Night Darkens the Streets

by Max Décharné

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1.
BUSINESS WAS SLOW (Max Décharné) Open up the door What are they hiding inside? They’ve bottled up their feelings in formaldehyde This is your captain speaking I’ve got my parachute on couldn’t stand the in-flight movie so I had to move on I’d say it’s been a pleasure but I just don't care and I’m floating past your window so good luck in there Meet me on the corner in the pouring rain Meet me at the station in time to miss the train Sail me down the river I forgot how to row Second coming’s been cancelled cause business was slow
2.
DOCTOR CALIGARI WILL SEE YOU NOW (Max Décharné) Less is more more or less nothing succeeds like a lack of success She said now darlin’ my heart’s on fire our local fleapit’s showing Wings of Desire Get out your handkerchiefs and weep to the skies we’re in a remake of Lord of the Flies An eye for an eye and a toothpaste commercial find Dirty Harry and wash him in Persil Nothing’s ok at the OK Corral they’re all getting high at the old chaparral Hide in Pandora’s box one more time give me the vodka give Harry the lime give my regards to the invisible man tell him I can’t see him Try Dr Caligari cause he knows all the angles as for me well I’m still right here and you can tell him I’m just doing what I can
3.
LAST DINER ON THE LOST HIGHWAY (Max Décharné) Well the hotel wasn’t much but they always gave you breakfast in bed but I prefer it on a plate and not sliding off the mattress instead It had no air to condition the shower was as dry as a bone where dead flies and a spider and a lizard made a home sweet home Early in the evening to the venue where they gave us all a meal where we all sat around getting drunk and watching most of it congeal It was a big chef’s special known locally as “who the hell cares” stirred with a spoon that the dog chewed and covered in hairs Five hundred miles on a bad road to wind up here We came on tour by mistake and we’re tired and we're running out of beer Bonjour, guten Abend aren’t you happy that we crawled into your town? And aren't you proud we’re the ones tip them right over the edge finally close this club down? Join a band see the world from the back of a van learn to sleep standing up in a crowd with a bottle in your hand Well hello Cleveland, goodbye baggage reclaim we did it last night and we gotta do it all again Load up drive off load in sound check and then play and here’s the bit where the promoter says he don’t want to pay There’s lights up ahead and a neon sign pointing the way ten miles to the all night diner on the lost highway
4.
THOSE PLACES 02:15
THOSE PLACES (Max Décharné) Well she came from one of those places and she had one of those faces couldn’t get out of my mind And she smiled just the way that you’d want to and you’d want to And she took me to all of those places yeah all of those places yeah...
5.
DRAW THE LINE (Max Décharné) Well I wrote myself a letter it got sent back labelled nobody home I’m always living in the past cause it’s cheaper and you don’t need a phone Tell me baby where did it all go right? They never marked it on the map but you can see it when you turn out the light Well they called me on the phone and said now listen cause this won't take long you’re surplus to requirements and you're broken and you should be gone Clear out your rubbish we don’t wanna give you severance pay Thank you for your loyal service can you just go away All the world’s a stage I'm going through all I want right now well you know it’s you Hang out your stethoscope and listen and I’ll sing you a song with too many verses and this chorus cause it came out wrong well alright now All the world’s a stage I'm going through all I want right now well you know it’s you I can see the way you look and I can tell you that you look just fine I could draw you in a picture if I knew just where to draw the line Beam me up Scotty cause I’m tired and I wanna go home don’t get snotty with me it’s not the fall of Rome and we all live in a leaking submarine we all wanted something that's never been All the world’s a stage I’m going through all I want right now well you know it’s you I know the way you look and I can tell you that you look just fine I could draw you in a picture if I knew just where to draw the line yeah I could draw you in a picture but I don’t know where to draw the line
6.
FROM THE SOUTH (Max Décharné) I come from the south where they built the computers or they all joined the navy The factory closed down the navy left town Yeah I come from the south where it was way too easy to get your head kicked in Who you screwing john? You like hospital food? You’re going home in a Pompey ambulance Yeah I came from the south The factory closed down and the navy left town
7.
BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DULL (Max Décharné) Somewhere under what’s left of the rainbow wondering what it’s all for Johnny Joey Tommy and Dee Dee don’t hang round here no more They say it might rain well you can say that again They say it’s good for the garden but you haven’t got one It’s a long long way to the sunrise baby the world’s going out of its skull Somewhere under what’s left of the rainbow beyond the valley of the dull This year’s new sensation left out in the street by the bins Landfill of hope and glory died for all your sins It’s a long long way to the sunrise baby the world’s going out of its skull Somewhere under what’s left of the rainbow beyond the valley of the dull
8.
A TICKET FOR THE TRAIN RIDE (Max Décharné) We built a dry-stone wall but it rained Rebuilt the house of Usher but it fell down again Bought some sun tan lotion but they said it would snow Bought a ticket for a train out of here cause Louie says we gotta go now They said well you're not stable so stop all your horsing around take your feet off the table put them back on the ground Bought a ticket for the train ride cause Louie says we gotta go now yeah we gotta go now and we got a ticket for the train ride and we gotta go
9.
SHORE THING 03:35
SHORE THING (Max Décharné) There’s no photos of the day I changed my mind so I guess it never happened It washed up on the beach in spite of it all How could I forget if I thought I could remember Perhaps we found it in the street and took it home I just can’t recall Ah but I I don’t mind at all Drop me a line come and stay for the weekend Our side of the room is in fashion this year Put another dream on the fire pull up the drawbridge There’s a hot wind blowing tastes like nothing at all Oh but I I don’t mind at all There’s no photos of the day I changed my mind It washed up on the beach in spite of it all How could I forget if I thought I could remember Perhaps we found it in the street and took it home I just can’t recall
10.
CHANDLER’S FORD (Max Décharné) She grew up on a quiet country lane Where the roads were unpaved dust and cars were just a rumour Made her own clothes learned to cut hair fed the cat fed the chickens went dancing at the local hall No one said it’d be easy no one ever said much worth hearing at all but she always remembered what her sister told her just before she died Life is short far too short so have a ball Out in California Ray drove an Oldsmobile and Marlowe had a Plymouth Deluxe but whatever happened to Chandler’s Ford? Out among the trees she lives there still And you know she really had to go down to the sea again because someone might have moved it in the night She just had to see it was all still there just like the wind in her hair And Ray drove an Oldsmobile and Marlowe had a Plymouth Deluxe but whatever happened to Chandler’s Ford?

about

‘Like an evocative collision between Lou Reed and Nick Cave … a contender for the year’s coolest album’ 4/5 Kris Needs, Record Collector, December 2024 issue

‘The songs, mainly cautionary tales, are filled with resignation and graveyard humour, with titles that could be lifted straight from a ’50s pulp noir.’ 4/5 Lois Wilson, MOJO, January 2025 issue

credits

released November 15, 2024

All songs written, sung, played and engineered by Max Décharné
® & © 2024 Max Décharné PRS/MCPS All Rights Reserved
Cover design and art direction by Mark Rubenstein www.theemarkives.com
Mastered by Disque Noir.
Front cover photo by Katja Klier, London, June 29, 2024

Recorded and mixed at Straw Dogs Studios, North London, Spring 2024
Max Décharné: vocals, piano, organ, vibraphone, harpsichord, guitars, drums & percussion, synth strings and Southsea beach

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Max Décharné London, UK

Max Décharné is a musician and author from England. Solo and with previous bands he has released 14 albums and roughly 30 singles, and also recorded nine John Peel Sessions. He played drums with his friend Nikki Sudden before joining Gallon Drunk in 1991, with whom he toured the world. From 1994 he was the singer with The Flaming Stars.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_D%C3%A9charn%C3%A9
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