I'm gonna drown myself in London's lost rivers
I will walk down to the rain
From Hubert Montague Crackenthorpe's Vignettes (1896):
I have sat there and seen the winter days finish their
short-spanned lives; and all the globes of light —
crimson, emerald, and pallid yellow — start, one by
one, out of the russet fog that creeps up the river.
But I like the place best on these hot summer nights,
when the sky hangs thick with stifled colour, and the
stars shine small and shyly. Then the pulse of the city
is hushed, and the scales of the water flicker golden
and oily under the watching regiment of lamps.
The bridge clasps its gaunt arms tight from bank to
bank, and the shuffle of a retreating figure sounds
loud and alone in the quiet. There, if you wait long
enough, you will hear the long wail of the siren, that
seems to tell of the anguish of London till a train
hurries to throttle its dying note, roaring and
rushing, thundering and blazing through the night,
tossing its white crests of smoke, charging across the
bridge into the dark country beyond.
In the wan, lingering light of the winter afternoon,
the parks stood all deserted, sluggishly drowsing, so
it seemed, with their spacious distances muffled in
greyness: colourless, fabulous, blurred. One by one,
through the damp misty air, looked the tall, stark,
lifeless elms. Overhead there lowered a turbid sky,
heavy-charged with an unclean yellow, and amid their
ugly patches of dank and rotting bracken, a little mare
picked her way noiselessly. The rumour of life seemed
hushed. There was only the vague listless rhythm of the
creaking saddle.
The daylight faded. A shroud of ghostly mist enveloped
the earth, and up from the vaporous distance crept
slowly the evening darkness. A sullen glow throbs
overhead: golden will-o'-the-wisps are threading their
shadowy ribbons above golden trees, and the dull,
distant rumour of feverish London waits on the still
night air. The lights of Hyde Park Corner blaze like
some monster, gilded constellation, shaming the dingy
stars. And across the east, there flares a sky-sign, a
gaudy crimson arabesque. And all the air hangs draped
in the mysterious sumptuous splendour of a murky London
night.
I'm gonna drown myself in the lost rivers of London
- We've been witnessing your many and varied forms of
control today. They're very effective.
- They're very pretty.
- Are you bothered?
- Stop! Stop! (and incoherent yelling)
- Leave me alone!
- (incoherent growled words repeated three times)
(incoherent yelling)
- Get it out, get it out, get it out, get it out, get it
out!
- No!
- Get... it... out! I want tits out!
Where are you?
Are you hiding from me?
Are you still looking for things that no-one else can
see?
Where are you?
Are you in some place that we cannot reach?
Are you bathing in moonlight or drowned on the beach?
Where are you?
Are you surrounded by things we cannot penetrate?
Is the cage you love the home you also hate?
Your fear of death attracts such strange objects
Smothering you, hiding you, don't let it spoil you
Show yourself so the others may see you
So the others may feed you
They want to be near you
If you can't get enough of your hypnotic injection
Then it's time to put an end to this invalid function
Poor little ghost boy
Let me be your human toy
Where are you?
No-one's seen you for years
Have your wounds grown wings? Are you feasting on
fears?
I can see your dark corona is eating into you
You're surrounded by things we cannot penetrate
Is the cage you love the home you also hate?
Life lies with the scissors inside her
The surgeon was a butcher
All of us are wounded, anaesthetised in A&E;
Numbed by stuff we should not see
Each of us lies bleeding
Our rivers intermingling
Poor little ghost boy
Let me be your human toy
I'll wrap my last kiss in a bandage
I'll wrap my last kiss in a bandage
I'll wrap my last kiss in a bandage
On the sea coast of Tibet
Egyptian Aztecs are arriving from Norway
They've been varnishing the woodwork for forty-three
centuries
Here, Nature is naked, her acrobats bathed in blood
There's a beast of prey on the threshold of pleasure
And the giantess, sea priestess, beckons the passers-by
"Do not lose sight of the sea. Do not lose sight to the
sea."
Her wizened mouthpiece whistles with silver fishes
Swirls of spider-crabs crackle like Wimshurst
mechanicals
All around her, jellies are diaphanous
After washing myself clean, I had breakfast with the
sea priestess
Whose sibilant esses are escaping gas from the sea
floor
The sea priestess lays on a bed of nails
Twenty-seven lead soldiers at her head
The sea priestess is escaping gas
The grass that grows is turned to gas
Gas fired from a gun, herbal hydrogen
If it goes any faster there'll be an astral disaster
If it goes any faster there'll be an astral disaster
We spent the rest of time
With furious faking of dreaming
Pissing tiny diamonds, and passing the time wondering
Whether we should walk down the same path
That had introduced us to the valley the day before
I was woken three times in the night
And asked to watch whales, listen for earthquakes in
the sea
I had never seen such a strange sight before
Somehow I think the soft verges of insanity
At the hard shoulders of reality
Point past signs posted in the past sea
It's probably a lack of poor visibility
And something special in the sand
And the essences the rocks on the seashore make
The men here are desiccated like mummies
Been out in the sun for thousands of years, walking
along
The women stuff themselves full of collagen and other
animal remains
I don't think we'll stay here long
As soon as the ships have been rebuilt, we'll be out of
here
Into the sun
Our ship was wrecked on the sea coast of Tibet
The first thing we saw were several Egyptian Aztecs
arriving from Norway
Here all nature is naked
We watch acrobats bathing themselves in blood
And over the doorway is a beast of prey
Straddled on the threshold of pleasure
And a giantess, sea priestess, beckoning the passers-by
She implores them, "Do not lose sight of the sea."
Now you see why I'm not scared to die
I saw a vision of an angel of the
world lay down and die
The earth is full of ghosts now
Ghosts that sweat and ghosts that cry
Instead of peace just stop and cease
A final end, a sweet release
The language of love is the language of liars
The flames of all love become funeral pyres
Smoke gets in your eyes and grown men cry
I see young men led to an early
grave and old men pray to die
The earth is full of ghosts now
Ghosts that sweat and ghosts that cry
Instead of peace just stop and cease
A final end, a sweet release
The shipwreck to the shore
From the client to the whore
From the shadow to the sun
From the bullet to the gun
The earth is full of ghosts now
Ghosts that sweat and ghosts that cry
Instead of peace just stop and cease
A final end, a sweet release
The moment you discover that your killer is your lover
I kill all that I love, I just destroy what I become
The earth is full of ghosts now
Ghosts that sweat and ghosts that cry
Instead of peace just stop and cease
A final end, a sweet release
Roman land
Of Roman sands
And Roman sons.
As I watch the sun
sink down
On the bloodred edge
Of the bloodred town
There are shadows
for sale
On the edge of town
At the edge of the night
Is a darkness seen
From the side
of the light
(From the side
of the night).
And the winds
blow round
this sleeping town
This sleeping town
This Roman land
Of Roman sands
And Roman sons.
And it seems to me
That when I
close my eyes
All the lights in the world
Go out
And the night
passes by
And you whisper to me
A thousand lies
I stare in surprise
Towards the desert's
warm black
And the desert stirs
And the desert stares
back
With a thousand eyes
Piercing eyes
Ancient eyes
And I ask my lover
"Do you know
Where the desert roses
As I fell into the water
I slipped and broke my aura
As I fell into the water
I slipped and broke my aura
As I fell into the water
I slipped and broke my aura
As I fell into the water
Are you asleep?
Are you asleep?
I slipped and broke my aura
Are you asleep?
Are you asleep?
As I fell into the water
Are you asleep?
I slipped and broke my aura
Are you asle-e-e-e-ep?
Ye-e-e-e-es
As I fell into the water
As I fell into the water
I slipped and broke my aura
As I fell into the water
I slipped and broke my aura
I slipped and broke my aura
As I fell into the water
I slipped and broke my aura
It's going to rain
(backwards) It's going to rain
Originally performed by Leonard Cohen
And who by fire, who by water,
who in the sunshine, who in the night time,
who by high ordeal, who by common trial,
who in your merry merry month of may,
who by very slow decay,
and who shall I say is calling?
And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate,
who in these realms of love, who by something blunt,
and who by avalanche, who by powder,
who for his greed, who for his hunger,
and who shall I say is calling?
And who by brave assent, who by accident,
who in solitude, who in this mirror,
who by his lady's command, who by his own hand,
who in mortal chains, who in power,
When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deal heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
And the angels kiss
Our souls in bliss
Measure the extent
of a dizzying descent
Down the
Anal staircase.
Put just one foot on
the staircase
And the next step
you're down here
On this face.
And the rapids
Of my heart
Will tear your
ship of live apart
And we'll
End up wrecked
We'll end up
at the start
Of the Anal Staircase.
And the angels kiss
Our souls in bliss
Measure the extent of a
dizzying descent
Down the
Anal staircase.
Take a
hollowpoint revolver
Shoot down the rapids
Of your heart
Blow the fucking
Thing apart
Blow the fucking
Thing apart.
One step
Two step
Three step
Pay your respects to the vultures
For they are your future
Our fathers and mothers have
Our fathers and mothers have
They have failed to release us
They have failed to release us
They have failed to release us
Into the welcoming arms (repeated)
Of the amethyst deceivers
So pay your respects
So pay your respects
Pay your respects to the vultures
And to the crows
And to the carrion crows
And to the ravens
Those graven ravens
And to the carrion crows
And to the rooks
And to the rooks
And to the vultures
And to the vultures
And to the vultures
Pay your respects to the vultures
For they are our future (repeated)
For they are your future
Our fathers and mothers have
Our fathers and mothers have
Our fathers and mothers have
They have failed to release us
Into the welcoming arms
Into the welcoming arms
Into the welcoming arms
Of the amethyst
Of the amethyst
The little mushrooms
The little mushrooms
Welcoming arms
Of the amethyst (repeated)
Hush, may I ask you all for silence?
The dreamer is still asleep
May the goddess keep us from single vision
And Newton's sleep
The dreamer is still asleep
The dreamer is still asleep
He's inventing landscapes in their magnetic field
Working out a means of escape
We'll cut across the crop circles
The seer says no
Not much time left for these escape attempts
Look at it this way
In ten years' time
Who'll care? Who'll even remember?
One dies like that, deep within it
Almost inside it
It's there for a reason
I'll give you my old address
And take that little book
To tear and cut the paper
The beginning is also the end
Time defines it, time defines it
It will end
Like close friendship
Nothing could be further
We forget the space between people and things
Is empty
We forget, and don't notice the loss
Pressing into venerable degeneration
Such radiant pollution
The god with the silver hand surveys this vast
contamination
The dreamer is still dreaming
The dreamer is still dreaming
In the heart of your heart
Your eye remains
Is that hurt you? Is that blister you call loveless?
Your whole life is a cold slow shock
Your whole life is a cold slow shock
Take all your time
Track the shabby shadow down
Through hissing mists of history
The dreamer is still dreaming
The dreamer is still dreaming
Hush, may I ask you all for silence?
Will he wake in time to catch the sunset?
Hush, may I ask you all for silent?
Soft Cell cover
Sometimes I feel I've got to
Run away I've got to
Get away
From the pain that you drive into the heart of me
The love we share
Seems to go nowhere
And I've lost my light
For I toss and turn I can't sleep at night
Once I ran to you (I ran)
Now I'll run from you
This tainted love you've given
I give you all a boy could give you
Take my tears and that's not nearly all
Oh...tainted love
Tainted love
Now I know I've got to
Run away I've got to
Get away
You don't really want any more from me
To make things right
You need someone to hold you tight
And you think love is to pray
But I'm sorry I don't pray that way
Once I ran to you (I ran)
Now I'll run from you
This tainted love you've given
I give you all a boy could give you
Take my tears and that's not nearly all
Oh...tainted love
Tainted love
Don't touch me please
I cannot stand the way you tease
I love you though you hurt me so
Now I'm going to pack my things and go
Tainted love, tainted love (x2)
Touch me baby, tainted love (x2)
Snow falls, slow falls, snow falls, slow falls
Snow falls, slow falls, snow falls, slow falls
Snow ...
Slow falls
Into military temples
Into military temples
Into military temples
Into military temples
Snow falls, snow falls into military temples
Into military temples (repeated)
Snow falls
Snow falls
Snow falls into military temples
With a light pauses
We're the light forces
Into military temples (repeated)
Oh no! ...
Crown the dark animal
Black Jackal crawling
Eternal returning
An end to the waiting
There are thrones underground
And monarchs upon them
They walk serene
In spaces between
At the head of the storm
Darkness is rising
In the Garden of Jaws
His wonds are shining
Angels take poisons
In rotting pavilions
Under shivering stars
Don't be alarmed
It will not harm you
It's only lightning
Teenage lightning
It's real
Unbelievably real
Teenage lightning
Don't be frightened
This is the way we do it
This is the way we do it
Don't be alarmed
It will not harm you
It's only me pursuing
Something I'm not sure of
It's only lightning
Teenage lightning
Don't be alarmed
You can't be harmed
Teenage lightning
Is it real?
Can you steal
Teenage lightning
It is the lightning's
Oh rose, thou art sick
Seduce.. let loose
The vision and the void
Blood sickle.. honey suck
In little children's heavy heads
My dreams erupt while in my bed
Innocence is dripping red
In dreams I walk with you
In dreams I talk with you
In dreams
You're mine
All of the time
Heads on fire and drunken lights
Days devoured by hungry nights
In love's secret domain
This is mad love
This is mad love
In love's secret domain
Sweet tortures fly on mystery wings
Pure evil is when flowers sing
My heart
My heart is a rose
This is mad love, Oh
This is mad love
In love's secret domain
Give sanity a longer leash
Some of us have sharper teeth
In love's secret domain
In dreams I walk with you..
In dreams I talk with you
In dreams..
You're mine
All of the time
Oh rose, Thou art sick
The invisible worm
The vision and the void
The blood sickle cuts
And the honey sucks
In the sky and in the eye and
In the sky and in the eye and..
If you want to touch the sky
Just put a window in your eye
See the sun and
See the rain
See the window
See the pain
See the sun and
See the rain
See the birds eye
See the brain
Ancient cities
Rise again
See microscopic
See world view
See the future
Leaking through
See the person
Who once was you
See the seashore and
See the sand
See the windows
In your hand
See the Lie.
Gold is the sky
In concentrate
Power in its purest state
Power surge
Power will rise
Through the windows and
Through the skies
Misrule is kind.
See the sky and
See the eye and
See the sky and
In your hand in the sky
And in your eye
See the sky in your hand
See the sky and understand
Gold is the sky
In concentrate
Power in its purest state
Power will rise
Power will fly
Through the window
Through your eye
Gold is the sky
Riches, treasures, riches
Richard's treasures
Riches, treasures, riches
Gold is the sky
In concentrate
Power in its purest state
Power will rise
Power will fly
Through the window and
Through your eye
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
They that have power to hurt and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow,
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces
And husband nature's riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others but stewards of their excellence.
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
...Four
When the storm clears and the sun shines
We'll see the country beyond the garden
Oh I was dragged here by an angel
Against my weak will the stronger dictate
Now I stand here, I've scaled the mountain
That led from function to forms of glory
And when our hands touched like worlds colliding
A star exploding
Then I knew that the wheel is turning
The wheel is turning
The wheel is turning
The wheel is turning
The wheel is turning
Rust transmuted to gold and silver
By strength of true will
No more resistance
No more resistance
Just perfection
Just perfection
The wheel is turning
The wheel is turning
The wheel is turning
Construction of disasters
Our words not properly fixed
Oral fixate
Is this the threshold?
Is this the threshold?
Fixed in a thousand poisons blended and descended
Indestructible definiteness
It's only zero charges electricity
Enough resistance
No action it seems in action
Making pain
I happen to be content to
It was logical but fatal
Once more the numbers
Confusion with a false ???
It will fall soon
It will fall soon
It will fall soon
The white magic of the moon
Is the black magic of the Earth
The on my hands
To what extent have we deceived ourselves as to the
damage?
Being misled, mistaken by instinct
Ice temples crackle
Like in the wave
And my eyes vibrate at a catgut rate
Stagger into the streets bearing after the blood-red
number
The flag banner, stutter and stammer
Nothing will ever be the same
Nothing will ever be the same
What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend?
Since every one hath, every one, one shade,
And you, but one, can every shadow lend.
Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit
Is poorly imitated after you;
On Helen's cheek all art of beauty set,
And you in Grecian tires are painted new:
Speak of the spring and foison of the year;
The one doth shadow of your beauty show,
The other as your bounty doth appear;
And you in every blessed shape we know.
In all external grace you have some part,
I don't want to be the one
When everyone has gone
When everyone is gone
I don't want to be the one
I don't want to be the one
I don't want to be the one
To see so far ahead
I have to live life looking back
To see the skies turn red
I don't want to be the one
To play this dangerous game
To find out why they came
I don't want to be the one
When everyone has gone
When everyone is gone
I don't want to be the one
I don't want to be the one
Circle within Circle
And when that hour came
From words they passed to deeds
Spires, Spirals, and Stones rise
'And in the distance
A cathedral in flames'
Given a chance to recover his breath
And exposed
To the process once more
The youth squirmed
In a shower of gold
That etched on his skin the words:
'Paradise stands
The angel of death stands between heaven and earth,
holding a poison-dripping sword. Identified with Satan,
he is full of powers, a diligent reaper, an old
fugitive and wanderer like Cain, a beggar, a pedlar, an
Arab nomad, a skeleton, capering with sinners and
misers in a jugglers' dance.
But the nightmarish angel presents a different face to
the one who has died before death, who has attained
some measure of the apathea of a saint.
We are told that Azrael, Death, appears to our spirit
in a form determined by our beliefs, actions, and
dispositions during life. He may even manifest
invisibly so the man may die of a rose, a rheumatic
pain, or of a rotting stench.
When the soul sees Azrael, it falls in love, and its
gaze is thus withdrawn from the body as if by a
seduction. Great prophets and saints may even be
politely invited by Death, who appears to them in
corporeal form. Thus it was with Moses and with
Mohammed.
When the Persian poet Rumi lay on his deathbed, Azrael
appeared as a beautiful youth and said, "I am come by
divine command to enquire what commission the Master
may have to entrust in you."
In fact, a strange connection becomes apparent between
mors and amor, love and death. The moment of extinction
in the pleasure of love resembles that of death, and
thus, that of the mystical. In mythic terms, Eros and
Thanatos are almost twins, for in some cases Death
appears as a lovely youth and Eros as a withered
starveling.
Both love and death are gateways, hence their eternal
adolescence and their fixation in the midst of the rite
O me, what eyes hath Love put in my head,
Which have no correspondence with true sight!
Or, if they have, where is my judgment fled,
That censures falsely what they see aright?
If that be fair whereon my false eyes dote,
What means the world to say it is not so?
If it be not, then love doth well denote
Love's eye is not so true as all men's 'No.'
How can it? O, how can Love's eye be true,
That is so vex'd with watching and with tears?
No marvel then, though I mistake my view;
The sun itself sees not till heaven clears.
O cunning Love! with tears thou keep'st me blind,
I'm waiting for the crunch of another naked lunch
I'm waiting for the crunch of another naked lunch
I'm waiting for the crunch of another naked lunch
I'm waiting for the crunch of another naked lunch)
There's a man lying down in a grave somewhere
With the same tattoos as me
And I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him, I
love him
There's a man lying down in a bed somewhere
With a different set of sex aspects
And I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I
love...
This is me here now
Pining like a dog, whining like a dog in a thick
harbour fog
Waiting for a ship
Making sick
And when the ship comes
In trouble
His trouble will begin
And the church bells chime the colour of wine
And the angels devil fight to snatch back the lost time
And there's a man lying down with a blade somewhere
With the same tattoos as me
And I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him, I
love him
There's a man lying down in a bed somewhere
With a different set of sex aspects
And I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I
love...
This is the dark age of love
This is the dark age of love
This is the dark age of love
This is the dark age...
And I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him, I
love him
There's a man laying down
There's a man laying down
There's a man laying down
There's a man laying down somewhere...
O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
Dost hold Time's fickle glass, his sickle, hour;
Who hast by waning grown, and therein show'st
Thy lovers withering as thy sweet self grow'st;
If Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack,
As thou goest onwards, still will pluck thee back,
She keeps thee to this purpose, that her skill
May time disgrace and wretched minutes kill.
Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure!
She may detain, but not still keep, her treasure:
Her audit, though delay'd, answer'd must be,
See the Black Sun rise
In the Solar Lodge
See the Black Sun rise
From the Solar Lodge
Stop
Like a clock
Like a hole in the ground
Like a lock
Like a knife in the sound
From the Solar Lodge
See the Black Sun rise
Ra, bai, be, om, uyi, ucha, beyom, om... (repeated)
A slip was made on Marylebone Road
A slit was made on the Marylebone Road
A slit was made on Marylebone Road
A slip was made in the middle of the road
I sat down in the middle of the road
My bags were too heavy
They were full of medication I didn't wanna take
They were full of medication I didn't wanna take
I left them in the middle of the road
In the middle of the road, in the middle of the road
And a precious green notebook
And a precious green notebook
And a precious green notebook
In the middle of the road
A slit opened; I fell
A ??? kiss from your angel
Your angel, your angel, an angel, an angel
And two people came up to me
Two people came up to me
They asked, was I all right?
And they asked me was I all right?
I said no, I was all wrong, you were wrong for asking
And a slit opened, a slit opened
A chink, a chink opened, a whole slit
And I slipped inside of it
I slipped inside of it
And a slit opened on the Marylebone Road
The Marylebone Road, the marrowbone road
And a slit opened up the Marylebone Road
And I left my bags there
Slit, cut, slit, cut, open, cut, slit, slit, slit, slit
And somewhere, nowhere, in a hospital
Was a horse, ill
And somewhere, in a hospital
Was a horse that was ill
And I tried to find my way there
And I tried to find my way there
And somewhere, in a wood
There are two friends waiting, two friends waiting
And I tried to find my way there
In air, ???
And I got lost in the wood
And I got lost in the wood
So someone left a biscuit trail
No-one left a biscuit trail
No-one left a biscuit trail
No-one left a list of betrayals
Someone left a list of betrayals
Someone left a list of betrayals
Has someone left a list of betrayals?
Someone left a list of betrayals
Someone left a list of betrayals
Someone left a list of betrayals
And a fracture occurred in a fracture
A dislocation, a dislocation appeared, a fraction
A fraction of what I should have had happen to me
A fraction of what is in my handbag
A fraction of what should have happened to me
A fraction of what should have happened to me as I lost
I was all tied up in a green valuable notebook
Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Upon the hours and times of your desire?
I have no precious time at all to spend,
Nor services to do, till you require.
Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour
Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,
Nor think the bitterness of absence sour
When you have bid your servant once adieu;
Nor dare I question with my jealous thought
Where you may be, or your affairs suppose,
But, like a sad slave, stay and think of nought
Save, where you are how happy you make those.
So true a fool is love that in your will,
The mother tongue
Semblance to waking
Semblance to moving
Semblance to being over with
The mother tongue joining of the drum
Mutter to the dream gutter
The bar of light blinding us at the peak we wait for no
longer
Such speech in search of the dead
Only one sound jumping up to thee
They have sent me in search of the dazzling dead
And their face is blurring into mist behind the hill
Only one song, crazed purpose, enactment in the land
What was granted on that first time out over the
shadows
They were filling every crooked palace of my eyes'
hollows, that look and lunged
On that first walk out
What was spoken first was how all of this
Every least part must be supernaturally clearer,
illumined on eternal tables that shift
What was spoken on the first part about the fresh, the
vivid, the hole in the vortex
Where worlds pierced ideas with an absolute embraced
And allowed themselves to exist in beauty
What was spoken from moment to moment, revolving in a
clear space, without confusion
And the doors opened
The entire map appeared, plan of the whole
Worlds appearing, crashing into perfection like
unimaginable powerful and efficient weapons
Stars consume us with longing, boulders reach for us
like lovers
And we enter singing; we have gone nowhere
What was seen with a thousand eyes of us, at the brink
of all
Suns, glory of mists, cleared from the entryways across
the valley floor
And the keepers who wait at the gates of the plan
What was heard in a skeleton's brief aria of obedience
As its rainbow bones paid homage, wing-tip to wing-tip
The ones of the ??? magnificent, crowding to catch with
tender clasp
My wisdom which never was
To transport it, with all due pomp
To a distant spot where it may revolve forever on its
own delicate pivot
In a style to which it is accustomed, safe from me
Until time is no more
And every gate to the plan and every threshold of every
gate
And every approach from the far places
And every cloud that hovers above the plan, desiring
wind and the gleaming sky
Where will the cries of the astatic iron bird find us,
now that we know
And the shift has shown us, and we are walking with
ourselves
Into the shaking air needing nothing
And all being has become as breath over the
transfigured spaces?
Into the house of the heart on that first time
Into the plan, through the gate of the first time
Throughout the land I saw you, whom my heart had never
hoped to see
And it was all fire, as the first drops of rain fell
And the scents, sliding down the air of the million and
one desires of the unnamed god
Penetrated us, who are empty of all wisdom at last
The gate of entry was passed
And night fell over the dissonant ranges
Here, where it all began, as the ground trembles
The wraiths of what was un-god, anything before
Bestows itself prostrate before us, prepared for
annihilation
Engraved on the ground where we walk is this warning
"Everything is now destroyed
Do not seek to be anything other than this
You will be divested of every garment until none remain
What is born must become whole by annihilation
By the gates of the first time
By the glittering flight of arrows into all twilights
of knowing
By the din of the waning light"
What was spoken, what was heard, what was seen
(lyrics by Gavin Friday)
Was all in vain? Or did you cry?
No need to ask, my tears have run dry
This is the end of my pity
I await to die
You now the living, me now the dead
To prove that you loved me
Mere words could not have said
Bitting into skin, into flesh, into me
Taking all you could
Oh, I'd still give you blood
Just to paint your lips
If you should wish them red
My desires your kiss completed
But only now I can see
The vicious joy when you took delight
Behind each kiss your poison bite
And when my all was given
And you had taken
Oh dog-like Judas
You did disappear
Was all in vain? Or did you cry?
No need to ask
A white rainbow under an unquiet skull
(A roaring aura)
(A tremulous column of air, hanging there)
Moon's milk spills from my unquiet skull
And forms a white rainbow
(A psychosis, a roaring aura)
(Aurora borealis)
A white rainbow
A lunar ascension, a solar declension
A tremulous column of air hanging there
A bleached beach, a psychosis
(Laughing like skeletons clattering at midday)
Feel the moon's pull
Feel the moon's pull
Moon's milk spills from my unquiet skull
A white rainbow
Inverted vertigo, a psychosis
(Moon's milk spills)
And overhead, overhead
(Feel the moon's pull)
A tremulous column of air, hanging there
(A white rainbow)
(Laughing like skeletons clattering at midday)
And overhead, a white rainbow
Under an unquiet skull, under an unquiet skull
Feel the moon's pull
Each time I wake up
Each time I say
The shifting slow beginning
Another restless day
Down damned indecision
Push me on my way
The shifting slow beginning
Another restless day
Supermarket Sunday
Faces cold and grey
No bread or milk or tea left
No energy to play
Fear is the jailer
That locks my love away
The boy on the checkout
Says "Have a restless day"
Who has the nerve
To dream, create, and kill?
While it seems the whole moves
Every part stands still
So there's nothing, yes, there's nothing
Everything makes me ill
While it seems the whole moves
Every part stands still
Every part stands still
Watching television in the afternoon
Wasting my life away
All they want to show me is
What's under the clock today
But even rats in a cage
To me, fair friend, you never can be old,
For as you were when first your eye I eyed,
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold
Have from the forests shook three summers' pride,
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turn'd
In process of the seasons have I seen,
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burn'd,
Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green.
Ah! yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand,
Steal from his figure and no pace perceived;
So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand,
Hath motion and mine eye may be deceived:
For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred;
Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said
Thy edge should blunter be than appetite,
Which but to-day by feeding is allay'd,
To-morrow sharpen'd in his former might:
So, love, be thou; although to-day thou fill
Thy hungry eyes even till they wink with fullness,
To-morrow see again, and do not kill
The spirit of love with a perpetual dullness.
Let this sad interim like the ocean be
Which parts the shore, where two contracted new
Come daily to the banks, that, when they see
Return of love, more blest may be the view;
Else call it winter, which being full of care
Wise words from the departing
Eat your greens, especially broccoli
Remember to say "thank you" for the things you haven't
By working the soil we cultivate the sky
We embrace vegetable kingdom
The death of your father, the death of your mother
Is something you prepare for
All your life
All their life
Those lines are repeated over and over with the
following variations:
The death of the father and the death of the mother
Wear sensible shoes and always say "thank you"
Especially for the things you never had
Is something you prepare for
All your life
All of your life
And enter the vegetable kingdom of our own heaven
By working the soil we cultivate good manners
Is to say "please" and "thank you"
Especially for the things you never had
And always say "thank you"
Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head,
To work my mind, when body's work's expired:
For then my thoughts, from far where I abide,
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darkness which the blind do see
Save that my soul's imaginary sight
Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
Makes black night beauteous and her old face new.
Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,
This is apparently an English rendering of a Russian
convicts' prayer.
O Lord, save my sinful soul
From local punishment
From the far-away zone
From being frisked
From the tall fence
From the severe prosecutor
From the Devil or from the devil owner
From small rations
From dirty water
From steel handcuffs
From hidden obligations
A cold cell
And short haircuts
Save us from the death penalty
Amen
Amen
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
(Kill the creator!
Send them the bomb!)
Daddie, do you have another
Cigarette for me, I think
Maybe is getting late
Maybe time is running out
You know, I knew somebody once
Rifled through his drawers
I wasn't that suspicious, but
You know, these things
They happen
But, munyeca
Do you have a towel?
See those people gather round
Baby do you have a light?
What's it like in Ohio?
What d'you want to call me,
Munyeca?
Honey, do you like my dress?
You know, I think the colour pink
Suits my complexion
Or is it a reflection
Of the sky outside, you know
Why those people
Crowding around?
You know I think your time
Is running out
What was your name, anyway?
No lipstick on his collar, but
Maybe it was blood
I don't know to this day, Dear
Do you have another, uh,
Did you light that cigarette for me? Oh!
Did you leave that on the side?
Do you have another
Cigarette for me, you know?
Well, I had somebody once
You know, we used to cook a lot
It was a..
Do you like chillies in Ohio?
Munyeca. Yo te ciaro.
Yo te ciaro Ohio. Muy bonito.
Where did I leave my matches?
I thought they were on
The table there
By the way, did you..?
Do you have some cash for me
Because you know I have to get a
Cab somewhere, after here.
You know, I don't want to push you,
But.. uh..
You know, I've got to go somewhere
There's something burning
In the kitchen
Did I put the peppers in?
I don't.. uh.. uh.. Oh dear..
Why are those people crowding
Round me in the street
You know you have to watch
Yourself, don't you?
Just a bit..
It's a bit of a commotion
It must be like that for you
A little bit..
Nice meeting you..
I have no regret.. but
I did feel a little bad
You know
It's kind of like..
(Kill the creator!
Send them the bomb!)
Daddie, do you have another
Cigarette for me, I think
Maybe is getting late
Maybe time is running out
You know, I knew somebody once
Rifled through his drawers
I wasn't that suspicious, but
You know, these things
They happen
But, muñeca
Do you have a towel?
See those people gather round
Baby do you have a light?
What's it like in Ohio?
What d'you want to call me,
muñeca?
Honey, do you like my dress?
You know, I think the colour pink
Suits my complexion
Or is it a reflection
Of the sky outside, you know
Why those people
Crowding around?
You know I think your time
Is running out
What was your name, anyway?
No lipstick on his collar, but
Maybe it was blood
I don't know to this day, Dear
Do you have another, uh,
Did you light that cigarette for me? Oh!
Did you leave that on the side?
Do you have another
Cigarette for me, you know?
Well, I had somebody once
You know, we used to cook a lot
It was a..
Do you like chillies in Ohio?
Muñeca. Yo te ciaro.
Yo te ciaro Ohio. Muy bonito.
Where did I leave my matches?
I thought they were on
The table there
By the way, did you..?
Do you have some cash for me
Because you know I have to get a
Cab somewhere, after here.
You know, I don't want to push you,
But.. uh..
You know, I've got to go somewhere
There's something burning
In the kitchen
Did I put the peppers in?
I don't.. uh.. uh.. Oh dear..
Why are those people crowding
Round me in the street
You know you have to watch
Yourself, don't you?
Just a bit..
It's a bit of a commotion
It must be like that for you
A little bit..
Nice meeting you..
I have no regret.. but
I did feel a little bad
You know
It's kind of like..
The Spoiler
follows you
In Spoiler's time
from place to place
Old man's eyes
In a young boy's face
Walking in
Another's skin
Secrets inside
The Spoiler
The Spoiler's catch
Boys who exist
In the stories of shadows
On our walls
Who take to the floor
Like a falling wall
To dance
with oblivion
Black Boxes
Black light
He works
At night
The Spoiler
If you're going to have any
The Spoiler
You've got to have enough
His Head
Resting
His feet
Continents
His heart
This is not Paradise Lost
But Paradise Disowned
Virgin Mary, weak and wild
Rids herself of an unwanted child
Price of love, Pain to pay
For a quick visitation in the hay
A reign of love
That stank of death
Nowhere New Jerusalem
No Festival of Light
A moral mean majority
Who'd
There's blood in the sun
There's blood in the sun
But I'm not afraid
I cut myself with Heaven's blade
Inside the wound I found my wings
And walked away from this human skin
I asked the earth to open up the sky
To get inside and live with me for life
I stand before the sun
Rise up and see the shape of things to come
It's all the same
(repeated)
Just cut yourself
(repeated)
With Heaven's blade
Just cut yourself
With Heaven's blade
Just cut yourself
With Heaven's blade
Is it thy will thy image should keep open
My heavy eyelids to the weary night?
Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken,
While shadows like to thee do mock my sight?
Is it thy spirit that thou send'st from thee
So far from home into my deeds to pry,
To find out shames and idle hours in me,
The scope and tenor of thy jealousy?
O, no! thy love, though much, is not so great:
It is my love that keeps mine eye awake;
Mine own true love that doth my rest defeat,
To play the watchman ever for thy sake:
For thee watch I whilst thou dost wake elsewhere,
Rose, I hear your voice near to me
I've put away the poisoned chalice, for now
And lie down amongst the flowerbeds
Whichever stars we walk among
We both seek out the darkest red
The wine was turned to blood again
Without this blood we'd both be dead
I've wound myself tight into the hedgerows
Let's see which way the winter wind blows
Sun Ra was here in his element
He invited me back for a ride
I smiled, agreed, and we left for the place
That is full of reasons for time and for space
He said he was leaving last tide
Sun Ra was here in his element
He invited me back for a ride
I agreed and left for the places
He said he was leaving last tide
In a spaceship powered by natural sounds
I smiled, agreed, and we left for the place
That is full of the reasons for time and space
He said, "I dream of colour music,
And the intricacies of the machines that make it
possible"
I said, "You are nothing if not inconsistent"
He said, "I rely upon being insistent
I'm almost never forever
I'm almost never for now
I implore you, explore all the people you meet
I implore you, explore all the people you meet"
Sun Ra was here in his element
He invited me back for a ride
He said, "I will be all right if you kiss me
And I will be all right if you hold me
It will be all right if you kiss me
It'll be all right if you hold me"
He said, "Now is the time to relaunch the dream weapon"
He said, "Now is the time to relaunch the dream weapon
Relaunch the dream weapon
We worship at the shrine of the thylacine
We worship at the shrine of the thylacine
We worship at the shrine of the thylacine"
And we worshipped at the shrine of the thylacine
I thought, priceless, bloody priceless
Priceless, bloody priceless
Petals pleated
Tear droplets repeated
Sepals, ssss... separate
We hydrogenerate in the basin of a black pan
I see acid free, not an ideal homeland for you or me
With desert venom and military temples
Black wings flying over without management
Without management or plan
Where resonators rub against the delinquent and the
compliant
I will be all right if you kiss me
I will be all right if you hold me
When I see the great black light
When I see the grey-black light
That shines in the eyes of animals
When I find you I will remind you
Most accidents occur at home
Most accidents occur at home
Or in Harry Smith's room in the Chelsea Hotel
Or in Harry Smith's room in the Chelsea Hotel
Where we relaunch the dream weapon
Where we relaunch the dream weapon
Where we relaunch the dream weapon
All will be forgotten, all will be forgotten
All will be forgotten, and all will be well
All will be forgotten, and all will be well
Priceless, bloody priceless
I will be all right if you kiss me
I will be all right if you hold me
I'll be all right if you kiss me
I will be all right if you hold me
In Harry Smith's room in the Chelsea Hotel
Harry Smith's room
