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| Pete Atkin sings
No Dice by Clive James and Pete Atkin, [Much more at www.peteatkin.com] |
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| LYRIC: | |||||
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I tried hard to be useful, but no dice With no spit left I couldn't soften leather With these old hands I couldn't even sew So yesterday they left me on the ice I could barely lift my head to watch them go The sky was white, my eyes grew full of snow What thing reached me first, bears or the weather I just don't know Yesterday was oh so long ago Yesterday was oh so long ago — so very long ago I saw across our path through the lagoon Thick shrubberies of hail collide and quarrel Sudden trees of shellburst hump and blow Our LVT turned through the reef too soon The front went down, we all got set to go But the whole routine was just too bloody slow What kind of splinters hit me, steel or coral I just don't know Yesterday was oh so long ago Yesterday was oh so long ago — so very long ago We hit the secret trails towards thin air Aware we'd never live to tell the story And at the last deep lake before the snow We rigged the slings, chipped out the water-stair Swung out the holy gold and let it go It sank so far it didn't even glow And if the priest died too to share our glory I just don't know Yesterday was oh so long ago Yesterday was oh so long ago — so very long ago Yesterday we finished with the ditch We stacked our spades and knelt in groups of seven Our hands were wired by an NCO With a fluent-from-long-practice loop and hitch No dice -- there was nothing left to throw A bump against your neck and down you go And if I kept my peace or cried to heaven I just don't know Yesterday was oh so long ago Yesterday was oh so long ago — so very long ago Yesterday from midnight until dawn I lay remembering my lost endeavour The love song that would capture how things flow The one song that refuses to be born For I have tried a thousand times or so To link the ways men die with how they grow But no dice, and if I'll do it ever I just don't know Yesterday was oh so long ago Yesterday was oh so long ago Yesterday was oh so long ago Yesterday was oh so long ago Yesterday was oh so long ago Yesterday was oh so long ago | |||||
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