40 Years – Then Death (song)

"40 Years – Then Death" (alternatively stylized "40 Years (Then Death)" or "40 Years Then Death") is a song by TISM (This Is Serious Mum), first released as a single on 23rd September 1987 by Elvis Records. The song was featured on TISM's debut studio album, Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance, the following year.
At their live shows in early 2024, TISM debuted a version of the song with updated lyrics, titled "14 Years of Livin’ – Then Death". The updated lyrics were published on TISM's official Facebook page on 23rd March 2024.
==Lyrics==
===Original lyrics===
:All that's good, all that's right
:Everything hot and all that's tight
:Women, men, pubescent girls
:Never again to finger their curls on their head, so exquisite
:Never again to visit the palace, the palace of love
:Forty years of livin' then death, that's all that's left
:Forty years then death, forty years, that's all that's left
:Forty years of livin' then death, that's all that's left
:Forty years then death, forty years, that's all that's left
:The work is just beginning as my hair begins thinning
:Pleasure is past and all that's dear as friend and foe alike disappear
:Never again to visit the palace, the palace of love
:Forty years of livin' then death, that's all that's left
:Forty years then death, forty years, that's all that's left
:Forty years of livin' then death, that's all that's left
:Forty years then death, forty years, that's all that's left
:Perfume, the smell of perfume is forgotten and the shape of her room
:And the sheets on her bed disappear forever from my head
:No more the sudden thrill as you dip into the swill
:Never again to visit the palace, the palace of love
:Forty years of livin' then death, that's all that's left
:Forty years then death, forty years, that's all that's left
:Forty years of livin' then death, that's all that's left
:Forty years then death, forty years, that's all that's left
:Forty years of livin' then death, that's all that's left
:Forty years then death, forty years, that's all that's left
:Forty years of livin' then death, that's all that's left
:Forty years then death, forty years, that's all that's left
:Howard Hughes bottled his piss
:After, he drank some tinnies
:He was afraid that he'd miss
:And now he plays the pinnies
===14 Years of Livin' – Then Death (2024)===
:Back’s not good, heart’s not right,
:Left arm is sore, chest is tight –
:The ambos both are calm, skilled girls;
:The defibrillator’s cord uncurls;
:Its paddles are cold to the touch.
:The dead are only us,
:Are just us, are just us, less love.
:Fourteen years of livin’ – then death,
:That’s all that’s left;
:Fourteen years – then death.
:Fourteen years – all that’s left.
:My smirk in the beginnin’
:’Bout how my hair would be thinnin’
:Has gone. Thirty years since then,
:And now it’s not pretend.
:Laugh at mortals, the gods must.
:The dead are only us,
:Are just us, are just us, less love.
:Perfume! The smell of perfume
:Is forgotten, and the shape of the room
:And the sheets on her bed
:Disappear forever from my head –
:All that’s left is merely thus:
:The dead are only us,
:And we are only them, plus love.
==External links and references==
*The TISM Wiki at archive.org
*"14 Years of Livin' – Then Death" lyrics at TISM's official Facebook page
Category:Songs
Category:TISM songs
Category:40 Years (Then Death)
Category:Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance
Category:Pages imported from The TISM Wiki