Cyberpunx

Cyberpunx was that scariest of all things, a concept album; actually it was even worse, it was devised as a rock opera!

Rodney says: “I’ve always felt that rock’n’role lyrics are the worst kind of literature, and I wanted to try to write something that had the depth of a novel. So I put together the whole story of Cyberpunx as if it were an opera libretto, then wrote the songs to fit into sections of it.”

Briefly, the story is set in a future war between the European Union and the Arab states, and is told through the eyes of one of the protaganists, an orphan boy who grows up in the jungle, becomes a European helicopter pilot, falls in love with a girl from the other (Arab) side, deserts, takes the girl to a space station where he gets her pregnant, gets brain damaged, becomes a hardcore criminal, and ends up as a dying in a hostage situation.

The record company hated the idea, and refused to release it in the form Rodney wanted. After much argument and pressure from them we agreed to let them change the track order, drop some things etc. This was the worst decision we have ever made and we have regretted it ever since. The album as it is now is a bit of a bastardised version of what it should have been. It should have been magnificent, but it’s not. It is still a damn good record however, has some great stuff on it.

Incidentally, some of the tracks from this aborted story appeared on other records: Forests and Fire & Forget appeared on the Finland EP, Why and Lullaby appeared on the War Against Sleep album. Someday we would like to piece the whole thing together as it was intended to be, including the full original story. And if we ever get the money, put the opera on the stage. We’ll see…


NICE WORK (IF YOU CAN GET IT) (Gordon/Jansen/Orpheus)

Standing on the Autobahn just outside Stuttgart
I’d been waiting there for hours
The rain was coming down like God was fit to bust
It was him or me
Then a guy pulls up in a brand-new Rover
He’s got a PC in the back seat
With a cell-phone, says he’s an architect
For some big firm based in Rome

Nice work, if you can get it

I take him out at the next gas station
Mace him on the toilet while he’s doing coke
Then break his neck with a Japanese steel whip
That I keep handy for times like these
Leave him sitting on the bowl
With the light shining in his eyes
He’s got a weird grin
And a hard-on

Nice work, if you can get it

Back in car, I load the guy’s computer
‘Course he keeps his passwords on a smart card
Taped under the dash
Money is wasted on the rich
A few hours later I’m in Liechtenstein
Spending his money on a diamond mine
It’s been a good day
It’s been a good day

Nice work, if you can get it


LET’S GO TO EUROPE (Galvin/Orpheus)

Three hundred years ago we threw you out
We didn’t want you then, and we don’t want you now
You didn’t take our culture, you took slaves instead
You wrote a constitution and left it unread

Let’s go to Europe

Your only source of knowledge is T.V.
You censor everything and think you are free
The land of milk and honey
Becomes the land of the Me

Let’s go to Europe

We did Paris this morning, now we’re in Amsterdam
We’ll be in Rome tomorrow if all goes to plan
By the end of the week, we’ll have covered it all
There’s not much to Europe really, it’s so small

Go back to the colonies, go back to where you belong
Go back to the land that you stole, and leave us humans alone

Let’s go to Europe


JIHAD GIRL (Gordon, Jansen, Orpheus)

Stuck at the end of the world
Stuck in the ruins of Berlin
Saw my insides in my hands
Survived by force of will
And by the thought of you
Jihad Girl

Take my hand, take me away
Wrap me in your arms of steel
Hold me like a baby
Press my lips to your skin
Jihad Girl

And I wish there was no time but now
You come from the stars, and the world dissolves
There’s nothing left, nothing but the torch and the rope
And the touch of your kiss
Jihad Girl

And I wish there was no time but now
And I wish there was no time but now
The battlefields of this world don’t mean a thing
When I’m with you
Jihad Girl


I WANT YOU (Gordon/Jansen/Orpheus)

Why do you look at me that way?
Why don’t you come over here
We’re young, free, and stupid
We can be anything

I want you

I’ll come over to your house
And play games with you
We’ll take off our clothes
We’ll be together

I want you

We’ll do what we want
We’ll do anything we want
I won’t take no for an answer
We can be anything

I want you

Come on!

I want you


SLEEPER (Gordon/Jansen/Orpheus)

I’ve been in this place for too long
Lying in wait
A man without a life
Of my own
A bomb without a fuse
A sentence without a stop
A start without an end

I’m a sleeper

Someday the phone will ring
I’ll get my orders
I’ll come awake
And I’ll go home
I will go home

I’m a sleeper

I’m a sleeper
Loneliness keeps me alive
I’m a sleeper
But I will go home

Someday I’ll go home
Someday I’ll go home
Not sleeping but dreaming
I’m a sleeper


NIGHTFALL (OVER EC) (Galvin/Gordon/Jansen/Orpheus)

When I hear you calling I won’t answer
When I hear you calling I won’t be there
I’ll be flying over some other Europe
Filled with darkness, filled with despair

Night falls over Western Europe

Jihad is coming, jihad is coming
The Third World War is coming home

Night falls over Western Europe

The hills are alive with the sound of gunfire
Kill them all, God will know his own
And night falls over Western Europe
Night falls, and we’re alone

Night falls over Western Europe


INTO THE HEART (Galvin/Orpheus)

In a boat heading upriver
In a boat heading to your heart
The end of comfort, the end of artifice
The end of everything, the end of everything

Into the heart

I snort some coke
It’s in my brain
Makes me feel alive
Makes the world insane

Into the heart

I see the colours
Of the trees
Out there’s the enemy
Waiting for me

Into the heart

I got an Uzi
The only work of art
And on the handgrip
I paint my heart

Into the heart


WHAT TURNS YOU ON? (Galvin/Gordon/Orpheus/Wilson)

My name is Ted Bundy
I was a really nice guy
Till I discovered girls
Discovered they should die
I used to capture girls
I liked to see them dead
But now that I’ve been caught
I’ve found Jesus instead

What turns you on?

I liked to dig the ground
I liked to see the dead
And when I came in them
It’s like Jesus giving head
Jesus is so good
Jesus is so true
Jesus, oh Jesus
I do it for you

What turns you on?

I want to tell you all
I want to testify
Don’t think I would lie
Just ’cause I’m gonna fry
The pictures of those girls
Took away my shame
Took away my morals
And the Devil came!


UGLY (Galvin/Gordon/Jansen/Orpheus)

Why does the phone keep ringing?
Why does the phone keep ringing?
I don’t wanna talk to you right now
Can’t you see I’m busy?
I don’t wanna talk to you right now
I got work to do

I’ve gotta get this thing cleaned before tomorrow
And my hands keep on shaking
And that woman keeps on crying
And the phone keeps on ringing

I’m never see the world again
All I see are flashing lights
I’m never gonna get out of here
But I don’t care, because

Your world is ugly
Ugly because it made me
Ugly
Your world is ugly

I don’t really wanna kill no more
But I have to stop the voices
God won’t let me rest
God won’t set me free, because

I am ugly

I’m stuck here in this room with a stupid woman
And a gun, and a telephone
And you outside, trying to call me
You want to talk, but I only talk to God

‘Cause you are ugly
Ugly
Ugly
Ugly

But my gun is clean
Now here come the bullets
Here come the bullets
Here come the bullets
Here come the bullets


FIRE & FORGET (Galvin/Gordon/Jansen/Orpheus)

Dawn is breaking on the canopy
The sun is shining in front of me
The world outside is bright and beautiful
Bright and beautiful
Down below I can see the earth
The sun and the sky and the birds
And all the people like little insects
Running around
Fire & forget

I push down hard on the stick
The wind rushes past the wings
I feel the pressure build up inside of me
I push the button
Fire & forget

The world explodes
Filling with flames
Filling with fire
Fire & forget

I feel so light
I feel so good
Feeling so good
Just fire & forget
Fire & forget

Wheeling around
Heading in for the kill
Just push the button
Just fire & forget
Fire & forget


FORESTS (Orpheus)

The white man came many moons ago
He put his hand in his suit pocket
Took out a seed that he had stolen from this land
He said:
We give you aid that you’ll grow healthy
The fields will grow, no matter what the weather
Your wife will bear many children
The boys grow strong, the boys grow strong
The boys grow strong, the boys grow strong

The next year, I tried to plant the seed again
But the white man said it wasn’t mine, and took it all away
It came from the ground, but he says he made it with his hands
He walks with God, so he must understand

I gave the man some of my useless land
He brought his cows and he brought his plows
He brought his cars and his factories
He makes the seed, but he eats the ground

The boys grow strong, the boys grow strong
But where have all the forests gone?