Incontinent
I’m incontinent I soil the sheets my heartbeat is growing weak
I even find it hard to speak as my urine from me leaks
I strap on my colostomy bag I’m feeling like an old rag
I stagger slowly slow and meek death for me would be a release
My mind is like a leaking sieve my memories I can’t relive
I walk a hundred miles in pain I stagger disconsolate and lame
So my death I cannot wait it’s an event I’ll celebrate
My funeral it seems to me is an event to set me free
Bleeding Hands Of Jesus
Bleeding hands of Jesus crucified for me
Hands that suffered torment pain and agony
Pierced by my transgressions there on Calvary
Hands that suffered torment pain and agony
Bleeding hands of Jesus crucified for me
By his blood I’m ransomed and from sin set free
Bleed over me
Scars
She’ll sing you a song a bird in a cage
Do you want one that’s tender do you want one with rage
After you’ve listened throw her away
Now forgotten once all the rage
She sits in her crumbling dressing-room
With nothing but her age lines to groom
Remember her name she was a star
If you ask her politely she’ll show you her scars
You read on her tomb she sang that old tune
The one where the boy and the girls love it is doomed
Remember the song it didn’t last long
Her voice it was weak the tune it was st
Bleeding
Jesus he is bleeding bleeding holy wine
All the thieves and vagabonds drink him in a line
Jesus he is screaming Jesus is alone
Then all the thieves and vagabonds are drunk and going home
Jesus asks his father hast though forsaken me
The thieves and vagabonds say the drinks are all on me
Jesus he is bleeding holy wine waiting for his father to give him a sign
Jesus he is bleeding bleeding all the time
Jesus he is bleeding Jesus all the time
Fairground
Lost my heart in the fairground the sad clown tries to smile
How quickly goes our innocence how swiftly we’re defiled
Lost my heart in the fairground when I saw the cheapest rides
We’re the ones the crowds queue for the sad clown stands aside
The vulgar neon prostitutes they always win the day
How swiftly our innocence is swept away
Lost my heart in the fairground when I saw that it was crap
Well marketed and packaged that keeps them coming back
How quickly we do swallow the bitterest of pills
The neon whores and sycophants who peddle cheaper thrills
How quickly fairground barkers learn to shout
The quick and easy buck is what it’s all about
Lost my heart in the fairground the sad clown tries to smile
How quickly goes our innocence how swiftly we’re defiled
Thieves
I see they crucified you up upon the cross
Life was hard you became thieves and now your lives you’ve lost
To die in torment pain and agony with that Jesus Christ of Galilee
So now you’re going down to an even worse place
To burn for eternity you didn’t get the breaks
To die in torment pain and agony with that Jesus Christ of Galilee
Graveside
Underneath these stones bleached and rotting bones and the girl I loved the best
Maggots do their work there beneath the earth loved her more than all the rest
Tears begin to fall every time I call there beside her graveside
Love it never lasts everything must pass everything that’s good does die
Mists are coming down memories resound winter nights’ chill does fall
As maggots gnaw her bones I make my way home it’s better not to love at all
Mary Magdalena
Mary Magdalena she has been around every centurion where money can be found
She has known greed she has known vice she had that Jesus Christ
Mary had those fisherman disciples every one and the thieves who died with him in the setting sun
Mary’s had centurions hundreds she enticed and she had that Jesus Christ
In the holy temple the high priest he gave thanks and the moneylenders those two she would yank
She has known greed she has known vice and she had that Jesus Christ
Strawberry Jam
Well you always were one of life’s sensitive souls
The needle on you soon got a hold
Your life became a shallow sham
You didn’t turn into strawberry jam
You jumped out the window you’d had enough
Life became just a little too rough
But your suicide didn’t quite go to plan you didn’t quite turn into strawberry jam
Pushed up your spine entered your brain your friends said you’re not quite the same
But your suicide didn’t quite go to plan you didn’t quite turn into strawberry jam
You’re still on the drugs and you’re still on the score
You’re stupid when you’re off them and on them you’re a bore
But your suicide didn’t quite go to plan you didn’t quite turn into strawberry jam
Lost your memory now people think you’re thick you’re limping around on your walking stick
But your suicide didn’t quite go to plan you didn’t quite turn into strawberry jam
Satan
Satan he is bleeding through both his hands and eyes and God in heaven’s laughing at Satan his demise
So Satan he is falling from the heavenly sky and God he laughs at Satan as Satan he does cry
The angels will not help you they’ve all gone to pray for their fallen brother now he’s cast away
Meat
You are just meat to be consumed thought it would last now you are doomed
They’ll eat you up throw you away you’d better get ready that’s their way
You are just meat no value at all in the depths you will trawl
You devalue everything you cheapen the world when you sing
You are just meat in a gold lame dress your sweetness and smiles fail to impress
You challenge nothing no convention defile just sell the product and smile
You are just meat to be consumed
Purgatory
In purgatory it’s colder than your every vice your every evil paralysed there within the ice
And after it has gripped you for a thousand years you’ll get into heaven have no fear
In caves of ice naked you will dwell each movement an agony to tell
And after it has gripped you for a thousand years you’ll get into heaven have no fear
Your mind in this agony will be gripped till every vice from your body is ripped
And after it has gripped you for a thousand years you’ll get into heaven have no fear
Be for ever grateful in purgatory you dwell for one day you’ll be released in heaven you will dwell
And after it has gripped you for a thousand years you’ll get into heaven have no fear
Neon
He’s fucked me up the arse he’s pulled out every trick his body smells of sweat he salivates and licks
Another one night stand another rancid dick another cheap pickup I’m feeling rather sick
So then the morning comes I mumble a goodbye repulsion overwhelms me I smile at him and lie
So I stagger out of his front door I make it to the street and vomit on the floor
So then I make it home and for a while pretend that I will not repeat the cycle’s reached an end
So the cycle spins the pleasure and the pain and as the night returns the neon wins again
Judas
Judas he was framed that’s what Judas claims
If he had a dollar for each time he’s been defamed
By the Catholics who him blamed
History it’s been so unkind ok he grassed up Jesus Christ
But he wasn’t a swine
If you’ve never done nothing which you regret you’d be lying I bet
In my Hearse
So now I’m just skin and bone lying in my hearse
The pallbearers are ready to put me in the earth
The mourners are all standing looking at my grave
The adults looking serious the small ones misbehave
Some of them are crying some are looking glum
Some can’t wait to get away and go and have some fun
The priest has seen it all before he really is a dear
He’s buried several hundred yet still he sounds sincere
Mourn
I’ve seen the meadows and the rain I’ve seen the laughter and the pain
I’ve seen you smile I’ve seen you blue I’ll mourn for you
I’ve seen the gravestone and the hearse seen your coffin in the earth
I stood and wondered what to do I’ll mourn for you
I saw disease eat you away now all I can do is pray
I’ve seen the fear the fear in you I’ll mourn for you
Green Hill
There is a green hill far away without a city wall
Where our dear Lord was crucified he died to save us all
We do know we cannot tell what pains he had to bear
But we do know it was for us he died and suffered there
Die Weberischen
So slowly you do slide so slowly lose your pride
Another year has gone by it’s too late now to dry
Your kidneys and your liver are waiting for the end
A lucid moment here and there between which you pretend
So slowly you do slide it’s gone far too far you’re going to die
So slowly you do slide so slowly lose your pride
Another quart of whiskey and surely you will die
We like songs about Death, and we like songs about Christanity, so logically we HAD to make this album. Recorded in Hamburg in 2001 and with guest musicians who played on The Sea and with Tom Waits and Lou Reed, this cd has many odd, exotic intruments such as pump organs, celestes and whistles among others. 18 songs of religion and mortality on one album, our 15th studio album finds us walking hand in hand with Death and Jesus.
Review by David McComb of Bizare Magazine
Recorded around the same time as their moody epic The Sea, Death And The Bible is a world away from the gleeful perversity and kinky stompers of the Lillies’ last album Punch & Judy, instead finding the twisted trio in a more sombre and reflective mood.
As the title suggests, Death... focuses on the band’s favourite themes of decline and religion, from the tragic subject of Incontinent who wishes for death to escape the body that is rebelling against him, to Mary Magdalena who shagged Roman centurions, fishermen, thieves and even "had that Jesus Christ".
While the record isn’t nearly as much fun as Punch… or the Lillies’early albums, Death… nonetheless creates a dark, melancholy atmosphere and beautifully captures the mood of seeing the band play live (without the inflatable sheep, pig masks or greasepaint, of course).
Credits:
Recorded at O Ton Studio Hamburg December 2001
Engineered by Stephan Wulff
Mixed at Wolf Studio London January 2002 by Dominique Brethes
All Songs Written by Martyn Jaques except
“Bleeding Hands Of Jesus” and “Green Hill” ( Traditional )
Published: Misery Guts Music
Tiger Lillies:
Adrian Huge: Toys and Percussion Instruments
Martyn Jaques: Vocals / Stringed and Keyboard Instruments
Adrian Stout: Double Bass / Stringed Instruments and Saw
Guests:
H. J. Brandenburg: Keyboard Instruments
Heinrich Dagefoer: Stringed Instruments
Frank Wulff: Stringed and Wind Instruments
Photography & Design bLUE ( www.b7UE.com )
