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(Words and music: (c) Robin Hill except where stated)
"... and that's
your time, a pantomime ..."
Pantomime!
(Oh Yes, It Is!) is collection #31. It was completed in late
2023, although, as always, it features a number of songs that
were written earlier.
My original idea was to write a collection based loosely around
Putin's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. A small core of songs do
reflect this, and working titles for the collection included
"The King of Rubble" and "Little Girls in Teddy
Bear Dungarees". Ultimately, though,it felt more natural to
broaden the subject, and the mood. I believe this change of tack
made for a better and more balanced result.
None of the people named in the songs ("Avaline",
"Georgie") are real. "Georgie" is in fact
named after a dog, a practice I often use when thinking up titles
for instrumentals!
PAGE HISTORY:
Page added October 2023, including scores, tabs, notes, and low quality audio samples.
All words (and music) are copyrighted. Any adaptation or duplication without consent is a breach of copyright.
Download all lyrics (printable PDF)
MOONLIGHT
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Moonlight
Brings a special kind of radiance
That bathes our hopes in white:
Can you see the moon tonight?
Moonlight
Brings a special kind of twinkle
That makes the stars shine bright:
Do they shine on you tonight?
The day now past,
Its shadow cast,
Relinquishes its legacy of pain;
So moonlit hearts
Can forge new starts,
And darkened yearnings stir to light again.
Moonlight
Brings a special kind of magic
Where wishes glow with light:
Shall we make a wish tonight?
(Contents)
A BETTER WAY
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Erudite
has had its day,
And I must find a better way
To keep it edgy, keep it real:
A better way of reaching out,
That helps relieve that mutual doubt:
A better way to tell you
How I feel.
Bright ideas have flashed the pan,
And I must find a surer plan
To keep it full on, sharp, aware:
A better way to take your hand,
And still convey I understand:
A better way to tell you
I still care.
Intentions fall to dumb cliches,
And I must dream up smarter ways
To keep things shiny, keep them new:
A better way to hold you tight
And let you know the world’s alright:
A better way to tell you
I love you.
(Contents)
THE FOURTH WALL
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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We
sat behind the fourth wall, and divvied up the lagers,
Whilst gazing past three quarters of the whole
To glimpse the dark remainder of your soul.
We sat behind the fourth wall, and opened up the Pringles,
Whilst peering through the clarity to find
The fog of self-deception in your mind.
Like paparazzi hiding in the bushes,
With cameras trained from every angle there,
We settled back and waited
To catch you unaware.
Like Peeping Toms pressed hard against a window,
We stood there in the darkness just outside
And peered between the curtains
At what you couldn’t hide.
We sat behind the fourth wall, and polished off the chocolates,
Whilst staring through your facile plans and schemes
At all the contradictions in your dreams.
(Contents)
SAD AVALINE
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Sad
Avaline,
Don’t sit here all alone,
The night ahead’s begun:
Come and join the party,
Join in, have fun.
Sad, sad Avaline,
Embrace the rock and roll,
Let rhythm be your heartbeat
And your soul.
Sad Avaline,
Don’t spend the time at home,
The night ahead’s the chance
To reach out to the music,
Join it, and dance.
Sad, sad Avaline,
Let your spirit be the song,
Your passion be the words
You sing along.
Sad Avaline,
In shadows on your own,
The night ahead will show
The way to light a lonely life,
Join us, and glow.
(Contents)
HAVE YOU SEEN MY BUDDIES?
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Have
you seen my buddies?
I saw them only yesterday,
And I don’t understand
Where have they gone today?
Have you seen my wife?
She was with me just an hour ago,
And I can’t comprehend
Which way did she go?
The vaguest recollections:
Of noise within the sky,
A flash of sudden light,
Or time just rushing by;
A rush of blind confusion,
A chilling hint of fear,
A sear of sudden heat,
Or screams from somewhere near.
Have you seen my children?
They were laughing here right next to me,
And I just stand bewildered
By where could they be?
(Contents)
GEORGIE
(Instrumental - music: Robin Hill)
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(No
lyric)
(Contents)
LITTLE GIRLS IN TEDDY BEAR DUNGAREES
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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The
top guys boldly came
And made the buildings fall down from the skies,
Applauding twisted rubble where it lies,
And sneering, with a cool indifferent ease,
At death and fear,
And little girls in teddy bear dungarees.
The big men bravely watched
The patterns of the smoke that filled the air,
Delighting at the fires still burning there,
Rejoicing at the spoils of victories,
Of pain and grief,
And little girls in teddy bear dungarees.
The heroes took a bow,
Triumphantly announced the job was done,
With every target ticked off one by one,
While laughing at the fallen enemies,
The young and old,
And little girls in teddy bear dungarees.
(Contents)
TONGUE-TIED
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Tongue-tied,
I want to speak but I’m just tongue-tied,
And all the silver words I’d hoped would do
Dissolve into a flap of obtuse silence:
Tongue-tied, like the way I am with you.
Deflated,
I long to soar, but I’m deflated,
And all the graceful things I’d planned to be
Crumble into sad disheartened gestures:
Deflated, like I am when you’re with me.
Hopeless,
At times like this it all seems hopeless,
And all the things I wanted to convey
Collapse to empty shrugs of sheer frustration,
Hopeless, like the things I just can’t say.
(Contents)
WHAT I ONCE CALLED HOME
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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It breaks my heart just to see it today,
Beneath the ravages of boulder and clay,
The structure of a lifetime now crumbled away
In what I once called home.
I used to talk of memories
That stirred within the blood:
Now all that I remember
Lies buried in the mud.
I used to speak of wishes
In prospects that abound:
Now all I ever wished for
Lies ruined in the ground.
It chokes me up just to see it this way,
Beneath the savages of weathered decay,
The sparkle of a lifetime diminished to grey
In what I once called home.
(Contents)
THE DUCKBOARDS OF YOUR TRENCH
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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From the duckboards of your trench,
The vista spans for miles around,
A vantage point for all that’s good,
And all that’s fine, and all that’s sound,
There’s carnage out in no-man’s-land,
But no-man’s-land is out of sight:
And from the duckboards of your trench
The world’s alright.
From the blackness of your blindfold,
The dark will keep you free from harm,
A Shangri-la, where all is safe,
Where all is restful, all is calm,
There’s horrors in the world outside,
But nothing in that world is true:
Your blindfold keeps what’s real away
From such as you.
In the place your head lies buried,
A fortress holds, beneath the sand,
A castle built on all that’s bold,
All that’s solid, all that’s grand,
There’s peril lurking just up there,
But nothing here can do you harm:
From the place your head lies buried,
There’s no alarm.
(Contents)
THE KING OF RUBBLE
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Once so proud and mighty, now it's gone,
The place he'd always claimed was his
In ruins, the final proof of victory
Over those who’d always dared to doubt his right;
And from a fortress far away,
The king of rubble curls a smile
At what he's done today.
Now it’s just the smoke that lingers on
From place that was, to place that is
No more; the final proof of things to be
For those who’d always dared to doubt his might;
And from a palace far away,
The king of rubble basks awhile
In what he's won today.
(Contents)
EVERY LOVE
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Let’s sit and dream of stories
Of never-ending past,
Where every love was constant,
And every love stood fast;
Let’s take heart from the glories
That hold our dream alive,
Where every love was faithful,
And every love would thrive;
.
Let’s hanker with affection
For endless yesterdays,
Where every love had kindness
That shaped our kind todays;
Embrace the bold perfection
That keeps the visions real,
That every love delivered
What every love could feel;
And bask in the reflection
Of every glinting past,
Where every love was ceaseless,
And every love would last.
(Contents)
YESTERDAY, TOMORROW
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Our fading spirits take a bow,
Trapped within this place they both call now,
Where past and future come and go,
A random mix of ebb and flow,
Of which is which not even they could know:
Tomorrow is a long way off,
And yesterday so very long ago.
Timelines falter on the ledge,
While aspirations teeter on the edge,
With hopes and memories fading fast,
To strands of lost and found at last,
And in that shapeless void the die is cast:
Tomorrow is a distant dream
And yesterday forgotten in the past.
Yesterday tomorrow,
Tomorrow yesterday,
A long perplexing past
That feeds a future, who can say?
Mouthings of what’s coming,
Echoes of what’s gone,
Conspire to form a present
Where we blindly stumble on;
Causes stagger, reasons stall,
Effects collide, and logic starts to fall,
A senseless mass of means and ways,
Of tiresome proofs and dumb cliches,
A bittersweet confusion of the days:
Tomorrow is a swirling mist,
And yesterday has vanished in the haze.
(Contents)
PANTOMIME! (OH YES, IT IS!)
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Humpty Dumpty, Mother Goose,
The gang’s together, fast and loose:
The stage is yours, but can you strut the stuff?
Oh yes, you can! Oh no, you can’t!
Oh no, you can’t! That’s tough!
Puss in Boots and Sleepy Head,
And wishes made of gingerbread,
You rub the lamp, but will the genie glow?
Oh yes, it will! Oh no, it won’t!
Oh no, it won’t! Oh no!
More song than dance, more fat than chance,
More show than biz, Gee whiz;
And that’s your time, a pantomime,
Oh no, it’s not! Oh yes, it is!
Oh yes, it is! It is!
That’s how it is, Gee whiz.
The glittered shoe that never fits
And all life’s other crappy bits
Have left you here, the back end of a horse:
Oh no, you’re not! Oh yes, you are!
Oh yes, you are! Of course!
The flaws of which we’re unaware,
But plain to all, are clearly there,
The secrets that could make life less bizarre
Just out of sight behind us:
Oh Yes, they are!
Oh yes, they are! They really are!
Oh yes, they are! Ta da!
(Contents)