The Wild Bunch

( they were cool, they were tough They were the wild bunch.)

One was a speaker at the deaf institute.
One sang songs to epileptic penguins.
One shaved his head just for a joke.
One sold programs to the crucifixion.
One ironed his clothes with a chainsaw.
One grew a moustache under her arms.

( they were cool, they were tough
They were the wild bunch.)

One was addicted to TV commercials
One bought real estate in the Sahara
One was so beautiful no body stared
One read books till his ears fell off
One was a product of his own imagination

( they were cool, they were tough
They were the wild bunch.)

And finally the last one, the coolest of them all.
And finally the last one, the coolest of them all. And finally the last one, the coolest of them all.
He believed in love and went insane

9 Demons and This Demon

Verse 1

I got 9 demons following
I got 9 demons following
I’m runnin and reaching for the better thing
Grassy pastures for to holler and sing
I got 9 demons following

This demon disguised as a nun
Blessed many with her black halo.
This angels wearing rags and beads
Killed many lovers who strayed away.

Verse 2.

I got self pity wallowing
My avarice keeps swallowing
Desire and greed still borrowing
I got 9 demons following

This woman who smiled like a sparrow
tiptoed through truth, pirouetted on lies
This telephone call mute with temptation
Rang in the ears of the smitten Zealot

Verse 3

I got falsehood with its hollow ring
I got lust the forbidden pillow fling
I got the putting off till tomorrow thing
I got 9 demons following

Verse 4.

I’m losing friends through not bothering
I wish I could fly on the swallow’s wing
I don’t take enough time with my kids to sing
I got 9 demons following

This system called Victory among thieves
This world where nothing is won or lost
This earth trodden by false history
This son of a power hungry mother

Kissed by a demon disguised as love
I got 9 demons following
I got 9 demons following
I’m runnin and reaching for the better thing
Grassy pastures for to holler and sing
I got 9 demons following

Blowaway Girl

(adapted from Douglas Stewart poem Blowaway grass)

Verse 1.
There she goes flying
Like straw alas
My blowaway girl
in the blowaway grass.

Verse 2.
We should have known
O we knew too well
There is no holding
a blowaway girl.

Verse 3.
But so many pretty things
They always seem to pass.
As we sat down
In the blowaway grass

Chorus.
Fly away Fly away
My blowaway girl
Over the oceans
and around the world
Don’t know where you’ve gone to
Or where you’re going to
You’re the only
Whoever knew
Flyaway my blowaway girl.

Verse 4.
The days shone so warm
Like silk of the sun
Over the hot wild
gully of stone

Verse 5
Covering the granite’s
Knuckle and chink
Piling so soft
Where the briars bloomed pink.

Verse 6
We both forgot
Or pretended to
Know how the world must roll
When the wild wind blew.

Chorus.
Fly away Fly away
My blowaway girl
Over the oceans
and around the world
Don’t know where you’ve gone to
Or where you’re going to
You’re the only
Whoever knew
Flyaway my blowaway girl.

Verse 7.
The wind blows high
From gully to hill
And there you go flying
my blowaway girl

Verse 8.
While your poor lover
Alone alas
Is chewing the straw
In the blowaway grass

Chorus.
Fly away Fly away
My blowaway girl
Over the oceans
and around the world
Don’t know where you’ve gone to
Or where you’re going to
You’re the only
Whoever knew
Flyaway my blowaway girl.

Michael Crane

Crush

Spoken before music

I placed an ad on the internet.
I gave it everything I had.
Got a message from a girl,
who said I was older than her dad.

Put my photograph on the internet.
It ended up everywhere.
Come on ladies give me a call,
Before I start to lose my hair.

Verse 1.
I want a woman who won’t
refuse to sleep with me
because she doesn’t take
American Express.

I want a woman
who hasn’t seduced
every man in the phone book

I want a woman
I want a woman and I don’t care how

Chorus 1.
Click on Me Boy Click on Me
I’ll come flying thru the ether to sit on your knee
Make me breathe Boy Make me breathe
Scroll down to the button and set me free
oooh down to my hotspot
ooooh LuckyYou underscore
two-oooh down to my hotspot
ooooh LuckyMe underscore three

Verse 2.
I want a woman
who doesn’t think Mata Hari
is a role model,
I want a women who
doesn’t think sex on an aeroplane
flown by a kamikaze pilot
is really groovy.

I want a woman.
I want a woman and I don’t care how.

Chorus 2
You can click on me, click on me
you can click and drag as you please
roll over me I light up when you tease
let your fingers glide all over my keys
oooh down to my hotspot
ooooh LuckyYou underscore
two-oooh down to my hotspot
ooooh LuckyMe underscore three

Verse 3
I want a woman
who doesn’t look for
my name in the obituaries.

I want a woman. I want a woman.
PLEASE

Michael Crane and Trish Anderson

Another Strange day in paradise

Spoken : Someone said dance
and the hat I was not wearing
blew away in the wind

& The wine bottle grew fangs
& the afternoon ate roses
& the mountains were shrinking
& the summer was bored and the seedy motel sneezed
& skeletons hid in shoe boxes.

The garbage bin belched & the worm turned a blind eye & the statue cha’cha’d to the national anthem
& a violin was machined gun to death
& I. I saw a fountain drown in the rain

Chorus
And someone said dance
and I said that I’d love to
they took to the dance floor
I caught the next train
and you know I’m not crazy
I’m just going insane.

Then the deer king hit the lion
& a snowman slowly got drunk,
the fish rebelled against the moon
& I. I heard the dawn yawn at the morning.

The pine trees discussed the Koran,
the light bulb winked at the electric chair,
the cannon walked the gangplank
& the frogs studied surgery.
The whips cracked under pressure
& the collection plate giggled
& the windmills took valium
& an arrow composed a waltz

Chorus
And someone said dance
and I said that I’d love to
they took to the dance floor
I caught the next train
and you know I’m not crazy
I’m just going insane.

& I. I heard the dawn yawn at the morning.

Michael Crane, Russell Pinney and Trish Anderson

Her Secret Footsteps

1.
He heard her footsteps in the dark.
He heard them echo in the park.
He heard her footsteps in the rain.
They came towards him like a train.

Chorus:
Keep walking and know
That your footsteps will be seen
Some will be red and some will be green.
You just gotta hold on to your dream

2.
He followed them with his desire.
O these footsteps burned like fire.
And just like fire they lit up the night.
O her footsteps were so bright.

(Chorus)

3.
With every stranger on the street.
He looked down and watched their feet.
When finally they had come to rest.
He knew that he had passed their test.

(Chorus)

Trish Anderson and Michael Crane

Satellite

1.

I was having lunch with my friend Odette outside a café and I said to her, ‘you know if you live here long enough you get to see all the famous people,’ and then I caught a tram to Richmond and there were two junkies injecting needles into Temazapan and this made me angry and I got off the tram and almost bumped into this guy and I was about to abuse him for not watching where I was going and then I looked up to see it was Geoffrey Rush.

Chorus:
Well you’re a big star and I’m just a satellite
flying around your brightness and gravity.
You’re sucking me in, into the light.
Spinning around on a dizzy angle.
Circumnavigating your eyes. I’m fried. I’m fried.
Orbiting I wonder if you know.
I want to land and touch what I can see.
I want to land… I’m out here on my own dear.
I can’t resist your ozone. I’ve tried.
And I’m fried.

2.

A few years ago I was walking down Swanston Street towards the Bourke Street mall and I hadn’t had a shave for ten days and I watched a big white limousine pull up to do a hook turn and then the rear window came down and a little hand appeared holding a half full bottle of red wine and I heard a tiny voice say, ‘Here mister,’ and when I looked inside, it was Kylie Minogue. She thought I was a bum.

(Chorus)

3.

I once had a dream that I was in New York and every Monday night Woody Allen played clarinet in a jazz band and after the gig was finished I went up to him and said, “Hi Woody,’ and he took one look at me and said, ‘Fuck off Crane.’

(Chorus)

Trish Anderson and Michael Crane

They Hunt in Packs

What colour light shines in the mist?
Dense blue light blinds your eyes.
How many shades dancing in the mist?
Hundreds of shadows dance in the mist.

Chorus:
We’re going to dance in the cold, cold night.
We’re going to dance in the morning rain.
We’re going to dance in the brightest light.
We’re going to sing a slow refrain.
We’re going to sing a slow refrain.

Are those voices calling my name?
That is the song of the dancing shadows.
Why do they sing if stranded in light?
Perhaps they are calling out your name.

(Chorus)

The night the night is closing in.
That is the hand of a dancing shadow.
What colour light shines through the mist?
Dense blue light closing in.

(Chorus)

What colour light shines in the mist?
Dense blue light blinds your eyes.
Who are you standing beside me?
I am a shadow dancing in the mist.

(Chorus)

Trish Anderson and Michael Crane

Honey Tree Poem

1.
I met a woman at a restaurant.
She was sitting on her own,
I said, ‘Lady will you walk with me.
Will you let me take you home?’

She said, ‘No, I don’t think so,
I don’t believe you are the one.
Who can melt the moon,
Or draw blood from the sun.’

She said, ‘I’ve met a lot of men,
With greedy hungry mouths.
I’ve met a lot of men
With daggers for souls.’

I hungered for her beauty
as the band began to play.
I listened to the singer
and every word she sang.

Chorus:
I will climb the honey tree.
Branches swaying in the breeze.
Care and worries down below.
Sweet smooth and mellow.
Sitting in the honey grove.

2.
I said, ‘Lady won’t you dance with me?
The music sounds so sweet.
I know I’m not your lover,
But won’t you come and dance with me?’

She said, ‘Meet me at the carnival,
With a rose between your teeth.
Climb onto the trapeze
And fall down like a leaf.’

‘Meet me in a hurricane:
At the centre of the storm.
Meet me in the pouring rain.
Though you will never keep me warm.’

The band began to start up
I was feeling so depressed.
As I watched her pouting mouth
And those lips I never kissed.

(Chorus)

3.
I walked away from that restaurant.
I walked into the night
Blinded by the city
And its blazing neon lights.

I was tired of Love’s pressure
And her impossible demands
Then I looked down at my hands…
I remembered what it felt like to be alone,

So I walked back to that restaurant
She was smiling and she glowed.
She said, ‘Meet me on the dance floor
Meet me in the abattoir.
Meet me in the courtroom.
I’ll be your saboteur.’

‘I’ll be both judge and jury.
I’ll sentence you to hell.
Yes, I’ll meet you on the dance floor
But you better love me well.’

And at that moment
a woman began to sing.
And I felt for the first time
I could do almost anything.

(Chorus)

Trish Anderson and Michael Crane

Modern Fable

Larry was a lion (spoken)
Larry was a lion (sung)
Larry was a lion (spoken)
Larry was a lion (sung)

Verse 1.
Larry was a lion.
A rough and ready.
Tough and Heddy
Mean and lean.
Vicious and ferocious.
Take no crap from anybody lion

Larry was a lion (spoken)
Larry was a lion (sung)
Larry was a lion (spoken)
Larry was a lion (sung)

Verse 2.
Larry was a lion
Who thought he was a Zebra.
No more howling.
No more growling.
For this little Zebra.
I think I am a Zebra:
Therefore I must be a zebra.

Larry was a lion (spoken)
Larry was a lion (sung)
Larry was a lion (spoken)
Larry was a lion (sung)

Verse 3.
Larry was a lion
Who thought he was a zebra.
Then along came a hunter
Who thought he was a hunter
Killing all the lions in Africa
Except Larry who was too busy
Acting like a Zebra

Larry was a lion (spoken)
Larry was a lion (sung)
Larry was a lion (spoken)
Larry was a lion (sung)

Verse 4.
Larry was a lion
Who thought he was a Zebra.
And there’s a moral in there
But don’t ask me to explain it

Larry was a lion (spoken)
Larry was a lion (sung)
Larry was a lion (spoken)
Larry was a lion (sung)
Larry was a lion (spoken and sung)

Michael Crane and Trish Anderson and Russel Pinney