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1.
2.
Susan disappeared on the way to the shops Stopped to smell the roses and they called the cops Now she'll never know how much that new dress cost I think she liked it better the way it was Mark was rich and powerful his life was charmed But after work he still stuck a needle in his arm He said 'I used to be a junior and now I'm the boss' I think he liked it better the way it was Don't you remember? Skies were bluer Ideas were newer Don't you remember? Tears were fewer Lies were truer Galileo told the truth and couldn't turn back Showed the angry mob that the world wasn't flat And he cried as they stretched his neck across that chopping block 'I think I liked it better the way it was' When Jesus was a child his home-life wasn't good All his Dad could talk about were nails and wood And he thought as he hung from that old wooden cross 'I think I liked it better the way it was' Don't you remember? Time was longer Wrong was wronger And don't you remember? We fixed things that were broken Sleeping dogs weren't woken It only takes one little dream to go up in smoke Before we slam the shutters closed and give up hope And we'll never get over that hurdle because We think we liked it better the way it was
3.
With a marker in my hand and mischief on my mind I'm just tagging my name all along the Frankston line As my hand moves quick across these walls this hoody hides my eyes Late night passengers they don't say shit we keep our heads down and ride Write it up We'll see who owns this train By tomorrow morning all those motherfuckers in their suits will know my name Write it up In royal blue this time Oh this carriage is a black cheque all I gotta do is sign On the Frankston line As we roll out of the city loop the letters loop below my fist Sometimes I fear that this tag here's the only proof that I exist I'm not looking for sympathy what's done is done what's past is past Switch carriages at Richmond get your tag up fast boy fast Write it up Text book angry man To the Dad who left the Mum who drank the magistrate hey this is who I am Write it up With the window down I'm flying If they take me down tonight I guess I'm going down for good this time On the Frankston line Richmond, South Yarra, Hawksburn and Toorak fly by Through Armadale, Malvern, Caulfield, Glenhuntly I ride Ormond, McKinnon, Bentleigh and Patterson Moorabbin, Highett, Cheltenham and onto Mentone And I'm almost home Parkdale to Mordialloc Aspi to Edithvale Through Chelsea, Bon Beach, Carrum, Seaford I leave my trail Then from Kananook to Frankston ditch the marker I'm almost free My rubber gloves go out the window now these pigs ain't got a thing on me Write it up Solid black and white I'm not going back to juvi man the boys in there they all just wanna fight Write it up Solid work tonight The only thing in this whole world that I could truly say was mine Is the Frankston line.
4.
Old aches New pains And everything old is new again This thought like a chandelier hangs in my brain Isn't it nice to know there's a beach down there? Somewhere Anywhere Isn't it nice to know there's a beach?
5.
When I was young my sister worked at Bunnings Saturday morning she put on her uniform She worked the BBQ Made sausages in bread For men as they shopped for their hardware needs and such Oh I remember well My sister worked at Bunnings When construction finished and they opened up the doors The local hardware store closed its doors forever SOme say that's sad but it's just the way it is Cos Change Everything changes The only thing that stays the same is how we hate to change The stage transforms and rearranges And we its weary players either don't keep up Won't keep up Leap ahead Or just pretend it doesn't really matter in the end Oh so long ago my sister worked at Bunnings There she saw the owner of that local hardware store HE put on their uniform Took orders from a young boy 'If you cannot beat them join them' This she swore he said
6.
Days explaining away the girls who ignore us 1948 and Port Phillip bay stretched out before us And when we fall we'll talk it all 'round sweet again And when they call we'll drag our sand-burnt feet again and after all we'll walk these tired streets again Til we meet again in the middle of the world Smiles a million miles wide- won't they adore us? Now I duck and survive stuck in the chorus Everyone and everything belongs to me Other folk hum along and it sings its quiet songs to me Dodging arrows and slings Feel the tug of its strings And I belong here Heaven knows I'll still be there With the boys I'll be waiting By the shore we'll be standing in the middle of the world Wading in the brine again Watching the girls and slowing down the time again Storing it up some same place in my mind again When we were living in the middle of the world Days explaining away the girls who ignore us
7.
He saw them every other weekend so he always tried to make the time count Though he couldn't wait to see them when he spoilt them he only thought of the amount He knew childhood was fleeting It's here then it's lost But the thought kept repeating just how much it cost him each time So he put it out of mind He wasn't naturally generous but he made up for it with self-discipline He had a way of being there without being there A way of listening without listening And though he told himself without them he was incomplete Every time he would shout them he kept the receipt for his tax So he could claim it all back Hand it to the accountant Please can you count it? Please can you count it? Something's wrong can you name it? One day I'll claim it all back He kissed the top of their heads as he dropped them off on their mother's street And as they raced into her arms He was ashamed that all he felt was relief He paid someone to tell him to live in the moment That he was counting down the days till the day of atonement arrived That he was letting things slide Hand it to the accountant Please can you count it? Please can you count it? Something's wrong can you name it? Some day I'll claim it all back
8.
The first girl I took to IKEA broke my heart We got home and the whole thing fell apart I held the screws to our bed as she fled Love is so much like an IKEA shelf You just have to put it together yourself And next week you're shopping with somebody else And I wanna go home I wanna go home Girl number two had "forever" written 'cross her face I'd never seen someone so at home in that place She didn’t know where to begin so she moved in This woman I love I despise when I shop I can’t even pronounce the name of this cup I’m keeping the Allen Key in case we break up And I wanna go homeI wanna go home Girl number three was so busy adding up the cost She let go of my hand and she got lost By the time I found someone to help she'd met someone else I felt lower than any lamp's pricetag was marked I knew it was over before she had parked We got there in the morning I left in the dark And I wanna go homeI wanna go home It's so damn depressing I think I could cry IKEA's where burnt out love curls up to die With so many dismantled lifestyles to buy I wanna go homeI wanna go home I just wanted more than what IKEA stocks Something that didn't come out of a box My new love and I needed furniture but we were afraid Still we went to IKEA anyway At the showroom where no love survived we arrived How many times had I been here before? We stood in the carpark and looked at the store Then holding hands both backed away from the door She said, "I wanna go home" And I said, "I wanna go home”
9.
Burn It Down 07:14
When the old priest visited He spoke of miracles and said That people bled like Jesus did And how he put his clothes on wet And seconds later they were dry The awful ways that Christians died Their bloody corpse dissolved in lime The Romans and their hungry lions Is it any wonder we tried to burn it down? Half and hour with Father Brown And is it any wonder we tried to burn it down? Drinking in a small reserve For kicks and working up the nerve For kissing girls to kill the time And necking Stone's Green Ginger Wine I saw you vomit in the bin The curtains let the sunlight in The drawn out death of innocence The murderer left no fingerprints And is it any wonder we tried to burn it down? Half the town's in dressing gowns And is it any wonder we tried to burn it down Down Down Burn it down God never was or is no more We're smashing all the went before The beauty out with all the pain And everything that bears his name To hail the new enlightenment A multitude of talking heads Who live inside a house of words And clip the wings of flightless birds Is it any wonder we try to burn it down? Half a life in this old town And is it any wonder we try to burn it down?
10.
Susan Morgan 06:31
11.
The aliens landed in 1992 Mentonians were up in arms The spaceship crushed Mrs Curtain's car People stood around without a clue No-one spoke they scratched their heads It was just so inconvenient and new They said 'What are we to do?' The spaceship opened aliens walked out Bulging eyes in big green heads And fingers thin as pencil leads Take me to you leader please right now Someone called the Prime Minister But he was out or too busy to care So they went and called the Mayor The Mayor said 'Come on, pull the other one I deal with rates and parking fines Make sure the roads have nice white lines And now you tell me aliens have come? Should I issue them a fine or just arrest them? Befriend them? Lend them to the zoo? Tell me what am I to do?' My dog saw a cat going into a drain And he stared into that drain so long he was never quite the same Cos if you look into the void too long You know the void looks into you What are we to do? What are we to do? The aliens strolled down Mentone Parade Checking out the local shops till a young boy on his skateboard stopped And said 'it seems you guys have lost your way' The aliens said 'Yes we have and we'd be glad because we're only new Tell us what is there to do?' The boy said "that's not complicated mostly i just ride my skateboard Sometimes I just watch the girls Avoid Patrick Charles who wants to hurt me Catch a bus from here to Chadstone Some say it's the home of fashion Mostly we just ride our bikes buy slabs of beer and drink in parks Or maybe go get fish and chips And eat them down on Mentone beach We go play ten pin bowls a lot Some say there's drugs there but there's not The Edgy pub does dollar pots on Wednesday But you gotta wear a collared shirt have proper shoes Or the bouncer will not let you through And that's all there is to do The aliens said 'Thanks for the advice You've painted quite a vivid picture Felt like we were right there with ya But we should hit the road Hey, it's been nice.' And with that they got on their ship They flipped a switch and gave a little wave Then they shot off into space Cos we all saw a cat going into a drain And from that day forth forevermore We were never the same Cos if you look into the void too long You know the void looks into you What are we to do? What are we to do?
12.
Plummer Road 06:02
Sitting on her single bed With no more Plummer Road between us I'm too easily read So she could take me to the cleaners But her words come out right They're more than music to my ears It's like dancing with a knife But it's what I want to hear Let it go, love. Let it go. All my tortured doting prayers All the getting just to know you When you were high as air And I clung on somewhere below you But when it came to dance Another boy received your call Another pair of sweaty hands Got to lead you 'round the old school hall Let it go Love Let it go. And the rains fill the storm drains up with water Plummer Road's gutters run with the debris And it flushes out into the ocean And it washes far away from me I'll just politely step off into the gutter And we'll wash away the unwanted things here on Plummer Road And the rains fill the storm drains up with water And it washes our garbage out to sea And the church prays for someone else's daughter And I wish they were praying for me
13.
Mentone! Oh Mentone! My suburb by the sea Riviera Of The South Is the place where I'm longing to be The shops, the station, the schools and the beach The people, the park and the church within reach See your neighbours are waving from each little home? Mentone! Oh Mentone! Walk through Florence, Brindisi Milan! Naples! Venice! Como! Oh Mentone! Mentone! My sweet childhood home! Mentone! Mentone! Mentone!
14.
Evan Nepean The things you have seen The places you've been And the things you've achieved A loyal civil servant Go on, you deserve it They named you a river And also the highway that I took to leave And what is the point, Nepean? What is the point? Always ranting and hating and cursing And mercilessly bagging the joint? What is the point, Nepean Laying fresh tracks? When the highway you used to make your escape Is the same one that leads you on back Oh I came back looking for answers To dig up some memories To feel what I felt And of course write some songs There was no hidden mystery Mrs. Booth hugged and kissed me I read Leo's history Thought 'Ah, these are folks who belong' And what if you don't, Nepean Don't feel the same? Don't need the butcher the baker The candlestick maker all knowing your name? Why's it so hard, Nepean? Is something wrong? Why can't I pick up the phone and just tell Susan's parents I'm sorry she's gone? Oh Thank you Evan Nepean The loyal civil servant The name of my freedom And now long deceased You helped me to realise That I left in anger And this time I'm leaving in peace

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"Songs From The Middle", with music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect and orchestrations by Iain Grandage, was recorded Live at the Sydney Opera House with Eddie Perfect, The Brodsky Quartet, Iain Grandage and musicians from ANAM.

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released May 26, 2015

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Eddie Perfect Melbourne, Australia

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