Shattered Life

Life has shown there´s a party going on in my dreams

White lies have told there´s a reason to believe in white dreams

Dear way of surviving

in a jail bar city

where we drink while crying

Shattered life, shattered life, shattered life

Glide along

Goodbyes have shown there´s a number of needing knights and goodnight queens

All wise men told there´s enough feeding from a bleeding wound to muffle my scream

No longer praying

in a jail bar city

hear my final crying

Shattered life, shattered life. This shattered life

is home

home, home, home…

Wendy on Ice

Wendy On Ice

Divinely she´s gifted with skates

Wendy On Ice

How gracefully she´s chasing her tail

When waltzing around and every time that we met

She would slide through these arms in a lovely pirouette

But Wendy falls to the ground and accidently will glide up to me

And maybe she´ll wonder

Maybe too late

If maybe we´re drawn by the hand of fate

Wendy On Ice

Has been circling in my glass bowl for years

Floating about and every day since we met

I´ve been sweeping these bars like a weary marionette

How many times have I wished that her self controlled world was simply melted down

Released out and dried off the ground

Just like the last drop from my tongue

But then I fall to the ground and accidently lay my hands on her knee

And maybe I´ll wonder

Maybe too late

If maybe we´re drawn by the hand of fate

To drink a Wendy on ice would put anyone’s mind in a state

Where maybe you wonder

Maybe too late

If maybe we´re drawn by the hand of fate

The Winning Code 

Step up, step up, get lottery tickets

for the price of a chance of being overly wicked

win a better state of mind

We´re picking out a new king of positive thinking

They´re all outnumbered, they´ve all been drinking

too much formaldehyde

By that fairground attraction I spotted you honey

In desperate action you spent all your money

but never satisfied

Be ahead of your headache, lay the problems that you make

where fears are realized and the pain makes sence

Have confidence dear this fortunate wheel is spinning once again

Hear the danger call

Break the winning code

To war we go

The sickening feeling that comes without a warning

staying awake from the dawn to the morning

is really no big deal

Twist the energy rush into a missile that you send

straight to the heart of this park of amusement

and tell me how you feel, how you really feel

when the rollercoaster suddenly turns

and goes running down the hill

Hear the danger call

Break the winning code

To war we go

Fire on Delightful Hill

Ma don´t send me to bed

Light this candle instead

You blow it out and call it a day

To call it a day is wasting away

Mama, the days are now fled

when fled, the daze in my head

´cause you go la, la, la, la, la

in a delightful way

The dance that keeps us still in in a high

as we´re lulling by reality

sends my body into a drowse

but lights another me

Mama, Timothy won, he won

little Timothy rules

rules my playing domains,

playing domains, favourite place

Mama, Timothy said “Shine on our favourite place”

and under the semblance of joy he named it “Delightful Hill”

A spark of genius was thrilling when I was lucky to find these matches, see

He had to come crawling mean like a thief and steal them all away

There´s a burning, burning, burning fire on Delightful Hill

Burning, burning, burning wild all against my will

But I swear that I never came near

Since you told me to be distant dear I kept my fingers away

Mama, Timothy´s dead

He´s dead, little Timothy´s head is flaming flakes fading away

Fading away, ending his day

Mama, I was feeling ashamed

Shame is a dangerous game and then I played the fire brigade

The fire brigade is never afraid of anything

The alarm was pounding and I was about to save what´s left of him

But all I ever saw in the smoke was you who called me in

There´s a burning, burning, burning fire on Delightful Hill

Burning, burning, burning wild all against my will

And though it´s there I´ll never come near

Since you told me to be distant dear I´ll keep away

There´s a burning, burning, burning fire on Delightful Hill

Burning, burning, burning wild all against my will

I want to know why when you´re here

and the dangerous game is over there

how come I feel this fear

A Pulsating Wait

Stay hungry

Stay on on your marks

Raise a golden crown above the muddiest soil

Stay hungry ´till the morning is dawn

With sealed lips

Behind some deputy´s truth

I sneak like an Indian

with all the knowledge of an earth bound man

Stay hungry

Stay where you are

Raise a glowing head above the nonsense wall

Today´s a hopefull may day and tomorrow will be fall

A pulsating wait

Behind fruitful trees

I breathe like an animal

in these year´s hunt for inhaling the remains of the bomb

They made the words to keep me lonely

They made the words to keep me down

Our private Eden´s now a billion people world

Missundersdanding talks hysterically blurred

But friend flowers all grow grow grow

´till they´re all with the knowledge of an earth bound man

They made the words to keep me lonely

They made the words to keep me down

Stay hungry now grow, grow, grow

Nowhere Run

Grab your inheritance, set your aim on the winning post

You will carry this burden, carry it on to the end of almost

All on your given tracks

Endure predestination

Our race goes to heaven

Here´s a boy now who bet his whole life, but never scored

This dumb illusion became a big drag, the ultimate bore

He left the given track

to find out why we´re going

round and round, and he says

Many enquirers died

for great fun

We´ll make it a joyful ride

This is a nowhere run

Homo Sapiens only move safe at the speed of time

And although my heartbeat and all of those seconds are never in rhyme

Along the given track

of one way and no returning

I will find

Many enquirers died

for great fun

We´ll make it a joyful ride

This is a nowhere run

He may cross the Atlantic sea

He may drown in a lake

Many enquirers died

for great fun

We´ll make it a joyful ride

This is a nowhere run

Emergency Plan

Now move five steps forward and four back

And the jelly jelly Jerico wall will be a case of the cracks

This is a call for the misfit in the back line

Number one will be the last when your overweight flesh turns around

I´ve been lighting up my own sun

Well shine on yourself boy

We´ve been raised in the shadow of a big bang

Without ability to see another reason but the star of some gang

Was this the only “for real” that you could find

Well learn the easiest piece of this manual “Tricks of mankind”

I´ve been lighting up my own sun

Oh shine on yourself boy

I´ve been lighting up my own sun

So shine on yourself boy

Now when the game goes tripping on a death line

And the direction is a circle

cause your brain short circuits

running out of sparks and you fumble in the dark

There´s an emergency plan

Break the glass and pull the back of your mind

Now do it

Recorded at Mistlur Studios 1 & 2, Decibel Studio and at Studio Atlantis, Stockholm between 1989-1990. Released spring 1990.

Produced by Fred Asp & Mikael Herrström.

Engineered by Mikael Herrström, Stefan Glaumann, Dagge Lundqvist, Janne Hansson

Owned and controlled by Universal Music.

All songs written by Fred Asp. ©️ Aspect Songs/Misty Music

Homeless Town – Lead vocals and piano: Fred Asp

A Bolt From The Blue – Lead vocals, all guitars and piano: Fred Asp

Shattered Life – Lead vocals, rhythm guitar, programming and piano: Fred Asp. Lead Guitar: Eddie Sjöberg

Wendy On Ice – Lead vocals, guitar, piano, drums and synth bass: Fred Asp. Backing vocals: Irma & Idde Schultz 

The Winning Code – Lead vocals, Drums, Keyboards: Fred Asp. Rhythm guitar: Peter Puders. Bass and lead guitar: Christian Falk. Backing vocals: Maria Blom & Ebba Forsberg

A Pulsating Wait – Lead vocals, guitars, synth: Fred Asp. Bass: Christian Falk. Flute: Anton Karis. Backing vocals: Irma & Idde Schultz

Fire on Delightful Hill – Lead vocals, programming, synths, guitar, drums: Fred Asp. Backing vocals: Marianne Flynner.

Nowhere Run – Lead vocals, programming, drums, piano, synths, guitar: Fred Asp. Cello: Sebastian Öberg

Western Woman – Lead vocals, piano, drums, programming: Fred Asp. Bass: Latte Kronlund. Guitar: Eddie Sjöberg. Strings: Sebastian Öberg & Jonas Lindgren.

Emergency Plan – Lead vocals, programming, drums, synth bass, rhythm guitar, synths: Fred Asp. Lead guitar: Janne Oldaeus

Afraid Nellie – Lead vocals, programming, guitar, synths, backing vocals: Fred Asp. Cello: Sebastian Öberg.

Homeless Town 

A homeless town

is what I´ll always return to

This king is gone,

forever

A Bolt from the Blue

Take a break from what you´re doingTake a break cause what you´re feeling inside is not lying

All the years that you´ve been wandering

from pole to pole but nobody out there is staying

Left in the cold you cried a river

over the notes that say “no permanency, but a pleasant memory”

But today it´s all up to you to be the mother of humanity

Today it´s all up to me to be the father of morality

Courage stood only for one night

Half a man about to flee the whole scene, because nothing seemed for real anyway

Looked in the sky for my salvation

Watching the sky but it was falling at me so I hid under your wing

Now the push that I´ve been needing strikes like a bolt from my blue insides

cause in the haze I didn´t see the warning

But today it´s all up to me to be the father of morality

Today it´s all up to you to be the mother of humanity

The sight of dazed and needing orphans

reappeares and scares the hell out of me

cause in the end, what are we

Today it´s all up to you to be the mother of humanity

Today it´s all up to me to be the father of morality

Humanity, morality

Humanity, morality

Western Woman 

Now you stand so eager to leave through the doorway

cause your pockets are filled with grades

Well who is a prophet with a license for changing anyone’s ways

The strings that were pulling us tight

are the same as those drawing the bow now

And where is the person with courage to ease the strain and shoot first

cause what is the cover for killing when a civil right in our modern world is freedom

I can no longer stand tall in this dueling thing

The only fair chance to win is to sit back and watch it

Western woman

I know you´re getting this all so wrong

I remember your tempting defense

And how I fought in big words to pass the line

Then the comforting wave of heat when you turned and opened that door

Now this beautiful and warm hypothesis is not explosive as it was before

Truly

I can no longer take part in this verbal game

Such a cold blooded war would be a shame to win

The generation struck and emotionally maimed

is a yearning crowd with a frozen grin

who´s lost the strength and will to cry

in fear of being called the hopelessly romantic

Western woman

I know you´re getting this all so wrong

Western woman

Far east I will soon be gone

Afraid Nellie

Damned clear eyes

Always changing shades between blue and the black

They´ve seen too many scenes of the whitened fists and the red light facts

The lead in a horror movie

will be the one they act

Be the one you act

Never seen such radiant glowing before

Can this be a free ticket to Hollywood

Afraid Nellie with all them twisted fears

Afraid Nellie we´re only sitting here in hope

Hope for a monster cry out

Laid down silent cause someone stole your lines and then emptied your head

To watch a world where nothing´s for real has scared many a man to stay in bed

And hide under cover, tightly squeezed into a corner

When the lucky star finally twinks

and says “listen to me, never listen to what anyone says”

You´re in the middle of a Hitchcock movie

When the TV-age kisses you goodnight

Afraid Nellie with all them twisted fears

Afraid Nellie we´re only sitting here in hope

In hope