Singer Songwriters From England

"Son, son, I admire your sincerity. Always be sincere - whether you mean it or not."

"Away on the hilltop sat combing her hair His fair Hippopotamine maid. The Hippopotamus was no ignoramus And sang her this sweet serenade: Mud! Mud! Glorious mud! Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood. So, follow me, follow, down to the hollow, And there let us wallow in glorious mud."

"I'm a g-nu, I'm a g-nu, The g-nicest work of g-nature in the zoo"

"The bottle-nosed whale is a furlong long, And likewise wise But headstrong strong"

"Hold very tight please Ting ting"

"No more will I go To Blandford Forum And Mortehoe - On the Slow Train From Midsomer Norton And Mumby Road - No churns, no porter No cat on a seat At Chorlton-cum-Hardy Or Chester-le-Street I won't be leaving again On the Slow Train"

"Pity the poor old rhino with A bodger on its bonce."

"The English, the English, the English are best - I wouldn't give tuppence for all of the rest!"

"When I stopped touring in the early '80s for a few years, it was a mistake looking back. I lost touch with my audience in a way and I think that was a bad career move."

"Words can be very powerful. I find them very difficult."

"People think I wake up in the morning and put on a tuxedo."

"I don't think I've ever played the Olympia before, but I'm not totally sure."

"The way that the Nazis staged themselves and presented themselves, my Lord! I’m talking about the films of Leni Riefenstahl and the buildings of Albert Speer and the mass marches and the flags — just fantastic. Really beautiful."

"I like the name Atomic Kitten. It's so great."

"All those rappers, they're the only glamorous people working in music now. The rock bands are rather drab, even the good ones. You definitely don't want to look at them. But some of those R&B people are very good."

"At least I've never sold my story. That's one point for me at least. And I am never going to, there are too many risks to take, so that's a no for me. I've had countless and endless offers but I'd rather be in a nursing home with bad carers than splashed all over the tabloids. So, please don't stir up nonsense to get more people to buy your magazines, or make up something to peddle your own brand of propaganda."

"It spurs me on. I'm going to get over that, I'm a good songwriter, my kids are happy, the band is great and I've almost sorted out all my debts. At least I've never sold my story. I've had countless offers but I'd rather be in a bedsit council flat than splashed all over Hello! or the tabloids. I really would, I have a responsibility to my band and my children as well. I don't believe in it, I'm never ever tempted."

"I know that people are interested, and I understand why, but I don't want that stuff to overshadow my life. It's just the way it is. I'm a singer, I'm in a band, I've been out with musicians, I've had children with two different musicians. To me, it's no big deal. I only get upset because I want people to listen to the songs. Listen to the LP or come and see my band. I don't like it when people write about my life and don't even mention the music."

"Well there's a line that you must toe and it'll soon be time to go but it's darker than you know in those Complicated Shadows"

"Why can't a man stand alone? Must he be burdened by all that he's taught to consider his own? His skin and his station, his kin and his crown, his flag and his nation They just weigh him down"

"Nonsense prevails, modesty fails Grace and virtue turn into stupidity While the calendar fades almost all barricades to a pale compromise And our leaders have feasts on the backsides of beasts They still think they're the gods of antiquity If something you missed didn't even exist It was just an ideal — is it such a surprise?"

"Now I just don't know who to tell to go to hell Who put the old devil in the distorted angel?"

"There's always something that's smoldering somewhere I know it don't make a difference to you But oh! It sure made a difference to me You'll see me off in the distance, I hope At the other end At the other end of the telescope."

"Lie down baby now don't say a word There there baby your vision is blurred Your head is so sore from all of that thinking I don't want to hurt you now But I think you're shrinking."

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture — it's a really stupid thing to want to do."

"What shall we do, what shall we do with all this useless beauty?"

"The boy said 'Dad they're going to take me to task But I'll be back by Christmas' It's just a rumour that was spread around town Somebody said that someone got filled in For saying that people get killed in The result of this shipbuilding With all the will in the world Diving for dear life When we could be diving for pearls."

"Is it all in that pretty little head of yours? What goes on in that place in the dark? Well I used to know a girl and I would have sworn that her name was Veronica Well she used to have a carefree mind of her own and a delicate look in her eye These days I'm afraid she's not even sure if her name is Veronica."

"I'm a man with a mission in two or three editions And I'm giving you a longing look Everyday, everyday, everyday I write the book."

"While you lie in the dark, afraid to breathe and you beg and you promise And you bargain and you plead Sometimes you confuse me with Santa Claus It's the big white beard I suppose. Im going up to the pole, where you folks die of cold I might be gone for a while if you need me."

"Clowntime is over Time to take over While others just talk and talk Somebody's watching where the others don't walk."

"Now Im dead, now Im dead, and you're all Going on to meet your reward. Are you scared? Are you scared? Are you scared? Are you scared? You might have never heard, but God's comic."

"As I walk through This wicked world Searchin' for light in the darkness of insanity, I ask myself Is all hope lost? Is there only pain and hatred, and misery? And each time I feel like this inside, There's one thing I wanna know: What's so funny 'bout Peace, Love, & Understanding?"

"Don't tell me you don't know what love is When you're old enough to know better."

"Accidents will happen We only hit and run He used to be your victim Now you're not the only one.Accidents will happen We only hit and run I don't want to hear it 'Cause I know what I've done."

"Theres so many fish in the sea That only rise up in the sweat and smoke like mercury"

"I wanna bite the hand that feeds me. I wanna bite that hand so badly. I want to make them wish they'd never seen me."

"And it's the damage that we do And never know It's the words that we don't say That scare me so."

"Turn up the TV. No one listening will suspect, even your mother won't detect it, no your father won't know. they think that I've got no respect but everything means less than zero."

"She said that's that. I don't wanna chitter-chat. Turn it down a little bit or turn it down flat. Pump it up when you don't really need it. Pump it up until you can feel it."

"Oliver's army is here to stay Oliver's army are on their way And I would rather be anywhere else But here today."

"They say you better listen to the voice of reason But they don't give you any choice 'cause they think that it's treason. So you had better do as you are told. You better listen to the radio."

"I don't feel any form of music is beyond me in the sense of that I don't understand it or I don't have some love for some part of it. And if there's something in it that I can respond to, then there's something that I might be able to use as a composer. There are records of mine that have had smaller audiences and have provoked really drastic responses from people — particularly from critics — who maybe don't have quite enough time to live with the record or accept that a piece has its own integrity."

"Nice girls, not one with a defect, Cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct. Red dogs under illegal legs, She looks so good that he gets down and begs.She is watching the detectives. "Ooh, it's so cute." She's watching the detectives. When they shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. They beat him up until the teardrops start, But he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart."

"I've had a lot of different experiences in music over the years. And not everything you do can satisfy everybody's idealised version of you."

"Alison, I know this world is killing you. Oh, Alison, my aim is true. My aim is true."

"Oh I used to be disgusted and now I try to be amused. But since their wings have got rusted, you know, the angels wanna wear my red shoes."

"So beautiful and fortunate You're the one who hates to love But he's the one who loves to hate."

"I had a lot of problems with my name … my first name Declan is really not very well known outside of Ireland, MacManus is a name they could never spell ... if you think about the names of '76, '77 … I got off kind of lightly — with a name you could live with, you know, in time. … I kind of liked the dare of it. Of course we weren't to know that within a month of my first album actually being issued Elvis Presley would die, and it would actually be a talking point. … Let me put it this way — people don't forget you with that name. It's sort of receded as — and this may sound terribly disrespectful and heretical — but as Elvis Presley has receded as a musical force, people make much less of a case about it. Elvis is a sort of cultural figure but there is no direct line between the music of Elvis Presley and the music of today. There is none whatsoever, he's no influence whatsoever, that I can detect, on music made today. Other than people who consciously retro in styling themselves after his ideas. There is no direct impact in the way that you can hear the influence of The Beatles or Stevie Wonder or numerous other people."

"Obviously the people that I admired, like the Beatles, were really into rock'n'roll, but it was already a little past rock'n'roll when I started listening and making my own choices about music. I've been lucky to listen to lots of different types of music."