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lyrics

Lost in London
© Penelope Swales 
1998

I was sitting in Soho square
Listen to the mobile telephones ringin'
Havin' just descended out of the air
I was tryin' to get a grip on everything
The out-of-tune agony of ice cream vans
Beggars and people with outstretched hands
Private book readers, public school kids
Lovers and stony-faced matrons
Aeroplanes and car alarms and the unending cacophony
Abounding this wee droplet here of relative tranquillity
Ahh

I didn't expect it to be so full-on
I expected empty benches like in Kirsty's song
But it's summer now, but it's winter where you are
But it's summer here, now, but it's winter in my heart
But it's summer now, and what's more, it's peak hour
Ahh

And my poor feet were pinched and smarting
Walking the streets in m' new Doc Martens
My old heart was sick and sore
Pounding the squares of the Monopoly Board
People say "Ooh you're from far away!
Now can you sing us the theme from Neighbours
A Country Practice, perhaps Rolf Harris
Or the tune from Home and Away

Here the cyclists wear gas masks
And the beggars spit brimstone in the politely ignoring parks
And people of all shapes and shades speak the same London drawl
To look at an Elm tree and see it belong here
Is something I wasn't prepared for at all
Harlequin couples warm my cockles
Smacked-out madman hassles and hustles
A man who looks like Bowie
Comes sloping by in platform shoes
Other solitary women wear the same hunchback of caution that I do
Ahh

And my poor feet were pinched and smarting
Walking the streets in m' new Doc Martens
My old heart was sick and sore
Pounding the squares of the Monopoly Board
People say "Ooh you're from far away!
Now can you sing us the theme from Neighbours
A Country Practice, perhaps Rolf Harris
Or the tune from Prisoner Cell Block H

And I was thinkin' of his shyness and his slender hips between my thighs As
my fingers sought the handgrips on the back of his motorbike
Dipping and weaving in the traffic and noise
And my bare Knees got paranoid
There's no margin for error in New Cross
Not an opportunity in sight
Ahh

When I'm lost in London
I try to stay close to couples in love
I warm my cold soul in their radiance
Tell myself - one day I'll be back in the sweet fold again
I observe the city from the cocoon of a train

And I'm amazed at the persistence of life
Weeds growing out of window-sills
Flowers blooming on asbestos roofing
And pigeons nesting in factory grills
And how do children still skip and glow
With that strange, pure luminosity
While they drink this hard water and breathe this foul air?
Ahhh

repeat 1st chorus

And the pissed old farts in the back of the pub sang
"Skippy the Bush Kangaroo"
All through the chorus of "Already Begun"
In some smoky dive where I played with a band called The Wayward Sons
Ahh

Hornpipe: "Weepy Jamie"

With a smile on my lips and a song in my heart
I'll be steppin' along in my old Doc Martens
Sweet, familiar streets of North Carlton
Stepping up to your door

credits

from Justifying your Longings to the Doctor, released January 7, 1998
Penelope Swales - vocals, guitar, stomp box
Kaz Dalla Rosa - chromatic harmonica

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Penelope Swales Boolarra, Australia

Penelope Swales has been articulating the human condition with passion and humour for 30+ years. She sings about politics, love, friendship, the unbreakable bond between us and dogs and the impact of the Internet on society. She won the 2019 Alistair Hulett Songs for Social Justice Award with “Cambridge Analytica”. “The Ides of March in Christchurch" was short-listed for the same award in 2020. ... more

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