Boulevard

42

Electro-rock about femme fatales. Raw sexual energy - a feeling that permeates the senses.

She came out from the shadows
Androgyne with a halo
Lips wet, eyes tragic
A dark hand leads me through the masses

She's moving over me now

There's no sound - the night shutters
She gets her dreams from the gutter
She's cheap as me - strange as ever
It's to the stars we'll go together

She's moving over me now

52

Dance-pop about femme fatales and doomed love.

A brief affair with someone dressed like Marie Antionette.

Marie
by Benji Barton and Boulevard

You were dancing alone. Strangely, your lover just sat there, burning holes in me.
You were dressed as Marie, with electrical tape you wrapped your chest up so secretly.
I never once expected you to show me.

Stylishly this will end. By this time tomorrow, my continental love leaves again. But the way that you move and the language you use: it's holding my mind together.

The next day at your house you laughed at the way I faked a crisis just to stay in bed. So you made us some tea.
Wasting the day with listless loveplay, you turned to ask: is this the last day that we'll ever get?

Stylishly this will end. By this time tomorrow my continental love leaves again. But the way that you move and the language you use: it's holding my mind together.
Stay love, all this will end. By this time tomorrow, you'll return to the sweetlife with your friend. But the way that you move and the voice that you use: it's holding my mind together.

Now that you're going away, it's the expression you gave, it's turning me on again. Coffee in the warm afternoon is all we'll share together. I know. I know.

24

Overcoming sorrow and despair.

A song I wrote after cancer killed my mom. It comes from her perspective - she's the narrator in the song. In it she urges me to rise above the adversity and seek out my aspirations, finding the good that's left in the world.

Dreams of Home
words and music by Benji Barton

Back -
Let's go back before the day
They came down to suffocate
Our dreams of home.
This town was ours
Broken glass and trampled flowers, lies and money
could not dash these aspirations
The lives we chose.

And I'll drive through fire for you
Until I can't see the light
I'll twist and stretch these days
Into the ones that made it worthwhile.

You -
Your face is painted sickly white
Eyes reflect the empty skies
In your hopeless style
But soon this flight is coming back for you
The pain you've been subjected to will be forgotten
And we'll be gone...

And I'll drive through fire for you
Until I can't see the light
I'll twist and stretch these days
Into the ones that made it worthwhile.

28

A song about betrayal and independence.

Another night among the shuffling ravers.
The same kicks move the plastic faces in time.
We don't mind as long as we're entwined.
But tonight it seems so unclear:
All the crimes you suddenly reveal violate everything I still hold dear.
You learned to love the things you hated
Your brilliance I miscalculated.

I'm stuck in disarray and now you're laughing oh so shameless.
I wish you'd close your mouth. Can't you see that I'm a mess.

Another night so disenchanting.
Always losing the things you love
Can change your faith in your sensibilities.
And dignity is the only thing to keep me standing here
It's just a cabride to your freedom
Lay your slender fingers on someone who needs them.

You learned to love the things you hated
Your brilliance I miscalculated.

I'm stuck in disarray and now you're laughing oh so shameless.
I wish you'd close your mouth. Can't you see that I'm a mess.

And now this arrogance: you're going on and on.
I should have known you'd never write a song of your own.

I'm stuck in disarray and now you're laughing oh so shameless.
I wish you'd close your mouth. Can't you see that I'm a mess.

32

Dance-rock about jealousy and paranoia

This night remains forever scrawled on my brain
So sickened by the notion your friend has made
Is it shameful of me to be so paranoid?
When the city's filled with vulgar boys and sleazy celluloid
Well it moves us along. It pushes us on.

Hope is rising fast
It's possibly the last
Chance for luxury
It's calling for you and me

This man has practiced every gesture of mine
I've seen his trite maneuvres, oh so many times.
He's touching you now
He's unaware - the strain that we've been through
But he's unaware of my plans to charm the pants off you.
Cause I've done it before oh yeah.
Come on and take me in your arms again.

Hope is rising fast
It's possibly the last
Chance for ecstasy
That you're going to find for free

Is this the way you prefer a sweet affair to end?
Do I have to cope night after night
With all those silly businessmen
There's a car parked outside,
I could drive you anywhere
Away from these ridiculous wrecks, forever cursed with hideous hair.

Cause we've done this once, oh yeah
Come on and take me in your arms again

Hope is rising fast
It's possibly the last
Chance for luxury
It's calling for you and me

54

Triumph. Rising above adversity, fear, despair.

Hand in Hand
words and music by Benji Barton

Gazing into the drizzle below
She chokes with nervousness
By nine o'clock she will be years away
From this cold metropolis

Down on your back
Watching the lights spin 'round your head
Until they drag you out and fly you home again.

He lives in a glass dream
Stuck to a blue screen
He smiles mechanically
Watches his sweetlove
On planets above
This silent agony

Down on your back
Watching the lights spin 'round your head
Until they drag you out and fly you home again.

And we'll go hand in hand
Far from them
And dance upon the stars.