10-song album in a card digipak gatefold sleeve designed by Dave Pope. ALSO, you get 'Kolibri', the 9-song CD of Hamilton's original demos, in a card slip wallet (again, with a Pope design; one of the record label's best). VERY LIMITED SUPPLY! (Cat. No. BITE10.)
Includes unlimited streaming of Relaxing At Gunpoint
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Backstabbers, double-crossers and dirty dealers. Alien environment.
lyrics
BRITISH EMPIRE STATE
Was it the baba ghanoush
On the rare Scotch blackface
That triggered my rainbow of vomit?
I gargle mouthwash
Throw on a fresh shirt
Hit the bar for gin and catatonic.
A perspiring Frenchman
Here on business
Like the natives, asks if I'm American
I flash a row of pearlies
"Nottingham in England;
I'm the middle-born of five privileged sons."
He's in export
Gorilla hand ashtrays
Elephant foot umbrella stands
I check my gold Hunter
Make my excuses
And mingle 'neath the fly-carousel ceiling fans.
Is it the crap tobacco
Or the horse piss vino
That perfumes the air with halitosis?
I can't stand it here
And I can't stand here
This jet-lagger's got executive class of thrombosis.
One more day
Then I'm gone - manana
Bloodshot eyes glazed
From the smoke of havanas
I'm trying to remain
In a British Empire state
I have to stay and wait
For a certain date.
I see a figure rush
I feel my hand crushed
"Name's Walters, seconded from the old firm"
Finger click; a tray of gins
Fills me up and fills me in
"Keep it under your hat, not a murmur."
We leave the sex tourists
Hail and board a rickshaw
The buildings puke out pavements of workers
Proceeding at a steady jog
Walters bangs out a monologue:
"You can only trust Yorkshiremen and Gurkhas".
False passport, currency
Duplicate hotel key
"He'll be back before midnight so let's go"
Destination reached
I step out on the street
He rides off into the clouds of teargas and discos.
Midnight comes and goes
The target doesn't show
4am I'm half-asleep, leaning on the balustrade
Explosion rips my shirt and vest
Blood pumps out my chest
Walters there, with a gun and gorilla hand ashtray
One more day
Now I'm gone - adios, manana
Bloodshot eyes glazed
Bulging like an iguana's
I'm lying on the carpet
In a British Empire state
I have to stay and wait
For a certain date.
credits
from Relaxing At Gunpoint,
released September 10, 2012
Lyrics: Paul Hamilton
Music: Andrew Petrie, Jason Emberton & Paul Hamilton
Orchestrated and performed by Petrie
Vocals and finger click: Hamilton
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