i do whatever the fuck i want
(within reason)
i use words
i discard em
i never call again
i climb under insults
i squirm away from compliments
i take on my suffixes like kilbey-esque
i blow my money on cheap thrills that cost a fortune
i trade my cow for three magic beans that never grow higher than one inch
i squander my fondness and wander in melancholy flowers
you remember me, dont you
i sang that song about the distance
you saw me once ..my face printed on a soy milk carton
i was merely a hand trying to touch the hem of jesus’ gown
i was a soldier in viet-nova
i was of bricklaying caste in the eastern subs
i was trying to be all things to all men
but actually i was nuthin to no one
i lost control of my lazy swabs first voyage out
i was too hard
then too weak
i was too hopefully hopeless
then i was plain fuckin bleak
listen here sonny jim
everyone wants some painkiller, eh?
yeah
you need yer fix, i can tell
oh i bet its hurting to have to wait wait wait
first thing that you learn is that you always gotta …..
wait!
ah ya dont believe we’re on the eve o’ destruction?
and the sun aint gonna shine anymore
and youve lost that painkilling feeling
i thought i’d find you banging on my daw
jack of spades in spades
jokerman sings to the croaky olde crow
i see your streaming eyes
i see your manoeuverabilty
i see you trying to find the words to ask
well we’re all hurting …when you gonna realise?
dont try and change me
nothings gonna change my world
you know some pain cant be killed
yeah ask elektra
they cant kill her pain so easy as all that
she said
i feel like my head will burst….
and i
cant think of what to say then
my own in agony
everyone gotta headache
my mother my wife my daughter
my friends holding their temples
tim rubbing on his tiger balm
marty blinded by migraine in some stupid limo
we wonder how matty could endure it at all…
i visit my ex mentor
he doesnt remember me or anybody anymore
he says
youre a very handsome man…you!
(i think he thinks im my dad)
youre a very nice visitor he says over and over
no i’m not…i’m a kilbey
i’m steven!
steven? he says and he laughs
yes steven rings a bell somewhere in there still
in flanders field the poppies grow beneath the crosses row upon row
i recite this bit of poetry to him
yes yes you still remember that, eh? he says
literally a shadow of his former self
i’m glad my dad got out early
i’m glad my dad didnt hang around for this
lifes like a poker game
you gotta know when to quit
ah..but hard to pull out of the game
you cant just walk away from the table, can you
the other players yell out
give us a fuckin’ chance to win our money back
then you realise
youre holding a near royal flush in diamonds
but the filigree diamonds are filched from a ring
and you realise
all these players are BLUFFING
no ones holding anything
two pears
maybe three kings of orient-r
they all silently pay to see you
no wait
some bastard always ups the ante
the ante-diluvian kings maybe
before god tried to drown his own world
when gilgamesh played bass guitar with the garden of eden
and co cain and abel
and lot whose wife was a pillow of sort
did these players know when to quit?
yeah so bass guitar is real groovy
and i got a vegan yah-yah
and priest equals coma
and it was all a conspiracy by the nme
and radio in belgium never back announced us
the guy who signed us up got fired
the day i was released from slavery to fashion
i grew a beard of starfishes and
side burns of fire
yeah you know me now
you want me to kill the pain
the pain of existence
the pain of boar-dom
the pain of this one horse town
the pain of me being steve kilbey
the pain of you not being steve kilbey
all the steve kilbeys in all the universes
that run adjacent to this
and by the weigh
which fucken one is this?
i beg your pardon?
so ok
enough about me
yeah yeah yeah
i got the painkiller for ya
i got it in my apartment not far from here
i got it there
its waiting for ya
ooh yeah its the good stuff alright
ooh yeah maybe i gave ya some bad stuff before…did i?
ooh yeah but this time you gonna thank me
you’ll be looking for me again
i can tell you
i still deliver
look at this
i still deliver
christmas, eve
or midnight seven eleven magnetic heaven
all holy days
and the night of long knaves
i will deliver
i guarantee you will love this product
i hereby state that i will refund your money
no questions asked
if you aint
relieved
of your
existential angst
nero-disorders
twitchin’
bitchin’
masturbatin’
hoopla
shibboleths
hoity toity hooty pooty
crab-lice
door mice
hit seekers
walla wallas
boom booms
and a heavy dose of shimble fucking shanks
all of this and moor
will be cured
within a heartbeast
deductions and conditions may apply
you may be geo-blocked
you may be recorded in the shower for admin perposes
you may be reproduced in a sex tape with photo enhanced penis
your breasts may be fingerprinted for office use
painkiller not available in most places
painkiller not recommended for children or adults
painkiller contains fluro metha oxy dimble quasars
painkiller made without help of jap anese investors
painkiller suitable for domestic violets
painkiller w/aphrodesiac beachside properties
painkiller can have side effects or waist effects
painkiller full of delicious marylebone jelly
painkiller now available in swiss vanilla and bulgin’ chocklette
painkiller hot off the pill press
painkiller should not be mixed with alcohol or methodeine
painkiller may react to the light of this world
painkiller believes in jesus
painkiller would like to thank anton e newcombe
(what…me worry?)
painkiller would like to thank ricardo de los mayo for the biffo
painkiller would like to thank lord von ryper for the 12
painkiller would like to thank wiliam…it was really nothing
painkiller would like to numb polinskis great burden of genius
painkiller is 25 per cent tim north poles
painkiller does not endorse anything
other than the end of all pain
forever baby
and thats a long long time