Thomas DOLBY


The Flat Earth

(1984)



1. Dissidents 4'56
(Thomas Dolby / Dolby / Kevin Armstrong / Matthew Seligman)
©1983 SCALE MUSIC / STREET MUSIC Ltd. / POINT MUSIC / OVAL MUSIC AND 6 с 1967 0Н BOY MUSIC Co.
2. The Flat Earth 6'42
(Thomas Dolby)
©1983 SCALE MUSIC/STREET MUSIC Ltd.
3. Screen Kiss 5'33
(Thomas Dolby)
©1983 SCALE MUSIC/STREET MUSIC Ltd.
4. White City 5'20
(Thomas Dolby)
©1983 SCALE MUSIC/STREET MUSIC Ltd.
5. Mulu The Rain Forest 5'00
(Thomas Dolby)
6. I Scare Myself 5'41
(Thomas Dolby)
©1983 SCALE MUSIC/STREET MUSIC Ltd.
7. Hyperactive! 4'13
(Thomas Dolby)
©1983 SCALE MUSIC/STREET MUSIC Ltd.

Total Time: 37:25


  • Thomas Dolby - Piano, Effects, Vocals
  • Kevin Armstrong - Guitar, Backing Vocals, Trumpet
  • Matthew Seligman - Bass
  • Clif Brigden - Percussion, Computer Drums
  • Adele Bertei (Courtesy of GEFFEN RECORDS) - Backing Vocals on 1, 2 & 7.
  • Lesley Fairbairn - Backing Vocals On 2,3 & 6. Bruce Woolley: Backing Vocals On 5. Matthew Salt: Tins And Thundersheet On 7. Peter Thoms: Trombone On 6 & 7. Justin Hildreth: Drum Samples on 7
  • Robyn Hitchcock as Keith Kevin and Lu as The Analyst

    Produced by Thomas Dolby
    Engineered by Dan Lacksman in Brussels and mixed by Mike Shipley in London except Hyperactive! mixed by Alan Douglas.
    Photography: Richard Haughton
    Graphics: Assorted Images
    Album Design: Malcolm, David, And Thomas

    All Songs
    ©1983 SCALE MUSIC/STREET MUSIC Ltd.
    Except 1
    ©1983 SCALE MUSIC / STREET MUSIC Ltd. / POINT MUSIC / OVAL MUSIC AND 6 с 1967 0Н BOY MUSIC Co.

    Thanks To: Chris, Dave and Carb, Andrew, Lesley, Nancy, Michael, Mane, Hugh, lane, Limelight Films, the Port of London Authority and others too humorous to mention; and Special thanks to Lesley for holding us together. Management: Andrew Ferguson, Cracks 90 Ltd

    ©1984 SHINGLE STREET (OVERSEAS) Ltd.
    ®1984 Original Sound Recordings Made by EMI RECORDS Ltd.



    1. Dissidents

      One more young writer slid away in the night
      Over the border he will drown in light
      Hold it -- wait a minute
      I can't read my writing, my own writing!
      Like tiny insects in the palm of history
      A domino effect in a cloud of mystery
      My writing is an iron fist
      In a glove full of vaseline
      But dip the fuse in the kerosene
      I too become a dissident
      "Когда человек родится - он слаб и гибок
      Когда человек умирает - он крепок и чёрств
      Когда дерево растёт - оно нежно и гибко
      А когда оно сухо и жестко - оно умирает..."


      Courting disaster we ran in the night
      Wings of an angel torn in flight
      Check it -- verify it
      It's all here in writing, down in writing!
      At the hands of the press
      And in the eyes of the government
      I fell from grace
      I too became a dissident
      Like tiny insects in the palm of history
      A domino effect and an early end to this story
      My writing is an iron fist
      In a glove full of vaseline
      But dip the fuse in the kerosene br>I too become a dissident

    2. The Flat Earth

      Friends have often asked me why
      I'm sensitive about my height
      I just turn around and say
      well, I used to be immune
      all my life I have waited
      to be given any word
      and it was screaming to be head
      please remember...
      the Earth can be any shape you want it
      any shape at all
      dark and cold or bright and warm
      long or thing or small
      but it's home and all I ever had
      and maybe why for me the Earth is flat

      Then when they spill the demon seed
      turn and face into the wind
      all along you still believed
      you believed you were immune
      and if love is all you're missing
      look into your heart
      is anybody home?
      please remember...
      the Earth can be any shape you want it
      any in the world
      but don't you point that raygun at me
      I might just explode
      there are stones buried in your soul
      and only a fool would blame the death of rock and roll
      and in time you'll come to understand
      this flat old Earth is in your gentle hands.

    3. Screen Kiss

      Miller time at the bar where all the English meet
      She used to drink in the hills
      only now she drinks in the valleys
      where every road has a name like Beachwood Avenue, or so it seems
      a Croydon girl could really hope to find a home
      but with a thousand miles of real estate to choose from
      you begin to see the value of your freedom...
      The moon is bright in the haze above old Hollywood
      deer look down from the hills
      it's three o'clock in the morning
      pill in hand you can hear his golden surfer boys
      crying out mummy won't come out of the bathroom
      and you'd hoped he'd say he's sorry if he hit you
      but he's buried in the screenplay of his feature

      Screen kiss, one screen kiss
      straight from a film I forget who was in
      screen kiss, one screen kiss
      blue filter lens in a pool of vaseline
      but all the rushes look the same
      only there's a movie I wouldn't pay to see again
      if it's the one with him in

      You and I could be a mile above the earth tremors
      hold to me and we'll climb
      you could sneak out while he's sleeping
      suicide in the hills above old Hollywood
      is never going to change the world
      never change it overnight
      any more than the invention of the six-gun
      any more than the discovery of Radium
      or California tipping in the ocean

    4. White City

      Keith was the sole inhabitant
      Keith was the sold inhabitant
      Keith woke beside the fountain
      From his dreams of china mountains
      From from the clatter of these autobanks that keep chucking up money
      It turned into the kind of joke that Keith feels isn't that funny
      White City
      White City
      Keith talked in alphanumerals
      Keith talked in alphanumerals
      Keith built a drug cathedral
      Shape of an octahedron
      Where he could hide from young Orwellians who would trample their brothers!
      A thin white powder film on everything but soot is the colour of
      The White City
      White City
      White City

      So -- are you happy
      With this vision you've created
      Should have known you'd never rest
      Till we're all incinerated
      And you know you are the best

    5. Mulu The Rain Forest ( 7" version )



      If I'm not sleeping
      It's because I'm frightened
      Of what I might find
      Behind the curtain
      There is a signal
      There is a warning
      I will not heed them
      Until I hear the morning dew
      That trickles down my window
      Mulu -- the people of the rain forest
      Believe in dreamtime
      Real time inverted
      Along a faultline
      Below the surface
      There is a sequence
      There is a reason
      For all the nightmares
      All this mayhem
      Mulu -- the changes came before he knew --
      The keeper of the rain forest... Talk to me Mulu Speak to me Mulu Walk with me Mulu Reach for me Mulu Mulu -- the waters came before he know the prisoner of the rain forest

    6. I Scare Myself

      I scare myself just thinking about you
      I scare myself when I'm without you
      I scare myself the moment that you're going
      I scare myself when I let my thoughts run
      and when they're running
      I keep thinking of you
      and when they're running
      what can I do?

      I scare myself, and I don't mean lightly
      I scare myself, it can get frightening
      I scare myself, to think what I could do
      I scare myself -- it's some kind of voodoo...
      and with that voodoo
      I keep thinking of you
      and with that voodoo
      what can I do?

      but it's so so very different when we're together
      and I'm so so much calmer; I feel better
      'cause the stars already crossed our paths forever
      and the sooner that you realise it the better
      and then I'll be with you and I won't scare myself
      and I'll know what to do and I won't scare myself
      and my thoughts will run and I won't scare myself
      and I'll think of you and I won't scare myself

    7. Hyperactive!

      At the tender age of three
      I was hooked to a machine
      just to keep my mouth from spouting junk
      they must have took me for a fool
      when they put me in a school
      'cause the teacher knew I had the funk
      but tonight I'm on the edge --
      better shut me in the fridge
      'cause I'm burning up
      with the vision in my brain
      and the music in my veins
      and the dirty rhythm in my blood
      they are messing with my heart
      and they're messing with my heart
      they are messing with my heart
      and they're messing with my --
      ripping me apart!
      hyperactive when I was small
      hyperactive now I'm grown
      hyperactive and the night is young
      semaphore out on the floor
      messages from outer space
      deep heat for the feet
      the rhythm of your heartbeat
      'cause the music of the street,
      it isn't any rapattack
      I can reach into your homes
      like an itch in your headphones
      you can't turn it up
      I'm the shape in your back room
      I'm the breather on the phone
      and I'm burning up
      but there's one thing I must say
      before they lock me up again ---
      you'd be safer at the back
      when I'm having an attack !
      hyperactive when I was small
      hyperactive now I'm tall
      hyperactive as the day is long
      hyperactive in my bones
      hyperactive in your phones
      hyperactive and the night is young
      hyperactive when I was small
      hyperactive now I'm grown
      hyperactive till I'm dead and gone
      stand up hyperactivate !
      get up hyperactivate !
      wise up hyperactivate !
      stand up hyperactivate !
      Europe hyperactivate !
      South Bronx hyperactivate !
      London hyperactivate !