Colin's Gone Camping

O'er hills, down the valleys,
day's breaking all around.
Can't see no shops or factories,
can't even feel a sound.
Got away from vans and lorries .
Left behind next week's worries.
Colin's gone campnig.

Soon we'll go walking,
heading out of the night.
It'll be morning.
No need to be right.
Shouldn't be any complications.
Can't see no tube stations.
Colin's gone camping.


Capability Red                1979

Commit No Nuisance

I was blinded by the shine of her cold metalic stare.
The place was swarming with uniforms, but nobody seemed aware.
She wasn't wearing those leather boots just to keep her legs warm.
I sensed an eerie atmosphere, just like the calm before the storm

We were all born naked and open mouthed.
But I find it easier to lie than to let my feelings out.
Sometimes I wonder where I'm going.
And I wonder where I've been.
I think that I've been here before.
Or, was it just a dream?

Jim was counting down the second hand on his second hand watch.
We'd been sleeping rough that night, I could have done with a wash.
There were so many people listening, I felt an itching in my brain.
And I was blinded by the shine. Oh no! Here I go again.

We were all born human, a little while ago.
Do you love your girlfriend? Do you let her know?
Sometimes I wonder where I'm going.
And I wonder where I've been.
I think I've met you before.
Or, was it in a dream?


Capability Red                 aprox  1975

Our Little Secret

Folk would laugh if they just knew.
How could it happen? Me and you.
I won't tell a soul, I promise you.
It's our little secret.

Neither of us was really to blame.
And afterwards we both felt the same.
No guilt, no regret, no sorrow, no shame.
Just our little secret.

It's not as if we were naive.
And you were smiling I believe.
Nobody knows. What a reprieve.
It's still our little secret.

So. What on earth am I writing about?
Offering no clues to work it out.
Hidden away and shrouded in doubt.
Stays our little secret.


Capability Red                  April 2015

Read The Morning Star

Does anybody ever buy the Morning Star?
Tell me; is there a paper shop
Somewhere, near, or far.
That sells the Morning Star?

Do you want to hear an alternative point of view?
Listen to me Comrade,
The Morning Star's the one for you.
And you can take out a postal subscription.

You're not satisfied with the way things are being run.
Would you appreciate a system, that's fair for everyone?
Well! Make a start somewhere:
Read the Morning Star.

We've gotta speak up. Build a people's press.
It's fourteen pence a day: More or less!
Give or take; a dirty look, or two.
Because they're out to get you.

If you:
Read The Morning Star.


Capability Red                        1978

At Leytonstone Station

Dawn breaks above dark tunnels, tired signals and tracks at Leytonstone Station.
Cold steel tracks struggling to carry weary, dreary, hum drum trains to and fro.
And a struggling morning sun casts September shadows onto platform 2.
Shadows which never sleight the shattering mosaics of the subway.
A subway that seasons don't sweep.Where their eyes first met.
And busy remote commuters avoid eye contact at all cost.
Questioning the cost of smoke and print at the tiny station kiosk.
Leytonstone Station, where two young lovers embarked on their journey.
A journey begining with a lingering glance and a teasing sense of vertigo.
Sensing amorous tingles and the bleak moodiness of brown leather.

Darkening moods at Leytonstone Station strain as autumn takes a grip.
Gripping onto distant dreams, prospects and tales that strangers tell.
Just who was that passing stranger who asked them for directions?
And directed his gaze towards the light in that upstairs window.
A window pruriently overlooking platform 2, witnessing trains departing daily.
Platform 2 soaking up the seasons' never ending wanton emotions.
Seasons come and seasons go. But, today it is cold at Leytonstone Station.
Eerie coldness of ticking clocks as time passes slowly, passes slowly.
Minutes pass into hours, hordes of passengers pass through station barriers.
At Leytonstone Station. Where two capricious spirits intertwine.
And then disperse......................................


Capability Red        Feb 2015

All Quiet Outside Bracken House

It's all quiet outside Bracken House tonight.
listen: You can't hear a single press rolling.
It's all quiet outside Bracken House tonight,
see the Chapel sitting in the shadow of St Pauls.
There's a blind new peace rising out of the storm tonight,
a gentle soothing calm will be ours tomorrow.
And they've abandoned the moral vigils in Distaff Lane,
brothers, are singing in the pouring rain.
Outside Bracken House


Capability Red          aprox' 1979

Lon, say a prayer

Lon say a prayer and cast out your vanity,
look in the mirror, see your sanity.
Lon say a prayer, or cry tomorrow.
The candle will flicker
through the gales of sorrow.

Lon say a prayer and I'll pray for you,
for the people we know, reprobates too.
Let's sit down together, open our minds,
shall we pick up the pieces
and see what we find?

Lon say a prayer, value this love.
Make an ode of a happening , float above.
Don't interupt, almost there.
Oh Lon, say a prayer.


Capability Red       aprox' 1976