An Angel In A Black Dress

My woman had a baby
Barely four months in
Tiny toes and fingers
Flailing little limbs
This world is tough on stronger things
He did not stand a chance
His heart stopped beating
In the back of the ambulance

We were living on a campsite
By the beach in Hastings
We wrapped her in a washcloth
Borrowed a shovel from a friend
Found a spot out on the beach head
That was sheltered from the wind
I dug a hole about three feet deep
And we laid her in

I still don't know what my little boy meant
When he said he saw an angel in a black dress

Courage is a funny thing
You can't be brave if you ain't scared
There's love to tend the sadness
Like there's thread to mend a tear
This life was made for living
But we don't all get the chance
Ain't always easy being happy these days
But I am doing the best that I can

Picking Out A Stone

There's only so
Many fights
A boy can throw
Before the shame takes hold

The broken glass
Of a boy's shattered pride
A lie only lasts
Until the truth gets told

If you need me you know where to find me
If you want me - well you won't
I'll be in the graveyard or outside below your window
Either way I'm picking out a stone

There's only so
Many times
A boy can fall
Before he can't get up

It takes a lot
Of Sunshine
To build a dawn
to let the darkness up

Clothes on a rail, fridge unplugged
Books on the shelf
you ain't finished reading
Old LP's, broken TV
There ain't a good bye
As clean as just leaving

I Want It All

I wanna go swimming in the watering hole
I wanna go swimming in the watering hole
I wanna go swimming in the watering hole
But the watering hole is dry

I want fishes on my fishing pole
I want fishes on my fishing pole
I want fishes on my fishing pole
But the fishes they won't bite

I'm knocking on your door and talking to your mama
I'm knocking on your door and talking to your mama
I'm knocking on your door and talking to your mama
She says you ain't coming out to play

So I'm out in the street fist-fighting with your daddy
So I'm out in the street fist-fighting with your daddy
So I'm out in the street fist-fighting with your daddy
He was a prize-fighter in his day
Nothing seems to go my way

My woman gave another man a piece of her heart
My woman gave another man a piece of her heart
My woman gave another man a piece of her heart
So I gave 'em both a piece of my mind

I hurt 'em bad and put 'em in the trunk of my car
I hurt 'em bad and put 'em in the trunk of my car
I hurt 'em bad and put 'em in the trunk of my car
Now the trunk of my car's stuck shut
Oh fuck

I want love but I ain't that pretty
I want friends but I ain't that fun
I want love, respect, fame, money and glory
I want it all
But I ain't got none

(Lord, Have Mercy On A) Ramblin' Man

Lord, have mercy on a ramblin' man
Because The Devil knows his name
He's singing these songs to anyone who'll listen
He ain't looking for fortune or fame

Lord, have mercy on a ramblin' man
Keep him a long way from the cops
'Cos if The Lord knows something 'bout a ramblin' man
It's that a ramblin' man won't stop
No he'll never stop

His eyes are smiling through the thrift and the flack
He's got the sun on his face and the wind at his back
If he sleeps at all, it's out in the open
The only thing he knows is to keep going

Lord, have mercy on a ramblin' man
'Cos there's a woman on his case
She's trying to change the ways of this rambling man
But a rambling man don't change
He'll never change

So, Lord, have mercy on a ramblin' man
Because he walks this life alone
You can give him your heart if you want to
But his hearts out on the road
It's on the road

His eyes are smiling through the thrift and the flack
He's got the sun on his face and the wind at his back
Wherever his heart is now you know it's probably broken
The only thing he knows is to keep going

Lord, have mercy on a ramblin' man
'Cos it's a long road to the grave
He's as handsome as he's funny as he's modest and clean
He's a sure fine soul to save

Lord, have mercy on a ramblin' man
Turn his feet into the wings of a bird
Make him a joke to anyone who needs a laugh in this world
And ears to those who need to be heard

His eyes are smiling through the thrift and the flack
He's got the sun on his face and the wind at his back
His feelings are buried down deep but his scars are showing
The only thing he knows is to keep going

Lord, have mercy on a ramblin' man
Keep him a long, long way from death
Keep the blood in his veins and the air in his lungs
Keep these crazy ideas in his head

'Cos his eyes are smiling through the thrift and the flack
He's got the sun on his face and the wind at his back
It's killing him, this life he has chosen
The only thing he knows is to keep going

Mortgages & 9-5's

She said I was crazy
Living like I do
I said I cannot imagine what it's like being you
She said she wished she'd lived more
And she said I was brave
And I laughed to myself 'cos I feel like I'm always afraid
Mortgages and 9-5's are scarier than just running away

Her eldest kid got cancer
And he died at 23
I'm sad that he died but I'm glad it was not me
'Cos ain't that just the way the world works
We're all counting down the days
We just dance across the dirt as best we can all the while the music plays
Mortgages and 9-5's are scarier than cancer anyway

These days money's like religion
And God's a venture-capitalist
He's peddling a heaven or a house as big as his
I know I was born with nothing
And I'll probably die the same
But I don't need nothing more than I was born with anyway
Mortgages and 9-5's are scarier than Hell-fire anyway
Mortgages and 9-5's are scarier than just running away

Ain't Life A Beautiful Thing

She called the police
Told them I was drunk
Told them I had hit her
They pulled up on the lawn
They didn't press no charges
I pleaded self-defence
They told me I should leave her
Told her not to call again

Ain't life a beautiful thing

She don't kiss me no more
Unless I tell her to
She sleeps with her back to me
Or in a separate room
She says that she hates me
Sometimes things get rough
She says that she'll leave me
But she ain't got the guts

Ain't life a beautiful thing

Well, she went and set fire
To the trailer in our back yard
Where I kept all my records
And all but one of my guitars

Ain't life a beautiful thing
Ain't life a beautiful thing

Time To Go

I got a mama and a papa and a hometown in the back of my mind
But I been a rambling man since I's a rambling child
When I was just six years old
I packed a little bag and headed out on the road
Mama came and got me that night but man it was a sign

When it's time to go
You know it's time to go
Ain't nothing in this world gonna hold me back
When it's time to go
It's time to go
I don't know where I'm going but I know I ain't coming back

The dark side of my heart that always feels like it's losing
Whispers to me in your bed pretends it knows what its doing
It wakes me from a dream
Tells me it's time to leave
People like me we just gotta keep moving

When it's time to go
You know it's time to go
Ain't nothing in this world gonna hold me back
When it's time to go
It's time to go
I don't know where I'm going but I know I ain't coming back

It don't matter how you get there 

If you drive real slow

Or if you run so fast 

Your feet don't touch the road

What matters is you get there any way that's right by you

But if you want my advice kid pack-up and run

Cos it's already started and you ain't that young

Run out on this idea of time before it runs out on you

Old men like me, we get stuck in our ways

We're tryin t' justify our lives before we get in our graves

It's always worth staying for something

Good money, good food or good loving

But I'll be a rambling man for the rest of my days

The Ragged & The Raw

Where best friends are like brothers and every bet is everything or bust
Where kids meet up at night trying to survive on just excitement fear and lust
But Joey's got a car now so we just drive around
It's a brand new Friday night, same old shit-hole town
Djonno says he's in love again and this time it's gonna last
I'm sitting in the backseat watching the whole world blur past

The bars in this town have got a certain kinda draw
It's the street-rats and alley-cats playing demons and gods
It's the disgusting, broke and busted, the ragged and the raw
It's the strange, deranged and barely sane running on a different kind of blood
It's us

The streetlights of a parking lot shine down upon a smile
Of a pretty little thing dressed up with all her friends to set the night on fire
She comes over to the car leans on my window, smiles and says she got me some
She licks her finger, dips it in a bag and rubs it on my gums
She's laughing when she's asking, "What we doin' tonight?" I smile but I don't know
Then we all get out the car, leave the headlights on and crank that radio

The bars in this town have got a certain kinda draw
It's all these street-rats and alley-cats playing demons and gods
It's the disgusting, broke and busted, the ragged and the raw
It's the strange, deranged and barely sane running on a different kind of blood
It's all these vampires, ghosts and werewolves, all these creatures time forgot
It's the hired guns living on the run too desperate to get caught
Its the thieves that haunt this midnight like shadows in the dark
And it's the kids out in the streetlight with their hands in their pockets
It's us

The Sun goes down, the wolves come out, the stars just lay there laughing in the sky
You know that they could help you if they wanted to but they won't even try
This town'll read your fortune if you let her but her deck's a little light
The kings and queens are all out chasing aces and they're dressed up to the nines
There's kids out in the moonlight banging drums with other people's broken bones
There'll be a murder at midnight, some'll scream and some'll just hold up their phones
There's bodies in the backseats and there's blood running through these cobblestones
But it's Friday night, and ain't nobody going home

The bars in this town have got a certain kinda draw
It's all these street-rats and alley-cats playing demons and gods
It's the disgusting, broke and busted, the ragged and the raw
It's the strange, deranged and barely sane running on a different kind of blood
It's all these vampires, ghosts and werewolves, all these creatures time forgot
It's the hired guns living on the run too desperate to get caught
Its the thieves that haunt this midnight like shadows in the dark
And it's the kids out in the streetlight with their hands in their pockets
It's the type of premonition that you feel deep in your gut
It's all these bad decisions all these twists in the plot
It's the dopers and no-hopers and their razors are sharp
They got barbed wire for bootlace and in the bare-knuckle brawls
They will beat you til you're bloodless til you're begging them to stop
On beat-up couches and park benches kids are riding their luck
You got boys breaking in to bra straps like an old bank vault
And you got girls going down just as the sun's coming up
It's us

Normal

Sometimes I feel
Like I'm falling when I'm just sitting still
My mind overrides what's real
Like I'm breaking

I lie awake in my bed
Half-wishing I was dead
'Cos I can't catch my breath
Or stop shaking

My friends they all ask me how I'm feeling
I say I'm fine but then they just repeat it
They know there's something there they just can't see it
It's like a ghost

There's mould on the seal of my fridge
And it's been there pretty much since I moved in
It would only take a second to clean
But I don't

Another lonely night
Drinking out of boredom
Wondering what it's like
To feel normal

Sometimes I have this dream where I'm lost out at sea
And I'm drowning in a maelstrom of my making
I scream and look around and I see all my friends are drowning
And there's nothing that I can do to save them
So I just give up
Then I wake up
But I don't get up
Even though I want to

Dutch Cassidy

This life is like a rodeo
We're just a couple of clowns
Pretending to be cowboys waving
Guitars around

We'll play the old saloon
You'll chase that skirt
We got out heads in the clouds
And our feet in the dirt

We got deaths to die
Lives to live
We got tales to tell
We got songs to sing
I wish all my songs were more like his
You be Dutch Cassidy
I can be the Sundance Kid

This life is like a circus
We live for moonlight and crowds
We live on peanuts and praise
And beer to wash it down

You taught me 'bout the sideshow
And you let me hang around
Our heads are up there with the ferris wheel
Our feet are on the ground

All my life I felt like a
Setting sun
All the dust I kicked up with my boots
Just settled on my lungs
For every setting sun a morning comes
Rising like a ghost
From the bones of dusk

So pour me out another
I ain't ready to go home
I got a few more in me
So let that tape roll

And if we never make no money
At least we'd never have sold out
Just a couple of cowboys
Waving these guitars around

Laying On The Edge Of Forever

I swear I see galaxies forming
Shining from the blacks of your eyes
We got something between us I can't explain
But it sure feels nice
Baby, I think I love you and it's only been a night
Baby, I think I love you and it's only been a night

We got the smell of each other on the bedsheets
Clothes strewn across the floor
My heart's skipping beats like
It's never kept a rhythm before
We got streetlights reflecting off the mirror
Landing like moonlight on the bed
We got a night's-worth of sweat and a
Life's-worth of dreams in our heads
It's like we're laying on the edge of forever and I ain't even scared
It's like we're laying on the edge of forever and I ain't even scared

There's condensation on the window pane
Keeping the whole world out with just a mist
As we lay I trace the lines on your hands
With my fingertips
My body feels completely exhausted
But I don't want to rest
I want one more beautiful smile
One more kiss
I don't know a thing about love but I'm pretty sure this is it
I don't know a thing about love but I'm pretty sure this is it

Don't talk to me about tomorrow morning
I know it's coming 'round
I'm racking my brains thinking of ways
To make the Sun stay down
And don't you dare bring me coffee in the morning
Wearing my shirt and nothing else
'Cos that sounds like Heaven and men like me
Don't handle Heaven so well
For every second spent in Heaven there's a minute in Hell
For every second spent in Heaven there's a minute in Hell

So leave your number on my dresser
I promise never to call
I'll put it with all the others
In the back of my drawer
And I'll go out again tomorrow evening
Probably still a little sore
I can't even tell you what it is
That I'm looking for
But I found it with you like I found it with 100 before
I found it with you like I found it with 100 before

Deep, Dark Love

We only went out to get coffee, but I went and set you off
You're screaming blue murder like you're gonna burst a lung
Now everybody's watching you tear a hole in me
But ain't nobody know how sweet you can be

All my friends tell me to walk away
And I know all your friends tell you the same

If our love is like a freight train, we're both tied to the tracks
I know you need a hero well I need one just as bad
If our love is like a river, I'm gon' let it fill my lungs
'Cos I wouldn't mind drowning if it felt like love

All my friends tell me to walk away
And I know all your friends tell you the same
But ain't nobody know what it's like in this love
In this deep, dark love

So hit me with you hardest, go on make this one hurt
'Cos it ain't nothing more than we deserve
Then come over here and hold me like you won't ever let go
And I'll show you a love that nobody else will know

It's like our souls have shared a thousand lives
All my flaws in yours and yours in mine
But ain't nobody know what it's like in this love
In this deep, dark love

I know I should drink less and you know you should too
But if you forgive me baby I'll forgive you

Midnight Sun

Joey's Daddy did a stint in prison
But Joey's Daddy weren't one to sit tight
He snuck out with the laundry in the morning
And he slept with Joey's Mama that same night

Law took him back to prison 'fore the Sun came
Leaving Joey and his Mama on the farm where his Mama dwelled
Joey's grandad wouldn't raise no bastard
So Joey pretty much had to raise himself

Joey headed-up a hole-in-the-wall-gang
Train-robbing heroes of the working class
They robbed the wealthy men that owned the railroad
And gave it to the men who laid the tracks

Them sour railroad owners got together
To find a way to get Joey of the scene
They bought out all the lawmen and some outlaws
And promised even more to the man who brought him in

But he was faster than a switchblade and he didn't give a good God-damn
He's got the words "Living Free" tattooed across his hands
Yeah he's as wild as you can get and still be called a man
But he could lay low just like a Midnight Sun
Boy was born for living on the run

Maria, God, now she could light a room
But she was wearing a rich kid's diamond ring
Joy couldn't keep his eyes off of that diamond
And Maria couldn't keep her eyes off him

Joey and Maria lying naked
When the rich kid and his blade bust through the door
That rich kid didn't figure that second to banging Maria
Joey's favourite thing was knocking rich kids through the floor

Yeah he was faster than a switchblade and he didn't give a good God-damn
He's got the words "Living Free" tattooed across his hands
Yeah he's as wild as you can get and still be called a man
But he could lay low just like a Midnight Sun
Boy was born for living on the run

Maria says, "I'm gonna keep this baby"
Joey says, "Well, I ain't gonna stick around"
Maria's Daddy sure looks like he means it
When he says, "I'm gonna put Joey in the ground"

Maria's Daddy bought himself a posse
Maria gone and bought herself a dress
The posse's all got rifles, knives and shotguns
Joey's got a diamond ring and a price upon his head

But he's faster than a switchblade and he didn't give a good God-damn
He's got the words "Living Free" tattooed across his hands
Yeah he's as wild as you can get and still be called a man
But he could lay low just like a Midnight Sun
Boy was born for living on the run

The Crow

From Hell's dust and fire came a wizened old crow
He sat up on the telephone wire out by the crossroads
Most crows got them hues of blue but this one's black as soot
He's got a cold, black stare and a crooked beak
He ain't no good

A desperate, broken-hearted boy with a guitar comes along
Lamenting on a girl and dreaming up a song
On the road out on his own he hears a sweet and soft voice say
Something he couldn't quite understand but it took his breath away

He looked out past the crossroads
He looked out past the pole
But there was nobody else around
Just a wizened old crow

Most crows got them hues of blue but this one's black as soot
He's got a cold, black stare and a crooked beak
He ain't no good

But, the boy, he thought himself in luck as the old crow settled down
Right there on his shoulder and they headed into town

X-mas Lights

X-mas lights, they hung on the night
Like a mist or a kiss or perfume
And you moved just like smoke or a little girl's ghost
Who knew just how to haunt that room

Every time I looked you were looking
And you were looking like nothing I'd seen
All them desperate fools out looking for love
That night had nothing on me

We twirled through the night like snow under a streetlight,
Bar lights or headlights of cars
In a blizzard of strangers our two laughing faces
Falling from bar to bar

With your eyes full of life when you looked at me and smiled
I was so scared I just stared at my shoes
Everybody dressed up as fine as they could
But no one had nothing on you

Ain't she just like an angel dressed up like a girl
Ain't it just like an angel to make me feel like hell
Ain't we all just fools the way we pretend
But it's the same old story
You just don't know that you know it
'Til it ends

Them xmas lights look a lot like love
One day you wake up and they're gone

You kicked off your shoes in an apartment room
Kissed me and told me that lie
You took my hand in yours and spun me around
For the rest of my life

I still dream of you standing there at that bar
And I wonder if you ever think of us
All these broken hearts out drinking in the bars
Tonight ain't got nothing on us

There's A Little Bit Of "Evel" In All Of Us

Amongst the rough-housing miners of Montana
In the trailer-park that he calls home
There's a little boy shoplifting gonna grow up to be
The last gladiator of New Rome

It's a certain kinda man can be robbin' a bank
And think, 'Man, I'm gonna go straight
By jumping my 300cc Honda
Over two mountain lions and a box of rattlesnakes'

It's a big, on'ry world and ain't nobody gonna help
So what's a poor boy to do?
Call up Caesar's Palace from a rented motel room
And tell them that you're gonna jump the roof

So it's Caesar's Palace 1967
It's the fountain, December 31st
There's 90,000 people and a motorcycle ramp
And we're all fearing the worst

He was a man made of more steel
Than any motorbike he ever rode
There's a little bit of Evel in all of us
We just ain't got the guts to let it show

The Angels tried to kill him at the L.A Coliseum
And Snake River Canyon nearly did
He's a got a cane full of wild turkey that he walks with
Just in case Death wants a drink

It was cars, booze and women he must have spent 10 million
He even bought two planes
So when he looked out the window of the one he was in
He could still see his name

He was a man made of more steel
Than any motorbike he ever rode
There's a little bit of Evel in all of us
We just ain't got the guts to let it show

They say it was his hometown that made him
That he had frontier blood in his veins
But the world is not a frontier town anymore
And the wild cannot run amongst the tame

When he caught up with Saltman in that parking lot
And got his buddy to hold him down
So he could break both his arms with a baseball bat
They call that justice in a frontier town

He was a man made of more steel
Than any motorbike he ever rode
He must have had a thousand girls
While Linda looked on from home
He told Robbie and Kelly
That's just a daredevil's life on the road
There's a little bit of Evel in all of us
And I'm doing my best not to let it show

I called him up a few years before he died
Hired by a magazine, working on a feature
We're on the phone, he throws it down, says, "Goddam it, Crystal,
You know better than to walk 'round naked while I'm trying to eat pizza!"

So ride this life like an old motorbike
You'll be gone any one of these days
Blessed are the meek, they say, what they mean is
Damned are the brave

He was a man made of more steel
Than any motorbike he ever rode
There's a little bit of Evel in all of us
We just ain't got the guts to let it show

Lost

Summer in a small town, kids out of school
They're driving through the streets with nothing to do
But there's a kid who looks a little bit older and he'll get served
The nights are light and the air is warm
With emotions running high and feelings running strong
And you never love anybody quite like your first

It weren't like Tommy didn't like other kids
He had tons of friends and all the girls that he'd kissed
Were talking about going steady
There's a hundred lives he could have lived in that town
And most of them, honestly, probably would have worked out
But there's a restlessness in Tommy that meant he weren't ready

So he'd jump the fence to the park at night
He'd lay in the grass and stare up at the sky
Thinking nothing's worth nothing and life's too short
He's getting drunk and pushing girls too far
He's pulling their strings and breaking their hearts
And he don't even care 'til he gets caught

Until one summer night he really did fall in love
But they were kids, you know, so it all just got lost
And the summer kept going but something inside of him changed
So he packed himself a little bag and counted his cash
Tied his shoelaces up and swore he'd never come back
He put a Willy Vlautin novel in his pocket and he caught a train

You gotta climb that mountain, gotta jump that canyon
Gotta put on your cape and climb into that cannon
Cos sometimes the life you're living just ain't enough
There are fears to overcome and challenges to meet
People to become and big dreams to dream
And you can't find your own way if you ain't got lost

The road is like a best friend that pulls you aside
For a set-you-straight talk when you get a little wild
But the words that it's chosen, cut you to the bone
Love comes easier but trouble does, too
And opportunity don''t knock it comes right up to you
Reminds you that you come a long way but there's still places to go

Tommy's out on the road and he's having his fun
He sleeps when he has to, sometimes rough
But he's always sleeping with somebody when it's raining
And all them poor girls start planning their lives
Around his pillow talk and his breakfast lies
But when the road starts calling there ain't no way he's staying

You gotta climb that mountain, gotta jump that canyon
Gotta put on your cape and climb into that cannon
Cos sometimes the life you're living just ain't enough
There are fears to overcome and challenges to meet
People to become and big dreams to dream
And you can't find your own way if you ain't got lost

Tommy's skin's all scarred from a thousand fights
He's old but there's still road in his eyes
That shines for a mile whenever he bares his teeth
Everyone can fix you in this day and age
Whatever your problem whatever your pain
But if you ain't broken then you ain't free

If you ain't broken, you ain't free.

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

I'm so sad to hear that you're leaving
This town won't be the same when you're gone
Don't feel bad when you turn out the lights
'Cos when the band's plane crashes it's the legend that lives on

Shine on you crazy diamond
Like the stars at 2am
Shine on you crazy bastard
And I'll see you again

Come end of the evening I'm-a finish my drink
And hope the streetlights of this old town guide me home
But right now ladies and gentleman I'm gonna mark the occasion
With my best ever guitar solo

I know that sounded a lot like Eddie Van Halen
Slash, Jimi Hendrix even Stevie Ray Vaughan
But I'm just a guy playing guitar in a bar in Haarlem
For the last time at the open mic at Cafe Briljant

Shine on you crazy diamond...

I hope there's ghosts in betsy
To haunt the Lokaal, over on the Koningstraat
But for now let's board up these windows, put posters up
How else we gonna know who's playing the Patronaat

If anybody wants to join in on piano
Go ahead and help yourselves
We're gonna rip up these floorboards and tear down these walls
Gonna drink every bottle from off of these shelves

Shine on you crazy diamond...

Here's to new beginnings, here's to all you've achieved
Here's to you personally Rob Alphenaar
The dust'll hit this bar-top like the dirt onto a coffin
So let's spill some liquor off it just like blood
Spills from a broken heart

Shine on you crazy diamond...

There's A Train Coming Down The Line...

There's a train coming down the line
Her wheels are hot and her whistles wide

Her carriages are made of light
If you're riding better hold on tight

With the power of a hurricane
And stations no man can explain

The tracks she rides are made of dreams
She can go anywhere it seems

My bags are packed, I've dusted my hat
My heart is tacked securely to my sleeve
When that train comes I'm getting on
Never settle, always be gone,
It's time to leave

She rattles like a rattlesnake
She's never even used the brakes

She don't believe in slowing down
She wouldn't know how to anyhow

When her whistle blows it's like she's sayin'
"If you ain't on board get out the way"

And she blows it in all kinds of weather
I'm gonna ride that train forever

She'll hold your heart for years to come

Even when the tracks are gone

We Don't Have To Take Off Our Clothes

We don't have to take off our clothes to dip our toes in the sea
You don't need to go to the bottom of the ocean to know what's deep
I'd go on my own but I can't stand that company
So if you're ready for the road, honey, let's go you'll be all that I need

I don't wanna be in love
I just wanna fall in love

Have you ever driven off a horizon into a sunset before?
Where it's never really night but there ain't light enough to call it morn
It's magic for a few hundred miles but then we'd both get bored
So let's pull over to the side of the road and let the night take hold

I don't wanna be in love
I just wanna fall in love

There's an awful lot of kissing let the spit do it's mixing that's the fun
Just a couple of kids in the back seat with the seatbelts undone
Don't you rap on the windows now just let them young lovers be
The handbrake'll come off with their clothes and they'll be scramblin' for the keys

Cos they don't wanna be in love
They just wanna fall in love
None of us wanna be in love
We just wanna fall in love

We don't have to take off our clothes to dip our toes in the sea...