You've got your ticket and your hotel keys
And your overnight bag at your feet
YOu're looking down on the tropical trees
While the Spanish maids pick up the sheets
Conquistador in search of gold
For all the jack-daw reasons
The Midas shadow that's so hard to please
Follows wherever you go.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained they said
So you played for the winner takes all
And tossed the dice high up and craned your head
To see how the numbers would fall
You stole the game so easily
Your luck ran with the seasons
But still the shadow that the night won't free just
Follows wherever you go.
Another day, another boarding card,
As you wait for your seat on the 'plane
The movie runs but you're still working hard
And you don't touch your food or champagne
I know that when your well runs dry
YOu'll want to know the reason
The empty night will bring you no reply
Merry monks are shallow as the waters of the ford
Sing a spiritual sancteum that covens of the lord
Dream away the darkening day that never was seen before
Would you bring me solace when all our love is gone
Will there be a promise waiting just behind the dawn
And I think of you now
As a dream that I had long ago
In a kingdom lost in time
In a forest of evening
The archer is bending a bow
And I see you bring him bread and wine
Down the legions of years
The invaders have taken this land
And bent you to their will
And the memories fade of the ancients
And all that they had
Though the magic lingers round you still
Oh, who would walk the stony roads
Of Merlin's time?
And keep the watch along the borderline
And who would hear the legends passed
In song and rhyme?
Paul Gervaise picks up the Herald
And sees the face of Zelda Fitzgerald
She's part of the scene
Of life between the wars
The tropic sun is sticky and warm
And it bakes the head of Somerset Maugham
Who is writing a scene
Of life between the wars
You're waiting by the hotdog stand
In the onion air
As the ball flies through the park
Violet and Vita run
Through the streets of Paris
Their laughter floating through the dark
A fog that fell is swallowing London
Coco Chanel came back with a suntan
To brighten the scene
Of life between the wars
There will be a pint of milk
And a Hovis loaf
At the end of every street
You can hear a silver band on the radio
And it makes the grocer tap his feet
The King is leaving Buckingham Palace
It's all too cold
He'd rather have Wallis
They're part of the scene
(Al Stewart/Peter White)
The sun is going down across
The great unknown
Lights come on inside the towers made of stone
A muffled drum plays
Out of sight and all alone
Summer is over
The city lies awake
And breathes electric air
The sailor in the bar
Dreams of a love affair
Young girls seem to shimmer
In fluorescent glare
Summer is over
It's a never ending show
Faces come and go
Like a river
You're a rainbow
Wrapped in gray
Shake the dust away
Like a river
CHORUS
But don't forget me
Don't forget me now
Don't forget me
Don't forget me now
The crowd is spilling
>From the video arcade
The owner of the restaurant
Pulls down the shade
The thunder of the trucks
Is like a cannonade
But now it's over
CHORUS
Hey, won't you come look at the sunrise
Peeping up into the blue skies
Washing away the morning chill
First time I saw you, you were Mr. Natural
You seemed so diffident, you hardly spoke at all
Now you come to me and you've got green streaks in your hair
You walk like Greta Garbo, but you talk like Yogi Bear
What's going on? What's going on?
I really don't believe what's going on; what's going on?
Anyone in the farmouse could have given you the news
You think you're in control but you're only being used
I know your head is in the sky and you're easy to deceive
But how you fell for this I really don't believe
What's going on? What's going on?
I really don't believe what's going on; what's going on?
All those rock 'n' roll star heroes you spend your time around
You may think you're one of them but you're 100,000 down
What are you going to do when the company calls its money in?
How'll you feel stuck out in the rain without a friend?
What's going on? What's going on?
She's a mollusk,
a seamstress,
a princess,
a priestess,
a negress,
she knows her position
She's a swallow,
a willow,
a cello,
a pillow,
a bow
and also a physician
She takes your eyes
and mends your head
She draws the wine
and breaks the bread
She has no lies to tell you
and no truths to sell you
She's a girl,
she's almost a woman
And Zero she flies as the morning sighs
Spreads her wings like a seagull
From the mountain he watches her,
biding his time
But his eyes are the eyes of an eagle
He's a hawthorn,
a raven,
a scarecrow,
a haven
for moon-blessed thought and opinion
He will laugh like the fountains,
the bones of the mountains
lie deep in his forest religion
You will call his name when evening falls
And the ground sets hard and the night wind calls
You will feed him and heed him,
at times you will need him
Say you were almost his woman
And Zero she flies as the morning sighs
Spreads her wings like a seagull
From the mountain he watches her,
biding his time
But his eyes are the eyes of an eagle
In the shuddering mad red blood-let sunset
a tired man is leaving his cover
And the soft eyes of Zero
are cut by the sounds
of the vanishing feet of her lover
And the door slams shut
and the air grows tight
And her throat is gripped
by the hands of night
And all that is left
is the clock on the shelf
As it ticks one day into another
And Zero she sighs as the morning dies
With the broken wings of a seagull
From the mountain he watches her, sensing his time
But his eyes are the eyes of an eagle
At the pall of the day the man of the mountain
is nearing the end of his travel
And the fence is down
on the westland bounds
and a footfall pounds in the gravel
Comes a knock three times
and the air grows still
As he steps inside from the sudden chill
And the moment is caught in the net of the night
For the coming of dawn to unravel
And Zero she flies as the morning sighs
Spreads her wings like a seagull
From the mountain he's coming,
judging his time
And his eyes are the eyes of an eagle
Oh Zero she flies as the morning dies
Spreads her wings like a seagull
From her window he watches her,
a man in his time
She said "Don't you think we're going downhill?
And I would hate it to be run-of-the mill
"Oh love me or leave me but please don't deceive me
For if you do, I'll know, believe me
I want you to know I don't want you to go anyway
And yes I was doing alright up until now
I'm beginning to think you should have listened to Al
She picked up her things and said "let's be friends
For all the good and the bad things have their ends"
Then she went lazily leaving me crazily
Wandering lost, the night was hazy
And everyone else looking sure of themselves but not me
And yes I was doing alright up until now
I'm beginning to think you should have listened to Al
Oh she left me the keys and a dozen LPs
A phone bill warning left for the morning
And I left the dark on a seat in the park feeling very strange
And yes I was doing alright up until now
I'm beginning to think you should have listened to Al
You should have listened to Al
Alright, you saw me in the International Times
You've got my picture in your book
You tell your friends not to call at weekends
And now you wear that far off look
Alright, you stole your mother's best spare sheets
And put them on my bed
And you remember all the words that I say
And now you keep them in your head
But you don't even know me
You don't even know me
You don't even know me at all
Alright, I told you that I'm leaving London
The summer seems so long
I've got no money to pay the rent
I've got no place to take my songs
And then you tell me I should keep on trying
You hand me an envelope
With all the money that you'd saved up
You couldn't stand to see me go
But you don't even know me
You don't even know me
You don't even know me at all
Alright I took you to the Hendrix concert
On the seventh day of May
And through the summer of 1967
We were part of the seeds of change
And now you say that we can really make it
We've got nowhere to fall
Though the signs are hung in the rainy distance
You don't see them at all
And you don't even know me
You don't even know me
You don't even know me at all
You don't even know me
You don't even know me
You don't even know me at all
You don't know me at all
You don't know me at all
Alright I think that we should stay together
On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolour in the rain
Don't bother asking for explanations
She'll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat
She doesn't give you time for questions
As she locks up your arm in hers
And you follow 'till your sense of which direction
Completely disappears
By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls
There's a hidden door she leads you to
These days, she says, I feel my life
Just like a river running through
The year of the cat
Well, she looks at you so cooly
And her eyes shine like the moon in the sea
She comes in incense and patchouli
So you take her, to find what's waiting inside
The year of the cat
Well, morning comes and you're still with her
And the bus and the tourists are gone
And you've thrown away the choice and lost your ticket
So you have to stay on
But the drum-beat strains of the night remain
In the rhythm of the new-born day
You know sometime you're bound to leave her
But for now you're going to stay
Old man Bodey sits on his own by the side of the bar
Drinking slowly, resting the boots that he's carried so far
Once was a gambler, 5-card poker rambler,
That the wise men knew as a slippery deal
And the kids called Willie the King
Sea behind me, fog's coming up on the river tonight,
Just reminds me of smoke curling up in the yellowy light
There's money on the table, took what I was able
And spent my nights with a riverboat queen
And she called me Willie the King
Well I don't mind saying
I've done my share of paying
I've been so broken
Sometimes it seemed that I'd never get back
Watching their faces I was turning over aces
Though they knew my name when the money was gone,
They called me Willie the King
Well I don't mind staying up all night just waiting
Choosing a moment to play that card that could never be beat
Old man Bodey, he's still growing roots by the side of the bar
Drinking slowly, resting his gaze on the cinnamon jar
He once was a gambler, five-card poker rambler,
That the wise men knew as a slippery deal
I sent my crack divisions through the early morning mist
When they fell on your positions you were powerless to resist
Encircling and probing for the weakness in your line
By night you were surrounded; your territory mine
I called for your surrender; this you swore you would not do
So I stormed the very fortress, you thought could shelter you
I held you then upon your knees and turned to give my thanks
To the regiments assembled in their ranks
CHORUS
Where are they now?
Where are they now?
I raised you to your feet, with your hand inside my own
We set off upon a journey, each together, each alone
In the days that followed oh our lives did overlap
I learned the contours of your body like the roads upon a map
You sweetened every evening, I savoured every day
Just when I was certain it would always be this way
You slipped beyond the reach of my outstretched fingertips
With all the kisses we'd placed upon your lips
CHORUS
Oh close. You're close
Someone, come shine a light
Oh near. So near
But just out of sight
I went in search of alchemy to resurrect the dead
Sent my spies to fathom out the secrets in your head
They said they heard your laughter
Spinning through the summer night
In the company of strangers
And your eyes were wild and bright
Though I grew reclusive and my days became withdrawn
I held the banner of our love, now tattered and forlorn
And swore that it would one day fly above us once again
To do this, I had my reasons then
CHORUS
Close. You're close
Once again, come shine a light
Oh near. So near
But just out of sight
Perhaps there are some passions that are tempered by the years
You reach accomodation, the intensity recedes
Some of this occurred to me the time I saw you last
Your face familiar in a way. Your voice out of the past
Every gamut of emotion shared from tenderness to rage
Fell away between us in the turning of that page
It seemed like only yesterday we swore that we'd be true
Two innocents believing that they knew
I'm leaving my home in Europe behind
Heading out for a new state of mind
New York town is calling to me
Dollar an hour from the company
Warren Gameliel Harding
Alone in the White House, watching the sun
Come up on the morning of 1921
I just want someone to talk to
To talk to
To talk to
I've got no shoes upon my feet
I've been all day with nothing to eat
It sure gets hard down here in the street
But I know where I'm going to be
Warren Gameliel Harding
Playing cards in a smoke-filled room
Winning and losing, filling the time
I just want someone to talk to
To talk to
To talk to
Don't go down to the docks tonight
The cops are nosing around for the site
We moved the booze just before daylight
They won't find it now, it'll be alright
Warren Gameliel Harding
In Alaska running out of days
Leaving the ladies, God moves in strange ways
I just want someone to talk to
To talk to
To talk to
Don't leave me here on such a lonely day...
She says she works in government
Though her job is ill-defined
She's a registered Republican
With a bitter chocolate mind
She sometimes lives in Washington
She always lives in hope
She drives a European car
And buys expensive soap
She grew up as a rebel
Though her tastes were quite diverse
She stayed up in her room at night
With existential verse
But something changed in college
She grew more resolute
Still she keeps that air of danger
Even in a business suit
She's got the best taste in wine
She's got the best taste in wine
And though her icons and her medieval armor
Seem a little cold
I'd go 'round there anytime
That stuff is so hard to find
I don't know what we talk about
It drifts off to the chairs and curtain folds
Oh Margaux, I'm waiting for you
Oh Margaux, what can I do
I don't know what she sees in me
I sometimes get confused
At times she looks at me as though she s secretly amused
And though I'm no sophisticate
I don't think I'd be shocked
I'd like to know what's in those drawers
And rooms that she keeps locked
Find another lover tomorrow
Go find another lover today
You've been so long on lonely street
That you're surely falling into decay
It's time to reconstruct yourself
Time to test the water again
Well, it's sad to see
It's a tragedy that you're wasting away
Look around, tell me
Is it really worth the price
That you pay?
On Valentina way
I don't think she's ready to listen
I don't think she wants to come back
The atmosphere's too cold in here
To attract a butterfly like that
I think she took the boat-train out
Maybe caught the night express
She's got devious lies
And chameleon eyes
And she can't care less
Oh, buy yourself a ticket
On anything leaving today
From Valentina way
Oh, the rain comes down
And shines up the stars
Oh, the night steps out
In streetlights and bars
To the sounds of guitars
Socrates drank the hemlock
Perhaps he didn't mind the taste
I guess it was a noble gesture
Of maybe it was just a waste
By the blue Aegean
Like an ancient tune
Dreams of Mycenaean heroes
Under a winestained moon
You've got this impulsive nature
Maybe you were born that way
Sometimes it leads you into danger
Sometimes you can make it pay
One a night like this one
Fly a red balloon
On an endless beach of summer
Under a winestained moon
You know that I'll be waiting for you
Even when I'm frail and old
With hands that shake my wine glass
And skin like hammered gold
Hear the water lapping
Like a drunk bassoon
Beach umbrellas flapping somewhere
Turn into earth, oh, your restless hungry eyes
Speak of cloudy summer skies
The morning dew turns into rain
Lonely winds will blow my name
Dying leaves are seasons gone
Losing life as they drift on
Too soon in life, return to earth
Only they can know their worth
Distant dreams of things to be
Wandering thoughts that can't be free
I blew my mind, turning away
When I first saw your trespasser
He wandered uninvited to your door
He seemed to know his way around
Although I'd never seen his face before
Pausing for a moment underneath your window ledge
He turned around to see the shadow of the sundial on the hedge
There was a tightness in his face as though he were on edge
I don't know why
You see him in your dreams
You see him in your dreams
You see him in your dreams
But I seem to see him all the time
You said if there's a trespasser
There must be a footprint or a sign
And what would he be looking for
There's nothing here for anyone to find
And while you tried to say it couldn't be I realized
That you could feel no sense of danger and you didn't seem surprised
I got the feeling that you knew more than you said but felt advised
To keep it in
You see him in your dreams
You see him in your dreams
You see him in your dreams
But I seem to see him all the time
Now I see your trespasser go wandering alone
Sometimes he's standing by the flowers or melting in the stone
And even when I cannot see him I can feel it in my bones
That he's still there
You see him in your dreams
You see him in your dreams
You see him in your dreams
But I seem to see him all the time
You see him in your dreams
You see him in your dreams
You see him in your dreams
In the sapling years of the post war world
In an English market town
I do believe we travelled in schoolboy blue
The cap upon the crown
Books on knee
Our faces pressed against the dusty railway carriage panes
As all our lives went rolling on the clicking wheels of trains
The school years passed like eternity
And at last were left behind
And it seemed the city was calling me
To see what I might find
Almost grown, I stood before horizons made of dreams
I think I stole a kiss or two while rolling on the clicking
wheels of trains
Trains
All our lives were a whistle stop affair
No ties or chains
Throwing words like fireworks in the air
Not much remains
A photograph in your memory
Through the coloured lens of time
All our lives were just a smudge of smoke against the sky
The silver rails spread far and wide
Through the nineteenth century
Some straight and true, some serpentine
From the cities to the sea
And out of sight
Of those who rode in style there worked the military mind
On through the night to plot and chart the twisting paths of
trains
On the day they buried Jean Juarez
World War One broke free
Like an angry river overflowing
Its banks impatiently
While mile on mile
The soldiers filled the railway stations arteries and veins
I see them now go laughing on the clicking wheels of trains
Trains
Rolling off to the front
Across the narrow Russian gauge
Weeks turn into months
And the enthusiasm wanes
Sacrifices in seas of mud, and still you don't know why
All their lives are just a puff of smoke against the sky
Then came surrender, then came the peace
Then revolution out of the east
Then came the crash, then came the tears
Then came the thirties, the nightmare years
Then came the same thing over again
Mad as the moon
That watches over the plain
Oh, driven insane
But oh what kind of trains are these
That I never saw before
Snatching up the refugees
From the ghettoes of the war
To stand confused
With all their worldly goods, beneath the watching guard's disdain
As young and old go rolling on the clicking wheels of trains
And the driver only does this job
With vodka in his coat
And he turns around and he makes a sign
With his hand across his throat
For days on end
Through sun and snow, the destination still remains the same
For those who ride with death above the clicking wheels of trains
Trains
What became of the innocence
They had in childhood games
Painted red or blue
When I was young they all had names
Who'll remember the ones who only rode in them to die
All their lives are just a smudge of smoke against the sky
Now forty years have come and gone
And I'm far away from there
And I ride the Amtrak from NewYork City
To Philadelphia
And there's a man to bring you food and drink
And sometimes passengers exchange
A smile or two rolling on the humming wheels
But I can't tell you if it's them
Or if it's only me
But I believe when they look outside
They don't see what I see
Over there
Beyond the trees it seems that I can just make out the stained
Fields of Poland calling out to all the passing trains
Trains
I suppose that there's nothing
In this life remains the same
Everything is governed
By the losses and the gains
Still sometimes I get caught up in the past I can't say why
All our lives are just a smudge of smoke
Voila, tante Pascale.
Toutes les etoiles
Dans mon verre dansant dans la lumiere
Voila. toutes les etoiles
Les petites bulles
dans mon verre dansant dans la nuit
Dom Perignon said "I've discovered A wine to be served to kings and lovers
And down through the years a stream of bubbles
Will flow all around the world"
repeat chorus
Life in the abbey goes unending
The monks and the bete, the prayers and mending
The secret of wine is in the blending
And I need a way to keep the stars
The wine is sending
repeat chorus
The Due d'Orleans is lying on the floor
Raising a hand and crying out for more
Go take a glass to Madame Pompadour All of society is cheering this discovery
Voila, tante Pascale,Toutes les etoiles Les petites bals
Ca n'est pas mal On met les voiles
Toutes les etoiles
While traveling northwards on a back country lane
I came on the village where first I grew
And stopped to climb up the hill once again
Looking down from the tracks to the gray slate roofs
I watched the village moving as the day went slowly by
In the fields we lay here, my very first love and I
Under timeless arcadian skies
Under timeless arcadian skies
The old canal lies sleeping under the sky
The barges are gone to a lost decade
On overgrown banks here, lovers' footsteps went by
Long before ever the roads were made
And in our turn we passed here and carved our names on trees
As the days washed by like waves of an endless sea
Under timeless arcadian skies
Under timeless arcadian skies
Time runs through your fingers
You never hold it at all till it's gone
Some fragments just linger with you
Like snow in the spring hanging on
I left the village behind in the night
To fade like a sail on the darkening seas
The shifts and changes in the patterns of life
Will weather it more than the centuries
And in another village, in a far off foreign land
The new day breaks out opening up its hand
And the sun has the moon in his eyes
It was late in December, the sky turned to snow
All round the day was going down slow
Night like a river beginning to flow
I felt the beat of my mind go
Drifting into time passages
Years go falling in the fading light
Time passages
Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight
Well I'm not the kind to live in the past
The years run too short and the days too fast
The things you lean on are the things that don't last
Well it's just now and then my line gets cast into these
Time passages
There's something back here that you left behind
Oh time passages
Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight
Hear the echoes and feel yourself starting to turn
Don't know why you should feel
That there's something to learn
It's just a game that you play
Well the picture is changing
Now you're part of a crowd
They're laughing at something
And the music's loud
A girl comes towards you
You once used to know
You reach out your hand
But you're all alone, in these
Time passages
I know you're in there, you're just out of sight
Time passages
Three mules came over a hill
They were dragging a cart
Creaking, it seemed to be falling apart
Laden with millions of dreams
It weighed more than they thought
They never noticed the wheels getting caught
They pulled on, staring ahead
With blinkered eyes and lowered heads
Hoping that all would be fine
I see them now
Time out of time
Ramsey and Stanley and Neville
Were the names of the mules
Each wore a bridle encrusted with jewels
And though a murmur of voices
Was rising behind
Each laboured on
And they paid it no mind
They pulled on with never a doubt
Past boulders and holes
Till the road petered out
And giving a snort they sat down
Waiting for somebody else to come round
And from this are our lives writ large
From the beach at Dunkirk
To Pickett's Charge
And it's hard to go back
after coming this far
Down the road
Three mules looked over a fence
At the field beyond
Green as a forest it shone in the sun
Into the stillness they broke
Like a stone in a pond
And kicking the gate down
They brayed at the ground
And pulled on tugging a dream
Out of a smile and into a scream
And tossed the damp soil all around
Until the whole field turned muddy brown
And from this are our lives writ large
From the beach at Dunkirk
To Pickett's Charge
And it's hard to go back
after coming this far
Down the road
Ah, but it's not very easy now being a mule
I don't believe you appreciate all that we do
Look at this long and unfortunate face
Try to imagine that you're in my place
This is my nature
And to it I have to be true
Three mules came over a hill
With a sorrowful air
Though we've been judged, they said
It's hardly fair
All that we did was for you
And the good of the cause
Then they went back to the sound of applause
They went back into the night
Where a sickle of moon
Left a trickle of light
And while we lay under our roofs
The whole night filled up
With the beating of hooves
And from this are our lives writ large
From the beach at Dunkirk
To Pickett's Charge
And it's hard to go back
after coming this far
Down the road
And from this are our lives writ large
And every day
Is Pickett's Charge
And it's hard to go back
after coming this far
A glass of Shiraz on a Friday evening
Looking down from the observatory
The sun is melting in a wine dark ocean
The wands of smoke are rising
From the walls of the Bastille
And through the streets of Paris
Runs a sense of the unreal
The kings have all departed
There servants are nowhere
We burned out all their mansions
In the name of Robespierre
And still we wait to see the day begin
Our time is wasting in the wind
Wondering why, wondering why, it echoes
Through the lonely palace of Versailles
Inside the midnight councils
The lamps are burning low
Oh, you sit and talk all through the night
But there's just no place to go
And Bonaparte is coming
With his army from the South
Marat your days are numbered
And we live hand to mouth
While we wait to see the day begin
Our time is wasting in the wind
Wondering why, wondering why, it echoes
Through the lonely palace of Versailles
Ghost of revolution
Still prowls the Paris streets
Down all the restless centuries
It wonders incomplete
It speaks inside the cheap red wine
Of cafe summer nights
Its red and amber voices call
The cars at traffic lights
Why do you wait to see the day begin?
Your time is wasting in the wind
Wondering why, wondering why, it echoes
Through the lonely palace of Versailles
Wondering why, it echoes
I came upon two strangers
On a black and white TV
In a hotel room called no-where
In the dead of half-past three
Their eyes met across the captain's table
Both tried to resist, but just weren't able
The one that got away
You knew it had to happen
The music grew intense
In love affairs on oceans
The feelings seem immense
Looks like they're headed into stormy weather
They saw it even thou they stood together
The one that got away
Now he seems past the glamour
She sees past the lines
The night is quick to anger
The dawn is slow to rise
Who knows what the powers are that divide us?
She still keeps a photograph beside her
The earthquake hit at6 19 with a jolt
People went running for the doorways
And for the next half minute it shook
Up on the 17th floor the sommelier wasopening the
wine
He knew the great hotel was solidly built
Still it must have been a miracle thatnothing got spilt
Terry O'Shea got up from the Chippendale chair
Talking on the telephone
Looking perplexed waving a hand in the air
In the great room all alone
Fifty years old today, a microdot billionaire
Putting on a party like a Hollywood guy
With all the food and wine that his money could buy
The band came in arguing as usual
About nothing in particular
It always seemed to be this way
Tuning up andputting out setlists
Of all the stupid songs that musicians hate to play
Still it could be better than usual
The food looked great and it was money not glory
So when the ]clock struck eight
They began the theme] from Love Story
Time went by with no one arriving at at all
It was just Terry and the pictures
of dead people frowning from the wall
They didn't look very pleased
It was completely clear nobody was coming
They were all staying home with their earthquake kits
Waiting for thge aftershocks to hit
Thirty decanters of wine sat ready to pout
1961 Margaux and Petrus and Chateau Latour
Swaying in unison
Lobstrer and caviar shrimp and salmon
They were all laid out with artistic flair
The waiters were already eyeing their share
Teryy got up and he said Enough
And told the band to stop playing that dreadful stuff
He made them all come over to the table
And gave them wine that they had never dreamt of
So they worked their way through the burgundy and port
And started to relax
They discovered thay had more in common than they thought
And so they went back
Over to the stand and started playing again
But this time differently
It got loud and louder and fairly insane
People heard it down in the street
It felt so good, they were smiling at each other
The waiters all ran out covering their ears
There was plaster from the ceiling on the crystal chandeliers
Terry was dancing like a madman andwaving his hands
At anything and everything
Kicking up the dust from the carpet and doing handstands
Cackling and yodeling
This was a birthday bash he hadn't anticipated
Spinning like a top in the middle of the room
While the hotel shook to a sonic boom
After a while he passed out cold on the floor
And dreamed revealing things
Then he didn't have computers anymore
or fawning underlings
He was running through the trees on a tropical isle
No more feeling tense
In a flower pattern shirt of quetionable style
It all made sense
The band went back to their homes in the Hollywood hills
Better than they'd ever felt
Waking up their sleep-addled wives with rambling tales
It didn't go down very well
But as a legacy they called a band meeting
And decided they were going to give up playing covers
From that day on they got along with one anothoer
Terry woke up and strange as the story may seem
Though he felt terrible
He found withthe dawn he could still remember his dream
So ge just fell away
Nobody's seen him since
But I like to think of him
Sitting on a beach like Gaugin wearing a smile
Waiting for the brown-eyed girl, she'll be there in a while
Maybe thinking back now and then to a long ago time
The night that the band got the wine
I have heard the news from Spain
Now you say you've mamy things yet to be learning
And you don't know if or when you'll be returning
It depends on how
Everything works out
If it can somehow
In Carvajal
And I have heard the news from Spain
Now you've found someone you don't have to be tied to
And he dried your eyes, and later he lay beside you
As the simple wine
Of the flow of time
Pulled us out of rhyme
In Carvajal
Into a taxi and down to the airport
In only the clothes I was standing in
A scribbled address, a toothbrush, a passport
The money we saved in the biscuit tin
Running afraid to a strange Spanish town
Searching the sands and the shoreline...
And I have heard the news from Spain
Now the Winter winds possess the Southern reaches
And the sea folds like a mantle on the beaches
And the crowds have gone
And I've left my song
To be killed alone
In CarvajalIn Carvajal
This place is so far away
From what passes for civilized life
No shops and no cars and no city lights
Just a river of stars
Over the southernmost ocean so cold
A small group of rocks, seagulls and ice
Some ramshackle huts
A paper in french from long ago
A finger that juts out into the foam
No boats come this way
A few expeditions that pass now and then
They'll be back someday
But I don't know when
It's the loneliest place on the map
Night time is utterly black
I came here by some grave mishap
And I can't find my way back
It's all as remote
As the wintry smile that you gave
As you buttoned your coat
And love was erased
So this is goodbye
I see you silently rowing away
The desolate sky threatening rain
It's the loneliest place on the map
Night time is utterly black
I came here by some grave mishap
Last Day of June 1934
Al Stewart
The morning is humming, it's a quarter past nine
I should be working down in the vines
But I'm lying here with a good friend of mine
Watching the sun in her hair
I pick the grapes from the hills to the sea
The fields of France are a home to me
Ah, but today lying here is a good place to be
I can't go anywhere
But as we slip in and out of embrace
Like some old and familiar place
Reflecting all of my dreams in her face like before
On the last day of June 1934
Just out of Cambridge in a narrow country lane
A bottle-green Bentley in the driving rain
Slips and skids round a corner, then pulls straight again
Heads up the drive to the door
The lights of the party shine over the fields
Where lovers and dancers watch catherine wheels
And argue realities digging their heels
In a world that's finished with war
And a lost wind of summer blows into the streets
Past the tramps in the alleyways, the rich in silk sheets
And Europe lies sleeping,
you feel her heartbeats through the floor
On the last day of June 19...
On the night that Ernst Roehm died voices rang out
In the rolling Bavarian hills
And swept through the cities and danced in the gutters
Grown strong like the joining of wills
Oh echoed away like a roar in the distance
In moonlight carved out of steel
Singing "All the lonely, so long and so long
You don't know how I long, how I long
You can't hold me, I'm strong now I'm strong
Stronger than your law"
I sit here now by the banks of the Rhine
Dipping my feet in the cold stream of time
And I know I'm a dreamer, I know I'm out of line
With the people I see everywhere
The couples pass by me, they're looking so good
Their arms round each other, they head for the woods
They don't care who Ernst Roehm was, no reason they should
Just a shadow that hangs in the air
But I thought I saw him cross over the hill
With a whole ghostly army of men at his heel
And struck in the moment it seemed to be real like before
I always was the reckless kind, I do what I must do
I put the danger out of mind, and go on
I joined the barnstorm fliers back in 1922
And above those dusty farms, we put a show on
Fly, fly to the western sky
Where the fog bank shifts and the danger lies
Why, why would you never learn
That you won't come back from the Immelman Turn?
Fly, fly to the red sunrise
Where the cloudbanks shift under copper skies
Why, why would you never learn
That you won't come back from the Immelman Turn?
From aboard a Curtiss Jenny, oh, you see things differently
And the farm boys wait for joyrides in the clearing
I went out walking on the wing in 1923
And above the engine noise I heard them cheering
repeat chorus
You won't come back from the Immelman Turn
Why, why, why?
You won't come back from the Immelman Turn
Why, why, why?
There never was a one like you
Who knew that way to fly
But you won't come back from the Immelman Turn
Why, why, why?
The frost was on your aireleron's, and the wind was in your hair
When you went into the climb I saw you laughing
When the engine stalls and you start to spin
You won't get out of there
And a hush comes on the crowd as you go falling
repeat chorus
Torn between the Gypsy and the Rose
I was led on I suppose
For the Gypsy was always out of reach
I crossed her palm with silver just to know
What the future had to hold
But she only turned her back on me
The Gypsy said no man could make her stay
I followed anyway
Living only day to day
I left the rose as quiet as the night
Whatever she felt then, she kept inside
Ah, the years they seemed to change my Gypsy's soul
She grew weary of the road
Looking round for a better way to live
She traded in her caravan for gold
Pretty things to have and hold
Always wanting more than I could give
Came the day I just had to go
She screamed "I should have known
But I never thought I'd fall"
I said "You're the one who had the crystal ball
Perhaps you never saw me there at all"
Torn between the Gypsy and the Rose
It was Romany I chose
I was only caught up in a dream
If you see someone wearing Gypsy clothes
Be wary of the pose
For she may not be all that she seems
The Rose moved on, she left here long ago
For where, nobody knows
Just to find another life
I think about her sometimes in the night
I never knew the red rose from the white
Torn between the Gypsy and the Rose
When I took my boat out
To the White Sea
I had no care in the world
Not a cloud disturbed the sky
I was dreaming only of
How it might be
Then dark fell into the day
And the wind began to rise
Peter on the White Sea
Green mountains of waves
Blew all around
Peter on the White Sea
The howl of the wind
That lonesome sound
Sailors made their peace then
With the Almighty
Still I kept hope in my heart
Through the salt and
Stormy night
Every hour the wind struck
Even harder
We held on tight in the dark
As our bow rose and fell
Till we came with daylight
Into the harbour
Hard by the monastery walls
To the ringing of a bell
Peter on the White Sea
A day to recall when days
Are done
Peter on the White Sea
The first of a thousand ships
To come
When I took my boat out
On the White Sea
I heard my name in the wind
In the bright and empty sky
When I took my boat out
I sat upon the evening hill
The shadows set, the night grew still
And as I sat, guitar on knee
A voice of flowers called to me
Sing, sing to me your song
Sing, for I belong to the night
In the gray morning light, I'll be gone
I turned with eyes that strained for sight
And there amid the failing light
Dimly saw a figure small
Heard a voice of magic call
Sing, sing to me your song
Sing, for I belong to the night
In the gray morning light, I'll be gone
My fumbling fingers found the chords
My trembling lips fought for the words
I stopped to ask the stranger how
He softly said, "No questions now"
Sing, sing to me your song
Sing, for I belong to the night
In the gray morning light, I'll be gone
Then with the magic of the elves
My fingers danced among themselves
A heart with lightness thus endowed
Formed melodies I know not how
Song played the whole night long
Thus he danced and laughed through the night
And with gray morning light, he was gone
Now, the whispering wind plays over the hill
And the evening sounds again grow still
A year or more has passed since then
Oh, he will not pass my way again
So, I sing, sing to you my song
Sing for I belong to the night
You put your tongue in the ear of the night
Expecting rejection but finding instead
A certain connection that left you surprised
And then gave you electrical thoughts in your head
Emboldened by this you were tempted a kiss
On the brow of a mystery passing you by
And thus we're afforded a simple reward
In the shape of a chord from a street corner choir
Through her window you can see her
With her solitary air
You felt a certain twinge inside you
From her military hair
And you'd have normally acted quite formally
This was the moment to open the door
You instantly mated and constantly dated
Though your mother hated the clothes that she wore
Oh, you slipped away from the harbor side
In the mornin? bright and clear
And your sails were filled with the risin? wind
And you laughed for all to hear
But you never glanced at the ragged dance
Of your lovers on the quay
Don't call on them when the winds rise high
On the dark and the rolling sea
Oh, you set your course for the furthest shores
And you never once looked back
And the flag you flew was a pirate cross
On a field of velvet black
And those landsmen who you but lately knew
Were left stranded on the lea
Don't call on them when the storm clouds rise
On the dark and the rolling sea
Oh, I have no need of a chart or creed
You told your waiting crew
For the winds of chance, they will bear us straight
And you spoke as though you knew
So you paid no mind to the warning signs
As you gave your words so free
Don't change your tack when the timbers crack
On the dark and the rolling sea
Now the thunder rails in the great mainsails
And the stars desert the skies
And the rigging strains as the hands of rain
Reach down to wash your eyes
And your oarsmen stands with his knife in hand
And his eyes spell mutiny
Don't call my name when your ship goes down
The coldest winter in memory was 1709
The sea froze off the coast of France all along the Neptune line
By the lost town of Dunwich the shore was washed away
They say you hear the church bells still as they toll beneath the waves
Come all you earthly princes, wheresoever you may be
From the Sun King in the court of France to the Czar in Muscovy
Take heed of Charles of Sweden, the Lion of the North,
On the cracked earth of summer with his army he goes forth
Guardian angels wherever you may be,
reach down and keep my soul for me
I was there amongst that number, I heard the trumpets strain
I saw the host of banners spread across the Polish plain
Those who stood against us, they soon were swept away
They may have the numbers but it's Charles shall have the day
We cut our way through forests, crossed on frozen streams
They fell away before us like a murmur in a dream
And they burned the land around us as snow was closing in
And the arms of winter took us as we fired against the wind
Guardian angels wherever you may be,
reach down and keep my soul for me
Through all the courts of Europe there's a rumor from the East
The kings have come to battle and it's Charles who's known defeat
They'll shake their heads and wonder at how this came to be
But it's nights without a shelter that have made an end for me
Now Charles is fled to Turkey, left his men afar
And they'll be marched through Moscow now as prisoners of the Czar
And had I but known last summer what I know understand
I'd have never set my foot inside this bleak and bitter land
Guardian angels wherever you may be,
reach down and keep my soul for me
The coldest winter in memory was 1709
The sea froze off the coast of France all along the Neptune line
By the lost town of Dunwich the shore was washed away
Mr. Carmichael says that he loves his wife, I believe he does
Gives her everything that a man can give
But Mr. Carmichael beggars himself on the altar of his love
And you can tell him that, that's not the way to live
And, ohh, how the wind has blown
The leaves from the linden tree
And, ohh, when the night grows free
Why does Mrs. Carmichael come to me?
Mrs. Carmichael rises at ten, takes her time, is at her ease
Drinking coffee in slippers and negligee
Opens the door and the milkman brings her dreams
There's no one sees, except the statue of Venus and she won't say
And, ohh, how the wind has blown
The leaves from the linden tree
And, ohh, when the night grows free
Why does Mrs. Carmichael come to me?
Ohh, Mr. Carmichael, captain and star of his office billiards team
Smiles to greet the applause as his ball goes in
Hurrying back, bringing his victory home but there's no one here
And supper waits on the table inside a tin
And, ohh, how the linden leaves
Lie tossed as the night wind blows
And struck in his silent pose
And in the last days of the world of plastic records
He takes the car into town
He hears the voices of salvation through the static
Just turns the volume down
A chain link fence round a boarded up arcade
Towers of glass that petroleum has made
But he wouldn’t have been born
At any other moment in the world
And in the morning he will hear the silver kettle
Calling him out of his sleep
The world outside goes by in plastic and in metal
He’s got his secrets to keep
The daily news forms a pattern on TV
Violence first, then a cat stuck up a tree
But he wouldn’t have been born
At any other moment in this world
One o’clock and the office empties out
He watches as they pass
Nostalgic for something intangible
A time that never was
There is a crack along the plaster in the kitchen
It forms the shape of her face
Just for a moment he will trace it with his finger
One day he’ll paint her away
He sees her now - she’s got a clean white shirt on
She’s someone he’d just love to get the dirt on
And she couldn’t have been born
The bear farmers of Birnam
Go out every night
Creep up on their harvest slowly
They got claw marks through and through
They lose an arm or two
No, it's not a job for everybody
The bear farmers of Birnam
Go out every night
Sing a song the bears are knowin'
You may squeeze and you may roar
You may bite and you may claw
But the bear farmers keep a-goin'
A bear farmer is proud
He's a strong and silent man
He never has the time to tarry
He lasts less than a year
But he never sheds a tear
Still, he's not the kind a girl should marry
A bear farmer won't shirk
Though it's often risky work,
He never will complain about it
If an arm or leg is strewn
On the ground he sees it hewn
He shrugs and learns to do without it
The bear farmers of Birnam
Go out every night,
Sing a song the bears are knowin'
You may squeeze and you may roar
You may bite and you may claw
But the bear farmers keep a-goin'
A bear farmer will smell
And in romance not do well
Oftentimes the girls reject you
A bear won't treat you so
You're satisfied to know
When he chews you up he still respects you.
The bear farmers of Birnam
Go out every night,
Sing a song - the bears do know him
You may squeeze and you may roar
You may bite and you may claw,
But the bear farmers keep a-goin'
Squeeze and you may roar
You may bite and you may claw
Today I feel like Dorothy Parker
Today I've got the critical eye
I paint my world just a little bit darker
Don't even have to try
Everyone seems a little bit desperate
Oh so witty, but over the edge
I don't know why they try to impress you
With one foot on the window ledge
That's just the way they play it
That's just the way they are
Think up a line and say it
I'll see you all later down at the bar
Don't try to understand it
It won't get you very far
Even the Great Pretender
is really as naked a Hedy Lamarr
Today I feel like Dorothy Parker
Today I'm up here walking the floor
The light inside my head getting darker
Going to leave this town for sure
One block down and another block over
There's a place that will make you a drink
The night is hot, I believe that I'll go there
A password will get you in
Play a song by Hoagy Carmichael
Play that horn like Beiderbecke too
A glass or two of something you like'll
Separate you from these blues
Life is a constant party
Swung to a shot of jazz
Even the broken-hearted
Can steal a feel of the razamatazz
This is the age of rhythm
These are the dancing years
Jump through the mirror with them
New York has no time for your tears
Today I feel like Dorothy Parker
Today I've got the critical eye
I paint my world just a little bit darker
Cut glass porcupine sailing on the Serpentine
Fingers on the skyline pulling down the black blinds
Terminal eyes at the edge of the night
Rivulet of dark wine moving in a straight line
Sumdging out the stop signs, running down the life lines
Terminal eyes at the edge of the night
Shadows on the ceiling, coffee cup congealing
Tarot cards revealing, a solitary feeling
Terminal eyes, but I think it's alright
Silver studded jet plane screaming through the migraine
Cutting through the cellophane, wrappers of your tired brain
Terminal eyes - put out the light
Terminal eyes
Only the lonely Arabian skies
Terminal eyes
Calling you home from your restless disguise
Hands of the windmill moving to a standstill
Rain on the windowsill, ashes on the phone bill
Terminal eyes at the edge of the night
Rain drop fire flies sparkle on the shop blinds
Echoes of the summertime flicker in the street-signs
Terminal eyes at the edge of the night
Shadows on the ceiling, coffee cup congealing
Eyes that look unseeing, hands that look unfeeling
Terminal eyes, I think it's alright
Silver-studded sea plane breaking through the migraine
Cutting through the cellophane, enveloping your tired brain
Terminal eyes, put out the light
Terminal eyes
Only the lonely Arabian skies
Terminal eyes
Calling you home from your restless disguise
Terminal eyes
Only the lonely Octavian skies
Terminal eyes
Stephanie's father came here from Alsace
He bought a grey Victorian house
Filled with colored glass
He kept his old wine bottles
In a cellar down below
On Friday nights, he takes some out
And stands them in a row
And all that he said
All of us there were tasting history
Those perfume-laden liquids
Whatever they might be
He dispensed them like a chemist
From the sixteenth century
Then leaned back in his armchair
With understated glee
While we tripped upon our tongues
To trace their ancestry
And all that he said
All of us there were tasting history
And all through the night
In glass-filtered light, tasting history
Stephanie went to Egypt
To an excavation site
And works beneath the Pharaoh's moon
Deep into the night
Her Dad still opens Chambertin
As the candle burns away
It was the favorite of Napoleon
That's what he liked to say.
And all that he said
All of us there were tasting history
And all through the night
I was a post-war baby in a small Scots town
I was three years old when we moved down south
Hard times written in my mother's looks
With her widow's pension and her ration books
Aneurin Bevan took the miners' cause
The the House of Commons in his coal dust voice
We were locked up safe and warm from the snow
With "Life with the Lyons" on the radio
And Churchill said to Louis Mountbatten
"I just can't stand to see you today
How could you have gone and given India away?"
Mountbatten just frowned, said "What can I say?
Some of these things slip through your hands
And there's no good talking or making plans"
But Churchill he just flapped his wings
Said "I don't really care to discuss these things, but
Oh, every time I look at you
I feel so low I don't know what to do
Well every day just seems to bring bad news
Leaves me here with the Post World War Two Blues"
1959 was a very strange time
A bad year for Labour and a good year for wine
Uncle Ike was our American pal
And nobody talked about the Suez Canal
I can still remember the last time I cried
The day that Buddy Holly died
I never met him, so it may seem strange
Don't some people just affect you that way
And all in all it was good
The even seemed to be in an optimistic mood
While TW3 sat and laughed at it all
Till some began to see the cracks in the walls
And one day Macmillan was coming downstairs
A voice in the dark caught him unawares
It was Christine Keeler blowing him a kiss
He said "I never believed it could happen like this
But oh, every time I look at you
I feel so low I don't know what to do
Well every day just seems to bring bad news
Leaves me here with the post World War Two Blues"
I came up to London when I was nineteen
With a corduroy jacket and a head full of dreams
In coffee bars I spent my nights
Reading Allen Ginsberg, talking civil rights
The day Robert Kennedy got shot down
The world was wearing a deeper frown
And though I knew that we'd lost a friend
I always believed we would win in the end
'Cause music was the scenery
Jimi Hendrix played loud and free
Sergeant Pepper was real to me
Songs and poems were all you needed
Which way did the sixties go?
Now Ramona's in Desolation Row
And where I'm going I hardly know
It surely wasn't like this before but
Oh, every time I look around
I feel so low my head seems underground
Well every day just seems to bring bad news
Leaves me here with the Post World War Two Blues
Oh, every time I look at you
I feel so low I don't know what to do
Well every day just seems to bring bad news
On a Christmas cake day one Friday in August
In a bookshop in Charing Cross Road
I first set eyes on a girl and at once I did know
She had eyes like a poet and hair like a rainbow
Reflecting the lights that did glow
And the sadness she kept in her eyes, struck my senses a blow
And so as by chance at the touch of a glance
We could find ourselves out in the road
With no crush of time to defeat us and no place to go
And I couldn't say how, but the coffee bar crowd
Had appeared through the silence that broke
And she said, "Oh my father's a judge in St Albans, you know"
"Oh well, then perhaps I could help you
You know that St. Albans is miles away
And I've got a room in Swiss Cottage
In which you could stay"
She laughed, "Oh I couldn't do that
For I've got to be up in the morning you see"
So I rang up to find out the first morning train she could take
And so in the gloom of a candlelit room
With spaghetti, two forks and a plate
She said "Oh, I really would like to be free and escape"
"Oh well, if it's like that, you don't have to go back
And you're perfectly welcome to stay"
"But I've not finished school yet"
She said as she got into bed
And so as she slept and the pure morning crept
Through the windows to take her away
I thought you can't make people be what you want them to be
I could see my self nailed to a dormitory tale
Of a holiday night's escapade
And just yesterday she had seemed like a woman to me
And so like a child with the sleep in her eyes
Where the sadness of age had once been
She left on the train with a 'See You Again' and a smile
And I couldn't say what I had won or I lost
Or even just what I had seen
You're a strange girl
You come from a strange family
You're a strange girl
I don't understand your vanity
Your mother's taking pills all day, she's looking to escape
Your uncle's in the county jail for statutory rape
Just another runner never made it to the tape
You cousin gets his kicks setting everything on fire
Your little brother always lets the air out of my tires
Your sister wants to prove that she's an object of desire
You're a strange girl
You come from a strange family
You're a strange girl
I don't understand your fantasy
Your father's a collector and his things are a delight
He likes cameras and binoculars and everything insight
He collects them in a wagon in the middle of the night
Every holiday's a nightmare and it's giving me the chills
Everybody ends up fighting, I remember it still
The only thing that they agree on is it's me they want to kill
You're a strange girl
You come from a strange family
You're a strange girl
I don't understand your vanity
I think we ought to break up, I could really use the rest
Everything I like you say is something you detest
But every time I try to leave you say you love me best
I was looking for some mystery, I thought you'd be the girl
I really must admit you were like nothing in this world
I finally got the oyster, but I never got the pearl
You're a strange girl
You come from a strange family
You're a strange girl
I don't understand your vanity
You're a strange girl
You come from a strange family
You're a strange girl
"Oh I know that you are an artist" she said
"For you make your songs out of clay
You carry the dust on your hands and your face
You never quite brushed it away
You were trying to chisel a perfect truth
When the instrument broke in your hand
Now you sit all alone on the greenhouse roof
With your shoes full of sand"
And the golden rays of the sun divide
In the slanting mists of the rain
And Maggie is on the road again
"Oh I know that you were a sailor" she said
"Till you came too close to the shore
And like any shipwrecked sailor now
You live by an open door
And when evening sails in the masts of the trees
Your feet seem to slip on the ground
And you long for the little ship
In which you can safely drown"
And the silver mounds of the waves divide
At the feet of the wind and the rain
And Maggie is far at sea again
"0h I know that you were an outlaw" she said
"And you robbed both the rich and the poor
Now you seek my bed like a sanctuary
But you keep one eye on the door
And you press my hand in the dead of the night
And say I can heal all your wounds
In the morning your eyes just look hunted again
You'll be leaving soon"
And the silver, rays of the moon divide
In the slanting mists of the rain
And Maggie is on the prowl again
"So I know that you are an artist" she said
"And you make your songs out of clay
For you carry the dust on your hands and your face
You never quite brushed it away
And you work with your back to an open door
While the light is beginning to fade
And the windows are liquid the sky is alive
And the night is jade"And the silver rays of the moon divide
In the slanting mists of the rain
And Maggie is on the road againAnd the silver rays of the moon divide
At the feet of the wind and the rain
I was making my way through the wasteland
The road into town passes through
I was changing the radio stations
With my mind on you
Oh your friends call you "Lily Paloma"
But that's not the way that you are
It's too much of a gentle misnomer
For a shooting star
But you and me baby
I saw you there
Straight away I knew
There's really no hiding
I'll tell you right now
What we're gonna do
We'll go collecting the days
Putting the moments away
You're on my mind like a
Song on the Radio
I remember the first time I saw you
Alone in the dark with a drink
With a candle flame burning before you
And your thoughts closed in
You were staring out into the distance
Not seeming to hear what I said
Why did you put up such resistance
Like all the lights are red'
Cause you and me baby
I saw you there
Straight away I knew
There's really no hiding
I'll tell you right now
What we're gonna do
We'll go collecting the days
Putting the moments away
You're on my mind like a
Song on the Radio
I don't know what it was that was painful
But sometimes it's there in your face
There are times when you just look disdainful
Of the human race
Ah, but then on the wings of emotion
We circle each other in flight
Till together we roll like the ocean
In its bed at night'
Cause you and me baby
I saw you there
Straight away I knew
There's really no hiding
I'll tell you right now
What we're gonna do
We'll go collecting the days
Putting the moments away
You're on my mind like a
Song on the Radio
You're on my mind like a
On the platform of an old railway station I enter a dream
And a couple are saying good-bye through the noise and the steam
But it's just "Brief Encounter" my mind is trying to rerun
And I wait for the poignant finale but the dream has moved on
And the train has turned into a ship that is sailing away
And the platform is a beach full of shells under silvery grey
And the girl on the beach is an English Prime Minister's daughter
And she watches the ship disappear at the edge of the water
And it feels like the pain in her heart will be never-ending
And everyone feels this way in the beginning
And she watches the ship disappear for the length of a sigh
And the maker of rhymes onthe deck who is going to die
In the corner of some foreign field that will make him so famous
As a light temporarily shines to illumine his pages
Then the scene has changed once again; now it's moonlight on wire
And the night is disturbed by a sudden volcano of fire
And a skull in a trench gazes up open-mouthed at the moon
And the poets are now Wilfred own and Siegfried Sassoon
And nobody talks anymore about losing and winning
And everyone feels that way in the beginning
And I'm up in the air looking down at a girl on a bed
She's lying asleep on her side with a boook at her head
And it's someone who left long ago
Was it something I said?
And I hope that she's reading "King Lear", but it's "Twelfth Night" instead.
Now the girl and the beach and the train and the ship are all gone
And the calendar up on the wall says it's ninety years on
I go out into the yard where the newspaper waits
There's a man on the cover we all know, defying the fates
And he seems very sure ashe offers up his opinion
Well everyone feels like this in the beginning
When you feel that the pain in your heart will be unending
Everyone feels this way in the beginning
If you feel that the pain in your heart will be never-ending
Rainstorm, brainstorm, faces in the maelstrom
Huddle by the puddles in the shadows where the drains run
Hot dogs, wet clogs, clicking up the sidewalk
Disappearing into the booze shop
Rainbow queues stand down by the newsstand
Waiting for the late show
Pin ball, sin hall, minds in free fall
Chocolate colored ladies making eyes through the smoke pall
Soho, needless to say
I'm alone on your streets on a Friday evening
I've been here all of the day
I'm going nowhere with nowhere to go
Football supporters, they're taking the waters
They're looking round for the twilight daughters
Non stop strip club, pornographic bookshop
Come into the back and take your time and have a good look
Old man laughs with flowers in his hair
Newspaper headline
"Middle East Deadline"
Jazz musicians are down on the breadline
Soho, needless to say
I'm alone on your streets on a Friday evening
I've been here all of the day
I'm going nowhere with nowhere to go
Soho feeds the needs and hides the deeds, the mind that bleeds
Disenchanted, downstream in the night
Soho hears the lies, the twisted cries, the lonely sighs
Till she seems lost in dreams
The sun goes down on a neon eon
Though you'd have a job explaining it to Richard Coeur de Lion
Animation, bar conversation, anticipation, disinclination
Poor old Wino turns with dust in his eyes
Begs for the dregs from the bottom of the kegs, man
You've never seen a lady lay down and spread her legs like
Soho, needless to say
I'm alone on your sheets on a Friday evening
I've been here all of the day
I'm going nowhere with nowhere to go
Soho, needless to say
I'm alone on your streets or am I dreaming?
I've been here all of the day
The stranger comes to town
He is greeted like a prince
Society declares him wise and funny
Celebrities are only decorations in this place
What really matters here is old money
His temporary lover has amber coloured skin
In a lush apartment in the city center
Bankers like his company
They always let him in
There is no door to tell him do not enter
They're following a dream
Following a dream
Sleepwalking
A boy has become a member of a most desired club
He has a fine address in these sixties
If hipness could be diagrammed he would be the hub
Girls follow him round like sexy pixies
There's talk among the money men in Miami beach
The train is leaving
You don't want to miss it
Whatever it is he's offering it's there within your reach
So here is the ring
Why don't you kiss it
They're following a dream
Following a dream
Sleepwalking
But there's a country house a world away from here
Where accusations fill the room today
Something has gone missing and it's absolutely clear
A servent left quite suddenly
He didn't ask for money
He just packed up and left quietly away
Back inside the nouveau world
The rich are sitting down
They realize it's time for some assessments
Their charasmatic friend is somehow no where to be found
Along with beggered will and their investments
Someone said they saw him on a plane to Salvador or Moscow
Now the weather's warming
The lure of easy money keeps him constantly employed
It's a social service he's performing
Following a dream
Following a dream
Sleepwalking
They're following a dream
Willingly it seems
I was drawn by the sirens of Titan
Carried along by their call
Seeking for a way to enlighten
Searching for the sense of it all
Like a kiss on the wind I was thrown to the stars
Captured and ordered in the army of Mars
Marching to the sound of the drum in my head
I followed the call
Only to be Malachi Constant
I thought I came to this earth
Living in the heart of the moment
With the riches I gained at my birth
But here in the yellow and blue of my days
Wander the endless Mercurian caves
Watching for the signs the harmoniums make
The words on the walls
I was drawn by the sirens of Titan
And so I came in the end
Under the shadow of Saturn
With statues and birds for my friends
Finding a home at the end of my days
Looking around I've only to say
I was the victim of a series of accidents
As are we all
I was drawn by the sirens of Titan
As are we all
I was drawn by the sirens of Titan
As are we all
As are we all
I was drawn by the sirens of Titan
After these processions comes the sweeping up
The rag and bone possessions, an old tin cup
The army trucks have hauled away the newly slain
The angry crowd retreats, but theyll be back again
And the prisoner in the palace does not understand
The ingratitude around him after all hes done and planned
But if this the way that it must be then hell be damned
If he will let them take away his perfect dream
Ministers stuff bank notes into leather bags
Their wives have packed the jewelry and the luggage tanks
The word is on the street now, growing day by day
And even the informers know the stay away
And the prisoner in the palace is appalled by this charade
Feeling strangely unprotected by his miles of golden braid
And if this is the way that it must be then Im afraid
He will not let them take away his perfect dream
And these mountains of equipment brought from foreign lands
Are now stacked up in the desert being buried by the sand
These rows of helicopters rusting where they stand
Are butterflies to take away the perfect dream
He cried inside the limousine and at the airport too
Where the soldier knelt before him and kissed his shoe
He flew across the desert and the open sea
While they tore down all his statues and his legacy
And the victor greets the newsmen with a strange and stoic style
They take a hundred thousand pictures and in none of them a smile
But this is just the way that it must be now for a while
Sergio, came to California
In the days after the war
So long ago
Bought some land, thought to plant a vineyard
Like the one he used to know
So long ago
The sleepy valley was a land of farms and horses
He brought his family to the house
that he built all alone
He drove the tractor, fixed the sprinklers,
loaded boxes.
Sold his wine from a van
His reputation soon began to grow
Sergio, with grapemust on his overalls Acacia in his hair, memories flow In his mind another country far away With music in the air So long ago
His wooden vats have turned to towers of
gleaming metal
For Pinot Noir and Syrah, Cabernet.
Chardonnay
They're entered into competitions, winning medals
Advertised on T.V.
They're calling him the patriarch today
Sergio, puts a weathered hand
on the labeling machine
The day's almost done
Looks outside, beyond the barrels
To the rows of vines in brown and green
The last of the sun
Sergio, came to California
In the years after the war
So long ago
Bought some land, thought to plant a vineyard
Like the one he used to know
The Gothenburg streets were like silver sheets
As I kicked my feet through the snowy world
And in that land there I held the hand of my
Scandinavian girl
We stood as part of a bleak facade
Though the city's heart was still beating
And for a while there, I shared a smile with my
Scandinavian girl
And I stood there quite surprised
To see reflected in her eyes
The very thought I left unsaid
As too unwise
And so we passed through a world of glass
And the moment passed and was lost to time
Time too soon with his broken moon took my
You always were a city kid
T hough you were country raised
And back in some forgotten time
W e shared the cold north days
But the simple life was not your style,
And you just had to escape
So it's goodbye to my lady of the islands
On Remembrance Day the bands all played,
The bells pealed through the park
And you lay there by the "Do Not" signs,
And shamed them with your spark
Now winter moans in old men's bones
A s the day falls into dark
And it's goodbye to my lady of the islands
It was just like this
Behind the kisses you so soon swept away
Oh I always knew
That some day you'd
Be bound to just get pulled away
The summer sun beats on and on,
The shops swim in the heat
And you're standing by the traffic signs
W ith taxis at your feet
Oh I know that in your city skin
You're feeling more complete
So it's goodbye to my lady of the islands
No I never got the letters
T hat you said you'd send me
Most of the better bred
Woollen toys have gone to bed
And the teddy bear is a-sleeping in the cupboard
And the wooden soldiers all
And the rubber bouncing ball
Are list'ning to the tales of mother Hubbard
But the fairy lights are dark
On the Christmas tree as restlessly
I stand here forgotten and alone
I've been too long on the floor,
I can't stay here any more
So Jenny won't you please take me home.
Oh the statues that I see
Are made out of blackest ivory
But I pass them by never guessing of their meaning
And a million voices cry
As I walk across the sky
Though it's restless here, why it's only in-betweening
For the journey that I'm on
Is incomplete so to my feet
I must rise now and travel on alone
Ah, but if you've got some time to spend
In between now and the end
Oh Jenny won't you please take me home.
Now almost every word that I've said that you have heard
Hides another thought left unspoken
And if I may not reach it through the gutter of my speech
Then it best be left unsaid than lie unbroken
And if you wish to see, then from time to time
Look in my eyes
Oh the gold is not far beneath the stone
If that will not say, it doesn't matter anyway
The sun is high, looking out I see
The emptiness beyond the jetty
Seagulls raining like confetti
On the Water
Sea and sky come together in
A hazy kiss out on the ocean
Europe seems a foreign notion
Hardly thought of
And would you leave your modern world behind?
I know who I am
Riding in my sampan
In the shade stands the foreman in
A floppy hat and linen suit
Beneath his ancient leather boot
The ground is straining
Far away, figures bend to tap the
Endless seas of rubber trees
To coat the wheels of Paris taxis
Where it's raining
And would you leave your melting world behind?
I know who I am
So here we stand on the edge of 1984
Bracing ourselves once again
For the storm approaching as those
Who long before huddled in caves from the rain
the enemy's face is so hard to see
Sometimes it seems that I see him in you
And sometimes in me
Who can he be?
No one consulting the prophets and leaders
They all disagree
Russians and Americans here's a song for you
Who carry the weight of the world on your heads
Russians and Americans tell me if it's true
You really believe all the things that you've said
The Red, White and Blue running into the red
From the wars of Europe the pilgrim fathers
Set off with their hopes and their bond
Some settled down by the coast others crossed
The mountains and into the flatland beyond
From the scramble and dust of Muscovite streets
And opened the doors to the East
The Pioneer ways
Chilled by the cold breath of winter
Or baked by the heat of the day
Russians and Americans passing through the fire
Of revolution and coming of age
Russians and Americans driven by desire
Two players pushed to the front of the stage
The whole world now watches each move that you make
Two runners caught in the thrill of the race
The finishing line is a s par as the stars
That the satellites chose
Why quicken the pace?
Why does it seem that you choose to lose reason
Before losing face?
Russians and Americans driven by the past
The Third World moves in the shadows you cast
Russians and Americans could turn the world to dust
So much to live for
So much undiscussed
So much in common and so little trust
From the streets of Athens and Rome the voices
Still echo to crumbling walls
Look to the past and remember no empire rises
That sooner or later won't fall
Forever the changes we still have to face
Some people say a country is
More an idea than a place
Though nothing is safe
We still choose the mark that we leave
On the open canvas of space
Russians and Americans maybe you should see
Into the heart of the world, not its head
Russians and Americans if you want to be
The feet of the world
Better mind where you tread
The footprints are
Left where you step
Before the phone hits the receiver
You're halfway to the door
The voice said 'get out while you can,
There's just ten minutes, nothing more'
Time only for the essentials
Better gather them and run
The false name inside the passport,
The gold bars and the gun
And once again they've come out of the past
And though your mind is cool your heart is beating fast
You've been through it all before
Each time you wish a little more that you could ask
What do you want from me?
What do you need from me?
There's no rest for the running man
Why can't you let him be?'
It's a long and twisting journey
From the sweeping northern plains
To the outcrops of the jungle
Bowed beneath the tropic rains
In the customs hall the officer
Takes you to one side
And his eyes reveal no feeling
As you hand over the bribe
And once again you've bought a little time
And once again you're fading out of sight
Still the fox is growing older
As he calls over his shoulder to the night:
What do you want from me?
What do you need from me?
There's no rest for the running man
Why can't you let him be?
Here, come over here
Beneath a sympathetic moon
We'll sit and talk over old times without a fear
Another beer, from the cafes of the night
The tumbling rhythms of guitars ring loud and clear
One by one they've nailed the others
But you always got away
What it is that keeps you just that step ahead
No one can say
In one last raid the agents
Of the dawn break down the door
Of a house where you were standing
Maybe just an hour before
And still the thread continues to unwind
You take the hidden roads that only you can find
And should they come upon your tracks
There's just a question hanging back you left behind
What do you want from me?
What do you need from me?
No rest for the running man
Why can't you let him be?
What do you want from me?
We met on the beach amid rumours of war
Your head in your hand, what you saw you won't say
As the newspapers flew in the wind
I can see you're one of that kind
Who carry round a time bomb in their mind
No one knows when you'll slip the pin
Rumours of war
Rumours of war
I see that your dress is torn at the edge
You are lost, intense, like a man on a ledge
Waiting to jump as the waves break over the shore
You say there's a storm
that can't be delayed
And lately it seems to be coming this way
You can hear it break like the slam of a door
Rumours of war
Rumours of war
You tell me just look all around
At the past and and the present
The cross and the crescent
The signs and the planets are lining up like before
There are souls on fire in the day and the night
On the left and the right in the black and the white
You can see it burn in the eyes of the rich and the poor
Rumours of war
I sent my majordomo to your amanuensis
To ascertain your feelings, and strip away pretenses
And then a few days later, you sent back your vizier
And though he spoke quite courtesously
His meaning wasn't clear
Not to my majordomo
Not to my majordomo
So I sent my acolyte to further our relations
And he engaged your ministers in lengthy conversations
One or two were willingto discuss the matter frankly
We then received your advocate
Who told me that you thanked me
Also my majordomo
Also my majordomo
I therefore told my counselor to offer my best wishes
And he was greeted cordially with smiles and festive dishes
I further was encouraged by a note in your handwriting
Delivered by your confidant, it seemed you were inviting
My plenipotentiary with great felicitations
To join your chief of protocol in swift negotiations
But something must have happened
A secret door had closed then
The word from my ambassador was you were indisposed
And could not meet my majordomo
There's nothing I can do now
I sent my majordomo
On a night just like this, in a place far away
He met with a girl in the spring
And something about him just turned her around
As though she were caught on a string
And being so young they held on to each other
To see what the moment might bring
He loved her then in a secretive way
Not showing his care or his need
She stayed beside him and looked to the day
He would somehow begin to be free
In the chill of the night she would hold him and say
This is how they always should be
Rocks in the ocean, waves on the sea
Keep it in mind,
If love comes unsatisfied, don't forget me
Don't forget me
And so he come to depend on her more
Though the lesson was still to be learned,
Taking for granted the gift that she gave
As though it were something he'd earned
And she for her part growing slowly away
From a love that was never returned
Then came the day that he never foresaw
When he woke to find she was gone
He followed her then to the ends of the world
To tell her how much he'd been wrong
But the more he called her, the more she was lost
Leaving only the words of her song
Rocks in the ocean, waves on the sea
Keep it in mind,
If love comes unsatisfied, don't forget me
Don't forget me
He still listens out for her foot on the stair
As he looks for her down through the years
And the friends that he had have all left one by one
For their words weren't reaching his ears
He chooses instead now to wander alone
To a song that only he hears
Rocks in the ocean, waves on the sea
Keep it in mind,
If love comes unsatisfied, don't forget me
They crossed over the border the hour before dawn
Moving in lines through the day
Most of our planes were destroyed on the ground where they lay
Waiting for orders we held in the wood - word from the front never came
By evening the sound of the gunfire was miles away
Ah, softly we move through the shadows, slip away through the trees
Crossing their lines in the mists in the fields on our hands and our knees
And all that I ever was able to see
The fire in the air glowing red silhouetting the smoke on the breeze
All summer they drove us back through the Ukraine
Smolyensk and Viyasma soon fell
By autumn we stood with our backs to the town of Orel
Closer and closer to Moscow they come - riding the wind like a bell
General Guderian stands at the crest of the hill
Winter brought with her the rains, oceans of mud filled the roads
Gluing the tracks of their tanks to the ground while the sky filled with snow
And all that I ever was able to see
The fire in the air glowing red silhouetting the snow on the breeze
In the footsteps of Napoleon the shadow figures stagger through the winter
Falling back before the gates of Moscow,
Standing in the wings like an avenger
And far away behind their lines the partisans are stirring in the forest
Coming unexpectedly upon their outposts, growing like a promise
You'll never know, you'll never know
Which way to turn, which way to look, you'll never see us
As we're stealing through the blackness of the night
You'll never know, you'll never hear us
And the evening sings in a voice of amber, the dawn is surely coming
The morning road leads to Stalingrad, and the sky is softly humming
Two broken Tigers on fire in the night flicker their souls to the wind
We wait in the lines for the final approach to begin
It's been almost four years that I've carried a gun
At home it'll almost be spring
The flames of the Tigers are lighting the road to Berlin
Ah, quickly we move through the ruins that bow to the ground
The old men and children they send out to face us, they can't slow us down
And all that I ever was able to see
The eyes of the city are opening now it's the end of the dream
I'm coming home, I'm coming home
Now you can taste it in the wind, the war is over
And I listen to the clicking of the train wheels as we roll across the border
And now they ask me of the time
That I was caught behind their lines and taken prisoner
"They only held me for a day, a lucky break", I say;
They turn and listen closer
I'll never know, I'll never know
Why I was taken from the line and all the others
To board a special train and journey deep into the heart of holy Russia
And it's cold and damp in the transit camp, and the air is still and sullen
And the pale sun of October whispers the snow will soon be coming
And I wonder when I'll be home again and the morning answers
"Never"
Catalina on a fishing boat
We call it Henry Cisneros
We got no money but we stay afloat
The jellyfishes don't scare us
You're telling everybody life's a ball
Too many pleasures to mention
You do a cartwheel in the shopping mall
You seem to get their attention
In your red toupee
In your red toupee
You take your number to a Broadway play
It keeps her well out of danger
You're blowing bubbles in the matinee
You never looked any stranger
In your red toupee
In your red toupee
People say that you're unusual
You just tell them they're confused
If only they were more like you
They'd brighten up their day
In your red toupee
In your red toupee
Promenades in furs and laces
People put on airs and graces
Bedroom eyes in boardroom faces
Oh where will it lead
To Catalina on a fishing boat
We call it Henry Cisneros
We got no money but we stay afloat
Those jellyfishes don't scare us
In our red toupees
Oh we got our red toupees
In your mauve toupee
Turquoise toupee
In your green toupee
Cerise toupee
Why are you wearing that strange toupee
I'm hiding in a rain barrel
Inside these consul walls,
This shaft of light is so narrow
I can't see much at all,
Outside I hear the feet running
Voices all around,
Foot soldiers with their guns coming
I can't make a sound,
But if Mr. Williams keeps his word
Oh my life could still be saved,
I might live to see a time when all these roads are paved,
If they break inside these walls
Oh, you won't see me again,
But if Mr. Williams keeps his word,
Someday, my story will be heard...
I'm living in a strange country
It's so hard to find,
It's not on any map
You carry it in your heart and mind,
Outside I hear the ground shaking
Up from underneath,
It's only when the empire's breaking
That you see their teeth,
But if Mr. Williams keeps his word
Oh my life could still be saved,
I might live to see a time
When all these roads are paved,
And'f they break inside these walls
Oh, you won't see me again,
But if Mr. Williams keeps his word
Somewhere, my story will be heard...
I'm hiding in a rain barrel
With one small patch of sky,
Don't think I'm gonna see tomorrow
I never was one for talk
I keep things to myself
Let everyone ramble on
When people get to reminiscing
I'll always be the one to listen
But now I need to find those missing words.
I love Princess Olivia
Can't speak, I slip into trivia.
To know what you feel inside
Is not enough, you've got
to put it across with style
The literati in their cellars
Perform semantic tarantellas
I wish I did it half as well as them
I love Princess Olivia
Can't speak, I slip into trivia.
She's got long red hair
Her nose up in the clouds
Just how did she get up there
She's frosty as the face of Phineus
Leaves me feeling igloominious
Why's she so continuously cool?
I love Princess Olivia
Can't speak, I slip into trivia.
I love her.
Born in England's pleasant green, like a picture postcard scene
To childhood spread with fond maternal care
From the day that he was born, proud relations came to fawn
And compliment his pretty golden hair
In boyhood sent away to a boarding school to stay
It's crumbling proud traditions forced to bear
And his friends in this new world said, he looks more like a girl
With those blue eyes and pretty golden hair
Fades secluded youth
Into manhood's search for truth
His mother's eyes now wet had turned to stare
For he said I must be bound
This day for London town
For I believe my fortune's waiting there
So, like an eager cutting knife
He plunged in a new life
Ohh, never known beforehand anywhere
And the thought that he might trip
In his ignorance and slip
Never struck beneath his pretty golden hair
Ahh, the days soon grew thin and boredom fast set in
His job was thrown away without a care
For a man who softly said, you'll earn twice as much instead
With those blue eyes and pretty golden hair
Well, London town possessed of many a tempters nest
And thus he fell with scarce another care
As so easily he slipped into prostitution's grip
Foundationed by his pretty golden hair
Ahh, but the years quickly flew and his mind slowly grew
From early freedom into deep despair
As the money ceased to roll. a tired and lonely soul
Poured curses on his pretty golden hair
Ahh, the years stole their time, now, the living's hard to find
And early friends have vanished in the air
And the gay parties's ease changed to public lavatories
Have turned to grey his pretty golden hair
Ohh, his life was only used and his body just abused
By those who never think and never care
But though his file said suicide, no, that wasn't why he died
Pandora comes today
As she dazzles and she dances
You find hope and lose yourself again
She never stays the same
She changes moods like summer thunder
Still you look for sunlight through the rain.
And when she laughs you see danger
She can be cold like a stranger
And you try but you won't change her anyway
And I can see how she makes it
It's a game and still you take it
It's a spell until you break it, you must stay
And lose yourself again.
Pandora takes the time
To tell you stories of her past
Thet everybody knows just can't be true
The reason and the rhyme
Are twisted 'til you can't believe her
Still you keep pretending that you do.
And when you try to get to her
And you tell her you've seen through her
She'll just say you never knew her anyway
And you still let her fake it
It's a game and still you take it
It's a spell until you break it, you must stay
And lose yourself again.
Pandora comes today
The warning signs flash in her eyes
The old familiar feelings rise again
The pleasure and the pain
Are like two colours run together
Still you can't go on too long this way.
If it's a game you can't win it
I don't know why you stay in it
You could leave her any minute, any day
It should be easy to shake it
But you just can't seem to make it
It's a spell until you break it, you must stay
When all the help in the world won't get you by
When all the friends that you lean on let you down,
You'll wonder why
I see you there with your painting box
And your oils and brushes and your artist's smocks
What'll you do if the Muse gets lost
When I'm gone
You painted me in the way you said you knew
I don't believe that I saw myself
In anything you drew
I say you never quite caught it right
You say you see me in a different fight
What'll you do with your black and white
When I'm gone
You paint by numbers
I never noticed it before
You paint by numbers
It's just a closing of an open door
When you're looking round
You won't see me no more
You paint by numbers
Staying here in this room just makes me pole
I never really could fat into your geometric scale
I see you measure my profile up
And you mix your paints in a broken cup
What'll you do if the brush gets stuck
When I'm gone
You paint by numbers
I never noticed it before
You paint by numbers
It's just a closing of an open door
When you're looking round
You won't see me no more
I walked out in the snow
And left no mark upon the ground I trod
The sky, heavy and low
The exhalation of an Arctic god
And I heard words meant for no one
In the air,words out of nowhere
And I saw all at once at my feet
Unexpectedly, a shadow play
I broke off on a floe
And drifted aimlessly a hundred miles
The wind, beginning to blow
Carried me forward on this boat of ice
And I saw things half imagined
Far away, pictures and pageants
That were lost in a moment like words
From a langauge that I never knew
And this voyage seemed to be haunted
By a soul, lost and unwanted
Destined to journey through time
Always covered in a coat of white
I walked out in the snow
Never knowing what I came here for
A dream from so long ago
In my darkest hour just before the dawn
There's no sound from the empty street
But sleep won't seem to come to me
All your words in my head
Linger on and on
They've come to steal my time away
Till the night is gone
I must be losing my shine
Like an old dusty Burgundy wine
In a cellar cool and damp
Dull beneath a yellow lamp
No one turning the key
To come and get me today
The more I think about you now
The more I'm feeling that way
I see you there, everywhere
Optical illusions
Telephone, let it ring
I don't want intrusions in my life
I know tomorrow I'll find
There's nothing here at all
Just some trick your mind will play
With shadows on the wall
I see you here, feel you near
Optical illusions
Nothing real that I feel
Just some confusion of my time
In my darkest hour, when all the blinds were drawn
You're just some mirage I saw
One, two, three.
That's how elementary
it's gonna be.
Just fine and dandy,
it's easy,
like taking candy from a baby.
>From the poor country,
when you bought a rose, you
paid them with beads,
tipped the general,
it's easy,
like taking candy from a baby.
The hard part is learning about it,
the hard part is breaking through to the truth.
The hard part is learning to doubt
what you read, what you hear, what you see on the news.
Foriegn policy,
made above my head, well,
no one asked me.
They just laughed and said
it's easy,
like taking candy from a baby.
It's easy,
like taking candy from a baby.
Once they get you sucked into the system,
once they get you under control,
the hard part is knowing how to resist
the grip that they keep on your mind and your soul.
So in the end,
we just compromise,
and pretend.
If you close your eyes,
it's easy,
Do you have the photograph we took with Millie Brown
It such a lovely picture of a night out on the town
She was dressed in purple, and we took her to the fair
I know that you'd remember 'cause I know that you were there
Riding the cars, what did she say?
I wanted to know
The wind took her words, and blew them away
I wanted to know
All that she said, all that she said,
I want you to tell me all that she said
All that she said
You got out your camera, we were standing on the beach
Millie wore her yellow hat and seemed just out of reach
She was in a deck chair with a paper on her knee
I think she might have winked at me
She really was a tease
Down to the pub everyone went, and Millie was fine
She moved in close, smiling at me
And spilling her wine
All that she said, all that she said,
I want you to tell me all that she said
All that she said
She held me hand, then disappeared into the night
When she came back her lipstick was smeared
She was waving goodbye
All that she said, all that she said
I want you to tell me all that she said
It seems to me as though I've been upon this stage before
And juggled away the night for the same old crowd
These harlequins you see with me, they too have held the floor
As here once again they strut and they fret their hour
I see those half-familiar faces in the second row
Ghost-like with the footlights in their eyes
But where or when we met like this last time, I just don't know
It's like a chord that rings and never dies for infinity
And now these figures in the wings with all their restless tunes
Are waiting around for someone to call their names
They walk the backstage corridors and prowl the dressing rooms
And vanish to specks of light in the picture-frames
But did they move upon the stage a thousand years ago
In some play in Paris or Madrid
And was I there among them then, in some travelling show
And is it all still locked inside my head for infinity
And some of you are harmonies to all the notes I play
Although we may not meet still you know me well
While others talk in secret keys and transpose all I say
And nothing I do or try can get me through the spell
So one more time we'll dim the lights and ring the curtain up
And play again like all the times before
But far behind the music you can almost hear the sounds
The fishing boats go out across the evening water
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border
The wind whips up the waves so loud
The ghost moon sails among the clouds
Turns the rifles into silver on the border
On my wall the colours of the maps are running
From Africa the winds they talk of changes coming
The torches flare up in the night
The hand that sets the farms alight
Has spread the word to those who're waiting on the border
In the village where I grew up
Nothing seems the same
Still you never see the change from day to day
And no-one notices the customs slip away
Late last night the rain was knocking at my window
I moved across the darkened room and in the lampglow
I thought I saw down in the street
The spirit of the century
Telling us that we're all standing on the border
In the islands where I grew up
Nothing seems the same
It's just the patterns that remain
An empty shell
But there's a strangeness in the air you feel too well
The fishing boats go out across the evening water
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border
The wind whips up the waves so loud
The ghost moon sails among the clouds
Turns the rifles into silver on the border
On the border
On the border
Oh your pictures they don't really do you justice little girl
For you're careful not to let the camera touch your private world
And there's just a hint of sadness in your smile through the dark
As you slip your dress off slowly for the sailor or the clerk
And it could have been so different, and at times you feel bad
For you really did have something that the others never had
And the circle turns and turns and turns so mad, little girl
Ah you must have been just fifteen when you made your mind up first
That you'd make it in the movies and you couldn't lose the thirst
And it took you to the attic where the Agent King holds Court
And his courtesans are fully paid up losers of a sort
He looks at you and tells you that you just might get the part
But you don't get things for nothing and he doesn't want your heart
And the circle turns and turns and turns so mad, little girl
Mmm, you made it to the silver screen and yet you're not a star
And advertising corsets didn't get you too far
But money has its favourites and yours went back to them
So you modeled in a studio in Greek Street for the rent
There you met Antonio, your lover from afar
Who put you on the streets to make the money for his car
And the circle turns and turns and turns so fast, little girl
Ah, your pictures they don't really do you justice any more
For they're crumpled now and faded and were taken long ago
And that faintly coy expression has now left without a trace
Ah there's little of it buried in the ruins of your face
It could have been so different, and at times you feel bad
For you really did have something that the others never had
And the circle turns and turns and turns so mad, little girl
For the circle turns and turns and turns so sad, little girl.
I can well recall the first time I ever put to sea
It was on the old 'Calcutta' in 1853
I was just a lad of fourteen years, a midshipman to be
To make my way in sailing ships of the Royal Navy
By the time that I was twenty-one I'd sailed the world around
Weathered storms in the China seas with the hatches battened down
And made my way by starlight off the coast of Newfoundland
And dined on beer and herrings while the waves blew all around
I live in retirement now
And through my window comes the sound of seagulls
And sets my mind remembering
The evening stars like memories sail far beyond the distant trees
Way out across the open seas
I hear them sing
Oh the wooden ships they turned to iron and the iron ships to steel
And shed their sails like autumn leaves with the turning of the wheel
And I was given captain's rank and soon took under me
The proudest ship that ever sailed for queen and country
Ah, the old queen she passed away with the new born century
And I received my calling up to the admiralty
The sands ran through the hourglass each day more rapidly
As we watched the growing of the fleets of High Germany
So at last the Great War blazed
I waited with the passing days
The call to arms that never came
Writing letters
I may be old now in your eyes
But all my years have made me wise
You don't see where the danger lies
Oh call me back, call me back...
But the war it ran its course, they could find no use for me
And I live in the country now, grandchildren on my knee
And sometimes think in all this world the saddest thing to be
Old admirals who feel the wind, and never put to sea
Now just like you I've sailed my dreams like ships across the sea
And some of them they've come on rocks, and some faced mutiny
And when they're sunken one by one I'll join that company
It's the kind of gray November day that washes
Away reflections in the eyes of hotel porters
And the latticed wooden benches by the sea
Contain no travelers or Irish lady authors
And the girl in the raincoat walks the lanes
Of Brighton with her collar turned against the wind
And hovers in the doorways of second-hand
Bookshops among the dust and fading print
And you're not the one she's thinkin' of
And you're not the one she really wants
Just a point along the line she's leavin' from
She goes into a cafe, orders tea, looks
At the menu but there's nothing really on it
And the place is as deserted as a plaza
In a heat-wave and the cloth has jam upon it
But the girl in the raincoat doesn't stop to count
The tea-leaves or turn to see the mists around the sun
For the winter's unfolding around her
And it's time for movin' on
And you're not the one she's thinkin' of
And you're not the one she really wants
Just a point along the line she's leavin' from
And so you sit there in the middle of
The carpet with her suitcases around you
And it comes to you, she journeyed to the center
Of your life but she never really found you
Just another girl in a raincoat who
Shared the passing of the days
And you're glad of the warmth that she
Gave you and you hardly need to say
That she's not the one you're thinkin' of
No, she's not the one you really want
In the east the wind is blowing
The boats across the sea
And their sails will fill the morning
And their cries ring out to me
Oh, oh, oh, the more it changes
The more it stays the same
And the hand just re-arranges
The players in the game
Oh, I had a dream
It seemed I stood alone
And the veil of all the years
Goes sinking from my eyes like a stone
A king shall fall and put to death
By the English parliament shall be
Fire and plague to London come
In the year of six and twenties three
An emperor of France shall rise
Who will be born near Italy
His rule shall cost his empire
Dear Napoloron his name shall be
From Castile does Franco come
And the Government driven out shall be
An English king seeks divorce
And from his throne cast down is he
One named Hister shall become
A captain of Greater Germany
No law does this man observe
And bloody his rise and fall shall be
Man, man, your time is sand
Your ways are leaves upon the sea
I am the eyes of Nostradamus
All your ways are known to me
Man, man, your time is sand
Your ways are leaves upon the sea
I am the eyes of Nostradamus
All your ways are known to me
In the new lands of America
Three brothers now shall come to power
Two alone are born to rule
But all must die before their hour
Two great men yet brothers not
Make the north united stand
Its power be seen to grow
And fear possess the eastern lands
Three leagues from the gates of Rome
A Pope named Pol is doomed to die
A great wall that divides a city at this time is cast aside
These are the signs I bring to you
To show you when the time is nigh
Man, man, your time is sand
Your ways are leaves upon the sea
I am the eyes of Nostradamus
Meet me at the station underneath the clock
Carry an umbrella, no need to talk
The man in the homburg, hiding in the fog
Will be watching
Get yourself a ticket, go through the gate
At seven forty-five precisely, don't be late
If anybody follows don't hesitate
Keep on walking
And take the night train to Munich
Rumbling down the track
After half an hour in the restaurant car
Look for the conductor
And there will be a stain on his tunic
A paper underneath his arm
Then you'd better pray that he doesn't look away
Or you'll never, never, never come back.
When you get the paper take a look inside
On page twenty-seven there's a photo of a bride
Underneath the story of a man who died
In Morocco
Memorize the article word for word
The man in the homburg understands the code
Make sure the conversation isn't overheard
They're around you
And take the night train to Munich
Rumbling down the track
After half an hour in the restaurant car
Look for the conductor
And there will be a stain on his tunic
A paper underneath his arm
Then you'd better pray that he doesn't look away
Or you'll never, never, never come back.
I really wouldn't ask if there was anybody else
But I now you've got the knack of taking care of yourself
And they don't know your face so there won't be anyone
Looking for you
When you get to Munich we'll be waiting in the car
Don't look around, just walk straight out
If you don't show, I'm sorry for the pain
I caused you
Upon the night train to Munich
Rumbling down the track
After half an hour in the restaurant car
Look for the conductor
And there will be a stain on his tunic
A paper underneath his arm
Then you'd better pray that he doesn't look away
Night rolls in
Gone is the wind
Fireflies dancing in your eyes
Now you're holy again
Oh night rolls in
Oh night rolls in
It's like a dream of a long time ago
A footprint lost in the snow
That covers the ground where we summered our lives
Watching them grow
From seeds that you sow
But now the world in all its works and ways
Grays our Novembering days
The fire still glows
That once was a rose
A long time ago
Night rolls in
Gone is the wind
Fireflies dancing in your eyes
And now you're holy again
Oh night rolls in
Oh night rolls in
Night rolls in
Gone is the wind
Fireflies dancing in your eyes
And now you're holy again
Oh night rolls in
Oh night rolls in
You say with best intention
Let's throw away convention
Set sail across the water
To find the tides of fortune
I say please understand it
Don't let our love be stranded
Upon the midnight rocks
Upon the midnight rocks
You say there's no endeavour
We couldn't try together
No storm we couldn't weather
We'll ride the wind forever
I hear the words you've spoken
Don't let our love be broken
Upon the midnight rocks
Upon the midnight rocks
Ah, you know you know it's easy
Ah, to let it go believe me
Ah, you know, you know you feel it
Ah, don't lose it when you need it
I know that fascination
With living each sensation
In your imagination
There is no hesitation
I know your mind is turning
Don't let our love lie burning
Upon the midnight rocks
Upon the midnight rocks
I know that fascination
With living each sensation
In your imagination
There is no hesitation
I say please understand it
Don't let our love be stranded
And the days they flew by
And the leaves fell from the trees
And many times you came around
And many times you slept with me
And every time that we made love
You wrote it down in your diary
Lady of ladies
But I would always say to you
Don't ask about tomorrow
Give what you have, take what you need
Your time is only now
Don't try to tie me down to promises
I live for today, today is all there is
And freedom seems to be everything to me
I took you down to a party
On the night of the 4th of May
And a strange and growing restlessness
Had hung in the air all day
The need to try and tear down
And destroy all that we'd made
Lady of ladies
You whispered in my ear and asked me
If I fancied her
You told me that he'd phoned you
When I was in America
Daring each other just to say okay
Swop for tonight, didn't I always say
That freedom seems to be everything to me
And she came and she sat down beside me
And you found an excuse to go downstairs
And she smiled and made
The kind of conversation that you do
And later on she said
'My last train has gone
Oh I wonder if you could run me home'
And I found vou in the hallway and told you
That was all that I would do
Just run her home and it's through
Oh I thought you knewBut I must confess
I laid my head on her breast
And it seemed so hard
To pull it away
Her hand touched my hand
And her eyes were offering the rest
If it wasn't for you, oh I would have stayed
But I came back home through the morning
To find you lying awake
And I knew all at once what you'd done
And I heard myself say
"Why did you have to sleep with him
Anyone else
Wouldn't have mattered
Half
As much as him"
I don't want to touch you
Somehow you feel unclean
I just wish that you
Were five hundred miles away from me
Don't talk at all, don't start to cry
Just pack up your things
Lady of ladies
And though I'd always told myself
That when our time ended
I'd walk away with no regrets
And no attempts to stay
Somehow it doesn't seem to be that way
I find I'm needing every word you say
This freedom seems to be everything to me
And you went up to Cambridge
And you stayed in your brother's room
And you wrote me a letter and sent it the same afternoon
You said "I just want to hurt myself
Oh I need you so badly now"
And you told me
"Without you there seems to be no horizon at all
Just no crack in the wall
No place lower to fall
"Hey don't leave me, don't leave me
The shapelessness of the dawn
Floods above and beneath me,
I can't go on
And I had to walk right into the trap
And I had to say please come back
Though I felt all the while
My resistance slipping away
Why did I have to fall for you
Anyone else
Wouldn't have hurt me
Half
It was a night meeting
Somewhere in a troubled land
They came with no greeting
Left without a shaken hand
Nearby the town sleeping
Was unaware of what was done
No need for watch-keeping
They'll be gone before the sun
You may not see just where the sense is
In the actions of the state
You may not know the consequences
Of their actions till too late
The rival factions still debate
As shadows gather at your gate
It was a night meeting
They won't admit on either side
There'll be no press briefing
Information classified
It was a night meeting
Independently arranged
To get a signed treaty
Force the government to change
Secret diplomacy without the means
To make their policy prevail
Meanwhile the powers that be behind the scenes
Had guaranteed to see them fail
You seem beyond the jurisdiction
Of the democratic powers
You do not see the contradiction
Of the watchmen in the towers
You turn your back as night devours
The final choice, the final hours
It was a night meeting
These are men who won't be missed
their lives were just fleeting
He heard the clatter of her heels in the street
The clock said half-past three
He lay there waiting in the dark
To hear the scraping of the front-door key
He wouldn't say to her
"Don't wanna know where you were?"
She wouldn't find him there
Next time
She missed the train, she felt the rain upon her face
It seemed to clear her head
She watched him drive into the night
A broken tail-light, a speck of red
She still felt his touch
It didn't seem to mean that much
She wouldn't go back there
Next time
When you were just a kid
You loved to go to movies in the afternoon
And so you left the factory
And got a job in the projection-room
Bette Davis plays
Ran away with the passing days
You'll be a movie star
Oh the sweet addiction
Of forbidden fruit
Oh the strange affliction
That has taken root
Oh the hidden cancer
Cancer of the soul
Oh the necromancer
Inside us all
I have never seen this many
People gathered in one place together
Don't ask about it
You don't want to know
Caught up in the fury of euphoria
They say will last forever
Don't ask about it
It might just be so
Oh the burning candle
Oh the pretty flame
Come fly into the night with us
And feel the same
Oh the sweet surrender
Oh the solemn vow
Leave your old identity
And join us now
I believe that I have been
Through this before
And I can still remember
Maybe a past life
I just can't tell
The faces and the uniforms
Are changed yet
There's something so familiar
Am I still under
That same old spell
Oh the sweet addiction
Of forbidden fruit
Oh the strange affliction
That has taken root
Oh the love of darkness
Oh the vampire's kiss
Have mercy on a people
Who would dream like this
Who would dream like this
I was in a bar called Paradise
When the fiddler from the band
Asked me "Why do you stand there crying?"
I answered him: "Musician, this may come as a surprise
I was trying to split the difference
And it split before my eyes
And my enemies have sweet voices
Their tones are soft and kind
When I hear my heart rejoices
I do not seem to mind"
I was playing Brag in Bedlam
And the doctor would not deal
Asking me: "Why do you kneel down there bleeding?"
I answered him "Physician,
I think you would have cried
I was falling back on failure
The failure stepped aside
And my enemies have sweet voices
Their tones are soft and kind
When I hear my heart rejoices
I do not seem to mind"
I was blind side to the gutter
And Merlin happened by
Asking me "why do you lie down there bleeding?"
I answered him "Magician, as a matter of a fact
I was jumping to conclusions
And one of them jumped back
And my enemies have sweet voices
Their tones are soft and kind
When I hear my heart rejoices
I do not seem to mind"
Now here's a book full of photographs
That my ancestors made some generations ago
They're wearing the lastest clothes in a nautical way
The Suez Canal close behind is frozen in time
The deck crews star out of a mime
And they seem to be considering me
Here on my Egyptian couch
O the life on Edwardian steamships
Is measured and slow, while down below
There are fires that shudder and clang and thunder
And sweat-caked in smoke, and cauldrons to stoke
To send the ship on her way
Tasting the salt and the spray
And a century later I scan the equator
From my Egyptian couch
And the news every day brings
Contains the strangest of things
But with confident smilesw my forebears decline
To gaze into the wings
So they look from the photographs
And they're curious now, wondering how we turned out
Let's say like the Chinese adage
Your father sailed on the Murmansk run
To guide the flocks of the ships home one by one
Grey beneath the Arctic sun
Or the glow of Northern Lights
I see you have his photograph
His eyes are watching for dangers fore or aft
Trading days beneath the sun
For the cold and wintry nights of the Murmansk run
He never did come home to you
It's long forgotten, a childhood dream or two
But something of the cold got through
And it lingers in your eyes
On days like these you hear the wind
And feel the chill of the ice floes closing in
Trading days beneath the sun
For the cold and wintry nights of the Murmansk run
Save our souls, river of darkness over me
Save our souls, lost on the dark uncharted sea
Now you hide yourself from view
You seem to find it an easy thing to do
Trading days beneath the sun
For the cold and wintry nights of the Murmansk run
Save our souls, river of darkness over me
Save our souls, lost on the dark uncharted sea
Well you wake up in the morning on Hester street
And run to the factory, You can't afford to be late
Working every morning, every evening, every day
For your money, Yet there's nothing to save
Watching your life pass by the window
Feeling it all run through your hands
Counting the thousands behind in the lines
Waiting time for their chance
From Ellis Island, day after day
From Ellis Island, dreams slip away
Meanwhile from the market come the cries
Of every tongue and every nation
Refugeless refugees
Faces from the endless plains of Russia
Blonde Norwegian, dark Croatian
Songs in sad minor keys
Feeling the heat inside the fumace
Trying to make that break away
Reaching their hands for a grip
On the edge just to slip back again
From Ellis Island, day after day
From Ellis Island, dreams slip away
Ah well I've heard it said
If you just use your head
You can make your fortune here
One lucky break and that's all it would take
But it never seems to be near
Another day, another ship pulls into harbor
And the crowd spills down the gangway
Clutching their suitcases tight
Blinking in the sunlight at the door of the new world
They hold the handrail
With all the post thrown behind
Caught in between now and forever
Wondering just what lies ahead
Each one is waiting and hoping
The door will be open to them
On Ellis Island, day after day
On Ellis Island, time slips away
From Ellis Island, day after day
From Ellis Island, dreams slip away
Save our souls, river of darkness over me
How pleasant to know Mr. Lear
How pleasant to know at the end of the day he's near
With a portfolio that daily features diverse creatures
You open the book and it's true
The world is a lot more mysterious than we knew
Round every corner unusual things are prone to wander
When I was a young man I was oft-times at the zoo
To trace the visages and forms of parrots and cockatoos
It's over the hill now he goes
Pausing a while with the Pobble who has no toes
For your perusal, Victorian days are so unsual
Oh my aged Uncle Arly, sitting on a heap of barley
On his nosehis faithful cricket
In his hat a railway ticket
But his shoes were far too tight
How pleasant to know Mr. Lear
In Egypt, the first day of spring
You're painting a watercolor,hoping the light will bring
Guided by pens and inks, the pyramids and palms and sphinx
When I was an old man, I had a cat named Foss
Now he's gone I wander on
With this unbearable sense of loss
How pleasant to know Mr. Lear
How pleasant to know at the end of the day he's near
And if you should find him
I take my troubles on a Friday night
To the heart of the bistro
Among the shadows and the low low lights
I can find a release-o
My favorite waitress will be here tonight
I love the way she wears those fish-net tights
She's so hard to resist-o
in this Mondo Sinistro
She picks a menu up and throws it my way
With a flick of her wrist-o
I'm sitting hoping that the night might take
A romantic twist-o
I order chicken and a chilled chablis
She brings me grapefruit and a cup of tea
She's a little Mephisto
In this Mondo Sinistro
I say I really love her dark brown eyes
And the way that they tease-o
I tell her everytime she passes by
I grow weak in the knees-o
I ask her would she like to come and play
She blows my candle out and walks away
I just cease to exist-o
This is the Mona Lisa talking
Out on the street where love goes walking
Into the shadows that can't hide you
Here is a voice that speaks inside you
Go home, pretty baby, go on home, pretty baby
You will go home to the one who is waiting for you
Anything that you want, anything that you do
You will go home to the one who is waiting alone for you
This is the Mona Lisa talking
Out of a patch of oil and water
Over the street lamps and the river
Out of a smile that lasts forever
Go home, pretty baby, go on home, pretty baby
You will go home to the one who is waiting for you
Anything that you want, anything that you do
You will go home to the one who is waiting alone for you
O I know you think you're part of a tragic song
You can show reasons it's over, but I know you're wrong
These Renaissance girls know what they're saying
There are whispers at night in the halls of paintings
You think you're the first one to come untethered
But we've been watching you forever
Go home, pretty baby, go on home, pretty baby
You will go home to the one who is waiting for you
Anything that you want, anything that you do
You will go home to the one who is waiting alone for you
This is the Mona Lisa talking
Hello old friend, what a strange coincidence to find you
It's been fifteen years since we last met but I still recognized you
So call the barman over here and let us fill our glasses
And drink a toast to olden times where all our memories lie
Where all our memories lie
Do you remember the time when we were young?
Lowly, lowly, low
Outside the window the frosty moonlight hung
On the midnight snow
So we pulled our scarves around our faces in the night
Huddled on the doorsteps where the fairy lights shone bright
Singing Christmas carols while our breath hung in the light
It all comes back like yesterday, it almost seems like yesterday
Do you remember the changes as we grew?
Slowly, slowly, slow
Sneaking in the back way into movies after school
For the evening show
Chasing skinny blue jean girls across the building site
Checking out the dance floor while the band played, "Hold Me Tight"
See the blonde one over there, I bet she'd be alright
It all comes back like yesterday, it almost seems like yesterday
While I talked he sat and he never made a sound
Staring at the glass beside me
Hey old friend, tell me what's on your mind?
Silence grows on you like ivy, ivy
Do you remember the church across the sands?
Holy, holy, ho
You stood outside and planned to travel to the lands
Where the pilgrims go
So you packed your world up inside a canvas sack
Set off down the highway with your rings and Kerouac
Someone said they saw you in Nepal a long time back
Tell me why you look away? Don't you have a word to say?
He said, "I don't remember, I don't wanna remember
In fact I've heard too much already
I don't wanna think, just leave me here to drink
Wrapped up in the warmth of New York City"
"Oh, oh, it seems you just don't know
And you just don't understand me
I've got no use for the tricks of modern times
They tangle all my thoughts like ivy, ivy"
So I left him and I went out to the street
Lowly, lowly, low
Where the red light girls were coming after me
Forty dollar show
All across the city's heart the lights were coming on
The hotel lift softly hummed to Cole Porter song
If I went to look for him I knew he would be gone
A picture card of yesterday, a photograph of yesterday
And far off in a deserted part of town
The shadows like a silent army
Flooded out the rooms in pools of blue and brown
She never learned her lesson
She had to have it all
It was a real mixed blessing
I don't believe she saw
She liked to keep them guessing
Sometime later on
She'd gather her possessions and be gone
When the night comes following
From the clear blue sky
You can see her running
Don't you wonder why
When the light goes fading
From her clear blue eyes
Only in the darkest places will she feel at home
When the great collector found her
She was just a girl
She rang a chord inside him
And he stole her to the centre of his world
Many wished they could be in her shoes
But she surely did know how to have the blues
He tried to make a star of her
She never did know why
And though she could have told him
There were some things that his money couldn't buy
She never knew a way to refuse
But she surely did know how to have the blues
They say tomorrow's such a long, long time
They say tomorrow never comes
Whatever happened to this dream of mine
Count the days as they run
He built himself a castle
On a hill above a bay
Where Marion the Chatelaine
Charmed every single one who came to stay
Some never knew, while others read the clues
That she surely did know how to have the blues
They say tomorrow's such a long, long time
They say tomorrow never comes
Whatever happened to this dream of mine
Count the days as they run
When all the parties ended
In the castle on the hill
The paintings and the statues stood alone
And all the corridors grew still
She got caught between the shadows and the booze
Prince Louis Battenberg is burning the Admiralty lights down low
Silently sifting through papers sealed with a crown
Admiral Lord Fisher is writing to Churchill, calling for more Dreadnoughts
The houses in Hackney are all falling down
And my grandmother sits on the beach in the days before the war
Young girl writing her diary, while time seems to pause
Watching the waves as they come one by one to die on the shore
Kissing the feet of England
Oh the lights of Saint Petersburg come on as usual
Although the air seems charged with a strangeness of late, yet there's nothing to touch
And the Tsar in his great Winter Palace has called for the foreign news
An archduke was shot down in Bosnia, but nothing much
And my grandmother sits before the mirror in the days before the war
Smiling a secret smile as she goes to the door
And the young man rides off in his carriage, homeward once more
And the sun sets gently on England
Ah the day we decided to drive down to Worthing, it rained and rained
Giving us only a minute to stand by the sea
And crunching my way through the shingles, it seemed there was nothing changed
Though the jetty was maybe more scarred that I'd known it to be
And Mandi and I stood and stared at the overcast sky
Where ten years ago we had stood, my Grandfather and I
And the waves still rushed in as they had the year that he died
And it seemed that my lifetime was shrunken and lost in the tide
As it rose and fell on the side of England
Oh baby
Come and tell me 'bout your tree house
And your candy-striped pet mouse
And your carpet house feet
Hey come tell me about your eyebrows that meet
And baby
Come and tell me about your chilblain
And your right eyeball's growing pains
And your purple tractor that sings
Hey come tell me 'bout all of those things
If you want to tell me some more
Think you can
Oh babe, tell me about your lover man
He wanders struttingly round
Whenever I'm out of town
You know the one that I mean
The one that's stealing my scene
Baby come tell me 'bout him
And baby
Come and tell me 'bout your black rose
And the garden where your love grows
Among the cabbages and beans
Hey come tell me why your primroses are green
If you want to tell me some more
Think you can
Oh babe, tell me about your lover man
He wanders struttingly round
Whenever I'm out of town
You know the one that I mean
The one who's stealing my cream
Baby come tell me 'bout him
Tell me 'bout your lover man
Tell me 'bout your lover man
Tell me 'bout your lover man
I can remember the first girl that I did love
It was Stephanie
In kindergarten arithmetic classes she used to
Sit next to me
I'd pass her sticky sweets under the table
Where the teacher couldn't see
Although she wouldn't remember me now
Sometimes I wonder where she can be
I can remember the first girl I kissed
It was Christine when I was ten
I'd been told we were moving away
I thought I'd never see her again
Oh don't forget me
I'll be back when they let me
Before you learn how to lie when you're leaving
Love is so much easier then
And at school would you believe three hundred boys
And no girls at all
But you're a fool if you should leave
Just think of the joys of rugby football
And prep in the morning and Brylcreem and acne
And cross-country running to kill evil thoughts
I'm surprised that I survived
I ran ten thousand miles with my back to the wall
I can remember the first girl that I made love to
It was in a park
In the lower pleasure gardens in Bournemouth
In summer just after dark
My mind was reeling: Oh what a feeling.
I missed the bus and walked twelve miles home
And it really didn't seem far
And all through my seventeenth summer
Running together from crowds and ties
Taking our clothes off and feeling each other
With fingers and senses and mouths and eyes
Incurring the glances of old disapproval
From elderly local inhabitant's eyes
Oh time, time we hardly even knew you
You didn't touch us with your lies
In the halcyon days of my late adolescence
My goal seemed clearly in sight
Playing electric guitar with a beat group
We set the ballrooms alight
Camping it up for the dyed blonde receptionists
Who told us we were al-ri-yi-yight
On an ego trip for a teenage superstar
On thirty shillings a nigh-yight
And so it fell that I came up to London
To look for fortune and fame
Starry eyed in my seaside successes
And much too sure of the game
First girl I met thereI thought I'd get there
But the first girl was nearly the last girl
She left my eyes in the drain
She sat on my floor in the dead of the night
Rolling a joint and looking round for a light
Her clothes were so black and her face was so white
How could I know what was right?
And I sat all huddled upon my bed
Watching her in my innocence
And it was no sense at all, but too much sense
That took me to the bridge of impotence
Oh Artaud's anthology lay spread on the floor
And the thoughts that she gave me,
I'd not met before
And stranded half hypnotised,
I watched her in awe
Of everything that she stood for
And I wanted more than anything to be like her with every sense
But it was no sense at all, but too much sense
That took me to the bridge of impotence
She came over to me and kissed me in play
Taking my hand between her legs as she lay
And she looked in my eyes but I turned them away
Finding no words fit to say
And I hated myself, but could not move
Shattered in my confidence
But it was no sense at all, but too much sense
That took me to the bridge of impotence
Now the stare of the lightbulb tore holes in my brain
As she got up in the silence that hung like a stain
And I wanted to speak, or to call out her name
But how could I begin to explain?
And my prosecuting room still holds
A strand of her hair in evidence
But it was no sense at all, but too much sense
That took me to the bridge of impotence
Oh I still think about her when the night fills with rain
And speaks in its voices uneasy and vain
And I think were I maybe to find her again
Oh I'd probably see her more plain
And I should have known she was just like me
It was after all only common-sense
But it was no sense at all, but too much sense
That took me to the bridge of impotence
But it was no sense at all, but too much sense
That took me to the bridge of impotence
At first I didn't go out much at all
I just stayed at home in my chains
Picking over the threads of my confidence
And searching for the remains
And when I couldn't stand any more of it
Going down to a club
Mixing in with the sounds and the crowds
I let the music cover me up
And only, lonely, the harlequins and painted phonies
Pick their ways, through the haze
Of highs and lows and blues
And all that I could do was to pick my way to you
Though I didn't tell you
You were just a thing to prove
I was hungry when found you, but I'm alright now
They sigh, they lie, the refugees and superheroes
On ice, so nice to see you, what's your name?
And all that I could do was to say the same to you
Take you for the moment, though the moment wasn't true
But I was hungry when I found you and I'm alright now
Though the street lamp cut through the curfew
It shed no light on our mind
It would have been so easy to love you
At any other time
Only, lonely, you came to me the night hung coldly
In your eyes, some other time I might have stayed with you
But all that I could do was to turn around to you
Thanks for what you gave me now it's time to say "Adieu"
I was hungry when I found you but I'm alright now.
Ba ba ba alright now
And so it came that I stood disillusioned
By everything I'd been told
I just didn't believe love existed
They were all just digging for gold
Widows and bankers and typists and businessmen
Loved each other they said
But all it was though was just a manoeuvre
The quickest way into bed
And so I followed the others' example
And jumped into the melee
In the hunting grounds of Earls Court and Swiss Cottage
I did my best to get laid
Beer cans and parties, deb girls and arties
Bouncing around in the social confusion
Missing and making the grade
The very first time I must confess
I thought you'd be like all of the rest
And we'd be strangers once again
By the time we were dressed
But when you'd smoked your cigarette
And talked of some people that we'd met
I found myself asking was it set,
did you have to go yet
And so you laughed and then kissed me
And stayed for the whole weekend
Although the bed was so narrow
We had to sleep end to end
And so the weeks passed through my brain
In their dadaistic chain
I found myself seeing you again, and again and again
And all you gave you gave it free
Asking for nothing back from me
You gave yourself unselfishly as a part of me
And where I thought that just plucking
The fruits of the bed was enough
It grew to be less like fucking
And more like making love
Of all the girls I ever knew
some loved and some denied me
And all the words I ever said
have been no use to hide me
And all the songs I ever sung
each one of them untied me
And all the girls I ever loved
Lori, don't go right now
Now that you've come this far
Lori, you don't know how
Close you really are
There's nothing you can't do
It's up to you to let it go
Put the past behind
Out of sight and out of mind
Lori, you're never gonna see
Behind the untried door
You know it doesn't have to be
The way it was before
You're not the only one who found too soon
The more you care
The more you stand to lose
I've been inside your shoes
So Lori, don't go right now
I know you just take anything on trust
Why don't you open up and show the way you feel?
What's there to hide?
What is it that's inside of you
That you seem so unwilling to reveal?
So let's just take it slow
It's not as though
Lord Salisbury said to me
"Though we spend our lives in isolation
Girdled 'round by the Emerald Sea
No fear shall we know".
Look away, look away, look away
To the lamp-lit square
At the ebb of May
Look away, look away, look away
For our survival
Lord Salisbury takes his time
The government sits in contemplation
All is ordered and in its prime
No fear shall we know
Look away, look away, look away
To the fog-bound ship in the icy bay
Look away, look away, look away
For our survival
On th mantelpiece is a silver clock
And it counts the hours and they won't turn back
The evening set and the room forgets
The day that went before
And through my window
Iron wheels on a cobbled mews
You will know changes soon
Lord Salisbury reads the news
And puts the paper on the table
Many paths will be ours to choose
No fear shall we know
Look away, look away, look away
To the fleets of steel and the waves of grey
Look away, look away, look away
For our survival
The Queen is old but she lingers still
Like the fading ring of a distant bell
And Oscar Wilde in his prison cell
Laments a brighter day
And in some window a red flag flies
In a meeting room
You will know changes soon
Lord Salisbury said to me
"Though we spend our lives in isolation
Girdled 'round by the Emerald Sea
No fear shall we know".
Look away, look away, look away
To the lonesome cry of the modern day
Look away, look away, look away
Go and tell Lord Grenville that the tide is on the turn
It's time to haul the anchor up and leave the land astern
We'll be gone before the dawn returns
Like voices onthe wind.
Go and tell Lord Grenville that our dreams have run aground
There's nothing here to keep us in this shanty town
None of us are caring where we're bound
Like voices on the wind.
And come the day you'll hear them saying
"They're throwing it all away"
Nothing more to say
Just throwing it all away.
Go and fetch the captain's log and tear the pages out
We're on our way to nowhere now, can't bring the helm about
None of us are left in any doubt
We won't be back again.
Send a message to the fleet, they'll search for us in vain
We won't be there among the reaches of the Spanish Main
Tell the ones we left home not to wait
We won't be back again.
And come the day you'll hear them saying
"They're throwing it all away"
Nothing more to say
Just throwing it all away.
Our time is just a point along a line
That runs forever with no end
I never thought that we would come to find
Ourselves upon these rocks again.
Go and tell Lord Grenville that the tide is on the turn...
Maid, truly I see now it must be a long way down
And with love's bud shorn
Now must all dalliance hither crumble and wither [1]
Oh strange, methought it strange
Thou couldst deprive me of my crown [2]
And my freedom that thou cast upon me as
Litter bears fruit of bitter strain [3]
And I would go forsooth to the dragon's tooth [4]
If thus a chance were gained
To resurrect that part of your wanton heart
To whose grave my own is chained
And hold, ere thou dost go
Were not thy moments gilded too
And in honesty didst thou not measure for measure
Countenance pleasure
Cold were't thou so cold
This in thy mind be frozen too
And will not Spring be reborn
But might the sun thaw the frost here
That all be not lost herein
And I would rather, Zounds! [5]
It were hell's own hounds
Whose foul breath upon my face
Did portent my doom, than to bear the gloom
Of a world stripped of thy grace
And so in truth I know
Yes it will be a long way down
And if go thou must, ere we should meet accidental
Prithee be gentle [6]
And though distant now
Perchance the hand of time may soothe
And though lost at six, if I should live to be seven [7]
Lindy flew his plane across the dark Atlantic
Put her down near Paris and the crowds went frantic
They raced across the field, to touch the wings and wheels
And reach inside the cockpit just to see if he was real
Back in New York City people watched and waited
The news came down the wire and they celebrated
And in that time so brief, it was everyone's belief
That the world had grown no bigger than a pocket handkerchief
When Lindy comes to town and all the bands are playing
When Lindy comes to town and all the flags are waving
Mr Coolidge he will say, it's a public holiday
You can see them ride down Wall Street in a tickertape parade
I want to be there in that crown upon that bright, bright morning
And I can tell the world I saw a new day dawning
With my baby by my side in among that human tide
I want to be right there when Lindy comes to town
Every day is better than the one before it
If I see a raincloud then I'll just ignore it
Everbody says it'll get much better yet
It's 1927 and my whole life lies ahead
Gonna get myself a car and find a place to park it
Get a little cash and put it in the market
And on my wedding day I will turn around and say
There never was a better time than this one anyway
When Lindy comes to town and all the bands are playing
When Lindy comes to town and all the flags are waving
Mr Coolidge he will say, it's a public holiday
You can see them ride down Wall Street in a tickertape parade
I want to be there in that crown upon that bright, bright morning
And I can tell the world I saw a new day dawning
With my baby by my side in among that human tide
I got a letter; it came in the mail today
I saw by the stamp it was written an ocean away
No need to open it, I know what it must say
Ill just go back to the dream I was having
Before love went astray
Ill sit on my porch like William McKinley
And Ill let the world come to me
And if its too busy, I really dont mind and
Theres no place I want to be
Now and again, I will open a window and
Stare at the overcast sky
And put you away in a drawer in my mind
And Ill just bid all of my troubles goodbye
The country round here is deserted; theres no one at all
People come here in the summer and leave in the fall
You followed after them, disappeared into the night
Now all thats left is the footprint you made
In the mud, frozen in white
Ill sit on my porch like William McKinley
And Ill let the world come to me
And if its too busy, I really dont mind and
Theres no place Ill want to be
Now and again, I will open and window and
Stare at the overcast sky
And put you away in a drawer in my mind
And Ill just bid all of my troubles goodbye
Oh, come away from the day, here I stay
Living on the bottom of the sea
Down metal snake, corridors, steely gray
Engines hum for nobody but me
No sound comes from the sea above me
No messages crackles through the radio leads
They'll never know, never, no, never
How strange life in dark water can be
Oh, mariners spare a thought when you pass
Those who live the submarine life
Far in the deep sonar eyes never sleep
Hiding like a shadow in the night
Jet planes nose through the clouds above me
They look for radar traces of me to see
They'll never know, never, no, never
How strange life in dark water can be
Wonder what the stars look like
Coming out tonight
Tell my girl she must be strong
She sits and waits all night long
Just looking for a better day
She'll have to find another way to go
No memory, tell me what's wrong with me
Why am I alone here with no rest
And now the name of the ship's not the same
How long has it been Marie Celeste?
Now there's nobody from the crew left
Five hundred years supply of food just for me
They'll never know, never, no, never
How strange life in dark water can be
They'll never know, never, no, never
(Al Stewart)
He walks into the room
He's got a briefcase like a bomb
A smile on both faces
And he call it aplomb
He wants a bite of your apple
Hands you back the peel
He's fresh out of law school
He's got a license to steal
When he offers his advice
You can guarantee
For several hundred dollars an hour
He will see just how many complications
Your life will reveal
He's fresh out of law school
He's got a license to steal
He's an ambulance chaser
A waver of papers
He loves to mix wit hthe movers and shakers
He's taking from them
He's taking from you
Lawyers love money
Anybody's will do
Just take it
He's poking his nose into people's despair
When tragedy strikes he will always be there
Looking so cool
His greed is hard to conceal
He's fresh out of law school
You gave him a license to steal
We've got seven hundred thousand
Attorneys at law
Nobody can tell me what we need them all for
We should throw them in chains
Chastise them and rebuke them
If it doesn't work
We ought to take 'em out and nuke 'em
Blow a lawyer to pieces
It's the obvious way
Don't wait for a thesis
Do it today
Take him to the court of no final appeal
When you're fresh out of lawyers
You don't know how good it's gonna feel
Laughing Into 1939
Al Stewart
Party hat and satin dress
Silver paper curled in her long black hair
Tapping one small elegant shoe in time
Oh, the way she plays with them
Smile at one, then dance with another
Pretty soon they're forming up a line
And she's laughing, laughing into 1939
Oh, laughing, laughing into 1939
Oh, the party draws them in
It breathes and moves
To a life its own
In its arms it's gathering all time
From the dark he watches her
Moving in and out of the bobbing crowd
If she even notices, she gives no sign
And she's laughing, laughing into 1939
Oh, laughing, laughing into 1939
For tonight is New Year's Eve
Uncork your spirits and welcome it in
Who knows what it's got up its sleeve
Can't wait for it all to begin
Stand by the girl with the purple balloon
The look in her eyes just lights up the room
In the corner of her smile
She'll be seeing you soon
Under a mistletoe moon
Out on to the balcony
Come the King and Queen
And the crowd go wild
He's a little bit nervous
But that's just fine
And they're laughing, laughing into 1939
When the cock crows
And the wind blows
And the primrose of dawn
Is at your windows
Moving through the deep
You chase dreams across your sleep
Scarecrows, waiting at your door
In the last days of the century
Leaning from your balcony
You said this is how it's meant to be
Can't you feel it in the air
See that light come shining down
All the way to Chinatown
See it come from miles around
Reflecting everywhere
You wore black clothes
You quoted Shakespeare
You still make me shake
When you get this near
You look like a still from Cecil B. DeMille
When I saw you waiting at my door
In the last days of the century
Leaning from y our balcony
You say changes come so rapidly
You can feel them in the air
Whoever you pretend to be
You must face yourself eventually
In the last days of the century
Who knows who we were
In the last days of the century
Leaning from your balcony
You said this is how it's meant to be
Can't you feel it in the air
See that light come shining down
All the way to Chinatown
See it shine from miles around
Dreamed I was the King of Portugal
In a big four poster bed
Noble tapestries from wall to wall
And a crown upon my head
Bells ring and servants bring
The jewels and the robes
For the night to begin
CHORUS
Would you love me forever
If I had everything
Would you love me forever
If I were a king
Then it seemed that I was travelling
Through the granite hills of Dao
With a vineyard spread in front of me
In a carriage headed south
Night came with the skies aflame
And all that I saw
Was all mine to claim
CHORUS
There are those that can tell you
What your fantasies mean
But I don't feel the need to
Understand everything
CHORUS
I was watching TV late last night
And a scene transported me
Long gone figures came back to life
In a documentary
Though I saw them dance for joy
I was sad I missed that show
If I had a time machine
I know just where I'd go
CHORUS
I was born too late to see Josephine Baker
Dancing in a Paris cabaret
Born too late to see Josephine Baker
She must have been great in her heyday
Now some they stand out from a crowd
Even at an early age
I suppose that her call was loud
'Cause she just lit up the stage
You can put on all that gloss
And still not have to feel
What's inside will come across
And only real is real
CHORUS
I'm sometimes trapped by the close confines
Of the age I'm born into
Though there were others worse than mine
Well I miss what I can't do
Join the feast of Ancient Greece
See Alexander's Library
Maybe clink a champagne toast
With a jazz age dancing queen
CHORUS
In black and white film you can't mistake her
She must have been great in her heyday
I was surrounded by a large hippopotamus
And nine of it's friends who declared
Quite a lot of us
Are feelingrather blue
And we don't know what to do
I turned away but the large hippopotamus
Said that his pit of despair appeared bottomless
Yest hippopotami are
Not supposed to cry
I said "My, my, other people's problems
Do get tedious by and bye
My, my you can never solve them
No matter how hard you try."
This brought a tear from the large hippopotamus
Who said in a voice that was growing monotonous
You cannot get the sense
Of how it feels to be immense
The sleek and the sliim make fun
Of a lot of us
And creatures who fly
Through the air
Sit on top of us
ANd even in the pool
We are faced with ridicule
I said "My, my other people's problems
Do get tedious by and by
My, my you can never solve them
No matter how hard you try."
I came back as a large hippopotamus
Now I've got my payment
For the service that I gave
They've given me my ticket
To this place beyond the grave
I suppose it's kind of funny
I suppose it's kind of sad
Thinking back on all the times we had
But it's kind of hot and smoky
In this ante-room to Hell
And I won't make up a story
'Cause you know the truth so well
It's much too late to worry
That we never had a chance
And when Joe the Georgian gets here
We will dance, dance dance
When Joe the Georgian gets here
We will dance
We all set off together
On this sorry ship of state
When the captain took the fever
We were hijacked by the mate
And he steered us through the shadows
Upon an angry tide
And cast us one by one over the side
But it's kind of hot and smoky
In this ante-room to Hell
And I won't make up a story
'Cause you know the truth so well
It's much too late to worry
That we never had a chance
And when Joe the Georgian gets here
We will dance, dance dance
When Joe the Georgian gets here
We will dance
There's Kamenev, Zinoviev,
Bukharin and the rest
We're sharpening our pitchforks
And we're heating up the ends
We've got a few surprises
For the mate when he appears
I hope he likes the next few million years
And it's kind of hot and smoky
In this anteroom to Hell
And I won't make up a story
'Cause you know the truth so well
It's much too late to worry
That we never had a chance
And when Joe the Georgian gets here
We will dance, dance dance
When Joe the Georgian gets here
I'm running away
On a day like today
Nothing you say
Could cause me to stay
Jackdaw (jackdaw)
Leaving by your back door
Should be gone by now
Should be gone by now
Should be gone by now
Don't try to follow
Just leave it alone
The trains have all left now
And the station is closed
Jackdaw (jackdaw)
Leaving by your back door
Should be gone by now
Should be gone by now
Should be gone by now
It's five in the morning
And it's rainy and cold
Just go back to sleep now
And you won't see me go
Jackdaw (jackdaw)
Leaving by your back door
Should be gone by now
Should be gone by now
Indian summer, the shops are shuttered and the crowds are gone
The souvenir sellers are moving on
Like summer lovers
Indian summer
The earth is cracked beneath the midday sun
You've dragged your shadow round these streets too long
There is no cover
Come stay, we'll live gazebo lives
And let the world outside pass us by
Right here in our Arabian Nights
Until the Northern Lights cross the sky
There is no other
Indian summer, the storm that drove you here is far behind
What keeps you waiting on this beach tonight
It's long been over
Come stay, we'll live gazebo lives
And let the world outside pass us by
Right here in our Arabian Nights
Until the Northern Lights cross the sky
There is no other
Come stay
It's a shame about Stalin, the curator said
He really was one of the best
Just look at the detail on that head
Too bad to melt him down with the rest
But since they wrote him out of the history books
Nobody gives him a second look
It's amazing how little time it took
And now he's never gonna get his statue up in Red Square
I remember Krushchev, the old man said
He had real strength in his jaw
The setting sun would turn his skull pale red
But now they've packed him off to the store
He used to know how to stir things up back then
Banging his shoe on the table at the UN
He said he'd bury the west again and again
But now he's never gonna get his statue up in Red Square
Too bad about Lenin, the old man sighed
he really had quite a run
For seventy years he was idolized
Even though he missed most of the fun
But the new revolution promised everyone cars
So they burned down the Kremlin and brought back the Tsars
Now they're spraying blue paint over all the red stars
?Oh I come from Pittsburgh to study astrology?
She said as she stepped on my instep
?I could show you New York with a walk between Fourth Street and Nine?
Then out of her coat taking seven harmonicas
She sat down to play on a doorstep
Saying, ?Come back to my place I will show you the stars and the signs?
So I followed her into the black lands
Where the window frames peel and flake
And the old Jewish face behind the lace
Even now trying to get to see what's cooking
Just John the Baptist in the park getting laid
Thinking there's no one looking
And it's eighty degrees
And I'm down on my knees in Brooklyn
Her house was a dusty collection of rusty
Confusion with landings and tunnels
And leaning bookcases and spaces and faces and things
Where twenty-five Puerto Ricans, Manhattan Mohicans
And Jewish-Italian pawnbrokers
Lead their theatrical lives in their rooms in the wings
While outside in the black lands
The violent day runs wild
And the black and white minstrels run through the crazy alleys
While the cops go booking
And ruthless toothless agents sneak around
And there's no one looking
And it's eighty degrees
And I'm down on my knees in Brooklyn
And oh, I'm back in the city again
You can tell by the smell of the hamburger stand in the rain
She spoke of astrology while muttering apologies
For coffee that tasted of hot dogs
I said, ?That's okay, mine was cold anyway and just grand?
Then she lay on the bed while the radio fed
Us with records and adverts for cat food
And I looked at her holding my thoughts in the palm of my hand
And outside in the black lands
The evening came and went
And the bums in the street begging money for one last drink
Are hanging round the liquor stores trying to get a foot in
And the girl from Pittsburgh and I made love on a mattress
With the new moon looking
And in the cool evening breeze
Shots split the night, the bullet lodged in his brain
He must have died instantly, he felt no pain
A crowd quickly gathered to the feast of the gun
Waiting for the ambulance and cops to come
Hmm, sirens wail in the concrete
Hmm, electric Los Angeles sunset, the sunset, the sunset
Headlight lit the faces by the tabernacle door
Gazing at the bloodstains on the damp sidewalk
As the crowd turned to go, a man was heard to say
"Ah, he must have had it comin' to him anyway"
Hmm, blood wagon rolls through the dragnet
Hmm, electric Los Angeles sunset, the sunset, the sunset
Cadillacs roll through the smoggy perfume
The buildings are choking on oxygen fumes
Evangelists praying in rented rooms in the afternoon
Which way do the signposts read
African eyes in the sunrise
The gates of the city are rusted over
And mouldering
The violence of the evening decays into the night
While shadows press like moths against the neon light
Movie queues diffuse into the Cinerama haze
While libertines read pornozines in street cafes
Hmm, the madman swings in the pulpit
Nothing that's forced can ever be right
If it doesn't come naturally, leave it
That's what she said as she turned out the light
And we bent our backs as slaves of the night
Then she lowered her guard and showed me the scars
She got from trying to fight
Saying oh, you'd better believe it.
Well I'm up to my neck in the crumbling wreckage
Of all that I wanted from life
When I looked for respect all I got was neglect
Though I swallowed the lign as a sign of the times
But dealing a jack from the back of the pack
They said-"You lose again"
Oh, I said, who needs it?
Well don't get me wrong now I tried to get on
With the jokers that got in my way
And I put on a smile and I tried all the while to be straight
But they just wanted more all the time and I'm sure
That you know what I mean when I say
That I'm sick of the touch and there's only so much you can take.
Well nothing that's real is ever for free
And you just have to pay for it sometime
She said it before, she said it to me
I suppose she believed there was nothing to see
But the same old four imaginary walls
She built for living inside
I said oh, you just can't meana it
Well there was never a doubt that she had to get out
she was just looking around for a way
In the pit of the night there was nowhere to hide any more
She was out on a limb, she was reaching for things
That she wanted, but just couldn't say
And she had to be sure that she wouldn't get caught like before.
Well nothing that's forced can ever be right
If it doesn't come naturally, leave it
That's what she said as she turned out the light
And she may have been wrong, and she may have been right
But I woke with the frost, and noticed she'd lost
The veil that covered her eyes
I said oh, you can leave it.
It's Sunday afternoon and it's raining,
I m falling
Colour sections, pastel blue, an empty church, a movie queue
And I'm falling
Watching you moving around
Taking the time
To get a proper look
It seems as though I've never really looked at you
Get up, put the kettle on, make us some tea
I'm falling
If we've got some biscuits left, please bring one for me,
I'm just falling
Spending the whole day in bed
Wasting our time
In such a gentle way
We hardly need to say a word, it's just okay
And already the sun has gone, and it's growing dark outside,
I can see your face reflected in the red electric firelight,
And our shadow is an embryo
That slowly comes to life
And as it moves across the wall
It seems to feel the fire of living
Growing stronger as it climbs
To shiver in a blaze
Across the ceiling
And the soundless crash of the sea
Fills the room with the scent of the breeze
And the waves break over
The beach of our bodies
As you reach your fingers out to me
Why don't we take the whole of next week off work,
We're falling
You can say you don't feel well, you caught a cold or something,
We're just falling
We can get out of town
Taking the time
To let it all work out
The hour glass is turning, every second counts
I'm falling
I'm falling
I'm falling
Moving around inside a dream today
I can't understand
She let go of my hand
And left me here facing the wall.
I'd sure like to know
Why did she go, but then
I can't get close to her at all.
Though we kissed through the wild blazing nighttime
She said she'd never forget.
But now morning is clear
Its like I ain't here
She acts like we never have met.
Its all new to me
Like some mystery
It could even be like a myth.
Yes its hard to think on
That she's the same one
That only last night I was with.
From darkness dreams are deserted
Am I still dreaming yet?
Oh, I wish she'd unlock
Her voice once and talk
'Stead of acting like we never met.
If she ain't feeling well
Well then why don't she tell
'Stead of turning her back to my face.
Mmm, without any doubt
She just seems too far out
For me to return to or chase.
Though the night ran swirling and whirling
I remember her whispering yet.
But evidently she don't
Evidently she won't
She just acts like we never have met.
If I didn't have to guess
I'd gladly confess
To anything I might have tried
If I was working too long
Or have done something wrong
Wish she'd say what it is I'll run and hide.
Though her skirt it swayed as the guitar played
Her mouth was watery and wet
But now something has changed
For she ain't the same
She just acts like we never have met.
Mmmm, I'm leaving today
Gotta be on my way
Of this I can't say too much.
But if you want me to
I can be just like you
retend that we never have touched.
And if anybody should ask me
Is it easy to forget?
Why its easily done
You just pick anyone
Oh, kid you're in a terrible state
You better pick yourself up before it gets too late
You're into phyiscal fitness and emotional fatness
You think you're an actress, you act like a mattress
How does it happen?
How does it happen?
How do things get to be that way?
How does it happen?
How does it happen?
I feel like a wheel on a train that's runnin' away
Runnin' away, runnin' away
Runnin' away, runnin' away
Oh, kid it can be bad out there
When the trash comes at you from everywhere
An original thought can be such a rush
Why do they feed you on a diet of man-made mush?
How does it happen?
How does it happen?
How does it get to be that way?
How does it happen?
How does it happen?
I feel like a wheel on a train runnin' away
Runnin' away, runnin' away
Runnin' away, runnin' away
I feel like a wheel on a train that's runnin' away
Oh, kid there's no quick solution
And there's no one there to grant you absolution
When your friends belong in an institution
There's a spanner in the works of evolution
How does it happen?
How does it happen?
How does it get to be that way?
How does it happen?
How does it happen?
I feel like a wheel on a train that's runnin' away...
Runnin' away, runnin' away
Runnin' away, runnin' away
Runnin' away
I feel like a wheel on a train that's runnin' away
I once had a gilded clock
Constructed in a la Belle Epoque
The hour hand broke, now it won't turn back
So long, so long, so long
I once had a sundial too
But green and wild my garden grew
The undergrowth obscured the view
So long, so long, so long
Not a word could make her stay
The East wind blows the sun away
I lost her on St. Swithin's day
Oh why?
I grew up in a house of clocks
And late at night I'd sometimes walk
Listening to their rythmic talk
So long, so long, so long
Clocks that sang in ringing chimes
To take the measure of the times
Clocks that spoke in wordless rhymes
So long, so long, so long
Not a word could make her stay
The wine is split and flows away
I lost her on St. Swithin's day
There is an independent book store
the last one that remained
all the othres you might look for
have been eaten by the chains
the soldier on
on one cleans the windows panes
and it was there I read the story
so strange it must be real
of a car in Arizona with Elvis at the wheel
he is looking up
the sky has something to reveal
It is the face of Josef Stanhard
being formed by drifting clouds
above the sleeping Memphis mafia
and unsuspecting cows
can't deal with all this undergrowth talk
It just trips my feet and tangles up my thoughts
You're trying to sell me your new faith
Tell me why you'd do it
And your hands are clenched
And you're talking low
With your eyes like flames
Your voice like snow
Someone dug a pit for you
and you fell right into it.
Tell me how the universe was meant to be
Take another sip of your cola
You be the colonel of the cavalry
I'll be Francis Ford Coppola
We'll go together through the jungle night
'Til the moon and stars fade out of sight
Waiting for the dawn to come
Here in Angola
I can't remember how you got this way
I can still recall you in a younger day
The earnestness still drips off you like butter
And you fling round words in a holy war
And you look so vague, but seem so sure
Don't you ever just want to break right down and stutter
Tell me how the universe was meant to be
Take another sip of your cola
You be the colonel of the cavalry
I'll be Francis Ford Coppola
We'll go together through the jungle night
'Til the moon and stars fade out of sight
Waiting for the dawn to come
Here in Angola
Ah, why don't you let it go
Ah, you'd be too wise to know
That time will get you anyway
It's at your door today.
I can't deal with these periscope views
And the caveman scrawl that you call news
Hey, why don't you make a not to cancel your next visit
Well, I knew that things were getting out of control
When you found your faith and lost your soul
If there's something you'd rather die than compromise
What is it?
Tell me how the universe was meant to be
Take another sip of your cola
You be the colonel of the cavalry
I'll be Francis Ford Coppola
We'll go together through the jungle night
As the moon and stars fade out of sight
Waiting for the dawn to come
It's a good day
for going to sea
Hanno the Navigator said to me.
There's an open sky and a steady breeze
out beyond the Pillars of Hercules.
Above the foam-kissed waves seagulls scream
up in the masts of our trireme
and it's a good day
for going to sea
Hanno the Navigator said to me.
Water
Water
From horizon to horizon
All I see is water
Steer beyond all maps and charts
down along the coast of Africa.
The first Phoenicians on this beach,
where the monkeys gibber and the parakeets screech.
Strangest women run wild down there,
covered head to toe in fur and hair.
They fight like demons,
better let them be,
Hanno the Navigator said to me.
Water
Water
From horizon to horizon
All I see is water
When you pull close to your fire at night
with your family framed in the candlelight,
safe inside these walls of stone
in the only village you've ever known.
The rain-soaked moon plays splintered crystal
shadows on your windowsill.
Like sparks of light in the shifting skies,
our ancient ships go sailing still on
Water
Water
When my sailing days are done
I'll seek Poseidon's daughter.
Oarsmen pull and curse and sweat
underneath this creaking deck.
At night I hear their stories told,
strong through storms and weak for gold.
Carthage stands like an azure pearl
here in the middle of the known world.
And it's a good day
for going to sea,
Hanno the Navigator said to me.
Water
Water
From horizon to horizon
All I see is water.
Water
Water
When my sailing days are done
I'll seek Poseidon's daughter.
It's a good day
for going to sea,
Gina in the King's Road, 1968
Blonde hair and eyeshadow, I hyperventilate
Purple leather mini, legs up to there
Don't you cast aspersions on my naugahyde affair
And she can make you believe
You're feeling almost sincere
And every day's New Years Eve
She's giggling in your ear
And yet she's so hard to reach
Although she's so close at hand
I'm like a wave on her beach
Sinking in the sand
Everyone went out with her, everyone knew why
No one ever stayed around, no one ever tried
Now Gina drowns her sorrows, drinks away the night
She's wrapped around some stranger, hanging on for life
repeat chorus
Now Gina in the King's Road, in a raincoat shimmering white
Hands thrust in her pockets ike Julie Christie might
Looks up into othe distance, puckers up her lips
I don't stop to talk to her,we're just passing ships
We opened the door
To see the coming of the trains
Across this land of plenty
We suddenly saw
The ghostly horses of the plains
Their saddles empty
Struck to stone beneath the moon
These figures still remain
Steal your chances someday soon
You may not pass this way
In Gloucester Cathedral, on Saturday night
I came to your flower show, blown like a kite
And I stood by the tombstones, and gazed at the lights
On the altar
And the horse-faced old ladies and tweedy-toned men
Of county society they came and they went
With pamphlets and leaflets of Christian events
For the fall
But ain't it all just like Jesus
Crying in the rain?
Ain't it all just Gethsemane again?
Oh the half-a-crown programmes on sale at the door
Were clutched in the teeth of the rich and the poor
As they swayed in an undertone conscience-free
Forward together
And the outstretching hands of the swains of the Lord
Sold the communing commuters the word
With LPs of Mary and photos of God
In the hall
But ain't it all just like Jesus
Crying in the rain?
Ain't it all just Gethsemane again?
Oh the flowers hushed the air as the columns advanced
To the clinking of coins in a ritual dance
On flagstones that ached for a chance of a chance
Of escaping
And the mystical statues looked down so depressed
At the endless possessors becoming possessed
And the costumed confessors who never confessed
To the wall
But ain't it all just like Jesus
Crying in the rain?
Ain't it all just Gethsemane again?
Oh I saw a blue hair-rinse, I saw a black tooth
I saw a false face in a telephone booth
And the stark white-faced roses that screamed out the truth
Of their dying
And a walrus's dreams and a carpenter's love
Absorbed like a hand in a great rubber glove
And flown like a flag over battlefields
Factories and all
Ain't it all just like Jesus
Crying in the rain?
Ain't it all just Gethsemane again?
Oh I dodged the collection box choirboy and out
To the streets where the wind shook my hair with a shout
And the dusty-faced daisies were blowing about
So freely
And Christ in the ruins was wandering again
As he walked with the beggars and talked to the lame
And danced with the children and sailors who came
At his call
But ain't it all just like Jesus
Crying in the rain?
Ain't it all just Gethsemane again?
Ain't it all just like Jesus
Crying in the rain?
Down in the cellars of Jean-Louis Chave
All the shadows are leaving
Bottles lying asleep in the caves
You'll see history breathing
From Cote-Rotie down to Hermitage
The vines are trellised in evening
In the cellars of Jean-Louis Chave
You'll see history breathing
Generations go slipping away now
Whal can you say now, five hundred years
Lives are written here
Pages on pages, ages on ages.
Just disappear
From Cote-Rotie down to Hermitage
The vines are trellised in evening
In the cellars of Jean-Louis Chave
I went floating down the
Street one day
With a song playing in my mind
Hopping and bopping like a ricochet
Bad news was hard to find
There was a hint of syncopation
Coming from the sidewalk
And the street
There was a glint of scintillation
Hanging over everyone
You'd meet
And it makes me feel okay
Like a big yellow tractor
Going mowing through a field of hay
Like a genie on a table top
Surfing through the month of May
I saw a world in the window of
A knick knack shop
And I tossed it in the air
A girl went by with a forget-me-not
And she wore it in her hair
There was a peak of pixillation
And I never noticed it before
There was a jump of jubilation
And it seemed to promise more and more
And it makes me feel okay
Like a big yellow tractor going
Mowing through a field of hay
Like a genie on a table top
Surfing through the month of May
Oh she loves me and she loves me better
Than I've ever loved myself
She knows me and she loves me better
Now I want nobody else
Percolating through the noonday sun
With wings upon my shoes
I was jumping about in front of everyone
No dignity to lose
There was a rush of animation
Bubbling about inside my soul
There was a rin-tin-tabulation coming
It was so hard to control
And it makes me feel okay
Like a pig with a bucket full of
Truffles in a French cafe
Like Louis Armstrong playing
Trumpet on the judgment day
Like a flying boat captain with
An amethyst lake below
Like a winner of a marathon
Rolling in a field of snow
Like a figure skating gigolo
Looking for a heart to steal
Like a simulated orgasm suddenly becoming real
Like a big yellow tractor going
Bowling through a field of hay
Like a genie on a table top
Surfing through the month of may
In the center of the field
stands the favorite player
The ball comes floating in
They say a silent prayer for him
Fifty yards away
A minute left to go
The reflex at his watch
Oh, oh-oh-ohh
He cuts into the right
Gets past a defender
A blur of blue and white
The moment has suspended in time
One man left to beat
He can see the goalkeeper's eyes
There's magic in his feet
Oh, oh-oh-ohh
And a single ray, of sunlight
Reaches down to touch, the golden boy
Seems to light his way, towards the net
In his mind, he sees the headlines
In the morning newspaper.
This'll be a day, they won't forget
Now he's on his own
Completely in control of it all
The shot comes flying in
Headed for the corner of the goal
Bounces off the post
He watches as it falls, oh-ohh
Everyone will say
"He should have passed the ball"
Now the crowd has gone
The stadium is empty
Several hundred times
He will watch the replay on TV
Many years from now
When his name's recalled
Everyone will say
"He should have passed the ball"
With your photographs of Kitty Hawk
And the bi-planes on your wall
YOu were always Amy Johnson
>From the time that you were small.
No schoolroom kept you grounded
While your thoughts could get away
You were taking off in Tiger Moths,
YOur wings against the brush-strokes of day.
Are you there?
On the tarmac with the winter in your hair,
BY the empty hangar doors you stop and stare,
Leave the oil-drums behind you, they won't care
Oh, are you there?
You wrapped me up in a leather coat
And you took me for a ride
We were drifting with the tail-wind
When the runway came in sight
The clouds came up to gather us
And the cock-pit turned to white
When I looked the sky was empty
I suppose you never saw the landing-lights
Aare you uthere?
In your jacket with the grease-stain and tear
Caught up in the slipstream of dare,
The compass roads will guide you anywhere,
Oh, are you there?
The sun comes up on Icarus as the night-birds sail away
And lights the maps and diagrams
That Leonardo makes
YOu can see faith, hope and charity
As they bank above the fields
You can join the flying circus
You can touch the morning air against your wheels
Are you there?
Do you have a thought for me that you can share?
I Never thought you'd take me unawares,
Just call me if you need repairs-
Oh, are you there?
--------------------------------------------------------------
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Eric Wincentsen "Telephone call for Dr. Paradox..."
267@ef.gc.maricopa.edu -Dread Zeppelin, "Jungle Boogie"
Glendale Community College,
Glendale, Arizona "Hug the world and sit on it's face!"
His flying jacket still has her perfume
Memories of the night
Play across his mind
High above the fields of France
A single biplane in a clear blue sky
1917, no enemy was seen
High above the fields of France
Oh she looks
But there's nothing to see
Still she looks
Saying come back to me
He tells her just remember me this way
Fore here am I more true
Than anything I do
High above the fields of France
Oh she looks
Though he'll never come back
And the letter that came
Was bordered in black
She'll find somebody else
But not forget
Leaving her regrets
Like vapour trails of jets
I feel as volatile as the weather
Over fields of Scottish heather
The night before Halloween
You know I feel like
A catamaran in summer
The beat of a reggae drummer
The flag of a brigantine
This is the day when
All of my dreams came true
This is the day when
All of my life till now
Seemed oh so blue
You know I feel like
A plate of the earth in motion
A storm on the Indian Ocean
A shake of a tambourine
This is the day when
All of my feelings changed
This is the day when
All of my life till now
Seemed oh so strange
You know I feel like a bird of
A different feather
A trail that runs forever
Though a forest of evergreen
And in the evening when the day goes down
She leaves the bright house lights
Stands and watches with her coat pulled around
As torches light the western skies
Sometimes she thinks she knows him just too well
Other times not much at all
They live their lives in some familiar spell
Catch each other when they fall
Nothing lasts, well, she knows, try to hang on
When it's gone, you'll be burned
Fashions and friends come and go
Everyone travels that road in their turn
She wants to run out where the day meets the night
Far beyond these Midwest farms
But she'll be with him till the day she finds
Delia's gone
And the days they run so slow
Here in the islands
Delia's gone
It's the only thing you know
Here in the silence
Fine rain combs the sand
The first breath of winter across the land
Try but you won't understand
How she could slip right through your hands
Delia's gone.
Delia's friends no longer come to call
What can they say now
Delia's pictures are hanging on the wall
You can't look away now
Dream figures with moons for eyes
Stare from under an alien sky
Seem to watch as you pass them by
If they should know, they won't say why
Delia's gone.
Delia's gone like a darkening of the sky
A change in the weather
Delia's gone like a moment out of time
Maybe forever
Lines of coffee cups on parade
Soldiers for keeping the night away
Soon, too soon, you'll be moving out
There's nothing here to hold you now
Delia's gone.
Delia left Tony
On a hot summer night
She would not go for him and so
He shot her down at sight
Across the western world
The fights are going down
The gypsy armies of the evening
Have lit their fires across
The nether side of town
They will not pass this way again
So here in the night
Leave your home it's time for running
Out of the light
I see the hosts of Mohammed coming
The Holy Sister bars her doors against the East
Her house has stood too long divided
The uninvited guests are breaking up the feast
She may not bid them leave again
So here in the night
Leave your home it's time for running
Out of the light
I see the hosts of Mohammed coming
I dreamed I stood like this before
And I'm sure the words that I heard then
Were much the same
It's just an old Greek tragedy they're acting here
Held over by popular acclaim
So here in the night
Leave your home it's time for running
Out of the light
The rain came down like beads
Bouncing on the noses of the
People from the train
A flock of salty ears
Sparkled in the traffic lights
Feet squelched soggy leaves across the grain
I took my love to Clifton in the rain
And all along the way
Wanderers in overcoats with
Collars on parade
And steaming in the night
The listeners in the Troubadour
Guitar player weaves a willow strain
I took my love to Clifton in the rain
Jacqueline Bisset
I saw your movie
Wondered if you really felt that way
Do you ever fear
The images of Hollywood?
Constancy dwells in realms of perfection
I hear the call
Life is free and love is all
Cleave to me
Harmony holds forth pleasures abounding
And love is free
'Neath the weeping willow tree
Cleave to me
Blow thou winds, my good fortunes bring
Mind the hours, such as minstrels sing
Come fair thoughts, let heart take wing
My lady calls to me
Emily only dreams and is lonely
Dark is the night
And from now unto the light
(Al Stewart/Tori Amos)
If you hear a step upon
Your stair tonight
If you see a shadow in
The candle light
It's only your imagination
Leading you astray
See her for a moment
Then she'll slip away
The ghost of Charlotte Corday
She wanders down the hallway
In a long black dress
And lingers by the fireplace
Like a faint caress
Just what it is that brings her here
No man alive can say
See her for a moment
Then she melts away
The ghost of Charlotte Corday
Stars in the window like a panoply
Covering everything
River of night
Stars in the window
See them shining for
Anyone else, anyone else
THe clock ticks in the dark and now
The night is still
The air is like a murmur
On the window sill
All at once there's someone there
That only you can see
Seeking the forgiveness
That will set her free
The wind has taken away
The words she wanted to say
The sky is now turning gray
The dawn is turning away
The ghost of Charlotte Corday
Sometimes it seems unimaginable
That you were every any other way
With your white rose face and your orphan clothes,
Embroidered jeans and silver chains
You're a well known face in all the hang-out places
Where the lost souls congregate
And you sit all night, but you talk too fast
And I don't know what you're trying to say.
CHORUS
Oh Carol, I think it's time for running for cover,
Believe me, you're everyone's and nobody's lover,
You've got a one-way ticket for all your yesterdays.
I know your daddy said he'd talk to you
But he never really found the time
And your TV mother with her cocktail eyes
Could never really reach your mind
So you fixed your star to a passing dream
And took a cocaine holiday
Now the years flow round you in a muddy stream
And you need another place to stay.
CHORUS
Reach down, silvery ship from the stars, I know you're there,
I know you'll understand me, you can take me anywhere,
I know you must be there...
Sometimes it seems impossible
That the game could get that rough
But the stage is set, the exit's barred
And the make-up won't come off
So you make your bow to the balcony,
You light another cigarette
and the lights grow dim ast the music starts
And it's easy to forget.
CHORUS
Reach down, silvery ship from the stars, I know you're there,
I know you'll understand me, you can take me anywhere,
I know you must be there....
Candy came back to amazing acclaim
Saying if this is love give me more of the same
The people were waiting in crowds for the sight
Of her face in the car driving into the night
And she says they gotta have someone
I might as well let it be me
For all my life was a dream
In the shops and the factories they talk about you
And the girls in the street wear their hair like you do
Hordes of reporters are always at hand
And the cameras are ready whenever you land
But she says it couldn't be better
I don't let it get in my way
All my life was a dream
I'm not sentimental for the ticker tape life
I could lose it all in just the card of the night
So don't you worry about the things that I do
There are times I need to get away from you
But every time I try to close my door
I seem to fascinate you more and more and more
Candy came back to amazing acclaim
Through the hot summer night they were calling her name
They seemed to be drawn by the power of her fame
Like a gull to the water a moth to the flame
But she says, oh it's not what I did
And they saw what they wanted to see
One, two, three
That's how elementary it's gonna be
Just fine and dandy
It's easy
Like taking candy from a baby
Primitive country
Rich in minerals, you
Pay them with beads
Tip the generals
It's easy
Like taking candy from a baby
The hard part is learning about it
The hard part is breaking through to the truth
The hard part is learning to doubt
What you read, what you hear, what you see on the news.
Foreign policy
Made above my head, well
No one asked me
They just laughed and said
It's easy (it's so easy)
Like taking candy from a baby
It's easy (it's so easy)
Like taking candy from a baby
(One, two three, ah...)
(One, two three, ah...)
Once they get you sucked into the system
Once they get you under control
The hard part is knowing how to resist
The grip that they keep on your mind and your soul
So in the end
We just compromise
And pretend
If you close your eyes
It's easy (it's so easy)
Like taking candy from a baby
It's easy (it's so easy)
Late at night,
when reality's failed and nothing is prevailing but the wind,
I come to you.
Out of sight,
like a fugitive trailing across a barren land, you let me in,
you always do.
My reason is caught by a sudden gust
of lateral thought that sweeps me
far beyond,
it's the opium of the night.
And the ocean of words
that we throw in the air
grows more absurd
and nobody seems to care,
it's a refugee's respite.
Cafe Society.
Late at night,
while the city lies sleeping and solitude is keeping me awake,
I think of you.
Dim your lights,
oh, I want to sink deep in that river of oblivion you make,
I need it, too.
Let me check-in my mind
with my coat at the door,
'cause I want to go flying
where I've never been before,
some inviting [some 3-syllable thing that ryhmes with "ravine"].
If the hand that you hold
in the dead of the night
is a little too cold,
the body seems just right,
it's a [some 5-syllable thing that also rhymes with "ravine"].
Cafe Society.
8. 1-2-3
[Sound of footsteps walking along a street. A pause, the footsteps take two
steps up a short flight of stairs. Five knocks, a door opens, a coctail party
is heard in the background, and a semi-snobbish voice says, "Excuse me, sir,
are you a member?"]
One, two, three.
That's how elementary
it's gonna be.
Just fine and dandy,
it's easy,
like taking candy from a baby.
>From the poor country,
when you bought a rose, you
paid them with beads,
tipped the general,
it's easy,
like taking candy from a baby.
The hard part is learning about it,
the hard part is breaking through to the truth.
The hard part is learning to doubt
what you read, what you hear, what you see on the news.
Foriegn policy,
made above my head, well,
no one asked me.
They just laughed and said
it's easy,
like taking candy from a baby.
It's easy,
like taking candy from a baby.
Once they get you sucked into the system,
once they get you under control,
the hard part is knowing how to resist
the grip that they keep on your mind and your soul.
So in the end,
we just compromise,
and pretend.
If you close your eyes,
it's easy,
like taking candy from a baby.
9. The Candidate
Inside the lonely building
sits the candidate.
His speech is typed and ready,
the hundred-dollar plates
sit on deserted tables,
beneath flourescent lights.
But no one comes to hear him,
no cheers disturb the night.
So where are all the voters?
Where the voter's wives?
They've all gone to the movies
trying to understand their lives.
The candidate is slipping
into some dream of old,
not noticing around him
You told the man in the Broadway Hotel
Nothing was stranger than being yourself
And he replied, with a tear in his eye
Love was a rollaway
Just a cajole away
Mist on a summer's day
Nothing was clear
Love was a smile away
Just a defile away
I sought it every way
No-one came near.
You asked the man for a room with a view
Nothing was said as he stared at his shoe
Then he replied as he gave you the key
Love was a rollaway
Just an unfold away
That's all there is to say
No-one came near.
Alone in your room you hide
as the night rolls by
In the street outside
And you feel over the words he said
Till they turn to rain all around your head.
You're seeking a hideaway
Where the light of day
Doesn't touch your face
And a door-sign keeps the world away
Behind the shades
Of your silent day.
You made your home in the Broadway Hotel
Room service came at the push of a bell
And the man said as he put down the tray
Love was a stealaway
Just a reveal away
I tried to find a way
Nothing was clear
Then as he turned away
You asked the man to stay
He was there all the day
No-one came near.
There's a sign in the distance
In the hollywood hills
And it's calling the faithful to come
And you know that they will
See the pied piper standing up in the limousine shine
Saying here is your ticket just go to the end of the lineBut if you get off this train
You never gonna get back on again
And if you get out of this car
I don't believe you're ever gonna get too far
And if you should leave me now
Sudden wind will blow your mansion down
Just blow it downI said hey wait a minute
Do you mind if we talk
Though your company's surely a thrill I believe I might walk
Cause there's a crash on the freeway behind and lots of traffic ahead
Could we meet later on I don't think so was all that you said
And if you get off this train
You never gonna get back on again
And if you get out of this car
I don't believe you're ever gonna get too far
And if you should leave me now
Sudden wind will blow your mansion down
Just blow it down
Left him a kind old hand and I was waving goodbye
And the melted away in a smile fading into the sky
But it seemed that I heard them as the night came tumblin' in
They were having a party and somebody started to sing
If you get off this train
You never gonna get on board again
And if you get out of this car
I don't believe you're ever gonna get too far
And if you should leave me now
Sudden wind will blow your mansion down
Well the roof started leaking, and the stairs were squeaking
There was water running down the walls
So we took down the carpet, scrubbed down the parquet
And the drains overflowed in the hall
In the pub across the street it was two feet deep
And the chairs were floating away
In the Chinese store all the food was on the floor
And they were wondering who was going to pay
But it's alright now she said I'm a little bit tired, a little bit wet
But it's alright now she said Though I believe I have the Belsize Blues
Conrad's bistro, the nights a go-go
With people talking over the flood
And Jenny from the newsdesk is looking at her shoes
Just to see is she's avoided the mud
And Annie comes slowly with a pile of ravioli
Fried chicken and a soup of the day
Moving round the table, she's a little Betty Grable
In the way she's got her hair today
But it's alright now she said I'm a little bit tired, a little bit wet
But it's alright now she said Though I believe I have the Belsize Blues
Philadelphia seems like a part of my dreams
And I cannot believe that I held the sleeve of her coat
But now the night is clear as a chandelier
And the trees are turning the water into a moat
We finally got cleared and the neighbors disappeared
We were sitting down for a rest
When the TV blew and the lights all fused
And the wine spilled all over her dress
So I lit up a candle, poured up a brandy
I was trying to get into a groove
And I was kissing her on the chin when the roof fell in
And I decided I was going to move
But it's alright now she said I'm a little bit tired, a little bit wet
But it's alright now she said Though I believe I have the Belsize Blues
That's as far as it goes
I could have gone to Cambridge with Lionel
I think I tried to raise a pound
Just to see the University
And find the scenes she hung around
Is your mind a menagerie
Perhaps, I mean it's hard to say
A pterodactyl built its nest on me
I'm feeling strange but quite OK
On this beleeka doodle day
Archimedes and his orchestra
Loudly disapprove of life
Got mad when I called them unmusical
Tried to land me with a wife
Out in San Francisco's wonderland
The purple poet kneels to pray
But I just hang around your city and
I don't have anything to say
On this beleeka doodle day
I had a week once in Italy
With Mike and Robin and some songs
I had a girl once in Sweden but
I haven't seen her for too long
I drift down to the Cousins and
The usual people were all there
I saw a girl in the soft red light
I smiled but she looked away
On my beleeka doodle day
I wrote a song just before the dawn
And then I lost it now its gone
I spent all day playing Monopoly
It seemed to feel like getting on
Sometimes I wonder how it feels to be
Paul McCartney or the Queen
I wonder how they'd feel if they were me
I think its gonna start to rain
On this beleeka doodle day
Oh Jack the Ripper and Hippocrates
They're out to get me in the end
I think they'll find me by the ruined trees
Without a candle or a friend
Then they'll bring me to the wizard's cave
Softly mould me into clay
And lock me in with no telephone
And laugh and throw the keys away
On my beleeka doodle day
So to Avril and I would like to give
My thanks for lending me your room
I stayed one night, ah but I had to go
I think I'll maybe come back soon
Of all the girls that I have ever known
There wasn't one who didn't play
They came and went just like the newspapers
And left me mere to find my way
The subway station's closed again
Sleeps beneath it's veil of rain
my footprints broken trail behind
Steals the nightlights from my mind
The dark deserted streets then clear
Today has lived and died in here
So I leave the chapel gloom
To find the shelter of my tiny room
But it's alright while the lights of the city shine so bright
It's all right till the last winding train fades from sight
Then alone in my room I must stay to lose or win
While these wild bedsitter images come back to hem me in
The panneled patens (patterns?) on the door
chase shivering shadows to the floor
Upon the pillow worn and thin
the memories of hopes begin
the carpet with it's flowers and shredding
spires a foot before my bed
the crack that won't return again
advancing through my broken window pane
But it's alright while the lights of the city shine so bright
It's all right till the last winding train fades from sight
Then alone in my room I must stay to lose or win
While these wild bedsitter images come back to hem me in
The friends I've left back home all write
with laughing words that warm my sight
saying "Tell us, how's the city life?"
I reply and say just fine (why?)
and so you see I can't go back
until I either win or crack
I'm standing in a one way street
The stage is set
The story incomplete
But it's alright while the lights of the city shine so bright
It's all right till the last winding train fades from sight
Then alone in my room I must stay to lose or win
When your little world has fallen apart
You'll be living on Beacon Street
In a flat above a laundry
It's warm and forgiving on Beacon Street
Hundreds of paperback novels adorning your shelves
Piles of CDs that are eager to please
Still asserting themselves
There's something in the morning light
That is muted and soft down on Beacon Street
Then a bar or two of classical music
Will waft through the air
Newspaper adverts will usher the future your way
Indian teas and then take-out Chinese
At the end of the day
Shadows on furniture cast by the light of the moon
You've got a fridge full of food
You won't need to go anywhere soon
When it's time to start again
They will welcome you in down on Beacon Street
Everybody needs a moment or two
[Act One]
David Foster lives in Gloucester with his family
Works 'til pay-time, through the day-time, then comes home fortea
Steak and kidney, then with Sydney to his club and feels free
They close the bar, he finds his car and then goes home to sleep
And his wife has been with Rosie, in the parlour where it's cosy
Watching telly, doing dishes, patching pants and making wishes
And he'll say "Bill should have wired"
And "Not tonight dear, I'm too tired"
And life drifts slowly by in the provinces
Peter Foster goes to Gloucester for his first school day
Bites his teacher, sees a preacher and is taught to pray
Sees some birds and learns some words it's very, very rude to say
Yes, he's rather like his father was in his young day
And his father has discussions, holding forth about the Russians
"Will the Red Chinese attack us?"
"Do we need the Yanks to back us?
"And in bed she feels his shoulder, but he grunts and just turnsover
And life drifts slowly by in the provinces
Wedding rings come with strings but love depends on the littlethings
"Oh could that still be really you?"
"Is there anything time can't do?
David Foster's been promoted, he's a decent sort
Peter's gone to Dad's old Public School, it's good for sport
They've even got a private parking place down in Huntingdon Court
Maybe soon he'll be a magistrate, the neighbours thought
Yes, and then he'll teach the beatniks
And the hang-around-the-streetnicks
And the good-for-nothing loafers
Who knock girls up on their sofas
And his wife is quite nice, really
Though she seems a little dreamy
Recently...
[Act Two
]I was born and brought up on the east side of town
And my earliest days they passed quickly
I would play after school with the kids all around
In the sun and the dust of the back streets
Oh, all through my girlhood the war had its day
And my daddy he would always be leaving
So my brother and I we would sit by her side
Telling our tales through the evening
Oh, I grew with the days and the boys came to cal
lIn the back shed I learned about kissing
But I don't think my mother has noticed at all
For we've heard that my daddy is missing
Then my school days they were over and I went off to work
And my mother grew quieter and greyer
So one day I left her and went off to live
With Billy, a saxophone player
In our broken down attic we laughed and made love
And all that we had we were sharing
Oh, we slept through the day and played into the night
God, we did as we pleased without caring
Oh but a year's passed away and he's left me one day
To play in a far away country
And the sun told my eyes "You've got no place to hide"
As I waited to be having his baby
Oh I lived in the park and the men passed and stared
Each wondering which one had lost her
And one came to ask could he buy me a meal
And he said he was called David Foster
We were married that month and I swore to myself
Somehow I'd pay back what I owed him
Cooking his supper and cleaning his boots
Yes, and kidding myself I could love him
Oh, but now my baby is grown and he's gone out to school
And he looks very much like his daddy
And David has buried himself in his work
And the time on my hands, it hangs heavy
Oh, the neighbours they smile as we pass in the streets
And they make their remarks on the weather
But the butcher and baker deliver things now
And I've stopped going out altogether
Oh, I live by my mirror and stare in my eyes
Trying to make out who I see there
But I'm looking at a woman that I can't recognize
And I don't think she knows me either
There are lines on her face and her hair is a mess
And the light in her eyes it grows colder
In the morning there's nothing will change, ah but yes
You've got a bad reputation
All over the street
There's some indication
You've been indiscreet
Oh I know you can turn on the charm
When you feel so inclined
Whatever I do
I can't get you out of my mind
It's a sad situation
I'm coming apart
A clear invitation
For trouble to start
If I knew what it was that you did
It's so hard to define
But whatever it is
I can't get you out of my mind
Maybe I'm seeing
What I want to see
Trying to make y ou
What you'll never be
Perhaps it's just the simple fact
You only want the things that you can't have
Well I suppose somebody broke your trust
Now I see you kicking up the dust
I wouldn't be at all surprised
If some of it got in my eyes
You've got a bad reputation
They're telling me so
I've got a strong motivation
To get up and go
If I knew what it was that you did
I'd just leave you behind
But whatever it is
I can't get you out of my mind
I suppose this will come to a close
It's just a matter of time
But whatever I do
I can't get you out of my mind
Can't get you out of my mind
Oh no
Whatever I do, I can't get you out of my mind
When we came to the station all the trains were rusty,
The doors were open and the windows broken in
There was grass in all the cracks and the air hung musty
The travel posters were flapping in the wind
So we moved through the dust and gloom
Playing waiting games in the waiting-room
Lay our sleeping-bags out on the floor
CHORUS
And on Sunday morning easy rider comes to me with apple cider
Leaves me here without a place to go
If I followed the coast road, I'd be home by evening
The harbour lights still cut across the bay
>From the slot machine arcade the lights go streaming
To the bikes outside the rock 'n' roll cafe
Ah but you know those small town blues
Are really too much to lose-
There's nothing really there to go back for
CHORUS
Any railway station would be just fine, fine, fine
To settle down and wash the cobwebs from your head
If your situation's running dry, dry, dry
Find a waiting-room beneath the stars to make your bed
You know London can make your brain stall
The streets get cold and empty on a rainy night
So you duck into the subway station, you can hear the trains call
They want to take you to the Earl's Court Road, but it don't seem right
And there's na, na, na noowah
On the juke-box, singing in the burger bar
See the people's faces in the passing cars don't want to know
CHORUS
YOu have the most appealing surface I have seen
Bring it over here, lay it down by me
Don't mean to make you nervous, I just mean
To make you see, this is the place to be
When we came to the station all the trains were rusty
The air was empty and the platforms overgrown
There were old tin cans and cats and the doors were crusted
With mud and leaves and names carved long ago
And the rails go on forever in a silver trail to the setting sun
You can follow them anywhere you want to go
Long before I ever saw
The frost upon your face
I was haunted by your beauty
And it drew me to this place
I felt the chill of mystery
With one foot on your shore
And then and there resolved to go
Where no man had before
CHORUS
Maybe I was snowblind
But it seemed the wind spoke true
And I believed it's stories then
As dreamers sometimes do
In Antarctica
In Antarctica
Who knows what the powers may be
That cause a man to go
Mindless of the dangers
Out across the virgin snow
Seduced by this ambition
I easily forget
The hopeless quest of Shackleton
The dreamlike death of Scott
CHORUS
Maybe I was snowblind
Perhaps it sapped my will
But something of my innocence
Is wandering there still
In Antarctica
In Antarctica
In Antarctica
In Antarctica
This is the day you disappeared
Your hand was steady and I know that your mind was clear
You left a note up on the shelf
Saying "I would rather be anyone but myself"
You took a simple ride across the Great Divide
You left the television on in you room
Your friends were sad although they said "I told you so"
You never really did fit into your skin
The small annoying things you do
All seemed so cute and entertaining when they were new
This kind of honeymoon can't last
I think you knew you wore your welcome out much too fast
I was surprised to see you played the lottery
Your winning ticket you won't need anymore
You were in such a rush you never stopped to check
You jacket pocket on your way out the door
This is your anniversary
I'll light a candle in the window so you might see
This is the day you had to go
Anna turns out the light
Sits down alone
The echo of his foot on the stair
Turning to stone
No, he didn't take very much
Just your flesh from the bone
It's gonna be hard for a while
One day you fell
Down from the sky
You oversaw things
Forgot how to fly
You're an angry bird
Walking in circles all alone
Angry bird
Now you don't belong
You stagger round
Don't like the air
Don't like the ground
Angry bird
Walking in circles all alone
Angry bird
Radical penguins
Led you astray
You say that wings
Are so passe
You're an angry bird
Walking in circles
No way out
Angry bird
Now you say it's pointless
You say you're cursed
You fill the night with
Sarcastic chirps
You're an angry bird
Walking in circles
No way out
Angry bird
You're fallen in
With the avian fringe
That fill your head with
Thoughts of revenge
You're a bird
In the moanly
Pretty lonely
Angry bird
On the moonlight branches
On a summer's night
You can take your chances
You could take flight
Angry bird
Walking in circles
No way out
Angry bird
Your sun is sinking
It's so absurd
What were you thinking
Every evening you come
Around here
In your cloak of lies
Half-believing I sit and listen
As you offer up the prize
Pick up your smile
Just go faithless friend
There is no pleasure
Waiting here for you
Pick up your smile
Just go faithless friend
I don't see you anymore
As an angel of mercy
Imitations of the good life
Were your stock in trade
Pale imitations you run for cover
When the promise starts to fade
Pick up your smile
Just go faithless friend
There is no treasure
Waiting here for you
Pick up your smile
Just go faithless friend
I don't see you anymore
As an angel of mercy
You play the game well
You've got the knack
Your hand in the till
And the knife in the back
Head for the hills
Leaving them flat
How come you treat
Everybody like that
Spaced invader of my privacy
Be on your way
Tricky trader in webs of fantasy
The bank is closed today
Pick up your smile
Just go faithless friend
There is no pleasure
Waiting here for you
Pick up your smile
Just go faithless friend
I don't see you anymore
As an angel of mercy
Pick up your smile
Just go faithless friend
There is no treasure
Waiting here for you
Pick up your smile
Just go faithless friend
I don't see you anymore
As an angel of mercy
Oh I just came back from Haarlem
On the very last day of Autumn
Made it through the customs, took the bus into town
The flat looked cold and empty
The chairs unused and dusty
Just a few old letters and papers lying around
The Dutch people were friendly
You know they put me up and they fed me
All along a tour of one night stands
All my days and all my ways
Are so confused
I tell you right new
I'm going to make it back to Amsterdam
And you can feel fine anytime
You choose to lose yourself for a while
Bottle of wine
In some back street cafe
Or out on the street, there's a chance
For you to meet anybody you please
Taking the time
To ease your blues away
Fred was a crazy driver
He took us at a hundred miles an hour
Down a side street out of a traffic jam
All my days and all my ways
Are so bemused
I tell you right now
I'm going to make it back to Amsterdam
Oh I just came back from Haarlem
And the very thing I was wanting
Was to find some way to let you know how I felt
You can't say much in an evening
If you know you'll soon be leaving
There's not much time to talk, and it's maybe as well
But I wanted to give you something
Because you knew you really helped me
So I've written you a song with a small West Indian band
And though it seems some days that all my ways are
Bound to lose
I tell you right now
I'm going to make it back to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Bad news over the great divide
Comes in from every side
Still hope won't be denied
There was always the Cause
There was always the Cause
Oh La Pasionara sang
This day, no pasaran!
It echoed out in Catalan
There was always the Cause
There was always the Cause
Mariposa
Late nights waiting on the via dolorosa
Hold me closer
Not long now, oh ma bella hermosa
There was always the Cause
Setbacks come at every turn
New ways are hard to learn
Tonight I saw Guernica burn
There was always the Cause
There was always the Cause
Mariposa
Late nights waiting on the via dolorosa
Hold me closer
Not long now, oh ma bella hermosa
There was always the Cause
Three years gone in the heart of Spain
He brings home a quiet pain
He'll never be that young again
There was always the Cause
Lucy worked a different club every day,
And though she put her mind to it,
Her heart was never in it,
She stayed around just long enough to get paid,
She won't pass the time with you, she can't stay a minute,
And all these changing faces never bothered her at all,
They just existed like a back-drop or a pattern on the wall,
Lucy looks like someone who is waiting for a call,
She knows he'll come, but no-one else can hear at all,
Lucy finds the dressing room and the bar,
Hangs her clothes up, hopes tonight,
The contract won't be broken,
Well, they kick you round so much when you're not a star,
Make you play all night just for a pittance or a token,
But all these imperfections never bothered her at all,
She says it sharpens your perception when your back's against the wall,
There's something that enables her to rise above it all,
To shrug it off, just when it seems to go too far,
Hey, hey, hey, I think you almost, feel the pain comin' on inside,
Hey, hey, hey, I think you almost, feel it now and you don't know why,
You don't know why.
(Instrumental Solo)
The last time that I saw her she had given up the chase,
Moved away to California, got a suntan on her face,
She said that life was just another time another space,
It's over now, she learned a lot, it's not a waste,
Hey, hey, hey, I think you almost, feel the pain comin' on inside
Hey, hey, hey, I think you almost, feel it now and you don't know why,
Hey, hey, hey, I think you almost, feel yourself reaching out inside,
Linda was killed last Saturday 'bout fifteen blocks from where she lives
in a car crash, people gathered around the gravesite, friends and relatives,
dressed in black.
Preacher mumblin' how she's bound to go to Heaven,
the service started at half-past ten, it was all over by eleven.
They said:
God's to give, and God's to take away,
but why He happened to pick Linda on a Saturday night, no one could say.
Maybe it's just one of those things,
one of those things.
They found guy who did it, he had the lobotomy and the chicken eyes,
and he gazed around the courtroom with a kind of vague suprise.
Reminded me of one of those Vikings with the long-handled swords,
the kind of guy even Joan Baez would not feel non-violent towards.
Said he wasn't looking, maybe he had had a bit too much,
it was dark, it was raining, he didn't see the light of the sun and such.
It was just one of those things,
one of those things.
I asked an old uncle of the girl the situation and he gave me this reply,
while pointing a bony finger up into the general direction of the sky:
"Get on with your own life, it is not ours to reason why,"
said he used to worry about it once when he was young,
now he doesn't even bother to try.
He left me with a feeling that what he said was basically sound,
like a black hole in space, or velocity, useless but profound.
Just one of those things,
one of those things.
Tonight I'm gonna take myself down to my local cafe,
gonna get smashed out of my mind, gonna waste myself away.
Gonna drink and drink and sink into that dark abyss,
I wanna be just like that Viking, I wanna know if ignorance is truly bliss.
Linda's in the cold ground, won't see her anymore.
Somewhere out on the highway tonight, the drunken engines roar.
It's just one of those things,
one of those things.
Said the apple to the orange
I wanted you to come
Close to me and kiss me to the core
Then you might know me
Like no other orange
Looking back on my diary
I seem to get a sense of deja vu
And all these different things I'm going through
Seems that after all I've been through before
Faded days of my memory
Paper dreams of things I didn't do
Three years back, oh 1962
In the wheel and spin
You just breathe again
All right you say to me
Live your life for today
Dreams are just fantasies
Waste your time and you pay
Oh, but some time ago
I was on my own
By a green telephone
And looking back on my diary
I seem to get this sense of passing through
Nothing's really changed and nothing's new
In the rise and fall it was after all deja vu
All right you say to me
Live your life for today
Dreams are just fantasies
Waste your time and you'll pay
Oh, but some time ago
I was on my own
By a green telephone
And looking back on my diary
I seem to get this sense of deja vu
And all these different things I'm going through
In the rise and fall
It was after all
Deja vu
Deja vu
Deja vu
What if you reached the age of reason
Only to find there was no reprieve?
Would you still be a man for all seasons
Or would you just have to leave?
We measure our days out in steps of uncertainty
Not turning to see how we've come
And peer down my highway from here to eternity
And reach out for love on the run
While the man for all seasons is lost behind the sun
Henry Plantagenet still looks for someone
To bring good news in his hour of doubt
While Thomas More waits in the Tower of London
Watching the sands running out
And measures the hours out from here to oblivion
In actions that can't be undone
A sailor through darkness, he scans the meridian
And caught by the first rays of dawn
The man for all seasons is lost beneath the storm
And I should know by now, I should know by now
I hear them call it out all around
Oh, they go ah, there's nothing to believe in
Hear them ah, just daydreams, deceiving
They'll just let you down
So what if you reached the age of reason
Only to find there was no reprieve?
Would you still be a man for all seasons?
Or would you just disbelieve?
We measure our gains out in luck and coincidence
Lanterns to turn back the night
And put our defeats down to chance or experience
And try once again for the light
Some wait for the waters of fortune to cover them
Some just see the tides of ill chance rushing over them
Some call on Jehovah, some cry out to Allah
Some wait for the boats that still row to Valhalla
While you try to accept what fates are unfolding
While some say they're sure where the blame should be falling
You look 'round for maybe a chance of forestalling
But too soon it's over and done
I'm here sitting in the wreck of Europe
With a map of Europe
Spread out in a hall of Versailles
And every single nationality and principality
have come for a piece of the pie
I'm sitting in the wreck of Europe
With a map of Europe
And the lines and the borders are gone
We've got to do this jigsaw puzzle
It's an awful muddle
But somehow we've got to go on
Lawrence of Arabia is waiting in the wings
He's got some Arab sheikhs and kings
And we're in debt to them somehow
Lawrence of Arabia has got this perfect vision
Gonna sell him down the river
There's no time for him now
I think I'm gonna take a piece of Russia
And a Piece of Germany
And give them to Poland again
I'll put together Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia
And hope that is how they'll remain
Then I'll take a bit of Turkey
Then a lot of Turkey
This is all quite a heady affair
There's Persia and Iraq to pick up
And there's Churchill's hiccup
And we can't leave it up in the air
Woodrow Wilson waves his fourteen points around
And says "The time to act is now
Won't get this opportunity again"
Woodrow Wilson has his fourteen points
But Clemenceau turns to Lloyd George
And says "You know that
God himself had only ten"
Today I'm carried by a league of notions
(It's a league of notions)
By a league of notions
I don't think I quite understand
(I don't think I understand)
I only know from this commotion
(From this commotion)
There's a chance that we could turn
The world in the palm of our hands
(We can turn the world in the palm of our hands)
Voices in the corridors of power
Candles burning hour by hour
Still you know that to the victors go the spoils
Such a great responsibility to make it fair
And there must be some reparations now
And don't forget the oil
Today I'm carried by a league of notions
(It's a league of notions)
By a league of notions
I don't think I quite understand
(I don't think I understand)
I only know from this commotion
(From this commotion)
There's a chance that we could turn
The world in the palm of our hands
(We can turn the world in the palm of our hands)
Pax vobiscum
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