feeling european

Girl you know I'd love you like a holiday. I'm packing the essentials and I've got my money changed. I’ve been thumbing through the guide books, and studying the map, to find your points of local interest and take you off the beaten track. SHA NA NA NA NA NA NA NAAAA.

When we go to sleep this evening we’ll be feeling European, we’ll be steeped in history and swimming in warm beer, I’ll be staring at your architecture and staggered by your art, but worried that the politics will tear us both apart. I’ve got to get away, on holiday, on an aeroplane. Kolle alaaf you. Kolle alaaf you.

Well it wasn’t quite the holiday that you had planned, you said I couldn’t find the campsite and my sleeping bag was damp. But I bought a brand new phrase book and baby by tonight, I’ll have learnt a million ways to say that I can blow your mind. SHA NA NA NA NA NA NA NAAAA.

When we go to sleep this evening we’ll be feeling European, we’ll be steeped in history and swimming in warm beer, I’ll be staring at your architecture and staggered by your art, but worried that the politics will tear us both apart. Kolle alaaf you, Kolle alaaf you.

Facts: The Winter Olympics visited Cologne in 2003 and liked it so much that they wrote a song about it (and about plane rides with pretty girls - see also Wolfpack of One's How do They Stay in the Air').

It was recorded by Dave Anderson out of Hawkwind, which might explain its intergalactic man-disco sound (and this picture of Martin riding a pig).

"Kolle, alaaf you!" was the closing line from a speech given by the visiting John F Kennedy in June 1963. It wasn't quite German, but the 350,000 strong Cologne crowd he drew took the compliment to their hearts. Too right, as well, it's a great place.

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windows 95

When I look in your eyes I see Windows 95. They seemed like the future for a while. They promised so much to oh so many, now they're still familiar, but less friendly. And they're always on my mind like a karaoke Elvis, a grim reminder of just how bright we used to shine. And they're always on top, like the clock on my computer, always on top like a lover who won't try.

I had a dream as bad As Police Academy 3, when they couldn’t get Guttenberg back on the streets. In my dream it had been ten years since we first met, and we hadn't found our golf sale yet. 'Cause I can read the signs, but I don't think I'll find you, and if you read my mind you'd probably go blind. And I can hear the crowd shouting, "she's behind you," but when I turn around you're already gone.

Girl, you’re a golf sale and I’m a tourist, and I want to know for sure, why you stand there and stare like The Cure doing ‘A Forest’ when you should be mine, oh Windows 95 we’ll need a brain.

Facts: Do you remember the dawn of Windows 95? What carefree times eh? Those adverts with the Stones doing 'Start Me Up' (because of the NEW start button - do you see?) The queues of people who didn't even have computers buying the software because it looked so exciting and futuristic. Brilliant. Of course, this one isn't really about that. It is, with crushing inevitability, about a girl who rather fell out of love with us. Oh, and Police Academy Three is much worse than Police Academy Four.

listen to the sound of windows 95

kiss versus the smiths

You and me up on the roof, hitting golf balls down the avenue. Moving out of driving range, we watch them arc and fade away.

Going to the eighties night, dressed up like the Miner’s Strike. Running for the twelve fifteen all lit-up like Christmas trees.

The last time that I saw you we were listening to Kiss, I was trying to assure you they were better than The Smiths, and I was right, I was right, I was right except for Crazy, Crazy Nights. These are the nights of our lives.

These are the nights of our lives: the pages I’ll save to my hard drive, the files I’ll hide in the archives, the tapes I will always rewind.

Facts: Bruce likes Kiss, Martin prefers The Smiths. Nick and Andrew are fans of both bands.

In reality, the golf balls sent sailing down a West Midlands street in the first verse didn't so much "arc and fade away" as 'smash a window' and 'skull a dog'. That didn't sound quite as poignant, though. Funny the things that stay with you, isn't it?

Bruce is probably the best at golf, Martin has never played. Andrew hits long with a big draw, and Nick struggles with his mental game.

This one was recorded at Foel studios in Wales - where My Bloody Valentine recorded the seminal Isn't Anything album. The noise at the beginning of KVS is Martin's tribute to the band using a bit of kit that they accidentally left in the studio (fifteen years ago).

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the flood the flood

If we believe enough and we take things real slowly, we’ll make it through this flood; driving with Denilson in the window.

If we believe in love and the tread in these old tyres, we’ll make it to the pub for last orders and stories by the fire.

Wheels. The Flood, the flood, the flood.
Wheels. The Flood, the flood, the flood.

Well, the water’s getting higher, we watch it rise above the wheels. Note to Death: go fuck yourself, I remember when all this was fields.

Wheels. The Flood, the flood, the flood.
Wheels. The Flood, the flood, the flood

fall down sometimes

[andrew] You should definitely go out with me. I’m twenty eight, you’re twenty three. Is that OK? Is that alright?

[pippa] But I’m looking for a man who really works out, not a boy who’s afraid of the pollen count, and there’s no way that I’ll compromise.

[Both] Fall Down, sometimes. And you might find you’re standing upright.

[andrew] Well we race after love like a dog running after a car, never knowing what we’ll do if we caught one.

[pippa] So we blame the drink and wave, we go home on different trains, pretending neither of us did anything so stupid.

[Both] Fall Down, sometimes. And you might find you’re standing upright

dancing at the speedway

Four years is a long time. For boy bands and mice, four years is a life. And now it’s been four years since the first time this seemed a good idea – And I wait right here.

I have seen you dancing at the speedway. I have seen you do the mountain range.

Your dog can see the evil that surrounds our towns and people, your dog can see the some of all our fears. The presence that makes babies cry, the dark that eats us from inside, the scary clowns and telemarketeers.

I have seen you dancing at the speedway. I have seen you do the mountain range.

they launched a probe

Hey Houston, we've got a problem, I have seen the ships and there's hundreds of them. An X marks the spot where we parked the car, where the engine stopped and we found out who we really are.

Somewhere in this universe there has to be a place for us, I'm looking into space for us with telescopes and high hopes. And if it gets too dangerous, we'll have to change our names, they're looking in our special places, hiding in our secret bases.

They launched a probe, to tell us something we all know: we're not alone And we're never ever coming home.

Somewhere off the map I have seen those greys, high above top secret in our special place. Now the two of us, like scientists, experiment, before we disappear in history and common sense.

So make like a star and come out tonight. She said, "They died a million years ago, and we've just now seen the light, and the aliens abducting us know the Earth's too small for both of us, but they need to see that we're just leaving 'cause we've got nothing to believe in".

They launched a probe, to tell us something we all know: We're not alone And we're never ever coming home.

the great outdoors

We’ll find a better life outside these city lights. We’ll take our place with the bears and snakes, leave our office cares behind.

Let’s call a meeting (ooo-ee-ooo) with the chairman of the board (ooo-ee-ooo) Let’s rearrange the seating for the great outdoors.

Let’s get pizza sent directly to our tents. Let’s tell the guy to take his time. Because we will return to London, Birmingham, England when our mountains have been climbed.

I’ll bring my harness (ooo-ee-ooo) if you bring your torch (ooo-ee-ooo) you light my way, I’ll catch you if you fall.

I’m all yours in the great outdoors.

office rock

is it leaves?

She jumped over the wall today, she didn’t smile, but she looked okay, and in the half-light now, she tears the half-pipe down. She’s kicking her feet up off of the ground, I’m watching her heart jump up and down. And in the half-light now she tears the half-pipe down.

You’re all I want, you’re all I need, is it me? Or is it leaves? You’re all I want, you’re all I need, is it me? or is it leaves?

Concrete over the superbowl, build a roller-coaster, a vision of the future. In the half-light now, tear the half-pipe down. If I could see you again, I’d think nothing of kicking a lion’s head clean off, in the half-light now, tear the half-pipe down.

You’re all I want, you’re all I need, is it me? Or is it leaves? You’re all I want, you’re all I need, is it me? Or is it leaves? You’re all I want, you’re all I need, is it me? Or is it leaves? You’re all I want, you’re all I need, Is it me? Or is it leaves?

stairway to helen's

I ain’t been sleeping since the 1970s ruined my weekend: Magic secrets finally revealed. She ain’t been staying much since the old man passed away, she stands in the station and watches people leave like trains. And we’re all standing on the stairway.

See I’d made my way to Percy Street to go and get something to eat, but John and Helen had the fear and lost a week out of their year. We’d found some body by the lake, we didn’t know where to take it. The night Frusciante left the band, not quite the evening we had planned. And we were standing on the stairway.

I hope you find exactly what you need. I hope you find exactly what you need. I hope you find exactly what you need. I hope you find exactly what you need