The Past That Suits
You Best
Salt in my eyes, stinging my brain
It's been forty odd days since we've been clean
Crawl in the cave looking for light
but the ceiling descends and still it's dark
Hey there, don't declare optimist it's clear you resist
I try all the time to get it right and still it persists
Touched that you think I'm a heartless old crank
and there's things that I've done to convict me of that
Try to look out eyes straight and fast
but I've struggled of late, my head in the past
Hey there, don't despair get in the cave
We live day and night to find the right sort of light
Bored of the truth I return to my youth
drinking Breaker at night in the cold Duchess light
Out by the fence there's a shout that I'm dead
Get me out of this place, I'll take casuals another day
All gates are locked, there's no way I can walk
and the paths that I took led me into the swamp
Even this trusty accomplice gets rusty
I'm not being cruel but your brain never ruled
I've seen the trauma of lives that were squandered
but I'm not to blame for showing restraint
Hey there, don't declare optimist
I try every night to get it right
And still
[Something just fucking ran out behind me I swear to God
Probably a fucking moth knowing you
Why don't you go back and see then?
Well naw]
No path of truth led me where I could walk
but the lies that I made led me out of the swamp
Accused Of Stealing
Tell me your confessions
Let me be the ears for all your sins
Let me take advantage of your whims
My life is no haven, have a feel
But it's just worth saving, craving
And you will feel appalled as you bare it all,
and I don't even know if I'll be listening
If I could stand it I'd let you believe what
you choose
But how can I let you proceed when there's only one view?
Simple to state but don't dare implicate that I'm wrong
I'll dish the dirt and I'll show you the door
and if you keep coming I'll tell you to try a little...
...harder
Make a little sadder, all your tales
Just enough to feel good without scales
Fill my head with things I haven't done
The more the black the better, shelter
And you're my saving grace with your tragic case
Live a life, just make sure it's your own one
I left behind with no doubt in my mind I
was gone
but ten years reflection and sudden affection comes on
Taken aback by the fact that I picked up the phone
Tried to convince you I'll be round one day
You're probably thinking just stay away
I've just been freewheeling
Been accused of stealing all your lines
But they're not there for speaking of foreign times
Just to keep the demons in their place
The innocence is needed
Plead my case
American Trilogy
I became accustomed to a kind of social servitude
and no one, I mean no one, could accept what I had become
Selfish, bitter, weak
Enough to make you sick
And lately, I've been feeling there are bits of life I'm
stealing
Get me home
At times it seems I will not help
but it's just that I must save myself
from fear that blankets me like mist
on an optimist who insists
it's the simple things that crush
and I'm crying far too much
so much so that I'm thinking my control on life is shrinking
There's a light on in my head and I'm thinking
what I said
All the freedom in my brain, I'm alright now
I'm just thinking what to say
Sorry doesn't seem to wash
when there's truths around that I have quashed
and no one, I mean no one, can depress me more than I can
So does that make me weak or should that make me sick?
But lately I've been feeling that I'm gonna give up breathing
There's a light on in my head and I'm thinking
what I said
All the fever in my brain, I'm alright now
I can even take the pain
There's a light on in my head and I'm thinking what I said
All the fever in my brain, I'm alright now
I can even take the pain
Reasons For Silence
Give me an age where I don't know a thing
Where black and white offers me peace from the din
Bright lights, cat fights, leave me cold
Recent encounters are telling me why
my reasons for silence are so justified
I can hear you, please turn down
All these pretenders pretending to be
How do they recognise people they see?
Lives by numbers, pass me by
Centred around what they know isn't true
but what is needed for distorted view
Try not to think now, you've been warned
I tried to fake it but I got found out
Fakers who fake it are on their way out
It's just me but I'll let myself be and the others go free
But I know who will win
I'm on the outside
Thirteen Gliding
Principles
(if you care)
Do you run (not to stare)
for your fun (light the light)
or do you slide (but take the time)
the underside? (I've been there)
Lock the door (I have stared)
wash the floors (and I have seen)
shine the shine (things unseen)
from indoors (take it back)
Did you choose (heart attack)
to amuse? (a setting sun)
Did you leave (where we've begun)
a smile? (where you fall)
You hit the ground (children saw)
without a sound (about your life)
You planned it from (Jesus wept)
the start
I don't decide it, I only abide by it
Keep me beside you and I will confide
Simply the sound of it carries me down with it
Plain on the outside and coloured inside
(things we've said)
Could you say (when we're dead)
you haven't paid? (dragons fed)
Watch your words (and unfed)
as they're relayed (take the car)
Falsify (drive it far)
what went by (drive it far)
Glorify (stay out)
the same (exiled years)
You're twice the years, (forty fears)
half the fears (no one came)
The middle man (no one said)
is not so clear (about your life)
You hit the ground (about your wife)
without a sound (it's got to end)
You planned it from (it always ends)
the start
I don't decide it, I only abide by it
Keep me beside you and I will confide
Simply the sound of it carries me down with it
Plain on the outside and coloured inside
Look what you've left me, your bottles of camomile
funny old phrases and outdated style
At least I'll be clean with it, sliding at ease with it
First to the finish, last on the floor
No Danger
I've been hanging round for days
still confused about the way you came
Take the portraits from the wall
take them down and burn them all
I know what I've become
By the marks upon their arms
there was nothing that they lacked in charm
But now I've got to choose
who from you is gonna lose
and who is going through
By the stories that were told
I decided to reject the bold
embrace the cowardly and the weak
we had laughs that lasted weeks
they're inside and I sing here
Now I would swear this life is you
You've been around since we were twenty two
but now you've got the rush
when you're cold and when you're touched
I know things don't mean much
'Cause we don't know we're strong enough
and chances come too soon
But people, people, we're not in love
and now we're singing out of tune
Just go out and get it straight
There are questions here that just can't wait
Leave romantics to their spite
leave the footballs to their pints
alternatives we'll find
But there's nothing we can find
while our lives are plush and kind of fine
So we'll all call it a day
people follow in our wake
a nothing's hall of fame
'Cause we don't know we're strong enough
and chances come too soon
But people, people, we're not in love
and now we're singing out of tune
Come on babies, find a vein
Roll your sleeves up, find your arms insane
Walking out in little lines
down the corridors of life
and on to what you'll find
Out the door and down the street
over fences glens and ditches deep
And who from us is gonna choose
who will win and who will lose?
I know it won't be me
'Cause we don't know we're strong enough
and chances come too soon
But people, people, we're not in love
and now we're singing out of tune
'Cause we don't know we're strong enough
and chances come too soon
But people, people, we're not in love
and now we're singing out of tune
Aye Today
Songs sung out of key
reminds me that I'm free
The feeling's so strong that I can't carry on
Good night, sleep tight
Send me out to sea
a row boat just for me
It cuts to the core, I can't take any more
Make good, out in the wood
So long, glad that you're wrong
Jesus, you're such a lush, now that I'm crushed
I've always stated of things overrated
A curse or a blessing rate high
Over in my head, I've welcomed the undead
animals insects and lies
So will you be mine
for part of the time
Now that he's said you'd be better off dead
make good out in the wood
So long glad that he's wrong
Jesus, you're such a lush, now that we're cursed
I've always stated of things overrated
A curse or a blessing rate high
Over in my head, I've welcomed the undead
animals secrets and lies
Out with regression and in with progression
A shining example for saints
Why all the grief for a life full of peace?
If you will ask me I'll say aye today
(aye today)
Witness
Will you join me?
I want to live these years again
There is no dignity in losing a friend
We were younger and thought our time would never end
And if I try too hard I miss you
And if I miss too hard I find you
And we have ten years gone to get through but it all feels
over
Do you have the time?
Inclination?
Does it feel too right?
How can we continue with better things behind you?
Do we have to fight?
Complications
Just to feel alright?
We spent our years dreaming but our dreams were misleading
and now we're through
Please forgive me
I won't invite you in next time
But did you change at all when you witnessed the crime?
Stand your ground now and make sure it's a happy home
And while your choice of friend was touching
was it reason for adjusting?
And when you go to sleep are you wondering if it all makes
sense now?
Do you have the time?
Inclination?
Does it feel too right?
How can we continue with better things behind you?
Do we have to fight?
Complications
Just to feel alright?
We spent our years dreaming but our dreams were misleading
and now we're through
Do you have the time?
Inclination?
Does it feel too right?
How can we continue with better things behind you?
Do we have to fight?
Complications
Just to feel alright?
We spent our years dreaming but our dreams were misleading
and now we're through
And I hope you've found what you're after
Leave another town
Visits in the country were over all too quickly
And I hope we meet before we're older
Have a chance to speak
We spent our years dreaming but our dreams were misleading
and now we're through
Knowing When To Run
A boy that's so scared lying under the stairs
begs for mercy from all of his tortuous days
He put out a prayer lying under the stairs
but I'm sorry to tell you it's over my friend
Now that you stand in the calm of the landing
a child at your feet nothing left in your soul
what was the point that you could not go back
when your foot hit his face, when your fist broke his back?
Oh our lives in the slurry
Mamma's here so don't worry
Who was there when you walked out the door?
Bloody bundle picked up from the floor
It's ours
Back from the country on business today
a boy and a problem are buried away
The things that some can
oh the things that some can't
Mother picks up his hair
washed his blood off the lamp
Oh our lives in the slurry
Mamma's here so don't worry
Who was there when you walked out the door?
Bloody bundle picked up from the floor
It's ours
It's our time
How can he show
how he will grow
You're not gonna know
Make Your Move
Finish what you've started here
You make your move just once a year
In the city in the town
your happy home is never found
Second hand was never planned
The birth was over, the baby banned
She fled the place at such a pace
she never even saw your face
So go with me
Inside
Believe
You have so much to give
Switch the light off, have a go
Force the only one you know
to leave this place without a trace
A pity I had seen your face
Where do you think I will find
this party girl who was so kind?
Raven hair and skin so fair
sadness never visits there
So go with me
Inside
Believe
You have so much to give