Dave Cousins - a known Roman Catholic - has been digging deep into irony for this track. Check out the url - and savour the words from the man who brought us his interpretation of Psalm 23 in the mighty song, Lay Down.
The Ten Commandments
(Lambert)
Sony ATV Music
There's a new religion
And it's hot off the shelf
Where the congregation
Have to worship themselves
There's no fire and brimstone
But there's an inglenook
Where you can take communion
From a TV cook
There are Ten Commandments
And you can please yourself
If you keep or break them
You're still condemned to Hell
If you've a dollar in the bank
And that will see you through
But if your neighbour has a dollar
Well then you'd better get two
We can't negotiate a contract
A package to suit your claim
You'll get no justice in that sense
'Cos nobody's ever to blame
There's a high priestess
She knows the spice of life
She's only skin and bone
But she's a football wife
They take an altar to the terrace
So we can name our saints
You're given fifteen minutes
With karaoke brains
You'd better choose your friends
Very carefully
If they can help you network
Well they're no use to me
Take what you want
Not what you need
We used to have that problem
Now they're a dying breed.
And it's hot off the shelf
Where the congregation
Have to worship themselves
There's no fire and brimstone
But there's an inglenook
Where you can take communion
From a TV cook
There are Ten Commandments
And you can please yourself
If you keep or break them
You're still condemned to Hell
If you've a dollar in the bank
And that will see you through
But if your neighbour has a dollar
Well then you'd better get two
We can't negotiate a contract
A package to suit your claim
You'll get no justice in that sense
'Cos nobody's ever to blame
There's a high priestess
She knows the spice of life
She's only skin and bone
But she's a football wife
They take an altar to the terrace
So we can name our saints
You're given fifteen minutes
With karaoke brains
You'd better choose your friends
Very carefully
If they can help you network
Well they're no use to me
Take what you want
Not what you need
We used to have that problem
Now they're a dying breed.
Strawbs albums in recent years - indeed decades - have generally lacked the magnificence of their first years.
Worth trying their accoustic set using their older tracks, Baroque and Roll.
From there you might consider: Grave New World, Hero and Heroine, From The Witchwood, Dragonfly and the AWESOME Bursting at The Seams.
You either love or hate the voice of Dave Cousins. There are few who can take him or leave him.
Ringing Down the Years is a tribute to the late, great Sandy Denny who was a friend of Dave's and who had performed with him on occasions. She died after a tragic accident three + decades ago.
The album Ghosts is also a very worthy effort but does not lend itself to being attractive in the first three or four hearings. Those who enjoy Strawbs will, however, come to enjoy it.
Sadly, there is no album than these that I could recommend.
