@ALBUM: Adieu, Sweet Bahnhof (1984) The Nits are: Henk Hofstede Vocals, keyboards, guitar Rob Kloet Drums, kloefonik Michiel Peters Vocals, guitar, keyboards Robert Jan Stips Keyboards, variophon, vocals Uploaded by Pascal Mouret (mouret(at)lim.univ-mrs.fr) Last revision date : 21 Feb 95 Note : There are Turkish lyrics in one of the songs. I used a LaTeX-like convention to represent letters with accent. \ means diaeresis, and \, means cedilla (where is any letter). I don't understand Turkish. Does anyone know what those lyrics mean ? I'd be really glad to know. Thank you very much in advance. @SONG: Woman Cactus (Hofstede) This is not comme il faut It's no respectable affair I know I lost my head I'm burning bridges everywhere My heart, my head, my brains My senses don't make sense at all The bar sign prints your name Over and over on the wall And I can't take it anymore Chime little bells big bells I try to touch a woman cactus I see those empty streets I'm walking 'round legs up head down My lamp burns all the night I've lost the map of this old town And I can't take it anymore Chime little bells big bells I try to touch a woman cactus I know it hurts to touch a woman With those needles and pins This is not comme il faut It's no respectable affair This time I leave the clock In which I acted as a cuckoo Nothing like cubism To bring about a woman's shape @SONG: Silly Fool (Peters) Ugly street ugly town Ugly faces running 'round Silly fool silly fool No one knowing where he's bound Silly fool silly fool Always someone else's tool Silly fool silly fool Don't you have pride at all; pride at all Let it rain let it rain Let the rain wash away that Fool fool Marching down the street today Beehive behave Always doing what they're told Fool fool No one seems alive at all; alive at all Books are burned (the flames are running high) Books are burned (the bodies follow soon) Silly fool silly fool What you're going to do today Silly fool silly fool Look at what the papers say Silly fool silly fool Listen to the neighbours say Silly fool silly fool Doesn't make sense at all; sense at all Flags torn, symbols worn Nobody who seems to care Silly fool silly fool Here, there and everywhere @SONG: Think It Over (Stips) He's a man hating his hometown Boys and girls back home gave him nothing but a natural turn-down In a city full of strangers Lived a disappointed dreamer, a possible danger Use your head and try to think it over I can tell behind the weak handshake There's a well-educated mind of a poisoning fruitcake Look in the eyes, hating and waiting for so long It's amazing how someone with brains like his can be so wrong Use your head and try to think it over You - you must have fooled me then You - never were a friend You - never really listened to the things we said You - became a politician You - learned your dirty tricks You - speak in words I don't wanna understand You - you're waiting for the power You're - waiting for the hour You can spread the hate (that's) right inside your head @SONG: Under a Mask (Hofstede) Cover up the pretty faces Cover up the eyes and the lips And the things we love Under a mask Oh what a feeling it is Oh what a feeling it is to be unknown Under a mask I wanna know Is it really your face I wanna know Are they really your eyes I wanna know If I'm looking at a replica Cover up the angry faces Cover up the hate and the cries And the things we fear Under a mask Oh what a feeling it is Oh what a feeling it is to be alive Under a mask I want to be alone I want to stay here on my own In the middle of nowhere I hide my body and soul there And now it's your turn to strip bare Put it off slowly Cover up the ugly faces Cover up the tears and the smiles And the things we hide under a mask Cover up slowly I wanna know Is this really your face Show it I wanna know what is your face Show it @SONG: Adieu Sweet Bahnhof (Hofstede) I have been waiting for hours in this train And I'm riding through Brussels in the rain Back to Paris more or less confused By the shadows of tractors on the land By the changes in my life I pretend There's a new life waiting there for me I asked myself what sort of books I'd read In a train if I ever felt the need I bought "My life with Picasso" I think of so many things I like to do I will go to the Centre Pompidou There's a still-life part of my life too Adieu, adieu sweet bahnhof My train of thoughts is leaving tonight Now like an arrow we're aimed at Gare du Nord Between backs of the houses streets like fjords And the night falls over Paris So I've come back to the Hotel d'Angleterre I lay down on a double bed and stare At the ceiling what a feeling (to be back) Adieu, adieu sweet bahnhof My train of thoughts is leaving Tonight @SONG: The Tender Trap (Hofstede) And if you say it isn't hurting Oh if you say you do not care And all the tears that you have showed me You don't mean it - you don't care And so many times you Fell in a tender trap Though you are coming back You better pack all your suitcases you saved For this rainy day You're caught between two streams of traffic You're tasting liquors never brewed The drives of love the drives of hunger They control your changing mood Look straight in my eyes And show that hold-it-smile A new victim in your file You better tell me All your thoughts on packing So many things to say Oh oh oh someday Oh oh oh someday Oh oh oh someday you'll stay The autumn chapter of a novel And soon the roads are deep in snow I know it's late, I have to see you I like to talk before you go And so many times We missed the happy end I couldn't understand But when you come back I am sure I will fall in your tender trap @SONG: The Infant King (Peters) Wheels on steel go rumbling through the night Away, away they seem to say I tip-toe tip-toe through the sleeping train An infant king who meets his bride My self-reflection in the window pane A portrait or a photograph Two eyes two ears nose uncertain smile A child reflected thousandfold Someone said the other day The border's closed there's no way in or out Pack your bags make up your mind You can leave your memories behind The water in a river we just crossed Reflects a dark and rolling sky The train keeps speeding through an endless night My mood is changing every mile Someone said the other day The world is cracking up it's plain to see (I) overheard two people say Some gold works wonders when you want to go This is a portrait not a photograph It says a great deal about me Two eyes two ears nose uncertain smile The infant king is on his way @SONG: Vah Hollanda Seni Seni (Hofstede) You point your finger at the faces (my family) On this photograph This is my father (he looks like me) On this photograph I don't remember (I was too small) The day he went Only the money and the letters (sometimes he'd call) That he used to send Nere varsam ayrimcilik Evden \,cikmaz \,cocuk \,coluk G\ooz\uum ya\,sli i\,cim yanik Ah Hollanda seni seni; vah Hollanda seni seni Now we're living in the same town (I like your face) In this old back street I hear the neighbours when they whisper (a different face) In this old back street Gak medisi oldu cellat Aman doktor derdime bak I\,sverende yok merhamet Ah Hollanda seni seni; vah Hollanda seni seni Saglam geldik sakat oldule Yabanciler hep horlandik Bize ya\,sam \oold\uu artik Ah Hollanda seni seni; vah Hollanda seni seni \,Cifte kultur sorun oldu Gen\,clerin yildizi s\oond\uu Okurlar cikmaza girdik Ah Hollanda seni seni; vah Hollanda seni seni Aylik d\uu\,sduya\,sam \oold\uu Gocuk cocuk i\,s\,siz kaldi Heciz kapimiza geldi Ah Hollanda seni seni; vah Hollanda seni seni D\uuzen bozuk huzur hic yok Sosyal d\uuzen oldu bombok Robot geldi i\,s\,ci stop @SONG: Mountains in Minutes (Peters) Mountains in minutes in my head Mountains in minutes in my head The things I thought but haven't said Mountains in minutes in my head You lost them, you found them And still you can't surmount them You make them, you break them And yet you'll never take them Mountains in minutes in my head Volcanoes every word he said Mountains in minutes in my head Volcanoes underneath my bed My mood ever changing It needs some re-arranging But then in the morning It's gone without a warning The bells ring, it's sunday Here comes another funday A whole world to be taken I feel like china breaking Mountains in my head You lost them, you found them And still you won't surmount them You've seen them, you've heard them And yet you don't deserve them Mountains in my head @SONG: Fanfare (Stips) [Instrumental] @SONG: The Poor Man's Pound (Stips) A rich man's work always gets done He spends his days out in the sun Trusting the figures in the morning Your sweat - the oil in his machine You are the eyelid for his dreams He knows his ten commandments: Use your neighbours Love their labour The poor man's pound is all you get No matter what you try it's dead You've learned to write your name, so Sign these papers Love your neighbours @SONG: Villa Homesick (Peters) She lives in villa homesick The climate is her skin She spends her time playing solitaire Although she'll never win She reads her Daily Mirror A brief glance at the sun She's walking by the seaside Kicking the shells for fun She spends her days with kinfolk Understatements in the sun She spends her nights in clubland Old kinfolk on the run Great big benevolant sun Shining down on every-one On every-one Her skin is tight and wrinkled Especially in her neck Each day her body bronzes Her mind is wandering back To England's greenest pastures To Blackpool's bingo halls Though she likes to ignore it The homefront seems to call England's on the horizon England is forever home @SONG: The Ballroom of Romance (Hofstede/Peters) In the ballroom of romance Bridie's waiting for a dance With her back pressed to the wall She lets the lamplight stripe her hands She smells the perfume of her friends "Soir de Paris " No news from France, no news at all The secret glancing, the little schemes Have proven false elusive dreams We kissed, he said good-bye Sent away to foreign shores He's writing home, he dances no more No news from France tonight Maybe sad they sent him off to fight In some far distant land Maybe sad to see us part Baby sad the last dance is saved for me And for some sweet romance The last waltz lingers in our heart