[rev. Mar. 5, 2022]
In the empty place the soul stripped bare
Of skins and heart and I come apart
In your icy hands
I forget my role
As I stare into your soul
In the empty place you change your mind
You change your clothes, you change your pose
For a perfect fit
I forget the cast
As I stare into your past
For a moment we're strangers
For a minute you look away
For a second or always
For an instant another day
Such strange things you say
In the empty place we dress our wounds
Collect our coats and a window gloats
Above a street
I prepare my case
As I stare into your face
For a moment we're strangers
For a minute you look away
For a second or always
For an instant another day
Such strange things you say
Just one me one you
This world contains a few
Is it true, is it truly new
Are we through the stolen door once more
In the empty place we dress our wounds
Collect our coats and a window gloats
Above a street
I prepare my case
As I stare into your face
For a moment we're strangers
For a minute you look away
For a second or always
For an instant another day
Such strange things you say
Such strange things you say
[rev. Aug. 19, 2013]
Cut your life into the steel
Take your place behind the wheel
Watch the metal scene just peel away
Don't forget me, don't regret me
Don't replace and don't upset me
But don't forget to come and get me someday
I was somewhere far away
But I knew I couldn't stay
German girls in an exposé
Sitting on an empty train
Staring at the winter rain
Going through the scene again and again
Poor tormented automan
Giant pincers for a hand
Sinking slowly in the sands
Chrome injury on his cheek
Three days strong, four day weak
Listen as he tries to speak
If only I could feel
Falling down, standing still
Always there's more time to kill
Flamingos startled in a shrill display
Don't forget me, don't regret me
Don't replace and don't upset me
But don't forget to come and get me some day
Poor tormented automan
Giant pincers for a hands
Sinking slowly in the sands
Chrome injury on his cheek
Three days strong, four day weak
Listen as he tries to speak
If only I could feel
If only I could feel
If only I could feel
If only I could feel
If only I could feel
If I only wasn't steel
If only I could feel
[rev. Aug. 19, 2013]
So hard finding inspiration
I knew you'd find me crying
Tell those girls with rifles for minds
That their jokes don't make me laugh
They only make me feel like dying
In an unguarded moment
So long, long between mirages
I knew you'd find me drinking
Tell those men with horses for hearts
That their jibes don't make me bleed
They only make me feel like shrinking
In an unguarded moment
So deep, deep without a meaning
I knew you'd find me leaving
Tell those friends with cameras for eyes
That their hands don't make me hang
They only make me feel like breathing
In an unguarded moment
In an unguarded moment
In an unguarded moment
In an unguarded moment
In an unguarded moment
In an unguarded moment
In an unguarded moment
(In an unguarded moment)
In an unguarded moment
(In an unguarded moment)
In an unguarded moment
[rev. Aug. 19, 2013]
Last year today seemed a long way away
And ahead of me (the memory)
A new face and street, people who meet you
Instead of me (remember me)
They bring you, they take you
They own you, they make you
Last year today you turn and you say
Here's a dream for me (but it's a memory)
You close your eyes and the moon starts to rise
And you scream for me (do you remember me?)
I calm you, I'm with you
What did they ever give you
Memories in future tense
Memories don't make much sense
Memories in future tense
Memories don't make much sense
Last year today a radio plays
Such a simple song (a simple song)
The music's surreal and you almost could feel
That there's nothing wrong ('cause it's a simple song)
They bought you, they sold you
And all the things they told you
Memories in future tense
Memories don't make much sense
Memories in future tense
Memories don't make much sense
Memories in future tense
Memories don't make much sense
Memories in future tense
Memories don't make much sense
Memories in future tense
Memories don't make much sense
Memories in future tense
Memories don't make much sense
[rev. Apr. 1, 2020]
A palm tree nodded at me last night
He said, "Hey, you look so pale"
I don't know if it was the air or the breeze in my hair
I had a feeling I had failed
So down to the beach just out of reach
The moon was being trailed
A girl and a sailor and a hot dog trailer
That's their holy grail
The sand whispered heat and burned the feet
Of gulls landing on the shore
In the motel pool the waitress cools
She doesn't ask for more
She makes a wish, she takes a risk
She opens up her door
Through human eyes she's a dolphin in disguise
It's the last night of the war
Somewhere far away there's another day
And someone's getting out of bed
She puts on her face in the morning space
She doesn't know she's dead
Her ruby lips can't excite me anymore
And pain sprawls on the chair, it's always there
And he descends the stares, he doesn't see
The sunburnt landlord glares, for all the people
He can never be
He can never
He can never
He can never be
He can never
He can never
He can never be
He can never
He can never
He can never be
He can never
He can never be
[rev. Mar. 5, 2022]
Oceanic lights are cleverly dim
Bluish features in the lower reaches
We raise our traffic flares to him
Fishnet, girlish, the red ones spark
Holy arcs tracked in the dark
The more I see the less I look
Here's another name I took
Glisten in the early morning air
The remnants of their evening wear
Branching off, the road winds east
Deluxe locations just near completion
Come dine with wine and oyster feast
The pearls are real, have one for free
They're washed up by the foam-waved sea
The more I look the less I smile
Never mind, let's stay awhile
The fans blow secrets on the night
Out of mind but not out of sight
Is this where you live
Is this where you live
Is this where you live
Is this where you live
Is this where you live
Is this where you live
Broken voices, the nylon choir
Nothing left to stoke that fire
All they own is on their tongues
They never see or wonder if
Is this where you live
Is this where you live
Thin dog's don't vie for bones
Why desert just to be alone
All they own is on their backs
They can't believe it's you I'm with
Is this where you live
Aww, is this, is this where you live
Don't blush when I brush your touch
No need for any speed or rush
All you own is on the floor
I'm buying all you're gonna give
Is this where you live
Aw-ha, is this, is this where you live
Is this, is this where you live
Hey, is this, is this where you live
Coffee stories, the lying truth
Electric lights don't help my youth
All I owned is on this face
Urbane mirror, anger myth
Is this where you live
Is this where you live
Ha, is this where you live
Is this where you live
Is this where you live
Is this
[rev. Mar. 5, 2022]
I'm not exact but I'm not insane
I clutched at someone in the dark again
It's so hard to remember her name
She never said
It was in a story that I wanted to write
The details weren't important, the plot was slight
No one asked what happened that night
She never said
Get out of bed, lets pull on a shoe
I've got a notion what we ought to do
Here's a number you can try to ring
But I'm still thinking about all the things she never said
She never said
She never said
She never said
I parked my car by some memories
And told my story to the laughing trees
They don't know what's wrong with me
She never said
Get out of bed, lets pull on a shoe
I've got a notion what we ought to do
Here's a number you can try to ring
But I'm still thinking about all the things she never said
She never said
She never said
She never said
All the letters had the wrong address
Did you notice who cleaned up the mess
What the date was is anybody's guess
She never said
She never said
She never said
She never said
She never said
[rev. Aug. 19, 2013]
A thousand powdered parts past the sun and moon
The hint of timelessness splashed on this afternoon
And they tell me I'm inside (you're only human)
But when I run, when I hide
I want to touch you
I think my courage must never leave this room
It's like the history that hides in the monsoon
And they tell me I'm alive (you're only human)
But when I lean into a dive
I want to touch you
At home they think we must be fools
The sky or street, they're both as cruel
When you're running low on fuel
And I ran out books ago
Last night I overheard your prayers
It's emptiness that scares
Disappearing in thin air
To a lost place down below
Once upon a time in a distant land
I felt the rising sun focused through my hands
And they tell me I'm so changed (you're only human)
But if I ever was the same
I want to touch you
At home they think we must be fools
The sky or street, they're both as cruel
When you're running low on fuel
And I ran out books ago
Last night I overheard your prayers
It's emptiness that scares
Disappearing in thin air
To a lost place down below
The action (action) calls me away
The action (action) calls me away
The action (action) calls me away
The action (action) calls me away
(You'll never know!)
(But I'm human)
At home they think we must be fools
The sky or street, they're both as cruel
When you're running low on fuel
And I ran out books ago
Last night I overheard your prayers
It's emptiness that scares
Disappearing in thin air
To a lost place down below
Last night I overheard your prayers
It's emptiness that scares
Disappearing in thin air
To a lost place down below
[rev. Aug. 19, 2013]
Don't open the door to strangers
Don't let them in to your heart
They only want to take you far from me
Don't open the door tonight
Don't trust the man in the windows
Don't let him buy all your dreams
He only wants to make them all his own
Don't open the door tonight
See the angry sea, it's a sign for me
There's another shore, what we waiting for
Feel the wind is sad, all the things I had
Blown away and falling around me
Don't leave your thoughts unguarded
Don't let them float where they will
They never tell me what I want to know
Don't open the door tonight
Don't open the door to strangers
Don't let them in to your heart
They only want to take you far from me
Don't open the door tonight
Tonight
Tonight
Open the door
[rev. July 17, 2017]
Come down, another day
Morning streaked on a perspex screen
The screaming beaked blackbirds peck
The wrecked eyes of last week's lies
The sandman gets shallow sleep
He tries to weep for the grown-up things
One last peep for policemen
A'resting in the woodland sides so steep
Oh and I hope I'm not going too fast for you
And don't believe it when they say it's over
It's not over
There's an ice age due on Wednesday
Overcast sky, blocks of fortune
The bridges sigh, the sweethearts are blank
They never thank you, no, they never even try
Winking paperboy
Paperwork, overloaded portrait
Let it jerk you back to yesterday
That's where the curtains start to fray
Oh and I hope I'm not going too fast for you
And don't believe it when they say it's over
It's not over
Oh and I hope I'm not going too fast for you
And don't believe it when they say it's over
It's not over
Fast for you
Too fast for you
Fast for you
Too fast for you
Fast for you
Too fast for you
Fast for you
Too fast for
[rev. Sept. 5, 2015]
People say to see is to believe
Then they just believe in that they can perceive
What they see is not the total view
Filtered between the me and you
But I'm trying so hard just to tell you I care
And I've wanted so long to tear it all away
Tear it all away
People say well you just had to be there
And all the time you know they've never been there
And it makes me sad to sit and think
All those empty souls are nearly at the brink
But I'm trying so hard just to open my eyes
To seeing some things that tear it all away
Tear it all away
People grow up and learn to drive some car
But I did that and it doesn't get you far
The things you want are never to be found
And in the end it's all some run around
But I'm trying so hard just to keep to myself
The things that I hope will tear it all away
Tear it all away
I thought you would know
Oh, I thought you would know
People say they think that they are sure
But then they turn away and don't go back no more
What they saw was not the perfect sight
Just their own face reflected in the night
But I'm trying so hard just to tell you it's now
And I'm gonna keep on trying to tear it all away
Tear it all away
[rev. Mar. 5, 2022]
Anna sits beside her research
Silence in the dappled moonlight
Sleeping cat and dying fire
Embers of the past conspire
All her books are closed and scatters
And she feels that nothing matters to her
Outside the dream her sister frequents
Like a cobweb catching fragments
She approaches like a vision
She says 'Anna, do you hear me?'
But the picture's always shuttered
All the distant thoughts that flutter to her
I can see them all, I can hear them call
And as she falls I lean to say good-bye
Breathing all the wasted hours
Talking to the dying flowers
Dwarfed by spires and tangled towers
We don't ask the reason why
Anna comes and goes in shadows
Paintings of the open windows
Her photograph is always faded
Sister's eyes are blank and shaded
Don't you understand her science
Merging in a strange alliance to her
We're together in the future
You and I and her together
All our fates are intermingled
We are plural, we are single
We are living for a meeting
And last seen the weather sleeting for her
[Last two stanzas repeated once]
[B-side on the She Never Said single]
[rev. Mar. 5, 2022]
Your room is damp, your love's turning cold
Where is the meaning that I thought we could hold
I can't believe what has happened to you
So I stand back and watch 'cause there's nothing I can do
What poetry, a delicious joke
All your flame going up in smoke
Just once more, just once again
If I ever get caught here, they know who to blame
In a heartbeat
And a heartbeat's all that it takes
In a heartbeat
In a heartbeat see your heart break
You can see your heart break
That's all that it takes
I play some records but the words are too strange
I call you sometimes but your number's been changed
I will remember every smile and tear
But when I listen to you I just don't want to hear
In a heartbeat
And a heartbeat's all that it takes
In a heartbeat
In a heartbeat see your heart break
You can see your heart break
That's all it takes
Just like this
In a heartbeat
And a heartbeat's all that it takes
In a heartbeat
In a heartbeat see your heart break
You can see your heart break
That's all that it takes
In a heartbeat
In a heartbeat
In a heartbeat
In a heartbeat
[B-side on the The Unguarded Moment single]
[rev. Mar. 5, 2022]
Busdriver, busdriver, you have taken me too far
And I feel I've been lost
And I don't know where we are
Busdriver, busdriver, I never saw your eyes
When we left the sun was up
Now, moons are in the sky
I woke up this morning
But I don't remember how
There was nothing left to care about
Oh busdriver, where are we now?
Busdriver, busdriver, I don't recognize this town
Someone called me miles ago
You must have heard the sound
Busdriver, busdriver, there's no one else but us
And I can't picture any time
When I wasn't on the bus
I was late this morning
It was early I was sure
There was nothing left to think about
Oh busdriver, just must be more
Busdriver, busdriver, there's no one else but us
And I can't picture any time
When I wasn't on the bus
I woke up this morning
But I don't remember how
There was nothing left to talk about
There was nothing left to think about
Now there's nothing left to care about
Oh busdriver, where are we now?
[B-side on the Too Fast For You/Tear It All Away double single]
[rev. Aug. 19, 2013]
There's a distant light shining over you tonight
You've been transformed, you'll always be my storm
Out in the Tuscan dusk you're swooning under moons of musk
You touch the texture of the tiles and miles away
A visitor waits for you to show
You've got to go
You've got to go
In the plum sun dunes rippling to a frail tune
You've been conveyed, you'll always be my lifetimes blade
Along the alpine drive uncertain how to be alive
You love the fragments of a smile and miles away
A courier invokes your name you know
You've got to go
You've got to go
You've got to go
You've got to go
Then go
And another heart breaks, you're wasting all the time it takes
You've been assigned, you'll never be too far behind
Wait for a bus to come, you know another verse to hum
You thrust the windows for a while and miles away
Your servants searching high and low
You've got to go
You've got to go
You've got to go
You've got to go
You better go
You better go
You better
[B-side on the Too Fast For You/Tear It All Away double single]
[rev. Aug. 19, 2013]
One night I saw all this
The ship that drifted in
And from that afternoon you changed (you changed)
Some fallen leaves were in the drive
A stranger's voice above the wind
The difference was the colour of Lorraine
Said that mourning almost tasted blue
Oh Fräulein, that was you
Your phone would ring and ring and ring
The shadows on the beat
A car abandoned long before, when I was free
A message crumpled said something
Yet the language was unknown
Are old mistakes forgotten just like me
Said that mourning almost tasted blue
Oh Fräulein, that was you
She said she's leaving with the crowds
She wants to throw this all away
She said I'm thinking this out loud
But that's what I thought you'd say
One night I saw all this
The man who paid the bill
A glance along the noise
Hey baby that's our song
The seagulls all flew away
And when I turned to ask you where
And when I turned to ask you why why why why why
You've gone
Said that mourning almost tasted blue
Oh Fräulein, that was you