Sector 27
1980-1981 UK compilation (1996) Fontana: 532642-2

1) Can't Keep Away
2) Invitation: What He We Got To Lose?
3) Not Ready
4) Mary Lynne
5) Looking At You
6) Five 2 Five
7) Total Recall
8) Where Can We Go Tonight?
9) Take It Or Leave It
10) Bitterly Disappointed
11) One Fine Day
12) Stornoway
13) Dungannon
14) Day After Day
15) Won't You Tell Me How I Feel
16) Marti'ns Gone
17) Christopher Calling
18) Shutdown
19) Out In The Cold Again

My Village Voice Article about Sector 27

1) Can't Keep Away

Darlington station at a quarter to four
Down in the tearoom watching the wall
Wait till forever for the boy next door
Daylight fading and I'm hating it all

Can't keep away - I can't keep away...
Can't keep away - I keep coming on back for more...
Can't keep away - I can't keep away...
I can't keep away from the other door
From the other door

The door says welcome when you're all alone
Come in, sit down - make yourself at home
Can't help crying when I'm lying in bed
Cos I need this feeling like a hole in the head

Can't keep away - I can't keep away...
Can't keep away - I keep coming on back for more...
Can't keep away - I can't keep away...
I can't keep away from the other door
From the other door

Released as single

2) Invitation: What Have We Got To Lose?

Darkness passing at the break of day
The groundswell high and the tide was grey
Invitation from the other side
But we have our reasons and I got my pride

What have we got to lose if we try it on?
None of them bastards notice when we're gone
What have we got to lose if we try it on?
Not one of them bastards notice when we're gone...

Hide or sleep and we shall find
It's either me scares easy or it's you that's blind
Invitation from the other side
But we have our reasons and I got my pride

What have we got to lose if we try it on?
None of them bastards notice when we're gone
What have we got to lose if we try it on?

Not one of them bastards notice when we're gone...

Try...
Try...
What have we got to lose?

3) Not Ready

The lights of home are burning low
And time ran out a little time ago
The ranks are closing and the lines are drawn
They call for surrender but it's almost dawn
I'm not ready, I'm not ready

And I'm down... down... down
Down on my knees - I'm not ready
Yes I'm down... down... down
Down on my knees

It's hard to be paid and it paid to be hard
I've fallen for a sucker and it's only the start
Moonlight meeting up under the trees
My heart starts hurting and I'm down on my knees
I'm not ready, I'm not ready...

And I'm down... down... down
Down on my knees - I'm not ready
Yes I'm down... down... down
Down on my knees

I never expected a pie in the sky
But anything's better than a kick in the eye

I'm not ready, I'm not ready...

And I'm down... down... down
Down on my knees - I'm not ready
Yes I'm down... down... down
Down on my knees

I'm not ready...
I'm not ready

4) Mary Lynne

Crowbait clamouring
Dark and hard
Penned in, pack of lies
Plaza yard
Barefoot, blubbering
'What's your name?'
Front fork buckled up
Pump and chain

Face to face to face to face
With Mary Lynne
Silver street, December in the rain
Facing failure takes a bit of burying
Memories of memories
Of Mary Lynne

Now and then I think about
A place I knew
Dead of night, out of bed
A boy like you
Overweight, underhand

Out of bounds
Shelter in... the waiting room
Council town

Face to face to face to face
With Mary Lynne
Audley junction waiting for the train
Let's face it, failure takes a bitter burying
Memories of memories
Of Mary Lynne

5) Looking At You

It's four in the morning and I'm ready to drop
Sweat running off in a state
Out of the front door and into the street
Still 105 in my shades
There's an army of angels revving at the roadside
Seventeen stone to a man
Dissatisfied customer pinned against the wall
By a man with a hook for his hand

I try to hide and sidle by half a dozen queens of the night
Stand right by a Girlie who tells me she's knocking off early
And pulls me aside
There's people keeling over trying to lean in the doorway
But the bodyguard's seven feet wide

Looking at you, kid - they're looking at you
They're looking at you but what can you do?

A big fat limousine crawls along the kerb
And the man with the hand clambers in
Sat in the back I'd have sworn that I saw
A black beauty and the silverhaired king
Band running out, jumping straight in a cab
Sirens out in the bay
Teenage nurse starts crying on the sidewalk
Limousine heading my way

Electric window roll down and somebody pulls out a knife
The women just listen, say
'Sonny, there ain't no commission on this one tonight'
I'm scared as a cat and it's just another Saturday morning
On the lower East Side

Looking at you, kid - they're looking at you
They're looking at you but what can you do?

Lyric by Jo Burt and TR

6) Five 2 Five

The old romance is over
We made our bed of nails
My faith remains unshaken
Until the day we fail
My bitter degradation
Down under Charing Cross
If I could buy my time again
I'd never start the clock

Shut off inside
On automatic drive
(five two five two five two five two)
My real life
Surviving
525

3.00 am and overcast
And left without a doubt
Got cornered by the butcher boy
And never raised a shout
There was no room for reasoning
No time to hope or pray

When I met my end on Bleeker Street
In the dark and far away

Cut off inside
On automatic drive
(five two five two five two five two)
Might be alive
When I get home tonight

7) Total Recall

Don't need to carry no identity card
Doesn't take 20-20 vision
To check in seconds on your present address
Or even if you're watching television
Marital status and your date of birth
Middle initial and your place of work
State of payment on the never never never

Check one more time for the record
Check in - won't you fill out a form
Check up - take a seat while you're waiting
Checking out if you're still overdrawn
Total recall, total control
Checking the record is as far as they go

Medical history, your telephone code
Passport and current occupation
Inland revenue, electoral roll
Banks of passive information
One pin sticking in another map
Big Brother watching is a lot of crap
Information is a matter of facts
You're down to a digit in a different kind of board game

Check one more time for the record
Check in - won't you fill out a form
Check up - take a seat while you're waiting
Checking out where you say you were born
Total recall - total control
Memories only know what they're told

Slipped to the city like a vanishing man
Midnight arriving at the station
Casual labour paying cash in the hand
Short-let cheap accommodation
Apply for a license at a fresh address
Give another name, take another test
What you never tell they can never guess
You better not forget to send off the registration

Left no trace on the records
And walked right away from the form
Just a registered temporary patient
That's gonna be gone by the dawn

Total recall - total control
Checking on the record is as far as they go

Check one more time for the record
Check in - please fill out a form
Check up - take a seat while you're waiting
Checking out you conform to the norm

Total recall - total control

Lyric by Jo Burt and TR

8) Where Can We Go Tonight?

End of the weekend nowhere to go
Nowhere to stay, no money to blow
Wish we could be together alone
But we don't have a car or a place of our own
Dad's in his armchair watching the fight
Look in on my sister and kiss her goodnight
Meet out the back 7.30 tonight
Key in the latch as we switch out the light

Oh... where can we go tonight
Where can we be alone tonight
Oh... oh, where can we go
Where can we go tonight?

Eat at the Wimpy or freeze on the street
And hope we don't know anybody we meet
Only takes Sarah to spread it around
And tongues will be wagging all over the town

Oh... where can we go tonight
Where can we be alone tonight
Oh... oh, where can we go
Where can we go tonight?

Seven on Sunday still nothing to show
Nothing to do, nowhere we can go
Wish we could be together alone
But we're known at the pub and our folks are at home
Visit my sister and switch out her light
Dad's in the front still watching the fight
Better be back before closing tonight

Key in the latch as we slip out of sight

Oh... where can we go tonight
Where can we be alone tonight
Oh... oh, where can we go
Where can we go tonight?

9) Take Or Leave It

He's offering a piece of the action
Contracts quick on the draw
The largest slice, the smallest price
And tax relief on it all
He's telling us 'Fine, if you don't wanna sign
You can find your own way to the door'
Take or leave it... take or leave it

We're billed as a brand new attraction
But it's business the same as before
You gradually find in a matter of time
What's promised is not meant at all
Come to the pinch he won't give you an inch
You might as well talk to the wall
Take or leave it... take or leave it

So boys the choice is fair and free - take or leave it
Just leave the business all to me - take or leave it
Just leave the business - take or leave it
All... to me

If you fancy a life as a lobster
There's plenty of pots in the sea
It might be nice dropping in for a bite
But a little bit harder to leave
Paying your dues you got nothing to lose
But an arm and a leg and you're free
Take or leave it... take or leave it

So boys the choice is fair and free - take or leave it
Just leave the business all to me - take or leave it
Just leave the business - take or leave it
All... to me

We finally own our own label
Now we're independent as well
Our record's as hot as the image we've got
More committed than everyone else
Find a young band and we'll give them a hand
and let them decide for themselves
Take or leave it... take or leave it

With everything pressed by a major
Your share may appear rather low
But a credible name's your ticket to fame
So leave it to those in the know
Do as we say the alternative way
Remember who's running this show
Take or leave it... take or leave it

Girls and boys the choice is fair and free - take or leave it
Just leave the business all to me - take or leave it
Just leave the business - take or leave it
All... to me

Lyric by Jo Burt and TR

10) Bitterly Disappointed

Just what do you think you're playing at - it's high time you began
To wake up, act your age and start behaving like a man
Your manners are disgusting, never seem to give a damn
Don't even lift a finger when your mother needs a hand

Your school reports are in disgrace
An absolutely hopeless case
We're bitterly disappointed
There's opportunities you've had
I used to dream of as a lad
We're bitterly disappointed
Why can't you be like our Paul -
He's a credit to us all

You never do a stroke of work or try to settle up your debts
All your clothes are bloody awful and your hair's a bloody mess
There's always something new - you want to be like all the rest
But every penny that you get is spent on beer and cigarettes

When I was young we weren't afraid
Of working hard to pay our way
We're bitterly disappointed
There's opportunities you've had
I used to dream of as a lad
We're bitterly disappointed
Why can't you be like our Paul
He's a credit to us all... you're

No son of mine
No son of mine
A bitter disappointment to your mother and me...
You're no son of mine

All your friends are rude and common or trouble with the law
Always come in after midnight then you stay in bed till four
Dirty pictures on your window, dirty clothes across the floor
I shudder when I think of what they think of us next door

You're always starting something new
You never try to see it through
We're bitterly disappointed
You change your mind from year to year
You could have had a good career

We're bitterly disappointed
You've let us down, betrayed us all
Why can't you be like Joe and Paul... you're

No son of mine
No son of mine
A bitter disappointment to your mother and me...
You're no son of mine

11) One Fine Day

One fine day... In the middle of a month of Sundays
One fine day... When the engines stop
One fine day... Won't be in to work on Monday
One fine day... To this scumbag job
One fine day... When I won't be undecided
One fine day... Gonna pay my round
One fine day... Looking back I'm gonna laugh about it
One fine day... When I've gone to ground

It's just a matter of time
Only a matter of time

One fine day... I'm gonna take the wages
One fine day... Underneath my nose
One fine day... I'll be on that train to Boston
One fine day... With a change of clothes
One fine day... I'll be happy as a one man bandit
One fine day... When I'm clean and cold
One fine day... When I'm wide awake at daybreak
One fine day... When the Pullmans roll

It's just a matter of time
Only a matter of time

Travel in the daylight
See you on the train
Station in the starlight
Never seen again
It's only the beginning
Whatever we intend
Nothing to live up to
Nothing to defend

One fine day... when I won't be undecided
One fine day... Gonna paid my round
One fine day... Looking back I'm gonna laugh about it

One fine day... When I'm gone to ground

It's just a matter of time
Only a matter of time
It's just a matter of time
Only a matter of time

12) Stornoway

The first essential for a trawler, decreasing
She's icing up faster and faster
But they was really rough in their ways
I got a shilling for each pound
Recommended, laddie
She gave me a sixpence
Wooden built, they were -
the crew consisted of three men and a boy
Three or four years before you got accepted as a man
When you could do a man's work
I'd sooner be a convict...

The drifters, just like a town lit up
There'd be times nobody got any sleep
All come into it and every herring pulled out of it
If there was a shimmer - a heavy shoal
Halibut, cod, lobster...
Oilskin blisters and boils, called peps
Keen frost, blinding snow
Cold and pitiless as the hand of death
Collisions inevitable with sad loss of life:
Two hundred and fifteen men and boys
Drowned at sea 1909 within sight of home

Eight out of ten they was really rough
He was always
Don't call me bloody boy - I can swear
One dirty night, fifty foot up from the deck
As a little boy of thirteen
The smack William Boyce
Driving before the wind with a crew of five hands -
The vessel altogether unmanageable
You could see he was a fisherman
Jolly Bob Adams, lost off a smack

The sea was full of ships, full of them
You had to see them times to believe them

The sea was full of ships, full of them
You had to see them times to believe them

'B' side of single 'Total Recall'

13) Dungannon

After a month here out of the country
Thought I'd go up the wall
Twisted and turning - can't stop the burning
It isn't any better at all
Drove me over the wall...

So I'm stood at a slip road tired and unshaven
Next day at quarter to three
Left all the troubles so far behind me
I know where I want to be:

I... wanna see Duncannon
I... wanna see him

Found the name in a phone book,
Major obsession - a mile away in the rain:
Out in the darkness, psychotic schoolboy
Watching your window again
Looks like nothing has changed
(Always me, always me...)

I... wanna see Duncannon
I... wanna see him

'B' side of single 'Invitation: What Have We Got To Lose?'

14) Day After Day

Standing here waiting
Day after day...
Day after day...

One O'clock jump
In a secondhand suit
October the 3rd
Tontons Macoute
Garrison town
Newtonian law
Radion Times
Don't mention the war

Standing here waiting
Day after day...
Day after day...

Freudian slip
And a dog in a dress
Pig in a poke
Anyone's guest
Secret affair
Montgomery Clift
Ever been had?
Catching the drift

Standing here waiting
Day after day...
Day after day...

Drag on a fag end
Losing my head
State of the art
State of my bed
Helluva concept
Telling a friend
Out of our hands
Where will it end

(Where will it end?)

Day after day after day after day after day
Day after day after day after day after day
Still waiting...

15) Won't You Tell Me How I Feel

Wish I was single
Wish I was tanned
Wish I was English
Wish I was canned

Won't you tell me how I feel?
Won't you tell me how I feel?

Losing my speed in the kitchen
Losing my way in the hall
Leaving Lautrec in the broad daylight
Leaving my keys in the door
Jump into a taxi at midnight
Run up the stairs in the dark
Maybe I just need to be needled
Maybe I'm missing my Mark

Won't you tell me how I feel?
Won't you tell me how I feel?

Wish I was bitchy
Wish I was dumb
Wish I was richer / Richard
Wish I was young
Wish I was angry
Wish I was sane

Wish I was able
Wish I was Cain

Won't you tell me how I feel?
Won't you tell me how I feel?
Won't you tell me...
How I feel

16) Martin's Gone

Martin's gone... Martin's gone
Things will never be the same again
Now Martin's gone

I told my mother and the boy next door
The girl at the garage and my brother in law
I talked to the doctor and I told my boss
The launderette lady and the corner shop
I told the postman, then I told a gag
I told Claire Rayner and the local rag
I told the barmaid and the landlord too
I told everybody in the world I knew

Martin's gone... Martin's gone
Things will never be the same again
Now Martin's gone

I told our father and my favourite guys
Ten Hail Marys and a few white lies
I told the Samaritans, I told my dog
I talked to the telly and the talking clock...

Back on the wagon when the nights are dark
I drive by the diner where I made my mark

Martin's gone... Martin's gone
Things will never be the same again
Now Martin's gone

Released as single

17) Christopher Calling

'B' side of single 'Martin's Gone', lyrics by Jo Burt, currently unavailable

18) Shutdown

I should see through you but my vision is blurred
It must be something that I ate or overheard

Feel no pain, Nirvana I am with you
All is nearly dead and done
Give me one last glass and I'll surrender
Shutdown claims another victim won

And now you're dancing with your crystal silhouette

Bright eyed and lovely just for show
You've wound me up, now let me go...

Feel no pain, Nirvana I am with you
All is nearly dead and done
Give me one last glass and I'll surrender
Shutdown claims another victim won

Out In The Cold Again

Got an earsplitting headache
And it's driving me blind
Can't work any faster
And I'm falling behind
Mr Gillett's always on at me
Getting hard on my case
Picking me up on...
Every little mistake

Out-out-out in the cold again
Out in the cold

There's a kid down the corridor doesn't know what to do
Standing in the passage, blue eyes on you
It could be the first time -
What on earth would he say?
He'll never dare approach you
Now he's walking away

Out-out-out in the cold again
Out in the cold

Seems such a long way
Looks like a long way
Feels such a long way
To go...

Stood up on your doorstep - try the buzzer again
Waiting on the pavement like a fool in the rain
Well you said seven twenty - now it's nine fifteen

Maybe you're trying to tell me something
I don't want to believe

Out-out-out in the cold again
Out in the cold