Wave Signs

“It’s amazing, sprawling, diverse, warm, human. Kinda like the people playing on it.”
Duncan O’Cleirigh, Blackwater Studios

Available now on all digital streaming platforms – Bandcamp, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Prime Music, Deezer and more.

Wave Signs

℗© 2018 Serengeti Long Walk. All Rights Reserved.
Released March 20, 2018.

01    Come On!
02    21st Century Socialite
03    Short Skirts And Biker Boots
04    Change You
05    Oxygen
06    White Collar
07    Andy Dufresne
08    Bus Spy
09    Heart Attack
10    Like Women Do
11    Cosmic Drama
12    Wave Signs

Credits

Ray Clifford (drums), Joe Dermody (guitar), Ger Duggan (vocals), Mick Duggan (keyboards), Jon Heffernan (guitar), Des O’Mahony (bass guitar).

Backing vocals by all.
Additional piano on Cosmic Drama by Daniel Heffernan.

All words, music and arrangements by Serengeti Long Walk.

Recorded between 2015 and 2018 at The Stables, Castlecove, Co. Kerry and at Blackwater Studios, Co. Cork.

Produced Jon Heffernan with Duncan O’Cleirigh and Serengeti Long Walk at Blackwater Studios, Co. Cork.

Production Notes

Almost thirty years since the original line-up’s 1988 farewell concert at the Triskel Arts Centre in Cork, the album Wave Signs captures the themes and thoughts of an older group of friends, bringing retrospection of age rather than introspection of youth to the compositions.

The cover of Wave Signs features the original artwork used by the band as part of the stage backdrop at the Triskel Arts Centre gig in 1988.

Video

Wave Signs

21st Century Socialite

Come On!

Come On! Live At Lian Club Rome

Gallery

Lyrics

01 | Come On!

You’re in a yellow taxi in a foreign land
Waiting for the 70s to kill your band
You’re hanging your head and rubbing your eyes
Wondering what’s happened to the dull surprise

So come on! I’ll give you a clue
Come on! I’ll give you a clue
Come on!

All of your friends are on the run
All of your wives hiding from the sun
The house is on fire and you’re turning your cheek
The only thing you’ve done is fall on your feet

So come on! I’ll give you a clue
Come on! I’ll give you a clue
Come on!

02 | 21st Century Socialite

Who’s come knocking at my door?
Camera says I haven’t seen him before
Wish they’d all just stay away
There’s nothing I can think to say

The world outside is such a bore
Meeting up is such chore
But here we can just float away
Break away from feet of clay

Sign on to shine on

I’m a 21st century socialite
It’s a 21st century human right
And I shine like a beacon light
Through the day, through the night
In my 21st century social life

Break away from feet of clay, all night, all day
Break away from feet of clay, never listen, don’t say

Sign on to shine on

I’m a 21st century socialite, socialite
It’s a 21st century human right, human right
And I shine like a beacon light
Through the day, through the night
In my 21st century social life, social life

03 | Short Skirts And Biker Boots

I like the smell of rain on dust
I like the jolt of salt and gin
I like the sound of open chords
I like the pain of ink on skin

I like the crash of storm on glass
I like the touch of feet on sand
I like the mood of empty streets
I like the thump of big brass bands

Hugged a guy on the Ramblas, he gave them out for free
Talked and smiled and laughed out loud, pictured by Japanese
(And it’s you) Short Skirts and Biker Boots
(And it’s you) Short Skirts and Biker Boots
(And it’s you) Short Skirts and Biker Boots
Hey, Ho, Japanese
Click, Click, Japanese

I like the spice of boiling tar
I like the brush of someone’s voice
I like the feel of digging earth
I like the sound outside white noise

04 | Change You

I was stranded at the river’s edge
With a question running through my head
Was the water rushing through my hands
The water from the Promised Land

So now I look back, turn the tricks in sand
Look back, at a half worn man
Look back, but there was no plan
Look back, nothing like a plan

Can I change you?

I was running into empty space
The loser in a one man race
Who trusted in what comes too late
Or never if you learn to wait

So now I look back, turn the tricks in sand
Look back at a half worn man
Look back but there was no plan
Look back, nothing like a plan

Can I change you?
Can I change you?
In time we’ll move
If I change you

So now I look back
Look back
Look back

Can I change you?
Can I change you?
In time we’ll move
If I change you

05 | Oxygen

Why don’t you frighten me with a new opinion?
Empty your trench and throw your flag in?
I’ll kiss you where it hurts and say you can win.
I’ll join you in the chorus in a new position

(Give me) Oxygen to breathe, to hold, to feel, to be with her
(Give me) Oxygen to scheme, to draw, to fall, to be with her
(Give me) Oxygen to love, to fight, to run, to be with her

Blah, blah, blah, I hear your lips moving,
I don’t believe a word your eyes are lying.
You hug the Baby while the Mother’s crying
And I’ll join you in the chorus in a new position
Join you in the chorus in a new position

(Give me) Oxygen to breathe, to hold, to feel, to be with her
(Give me) Oxygen to scheme, to draw, to fall, to be with her
(Give me) Oxygen to love, to fight, to run, to be with her

Why don’t you relieve yourself, free the nation?
Take a trip, take a long vacation?
Send me a card but no invitation
And I’ll join you in the chorus in a new position
Join you in the chorus in a new position

(Give me) Oxygen to breathe, to hold, to feel, to be with her
(Give me) Oxygen to scheme, to draw, to fall, to be with her
(Give me) Oxygen to love, to fight, to run, to be with her

To love, to fight, to run, to hide,
To swim, to lie, to fly, to die,
To wake, to sing, to laugh, to dream,
To try to be with her,

Oxygen.

06 | White Collar

The husband she bought on line was to last a lifetime, that was her line
He liked to watch MTV, she liked his CV – matrimony
A poor boy who worked in a ditch made himself rich with one fatal wish
All the gold wasn’t enough when push came to shove the boy wanted love

Where you going to run? Where you going to hide your head next?
White Collar, Gold Digger

This year she went too far, she took the kids and the car, pushed him to the bar
And at the edge of a cliff he made a big wish to an invisible star
A poor boy who worked in a ditch to make himself rich but married a witch
So the gold wasn’t the cure when the knock on the door brought her knees to the floor

Where you going to run? Where you going to hide your head next?
White Collar, Gold Digger

07 | Andy Dufresne

Moth in a glass watching life pass
You’re living your future today
Moth in a glass don’t talk of the past
Your gift is the present today

You and I, we share the same sky
You and I, we’ll fly so high
But oh, I’ve got time
Oh how I waste time

If I should only live for a day, I’d like to make it a good one
If I should only live for a day, I’d like to live it like you do
Oh, Andy Dufresne

Moth in a glass escaped me so fast
Sing a song for your lover Adorée
Mister moth in a glass we had us a blast
But the meaning’s escaped me today

You and I, we share the same sky
You and I, we’ll fly so high
But oh, I’ve got time
Oh how I waste time

If I should only live for a day, I’d like to make it a good one
If I should only live for a day, I’d like to live it like you do
Oh, Andy Dufresne.

08 | Bus Spy

He spent a little time in college
A little time with birds and bees
Spent a longer time with Jenny
And a lot of that time down on his knees
Bought a dress in her favourite colour
And she wore it once before she left
It hangs on the door of his bedroom
And he hugs it at night to get some rest
Playing to a world that whispers

(Say) Hi, hi,
Say hi, hi to the Bus Spy

And he’s caught between a frock and a sad case
Walking in a world of sanity
Closes the door of his apartment
Closes the chances of being free
Whispers her name to the faded papers
Talks to the pictures in his treasure chest
Calls out her name in public places
Dress on his arm, tears on his vest
Playing to a world that whispers

(Say) Hi, hi,
Say hi, hi to the Bus Spy

09 | Heart Attack

I’m in an awkward place
At the back of the race
I feel the heat on the track
Heart attack

I’m on a sliding scale
Maybe you can fail
Me, I’m never coming back
Heart attack

Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick

You want to owe me something, make me feel ok
You want to keep this pressure for a different day
You tell me now or never, it’s the best you can do
But the heart and the noise keep coming through
I feel the blood is rising see the sweat in my eyes
You’re waiting in the shadows with a secret disguise
You make me run away, run away, into the black
Run away, run away, into the black

Heart attack

Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick
Bang.

10 | Like Women Do

Mary talks to Jane
She says it keeps her sane
Brothers, Sisters, photographs
A little crying, lots of laughs

Mary talks to Jane
They are different but the same
Daughter, Husband, Sister, Son
Endless work that’s never done

Wish that I could speak Like Women Do
Wish that I could talk and talk
Wish that I could speak Like Women Do
Wish that I could speak to you
Speak to you
Like Women

Mary talks to Jane
Singing songs and being friends
Talking good time, talking pain
Working hours, lost weekends

Wish that I could speak Like Women Do
Wish that I could talk and talk
Wish that I could speak Like Women Do
Wish that I could speak to you
Speak to you
Like Women

11 | Cosmic Drama

At the end of the road, rising
A king stood on the horizon
Keep keeping your eyes on the drama

In the smoke and the heat and the lies and
Fortunes falling and rising
Keep keeping your eyes on the drama

12 | Wave Signs

In that moment of time between flying and falling
In that second of space when I felt you calling
A breath and a half before the morning
That moment in time between flying and falling

24 hours later you’ll be gone
24 hours later we’ll move on

I can’t read the Wave Signs, the ebb within the flow
I can’t read the Wave Signs, explain what I don’t know
I can’t read the Wave Signs

In that moment of space the ghosts are calling
In that second of time crows and gulls are brawling
A breath and a half before it’s dawning
That moment in space between floating and falling

24 hours later you’ll be gone
24 hours later we’ll move on

I can’t read the Wave Signs, the ebb within the flow
I can’t read the Wave Signs, explain what I don’t know
I can’t read the Wave Signs
The rising, the calling, the waving, the falling
I can’t read the Wave Signs