It's so hard finding inspiration
I knew you'd find me crying
So tell those girls with their rifles for minds
That their jokes don't make me laugh
They only make me feel like dying
In an unguarded moment
It's so long, long between mirages
I knew you'd find me drinking
So tell those men with their horses for hearts
That their jibes don't make me bleed
They only make me feel like shrinking
In an unguarded moment
It's so deep, deep without a meaning
I knew you'd find me leaving
So tell those friends with their 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
And we frittered the time that we had on our hands
And we measured the time that elapsed
And we stumbled around like madmen unbound
And I said, "Look out boys, these are traps"
And I was just a stranger then
Yes I was just a stranger then
And I was just a stranger then
And we followed a path till we slipped up and laughed
And I lived half a life in that state
And we got our release in everything but peace
And peace of a record second rate
And I was just a stranger then
And I was just a stranger then
Yes I was just a stranger then
Like a stranger, always strangest at home
Well I like what you do
But you will never break through
You can try if you want
But you'll fail
And I was just a stranger then
Yes I was just a stranger then
And I was just a stranger then
Like a stranger, always strangest at home
[rev. Aug. 30, 2013]
See the chains which bind the men
Can you taste their lonely arrogance
It's always too late
Your face is so cold
They struggled for this opulence
See the suns which blind the men
Burnt away so long before our time
Now their warmth, forgotten and gone
Pretty maids not far behind
Who you trying to get in touch with
Who you trying to get in touch with
Who you trying to get in touch with
I'm almost with you
I can sense it, wait for me
I'm almost with you
Is this the taste of victory
I'm almost with you
See the dust which fills your sleep
Does it always feel so chill near the end
I never dreamed we could meet here once more
This life reserved for a friend
Who you trying to get in touch with
Who you trying to get in touch with
Who you trying to get in touch with
I'm almost with you
I can sense it wait for me
I'm almost with you
Is this the taste of victory
I'm almost with you
I'm almost with you
I can sense it wait for me
I'm almost with you
Is this the taste of victory
I'm almost with you
I'm almost with you
I'm almost with you
I am the first son
And I am the only one
I live among the brambles
Where the black river rambles
I eat only flowers
Then I retain their powers
I love my belladonna
I love to lose your honour
And I am the second son
And I am the radiant one
I live among the olden folk
Where the poppies and the thorns choke
And I eat only morsels
That I steal from the mortals
And I love my little arrow
And I love her to the marrow
I am the third son
I am the forgotten one
I live among the aerials
Where the birds have their burials
I eat only pure amnesia
So my memory can't freesia
And I love my tiny maiden
And I love to put the blade in
There'll never be another quite like you
I'm so involved with everything you do
Don't say that nothing good could ever come of this
Don't say the damage is worse
Back in Metropolis, circuses and elephants
Where the oranges grew
And back in Metropolis nothing could ever topple us
When I'm standing with you
You stare down at the crowd from your trapeze
And when you fell they fell down on their knees
And when you broke they scrambled for a piece
And when you spoke I felt their anger
Back in Metropolis, circuses and elephants
Where the oranges grew
And back in Metropolis nothing could ever topple us
When I'm standing with you
And it's only a day away
We could leave tonight
You can sleep along the way
And dream in black and white
Back in Metropolis, circuses and elephants
Where the oranges grew
And back in Metropolis nothing could ever topple us
When I'm standing with you
And back in Metropolis talk about a holocaust
And then visit the zoo
And back in Metropolis nothing could ever topple us
When I'm standing with you
[rev. May 23, 2020]
Silver needles
Golden eagles
Frightened faces
Basket cases
Jags and riches
Queens and witches
Electric mantras
And tight-fitting dreams
Never been so high
Never been so low
Never been so high
Gilded flowers
Long-lost hours
Morning programs
With fake suntans
Need a maniac in the cul-de-sac
Otherwise it's this ennui
Chromium platin'
All this waiting brings me down
Suffocatin'
All these colours bring me 'round
Broken records
Faded labels
Songs to sing to
When you were young
Tattooed pierced or
Fresh and perfumed
Switch your prison
Fly away
Chromium platin'
All this waiting brings me down
Suffocatin'
All these colours bring me 'round
All these colours bring me down
All these colours bring me 'round
Jewels on her fingers
Tears in her dresses
Fabulous mansions
And damp little rooms
This one will shrink me
This one will grow me
Queuing to sleep and
Reality looms
Chromium platin'
All this waiting brings me down
Suffocatin'
All these colours bring me 'round
The minute the sting penetrates your finger
Strapped to the pain like an angry stranger
The moment the rain freezes in the gutter
Come the flaming birds, their hideous matter
The second the claw lifts up your chin
I'm alone in your head and you can't get in
Somebody said that it's all for you
It's a miracle, let it alter you
But I will not follow you to the sea line
Somebody went and turned it on for you
Revelation baby, you're beautiful
But I will not follow you to the sea line
The instant the transfer hits your account
It's deep in the black, and just no way out
Morning the storm rolled to the coast
Down to the shake, and our silent throats
The evening the trees lash at the window
Roots curl up, strangle the candles
Somebody said that it's all for you
It's a miracle, let it alter you
I will not follow... to the sea line
Somebody went and turned it on for you
Revelation baby, you're beautiful
But I will not follow you to the sea line
[rev. Jan. 4, 2006]
Shaded crystal water, bathed in by God's daughter
Sighing, whispers near, a new season passes here
Butterfly kiss to all who come
To soak up the stars and setting sun
It's strange and wilder
Ageless bechilder
Saved by fire
Touched and finer
Gray stands the tower in the distance
Days pass like warm sun on the face
A new season
And shared is the cure to conquer loneliness
It's strange and wilder
Ageless bechilder
Saved by fire
Touched and finer
Peaceful, blissful union is the priestess
And doubt flows the river into darkness
All I know, could be written in this letter
All I know, if I only knew you better
All I know, could be taken down in shorthand
All I know, I forgot it at the newsstand
Just like you I am a wanderer
Wandering, wondering
Outrunning all my previous lives
So cleave to me just like a tiny storm
A-raining and a-thundering
Coming out of clear blue skies
All I know, I wish I'd done my lessons
All I know, it's the flesh that needs suppressing
All I know, I know I got it in me somewhere
All I know, I coulda lost it elsewhere
Just like you I am a pilgrim here
Dusty and alone
Outside a thousand bolted doors
So cleave to me just like a lover, dear
Before you must go home
Before all this is no more
Just like you I am a wanderer
Wandering, wondering
Outrunning all my previous lives
So cleave to me just like a tiny storm
A-raining and a-thundering
Coming out of clear blue skies
That's all I know
That's all I know
That's all I know
Well I'm walking through town as the evening comes down
And it's easy to hope that you're here
In my fine linen suit and my smouldering cheroot
Well disposed to a night of good cheer
The candles and lamps and the losers and champs
Horses all covered in foam
If you don't show then I just do not know
If I'll wait till the cows come home
I remember the day that you first came my way
Yes it stays in my mind like a song
I remember the night when you first caught my sight
And in spite of all that's gone wrong
The moon and the stars and the gentle guitars
You stepped to the microphone
You sang like a lark in the warm fragrant dark
I could listen till the cows come home
When it's raining and cold and love's losing its hold
And you feel like you just want to sleep
And the friends that you trusted, left you all busted
And the hills that you climb are all steep
Yeah your lovers and cronies have all turned out phonies
Sold you a bag full of bones
I'll keep waiting there still on that last final hill
And I will till the cows come home
Though I'm in this valley
I'll fear no evil if you will walk by my side
Though danger's around us, strangers all hound us
Your light will still be my guide
The villains and freaks with their vulgar antiques
And critiques that simper and moan
Oh they twist and they turn
But I'm just standing firm
And I will till the cows come home
Here in this desert, beneath the sun and stars
Still troubled by the rumbling of a million distant cars
Please be good to me tonight, help me find my way
The air has some command in it I cannot disobey
A gunfight in Dodge City, a murder in Bombay
All these deeds and worldly needs I must shrug off today
All my life been searching for prowess
Left me lying here with you, Tristesse
Well I was working in an orchard and grew the strangest fruit
Wasn't Mother Nature that made those trees take root
Your children cannot hear you, they only want your loot
You hold on to their essence like a parachute
They never knew that you were in distress
Now you've gone and left them with Tristesse
Oh, waters in flame
Ah, fires burning out
Ice melting down
Fires burnt out
A hotel suite in a rich man's town, a hut in Botany Bay
A prisoner of my own device, a mountain in my way
I'm gonna have to alter my address
I can't stay much longer with Tristesse
And they call this carnival progress
Invited by our queen tonight, Tristesse
Sometimes when this place gets kind of empty
Sound of their breath fades with the light
I think about loveless fascination
Under the Milky Way tonight
Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find
And it's something quite peculiar
Something that's shimmering and white
Leads you here despite your destination
Under the Milky Way tonight
Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find
Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find
Lower the curtain down in Memphis
Lower the curtain down all right
I got no time for private consultation
Under the Milky Way tonight
Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find
Under the Milky Way tonight
Under the Milky Way tonight
Under the Milky Way tonight
[rev. Aug. 30, 2013]
Sitting in the shadows and the evening oscillating
Feeling light and fading like it's never gonna change
Hoping for a moment for some gentle consolation
Waiting at the station where the trains are out of range
She's sitting in a carriage being jostled by the motion
Overhearing conversations, grinding of the steel
Scenes fly past the curtains which the darkness paints uncertain
And memories are meaningless, her motives are concealed
All I ever wanted to see
Just invisible to me
All I ever wanted to see
Is just invisible to me
Through countryside and mountains and the village by the ocean
Stranger's waiting for her in the plushness of his car
Winding and rewinding, pushing all directions
Till the limit of implosion, never very far
Out there in the distance the horizon meets resistance
The summer falls down drunken on the longest of the days
Rushing past the ruins of the churches and the Porsches
Reflected in the mirrors and the echoes and the haze
All I ever wanted to see
Was just invisible to me
All I ever wanted to see
Is just invisible to me
He drums impatient fingers on the chrome and on the leather
Running through the reasons in the corners of his mind
Sifting tiny diamonds on the shaky mental islands
He often seeks asylum from the structures left behind
The wind blows through the headstones and the milestones making music
The melody reminds us of the girl so far away
Asleep in her compartment, dreaming of the darkness
The train speeds on regardless to the approaching day
All I ever wanted to see
Was just invisible to me
All I ever wanted to see
Was just invisible to me
(All the time
All the time
All the time
All the time)
Instrumental