CARAVAN
"Better By Far" (1977)

FEELIN' ALRIGHT
Words and Music
by Pye Hastings

I went down boy, feeling low, tryin' to find me a lady
I had no mind, where to go, just a feelin' that maybe
I'd be a-reelin' up on a ceiling
Out of my mind forever
Gotta be right boy, stay out and fight, boy
Lay it on by, cos I'll find her

Cause I'm feelin' alright
Yes I'm feeling' alright
And I'm gonna come through searching for you
It's what's keepin' me straight up ahead
Well I'm feelin' alright
Yes I'm feelin' alright
I ain't gonna take no and tell you all so
Till I'm dead

As for the rest, with me undressed
Tryin' to explain how they found me
The two black eyes were no surprise
But all the dogs were beyond me
This is appalling, I was a-calling
How could you really believe that of me
You'll be all right boy, stay here all night boy
Then in the morning your toll we will see

And I'm feelin' alright
Are you feelin' alright?
Well it's what they all say when they're gonna say
So don't keep on banging your head
Well I'm feelin' alright
Yes I'm feeling' alright
And I'm gonna come through, and I'll prove it to you
What I say

Cause I'm feelin' alright
Yes I'm feelin' alright
And I'm gonna come through just searching for you
It's what's keepin' me straight up ahead
Yes I'm feelin' alright
Yes I'm feelin' alright
I ain't gonna take no and tell you all so
Till I'm dead

BEHIND YOU
Words and Music
by Pye Hastings

Twas with no surprise I could feel his eyes
A-comin' straight through the back of my head
So I took my flight by the pale moonlight
No instinct to guide me, I fled
"If I catch you still with my wife I'll kill you, boy"
That's what he told me before
I didn't pay no heed cause she said "I need"
So I kept going back there for more

Look out behind you, all right
If you don't leave it alone
He's gonna hound you all night
Don't you slow down boy or they'll carry you home

I could see no way I was going to stay
With a man like that on my heel
He was six foot four and could eat a door
And his fists were like great blocks of steel
But his wife was rude and it seemed so good
To have fun while he was away
While he lived in hope of the sale of soap
Like a  cat and a mouse we would play

Look out behind you, all right
If you don't leave it alone
He's gonna hound you all night
Don't you slow down boy or they'll carry you home

It was late that night when he came inside
I could see through the glass-panel door
For his key had stuck and I praised my luck
As I dived from the bed to the floor
When I heard him yell like a bat from hell
I was out and off down the road
Twas with no surprise I could feel his eyes
And imagine the gun that he'd load

Right up behind me all right
Cos I couldn't leave it alone
He would hound me all night
Don't you slow down boy or they'll carry you home

BETTER
BY FAR
Words and Music
by Pye Hastings

Better by some, better by far
Better to have tried than never
Back of a bus, seat of a car
Than never to have tried at all
Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong
Maybe I'm a fool about you
Can tell there's no way I'm gonna stay
With then what else was so long

Oh, what I wanna do is just lay down with you tonight
Set 'em up boy, wanna make love tonight

Easily come, easily go
Easy to believe in nothing
Set 'em up fast, take 'em down slow
Give it down and have a ball
You can buy gin, you can buy hymn
And you can buy the world around you
But you can get roughed, and you can get fluffed
If you'd have no love at all

Oh, what I wanna do is just a-lay down with you tonight
Set 'em up boy, wanna make love tonight

Oh, I got a love and I just want to let it grow
Oh, a gift from above, tellin' me, tellin' me to let it show

Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong
Maybe I'm a fool about you
Maybe I'll fight, maybe I've flung it
all around for too long
Bet you I will be lovin' you still
Well it's often bad around you
You and I must take it on trust
We're gonna carry on...

So, what I wanna do is just a-lay down with you tonight
Set 'em up boy, wanna make love tonight

SILVER
STRINGS
Words and Music
by Geoff Richardson

Oh, let me hear the silver strings
Oh, hear those violins and things
Oh, when the music starts to play
You know it carries me away
Oh, oh - oh let me here the silver strings

Oh, with a fiddle and a bow
You know there's places you can go
If you can just get there in tune
You know you're spending that aloon
Oh, oh - oh let me hear the silver strings

Silver strings
You know they never used to
Mean a thing
You know they never used to
Listen when the fiddler starts to play
Now they clap their hands
And they all shout 'Yeah!'

GIVE
ME MORE
Words and Music
by Pye Hastings

I went out at night, taking the sights
Fell all in love with a lady
She's got ill repute, and an over-size foot
Bad breath and drives a Mercedes
But oh, she had such style
Looks that could kill you stone dead

Though I tried not to stare at the parts that were bare
She said:
"Would you like to touch?", I said, "Very much"
"Then why don't we go somewhere warmer?
It's cold in the street, and it's hurting my feet
Come with me down to the corner"
Ooh, I could not tell you the thoughts that came into my head
When she and the girl took money and all, and said:

"Give me more, make me feel as though I was dying"
"Give me more, give me so much that I'm crying"
"Give me more, make me feel so much better"
"Give me more", so I tried not to upset her

It's not quietened the fact of the funds that I lacked
At the shop where I bought the equipment
But the shape of the suit and the size of her boots
Gave an impending sense of achievement
But oh, to my surprise, she tied herself onto the bed
And then with her toes, in an indecent pose, she said:

"Give me more, make me feel as though I was dying"
"Give me more, give me so much that I'm crying"
"Give me more, make me feel so much better"
"Give me more", so I tried not to upset her

MAN IN
A CAR
Words and Music
by Jan Schelhaas

I saw her flying on a rocket-fly moon
She was smiling like a wheeler at the races
Come ride my rocket-fly moon
And I'm sure you could see a lot of places

But the man in a car is just dreaming
Opening up his eyes
Onl the suit must have seen me
To fill up his tears with eyes

Saw her rocking like a mother typhoon
She could sway like the mother of a candle
Oh no, she's going to rock on me soon
And that's sure that's how a lot of men go

I know I should have notified you
But it's hard from a lot of different places
My girl, I should have rocket-fly'd you
But it's gone and I fear her at the graces

And the man in a car is still dreaming
Opening up his eyes
Holding his heart that's still bleeding
He couldn't believe his eyes

LET IT
SHINE
Words and Music
by Pye Hastings

Went down to the corner, sunshine in my hand
I tried to sell the truth but I couldn't make it stand
Ooh, come on, I cry, cause I'm feeling kinda low
Let it shine, let it shine, let it grow

When I feel someone closing down on me
Or going to myself just to see what I can see
And when the stars are right I'll come sailing right on by
Where the sun won't go wrong, long as I...

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine on the road ahead
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine on the road
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine on the road ahead
Cause it's carrying me home again

So when all around you are going down so fast
That you can see on you how verting they have passed
Don't let 'em satisfy the need to tell you so
Let it shine, let it shine, let it show

And when the four winds blow and you're feeling kind of small
Everything is wrong and nothing's right at all
Ooh, you go into yourself and you find a way ahead
It's very clear to me you're better home...

Instead of feeling lonely, instead of feeling blue
You come on with a smile that comes sailing right on through
Wait till the stars above and the ground way down below
Let it shine, let it shine, let it show

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine on the road ahead
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine on the road
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine on the road ahead
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine on the road...

NIGHTMARE
Words and Music
by Pye Hastings

Sat down, turn around boy, gotta let out of here
Silly little sod, you made me shed a tear
Showing me minor roads of varying cold
Making the world so young and me so old

Time dime, time dime, doing what I could in the day
Lazy little swine, I'm sure I heard you say
"Sure I took a trip or two inside my head"
Was there in the road you showed me, stone cold dead

Yours was a face I remember very well
See it, touch, feel, even smell
Imagine how I feel when the face I saw was me
Chrissakes, send down the line, set me free

When the time is over - oh, oh, oh
And you're feeling somewhat colder - oh, oh, oh
And your face is on the run
And your body's almost done
Well, you won't have to notice anymore

Come inside and tell me - oh, oh, oh
What you're tryin' to sell me - oh, oh, oh
Did it ever cross your mind?
Did you ever read a sign?
Well, you won't have to notice anymore

Hear me a-callin', I've got a dream in my hand
I close my eyes and realise, now I understand
If you've got a problem - Christ, you've got to unload
The price you pay is that you may explode