A few weeks ago, I was out on my front porch having a smag with two of my good friends when our discussion turned to music and lyrics. I was asked who my favorite songwriters were, and I said Susan Dallion and Steven Severin. I was then asked for some examples of their lyrics. At that moment I was kind of on the spot, so all I could think of was my favorite lyric from the song “Kiss Them For Me”.
But now that my mind is a bit clearer and I have had time to think about lyrics more, I decided to elaborate on some of my favorite lyrics that the duo wrote, starting with the album Nocturne*. Wait … WHAT? Was that just a load groan I heard from my blog faithful? Well, too fucking bad! Yes, I am actually going to write this blog post. And yes, Susan Dallion is professionally known as “Siouxsie Sioux”.
“ISRAEL”
See some people shine with glee
But their song is jealousy
Their hate is clanging … maddening
“PARADISE PLACE”
You can hide your genetics under drastic cosmetics
But this chameleon magic is renowned to be tragic
“MELT”
Can you see
See into the back of a long, black car
Pulling away from the funeral of flowers
With my hand between your legs
Melting
“CASCADE”
I pulled a face from my pocket
And smiled a leper’s grin
I felt somebody close
Pouting, shouting
“PULLED TO BITS”
Pulled to bits in silence
Left rotting on the ground
Slowly pulled to bits in silence
Without a fucking sound
“NIGHT SHIFT”
Fuck the mothers kill the others
Fuck the others kill the mothers
“SIN IN MY HEART”
When you grovel at my feet
Keep it short and sweet
“SLOWDIVE”
You revel in the dips
When your backbone slips
Taking honeysuckle sips
From your rolling hips
“PAINTED BIRD”
Maybe tomorrow
You’ll lose you sorrow
“HAPPY HOUSE”
To forget ourselves and pretend all’s well
There is no hell
“SWITCH”
All hallucinators
See druggists in the sky
“SPELLBOUND”
You hear laughter
Cracking through the walls
It sends you spinning
You have no choice
“EVE WHITE/EVE BLACK”
Please help me
I’m getting weaker
Please help me
I wish I could help myself
“VOODOO DOLLY”
She’s such an ugly little dolly
And she’s making you look very silly
And when you listen into her ear
You get paralyzed with her fear
*Nocturne is a live double-album by Siouxsie & the Banshees which features performances recorded at two shows at the Royal Albert Hall on September 30 and October 1, 1983. Most of the songs are from the albums Juju and A Kiss in the Dreamhouse, with a couple of non-LP tracks. There are also two songs on the album (“Dear Prudence” and “Helter Skelter”) which are covers, so I obviously omitted them here as they are not formed from original Dallion/Severin lyrics.
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I am not groaning, think it was well worth doing………Spot on Jen. I have never been a great one for remembering alot of lyrics, and with my musical tastes so diverse, its even harder to remember.