Neil Halstead was a member of cult shoegaze band Slowdive before forming Mojave 3 in 1996. His first solo record Sleeping on Roads was released on 4AD records in 2002 and he has a new album Oh! Mighty Engine out now on Brushfire records. Timeout has called him “one of Britain’s greatest songwriters” and NME “Britains best keep secret”. Oh! Mighty Engine is an understated gem of eccentric Englishness: like Syd Barrett if he’d ever set foot on a surf board–the man is a Legend” – NME
Neil Halstead on MySpace
Neil Halstead at Brushfire Records
Neil Halstead’s “Oh Mighty Engine” on iTunes
Knock on the door
It’s early morning
Man in a suit says he wants to talk to me
About the big JC
Who the feck is he?
Says he was a man just like you and me
Oh woopeee dee
I don’t like his suit
And I don’t like his tie
I don’t like the fact he’s so happy
It can’t be for me
The big JC
Sometimes the wheels fall off
Sometimes you can’t get up
Sometimes I just sit and think
and I don’t talk much
Sometimes the world moves fast
Sometimes you can’t keep up
Sometimes I just sit and think
But I don’t think much
Boy on the pavement
He’s looking a picture
He looks like the eighties
Oh why did it happen to me?
Twice in a life time now
Twice in a life time lord
Spent my teenage years tryna not look like
Somebody like him
What can you do
Shoulderpads and belts
Morten Harket in tights
Oh I’m sorry they’re jeans
How dya get them on
Will they ever come off?
Will they ever come off
Sometimes the wheels fall off
Sometimes you can’t get up
Sometimes I just sit and think
and I don’t talk much
Sometimes the world moves fast
Sometimes you can’t keep up
Sometimes I just sit and think
But I don’t think much
Knock on the door
It’s early evening
It’s dangerous Dave
He’s come to break my house
Cos he’s a dangerous sod
But I like him a lot
And we talk about music and we talk about friends
Before we realise that we don’t know
Much about either of them
That’s the way things are
Between dave and me
Shoulderpads and belts
Morten Harket in tights
Oh I’m sorry they’re jeans
How dya get them on
Will they ever come off?
Will they ever come off
Sometimes the wheels fall off
Sometimes you can’t get up
Sometimes I just sit and think
and I don’t talk much
Sometimes the world moves fast
Sometimes you can’t keep up
Sometimes I just sit and think
But I don’t think much