instant karma: completely gone fishing

liner notes: love pisses me off

"I hope this is something valuable, something everybody can relate to. My gift to the world, so to speak."

Love pisses me off, love pisses me off, I've had enough, I've had enough, babe. All kisses are off, all those kisses are off, I've had enough, I've had enough, babe. First you snapped my neck into, took it off, gave me a different view, I got drunk and slept somewhere outside. I'm a hole in someone else's clothes, a toad lying on the road. What is hope, but the trucks that pass me by? Oh, my ... Love pisses me off ... Then you took my eyeballs out while I slept, as though I couldn't count, oh, wow, what a thing to do. Just a bum in a shuttle ship to the sun, till his nose went dip, coming down like a mudpie from the sky, oh, my ...

--Martin

liner notes: nookie

'Grammy's first single release. Yes, this is one of those almost unplayable tunes I tend to write and it's all about everybody's favourite pastime, Sex. During rehearsals, I got everybody completely annoyed, because the other guys thought I had just delivered a nice little intro, but yours truly insisted that this was a full song. It took about 50 different versions before we had something that worked for everybody. There are 3 different versions of this one under the bonus-section and if you like, you can listen to the demo `Masturbate!' (weird ...). The video was shot in a deserted building in the harbour of Hamburg at '8'C with no heating and little food & drink. If you ever see it, look out for the frostbites!'

The phone rings, I get all flattered, free Nookie served on a silver tablet. I'm not sure, if I want to, really. Screwed, engaged, married, I see it all clearly. Feel safe ? I`d rather not.

--Gordon

liner notes: birthday suite

"The single of the album with a great, unusual animated video. A favourite for many, it's about an old man in a pensioners home, communicating with the bugs in his room. Slow forest, by the way, is the nice Thai word for cemetery. The highlight of the song , the elevating finale with Tom and Ollie on their best Pavarotti, was inexplicably culled for the radio single."

I'm not growing anymore, I decompose, I break my leg my shoulder, I lose my ears, I lose my nose, oops there it goes ... And she doesn't know that I'm not quite alone, I got friends on the ceiling, got neighbours in my bed, they're keeping me the company I never have, they're everywhere, and she won't care, that I see semaphores, they see moths, I receive morsecode, they see fireflies. They all tell me it's a slow forest, all the bugs and worms and maggots and butterflies, they're all friends of mine. I'm a giant, a whole world of their own. I'm all hills and valleys and forests and roads, they party on my pelvis and hide in my toes, and when the lights go down, they make music for me ... listen.

--Martin

liner notes: give me a deal

'Ego trip, part one. Many people who heard this classic IK rocker thought it was all about getting signed. It's not. At the time, I had lost my girlfriend, had huge financial problems ( OK, still have ...) and was running out of people I could shovel my problems on (Let's hear a big `Ah' for Gordon ...). Blamed it all on the music, I did. So, lets `give me a deal' and get this thing over with. Oh, the company exec loved it, `must have felt like a big wet sloppy one on the bum. But then again, it worked, right ?'

You've been pushing around my friends for much to long. You've been playing around with me and jerked me off. I'm twisted, I'm screwed, your sewer is my head. Maybe just a bond to much you broke. Suck, suck again. Give me a deal and be quiet. Give me a deal, I'm getting tired.

--Gordon