Strong Measures
Musical Renditions From This Set:
• Smoke Plumes (Click for Audio)
Personnel:
Composition/MIDI/Arrangement/Production: Mark Knight
Lyrics: M. Centra /Steve McAndrew *
Composition/Vox: Steve McAndrew
Drums: John Wooten
Acoustic Guitar: Schenkerguy
Electric Bass Guitar - Schenkerguy
Electric Guitar: mlc
Electric Wah Guitar: SimonH1
* slightly altered lyrics
• Scorners of the Grave (Click for Audio)
Personnel:
Juhani Nakala: All music and instruments except *
M. Centra: Lyrics *
John van den Oetelaar: Lead and background vocals and *sologuitar.
Steve McAndrew: Background vocals
* slightly altered lyrics
WAR-TORN LOVE LIFE
Another night of planning
The perfect diplomatic stance
Fine-tuning the best approach
To give democracy a chance
Another tough press conference
Another talk with heads of state
Another late night meeting
Another truce to cultivate
So many questions from the press
So much ground you need to cover
I imagine you've rarely had
The chance to take a lover
pre-chorus:
And you're overwhelmed with honors
For "securing peace in our time"
But your record when it comes to love
Is as dark as any war crime
Dark as any war crime
chorus:
Lost in a thousand yard stare
Never to be a wife
Choking on the smoke plumed air
Of a war-torn love life
Quick flight into Moscow
For the latest round of talks
High drama at the summit
When the Afgan delegate walks
Another long press conference
Then it's off to catch a flight
Debriefed on the plane ride
To arrive in the dead of night
So many conflicts to diffuse
So many embassies to phone
All these envoys bidding for time
Make you hard to catch alone
(pre-chorus)
(chorus)
News flash from the Balkans
Of the violently oppressed
Quick close to the Q & A
Another point left unaddressed
Another rough draft to review
Another statement to refine
One more point to clarify
But you're always pressed for time
So many fires to put out
Can really push a person's sanity
Overrun and slice you up
Like some two-bit principality
(pre-chorus)
(chorus)
WORLD WIDE SCALE
Changes must be made
On a world wide scale
Consequences weighed
On a world wide scale
Justice must be measured out
On a world wide scale
Understanding brought about
On a world wide scale
As displaced populations mount
And diplomatic options fail
chorus 1:
All the hopes our plans betray
And still we call for votes
All the lives our efforts save
While at each others throats...
On a world wide scale...
Tempers must be cooled
On a world wide scale
All resources pooled
On a world wide scale
Measures must be carried out
On a world wide scale
Understanding brought about
On a world wide scale
As bad blood boosts the body count
And diplomatic pressures fail
chorus 2:
All the problems we ignore
And still we want to solve
All the thoughts that we condemn
While screaming to evolve...
On a world wide scale...
Power must be shared
On a world wide scale
Unity declared
On a world wide scale
Progress - we must tabulate -
On a world wide scale
Happiness - re-calibrate -
On a world wide scale
As heart rate readings elevate
And diplomatic measures fail
(chorus 1 + 2)
Changes must be made
On a world wide scale
Paradise surveyed
On a world wide scale...
Hate and hunger ended
Life and limb defended
On a world wide scale...
SMOKE PLUMES
On a high flying wagon train
Feel the sun through the window pane
Ran them black hats clear out of town
Hired a posse and gunned them all down
So let 'em raise a big dust cloud
You did good and your Mama's proud
No telling what the truth will find
But you're sky-high now with an open mind
chorus (X2):
And it's funny how the views can change
Thirty-thousand feet up and way down range
Are those smoke plumes in the air?
Or a line of clouds in the predawn glare?
Not sure what you really did
'Til historians lift the lid
Will a new world war dance cut it?
Open Pandora's box or shut it?
Is the world now a better place?
Did it just fall flat on its face?
No telling what you left behind
But you're sky-high now with an open mind
(chorus)
Why does Time always grant us sight
Of what we did wrong and what we did right
When it's too late to change a thing?
When the swan has sung its song and taken to the wing?
How long can Wisdom survive
Unwanted: Dead or Alive?
A lone voice 'mid the home team cheers -
"I give you these for they have no ears"
Final toast on a midnight plane
In full stealth mode and free of blame
It all went like you said it would
Took on the press and you fooled 'em good
Heading home with a loaded chest
Oiled Stetson and a cowboy vest
You know, you really robbed 'em blind
But you're sky-high now with an open mind
(chorus)
THE WORLD IS GETTING AWAY
Sunlight threw suspicion on the moon
Then the stars were blamed
Someone pointed a finger at the gods
And the universe was framed
But the world, the world is getting away
But the world, the world is getting away
Oil implicated
In a world wide scheme
Everyone a victim
Of a hijacked dream
Zombies we circle the block
Like hands on the face of a clock
Life's a tattered suit
That just don't fit
We slowly waste away
Growing into it
Shoppers just doing time
In life's frozen check-out line
chorus:
The world is getting away
From the scene of the crime
And leaving shards of evidence
In shattered lives behind
The world is getting away
Giving all of us the slip
Like an omen to a clueless crew
Abandoned by the ship
Poisonous cloud
Building in the air
Handy-man planet
In need of repair
World full of carbon emission
Less than in live-in condition
Demographic born
To sweat and slave
Busy being mommy's
Little live-in maid
"Daddy said pick up the slack
And finish before we get back"
(chorus)
On the sea of extinction
Where wind and tide begin to shift
Under sky as thin as ice
Another species set adrift
FUCK THE WORLD
What if there were no rivals to face?
No worldly threats or wars to be won?
What if there were no calls of distress?
Nor any need at all for a hero to come?
How would you pass your days?
Without such submissive praise?
Could you coolly co-exist?
Or would you resist and...
chorus 1:
Fuck the world
Fuck humanity
Anything to prove
Your masculinity
Fuck the world
Got to show them you're brave
Need a nemesis to fight
And a damsel to save
Even if it's digging your own grave
What if there were no cries for justice?
No discontents or crime to control?
What if there were no spies to suspect?
Nor any need at all for a border patrol?
How would you ever breathe?
At which nothing you could seethe?
Would you shrivel up and die?
Or shout at the sky and...
chorus 2:
Fuck the world
Fuck civility
Anything to shield
Such vulnerability
Fuck the world
Got to always play rough
Need an enemy to hate
And to always look tough
Even if inside you've had enough
Customized crisis, over-blown urgency
Yet another emergency made for you…
Dog whistle whisper, raw animosity...
Any slur or atrocity will do...
Fuck the world
(chorus 1 + 2)
SUBSCRIPTION
didn't order all the pain and the fear
didn't order a single shedded tear
i have yet to see a victim-less day
on this planet we call civilized
didn't order all the scandals and schemes
rogue principalities and two-bit regimes
daily doses of the bloodiest scenes
we've prerecorded and televised
pre-chorus 1:
didn't order a peace treaty signed
when a hand shake should have sufficed
didn't order the prospects for peace
so extravagantly over-priced
pre-chorus 2:
didn't order the cameras to close in
when countless could have been saved
didn't order the heroes to hang back
when waters could have been braved
chorus:
cancel my subscription -
it's a world of contradiction*
this was not your ads description
i ordered paradise!
cancel my subscription to this life
cancel my subscription to this...
didn't order all the terrorist cults
lives led astray and the fatal results
children caught up in the crimes of adults
brainwashed to pray and praise suicide
didn't order all the racist dot coms
psychotics tinkering with homemade pipe bombs
lone assassins quoting scripture and psalms
to prove their actions were justified
(pre-chorus 1+2)
(chorus)
the tension only breaks
when a dream within awakes
and the human spirit takes
a new form
irrationality
floats like so much loose debris
carried clear across the sea
in a storm
in a storm
didn't order all the bubble-gum pop
mass market divas and gangster hip-hop
updated versions of the same old crop
of vaudevillian song and dance routines
didn't order all the crime on tv
as entertainment for the citizenry
i'm not a lawyer so why should I be
so transfixed on countless courtroom scenes?
(pre-chorus 1+2)
(chorus)
*Line substitutes
First, second and third run-through of chorus:
1rst: It's a world of contradiction
2nd: It's a world of dereliction
3rd: It's a world of mass affliction
SCORNERS OF THE GRAVE
now, i've been in heavy weather
but this i just can't stand
it's amazing how you stay calm
with the bitter end at hand
take a look outside this window
the storm's not easing up
it's gonna blow right through your cornered life
and flip it like a cup
chorus:
at war with the world -
'cause they don't like the way it's made
so they're gonna kill us
and put our bodies on parade
would you reach across the table
and light my cigarette?
would you give us fifteen minutes?
would you care to make a bet?
be a friend and crack that window
i feel like i can't breathe
on second thought don't bother
who wants to hear them seethe?
(chorus 1)
chorus 2:
at war with the world -
more than our eyes refuse to meet
so they're gonna kill us
and drag our bodies through the street
do you think they'll lay us down
in a hazy sunlit glade?
do you think they'll hear our story
and the sacrifice we made?
i remember reading something
that always made me brave
"through words a man is never dead,
not even in the grave"
(chorus 1+2)
(repeat to fade)
at war with the world
(not even, not even in the grave)
at war with the world
(not even, not even in the grave)
at war with the world
(not even, not even in the grave)
WARLIKE WAY
be it Earth
or the realm of the gods
everyone, everywhere
is at odds
we hear the words the diplomats say
still we pound the drums in a warlike way
every inch
of the Earth, every spot
takes on the look
of a dark parking lot
we try to keep our demons at bay
still they manifest in a warlike way
chorus:
and so we come with loaded guns
to advertise our aims are true
and so we march with bayonets
to emphasize our point of view
no one wants to listen
no one wants to care...
crowded bar
contentious workplace
weapons quick to draw
fisticuffs to face
burning grudge like a bomb in play
shattering of lives in a warlike way
(chorus)
bridge:
we already got
a witches brew
and these amateur chefs
want to thicken the stew
for you and for me
and for all humanity
(chorus)
tag verse:
no one wants to listen
no one wants to care
until some lunatic fringe group
starts waving guns in the air
THE SHELTER OF SHADOW
verse 1:
i struggle out of the gate -
stumbling -
trip bombs leave dead bodies in my wake
a crescendo of alarms -
soldiers scramble for their arms -
and the race is on for the shoreline of the lake
verse 2:
at the first line of trees - a machine gun nest -
wishing my shadow was a cave I could crawl into
wishing my shadow was a grave I could fall into
verse 3:
behind, I hear the cries -
echoing -
ahead, a stretch of field with deadly crop
more escapees disappear
with each report I hear
the gunshots ring the air but I don't drop
verse 4:
i pass the open ditch and bags of lime -
wishing my shadow was a cave I could crawl into
wishing my shadow was a grave I could fall into
bridge:
i could fall
i could fall
i could fall into
i could fall
i could fall
i could fall into
verse 5:
i feel the open field
exploding -
claiming lives around me left and right -
attack dogs on the trail
as my lungs begin to fail
with freedom just beyond and within sight
verse 6:
at the murky waterline I fall wounded -
praying the shadow was a cave I could crawl into
praying the shadow was a grave I could fall into
wishing the puddle was a lake I could dive into...
DEAR LIFE
Seems such a shame to waste our lives
Disturbing the peace that they came with
Seems quite the art to fashion greed
A handy excuse to lay blame with
And so we ..
Swagger around like we own the setting sun
Fuel up our tanks for the grisly hit and run
Fabricate fights, double down on damage done
Pushing each other to the edge— until we're...
chorus:
Holding on for dear life
Trading threats to dear life
Shot down dead for dear life
Pushing each other to the edge
The edge of dear life
Seems hard enough to face Nature -
Such dangers we're forced to contend with -
But quite the strain to treat our tongues
As weapons we use to offend with
And so we...
Won't recognize the vocal and growing pleas
Leave unaddressed our vulnerabilities
Worsen a world with everyone ill-at-ease
Pushing each other to the edge— until we're...
(chorus)
bridge:
There's a danger in history repeating
Every quest to win growing ever self-defeating
And driving between us a new wedge
Pushing each other to the edge— until we're...
(chorus)
repeat to fade:
Pushing each other to the edge...
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