Between The Wars

Night Train To Munich

Meet me at the station underneath the clock
Carry an umbrella, no need to talk
The man in the homburg, hiding in the fog
Will be watching

Get yourself a ticket, go through the gate
At seven forty-five precisely, don't be late
If anybody follows don't hesitate
Keep on walking

And take the night train to Munich
Rumbling down the track
After half an hour in the restaurant car
Look for the conductor
And there will be a stain on his tunic
A paper underneath his arm
Then you'd better pray that he doesn't look away
Or you'll never, never, never come back.

When you get the paper take a look inside
On page twenty-seven there's a photo of a bride
Underneath the story of a man who died
In Morocco

Memorize the article word for word
The man in the homburg understands the code
Make sure the conversation isn't overheard
They're around you

I really wouldn't ask if there was anybody else
But I now you've got the knack of taking care of yourself
And they don't know your face so there won't be anyone
Looking for you

When you get to Munich we'll be waiting in the car
Don't look around, just walk straight out
If you don't show, I'm sorry for the pain
I caused you

Upon the night train to Munich
Rumbling down the track
After half an hour in the restaurant car
Look for the conductor
And there will be a stain on his tunic
A paper underneath his arm
Then you'd better pray that he doesn't look away
Or you'll never, never, never come back

The Age Of Rhythm

Today I feel like Dorothy Parker
Today I've got the critical eye
I paint my world just a little bit darker
Don't even have to try

Everyone seems a little bit desperate
Oh so witty, but over the edge
I don't know why they try to impress you
With one foot on the window ledge

That's just the way they play it
That's just the way they are
Think up a line and say it
I'll see you all later down at the bar

Don't try to understand it
It won't get you very far
Even the Great Pretender
is really as naked a Hedy Lamarr

Today I feel like Dorothy Parker
Today I'm up here walking the floor
The light inside my head getting darker
Going to leave this town for sure

One block down and another block over
There's a place that will make you a drink
The night is hot, I believe that I'll go there
A password will get you in

Play a song by Hoagy Carmichael
Play that horn like Beiderbecke too
A glass or two of something you like'll
Separate you from these blues

Life is a constant party
Swung to a shot of jazz
Even the broken-hearted
Can steal a feel of the razamatazz

This is the age of rhythm
These are the dancing years
Jump through the mirror with them
New York has no time for your tears

Today I feel like Dorothy Parker
Today I've got the critical eye
I paint my world just a little bit darker
Don't even have to try

Sampan

The sun is high, looking out I see
The emptiness beyond the jetty
Seagulls raining like confetti
On the Water
Sea and sky come together in
A hazy kiss out on the ocean
Europe seems a foreign notion
Hardly thought of

And would you leave your modern world behind?
I know who I am
Riding in my sampan

In the shade stands the foreman in
A floppy hat and linen suit
Beneath his ancient leather boot
The ground is straining
Far away, figures bend to tap the
Endless seas of rubber trees
To coat the wheels of Paris taxis
Where it's raining

And would you leave your melting world behind?
I know who I am
Riding in my sampan

Lindy Comes To Town

Lindy flew his plane across the dark Atlantic
Put her down near Paris and the crowds went frantic
They raced across the field, to touch the wings and wheels
And reach inside the cockpit just to see if he was real

Back in New York City people watched and waited
The news came down the wire and they celebrated
And in that time so brief, it was everyone's belief
That the world had grown no bigger than a pocket handkerchief

When Lindy comes to town and all the bands are playing
When Lindy comes to town and all the flags are waving
Mr Coolidge he will say, it's a public holiday
You can see them ride down Wall Street in a tickertape parade

I want to be there in that crown upon that bright, bright morning
And I can tell the world I saw a new day dawning
With my baby by my side in among that human tide
I want to be right there when Lindy comes to town

Every day is better than the one before it
If I see a raincloud then I'll just ignore it
Everbody says it'll get much better yet
It's 1927 and my whole life lies ahead

Gonna get myself a car and find a place to park it
Get a little cash and put it in the market
And on my wedding day I will turn around and say
There never was a better time than this one anyway

Three Mules

Three mules came over a hill
They were dragging a cart
Creaking, it seemed to be falling apart
Laden with millions of dreams
It weighed more than they thought
They never noticed the wheels getting caught
They pulled on, staring ahead
With blinkered eyes and lowered heads
Hoping that all would be fine
I see them now
Time out of time

Ramsey and Stanley and Neville
Were the names of the mules
Each wore a bridle encrusted with jewels
And though a murmur of voices
Was rising behind
Each laboured on
And they paid it no mind
They pulled on with never a doubt
Past boulders and holes
Till the road petered out
And giving a snort they sat down
Waiting for somebody else to come round
And from this are our lives writ large
From the beach at Dunkirk
To Pickett's Charge
And it's hard to go back
after coming this far
Down the road

Three mules looked over a fence
At the field beyond
Green as a forest it shone in the sun
Into the stillness they broke
Like a stone in a pond
And kicking the gate down
They brayed at the ground
And pulled on tugging a dream
Out of a smile and into a scream
And tossed the damp soil all around
Until the whole field turned muddy brown
And from this are our lives writ large
From the beach at Dunkirk
To Pickett's Charge
And it's hard to go back
after coming this far
Down the road

Ah, but it's not very easy now being a mule
I don't believe you appreciate all that we do
Look at this long and unfortunate face
Try to imagine that you're in my place
This is my nature
And to it I have to be true

Three mules came over a hill
With a sorrowful air
Though we've been judged, they said
It's hardly fair
All that we did was for you
And the good of the cause
Then they went back to the sound of applause
They went back into the night
Where a sickle of moon
Left a trickle of light
And while we lay under our roofs
The whole night filled up
With the beating of hooves
And from this are our lives writ large
From the beach at Dunkirk
To Pickett's Charge
And it's hard to go back
after coming this far
Down the road

And from this are our lives write large
And every day
Is Pickett's Charge
And it's hard to go back
after coming this far
Down the road

A League Of Notions

I'm sitting here in the wreck of Europe
With a map of Europe
Spread out in a hall of Versailles
And every single nationality and principality
have come for a piece of the pie

I'm sitting in the wreck of Europe
With a map of Europe
And the lines and the borders are gone
We've got to do this jigsaw puzzle
It's an awful muddle
But somehow we've got to go on

Lawrence of Arabia is waiting in the wings
He's got some Arab sheikhs and kings
And we're in debt to them somehow
Lawrence of Arabia has got this perfect vision
Gonna sell him down the river
There's no time for him now

I think I'm gonna take a piece of Russia
And a Piece of Germany
And give them to Poland again
I'll put together Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia
And hope that is how they'll remain

Then I'll take a bit of Turkey
Then a lot of Turkey
This is all quite a heady affair
There's Persia and Iraq to pick up
And there's Churchill's hiccup
And we can't leave it up in the air

Woodrow Wilson waves his fourteen points around
And says "The time to act is now
Won't get this opportunity again"
Woodrow Wilson has his fourteen points
But Clemenceau turns to Lloyd George
And says "You know that
God himself had only ten"

Today I'm carried by a league of notions
(It's a league of notions)
By a league of notions
I don't think I quite understand
(I don't think I understand)
I only know from this commotion
(From this commotion)
There's a chance that we could turn
The world in the palm of our hands
(We can turn the world in the palm of our hands)

Voices in the corridors of power
Candles burning hour by hour
Still you know that to the victors go the spoils
Such a great responsibility to make it fair
And there must be some reparations now
And don't forget the oil

Pax vobiscum
Wo-oh, pax vobiscum

Life Between The Wars

Paul Gervaise picks up the Herald
And sees the face of Zelda Fitzgerald
She's part of the scene
Of life between the wars

The tropic sun is sticky and warm
And it bakes the head of Somerset Maugham
Who is writing a scene
Of life between the wars

You're waiting by the hotdog stand
In the onion air
As the ball flies through the park
Violet and Vita run
Through the streets of Paris
Their laughter floating through the dark

A fog that fell is swallowing London
Coco Chanel came back with a suntan
To brighten the scene
Of life between the wars

There will be a pint of milk
And a Hovis loaf
At the end of every street
You can hear a silver band on the radio
And it makes the grocer tap his feet

The King is leaving Buckingham Palace
It's all too cold
He'd rather have Wallis
They're part of the scene
Of life between the wars

Betty Boop`s Birthday

INSTRUMENTAL

Marion The Chatelaine

When the great collector found her
She was just a girl
She rang a chord inside him
And he stole her to the centre of his world
Many wished they could be in her shoes
But she surely did know how to have the blues

He tried to make a star of her
She never did know why
And though she could have told him
There were some things that his money couldn't buy
She never knew a way to refuse
But she surely did know how to have the blues

They say tomorrow's such a long, long time
They say tomorrow never comes
Whatever happened to this dream of mine
Count the days as they run

He built himself a castle
On a hill above a bay
Where Marion the Chatelaine
Charmed every single one who came to stay
Some never knew, while others read the clues
That she surely did know how to have the blues

They say tomorrow's such a long, long time
They say tomorrow never comes
Whatever happened to this dream of mine
Count the days as they run

When all the parties ended
In the castle on the hill
The paintings and the statues stood alone
And all the corridors grew still
She got caught between the shadows and the booze
And she surely did know how to have the blues

Joe The Georgian

Now I've got my payment
For the service that I gave
They've given me my ticket
To this place beyond the grave
I suppose it's kind of funny
I suppose it's kind of sad
Thinking back on all the times we had

But it's kind of hot and smoky
In this ante-room to Hell
And I won't make up a story
'Cause you know the truth so well
It's much too late to worry
That we never had a chance
And when Joe the Georgian gets here
We will dance, dance dance
When Joe the Georgian gets here
We will dance

We all set off together
On this sorry ship of state
When the captain took the fever
We were hijacked by the mate
And he steered us through the shadows
Upon an angry tide
And cast us one by one over the side

There's Kamenev, Zinoviev,
Bukharin and the rest
We're sharpening our pitchforks
And we're heating up the ends
We've got a few surprises
For the mate when he appears
I hope he likes the next few million years

And it's kind of hot and smoky
In this anteroom to Hell
And I won't make up a story
'Cause you know the truth so well
It's much too late to worry
That we never had a chance
And when Joe the Georgian gets here
We will dance, dance, dance
When Joe the Georgian gets here
We will dance

Always The Cause

Bad news over the great divide
Comes in from every side
Still hope won't be denied
There was always the Cause
There was always the Cause

Oh La Pasionara sang
This day, no pasaran!
It echoed out in Catalan
There was always the Cause
There was always the Cause

Mariposa
Late nights waiting on the via dolorosa
Hold me closer
Not long now, oh ma bella hermosa
There was always the Cause

Setbacks come at every turn
New ways are hard to learn
Tonight I saw Guernica burn
There was always the Cause
There was always the Cause

Mariposa
Late nights waiting on the via dolorosa
Hold me closer
Not long now, oh ma bella hermosa
There was always the Cause

Three years gone in the heart of Spain
He brings home a quiet pain
He'll never be that young again
There was always the Cause
There was always the Cause

Laughing Into 1939

Party hat and satin dress
Silver paper curled in her long black hair
Tapping one small elegant shoe in time
Oh, the way she plays with them
Smile at one, then dance with another
Pretty soon they're forming up a line
And she's laughing, laughing into 1939
Oh, laughing, laughing into 1939

Oh, the party draws them in
It breathes and moves
To a life its own
In its arms it's gathering all time
From the dark he watches her
Moving in and out of the bobbing crowd
If she even notices, she gives no sign
And she's laughing, laughing into 1939
Oh, laughing, laughing into 1939

For tonight is New Year's Eve
Uncork your spirits and welcome it in
Who knows what it's got up its sleeve
Can't wait for it all to begin
Stand by the girl with the purple balloon
The look in her eyes just lights up the room
In the corner of her smile
She'll be seeing you soon
Under a mistletoe moon

Out on to the balcony
Come the King and Queen
And the crowd go wild
He's a little bit nervous
But that's just fine
And they're laughing, laughing into 1939
Oh, laughing, laughing into 1939

The Black Danube

INSTRUMENTAL