinite', 'Natural History' and 'The Y Records Years'). The UK 'Care' cassette remix version and the Monstrous Dance Mix version have similar words to the O'Dell remix, but with some repetition.]
  
  [There are also some queries indicated by (?) and detailed at the end...]

  ---

  
  (Bursting out) (?)
  (Throwing stones on Friday night) (?)
  (Words can never harm us)
  
  The same quiet faces cover the walls
  We all say someone grown so lonely now
  We [evoke (?)/exact] the maximum shame
  The same the same
  
  All our preparations are spared
  They're winding up their fierce affairs
  They take away everyone leaving me here
  Again the same
  
  Work at home
  Work at home
  
  The fun is outgrown the saccharine answer
  The same sad chords and the same false start
  The same fine music and the same hired cars
  The same fat columns at the same bazaar
  The same phone-call and the same dry bar
  The same fast target and the same desire
  The face this second shows the people we are
  The Priest is STICKY and is POPULAR
  
  Work at home
  Work at home - the chemical way
  Work at home - emasculation
  Work at home - kiss the old men
  We'll know when we're ready to begin again
  
  WE'RE ALL BRACED UP - READY FOR THE ACCIDENT
  WE [THINK/SAY] THIS COFFEE'S ALRIGHT - BEEN SO LONG BEEN SO LONG
  BE UNDERSTANDING - UNDERSTAND - SAY AHH
  WHEN IT'S COLD OUTSIDE WE RESORT TO SINGING SONGS
  
  The same mud collar and the same white bar
  The same [blind corner/tight struggle] and the same late farce
  The mirror's so lucky it sees what we are
  The vascular bundle[s] and the jugular
  The oblique direction[s] and the same way home
  The same bad karma and the same hard body
  The cake tastes solid and the milk goes sour
  The skin gets sticky and the breath unsure
  
  Work at home
  Work at home - react to this thing
  Work at home - reject your image
  Work at home - embellish this fear
  Assemble older people and their friends in here
  
  The soulless show affectionate fear
  The bad dead feelings seep into us now
  We take hand, say obvious prayers
  The taped heart starts from instinct
  We all light fires on separate stairs
  The consequence is theory until now
  The arched back the elegant anger
  The same hard stale reasons
  
  Say when - say die - say ahh
  Say when - say die - say ahh
  Say when - say die - say ahh
  Say when - say die - say ahh
  Say when - say die - say ahh
  Say when - say die - say ahh
  Say when - say die - say ahh
  Say when - say die - say ahh
  Say when - say die - say ahh
  Say when - say die - say ahh
  Say when - say die
  
  The same mud collar and the same bone structure and
  The same blind struggle and the same resumptions and
  The same excitement and the same defects and
  Those bracing moments and their consequences
  The same...
  
  

  ---

  Queries:
  Despite several attempts, I've been unable to fully decipher the album version of 'Accretions'. The remix version is clearer, so these queries only relate to the album version as it appears on 'Tench' and US copies of 'Care'. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated:
  • The first two spoken lines are barely audible. Words shown are my best guess, but very much subject to interpretation. These are not part of the official lyrics.
  • 'We exact the maximum shame' is clear on the remix (and agrees with the official lyrics), but on the LP version 'exact' is less clear. 'Evoke' seems like a possibility.
  • 'Columns' is clear on the remix but on the LP version sounds like 'solemns' - which makes no sense, so is probably a mistake rather than a change of lyrics.
  • Where I've listed 'blind corner' (LP version) and 'tight struggle' (remix version), the official lyric sheet has 'sad corner'. I think I'm right though.

  ---

  
  
• Mothloop
  
  I'm walking on my toes
  Because you're stepping closer
  You're running rings around me most of the time.
  I'd be OK if I could
  Leave out jealousy but
  I'm only human, well, most of the time.
  
  And it's better for you, it's not so clever for me
  You're running rings around me all of the time
  And it's better for you, it's not so clever for me
  You're running rings around me all of the time.
  
  I'm walking on my toes
  Because you're stepping closer
  You're running rings around me most of the time.
  Reciting former lovers
  Score points off one another
  Just want to be under cover most of the time.
  
  And it's better for you, it's not so clever for me
  You're running rings around me all of the time
  And it's better for you, it's not so clever for me
  You're running rings around me all of the time.
  
  Preoccupation lingers
  Just feel my sweaty fingers
  Try not to let it bug me most of the time.
  I'd be OK if I could
  Leave out jealousy but
  I'm only human, well, most of the time.
  
  And it's better for you, it's not so clever for me
  You're running rings around me all of the time
  And it's better for you, it's not so clever for me
  You're running rings around me all of the time.
  
  
• Here Comes My Hand:Clap
  
  The light
  Through the trees
  As green as
  As green as I was
  As green as I am
  
  Here comes my hand:clap
  Here comes my hand.
  
  

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