Roger's journal of handwritten lyrics -- published on his website to coincide with the release of 'The Lot' -- has a number of interesting yet hard to decipher lyrics and song ideas. I think transcribing the unreleased tracks / rejected songs / early versions is worth doing and have started the ball rolling with this incomplete initial attempt.
First up is the early tracklisting for STRANGE FRONTIER; 'Man On Fire' is a notable omission, presumably as it was in the running for 'The Works'. Six tracks were ditched altogether (one a cover of Keep On Running), and one was relegated to a B-side (Two Sharp Pencils).
Two rejected tracks ('Take You Higher' and 'Turn On Your Power') were later merged by The Cross to form 'I Can Take You Higher'.
STRANGE FRONTIER — ALBUM PROGRESS (21st May, 1983)
(1) Love, Hope & Confusion (I Cry For You) MIXED
(2) Beautiful Dreams MIXED
(3) It's An Illusion MIXED
(4) Masters of War MIXED
(5) Keep On Running
(6) Strange Frontier MIXED
(7) Young Love ALL VOCALS + ????
(8) I Wanna Take You Higher MIXED
(9) Turn On The Power ALL VOCALS + ??? MIX
(10) Sun And Steel EVERYTHING?
(11) Been To Spain EVERYTHING
(12) Two Sharp Pencils
(13) All Your Dreams Will Come True
(14) Racing On The Street
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— UNRELEASED TRACKS:
She Belongs To Me (A D B D A)
================
She's got everything she needs, she's an artist: she don't look back. (x2)
She can take the dark out of the nighttime and
paint the daytime black.
You will start ??????? proud to steal her anything she sees.
But you will wind up peeking thru a keyhole
down upon your knees.
She never stumbles; she's got no place to fall. (x2)
She's nobody’s child: the law can't touch her at all.
BREAK
She wears an Egyptian ring, it sparkles before she speaks (x2)
She's a hypnotist-collector: you are a walking antique.
Bow down to her on Sunday; salute her when her Birthday comes (x2)
For Halloween, buy her a trumpet; for Christmas, give her a drum.
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Wreckless Love
================
No lyrics; only arrangement notes.
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Take You Higher
================
Got my baby in overdrive,
My foot's on the floor and I'm feelin' alive,
I put her in second and leave 'em cold,
Eat my dust -- never live to be slow.
Sitting alone in your favourite chair,
Counting the reasons you should not be there,
This is not you.
CHORUS
I wanna take you higher
I wanna take you higher
I wanna take you higher than before.
She screams like a kid when I'm makin' the turns,
She holds in the skids -- when the rubber burns,
I watch for the cops -- I watch for the signs.
With life in the fast line you don't keep to the lines.
Feeling alone on some everyday street,
These are the moments you really don't need.
This is not you.
CHORUS
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I Can Take You Higher
================
Got this baby in overdrive,
My foot's on the floor and I'm feelin' alive,
I put her in second and leave 'em cold,
Eat my dust -- never live to be slow.
Sitting alone in your favourite chair,
Counting the reasons you shouldn't be there,
I wanna take you higher, baby -- let you know,
I wanna take you higher, never live to be slow,
CHORUS
Baby, I can take you higher
Lift your two feet off the ground,
What you got to lose when love's a score of nothin'
And we ain't never comin' down.
Screams like a kid when I'm makin' the turns,
She holds in the skids -- smell the rubber burn,
I watch for the cops -- I watch for the signs.
With life in the fast line you don't keep to the lines.
xxxx alone on some everyday street,
These are the moments you really don't need.
If you feel like a buzz -- if you feel like a ride,
Eat my dust or step inside.
CHORUS
So turn on your power,
So turn on your heat,
When you turn on your power,
And the world is at your feet.
CHORUS
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Bells On Your Fingers
=================
You got rings on your fingers
You got bells on your toes
You got all sorts of history
You got stories — heaven knows
Now I don't want your body
I don't want your mind
But if you ask me .....
To say just how
I'll say let's be friends for a while.
Your fingers, work their magic,
Your presence is sublime,
Just to hold you is fine,
Reach out and freeze the time,
And tell you never stop.
Never stop,
Never stop.
The wheel goes round, like a spinning top,
The wheel goes round and never stop.
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Dreams of Leaving
===============
So tired of living in this xxxx place,
So tired of living in this same face,
xxx running - xxxx xxxx
This is the place I dream of leaving
One day - some day
This tired old job,
This tired old place,
This tired old life,
+++ REMAINDER INDECIPHERABLE +++
This is the time - this is the place
This is the time to quit this rat race,
This is the xxxx -- this is the xxx
I'm tired of talking and xxxxxxx
Another old job
Another old place
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Who The Hell Are You
===============
It's in the air,
Just catch a stare,
The greed walks hand-in-hand with despair,
So read the signs,
Between the lines,
There's much more here than meets the eyes,
Who the hell are you (x3)
To say what's right from wrong,
Who the hell are you,
Standing in the shadows,
Who the hell do you think you are?
Now guard your gates
Don't hesitate
This moment could implode xxx soon
Crusade of hope
No hangman rope
Will swing before I've had my say
Who the hell are you
The great divide touches us all
xxxxx
It's up to you:
Will you sit back and take it
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Sex As A Weapon
===============
When you look in her eyes,
And you know what she's thinking,
And she's telling her lies.
You can feel the world sinking
BRIDGE
Oohh You can feel her slippin’ away,
Oohh As she turns her pressure on,
CHORUS
I know she's using sex as a weapon.
I know she's gonna do it to you every day
I know if sex is a weapon
VERSE
When she turns on her heat
And she's reaching inside you,
And she makes you complete,
But is she gonna despise you?
Oohh Do you feel like running away?
Oohh would you like to break her spell?
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When Thunder Breaks Through
========================
You might be in your bath,
You might be in your room,
You might be takin' a walk round the park,
Then suddenly boom boom.
When thunder breaks through,
When the rainstorm hits,
In a downpour of ideas,
With great big tits (realisation hits).
When thunder breaks through,
Paralyse the skies,
And the lightning strikes,
And spurns your eyes.
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Sound Painting (A Long Day's Journey Into Night-life)
==========================
Motif from Heartland + sketches of the melody
Other ideas for insertion: Thunder Breaks Thru / Middle Eight of Take You Higher
Feel The Force verse / You Are In Charge of My Heart / Celebration riff
Dreams of Leaving / Hijack My Heart / One Vision riff
Building throughout *steadily* to huge rhythmic climax LOUD
As many real instruments as possible
As many melodies as possible -- each short.
xxxxx - bounce down to make final mix easier.
LYRICS:
Every day I die a little,
Every day's a kind of small death,
So every day make sure you live a little,
Have a long-day's-journey-into-the-night
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IanR