SUBURBAN DREAM

Strolling through the plaza in the coal twilight, Sucking on a synthi shake. Hidden in the ambient, florescent night, High school boys are on the make.

Muscle cars are floating down the treeless streets, Blaring heavy-metal radio, Slimy Burger chateaux everywhere I turn, Basking in a neon glow.

Faraway the CN Tower silhouette Flashing through the downtown haze, Thinking 'bout pollution puts me in a sweat, The price the city-dweller pays!

Suburban Dream -- You won't get mugged. Suburban Dream -- No cockroach bugs. Suburban Dream -- It's really true Suburban Dream -- Everybody's like you!

The Smiths have bought a swimming pool for twenty grand, The Jones' eldest son has caught the flu, Cindy, in a search for love got pregnant and Her parents are discussing what to do.

Talking 'bout the weather to the guy next door, Hanging out in modern bars, Hockey Night in Canada is such a bore Since the old man bought a brand new car.

Who needs the city's rotting culture, rising crime? Here the air is squeaky clean, Television living takes up all my tine, Making the suburban dream.

Suburban Dream -- It's really nice. Suburban Dream -- Take ay advice. Suburban Dream -- The only way. Suburban Dream -- C'mon over today.

M. Gane

LUNA PARK

Luna Park -- this is the future. Luna Park -- vision of beauty. Outside -- life was a problem. Inside -- we have potential:

Animals are trained to do things. Baby-hatching apparatus. Naughty midgets do it for you. Flying machines... Life in Venice simulated, Being the moon it's always changing!.

Where the waste was now a thousand towers rise like fire. At the junction of the centuries, Luna Park is born.

If you're lonely don't worry. We have ways to solve this problem. Nowhere else on earth as modern Lights alone are worth a fortune.

Luna Park - tell the people what to be. Luna Park - having fun is being free. You are -- flirting with boredom. We feel -- something is lacking.

Functionless except to overstimulate the mind. At the junction of the centuries, Luna Park is born.

M. Gane

WAS EZO

Long this journey, very far away White the night, foggy day Over the frozen ground Gloaming light, not a sound Left behind comfort and family To find this land, across the sea We are the lost and found The malcontents, the emmigrants

Drawn by a call deep within To build on a dream, to imagine Vista that seem to never end Valley and river bend Mountain glen This island home.

Hokkaido Was Ezo Hokkaido Was Ezo

Wintertime the way is soft and deep Stay inside, eat and sleep Mochi gashi, sugar beet and tea Fish and coal, timber tree Springtime kouroshio waters run Plant the rice, wait for sun Children sing the baby salmon song Don't get lost, or hit the rocks

Drawn by a call deep within To build on a dream, to imagine Vista that seem to never end Valley and river bend Mountain glen This island home.

Hokkaido Was Ezo Hokkaido WasEzo

M. Ladly

TEDDY THE DINK

Got a job in a bank sittin' at a desk, Smirkin' at him all the intellects go by, "Little bank boy on the make", they laugh, Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Can't they see? He'll never be what they wanted hie to be.

Week nights home alone bachelor pad, Tryin' to make the station break on T.V., Strappin' dudes in Jockey shorts with six-foot frames, Tryin' to sell him cologne at a new low price. Can't they see? He'll never be what they wanted him to be.

He's Teddy the Dink Livin' on the brink, Money in his pocket, He'll buy you a drink. He's got his little woman, But she cannot see, He'll never be what she wanted him to be. Teddy the Dink.

Headin' out on Friday night to dance a while, Wearin' spiff shoes and a leisure suit, Tryin' to get the courage to ask this chick to dance, She sees he's on the make and looks the other way. Can't she see? He'll never be what she wanted him to be.

M. Gane B. Harvey

SYMPTOMATIC LOVE

Move -- I can't move Talk -- I can't talk Poise -- No poise I've got -- Love shock

One sight of you, not a thing I can do No charm, no grace, I fall flat on my face I wish you'd look this way, then what would I say My mind would freeze, I feel weak in the knees

Pound - Heart pound Straight -- Think straight Breathe -- I can't breathe Wait -- I can't wait

Head spinning round, can't touch the ground I've got no explanation for this sudden elation Ask me anything I'll consent, it's so adolescent What is happening to me -- Is this love? Can't be!

Is this the way that love is supposed to be? I can't seem to catch my breath, this isn't me The more that I try to hide it, it dominates me!

Hold -- Take hold Hot -- Hot and cold Grip - I can't grip Cause down -- I slip

I didn't mean to do it But I've fallen in love with you I tried to show resistance and I tried to keep my distance from you

Symptomatic Love -- Hope it's not the same

I wasn't looking for romance But I didn't really have a chance with you I made an effort to avoid it In the past my heart's been toyed with, now there's you

Symptomatic Love -- Here I go again

It's just a habit I can't break it Though I've tried and tried to shake it, just won't do Sometimes the price of love is much too steep I can't stop now I'm in too deep with you

Symptomatic Love - Hope it's not the same Symptomatic Love - Cause here I go again

M. Johnson A. Haas

PRIMAL WEEKEND

Sally was a painter and a victim of our age, Put faith in health-food living and a certain Buddhist sage, Who told her that to see the light her ego had to go, The conflict was too great for her -- the strain began to show, Her mind was in a quandary -- she was slowly going mad, She even threw the I Ching but it always turned out bad.

What to do? What to think? Not a clue.

Then she saw an item on Eye Witness Evening News, Threw away her Valium and her 222's too, "Therapy's the answer." said the television voice, "Returning to the womb is your safest choice."

Her mind is reeling backwards through a primal scream, Lukewarm water baths and all her childhood dreams,

A -- E -- I -- 0 -- U and sometimes Y A -- E -- I -- 0 -- U and sometimes Y. Primal Weekend. Primal Weekend. It's a Primal Weekend.

It's all right. It's 0.K., It's all right. Put the hose away.

M. Gane M. Ladly A. Haas

HALFWAY THROUGH THE WEEK

Baked-bean eyes in a head of skin, Rumours fly as to where he's been, Rolling over like a dying whale, He blows his load like a sudden gale.

He moves so well that you hope he stays, But he leaves you empty as the darkness plays A game of shadows on your sleeping face, Outside the snow is falling all around his place.

Exhausting trials of endless speculation Conjours up a new line of permutations. Cancerous musings help complete the picture, I'll die from thinking, surely not from smoking, To fill my lungs would be a stricture, But my mind has no limits -- I wish I was joking.

He's elegant -- in a stupid kind of way. Never speaks -- he has nothing to say. Calls you 'kid' -- on Monday. Is your lover by Tuesday, Bangs another on Wednesday, And he's only halfway through the week.

Where does that Where does that leave Where does that leave you?

M. Gane

AM I ON?

Action -- Am I on? -- You're never off!

This side for my profile I need more powder on my face The lighting's much too harsh in here Now are you sure my hair's in place The colours aren't quite right Well pull the shades down just a touch Do you think my dress is daring Now are you sure it's not too much

She lives in a world of cameras and lights Not even aware, they're not really there

Action -- Am I on? -- You're never off!

I really have to take five To get into the mood Please tell the cast to shape up Now are you sure that's understood Don't disturb my concentration The right emotion I must grasp I feel I'm on the edge of it Let's do the scene now while it lasts

Refuses to see the truth in her life A now faded star is all that you are

Am I On?

Action -- Am I on? -- You're never off!

Now I'm feeling so exhausted But to the pressure don't succumb My schedule's so demanding What's that annoying endless hum? Suppress this wave of panic That is seeping to my brain Control it so they can't see That I'm going quite insane

She never gave thought to what lay ahead But time has revealed, what can't be concealed

Am I On?

Action -- Am I on? -- You're never off?

M. Johnson

ABOUT INSOMNIA

Waiting for the dawn for a dream, A chance to lie down That confused imitation of life Eludes me now.

All routes of resistance impaired by your face Oh fugitive hope will I see you today?

In a tunnel, on a bridge or a viaduct We'll meet just by chance. And in a moment or maybe just an hour or so Renew our romance.

And if the charms of foreign places call For changing tableaux We will auction all our paintings And our furniture And take to the road ... Do you suppose?

The patterns on the wall never change but shadows grow long Vous n'assassinez de la realite' C'est malheuresement.

As daylight disperses the spectres of night My nocturnal musings don wings And take flight

M. Gane M. Ladly

BE BLASE

I was someone who Put a lot of faith In what I saw and what I heard. There were persons who Said they were my frieds And I took them at their word.

I was fooled and I was tricked and These friends were hand-picked so What can you do? What can you say? Only thing to do is Be blase'.

No one's happy in the modern world, Jean-Paul Sartre told us that. Despite the loads of rhetoric, He was talking through his hat. There's an exit, There's a throughway, Here's the word it's Be blase.

Riding on the streetcar, Not going very far, Someone pats me on the head, Someone who I thought was dead. Says: "It's time to go to bed." This is what I said: "You were thirty when I was three, What the hell do you want with me?"

The only way to spare yourself The angst of the modern world, A look of nonchalance, Sunglasses de rigeur, Evasive policy. Be blase'.

M. Gane

TRANCE AND DANCE

Abandon all your cares and woes And come with us to a place we know Just close your eyes and let your body sway Hypnotic rhythm takes you far away

Trance, trance and dance

Don't resist, just let it flow And a calm inside will start to grow Time stands still and a darkness falls No future, no past, now serenity calls

On and on incantations drone Echoing still, that eerie tone You are not aware of your body or mind But this trance and dance you must leave behind But this trance and dance you must leave behind

M. Johnson

Carl Finkle Bass
Mark Gane Guitar, Vocals, Synthetics
Tim Gane Drums, percussion
Andy Haas Sax
Martha Johnson Vocals, Keyboards
Martha Ladly Vocals, Keyboards, Trombone
David Millar Live sound

Produced by Mike Howlett Engineered by Richard Manwaring Tape op. -- Howard Gray

Recorded and mixed at The Manor, July 1980 'About Insomnia' recorded at The Townhouse

All songs CAPAC except 'Primal Weekend' and 'Symptomatic Love' CAPAC/ASCAP

Cover concept Martha and the Muffins Cover paintings Martha Ladly Art Direction Peter Saville