HEY PRESTO!

(Words and music: (c) Robin Hill except where stated)

"And finding you’re a fool just the same"

"Hey Presto!" is collection #28. The collection was completed in early 2022. Most songs were written in the 2020s although a few were earlier, and one has its origins in the 1970s.

This collection continues some of the themes previously explored in "Naked Emperors" and earlier. In particular, a core of songs concerns the reasons we find for believing the things we do, and the lies we're apparently willing to tell ourselves along the way.

One or two specific songs may hint at certain well known individuals. However, names have not been named! I leave interpretations to the reader.....

PAGE HISTORY:

Page / Scores and Tabs / Notes: all added February 2022

Low quality audio samples added September 2023 and completed December 2023

All words (and music) are copyrighted. Any adaptation or duplication without consent is a breach of copyright.

Download all lyrics (printable PDF)

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HEY PRESTO!

(Words and music: Robin Hill)

The dimming of houselights,
The roll of a drum,
Your moment of glory has come:

Yet after that first Hey Presto,
Where rabbits emerge from a hat,
There‘ll hardly be time for a curtsey,
And that’s that.

A passionate compere,
Ringing your name,
It’s time for your moment of fame:

Yet after you’ve shouted Jack Robinson,
And leapt from the chains in the chest,
There’ll barely be time for I Thank Yous,
Or the rest.

Now you see it, now you don’t,
Yes, you will, then no, you won’t -
The magic once there in your grasp,
Now vanished in smoke with a gasp.

The track of a spotlight,
The thrill of applause,
The fame and the fortune are yours:

Yet after the Abracadabras,
Where ladies get sawn into two,
There won’t be much left but the curtain,
And adieu.

(Contents)

DANCE WITH YOUR HAT OFF

(Words and music: Robin Hill)

So, dance with your hat off,
And take a little bow,
To those who saw the stars before their eyes,
And reached out through the sparkle
To take a headlong tilt at the prize.

And try not to smirk
When it all fails to work,
And self-congratulation turns to shame:
Between thinking you’re smart,
And knowing you’re no fool,
And finding you’re a fool just the same.

So, dance with your hat off,
And mouth a silent wow,
To those who saw the trinkets in the pot,
And reached out through the dazzle
To make a lunging grasp for the lot.

And remember to frown
When it all tumbles down
To where rapacious reason must fall:
Between wanting it all,
And wanting it now,
And ending up with nothing at all.

So, dance with your hat off,
In praise of all and now,
The calling cries that echo through the air
For those who eyed the silver,
And made a lurching grab for what’s there.

And try to laugh less
When it ends in a mess
From where the best plans must fall away,
Between having your cake,
And eating your cake,
And wanting your cake another day.

(Contents)

ALL THE THINGS

(Words and music: Robin Hill)

All the times she stood by him,
The courage that it took,
And all the things he might have seen
Had he but paused to look;

The untold will and fortitude
With which she met the task,
And all the things he could have guessed
Had he but thought to ask;

Memories
That linger deep
Within the past;

Doubts that tease,
And stir from sleep,
Awake at last;

All the love she gave to him,
Imparted tirelessly,
And all the things he should have known
Had he but stopped to see.

(Contents)

HOLD TIGHT

Words and music: Robin Hill)

Hold tight,
There’s a bumpy ride ahead,
Hold tight
As you slip and slide; I said
Hold tight,
While your knuckles turn to white;

Stay low,
Hold your wits, and don’t forget,
Stay low,
You’re the one they’re out to get,
Stay low,
Keep your prize head from their sight;

Many’s the time
I’ve heard you bragging,
That many’s the time
They can’t touch you,
And many‘s the time
I’ve known that’s just not true,
So many’s the time
I’ve feared for you

Be sharp,
Never knowing who to trust,
Be sharp,
When it’s down to you, you must
Be sharp
Through your every friendless night.

(Contents)

AND DOWN THEY FALL

(Words and music: Robin Hill)

The smarter they come,
The dafter they fall,
Confused and bemused
By the weight of it all,
From measureless wisdom
To no sense at all,
And down they fall.

The taller they stand,
The more they look small,
Tearful and fearful,
When backed to the wall,
From infinite courage
To wimps one and all,
And down they fall.

The slicker they ride,
The quicker they stall,
Shuddering, juddering
Down to a crawl,
From well-oiled assurance
To broken withal,
And down they fall.

(Contents)

DID YOU EVER WONDER?

Words and music: Robin Hill)

Count up the times, on our hands and our knees,
We’ve crawled beneath the barbed perimeter wire,
Then run for our lives across the chicken run yard,
In zig-zags, to avoid the submachine fire,
Laid down the charges, and primed up the fuse,
Preparing to blow the reinforced door:
And did you ever wonder
Exactly what we did it all for?

Count up the times, in the dank of the moat,
We’ve waded through the slurry and the spoil,
Then raced for our lives to the base of the tower,
In cross-paths, to avoid the boiling oil,
Tossed up the grapple, and hitched up the ropes,
Preparing to scale the battlement wall:
And did you ever wonder
The reason for it all?
Did you ever wonder
Exactly why we did it at all?

(Contents)

NOBODY WE MURDERED

Words and music: Robin Hill)

We’ll take the quickest breather
And take stock of the day:
Some pangs at first, but mostly it’s okay.

There’s no place here for sad remorse,
Or heads that hang in shame:
Nobody we murdered had a name.

We’ll take a swift appraisal,
The briefest oversight:
Some minor qualms, but otherwise alright.

There’s no room here for stern reproach,
No falling out of grace:
Nobody we murdered had a face.

Some other light, some other life,
Some other mother’s son,
A rolling dice
When all is done.

Pick yourself a widow’s tears,
A grieving child’s distress,
A turning card,
No more, no less.

We’ll take the simplest timeout,
To bring things up to date,
A twinge or two, but on the whole, just great.

There’s no call for contrition,
No nagging of regret,
Nobody we murdered haunts us yet.

(Contents)

FLIMSY CASTLES

(Words and music: Robin Hill)

Lost in the excuses of a plan that went awry,
A well-rehearsed and flippant reason why,
A reason why that compensates for all that slipped away,
And rebuilds muddy castles in the cesspools of the clay.

Deep within the alibis of a scheme that just fell through,
An asinine and cheery Yes, Can Do,
A Yes, Can Do that promises there’s nothing out of reach,
And rebuilds flimsy castles on the quicksand of the beach.

Rising from the traces of whatever lingers still,
The same resolve, the same old mindless will,
A mindless will that circumvents the errors of the past,
And rebuilds endless castles, each on the rubble of the last.

(Contents)

EXCUSES AND LIES

Words and music: Robin Hill)

I was minding my business in the fresh fruit and veg aisle at Tesco today,
When a spaceship came out of the parsnips, and whisked me away:
They stripped me, and probed me, placed needles each side of my head,
And when they returned me, they left me in error in the booze aisle instead.

Then on the way home, at the bus stop at the end of the rank,
Three masked desperados came running from out of the bank,
There was violence and gunfire, with blood raining down from the sky,
And in the confusion, I had to take cover in the bookies nearby.

There you go, rolling your eyes again,
Gesturing up to the skies,
As if it was easy to deftly explain
Without excuses and lies,

But some things run deeper than easy blame,
More subtle than simple don’t know,
Lies and excuses seldom one and the same,
And some things are better let go;

And as for last night, well, I took a wrong turn down some yellow brick street,
Where, helped by a witch, I was taught a new trick about clicking my feet:
Two clicks would take me right back to the spot where I’d parked up the car,
But three took me off to a strip joint, where a lady was waving her bra.

(Contents)

SO HERE WE ARE

Words and music: Robin Hill)

So here we are, still building us an empire
Supported by the old familiar lies:
Thought, if never spoken,
Inferred, if not quite said,
Cracked, if still unbroken,
Frail, if not yet dead.

So here we are, still hiding from our failings,
Disguised behind the same old alibis:
Loose, if not yet crumbled,
Wondered, if not in doubt,
Questioned, if not yet rumbled,
Suspected, if not found out.

So here we are, still conjuring our glories,
Spurred on by the same old battle cries:
Uneasy, if not remorseful,
With guilt, if no regret,
Weak, if still resourceful,
Battered, if standing yet.

(Contents)

ALMOST

Words and music: Robin Hill)

Staring from the ledge that spans the way our futures go,
At distant shapes of ‘almost’ strewn below:
A long naïve forever, and a constant lack of care
Has left the ‘almost’ in the ‘almost there’.

Peering from the shadows of the hopes that slip away,
At silhouettes of ‘nearly’ through the grey:
A string of self-deceptions, unravelled one by one,
Preserve the ‘nearly’ in the ‘nearly won’.

Gazing from the barren plains of dreams that long ran dry
At wispy shapes of ‘not quite’ in the sky:
A nag of deep suspicion, and the trust that it devours
Will keep the ‘not quite’ in the ‘not quite ours’.

(Contents)

GRUMBLINGS AND RUMBLINGS

Words and music: Robin Hill)

A caution in the ether,
A warning in the air,
The vaguest threat of something not yet there

A tremble in the canyon,
A shudder in the ground,
A tremor that has yet to issue sound

I sense a spirit yearning,
Desires that echo clear,
Mumblings and grumblings of changes near;

I sense a tide is turning,
A current running free,
Grumblings and rumblings of what will be;

A candle in a tunnel,
A flicker in the dark,
The faintest trace of light form still to spark.

(Contents)

ANOTHER FINE MESS

Words and music: Robin Hill)

Another day, another awkward question,
Another moment hanging by a thread,
Then one more slick escape, another clever ruse,
Another round you somehow managed not to lose,
The artfulness of being one step ahead;

So once again, it seems, you’re really on your game,
Bang on form, without a single flaw,
Holding fast, through crisis after crisis,
Ready, when it all starts up once more:

With more sins to suppress, and another fine mess.

Another day, another dodgy answer,
Another piece of cunning to deploy,
Then one more sleight of hand, another perfect play,
And skin survives, you live to fight another day;
The cunning knack of one more brilliant ploy;

So once again, it seems, you’ve made it home and free,
Free from any speck of guilt or blame,
Free from troubled conscience, to a restful sleep,
Ready for tomorrow, and the same:

With more lies to address, and another fine mess.

(Contents)

HOLD ON (TO THOSE YOU REALLY LOVE)

Words and music: Robin Hill)

Caught between the capture
Of the onset of the night,
And the empty hours of darkness
Before the morning light,
There’s a whisper of tomorrow,
And an everything’s alright:
Hold on
To those you really love.

There, between the moment
When the sunshine starts to wane,
And the chill that lines the spaces
Of the wild and slanting rain,
There’s a promise of redemption,
And a warmth returned again:
Hold on
To those who mean the most.

Held in the transition
Of the times we thought we knew,
And the full-on apprehension
Of times we’re moving to,
There’s a constant reassurance,
And a smile to see us through:
Hold on
To those who really care.

(Contents)

EPILOGUES

Music: Robin Hill)

(No lyric)

(Contents)

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