voice : kilbey where are you ?
i am here
i am here
my dear one
oh i am here
in the deep heart of the night
flying across moors and mountains
travelogue in velvet
doing yoga against a wall in denver
buying a coffee in iowa
checking in here
checking out there
a whirl of green and grey
the miles thunder pass
rain crooked rain
lightning my old mirrored face
onstage i jump like a youngman
offstage i groan with my years
i talk to adam franklin bout t rex
i call nk at home holding the fort so well
(eve has gashed open her foot n cant walk)
i walk through bustling malls n lonely places
i sit at the house of blues drinking orange fizz
i talk to people
i meet people
i sign my stuff
i pitch my product
i strut my stuff
i dance n i duck n i weave
i try to stay awake as tim drives
in a microsleep i stand onstage singing
singing this most lovely song
and my bass pumps oh the most beautiful thing
and im doing garudasana on the interstate 88
my grateful hands accept the gift of music
my father watches on from cockney heaven
he says
youre doing well slim
i pick up my axe i go into battle
a pawn in the aesthetic wars
i rock to save you from yourself
i come from another time n place
i am your ancestors with a fender
i represent the iliad
i sing the odyssey
i strum the anthem of nineveh
i talked in forked tongues
white hippy moses they will call me
for i lead you i know not where
i am a another guy in a best western
i practice yoga 2wice a day
there are but 2 paths
magic or yoga
why not take em both i wonder
as we hurtle along some green and sunny lane
beyond the rainbows edge
the jazz flows a little
thank you craig i like that jazz too
we play like stateless troopers
we overcome obstacles
my co-horts weapons bite hard
my ears ring on in their silence of stone
people say
i feel like i known you my whole life man
i say
yes you have
but i havent known you
altho i wrote it for you
just for me? the punter asks
no just for everyone who wanted to hear this
this 30 years of music
i pulled them damn songs out of my head
and i put them all on a table
and i named em
and i nurtured em
and i loved em all
everyone of my ugly songs
oh i loved loved loved em all
i tried so hard i nearly died
and still the miles go
ka-rump ka-thump
underneath the van
inside we laugh n argue n sit silently
wishing the miles away
i see a guy without a nose
i see people so big they can hardly move
i see people all fucked up from meat n cigarettes
i see arbours of lovely trees and the greenest grass
moonscapes in wyoming
oh america i love you n i fear you
and oh i understand you
whoever you are
i being neither australian nor english
i come here
i stretch out over your ten billion miles
i see the whites n blacks n reds n yellows
i talk to people
i talk to old people n children
i play rocknroll mister
im a fucking singer
in one of the best bands in the world
you never heard of me ?
we zoom off
i pack up my suitcase
i unroll my mat
you see my knees
you see my hands
you see my back
i unfold
i let go
i try to let go
i try to remember n forget
i walk out onstage
the people cheer
theyre happy to see us
i pull my bass around like a drunk woman
i take liberties with it
i finger it n stroke it n i fool around
in turn it hums n croons under my nicely blistered fingers
i tell it do this do that
it resonates
it combines with the drums
it extrudes out into the air
i slip my key into the slot
another room
another mile
just another moonlight mile
down the road
i drive like demon
i dream at the wheel
i dream of my bass
my bass and my wife
i get them mixed up in my dream
both with their curvaceous waists
i read my fucking emails
i check my bank account
i cant fall asleep
i cant wake up
i cant get warm
i cant get young
in the mirror i look a hundred miles old
i sing my groovy lyrics the hoi polloi cannot grok
in denver the hippies grok it and they say wow
i need my glasses..is this shampoo or conditioner…?
i shave
i clean my olde limey teeth
i cant get the window open
i shake hands with some guy
he takes a picture of me with his wife
they both genuinely love me
they treat me like jesus or something
you are a prophet says the ex-exotic dancer
you are the soundtrack of my life says joe everyman
your soy latte is ready honey says the woman in idaho
they keep a restaurant open for us specially
the americans are mostly hospitable
they do not cater to vegetarians in the sticks tho
i live on nothing
AND I DONT CARE!!!
sleep n food are theoretical entities
now skinnier than ever
kilbey has a lean n hungry look
kilbey in illinois
the house o’ blues
backstage like fantasy of warrens
n rooms full of mexican jesus n elvis n skulls n guitars
chuck berry marc bolan cocaine heroin
murder magic and the steamy weather
black bluesmen with wings n snakes
a punctured tyre means no soundcheck
playing music blind like ray charles
im a white king mamba eating spinach dip
i write songs about the distance n the time
both of em disappearing down the end of the highway
someone calls my name
i look up n the dream is gone
yoga n veganism pay off in spades
onstage a wild inchoate energy rushes thru me
oh i have a ball n a ball
n i got some balls in these ballrooms of mars
im steve kilbey and youre listening to kfuk
adam franklins bass player breaks his foot
our young craigie steps up to the plate
altho not a bass player
hes just learnt 8 new songs in the back of a van
and tonite
hes playing em in the windy city
bass player with adam
keyboards with us
good for a boy from campbelltown nsw
the road beckons
the road tells me to ramble n rock around america forever
lets face it
this is where they prob’ly like me most
theres a million cities i could play
places you never heard of
places you’ll never go
cement works quarries glades forests hills rivers
highways
50 cent cones says the same sign mile after mile
the franchises
the truckies on speed
the smell of brakes n petrol
i rock to the east
i rock to the west
my life is unfathomable
a briefest moment in a glorious spotlight
the curtain comes down
alonely in a dark cabin
shooting up a highway like a vein
in vain i hope not
i eat little
i talk my head off
i go mad
i become sane again
i vibe myself up
way way way up
and then gently down to earth
at the best western at 4 in the a.m.
a hundred miles outta town
on the edge of everytown
just like that song i sing
i am everyman
everywhere
nowhere for long
golden sandy babylonian banks on lazy streams
undulating mountains n the distance
shafts of jehovah-esque light
jesus in salt lake city surfing the dead sea
something in the depths some monstrosity
boom boom boom
bang clang rattle tat
the guitars shriek n wail
the voice falters n grows faint
life ebbs n flows
i move to unknown pulses
i am manipulated by unseen fingers
i am wound up and set free
i play n i sing n i play n i sing
hail marc bolan
hail ziggy angeldust
hail bobby zylan
hail johnny winston oh-boogie
fuck yeah!
soon i will be unleashed to rock oh ha ha ha
believe it or not
yes i am a singer mister in this here band
whats that?
what kinda music do we all play?
i’ll tell ya
its only rocknroll
but i like it
like it
like it
yes i do!