When you’re deep in sleep I’ll keep wide awake
I can offer you blanket protection
Not on the cheap, I am not on the make
I can offer you blanket protection

Unconventional, six dimensional
So resilient, wholly brilliant
Fun physically and mentally of course
That’s what makes me fundamentally yours

Bars, abattoirs, cinemas, synagogues
I can offer you blanket protection
From packs of high tars to packs of wild dogs
I can offer you blanket protection

A Dallas cavalcade? Be unafraid
Simply relax during airplane attacks
If there’s a thorn in your side I’ll pull it
I’ll take the pain and I’ll bite the bullet

Replete, discrete, on the street, on the moon
I can offer you blanket protection
Total assurance, complete with cocoon
I can offer you blanket protection

In seduction, during liposuction
Eating kebab, detoxing in rehab
I’m committed to every word I’ve said
I also provide full service in bed

I can offer you blanket protection
I can offer you blanket protection

© Simon Charterton 2004

After the lights were out
Somewhere between a shadow and a doubt
After my waking up
Somewhere between making and breaking up
Breaking down
Breaking down
Breaking down

After I’ve had enough
Somewhere between quitting and getting tough
Breaking down
Breaking down
Breaking down

After the love affair
Somewhere between addiction and despair
After the honeymoon
Somewhere between right now and pretty soon
Breaking down
Breaking down
Breaking down

© Simon Charterton 1995

I can’t control the sunrise
Count the hours of daylight
Trying to close my eyes
When I’ve been up all night
Thinking about living
Eating and breathing
The chance of forgiving
All hopes are receding
And the nights have grown long
And the days are too bright
When something’s gone wrong
And nothing’s quite right
I’ve known all along
It would end in a fight

I could wallow in self-pity
Afraid of the new day
Change my identity
Find a new part to play
A new Walter Mitty
Dreaming my life away
In the heart of the city
Where I will die some day
But for the grace
Of something or other
There goes the face
Of the son of my mother
Taking my place
Alongside my brother

(Chorus)
Well as far as I’m aware
I’ve got no cross to bear
I feel like I’m coming up
I’ve got some room to spare
With a little wear and tear
I feel like I’m coming up

I could sit on a bar stool
Order more whisky
Drink like a fool
Till everything’s left me
Stumble around
And when I fall over
Lie on the ground
Until I’m half sober
And then I would
Pick myself up off the floor
Start feeling good
As I walk out the door
I know that I could
Cos I’ve done it before

(Chorus)
Well as far as I’m aware
I’ve got no cross to bear
I feel like I’m coming up
I’ve got some room to spare
With a little wear and tear
I feel like I’m coming up for air

So I’ll lie on my back
And accept my fate
Have another crack
At a later date
Check out the weather
Put out some feelers
Gather together
Some insider dealers
No longer worried
By questions of ethics
Who won’t be hurried
Into mental athletics
Till they’re dead and buried
Patched up by cosmetics

(Chorus)
Well as far as I’m aware
I’ve got no cross to bear
I feel like I’m coming up
I’ve got some room to spare
With a little wear and tear
I feel like I’m coming up for air

© Simon Charterton 1991

The neighbourhood’s changing
They’re pulling up my past
Torn down the bar room
Where I hatched my schemes

Let’s mark the occasion
By raising a glass
Half full of memories
Half empty of dreams

Was sat in there thinking
For most of my life
Now it’s a bistro
Crazy as it seems

Can’t do much drinking
With a fork and a knife
Half full of memories
Half empty of dreams

We used to play pool
And smoke out the back
Put drinks on the slate
And cheer on our teams

Now only a fool
Uses slates for a snack
Half full of memories
Half empty of dreams

The landlord was ruthless
Sometimes got rowdy
When they showed football
Can still hear the screams

The picture was useless
The image got cloudy
Half full of memories
Half empty of dreams

Once chose not to go
Too much trouble and strife
Felt I was falling
Apart at the seams

That was a low
Fifteen minutes of my life
Half full of memories
Half empty of dreams

Recollections fade
Let’s drink to forget
A round of lime sodas
A round of Jim Beams

Let’s sit in the shade
And work out where we met
Half full of memories
Half empty of dreams

© Simon Charterton 2015

We’ve been through that
And while you’re at it
Stop shouting at me
I can’t hear you when you shout
I hear nothing

Falling
Falling
Falling

I can’t explain
All too painful right now
We’re not going anywthere
I try and picture the future
And I see nothing

Falling
Falling
Falling
Apart
At the seams

Falling
Falling
Falling

When I look at you
I know we’ve been through a lot
Seems like a long time ago
I’d like to tell you how I feel
But I feel nothing

© Simon Charterton 2015

I saw my friend go down on bended knee
I overheard him make that fatal plea
Soon a priest would share his last cigarette
Condemning him to eternal regret

(Chorus)
I watched my friend die
I watched my friend die

He sweated as he stood there next to me
His body trembled like a shaking tree
The march began, his time was drawing near
My friend waited for heaven to appear

Chorus
Repeat

The end came like an angel dressed in white
Who’d turn into the devil overnight
That’s when our friendship disintegrated
I’d told him marriage was over rated

Chorus
Repeat

© Simon Charterton 1995

There’s a stranger at the wheel of my car
There’s a man with a knife
Cutting me out of my life
There’s a stranger at the wheel of my car

He’s driving the wrong side of the road
He’s tied my hands and feet
Put me in the passenger seat
He’s driving the wrong side of the road

(Chorus)
And he looks just like me

This the nightmare I tried to avoid
One of a kind
I pushed to the back of my mind
This is the nightmare I tried to avoid

Chorus

There’s a stranger at the wheel of my car
There’s a man with my face
Taking over my place
There’s a stranger at the wheel of my car
My future’s in his hands
I don’t fit into his plans
There’s a stranger at the wheel of my car

Chorus

© Simon Charterton 1991