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 our 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, the 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
Well this world contains a few
Is it true, is it truly new
Are we through the stolen door once more, ahh!
In the empty place we dress our wounds
Collect our coats, a window gloats
Above a street
I prepare my case
As I stare into a 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
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
I'm going through the scene again and again
Poor tormented automan
Giant pincers for a hand
Sinking slowly in the sand
Chrome injury on his cheek
Three day 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 hand
Sinking slowly in the sand
Chrome injury on his cheek
Three day 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
It's so hard finding inspiration
I knew you'd find me crying
And 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, it's long between mirages
I knew you'd find me drinking
And tell those men with their horses for hearts
That their jibe 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
And 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
Last year today seemed a long way away
And ahead of me (a 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, 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 radio plays
Such a simple song (a simple song)
The music's surreal, you almost could feel
Like 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
Oh-oh-ohhh
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 be
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
Well never mind, why don't you stay awhile
The fans blow secrets on the night
Out of mind, 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
Huh, 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 back
They can't believe it's you I'm with
Oh! Is this where you live?
Is this, is this where you live?
Don't blush when I brush your touch
There's no need for any speed or rush
All you own is on the floor
I'm buying what'cho gonna give
Woo! Is this where you live?
Is this where you live?
Is this where you live?
Is this, is this where you live?
Coffee stories, the lying truth
Electric lights don't help my youth
All I own is on my face
Urbane mirror and anger myth
Is this where you live?
Is this where you live?
Is this where you live?
Is this, is this where you live?
I'm not exact, 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
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
I 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
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
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
I'm still thinking about all the things she never said
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 scattered
And she feels that nothing matters to her
Outside this dream her sister frequents
Like the 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 fall I mean 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
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 leaving for a meeting
And last seen the weather sleeting for her
[Last two stanzas repeated once]
People say to see is to believe
Then they just believe in that they can perceive
What they see is not the total view
It's filtered between the me and you
And I'm trying so hard just to tell you I care
I'm gonna keep on trying, 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 keep to myself
The things that I hope will 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 open my eyes
To seeing the things that tear it all away
Tear it all away
I thought you would know
I thought you would know
People say they think that they are sure
Then they turned away and don't go back no more
What they saw was not the perfect sight
Just their own face reflected in the night
Well I'm trying so hard just to tell you it's now
I'm gonna keep on trying, tear it all away
Tear it all away
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 window
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
Falling down, falling around me
Don't leave your thoughts unguarded
Don't let them roam where they will
They never tell me what I want to know
Don't open the door tonight
Tonight
Tonight
Open the door