Daryl Runswick and Kerry Lee Crabb

Volume 3 comes from the very start of our career (1971) and contains a single session: the first ever studio recordings of our songs. (The earliest here – Dockland – was composed in 1967.) Livingstone Studios (a converted chapel in East Barnet, North London) is long gone – as indeed are Essex Music and CTS Studios where Volumes 1 and 2 were recorded: truly an era erased. Present here sharing the vocals is Julie
Covington (who I first heard at
Cambridge in 1966 and actually fell off my chair at what I heard). The recording quality is not the highest: Livingstone was a demo studio and the whole set was recorded in a day and mixed that evening.

Here is the very first appearance of the Ray Russell/Phil Lee/John Marshall rhythm section I used continuously through Volumes 2 and 3. I play piano and bass guitar throughout.

Two of these songs achieved wider fame later: Dockland appeared on the group If's first album, and The Year Is Gone on the album Kerry and I wrote for Cleo Laine, One More Day.

[ 1 ]    Take 3 Of A Simple Song

Microphone cables
strung round the floor
Session in Progress
over the door
Got the verses right
but the tag went wrong –
Take 3 of a simple song.

Ten cigarettes
I've been through in an hour
One of the amps
has been losing power
The schedule's too tight
but the coffee's strong
Take 3 of a simple song.

Behind the glass window
they're moving around
See the manager talk
but can't hear a sound
Like a fish in a tank
with his glasses on
Take 3 of a simple song.

Alone in my booth
with a mic and a stool
I'm feeling too tired now
for playing the fool
It'll take all night
if they talk so long
Take 3 of a simple song.

Little red light
starts blinking at me
Somebody's testing
one, two, three
Bass guitar is coming in strong
Better put one down
or the mood'll be gone
Take 3 of a simple song.

Composed 1970. Julie, vocals; Daryl, piano,bass guitar;
Ray Russell, guitar; John Marshall, drums.

[ 2 ]    Godzilla Rides Again

Nuts and bolts are coming undone
Factory chimneys are falling
Rivers are drying up under the sun
Man the whole thing is appalling

Godzilla rides again
Picking up buildings andtreading on trees
Godzilla rides again
Wrapping the map of the world round his knees
Godzilla rides again
Banging his head on the sky
He's so high!
Godzilla rides again

Bicycle chains are going down drains
Big iron girders are bending
Government ministers are going insane
I tell you the whole world is ending

Godzilla rides again
Crushing a continent under his thumb
Godzilla rides again
Banging Mount Everest like a big drum (rum-ti-tum!)
Godzilla rides again
Singing like old Mamma Cass
What a gas!
Godzilla rides again

Policemen are wondering what they should do
People are phoning the Queen
Why is the sky such a beautiful blue?
Why should the grass be so green?
Cassius Clay has called it a day
Batman and Robin are running away
What a scene!
What could it all mean?
Godzilla rides again

Composed 1970. Daryl, vocals, piano, bass guitar; Julie, backing vocals;
Ray Russell, guitar; John Marshall, drums.

[ 3 ]    Dockland

There's a place I've been
In my own home town
Where I'm often seen
When I'm feeling down
It's a dockland scene

Where the water runs
There's a big lock gate
And it runs in tons
While the big ships wait
While the water runs

And a boat comes in
In the early dawn
As it touches shore
Someone sounds the horn
As the boat comes in

See, the harbour lights are winking far and wide
Hear the water lapping on the old keyside
See, where the oily swans are breeding
There's a morning tide receding
Leaving all the scrapmetal clean
It's a dockland scene

Oh the cranes are high
In the harbour light
Like the sailors they
Never work at night
But they're very high

There's a factory wall
Where the flour-bags lie
And they're stacked so tall
That they reach the sky
By the factory wall

See, the harbour chimneys stand and puff out smoke
While the sailors stand a shovel coal and coke
And you will find it most surprising
When the evening tide is rising
Watching all the scrapmetal drown
In my dockland town

There's a place I've been
In my own home town
Where I'm often seen
When I'm feeling down...

Composed 1967. Daryl, vocals, piano, bass guitar; Ray Russell, guitar;
John Marshall, drums.

[ 4 ]    Song Of The Cement Mixer

I was walking home from school
When I spied a sight so cool
An extraordinary tool
Of the builders' guild or trade;
It was surely British made
And beside it stood a spade
With some sand upon the blade.

'Twas a mixer of cement
And the left back wheel was bent
By a workman's leather boot
In a union dispute;
But it looked so very cute
With its cogs all caked with rust
And the starting handle bust.

    Oh, concrete mixer, mixer fine
    Turn around this heart of mine
    And as you daily gaily grind
    Please miox me up another mind.

By the concrete mixer's stand
Stood a pyramid of sand
With a bucket close at hand;
Like a Michelangelo
Or like something Picasso
Hadn't thought about before;
Or perhaps a Henry Moore.

    Oh, concrete mixer, mixer fine
    Turn around this heart of mine
    And as you daily gaily grind
    Please miox me up another mind.

     It had caused me to lament
     What a lot of time is spent
      In life, in mixing up cement;

Yet it seemed to make a stand
With its body-work so blithe
For our green and pleasant land
'Gainst the hammer and the scythe.
My life is getting such a bind
I must get set or I shall find
There's such a lot I've got to learn;
I'd rather satnd and watch you turn.

    Oh, concrete mixer, mixer fine
    Turn around this heart of mine
    And as you daily gaily grind
    Please miox me up another mind.

Composed 1969. Daryl, vocals, piano, bass guitar; Daryl and Kerry, whistling; Ray Russell, guitar; John Marshall, drums.

[ 5 ]    The Year Is Gone

That night you drove me home –
It was a year ago,
After a day of snow.
The night was cold,
And the year was very, very old.

I sat sunk in my coat
The collar to my throat
And stared at the trees as we passed them by.
And they bowed in the wind,
and we heard then sigh:

    "Pass on, lovers,
    The hyear is gone, there will be others.
    The spring will come again,
    And the summer rain,
    And neithr time nor the dark can tell you why."

And the car swam silently
And lit the road ahead,
As we sat together quietly,
And dreamed of bed.

That was a year ago –
That night you drove me home
After a day of snow.

    "Pass on, lovers
    The hyear is gone, there will be others.
    The spring will come again,
    And the summer rain,
    And neithr time nor the dark can tell you why."

Composed 1970. Julie, vocals; Daryl, piano, bass guitar; Ray Russell, guitar; John Marshall, drums.

[ 6 ]    Shades Of Blue

Nothing will let me lose the sight of you;
Odd moments in a life are there to stay.
Nothing can last for ever, though: that's true.

Tonight it all comes back in shades of blue –
The happiness and beauty of a day.
Nothing will let me lose the sight of you.

A memory of so much left to do –
Of liquid fire, those eyes that wake the day.
Nothing can last for ever, though: that's true.

Music, or wine, will make me talk of you,
And leave new friends uncertain what to say.
Nothing will let me lose the sight of you.

If this means nothing now, even to you,
Then I feel nothing for you every day –
Nothing can last for ever, though, that's true.

And everything I do, I do for you:
I love you so much more than I can say.
Nothing can make me lose the sight of you.
Nothing can last for ever, though: that's true.

Composed 1971. Julie, vocals; Phil Lee, guitar; Daryl, bass guitar;
John Marshall, drums.

[ 7 ]    The Keeper Of The Kiosk

The keeper of the kiosk in the park
Locks her little life up after dark
She says So long to the lovers in the leafy lane
Farewell to the lucky dogs on leads
See you again, see you again
And to the darkening evening sky
Bye-bye

And at half-past eight
When they lock the gate
She's gone home alone
And nobody knows where she goes
Nobody knows where she goes

And her days are made of ice-cream
And hands across the counter
Lady bountiful
She's a daughter of the sun
At fifty-one

And the same in the morning
When the park-keeper's yawning
She comes back alone
And nobody knows where she's been
Nobody knows where she's been

But the keeper of the kiosk
The keeper of the kiosk
She's a queen

Composed 1971. Daryl, vocals, piano, bass guitar; Ray Russell, guitar;
John Marshall, drums.

[ 8 ]    Whiskey Haze

In the bottle with the candle
There's a teardrop made of wine
And a joss-stick, scented sandal-
wood, a slender starlit pine,
And the smoke drifts in a spiral
Round the sunflower-blossom flame
Throwing haloes round the bottle
Like a neon of your name.
And that little drop of liquid
Like a madman in a maze
Runs around my mind and makes your face
In the wine and whisky haze.

Can't you hear her laugh
As she dances in the rain
And the bells of hell laugh with her
Saints and angels in her train
And a hundred little children
Clap their hands to see her there
As she leads them minuetting in the square?

Can't you see her there
With the planets in her hair
Stepping like a warrior
From metoer to star
Scribbling in the stardust
Drawing faces on the moon
And eating rays of sunshine from a spoon?

And the smoke drifts in a spiral
Round the sunflower-blossom flame
Throwing haloes round the bottle
Like a neon of her name.
And a little drop of liquid
Like a madman in a maze
Runs around my mind and makes her face
In the wine and whisky haze.

Composed 1969. Daryl, vocals, piano, bass guitar; Phil Lee, guitar;
John Marshall, drums.

[ 9 ]    I Am Sick, I Must Die

Rich men, trust not in wealth
Gold cannot buy you health
Physic himself must fade
All things to end were made
The plague full swift goes by
I am sick, I must die –
Lord have mercy on us!

Beauty is but a flower
Which wrinkles will devour
Brightness falls from the air
Quenns have died young and fair
Dust hath closed Helen's eye
I am sick, I must die –
Lord have mercy on us!

Strength stoops unto the grave
Worms feed on Hector brave
Swords may not fight with fate
Earth still holds ope her gate
Come, come, the bells do cry
I am sick, I must die –
Lord have mercy on us!

Composed 1970. Julie, vocals; Daryl, piano, bass guitar, fuzz bass;
Ray Russell, guitar; John Marshall, drums.

[ 10 ]    Man Of Means

You've got money, you've got friends
You are a man of means
Your flat is full of actresses
And beauty queens
I've looked in through your window
And I've seen just what you've got
And somebody once told me
That you think you've got the lot
– After tax
You've got money, you've got friends
Man of Means, you haven't got the facts.

You've got a way with women
You are a man of means
But one or two have slipped away
Between the scenes
And scribbled on the mirror
With the lipstick that you gave
A letter to inform you
That a woman's not a slave
For a start –
You've got money, you've got friends
Man of means, you haven't got a heart.

You've got away with murder
Mister man of means
You've eaten lovely ladies
Like a horror fiend
But relax and have a ball
Becuse the enemies and spies
That are watching from the hall
Wouldn't look you in the eyes
Like the friends who come to call
And toast you with your own champagne
Agree with every word you said
Turn their backs, and wish you dead
And who may never come to call on you again
There are guns and knives around you
As you laugh and drink and dance
You've got money, you've got friends
Man of means, you haven't got a chance.

Composed 1969. Daryl, vocals, piano, bass guitar; Ray Russell, guitar;
John Marshall, drums.

[ 11 ]    Illusion

I've seen the coloured craters and the mushrooms of the moon
In profusion
And paper people singing silly jingles out of tune
In confusion
The news is bad
The blues are running backwards through my mind
And Telstar tells me nothing
But the flowerpot-men are kind
In disillusion
This illusion keeps me warm

I've got my soul on ice and it's kind of nice this way
Got my soul on ice
Let the crisis children call another day
That's what I say

In a haze of potash
In a crazy sunflash
Turn on your mind but keep the volume down
And watch the stuffing tumble
From the TV clown

In a haze of potash
In a crazy sunflash
Turn on your mind but keep the volume low
And watch the black dwarf crumble
And the red mole moving slow

And you'll see the coloured craters and the mushrooms of the moon
In profusion
And paper people singing Hare Krishna out of tune
In confusion
The news is bad
The blues will scramble sideways through your mind
And Telstar tells you nothing
But the flowerpot-men are blind
In disillusion
This illusion keeps you warm

You've got your soul on ice and it's kind of nice that way
Got our soul on ice
Let the crisis children call another day
Please go away

Composed 1970. Julie, vocals; Daryl, backing vocals, piano, bass guitar;
Ray Russell, guitar; John Marshall, drums.