static and silence (1997)

summertime

do some people wind up with the one that they adore
in a heart-shaped hotel room it's what a heart is for
the bubble floats so madly will it stay sky-high?
hello partner
kiss your name bye-bye
sometimes...

romantic Piscean seeks angel in disguise
Chinese-speaking girlfriend big brown eyes
Liverpudlian lady sophisticated male
hello partner
tell me love can't fail

& it's you and me in the summertime
we'll be hand in hand down in the park
With a squeeze & a sigh and that twinkle in your eye
& all the sunshines banishes the dark

do some people wind up with the one that they abhor
in a distant hell hole room it's third world war
but all I see is films where a clourless despair
meant angry young men with immaculate hair
sometimes...

get up a voice inside says there's no time for looking down
only a pound a word & you're talking to the town
but how do you coin the phrase though that will set your soul apart?
just to touch
a lonely heart

& it's you and me in the summertime
we'll be hand in hand down in the park
with a squeeze & a sigh & that twinkle in your eye
& all the sunshines banishes the dark

& it's you and me in the summertime
as I turn my white skin red
two peas from the same pod yes we are
Or have I read too much fiction?
is this how it happens?

 

homeward

you've stolen my heart & I want you to remember
now what'll I do?
living alone

You've stolen my heart & it hurts to remember
Now where'll I go to?
living alone

a butterfly in the wind is drifting like I do
it's dumb - I know what I want to say
but I can't even take one breath

as night falls I hear voices on the radio
I'll follow their dreams
& wake up alone

a butterfly in the wind is drifting like I do
it's dumb - I know what I want to say
but I can't even take one breath
so now still burning silently away
a storm
without the thunder

 

folk song

summer sky & a throat bone dry
& the fields are all gold

dusty lane with a song in my brain
& it stoned me to my soul

I climb higher move towards the fire
blaze sun

silver trees & a whispering breeze
are my sight & my sound

the thought of heaven couldn't drag me from the path
when I'm wandering here alone

I climb higher move towards the fire
blaze sun

watch until it dies slow falling from the sky
pale fading sun

 

she

she's all weak & her heart beats so
she can't speak with the lights so low

just to be one of a crowd
feet scuttling across the floor
spinning lights round & round
it's adolescent war

she craves noise & the music blares
girl calls to a boy
he just stands and stares

just to be one of a crowd
feet scuttling across the floor
spinning lights round & round
& its adolescent war
shoes grind kick like crazy & arms tangling up with hair
shaking them up & down again
hearts pounding everywhere

she slows down
has the music gone
or has she stayed too long?

 

when I'm thinking about you

over the rooftops a plane in the sky
beat of a bass drum cars passing me by
under a bridge dark then back into light
a river of raincoats & a forest of faces

still for a moment then red into green
slow shuffling shoes whisper sight unseen
row upon row of houses return an empty stare
let the daydream for a little while longer

hope I'll never wake
when I'm thinking about you
hope I'll never wake
cos now I'm thinking about you

two-minute hailstorm then melts into rain
sing me a rainbow it's sunny again
swallows overhead while the traffic snarls below
could I keep dreaming for a little while longer

hope I'll never wake
when I'm thinking about you
so that you know - never want to wake
cos now I'm thinking about you

when you're searching your soul
when you're searching for pleasure
how often pain is all you find
but when you're coasting along & nobody's trying too hard
you can turn around & like where you are

I hope I never wake
when I'm thinking about you
& I close my eyes
now I'll never never wake
why should I stop thinking about you

 

I can't wait

lying awake dead of night & eyes that never close
flowers decay a still life calls for a change

I can't wait
forever

miles away dead of night & it's quiet as the grave
when there's more in your head than you find in your life
calls for a change

I can't wait
Forever
& the days & the hours & the years keep turning in my mind
I've been waiting forever

 

cry

& I'm standing on a platform
now I'm staring from a train
& all the trees roll back beside but I'm so oblivious
to the dark to the light
it's all the same

you gave me so much
& now it's of the earth
& it makes me cry
it can makes me cry

& you're standing here beside me
in a picture in a frame
& your voice could never fade it's so familiar
things you said in my head
every day

you gave me so much
& now it's of the earth
& it makes me cry
it can make me cry

you're with me so much
through you're never with me anymore
& it makes me cry
it can make me cry

another flavour

fashion - the timing's all wrong
they taste another flavour
& pretty soon you're gone
fashion - this time it's too late
you knew you'd have to pay for this one day
he loves me now - he loves me not -
he loves me once again
usual story
another surprise

fashion - this time it's all right
they tickle you with a feather
& tell you you're sublime
turn on - to each their own
usual story
another surprise

fashion - the timing was wrong
your friends are fair weather
you knew it all along
turn on - to each their own
it's doing my mind in
another surprise

don't let them black you out for the evening
sad-happy suffer no no no
don't let them crack you
try not to feel it
as long as they're watching your show
this time

 

leave this city

gone forever
the writing on the wall
they've boarded-up the cinema
strawberry dreams & the dust-filled beams
shut down in a modern town

see you walking
see you talking

recollection
on streets you used to know
forgotten pleasures smoulder
images fade but the town won't let them go

sleepwalking
see you talking

feel the city inside you
leave this city behind you

drive wherever
the roads will take you to
down beside a river frozen brown
January days & their scarecrow trees
so cold - feel your ears burn

see you walking
see you talking

feel the city inside you
leave this city behind you

past & present
they converge on every side
the wires all get tangled
when now & then collide
bittersweet taste of a time and another place before

sleep walking
see you talking

feel the city inside you
feel this city define you
leave this city behind you

 

your eyes

you ask me why I'll tell you then
two worlds collide we bury them
we're far too drunk to look at things as they are

you painted me & I sat quite still
a tiny room in Notting Hill
it was far too dark to look at things as they are

I've seen the light vanish out of your eyes
so goodbye

you tell me now I'm young & wild
you spare the rod & you spoil the child
I'd love to stay but I think I'm off to Japan
anyway

I've seen the light vanish out of your eyes
so goodbye
your eyes have lost their shine

 

so much

dream & fantasize
slave to your desires - you'll buy anything
curse & criticize
middle-aged & at your door
& they're selling you the son of God

it's so hard to ignore
you want so much
& then you want some more
somehow your appetite grows
you'd just love what you can't possess
you known it's out there
somewhere

read & memorize
make a wish come true
& you can telephone free
eyes & ears & mouth & nose
in a face that you compse
but it cuts you like never before

it's so hard to ignore
you want so much
& then you want some more
somehow your appetite grows
you'd just love what you can't possess
you know it's out there
somewhere

it's so hard to ignore
you'd really love so much
& then you go & spoil yourself with more
strange how your appetote's grown
toll you're just lying in a corner upstairs
looking out there
somewhere

monochrome

it's 4 in the morning July in '69
me and my sister
we crept down like shadows
they're bringing the moon right down to our sitting room
static & silence
& a monochrome vision

they're dancing around
slow puppets silver ground
& the world is watching with joy
we hear a voice from above
& it's history
& we stayed awake
all night

& something is said & the whole room laughs aloud
me & my sister
looking on like shadows
the end of an age as we watched them walk in a glow
lost in space
but I don't know where it is

they're dancing around
slow puppets silver ground
& the stars & stripes in the sand
we hear a voice from above
& it's history
& we stayed awake
all night

they're dancing around
It sends a shiver down my spine
& I run to look in the sky &
I half expect to hear them asking to come down
will they fly or will they fall?
to be excited
by a long late night