One of the many interesting things at the Good Pop Bad Pop exhibit is the bits of paper ephemera. Lots of old flyers and posters, photos and a few old lyric sheets.
They're not always easy to make out as the bedroom area is dimly lit and roped off, so it took a bit of creative photography and arm stretching from me and Giles Acrylic to get this one. Even then, it took some serious squinting to transcribe.
If anyone wants to try themselves, this is from the yellow A3 sheet in the corner. It's got the storyboard from the Manon video on the same sheet, so presumably it's from 1985.
Lift Off
------
On launch bay for so long
Vines cling to the machinery
Girders red with rust
Here comes the pilot pissed again
Getting a little (???play?)
Face raises a smile
Smoked too many cigs again
But it's alright because tomorrow's
Lift Off Day
5-4-3-2-1!
But the pilots out for the count
On a raw, bleak morning
The back of his head aches
His eyes water
His throat is sore and clogged
But he still reaches for that first cigarette
The one that will
Bring it all crashing back down on him
The shit he chooses
To fill his life with
Never lift off with all that weight on
Not a chance
But he just
Smiles a cut throat smile
And downs another pint
He's lying in a pool of
His own vomit
Outside the front door
When a tiny voice whispers
Hey get ready for lift off!
5-4-3-2-1!
And now the fact must
Be faced however sad it is
This lift off will never
Take place
The mission's aborted
The paint peels from the hull
Rust shows red
Scrap merchants move in
--
NB. Perhaps a bit more heroic ie trying to get himself into shape, almost taking off, crashing to the ground, picks himself up, mangled, twisted, & tries again. Each time getting uglier & becoming more obviously a failure before he even tries to lift off.
-- Edited by Sturdy on Wednesday 1st of June 2022 09:40:06 AM
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"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
So what does anyone think of these then? I found them pretty fascinating myself. In terms of theme, they're obviously a precursor to stuff like Aborigine and, most strikingly, Countdown (the rusty rocket analogy is one Jarvis used when talking about Countdown). I thought it was interesting too that he was clearly thinking in terms of life passing by and chances evaporating so early on - he was 21/22!
Wonder if it actually became a song. Maybe a 1985 setlist will turn up one day and we'll find out. On the other hand I guess there'd be a certain poetry to the song itself never making it off the launch pad...
-- Edited by Sturdy on Thursday 2nd of June 2022 10:44:16 AM
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"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
^ Agree entirely, another one from the 'life going nowhere' series of completely bleak songs of the mid-80s. Would love to hear this in full song form.
