Get all 10 Phil Nice releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Josephine, Shaken, Not Stirred, The Ego Has Landed, Lost and Found, The Tower, Symptoms of Daydreams, Sleepyhead, Misfits, and 2 more.
1. |
Superman
06:52
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Superman
Hello world
It’s your old friend Superman
Don’t despair
All is not lost
Can you hear me in Dogtown?
Can you hear me at the top of the tree?
I’m still here, I didn’t leave
He continued, arrogantly
Drowning in self righteousness
Like God’s right hand man
Mangling reality with super fine intentions
Hello world
It’s your old friend Superman
I can turn back time
Stop the rot
Drink the wave that threatens
Can you hear me in the gutter?
Can you hear me at the top of the hill?
Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours
I’ll treat you fine
Just toe the line
But the ants just won’t cooperate
The germs have no respect
They couldn’t care less for that golden ‘S’
You carry around on your pumped up chest
Superman got sick
The doctor knows what’s best
No catching trains
Juggling planes
For a day or two, while the patient rests
But things look black for Superman
Lois rings her hands
Smokes her way through five packs a day
Cries in a sandpaper baritone
Superman got sick
And the world’s as sick as ever
The poor have no respect no more
Evil’s taking over
A shadow of his former self
He’s lying in his bed
And half the world is praying
That he won’t get up again
Superman
Superman
Superman
Superman….
Hello world
It’s your old friend Superman
Don’t despair, I’m back on the block
He’s monopolising bloodshed
He’s put his mark on misery
He’s just as strong as he ever was
And just as empty
But the ants they won’t cooperate
The germs have no respect
They couldn’t cre less for that golden ‘S’
You carry around on your pumped up chest
Superman got sick……
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2. |
Heartwood
04:05
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Sorry, you don’t get to choose
Not for the high life, you
Not for cafes, tea rooms and such
The top of the bill
Is already filled
Go back to your people
Speak from the heart
Give all you’ ve got
No matter what
It’s a start
There’ll be no Acapulco
No chauffeur driven cars
Better a tall oak in the heart of the wood
Than a butterfly in a jar
Go back to your hometown
Shoot from the hip
Give of your best
More or less
Isn’t that worth something?
No Swiss bank account
No peace in old age
No sensible solutions
To show how smart you are
Not much understanding
Nobody wants to be you
You can show them what they’re missing
If you don’t care if they believe you
Sorry, you don’t get to choose
Feet in the mud, that’s you
No right place
No right time
But right there where you find yourself
You belong to the heartwood
Not the teeming outer skin
For the brittle
And the fragile
Where you can’t get in
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3. |
Nightlife
02:40
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1
After hours at the Factory
Turning out drunks
To people the town
With all kinds of
Misshapen baggage
Squinting in the morning sun
And I’ve hung on the jukebox
Weeping tears of nostalgia
And now I’m heading for the taxi stand
The spell broken
The bubble burst
All the way from nothing
To nothing in return
You fall into bed
As the city awakes
And rumbles up from the street
Chilling the sweat on your body
And filling your sleep with restless dreams
And you’re still dizzy
As you shower and dress
In the falling twilight
You’re losing yourself
In the anonymous night
You took a nap
And when you awoke
You’d lost track of the conversation
You’re one margarita behind
And out of touch with social history
Gravity pulls you towards the street
And you wander in search of a sunrise
Or one last neon sign
A final gasp of nightlife
Too tired to go the distance
Too awake to go home
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4. |
Dream On
03:07
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Dream On
You say that seam’s run dry
No more gold in the mine
There goes your golden chance to make it out of town
On a big long bus to Dreamville
Where you’d run with a different pack
There’d be cocktail parties
And jacuzzi chitchat
A roller coaster of sounds and sensations
And never time to think
Well dream on
That’s just wonderful
Dream on
And maybe one day if it’s not too late already
You’ll see that back down the line
There were people and times
That were just good enough to hang on to
You think the sparkle’s gone
You just see cobwebs in the corners
You’ve gone from a potential Howard Hughes
To a former almost contender
Who would have crossed to another land
Through some invisible border
Like Christ back from the dead
And maybe glowing in outline so we’d all know
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5. |
Rome
03:08
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1
Rome
Amongst the poor
At the walls of the city
Wanting something that doesn’t exist
So when you get it
You’ve got nothing
And wish that you didn’t
It’s all so confusing
But the grass is greener over there
Everything’s sweet
Though nobody shows it
Tomorrow is the start
Of the rest of you life
As you say
Every day
Till you die
You didn’t do
What they want you to
No uniform, no two by two
You wouldn’t march to any drum
You’d really rather be someone
Amongst the slaves
Battling Rome
You’re already defeated
But that’s not the point
You’ve made it clear
Where your sympathies lie
And that was worth
The pain and the torment
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6. |
Savannah
03:30
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I have a life, she says
Back where I call home
You wouldn’t know it here and now
But I’m not like this at all
I was raised to keep it nice
And here I am in paradise
Letting go
Scaring myself
I’m a prisoner of the nine to five
Can’t you see the tired lines
Too many long lunches
And late nights
You think you like me
But you don’t know what’s inside
I’ll cheat you
I’ll let you down
Sunbaked into submission
You dream your days away
Lounging by the water’s edge
Surveying the potential prey
And in a night
Of dazzling light
You’ll find your feet again
On the savannah
You’re as sleek as steel
A machine
Behind fly-eyes of glinting green
Designed
With a swimsuit in mind
For the here and now
You’re gone tomorrow
Back to a city somewhere
Anonymity somewhere
A wormhole away
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7. |
In The Vacuum
03:07
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In the vacuum
Came home to an empty house
I really knew deep down
This was how it was going to be
But nothing stops you hoping
I guess I’ll be all right
I’ll take deep breaths and a valium
And when the people start to arrive
I’ll be one step ahead of the wave
In the vacuum
You’ve left behind
I dream you’re still around
Then wake up
And seconds later
I’m back on the ground
And when I talk
Do you hear me
Wherever you are?
I’d sure like to think so
It would hurt a little less just to know
It’s touch and go
Sometimes I’m falling
Into a hole
Wondering what the future will
Serve up for me
In all its mystery
I’m walking in fear of tomorrow
But I’ll be strong
If that’s what you want from me
Get on with the life
Still ahead of me
You don’t want me brooding
Or drifting away
I wish I knew what to do or say
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8. |
Dorothy
04:48
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Dorothy shaves
Two times a day
Takes pride in her appearance
Takes a deep breath
And prays to the mirror
To be merciful
And treat her kindly
It may look like vanity
But that’s only part of the truth
Under her clothes
She’s the queen of tattoos
Stumbling around in borrowed shoes
Dorothy walks with eyes down
Trying not to draw attention
To the small details
That don’t quite fit
It’s a unified impression
She’s trying to give
It may look like nervousness
But that’s only part of the truth
For deep down
She’s breaking the rules
Laughing each time she fools you
And she fooled you good this time
You’re keeping your pretences
While I cultivate mine
If they knew what you kept in your closet
Would your girlfriends still be girlfriends?
There was a man
Who wanted to feel
What it was like to be you
With your powders and paints
Your eau de cologne
Be the careful scheme
Behind the floral show
And it felt like violation
And almost better than sex
It felt like the best and the
Worst of all worlds
Like birthdays and Christmas
And Armageddon
You want to get drunk and celebrate
Then cry and let the makeup run
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9. |
Bedtime for Bonzo
03:25
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Now I’ve amused you
And clowned around
Juggled with knives
And had you laughing
At stories from my chequered past
All my daring do’s and cheap laughs
It’s not all bananas and peanuts, you know
Inside there’s a person
Thinking and breathing
Dreaming dreams in the night
Celebrating, grieving
I drag my weary bones
Up the wooden hill
Mix up a cocktail
Of powders and pills
No more fun till tomorrow
It’s good night from me
Bedtime for Bonzo
Now I’ve amused you
And played the fool
Rode a bike with oval wheels
Told you stories from the
Good old days
Of showbizz people
And glamorous deals
It’s not all a swing from tree to tree
Inside there’s a person
And that person’s me
Regretting I wasn’t greater
As I neglected the small things in life
I drag my bones
Out of the room
Wend my way through
The chemical gloom
No more fun till tomorrow
It’s goodnight from me
Bedtime for Bonzo
You didn’t think monkies
Could get the blues
Curious George on lithium
We’re just hairy little clowns
In human clothes
But when we suffer
We suffer in style
Every insult and jibe
Cuts to the bone
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10. |
Lois Lane
04:12
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Behind the macho man
Behind the lunatic
There’s a heartbeat
Making him tick
He likes to think he’s got existence
Under control
But it’s you throwing the switch
That sends the current to the detonator
But everyone will pass the buck
When it all goes wrong much later
It’s not high ideals
Putting children in their graves
It’s not democracy and freedom
Driving that crusade
It’s the gated community
And sherry bu the fire
Smiles at the golf club
It’s your way of life
That keeps you
One step from your nightmare
And the wolves from the door
Padding your cocoon
Far from bloodshed and war
It’s not only his creations
By which we know his name
It’s your love, Lois Lane
Behind the curtains
At the kitchen sink
Deserving more
Than you let yourself think
These action heroes
May be calling the shots
But it’s you holding things together
And sending current
To the detonator
But everyone will pass the buck
When it all goes wrong much later
It’s not high ideals……
Why the compromise?
Why the blind eye?
What kind of creature are you?
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Phil Nice Denmark
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