“A New Kind of Water” is primarily based on an improvisation the band performed in their Cold Storage studio.
This is the only This Heat song which Charles Bullen wrote the lyrics for. However, Charles Hayward wrote the “Eat, drink and be merry” introduction and changed Bullen’s more confrontationa...
[Verse 1]
Eat, drink, and be merry
For tomorrow we die
Eat electricity
Drink five of the seven seas
Here is paralyzed sleet
Here is bubble bath rain
Acrid stench and festering tongue
New York to Moscow, Nairobi in flames
[Bridge]
I don't know either
What is the answer?
We were told to expect more
And now that we've got more
We want more, we want more
[Verse 2]
We have moved from A to X
This welfare state is our progress
The size of it all carries us along
More equals better, it's what we want
Our energy is endless, it seems
It's there when we need it
We've got men on the job
[Verse 3]
We finance clinics to research
A cure for cancer, our least vague fear
A new kind of water
A new way of breathing
Always, somehow, a wonder cure-all
Turns up when we need it
We've got men on the job
[Verse 4]
You know from experience
The creature comforts, a house that's warm
Your body would choose all this
Of course! It's innate, we're selfish
But what if there's not enough to go round?
Defense is needed
They've got some odd men in odd jobs
[Verse 5]
We have moved from A to Z
This nuclear state is our demise
Fly away Peter, hide away Paul
Who can watch as the Earth burns, shatters, and dies?
Fail-safe, foolproof, we've heard that before
Good sense is needed
Let's hope we've got men on the job
[Verse 6]
The size of it all carries us along
More equals better, it's what we want
You know from experience
Your body would choose all this
A New Kind of Water was written by Charles Bullen & Gareth Williams & Charles Hayward.
A New Kind of Water was produced by David Cunningham.
This Heat released A New Kind of Water on Tue Sep 01 1981.