Prologue

Epilogue: In The Light And The Air

Prologue

Further Afield (1998)

This song was written for you
It carries our love and my pain
Now let it go where it will
We’ll hear its voice in the rain
And it will be with us still

Top

Absinthe

Reign (1993)

Marching bands throw coloured paper cardboard floats process
Balloons and badges copper children part time majorettes
But I’m not going to the carnival though I have nothing else to do

And in my room these distant voices can’t help me forget
The feel of absence dreaming absinthe smoking cigarettes
For I’m not going to the carnival all my thoughts attuned to you

I’ve always said that it doesn’t bother me
But solitude has the means to throw you
Are the chance that was never offered me

Makes me think of smiling faces lazy afternoons and ticker tape
But in my room these hazy ideas seem to lose their shape
For I’m not going to their carnival all my thoughts are tuned to you

I’ve always said that it doesn’t bother me
But solitude has the means to throw you
Are the chance that was never offered me
Now it seems I will never know you

I’ve always said that it doesn’t bother me
Solitude has the means to throw you
Brings to mind wasted possibilities
Words never said when they might have shown you

I will never know you

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Albertine

A Field Further (1998)

Like a bad penny in my pocket
Love keeps on coming back
And there’s no shelter form the pain
I do my level best to stop it
But I don’t have the knack
See here it comes again

Oh Albertine
When I’m with you I hear angels singing to me
How can I resist the calling

Our time in Balbec must be fleeting
Soon you’re going home
Out of sight and out of reach
The fates conspired to force our meeting
Now you’ve got to go
And I’ll be left alone to comb the beach

Oh Albertine
When I’m with you I hear angels singing to me
How can I resist the calling

Oh Albertine, when I’m with you I become you
Stay with me I need you to be near

Oh Albertine
When I’m with you I hear angels singing to me
How can I resist that calling

Oh Albertine, I’ve been given what’s forbidden
Albertine, I think you should stay here

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All’s Well

Reign (1993)

Midnight and all’s well
Though he couldn’t be more out or sorts with himself
How many secrets to cover the lie
Is the pain worth the pitch or a single betrayal
That ruined a life

All for the sake of a moments desire

Midnight and all’s well
Though she couldn’t be more out of sorts with herself
How many memories make up a love
Will they all disappear like the spectre of someone
That’s no longer there

Hold out your hands and find nothing but air

Drawn in guilt lines
But in the world’s eyes
Nothing’s changed

What inside is broken outside looks the same

Just the same
Just the same

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Anja’s Song

Building Then Burning (1987)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

You’re so beautiful I hardly know you at all
I saw you in that place I guessed that you were heart and glass
Do you remember me or maybe just my name
I guess one hundred thousand minds must feel the same

From the gutter, Huwe’n and Anja
Tears and rain she kicks tears and rain
From the gutter, Huwe’n and Anja
Tears and rain she kicks tears and rain

You’re invisible I never see you at all
I meet you in my mind and I know that love is rust and pain
So can it ever be the answer I can guess
You think immortal ego and a scarlet dress

From the gutter, Huwe’n and Anja
Tears and rain she kicks tears and rain
From the gutter, Huwe’n and Anja
Tears and rain she kicks tears and rain

From the gutter, Huwe’n and Anja
Tears and rain she kicks tears and rain
From the gutter, if you were and Anja
Tears and rain she kicks tears and rain

Top

Anthony Days

Reign (1993)

Your mother or madness, your father so straight laced
Your soft way of speaking, your little boy hurt face
It charmed the girls
You gave up your studies, said you just couldn’t think straight
Washed restaurant dishes, and became my flat mate
And charmed the girls

Eighty-nine Anthony days
And every one of them still showing
Rig lights from the beach esplanade
I wonder if they’re all still going

We share the same birthday but your style is ground breaking
Like hiding in wardrobes, to hear her love making
I never laughed so much as when you got caught

Eighty-nine Anthony days
And every one of them still showing
Rig lights from the beach esplanade
To this party we’re all going

But you sassenachs, keep to yourselves
And think you know much more than anybody else
But you sassenachs, keep to yourselves
And think you know much more than everybody else

I hear you got married, to a French-Canadian
You met by some river, it sounds so arcadian
But you always were a proper charmer

Eighty-nine Anthony days
And every one of them still showing
Rig lights from the beach esplanade
Are coincidences growing

But you sassenachs, keep to yourselves
And think you know much more than anybody else
Eighty-nine Anthony days

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Ariel

Building Then Burning (1987)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

There’s a full moon rising
Death’s tide is hurried in
There’s no disguise in here
Living a life in fear
We hear bullets flying
See corpses rising
Death echoes silently
Movements obscurity
Black and white fire zones
Black is a special tone
Playground’s a hand-grenade
Playing the hand we gave to them

Door into the dark, Ariel

Hand held heavy against the side
I was slipping out of control and sleeping inside
Instinct betrayed as if Eden delayed
Watching the blood that spills
Washed up in dollar bills
Johannesburg, Bloemfontain
They play the sweet cheat game
Skin is their power base
White is the master race

Door into the dark, Ariel

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Arundel

No Way Out But Through (1994)

I see your face, I guess that you are smiling
Funny how things can turn out that way
Down the road I will be waiting
Where or when, that nobody can say

Everything is becoming clearer
As everything is beginning to fade

We’re through it all, and I know that we are stronger
Forget the past and remembered the day
Down the road I will be waiting
Down the road not so far away

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Atlas

Reign (1993)

Why does the world weigh heavily upon my shoulders?
Why is it so hard for me to feel anything?
Oh I don’t have the answers that you say you’re after
Don’t you know I’m asking too

How many days have I got left? How many summers?
How can I say words that mean anything?
Oh I don’t have the answers that you say you’re after
Don’t you know I’m asking too

World falling
I’m falling
Down

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Biba Baby

Chant The Beauty (1993)

Shot like a gun shot like impulse and instinct
It’s all right for some but the rest of us rethink
New things to say to the old god of fashion
But I know the best way to dress up my passion

Lights off fuel my fever, scent of the new diva
Cast off all our inhibitions
Be my Biba baby

Caught in the high tides of this year and next year
But why fix your sights right if change is the idea
Everyone’s selling their own form of beauty
So can I be certain I know what best suits me

Lights off fuel my fever, scent of the new diva
Cast off all our inhibitions
Be my Biba baby

Swallowed it down whole we’ll regurgitate it
It’s a second-hand world so lets re-celebrate it
It’s simplicity scorned and obscurity feted
But most things of value aren’t so complicated

Lights off fuel my fever, scent of the new diva
Cast off all our inhibitions
Be my Biba baby

Be my Biba baby

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Breathing Space July

Further Afield (1998)

Sometimes a look becomes a thought
Keeps coming back until it’s caught fire
And slowly you get burned

Well I’ve had my hand inside the flame
Held out for love but it never came through
And you, do you recognise the word?

Well I don’t think this can go on
I’ve reached my Rubicon
I need space to breathe in
The cool air of evening

Given I’ve given my self to you
Broken you’ve broken my life in two…

Can’t seem to sleep this summer
Caught in some undercurrent
I need space to breathe in
The cold air of leaving you

Given I’ve given my self to you
Broken you’ve broken my life in two
Something to nothing is nothing new…

Sometimes a look becomes a thought
It keeps coming back until it’s caught fire

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Bridge Of Sighs

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

Honey, I think I broke my word
I took leave of my senses for seconds
And now you’ve been hurt
Honey, how can I explain
What words should I use which ones could I choose
When nothing excuses the pain you’ve been put through

When this could be our unhappy ending, our Bridge of Sighs
Everything was going well for us
I had to go and put my foot in it
And I don’t know why

Honey, this time I know I’ve gone to far
She was standing there and I gave in
And now there’s no healing the scars
Honey, I know you say you’re gonna leave
How can I make you see my side of things
You are my world and she’s nothing to me

Well this must be our unhappy ending, our Bridge of Sighs
Can’t we start again, can’t we still be friends
Can’t we forget all those lies

Well this must be our unhappy ending, our Bridge of Sighs
Can’t we start again, can’t we still be friends
Love is the thing that can never survive

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Bridge Sister

No Way Out But Through (1994)

Wrapped in flowers, an earthly twist
Though she dresses for nobody but herself now
Painted red, lips I have kissed that now I miss
One of the more things that won’t come again

And if I dropped this madness she wouldn’t see
Gone are the days when I could hold her
And if I spoke a kind word she wouldn’t hear
For she was born to disappear and

There is a crossing for every stream

She’s throwing herself down
A bed of water wraps itself around her
She’s throwing herself down, sister daughter
Leaving us to drown in her

And if I could I’d catch her, but what’s the use
Gone are the days when I could hold her
And if she saw the future she must have guessed
There’s only silence for the rest of us and

There is a willow beyond my reach

She’s throwing herself down, too much of water
Wrap your thoughts around me
Throwing herself down, sister daughter
Leaving me to drown here
A garland for the bride I never married
Wishing us goodnight

Ladies goodnight, sweet ladies goodnight
Dear ladies goodnight, ladies goodnight

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Byron

Further Afield (1998)

Living to understand in every boy there’s a man
And in every man a child
That some things lost are gone for good
And for some we must wait a while
In every life in turn there’s a lesson to learn
One we couldn’t learn before
If I’ve been blind to many things
Now I’m absolutely sure

I have been looking for you from the day I was born
And now that I’ve found you I see what life is meant for

Though we don’t have them around we get closer somehow
To the ones we left behind
I carry you everywhere I am
I carry your heart in mine
And I don’t know why we’re here or if I’ll conquer my fear
Or if anybody can
But I had a friend and though he’s gone
He helped me understand, he’s helping me understand

That I’ve been in love with you for the whole of my life
When I am with you I see the purpose of life
And time holds no fears for me now, I’m free of its ties

I’ve been in love with you for the whole of my life
When I am with you I see the purpose of life
You are a part of me now, soul, body and mind
And I want to wake up beside you
And know you’re my wife

I’m going to make you my life
Gonna make you my life
Gonna make you my life

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Cafe Culture

No Way Out But Through (1994)

I may never get used to this
If boredom has its own rewards then I must be rich
But all my money’s gone on music and paperbacks
I wander aimless through the streets of my small home town
And try to find a way to eke out my days
Tomorrow looms and it looks much the same

But in my room I find sanctuary
I close my eyes and find myself in a place
Where everyone seems quite content to be
In conversation till the early morning hours
We talk of love and put our loss in its place
I even recognize some of the phrases

I’ll be there again tonight, with all my friends
I’ll be there again tonight, with all my friends

We meet and invent the day
The afternoon reaction sounds like a song
And in the evening faces reappear
We share a drink and toast our lives and before too long
The café culture melts like ice into me
The candles burn, the room begins to breathe

I’ll be there again tonight, with all my friends
I’ll be there again tonight, with all my friends

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Carla

Reign (1993)

Carla is the name of my girl
She holds me together like a rubber band
I run my fingers through her auburn kiss curls
Kiss her in a language I don’t understand

I know it’s hard to feel a part of someone else’s love affair
But this is one secret that you can share
When we walk out together wow, the sky is full of stars
And though some of them are clichés we’ll let it pass ’cause

Carla is the name of my girl
She holds me together like a rubber band
I run my fingers through her auburn kiss curls
Kiss her in a language I don’t understand

The exhaust fumes of previous loves dissolve to nothing when she smiles
Now all those tragicomic failures seem worth while
My abstract thoughts of love have found some one to give them form
Now I can see and touch and wish that we’d met before

Oh Carla is the name of my girl
She holds me together like a rubber band
I run my fingers through her auburn kiss curls
Kiss her in a language I don’t understand

The first of all my dreams was of two lovers mind in mind
Embracing doubts and facing compromises
Until my second dream begins the sky is wild with leaves
A girl holds out her life to a boy upon his knees

Carla is the name of my girl
She holds me together like a rubber band
I run my fingers through her auburn kiss curls
Kiss her in a language I don’t understand

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Catch Me If You Can

Chant The Beauty (1993)

Catch me if you can if you think that I’m your man
I may have spent tonight with you but I was only passing through
And now I’m somewhere you can’t find me
But catch me if you think that you can

You’re not the first person who’s found I’m not the type to stick around
And if at any moment I said that I might it was a lie
’cause now I’m somewhere you can’t find me
But catch me if you think that you can

You’re never gonna know just what I think of you
I never let it show I keep the mask on
That’s the only safe thing to do

Catch me if you can but I know I’m not your man
Although I may have stolen cars I swear I never touched a heart
And now I’m somewhere you can’t touch me
But catch me if you think that you can

You’re never gonna know just what I think of you
I never let it show I keep the mask on
That’s the only safe thing to do

Catch me, if you think you can catch me

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Catherine Wheel

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

And while you’re turning it all on its head
Just remember what you’re trying to repress
It’s not so big a deal, and if he’s your Judas is he real
Do your movements reflect how you feel

Like a Catherine Wheel

And if your memory serves you well
He made a heaven out of your hell
With a crucifix of steel, if he was your Jesus was he real
Do your actions reflect how you feel

Like a Catherine Wheel

And now you’re turning it all on its head
Just remember what you’re trying to forget
You never heard a word he said, and if he’s your God now is he dead
Do your colours all merge blood red, cuts you near…

Like a Catherine Wheel

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Collar Me

Call Me Ishmael (1993)

To every choice I give the lie
Though dead and buried long ago this myth survives
To live in time is to live with fate
Go left or right it sidetracks every choice we make

Consequently we’re deaf, blind and dumb
Trying to give significance to things we’ve not done
And I don’t know what to do when it all comes to nothing
Can I ask this of you?

Shackled thoughts are harnessed fire
All channelled forms of our desires
Rid my life of this desperate need to be free
Collar me

We take the chains off one for all
But we’d you jump to if you can’t predict the fall
True I can’t see the cage I’m in
A dream escapes but they no longer mean a thing

Consequently I’m deaf, dumb and blind
Trying to see my limits as my weak states of mind
But I don’t know what to see when it amounts to nothing
Is there something of me

Shackled thoughts are harnessed fire
All channelled forms of our desires
Rid my life of this desperate need to be free
Collar me

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(Coming Back To) An Empty Heart

Building Then Burning (1987)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

Coming back to an empty flat
I see the corner and the window
The armchair where you sat
The cat’s by the fire, I thought you were a liar
When you said that you were never coming back

To die, la la li, where can I start
If it’s true that you, won’t ever be, can’t you see
Coming back to an empty heart

Yes it’s true, I need you more than I can say

Lights go down on this God forsaken town
I wait for you all night, and sometimes I
Get so goddam lonely
Oh God if you were only
Coming back to…

Stay, la la da, where can I start
If it’s true, that you, won’t ever be, oh can’t you see
Coming back to, coming back to
Coming back to an empty heart

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Coy Mistress 1993

Chant The Beauty (1993)

Had we but world enough and time I wouldn’t want to wait long
Don’t you know we’ve changed the times
And at my back I always hear, six months is only twice a year
So can’t we get it off or on, come on

I know you now and you know me and together we could be so happy can’t you see
I trust you now and you trust me, together we could be so happy can’t you see
The love that waits, anticipates and fades away, I’m a 1993 boy
And I love you now and you love me, together we could be so happy can’t you see

I can’t begin to count the ways we could spend our winter nights
Not to mention summer days
They say the best is yet to come, well the rest is hum-drum
So now our spring has sprung let’s have some fun

I know you now and you know me and together we could be so happy can’t you see
I trust you now and you trust me and together we could be so happy can’t you see
The love that waits, anticipates and fades away, I’m a 1993 boy
And I love you now and you love me, together we could be so happy can’t you see

Now I’m not trying to be crude, I wouldn’t want to be you
I just want you to be sure where we lie
Had we but world enough and time I wouldn’t want to wait long
Can’t we get it off or on, come on

I know you now and you know me and together we could be so happy can’t you see
I trust you now and you trust me and together we could be so happy can’t you see
The love that waits, anticipates and fades away, I’m a 1993 boy
And I love you now and you love me, together we could be so happy can’t you see

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Cynara

No Way Out But Through (1994)

Based on Non Sum Qualis eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae by Ernest Dowson

Last night, ah yesternight, betwixt her lips and mine
Your shadow fell, your breathe was shed, Cynara
Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine, I bowed my head
And I was desolate, desolate and sick
Desolate and sick of an old passion

I have been faithful to you, Cynara. In my fashion

All night upon my heart I felt her warm heart beat
Night long within my arms in love and sleep she lay, Cynara
Surely the kisses of her bought red mouth was sweet
But I work up to find the morning grey
And I was desolate, desolate and sick
Desolate and sick of an old passion

Oh I have been faithful to you, Cynara. In my fashion

I have forgotten much, gone with the wind
Flung roses, roses riotously with the throng, Cynara
Dancing to put your pale lost lilies out of mind
Yeah all the time because the dance was long
And I am desolate, desolate and sick
Desolate and sick of an old passion

Oh I have been faithful to you, Cynara. In my fashion

I cried for madder music, and for stronger wine
But when the feast is finished and the lamps expire, Cynara
Then your shadow falls the night is yours
And I am hungry for the lips of my desire
And I am desolate, desolate and sick
Desolate and sick of an old passion

Oh I have been faithful to you, Cynara. In my fashion

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Darkness Visible

Reign (1993)

So you think you’ve got a dark side
Well how do you know
You think you’ve got a dark side
But just how far will you go

You’ll smile when the frame crashes laugh when the car loses control
And welcome this depression in this darkness visible
But there’s no excuse for being flippant about the life we’re living
We’ll give an inch but will you take a mile of what we’re giving

And is this real, ’cause I can’t really be sure
What kind of senseless world have I been born into
Do you know, it just gets harder to see how to be
Aren’t you Ill at ease with

A world that wants your dark side and well how do you know
And if they really want your dark side, just how far are you willing to go

All dressed in black and hair and forced to quote the blindest people
Who welcome this depression in this darkness visible
But there’s no for being flippant about the life we’re living
We’ll give an inch but you will take a mile of what we’re giving

Are you for real, ’cause I can’t really be sure
What kind of foolish world have I been born into
Do you know, ’cause it just gets harder to see how to be
And if your Ill at ease then

Mourir c’est facile

You’ll smile when the frame crashes, laugh when the car loses control
And welcome this depression in this darkness visible
But there’s no excuse for being flippant about the life we’re living
We’ll give an inch but will you take a mile of what we’re giving

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The Day My Life Began

Call Me Ishmael (1993)

Me with you, well that’s a deal falling through
Now you’ve got to tell me something I won’t understand
Till it’s something that I’m old enough to do

And we said our goodbyes and I waved you down our street
Something in me died, something was released
I can still hear the lie

I want to be with you, I want stay with you, but now I’ve gotta go
I want to be with you, I want stay with you, but now I’ve gotta go

Tears and smiles, the day my life began, though still a child
I’ve travelled down the years in search of something that you took from me
What it is to be a man

And I’ve tried to forgive, but it’s the hardest thing to do
And I understood why they will never forgive you
We can still hear the lie

I want to be with you, I want stay with you, but now I’ve gotta go
I want to be with you, I want stay with you, but now I’ve gotta go

I can still hear the lie

I want to be with you, I want stay with you, but now I’ve gotta go

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Deep Deep Water

Call Me Ishmael (1993)

Before you came in to my life indulgence was my map
With you I only understood the poverty of what I had
Now those insecurities have drifted clear away
The shadow of uncertainty has gone and it kept me at bay

But I can’t swim to save my life
Though I might try if I could reach your island

You’ve taken me from where unkind opinions chipped away
Now I don’t really care to much what anybody says
The button hole of my life where I pulled through all my dreams
Turned out to be fragile without you was ripping at the seams

And I can’t sew to save my life
Now it might show but I would dress your silence
And I can’t swim to save my life
Though I might try if I could reach your island

Deep deep water. All this deep deep water
Love is deep deep water. All this deep deep water

To some it seems so easy just to give their hearts away
But I find it so difficult and who knows who’s to blame
The picture I’ve been working on for years with such intent
Has not begun to show the only thing I want to represent

’cause I can’t paint to save my life
Though I would try if I could catch your likeness
And I can’t swim to save my life
Though I might try if I could reach your island

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Different Signs

Other People’s Angels (1992)

She said
I’ve been weighed down by carrying more than my cross
and though I once wanted to be found
all I really crave now is to be lost.

He said
Lose yourself in me – I know I’m not your Sign
but I’ve been waiting patiently for you
and for a long, long time.

She smiled and it made him laugh
I’m just another victim of your spells
She said
You’ve never really understood
that I’m wary of being myself

He said
Be yourself with me – I know I’m not your Sign
but I’ve been waiting patiently for you
and for a long, long time.

He tried
It’s getting late; give me your hand, I’ll walk you home
She thought
I’m tired of talking; all I really want now is to be alone.

He said
Be alone with me – I know I’m not your Sign
but I’ve been waiting patiently for you
and for a long, long time

Top

Dog Years

Further Afield (1998)

I’m the someone on the edge of your life
And though you don’t know me you know what I’m like
A crumpled up diviner of fate
Who knows recognition will always come late

And I want to sing my radio blues
But no one will listen to yesterday’s news
And if I start up on the end of the world
We’re all deaf to a future we’ve already heard

Not today, we’ll keep it in mind and then wish it away
But if I’ve known it, you’ll know it
You can’t hang on to what you’re meant to lose
The dog years run away with you

And I know you throw a little cash in my cup
Thinking the devil take you, I feel sure he will do
Now that heavens booked up
We’re trying to find ourselves by shedding our guilt
But we’ve got a taste for the tragic
And we’re drinking our fill and singing

Not today, we’ll bear it in mind just to wish it away
But if I’ve seen it, you’ll see it
You can’t hang on to what you’re meant to lose
The dog years run away with you

Not today, we’ll keep it in mind just to wish it away
But if I’ve learnt it, you’ll learn it
You can’t hang on to what you’re meant to lose
The dog years run away with you

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The Drug

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

They said the beat won’t stop
And you’ll see things you never thought you’d see
But you need the drug

No, no your head is not enough; no, no not enough
You can really believe what you want to believe
Just have trust in the drug it’s a breeze

When every week’s the same
The music never fades, you can ride your own waves, ’cause their time isn’t real
And every day’s the same
The colours never fade, you create your own shades, it’s unreal

And yes the beat went on
And I saw things I never thought I’d see
Thanks to the drug, not me the drug

No, no the drug was not enough; no, no not enough
Because I couldn’t believe what was clearly deceit
Just a chemical flood in my bloodstream

And every day’s the same
The record never changes, your mind goes through stages, and time isn’t real
So every week’s the same
The record never changes, your mind goes through stages, and nothing is real

No, nothing is real
Now at the time, I sang in my chains like the sea, I had to break free
Oh it wasn’t real, it wasn’t me

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Endgame

Further Afield (1998)

They say that breaking up is hard to do
I do it all the time
It’s my niche, my forte
Or some might say that it’s my crime
If something real rears its ugly head
I will be long gone
On that you can depend

Where there’s a will there is a way
Where there are ways are always means
All the best exits go unnoticed
What’s the point in parting scenes?
To deliver lines that we’ve all heard before
When there’s nothing left to say
And there’s no-one keeping score

And if sometimes all through the night
I’m kept awake by guilt or shame
Those scared regrets are only shadows on the wall

You always want the things you don’t have
That are problems when you do
And if one remedies the other
The exact opposite is true
And whose to judge, if it’s all just the same?
I will take my risks
And I will take the blame

And if sometimes, all through the night
I’m kept awake by guilt or shame
Those scared regrets are only shadows on the wall
Shadows on the wall

And if sometimes the darkness tries
To make me feel the need is real
I’ll strike a match and blind the shadows on the wall
Shadows on the wall

Top

The End Of Another Year

No Way Out But Through (1994)

The end of another year and my thoughts all turn back to you
You were my girl when everything was changing
You were my girl but honey do you blame me
For letting it go like I did, when the truth is that’s not what I wanted
It was out of my hands though I know that that’s to easy
Try and understand I need you to believe me

I got so confused and I grew colder
But I was younger then now I’m older
The days just slip away like water through sand

Now I work just to fill my time, but I can’t keep you out of my mind
You were my girl and I was someone you had faith in
Now how in the world could I have let the rain in
Now I’ve got to be true to myself, ’cause the fact is that nobody else will
Now I’m alone I see things in the new way
Maybe I’ve grown used to being someone nobody could pin a hope on

But I was so confused and I grew colder
I was younger then now I’m older
Maybe you and I could get together
We can only try or else we’ll never know
’cause the days are slipping by like water through sand

Now I’ve got to be true to myself, ’cause the fact is that nobody else will
Now I’m alone I see things in a new way
Maybe I’ve grown used to being someone nobody could pin a hope on
Oh darling listen to me

I got so confused and I grew colder
But I was younger then now I’m older
Maybe you and I could get together
We can only try or else we’ll never know
’cause the days are slipping by and there’s no denying
That’s something I can’t change for all my trying
Now I’m alone I need you with me
Darling, darling, darling forgive me, forgive me
’cause the days just slip away
Like water through sand, lke sand through your hands

Top

Eversfield

A Field Further (1998)

Out of the endless ways to make an exit
I guess I always knew that you’d find one
You stopped at the store to buy cigarettes
And smoking at the wheel
You said goodbye to Eversfield

‘Haven’t you a home to go to’, asked the angel
‘Isn’t there someone waiting up for you?’
She couldn’t see the hole you have blown in my soul
Well I’ve kept it well concealed
But the pain runs through to Eversfield

Most of my time these days is spent not living
Life is a thing I watch on my TV
I’m scared of the heart where my memories are
And of what they might reveal
There’s no escape form Eversfield

Top

Faces & Masks

Chant The Beauty (1993)

Look inside, but I don’t like what I seem to find
I’ve exorcised, none of the ghosts that plague my mind
Deep inside, I’m not sure if I recognize
Who’s knowing, who’s feeling, who’s showing, who’s being

Looking back, it all seems strangely unreal somehow (see, deep as the heart)
I can’t connect, with all these pictures I’m seeing now (nothing but lies)
My memory, has been submerged in seas of doubt (faces and masks)
Whose lover, whose laughter, whose brother, whose father

I look outside, but I can’t hold on to anything (breathe, free of the past)
Of certainty, what’s the truth behind her or him (all we can see)
Am I so tired?, I can’t believe the dream I’m in (faces and masks)
Who’s listening, who’s calling, who needs me, who’s falling

I don’t know where I’m going, can’t read the future in my hand
There’s just no way of knowing, if things will turn out as I’ve planned
I’ve followed all the questions, but I’m no nearer the truth
There seems no point in asking, when there’s no proof

Look inside, but I don’t like what I seem to find (see, deep as the heart)

Looking back, it all seems strangely unreal somehow (breathe, free of
the past)
…whose brother, comes after

I threw my cross away and came up face to face with death
I put it on again and it burnt right through my flesh
I’ve followed all the questions but I’m no nearer the truth
There seems no point in asking, when there’s no proof

All these faces and masks, all the people I’ve been,
It’s just covering up what I don’t want you to see
All these faces and masks are just how I perceive
Not the person I am but who you want me to be
All these faces and masks are elaborate lies
I still don’t know what I’m trying to hide
But if I can’t be true to myself, can I expect it of you
Is there anyway out can I break through if

Can I break through to me

Top

Fanmail

Further Afield (1998)

Jennifer, Sylvie
You’re my prescription, see
World without end maybe just a dream
I’m charmed by your face it’s true
But it’s purely arbitrary
For every sky there’s a million stars

I follow your footsteps
Your moves in the headline world
While I’m in the darkness, where I can’t be seen

But I love you as if I knew you
And I pray for you as if you were my own
But you’re not and I don’t know
What could make us meet, bring us together, to be alone
It’s never who you are but who you know…

Julliette, Julie
I think you were made for me
And maybe I’d suit you, you should try me on
I don’t have a lifestyle removed from the commonplace
It’s written on my face, can’t you read the lines?

They say I love you as if I knew you
And I pray for you, as if you were one of my own
But you’re not and I don’t know
What could make us meet, bring us together, to be alone
It’s never who you are but who you know

It’s never who you are but who you know
No it’s never who you are but who you know…

Top

Fear Of Flying

Other People’s Angels (1992)

I just want to hold you in my arms and never let go.
In my dreams I have seen you
Now it seems they’ve all come true.

Can you see the stars tonight?
I am scarred but they are yours and mine
To follow through the sky
To somewhere we have never been before.
And I’ve a desperate need to be free;
I will be frightened, so please stay with me.

I’ve never left the ground,
Secured myself, let safety tie me down
And I am still afraid of letting go
And breaking all my chains
But I’ve a desperate need to be free;
I will be frightened, so please stay with me.

Well this is our time,
Our sweet song of goodbye.
Do we have lift off?
If you want to be found then you’ve got to be sought
But in trying to be free you end up being caught,
So I’m wary of change ‘cause it’s always seemed
That being in love I could never be me.
Now that’s an irrelevancy.

Top

Feminist Fatale

Further Afield (1998)

You don’t want to track my pupils
You don’t want to catch my eye
You don’t want to show you realise
You won’t start a conversation
Won’t ask a friend my name
So our paths won’t accidentally cross
And in a way

That’s why I really want to know you
That’s why I’m dreaming the improbable
That’s why I really want to tell you, hey
All men are not the same

You don’t show the slightest inkling
But your aloofness is blasé
You don’t look like you’ve go much to say, to me
But a manner that’s defensive equally invites approach
Though I doubt that I’m a subject you would care to broach

That’s why I really want to know you
That’s why I’m thinking the improbable
That’s why I really want to tell you, hey
I’m really not the same

This is the way that we find hope in despair
This is the girl who changes so into yeah, yeah, yeah

That’s why I really want to know you
That’s why I’m dreaming the improbable
That’s why I really want to tell you, hey
You’re beautiful

That’s why I really want to know you
That’s why I’m dreaming the impossible
That’s why I really want to tell you, hey
You’re beautiful

Top

The First Snow Of Last Year

A Field Further (1998)

There was a moment
Something was over
You were a face that was long gone
I was alone and
Watching form windows
Dirty old railway
October Sunday
Nothing but waiting
Counting the magpies

Then it was falling, falling, falling

Top

Forbidden Fruit

A Field Further (1998)

Welcome to my bedside fable
Relationships are far too stable
Every morning I wake up alone
Girls who press me don’t impress me
Those who won’t simply depress me
But it’s the latter to which I am prone

I’ve got someone else’s woman on the brain
And that someone else keeps getting in my way

These days I avoid the process
Of approaching those of interest
I do nothing, I watch and I wait
But if there’s one thing driving me mad it’s
The allure of what I can’t have
Is there a reason I’m always too late?

Well I’ve got someone else’s woman on the brain
And that someone else keeps getting in my way

When what you have seems dour
Forbidden fruit looks sweet
But it can soon turn sour
If it’s not yours to eat

I’ve got someone else’s woman on the brain
And that someone else keeps getting in my way
I’ve got someone else’s woman on my mind
There’s always someone else before me every time

Top

For The Better

Other People’s Angels (1992)

I couldn’t wait to run away
‘cause I was smothered by despair
I hated every single day when I was there.

But here life is for the taking,
there’s a world of difference, nothing seems the same,
so here, things are looking better
and I know that I will never run again.

I was a bookish kind of sad,
immersed in words that didn’t show
that I was really, really, really mad three years ago.

But now I can feel some sense returning,
there’s a trick to this and I’m learning how to change,
so now, things are looking better,
though I know that they will never be the same.

Because it’s better,
things are better through and through,
So much better,
things are better through and through.
Here and now but with whom?

She said we must be married soon
and put your savings to good use,
well I was nothing if not amused
when I was with her but you have helped me to forget,
I know it’s clichéd but now nothing seems the same.

And you have changed things for the better
now I know that I will never run away from
here and now with you
because here and now with you it’s cool.

Top

Fortune Teller

Other People’s Angels (1992)

I’ve been waiting half my life for other people’s angels,
Never found mine – never tried.
And I’ve been saying half my prayers for other people’s angels,
Lost sight of what counts in my dumbness and my blindness

But if I can see that your soul is on fire, I will tell you,
And if I can see that our love’s on the line, I will tell you.

And I’ve been dreaming half my dreams all for other people’s angels,
I’m caught in a world that isn’t mine
And I can’t carry on, ‘cause half my days have gone with other people’s angels,
Maybe it’s time to start my life over.

So if I can see that your soul is on fire, I will tell you
And if I can see that our world’s on the wire, I will tell you
And if I can see that our love’s on the line, I will tell you.

Top

Girlfriend Into Girlfriend

Other People’s Angels (1992)

And there we were lying in a field
With the sky for a ceiling
And our hometown all sleeping,
Talking of Love and Death and Friendship and Pain,
Though I like to be near her,
I’ll never tell her again.

Because I’ve pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind,
Made a Girlfriend into a girl friend
And now I think I know that she’ll never be mine,
At least not in a physical sense.

Nobody told me that love was like school,
So while some learned by hard work, I was a fool.
She was the lesson of my adolescence –
But I might have done better had I known at the time.

Now I’ve pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind,
Made a Girlfriend into a girl friend
Because I think I know that she’ll never be mine,
At least not in a physical sense.
But Oh! How the body’s demands supersede all you learn
And turn into demands.

In love or friendship we go on, never knowing where
Or how the road could be so long, maybe we don’t care.
(Lying in a field, I’m turning a Girlfriend into girl friend.)

Top

The Great God Dumps

Reign (1993)

There’s a place we’re all going but I don’t know where it is
Or what it’s like, could it be it’s inside me to find
Well here I am self evident, what am I going to spy here
At twenty-five I thought that I might have a better idea

But some things can’t be known in terms that I can understand
Jump in the dark, hope to find something that I can recognize

The Great God Dumps has guided me, call it self deception
It doesn’t really change a thing if I believe I’ve been led here by

Something, someone, read faith for fate is reason
Someone, something, bigger to believe in

Than myself, but what a scale we’ve awarded to ourselves
Still only just big enough to ruin everything we have

The Great God Dumps has guided me, call it dream or fiction
It doesn’t really change a thing if I believe I’ve been brought here by

Something, someone, read faith for fate is reason
Someone, something, bigger to believe in
Something, someone, read faith for fate is reason
Someone, something, bigger to believe in

Well here I am self evident what am I going to spy here
At twenty-five I thought that I might have a better idea, of the
Place, we’re all going but I don’t know where it is
Or what it’s like, it could be it’s inside you and me
Still to find

Top

Greta’s Song

Old Age Echoes (1986)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

I sit by my TV. set, I’m in the middle of ‘Heat and Dust’
I watch and she’s upset, leave my hate and the right to trust
I’ll never know what’s kept inside, she circles the ebony tower
If she looked I’d be trying to hide, on the waterfront in her power

I’m in love with Greta Scaachi
Or at least with the face I see
She’d say I’m crazy but
She’s the one for me

Maybe some loves are left to late, we often walked the final mile
I could run but I want to stay, in the comfort of your smile
Sometimes I laugh at this trance, I always hated being confined
I wish I had just one chance, because you’re always on my mind

I’m in love with Greta Scaachi
Or at least with the face I see
She’d say I’m crazy but
She’s the one for me

Top

Half The World

Other People’s Angels (1992)

I found some things of yours today –
Threw them all away.
It’s funny how such kidstuff seems
Embedded deep as grief in me
But is this shadow real or perceived?
Am I the ghost or are you haunting me?

Because each day I walk to work,
I see your face in every face I meet
And when I go to bed I dream of you,
Sleeping next to me.

Does our distance help to count the cost?
I’ve been needing what I’ve lost.
I hope you feel the same way too
But I don’t think you do.
I’ve never had the nerve to feel a thing before,
Now all at once I can hardly think

for each day I walk to work,
I see your face in every face I meet
And when I go to bed I dream of you,
Sleeping next to me.

Half the world is sleeping now,
The other half is running round and around.

And each day I walk to work,
I see your face in every face I meet
And when I go to bed I dream of you,
Sleeping next to me.

Half the world is sleeping now,
The other half is remembering how to live.

Top

Hammerpond

Call Me Ishmael (1993)

Here’s a happy day to banish all that’s sad
Started out quite bad but I’ve ended up ok
Put another way I love the love I have
And that is something to say

Here’s the photograph of our first day together
And here’s the place we’ll argue till three
Here’s the hammerpond where I’ll write you a letter
I like you do you think you like me

And here’s a sky of blue to chase away the grey
I never think to pray but I’m happy if you do
’cause maybe you’ll get through
So maybe I should say that I’m in league with you

Here’s the photograph of our first day together
And here’s the place we’ll argue till three
Here’s the hammerpond where I’ll write you a letter
I like you do you think you like me

And here’s a little drink to smooth away your nerves
And for what it’s worth don’t worry about him
It’s not an easy thing and we won’t be the first
To hear alarm bells ring

Here’s the photograph of our first day together
And here’s the place we’ll argue till three
Here’s the hammerpond where I’ll write you a letter
I like you do you think you like me

Top

Harbour Lights

A Field Further (1998)

Come with me overland to the sea
Where soil becomes sand
Not a face to be seen any place
Just you and me here
Hear gulls cry to see the harbour lights

On the dunes running free with the moon
The warmth of the breeze
In our hair on our skin way out there
The tide coming in
Each wave dies to see the harbour lights

Lying here screwed out of focus
No words could begin to describe
This other life

Here I love you like no one before you
Here I breathe you as if you were air
And I feel you in everything I do
My centre, my lover, my prayer

Top

The Healing Of A Lunatic Boy

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

I remember eating insects in someone’s garden
Dressing up and petal perfume at birthday parties
Hiding in the wood and finding a burnt out car
Taking a dying bird home to my ma
Playground fighting falling over and grazing my knees
Pushing girls and stinging nettles and climbing trees
Summer terms with flowery dresses and my first kiss
And as well as all this

Something save me from going crazy
And now it’s made me
Open all my windows to let the weather in
And it’s coming in

I believe in ghosts although I have never seen one
I believe in god as father, spirit and son
I believe in making wishes and sometimes do
I don’t believe they come true
I know that every one of us has got to die
I recognize that fame and fortune have past me by
I understand that love is fragile though it seems as safe as houses
But I don’t understand this

Something save me from going crazy
And now it’s made me
Open all my windows to let the weather in
And it’s coming in

Top

Here Comes My Friend

Building Then Burning (1987)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

You’re a difficult person to know
So she said Friday night
In a visible sunset below
Can you believe what happened today
So she said Wednesday night
Maryland the USA
And I walked scared

I could run but I want to stay and say

Here comes my friend (building then burning)
Here comes my friend (building then burning down)
Here comes my friend

And in a moment there is time
So she said in a word
So many people feeling fine
Thanks for your letter yesterday
So she said in a word
The morning comes I’m up and away
But I walk scared

I could run but I want to stay and say

Here comes my friend (building then burning)
Here comes my friend (building then burning down)
Here comes my friend

You’re a difficult person to know
So I say Friday night
But never leave me so alone
You’re a sentimental fool
So she said Wednesday night
You’re building and burning every rule
But I walked scared

I could run but I stay and say

Here comes my friend (building then burning)
Here comes my friend (building then burning down)
Here comes my friend

Building then burning

Top

How I Became A Serial Killer

A Field Further (1998)

God loves an honest man
And we all have to meet our maker in the end
And if things aren’t quite what I planned
Well nothing much in this life can make sense

But if pain is all you get from life
You soon decide that that’s what life’s about

We’ll flick through my childhood years
Because I never really lived until my teens
I soon found a friend in fear
It was the one thing I was good at, the girls screamed

And if power is all you want from life
Then weakness will attract you

So I’m pleased we had this chance to meet
You know I don’t get out that much, I don’t have friends
But time’s short and experience has taught
That all good things in life come to an end

Once by chance I met the one
You know it’s strange she looked a little bit like you
My heart leapt but my soul stayed numb
Somehow I knew exactly what to do

One crack and there’s no going back and nothing can distract you
If power is all you want from life
Then weakness will attract you, well

I’m glad that we’ve had this little chat
You know I don’t get out that much, I don’t have friends
Your time’s short and experience is bought
And the price of life is knowing it’s to end

Top

I Know You’re Waiting

Other People’s Angels (1992)

Last week I was fairly unsure
But this week I’m certain
Or I suppose I am, I don’t know.
But I’ve tried really hard to be fair,
To weigh up all the consequences
Though I know you couldn’t care less
If it’s wrong or if it’s right
As long as it’s tonight.

I know you’re waiting and just what to expect
But there’s no room for shyness in your new double bed,
It’s so vast I need directions.
I can hardly breathe amongst the clothes on your floor.
Maybe what I need is just to open the door
To myself, can you help me?

Because I still feel pretty weird about you
And the strange things you’re inviting my body to do
For the sake of your favourite sport.
But maybe that’s the problem with me…
My life has been vicarious,
Now you want me to change and to see
How the world has been for everyone but me.

I know you’re waiting and just what to expect
But there’s no room for shyness in your new double bed,
It’s so vast I need directions.
I can hardly breathe amongst the clothes on your floor.
Maybe what I need is just to open the door
To myself, can you help me?
Let’s just get this over,
On your Mother’s sofa,
Nobody could call me a saint.

Top

Immortality

No Way Out But Through (1994)

I’ve been wondering, lately drag-netting my thoughts
Oh the things I’ve done, all the damage caused
And you’re my focal points all five faces I’ve loved
There are five stories but only one ending

So where’s my place in your past gonna be?
Will I get a window seat?

If there’s something I’ve learned it’s that I never learn
Moth in to a flame, I keep getting burned
When it comes to the truth there’s no kidding me
I’m the author of my own destiny

So where’s my place in heaven gonna to be?
Will I get a window seat?

I believe that what you give you get back
It’s as simple as that so

Where’s my place in heaven gonna be?
Will I get a window seat?

I believe that what you give you get back
And though I know it’s nothing new, it’s as simple as that
And if we live after we die it’s in the thoughts and in the minds
Of the ones we’ve left behind us

Where’s my place in your heart gonna be?
Therein lies my immortality

Top

Intentions

Old Age Echoes (1986)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

Based on Walt Whitman’s ‘To a Common Prostitute‘ and ‘I was Looking a Long While‘.

Be composed be at ease with me
I am human liberal and dirty
Not till the sun excludes you
Will I refuse you

And I’ve been looking a long while
For intentions

Not till the waters refuse to glisten
Or the leaves do rustle for you
Will you deny them
For you supply them

And I’ve been looking a long while
For intentions

There’s a contradiction in the rules
The morals of leaders
And those of the people
It’s in the present
In this place today

And I’ve been looking a long while
For intentions

It’s the thoughts of one man who thinks lust’s okay
The average manner today
It’s in things we feel
Not in the things we say
And I’ve been looking a long while
For intentions

For a clue to a history of the past with you
Of the past in me
All for the present
All for the modern

And I’ve been looking a long while
For intentions

Be at ease with me
I am human liberal and dirty
The sun won’t exclude
And I won’t refuse you

Cause I’ve been looking a long while
For intentions

Top

I Own You

Chant The Beauty (1993)

So you want to cheat and you come to me expecting my blessing
Believe me you’re not gonna get it, but
Infidelity from a fickle spirit holds no surprises
It’s spineless I’ve come to expect it
You give your body like a cheap gift, to any stranger who’ll except it
I exert no jealous pressure, I’m not inclined to empty gesture

So now you want to leave, and you come to me expecting submission
Well this time the premise is different
You expect too much, if you think that love comes without conditions
It doesn’t, and mine’s no exception
I’ve allowed your, every freedom, what more do you think you’ll get from him
What I’ve given now, I’m repossessing, you took it all but weren’t you forgetting

You belong to me, all your dresses and dreams
Every motive and thought
You belong to me and I’m not gonna set free
The only thing that I’ve caught
I own you

So you want to fly and you come to me expecting approval
Believe me you’re not gonna do this
I will shoot you down, I will hold you here for good
And no joking, no this time there’s no use in hoping
Why stop now is there a reason, if there’s a choice then why don’t you leave him
Why stop now, when we’re successful, you wanna kill this, but I won’t let you

You belong to me, all your dresses and dreams
Every motive and thought
You belong to me and I’m not gonna set free
The only thing that I’ve caught
I own you

Top

It Never Happened Part One

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

Dear Susan this is goodbye
Our love is dead and we both know why
I know that I’m not to blame
How can you believe I’ve so totally changed

What could have been a marriage has become a lost
Should have been more careful and I would had I thought
But could’ve beens and should’ve beens don’t really matter much of course

I’ve loved and I have been loved
It’s good to be sure it doesn’t happen that much
One day that might have been years
The fourth of July was it ever more clear

What could have been a marriage has become a lost cause
Should have been more careful and I would had I thought
But could’ve beens and should’ve beens don’t really matter much of course

What could have been a marriage has become a lost cause
Should have been more careful and I would had I thought
But could’ve beens and should’ve beens don’t really matter much of course

Dear Susan this is goodbye
Our love it dead and we both know why
Dear Susan this is goodbye
You’ve got your way
Now I hope you’re smiling

Top

It Never Happened Part 2

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

What’s the matter with me
I’m twenty two but I act like I’m seventeen
Every time that we meet
My heart beats so fast all my friends laugh at me

So I light up a cigarette
Listen to Scott Walker songs
About how the sun ain’t gonna shine
And I think about you and how pretty you look
And I wish I wasn’t shy

Last Saturday I saw you in town and I ran home in fright
But that just made me feel worse
You were so natural I was full of nerves

So I light up a cigarette
Listen to Scott Walker songs
About how the sun ain’t gonna shine
And I think about you and how pretty you look
And I wish I wasn’t shy

So I light up a cigarette
Listen to Scott Walker’s songs
About how the sun ain’t gonna shine
And I think about you and how pretty you look
And I wish oh how I wish
I wish I wasn’t shy

Top

It’s Only Love

No Way Out But Through (1994)

Lock myself away in your bathroom so I could try your perfumes
There’s much to be learned of a girl from the things she keeps well hidden from view
I can live with the fact that it might seem a little bit strange
’cause I’m a little like that
Always broadcast a secret well it’s selfish to keep it if you can’t give it away

And it’s only love
It can’t curb these shady tendencies of mine
Only your love
It can’t change my dirty water into wine

On a autumn day I was reading Sade when you sat down to speak
Now when your away I read your diary entries about me
I can live with the guilt ’cause it really never crosses my mind
And so what the hell
If we share a house and share a bed we can share our thoughts as well

And it’s only love
It doesn’t feel like money falling from the sky
It’s only love
Doesn’t make me look at stars and wonder why
It’s only love
And there’s a chance that it will peter out in time
And if it does
Then at least we’ll know we were happy for a while

The love of a new man is a thing of the past
Now I’m only human and I need to know you recognize
The people that I am

And it’s only love
Just a common feeling everybody knows
It’s only love
Part of human evolution I suppose
It’s only love
But I can’t control the things it makes me do
But it’s only love
So don’t take it the wrong way when I say that
I’m in love with you

Top

I’ve Been Here Before

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

I lost my way in the world ’cause I took too much for granted
Somewhere I took a wrong turn and now I’m right back where I started
Yeah I’ve been here before
I’ve been here before

And it’s so easy to defer the change you’re needing
But you just make the same mistakes
But it’s not easy when your life just keeps repeating
The same thing over and over again

Step one you stay where you are but then you never make step two
So somehow I’m back at the start, it’s a deja vu I’m telling you
I’ve been here before
I’ve been here before

And it’s so easy to defer the change you’re needing
Well you just make the same mistakes
But it’s not easy when your life just keeps repeating
The same thing over and over again

It’s a deja vu I’m telling you
I’ve been here before
I’ve been here before

Top

J Again

Chant The Beauty (1993)

Lately now and then I’ve been thinking about J again
Thought I’d left all that behind me
I don’t want somebody to care, just need someone who can understand
Someone who was there

Say something, help me out, I can’t go on not knowing
Could I have, said something, was I too blind to see, what was

Right before my eyes, with the benefit of hindsight
It all seems so obvious
But it was different at the time, I was so much stronger then
It never even crossed my mind

All the time that’s passed me by is wasted now
You only get one chance and I’ve not taken mine
To think of J again casts a much darker doubt
Makes everything I do seem like a waste of life

Oh, don’t just tell me it’s not my fault
I want you to know how I feel
’cause all this time I’ve been plagued by guilt
And I need you to know how that feels

Top

Jimmy & Marilyn

Other People’s Angels (1992)

From the first time I saw East of Eden
I was hooked on Jimmy Dean.
Gun crossed, little boy lost,
Burning up right there on the screen.
With a face full of forebodings
that didn’t augur well,
the first tortured adolescent
to crawl out of it’s shell
and he gave the world the idea
of a life inbetween boy and man
but he left just before he arrived
and I can understand.
Car crash on an Autumn highway –
Jimmy died but the image lives on
though the person’s gone, the myth is alive.

Long before I got addicted
the world was hooked on Marilyn Monroe,
whose life became blurred
and transformed into Hollywood showtime.
Arthur Miller, Joe DiMaggio, JFK and Bobby too
tried to catch her falling star
and got burned in their pursuit
because her sky was full of treasure
and no-one had given them the key.
Still most men dream of saving her:
The girl who invented sex appeal.
Bottle of pills on a bedside table –
She died but the image lives on
though the person’s gone, the myth is alive.

Top

Jumping & Falling

Building Then Burning (1987)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

Lets sit down together and talk of life and love and things
And in an instant we’ll be subject to misgivings
I can see that there’s little here for me

I’m leaving today, I don’t want to stay
I’m sad at heart, we always jump together and fall apart

You can smile tomorrow, the laughs on you in any case
And in the long run you’ll be sadder, the light begins to fade
You don’t know just where it is you’re going

I’m leaving today, I don’t want to stay
Yes I’m sad at heart, we always jump together and fall apart

I could be forgiven, and let things pass out of control
But in an instant I’d be subject to doubt and so
I know today that there’s nothing left to say

I’m leaving today, I don’t even really want to stay
Yes I’m sad at heart, we always jump together and fall apart
Jump together and fall apart
Jumping and falling apart

Top

Key Largo

Call Me Ishmael (1993)

Do you feel this, on a big scale
We are strangers, are we about to be changed
Do you hear it, does it bring it all back
Like a snapshot
Are we about to be framed?

Our thoughts projected this bigger picture
We’re almost dreaming another place

And do you see it, is it getting closer
Are we focused, well there is much to be shown
All these colours, slowly bleeding through us
We are drowning
Are we about to be saved?

Our thoughts projected this bigger picture
We’re almost dreaming another place

From the towers, to the ground below us, open spaces
Are we about to be lost?
In these cities, in these burning heart lines
We are strangers
Can we carry this cross to

Key Largo Harbour, this bigger picture
We’re almost dreaming American dreams

Hear the catcalls whistle down the world falls
I can feel us gaining speed
Here’s a new day looking for a new way
Helpless when you don’t believe
And we can’t believe in something we have never even felt
But the longer we are exposed something in the blood flows
Out of us to somewhere else

Key Largo Harbour, this bigger picture
We’re almost dreaming American dreams

Big sky big ideas, we are out of place in here
Here’s a new day looking to this new way
We’re about to be changed…

Hear the catcalls whistle down the worlds falls
I can feel us gaining speed
We’ve been given nothing for religion
It’s hopeless when you don’t believe
And we can’t believe in something we have never really felt
But the longer we are exposed something in the blood flows
Out of us to somewhere else

Key Largo harbours, this bigger picture
We’re almost dreaming another place
Key Largo Harbour, this bigger picture
We’re almost dreaming American dreams

Well if the night is young and we don’t need the rest
(Do you feel this on a big scale)
We can’t describe exactly how we’re expressed
(We are strangers are we about to be changed)
She’ll pander to some very strange requests
(Do you here it, does it bring it all back)
Anything, I suggest
(Like a snapshot, are we about to be framed?)

Key Largo harbours, this bigger picture
Key Largo harbours these dreams
Key Largo harbours, this bigger picture
Key Largo harbours these dreams

Top

Klara’s Hair

Further Afield (1998)

Klara, when you put your hair down
It suits you better, it’s very beautiful
The grown out bob you wear becomes you
Fits like a door key in whispers around you

Seems I’m always looking for you
Never to find you, always to miss you
So now my heart has found it’s target
With fate’s intervention, these arrows won’t hit you

But I want to know the things about you
Little things a life amounts to
How you looked before you looked at me
Is it still there to see or now hidden to deep?

Klara, every time I see you I fumble for words
To convey how I’m feeling
My hopes lie along Shiroka
They’re floating like bubbles, and I hope that you see them

As I hope to learn the things about you
Little things a life amounts to
How you cried at sixteen like the rain
Do you still feel the pain? Or remember his name?

Klara, when you put your hair down
It’s the deep red of Autumn
It’s very
Beautiful

Top

The Last Of My Line

A Field Further (1998)

I know you dance the night away, is it in Tresor or Club UK
I don’t know where the beautiful go, I was hoping you’d show the way
You throw the cake and we fight for crumbs, connoisseurs of bass and drum
And We’d kill to procure you your pill, to be there when the milkman comes

And we dance to the beat of our hearts
At this speed I’ll be the last of my line
And you see, though I suffer for art, I need a little more time
Need a little more time

In a cheap art bar, the cheap art set
With their talking wine and French cigarettes
Have got used to this form of abuse as the best that they’ll ever get

And they dance to the beat of their hearts
At this speed they’ll be the last of their lines
And you see, though they suffer for art, they need a little more time
Need a little more time

We take a taxi through the night, shadows in electric light
I don’t know where the beautiful go
But You never find them outside

And we dance to the beat of our hearts
At this speed I’ll be the last of my line
And you see, though I suffer for art, I need a little more time
Just need a little more time

Top

A Last Supper

A Field Further (1998)

Tonight the portents seem more than right
That’s why you’re setting the table
Like Cain who slew Abel
Thus burning his bridges

Outside the kids dream of taking flight
To faraway places
But you’re packing your cases
And burning the tickets

While you’ve still got some time
Smoke a cigarette, drink some wine
Let the moment sink in
At least you can’t change a single thing
As if it’s been written

For a while the omens have all been clear
You’ve been dreaming Pavese
And your tea leaves show plainly
An obvious pattern

Outside a car pulls into your drive
You hear a faint footfall
Now your heartbeat’s a drum roll
That knows what will happen

There’s a knock at the door
It’s the one you’ve been waiting for
You remember your lines
And all the cues come in right on time
As if it’s been written

So close you can see what you think you saw
And it’s as you’d expected
So you know what’s projected
The whole premonition
As though it was written

Top

The Last Words Of Love

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

My heart kneels, when she plays at princess
She dances in her palace like a ship inside a tempest
And then come picks up the pieces broken
Silent as a gallery and all the words unspoken

Have become our pictures
They’re the last words of love

My head reels, to think that I could hurt her
But violence is the prostitute with faints hearts always flirting
And then gone, but we’re so full of fear
Waiting like the hunted pray for death to reappear

And we’re only left the questions
They’re the last words of love
We’re only left the question

What about us
What about us
And we’re only left the question
What’ll we do

Top

Little Lightbulbs

A Field Further (1998)

Faced with the daily fear of what’s to come
She waits with her little box until it’s done
And in her room the candles burn away the time
Their flames reflected by the glass that shimmers
Amongst the shadows

We fill the whole room with little lightbulbs

The moon and attending stars fill up the sky
And soon she can see enough to close her eyes
And as my love becomes accustomed to her life
I see her everywhere in glass that mirrors
Amongst the shadows

You’ll find the whole world in little lightbulbs

And as my love becomes accustomed to her life
I see her everywhere in glass that mirrors
The glass that shimmers

We fill the whole world with little lightbulbs
To keep the light from going out
Little lightbulbs, they keep the light from going out

The light from going out

Top

London’s Burning

No Way Out But Through (1994)

London’s gonna burn, read your papers
Suppose you live and learn, to expect as much
I feel it in my bones, I’m getting older
With nothing much to show, but a world of doubts

But I have loved you
And I still do

Got yourself a child, found the father
Gave the first away, and it became your cross
And though I’ve never killed, I know the feeling
Suppose you live and learn to accept the loss

But I have loved you
And I still do
I loved you
And I still do

Top

Love At The Rave

Call Me Ishmael (1993)

Had enough of the big wheel
Now I’m old enough to get on the rides
Found myself a new big deal
Somewhere where I saw a new self come alive
The loudest noise and the most people you have ever seen
Invest in the same dream

They play my favourite song
It doesn’t say much but the rhythm is strong
And it means a lot to me
I like to dance in my room when I’m alone and it’s late
Hey it reminds me of you
Spinning me round the room my head was spinning me round the room

Give me love at the rave

Smile and the world will smile with you
But cry and they just won’t want to know
As long as you know what’s expected of you
You’ll feel a part, feel accepted, feel at home
The loudest noise and the most people you have ever seen
Sharing the same dream

They play my favourite song
It doesn’t say much but the rhythm is strong
And it means a lot to me
I like to dance in my room when I’m alone and it’s late
Hey it reminds me of you
Spinning me round the room my head was spinning me round the room

Give me love at the rave

Oh I was blind before
But now I think I see

Top

Lovers Lane

No Way Out But Through (1994)

Do you think these shy old lyrics are a lie
Well if you don’t believe me then don’t believe me
But nearly almost every time
That look of a girl’s can quite unnerve me

’cause the pursuit is sweet but the rejection’s killing
If the spirit is weak but the body is willing

Immerse yourself in me she said
Well an idea like that can go to your head
You will be mine completely mine
Well it’s the size of the task that gives me stage fright

’cause the pursuit is sweet but the rejection’s killing
When the spirit is weak but the flesh is willing

Unfolding flowers show themselves
But I’m more than willing to stay on the shelf
Where every crease can tell a tale
I’m my own best judge and I won’t give me bail

’cause the pursuit is sweet but the rejection’s killing
When the spirit is weak but the body is willing

I know

Take me down to lovers lane
I won’t ever say those words again

’cause the pursuit is sweet but the rejection’s killing
When the spirit is weak but the body is willing

I know I won’t

Top

McCrackity

Further Afield (1998)

Shame
That I’ve started falling upwards now
That you’re not here
Shame
That life that put a light in mine
Has disappeared
It’s a shame
That I always end up losing
Maybe I’m too cavalier

Well I didn’t know just what I’d find
But I never had this love in mind
Everything seemed simple then
Now I never want to feel again

I’ve been hurt before now I’m back for more

And it’s your face
That I wake up every morning too
I think you know
And it’s your name
That I can hear the whole world through
My love that shows
But I can’t sing my dreams for you
If you want to get up and go

Well I didn’t know just what I’d find
But I never had this love in mind
Everything seemed simple then
Now I never want to feel again

I’ve been hurt before now I’m back for more

Tell me
Can you hear me now
Was I close to something
Help me

Long gone lover come back to me
You’re we’re I’m meant to be
Long gone lover come back to me
You’re we’re I’m glad to be

Well I didn’t know just what I’d find
But I never had this love in mind
Well everything seemed simple then
Now I never want to feel again

No I really never want to feel again

Top

Mad For Mad

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

I’m feeling easy and you’re the reason
There’s no place I would rather be
I’m feeling dazy, this feeling’s crazy
There’s no sense in repressing me

And I would love to, be in love with you
I’m thinking more and more each day
That if I had to, I’d be glad to
Be loving you in every way

I don’t want to cause you problems
My eyes are open wide awake
I don’t know you, but I don’t need to
I’m simply mad for mads sake

I don’t have money, I don’t have good looks
I’ve hardly anything at all
But if you were mine, things would be just fine
And I’d be small at six feet tall

I don’t want to cause you problems
My eyes are open wide awake
I don’t know you, but I don’t need to
I’m simply mad for mads sake

Love is standing on a platform
Cussing at the rain waiting for you

I’m full of reasons, and good intentions
Are all that’s needed to succeed
Yes I know this time, that you will be mine
Though I’d be happy just to meet

I don’t want to cause you problems
My eyes are open wide awake
I don’t know you, but I don’t need to
I’m simply mad for mads sake

I’m simply mad for Madelaine

Top

Mezzo Cammin

Further Afield (1998)

Things roll on in the self same way
Life’s on track from A to B
And single is the way you want to stay
But that’s not how it’s going to be

‘Cause cruel convention always lies in wait
You see it in the eyes of friends
Who introduce you as ‘confirmed’ on dates
To girls who want it all to end

They say I really, really, really like you
You’ll do, you’ll do, you’ll do so I do

Before you can say no
You’re being measured for your morning suit
Everyone you meet must smile
Relations gather with the absolute
But it’s too late too hide because here comes the bride up the aisle

For better or for worse…

You’ve made your vows and now
You’ll have to keep them if you can
Annulment is the other course
You may live happily forevermore
But if that’s not to be you can divorce

Top

Millenium

Further Afield (1998)

The ghost in my machine plays with my peace of mind
It gives credence to my dreams, puts the matter into time
Offers up its needs, physics turns it on
Doesn’t like beliefs; says I don’t belong
I hope it’s wrong

But I findd myself suspecting it’s true, so it goes on
And there’s nothing much more I can do

But I hope you can hear me
I hope you can hear me
I hope I’m getting through

My nights are filled with stars and lay mans eternity
Spinning endlessly through space, guessing at it’s boundaries
And what the future holds, say a thousand years from now
I’ll be sinking into soil or floating through the clouds
Haven’t you found

That progress moves much faster than you?
Well It gets me down
‘Cause my favourite theories all lack proof

But I hope you can hear me
I hope you can hear me
I hope I’m getting through

I hope you can hear me
I hope you can hear me
And I hope that you’re there, too

Top

Missed It

Chant The Beauty (1993)

All the way to Inverkeithing, it took me just to say hello
And then somewhere near Stonehaven, it was time for her to go

I missed it, I missed it
Now you can kiss that chance goodbye
You missed it, You missed it
Now you can kiss that chance goodbye

Saw her looking from the table, and I know that she saw me
All night I tried but I wasn’t able, to just go up to her and speak

I missed it, I missed it
Now you can kiss that chance goodbye
You missed it, You missed it
Now you can kiss that chance goodbye

It’s not a fear of failure and it’s not confined to girls
It’s something all pervasive that is clogging up my world
If I could have my time again I’d do it all quite differently
It’s not the fact I’ve failed but that I’ve failed so chancelessly

I missed it, I missed it
Now you can kiss that chance goodbye
You missed it, You missed it
Now you can kiss that chance goodbye

Top

Modigliani

Call Me Ishmael (1993)

Here where my sun shone
Clear unbroken
Tamed my instincts, chained my feelings
Codified my dreams
Now it seems a very pale light

Here where I made my first mistake
I still hear those voices
Chain your instincts, tame your feelings
Change your dreams

Well I want nothing but blue skies
Nothing but new skies and my
Life like a river
Life like a river

Top

My Favourite Haunt

Building Then Burning (1987)

Heavens flame that’s burning blue, tomorrow and today
Casting light on all I do
You’re a spark that lights the sky, forever burning here
Eyes that catch so I might try

Every hope down on its knees, unable to revive
Is left to run into the trees
And every dream that once was mine, an echo of the past
Is lying somewhere far behind

Forever turning, never learning
Nobody senses that we are burning

Forgotten laughter lingers on, memories of the spring
But nothing now is quite that strong
So stay with me we’re drink desire until we find our prayers
The perfect words that take us higher

Forever turning, never learning
Nobody senses that we are burning

Practice breaks the silver storm
And every word becomes a taunt
I’m laughing in my favourite haunt

Every word is just a lie conspiring to mislead
And every kingdom raised must die
Fire and ice and all is ours tomorrow and today
We’re listening beneath the stars

Forever turning, never learning
They can’t see that we’re not burning
Practice breaks the silver storm
And every word becomes a taunt
We’re laughing in my favourite haunt

Cities alive, cities alive
Flame burning, burning blue I won’t forget you
A generation without name, ripped and torn
I’m laughing in my favourite haunt
Cities alive, cities alive
Flame burning, burning bright

Top

The Natural

Reign (1993)

Waving from your gate, Sunday evening 1988
And I never loved you more than I did then
Running down the lane, looking back trying to miss my train,
‘Cause that would be good reason to stay

The start of the summer not everything changing
But my friendships were starting to fade
And I, I dreamt about you, it was the natural thing to do
And who needs friendships anyway

Moving in with me, paid our rent and we got the key
And I never loved you more than I did then
Drinking summer wine, we hung our hopes on a lovers line
And never threw our tickets away

The height of the summer not everything changing
But my friendships were falling away
And I spent all my time with you, it was the natural thing to do
And who needs friendships anyway

Single little room, where we made love in the afternoons
And I never loved you more than I did then
Keeping to ourselves, never needing anybody else
And kicking all the rain clouds away

June July, August, nobody saw us

The height of the summer not everything changing
But my friendship have melted away
And I spent all my time with you, it was the natural thing to do
Who needs friendships anyway
And I spent everyday with you, it was the natural thing to do
Who needs friendships anyway

Waving from your gate, Sunday evening 1988
And I never loved you more than I do now
Drinking summer wine, we’ve hung our hopes on a lovers line
And never found good reason to play

Though the summer is over

Top

New National Anthem

A Field Further (1998)

We live near the sea
In splendid isolation but with satellite TV
And we are happy
We have almost all we want for materialistically

Though we’d like to be
A little better off than most we’re a typical family
And we do ok

Where’s the harm it’s paid for after all?
It’s a good life my advice to one and all is

Save yourself
When the best is over
You only need to be mediocre

We get away twice a year for sunshine
But we’re glad when we get home again
We have little to say
We don’t believe in anything we only know what we’re against
And that’s ok

Where’s the harm in indifference, after all?
It’s a good life my advice in case you fall is

Save yourself
Now the best is over
You only need to be mediocre

Top

Not Just An Idol Threat

Old Age Echoes (1986)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

Charlotte, we know, you’re not a harlot, Charlotte
Well she leaves in Barns Green
In a rural scene
Or so it seems
She’s got a sister called Leona
’cause her parents couldn’t spell Fiona
She’s Charlotte

Top

Not Just An Idle Threat II

Reign (1993)

You walked out of my dreams through the kitchen to me
Said, “Don’t you find this quite existential”
I was hardly impressed but liked the way that you dressed
And your girl about town credentials

We kissed by the old parish church
And though I still can’t believe it myself
You quoted Camille Paglia
Sang American songs in a voice that was almost praying
Night and day

Didn’t see you for weeks, went through loves cold-turkey
In a sense yes I was addicted
Then right out of the blue, picked the phone up to you
Felt your horoscope had insisted

We met by the Charrington Pier
And though I still can’t believe it myself
You quoted early Germaine Greer
Sang American songs in a voice that was hardly there

All my cards were aces hearts were wild in clubs we danced
All our time was spent discussing Hardy’s sense of chance
Or instead, in my bed

You went travelling to Rome but in a year you were home
With a coin from the Trevi Fountain

We met by the old parish church
And though I still can’t believe it myself
You were quoting Camille Paglia
When someone started ringing the bells

We kissed by the old parish church
Said the things that we’d known all along
Both quoting the simplest of words
You made me promise to write you a song
Or you’d be upset

And that’s some threat

Top

November Land

Further Afield (1998)

No way over (I’ve gotta get back gotta bet back somehow)
No way under (I hope that we can meet this year)
No way round it (Half my time is spent remembering)
? boundaries (You might not even know me now)
There’s no crossing (The streets all have new names)
There’s no bridge (I know you still feel the same)
There’s no tunnel (Please tell her for me)
No exit (I turned around and lost myself)

It’s close at hand, it’s close at hand
Our time’s at hand
Novemberland

No way over (All streets they have new names)
No way under (I hope you still feel the same)
No way round it (Please hold her for me)
? boundaries (I turned around and lost my way)
There’s no river (Gotta get back, gotta get back somehow)
There’s no ford (I hope that we can meet this year)
No false ceiling (Half my time is spent regretting)
No trap door (I might not even know you now)

It’s close at hand, it’s close at hand
Our time’s at hand
We’ll make a stand, let’s make a stand
Change of plan, you’ll understand
Our time’s at hand
Novemberland

Top

No Way Out But Through

No Way Out But Through (1994)

It’s easy now to picture you
But wanting won’t make wishing true
I’ve changed a lot to stay the same
Found a part, lost my way

Cars are crashing, world keeps turning
Just the same, it’s just the same
Mothers calling, children stalling
Just the same, it’s just the same

The Autumn fields are burning now
I see them throw a dying shadow
But where you were there’s just a space
A gift you gave, a photograph, a face

It’s easier, to think about
Than bury you
There’s no way out but through

Top

One For The Road

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

Give me one for the road and what a long road it is
See I’ve looked for the truth and it doesn’t exist
The hand me down world of my childhood
Seems so far away now
And I wanted the stars to fall down at my feet
But somehow they always fell just out of reach
You hold them all in your fingers and thumbs
You’re the luck one all your dreams have come true

And you still don’t why and it’s obvious I can’t tell you

I tried walking on water attempted to love,
But nothing is easy when push comes to shove
The worst kind of men always win in the end
And it doesn’t seem fair
So I ran with the crowd and I danced to their beat
But somehow the party was never for me
You dance to music nobody can hear
And you sing to me, now I want to sing too

And if you don’t know why then I’m not sure that I can tell you

See the jokers and cheats, little bicycle thieves
The convicted, the innocent the judges and creeps
The fathers and sons, the husbands and wives
The liars, adulterers, thrown away lives
The angels, the devils, the damned and the saved
The poets, the dreamers, the sinners and saints
The generous, the mean and the old beauty queens
We’d all like to know what it is that you see

And if you don’t know why then I’m not sure that I can explain

Give me one for the road and what a long road it is
See I’ve looked for the truth and it doesn’t exist
The black and white world of my childhood
Seems so far away now

Top

100 Years

Other People’s Angels (1992)

What was it like in the war?
Did you relish it or were you afraid?
Were you worried by death?
By the noise and the lights of the air raids?
And did you ever think you’d live to ninety?
What a strange idea that must have seemed!

Do you still think of him?
In the same way you did when you first met?
Have your memories been kind and helped you
Overcome the pain of his death?
And is love stronger than time or vice versa?
Will you carry his love to your grave?
And do you understand why we are here?
Does it seem any clearer the nearer the light?

Will I be happy or sad?
Will I love someone who has all the answers?
Will I find proof of my God?
Because what little I’ve got leaves me unsure…
Will I have something to tell my Grandchildren
When they ask me how my life has been?
And will I understand why I am here?
Will it seem any clearer the nearer the light?

There are many questions
and only one hundred years.
So many questions
and only one hundred years
Will I be happy? Really happy?
Will I be happy and I mean really happy?
So many questions….

Top

One Of Many

Old Age Echoes (1986)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

Take my hand in such gliding wonders
Bring me here such sights and sounds
Wish me luck I’m going to need it
With all the people I see around

I would try if I had good reason
Have a go if I had a reason
Used to have a sense of hope, but I let go

Something is wrong to my way of thinking
Days go by and my heart is sinking
All my time spent in an armchair
While I stand and wait when nobody cares

Trying honestly nobody sees you
If they did perhaps I’d do more
Dead and empty calm and cool
I realise I’m one of many

I would try if I had good reason
Have a go if I had a reason
Used to have a sense of hope, but I let go

Long enough have I had my false dreams
Now I’ll wash the sleep from my eyes
And get back into bed and wait for morning
When I’ll be woken by a dazzling light

Trying endlessly nobody hears you
If they did perhaps I’d say more
Dead and empty calm and cool
I realise I’m one of many

I would try if I had good reason
Have a go if I had a reason
Used to have a sense of hope, but I let go

Top

On The Rocks

Further Afield (1998)

You won’t say it but I will
Yeah, yeah, yeah
It’s gone wrong, gone wrong
I see my life at this standstill
Yeah, yeah, yeah
For so long, so long

All these years for cash and careers
It’s fool’s gold of the dullest veneer
Well it bought us our valour
And sold us our fear

I never flinch but now I know
Yeah, yeah, yeah
It’s gone wrong, gone wrong
I’ve seen my life at this cross-roads
Yeah, yeah, yeah
For so long, so long

Unhappy the man who sticks to the plan
Though two weeks on the Med. have put horns on his head
He went looking for girls, afraid of the woman in his bed

I see it clearly through cut glass
On the rocks
It’s gone wrong, gone wrong
I’ve seen my life at an impasse
On the rocks
For so long, too long

You won’t say it but I will
Yeah, yeah, yeah
It’s gone wrong, gone wrong
I see my life at this standstill
Yeah, yeah, yeah
For so long

Raise your glasses high, it’s mud in you eye, we’re broken hearted
Here’s to absent friends and those still here taken for granted

Raise your glasses high, it’s mud in you eye, you? broken hearted
Here’s to absent friends and those still here taken for granted

Top

Oscar

No Way Out But Through (1994)

Taught on the day he was born by his father
Son you are young but you’ll grow and learn to love

Opera, opera, opera, nothing but the classics for you
Opera, opera, opera, but he never thought much of the tunes

While as a child thoughts ran wild little Oscar
Found he was bound to the soundtrack of Tosca (Vissi d’arte)
Son robbing banks, driving tanks these are dangerous
Practise your scales and one day you’ll be famous

He tried but some people don’t have the voice
Would have given up but never go given the choice

Green, never seen in his teens he was guileless
Sex, was a word never heard on the wireless (Un bel dio)
Son learn the part off by heart pray for stardom
Then, maybe they’ll let you play Covent Garden

He tried but new it was never to be
Would have much preferred his father to like r’n’b

Would he never be free, or know the love of a women of beauty
Then on day to his fathers dismay he lost his heart to a girl
Who new nothing of Cosi Fan Tutti

How he was proud of his new sense of freedom
But before long she was gone, didn’t need him (Si chiamo andranno)
Son you’re a fool, back to school and forget her
See in a couple of weeks you’ll feel better

He tried but knew it was never to be
And for all his practice he never got near a high C

Would he never be free, from all the scores and the endless librettos
Then one day, to his fathers dismay, he ran away
From all the divas and fat rigolletos

It’s not all over till fat lady sings

Now he has sons of his own need I tell you
They play their favourite songs at full volume

Opera, opera, opera, nothing but classics will do (free he will never be free)
Opera, opera, opera, but he never thought much of the tunes

Top

Padded Cell

A Field Further (1998)

There’s a buzzing in my head
No beginning and no end
In sight or sound in mind
And the trail lights come and go
In a never ending flow
Of white, red, white sodium glows

This world will repeat forever
No change, always the same
Always staying the same

And high above the town
From my window looking down
I catch the drift of life
All the people seem so small
In the ambivalence of it all
Up there the satellites

Look down on us all forever
They see deep into me
Deep inside me

In my padded cell
I’m as safe as a dream

But just outside my door
The world is still at war
I hear them crack and scream

Seems like I’ll be here forever
This fear keeping me here
Keeping me right here

In my padded cell
I’m as safe as a dream

Outside walls of neon keep on spelling out our need
You can have it all I never want to leave

My padded cell
It’s as safe as a dream
Keeps me from the world
And keeps it from me

Top

Personal

A Field Further (1998)

Take a look at yourself, well
Deeper than underskin
See where the world begins
And try to break through

You once knew your way around
Now everyone’s gone to ground
And left you alone, so
Wrapped up n what you’ve lost
In seeing you count the cost
But do you see yourself, well?
No-one will pester you
Suitors won’t dress for you
Or fall at your feet

But I can see your selves play hide and seek
I will watch you lose yourself to sleep

Now there’s nothing but time
Try breaking the looking glass
See how the days have passed
Reduced you to dust
Sure as the rain always
Brings rust and pain and defeat
And no-one to see

But I can see the memories you keep
I will watch you cry yourself to sleep

My love

Sleep

Top

Pillows

Other People’s Angels (1992)

Once there was ‘us’ and now there’s me
And though this happens regularly,
Sometimes it’s easy to imagine
That there’s no-one out there for me.

I just want someone to know
There’s an empty space on my pillows.
Does it really not show?
How I’ve waited so long for this love
And this love doesn’t know.

It can be any place or time,
Night or Day, I don’t mind.
It can be tender or removed
But please make it be soon.

I just want someone to know
There’s an emptiness on my pillows.
Does it really not show?
How I’ve waited so long for this love
And this love doesn’t know.

Doesn’t anyone know
There’s an empty space on my pillows?
Does it really not show?
How I’ve waited so long for this love
And this love doesn’t know.

Top

Rara Avis

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

You feel like something’s past you by, I don’t know why
You’ve seen the stars all shooting in the air above
But your pride has been hurt by people who can’t stop telling you
That everyone but you has been in love

Well I think that’s just idle boasting
And if you keep on looking you’ll soon discover
That love is a very very very very rare thing
Like a precious stone or a faithful lover

Still you keep on telling me that you want it, you want it
Try and keep your feet square on the ground
Oh you keep on telling me that you need it, you need it
But don’t get your hopes up they’ll just come crushing down

Take it from me it’s a very very very rare thing
And if you keep on looking you’ll soon discover
That love is a very very very very rare thing
Like a secret kept or a first day cover

When you’re in love the sky is always blue and the sun will always shine
And that man is always smiling in the moon
When you’re in love you can’t see past the hour so the trains all run on time
And the world just keeps revolving just for you

Oh but take it from me it’s a very very very rare thing
And if you keep on looking you’ll soon discover
That love is a very very very very rare thing
Like a harvest moon kept or a faithful lover

Oh but take it from me it’s a very very very very rare thing
And I don’t think I have ever been in love

Top

The Road Less Travelled

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

You see a devil in everyone you meet
I find that hard to believe or take seriously
Most people I know seem ok
And if they’re not then that’s just how they’ve been made

Well if you had your way the rich would be poor
But the secret police would be at my door
But If I had my way we’d all be clowns
And the whole rigmarole would come falling down

Your crass polemicizing’s hard to spell and out of date
But you won’t ever lose faith
No you’ve no sense of humour you can only see the worst
But Don’t you have to know a blessing to recognize a curse

So if you had your way sure the rich would be poor
But the secret police would be at my door
But if I had my way we’d all be clowns
And the whole rigmarole would come falling down

I hear a lot about the liberal disease
But I don’t know what that means
I only want to take the things I need help the ones who need my help
And never leave responsibilities of mine to someone else

So if you had your way the rich would be poor
But the secret police would be at my door
Now if I had my way we’d all be clowns
And the whole rigmarole would come falling down

Top

Safe & Sanguine

Reign (1993)

How can I express on you
These feelings are platonic
Fair weather friends may come and go
Let me be something constant

And we’ll be friends for life
Because something happened to bring us together
Safe and sanguine I’ll be there
For you someone to turn to whenever

Put away those jealousies
I never liked you sister
And I never kissed her, no

We’ll be friends for life
Because something happened to bring us together
Safe and sanguine I’ll be there
For you someone to turn to whenever

You feel that life has let you down
Gets worse as you get older, I’ll be your shoulder
Let me, help you out
Let me, help you out

We’ll be friends for life
Because something happened to bring us together
Safe and sanguine I’ll be there
For you someone to turn to whenever

Safe and sanguine I’ll be there for you whatever else I may be

Top

A Scar Is Borne

Further Afield (1998)

Ten years gone by in a blink
No replay
What’s gone is gone or so you think
For some things stay

Well I used to know a girl
My fingers used to trace
The outline of the world
On her face

Whole years gone by
Yet some days still stand clear
Brief episodes from a life
Now disappeared

And things will always seem
Much better then than now
So we try to hold the dream safe somehow

Well I used to know a girl
My fingers used to trace
The outline of the world
On her face

Top

Sense Of Time

Chant The Beauty (1993)

Friday at a quarter past twelve, setting out
God’s truth without a shadow of doubt, you know I’m gonna be there
Even if I say so myself, it’s well thought out
God’s truth without a shadow of doubt, you know I’m gonna be there
But it never takes long for something to go wrong

Like the car won’t start, or my train’s delayed
Someone calls me up as I’m at the door and now I’ll be late

Let you know at quarter to three, change of plan
I’ll never make the time we agreed although I still intend to be there
Anyone who’s ever known me, will understand
What a ringing telephone means, though I still intend to be there
Something always goes wrong, it goes on and on and on

Like the car broke down, or my train’s delayed
Someone calls me up as I’m at the door and now I’ll be late, because I’m always late

But I’m sick and tired of my sense of time, and if I’ve let you down let me apologize
It’s a hand-me-down gene from my mothers side, it’s the family trait I’ve kept alive

Ring your bell at quarter to eight, sorry mate
I know I’m nearly half a day late, but I really tried to get here
Whether it’s for work or a date, it’s my fate
Odds sake I’m nearly half a day late, and I really rushed to get here
But it always goes wrong, it goes on and on and on

Like my car’s been stolen, or my train’s delayed
Someone calls me up as I’m at the door and now I’ll be late, because I’m always late

But I’m sick and tired of my sense of time, and if I’ve let you down let me apologize
It’s a hand-me-down gene from my mothers side, it’s the family trait I’ve kept alive

1,2,3 o’clock, 4 o’clock gone, 5,6,7 o’clock, 8 o’clock gone
9,10, 11 o’clock, 12 o’clock gone, it goes on and on and on and on and on

Top

September

Other People’s Angels (1992)

September: sunny days
but November brings the winter back again
and the Christmas lights blink in a new year –
Maybe this one will bring me something
But today and for a few days
I have to work – those bills have got to be paid.
But days turn into years
and how quickly everything in life disappears.

I know that I’m not the same
because the Autumn adds a new year to my age
and though your picture stays,
I hardly remember how we used to lie together for days,
Now every day I have to work to keep the Taxman at bay
But days turn into years
and how quickly everything in life disappears.

I’m still working, still at the same place
I’m still dreaming of how we used to welcome each new day
Now every day I have to work to keep those bills getting paid
But days turn into years
and how quickly everything in life disappears.
I’m still working.

Top

70s Child

Other People’s Angels (1992)

Child of the Seventies, will you ever be free
Of the time your desirable life was conceived?

Wherever you go, whatever you see
You’ll never know some things about me
Because the difference is deep
And we’re not shallow.

Child, you’re a woman now
But some things haven’t changed:
A mother is crying and a father’s to blame.

Top

Skeleton

Building Then Burning (1987)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

Clinging to the edge of the walls in silence
The truth must be a million miles away
No peace within the cities built on violence
And I could run a million miles away

Every time I shut my eyes all I see is flames
There’s somebody calling, they’re calling out my name

Seeing is believing, I believe you’re leaving
Is that because of me or even something that I said
My colours true, my colour’s red

Death running quick coming grey
Failing to save so you say
Every one’s a gravestone in name
Skeleton

Shrinking from the remnants of false emotion
’cause passion died a thousand years ago
You told yourself that I felt true devotion
But my love is for something you can’t know

Smell something burning, hope it’s just my brains
I hear somebody calling, calling out my name

People are imperfect, everyone is suspect
Am I the one you try to infect even though I’m lost
Give me a sign, give me the cross

Death running quick coming grey
Failing to save so you say
Every one’s a gravestone in name
Skeleton

Search and seek and hear for a new direction
The truth must be a million miles away
Convince yourself that there must be perfection
The truth is not a million miles away

I can hear you inside and you’re screaming in pain
Hear somebody calling, calling out your name

But guessing is deceiving and you guess at the meaning
That’s not because of me or even something that I said
My colour’ true, my colour’s red

Hope running quick coming grey
Helping to save so you say
Nobody’s a gravestone in name
Skeleton

Death running quick coming grey
Failing to save so you say
Nobody’s a gravestone in name
Skeleton

Door into the dark, Ariel

Top

Skyscraper

Further Afield (1998)

Higher and higher

Let there be love, falling like a little manna
Or let there be something there for us
We’ll catch a plane to see the sky
We need it just to get that high
To be that high

Let there be rope, just enough for us to hang on
Let there be elevator dreams
They carry us into to the light
We need them just to reach that high
To be that high
To reach so high
To get that high

We’re stuck on the ground, earthbound
And tied to what will keep us down here
I reach for the keys and unlock the door
This road is not my road but I will drive it
Deeper and deeper and over and over

Higher and higher

We need it just to be so high
To get that high
To be so high
To reach so high
To be that high

Or nothing at all…

Top

Slip Streaming

Chant The Beauty (1993)

Now we’re together, let’s change our weather
There’s nothing keeping us here, but here
We know no better, but this little town is really getting me down

You can stay if you want to
Do what you want to it’s the drift of our times

My vote’s for leaving, my thoughts are leading me
And though I don’t know where, it’s no matter
I’ve burnt all my bridges, I’m not coming back
I’ve got my copy of Jack Kerouac

You can come if you want to
Do what you want to it’s the drift of our times

But I’m going to leave this all behind
From tomorrow I will be slip streaming
I’m going to leave this all behind
From tomorrow I will be slip streaming

Let’s give in to the calling, this wanderlust
And soon they won’t see us for dust
A whole world to choose from and nothing to lose
But the change of our safe little lanes

You can stay if you want to
Do what you want to catch the drift of our times

But I’m going to leave this all behind
From tomorrow I will be slip streaming
I’m going to leave this all behind
From tomorrow I will be slip streaming

Top

Sometimes

Chant The Beauty (1993)

Sometimes I feel a little lowly
I know the boy who goes without
Do you find it difficult to let me in
I know it’s hard to keep you out

I need you here, within these walls
I want you, I want you to know

All that I am, the best and worst of me
Is yours for the asking, yours and yours only
All that I am, my good and my bad sides, my happy and sad sides
Ever and always

I’ve lost so much by being witless
Now I’ve got nothing left to show
I’m not the noose to hang around your neck
But I can’t conceive of letting go

Can’t promise you the world, when it’s not mine to give
No stars to light your way, but I can promise this

All that I am, the best and worst of me
Is yours for the asking, yours and yours only
All that I am, my good and my bad sides, my happy and sad sides
Ever and always

I need you here, within these walls
I want you, I want you to know

All that I am, the best and worst of me
Is yours for the asking, yours and yours only
All that I am, my good and my bad sides, my happy and sad sides
Ever and always

The day is turning into night now
The rain is singing us to sleep
Long after you have turned you light out
Dream of the promises I’ll keep

Top

Song For No One

Old Age Echoes (1986)

I knew a girl like you once
Said she didn’t know how to say
What had to be said, I know how she felt
I feel a little like that today

She wore her colours like a funeral
Her wedding dormant or in bloom
Her virtue was an echo
Returning as the only truth

This is a song for no one
This one is just for me
And if your whole damn world falls apart around you
Save a little bit for me

Her love was justified by longing
Her love was simplified by lust
She left a whole damn world rejoicing
But she left us all for dust

She must have thought she was an angel
She must have put her faith in fate
I asked her for a happy time to come
She just said we’ll make that a date

This is a song for no one
This one is just for me
And if your whole damn world falls apart around you
Save a little thought for me

She knew nothing of the real world
She was ignorant of dreams
Her mind was full of sordid
And ridiculous beliefs

Like a passing on of sorrow
We find a newer type of life
Why wait until tomorrow
When tomorrow’s out of sight

This song’s for everybody
This one ain’t just for two
And if my whole damn world falls apart around me
I’ll save a little pray for you

Top

Sparkles From The Wheel

Old Age Echoes (1986)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

Based on Walt Whitman’s ‘What Am I After All‘, ‘As Consequent, Etc.‘,
‘Kosmos‘ and ‘Sparkles From The Wheel‘.

What are you after all but a child
Pleased with the sound of your own name
Repeating it over and over
I stand apart to hear it never tires me

Did you think there was no one here but you and me?
Did you think that there was nothing caught, that we were free?

Others can say what they like
Living their lives with a runaway prize
That contains believers and disbelievers
That contains a perfect moment

Did you think there was no one here but you and me?
Did you think that there was nothing caught, that we were free?

The past and future dwelling there like space inseparable
The past and future dwelling there like space inseparable
The greatest miracle, sparkles from the wheel

Did you think there was no one here but you and me?
Did you think that there was nothing caught, that we were free?

Did you think there was no one here but you and me?
Did you think that there was nothing there, but two or three?

What are you but a child
Pleased with the sound of your own name
Repeating it over and over
I stand apart to hear it never tires me

Did you think there was no one here but you and me?
Did you think that there was nothing caught, that we were free?

Cause I’ve been looking a long while
For intentions

Top

St. Machar Drive

Other People’s Angels (1992)

Back to the days when I studied for pay
and got out of my face, nine to five.
Fairly regularly,
I could be seen on St. Machar Drive.
There was a girl, Queen of my class,
I found myself asking her
“Where do you live?”
She told me
‘The room with the Catholic perfume
of Guilt, Wood and Candles”

And the days were long,
Nights full of loving
And the lights shone hazy-pale across St. Machar Drive.
Walking home late,
I would stop by the gates of New Dunbar Hall
And climb over the wall.
Trying to hide from the old Porter’s eyes,
I would knock on her window
And say, “Let me in – won’t you let me in?”

Well our love blew cold with the warm air of summer
And so I had to say goodbye to St. Machar Drive
But I’ll never forget or be slave to regret,
It was the happiest I’ve been,
Though now just memories
Of a girl and a room and the strangest perfume.
I would knock on her window
and she would let me in.

Top

Still

A Field Further (1998)

Well it took me right back when I saw you out there
With your smile in his eyes and his hand in your hair
To the summer we stole from the reaches of life
I wanted to call out but froze
So I sat on the monument steps and watched you both go though

I still need you

Well the day became evening and I
Watched the sun sink through the trees
If I said you were the love of my life
Could you? I don’t think you’d believe

When I think of you now I imagine a scene
At the start of it all when we were both happy
With a future that held an impossible love
Did it slip through our fingers somehow?
Well you only get one chance at life
And it’s never enough, ’cause

I still need you
I still want you
I still love you

Top

Succubus

Chant The Beauty (1993)

I’ve seen you, you’re burning
And I’m the hollow shell, the shell shocked sensual
I’ve dreamed you, returning
And I’m the medium, the air to breathe you in
I feel you, the real you

The night is long, too long to hide, hide in your fears
Fears mapped outside yourself, try to find yourself
I know you’re near, sense you are here, here where I’m lost
Lost to the other me, cross to another me

I’ve seen you, you’re moving
And I’m the stepping stone, the body to be home
It shivers, and whispers
And you can’t kill something, when it does not exist
I feel you, the real you

The night is long, too long to hide, hide in your fears
Fears mapped outside yourself, try to find yourself
I know you’re near, sense you are here, here where I’m lost
Lost to the other me, cross to another me

In my head everything’s unreal I’m sick, you don’t know how I feel
I can’t do the simplest thing I’m stuck, I’m static, I’m pinned
In my dreams there’s a big red car, it stops and they can’t make it start
The big black just a hairs breadth away is far to real to escape
In my head everything’s unreal I’m sick, you don’t know how I feel

The night is long, too long to hide, hide in your fears
Fears mapped outside yourself, try to find yourself
I know you’re near, sense you are here, here where I’m lost
Lost to the other me, cross to another me

I am the spectre man on the edge of your streets
Nobody’s inviting me in, we ghosts don’t need to be asked
Just float in through the walls
I’ve become a black and white horror creep show of a person.
Ride on this river running torrent of abuse.
But they’re only talking, they’re only talking

Top

Sunday’s Best

Further Afield (1998)

Monday, I must learn my lesson and recuperate
Tuesday, I want to shoot the world right down and you’ll be home late

Meet me on Sunday,
At the usual place
I will be counting the days

Wednesday, I want to build the future out of paper and ink
Thursday, when your deadlines start to loom it helps you think

Meet me on Sunday, at a quarter past three
Well it’s the one day we’re free

Meet me on Sunday
I know there won’t be a bus
But it’s the one day for us

Meet me on Sunday
At a quarter past three
Well it’s the one day we’re free

Friday, when the weekend offers a night on different towns
Saturday, when the bric-a-brac of life spins like a merry-go-round

That leaves us Sunday
I know there won’t be a bus
But it’s the one day for us

Meet me on Sunday
At the usual place
I will be counting the days

Top

The Survivor

Further Afield (1998)

Here, at the end of the world
I sat down, on the brink, over the edge
I looked into the stars
And thought of diving into them

I was broken, lost, crushed, and alone
Out of hope, I looked up and I saw you
And though I don’t say why
I immediately knew

That I’d been saved, I’d been freed
I’d been handed my reprieve
I’d been changed by a life
So much sounder than mine

Here on the back of your smile, I aspire
I could fly to think of you
I’m not afraid of life cause no matter what I do

I’ve been saved, I’ve been freed
I’ve been handed my reprieve
I’ve been changed by a life
So much sounder than mine

The ground beneath me gave, I was falling
I took the hand you gave, now I’m soaring
High

I’ve been saved, I’ve been freed
And I’m grateful for my reprieve
I’ve been changed by a life
So much sounder than mine

Top

A Sympathetic Rose

Old Age Echoes (1986)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

A rose in summer was a sympathetic
My mask was melting so it didn’t change to much
No sense in speaking when a letter does the same
A tear in passing surely gave the game away
Some things they can’t begin but friendship comes in time,
I guess we must have met between her tutor group and mine
We never talked we’d sometimes smile I tried to catch her eye
I couldn’t sing but played right-wing and sometimes scored a try

One day I’ll find I’ll come to like this place I’ve come to hate
Someday she’ll see her time with me was just a big mistake
But people smile, say it’s worth while, ’cause that’s the way it goes
Of all that jazz, a jar that has a sympathetic rose
I remember

A Shakespeare play brought on the day that she and I first spoke,
She even laughed at all my daft and not so funny jokes
She had no role and I had two they gave away my part
It may sound trite but it’s just right she also took away my heart
I wasn’t keen on girls in jeans I really must confess
Sweat, mud and dirt covered my shirt, she’d wear some pretty dress
The times were good I found the mood to take her hand and dance
But I was shy and that is why I never took the chance. If I had one?

One day I’ll find I’ll come to like this place I’ve come to hate
Someday she’ll see her time with me was just a bloody waste
But people smile, say it’s worth while, ’cause that’s the way it goes
Of all that jazz, a jar that has a sympathetic rose
I remember

We were quite young, a love song sung by someone in the night
And as for me well I was free and everything was right
I asked her out my trump card was a trip we took to Stratford
She turned me down I was renowned for being quite a bastard
I would pretend I was her friend but behind her back I hissed
With one as sensitive as her I really couldn’t miss
And I would fight in love not spite my jokers mask pretence
In took exams the ups and downs to make us speak again

One day I’ll find I’ll come to like this place I’ve come to hate
Someday she’ll see her time with me was just a bloddy waste
But people smile, say it’s worth while, ’cause that’s the way it goes
Of all that jazz, a jar that has a sympathetic rose
I remember

Now she says that in those days that I was strange to talk to
And now I know that pain can show and all she says is true
I loved her still I guess she knew that’s why we didn’t speak
Though time was spent when we both went to college every week
A rose in summer was a sympathetic touch
This song if nothing else says thank you very much
No sense in saying that my feelings haven’t changed
A tear in dreaming surely gave the game away

One day I’ll find I’ll come to like this place I’ve come to hate
Someday she’ll see her time with me was just a big mistake
But people smile, say it’s worth while, ’cause that’s the way it goes
Of all that jazz, a jar that has a sympathetic rose
I remember

Top

Tanya’s Mouth

Call Me Ishmael (1993)

The other side of love, the little things she does, that only I can see
Things that maybe pass you by but seem to catch my eye
And hold it on a string she pulls it in so I can
Watch the way she moves, I love the way she breathes the same air as me

And the first time we met Prince was on the jukebox
She walked up to me and said, “Can we have Rip It Up instead”
And we all wanted to know you, buy you drinks and show you
The dreams we felt at home to

A hand brushed through your hair and suddenly I was there
And I knew what to do

I wave my fears goodbye for Tania’s mouth, God it was wide open
It took me all those years to work it out how the spell is spoken

’cause I was bored in a world that had no meaning
Bitten lips bleeding and numb from the feeling
And the first time I walked you home the cars all passed us by
I looked at you and you smiled and I felt painfully shy

A hand brushed through your hair and suddenly I was there
And I knew what to do

I kiss my fears away on Tania’s mouth, God it was wide open
It took me all those years to find out how the first spell is spoken
I kiss my deepest fears away on Tania’s mouth, God it is wide open
It took me all these years to find, to find but now it is here that I’m hoping
You’re not choking on me

Top

Taste

No Way Out But Through (1994)

For just a taste, I’ve lived my life
But time has dulled my senses well
Then you were young, and you still are
But old before your time

Smoking cigarettes and swearing blind
My vision flickers

I used to think that you and I
Were written in each others dreams
Well my mistake, for what it’s worth
I think of you from time to time to time

Smoking cigarettes and swearing blind
Now I find I can’t make out if life has some design
The future flickers

The wine will flow, some dreams come true
But I will not have tasted you

Top

This Honest Lie

Old Age Echoes (1986)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

Strike this match and strike my plans
My files all smiles I’ll carry the can
A broken friendship to repair
Facing a new set of rules out there
I’ve got my visions of a perfect style
My looks my books lie in a pile
This other side my morals taut
I had to find a state of mind to find a state of thought

Since you and me parted company
I thought now is the time to travel the line
But I soon found truth in what you said
Screwing around only goes to your head

My words are never from my heart
Disguise and lies well here’s a start
You may be right I could be wrong
The games I play are in the song
What sincerity can I find
My proof all truth though it’s not kind
I send to you this honest lie
The starlights(?) keep the hearts in line controlled by foolish pride

Since you and me parted company
I thought now is the time to travel the line
But I soon found truth in what you said
Sensual pursuits leave the senses dead

Oh then and now a sad contrast
A haze those days heavy in the past
So why pretend that I forgot
Your always right I’m always not the things I’m always not
Those words may be a saving grace
A guilty conscience to erase
Emotions like potions never dry
Well either way I have to say this is my honest lie

Since you and me parted company
I thought now is the time to travel the line
But I soon found truth in what you said
People like us are easily read

Since you and me parted company
I thought now is the time to travel the line
But I soon found truth in what you said
People like us are easily led

Top

This Idiot Glitter

Building Then Burning (1987)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

On a night like this my feelings are simple
I walk on the water and stare at the glitter
You think I’m childish and that’s so easy
But any fool could see that you’re the fool to laugh at me

When, it shines so hard
Shine shines so hard

Captured by the magic of a shimmering light
Cutting the darkness of a winter night

I’ll take you there but is it mine
Passionately out of time
I’m quite alone but I feel fine
Idiotic glitter shines

It’s dark inside their hollow haunts
I’m on the outside and I know
Somebody’s moving in my perfect mind
There touching reminders of a final kind

I’ll take you there but is it mine
Passionately out of time
I’m quite alone but I feel fine
Idiotic glitter shines

Pools of other beauty they’ve seen us weep
Are flowing incessant I cannot keep
Insignificant moments honey, they wither and die
Just like my memories of life inside

I’ll take you there but is it mine
Passionately out of time
I’m quite alone but I feel fine
Idiotic glitter shines

Light on the ocean
Shine on the ocean
Shine on
Shine on my emotion

So what I felt and what I heard
Was not a stream of useless words
I guessed the meaning, saw the light
And blew the weekend out of sight

I’ll take you there but is it mine
Passionately out of time
I’m quite alone but I feel fine
Idiotic glitter shine, shine, shines

Top

Time Bomb

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

You and I have fallen out of love
That’s some thing we never expected
We could blame each other but lets look at ourselves
With the same critical perspective

How it’s all gone wrong
Maybe we’ve been together too long, but we can’t go on like this
It’s not the same, so lets just go our separate ways
Shed our second skins, forgive our selfish sins and start again.

We are two into one become two
Now our trust has been eroded
Impatience is a time bomb with a human fuse
And it just exploded

Now it’s all gone wrong
Maybe we’ve been together too long, but we can’t go on like this
It’s not the same, so lets just go our separate ways
Shed our second skins, forgive our selfish sins and start again.

Start again

Now it’s all gone wrong
Maybe we’ve been together too long, but we can’t go on like this
It’s not the same, so lets just go our separate ways
Shed our second skins, forgive our selfish sins and start again.

’cause if we stay together what then, lets make an end
Now it’s all gone wrong, maybe we’ve been together too long
And our time bomb just went off

Top

Tommy & Brenda

A Field Further (1998)

Tommy and Brenda met in a squat
One Berlin September believe it or not
It was love at first translation which happens a lot
In a place where the world stood off

We suffer together the strangers malaise
Our perspicuous splendour is crumbling away
We might know the noun but not what it takes
So we all use the same stock phrase

‘Ich bin ein Berliner, echt, ich wohne dabei
Am Osten, in Prenzlauerberg, ich finde es geil’

We put on our accents and dust off our tales
If you talk and dress loudly it never fail
‘Cause The strange is attractive, the familiar is stale
Through the smoke and the Augentrail

‘Ich bin zwar ein Ausländer, nicht dasselbe, na und?
Eben, es gibt für uns ein zukunft,
Mein heißersehnt einer, mein alles ist Du
Ich bin wo du bist und ich träume mich Dir zu’

Tommy and Brenda well they tied the knot
A reception like bender was held in the squat
It helped me remember what I almost forgot
That love makes the world go round
Grüß Gott

Top

Tricks

Reign (1993)

There are so many ways to get you to take notice
And this is just one of them
A handful of words wrapped up in a tune
A clumsy attempt at a refrain, that goes like…

See yourself in my imagination framed
Hear the kind of world that I’m suggesting
Don’t you recognise yourself in what I say
Am I being a little too subjective?

Well, this is my view and if I hardly know you
It’s ’cause you don’t want me to get too close to you
And I will keep my distance, your resistance has to end
And when it does I’m through

Change the key and other doors will open
Know the tricks and then these spells are broken
Wait until you get to see the final view
It’s of me and not you

There are so many ways to get you to take notice
And this is just one of them

Top

Try Making Me Laugh

Other People’s Angels (1992)

When I was 17 my life seemed very simple to me,
A kind of rollercoaster ride.
But now it’s not the same,
Everything’s changed so quickly for me,
I live in complicated times.

So, try making me laugh, try making me smile.
Try keeping my head on one thing for a while –
It’s much easier than it seems, am I in a dream?
I look to the waters glisten, open my heart and listen,
Put the shell to my ear, hear the sea,
I am I-N-L-O-V-E again.

I used to drift along, the happy son of little questions,
That I found easy to resolve.
Now hardly a week goes by without me finding some new problem,
That it’s impossible to solve.

So, try making me laugh, try making me smile.
Try keeping my head on one thing for a while –
Try to understand my conceits,
Try deceiving me with belief
It’s much easier than it seems, must be in a dream.
I look to the waters glisten, open my heart and listen,
Put the shell to my ear, hear the seaI am I-N-L-O-V-E again.

Top

Turn Away

Building Then Burning (1987)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

Oh Annie I haven’t heard from you in a long time
And I wonder where you are
Oh Annie colours clash and people pass me by
It’s just like living from afar

Three kisses and a life in me remembered
Every hope and dream are slowly blown away
In the wind I can here your voice it’s calling me, it says
Turn away like I turned

Slow driving the passing of my life in a second
The windscreen wet and fine in ice
Slow changes freeway life and motion in the heat
A touch of moonshine inner peace

Three kisses and a life in me remembered
Every hope and dream are slowly blown away
In the wind I can here your voice it’s calling me, it says
Turn away like I turned

Oh Annie I wish that I could let you go again
Well I succeeded once before
God Annie memories don’t die if left alone
It’s just paternal me the core

Three kisses and a life in me remembered
Every hope and dream are slowly blown away
In the wind I can here your voice it’s calling me, it says
Turn away like I turned like I turned away

Top

Two Cautionary Tales

No Way Out But Through (1994)

I’ve seen the tattoo on your arm, Wynona forever
Brightly spelled now vaguely charmed
A kind of sign in fools gold, burnt skin
That love is not as safe as we think

A fly keeps buzzing round my room
He’s lost his way in stale air, can’t find the day
Crash into my window pane, and again
But see through lives can dull the pain
So he is not as dumb as I thought

Top

A Typical Day In The Life Of An Invisible Man

Further Afield (1998)

My waking thoughts are thoughts of you, some set scenarios
That get fine tuned inside my swoon, caught in traffic I’m all she sick
And at my screen I seem to see your face in Windows
There’s no escape, there’s no release and there’s no respite, try as I might

So it’s what I live for on a typical day
Hoping to see you, hoping to say

I’m alive, I’m alive, I’m alive,
Don’t you know, don’t you know, don’t you know?
And I want to be part of your life
Don’t you know, don’t you know, don’t you know?

And so on my way home I dream our meeting
Undo the day, the choices made that got me nowhere but this same armchair
And start again as if the end weren’t self-defeating
Because it seems I can’t be seen, I’m never sighted just unrequited

But it’s what I live for on a typical day
Hoping to see you, hoping to say

I exist, I exist, I exist,
Don’t you know, don’t you know, don’t you know?
I go most of my life unnoticed
Don’t you know, don’t you know, don’t you know?

Well it’s what I live for, though you’re unaware
You can’t even hear me saying my prayer

This year – next year – sometime – never
Will we ever get together?
Grace and all the saints above her
Would it hurt her to discover

I’m alive, I’m alive, I’m alive,
Don’t you know, don’t you know, don’t you know?
And I want to be part of your life
Don’t you know, don’t you know, don’t you know?

Top

Unattainable

Call Me Ishmael (1993)

I talk and never do and that’s my weakness
But she’s the kind of girl that leaves me speechless
Every time she walks in to my view
You know I’m struck by her completeness

She dresses like a model in some brochure
But she remains immune to every overture
I change my route so I can pass her in the street
But fall apart as I approach her

Can you imagine what it would be like to be her passion
Something of value in her life
It would be heaven to the likes and love of me
But I don’t even think she knows of my existence

I browse but never buy and that’s my stupor
But she’s the kind of girl to sell your soul for
Every time I catch a glimpse of her is not enough
I always want more

Can you imagine what it would be like to be her passion
Something of value in her life
It would be heaven for the likes and love of me
But I’m not sure that she’s aware of my existence

My heart could miss a beat it’s met its measure
She’s not the kind of girl to love at leisure
Every night I visualise her face
And guess at all those hidden pleasures

Can you imagine what it would be like to be her passion
Something of value in her life
It would be heaven for the likes and love of me
But I’m quite certain that it’s never going to be

Can you imagine what it would be like to be her passion
Something of value in her life
It would be heaven to the likes and love of me
But I’m quite sure she’s unaware of my existence

Top

Walkman & Bicycle

Other People’s Angels (1992)

Walkman and Bicycle –
The shops are shut and office girls are leaving
To be with boys in shiny suits
Who love their cars and buy them to be seen in.
This evening, they’ll be on the town
With a drink and ‘a new one’
And maybe later on they’ll give Lisa Bonet some.

Lights off, the traffic stops
And Ryder’s singing, “Call the Cops!’ with reason.
But speeding doesn’t help at all: when I get home
You’ll still have called up three times this evening.
But I won’t be out tonight; I’ve got something else planned.
Do I have to tell you why? Can’t you understand?

You can’t just walk through my life and expect me to fall at your feet
I can’t tailor myself to suit your every need
Maybe what you need is something I can’t be…

We’re not the people we thought we’d become
Now I can’t even see them.
Just Walkman and Bicycle, seems that is all
I’ve got left to believe in.
Believe me, I can’t come out tonight, I’ve got something else planned.
Does it really matter why? Can’t you understand?

You can’t just walk through my life and expect me to fall at your feet
I can’t tailor myself to suit your every need.
And our Lust is merely a part of what together we are –
You mean much more to me than a beautiful body.
Could be anybody lying beside me.
Maybe what you need is something I can’t see….

I don’t what to be but I just can’t be myself
When all you ever want from me is somebody else.

Top

The Way We’re Going

Chant The Beauty (1993)

Don’t worry about peace we’ll live to fight another war
’cause human life is cheap when money’s what we’re fighting for
Forget the urge to pray we’ll break our backs by knocking now
He’ll keep the door shut hey if just to keep the poison out

The way we’re going the past is all we’ve got
The seed we’re sowing is never going to stop growing

Now we can hardly breathe we’ve drawn pollution through our lungs
Or pumped it to the sea where soon we’ll really catch the sun
Consumer goods, our cars and sprays
They get used up and thrown away

The way we’re going the past is all we’ve got
The seed we’re sowing is never going to stop growing

We’ve thrown it all away I hope that we can pull it in
But it’s useless having faith these days we don’t believe in anything
We used to fight on and over soil now it’s in the air and over oil
We need to fight a war to stop it where victory yields the greatest profit

The way we’re going the past is all we’ve got
The seed we’re sowing is never going to stop growing

Top

Where No Eyes Shine

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

It’s only me, I hope you don’t mind
I’ve come to see you just one more time
I won’t stay long, leave open the door
I won’t write letters to you anymore

Well it’s not that I mind
But it’s always the same with people
They waste all their time
And never say what they wanted to say

Under my skin your hand in my hand
Walking in words only you’ll understand
Head on my shoulder playing at sleep
These are just seconds remembered in me

It’s not that I mind
But it’s always the same with me
I’ve wasted my time
And never said what I wanted to say

This is my way

Top

White Hotel

Call Me Ishmael (1993)

Speak yourself where there are words to fill up the silence
Be yourself whatever else you do
Stake a claim to all the ground that lies in between us
But be yourself there is a place called you

Here you are where you can meet the friends and the ghosts of your past
Where all your broken themes come together at last
Where you will find the fears that no time can erase
But can you find your way to the
Place you’ve always been and you’ve always known

Hiding something is a trick and we do it well
It’s the last defence the White Hotel
’cause deep inside us there are things that no charm dispels
So many rooms in the White Hotel

It’s by a lake where there are trees and trapdoors and lightning
And fallen stars ah did you see them too
This childhood air has lulled us all to sleep
But the building goes up in flames there is a place called you

Here you are where you can meet the friends and the ghosts of your past
Where all your broken themes come together at last
Where you will find the fears that no time can erase
But can you find your way to the
Place you’ve always been and you’ve always known

Hiding something is a trick and we do it well
It’s the last defence the White Hotel
’cause deep inside us there are things that no charm dispels
So many rooms in the White Hotel

Hiding something is a trick and we do it well
(What does it profit a man)
It’s the last defence the White Hotel
(to gain the whole world)
’cause deep inside us there are things that no charm dispels
So many rooms in the White Hotel

White hotel, so many rooms, you’ve always known

Top

Why Me?

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

You’ve been shown but you just don’t see it
You’re on your own but you think you’re needed
You’re unknown but you don’t think you are
You’ve been told but you just won’t listen
You caught hold but you think you’re slipping
Maybe baby I’ve been here too long
With you still humming the same old sing-along

It goes, la-la, la, la, la, oo-oo
You’re so in love with me but I am not in love with you x2

I’m sure that’s what you’d like to believe
But things look very different to me
You’re not some saviour I just touch to be healed

I think there’s something you should know
Maybe I will reveal myself maybe I won’t
God knows it’s hard enough these days to leave my home

You could call me up, you could write me a letter
You can call me Ishmael, if it makes you feel better
You could stand outside my door, sure, I’d let you in
Why is it always me who’s out on a limb

You got caught but you just denied it
You were fraught but it soon subsided
You’ve been taught not to trust anyone
You’ve been used honey I don’t doubt it
You’re confused when you think about it
Maybe they’ve all treated you badly
But I’m not them and I’m no judge sadly

You sing, la-la, la, la, la, oo-oo
You’re so in love with me but I am not in love with you x2

I’m sure that’s what you’d like to believe
But things look very different to me
You’re not some jailer I just bribe to get free

I think there’s something you should know
Maybe I will reveal myself maybe I won’t
God knows it’s hard enough these days to be at home

But you could call me up, you could write me a letter,
You can call me Ishmael, if it makes you feel better
You could stand outside my door, sure, I’d let you in
Why is it always me who’s out on a limb

Maybe I will reveal myself maybe I won’t
God knows it’s hard enough these days to be alone
And why must it always be me

Top

Wishworlds

A Field Further (1998)

You found me, now find me
You saved me, now save me
You held me, now hold me
You freed me, now catch me

When I would sleep in the blue sea
I dive deep into you eyes
When I would wake up in heaven
I make my bed in you smile
When I would hide from the whole world
I lock myself safe in you heart

You chose me, now choose me
You kissed me, now kiss me
You loved me, now love me
You broke me, now heal me

When I would sleep in the blue see
I dive deep into you eyes
When I would wake up in heaven
I make my bed in your smile
When I would hide from the whole world
I lock myself safe in your heart
When I would fly with the angels
I throw myself into your arms

Top

The Wolves Are At The Door

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

Your friends have upped and run away
Your debts are bad and still unpaid
You feel unlucky, you can’t change anything anyhow
This is your fate hey holy cow
The wolves are at your door now

I know exactly what you did
Your best kept secret’s common knowledge
It’s all over town, they kick you when you’re down and how
You’re well aware of it holy cow
The wolves are at your door now

Why don’t you just pick up the phone
We’re all aware that your at home
Your TV’s blaring, your lights are glaring and how
Star Wars on your video holy cow
The wolves are at your door now

Top

Won’t People Be Happy

Pokeweed Wormfence (1991)

Girl, won’t people be happy
When they hear about me and you
And what we’re gonna do

So smile, and see me smiling back at you
As if you needed any proof
Or maybe just a little sign
That I’m in love with you

And so you won’t need to worry
No I will never let you down, remember now
Girl, I want you to be happy
And that’s what you’re gonna be, believe me

So smile, and see me smiling back at you
As if you needed any proof
Or maybe just a little sign
That I’m in love with you

Won’t people be happy

Girl, won’t people be happy
When they hear about you and me
Oh they’re sure to be

So smile, and see me smiling back at you
As if you needed any proof
Or maybe just a little sign
That I’m in love with you

Top

A Word Of Truth

Old Age Echoes (1986)
Einmal Ist Keinmal (1993)

Every time I see you now it seems that all you do is frown
You’ve got this idea in your head that I’ve somehow let you down
But when I ask what it is I’ve done that makes you hurt
You change your face and I’m in disgrace and end up in the dirt

You must be kidding I didn’t do those things
I might have sung them but I never meant those things

Many things that you are absorb are secret shadowed signs
I never doubt what you’re about that’s just a waste of time
But as for me you compensate with leaves brought hand and hand
I don’t dare let you out of sight I don’t know what you plan

You must be kidding I didn’t do those things
I might have sung them but I never meant those things
You want my feelings but you just reject my views
It must be time to change your mind it must be time to choose

What am I supposed to do I’m head over heels with you
What am I supposed to do you won’t believe a word of truth

I’ve got a perfect trust a quality of robust love
I dreamed I was the perfect man but not the cut above
You caught a glimpse of sad descent you quickly made up your mind
No matter that the truth was innocent my mission’s fumbled sign

You must be kidding I didn’t do those things
I might have sung them but I never meant those things

Every time I see you now it seems that all you do is smile
First I’m the guilty party left my feeling in a style
Now I’ve been allowed to speak it seems that all’s all right
I must admit that I was weak not quite up to the fight

You must be kidding I didn’t do those things
I might have sung them but I never meant those things
You want my feelings but you just reject my views
It must be time to change your mind it must be time to choose

What am I supposed to do I’m head over heels with you
What am I supposed to do you won’t believe a word of truth
What am I supposed to do I’m head over heels with you

What am I supposed to do you won’t believe a word of truth

No success or intellect could help me get away
Form the fact perhaps a word I need you every day
It’s my youth that loves you a spirit that’s unquenchable
So funny when you laugh I stagger first and then I fall

You must be kidding I didn’t do those things
I might have sung them but I never meant those things
You want my feelings but you just reject my views
It must be time to change your mind it must be time to choose

A word of truth

Top

Yes

Chant The Beauty (1993)

Forget all the work of the week and all things you don’t need
And all the rubbish that comes with living
Forget all my million failings, what I did through the railings
Look at me now and be certain

’cause maybe, maybe, maybe has a strange effect on me
Maybe, maybe, maybe is so dull

Forget all the safe compromises, all that characterizes
What’s so wrong with the way we’re living
Forget all obvious virtues, all the people who’ve hurt you
Look at me now and be certain

’cause maybe, maybe, maybe has a strange effect on me
Maybe, maybe, maybe is so dull

Discard all the politicising, all that clouds your horizon
And all the people who told you never
Forget all the mistakes that we’ll make and all the wrong turns that we’ll take
Just look at me now and be certain

’cause maybe, maybe, maybe has a strange effect on me
Maybe, maybe, maybe is so dull
Can’t we just look at ourselves and be happy with what we see
Don’t say maybe, maybe

Lets start all over again, lets begin by saying YES!

Yes to Lennon and McCartney, Neil Young, Nancy, Edwyn and Mark E.
Yes to the noise when the stock market crashes
Yes to England regaining the Ashes
Yes, yes, yes to the love that she knows I am feeling,
Yes to the dress and the bells all John Peeling
Yes to the colour that autumn is bring
Yes to remembering the next line I’m singing
Yes to the sunshine and yes to the rain
Yes to believing in something again
Yes to protecting the whales in the sea
And yes, yes, yes do you yes, yes love me?
YES

Top

Your Breath On My Glass

A Field Further (1998)

Five o’clock morning light, streams of forgetfulness
Nothing and no-one to see
In numbness the day begins the winter is drawing in
Wrapping itself around me

I am a symptom of myself there is no course for me to take
I’d be the first to throw a stone but there are some things you can’t break

Now I look on my life with an eye for the details
It seems like a series of rooms
All filled with memory’s sepia image there’s one that I keep just for you
It is a symbol in a sense serves most of all just to remind
The way you watch the things you love, the way you let them pass you by

They get blown away, they get flown away, they get thrown away
But you still kept this strange appeal
And stayed real

Through all these years though you disappeared and I’m still here
Thinking about you, always you
Well love is a great reminder

Can’t see the future, it’s hazy and vague
Not as vivid and real as the past
Like you look at the things you crave but somehow they seem to stay
Obscured by your breath on the glass

I am a symptom of myself there is no medicine for me
There are no promises to break there are no secrets I should keep

They get blown away, they get flown away, they get thrown away
And you still kept this strange appeal
And stayed real

Through all these years though you disappeared and I’m still here
Thinking about you, always you
Well love is a great reminder

I think of you
I’ve kept your room in the state it was left
The out of place things of a guest have become mine in turn
Will be yours on the day you return

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In The Light And The Air

We danced around
The obvious
We set ourselves
A casual orbit

And you kept faith
When I showed none
But should have done
Not just ignored it

Or turned from you
Half believing that I didn’t care
When all along I knew
I was only running scared

Then on the stairs
At someone’s house
I can’t recall
It doesn’t matter

How time expands
I by your side
Could not decide
To make it happen

And I turned from you
Left you thinking that I didn’t care
Walked across the town knowing
I was only running scared

A change of years
Another party
Our stars aligned
To frame our moment

But stars can take
A different path
The moment passed
Should we have noticed

I turned from you
Left you thinking that I didn’t care
Walked across the town knowing
I was only running scared

Broke my heart in two, pieces
But I was running always scared
Now I hold you in my prayers
See the pieces everywhere
Fragments in the light and air

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