Kirsty McGee

4

Upbeat cheerful romp complete with clarinet, trombone, double bass, banjo and New Orleans rhythms...oh, and a bit of amateur yodelling. And it's about capitalism.

you've got to eat
if you want to stay strong
you've got to fight
if you want to get along
this world is red in tooth and nail,
don't want to be left at the bottom of the pail
you've got to eat if you want to stay strong

don't just sit
like a fish inside a stone
you can feel it in your bones:
you know it's time to move on
and that's just it
now that you're fully-grown
you know you've got to stay strong
and if you're gonna stay strong...

(ch)

oh it really doesn't matter if you're wrong or right:
they're stronger than you and they're putting up a fight
oh it really doesn't matter if you're big or small
old bonecrusher doesn't bother at all

words: well they were never quite enough
that old pen just don't compete with the mighty sword
fire: well you can burn it all up
but watch you don't get burned
when the flames take hold

(oh it really doesn't matter etc.)

i've done my bit
for peace and goodwill
i know i could do more
i guess i probably will
if you don't know yet
how to fight and how to kill
just sit tight and eat
you've got to eat your fill

(ch)

© 2008 kirsty mcgee / big oak songs

2

A stalker lullaby. Used by Danny Boyle in his soundtrack to Trance (2013)

right before the you close your eyes
whispering your prayers
when the sandman blows your eyes
i'll be there

when you wake up in the night
sounds the second stair
that creaks under the careless foot
i'll be there

gather roses while you may
while the bloom is full
for the blossom soon will fade
and the bloom grow dull

right before the morning light
creeps soft upon the sill
when the shadows chase the night
i never will

when your voice is softly heard
singing in the morning light
but the note does not ring true
i'll be there

(ch)

right before you sleep at night
closing up the blind
in the window's black embrace
if you find

the face of a lover long-forgot
forgotten eyes, forgotten hair
forgotten words that stretch like salt
i'll be there

© 2008 kirsty mcgee / big oak songs

both your feet and all your money she must be good she must be funny she must be something to turn your head this way soft as ash, you've been slipping through my fingers gone like smoke, what i always thought would linger well she must be good, to turn your head this way we're brought up to believe that what we have is what we keep what we have and what we wish for can just vanish in our sleep and i don't know what to say all my hopes and all of my endeavours she must be smart she must be clever to turn your head to take you away from me i'm sorry now, but it's too late for it how long have you been gone, and how come i never saw it? well, i only saw the sparks had left your eyes when you turned your head away we're brought up to believe in what we have and what we hold but you can go to sleep in someone's arms and wake up in the cold and i don't know what to say i just don't know what to say

both your feet
and all your money
she must be good
she must be funny
she must be something
to turn your head this way

soft as ash, you've been slipping through my fingers
gone like smoke, what i always thought would linger
well she must be good, to turn your head this way

we're brought up to believe
that what we have is what we keep
what we have and what we wish for
can just vanish in our sleep
and i don't know what to say

all my hopes
and all of my endeavours
she must be smart
she must be clever
to turn your head
to take you away from me

i'm sorry now, but it's too late for it
how long have you been gone, and how come i never saw it?
well, i only saw the sparks had left your eyes
when you turned your head away

we're brought up to believe
in what we have and what we hold
but you can go to sleep in someone's arms
and wake up in the cold
and i don't know what to say
i just don't know what to say



© 2008 kirsty mcgee / big oak songs

5

Solo - just voice and guitar.

Disappointment at the needless end of a friendship.

the birds are flying backwards in the wind
it's a day for it
it tears around this house like it would break it
it's a day for it

and it's a shame how nothing could prevent it
from the minute you hung up
from the minute you sent it

and rain is running rivers through the hall
it's a day for it
there's not enough cups to catch it all
there's no end to it

it's a shame how nothing could prevent it
from the minute you came
to the minute you meant it

they're wringing out their feathers in the rain
and when they fly they won't be back again

the trees bend down their backs to shelter from
the west wind
that rips out in the starling humming air
my best friend

it's a shame


© 2008 kirsty mcgee / big oak songs

4

there's ice out in the parlour three feet deep the snow just keeps on falling, but the company you keep will it get you through the winter in the end? that's no way to treat a friend

poor, poor angela, what's become of you?
he's standing by the screen door, saying that you're through,
and all this heartbreak - will it ever end?
that's no way to treat a friend

oh adriana, full of tears and woe
your gold turned into silver and your silver into stones:
they left when there was nothing more to spend
that's no way to treat a friend

there's ice out in the parlour three feet deep
the snow just keeps on falling, but the company you keep
will it get you thorugh the winter in the end?
that's no way to treat a friend

peter, poor peter, where will you go now?
stuck out in a small town where the road runs out
and did he drop you with your bags out on the bend?
that's no way to treat a friend

you build up all your trusting three miles high
you build it up so solid you no longer see the sky
so when it falls, there is so much more to mend
that's no way to treat a friend

mary, mary, mary, don't it make you blue
and as empty as the promises in the letters that he sends you,
it's a shame how he will borrow
every little thing you lend
that's no way to treat a friend

there's ice out in the parlour three feet deep
the snow just keeps on falling, but the company you keep
will it get you through the winter in the end?
that's no way to treat a friend


© 2008 kirsty mcgee / big oak songs

4

"I'll make this world a better place" - this one came from a dream. We recorded it at Mike West's Ninth Ward Pickin Parlour in Kansas with a gorgeous New Orleans band.

first was rain
then there was snow
there was a wind
see how it blows
if you can see
then you will see:
there's profit where my finger is

sun, deep in the sky
burning the ground
steady and high
here is the sun
burning the sky:
there's profit where my finger lies

i'll make this world a better place

here is a war
they fight about me
they fight about bombs
they're crossing the sea
the sea is a toy
the land is all gone:
there's profit where my finger is

see, if you can see
where the world shakes
it's shaking for me
you do it yourselves
and nearly as well
to make this world a better place

and if you doubt
reason it out
famine and flames
hunger and drought
if you can see
then you will see:
there's profit where my finger is

lord, if you could allow
one month or two for now
without your fatal blow
we'll make this world a better place
oil under the sea
coal in the pits, profits for free
over the rise, up in the skies:
we'll fly from where your profit is

there's profit where your finger is


© 2008 kirsty mcgee / big oak songs

6

Madness - 'sixteen hives of killer wasps and seventeen of bees...I hear them when the lights turn low'

i hear them scratching in the middle of the night
i hear the voices in the walls
there's a bird trapped in the chimney
i hear him when the lights turn low

i run the water and it splutters in the bowl
irises and yellow flag and crimson daisies grow
beyond the wall there lies a dusty bed of stones
i see them when the lights turn low

i am the sole recipient of autumn's vivid dream
i see things where there are not things
i see things you've never seen
i see rats around the edges
of the crevices and holes
i am the final great believer
in the twisting of the human soul

i taste the water but i do not swallow down
angels and promises have run me out of town
there's a bird trapped in the chimney
i hear him when the lights turn low

i am the sole beneficiary of winter's broken scheme
there are stones around my ankles
they are tied to me with string
sixteen hives of killer wasps
and seventeen of bees
i hear them when the lights turn low


© 2008 kirsty mcgee / big oak songs

6

there were birds inside the supermarket i saw the dawn forget its pride i saw angels on the water and on the waterside

easy, i say, easy
you don't want to miss the spring
there are things you do and things you don't consider
like settling down before you ever saw a thing

there were birds inside the supermarket
i saw the dawn forget its pride
i saw angels on the water
and on the waterside

easy, i say, easy
see her curve around the buildings in her shift of yellow silk
you wouldn't ride that train unless
you knew that train was headed for the city
with its honey and its milk

and you say you'll go and then you go
you can trust a lying man to tell the truth
even these days
you say you will and you never do
i can trust no one like i trusted you
and i lost my faith in so many ways

easy, i say, easy
will they take from you the spring?
if i'm to lose you like i lost you before
am i to lose everything?

there were birds inside the supermarket
i saw the dawn forget its pride
i saw angels on the water
and on the waterside
and you say you'll go and then you go
you can trust a lying man to tell the truth
even these days
you say you will and you never do
i can trust no one like i trusted you
and i lost my faith in so many ways


© 2008 kirsty mcgee / big oak songs

9

Anti-war song with an upbeat, cheerful vibe set against some dark lyrics.

soldiers, soldiers, drinking out the night
bombs that splutter in the road
gets kind of eerie in the pale daylight
when you know you're far away from home

sand, sand, dollars in your shoes
coats that fasten all wrong
face so pale i thought that i was dead
i died and i was singing this song:

beat heart beat
flow blood flow
gonna cry like a crow
on some dark corner of the road

planes, planes, singing in the sky
falling now like angels in the air
blood on the needle of a fresh tattoo
leaving lines as fine as angel-hair

grown sore, steady in my hand
sandstorm lifting in the noon
gunsore, gunsore, sitting in the shade,
chewing gum and humming this tune:

(ch)

and there are things i would not wish for you
not wish for you, not wish for you
to see those things i would not wish for you to see...

blindfold, blindfold, hanging from a tree
rape grows yellow in the fields
standing in the porchlight with your hair like flames,
i stood out by the trailers and wept

girls, girls, crying in their clothes
spiders in the holes beneath my feet
felt so cold i thought that i was dead;
i died and i was singing this song:

(ch)

angel ray almost seventeen
swallowing up the bullets like sweets
lay out in the sand like god's sweet dream
(lying like a drunk out in the street)

smile on his face but his neck torn clean
nothing in his pockets but a comb
tell my mum i'm gonna marry justine
just as soon as i can get home

© 2008 kirsty mcgee / big oak songs