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Lyr Req: Switch Out the Sun (Bread, Love & Dreams)

16 Nov 09 - 01:47 PM (#2767116)
Subject: Lyr Req: Last Night I Hit the Bottle and Today...
From: GUEST,Ben Young

Over ten years ago, in Edinburgh, I used to hear one Hamish Mohr (a.k.a. Big Jim) singing a brilliant and compelling song, with a chorus *something like*:

Turn out the sun
Pull down the blinds
I'm all hung over and I need peace of mind
There's thunder in my head and there's
Last night I hit the bottle and today . . .
It hit me back.

He used to extend the last syllable of the second-to-last line indefinitely, getting longer as the verses progressed, trying to outbreathe the people singing along.

Has anyone ever heard of this song? Did Hamish Mohr write it? Does anyone know the lyrics?


23 May 11 - 06:31 PM (#3159414)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last Night I Hit the Bottle and Today...
From: GUEST,Doncat

Turn out the sun
Pull down the blinds
I'm all hung over and I need peace of mind
There's thunder in my head and the sky is turning black
Last night I hit the bottle and today . . .
It hit me back.


Great lyrics which go back to Embra in the 70s . I think it may have been penned by Rab Noakes.


24 May 11 - 02:32 AM (#3159542)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last Night I Hit the Bottle and Today...
From: GUEST

"I'm all hung over and I need peace of mind"

Would somebody in Edinburgh please tell the poor schlemiel that what he needs is water? Before going to bed would have been preferable...


24 May 11 - 06:33 AM (#3159635)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last Night I Hit the Bottle and Today...
From: GUEST,Viper

The song is called "Switch Out The Sun". Written by David McNiven who was in a great wee group called Bread, Love and Dreams at the time. He went on to do lots of stuff with Wildcat Theater Company and I assume still collects royalties for the "Rab C. Nesbitt" theme.


31 May 11 - 01:37 PM (#3163181)
Subject: Lyr Add: SWITCH OUT THE SUN (Bread Love and Dreams
From: Jim Dixon

Here's my transcription from the recording at YouTube:


SWITCH OUT THE SUN
As sung by Bread, Love and Dreams

CHORUS: Switch out the sun; pull down the blind.
I'm all hung over and I need peace of mind.
There's thunder in my head and the sky is turnin' black.
Last night I hit the bottle and today—it hit me back.

1. I went with my friends to show me a good time.
I drank some whiskey and then I drank some wine.
I had troubles before, but way beyond a doubt,
I've twice as much this mornin' as when I started out.

2. I drank to forget; I can't remember what.
I parted with my money without the slightest thought.
I must have been a fool to try an' lose myself that way.
The only thing I've left to show you is in my head today.

3. The lights all flashed before me as I came to the street.
Suspended by a moonbeam, I balanced on my feet.
I heard myself sing out of tune a strange and distant sound,
And my feet walked on without me and left me on the ground.