I'm Across, I'm Ashore
Released: February 14th 2012
Astronomy
The stars have beckoned me and shown me all this way
But now I turn to day, I turn my face to day
Cos the stars in my life are not, they are not what I'm looking for
And the sun's still burning and I know that I'm just starting again
But hey, they're Polly's stars and you should pretend cos it's not so hard
The wise men that came before will still come after me
And the loves that light my sun need my astronomy
Cos the stars in my life are not, they are not what I'm looking for
And the sun's still burning and I know that I'm just starting again
Fighting is one thing to do in your bed, but don't talk her down from the sky in her head
Cos the stars in my life are not, they are not what I'm looking for
And the sun's still burning and I know that I'm just starting again
Cos the stars in my life are not, they are not what I'm living for
And the sun's still burning
I Know I'm Good
There's not much of a fate line on either site
Do I control the weather? I think I might
Eyes upon my skin, summer bright
Did I teach myself the letters? I raised me right
Did anyone ever reach this age without hurting anyone along the way?
I'm not saying I'm blameless, I just evade questioning my motives til it's too late
I know I'm good
I know I'm good
I used to be surrounded in every place
Especially when alone - my heart would race
You'll find me in September when I'm awake
Avoid me in the springtime - we have to wait
I know I'm good
I know I'm good
Your Majesty
Bound by our blood and secret handshakes
Down Rosa Lane from Coldstream to Kandahar
I can be your majesty
I'm fashionable when you're with me
We made them swallow everything
You prettymake over bells and our mistakes
I wanted more fans, you wanted more stage
I can be your majesty
I'm fashionable when you're with me
We made them swallow everything
You were too loud and I was too angry
Push through the crowd with a handful of posies
What'll we do with the rest of the carvings?
What'll I do with a single glove?
I can be your majesty
I'm fashionable when you're with me
We made them swallow everything
The dice will fall again
The Scottish Song
My dearest partner of greatness has gone, left a fiend-like queen to my sorrow
She was my nation and my motivation but now I just watch from my window
Saw the towers that guide us home blown all away
That only the sea can ever replace
The last three of seven - I've been here eleven - I'm thinking we're drifting apart
I'm painting in hills where they never existed to keep some of you in my heart
On every corner a picture landscape
And only the sea can pull off those shapes
When I tried to change, she couldn't deal
Only the sea can know how I feel
My dearest partner of greatness was never the rock I imagined she was
Do not depend upon anything more than what you're sure can never be lost
I'm taking the skyline, I'm keeping true friends
But except for the sea, everything ends.
The Harebell
We are leaving, save our lives
Summer sailing, early light
Though the water's hopeless blue
Hoping, praying - all we can do
And now this boat is loading, I'm a rock
So you can drag me in these heavy shoes
Help me go, to leave to lose
We have taken everything
Now we're starving, old and thin
We are leaving some behind
They are rooted, we grow wild
Now our world is changing
I'm across and I'm ashore
So take me in and keep me warm
Humour me until it's home
Straw and Hay
They say we're wasting our time away
Learning the difference 'tween straw and hay
Games we invent but cannot explain
Our least favourite place and we're there again
I can remember a time we said
You could be king if the queen was dead
For the best thing to do in uncertain times
Is to look round the room for a thing that rhymes
The night and me, the foaming sea
And you, a face among the waves
A part of any place is secret
I found you in the wardrobe of a hotel room
We stayed there together
And the bed was only there for show
Shy from the shore, say so long to sea
Flee to a forest of industry
Where for two hundred years there's been nowt but rain
But at least the umbrella sales stay the same
Margot
Sun kills the night, a sight kills a sigh
To affordable life, I retire
To an arable life, I aspire
But Margot laughs
Cos she understands that all we have
Is a mess that I would do owt to hide
And it hurts to lie
Sometimes we stall and fall onto gold
To a turbulent time full of missing days and warm, white wine
Of setting suns and rising fears
Of setting suns and rising fears
But Margot laughs
Cos she understands that all we have
Is a chance to make an informed rehash
And it hurts to lie
(It was a strange night, we left at twilight
and took the train down to the arse of London town
We entered spryly but played to twenty disinterested people
there to see someone else
We left in darkness, laden pack horses,
for a consoling, never mind sort of after drink
We went below street, down escalators and unending tiled passages)
Hedgehunter
Once, I wanted to be a master of zoology - hunting through the hedges, that was me
A spider sings in his web and he bows a silver string with his leg
And the flies arrive from miles to hear and beat a winged percussive little death
I could have used a pen and chalk to write my name upon the board
But however small they are, they all look like giants
A private eye on the case, or maybe I could navigate through space
These ambitions lost without a trace
Cos a melody can't swell where there's no air
Though the moon conducts the tides like he can hear
And if I can't be a PI in the 1940s I don't even care
All the ghosts I could have captured, roaming loose in someone's flat
All the novels only ink - there's still time for that
This was something that chose me
Now I have to find someone else to be
If it's over I can get used to it, I can get used to it
It's not the only thing I am
(Shall we go somewhere else now?)
Body, No
Body, no, don't slow me down
Buddy up, I don't ask you all the time
Don't hold me back tonight and there's still tomorrow
And the sunrise - I want to see the sunrise
This is our sorority, you and me
It's all ours
Your impatience makes me weary
Colours fade - how you threaten me
What once was black is grey or white
Am I dying?
Listen, let's form a coalition
Even though we never run
We are one hell of a union
I know you don't trust me either
So far, we have survived it so far
I want to lie with my cheek on the dew-soaked garden
Let me lie here, don't speak to me of Monday morning
Making Movies
Find me a face I already know
Give him your glasses, give him your phrases
He can stand in on days when it's slow
Send him to work while I go to work on you
Now, baby don't bore
Remember we're all making movies and nothing gets left on the floor
Try making 'em smile
There's nothing wrong with your lines but they're falling asleep on the aisle
It doesn't make sense
Why do I have to sit through all the scripted silence when you're gone?
My understudy made me agree
She gets the haircuts, I get the pay cuts
She gets up early, I'm making tea
She goes to work while I go to work on you
Sit, love I insist
Remember we're all making movies and no one's expecting a twist
Who is the star?
Seems it must be you or me but they don't even know who we are
It's never explained whether it's us or it's them who are meant to be entertained
Come, there's no escape
Everything you've ever done is forever preserved on the tape
And when it's the end, they'll play it back from the start
When it's over they'll play it again
Hard to Follow
You go from red to blue without my say
And it's hard to follow you my heart, it's hard to follow you
But you just have to point and follow I do
Forever and ever and ever and so on
You turn my head into an alphabet
And it's hard to follow you my heart, it's hard to follow you
But you just have to point and follow I do
Forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and so on
Is My Heart Needed For It?
Different parts of my heart want to move different ways
And this mouth, oh god, wants to curse everything
Giving all my time, make these ends meet at last
Want to give my love to something else
Before we leave, tell me
Is my heart needed for it?
Is there anything to go on?
Has it got a little meaning?
A ghost, a ghost does all my talking
I lost a friend, a low, low heartbeat
And now below the future sky
The roof may fall but the gutter is high
Is my heart needed for it?
Is there anything to go on?
Has it got a little meaning?
Before we leave, tell me
Do I get to use my heart?
Do I get to use my heart?
Will you let me use my heart?
Do I get to use my heart?
The Pie Bird
When my shoulders hunch round the beehive upon my suffering neck
The bird flies up from the table and makes a nest on my head
When thoughts are all a-scribble and the storm's upsetting the blood
Like cream into milk he makes waterfalls from puddles of mud
The drama of hens and of foxes, a fire in the scullery
And I sat in the kitchen with jigsaws and Grandma said I was a teabelly
And she took out her teeth in the evening and put on her Ulay-la-lie
While the bird that now sings of my suffering let out the steam from the pie
The Steeplejack
We all relate - to understate, the odds are sizeable
Despite the facts our cataracts make things seem tangible
And to make me feel like this takes a certain kind of itch
And I will not heed you any more
Now I'm blindfolding my feet so they cannot see the street
Never caring where I might end up
Come back, steeplejack, the air's too thin
Come down, all you found is safe within
Get low for a higher love
We all agree - majority is who, not what, you know
It's when they say 'hey, you're ok' the itch will start to grow
But the reason you begin's never an attempt to win more than smiles from the friends you have
And the feeling that you get when you put yourself to bed knowing you've done something no one has
Come back, steeplejack, the air's too thin
Come down, all you found is safe within
If this is all there is you win, you win
Get low for a higher love
I was trying to let go of something I never held on to begin with
Now I'm re-evaluating all I had
|
