Shriekback: Lyrics to "Oil And Gold"

Oil And Gold:
Malaria / Everything That Rises Must Converge / Fish Below The Ice / This Big Hush / Faded Flowers / Nemesis / Only Thing That Shines / Health And Knowledge And Wealth And Power / Hammerheads / Coelocanth.

All songs published by Point Music Ltd.

All songs written by Dave Allen, Barry Andrews, Martyn Barker and Carl Marsh.

Lyrics reproduced with permission from members of Shriekback.
Transcribed by Phil Hetherington, with thanks to Barry Andrews and Carl Marsh for answering queries along the way.

• Malaria
  
  In the dumb fat side
  Of the heavy, sweaty black
  Malaria night
  You can tell the shit
  From the essence of heaven
  
  In the smash and grab
  In the sharp attack
  Dishonest night
  You can say what you want
  And somebody listen
  
  There's laughter and glass
  And perfume and flags
  And kisses and trains
  And roses and vaccine
  
  I'm living in a neon house
  I'm living in avalanche road
  I'm living in hangover city
  
  I'm living in a neon house
  I'm living in avalanche road
  I'm living in hangover city
  
  Whatever gets you acclimatised
  Radiation and downcast eyes
  Serious sight
  We're looking for a wild machine
  Cybernetic rabies
  
  Syndication and sympathy
  Might work for you but not for me
  I love you best when it's all a mess
  Will you lie for me cry for me
  Die for me will you please
  
  (Oh) never never never never
  never never never say no
  
  I'm living in a neon house
  I'm living in avalanche road
  I'm living in hangover city
  
  I'm living in a neon house
  I'm living in avalanche road
  I'm living in hangover city
  
  And all these unforseen things tumble down
  I've got a love and it won't stop burning
  And all these unforseen things tumble down
  I've got a love and it won't stop burning
  And all these unforseen things tumble down
  I've got a love and it won't stop burning
  And all these unforseen things tumble down
  I've got a love and it won't stop burning
  
  In the dumb fat side
  Of the heavy sweaty black
  Malaria night
  You can say what you want
  And somebody listen
  
  Gonna say what I really want
  (Come on say what you really want)
  Gonna say what I really want
  (Yeah say what you really want)
  
  Wanna live with Halo Jones
  Wanna home that's miles from home
  Wanna drugs from the twighlight zone
  Wanna never never never never
  Never never never say no
  
  I'm living in a neon house
  I'm living in avalanche road
  I'm living in hangover city
  
  I'm living in a neon house
  I'm living in avalanche road
  I'm living in hangover city
  
  And all these unforseen things tumble down
  I've got a love and it won't stop burning
  And all these unforseen things tumble down
  I've got a love and it won't stop burning
  And all these unforseen things tumble down
  I've got a love and it won't stop burning
  And all these unforseen things tumble down
  I've got a love and it won't stop burning
  And all these unforseen things tumble down
  I've got a love and it won't stop burning
  And all these unforseen things tumble down
  I've got a love and it won't stop burning
  And all these unforseen things tumble down
  I've got a love and it won't stop burning
  And all these unforseen things tumble down
  I've got a love and it won't stop burning
  
  
• Everything That Rises Must Converge
  
  Honour among thieves, my crackling clothes
  They cover me like leaves, roll up a sleeve and hold my hand
  She's saying I, ai no corrida
  Kick up the soil, spoil a pattern in the sand
  He's saying me, I don't believe you
  But then he can't tell the water from the land
  
  And it's blue blue blue
  A colour and a surge
  Everything that rises must converge
  She says one day soon
  You and I will merge
  Everything that rises must converge
  
  Nothing is for free the story goes
  You hear it and believe, now don't you grieve or look behind
  He's saying why, why do we do this?
  This is the very thing that's preying on his mind
  
  And she don't know which way to go
  She says if you find it darling let me know
  And he says well, this could be so
  Says I'm a car crash, now tell me baby does it show
  
  And it's blue blue blue
  A colour and a surge
  Everything that rises must converge
  She says one day soon
  You and I will merge
  Everything that rises must converge
  
  Yeah blue blue blue
  A colour and a surge
  Everything that rises must converge
  She say one day soon
  You and I will merge
  Everything that rises must converge
  
  Oh she don't know which way to go
  And she says if you find it darling let me know
  And he says well, this could be so
  Says I'm a car crash, so tell me baby does it show
  
  Yeah blue blue blue
  A colour and a surge
  Everything that rises must converge
  And she says one day soon
  You and I will merge
  Everything that rises must converge
  
  Yeah blue blue blue
  A colour and a surge
  Everything that rises must converge
  She say one day soon
  You and I will merge
  Everything that rises must converge
  
  And it's blue blue blue
  A colour and a surge
  Everything that rises must converge
  She say one day soon
  You and I will merge
  Everything that rises must converge
  
  Yeah blue blue blue
  A colour and a surge
  Everything that rises must converge
  She say one day soon
  You and I will merge
  Everything that rises must converge
  
  Yeah blue blue blue
  A colour and a surge
  Everything that rises must converge
  She say one day soon
  You and I will merge
  Everything that rises must converge
  
  
• Fish Below The Ice
  
  Well the mouth is open
  And the noise comes out
  Ain't no reason for it
  Just a need to shout
  It's malnutrition
  We could fall apart
  It's never delicate
  Just something from the iron age
  
  We shake it up
  And we break it down
  The sound of a satellite
  Saying get me down
  Yeah we shake it up
  And we break it down
  Hear the voice of America
  In your home town
  
  Well the film is forming
  'Til the film runs out
  There's no point of focus
  It zooms in and out
  It's information
  And it leaves no mark
  It's just as permanent
  As painting in the iron age
  
  I'm plugged in and loaded
  Don't forget to phone in
  The self destruct is holding
  I'm counting, I'm counting, but only to three
  
  We get it right sometimes
  We shine a light sometimes
  We see the fish below the ice sometimes
  Stand up and fight sometimes
  We get the fright sometimes
  How will we ever pay the price this time
  
  We shake it up
  And we break it down
  The sound of a satellite
  Saying get me down
  Yeah we shake it up
  And we break it down
  It's east European, west European
  It's moving so fast
  It goes all the way round
  
  We shake it up
  And we break it down
  Yeah we shake it up
  And we break it down
  Yeah we shake it up / Yeah he's on a mission from god
  And we break it down / But he don't know whose and he don't know why
  Yeah we shake it up
  And we break it down
  Yeah we shake it up / Says I'm not a light in the darkness
  And we break it down / More like a shadow on the lungs
  Yeah we shake it up
  And we break it down
  Yeah we shake it up / I'm balanced here on the edge of anger
  And we break it down / I'm standing here on an empty page
  Yeah we shake it up / Sooner or later I'll start receiving
  And we break it down / I've been standing here for days
  Yeah we shake it up
  And we break it down
  Hear the voice of America
  In your home town
  Yeah we shake it up
  And we break it down
  It's east European, west European
  It's moving so fast
  It goes all the way round
  
  We get it right sometimes
  We shine a light sometimes
  We see the fish below the ice sometimes
  Stand up and fight sometimes
  We get the fright sometimes
  How will we ever pay the price this time
  
  We shake it up
  And we break it down
  The sound of a satellite
  Saying get me down
  Yeah we shake it up
  And we break it down
  It's east European, west European
  It's moving so fast
  It goes all the way round
  
  We get it right sometimes
  We shine a light sometimes
  We see the fish below the ice sometimes
  Stand up and fight sometimes
  We get the fright sometimes
  How will we ever pay the price this time
  
  We get it right sometimes
  We shine a light sometimes
  We see the fish below the ice sometimes
  Stand up and fight sometimes
  We get the fright sometimes
  How will we ever pay the price this time
  
  We get it right sometimes
  We shine a light sometimes
  We see the fish below the ice sometimes
  Stand up and fight sometimes
  We get the fright sometimes
  How will we ever pay the price this time
  
  We get it right sometimes
  We shine a light sometimes...
  
  
• This Big Hush
  
  Is there a fire in the sky
  Is there a moon up there
  Is anything alive now
  This darkness is what I hear
  This is a breathless silence
  A moment out of time
  I see your face in the shadows
  The tell-tale signs are in your eyes
  
  More than I can hold in my hand
  Running through the gaps like water
  Aching with a passion inside
  Deep as the river
  All desire
  The ashes and the fire
  Turning this night inside
  And the light from you
  
  Is there a flame in the dark
  is there a bright heart star
  These creatures look the same now
  We freeze wherever we are
  We wake alone in the blackness
  We sleep whenever we fall
  One dream all around us
  This big hush infects us all
  
  Holding up an animal fear
  Soaking up the waves underwater
  Tuned to music no-one can hear
  Forever in this half-light
  All desire
  The ashes and the fire
  Turning this night inside
  And the light from you
  
  All desire
  The ashes and the fire
  Turning this night inside
  And the light from you
  
  More than I can hold in my hand
  Running through the gaps like water
  Aching with a passion inside
  Deep as the river
  All desire
  The ashes and the fire
  Turning this night inside
  And the light from you
  
  All desire
  The ashes and the fire
  Turning this night inside
  Turning this night inside
  Turning this night inside
  And the light from you
  
  
• Faded Flowers
  
  This is the sound of poisons
  The sickness no one knows
  No one is crying for us this time
  Our shapes are blurring under miracles of snow
  Weave a circle round him three times
  You have to plan your moves at these times
  Our hearts are breaking
  One more song to go
  
  These eyes are blind
  This is a pure thing
  These hands I kiss
  Tragic as anything
  These eyes are blind
  This is a pure thing
  All splash and hiss
  Beyond my measuring
  
  Only the anacrucis
  The main event remains
  Shameful and naked, out there in the
  Great cold outdoors
  We have to do these things again
  Bathe in this incandescent glow
  The leap to something I don't know
  There is no doubt upon us when
  The greasy men come back again
  
  These eyes are blind
  This is a pure thing
  These hands I kiss
  Tragic as anything
  These eyes are blind
  This is a pure thing
  All splash and hiss
  Beyond my measuring
  
  These faded flowers
  Precious as memory
  A veil of cloud
  Correct as energy
  We had some good machines
  But they don't work no more
  I loved you once
  Don't love you anymore
  
  These eyes are blind
  This is a pure thing
  These hands I kiss
  Tragic as anything
  These eyes are blind
  This is a pure thing
  All splash and hiss
  Beyond my measuring
  
  These faded flowers
  Precious as memory
  A veil of cloud
  Correct as energy
  We had some good machines
  But they don't work no more
  I loved you once
  Don't love you anymore
  
  
• Nemesis
  
  In a jungle of the senses
  Tinkerbell and Jack the ripper
  Love has no meaning, not where they come from
  But we know pleasure is not that simple
  Very little fruit is forbidden
  Sometimes we wobble, sometimes we're strong
  But you know evil is an exact science
  Being carefully correctly wrong
  
  Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
  Everybody happy as the dead come home
  Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
  No-one move a muscle as the dead come home
  
  We feel like Greeks, we feel like Romans
  Centaurs and monkeys just cluster round us
  We drink elixirs that we refine
  From the juices of the dying
  We are no monsters, we're moral people
  And yet we have the strength to do this
  This is the splendour of our achievement
  Call in the airstrike with a poison kiss
  
  Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
  Everybody happy as the dead come home
  Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
  No-one move a muscle as the dead come home
  
  Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
  Everybody happy as the dead come home
  Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
  No-one move a muscle as the dead come home
  
  How bad it gets, you can't imagine
  The burning wax, the breath of reptiles
  God is not mocked, he owns our business
  Karma could take us at any moment
  Cover him up, I think we're finished
  You know it's never been so exotic
  But I don't know, my dreams are vicious
  We could still end up with the great big fishes
  
  Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
  Everybody happy as the dead come home
  Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
  No-one move a muscle as the dead come home
  
  Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
  Everybody happy as the dead come home
  Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
  No-one move a muscle as the dead come home
  
  Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
  Everybody happy as the dead come home
  Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
  No-one move a muscle as the dead come home
  
  Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
  Everybody happy as the dead come home...
  
  
• Only Thing That Shines
  
  Night night
  Blow out the candle
  Inside a blazing building
  Upon a sacred mission
  All the lights that twinkle
  All the pens that sign
  All the wishes that sink
  Making up our mind
  
  Up the wooden stairs
  Up into my heart
  I know that you know
  This is all that matters
  I feel our two young deaths so close now
  Smiling soft and shiny
  The blade is sharp and fine
  It could just slit us open
  
  And you know
  this is nothing special
  With one slip
  And we could lose ourselves forever
  One time for all times
  And you are
  The only thing that shines
  The only thing that shines
  
  Nowhere near
  Wade in a lake of silence
  Oh, you say that word and
  Pour myself like wine
  This is as much as I know
  This is all they told me
  All wicked shapes and lines
  Taking us somewhere
  
  And you know
  This is nothing special
  With one slip
  We could lose ourselves forever
  One time for all times
  And you are
  The only thing that shines
  The only thing that shines
  The only thing that shines
  
  
• Health And Knowledge And Wealth And Power
  
  Out of the same back door into the same back yard again
  Over the same low wall into the same long car and then
  Black wheels on a silver car big wheels go round
  Panoramic as the open sea big waves crash down
  
  Out of the same back door across the same back yard again
  Over the same low wall into the same long car and then
  Touch down in a different place wide eyes look round
  On the devil and the deep blue sea one sun beats down
  
  Health and knowledge and wealth and power
  Passion and poems and sex
  I wear a smile like a leather glove
  I won't shut my mouth for less
  
  Out of the same back door across the same back yard again
  Over the same low wall into the same long car and then
  Black wheels on a silver car big wheels go round
  Panoramic like the open sea big waves crash down
  
  Health and knowledge and wealth and power
  Passion and poems and sex
  I wear a smile like a leather glove
  I won't shut my mouth for less
  
  Belts and buckles and zips and chains
  My sign, my style, my dress
  My heart was made to steal
  It's heaven, more or less
  
  Touch down in a different place wide eyes look round
  On the devil and the deep blue sea one sun beats down
  
  Health and knowledge and wealth and power
  Passion and poems and sex
  I wear a smile like a leather glove
  I won't shut my mouth for less
  
  Health and knowledge and wealth and power
  Passion and poems and sex
  I wear a smile like a leather glove
  I won't shut my mouth for less
  
  
• Hammerheads
  
  Our time has come, age of the hammerhead
  This is our mission, to be the daleks of God
  Too late for silence, too late for anything
  It's all too much for me, its roots go down too deep for me
  
  A punishing fire, an animal frenzy
  These hammerhead people know what danger is for
  You let them in and now they're everywhere
  If it's mineral or vegetable it's back a little up a little
  
  Shout, push, hammerheads, bold and resolute
  Marching, balancing, in too far to go back
  Yes, yes, hammerheads, swimming, kissing
  We are big and clever and we don't know anything
  
  Purification by immersion in our filthy demon seed
  We know the only things you like are paranoid sex and childish greed
  Our own worst enemies, they hollowed us out of wood
  Look at all the grease inside us, gonna get us this time but good
  Whether we pull it out or push it in it all ends up the same
  You know a hammerhead is a hammerhead by any other name
  
  Shout, push, hammerheads, bold and resolute
  Marching, balancing, in too far to go back
  Yes, yes, hammerheads, swimming, kissing
  We are big and clever and we don't know anything
  
  Onward hammerheads, bright and dangerous
  Jumping running in the field and factory
  God save hammerheads, keeping going
  We are sleek and special and we're sure of something
  
  Blessed are the apemen
  Blessed are the shit kickers
  Blessed are the jack hammers
  Blessed is the big damage
  Blessed are the faith healers
  Blessed are the moon walkers
  Blessed are the snake people
  Blessed are the heat seekers...
  
  Shout, push, hammerheads
  Yes, yes, hammerheads
  
  Shout, push, hammerheads, bold and resolute
  Marching, balancing, in too far to go back
  Yes, yes, hammerheads, swimming, kissing
  We are big and clever and we don't know anything
  
  Shout, push, hammerheads, bold and resolute
  Marching, balancing, in too far to go back
  Yes, yes, hammerheads, swimming, kissing
  We are big and clever and we don't know anything
  
  Onward hammerheads, bright and dangerous
  Jumping running in the field and factory
  God save hammerheads, keeping going...
  
  
• Coelocanth
  
  (Instrumental)
  
  

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