You're one of those elephant hunters from Ebbsfleet
Primordial superman
I know the trouble you've gotten in
Leave this trouble half cottoned down
If I know better, I don't know better
If I know better, I don't know better
The pigeon's half alive
The other half's in bed
We'll pray for the pigeon or half at least
And pray he's not half dead
If I know better, I don't know better
If I know better, I don't know better
The bartender looks like George Best
Plenty of them do
Look at the way that George went astray
And has since been misconstrued
If I know better, I don't know better
If I know better, I don't know better
Got caught in a sacrilegious embrace
We're entrepreneurs in the field
Till we rolled on the bones and we made them our own
And the road to contention was sealed
If I know better, I don't know better
I knew no vices and I knew no sins
I knew the words but they didn't sink in
Stayed out those tunnels that pull people down
There's more of those tunnels in your home town
Fell far from grace, so far I couldn't see
And oh, underground, I wasn't that far from the tree
We're all digging if you wanna know
Fixing, digging far too slow, far too slow
We dug for money, we shoveled four tons
And the end wasn't funny though we'd all had fun
Limping and broken the tunnel fell in
I've been limping from tunnels since my original sin
Birthright's a trouble, my father dug too
He got where he was going at the age of sixty two
We're all digging if you wanna know
Fixing, digging far too slow, far too slow
A new pair of boots and a chisel in your name
Says we could be in the same hole attracting the same blame
If I knew the way to the ornamental tree
I would tell you, we'd be jailbirds, I'd be winking twice for free
Don't call on your brother, odds are he's here and all
Being gentle with the people who were knock-kneed from the fall
We're all digging if you wanna know
Fixing, digging far too slow, far too slow
We're all digging if you wanna know
Tickle me pink, I'm rosy as a flushed red apple skin
Except I've never been as sweet
I've rolled around the orchard and found myself too awkward
And tickle me green, I'm too naive
Pray for the people inside your head
For they won't be there when you're dead
Muffled out and pushed back down
Pushed back through the leafy ground
Time is too early, my hair isn't curly
I wish I was home and tucked away
When nothing goes right and the future's dark as night
What you need is a sunny, sunny day
Pray for the people inside your head
For they won't be there when you're dead
Muffled out and pushed back down
Pushed back through the leafy ground
Don't know where I can find myself a brand new pair of ears
Don't know where I can buy a heart
The one I've got is shoddy, I need a brand new body
And then I can have a brand new start
Pray for the people inside your head
For they won't be there when you're dead
Muffled out and pushed back down
Pushed back through the leafy ground
Monsters in the valley and shootings in the alley
And people fall flat at every turn
There is no straight and narrow, offload your wheelbarrow
And pick up your sticks and twigs to burn
Pray for the people inside your head
For they won't be there when you're dead
Muffled out and pushed back down
Pushed back through the leafy ground
Pray for the people inside your head
For they won't be there when you're dead
When you're dead, when you're dead
When you're dead, when you're dead
When you're dead, when you're dead
They're taking pictures of the man from God
I hope his cassock's clean
The burden of being our holy fellas
Your halo'd better gleam, better gleam
What of all those wayward priests?
The ones who like to drink
Do you suppose they'd swap their blood for wine
Like you swapped yours for ink, for ink
You wrote me, oh so many letters
And all of them seemed true
Promises look good on paper
Especially from you, from you
The weight of all those willing words
I carried all alone
You wouldn't put your pen to bed
When we hadn't found our own, our own
Your sentences rose high at night
And circled round my head
The circle's since been broken
Like the priest before me is breaking bread
I'm being asked to drink the blood of Christ
And soon I'll eat his flesh
I'm alone again before the altar
Shedding all my old regrets
The last of which I'll tell you now
As it flies down the sink
I never knew a part of you
You didn't set in ink, in ink
The letters that you left behind
No longer shall I read
Your blood's between the pages
And I can't stand to see you bleed
And I'll soon forget what was never there
Your words are ash and dust
All that's left is the song I've sung
The breath I've taken and the one I must
If you're born with a love for the wrote and the writ
People of letters your warning stands clear
Pay heed to your heart and not to your wit
All that I have is a river
The river is always my home
Lord, take me away
For I just cannot stay
Or I'll sink in my skin and my bones
The water sustains me without even trying
The water can't drown me, I'm done
With my dying
Please help me build a small boat
One that'll ride on the flow
Where the river runs deep
And the larger fish creep
I'm glad of what keeps me afloat
The water sustains me without even trying
The water can’t drown me, I’m done
With my dying
Now deeper the water I sail
And faster the current I'm in
That each night brings the stars
And the song in my heart
Is a tune for the Journeyman's tale
The water sustains me without even trying
The water can’t drown me, I'm done
With my dying
Now the land that I knew is a dream
And the line on the distance grows faint
So wide is my river
The horizon a sliver
The artist has run out of paint
The water sustains me without even trying
The water can't drown me, I'm done
With my dying
Where the blue of the sea meets the sky
And the big yellow sun leads me home
I'm everywhere now
The way is a vow
To the wind of each breath by and by
The water sustains me without even trying
The water can't drown me, I'm done
Rob lived in a box by the rails
Only thing he knew, you don't fail
When you live in a box by the rails
Don't comb your hair, don't comb your tail
Sweep my mess away
Leave my body, leave my bones
Leave me whole and leave my soul
Leave me nothing, I don't need at all
Nothing, I don't need at all
He ate from the bins in the park
Stayed out with the rats after dark
Never left a trail, never made his mark
When he ate with the rats after dark
Sweep my mess away
Leave my body, leave my bones
Leave me whole and leave my soul
Leave me nothing, I don't need at all
Nothing, I don't need at all
Calling on his friends, never made him sad
Didn't want the things he never had
It only made them feel so bad
For having the things he never had
Sweep my mess away
Leave my body, leave my bones
Leave me whole and leave my soul
Leave me nothing, I don't need at all
Nothing, I don't need at all
If you stay in that box overnight
And don't get out when it gets light
There's not much lost of the secret life
That's done wrong and it's never done right
Now some more flowers grow
The corn gets eaten by a few more crows
And an old man's box is full of bones
Won't see his footprints in the stones
Sweep my mess away
Leave my body, leave my bones
Leave me whole and leave my soul
Leave me nothing, I don't need at all
Nothing, I don't need at all
Sweep my mess away
Leave my body, leave my bones
Leave me whole and leave my soul
Leave me nothing, I don't need at all
Shore to shore, got some land between
Island life is living from a cup of broken queens
Hit the jackpot rolling through a pipe dream in a knot
And I'm missing what was pissing up the wall that I forgot
I forgot, I forgot
I am the masked rider, give me some grace
You've never seen me and you don't know my face
She was no [Incomprehensible] it was cold, it was blue
And it only happened despite me or you
Me or you, me or you
Smoking paper to the crimson flashing bars
Drinking cocktail wine or cottage cream and passing strangers' cars
Live in one room housing with a roof to meet the sky
Spelling Jesus won't you please us 'cos you seem a damn nice guy
Damn nice guy, damn nice guy
We listened to passengers stamping old songs
And we lose what's to lose when you haven't done wrong
Drums too slow for a funeral beat
No strumming of strings and no stamping of feet
Of feet, of feet
It's awfully considerate of you to think of me
And it's not so hard to see you smoking fags and drinking tea
It's the crummy lost at seasick with a floating on the waves
To join the other flotsam with the ripped up queens and knaves
Queens and knaves, queens and knaves
There lies a lady, she's gone and she's gone
She'll be a fine lady before too long
But I hit her head and she finished her walking
She shouldn't be dead, she was too busy talking
Busy talking, busy talking
They can fill a cup or two and still disturb the peace
It's never made it all the way from shore to shore, from west to east
I read that independence was a lightness in your step
You walked away, I felt so heavy at the start of every day
Every day, every day
I've been waiting an hour and the bus hasn't come
I've been cursing my God for the lack of the sun
I've been ruined by destiny, lowered by fate
And the upshot of this is I'm going to be late
Snared about her winsome glance
And mad about the town
Kicking heels has lost its charm and every boy's a
clown
Leave a trail of dusted boots and choose a toe cap then
Or kiss me here or kick me there
Lovers wont be friends
I'm a plough and you're a furrow
I'm a fox and you're a burrow
I'm a weed and you are the road
You were a man (You were a man)
And I'm alone
Sally was a daisy chain
And Sally was a rock
Sally let her hair hang low
And Sally wore a frock
Someone saw a local boy crawl along the shore
Well, must be someone's son they thought and should've
thought some more
I'm a plough and you're a furrow
I'm a fox and you're a burrow
I'm a weed and you are the road
You're a man (You were a man)
I'm alone
Sally saw the boy come near
Right beneath the sun
Breathing hard and cockle proud
And Sally's heart was won
Not a boy she knew at first,
Not a face she'd seen
Or whispered through her ready lips
"I'll be the best I've been"
I'm a plough and you're a furrow
I'm a fox and you're a burrow
I'm a weed and you are the road
You're a man (You were a man)
I'm alone
And I scorched his fingers in her face
Scrubby mitts, saving grace
Coughed a liver
Winked to die
Why don't you lie?
Several gloves and half-cocked eyes
Bring nature to their deviled lives
Win some misses wanting lads
Aging in their passing fads
Leave a trail of dusted boots
And choose a toe cap then
Kiss me here or kick me there
And lovers might be friends
I'm a plough and you're a furrow
I'm a fox and you're a burrow
I'm a weed, you are the road
Jesus Christ, eat your apple, it's raining cats & dogs
If Happy-Go-Lucky can dance with a girl & then Cain killed his Abel in fog
& I'm in denial of one or two things, and three or four besides
and I'll suffer you if you look in my eye like the moon has its turn on the tides, on the tides
She sits on the front of the bus like a teacup, christening glass with her gaze
and I'm right behind watching her with my knees up and stretching the time with my ways
I like the rivers in cities, they've always been there, you see,
I like the feeling of falling through time & that's what the rivers can be, to me
I never you an instant, but I knew you the instant I saw
that the river went by & you cast it your eye & we weren't on the bus anymore
I hate the feelings of guilt that I get when I'm alone or in crowds,
Reams of stories reeled me in
Caught my ear and hooked my chin
A Friday dinner, a fish-drunk sinner
Pull me down or put me in
Just a lonely radio
Just a makeshift show and tell
Playing out the lives of the lost and found
Give me faith and give me love
Afaining from the clouds above
The sea below lent strings to bow
If I can't jump just push and shove
Just a lonely radio
Just a makeshift show and tell
Playing out the lives of the lost and found
Ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah
I'll be in a happy one
A lucky running changing sun
A lost and found, a newest sound
Bullet from a golden gun
Just a lonely radio
Just a makeshift show and tell
Playing out the lives of the lost and found
Here I lie a-dying in bed
It's time for me and death to wed
I'll taste the loam, onto the loam
With a breath my body's dead
Just a lonely radio
Just a makeshift show and tell
Playing out the lives of the lost and found
Ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah
There's a man at hand, there's a way between
The sinking sand and a crooked dream
And collared off at the modern age of nine
Summoned off for walking down the line
They lost eyes in old city streets
Where the funeral pyres burned the last of the meek
He filled his boots and he tipped his cap
And a root to toot with the boss and that
And told a girl of the summer by the sea
Said to her, would you like to go with me?
Wind is turned and the concord trucks
And the singers changed and the hard to soft
And in with changes, always out with time
Nothing left but walking down the line
They lost eyes in old city streets
Where the funeral pyres burned the last of the meek
Dragging loose less through the den
And I come out less with sporting wear
More to fit than you'd be feeling now
She is aware that he is always how
Then her sweetness and his sweeter scented
And her fury's swimming till the fury's bended
And lost in all might be to lost in time
What joy the darts might be to walk the line
They lost eyes in old city streets
Where the funeral pyres burned the last of the meek
They lost eyes in old city streets
Where the funeral pyres burned the last of the meek
They lost eyes in old city streets
I've been drooling
At some mangy scraps of bread
And these hungry voices
Make a lot of noise inside my head
Show me the way to the rubbish dump
Or the bins at closing time
I'd walk a mile just to catch a smile
From a fish without its prime
Been hanging round the underground
Found a couple of crumbs down there
Was lucky and got some flotsam
From a girl with long brown hair
She said her name was Mary May
And she liked the springtime, oh
She said she left the meal half ate
She said she left the crusts of toast
Leftovers is what I want
Don't need no fine cuisine
Give me a dime for bacon rind
Or slip me some of that old sardine
She'd been seeing a man named Jim
I said I didn't mind
Said the second place is just my style
I'd glasses for the line
I felt she was keen to come
And I knew I'd met my match
I was sure that I had locked the door
And she had dropped the latch
Leftovers is what I want
Don't need no fine cuisine
Give me a dime for bacon rind
Or slip me some of that old sardine
I said, "Bring your dark eyes honey"
She said, "You bring yours"
Said I don't take second glance
So she walked out the door
I walked after her, it weighed me down
And asked her why she left
She said she only dealt leftovers
And that all else felt like theft
Leftovers is what I want
Don't need no fine cuisine
Give me a dime for bacon rind
Or slip me some of that old sardine
Leftovers is what I want
Don't need no fine cuisine
Give me a dime for bacon rind
Or slip me some of that old sardine
If you see her say hello
She'll be out handing scraps
But don't be fooled, her heart is ruled
By forces off the maps
Show me the way to the rubbish dump
Or the bins at closing time
I'd walk a mile just to catch a smile
From a fish without its prime
Leftovers is what I want
Don't need no fine cuisine
Give me a dime for bacon rind
The Kentucky pill
And a cow tipping expedition
And I've seen a fuller moon
Swinging watton premonition
Did ya ever expect to have more fame than this or that?
Cause there's beleiveing
and theirs taking off your hat
And there's reading and there's reading this or that
I'm running for my old playmates
I'm running through the town
I'm running with a gun
Thats gonna shoot my playmates down
Did you punch all those clocks?
Did you seal up those time bandits?
If you're playing on the swings
You cant be in the sand pit
I lied to you when you wore those other clothes
I was into your thinking
Where can I get one of thoses?
I woulda picked your brains
I would paid you through the nose
I'm running for my old playmates
I'm running through the town
I'm running with a gun
Thats gonna shoot my playmates down
I am running
Oh I'm running
Oh oh yes im running
Oh I'm running
Oh oh oh
And the girls that you see
Their all faster than a train
You see the same girl
But, you wont see that face again
Left the changes down to
fate and happen stance
Picked a view point
Oh and how my girl can dance
Followed empty
Realized she was watering the plants
I'm running for my old playmates
I'm running through the town
I'm running with a gun
Thats gonna shoot my playmates down
I am running
Oh I'm running
Oh oh yes im running
Oh I'm running
Howl for my homeland
Wherever that was
And howl for the homage
That's been gone and lost
To the passing and temporal
The eons gone by
There's nothing to praise
Not in earth, sea or sky
Or was ho'.
And in time to know
The rest will soon follow
All the rest will soon go
Stay in the light Joe
Stay with yourself
Put up a fight
Don't rest on the shelf
Growl at the pedestal
Growl at the pinch
The last of the ports
Has broken the winch
Oh the legacy is gone
And the people who knew
Have lost their minds
Oh left, there's a few
Who are choking on what
And the will to hold on
With their principles pinned
To the courts of above
Stay in the light Joe
Stay with yourself
Put up a fight
Don't rest on the shelf
Me and the teardrop
Me and the mountain
Oh me and the cheque
And to meet my accountant
Oh me and the wolf
Who was eating my heart
And me and my friends
Who laugh in the dark
Oh and you and yours two
And you are yours three
And you and yours ever
And ever be free
Stay in the light Joe
Stay with yourself
Put up a fight
There are ten thousand graves
In Hong Kong Protestant Cemetery
Every one of them says
Born and died and the rest might be history
Walking there I'd cry
For my love was there to lie
I never knew shame to be so refreshing
I'd sing Georgia on my mind, she would be [Incomprehensible]
I'm alright, I'm alright
I'm alright, I'm alright
Was the day of the boats
For the fellas in coats in the Navy
They'd be all around
Change the face of this town 'cos they're lazy
1952 was the year that I lost you
I was with the soldiers in the school hall
Didn't know that you were ill
You didn't seem off
I'm alright, I'm alright
I'm alright, I'm alright
Don't go China show, new so blue
So who's aboard the boats these days?
Some people are fixing the terrible
Mixing the crew of old whose sailors say
Your life might be a mess of lights
When you're on your own
But the lights you'll see form a line
That'll be pointing all the way home
I was here before
My name was on the door
Took a score of years to get to your seat
I'll send the next in line, he'll be a clean sheet
I'm alright, I'm alright
I'm alright, I'm alright
I'm alright, I'm alright
Well, I'm sure you're near and I can almost smell you
But the winds are up at the walls again
And I can hear you coming, heaven helped you coming
I believe in heaven, it's a wait away
Did you learn just how I loved you?
Did you see how far I'd been?
Would you meet me in an hour?
I could tell you what I've seen, what I've seen
Cold bread, cold bread we had
Put your whine in water, pull your chips back in
So you crawl like a crab across Blackfriars Bridge
[Incomprehensible]
I'm a bowling green, I'm a delivery boy
Have a heart which skips a beat
Oh, come on, roll along for free
In the middle of the morning
Swap your drinking nights with me, with me
Cold bread, cold bread we had
Cold bread, cold bread we had
I can live with dying, I can chew my bit
And play panic to my senses and hijack my head
It's the rhythm of moving and a rolling and a rattle
It's a giving instead, it's a well sprung bed
We can roll around forever
We can pray for all we've been
We can knock it hell for leather
We can call it all a dream, all a dream
Cold bread, cold bread we had
I met Jane in September's throw
January's grass, we let each other go
I met Helen on March's back
She took my coat and she stole my hat
I met you when the weather got fine
You said 'I've got yours if you've got mine'
And the worst and best of all we knew
Stayed out to rust in the morning dew
Didn't take long to sing our love
Was a harvest feast, was a hand to glove
When winter came you couldn't stand to sit
You just the same never burnt but lit
With a world at war and my thoughts on you
I didn't care to fall, there wasn't much to do
And the worst and best of all we knew
Stayed out to rust in the morning dew
Churlish May when the year was fair
Gone full circle when things went square
Ate my meal an un-noble beast
Left me to pay not a movable feast
Look I got nothing, dunno where I am
Got a fistful of questions, not an answer to hand
And the worst and best of all we knew
Stayed out to rust in the morning dew
Morning dew
With a blow me down the road, dead in the wood
Further from you now, then the roots from the leaves
Drunk on the wood, never seen any trees
My ore's out the water and the lake that I'm sailing
Is your dear father's daughter and it's cold and I'm
ailing
Are you drowning me slowly, was the school meant to
teach
Are you leaving so slowly, where's the shore, where's
the beach?
And the worst and best of all we knew
Time rolls the back wheels of my mind
You helped me put the brakes on 'cos you're kind
I wonder where you learned to be so good
I wonder if I'm doing the best I could
I could be somewhere else
I should be someone else but
You wouldn't know me if I was
You'd say I was a stranger just because
You'd say I wasn't weak enough for you
You'd want me just to feel as you do too
I could be somewhere else
I should be someone else
But you shouldn't tell me what to do
I'll only take the brakes off if you do
And roll around like marbles on the floor
Please pick me up and roll me out the door
I could be somewhere else
I should be someone else but
I guess I'm happy as I am
Sometimes I find it hard to be a man
It's easier just to play the same old game
Of trying to forget my bloody name
I could be somewhere else
I should be someone else
But how you are mister?
I know what I'm called
It's just you got me
The song's a thing
And this one's thin
From traveling light
The stars at night
Have seen old time to new erosion
Old time gone with old religion
Prickled interest seizing pride
The night the music upped and died, died.
Been listening all the night-long
Been listening all the day.
Will I listen for the one you know
Will I listen, will i pray?
It's a-coming all the night long
It's a-coming in the day
It's blowing through my stone ears, whistling its way.
Left the song behind old chums
The faintest trace of what's to come
What's behind and what is near
Banished by a suckling ear.
Coffee lustre
Lend me mine
Nothing came with fear and wine, wine.
Been listening all the night long
Been listening all the day
Will I listen for the one you know
Will I listen, will I pray?
It's a coming all the night-long
Its a-coming in the day
Its blowing through my stone ears, whistling it's way.
The music's gone
The music's dead
The music went and in its stead
A single song, a chorus strong
A symphony, songs right or wrong
The band's rehearsing, the radios off
The silence is everything, hold that cough.
Been listening all the night-long
Been listening all the day
Will I listen to the one you know
Will I listen, will I pray?
It's a-coming all the night-long
It's a-coming in the day
![Leftovers - Johnny Flynn LIVE Bowery Ballroom [Part 3]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130428080016im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/AKv6ccZtBUg/default.jpg "Leftovers - Johnny Flynn LIVE Bowery Ballroom [Part 3]")
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