We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Hollywood Under The Knife

by The Opiates

/
1.
Something to do on a Saturday Look in the mirror Apply the face And frown Too cold for the shops this Saturday No one to call and no one to come around A face for the world to see Seems like a simple dream to me But not on this Saturday Life’s never seemed so far away, away... And I wish that life could be A Hollywood album Like a book of perfect memories But I don’t think so... And I wish that life could be A suburban postcard Just the rain outside my window But I know it’s not to be It’s not for me Tell me, do people run out of luck? Walk to the kitchen, refill the cup No pun intended All just thoughts on a rainy day The hours run dry The fun has ended A face for the world to know Seems like a simple goal On Monday But not on this Saturday My skin’s never seemed so pale and grey, away... And I wish that life could be A Hollywood album Like a book of perfect memories But I don’t think so... And I wish that life could be A suburban postcard Just the rain outside my window But I know it’s not to be It’s not for me And I wish that life could be A Hollywood album Like a book of perfect memories But I don’t think so... And I wish that life could be A suburban postcard Just the rain outside my window But I know it’s not to be It’s not for me
2.
Now I know descending stairs are long I’ve seen their faces gather, quite aware This dream could last a lifetime Now I see my fate ahead of me I wear her floral dress my teeth are bare This dream will last forever And there’s no rest Despite the silence And there’s nowhere left to run There’s a light there At the bottom They won’t find me When I’m done Now there’ll be someone that isn’t me The lipstick on my mouth It isn’t fair The wig I’ll wear forever There’s a ghost called isolation It’s a tenant in my home Where I will be who they tell me When I’m down there They’ll have won And there’s no rest Despite the silence And there’s nowhere left to run There’s a light there At the bottom They won’t find me When I’m done
3.
I was on my best behaviour When the old attraction came to rise If I make my breath go faster The moment would arrive Many times I’ve tried to refrain But the image won’t subside Could you be my sweet accomplice In my candy coated crime And if I only knew If you know too And what to do Then I could do it to you The moment would arrive And if I knew you’d say You would be meeting me halfway Then I could plan it with you My candy coated crime Who would show the faintest interest If I took it way too far this time Who cares if I get arrested I’m only playing CSI It’s like murder in a sweet shop You can’t tell the blood from sweet delights Could I be identified of My candy coated crime And if I only knew If you know too And what to do Then I could do it to you My life is on the line And if I knew you’d say You would be meeting me halfway Then I could plan it with you My candy coated crime And if I only knew If you know too And what to do Then I could do it to you The moment would arrive And if I knew you’d say You would be meeting me halfway Then I could plan it with you My candy coated crime
4.
You can’t say I’m not human But every hour, every minute,every second and beyond can pass me by I’m really anything but bland But what you see is what you get when I parade my silhouette down Rodeo Drive And you can look inside There is a light that shines Under the pale white smile You could say I’ve got some fame Well I go out to lunch with actors now and then And when I go home I’m still the same And there’s really nothing there When I look into the mirror I see really nothing here but a face and name And you can leave me here For where the glitter lay There is a battlefield And you can leave me here I have no enemies Only reality If I was anybody then I was a nobody to most but that was better Now I’m everybody all the time And I am miserable Under the pretty shell There are a thousand holes
5.
Silent comes the nighttime from behind Like a sandy greyish flicker in my eye Ordering me to wash away the dust of everyday life I watch TV, so much TV Now there’s a vacancy where an aim used to be If only silence would wash over me But I’m only paralyzed Like a puppet with the strings hanging I lie A nothing, Mr Sandman I need a dream badly Give me the nightmares I’ll take them gladly Give me the ghouls and ghosts I’ll be a happy host No more stalking, sleepwalking Fearing the dawn that I’m so torn in, yeah Silent the night descended While all the world surrendered I’m stabbing holes in this endless night Silent the night came down and Can I please just drown out of sight Washing away in the clear starlight Silent comes the nighttime just a solitary daze, hazy And it feels more tiring than a hundred working days, this effort But every night succeeds to put me in my place, this effort Shooting these shadows, running the maze, this effort I watch TV, so much TV The books I read for company... Was it like this as a child? As a child/Was it always that I was this tired from sleeping? Outsmarted by tyrants, demons, demons, hazy Like a puppet with the strings hanging I lie A nothing, Mr Sandman give me one clear morning Give me the nightmares I’ll take all of them Silent the night descended While all the world surrendered I’m stabbing holes in this endless night Silent the night came down and Can I please just drown out of sight Washing away in the clear starlight
6.
Mama was beautiful A mountain of fake hair would sometimes peek through the bedroom door The money never hugged her the money was never warm It did not tell her stories it did not sing bedtime songs There were always sedate veils of some kind behind her eyes And daily doses of something were keeping her paralyzed Mama gave her Nembutal When she interfered in her schedule The measures were inevitable Come on now be a good girl Mama gave her everything That chemicals and cash could bring But instead of owning everything it only disowned her Taking her life in hand Selling her roller skates for an abortion Almost joining the women’s movement But she said the only movement I’m interested in Is the one that gets me outta here and to Hollywood where I belong Rosy cheeks productions helped her get to Hollywood Where a girl’s gotta do what’s to do and be what she’s not Now she’s dropped the booze and drugs And discovered Häagen-Dazs Her lips are injected with half her ass Now she looks like the other girls And she dropped the shoulder pads For a pair of muscly lads Don’t want to get Oprah on your ass But her biography still won’t pass Mama gave her everything That chemicals and cash could bring
7.
Reality TV 03:44
Saw a girl on the TV At a prime time slot at five Whatever made her believe if she’ll be herself she’ll arrive And it’s been lonely But it’s keeping her alive With heaven starting around the corner if she tries And there’s no one in the world just like her No one with a face like that girl See it all distort in tears when they break her down Now she’s a lonely lonely girl There’s no one else in the whole world Oh such a lonely lonely girl And the tears won’t stop On her journey to world’s end She was ready to fight it Like a big eyed candy girl Nothing but a desire to take on and beat the world And the nation sees her make-up running A dream ends at fifteen with no warning Entertainment takes a life in a moments time So now she’s a lonely lonely girl There’s no one there in the whole world Oh such a lonely lonely girl And the tears won’t stop On her journey to world’s end Big tears and make-up Leave a trace when she breaks up And the tears won’t stop When they pick her up And now she’s a lonely lonely girl There’s no one else in the whole world Oh such a lonely lonely girl And the tears won’t stop On her journey to world’s end So now she’s a lonely lonely girl There’s no one there in the whole world Oh such a lonely lonely girl And the tears won’t stop On her journey to world’s end
8.
Here From a fireplace And the stale cocktails To the one who fails There And I know the way You go fall astray When the rent’s not paid Now you have me in your mirror And I’m standing like a ghost Through the jalousies The wind it blows And through all these strange illusions I can hear it like a song In your jealousies The window knows Framed Like a forgery And how much you pay It is never real Jailed It’s the bars I see In these jealousies My fate I’ll be Now you have me in your mirror And I’m standing like a ghost Through the jalousies The wind it blows And through all these strange illusions I can hear it like a song In your jealousies The window froze Now you have me in your mirror And I’m standing like a ghost Through the jalousies The wind it blows And through all these strange illusions I can hear it like a song In your jealousies The window froze Now you have me in your mirror And I’m standing like a thief Through the jalousies The falling leaves And through all these strange illusions I can feel it like dream In your jealousies I’m gone and been
9.
She will run and hide from the nannies Making fun of those big nannies with guns It’s a strange little girl, such a strange little girl She’ll go through the fences Sneak away to see her friends, beautiful blue It’s a strange little girl such a strange little girl Dinah and the beautiful blue, in the fields They will sing for hours Dinah and the beautiful blue, letting through All the hidden powers Dinah and the beautiful blue, with the force Of a million lifetimes Dinah and the beautiful blue, bring me love Make me smile again So she runs and hides from the nannies Making fun of those big nannies with guns In the late afternoon, let them ring all the bells Let them search as daylight fades way Dinah and the beautiful blue, in the fields They will sing for hours Dinah and the beautiful blue, letting through All the hidden powers Dinah and the beautiful blue, with the force Of a million lifetimes Dinah and the beautiful blue, in the fields They will sing again
10.
I was on my best behaviour When the old attraction came to rise If I make my breath go faster The moment would arrive Many times I’ve tried to refrain But the image won’t subside Could you be my sweet accomplice In my candy coated crime And if I only knew If you know too And what to do Then I could do it to you The moment would arrive And if I knew you’d say You would be meeting me halfway Then I could plan it with you My candy coated crime Who would show the faintest interest If I took it way too far this time Who cares if I get arrested I’m only playing CSI It’s like murder in a sweet shop You can’t tell the blood from sweet delights Could I be identified of My candy coated crime And if I only knew If you know too And what to do Then I could do it to you My life is on the line And if I knew you’d say You would be meeting me halfway Then I could plan it with you My candy coated crime And if I only knew If you know too And what to do Then I could do it to you The moment would arrive And if I knew you’d say You would be meeting me halfway Then I could plan it with you My candy coated crime

about

This album is more important to me than most things i've done. It is a collection of, to my mind, beautiful and well crafted songs and it took so much work to finish). When you don't have large budgets everything to attempt to do takes a lot of juggling, to put it mildy, before you get to a point where even one song gets done, let alone ten. The process of making this album, getting so much support from lovely people like Wolfgang as well as Philip Marshall, the graphic designer, all the remixers who delivered a multitude of gifts with their remixes..... to see something come together after a long process, is a gift in itself. Video maker Joern Hartmann, who made three videos, basically for no pay, Michael Huber giving me a promotional budget to work with and being the first person to hear the songs and giving me positive feedback, all these people deserve more thanks than i could ever give.
Here's more about the album.
The Opiates started with the intention of being an ambient project. Soon bored, they abandoned any genre restrictions in favour of music that inspired them in cerebral as well as booty shaking ways.
Dubbed by the press as ‘The Carpenters of Electro’, their album ‘Hollywood Under The Knife’ explores paths pioneered by the Chicago house and Detroit techno heroes, (not least Electribe 101), with the aim of taking things forward a step or two.
Although Kraftwerk and Yazoo have been mentioned as influences, The Opiates’ unique brand of electronic music is not readily categorised. Theirs is a pursuit without compromise; a rare match of songwriting and cutting-edge beats and bleeps.
Turner Price winning artist Wolfgang Tilmanns opened his entire archive and granted a free choice of images for The Opiates to choose from, resulting in nine previously unseen and unpublished images making up the artwork of the album cover and booklet.
The Opiates will boldly go where the best electronic duo crossover albums have gone before, and will appeal to charts and underground alike.

credits

released October 17, 2011

produced and mixed by The Opiates
music by Robert Solheim
melodies/lyrics by Billie Ray Martin, except where noted
mastered by Chris von Rautenkranz at Soundgarden Hamburg

all songs published by Touch Tones Music (Billie Ray Martin), Copyright Control (Robert Solheim) except:
"Dinah And The Beautiful Blue": published by Straysound
"Oprah's Book Of The Month Club (Part 2)": published by Touch Tones Music (Billie Ray Martin), Copyright Control (Robert Solheim), DVersion Music Publishing Ltd (Mikael Delta)
"Silent Comes The Nighttime (Again)": Touch Tones Music (Billie Ray Martin), Copyright Control (Robert Solheim), DVersion Music Publishing Ltd (Mikael Delta)

all images by Wolfgang Tillmanns
design: Philip Marshall

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Billie Ray Martin Berlin, Germany

"Billie Ray Martin is one of the living legends in modern music history and one of the best voices on planet earth."
DJ Hell
"Billie Ray Martin is an absolute revelation."
K.Hollings, The Wire
Billie Ray Martin: "I'm a kid from Hamburg’s red-light district, who wanted to be a soul singer, but ended up playing repetitive machine music, while still trying to be a soul singer"
... more

contact / help

Contact Billie Ray Martin

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Hollywood Under The Knife, you may also like: