Released August 1998

Tracks:

01. Bad Old Man (4.34)
02. If You’ll Be Mine (4.41)
03. Back Together (4.26)
04. I Was Never Here (5.07)
05. First Man On The Sun (3.44)
06. You Will Always Love Me (3.56)
07. The Life (5.18)
08.  All Men Are Evil (4.01)
09. Take Me Back (6.06)
10. It’s Not Funny Anymore (7.19)
11. There’s Something Going On (2.28)

Catalogue numbers:

Echo UK CD: ECHCD24 (+)
Echo UK LP: ECHPL24 (+)
EU CD: umd80517 (+)
Japan CD: pccy1274 (Pony Canyon) (includes Hospital, Poolside and Sunshine)
German CD: Road Runner: rr8086062
Universal (origin ?): pumd80517 (promo including sampler cd???)
Aus CD:
Echo Promo CD: ECHPRO24

Trivia

• Second studio album by Babybird the band
• I Was Never Here was originally found on Fatherhood
• The album was voted 14 in NME’s Album’s of the year for 1998
• Bad Old man, If You’ll Be Mine and “Back Together were released as singles
• Recorded over two weeks in Marbella, Spain.

Sleevenotes

He was waiting at home for his little girl to finish school, and while he waited, there it was the dirty pink bag, tied up with blue rope. A week ago he’d gone out in the car to get away from the television. And now there it was on his sixty channel TV, the same thing he’d seen on the roadside.

He flicked the sound up. “The bag could have anything in it. Something crushed-up, a dog’s head, a girl, anything…”. The bag had been taken off its square metal shaft, and placed on a green canvas stretcher, poking out of the back of an ambulance. His finger slid on the remote and he lost the channel. He went up and down from one to sixty, through the blocked channels of thirty-nine to fifty-five, and round again. Nothing. The bag was gone. But it was stuck there inside his head like all the songs his six year old knew all the words to.

He went to the sink and put fresh beer in his wife’s coffee mug; poured from a third tap connected to a barrel under the sink. He fixed a snack of little house soup, swallowed a couple of potato homes, and gazed out of the window. Crunched-up petals lay across on the brown lawn, once infested with snails and bugs, he had razed the grass with Parrafin, and now the garden was still almost all-but-all burnt. It was like the sun had come just a little too close.

Under the garden’s one tree, hung an orange swing with blue rope, there was nothing going on. No birds, just an ornamental stone duck, no song, just a far off hammering, and no girl, just the bag. It was up there behind his eyes, mouth and ears. Under his hair, holding all those things it could have been. Something crushed-up, a dog’s head, a kid’s song, his daughter, his wife, everything.

Copyright 1998 The Echo Label LTD

Lyrics

Bad old Man

He had a bad old man who beat him
put a hammer to his knees just to please him.
Now hes 35 and half alive.
He’s an open mouth in a beehive.
He’s gonna smile and be happy,
let everyone know that hes happy.
Put his smiling face on a billboard,
kiss from your car, he’s happy,
He’s not happy.

With his swollen lips round his early teens,
in his dress he can’t believe its in his genes.
Some days he’s half man and then he’s half god,
but on his blue days he wouldn’t touch his greens.
He’s gonna make you smile and be happy,
make everyone know that hes happy.

Put his smiling face on the TV.
Kiss him from your chair make him happy.
He drowned his stepson in the duck pond,
let the wife-beater out to make a pop song,
put razor blades in the ice-cream,
shot a paedophile in a wet dream.

He’s got a young man who feeds him,
whispers sweet nothings just to please him,
he makes him cool for the TV,
makes half the man he is a celebrity.
With his swollen lips around his early teens
in his dress he cant believe its in his genes
He’s half a man and half a god,
One half bitch one half dog.

He drowned his stepson in the duck pond,
let the wife-beater out to make a pop song,
put razor blades in the ice-cream,
made nobody famous on the big screen.
Put the whole wide world on remote control,
he put a five times rapist on his tv show,
on every single channel in every single home,
you can even hear his voice on the telephone.

If You’ll Be Mine

If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours,
If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours.
If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours,
If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours.

I tick like a bomb,
a little bomb with feelings
in every single country,
under every ceiling.

There’s no feeling, there’s no feeling at all
There’s no feeling, there’s no feeling at all

If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours,
If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours.
If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours,
If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours.

Sha la la la
Sha la la la
Sha la la la la la la

Sha la la la
Sha la la la
Sha la la la la la la

I’m built like a house
A little house that’s peeling
As it peels away then you’ll see
There’s no feeling, there’s no feeling at all
There’s no feeling, there’s no feeling at all

If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours,
If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours.
If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours,
If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours.

Sha la la la
Sha la la la
Sha la la la la la la

Sha la la la
Sha la la la
Sha la la la la la la

I burn like a tree at the end of the garden.
We’ve put up a swing for the children.
There’s no feeling there’s no feeling at all.
With the world on TV she’s she’s given up believing
There’s nothing left to see,
I was teasing.
I was teasing, I was teasing her on
I was teasing, I was teasing her on

If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours,
If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours.
If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours,
If you’ll be mine, I’ll be yours.

Sha la la la
Sha la la la
Sha la la la la la la

Sha la la la
Sha la la la
Sha la la la la la la

Sha la la la
Sha la la la
Sha la la la la la la

Sha la la la
Sha la la la
Sha la la la la la la

Back Together

Put the car in reverse and come back to me.
Without you this house is a hearse without wheels.
You can’t work out which cringing, which cringing feels worse,
when I touch you like this,
on the place that it hurts,
on the place that it hurts,
on the place that it hurts,
on the place that it hurts,
on the place that it hurts.
Give me all that you have,
if you don�t I’ll steal it.
All the things that you’ve lost,
I can reel them in.
Now I’m falling apart every minute of every hour.
But you’re here, now put me back together again,
together again, together again.

When I don’t know where you are I feel lost.
You’re trail feels so warm,
but I’m covered in frost.
When I left in the morning she smelt so good.
The I whispered quite nicely, quite rightly
I can make you feel good
You can make me feel bad
I’ll never get you back
so you’ll never feel sad.

Give me all that you have,
if you don’t I will find it.
All the things that you’ve lost,
I can reel them in.
Now you’re falling apart every moment of every day.
You’re not here, don’t put me back together again, again, again, again, again.

Give me all that you have,
if you don’t I will steal it.
All the things that you’ve lost,
I can reel them in.
I’m falling apart every minute of every day.
But you’re here, now put me back together again, again, again.

I was Never Here

We were happy being stupid, happy being dumb,
Sad not being happy, happy having fun.
And the rain comes down and makes a fool out of us.
We wet our hair and murder the raindrops
Oh but we don’t hear it coming, we don’t hear it coming
La la la, la la la la, la la la la , la la la.
La la la, la la la la, la la la la , la la la.

I won’t say goodbye, because I was never here.
And I won’t say hello, because it wouldn’t be true.
And if I told you that the sky was green today,
lying upside down looking at the grass,
would you believe me, would you understand why I told you what I did?
Would you understand me or just put me down as another fool?
Or just put me down as another fool?

and you can’t say goodbye because I am always here.
and you can’t say you love me because it wouldn’t be true.
And the rain comes down and makes a fool out of us.
We wet our lips and murder the raindrops.
Oh but we don’t hear it coming, we don’t hear it coming
But the cats and the birds do, so what does that say about us?

I I I was never here, never here, never here.
I I I was never here, never here, never here.
I I I was never here, was never here, never here.
I I I I I I  was never here.

First Man on the Sun

It was the night before when I knocked on your door,
had the buttons of your dress in my eye.
Three o’clock in the morning when my mind is dawning,
and I remember what I’ve done and I cry.
You make me feel like a man
Who can’t see that his time has come
You’re so pretty, I’m so dumb.
I�m the first man on the sun

Stuck a fork in my leg trying to remember your name,
hid my trousers as they slowly bled.
Caught my brain in my zip, let my intelligence slip
as I failed to get you into my bed.

Can’t me feel like a woman
Who can’t see that her time has come
You’re so pretty, you’re so dumb.
I’m the first man on the sun
I’m the first man on the sun.
I’m the first man on the sun.
I’m the first man, I’m the first man, I’m the first man on the sun.

It was the night before when I knocked on your door,
put your fingers to my head and went bang.
Let her hands down my trousers and pulled out my tongue.
She was lucky to get life and not hanged.

You make me feel like a man
who can’t see that her time has come
You’re so loveable, I�m a thug.
I’m the first man on the sun
I’m the first man on the sun.
I’m the first man on the sun.
I’m the first man, I’m the first man, I’m the first man on the sun.

You will Always Love Me

It’s so wide, it’s so tall,
I’m a ghost coming through your wall.
You will always be mine.
You will always love me.
You will always be mine.
You will never be free.

Little birds between my ears,
take away your brain,
drop it through my empty eyes
Please come back again

You will always be here. (Please come back again)
You won’t go away. (Please come back again)
I will always love you. (Come back again)
You will never be free.

You will always be young,
I will always be old.
As the sun winds me on,
Your body grows cold

You will always be mine.
You will always love me.
You will always be mine.
You will never be free.

Mmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmM

You will always be mine.
You will always love me.
You will always be mine.
You will never be free.

It’s so wide, it’s so tall
I’m a ghost coming through your wall

You will always be mine.
You will always love me.
I will always be here.
You will never be lonely.

The Life

I got this no good, dead wood, mother-fucking itch and I am going to Hell.
They got this small pen, fat pig two foot-by-one and it’s beginning to smell.
I got this lowbrow, white trash, smoke in my tongue and I’m being kissed like a kid.
They got this hi-fi, big sound bleeding my ears and I can’t get rid.
I got the life I never thought that I’d be born with.
But now I’m itching for you to scratch me.
Like all the records that your needle has worn,
(Like all the records that your needle has worn.)

I got a six-pack, big shit, low down kid who cut a right-wing song.
He took a mike in his hand like a prick on a rope and waited there to be swung.
They got this big light, white-washed spot on his tan and watched it burning his skin.
And then the hi-fi white trash smoking my ears got his face kicked in.

I got this life I never thought that I’d be born with.
But now I’m itching for you to scratch me.
Like all the records that your needle has worn,
(Like all the records that your needle has worn.)

With this screen round my face covered in light I will never go blind.
I got this cable satellite nibbling my eyes but I can switch off my mind.
I got this lowbrow, white trash licking my skull and it feels so good.
It�s got this big pull, half-full little buzz that I misunderstood.

I got this life I never thought that I’d be born with.
But now I’m itching for you to scratch me.
Like all the needles that your records have worn,
Like all the needles that your records have worn,
Like all the needles that your records have worn,
Like all the needles, like all the needles, like all the needle that your records have worn.

All Men are Evil

If all men are evil and all the girls are good,
there are bad men in the dead trees and a girl in the wood.
All the little children when you catch him,
open up his soul.
Drop a going back to the womb pill,
and cover up the hole.
And when the sun comes up and I can’t get a tan,
Oh yeah, I’m happy now.
And when the sun comes up and I can’t get a tan,
Oh yeah, I’m happy now.

Take out the big shovel and wade it through the earth.
This man is so old with evil,
he should have been put down at birth.
But the people can’t decide whether to laugh or cry
I say hang him on the TV, don’t give a flying fuck.
This man deserves to die.

And when the sun comes up and I can’t get a tan,
Oh yeah, I’m happy now.
And when the sun comes up and I can’t get a tan,
Oh yeah, I’m happy now.

And when the sun comes up and I can’t get a tan,
Oh yeah, I’m happy now.
And when the sun comes up and I can’t get a tan,
Oh yeah, I’m happy now.
And when the sun comes up and I can’t get a tan,
Oh yeah I’m happy, oh yeah I’m happy, oh yeah I’m happy now.

If all men are evil then all girls are good.
There’s bad language in the trees
Something dirty in the wood.
All the little children when you catch him,
open up his soul.
Drop a �going back to the womb pill’,
and cover up the hole.

And the sun comes up and I can’t get a tan,
Oh yeah, I’m happy now.
And the sun comes up and I can’t get a tan,
Oh yeah, I’m happy now.
And the sun comes up and I can’t get a tan,
Oh yeah, I’m happy now.
And the sun comes up and I can’t get a tan,
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, I’m happy now.

Take Me Back

I found you on the wrong side, little cuts and bruises underneath your chin.
You meant them to bury you before your life sets in.
She sees me in the garden pulling petals off the flowers.
She closes all the windows, shuts down on the bed and shivers.

Take her back in time to the place before it happened, before it happened.
Take me back in time to the place where it happened, where it happened.

He scratched your eyes, your pretty eyes, with a handful of rusty nails.
And then he pushed you into a ditch, the slugs and the snails.

I’m so angry she’s not angry every second of every hour.
She shuts the door and slides the latch in, tries to wash him up in the shower.

Take her back in time to the place before it happened, before it happened.
Take me back to the roadside where it happened, before it happened, where it happened, where it happened, where it happened.

You lay there for three days, your heart held in his knuckles.
He tried to pull out your hair, rip the scarf with his buckle.

Look at you now (look at you now)
You’re like no girl I know.
I would have stopped him (he would have stopped me)
I would have stopped him (he would have stopped me)
Dead, dead, dead.
Dead, dead, dead.
Dead, dead, dead.
Dead, dead, dead.
Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead.

It’s not Funny Anymore

There’s a house in your head and the lights, they are on.
They shine through your eyes, through your mouth, on your tongue.
There’s a house in my head but the lights, they�re not on.
They went out one by one in your heart, in your lungs.
It’s not funny anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore.

Place out heads side to side, knock a hole through the walls,
Push your tongue through my ears and nail me, nail me to the floor.
Leave me there inside the house, flush the keys, slam the door.
Then you scream through the keyhole: It’s not funny anymore.

It’s not funny anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore.

There’s a car on the road and it drives like a dream.
See your lights in my eyes as my tears stream.
Tear the brakes from the floor, drop your toes on the gas.
I’ll stand here like a wall that you made from sugar glass.

It’s not funny anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore. Anymore, anymore, anymore, anymore.

There’s Something Going On

There’s something, there’s something going on.
There’s something going on, going on, going on.
There’s something going on.
There’s something going on.
There’s something going on.
There’s something going on.
But I can’t fight it, I can’t find it.
But I can’t fight it.
But I can’t fight it.

There’s something going on.
There’s something going on.
There’s something going on.
There’s something going on.

But I can’t fight it, (I can’t fight it.)
But I can’t fight it. (but I can’t fight it.)
But I can’t fight it. (but I can’t fight it.)
Without you.