When I think of it now that it's done
How it might've gone without a place to belong
I can see we played into their hands
And they picked our bones until we proved them wrong
It's only a moment
The minutes and hours, they fly from me now as then
It's all in the detail
I've been here before but still don't remember when
As we stared in the face of the storm
And the change began to gather over the bend
There was always a chance it would come
But if you can't make it happen nobody can
It's all but forgotten
The minutes and hours, they're nothing that can't be
bought
It's all in the detail
Lights are out on neon drive
Unprotected in my bed
Behind the walls it comes alive
Shoots again into my head
I see the red dust shadow
In the corner of my eye
Another child is calling
No, no, where did my daddy go
He's flown, I'm alone
When I grown up, I'll fly too
Take these things, fold your wings
Words can't bring you back
It's been this way forever
Everything I though was mine
Been haunted by reminders
Since nineteen-sixtynine
I keep the shadow walled in
In the deepest part of me
And still the child is calling
No, no, why did my daddy go
Away, none will say
When I wake up I'll know
Tears I tried so hard to hide
Always break inside
Take these things and fold your wings
The light that strikes against itself is hard as stone
A dream too many full of memories not my own
They're only shadows, they'll disappear
Their only destination: anywhere but here
There's nothing permanent below me and above
For every time it's all too much, it's not enough
We're unconnected, we're unafraid
We only miss each other from miles away
Tell me again, am I the same when I'm not there?
Gone in a second, impossible to bear
Hard to remember the way I lived outside
Stronger than friction until our worlds collide
These hands are useless, not even mine
They do not serve me, they lose the line
I have my version of vital signs
But there are complications of a different kind
Tell me again, am I the same when I'm not there?
One single moment and changed beyond repair
Hard to remember the way I lived outside
Stronger than friction, the balanced will until our
worlds collide
Noone ever thought about it
Noone had the will to wonder why
Only you refused to die
Now there is no isolation
Keeping the experience at bay
Any time, any day
It brings me to my senses, this poison in my side
The raging heart defenses a turning tide
Seen upon the television screen
'Cross the boundaries of my head
Entertained by the dead
Stayed awake to make the morning
But it came too little and too late
Take your time, I can wait
Is this thing going to kill me
And tear my soul apart
If not, it never will be
The one to break my heart open
You're really something good, what's got into you?
This is the consequence of what you've led us to
These views are shaped by thoughts which you have never
owned
You take all my opinions, claim them as your own
I don't expect you'll ever let yourself be told
No easy way to say it, you've been bought and sold
Who'll defy me now
And chase the lightning all to soon
What kind of mercy will you gain
Under the shadow of the moon
The shadow of the moon above
And when you know what it's about
You'd stand upon a hollow heel
Those empty eyes look in, not out
Seeing the water deep and still
Something's up on the northern skyline
Angels descending from their gallery on high
Rally around me slowly
Angels with dirty faces
Leaving their lipstick trace across the human race
Heavenly host unholy
Walking the wire, I jump the gun
Some of us fly too close to the sun
Gone are the days when Heaven could wait
Thought there was time but now it's too late
So when you hear the angels sing
Get ready to spread your wings
How the hell am I going to do this?
Heavenly bodies multiplying through the mist
Steadily swell their numbers
Under celestial orders
Ascending the clouds right up into the stratosphere
Marching us down to Slumbertown
Walking the wire, I'm taking aim
Keeping my tail ahead of the game
Gone are the days of Heaven's Lament
Satellite plays the whole event
So when you want to take them higher
Get ready to open fire
In Arcadia, all they've made of light is shade
A halcyon retreat now frayed
Stay together in a hell for leather world
Torn apart by angels and their battlecries
Walking the wire, I jump the gun
Some of us fly too close to the sun
Gone are the days when Heaven could wait
Thought there was time but now it's too late
So when you hear the angels sing
When the feeling takes me over, what else can I do but run?
Through the corridors I follow, I shoot into oblivion;
If you close your eyes and listen, you can hear the children play,
I love it when their eyes are watching, I'll have it when they disobey.
It's a different kind of loving, such a dirty rigmarole,
But just in case there's no tomorrow, I'll dring fire from their souls;
If you close your eyes and listen, you can hear the children shout,
I hate it but I win't be happy till I've turned them inside out.
All day long, here I go!
I'm reeling, fighting for breath
Running on empty
A fortress carved out of steel
Black and surrounding
No other survivors, the walls without end,
So where have I come to?
Welcome, hero, to Ryker Skies
Where all your hopes are stored
You can leave responsibilities in ruins at the door
Get it knocked into your thick skull
It's really not that hard
It's a cast iron binding covenant
And this is just the start
There are insults and injuries
You've heaped upon yourself
But you play the victim
While you pile the blame on someone else
So before I state my intention to live or die
I command your total attention
In Ryker Skies
They're unspoken, these accidents,
They leave a bitter twist
It's a no-win situation
But I know you can't resist
In walks trouble without a sound
A deal across his face
He's a won't-stop, screwtop work of art
Mechanical disgrace
So be sure you cast not a shadow
As you walk by
No, you won't be chasing no rainbows
In Ryker Skies
You'll never fly
There was a time, it flashed on by
Nohing to break the iron crown
Tearing imagination down
Strung out and overwhelmed
I've had more than enough
The wings of butterflies are made of sterner stuff
With all those years to kill
I'm yours until...
So before I state my intention to live or die
I command your total attention
In Ryker Skies
You'll never fly
There was a time, it flashed on by
Say awhile, when I'm not alone
I forget all the anger in me
Kiss a tear when the hammer falls
They're holding me here in never ending circles
I can still remember summer madness
I can taste the perfume on your cheek
The heat is overcome by coldness--How
Consoling words are insignificant
Say you'll pray
Justify the actions
These are days of the mob-rule, sharp tongue, curfew
When the mind is in solitary confinement--
Makes the mood that breaks you
There's a spirit seeking liberation
Here's a fire with a hungry heart
If I listen maybe, time will tell me
The reasons why we're torn apart
As the years go by
Don't make any false promises
As the years go by
Say you'll pray
Here the silence is too loud
In a steel barred jail on the other side
We invented the differences
That weaved the web with which we lied
Caught in the middle of a cold war zone
I left my lover in a far-off place
She'll kiss a tear when the hammer's falling
And wipe the darkness from my face
As the years go by
Don't make any false promises
As the years go by
I may be wrong
But the miracle that I prayed for is here,
Could be illusion, maybe some trickery,
I don't know why
I'm scoring the angels,
Counting all the thousand days,
There were so many tears
So many times, wasting away,
So what about the thousand days?
We miss the reason because of what we are,
I fall silent with you,
The gash I know is getting obvious
The blood of ages from
Scoring the angels,
Guaranteed for all we know
There were so many tears
So many times, wasting away
So what about the thousand days?
I swerve the engine, the balance disappears,
While i'm sleeping
I'm scoring the angels
Counting all the thousand days
There were so many tears
So many times, wasting away.
So what about the thousand days?
====================================================================
Don’t want to lead a revolution
Let another go ahead
Don’t have a need for elocution
No desire to raise the dead
You can’t avoid the circulation
Amend the circumstance
Don’t want to lose the combination
Still want to hold it in my hands
Can’t see around this tunnel vision
From inside of what I’ve found
When I was wracked with indecision
When my hide was hunted down
Under a moon of innovation
A many-splendoured thing
I need the company I’m keeping
And I feed the hunger
Something happened inside and I can’t explain it
I’m in a critical way
When I didn’t believe it I couldn’t see
Now I live a life in a day
All at once she is gone again when I turn back
Cracking up, more than I can take
Make it come right
--Instrumental--
And I’m dead on my feet, hesitating and down
In a dangerous mood where I shouldn’t remain
Straighter than a narrow never-ending emotional ride
(Raining from the harder sky)
Waiting for survival, are there no words left to right?
Don’t want them anymore
And now something I couldn’t hide has happened inside
And taken the meaning away
When I didn’t give in I couldn’t begin
Now I live a life in a day
Something happened inside and I can’t explain it
I’m in a critical way
When I didn’t believe it I couldn’t see
Now I live a primitive life in a day
Sightless, he watches the columns collide
As he wanders the canyons relentlessly wide
Empires are burning, the rain cuts his skin
And in every direction the sound closes in
Time, only time, have I
And already I'm not okay
He falls in with the unwashed and unfed
He will sleep for the first time, no crib for a bed
In these extraordinary lanes
He is blind again, unaware still
From the greatest height and to furthest end
Without association, he will bend
And walking with the wounded, old and thin
Made to be paraded, bring the misfit in
How to overpower the avenues of steel
In my illusion, what of this is real?
Sleepless incidental, what I really need
Is how to now avoid the full stampede
I'm only taking time
And I'm not where I want to be now
I'm cold and unapproachable
Deceptive and a fraud
Don't need to keep attention
I hate to be ignored
The soul of no discretion
Belligerent, won't think outside the box
I'm critical and careless
My open mind is shut and firmly locked
I'm selfish and insensitive
I'm rotten to the core
Pretentious and derivative
You've seen it all before
My good contributions
Are counted on the fingers of one hand
No New Year's Resolution
Nothing ever goes the way I planned
My catalogue of failures
Is etched upon my lips
The baggage that I carry
Would sink a thousand ships
My motives are uncertain
Intentions not altogether pure
So now don't you want me deside you
Just like it was before ?
I'm stupid, inarticulate
My ego grows and grows
Libido turns to celibate
I don't know where it goes
No lifelong performance
Prepares me for the final curtain call
I swear no allegiance
No loyalty to anything at all
You, like me, were raised to be
A million times admired
Unlike mine, our family line
Garden over me, the secret I love most,
God and Man agree to giving up the ghost,
High above the moon, the sun has left the sky,
I would love to know if you're the reason why.
Garden under me, the naked and the dead,
I can still remember everything we said,
Higher, higher now than I have ever been
More than meets the eye than mine have ever seen.
Garden over me, you never know the grief,
Hide this side away to satisfy belief,
I can't stand the agony of nothing new,
When the soft white belly enters into you
I go down
The ribbon wrapped a gun, I blinded everyone,
Collected underground, now I'm up I'm down
It isn't how you lie, it's in the way you're mine,
How was I to know the nerves would overflow?
I want to see you, I want to touch you
I want to feel the breathing changing.
I want to be you, to be inside you,
To pull you under, get you fighting.
Unsodden even the water leaking,
Don't want to hear the widow speaking,
And just to know if there could be something,
You couldn't get that, yeah...
Ah, you fools, don't you see?
He's darker than he's going to be,
The state I'm in, hollow bone,
Diamond hard heart of stone.
Lost in love, senses flown
Diamond hard heart of stone.
====================================================================
Belly first, unrehearsed, I’m thrown from all I’ve
known
A silhouette set among the badlands paved with stone
Photographs, fingerprints, fragile refugee
Higher rise fire in the sky society
Can I hold on, can I believe in
All the things you are?
There’s no sane in, chaos reigns in Subterranea
Cadillac heart attack, back of this beyond
Pusher king, TV queen, accommodating blonde
At Traitor’s Gate while you wait gender reassigned
Surgeon carves the matching halves
The blindfold leads the blind
Can I hold on? I cannot count them
All the things you are
Were I stronger I’d hold out longer in Subterranea
Without the walls, comfort is freezing in my veins
And caught within chemical rain
My dreams have turned against me
And fatally have fenced me in
Above me cold light and below me over all
The time I‘ve lost, how can I know?
So I keep forgetting what I am half recalling
On a bed of fallen flowers
Hold me now as I was held before
Powerhouse, sacred vows, trigger happy punk
Driven by hidden eyes and figure hugging junk
Heaven knows if I’m close, am I unreleased?
If I’m in hell I may as well be famine to the feast
Can I hold on, can I belong to
All the things you are?
There’s no sane in, chaos reigns in Subterranea,
Subterranea, Subterranea
Mel and me, the railway children,
Played the disused line
Run through fields we'd kicked our shoes off
Drunk in air like sweet red wine
Together like suede and leather
No more easy come easy go
I remember the coalmine closing
Her father's face was a sight
Bringing up kids on a pittance. Wages?
Nothing's left by Saturday night
Those days will scar forever
No more easy come easy go
Melanie won't run-run-runaway
Melanie can't come she's got to stay
Worth her weight in gold ooh baby
I'm sold on sold on sold on you
Think of all tomorrow's parties
And giving it all away
There's nothing left here but muck-stack-Charlies
Let's make a run for it, what do you say?
You've got to make it happen
No more easy come easy go
Melanie won't run-run-runaway...
You're one in a million
You'll always come first
All the zeroes follow you
Melanie you've got to save yourself
This time take them for granted
No more easy come easy go
Melanie won't run-run-runaway...
====================================================================
Singing praises was never a feature
Encouraged in me or my kind.
Every time they remain with my hand to my mouth,
The crowded borders leave me colour-blind;
Pushing me for the death warmed up
And the flowers and fur to parade,
In the time that it takes for the ritual wake
They've broken all the promises they made.
I was driven away to distraction and
Couldn't see we were all laid to waste,
Never sleeping, I saw my abduction from
Solid areas fallen with grace.
I come drifting through the draughting
Dropping out of sight,
I'm not begging for love, I'm empty as I am.
I'm beginning to wonder is the ability too weak?
If this stark interior surrounds me, am I so unique?
Little blue souvenir to remind me of
Restless days when I should have said No,
And you know that I've nothing to share with you
For the chance of the love that we save:
I wanted to be magnificent
For the less-than-a-lifetime of mine,
I forget where I came in,
All I know there's no discipline now.
====================================================================
Helplessly held by the weeds, we are grown,
I tried talking sense to you, leave it alone;
I give in to the weight of the kick,
So weary of waiting and hoping for this,
The two of us alone, no-one else to see,
I promise not to miss you and no more jealousy.
Careful of my gender, it comes, how it goes,
Love me tender so nobody knows,
Nobody knows the trouble I seen,
Each time they asked, I said something obscene,
The splinters shower down, I shelter from the rain,
Against the grain, against the moon,
I waxes and I wanes.
No ecstacy sent for taking a line,
Right through the tokehead they rip, run and shine;
I awake and the feeling won't drop,
Each time they slam down, I swear I will stop,
The two of us alone, no-else to see,
The damage brings us closer to murder, can't you see?
Here in my rocking-horse house,
I keep the curtains drawn;
Inside my little head,
I hear them screaming out my name.
Here in my rocking-horse room,
I keep my syes shut tight:
Inside my peeping-holes,
I know that if they're empty I can sleep.
Don't you believe her, deliver a shiver to me,
Is this what you wnated?
I'm haunted, my eyes grown cold.
I still got second sight,
I still can see at night.
Here comes the enemy, the beast in me,
Alive a little more,
On my hard shoulder,
The warning goes deeper than before.
I still got second sight,
Through the stinging of the system
Wandering lonely as a cloud
Talking only in the open
Congregation is even now disallowed
Growing anger in the city
Banner headlines around the world
What has to be done is called reformation
To heal the rift of living apart together
Forgive them, they know not what they do
There's no love lost at all
Save them they rue the day when
They ever got involved
Even so I have a dream
Turning circles in my head
That they're closing down all the no-go areas
Opening one for them both instead
Forgive them, they know not what they do
There's no love lost at all
Save them God are you waiting open-armed?
All of the problems over the years
I'm sure can be sorted with peaceful solutions
My warm shoulder dries your tears
I want no more heartache
Oh for crying out loud
No point asking if you're leaving
Didn't I make that clear
If we agree to differ
The closer, I'm certain, we'll always feel
Forgive them they know not what they do
There's no love lost at all
Save them they rue the day when
Darker than the starlight gold,
Bearing down again to bury me in the air,
Suffer like a stained glass wire,
When the waves are gone, your eyes and fears,
I'll be there.
And if we can still believe in tomorrow,
Yesterday will disappear soon enough,
When it seems impossible to remember
How the world could be so proud of itself.
Into lives of violent ends,
She hides away, relies on night
All the time,
Holding out a hand to take, still awash in seas of ivory,
We steal away.
And it's such a lonely ride to tomorrow
Through the corners where the light never shows,
When it seems impossible to imagine
How the world could be so cold to itself.
And if we can still believe in tomorrow,
Yesterday will disappear soon enough,
When it seems impossible to remember
How the world could be so proud of itself.
====================================================================
I can feel the movement
Growing all around me everywhere
I can hear the language of the revolution every day
If you pledge to join me
We can fight for reason everywhere
All the things we wished for
Are ours for the asking anyway
Many years ago we lived here
All too soon our hopes were drowned
Now as if I never knew you
Life goes on in different towns
And I can walk round you, past you, through you
Because you're only ghosts now
Yes, I can walk round you, past you, through you
Because you're only ghosts now
Somehow in this silent city
A little of us still remains
Mingled with the distant laughter
Fused with dust in future rains
And I can walk round you, past you, through you
Because you're only ghosts now
Yes, I can walk round you, past you, through you
All my life I'm governed and controlled
At someone's beck and call
Made to walk a balanced line before I've even crawled
All the time I hungered for release
On independence day
Without a contact or a name, I waited anyway
Torn apart and written in the stars
More I cannot see
Blind enough to follow through
Unsupervised devotion
Forever I was losing sight, sound escaping
And all the world was turning upside down
For every move I tried to make when I was stranded
At least I'm standing on unsolid ground
--Instrumental--
All my live I'm governed and controlled
At someone's beck and call
Maybe there's no genius in having lived at all
All my life I'm taken by surprise
I'm someone's waste of time
Now I walk a balanced line
And step into tomorrow
Forever I was losing sight, sound escaping
And all the world was turning upside down
For every move I tried to make when I was stranded
The colour of the evening
With a sunset that bleeds
The fallen on the stony ground
Like so many seeds
We're taking the country
From border to shore
Like people used to tell me
All's fair in love and war
For we are soldiers
King for a day
Mountains to molehills
Peasants for pay
People would cry
If they'd seen what we've done
But we'll be war heroes
When we get home.
We came across the borderline
To another part of town
Her streets were deserted
As we tore the wire down
The women were screaming
As we came through the door
Like people used to tell me
All's fair in love and war
For we are soldiers...
King for a day
Mountains to molehills
Peasants for pay
People would cry
If they'd seen what we've done
But we'll be war heroes
When we get home.
You'd cry
If you'd seen what we've done
But we'll be war heroes
Are you inside, provider, or am I?
Immersed in all the darkness and decay
Denied the sleep to dream myself away
Said I was bright, to sensitive to fly
Can't tell you why you don't already know
He reins the horse for those I cannot see
Will I like him a gallant rider be?
The shadows fill the corners across the square
They come a-crawling to offer shelter, to haul me in
Without a needlepoint in the light
And the steel to still your tongue
The night hides a multitude of uncovered sins
The heart beating in Capricorn, I take on a guise
They won't define me anytime in the English rain
Will I feel an automatic release from all this pain?
With no movement, undiscovered, I lie in wait
So what if you're sentimental
And I'm out of tears, out of sympathy?
I'll make it look accidental
And I'll leave no sign to say your life was mine
No-one I think fell out of my tree
No-one I carried just the same
Thinner than most sinners and saints alive
Dare you speak my name?
So what if you're temperamental
And I'm out of tears, out of sympathy?
So what if I'm elemental?
Oh, oh
--Instrumental--
"Do you seek enlightenment
Are you to frightened to speak?
Short of experience here where the flesh is so weak
Trust in these hands, let them attend to you
We understand, we all intend for you
To stand among friends"
"Are you remembering
Do I revive your neglect, my one?
A price must be paid for your sin
And I'm here to collect
All that you are is all that you'll ever be
Unless on your hands and knees
You put all your faith in me"
Leave me alone, I don't belong here
I'm not your candidate, guaranteed failsafe
I'm on my own
--Instrumental--
I don't know, I don't know
Bible bashing fashion victim
Should have kicked him
When he couldn't get arrested
Uncontested will to carry on is gone
Inside his head, he's dead
He said, "I never was alive
I died with knives and nails and nightingales
This is all the anger I can hold"
Kennedy, remember me, I cannot bury you
Until I stare into the mouth of hell
Time alone will tell me how to
Spend the time alone without you
Listen to the songs about you, run for cover,
Gunners unrevealed will aim to please another son
I can't go on, help me make that Golden Dawn
Because for all we know we're done and dusted
Must it end like this, here and now, here and now?
I don't belong here
There's nothing now my eyes can recognise
I'm all wrong here, let me go, I'm not for changing
I don't belong here
I'm not your victim and I don't believe
I'm not strong here, no religion, nothing more
I'm telling you know, I'm not your candidate
Guaranteed failsafe
I'm caught in a headrush
In moods of don't disturb,I'm on edge and then
Afraid, I call for answers again and again
I keep on hoping that you'll do something real
Accept the consequence but you never will
I may have squandered it but what do I know ?
There's one good God above us, bad God below
I keep on hoping you'll remember me still
Admit I wasn't wrong but you never will
And there's no way? in a place of illusion pale as
glass
One day one thing is sure - this too shall pass
I'll stay, waiting the longest time
Until you come but you never will
Now as the shadows fall on Allhallows Eve
We spin our tangled web, learn to deceive
I keep on hoping that you'll do something real
Give in to influence but you never will
And there's no way, any time any place we'll meet again
One day with eternal evasion this will end
I'll stay, waiting the longest time
Until you come but you never will
This kind of living death is made in the mind
I find with these restrictions, I'm more deaf than
blind
No matter where I look, I'm under attack
Whichever road I took, I always came back
And there's no way, in a place of illusion pale as
glass
One day one thing is sure - this too shall pass
I'll stay, waiting the longest time
I am just a small town boy
But don't hold that against me
Mum's a lawyer, Dad's got a bank
But really I'm OK
Should I stop or should I go
I'm full of indecision
I'd throw it away for a dollar a day
If I could be like...
You made me promise not to mention
You can call round any time of day and see
Me and my family
These things are sent to try us
Or to land us in hot water
Turning grey as my Tube record plays
When I call you, come as you are
You don't need fancy cars or finery
You don't need a credit card to buy me
They'll never understand I bite the hand that's feeding me
Saying I must be mad--that's a matter of opinion
You, I'll give you all of my affection
You and I can celebrate defection
Get up and go tonight, I've seen the light that's leading me
Saying that I'll be back well that's a matter of opinion
We'll work we don't care how long it takes us
We'll save we'll buy that house on the hill some day
Never thought I'd be the black sheep of the family
Never thought I'd be the black sheep of the family
Control me, console me, conceive me, consume me
We all need some space
Just a little room to breathe
My girl friend sees me
I know that I couldn't do it alone
We will shine for you
Come and share the atmosphere up here, now that we're
Over, over the moon
It feels like we're in Heaven, Heaven
Over, over the moon
It feels like we're in Heaven now
Over, over the moon
It feels like we're in Heaven, Heaven
Over, over the moon
It feels like we're in Heaven now
Never thought I'd be the black sheep of the family
====================================================================
So baby, you don't have the time
Too busy, you can't see the crime
In keeping yourself to yourself
Well, girl
You don't look that good anyway
Persistence paid off in the end
She insisted we'd only be friends
That was then this is now one year later
It's not right, no not quite
All the lights are on but no-one's home tonight
Girl with a summer tan
Slips through my fingers like sand
All I wanted to see was you
Coming home to me
Smiled so wide I'm tearing my face
When she moved her stuff into my place
But all I see now are notes on a table
Yeah, I love you too
But what good does that do?
We gotta get together baby
Me'n'you
Girl with a summer tan...
I go crazy pacing the floor
Learn my lines
Then you walk through the door
When I see you it fires something in me
Your loving shows
I wanna burn these clothes
Take your right there where you're standing
Lace and all.
Girl with a summer tan...
====================================================================
If I won't live a lie it's in my self defence
That I remember hiding then
If I'm eroding all the innocence
Am I running rigid once again?
And he won't hear me now in the darkest hour
I'll never see him now
Oh I can take the mystery in the darkest hour
And he won't hurt me now
If we are lost in paradise
Our recollection all but gone
We will make the only sacrifice
For the strength to carry on
In spite of everything I recognise the end
And feel the scars that never heal
I keep the purity, buried as I am
In an effort to conceal
Don't underestimate what I've retained
All my souvenirs, forget-me-nots,
I'll pretend all you want me to
I won't believe it if you don't
Burn it up again, it's here and I've
Let it live through other stolen lives
Save your hollow breath
Feast your tired eyes
You need protection as well as I
Nothing any good ever came from me
Thought I could run you in the ground
What do I do, what kind of fool
Covers you like an animal?
Out of the way,
I'm anyone wilder than you are
Anyone who ever had a heart
Wouldn't deny me
Woe betide the one, not to be outdone,
Who will remember all that stuff,
Didn't I say it then enough?
If I could let it be, I would
Start it again, when does it end?
I'm in there somewhere
Nobody can carry me over
Now the dead winds have blown
With the cold rains
If I should fall from your side
Keep it in your mind
How I tried to keep him here
How I promised he'd be safe
And he never said a word
And he never cried
Another day leads me on
And I will follow
Whatever it takes now, I'll do
If it's over
And he won't hurt me now, I know
When I'm losing all the power
And he won't hurt me now
Weird scenes are coming through the airwaves
From a flickering tube
An old film with an older theme
And those actors could be us
But the ending is good so I'm thinking
"There's the rub"
Later when we meet
It's emotion going through the motions
A kick to break up or a kiss to make up
But then there'll be another scene
Like the one yesterday
When we say hello, we mean goodbye
Feigning paradise, wanting to cry
Love, all our passion I'm sorry to say
Is part of the game we play
So we're into action on cue
And go spinning like a reel
Summing up this relationship
And the way I feel
I think maybe we should go on out
Into the moonlight, out of the spotlight
And examine where we are and where we've been to
Where we're going is down without a happy ending
When we say hello we mean goodbye
Feigning paradise, wanting to cry
Love, all our passion I'm sorry to say
Wakes up forgotten, makes up his mind
Sets out to question if he's one of a kind
On and on, want to feel somehow
Somewhere in time
You’ll see it all the way that I do now
Gives in to impulse, reaches in between
Gets back a notion, still remembers a dream
Gone again and I don't know how
Some other time
You’re going to look like I do now
--Instrumental--
Sprawls across the walkways, recalls another place
Finds the faces hidden, no names upon a stone
Raises up his fever, he rails against the skies
Careless what he wishes for
And what he’s always known
On and on, want to feel somehow
Somewhere in time
You’ll see it all the way that I do now
In and out of daylight, hung on for dearest life
Stumbles on misguided, is rousing from a sleep
On the street civilians display a common band
Roaring like a cry from Heaven seven thunders deep
Gone again and I don't know how
Some other time
You’re going to look like I do now
So many held in firm array, each one anonymously field
In every kind of every way and every mother’s only
child
And all the time identified, it's hard to take it in at
There must be many more besides
Those to watch us while we’re sleeping
So many here, so many held
Aligned and catalogued for good
And punching in and punching out
The empty voices keep repeating
"I don’t live on the outside
I’m provided for in here now
Love us where we stand, lead us through this land
We all know the score, that’s what living’s for"
Here we are
Alive and free
Far away in time from our darkest day
That took our young and brave
From the cradle to the grave
70 years ago on July one 1916 on the Somme
The enemies had never seen fighting like this before
Such a simple plan--
How could any german man
survive through that ordeal?
Company 'A' to Company 'B'
"Morale is high here, sir, but I don't think it's safe to go"
Company 'A' from Company 'B'
"Mister you have your orders and you must obey"
So the first line rose, and the first line fell
And a poet who survived later wrote about
A "Sunlit vision of Hell"
And "Larks singing"
Because after all it's just another summer's day in France
And the Tommies on the Somme sang
"We are fighting to turn no-man's land into a common ground"
Sooner or later
Ready or not
We find ourselves dissolved in soil
The big sleep state
I don't worry
When you got to go you got to go
But wouldn't it be nice to have a say
In our final day
When I take my dying breath
You'd better bet your life I'm going out
Screaming
Like I came in
Screaming
Love and emotion
We're told will keep us sheltered
From the threat of the bear
But danger is everywhere
So take my hand now
As they adopt their fighting stance
Parade our derision
And assume the position, configuration
When I take my dying breath
You'd better bet your life I'm going out
Screaming
Like I came in
Screaming
I want to be the first to go, to test the water
I miss those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
In our younger phase
All the things I took for granted but most of all
When I take my dying breath
You'd better bet your life I'm going out
Screaming
Like I came in now
Stop your tears from hiding,
See them mesmerise your skin,
It's all that I can do to keep away from going in,
I fed the ghost of plenty as the perfume turned to grey,
If life is still worth living, how come I feel afraid?
One day, some day, I will take from the air,
The only way out, I can't deny the honesty,
I want to stay but it's more than me
I'm losing all the reason, keep forgetting what I've said,
Oh I try to bring it closer but there's nothing in my head,
I don't believe in ever and I don't believe in now,
If life is still worth living, how come I feel alone?
Suddenly, if it comes then I'm gone
Whey don't you talk to me, see I'm not your enemy?
I am right by your side,
I want to stay but it's more than me.
Each time you go down, don't forget to remember
Everything is easy, most of all believing,
It will take you over, it will bring you down,
It's hidden in the language, it's in the words I say (I say so).
====================================================================
Across the plateau no clouds storm the sky,
Above the riverbed the world's run dry,
I beat the air, for those who hear,
And through the night my call goes out unheard,
I cry for company and get no word,
The silent groan, God only knows,
I stand alone.
The wind devides the empty shells below,
Deep in the valley night begins to grow,
The memory, the best of me,
From out the shadows something takes my hand,
To lead me homeward through a foreign land,
The silence grown, the palest eyes,
I'm the only one.
A mother's son, a father's pride,
How can I run and where to hide?
I close my eyes and hope tonight,
My healing flesh will be all right;
A baby cries, another ghost,
A different side to claim the most,
My blood gone black and down to dust,
So save my soul or let me die,
I'm still alive.
I'm on the other side,
Shaken down, lovely but cockeyed,
No wonder I feel nervous,
Lord, they don't deserve us anyway.
I want to burn these wings,
You can see how it's happening,
Still they're telling me to smack the enemy,
It's killing time!
I should have known before,
Only bad's half as good as dead,
I can't go any faster, stuck like alabaster,
White as I know.
We stand in lines of old, staying cold,
Swallow all the anger,
Releases get away, coming down,
Across the fields of amber,
To the water, ocean far below.
As the mirror to the sun,
The colour of the evening, never let go,
Hold my stomach, keep it tight,
They're pulling out the breathing, let it go;
If you ever change your mind,
Don't be caught alone, no, it's only me,
With all the hopes and fears combined,
It's hard to care for living anymore,
I wouldn't let you down again.
Inspired by hunger, fired by lust,
I sold the children's faces, painted gold,
Something moving taking hold,
Is gathering but never growing old,
I did everything I could just to say,
Believe me, you're not alone,
But with the winter in my bones,
Oh what else can I do now?
It's only me,
I wouldn't let you down again.
Break back to back lately,
Oh and how they moved when I was
younger than this,
Get my spirit caught beneath the surface,
SDee me play dead today,
I love my daydreams, leave my doldrums,
Armies of priests
All come to practice their party pieces,
Pounding like metal from side to side,
To shoot, to save,
And risk that horizon,
No smoke can shield, it stays unhealed,
Safe in our stillness,
At last we see him rise from out the earth.
I set the silhouette that leaves me scarred,
Lost my condition from the perfect star,
I caught the fire, can't help but see,
There's none to carry on.
I knew these plains before the world was mine,
With no escape in mind, I'll be resigned,
Inside alone, I know for sure,
Break out the waters, waiting for anything to come,
Hold on forever, Hell below and Heaven dead ahead,
Don't ever change your way.
Burn down the prison, stay in the balance of the wire,
Hold on forever, only you can turn that lethal level,
I'll keep you safer than sound.
Even the rain won't fall in a straight line:
Take it from me, you'll find that the pulses shine.
I take the strain, let go the millions of us,
The whole divide, it wasn't easy, I want to stay.
"You're not alone, so don't look back,
You better see it's getting black,
You're not alone, surrender now,
You're going to fall in line, you better learn this time":
I'm trying to get there, I'm falling from nowhere.
====================================================================
Out of a time when way back when
Disregarding discipline
Should have never given in
And I really should have known
Some are born into their lives
With a need to be destroyed
It's the wrong thing on my mind
The only thing we can't survive
Standing in the line of fire
Innocently dumb
They're in my head and still they come
Out of nowhere
Is there something
Something more than this?
Inner tension settled with a kiss
What a time to bump and grind
What a daydream, looking back
Never a worry in the world
For the cutter in the pack
I don't understand this pain
And I never will
The scene is gone and here they are
Out of nowhere
Is there something
Something that I've missed
It's going to happen and I can't resist
If I believed a single word
I would hesitate as well
Making Heaven out of Hell
All it takes is everything
I want to raise you up and see
There's something in your eyes
But every time I try, they come
Out of nowhere
Is there something
Something more than this?
Inner tension settled with a kiss
Is there something
Something that I've missed?
I. First Of The Last
Long before the living past
Had ripped it all apart
Something still remained
Until It flashed back to the start
Where it stands, nobody saw
Behind the blackest eyes
Show them how you're stronger now
It pays to advertise wisely
Day after day with you in my head
I said some things I shouldn't have said
For reasons unknown that I now forget
I gave you no love, which I now regret
What I'd give to hear again
Those everlasting songs
Why did all the accidents
Contrive to fall at once?
Only day after day
with you in my thoughts
I never knew time was so short
For once in my life I wasn't alone
With blood on my hands,
How could I have known?
Used to be the great white hope
Once I walked on water
Now I barely stay afloat
Balance out of order
With every sympathy worn away
Who can I return to now?
For the time that I have left
I scan that cold horizon
Searching for a kindred soul,
Someone to rely upon
We disconnected and Heaven sent
Sheltered in dead air,
Hidden everywhere
II. The Wrong Host
The sky lights up above America
The world is lost but loves America
When the eyes of children
See the ones left standing
And the rest begin to finally understand
The hand of God defends America
And who would not defend America?
We've got light on our side
We're in pole position
So praise the Lord
And raise the ammunition high
Raise it high
Hide where you can
We will shoot you where you stand
I've walked a million miles
Upon an open road
And once in every while
Without the will to carry on
Hours held me too long
In one location
An old familiar tale,
A glory to behold
A work of genius,
The greatest story ever sold
As you sign on the line,
As you do what you're told
All you sell is your soul
I've been this way before
I've seen it many times
Collision on the track
The fiction turning into fact
No-one dares to look back
Best you start to prepare
For the harvest ahead
All you lose is yourself
III. Nocturne
I'm brought to life with a series of shocks
I realise that you are gone from my life
And still I cling to the fear of the dark
Don't follow them for
they don't care how you are
And I'm finding a way of being
Accepting life all alone
And I'm hoping I'll wake up seeing
A way to live on my own
It wasn't hard to believe in the lie
Although I've come to know it wasn't my fault
Why does the world continue to spin
While everything around me grinds to a halt?
And I'm finding a way of being
Accepting life all alone
And I'm hoping I'll wake up seeing
A way to live on my own
IV. Frame And Form
Mine is a real fine line
I get harder the higher I climb
Shine like a star so bright
Anybody can see anytime
No-one will want to follow
This will be gone tomorrow
We enter an age of permanent doubt
Where we communicate without words
But I must be heard
So I cut through the smoke and the noise
Mine is a real fine line
It imagines it's one of a kind
Goodbye to all expression
Farewell to superstition
We enter an age of permanent doubt
Where we communicate without words
And the noise expands
As it covers the lie of the land
Shine like a star so bright
Till we shut out the light,
Put out the fire
Cut through the smoke and the noise
Lately I've been talking to myself
Been remembering and doing little else
The road ahead is anything but clear
Last time around, where did we go from here?
V. Mortal Procession
What about some golden hours?
I was alive, certainly you were wrong
Anyone can be pursuaded
Given the time, we all scream alone
What about this good for nothing season again?,
Everything's come and gone
And I can't believe that I'm not watching you
I'm in a sorry state
Return to ordinary thoughts now
If you can
The words I hardly understand
Gather 'round me while I wait
What about those colder rewards
Arming against lost intelligence?
Anyone who saw me crawling there
would have known that I was normal once
Return to ordinary thoughts
Too young to take the stand
But old enough to kill anyone
In the days when love divided up the looks
No drastic means were used
like rod and hooks
To enhance what nature's sculptor
had designed
No augmentation needed to refine
In the valley of the dollar, we rejoice
For plastic is the currency of choice
And beauty born is strictly for the birds
Your cash is fine but credit is preferred
When I held myself aloft,
I walked across the water
Now I barely cut across,
Lives are getting shorter
And they open up another door
To a border far below
For the time that I'm allowed,
There's a new horizon
But a soul as cold as ice
Is nothing to rely upon
If I'm hanging onto angels' wings
Then I'm safer in the air
Do I still qualify, suspended from on high?
No other sanctuary have I
VI. Ghosts Of Days
And when the eyes of children
See past the ones left standing
And the time has surely come
To understand who we are
Slowly the fires are burning
Bearing their silent witness
And the living past returns
It burns when it's died
Runs down my side
Before the dawn
Robs me of the dark
I will remember
I never ever
Thought for one second
It would take me over underwater
King of fools, you’ll never bring him back
He’s got them where they want him
Hanging high, is this the way it ends?
On bended knee, not with a bang
But with a fatal kiss, I won’t twist again
For you can bend me, shape me
Won’t escape me
Now I’ve got the reason for the rhyme
Skintight stupid substitute
You don’t come close, no sense pretending
Dr Seuss’s golden goose is
Too seductive, too demanding
Idle handsome fascist with his
Love-me-love-my-velvet-fist attention
Never meant to leave me
She blacks and blues
She wear new bruise
'Cause he beat her senseless
He hit the booze
Whenever she's
prey to his disease
She take some beating
Fall to her knees
It's only love, he told me so
He's coming home to my bed
I wouldn't bleed if only he'd
leave me along now and then
When did it start?
I can't recollect
I'm still alive,
if a little wrecked
He makes it so i'm
so old before my time
He comes from behind
it helps him to unwind
It's all right, love, he told me so
He's promised me no more pain
I wouldn't bleed if only he'd
Is it me that you're speaking to ?
Can you really put me down ?
Do you know the things to say ?
What will happen in the meantime ?
Are you telling me the truth ?
Can you really put me down ?
Would you bother if you could ?
What will happen if you do ?
What will happen to my friends
Will they be the same as you ?
Can you tell me if I'm wrong ?
Hard on my heels I feel him
From dusk till dawn he stands
Astride the elevation, avoiding confrontation
In this infernal chorus
He follows where I lead him under the ground
Who watches he who watches?
No-one above suspicion
I want an explanation, one final word of wisdom
"Said you were bright-eyed wonder
Set you up right, you're finally where you belong"
--Instrumental--
I am your murdering Angel of Death
I will despise you until your last breath
When I cut into you, will you not bleed?
Decidedly you will provide what I need
Give me a focus now, give me a name
Who is responsible, who do I blame?
Back to your maker, return to his side
Unresurrected, unrecognised
To be where once they met
One who comes to lay the past to rest inside
One who can't forget
Yesterday the heroes of the hour
Who survived those who fought and lost
Standing at the moment of release they pause
To count the dreadful cost
My life is out of condition
I've held it together myself the best I can
I'll never feel this way again
After all this time we've been apart
Still now I wonder where you are
No-one understands how close you came to us
No-one knows how far
This time it's harder than ever
I've weathered the storm and I kept you safe and warm
I'll never feel this way again
Oh, my angel in black water
All your heartache soon be over
Oh, my baby, rest you well
Cathedral that man created, you're weighted down by a jealous sound
Bewildered and dislocated, your soul deflated and gone to ground
Nobody, no final direction, no way to connect in this heavier state
The lives that we never remember are heading us out to another mistake
It's with me, it's waiting for me as Heaven is calling us to our knees
And there in the seventh house lie the seventy-five figures such as these
I'm all out of random
Sentenced by madmen who have abandoned me
What chance of survival?
I've had an eyeful more than I cared to see
And if I forget you or if I let you fall under someone's spell
Nobody can blame you, put out the flame, you kept it alive so well
What web are we weaving?
Nothing achieving, are you receiving me?
So far out in the ocean, stuck in emotion on an unending sea
And if you forget me, don't ever let me under your broken wing
Nobody can know you kept it below you, I never felt a thing
What a way to go
How did all the dreaming in my life arrive at such a bitter end?
On the rooftops draped in black, denial stopped me in my tracks
By the fearful light of dusk, this position I defend
All around the sky is cracked, won't somebody send me back?
Fourteen hundred hours, won't forget that day
Coal-black sky, the earth a hundred shades of grey
In the aftermath, as silent as the grave
I alone remained, no other soul was saved
Faces turning over
Limbs that shake without a conscious kind of movement now
For all their tomorrows we gave our last day today
In a future all their own
Documents reveal patriotic zeal
Singing to remember, drinking to forget the lie
All the name beyond recall
Empty politics in houses one to six
Locked and barred against the memory
My life is out of condition
I've held it together myself the best I can
I'll never feel this way again, again
These are the lives we are measured by
Heaven help us to answer why
Every minute of every day they die
Waiting and wondering all alone
Silent voices across the land
Speak in tongues they can never understand
Nameless and wandering far from home
Always held in the seventh house
Divided by loyalty, surrounded by emotion
Nobody under here remembers any mercy at all
We stay down
Deciding the borderline
Maya, did no-one tell you?
I couldn't have made you mine
'Cause I feel your pain more than my own
All the love gone astray
There will be hell to pay this time
For those of us born to die
There'll be none to testify
Time and time again I skin the world, keel it over
Spinning on its side, beginning as it ended
Through these diamond eyes
Maid of Morphine settled in my side
Did she intervene
Well, I'm the cleanest that I've been
Don't know where I know you from
Time and time again I've lived enough in silence
It's getting harder now to keep the violence in me
Someone I once was, raised upon a gallant rider's knee
Mortal memories lost among the unrecalled
Set the cross of fire (if I live)
These are the only ones (if I've loved)
Remember who they are
If I look, I see them everywhere
Don't know where I know you from
Don't know where I know you from
Don't know where I know you from
Don't know where I know you from
Told me, go the way of your heart
I'll be waiting for you
But wherever you are, you're not inside me now
Told me, try to sleep, I will come
But I'm still waiting for you
And wherever you are, I'm still inside you now
I'm never going to cut through without you now
If I get ascension or die
All the love that was mine denied
All the love that you qualified
Like a desert I'm open wide
There's nowhere for me to hide at all
For your love, I can never go back
--Instrumental--
Every one of us is herded and contained
Not a single one invited
Voices circulate around the musty hall
And the kerosene's ignited
Through the rising flames that lick against the flesh
Incandescent in the crossfire
Do my eyes betray the longest night of all?
Do I see or dream of Maya?
But he's got us where he wanted us to be
Undivided, under control
As the narrow margin finds us face to face
As he laughs across the foxhole
--Instrumental--
Nowhere was ever safe enough for all of us
No one contender cared about getting out
Tied now behind the hungry fire meant for us
Scattered like dust and finally free
Held together by fear
I can't be the same, too much has changed
Undeniably real and it's better left unsaid
All the love you said was nothing
Find a rhinestone not a diamond
I never wanted this
Left alive and laid to rest
Told me I was brighter than most
And I believed it all then
Through the dangerous times
I needed more than cold eyes
I want to be alone
To dream myself away from darkness and decay
As I try to forget it
No-one entered into my mind more than Maya
Someone she believed I could be is burning in me
Now I want to be alone like a stronger man
Then I can understand
As I try to remember where I know you from
Ignited by the realizing eyes
Unwrapped around the solitary sound
A failing voice is railing under walls
Collapsing on the unfamiliar ground
O, empty heart, am I the only one?
On pins alone or are we many born?
Well, either way, you are what you've begun
And by the way, I never did you wrong
Nothing here is guaranteed, nothing's understood
Now that I am far beyond beginning to belong
Maybe I don't understand the sequence as I should
Can't tell left from right from wrong
God from bad from good
For all you know, for all you made of me
It's hard to keep the skin from tender bone
No earthly ties to hang me from on high
I wait beneath your overcrowded skies
Nothing here makes any grade
There's nothing I can do
Fed and watered though I was barely half alive
Time enough to tire me out but now I'm sleeping
I've lost the sense in sanity
Even after all the day are gone
Even though the writer knows he's wrong
Still the words are written and recalled
In the empty isolated halls
Held in high regard, he comes again
Surface gone from under me, no more security
The future lies erased
These are the last remaining days
If in doubt the meaning meant
Make his one decision your defence
Stay alive to calculate the dead
Lines of colour radiate ahead
Silence now descends upon the earth
Can't deny the evidence
Not now, not even once
The future lies erased
There are the last remaining days
Surface gone from under me, no more security
The future lies erased
There are the last remaining days
The only thing I'll take
While I'm alive and half awake
Is what I've made, no surrender set to fade
The only thing I want is taken out and rained upon
Heart beaten down
No surrender to the sacred sound
When the vision cuts across the sky
There is no reflexion in my eye
All the undertakers talk the same
Saving of independence form anew
Can't deny the evidence, not now, not even once
The future lies erased
These are the last remaining days
The only thing I'll take
While I'm alive and half awake
Is what I've made, no surrender set to fade
The only thing I want is taken out and rained upon
Heart beaten down
No surrender to the sacred sound
Light shatters the skeleton circus
And the carnival's deadly host
No memory, nothing remembered
From the pages of the Book of Ghosts
Though the system stays in place
What if I'm not longre safe ?
Night falling gathers at my heels
Lines the contours of the cold parade
Search everywhere, nothing is revealed
Fear creeps along the cavalcade
Through the fields of evergreen
Passintg by as if unseen
Though the system stays the same
What if I'm no longer same ?
The only thing I'll take
While I'm alive and half awake
Is what I've made, non surrender set to fade
The only thing I want
Is taken out and rained upon
Heart beaten down
Where do I start ?
This thing's tearing us apart
Nothing is clear
Where do we go from here ?
No wonder in sight, not even the blackest night
So where do I start ?
It only remains to empty this heart
Everything I came to trust slipped away
I resisted the call to arms, feet of clay
Now when I sleep
I reach for the book I keep
In my hour of need
I turn to the pages no-one will read
Everything that I came to trust slipped away
I live through this a thousand times every day
All this time that I've held in suspension
And unable to make myself heard
I can't hold back the tide of erosion
And the vision that haunts me is blurred
Been as cold as I can since who knows when
Would that I could feel now as I did then
Get in out of the light, avoid the glare
Lost and out on a limb, miles from anywhere
All the time that I'm held in suspension
And unable to make myself heard
I can't hold back the tide of erosion
And the vision that haunts me is blurred
Everything that I came to trust slipped away
I resisted the call to arms, feet of clay
Everything that I came to trust slipped away
What began as hope
Became the fate of many nations
Founded on a lie believed by everyone
Slandered and betrayed
A character assassination
Watch the guilty fade
Now the work is done
Ghosts of early days
Gather round the later rivals
All parade upon the earth to which they're bound
Silent in their course
They steal across the icy stations
Words are useless now
They fall upon the ground
One and the same, parallels remain
In air as in the flame
I can see everything get closer everyday
Hold on, when I'm dead and gone from you
Remember me as light breaking through
Stay strong, any time you feel you're lost
I will carry you back across
Call out, send the word from there to here
Promise you I'm always near
Know now, nothing anyone can say
Will keep me from you anyway
And in the end
When other days have passed you by
If beauty has a name
Waiting beneath the ruby sky
One and the same
Wanting to keep the pain away
In errors made again
There's nowhere I'd rather be
'Cause no-one can mean more to me
In tenements racked against the wind
Our desperation reined us in
You drifted so far out of range
I held on but everything changed
How can you be everywhere at once
But nowhere to be found?
Imagine all you could have been
Eventually you would have seen
The wanderlust
And all you dared to dream of
If ever you make one fatal mistake
You broke me, you have no idea
In darkness I see more than hear
Impossible, even I can say
Many would have walked away
A lifetime of living a lie
Like daylight shot out of the sky
So did the truth ever set you free?
Got nothing but that hold on me
Remember all the promises you planned on
The only one whose arms you ever ran from
The best of you was locked away for so long
Don't wait another day
Imagine all the mysteries you're made of
The great adventures you would love
The wanderlust
And all you dared to dream of
Don't say it's too late
I wish I had a penny
For every time I told her I loved her
But that sincerity I know won't raise the fare
She was born with a wanderlust
And against the odds she made the grade
Now out of sight is out of mind to her
I'm scared...
It's a big bad big bad dead end world
If I close my eyes I can't forget you, stranger
In my sleep I see you dancing into danger
Mister don't shoot her
You can't see the whites for the reds of her eyes
Maybe she's been crying over me
While you're lying over her
Talk of us is words in perfect tenses
It seems that action men have broke down your defences
We're passing strangers
But your leaving left me wondering why
These times have changed us
Caught in the middle of a big bad dead end world
Caught in the middle of a big bad dead end world
Friends rally round but it's not just a question of sympathy
Others come and go why won't you come and go with me?
We're passing strangers
But your leaving left me wondering why
These times have changed us
Caught in the middle of a big bad dead end world
![Agkistrodon piscivorus is a venomous snake, a species of pit viper, found in the eastern United States. Adults are large and capable of delivering a painful and potentially fatal bite.[citation needed] This is the world's only semi-aquatic viper, usually found in or near water, particularly in slow-moving and shallow lakes and streams. The snake is a strong swimmer and will even enter the sea, successfully colonizing islands off both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The common names for the species include variants on water, swamp or black 'moccasin', 'viper', 'cottonmouth', and 'rattler'.[2] Many of the common names refer to the threat display, where this species will often stand its ground and gape at an intruder, exposing the white lining of its mouth. The diet consists mainly of fish and frogs, but is otherwise highly varied and, uniquely, has even been reported to include carrion. The specific name is derived from the Latin words piscis and voro, which mean "fish" and "to eat".[3] Three subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.[4]](http://web.archive.org./web/20140702171927im_/http://cdn3.wn.com/ph/img/79/9f/04a8b026c803c72c76d158573e01-small.jpg "Agkistrodon piscivorus is a venomous snake, a species of pit viper, found in the eastern United States. Adults are large and capable of delivering a painful and potentially fatal bite.[citation needed] This is the world's only semi-aquatic viper, usually found in or near water, particularly in slow-moving and shallow lakes and streams. The snake is a strong swimmer and will even enter the sea, successfully colonizing islands off both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The common names for the species include variants on water, swamp or black 'moccasin', 'viper', 'cottonmouth', and 'rattler'.[2] Many of the common names refer to the threat display, where this species will often stand its ground and gape at an intruder, exposing the white lining of its mouth. The diet consists mainly of fish and frogs, but is otherwise highly varied and, uniquely, has even been reported to include carrion. The specific name is derived from the Latin words piscis and voro, which mean \"fish\" and \"to eat\".[3] Three subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.[4]")
