My Songs
Click on a song title to reveal it.
-
A Million Miles From Myself
A Million Miles From Myself
For some reason I can't figure and will never know
I was a million miles from myself
Like a castaway believing that a ship might show
I was a million miles from myself
But there's nobody here who can't live without me
And the universe is neutral about me
That girl who drove me crazy will be upper-class and lazy
And she'll understand enough to forget
In the church of indecision I have too long been
A million miles from myself
While the rain outside was turning all the leaves back green
I was a million miles from myself
All I had to do was step outside
Which I did, and saw the world was wide
Plenty big enough for me, so now all I want to be
Is the fool of every waking wind
-
A Town Called Anywhere
A Town Called Anywhere
I'm here again, I'm here again
And I am lost in a reverie
Where the strife and the trouble
Are nothing to do with me
Oh, people, I could love the day
And dream of a special night
In a town called anywhere
Where the world is just alright
So strange to say, so strange to say
That in a moment the world can change
And the circumstances
So completely rearrange
Just because of an open face
And a certain look at me
In a town called anywhere
Whatever the time may be
But of course, it's not the weather
It isn't the sun or the rain
It's just she and I together
Making me live again
I'm gonna run, I'm gonna run
I'm gonna run just as fast as I can
For a life that's open
To the place where I'm her man
Where every day is springtime
And every locked heart free
In a town called anywhere
Wherever she may be
-
After The Rain
After The Rain
You'll never be a singer, you lack the style
No evidence of torture behind your smile
Touch and spirit, yeah, there's plenty,
But theatrical know-how? Girl, you're empty.
It's all just pure joy; where is the pain?
Just who sent you here after the rain?
You've got no stagecraft; all that we get is you.
The tricks of this business you must be a stranger to!
I never like to sound pessimistic
But, baby, let's be realistic
Who really needs their heart opened again
By a fool like you? After the rain.
-
Art Of Love
Art Of Love
When I first came to learn of love
I learned it in three days
When a woman of experience
Taught me most of its ways
True lessons in the art of love
That therefore too comprised
The art of living merrily
Under the friendly skies
And she taught me that sex is sex
And can make you feel you have wings
But sex with love is something more
Than any tongue can sing
So when we had to part at last
Each to our side of the land
The brokenness inside
Was almost more than I could stand
But with the wisdom of good friends
And the patience of the same
I made it through the battlegrounds
And learned to live again
-
Jail Time
Jail Time
When will we walk
Wild and free
Beneath late skies as raindrops clear?
I only live
For that time
However far away from here
I've got the heart that you have to give
Mixed with a little pride
I've got the cool that you need to live
If I can get outside
Right now I'm here just doing jail time
Trying to stay half-sane
If I can get out soon then I swear
I won't be back again
Whatever comes
I recall
Just how it felt the very last time
There is a way
Back from here
To paradise back up the line
I've got the soul that hooks to the world
As tight as anything
I've got the faith beyond all belief
That makes the drowned soul sing
I fight a war for all that I love
Against a hated power
Right now I'm here just doing jail time
And counting down the hours
I am the one
Who resists
Any law that would chain me down
Through this jail time
Don't forget
That my sweet time will be back around
-
Baila Baila Hermana
Baila Baila Hermana
Baila baila hermana (G F Am Am)
Queremos verte bailar (G F Am Am)
En las calles de la ciudad (G F C C)
Se oye la banda tocar (Am Am F F)
Canciones de la vida
Mientras las estrellas
Brillan en eternidad
Y nos fiamos en ellas.
Baila baila hermana
No queremos acordarnos
Del viaje que hacemos
Sin saber adonde vamos.
Y en sus brazos hermosos
Siempre olvidamos
Todo excepto el baile
Que contigo bailamos.
-
Banks of the Isis
Banks of the Isis
Down on the banks of the Isis
I know that fat guy from way back
When
He hung around near the barmaids
They drew lots not to serve him
Then
And now you all know his name
Or at least the version he claims
Him and trouble are one and the selfsame
Thing
No use asking him questions
You're not gonna get answers
That's not part of the deal he
Brings
Down on the banks of the Isis
We felt at home in Oxford, we loved the
Place
While him and the other aristos
Were like some creatures from Outer
Space
Private dinners, no girls allowed
Kept themselves aloof from the crowd
We thought they'd maybe just dis- a
ppear
Just shows just how wrong you can be
See now up there on the big TV
There's Al, with that bumbling uncle
Veneer
Yes, he's acting just the same
You'll know him by his comedy name
Right now
Doesn't know what he's talking about
But rich boys always find a way out
Somehow
-
Beautiful Oxford
Beautiful Oxford
Oh my beautiful Oxford
Southern enough to be sunny
Midland enough to be real
Sweltering days in the summer
Where I first learned to be human
Finally learned how to feel
I came to you when I was alone
I know your ways like I know my own
History calls down from the walls of your timeworn stone
Oh my beautiful Oxford
Students were studying somewhere
Nothing to you or to me
Lazily living for pleasure
We didn't know we were lucky
We didn't know we were free
I couldn't think past three days hence
Always pulled back to the present tense
Hungry and tired, I maybe acquired just a little sense
Oh my beautiful Oxford
How could I lie when I think of
Love and its loss and the learning
I was a chrysalis growing
Careless, unfettered and running
That's why I'm always returning
Keen as a kid down the railway line
I know I'm more than just my own time
Right now in a war, something in your heart is here in mine
-
Birthday Song
Birthday Song
October the year nearly over
You don't want to be tough kid but you must
You wonder what to drop and what to trust
So this I give you
Be sweet girl but be strong
Here is your birthday song
Hey sister just look in the mirror
And see how much that woman has to give
To anyone she chooses to be with
Tell me the truth now
You've known it all along
Here is your birthday song
The people you think judge you
Are only covering themselves
The resolution you need
You can only give yourself
Whatever may come with the winter
Time never hides as much as it reveals
It gives things back in trade for what it steals
What you do bravely
And kindly's never wrong
Here is your birthday song
-
Cry for the lost years
Cry for the lost years
When I was in chains of trouble
Was no pleasure could set me free
When I was a worried man
Even waking tortured me
Now I seem at last to be changing
Slowly but certainly
Yes, I'll cry for the lost years
Although they are lost to me
Ran a thousand roads in seeking
Sweet relief from all that pain
Hid myself behind a mask, and
Bit the bullet, took the strain
Now I just feel empathy for
Those who've done the same
Yes, I'll cry for the lost years
Now that I'm back again
-
Cute And Clever Courtiers
Cute And Clever Courtiers
When the trouble started
Early in the spring
Cute and clever courtiers
Smiled at a comedy king
Proud of each other and themselves
Building nothing but fake bookshelves
When the killing started
Cute and clever courtiers said:
Don't blame Alex
Blame his adviser instead
‘Cause we helped Alex to change his name
We don't want to look stupid all over again
Cute and clever courtiers
Sell their souls for gold
Cute and clever courtiers
Recite whatever they're told
Not their job to interrogate
Not their job to fight
Cute and clever courtiers
How do they sleep at night?
-
Daisy In The Midday
Daisy In The Midday
Daisy Daisy in the midday
Watching the world go by
Looking through the window
At the swallows in the sky
Summer breeze blowing through the trees
How can a storm be near?
Some kind of electricity
Around in the atmosphere
Ought to be on my way
I think I maybe stay
Daisy Daisy in the midday
All the boys are crazy for you
I don't hang with that gang
So I'm not in the queue
I'm not even supposed to be here
But where I'm not supposed to be
Is where I usually end up
And that's alright with me
It's nobody's business
It's nobody's loss
No line to step across
I'm no weatherman but I know one thing
Shouldn't be this hot in the Spring
It's only midday. And pretty soon
It's gonna be mid-afternoon
Daisy Daisy in the midday
Sweet promise on your lips
Thunder in your dark eyes
Dynamite in your hips
Adam in the Garden of eden
Eve standing under the tree
Apple-peel hanging from her lips
Irr- es -ist -ib- ly
I don't know why that picture
Comes to me thinking of you
Well, OK, I do
-
Dance With Lucia
Dance With Lucia
I'd like this war to be over and done
One little signal I'd be up and gone
Waiting for that plane to touch down
In a southern Spanish seaside town
Where there's three days sun and one day rain
To dance with Lucia again
All I need is just one chance
I'll adapt to any circumstance
If it's legal, if it's polite
Run it by me it'll be alright
The time is different but the need is the same
To dance with Lucia again
I got no excuses or cover
Specially not tonight
I'm just a moonstruck lover
Hiding in plain sight
What I do have I don't own
The world is mine but not mine alone
I'm telling nobody what to do
Least of all me least of all you
Sweet reason has me half insane
To dance with Lucia again
-
Eastgate Street
Eastgate Street
Might have been a Wednesday, could have been a Thursday
Might have been three weeks ag, or maybe it was less
And it wasn't like the lightning, just the slow rainfall
Of each little act of courage, each step across distress
Teaching me that I had nothing to confess
On Eastgate Street
Long years spent in desperation
Ought to be a lesson, ought to set you free
But a slave's living teaches you nothing
It's like you're fast asleep in your own misery
Until you awaken, amazed at what you see
On Eastgate Street
Take my hand, ‘cause the street musicians are playing
And the dancers are swaying on their lightning feet
And the priests can't stone you and nobody owns you
Right now on Eastgate Street
Right now on Eastgate Street
Somebody good I knew died too early
Close my eyes and I can still see her moving around
The beauty of this world and its injustice
Come to me sometimes when the sun is going down
But I see only the beauty walking into town
On Eastgate Street
It's clear morning, the sun is shining
No words can ever touch the message in a kiss
Happy are the hopeful ones, the lovers and the young
So cherish uncertainty, ‘cause it's the only truth there is
We are helpless and magnificent on any day like this
On Eastgate Street
So take my hand, ‘cause the street musicians are playing
And the dancers are swaying on their lightning feet
And the priests can't stone you and nobody owns you
Right now on Eastgate Street
Right now on Eastgate Street
Right now on Eastgate Street
-
For a day of your love
For a day of your love
For a day of your love I would turn back the time
And eliminate all of our sorrows
When I look at you now, for a day of your love
I would give up a year of tomorrows
For a day of your love I would write you a song
Like all songs that I wrote you, but better
Oh lady believe, for a day of your love
I would make such a song last forever
'Cause hope's not abandoned and never can be
And it flows in our lives like a river
For a day of your love I would pay any price
Just to feel our two souls come together
-
High Wide And Handsome
High Wide And Handsome
Just a little before the war came
In the open countryside
Train rushing through fields and rivers
Where the valley's rich and wide
Left the train and I found myself in
Market stalls in a fine old street
Pretty women were selling dreams that
Fell like silver around my feet
This took years to grow, and it's not strong
It's called civilisation, and it won't last long
High wide and handsome
Is complacency (and)
There'll be no ransom
Can set you free...
I'm hanging on to the promise
That freedom is for real
Got eyes in the back of my head
I live on a hamster wheel
When I'm hot and ready
You should see that cage wheel move
I'm running to just keep steady
I've always got something to prove
There are some who seek
A place of peace
Some love their chains and
Some beg release
History's not over
There'll yet be some turns
High wide and handsome
Just never learns...
-
The Holiest Curse
The Holiest Curse
It's lazy sunset, the world is quiet
The birds are flying home
Anyone can find tranquillity
Walking in the dusk alone
A peaceful life of acceptance
Nothing better - and nothing worse
There's a blood imperative
Runs through us, people; it's the holiest curse
Oh to be born with a restless mind
Raised in a beat-up town
But it doesn't matter who you are
The chips are always down
The lust for life that drives you on
Won't go into reverse
It's the blood imperative
Runs through us, people; it's the holiest curse
Saints adorn cathedral walls
Dead as last year's dances
Me, I change like mercury
Depending on circumstances
There's got to be a better way
Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets
‘More in us to admire than to despise'
That's about as true as it gets
Don't try to get out - get in
Right until you immerse
It's the blood imperative
Runs through us, people - it's the holiest curse
-
I think of you in the summer
I think of you in the summer
I think of you in the summer
Though ‘twas autumn when we met
But your heart was a sunlight
That I never can forget
Though we made it to the springtime
We knew we'd fade away
I think of you in the summer
Every day, every day
I think of you in the summer
When the trees green and tall
Tell me love is unending
And the world is worth it all
Though I know what is wonderful
Can never, ever stay
I think of you in summer
Every day, every day
-
I Was Not Born To Be Broken-Hearted
I Was Not Born To Be Broken-Hearted
I have found the key to my unhappiness
And to where the sadness all started
I have stepped inside and I gazed till I cried
I was not born to be broken-hearted
There are many who live their lives this way
There are millions sadly departed
So I must seize the chance and I must rise and dance
I was not born to be broken-hearted
There is no guarantee on this troubled sea
And all our lives sail waters uncharted
We are adrift in time, but one truth is mine
I was not born to be broken-hearted
-
In A Midland Town
In A Midland Town
In a midland town
For the longest time
Like a child ungrown
I had lost my way
Repetition dragged
On inertia's feet
And it weakened me
Each day
Till she came
Till she came
Till she came
-
Jail Time
Jail Time
When will we walk
Wild and free
Beneath late skies as raindrops clear?
I only live
For that time
However far away from here
I've got the heart that you have to give
Mixed with a little pride
I've got the cool that you need to live
If I can get outside
Right now I'm here just doing jail time
Trying to stay half-sane
If I can get out soon then I swear
I won't be back again
Whatever comes
I recall
Just how it felt the very last time
There is a way
Back from here
To paradise back up the line
I've got the soul that hooks to the world
As tight as anything
I've got the faith beyond all belief
That makes the drowned soul sing
I fight a war for all that I love
Against a hated power
Right now I'm here just doing jail time
And counting down the hours
I am the one
Who resists
Any law that would chain me down
Through this jail time
Don't forget
That my sweet time will be back around
-
Jewel In The Night
Jewel In The Night
Stop believing she was gold dust
She was only very good
She was no saint and not a saviour
She gave you solace while she could
Though you loved and it was true, boy
She was never meant for you, boy
But she truly got you through, boy
Just a jewel in the night
There are just so many chances
In the world you're living in
Fortune pauses and she glances
And then she's gone again
You've got more than you deserve, boy
Ask for more? You've got a nerve, boy
There's some truths that you can't swerve. boy
Just a jewel in the night
-
Just Look At The World
Just Look At The World
I had a cousin went slowly insane
Going over one mistake
Focusing on one failure
He let his heart wither and break
When all it takes is abandonment
To be open to the day
Till the openness is a religion
Beyond any words to say
(Chorus)
How can someone ever get out
Of a loop they keep going though?
You just look at the world,
Let the world show you what to do.
For so long I've been derelict
Desperately turning around
Spinning in some grim vortex
Holding myself right down
Like the snake that tries to eat its tail
Turns in its circles in vain
When the very desire to change a thing
Is the exact cause of the pain
How can someone ever get out
Of a loop they keep going through?
You just look at the world,
Let the world show you what to do.
-
The Last Man Standing
The Last Man Standing
Want to know who I am?
I'm the last man standing
Stone amazed to be here
And grateful for the chance
Fortune got me this far
I did nothing on my own
No-one fights this fight alone
Or dances in this dance
We're all slaves to circumstance
Very pleased to meet you
I'm the last man standing
Many old friends broken
In whatever way
Injured or departed
Lost or broken-hearted
I have never wished to see
The sunlight go away
And I don't dream of yesterday
People ask about drugs and revolution
And the wars on the bourgeois state
I can tell you we marched to the palace but
We never got through the gate
Wanna know who I am?
I'm the last man standing
Even in the thunderstorm
Looking for the sun
Stupid as a crosswind
No damn good at sitting still
If you call, d'you know who will
Drop everything and come?
The last man standing, on the run
-
Laura
Laura
(Verse 1)
Losing the one thing
Replaced by another
Laura goes walking
Bag over her shoulder
City in springtime
Life in fast motion
Promising something
That she thought she'd forgotten
(Chorus)
Once she was terrified
Once she got beaten
For looking the wrong way
For just being Laura
Before she was free
(Verse 2)
Out where the drunks hang
By the new precinct
Occasional spice freak
Dances inside himself
She walks right past it all
She's way past sympathy
For any performance
By the untalented
(Chorus)
Once she was terrified
And now she isn't
She'll look where she likes now
She's just being Laura
And making you see
(Verse 3)
Seen enough mummies' boys
In office or street scenes
In bars or in prison
She spots ‘em a mile off
She's got some good friends
Keeps them close by her
She's got a boyfriend
Who doesn't think he's a martyr
(Chorus)
Once she was terrified
But she learned to fight dirty
She'll go where she likes now
She's just being Laura
And dazzling me
-
Let It Rip
Let It Rip
(chorus em/ G/ Bmin C/ Em/G/d/d)
(verse A/Bmin/g/G/A/Bmin/C/G)
I got to let it rip, somehow
Let it rip ‘cause it won't ever mend
I have to become, truly
Myself again
I built a paper structure
Could never stand at all
I've been banging my sweet head
Against a wall
I saw some people living
And I was awoken
Now this grown-up game we've played
Looks sadly broken
I got to let it rip, somehow
Let it rip itself into shreds
Till the sadness of the past, truly
Is out of my head
Slowly became a coward
And called that madness home
Watching others' moves when I
Should make my own
But I saw only this morning
That beauty can survive
It makes me happy hungry
And alive
I got to let it rip, somehow
Let it rip ‘cause the tiniest tear
Let a fine feeling, truly
Blast through there
-
Local Girl
Local Girl
We woke together in the morning sun
Your phone was ringing, and you had to run
I've often wondered how it might have gone
With the phone off the wall
But I lay there and watched you dress
Looking like Joni Mitchell, more or less
We'd missed the boat, and I could only guess
How you felt about it all
Someone said you'd been impressed
In a way I never would have guessed
So it goes in the world
In the life of a local girl
Didn't seem like that much at the time
The winter morning and the urban sunshine
But your front door closing stayed on my mind
Like an unfinished song
Night before I'd been dazzled and phased
Your invitation left me stone amazed
And there I was on the brightest of days
Feeling empty and wrong
But I'm back, and I'm near
If you want me, baby, I'm here
Just to see what the world
May have left for a local girl
-
Love Of A Wild-Hearted Girl
Love Of A Wild-Hearted Girl
(Verse 1)
You were the one who had his life put together
The sun and moon rose in the sky for your sake
You thought you'd dream it - and it would come to you
You didn't know you had a heart that could break
But she came - and dragged you
Feet first into the world
And you learned - the hard way
The love of a wild-hearted girl
(Bridge)
Falling for her was easy
Keeping her way too tough
There was virtue in her recklessness
And you weren't quite good enough
(Verse 2)
She made you look a little while into heaven
She put tears as well as smiles on your face
You had a vision of the world as it should be
You knew you were living in a state of grace
She came - and showed you
The glory and pain of the world
And you learned - the hard way
The love of a wild-hearted girl
-
Made it home to my baby
Made it home to my baby
Cross the plains where the wildcats run
Across the desert in the burning sun
One arm broken, two ribs cracked
And always coming back
I made it home to my baby
-
Marine Parade
Marine Parade
Hurts to be here in summer
And so far apart
The sky is as blue as the ocean that
Flows in my heart
I sill see the circle the seagulls made
Wish I was back on Marine Parade with you
Sometimes when there is thunder
I smile through the rain
Only can live believing
In good days again
Love is a gamble that must be made
Wish I was back on Marine Parade with you
If there were a ticket
To take me back down
All of the way
To that seaside town...
If I could walk that seafront
Your hand in mine
I would give all my pride and
Most of my time
All of our promise unbetrayed
Wish I was back on Marine Parade with you
-
Miss Lucy Green
Miss Lucy Green
Winds of springtime coming
Prompting you to live
There are no sins of yours
That the sun won't forgive
Soft drugs and pornography
Are your false friends
But neither one is reality
The means don't justify the ends
(chorus)
I know where you'd really rather be
Waking in the morning with Miss Lucy Green
Into each other's arms you'd fall
And look out at the morning, both believing it all
Nothing sleazy, nothing gross
Nothing easy's gonna ever come close
To the miracle that has been
You and Miss Lucy Green
I don't recognise you
In the life you lead
Satisfying your cravings
Denying your need
To be part of the ebb and the flow
Of the world's great sea
Whose waves are ever calling
To you and to me
(chorus)
-
Northern Station
Northern Station
Last time he saw you was on a northern station
With your overnight bag, walking in alone
He turned the car round in silent desolation
In the greatest emptiness he'd till then known.
And he hopes you're happy, because love is your birthright
For your true heart that always reached across
You even held him in the darkness of that last night
Before your sweet love's unavoidable loss.
And here's the springtime, and all that it gives him
A world born again in the wind and the sun
And he thanks you, girl, for ever being with him
And making him into the one he's become.
And now he wishes you a life of joy together
With a special someone who completes your heart
Someone whose soul is bound to yours forever
And he hopes you're happy, and that you never part.
-
Our Hearts Beating Together
Our Hearts Beating Together
I took a walk up town today
Kind of lonely since you've been away
I heard a barroom jukebox play
The doors were all flung wide
Sound drifts out along the street
Passers-by got dancing feet
But I miss you, and I'm still not with 'em
Somebody give 'em the rhythm of a heartbeat
Our hearts beating together
It starts and it goes on and on
Our hearts beating together
So together just like one
I walked on just a few blocks more
On the corner, Jimmy's record store
I know Jimmy from years before
He's never let me down
He played me records one at a time
Looking for the rhythm that I had in mind
Took so long, and he played so many
Didn't find any, and then we knew we'd never find
Our hearts beating together
It starts and it goes on and on
Our hearts beating together
So together just like one
So don't you play me no sweet soul music
Don't you play me any songs of love
Me, I'm lonely and I know what I'm missing
Only wanna listen to the music of
Our hearts beating together
It starts and it goes on and on
Our hearts beating together
So together just like one
Our hearts beating together
Long after the rush is gone
Our hearts beating together
So together just like one
So together just like one
-
Oxford Girls
Oxford Girls
I went to see an old friend of mine
Who kept me together in a time gone by
Changed at New Street and on down the line
In the heat of the summer in a blue blue sky
Got to the town, got off the train
Walked upstreet and I was seeing again
Chorus
Oxford girls in a summertime town
There's something about every single one
You can't see them and still feel down
Oxford girls in the city in the sun
Oh to be there all summer long
Nothing in the world I'd be needful of
Turn these words of mine into song
Turn my foolish bitterness to love
To wake in Oxford every single day
And no other city to steal me away
Chorus
Oxford girls in the street cafes
Who'd dare to deny a world so right?
Oxford girls in a summertime haze
You'll never see a more beautiful sight
-
Paris By Night
Paris By Night
Left bank starlight
Riding way up high
An open secret
In a midnight sky
She goes walking in the moonlight
Where the river Seine is deep
She's in everybody's dreamland
while the city is asleep
She sells dreamshells on the river shore
She sells visions fine and wide
While democracy just stands there
Contemplating suicide
-
Pilgrim Soul
Pilgrim Soul
It's not the way she's given me the space to sing
It's not the way she makes the best of everything
It's not the way she showed me I'm not always right
It's not the way the day is as fine as the night
It's not the way she can't stand any pretence
It's not the way she gifted me a little sense
That may be part of it, but it's not the whole
It's the tug, it's the pull of her pilgrim soul
It's not the look of understanding on her face
It's not the boundless generosity of her grace
It's not the way she doesn't know what she's worth
It's not the way there's nobody like her on Earth
It's not the way she knows without needing proof
It's not the way she only ever tells me the truth
What it really is can hardly be told
It's the tug, it's the pull of her pilgrim soul
(bridge)
Oh, people, the ocean runs so deep
And the world is wide
Something in that girl is sanctified
I've been so low that I wished I could wake up dead
I've been a jailhouse prisoner in my own head
I often wondered if I was exactly sane
I got up, and then I went down again
And then she came, and she treated me so nice
It wasn't just escape, it was paradise
But what makes me love her beyond my control
Is the tug, is the pull of her pilgrim soul
-
The Pledge
The Pledge
In a hall in the country
That you can hire for events
If you'll pay for the privilege
You can play the pretence
I was there but I didn't fit in
I had to go outside
On a warm September night
With my injured pride
And out there in the moonlight
I remembered a pledge
Not to crowd to the inside
But to live on the edge
I was there at a function
The guests danced in the hall
As the night fell quickly
I'd gazed up at the walls
Hunting scenes on the frescoes
The poor waiting on the rich
God and barons in the paintings
I couldn't tell which was which
And down below them the faithful
Those who watch Dragons' Den
All too ready to worship
Just as much now as then
Just pretending to be rich for a day
Self-employed and no pride
I felt like if I stayed there
They'd have flayed me alive
And I knew that in such company
I would always be alone
So I crept through a side door
I went away on my own
And I got lucky in the moonlight
‘Cause I remembered a pledge
Not to crowd to the inside
But to live on the edge
And I'm abandoning no-one
I'm sticking around
Just don't ask me to believe that
There's anything profound
In the past's coalition
Of piety and parasites
In church windows in the daytime
And in country halls at nights
And though it hurts to be lonely
In the middle of your heart
It doesn't mean that you're different
It doesn't set you apart
You're with everybody
In the chain of history
Who ever looked at convention
And said ‘That's not me'
And out there in the moonlight
I remade that pledge
Not to crowd to the inside
But to live on the edge
-
Sad And Lonely Women
Sad And Lonely Women
One has got a broken man, waiting at home on a shelf
The other takes a married woman's leftover scraps for herself
Both of them are jealous of you, because your love is strong
Sad and lonely women always want to hurt someone
They'll say you're friends forever, they'll tell you that's the way it should be
They'll tell you how they'd never look twice at a man like me
And I'm not even flattered that one's already tried it on
'Cause sad and lonely women always want to hurt someone
Sad and lonely men will do the same thing too
But they lack a certain expertise
Sad and lonely women know just what to do
To get a friend right down on her knees
They'll tell you to take your chances, say "Come on, girl, it'll be a laugh!"
And if you listen to them, you'll lose everything that you have
But they'll be right there for you, when all you had is gone
'Cause sad and lonely women always want to hurt someone
-
Saint Annie Of The Church Of Kickass
Saint Annie Of The Church Of Kickass
You don't know that you made me, or maybe you do
I owe so much of what I am to you
Little kickin' you gave me set me free
It turned one sad child into me
How are you these days
Saint Annie Of The Church Of Kickass?
Right now I'm amazed
To think I could be happy
Again at last
We surely should have been friends, we should never have been lovers
We were so wrong for each other
But the heat of the promise in the arms of the night
Made us dream that we were right
How are you these days
Saint Annie Of The Church Of Kickass?
Any time I get phased
I think about you and I
Just switch on fast
Every day is a struggle
A struggle for fun
I'm still your pilgrim, baby
Under the sun
The Buddhists say we're illusion, and I know what they mean
All the dead are as if they had never been
There ought to be nothing holy, there ought to be nothing true
And there only is because of people like you
How are you these days
Saint Annie Of The Church Of Kickass?
All I wanted to say
Is thank you, honey, can I
Thank you at last?
-
Seaside Girls
Seaside Girls
Came here from the city
Broke up and beat down
But I soon found redemption
Here in this seaside town
Where the heat of the avenues
Seems to sleep in the sun
Where the wonderful seaside girls
Love to dance when the day is done
(Chorus)
Mama don't tell me those seaside girls
Are gonna do me no good
‘Cause late last night this morning I feel
Better than I knew I could
The dance floor after sunset
The girls are moving around
We came here down dark avenues
I'm not sure where we are in town
Somebody drew back a curtain
Flung the windows wide
And I never will forget the sight of
The North Sea and the deep dark tide
(Chorus 2)
(Bridge)
And I know I've got to go back home
To those streets of despair
But in the deep sad wintertime
I'll close my eyes and I'll be back there
Later on we were leaving
Past midnight and free
Me and Jenny went walking
Along the avenue and down to the sea
And there we stood on the shoreline
In the magical East Coast night
And all the stars were our blessing
And Jenny held on to me so tight
(Chorus 3)
-
Sensible Friends
Sensible Friends
Dreamed I was a figure of fun to my sensible friends
So I had to run to where their jurisdiction ends
Lost nights running round alone
Several places that I called home
Had to move until I'd grown enough to feel free
Wound up in the south of England in a country town
Had a trade to keep me steady but nothing to hold me down
Another loser in a beat-up car
Always headed where the wild girls are
Sometimes at night I'd look up at the stars and
wonder how I'd ever got this low
wonder when I'd have somewhere to go
wonder if I'd even be here next year
Started heading north each Friday for a weekend tryst
Stayed away one whole weekend just to see what I'd miss
Two weeks with nothing to do
All I did was think about you
And I swore that if I ever got through, then
never again would I act that cool
never again would I be such a fool
never again would I break my own heart
Don't know how I ever found true love and got given a chance
I don't know if my sensible friends ever had any sense
All I know is the rain and the sun
Born on the run and I'll die on the run
But finally when all's said and done
I love you, girl
I'm still that lonely kid on the run
But I'm loose from a chain undone
My mother's the Earth, my father's the Sun, and I reach to you
-
Sideways
Sideways
At the long summer's end, they stood waiting by the seashore
And he wanted her for his bride
She was freer by far than the girls from his hometown
And a million miles higher inside
And him with his eyes always looking beyond
Past the nearest of waves, to where something was gone
And they loved each other, and two became one
And each knocked the other one sideways.
So they ran with the wind and they laughed at convention
Both knowing their madness was wise
For love is a faith of whose truest believers
Are those most aware that it dies
Though they knew that they'd be washed away on the tide
Still their hearts were so big, and the ocean so wide
That when they said forever, neither one lied
And each knocked the other one sideways.
In a town not so far, there are gardens and orchards
Where the fruit grows so clean on the vine
Someone planted a tree once, a throwaway gesture
By two who were careless of time
But in spring, when the leaves begin growing again
The breeze starts to blow through the branches, and then
You can hear the wind sighing, remembering when
Each knocked the other one sideways.
-
Some Boys are Born Lucky
Some Boys are Born Lucky
She didn't care about me
Not even at all
Why she wasn't without me
She only wanted to ball
She could have seen me run down
By a twelve-wheel truck
And forgot me by sundown
Can you believe my luck?
I got the sun in the morning
I got the sugar for free
Some boys are born lucky
Not as lucky as me
She was no kind of flatterer
Didn't need to be
Looked like Queen Cleopatra
Good enough for me
Got me well into trouble
And if she wanted me round
Had to come at the double
Or a replacement found
Maybe I'm blessed by an angel
With serendipity
Some boys are born lucky
But not as lucky as me
-
Something in her heart
Something in her heart
Something in her smile
Something in her face
Keeps you for a while
Speaks to you of grace
But what makes you hers
Even when you part
Even when she's gone, you'll be holding on
To something in her heart
Good days come and go
All of them are fine
And you'll always know
Somewhere down the line
That you will return
Right back to the start
Where you were before, hers forever more
For something in her heart
Time will turn till
Nothing of value remains
But one song born on the
Wind and the rain
Words can never reach
Where your soul resides
She was there to teach
You to open wide
Where the rivers end
Where the rivers start
Any good in you is forever due
To something in her heart
-
Sorry To The Sun
Sorry To The Sun
For a million wasted chances
I say sorry to the sun
In the light of early dawn
As it reappears
And the wind that blows around me
Tells a story I can't shake
Of the chances I should take
In the flying years
Hope higher than a mountain
Heart deeper than the sea
Nobody any different from me
Bound ever by the twin ties
Of memory and desire
In the heat of retrospection
I say sorry to the sun
I will change and I will run
With the sun as guide
And for all the sad evasions
There was no excuse at all
Let the voice within me call
And not be denied
Hope higher than it ever was
Heart deeper than before
Nobody ever needed love more
Bound ever by the one pledge
I run toward the day
-
Soul City
Soul City
Never regret the fool that you've been / Lost time is time vanished
I left soul city, now I'm back again / The better for having been banished
Beyond judgement, quick at the pace
By the grace of chance and by no other grace
I'm the slave who didn't know his place
But can I get it together?
I wanna stay in soul city for ever
All my friends have been seeking a truth / To give their lives meaning
I remember in a gilded youth / Spending a long time dreaming
Although I didn't know at the time
I made a promise to a thing divine
Something in this world is mine
And it's now or it's never
I wanna stay in soul city forever
Oh, the everlasting mystery
In the light around the moon
Fukuyama's end of history
Isn't coming any time soon
Dirty river used to watch it run / Right by my factory window
Me and Mick in the heat of the sun / We'd sit on the bank decades ago
Taken me years to realise
That I'm never gonna be wise
Right now I'm watching butterflies
In the bluest of weather
I wanna stay in soul city forever
-
Soul Rebel
Soul Rebel
Tried to take responsibility
I tried to be grown up
But when I wake up and smell the coffee
I want another cup
I keep neglecting reality
l keep observing the weather
I keep needing sweet sweet love
To keep me together
I'm a soul rebel, that's all I amount to
I don't know what I'm coming around to
Fun or disaster, it'll all be down to me
You see time as opportunity
I'm scared of its limits
When I look at the clock, I see
The unforgiving minutes
When I should get mad I get even
When I should get real I get loose
I'm an entrepreneur of each moment
Hanging in there with the balls and the juice
Soul rebel, people, that's me
Only thing I'm cut out to be
The very cornerstone of this democracy
I've been all the way to breakdown
Through trying to live too tight
A nervous wreck in the daytime
Who couldn't sleep at night
But like so many before me
I had to unlearn again
The sad rules that chain fools
I'll take the scripture of the wind and the rain
Stepping out of insanity
One step at a time
And every careful step must be
Stepping out of line
'Cause my people fought for me
And I'll fight for them
So that no aristocracy
Ever rules us again
Soul rebels, people, so fine
We took France in 1789
Soul rebels, let me hear it for us one more time
-
Southern girl
Southern girl
When I was young and newly broken
Before I loved and learned the cost
A Southern girl became my woman
Delivered me when I was lost
Clear blue skies every morning
A thousand stars against the night
She was gone without warning
On her restless, timeless flight
For all tine that I knew her
She kept her counsel, she knew her mind
With nothing else remaining to her
She left a wiser fool behind
In these dens where you may find me
Just another ball and chain
Her example still behind me
I shall be free and rise again
-
St Lucie's Day
St Lucie's Day
Yesterday August evening
I saw an early moon
A time I hoped would live forever
Turns to winter soon
We may be living at the end of
Something hardly begun
But even on St Lucie's Day
There's seven hours of sun.
I grew up reading poets
In the freedom of the mind
But the Enlightenment is fading
Undefended and maligned
Tom Paine will be forgotten
Voltaire and Rousseau gone
But even on St Lucie's Day
There's seven hours of sun
(bridge)
Not easy to conceive it
There are those who don't believe it
But the one who pays the piper calls the tune
Refuse, and he won't trade
And he's already made
Requests your kids must dance to pretty soon
Please teach them not to learn the steps
And laugh all kings to scorn
Tell them to defend their freedom
Tell them our hearts were born
In democratic rebellion
We take orders from no-one
And even on St Lucie's Day
There's seven hours of sun
The title reference is to John Donne's poem ‘Nocturnall Upon St Lucie's Day, Being The Shortest Day' -
Stranger On A Train
Stranger On A Train
You think of the past like a girl next door
On a long-gone summer day
Willing to forgive every chance
That you let slip away
But she's a much harder woman
She calls once and never again
The past is more like a stranger on a train
She spoke to you enticingly
Before your destination
With a charming face and that feline grace
And you missed the invitation
You stepped down in this town
Here you must remain
Disconnected from a stranger on a train
If you were to see again those enchanted eyes
And smile at her as if she called you still
The past would smile back at you likewise
With a look so cold it could kill
Don't ask me where she went to
‘Cause I wouldn't know where or how
Lost you're not, and I know you've got
Enough to do right now
You got a winning look and you wrote the book
On going against the grain
And you need no approval from a stranger on a train
-
The Toughest Love
The Toughest Love
Seen from the window of a night-time coach:
Dark of the distant ocean lies beyond
Green lawns that stretch to the nearer edge of the sea,
Along the southbound coast road out of Lytham.
The dunes, the waves, the swooping clouds, the moon
Glide backwards through the night's romantic glass
You dream someone unknown: her winter coat
Her night-blue eyes, her hair against her shoulders
Pacifist strength in all she says or does
Eyes looking into yours with the toughest love
You'll ever know: her heart that asks of yours
Nothing more than the equal of her own
Somewhere across the night she lies asleep
In a world unknown to you; but when you go there,
She'll cancel any love you thought you'd known.
So soon you'll feel that dagger of tomorrow
When she'll arrive, quite unannounced, like judgement:
For now you keep your sweet illusions, kid
-
Under the gun
Under the gun
Mama told you that you were wonderful
And mama's always right
Till you find you're nothing special
In the deep dark middle of the night
Till it takes you patience and teardrops
To reshape what you'd become
And the work of a woman who'll put you
Under the gun
You had failed and lost when you found her
That's the truth of it all
Every man on this spinning fairground here
Thinks he rises when he falls
So she straightened you out the hard way
Then you made it and you won
'Cause you only learn the one way
Under the gun
There's always somebody telling feminists
To speak with permission, or not at all
In public on the campus
Or at home against the wall
Strange how a shaky fragility
Told the whole world what to do
Till women finally spoke the truth
That's still unnerving you
'Cause it pulls you clear of your cosiness
And into the light of the sun
Where mercy is earned if you're lucky
Under the gun
-
Until She Came
Until She Came
In a midland town
For the longest time
Like a child ungrown
I had lost my way
Repetition dragged
On inertia's feet
And it weakened me
From day to day
Chorus
Until she came - saying just how close love is
Until she came – those eyes like diamonds
On her way – to reprieve me, if I'd be
Brave enough to follow
It's a merry world
If you'll deign to dance
It's a kind of home
If you're glad to rent
And as for me
All I ever was
Was a desolate kid
From Stoke-on-Trent
(Chorus)
-
The Usual Broken Heart
The Usual Broken Heart
You are nothing special
The usual broken heart
Been around here long enough
To know that even love gets rough
And as for stress and trouble
Isn't it just too clear?
That there are no easy rides
For anybody
On this fairground here
She got hurt quite early
Never quite forgot
It made her lovely then she herself
Broke the heart of someone else
So it goes and the carousel
Turns back to the start
You're first the victim then the villain
With your beautiful
Usual broken heart
When I think of fools I've been
I could stop and cry
If it weren't for knowing
There are bigger fools than I
The past's a mausoleum
Some will live inside
Where a treacherous memory
Fools you with its flattery
Nothing that great happened
Show me something new
A braver heart can do far more
Than the usual
Broken heart can do
-
What is it like?
What is it like?
What is it like? It's like breeze in the morning
How does it smell? It's like sand after rain
How does it sound? It's sweeter than music
How do we get there? Here it is again
How does it feel? I can show you a picture
Taken late summer, standing alongside
The river Seine, near Notre Dame cathedral
Facing down history with transient pride.
Time passes by, you win some, you lose some
You turn out to know what you guessed at the start
Whatever the cost, you will never escape it
Nothing can save you from the love in your heart
What is it like? It's like breeze in the morning
How does it smell? It's like sand after rain
How does it sound? It's sweeter than music
How does it get there? Here it is again
Walking the rope over certain disaster
Pushing the rock to the top of the hill
Defying the gods, ‘cause you're holding the trump card
Love is the last thing that will ever be still
Love is the last thing that will ever be still
-
When The One
When The One
Can do it all through the morning
Can do it all through the night
Till you really can't remember
Ever not doing it right
In so many suburban bedrooms
With so many overnight friends
Yet it all runs into the sidings
When one memory never ends
'Cause you truly got to be careful
Not to drown in the waves that roll
When the one who taught your body
Is the one who taught your soul
There's nobody here who remembers
You weren't always Mister Cool
When you came down off your pedestal
Got really taken to school
Got really taught to wonder
Got really taught to give
She was your sun and the light of your way
Taught you to love and to live
You got lucky and you got broken
In the willing heart she stole
When the one who taught your body
Is the one who taught your soul
-
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Train out of New Street, Friday evening
Heart of the wintertime outside
Lines have stayed open
Fifty more miles to ride
Now we are bound northwest through snowflakes
Deep in the night that reconciles
Sometimes I think Wolverhampton
Is the prettiest town in the British Isles
Train reaches Wolverhampton station
Forty miles left, so I'm almost there
In through the carriage door
Comes December's air
Sleet in the wind on the northbound platform
Breeze blowing down the night-stretched miles
Sometimes I think Wolverhampton
Is the prettiest town in the British Isles
I've never really been to Wolverhampton
I think I only ever passed through
But I love it for real, ‘cause when I reach it I feel
Like I'm getting closer to you - then we go by
Staffordshire farmland, footpaths, bridges
Levelling on to the Cheshire plain
Blizzard that whips and turns
Into freezing rain
Cruising and slowing through South Junction
Platform Six, where my sweet love smiles
Sometimes I think Wolverhampton
Is the prettiest town in the British Isles