Song information On this page you can find the lyrics of the song Black Canal, artist - Fish.
Date of issue: 15.05.1994
Song language: English
Black Canal |
They’ll always find a place for you in the sidewalk cafes |
No one ventures into the streets these days |
Except strangers and those like me, looking for work |
I noticed the smell when I got off the bus |
And traced it down to a canal that ran |
Right through the heart of the city |
Like an open vein full of black rotten blood |
A mirror surface broken only by the bubbles of gas |
Escaping from the stagnating mess that lay on the bottom |
Fuelled by the chemicals and effluent of the city |
Which was fed, in turn, by the barges and the ships |
That followed that line and created the waves across that |
Surface to the dockside where they unloaded their holds |
The swarms of people clambering over them |
I sat down in a cafe and I was holding my own |
And minding my own business |
And a voice spoke in my ears as if it recognized |
That I was questioning the source of the smell |
Have another beer boy, take it with a pinch of snuff |
And my eyes were bedazzled, by the jewels in his silken cuff |
And a voice rolled out from an ashen cloud from behind a long cigar |
Son, you’ll never need to smell the black canal |
It was as if he’d read my mind, as if he expected it |
And, as the afternoon was wasted, I became aware |
I was becoming wrapped up in his world |
I became aware of the smell from the bouquet in his buttonhole |
It was taking me away from the canal |
And away from my questions |
I was aware that the perfumes were all around us |
And he sold me the city, well at least he tried to with all his stories |
All the silks out of China |
And all the satins out of Spain |
All the powders for your noses |
Will keep the stench at bay |
Have another beer boy, take it with a pinch of snuff |
Your eyes will be bedazzled, by the jewels in my scented cuff |
And a voice rolled out from an ashen cloud from behind a long cigar |
Son, you’ll never need to smell this black canal |
And my world was spinnin', my head was awash |
With this promises and his beer |
And I looked up as he reached down |
And snorted the flower in his buttonhole |
He smiled and his eyes lied |
I was staring at a suit with no soul |
No matter how you wash them |
How you scrub and bleach and boil |
You’ll never get rid of the smell of the black canal |
Of the black canal |
Black canal |
The black canal |
The black canal |
The black canal |
(Derek Dick/Foss Paterson) |