electronic :: songs

(electronic)

  every time i watch tv
 on the news is something major
 i’m a prisoner, set me free
 turn this atoll into vapour

  genocide put on the side, it’s always new
 politicians want to share their point of view

  united nations are demanding
 foreign troops have made a landing
 city dealers at an auction
 shares are falling fast

  suicide is not an option
 waiting for the crash

  i walk this wild road
 can you tell me, will i reach the end
 this endless night goes on
 but i still can’t find my way home

  misguided youth are mixing juice with alcohol
 desert states are praying for the rains to fall
 peace in ireland is an issue
 goodbye bombs, we’re gonna miss you

  the southern ice has almost gone
 the silly fools just carry on

  i walk this wild road
 can you tell me, will i reach the end
 this endless night goes on
 but i still can’t find my way home

  i walk this wild road
 can you tell me, will i reach the end
 this endless night goes on
 but still i carry on

  this world’s out of reach, but i don’t want it
 the people are creeps, that live here on it
 it’s always the same, it’s not gonna change
 when we go to school with saddam hussein

  i’d cry all night, if i could change it
 ask jesus christ, could he arrange it

  is there anyone out there who cares
 if a child can run free?
 can a girl walk the street?
 will united get beat?

album version—6:26

twisted tenderness
twisted tenderness::deluxe

the barbed lyrics of flicker are a good example of bernard’s increasing interest in the state of the world as a subject over his own neuroses, though the serious message is nicely offset by the final line, the equal of one day’s capricious second verse. sumner: “neil tennant was talking about some group and he said their lyrics all sounded like they’d read it in the newspaper the day before. and karl bartos said that kraftwerk used to take negative comments that people made about them and write songs about them. so i thought: why don’t we combine the two things?” before late at night was shelved in the uk there were rumours that this would be the third single from twisted tenderness; in the end it proved to be the final track on the last electronic album, and it’s a song that’s worthy of that distinction.