Babybird’s fourth album is mainly about the loss of innocence.

Released in September 2006 and reissued in February 2008 in Europe with three extra tracks.

Tracks:

1. Too Much
2. Dive
3. Snails
4. Old Skin
5. Little Things
6. 70
7. Lighter ‘N’ Spoon
8. Divorce Song
9. Shoutabout
10. Better Than Love
11a. Beautiful Place
11b. I’m Gone (untitled and unindexed)

12: Life*
13: Sing it Away*
14: Ringtone*
(* Bonus tracks only on European version)

15: Crewing Gum (Unreleased outtake) (more below)

Catalogue numbers:

UK: Chrysalis/Pinnacle Distribution: BBRCD010 (September 2006)
Germany: Pop Up Records (February 2008)

The mystery outtakes

Besides the three bonus tracks included on the German version of this album and the Lighter ‘N’ Spoon iTunes single, two other non-album track were made available. A different mix or working demo of Shoutabout was available as an ‘MSN exclusive download’, perhaps as a bonus track to an online single version of Too Much.

The other track - and one much more interesting - is called Chewing Gum and was completely unknown to me until it was mentioned on the official site. This was probably also available as a temporary exclusive download on some internet retailers. However, I do know that it’s a very beautiful song with a chorus that goes “Between My Ears There’s Nothing But Music and when I’m happy I use it“, and that an instrumental version turned up on the Death of the Neighbourhood album called The Town of Half Finished Buildings.

Hear both rare track here

Production history:

• In January 2005, Dave Taylor (Stephen’s manager) tells that there’s finally a start date for recording at February 1st – with hopes to have it all done by late March.
• Recordings for this “proper album” is financed by Chrysalis, who are still Stephen’s publishers.
• Circa March to May 2005, Stephen is “pumping up the demo-muscles” in a studio in Norfolk with Babybird members Luke Scott and Rob Gregory.
• By May 2005, Dave Taylor tells that it “sounds classic” – more in the vein of the older Babybird canon than latest solo album, Almost Cured of Sadness.
• After finishing in Norfolk, recordings continue for a while in Pisa, Italy.
• Pisa recordings finished by early June 2005.
• In August 2005, Stephen tells that “the new album is being mixed at a murderous pace, in high Wycombe…being hacked up, mutilated, and lovingly reassembled into a 10-12 track album”. As soon as the album is ready, the search for a record label begins – and follow it with gigs this year.
• December 2005: “we are in the midst of looking for a deal, with mostly good meetings, but with xmas upon us, companies tend to melt down into a mass of greatest hits and reissues, and lovely it all is too”
• March 2006: “hard work finding a label…might have to put it out ourselves…keep you posted.”
• June 2006: Rumours of a gig in Edinbourgh, the first since 2000.
• July 13: BBC 6 Music’s Giddeon Coe is the first to play a track from the album, Snails. The title, Nothing But Music Between the Ears, is also releaved along with release date in september.
• Sep 2006: Between My Ears There Is Nothing But Music hit the shops and is followed by a short tour in Britain.
• Dec 2007: First news of a ‘Continental version’ in early 2008 followed by a European tour in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
• Feb 2008: The album is released in Germany by Pop Up Records with three bonus tracks. No tour is realised, though some ‘local’ promotion is arranged.

Lyrics

Too much

When the world goes quiet
But the silence gets too loud
Like a needle stuck
On a bad song

If I had the power
I’d turn my ears off
Settle back and
Turn myself on

All this new stuff
Is way too much
I’m tired
And it’s enough
It’s too much

All this stuff
Is not enough
I’m wired
Into too much
Too much

All my life
I’ve had these these things
That i could never give up
Because they were in my blood

Now I wanna go back
To that little kid I was
Who had nothing else
But love

All this new stuff
Is way too much
I’m tired
And it’s enough
It’s too much

All this stuff
Is not enough
I’m wired
Into too much
Too much

All this stuff
Is not enough
I’m wired
Into too much
Too much

Too much…too fast…too young

Dive

It’s a beautiful radiation
The world’s bleeding on my tv screen
I don’t need to leave my armchair
Let it come to me

Slip it over like an electric blindfold
Now I see sunshine and a swimming pool
I don’t care if it’s empty
I’m diving in

Ride ride on it
Drive drive thru it
Dive dive in it…it’s shallow
Drink drink it
Love love it
Suck suck it…and swallow

I hit my head on the floor
Split my skull like a hammer
I don’t care that I feel bad
I’m still tuning in

There’s nothing hidden in the meaning
No little surprise
It’s all in the smile
Not behind my eyes

Ride ride on it
Drive drive thru it
Dive dive in it…it’s shallow
Drink drink it
Love love it
Suck suck it…and swallow

Crush heads on it
Blow holes thru it
Hide hide in it…it’s hollow
Get thrown off it
Get back on it
Don’t turn back…don’t follow

Snails

When you go away I’ll try to find someone else
But I’ll fail
I’ll fail
I’ll fail

And if you came back you’d hold my heart like a giant
Crushing snails
Crushing snails

Love don’t leave us
We couldn’t bare it again
Love come back here
We’ll treat you so much better this time

When love fails and i’m broken like a snail in my shell
In my shell
You hold me in your hand
Like a tiny grain of sand
And I’m happy
Here in hell

Love don’t leave us
We couldn’t bare it again
Love come back here
We’ll treat you so much better this time
Better this time

When you come back you’ll try to find what we had
But I’ll fail
I’ll fail
I’ll fail
And if you stay here you’ll hold my hand like jesus
Crushing nails
Crushing nails

Love don’t leave us
We couldn’t bare it again
Love come back here
We’ll treat you so much better this time
Better this time

Love don’t leave us
We couldn’t bare it again

Old skin

When I come in and I’m tired
And i’ve forgotten myself
It’s like I’m still wired
To the outside

And I put up walls a little each day
To give myself space
When everyday i’m losing sense
And I’m losing my taste

Then you change all that
Just by walking in
You take the knives out of my back
And peel away my old skin

When I come in from a long day
And the world won’t stop
And it won’t stop spinning
Til I get off

Try to find something
To hold myself up
When in everyway I losing strength
A little each day

Then you change all that
Just by walking in
You take the knives out of my back
Peel away my old skin

Then you change all that
Just by walking in

When it gets dark at four
And the day gives up
And feels like i’ve been dragged thru a graveyard

And I’m stuck here in this tiny box
With the lid nailed on
When everyday disappears
But they all feel long

Then you change all that
Just by walking in
You take the knives out of my back
Peel away my old skin

Then you change all that
Just by walking in

The little things

Here they come
The little things
Building up
To everything

Here she comes
My little love
Swimming round my blood

My little love … My love
All the little things … I love
My little love … My love
All the little things … I love

When she’s gone
My breathing stops
When she’s back
I breathe again

Here she is
My little spark
Lighting up
The dark

My little love … My love
All the little things … I love
My little love … My love
All the little things … I love

My love
My love
My love
My love

My little love … My love
All the little things … I love
My little love … My love
All the little things … I love

Lighter ‘n’ Spoon

Half-dead on the sofa
Curling up in cotton
Looking for some soft soap
On the TV

A little mary jane
To take away my brain
To make us feel like hippies
From the 60s

Lying here complaining
That nothing’s ever changing
Can’t get off my butt
To save my life

But there’s nothing we can do
With jesus on their side
The day that Bush and Cheney got back in

You’re the only thing I know
You’re the place I want to be
Lock me up inside your soul
And throw away the key
You’re my air on the moon
I’m the lighter you’re the spoon
If I ever let you go … It’ll be too soon

Half-alive on the sofa
Like a greedy little go’fer
Swallowing all the things
I know ain’t true

Up there on the screen
TV’s little jesus
I’d like to pull my eyes out
With a tweezers

We can’t get up and riot
Cos we’re all so damn tired
Think i’ll lie back down and read the bible

With jesus on their arms
Bring back vietnam
The day that Bush and Cheney got back in

You’re the only thing i know
You’re the place i want to be
Lock me up inside your soul
And throw away the key
You’re my air on the moon
I’m the lighter you’re the spoon
If i ever let you go … It’ll be too soon

Divorce Song

When the diamonds in your smile fall out
When the laughter in this house runs away
And the men come to take away the tv
And you find yourself changing the locks

And the light in my face
Can’t just be for me
Like the gun in your hand
Just can’t be for me

When the sticks and stones start to hurt
And we’re talking just to dig up dirt
With our minds running out in the street
When we’re stuck here to the house like concrete

And the light on my face
Just can’t be for me
And the knife in your hand
Just can’t be for me

Just can’t be for me
Just can’t be for me
Just can’t be for me
Just can’t be for me

Shoutabout

In the morning when the world’s up
And I can’t breathe for the people

My heart stops and my head hurts
And i can’t see my way

I take pills but they don’t help
They just kill time til home time

Half alive nine to five
Til i come home to you

You’re
That something … That someone … To sing about
That someone … That something … To shoutabout
That somewhere … That someplace … To smile about
That something … That one thing … To shoutabout
Shoutabout … Shoutabout … Shoutabout …
Shush shush shoutabout

In the evening with the world gone
And there’s no one around
A chair swings in the back yard
And I can’t hear sound

Yeah we do drink and it does help
It just kills time til work time
Half awake half past eight
Waiting here for you

It’s
That something … That one thing … To sing about
That someone … That something … To shoutabout
That somewhere … Thay someplace … To smile about
It’s that something … That one thing … To shoutabout
Shoutabout … Shoutabout … Shoutabout …
Shoutabout … Shoutabout
Shush shush shoutabout

Better than love

You make it wrong
To feel bad
You make it stupid
To feel sad

You give my heart
Superblood
Makes it better
Better than love

You make me feel … Better than jesus
You make me feel … Better than drugs
You make me feel … Better than anything
You make me feel … Better than love

You make it okay
To feel good
You’d made it alright
When you could

You give me more
Than anybody should
You gotta come back
Cos you’re better than love

You make me feel … Better than tv
You make me feel … Better than God
You make me feel … Better than everything
You make me feel … Feel feel feel feel

Better then love
Better then love

Me and you we got superpower
Like electric chairs in the shower
You make life fizzie back every hour
You make it better
Better than love

You make me feel … Better than anyone
You make me feel … Better than love
You make me feel … Better than jesus
You make me feel … Feel feel feel feel feel

You make me feel … Better than tv
You make me feel … Better than drink
You make me feel … Better than anything
You make me feel … Feel feel feel feel

Better than love

This Beautiful Place

If things get too much
And my thoughts too loud
And i can’t see the light
For the clouds
Then you come around
And you’re smiling
And there’s color again
In this beautiful place

This beautiful place
This beautiful place
This beautiful place
This beautiful place

Somewhere under this rainbow
Somewhere under this rainbow

Now the color’s back
In this beautiful place
We can float away
At a perfect pace
Leave ourselves behind
Leave no trace
Empty our heads
In this beautiful place

This beautiful place
This beautiful place
This beautiful place
This beautiful place

Somewhere under this rainbow
Somewhere under this rainbow

Life

It’s not so bad, this thing we have
It’s better than it was
When I feel down you come around screaming
“It’s better than it was”

(Chorus)
Life won’t love you half as much
Half as much as I love you
Love won’t love you for as long
For as long as I love you

Nothing is changed, love’s just been exchanged
For a house, a car, and a wife
Try to explain to the men that complain
That there’s nothing more to life

(Chorus)

Love and life don’t live don’t love like we would do
Life won’t love you half as much, half as much as I love you

(Chorus until end)

Love and life don’t breathe don’t live like we would do
Life don’t love you half as much, half as much as I love you

Sing It Away

If you’ve been knocked around, kicked down
And your life’s like a smile on a dead clown
Just wipe off the blood, pull out the plug
Then pick up the phone and call me right up

When you’re down and the day’s long
I’ll come around with your favourite song
Turn the speakers up, tell the world to fuck off
And scream along, sing along
Sing along, sing along, sing along, sing sing sing sing sing

(Chorus)
Sing it all, sing it all away
Sing, sing, sing, sing
Sing it all, sing it all away

When you’re up all night ‘cos the day’s gone
Life keeps you up like cheese
Slip off your mind like snakeskin and start to breathe
Life does you in and you lose your mind and you’re dead like a tramp in the trash
I’ll come around with some turpentine and slip on the radio gas
Soaks right in ’til your tired old skin ’til you’re happy again once more
Lying in the bath with the radio on, sing sing singing along

(Chorus until fade)

Ringtone

You make the world feel like home
You put your life on my phone
You’re like bubbles in my veins
The thing that keeps me sane

You’re the only, you’re the whole, you’re the one thing
That explodes all the lights when you sing
When the plane comes away from its wing
The world stops dead and we spin

(Chorus)
It’s the ring, it’s the king, it’s the real thing
That explodes all the windows when it sings
And this life can kick us in the shins
When the world stops dead
We begin

You’re the reason I could kill
Plus [?] a piece of something still
A little silence in a pill
I could swallow to make me well again

It’s the ring, it’s the king, it’s the real thing
That explodes all the windows when it sings
And this life can kick us in the shins
‘Cos it’s not got your pretty little ringtone
Ringtone ringtone ring!

(Repeat)

“I’m Gone”

Sometimes my heart stops
And I can’t see you through the teardrops
You hold me like a sister holds a brother
Just a little sad that you saved me
Without you, I’m nothing
I’m no one
But with you, I’m something
Someone
Somewhere

And when I look at you, time’s still and life’s long
Then you look at me, and I’m not there, I’m gone

Such a cruel knife that cuts away at life

Without you I’m nowhere
I’m gone
But with you, I’m somewhere
Somewhere
Nowhere
Just gone