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All nerve endings shut down.
Stiff lipped at the countdown.
All systems are go,
All systems are gough,
All systems are ghosts.
In a can,
In a cupboard,
In a submarine,
There's nothing left inside,
In a basket at the bottom of the guillotine
Is where the sailor cried.
He never said a word
To the jury of the press
And when the ax-blade bit his neck,
"Set me free" is all he said.
In a pixel,
In a portrait,
In a T.V. screen
There's nothing left to hide.
Stitched each instant by the firing electron beam
Let the camera man decide.
He never said a word
To the jury of the press
When the on-air light turned red,
"Cut Away" is all he said.
When he opened it up,
He dropped his coffee cup,
And when the cup hit the ground
The whole damn house came stumbling down.
Good by my memory.
From this point on I'm unsettling.
In Brooklyn we stay home.
REFORMAT!!!!
Stiff lipped at the countdown.
All systems are go,
All systems are gough,
All systems are ghosts.
In a cupboard,
In a submarine,
There's nothing left inside,
In a basket at the bottom of the guillotine
Is where the sailor cried.
He never said a word
To the jury of the press
And when the ax-blade bit his neck,
"Set me free" is all he said.
In a portrait,
In a T.V. screen
There's nothing left to hide.
Stitched each instant by the firing electron beam
Let the camera man decide.
He never said a word
To the jury of the press
When the on-air light turned red,
"Cut Away" is all he said.
He dropped his coffee cup,
And when the cup hit the ground
The whole damn house came stumbling down.
From this point on I'm unsettling.
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
on inches, what's up with that thing about the sailor?
If you listen to the "dramatic reading" version of the song on Inches, it's pretty clearly about the captain of a submarine who carelessly kills his entire crew and is court-martialed into a public execution, by guillotine.
It's explained quite thoroughly in the lyric booklet.
This song makes me Dance!!
n yes I agree with you sndnofyesteryear
But is the murder careless or the crew's only hope of survival which failed, leading to an unfair death penalty being handed out.