We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Last Holiday Before Divorce - Deleted Scenes From An Unfinished Sequel

by luxembourg

/
1.
pulling in at the station leaving little trail i’m a phantom picked up in a real car its presence large as life the holiday you’re due to go on i’ve been there and it’s all right but not for anyone who’s travelling alone letting down your guard and telling me there’s nothing wrong but boredom fork spoon knife back at mine lash the bolts across the door throw up on the laminate floor of my life back at mine lash the bolts across the door throw up on the never-quite-clean floor of my life
2.
he’s driving up and down the country a proud man with a big… wheel between his legs he’s taking rubbish here, tat there but not taking any crap off anyone but if he closed his eyes the lorry would keep rolling on and on the cabin would cocoon him it’s warm the amber lights would stretch on and on he’s wearing polyester blue trousers a sewn-in seam gracing the middle of the front trading motorway for carriageway not imagining there could be another way these days, his thighs… they form a lap as he completes another lap he thinks that’s not right for a real man mostly, his thighs… they form a lap as he completes another lap he thinks that’s not right for a real man his thoughts drift his eyes close the sounds blur his eyes close but the road stretches on i think i’m in love
3.
Radio (demo) 03:22
well, i can’t talk about right now but the past might be safer ground let’s say you pick the month and i, the century oh, but you’ll never know me i like your big idea, antonio but then you get done over by so and so now you only look pretty on the radio that’s how we sleep at night now it’s 1937, so away you go you’ve pointed out the problem but still on it goes so you’re never gonna hear me on the radio that’s how i sleep at night i want to be kissed in a velvet summer what a way of passing my time re-inventing old parlour rhymes from charades, i progressed to blind man’s bluff and blankety blank oh, but you’ll never know me i want to be kissed in a velvet summer where your friends are free one way or another i want to be kissed in a velvet summer where your friends are free somewhere or other! oh, spartacus are you proud of us? well, i can’t live with myself oh, junius are you bored of us? that’s how we cope i want to kiss you in a velvet summer
4.
Kick Me 03:15
i used to hitch-hike i used to walk home at night i was always flirting with strangers laughing in the face of… but that’s not why that’s not why that’s not why, why, why you beat me and even as you did it i thought of how the papers would report it: “frenzied, cold-blooded, undeserved” and how that really didn’t capture it you kicked me and even as you did it i thought of how the witness would relate it: you’d be “outrageous” while i’d be “courageous” and how that really didn’t capture it i used to speak my mind i’d go beyond the party line i was off message more than i was on always off siding with the underdog but that’s not why not why, why, why and how they’ll really never capture you
5.
we’ve got dirt on you from five months and four years ago we’ve got dirt on you from three years and six months ago and yes, things were different then but that doesn’t matter now if you’re still of use to us you’ll be rehabilitated if you’re of no use to us you’ll be destroyed but it was fiction it was art it was fiction it was art you see, your lily-livered relativistic ways are out of step with the times your pussy-footing shifting meanings will never keep us safe, no we’ve got dirt on you from ten years and three months ago from four years and seven weeks ago and nothing else matters now for what i’ve done, you’ll see me dead we’re changing tack and we’re backdating our decision you’re on best behaviour now but you can’t take back what’s been said art is no defence we can’t afford that now art is no defence we don’t have that luxury now shame on you shame on you i can’t say what i really want to say i’ll keep my mouth shut i can’t take you on i’m not strong enough i’m so glad i never made it into the arena the arena i would have been torn apart i would have been savaged shame on you shame on you all your good work undone in one moment for what i’ve done, you’ll see me dead but by your own hand
6.
it comes in the morning and sits upon my chest waking me with reminders of the ways i’m in its debt can’t you leave me be? can’t you spare me, please? i just want the quietness the sunshine cracks the blisters on the window now it comes in the daytime and squats upon my thighs slowing down my movements dragging down my mind leave me as i am i am the wrong one i just want the quietness the sun’s on my back and the dampness in my bones now it comes in the evening puts its hands across my mouth applying steady pressure filling me with doubt these two hot hands i cannot stand i just want the quietness the sun burns on as if it would without me
7.
from dickensian street lamps onto double yellow lines the light falls forming haloes round the puddles and the drains look at the signs breathe in the air reach for the mist listen to this: the unknown pleasure of being unknown i had an inkling of something else it didn’t change my life oh well, that doesn’t matter anymore i’m not quite right but i’m not quite not right days spent sitting on a hard chair in a waiting room with no appointment just to feel the fullness of time ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! your dad’s a northern butcher and your skin’s like polished plaster but i just have the haloes round the puddles and drains go ahead with your travel plans and formulating opinions it couldn’t happen in a town like this that’s not quite right but it’s not quite not right not quite right but it’s not quite not right not quite right but it’s not quite not right
8.
pack book and water into a bag there is a sandy beach out of season but still warm beside a town whose population has an average age of seventy-four and he wants the sun to shine to dry up the memory from his mind but when the sun it deigns to shine he feels no better the locals will not give you bother just nervous, cautious little smiles the weather’s always been capricious as is my mind as is my mind so he wants the hail to fall smashing the image of it all but when the hail begins to fall he feels no better so he wants the sun to shine drying the memory from his mind but when the sun it deigns to shine he feels no better you say the best is yet to come but that cannot work forever you say the best is yet to come but that cannot go on working forever you say the best is yet to come but that only works for so long so long
9.
there’s a job to do don’t think too much just act there’s a time to fill don’t think too much just do what must be done you’ll hear the grass cutters the mouth shutters the time flutters the mad mutters there’s a life to live don’t think too much just act there’s a mouth to fill don’t think so much just do what you need to do you’ll hear the crowd scream the weak scheme the wet dream the world seem i choose to say this life’s enough but i decide this every day every day and how i wish the skies would make their minds up
10.
well, the first time we met you were twenty-five and i was twenty and heroic acts were really not your scene you didn’t rescue a bag grabbed from me in naples there wasn’t a time when you saved me out at sea but you said: i’ll be overwhelmed by something rare and strange vanity can make memory a very good one so i still recall the predicament you shared you took me into your confidence and i’ve been stuck there ever since you were afraid so i stayed and sat and stared as you said: i’ll be overwhelmed by something rare and strange the beast in the jungle may or may not get you but the fear of it almost certainly will do and if the fear of the beast in the jungle doesn’t get you regret will regret will regret will as you say: i’ll be overwhelmed by something rare and strange it could be quite profound or something quite mundane an act of violence or an act of love i kept your counsel well but nothing happened still you occupied the best years of my life i helped you to pass for a human being i helped you to pass like any other i helped you to pass we’ve spent our days in idle ways in waiting for your fear to come to pass now i’m growing ill and it will be cruel not to live to see your worst fear come to pass
11.
early morning standing at the source you on the south side me on the north a handshake we’re away eastbound all the way the river gets wider so quickly echoes of the pitches that made way for the westway to stay cars gaining height but no take-offs (not tonight) keep the windows small keep the engine noise at bay it feels like when you went away you were piled up in the fast lane you were pulled in by the slipstream because you strayed east of SE10 proper maritime i shout to your shore you shout back out of time every blind container punted down the river floated on ahead of us (for now) step into the tunnel i’ll meet you in the middle as the water presses down a stairwell without piss who could ask for more than this? i’m sure i saw someone reach dry land then just turn around it feels like when you went away you were piled up in the fast lane you were pulled in by the slipstream you were dragged in by the current to be washed up on the shoreline because you strayed as night falls we reach the dam i had hoped to identify a definite point at which river becomes mouth mouth becomes sea but it’s too dark now instead i take my clothes off tie them into a rope lower myself down the slimy concrete face and go with the flow
12.
the darkened park’s surely unengaged its paths lit by magritte houses too red; greenery too green nobody wants this beat the view across the ex-docks underneath the city airport flight path as seen from the lifting bridge but your black box recorder says the bridge won’t lift again why did you go? i’m lying low when that’s the worst place i could be you had to go i’m lying low letting the swell wash over me we used to play in the water lapping round the slip roads, the spires and the office blocks knowing our home was dry albeit overstocked but now it’s always empty on shooter’s hill they do their best but they’re overwhelmed resources overstretched come home tonight without you london is blue i’m letting the water wash all over me
13.
are you the best that’s on offer? will our passion turn to sufferance? do you have a juicy income, barn conversion and good pension? will you run off with my brother? will you run off with my mother? trust you as far as i’d throw you, should i? do i even know you? how i love you and i always will do i don’t have a doubt i’ll stay with you from now until my hair falls out and yours is blue this love is real and true are we even in the same league? are you sleeping with your colleague? i’ve seen the way she looks at you grass much greener; skies more blue will you clean the bathroom weekly? rub my tired shoulders meekly? will you help with the recycling? to our ideals, will you cling?

about

A collection of songs in various states of completion, that could have (should have?) made up our sophomore album. As it was, it turned out to be a farewell gift to the faithful. Some of it is still brilliant, though, and Rob will still fiercely defend Art Is No Defence to anyone who dares dismiss it.

credits

released May 15, 2008

David Shah - Vocals
Alex Potterill - Keyboards/Programming/Vocals
Rob Britton - Guitars/Keyboards/Vocals
David Barnett - Bass/Vocals
Steve Brummell - Drums

Recorder on Kick Me by Jenni Britton
Saxophone on Not Quite Right / Not Quite Not Right by Phil Whaite

Recorded & produced by Alex Potterill in N19
except 4 & 7 recorded at Bark, engineered by Brian O'Shaughnessy
5 recorded & produced by Rob Britton in N8 & David Shah in SE3
13 recorded & produced by Richard Adderley, with additional production by Rob Britton

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

luxembourg London, UK

Luxembourg are a British five-piece indie band, formed in London in 2001. Most often compared to artists like Pulp, The Smiths, Suede and Roxy Music, they have been described as "pop noir".

contact / help

Contact luxembourg

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like luxembourg, you may also like: