All On The First Day

Tony, Caro & John

Long days of wanting you here
Living in fear
Shedding many a tear for me
Long nights of pasty-faced moons
Echoing rooms
All filling with gloom for me
Letters by goblin mail
Feeling like the wind from the sea
Got to thinking 'bout my lonely trail
Decided I must have you here with me
Now step closer into the light
Must have the sight
Of you as I make love with you
'Cos there's nothing lovelier girl
In all the world
Than making love with you

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals, acoustic guitars.
Caro Clark: vocals.
John Clark: bass.

Something dark is circling around
People crouch in fear on the ground
And those that stand above the throng with spears
Were normal people ere this night appeared
Waiting, waiting
For an eclipse of the moon
Eclipse of the moon

The clocks chime the departing of the hour
Beneath the totem pole of flesh they cower
And at a stroke my mind is on its own
I break out of the circle all alone
Waiting, waiting
For an eclipse of the moon
Eclipse of the moon

His body's growing old before its time
But his mind wants to live forever
He's out on loan by mistake
His frame must wither
And his unconscious self
Must be withdrawn altogether
Tonight

Something dark is cradled in my arms
The gathering now looks on me with alarm
And I am known to them and everything
When they all see what it is I bring
Waiting, waiting
For an eclipse of the moon
Eclipse of the moon

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals, acoustic guitar, slide guitar.
Caro Clark: vocals, percussion.
John Clark: bass.

Found her 'neath a lamp-post
Sitting in the damp
Took her to her room
Where she hides amongst a whisky haze
Beneath a bedroom lamp

Now the city keeps her going
But saps her life and breath
The country is so pretty
But soon, she told us, living there
Would bore her half to death

"Oh I'm so unhappy" she cried
"Oh I'm so unhappy" she cried
And the night blew cold and windy outside

Plied us with her whisky
Brought us all to tears
Showed us all the money
She bought us with, of course she thought
That she could buy our ears

"Oh I'm so unhappy" she cried
"Oh I'm so unhappy" she cried
And the night blew cold and windy outside

Now Meg she is so good to us
Nicest in the world
But when the time
For business comes, she'll twist the knife
And never say a word

"Oh I'm so unhappy" she cried
"Oh I'm so unhappy" she cried
And the night blew cold and windy outside

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, violin.
Caro Clark: vocals.
John Clark: bass.

Instrumental

Written by Tony Doré & John Clark
Tony Doré: acoustic guitar, electric guitar.
John Clark: bass.

Before the word drew nigh here
The news was in my head
The sky was full of vapour trails
The sun shone bloody red
"Will we really die here?"
A passing stranger said
I said "I don't know
But I must be getting home"
Apocalypso

The sun poured forth a million volts
Of disdain on the land
The sky was full of nuts and bolts
Which moved at some command
John chain-smoked by the radio
A pencil in his hand
Then my lover walks in
And sits down as in a trance
Apocalypso

Let's go to bed I say then
She follows right away
She is in the bathroom
As the sky begins to grey
"Will we really die here?"
I hear my lover say
In my arms she cries
And I wonder why I'm here
Apocalypso

Will we really die here?
The words run through my head
Will we really die here?
Or are we already dead?
I turned to see here standing there
"Please come to bed," she said
And I moved to her through
The growing haze of red
Apocalypso

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar.
John Clark: bass.

I held you as an Amazon, you held me as a tree
Like a shark our ship slid slowly through the glassy sea
I thought this was forever as we forged into the night
But soon the stars grew unfamiliar and we left the Northern Lights
When I quarrelled with the helmsman the lode swung crazily
And like a wild black horse our ship changed course for the Sargasso Sea

Used to think I had a charmed life, thought I held the deal
Thought that I was jungle boy with magic at my heels
Thought I was the tiger with such symmetry of form
That with inborn skills I'd balance, still, upon the wildest storm
Felt like I was the songbird choir arrayed upon the trees
To chime a splendid descant to the voices of the sea

But now the cracks are appearing and my tissues fill with rain
Trouble's eyes are rearing – my face is taut with pain
And a deeper hurt inside me is clenching up my brow
As the ones I hoped would guide me twist me round and round
I don't look into mirrors now, I'm scared what I might see
And every course is leading to Sargasso Sea

Now the elements are laughing – this is no natural lull
The victims of the maelstrom are clawing at the hull
And a leather winged figure is dancing on the deep
Y'know I thought I was Magellan 'till I woke up from this sleep
But I'm just an Ancient Mariner – to sink is part of me
And I must be gone to my wanderings on through Sargasso Sea

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, effects.
John Clark: bass, effects.

His heavy smouldering tropic stare
His cold entropic vice
Bit through my lover's shoulder
Bit right down to her ice
Lovers search for answers
Oceanus pounds upon
Swordsman of Samoa in
His jungle pentagon

Swordsman of Samoa
With his steely tempered eye
Slashes Oceanus
Whose slowly rising cry
Stirs my lover's heart in him
She points into the air
But Pluvius has cleaned it
There are no pictures there

She still stands on Spanish plain
Beneath a metal sky
Her shadow like a pencil
Her fractured stained-glass eye
The sunset like an orgy
Has happened far too late
Oceanus the diviner
By which we know our fate

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals, electric guitar, flageolet, bass, percussion.
Caro Clark: vocals.

You followers of that happiness
That sweetly severs your blinkered brain
Who avoid the paths of chaos
And reduce life to a plane
Observe the ones who shun the hearth
And walk out in the rain
Their eyes like headlights blazing
Through the tightening rings of pain
There are no greater heroes
Than these.

Through the deep sea-canyons
Of the ocean of despair
Through the lonely constellations
They are wandering into the rarifying air
There are no greater heroes
Than these.

Look at them with wonder
From your comfort and your ease
For these are no greater heroes
Than these.

When your death-flash cracks like thunder
Even then you'll hardly see
When your life line snaps asunder
You will fall away like leaves

And the years will tread you under
Till you blend into the peat
But take a long last look in wonder
At these others who your pleasures have beaten down
For there are no greater heroes
Than these

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals, acoustic guitar.
Caro Clark: vocals.
John Clark: bass.

When the foundations of my hopes are crumbling
Your eyes can dispel all the gloom
Here we lie with our thoughts silently tumbling
Together we go to the moon
And you know I would never once desert you
For you are my breath and my life
And you know I could never mean to hurt you
Though sometimes my soul is of ice
Laughing and pulling a face at the crowd
Your voice with my silver strings singing out loud
Feeling you merge into me
Lying and sighing on love's bed of youth
Born into love you are searching for truth
You are all to me
You are all to me

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals, acoustic guitar.
Caro Clark: vocals.
John Clark: percussion.

When you are far my visions cease,
When you are near I can move at ease
When you are close our senses freeze
When you are me I cannot breathe

Hole in my heart for you
Hole in my heart for you

And when we play it's a higher game
When we sing it's much the same
When we walk we feel unique
When we talk it's our egos speak

Hole in my heart for you
Hole in my heart for you
You know the trap we're falling into
Is like this hole in my heart for you

And when I look inside your head I see beware
And when you look inside my head you find a mirror there
When you see my fears you're seeing your aims
When I see our future I see only chains

Hole in my heart for you
Hole in my heart for you
Can't breathe – I'm turning blue, but
It's just this hole in my heart for you

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar.
Caro Clark: vocals.
John Clark: bass.

Blue clouds on ponderous horizons
I have travelled long to be at this place
They stared into each other's coal black eyes
And grew together like two bones
Like two bones

Follow me to the station
Follow me down the corridor
Open up the door
Our souls have met before
In a reptilian dawn
Follow me now, follow me now
Follow me now if you want to find out
Follow me now, follow me now
Follow me now if you want to find out
The truth in nothing at all

The driver sees him as
A spectre on his windscreen
O his lips are smiling
The search begins again

Follow me to the station
Follow me down the corridor
Open up the door
Our souls have met before
In a reptilian dawn
Follow me now, follow me now
Follow me now if you want to find out
Follow me now, follow me now
Follow me now if you want to find out
The truth in nothing at all

The driver sees me as
A spectre on his windscreen
O my lips are smiling!

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals, guitar, flageolet.
Caro Clark: vocals.
John Clark: vocals, bass.

Don't sing this song
And don't try to sing along
We don't need your appreciation
So don't sing this song

Yes you there sitting in the front of the place
You can wipe that smile off your silly face
Go and buy the drinks, don't stay here to applaud us
'Cos the last thing we want is for you to laud us
(Non-chorus)

And you can talk as much as you wanna do
'Cos we're playing for us and not for you
And you'd forget your demonstrative adulation
If we ever tried to use our imaginations
(Non-chorus)

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals, acoustic guitar, mandolin.
Caro Clark: vocals, kazoo, tambourine.
John Clark: bass, effects.

Now I know you well
I will unrein my voice for you
Now that I feel
Sheltered by your care
I am coming home
Coming home …
Coming home …
Coming home …

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals.
Caro Clark: vocals.
John Clark: vocals.

All on the first day
On the first day of the year
You tried to destroy part of me
Like you always do each time you’re near
As a child I watched the dewdrops
Picked out each pool of night that lay therein
And I knew our love would be black as that
And that we would never win

And it was all on the first day, on the first day
All on the first day of the year

All on the first day
On the first day of the year
You told me what it was I thought and felt
And you showed me, and you showed me what you fear
You came in like some Giant Urizen
With the shackles, with the shackles at your heel
And I knew our love would be like that
And that we could never feel

And it was all on the first day, on the first day
All on the first day of the year

All on the first day
You know my mind was full of snow
When I knew our love was over
And that we would never grow

And it was all, and it was all, it was all, it was all
All on the first day of the year

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals, acoustic guitar, Woolworth’s organ.
Caro Clark: vocals.
John Clark: bass.
Simon Burrett: vocals, electric guitar.

O swirling sphere
I plumb your inky depths with a peasant’s eye
Felt like a shade of blue
Fell like a meteor through your sky
You are I

O fading stars
I watch as you teeter there on the verge of time
Held by some giant’s hand
Held like these grains of sand in mine
How they shine

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals, Woolworth’s organ.
Caro Clark: vocals; John: bass.

Now we’re the children of plenty
With the sword above our heads
Left on a dying planet
That for your gain you bled

Wake up wake up politician
What makes you sleep so sound?
The confrontation’s coming
We’re gonna tear your order down

You tell us we should be grateful
While you’re a-bombs fill the sky
Well if you think I’m gonna wait or infiltrate
You know I’d rather die

Wake up wake up politician
What makes you sleep so sound?
The confrontation’s coming
We’re gonna tear your order down

And you whose whims are called justice
Who hold the law in the palm of your hand
You who stole our country
You’d better give us back our land

Wake up wake up everybody
And put your ears down to the ground
The confrontation’s coming
It’s gonna shake your little house down

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals, electric guitar.
Caro Clark: vocals.
John Clark: percussion.

A song is like a fusion bomb
A nucleus of form and line
An unbalanced equation of rhyme
From why the lovely power comes

Not power that seeks to meet an end
Not power to do, or have, or say
But power naked as the day
That fills you like a spectral friend

And you’re going to feel it
Forever and ever, forever and ever
You’re going to feel it now
And you’re going to feel it
Forever and ever, forever and ever
You’re going to feel the power

And it’s this power will sustain you
When you stand amongst the shells
Of shattered faiths, the fettered hells
That never could contain you

For life still flickers in the flames
All else is futile as you play
Your final chord, it dies away
But sounds of laughter still remain

And you’re going to feel it
Forever and ever, forever and ever
Filling all your mind
And you’re going to feel it
Forever and ever, forever and ever
Filling all the void
And I want to feel it
Forever and ever, forever and ever
I want to feel it now
And I want to feel it
Forever and ever, forever and ever
I want to feel the power

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals, electric guitar.
Caro Clark: vocals.
John Clark: bass.
Simon Burrett: vocals, electric guitar.
Julie Doré: vocals.

Now a dog lies in the gravel
Where the roadway should have been
And a broken down old neon sign
Illuminates the scene
Where paranoia scars the cities
And famine rules the land
And through it all walks a man in black
With a flashlight in his hand

Ton Ton Macoutes, Ton Ton Macoutes
Is there any end to you?
Ton Ton Macoutes, Ton Ton Macoutes
Is there any end to you?

Now the picture fades to a shoreline
Beside a rolling sea
Where poncho-clad guitarists
Train their eyes on eternity
And shades disguise the others
With the shotguns in their hands
And the whole scene crumbles down into dust
And their bones lie in the sand

Ton Ton Macoutes, Ton Ton Macoutes
Is there any end to you?
Ton Ton Macoutes, Ton Ton Macoutes
Is there any end to you?

What you gonna do about us?
What you gonna do about us?
We’re the ones you’ll never ever be able
We’re the ones you’ll never ever be able
To trust

Now when all the streets they are empty
And all the colour’s gone
And everything we accidentally thought
Submits to Farenheit 451
And when all our moves they are pre-ordained
And all our hope has died
And all our brains, they are locked in chains
Maybe then you’ll be satisfied

Ton Ton Macoutes, Ton Ton Macoutes
Is there any end to you?
Ton Ton Macoutes, Ton Ton Macoutes
Is there any end to you?

Written by Tony Doré
Tony Doré: vocals, acoustic guitar.
Caro Clark: vocals.
John Clark: bass.
Simon Burrett: electric guitar.
Rod Jones: keyboard.
Jonny Owen: harmonica.

All On The First Day
Tony, Caro & John

(1972) Self-released.
(2001) Shadoks Records.
Re-release with bonus tracks.
(2010) Gaarden Records. (2018) Tapete Records