SOFT MACHINE
"Soft Machine" (1968)


  • Hope For Happiness (B.Hopper)
  • Why Am I So Short ? (H.Hopper/R.Wyatt)
  • A Certain Kind (H.Hopper)
  • Save Yourself (R.Wyatt)
  • Lullabye Letter (K.Ayers)

  • HOPE FOR HAPPINESS
    Words by Brian Hopper,
    Music by Brian Hopper, arranged by Soft Machine


    I can tell... like the ring of a bell
    A chime that is clear and true
    But if a crack, the sound is flat
    Like happiness... that's become untrue

    Out of the East, the sun flew West
    Trailing its golden spray
    My heart burns, when fortune turns
    The trail to light my way

    Days go by, I watch the sky
    My eyes forever quest
    The sun returns, though my hope yearns
    Forever things point the rest

    Sun heart burns, moon glow turns
    Stars will trade hope for happiness
    Hope for happiness, happiness, happiness

    Flowers grow wild, just for the child
    Sniff this sprinkling bloom
    When you grow up, hope colours up
    The things that cause us gloom

    Tell can you now how fun is made?
    It's how happiness is really found
    Look for advice, be told more than twice
    By people all around

    Sun heart burns, moon glow turns
    Stars will trade hope for happiness
    Hope for happiness, happiness, happiness


    WHY AM I SO SHORT ?
    Words by Robert Wyatt, Music by Hugh Hopper


    You may laugh at me
    Say I don't deserve
    All the things I've had
    Sad...

    I've got a drum kit and some sticks
    So when I'm drunk or in a fit
    I find it easy to express myself
    I hit the drums so hard I break all my heads
    And then I end the day in one of my beds

    I'm nearly 5 ft. 7 tall
    I like to smoke and drink and ball
    I've got a yellow suit that's made by Pam
    And every day I like an egg and some tea
    But best of all I like to talk about me!

    You may laugh at me
    Say I don't deserve
    All the things I've had


    A CERTAIN KIND
    Words and Music
    by Hugh Hopper


    A certain kind... of love, I'd say
    Exists for me, and every night
    Your kind of love sets me alight
    And I know it's real, it's what I feel, what I feel...

    And loving you the way I do
    Makes everything seem right again
    And when you're near I know
    I know you just can't tell the time
    When you... it's just not right

    And so our love I see in you
    The things today, the things we do
    And when you're near I know
    You just can't see... well
    I know it's real, it's what I feel

    And loving you the way I do
    Makes everything seem right again
    And when you're near I know
    I know you just can't see
    All the time of day
    I know you're mine, and all the time...


    SAVE YOURSELF
    Words and Music
    by Robert Wyatt


    It's my, my bed you're lying on
    It's my, my bed you're dying on
    But if it's my head you're relying on

    You gotta save yourself
    Don't enslave yourself
    Just to save yourself
    Stay in your own bed at night

    Because, girl, you know that if
    I try to feed you and keep you all week to make you feel secure
    Then you won't leave my bed, though you wanna stay fed
    Will your heart remain, girl?
    You know you can't make it
    Without tryin' to fake it
    And I believe, baby

    You gotta save yourself
    Don't enslave yourself
    Just to save yourself
    Stay in your own bed at night


    LULLABYE LETTER
    Words and Music
    by Kevin Ayers


    I've got something to tell you
    Hold on, I wanted to thrill you
    It's nice, makes you feel better
    It's called the Lullabye Letter
    Hold tight, I'm not trying to con you
    Get ready, I'm going to lay it on you

    You're the sweetest thing I see
    I'm telling you it's no lie

    I've got lights in my brain, girl
    We'll have fights in the rain, girl
    You'll be good and bad together
    Writing songs and call that the weather
    If you've got something to sing me
    4 o'clock's the best time to ring me

    You're the strangest scene I see
    I'm telling you it's no lie

    You're the sweetest thing I've seen
    In my life...


    WHY ARE WE SLEEPING ?
    Words and Music
    by Kevin Ayers


    It begins with a blessing, it ends with a curse
    Making life easy by making it worse
    "My mask is my master", the trumpeter weeps
    But his voice is so weak, as he speaks from his sleep

    Saying: "Why, why, why... Why are we sleeping?"

    People are watching, people who stare
    Waiting for something that's already there
    "Tomorrow I'll find it", the trumpeter screams
    And remembers he's hungry, and drowns in his dreams

    Saying: "Why, why, why... Why are we sleeping?"

    My head is a nightclub with glasses and wine
    The customers dancing or just making time
    While Daevid is cursing, the customers scream
    Now everyone's shouting, "Get out of my dream!"

    Saying: "Why, why, why... Why are we sleeping?"