Mick Brady

Small Town Trouble

This town’s got a whole lotta dirty little secrets

Hidden in the shadows, well out of sight

Untold stories, poisoned riches

Silent grief and restless nights

 

All you gotta do is take a look around you

Tell-tale signs all over the place

Some guys decide they’re gonna ignore it

Everyone else just gotta escape

 

Small town trouble, big time pain

Nobody wants to talk about it

They all play the game – the way they do

It’s not what you’ve got

It’s not what you’ve done

It’s not who you were

It’s who you’ve become

 

What’s the use of crying on hard shoulders?

Gotta take your comforts wherever you can

Chances are you’re gonna regret it

But maybe you won’t get the chance again

 

Your life’s adrift, strung out behind you

You’ve let it go, you’ve let it slide

Your past is written on your body

Your future’s written in your mind

 

 

Six O'Clock Sun

I’ve got a picture in my head that no one else can see

I'm gonna paint it soon, it's a picture of me

Get it down on canvas and put it into a frame

When you take a look, you're gonna be surprised

'Cos all you ever noticed was one of the boys

And all you ever wanted was a whole lot more of the same

 

Shake the five o’clock shadows, take the six o’clock sun

Drinking nine o’clock tequilas having ten o’clock fun

You're riding on the night train but it won’t take you home

You're like a drunk on a tightrope, you know you can’t fall

But you gotta keep moving ‘cos you’re dead if you stall

Why don't you just admit it, you don't know where you're goin'

 

There’s a line somewhere that no one else can see

Divides who you are from who you want to be

Get over that line, you're never gonna return

You don't wanna leave your life in the lost and found

But it’s a fight to the end and you've been losing some ground

When you cross all your bridges, there's nothing left to burn

 

Take a look at all the signs pointing outta here

Forget the little voices whispering in your ear

 

 

 

The Man That I Used To Be

Everyone tells me I’m doing just fine

But they don't know nothing or they're just being kind

'Cos I’ve been fakin' it, makin’ it look like I’m someone I’m not

Since I can remember I've being playing a part

Never did nothing straight from the heart

Pretending so long, I don't think I'd know how to stop

 

I've got a past that's not over and I often go back

Pick out a few memories, switch round a few facts

And pull out a bagful of smiling pictures of me

But old photos are never gonna tell the whole truth

‘Cos someone decides what he’s not gonna shoot

And I never was the man that I used to be

 

I was never the man that I used to be

The man that you get's not the man that you see

Old stories get better every time that they’re told

Just one little lie and you're out of control

No, I never was the man that I used to be

 

There’s a whole lotta days when the hat doesn't fit

A whole lotta nights I wish I could quit

A whole lot of stuff some day is gonna catch up with me

The truth's gonna come out, it's just a matter of time

I'm like a castle on a beach that waits for the tide

And I never was the man that I used to be

 

 

Take It Where You Wanna Take It

Pressure from the outside

Pressure coming from within

You're chasing down the future

You know you're out on a limb

It's too late now for too much to soon

Too soon for too little too late

You've got an outside chance to take the inside track

You don't wanna hesitate

It started off a long time ago

Right there on your own street

Now you're stepping up, you're knocking on the door

You got secrets that you just can't keep

 

So take it where you wanna take it

Take it where you wanna go

This old town will only keep you down

This town doesn't wanna know

But you can hear a band playing inside your head

The kind of song you know you want to sing

It's like something about to be remembered

Something about to begin

 

There's valleys and they're waiting for rivers

Snowdrops waiting for Spring

Fragile skies waiting for the sun

Birds learning how to sing

There's boats out on the horizon

And a sparkle coming off the sea

It's a promise like a wink from a sailor

Whispering what you might be

Take a look out in the morning

There's footsteps in the snow

Dream catchers out there catching dreams

Their nets are gonna overflow

 

 

You Gotta Know When To Run

Her dreams were like a jigsaw

Scattered round the kitchen floor

Her cards were on the table

Her bags at the door

The old answers had all stopped working

Old excuses all worn thin

She was ruling nothing out

And she was ruling nothing in

 

You know you gotta face the truth sometime

Stop fooling yourself it’s all gonna work out fine

You gotta know when the time has come

You gotta know when to run

 

She was looking to the future

She knew she had to get it right

But every move she thought about

There was gonna be a price

She’d used up all her options

 

And she was running out time

She stepped outside, she crossed herself

And then she crossed the line

 

As she drives on through the night

She’s not sure where she’s goin’

The only thing she knows

Is she’s not going home

Her telephone starts ringing

And she knows that it won’t stop

She checks to see who’s calling her

And then she turns it off

 

 

Men In Black

Holy Holy men in black

Doing all they could to hold you back

And they told you these are the best days of your life

They got you young, they got you good

Worked their way inside your skull

And got their hooks in and they hooked you up good and tight

 

Cathechism, Nationalism

One and only true religion

Don’t you think about thinking for yourself

Always kept you in your place

And they told you straight to your face

You were nothing, so get back down on your knees

 

Confession and going to communion

Temptation, frustration, absolution

And feeling guilty about everything that you feel

They nailed their colours to the past

Learn that stuff and learn it off by heart

That’s just the way it is and you don’t have no choice

 

But Friday nights were oh so cool

We were learning from a different school

And rock ‘n’ roll music reaching deep down into your soul

A slow dance was true romance

Made you feel that you had a chance

And made you forget everything that you’d been told

 

 

I Remember The Rare 'Aul Times

Danny and his brother and his sister used to live next door to me

They had a shoutin’ match every night, it always went on till two or three

They used to wake us kids up, they were tearing the house apart

Then it’d all die down till the morning when another round would start

 

Maggie Blue sold apples, she sold them from a baby’s pram

She pushed that pram around the streets, she never did no one no harm

She never made a living, but her work was all she’d got

People said she was a gentle soul, but you know her nerves are shot

 

I remember the smoky city

I remember how the sun didn't shine

I remember the smell of the river

I remember the rare aul’ times

But they were days of desperation

You were told what you were allowed

Fathers Of The Nation making speeches

Church bells ringing on the hour

 

Bella was a broken woman, she walked real close to the wall

Her brother went away to the USA, she said he never came home at all

But he was hiding out in her back room, with a bad, bad case of the fears

He only came out in a coffin, he’d been there for thirty years

 

But we were only kids, how could we understand?

We thought it was all just a bit of a laugh, we thought they were mad

But they were children of the revolution, the first to grow up free

Battles won and deals all done, they got nothing but they still believed

 

 

Me And You

I wish that I could go back

To where it all began

Knowing then what we know now

And start it all again

No one knew what lay ahead

We never could have guessed

We just had each other 

Didn’t care about much else

 

I know we’d be much wiser

The second time around

But I don’t know how we’d ever fly

If our feet were on the ground

We wouldn’t make the same mistakes

Just different ones instead 

You might as well put it all on black

As stake it all on red

 

I’ve been playing old songs from long ago

Been hearing what they have to say

Got myself a copy of the Book Of Love

I’ve been reading it every day

The poets, fools and wise men say

Love burns you when it’s true

And it leaves its mark on your soul

Sounds like me and you

 

I’m not saying I’ve no regrets

You know I wouldn’t lie

And I don’t claim to be no saint

I’m just your average guy

Sometimes we get it right, sometimes wrong

But you’ve got beneath my skin 

And if I had it all to do again

I wouldn’t change a thing

 

 

Dreamers And Believers

I've got no good reason to stick around here

I know I just don't fit in 

My heart moved on a long time ago

But my head is still pulling the strings

I’ve never been to any place 

Where I felt that I belonged

I never knew where I was heading for

But I know where I’m coming from

 

Put me with the dreamers and believers

Standing on the outside looking in

Put me with all the searching, gentle souls

Who are whisprin' into the wind

Put me on the shelf

Put me off or put me on 

Don't put me in a box

Till I’m dead and gone

 

It's one step forward, two steps back

Then a few steps on again

It's a windy road and I don't know where

It's gonna wind up in the end

But I’ve been taking a look at the race to the top

From way back down the line

I could always join in, work my way up

But I wouldn't wanna waste my time