SEVERED HEADS--Rotund for Success

Released 1989.
All songs written by Tom Ellard and published by Volition Music, except "Greater Reward," which is published by SBK Songs.
Rotund for Success coverFile collated by Dave Watson/SHLF, from a lyric file supplied by Tom Ellard (whose comments follow each lyric) to Abraham Heward. Thanks, lads.

SONGS:
All Saints Day
Triangle Tangle Tango
Bad Times Too
Midget Sings
7 Miles
Greater Reward
Big Car
First Steps
Rotund For Success
L.F.M. (Lovesick Fascist Meathead)


All Saints Day

All very well for saints to have their day
To fly away to prey another day
Down here I'd rather face the fire
than aspire for the heavenly choir
'Cause I've got my faith put in its place
Swept out the light beyond a trace
'Cause I took a look in their book
and there's nothing about this life of mine

For I am willing to believe
Wishing to be strong, fighting on your side
For I am willing to believe
Swimming in your tide, crying your tears

"There, now that makes it clear I'm no priest or monk or whatever."

Triangle Tangle Tango

In the morning I'm the sun
In the evening I walk on three legs
I've time to kill, some people as well
I've got a riddle that's giving me hell
Said you were young, said you were young
Said it was heaven just to breathe your air
But you haven't traveled until you've unraveled my
Taste test triangle tangle tango

CHORUS:
I can learn to live without my arms
(cashing foreign currencies)
I can learn to live without my arms

I'm (as) drunk as a judge
I spent my desire in the wood
I've blood to spill and tale to tell
I've got a rhythm that comes from hell
Said you were smart, said you were smart
Said it would just take a day of your time
But you haven't traveled until you've unraveled my
Taste test triangle tangle tango--CHORUS

"Raiders of the Lost Ark meet the Sphinx."

Bad Times Too

How can I know when my heart is asunder?
My fingers are dreaming and drawing in plunder
of someone who breathes only in memory
Who calls in the rain and sighs in the thunder

"A soppy wet love song. Ha ha."

Midget Sings

Here is a limb that catches the eyes
Mister, I am trouble, I am
Flies and sings and catches the sun
Ripples talk, ripples remember

CHORUS:
There's a cage in the town
There's people don't know I'm around
There's a threat in the sound

The girls are understanding and they'd truly like to say
Keep a rugged profile and you're rolling in their hay
The boys have grown to like you and they closely watch your game
If only they were older, then they'd surely do the same

Take a look in my traveling bag
Mister, I am trouble, I am
Work and run and breathe things slow
Ripples talk, ripples remember--CHORUS

"Deformed man hits small town. Sex jokes and innuendo. A murder."

7 Miles

If you call to dreams do it softly
for they might never arrive
It's a song that you'll have to sing solo
They might never arrive

It's a great height that you've fallen
It's a great height that you have taken on trust
And think while you are falling
Look around at solid ground

Accelerate
Accelerate, excel at speed
Caress the Earth
Accelerate

"More flying, falling and Fairyland. And Freud, probably."

Greater Reward

Give me back myself, for I am held by something else above
And while I am true to you in love, my wings are not for you
You can hold me all my life but paradise can take me twice
When I go to my greater reward, it's a throne I'll take on my own

Told you, hold me now
I'm enthralled in a greater reward
The Earth for you
but fate may take me anyday

"There are some feelings which remain private. Now I hope that no one thinks via this that I've gone all religious."

Big Car

Intro: "All the way to the bottom, Maggie! You made it! AAAAAGGGGGHHHH!!!"

Here are words I may not read
(Big Car can be seen)
Shine headlights on me
Here are paths I may not tread
(Big Car can be seen)
Shine headlights on me

CHORUS:
If you ever thought to calm down
Come down and see me
It's now I need you
and never an unkind word need be said
about your life overhead

Here are calls I may not hear
(Big Car can be seen)
Shine headlights on me
Here are sights I may not see
(Big Car can be seen)
Shine headlights on me--CHORUS

"Look out, buster, you're about to be run over by some guru."

First Steps

My first steps
Hope it's for the best
Someone I fell for
Such falls won't pass muster
Scrutiny and I need all I can get
Nil by mouth she said

CHORUS:
And when you tell lies an angel dies

Maybe I could take a loan
See somebody where love is money
But you can't pay yourself
to fill yourself with desire for someone--CHORUS

"Oh oh, another woe is me, maybe. At least no one is flying, for Christ's sake."

Rotund For Success

You burn the night and the days are gone
You burn my night and the days are told

CHORUS:
Aircraft adorn my hair
Small boats adhere to my feet
I might be omnipotent but I can be discreet

It takes too much money to see you alone
and the queue stretches back to my home
Times were better when we were young
and you'd do whatever I'd say
I would be a bridge
You'd be the thrall of a car
At speed and late
with a wheel, with a mind of its own

"Well, we've had one about a very short person, so why not one about someone very tall? Also something about those nasty pairs like Brady & Hindly."

L.F.M. (Lovesick Fascist Meathead)

("You have to discipline yourself. Do the work of a minister.")

Our work takes in points of brochure
I'd be lost otherwise, I'm sure
Chasing map across country
Our work doffs hat he says, "I'm the friend.
We must to the common end,
work quickly and quietly
For can you not feel the power, the glory
the power, the glory, for ever, amen?"

Our work
Feet touching ceiling beams
Not telling the truth, it seems
Truth trickling down the wires
"For can you not feel the power, the glory,
the power, the glory, for ever, amen?"

"Cheerful missionary tale. If you can't convert 'em, buzz 'em."

Return to the Severed Heads Liberation Front Page.
Return to Watson's WorldWideWasteofTime Page: Music and Anime.