DEAD ON ARRIVAL
If what you believe in, has no meaning,
your job is survival.
Majors, they are all the same, in this war game,
but dead on arrival…dead on arrival.
If what you are feeling, has no meaning,
your job is denial.
Take all, then take some more, then you’ll need more,
when dead on arrival…dead on arrival.
(c) 1980, MAX RECORDS
Carlton McRae
TAI-YO
Tai-yo, you think you’re rather neat,
selling frozen whale meat,
just a snack for morning tea.
you’re nothing more than fraud and lies,
housing crooked alibis.
Take your pirates from the sea.
But worse than that, we let them fish our waters
and pull the blues in for the haul.
The more you raise, the more you slaughter,
the further you are going to fall.
Won't you leave marine life be?
If your supermarket stocks the label,
make sure you don’t buy the brand.
It’s your choice, so if you’re able,
don’t lend the Japanese a hand.
Leave our world in harmony.
(c) 1981, Carlton McRae
THIS WORLD NEEDS LOVE
There’s talk of a third world war.
Enemies on a foreign shore.
Please try to understand, we’ve taken all we can
and we just can’t take anymore.
This world needs love.
They say that we are quite insane.
But are we the ones to blame?
When we try to express our regretfulness,
they put it all down to shame.
This world needs love.
What do we really ant to be?
We fight all our lives to be free.
We try to makes ends meet, they knock us off our feet,
they’re all too blind to see that….
This world needs love.
(c) 1981, MAX RECORDS
Carlton McRae
FLY EAGLE FLY
Fly eagle, fly. You don’t want to die.
Nothing in the sky can match you, fly eagle, fly.
Whales going down and swimming round in circles,
sunk without a trace.
Hunted by the one who kills for fun and leisure,
no bigger disgrace.
Birds are on the wing and they will sing so sweetly,
with them fly away.
But within their song, the chirp was wrong
and all they wanted was to play.
Rhino, feel the beat, your hunter’s feet
and he’s not too far behind.
All he wants to do is shoot at you,
he’s both crazy and he’s blind.
Some of us have need, but for the greed of some,
who really couldn’t care.
Throw your guns away and run and play
and just be thankful for your share.
(c) 1981, MAX RECORDS
Carlton McRae
KILLER OF SANE
Will it be my last?
I sense a changing style.
Is it from the past?
It could be for a while.
Am I near the end?
Is it just a dream?
Where will I be sent?
I can’t even scream.
Who will take me there?
What time should I leave?
Who will cut my hair?
I’ve got one up my sleeve.
Is it really me?
Am I on a high?
Can I really see?
What can I deny?
(c) 1981, MAX RECORDS
Carlton McRae
EVERYTHING TO ME
I wouldn't say that I was superman,
but I read Nietzsche everyday.
And you are not the Queen of England,
but to me it seems that way.
I realise you are not Miss Universe
and am I what I want to be?
You don't have to prove me anything,
'cause you are everything to me.
I wouldn't say that I was Romeo
and you may not be Juliet.
But we could lie together as two lovers
in the house of Capulet.
I wouldn't say I was Napoleon
and you just are not Josephine.
But we could fight for Waterloo together,
up there on the silver screen.
I wouldn't say that I was Robin Hood
and you may not be Marian.
A price upon our heads, we're putting right
all the wrongs in Nottingham.
(c) 1981, MAX RECORDS
Carlton McRae
PLASTIC RAIN UMBRELLA’S
I don’t need a mansion in the hills,
or to bathe in dollar bills,
or my belly to be full.
I don’t need to know the time or date,
the sun will rise although I’m late,
don’t need to find the golden rule.
But you know I want you, yes, I really, really do.
Half a mind to tell ya, plastic rain umbrella’s.
I, I can’t wait for lucky breaks
and I learn by my mistakes,
ask me what you want to know.
But, this living day to day
means that I don’t have to stay
if I have somewhere else to go.
(c) 1981, MAX RECORDS
Carlton McRae
YOU'RE TOO HOT!
Your smile could move a mountain,
your taste could turn a tide.
Your kiss could change a season
and I want you by my side.
Cool down baby, ‘cause you’re much too hot and I’m not.
Cool down honey, can’t you see?
You’re ahead of me.
Will I see tomorrow with your attitude and voice.
Though it’s just around the corner, you’re leaving me no choice.
I hardly even know you, that doesn’t stop the rain,
‘cause you’re the one supposed to link the daisy chain.
You could take a thousand words, repeat them everyday day.
But one is all you need when there is nothing left to say.
(c) 1981, MAX RECORDS
Carlton McRae
ON THE RAMPAGE
When it becomes too much and it’s all a rage.
We’re out of touch and on the rampage.
turn your head round,
Let your hair down,
your mind has found.
life is like one big stage when you’re out…
on the rampage.
When it’s all a rage and it becomes too much.
When we’re on the rampage and out of touch.
Turn your head slow,
let your hair blow,
let your mind go.
life is like one big stage when you’re out…
on the rampage.
When you’re full of life and it becomes a ball.
Seek the challenge and heed the call.
turn your head round,
Let your hair down,
your mind has found.
life is like one big stage when you’re out…
on the rampage.
(c) 1981, MAX RECORDS
Carlton McRae-Randal McAlister
THE AMAZING DR. ERNEST WILSON
Back in the nineteenth century,
in the early days of photography,
Dr. Ernest Wilson set off for some colony.
Travelling on the seaways, appointed to the Queen,
Victoria said; “Show me something that I’ve never seen.
Calotype or sepia, bring me back a portraiture.
Dr. Wilson, show me something you can guarantee.
Weddings, hangings, stoning’s, births, divorces, cloning’s,
off to sea you go Sir, one hundred pounds your fee.”
A letter some months later addressed; ‘Your majesty’,
signed; Dr. Ernest Wilson, Island territories.
“The ship is in the high seas, the captains wife, she is a tease
and the boys ain’t seen shore in quite some time.
We’d like to taste some good ol’ rum and wine!
The fact is my friend, there’s no need to pretend,
the boys, they like their women.
Out here in the ocean, it’s quite bizarre.
I’ve just seen a Walrus playing lead guitar.
And then another plucking a bass.
I don’t think you would like this place.
But these photographs I have for you are of something completely new.
Of everything that’s on parade, I’ve photographed a mermaid.
To the bank my commission please, did we agree on the fee?
One hundred pound?
In eighteen hundred and seventy two,
history will still teach you,
the ship was lost at sea and never found.
(c) 1981, MAX RECORDS
Carlton McRae-Colin McLellan
WET IS RAIN
I cannot find the words to express,
the words I can't express.
So fuck you brother.
I cannot find the eyes to see,
the eyes that I can't see,
believe me mother.
Love is heartache, genius is pain,
hate is mind break, wet is rain.
I cannot find the love to portray,
the love I can't portray,
don't need no lover.
I cannot paint those scenes in my mind,
the mind I left behind
to discover.
Love is heartache, genius is pain,
hate is mind break, wet is rain.
(c) 1981, MAX RECORDS
Carlton McRae-Randal McAlister-Euan McCabe
I'M DERANGED
Let’s waltz along the milky way.
It’s getting better day by day.
Tree’s still grow within the dirt.
Some say let’s love, can it still work?
Birds fly underground,
while politicians sit and frown.
Houses sit on salt and silt,
flowers decay, drop and wilt.
But in my eyes those eagles reign
and when it’s dry, it’s wet as rain.
Nothings altered, nothings changed,
yet I’m not me…I’m deranged.
Telephone boxes and animals of strange.
I’m not me, no, I’m deranged.
Wires of infinite time and space,
cross the void of the human race.
Oil sits upon our shores,
while it rains blood in pointless wars.
Oh, should never have been like this.
Just one touch, just one kiss.
Love incarnate, love divine
where do they go these thoughts of mine?
And are they real these thoughts of mine?
(c) 1981, MAX RECORDS
Carlton McRae-Randal McAlister.
MY FRIEND CAME TO ME
My friend came to me and said,
"help me try to read my head,
it's not me, you were easily led".
Yeah right!
My friend came to me and sighed,
"Christ, I know I shouldn't have lied,"
she lent on my shoulder and cried.
My friend came to me last night,
all he said was "hold me tight,
you know two wrongs won't make it right."
Who said?
Those that get away
are those that mean the most.
Heart's will always ache
for that lover's ghost.
A passion for the storm
that canes at your pride
and lust is...feelings denied.
My friend came to me and said,
"help me try to read my head,
do you think I'm good in bed?"
(c) 1982 MAX RECORDS
Carlton McRae
SHAMROCK BLUES
Bobby Sands was convicted a criminal
who chose to take his own life
as he wanted political status,
to cut with the enemy knife.
A sixty-day fast in Maze prison,
determined, he stuck with his aim.
Now he lies in Mill Town cemetery,
with nothing on show but his name.
We will bury our dead with the dignity
denied them while living, they said.
Three volleys of honour and mourning
for the IRA faithful and dead.
In the streets the riots continued,
the battles proceeded to drag.
In the valleys the keeling was sounding,
for the Irish Republican flag.
Children they scream out in terror
as the bombs they ring out in the night.
A war that reeks of religion;
Who is wrong and who is right?
Innocent lives are a-wasted
and homeless hearts they bleed.
Caught is a war weary nation,
between their God and their greed.
(c) 1982, MAX RECORDS
Carlton McRae
The senseless murder of ex-Beatle, John Lennon, was an absolute watershed moment in my life. Looking back on it now, my entire attitude to life changed overnight and with that change, a different direction with my poetry and song-writing also. The first response was immediate.
DEAD ON ARRIVAL (which Lennon was pronounced upon arrival at Roosevelt Hospital in New York) was the first piece I'd written in anger, mixed with frustration, confusion and a great sense of loss.
With a change of mindset, all my work over the next six months or so was Lennon-influenced, songs about injustice, greed and acts of immorality.
TAI-YO was the first of these new wave of protest/awareness songs, about the Japanese company who at the time, were in the news for their tyrannical slaughter of whales and the selling of frozen whale meat to supermarkets and the like.
The Lennon murder had awoken 'activism' in me and the taking up of the flag-bearer role that the Beatle had done was calling.
THIS WORLD NEEDS LOVE was a very Beatlesque number and basically summed up where I was at the time, still hurting and trying to come up with song lyrics or poetry that actually meant something.
Gone was all the imagery and happy experimentation of the preceding year, replaced by this more serious attitude and the desire to help make change in the world.
I had just turned 18...
December 10th, 1980. John Lennon has just been slain, my first reaction was to go out and buy the Beatles box set of LP's. Photo credit: Euan McCabe
Mein Street flat, circa; March 1981
Photo credit: Colin McLellan
Randal wasn't around much at the start of 1981, as he had just enrolled at Victoria University in Wellington and would take up residence in the medical faculty.
I was left alone with all these new found protest songs, of which FLY, EAGLE FLY was another. I had this thing about killing defenceless animals, particularly elephants, but all really; whales, tigers, bears, rhinoceros'...I was really anti trophy hunting and more particularly, poachers.
I struggled with the mindset of African nationals who participated in this unnecessary slaughter in their own countries, but I - as always - was largely ambivalent where money was concerned.
I was fully aware of it's paramount importance to how society functions and operates, but considered these poaching acts, chopping the tusks of elephants for example, as just pure greed...not to mention totally inhumane.
I still don't really give a fuck about money...
KILLER OF SANE was the last in this eternal diatribe of protest songs, in fact it's a statement about moving on.
I was obviously aware that this form of composition and prose only had a limited future and I was OK with that, but I really wasn't sure what was going to come next.
Killer of Sane was a song about uncertainty and also just taking life as it comes along. Not much should be pre-empted, at least I didn't think so.
What did happen next, was to knock me off my feet!
The Guru is back! Randal has returned to the fray for a weekend's song-writing and jamming, circa; May 1981. I'm happy to be back on the bass.
Photo credit: Euan McCabe
I'd met this girl. Prudence Anne Clarke.
Actually, I was so infatuated by her upon first sight, but so afraid of being rejected, I had to ask Euan to ask her if there was any chance at all that I could take her out.
When the reply came back in the affirmative, I just simply couldn't believe it. I'd had a few girl-friends by this stage, but Prudence's beauty was incomparable with any before her and I really had to pinch myself, stop myself from day-dreaming. She was so incredibly gorgeous and she had said 'yes'. What the fuck was I going to do?
Write a song of course, well, several actually.
Our first date was the 1981 World Trades Fair at the old winter show buildings in John Street, Newtown (now Toi Whakaari)
Euan. Ready to party at Mein Street, circa; June 1981.
Photo credit: Carlton McRae
Everything To Me was in essence, the first true love song I'd written and it was a good song...to my surprise, catchy, upbeat, lyrically poignant. Maybe there was something in this lovey-dovey stuff after all?
But it doesn't hold a candle to PLASTIC RAIN UMBRELLA'S (I didn't know that the shortened version, Prue, had a 'e' on the end), which was - to that point - what I considered to be the best song I'd written, by myself at that.
While Randal was enjoying his hiatus, I was head-over-heels with this young woman from Newtown and had managed to pen (and record alone - with a drum machine) a new single for WALRUS.
Lyrically, it endorsed the exact feelings of Everything To Me in that nothing need be proven, I didn't need money or title...or even a watch to tell the time of day...I just wanted to be with Prudence.
Sitting on the front porch at Mein Street, just a-whiling away the hours, deep in love, not a lot else to say...circa; July 1981
Photo credit: Randal McAlister
Randal William McAlister, circa; July 1981, Mein Street.
Photo credit: Carlton McRae
Randal was back, so to Nigel, to play on the B-side: YOU'RE TOO HOT! Which unfortunately, was only recorded in demo form on a 4-track fostex unit, one Saturday afternoon at Mein Street.
Encouraged by the sound we heard though - as rough as it was - Randal and Nigel (Randal had a month off and Nigel was in his last year at school) came around on a few consecutive Saturday's afterward and we recorded, in similar fashion, an entire demo album, which we called Dead on Arrival.
There'd never have been a song called ON THE RAMPAGE either! Had Randal not been back.
He came round one of these Saturday's absolutely seething with excitement. He had the title and the tune...surprise, surprise! And another wordless composition to be called I'M DERANGED.
I Wrote the words to On The Rampage during a cuppa tea break around 4pm and we then recorded it while Nigel was still there. Later that night we got relatively cooked and penned the words to I'm Deranged. We recorded the latter the following weekend.
The line "Telephone boxes and animals of strange", was added later after Randal, that night, had spent some time asleep on top of a red phone box outside the flat. Animals of strange was of course, Randal himself.
Debutante Ball, Wellington Town Hall, circa; October 1981. The night I met Prue's brother, Richard, which took life off in yet another direction.
Photograph taken at the aforementioned World Trades Fair in Newtown, with my flatmate, Graeme 'Beaky' Sage.
While attending the aforementioned World Trades Fair - my first date with Prue - my flatmate, Graeme 'Beaky' Sage and I took the opportunity of having an 'old time' portraiture done, which (the blurb on the back of the photograph); "the amazing Dr. Ernest Wilson Photography, est. 1871)", sparked a new song.
I wrote the words a few months later when we were looking for other tangents, Colin chipping in a few words and phrases.
On the staircase at Mein Street, circa; May, 1981
Photo credit: Euan McCabe
WET IS RAIN, after Plastic Rain Umbrellas, is probably WALRUS' best song. Lyrically, it derived from the first three lines of the first verse, which actually belong to Euan, from a letter he sent me on the 10th anniversary of the Beatles break-up.
I wrote the rest in keeping with that theme and added a Lennon-esque chorus. The music is completely a Randal composition.
Another personal fave...
Sporting the new Walrus Dead on Arrival T-shirt is one Randal McAlister, circa; October, 1981
Photo credit: Carlton McRae
For the Dead on Arrival photo shoot, I favoured the camo look over the new T-shirt, circa; October, 1981
Photo credit: Randal McAlister
Due to circumstances unforeseen, I had to vacate my flat in Mein Street, then moving into 136 Austin Court, Mt. Victoria, almost above the Mt. Vic tunnel, adjacent to the main gates of Wellington East Girl's College.
One of the last things we did at Mein Street was to record a bunch of songs we'd written on the aforementioned fostex 4-track recording unit.
I organised the printing of a batch of T-shirts with "WALRUS - Dead on Arrival" on them, that is the title we'd chosen for our proposed Audio Cassette release.
That same weekend we finished a song that we had been working on called I'M DERANGED, which was largely an autobiographical piece by Randal.
The verses were driven by Randal and in the chorus section, I harked back to Sledge Hammer Surgery and Wet is Rain as a sort of tribute to the three previous years, where we had enjoyed each others company and, having a lot of fun along the way, were driven by the desire to write our own songs.
But there was evidence of cracks in the seams. Randal had just finished his first year as a med student and his studies were about to quantum leap into the mad zone.
I wrote the last two WALRUS songs; MY FRIEND CAME TO ME and SHAMROCK BLUES in January of 1982. Randal wasn't around so I had another mate put guitar on My Friend Came To Me, which didn't so much upset Randal, we both just knew it was time to call it quits.
Randal, November, 1981. Although an unofficial date, it was the end of the line for Walrus. I was also about to split up with Prue (March 1982), so in many ways, it was time to ring the changes.
Photo credit: Carlton McRae
With Euan, off to a Beatles evening at the Romney Arms Tavern. Photographed in the back yard of yet another new flat, this time at 68 Wellington Road, Kilbirnie, circa; February, 1982.
Photo credit: Chris Horgan
Last official Walrus photograph taken, taken by Randal, outside the Austin Court Tavern (as it was often referred to), circa; November, 1981.