Scott Walker

Momma, do you see what I see On your knees and pray for me Mathilde's come back to me Charley, don't want another beer Tonight I'm gonna drink my tears Mathilde's come back to me Go ask the maid if she heard what I said Tell her to change the sheets on the bed Mathilde's come back to me Fellas, don't leave me tonight Tonight I'm going back to fight Wretched Mathilde's in sight My heart, my heart, stop beating so Just make as if you didn't know That Mathilde's come back to me My heart, I don't want you to say She's lovelier than when she went away Mathilde, whols come back to me My heart, stop being overjoyed Remember you were once destroyed By Mathilde, who's come back to me Fellas, please don't go away Tell me that I mustn't stay Mathilde's coming back today My hands, you'll start to shake again When you remember all the pain Mathilde's come back to me You'll want to beat her black and blue But don't do it, I beg of you Mathilde's come back to me My hands, remember all the years Remember when you caught my tears Mathilde's come back to me My hands, you'll want to touch her now But please try and be strong somehow Mathilde's here, she's coming now, now Momma, can you hear me yell Your baby boy's gone back to hell Mathilde's come back to me Charley, champagne right away I know you've been saving it for the holiday But Mathilde's come back to me Go ask the maid if she heard what I said Tell her to put the best sheets on the bed Mathilde's come back to me My friends, don't count on me no more I've gone and crashed through heaven's door My sweet Mathilde's here Once more, once more

In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who sings
Of the dreams that he brings
From the wide open sea
In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who sleeps
While the riverbank weeps
With the old willow tree
In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who dies
Full of beer, full of cries
In a drunken down fight
And in the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who's born
On a muggy hot morn
By the dawn's early light

In the port of Amsterdam
Where the sailors all meet
There's a sailor who eats
Only fishheads and tails
He will show you his teeth
That have rotted too soon
That can swallow the moon
That can haul up the sails
And he yells to the cook
With his arms open wide
Bring me more fish
Put it down by my side
Then he wants so to belch
But he's too full to try
So he gets up and laughs
And he zips up his fly

In the port of Amsterdam
You can see sailors dance
Paunches bursting their pants
Grinding women to paunch
They've forgotten the tune
That their whiskey voice croaks
Splitting the night with the
Roar of their jokes
And they turn and they dance
And they laugh and they lust
Till the rancid sound of
The accordion bursts
Then out to the night
With their pride in their pants
With the slut that they tow
Underneath the street lamps

In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who drinks
And he drinks and he drinks
And he drinks once again
He drinks to the health
Of the whores of Amsterdam
Who have promised their love
To a thousand other men
They've bargained their bodies
And their virtue long gone
For a few dirty coins
And when he can't go on
He plants his nose in the sky
And he wipes it up above
And he pisses like I cry
For an unfaithful love

In the port of Amsterdam
In the port of Amsterdam

And if one day I should become
A singer with a Spanish bum
Who sings for women of great virtue
I'd sing to them with a guitar
I borrowed from a coffee bar
Well, what you don't know doesn't hurt you
My name would be Antonio
And all my bridges I would burn
And when I gave them some they'd know
I'd expect something in return
I'd have to get drunk every night
And talk about virility
With some old grandmother
That might be decked out like a christmas tree
And no pink elephant I'd see
Though I'd be drunk as I could be
Still I would sing my song to me
About the time they called me "Jacky"
If I could be for only an hour
If I could be for an hour every day
If I could be for just one little hour
Cute in a stupid ass way
And if I joined the social whirl
Became procurer of young girls
Then I could have my own bordellos
My record would be number one
And I'd sell records by the ton
All sung by many other fellows
My name would then be handsome Jack
And I'd sell boats of opium
Whisky that came from Twickenham
Authentic queens
And phony virgins
I'd have a bank on every finger
A finger in every country
And every country ruled by me
I'd still know where I'd want to be
Locked up inside my opium den
Surrounded by some china men
I'd sing the song that I sang then
About the time they called me "Jacky"
If I could be for only an hour
If I could be for an hour every day
If I could be for just one little hour
Cute in a stupid ass way
Now, tell me, wouldn't it be nice
That if one day in paradise
I'd sing for all the ladies up there
And they would sing along with me
And we be so happy there to be
Cos' down below is really nowhere
My name would then be "Jupiter"
Then I would know where I was going
Become all knowing
My beard so very long and flowing
If I became deaf, dumb and blind
(was: If I could play deaf, dumb and blind)
Because I pitied all mankind
And broke my heart to make things right
I know that every single night
When my angelic work was through
The angels and the Devil too
Could sing my childhood song to me
About the time they called me "Jacky"
If I could be for only an hour
If I could be for an hour every day
If I could be for just one little hour
Cute in a stupid ass way

My death is like
a swinging door
a patient girl who knows the score
whistle for her
and the passing time

My death waits like
a bible truth
at the funeral of my youth
weep loud for that
and the passing time

My death waits like
a witch at night
and surely as our love is bright
let's laugh for us
and the passing time

But whatever is behind the door
there is nothing much to do
angel or devil I don't care
for in front of that door
there is you

My death waits like
a beggar blind
who sees the world with an unlit mind
throw him a dime
for the passing time

My death waits
to allow my friends
a few good times before it ends
let's drink to that
and the passing time

My death waits in
your arms, your thighs
your cool fingers will close my eyes
let's not talk about
the passing time

But whatever is behind the door
there is nothing much to do
angel or devil I don't care
for in front of that door
there is you

My death waits
among the falling leaves
in magicians, mysterious sleeves
rabbits, dogs
and the passing times

My death waits
among the flowers
where the blackish shadow cowers
let's pick lilacs
for the passing time

My death waits in
a double bed
sails of oblivion at my head
pull up the sheets
against the passing time

But whatever is behind the door
there is nothing much to do
angel or devil I don't care
for in front of that door
there is you

Naked as sin, an army towel
Covering my belly
Some of us blush, somehow
Knees turning to jelly
Next, next
I was still just a kid
There were a hundred like me
I followed a naked body
A naked body follwed me
next, next
I was still just a kid
When my innocence was lost
In a mobile army whorehouse
Gift from the army, free of cost
Next, next
Me, I really would have liked
A little touch of tenderness
Maybe a word, a smile
An hour of happiness
But, next, next
Oh, it wasn't so tragic
The high heavens did not fall
But how much of that time
I hated being there at all
Next, next Now I always will recall
The brothel truck, the flying flags
The queer lieutenant who slapped
Our asses as if we were fags
Next, ne xt
I swear on the wet head
Of my first case of gonorrhea
It is his ugly voice
That I forever hear
Next, next
That voice that stinks of whiskey
Of corpses and of mud
It is the voice of nations
It is the thick voice of blood
Next, next
And since the each woman
I have taken to bed
Seems to laugh in my arms
To whisper through my head
Next, next
All the naked and the dead
Should hold each other's hands
As they watch me scream at night
In a dream no one understands
Next, next
And when I am not screaming
In a voice grown dry and hollow
I stand on endless naked lines
Of the following and the followed
Next, next
One day I'll cut my legs off
Or burn myself alive
Anything, I'll do anything
To get out of line to survive
Never to be next
Never to be next.

The girls
Are as fast as a game
Are as bright as a flame
And you're always to blame

The girls
Are as pink as the light
And as dark as the night
And they're always right

The girls
Are as cold as the sphinx
Always dreaming of minks
They drive you to drink

The girls
Are as soft as a sigh
That whispers good-bye
And leaves you to cry

But the dogs
Well, they're only dogs
Just wagging their tails
As they watch it end

Oh, the dogs
Well, they're only dogs
And maybe that's why
They're man's best friend

The girls
Can make you feel cold
Can make you feel old
An antique to be sold

The girls
They play with your heart
They tear you apart
You're never too smart

The girls
They throw you from towers
They'll whip you with flowers
It depends on the hours

The girls
Will treat you like trash
Or let you be brash
It depends on your cash

But the dogs
Don't depend on a thing
They just lick your face
When they see it end

Oh, the dogs
Don't depend on a thing
And maybe that's why
They're man's best friend
___

The girls
You know that they are vain
They will poison your brain
They will drive you insane

The girls
Will laugh at your jokes
How they love the coat on (???)
But it is all a hoax

The girls
Are still making dates
they still making you wait
and they say you are late

The girls
Are yours for a throw (?)
At least you think so
Ah but you will never know

The dogs
Well you know the dogs
They lift up a leg
As they see it end

The dogs
Well you know the dogs
And maybe that's why
They're man's best friend
___

The girls
They're not what they seem
They all have a scheme
They call it a dream

The girls
Are as hot as they please
And you're down on your knees
With the greatest of ease

The girls
Say you're on the right track
Then they take it all back
Tie it up in a sack

The girls
They will give it of course
But they give with such force
That it gives you remorse

But the dogs
They give nothing at all
They just lift a leg
As they watch it end

Oh, the dogs
They give nothing at all
And that's the reason why
They're man's best friend

And yet it's because of the girls
When they've knocked us about
And our tears want to shout
That we kick the dogs out

If you go away
On this summer day
Then you might as well
Take the sun away
All the birds that flew
In the summer sky
When our love was new
And our hearts were high
And the day was young
And the night was long
And the moon stood still
For the night bird's song

If you go away

But if you stay
I'll make you a day
Like no day has been
Or will be again
We'll sail the sun
We'll ride on the rain
And talk to the trees
And worship the wind

Then if you go
I'll understand
Leave me just enough love
To fill up my hand

If you go away
As I know you will
You must tell the world
To stop turning, turning
'til you return again
If you ever do
For what good is love
Without loving you?
Can I tell you now
As you turn to go
I'll be dying slowly
'til the next hello

But if you stay
I'll make you a night
Like no night has been
Or will be again
I'll sail on your smile
I'll glide on your touch
I'll talk to your eyes
That I love so much

But if you go
I won't cry
Though the good is gone
From the word goodbye

If you go away
As I know you must
There'll be nothing left
In this world to trust
Just an empty room
Full of empty space
Like the empty look
I see on your face
And I'd have been the shadow
Of your shadow
If it might have kept me
By your side

Oh I can see them now
Clutching a hankerchief
And blowing me a kiss
Discreetly asking how
How came he died so young
Or was he very old
Is the body still warm
Or is it already cold
All doors are open wide
They grope around inside
At my desk my drawers my trunk
There's nothing left to hide
Some love letters are there
And an old photograph
They've laid my poor soul bare
And now all they do is laugh

Oh I can see them all
So formal and so stiff
Like a seargant at arms
At a policeman's ball
And everybody's pushing
To be the first in line
Their hearts upon their sleeves
Like a ten cent valentine
The old women are there
Too old to give a damn
They've brought along the kids
Who don't know who I am
They're thinking about the price of my funeral bouquet
What they're thinking isn't nice
For now they'll have to pay

Oh I see all of you
All of my phoney friends
Who can't wait for it ends
Who can't wait till it's through
Oh I see all of you
You've been laughing all these years
Now all that you have left
Are a few crocodile tears
Ah you don't even know
That you're entering your hell
As you leave my cemetary
You think you're doing well
With that one who's at your side
You're as proud as you can be
Ah she's going to make you cry
But not the way you cried for me

Oh I can see me now
So cold and so alone
As the flowers slowly die
In my field of little bones
Oh I can see me now
I can see me at the end
Of this voyage that I/m on
Without a love without a friend
Now all this that I see
Is not what I deserve
They really have a nerve
To say these things to me
No girls just bread and water
And your money you must save
For there'll be nothing left for us
When you're dead and in your grave

Sons of the thief, sons of the saint
Who is the child with no complaint
Sons of the great or sons unknown
All were children like your own
The same sweet smiles, the same sad tears
The cries at night, the nightmare fears
Sons of the great or sons unknown
All were children like your own...

So long ago: long, long, ago...

But sons of tycoons or sons of the farms
All of the children ran from your arms
Through fields of gold, through fields of ruin
All of the children vanished too soon
In tow'ring waves, in walls of flesh
Among dying birds trembling with death
Sons of tycoons or sons of the farms
All of the children ran from your arms...

So long ago: long, long, ago...

But sons of your sons or sons passing by
Children we lost in lullabies
Sons of true love or sons of regret
All of the sons you cannot forget
Some built the roads, some wrote the poems
Some went to war, some never came home
Sons of your sons or sons passing by
Children we lost in lullabies...

So long ago: long, long, ago

But, sons of the theif, sons of the saint
Who is the child with no complaint
Sons of the great or sons unknown
All were children like your own
The same sweet smiles, the same sad tears
The cries at night, the nightmare fears
Sons of the great or sons unknown
All were children like your own...

If you go away
On this summer day
Then you might as well
Take the sun away
All the birds that flew
In the summer sky
When our love was new
And our hearts were high
And the day was young
And the night was long
And the moon stood still
For the night bird's song

If you go away

But if you stay
I'll make you a day
Like no day has been
Or will be again
We'll sail the sun
We'll ride on the rain
And talk to the trees
And worship the wind

Then if you go
I'll understand
Leave me just enough love
To fill up my hand

If you go away
As I know you will
You must tell the world
To stop turning, turning
'til you return again
If you ever do
For what good is love
Without loving you?
Can I tell you now
As you turn to go
I'll be dying slowly
'til the next hello

But if you stay
I'll make you a night
Like no night has been
Or will be again
I'll sail on your smile
I'll glide on your touch
I'll talk to your eyes
That I love so much

But if you go
I won't cry
Though the good is gone
From the word goodbye

If you go away
As I know you must
There'll be nothing left
In this world to trust
Just an empty room
Full of empty space
Like the empty look
I see on your face
And I'd have been the shadow
Of your shadow
If it might have kept me
By your side

If time were not a moving thing
And I could make it stay
This hour of love we share
Would always be
There'd be no coming day
To shine a morning light
And make us realize our night is over

When you walk away from me
There is no place to put my hand
Except to shade my eyes against the sun
That rises over the land
I watch you walk away
Somehow I have to let you go
Cause it's over

If you knew just how I really feel
You might return and yet
There are so many times
That people have to love and then forget
Oh there might have been a way somehow
I have to force myself to say
It's over

So I turn my back,
Turn my collar to the wind
Move along in silence
Trying not to think at all
I set my feet before me
Walk the silent street before me
Now it's over

If time were not a moving thing
And I could make you stay
This hour of love we share
Would always be
There'd be no coming day
To shine a morning light
And make us realize our night is over

It's over

Joanna I cant forget the one they call joanna We own the summer hand in hand joanna
And now she"s always just a tear awayGoodbye you-you long lost summerLeaving me behind youRepeating things for loversThat may find youI still hang on to every word that dayYou passed my way
Joanna you made the man a child again so sweetlyHe breathed your smileLooked in your eyes completely

And on his heart theres still a trace of you
I loved you but nothing in this world could make you mineYet still in time joanna
----joanna you may remember me and change your mind----musical break
I loved you but nothing in this world could make you mineBut still in time joanna
Joanna you may remember me and change your mind

The Angels of Ashes
Will give back your passions
Again and again

Their light shafts
Will reach through the darkness
And touch you my friend

They'll fly in a mind dance
And blind you with wings
Wrapped in flame

If you're down to an echo
They just might remember
Your name

In the unbroken darkness
Where emptiness empties
Alone

There's no starting or stopping
Where there is no right or
No wrong

Well that's all right for some
Who can hang the absurd
On their wall

If your blind hands can't grope
Through these measureless waters
You'll fall

You've been following patterns
And fleeting sensations
Too long

And the fullness that fills up
The pulse of durations
Is gone

Let the great constellation
Of flickering ashes
Be heard

Let them burn with a fire
All it takes to confess
Is a word, just a word

I can recommend angels
I've watched as they've made a man strong
Oh so strong

If your humbleness shows
Then I'm sure that they'll take you
Along

You can tell them who sent you
It might help to get you
Above

You can say that he laughed
And he walked like St. Francis
With love

Mama, do you see what I see
On your knees and pray for me
Mathilde's come back to me
Charley, don't want another beer
Tonight I'm gonna drink my tears
Mathilde's come back to me
Go ask the maid if she heard what I said
Tell her to change the sheets on the bed
Mathilde's come back to me
Fellas, don't leave me tonight
Tonight I'm going back to fight
Wretched Mathilde's in sight

My heart, my heart, stop beating so
Just make as if you didn't know
That Mathilde's come back to me
My heart, I don't want you to say
She's lovelier than when she went away
Mathilde, who's come back to me
My heart, stop beating overjoyed
Remember you were once destroyed
By Mathilde, who's come back to me
Fellas, please don't go away
Tell me that I mustn't stay
Mathilde's coming back today

My hands, you'll start to shake again
When you remember all the pain
Mathilde's come back to me
You'll want to beat her black and blue
But don't do it, I beg of you
Mathilde's come back to me
My hands, remember all the years
Remember when you caught my tears
Mathilde's come back to me
My hands, you'll want to touch her now
But please try and be strong somehow
Mathilde's here, she's coming now, now

Mama, can you hear me yell
Your baby boy's gone back to hell
Mathilde's come back to me
Charley, champagne right away
I know you've been saving it for the holiday
But Mathilde's come back to me
Go ask the maid if she heard what I said
Tell her to put the best sheets on the bed
Mathilde's come back to me
My friends, don't count on me no more
I've gone and crashed through heaven's door
My sweet Mathilde's here
Once more, once more

You're like a winter night
Your thoughts are frozen
You kiss your lovers
In the snow

Too many icy tears
Glisten for someone

You watch the leaves
As they shiver your loneliness
Your eyes are lanterns
Growing dim

I hum inside
Like the meadows in summer

But I'll never light them up
Again

And if one day I should become
A singer with a Spanish bum
Who sings for women of great virtue
I'd sing to them with a guitar
I borrowed from a coffee bar
Well, what you don't know doesn't hurt you
My name would be Antonio
And all my bridges I would burn
And when I gave them some they'd know
I'd expect something in return
I'd have to get drunk every night
And talk about virility
With some old grandmother
That might be decked out like a christmas tree
And though pink elephants I'd see
Though I'd be drunk as I could be
Still I would sing my song to me
About the time they called me "Jacky"

If I could be for only an hour
If I could be for an hour every day
If I could be for just one little hour
Cute in a stupid ass way

And if I joined the social whirl
Became procurer of young girls
Then i would have my own bordellos
My record would be number one
And I'd sell records by the ton
All sung by many other fellows
My name would then be handsome Jack
And I'd sell boats of opium
Whisky that came from Twickenham
Authentic queers
And phony virgins
If I had banks on every finger
A finger in every country
And every country ruled by me
I'd still know where I'd want to be
Locked up inside my opium den
Surrounded by some china men
I'd sing the song that I sang then
About the time they called me "Jacky"

If I could be for only an hour
If I could be for an hour every day
If I could be for just one little hour
Cute in a stupid ass way

Now, tell me, wouldn't it be nice
That if one day in paradise
I'd sing for all the ladies up there
And they would sing along with me
And we be so happy there to be
Cos' down below is really nowhere
My name would then be Junipher
Then I would know where I was going
And then I would become all knowing
My beard so very long and flowing
If I became deaf, dumb and blind
(was: If I could play deaf, dumb and blind)
Because I pitied all mankind
And broke my heart to make things right
I know that every single night
When my angelic work was through
The angels and the Devil too
Would sing my childhood song to me
About the time they called me "Jacky"

If I could be for only an hour
If I could be for an hour every day
If I could be for just one little hour
Cute in a stupid ass way

I've watched her from the river banks
I knew her when she danced with dreams
White doves were there to dress her hair
And so was Madelaine

At night the people's faces danced
Like pearls colliding on the breast
Of fat Marie whose thunder laugh
Was just a thread from crying

Her sailors stained her cobblestones
With wine and piss and death desire
And sometimes blood for Madelaine
Whose laughter was the night

Her girls would lift their dresses high
and breathe the stars and kiss the sky
She'd smother them with whispers then
Embrace them with her sighs

Before the bottle dulled my eyes
And made me so I couldn't stand
I'd overact and play the clown
When Madelaine would cry

And now I watch from riverbanks
I watch it weave it's memories
White doves turned gray and flew away
And so did Madelaine

It's raining today
and I'm just about to forget the train window girl
That wonderful day we met
She smiles through the smoke from my cigarette
It's raining today
But once there was summer and you
And dark little rooms
And sleep in late afternoons
Those moments descend on my windowpane
I've hung around too long
Listenin' to the old landlady's hard-luck stories
You out of me, me out of you
We go like lovers
To replace the empty space
Repeat our dreams to someone new
It's raining today
And I watch the cellophane streets
No hang-ups for me
'Cause hang-ups need company
The street corner girl's a cold trembling leaf
It's raining today
It's raining today

Mist falls and his voice cracks from the morning
Flowers and my body feels like lead
Someone should have stopped the birds from singing today
Hammers from striking nails into clay

Her face penetrates the blue gray morning
Her eyes pregnant pools produce a tear
Someone should have shouted you had gone in her ear
That summer was stolen away

Such a small love
Such a little tear
You would laugh so loud
If you could see us here

With my one suit
Badly pressed and worn
Like a child left
In the world alone

He speaks I don't hear a word he's saying
Hang on to the pine trees and the snow
Reach out grab the memories that are left for your hand
They'll help you get by for a while

Such a small love
Such a little tear
Is this all that's left
On your cheek so pale

His shallow half lit eyes
His rotted teeth grown on
Our drunken madman nights
Ending up in jail

Midnight mornings
Drenched in day-glo red
Words colliding
Things we left unsaid

Perfumed pillows
Girls that clung so near
Such a small love
Such a little tear

I've come from far from chains,
From metal and stone,
From makeshift designs,
And seeking a star

To grab for the truth,
To keep myself warm,
I turn and it's gone,
You smile and it's born.

The rhymes of a woman's,
A river that never ends
The Rhymes of Dimension,
Surrounds us with fire and friends,
And roaring through darkness,
The Night children fly,
I still hear them singing the rhymes of goodbye

There's nothing within,
but within says a voice,
That's still my Empire,
And I've got a choice

Its healers of death,
It's still got a fire,
And I keep it burning,
With hands of desire

The bells of our senses,
Can cost us our pride,
Can toll out the boundaries,
That level our lives

Can slash like the sunlight,
Through shadows and cracks,
Our nakedness calling,
Our nakedness back

The rhyme of our passions,
Find beauty in loving love,
The rhyme of our madness,
Burn cities and push'n'shoves,
And roaring through darkness,
The Night children fly,
I still hear them singing the rhymes of goodbye

She stands all alone
You can hear her hum softly
From her fire escape in the sky
She fills the bags 'neath her eyes
With the moonbeams
And cries 'cause the world's passed her by

Didn't time sound sweet yesterday?
In a world filled with friends
You lose your way

She's a haunted house
And her windows are broken
And the sad young man's gone away
Her bathrobe's torn
And tears smudge her lipstick
And the neighbors just whisper all day

Didn't time sounds sweet yesterday?
In a world filled with friends
You lose your way

Naked as sin, an army towel
Covering my belly
Some of us blush, somehow
Knees turning to jelly
Next, next

I was still just a kid
There were a hundred like me
I followed a naked body
A naked body follwed me
next, next

I was still just a kid
When my innocence was lost
In a mobile army whorehouse
Gift from the army, free of cost
Next, next

Me, I really would have liked
A little touch of tenderness
Maybe a word, a smile
An hour of happiness
But, next, next

Oh, it wasn't so tragic
The high heavens did not fall
But how much of that time
I hated being there at all
Next, next Now I always will recall
The brothel truck, the flying flags
The queer lieutenant who slapped
Our asses as if we were fags
Next, ne xt

I swear on the wet head
Of my first case of gonorrhea
It is his ugly voice
That I forever hear
Next, next

That voice that stinks of whiskey
Of corpses and of mud
It is the voice of nations
It is the thick voice of blood
Next, next

And since the each woman
I have taken to bed
Seems to laugh in my arms
To whisper through my head
Next, next

All the naked and the dead
Should hold each other's hands
As they watch me scream at night
In a dream no one understands
Next, next

And when I am not screaming
In a voice grown dry and hollow
I stand on endless naked lines
Of the following and the followed
Next, next

One day I'll cut my legs off
Or burn myself alive
Anything, I'll do anything
To get out of line to survive
Never to be next
Never to be next.

Over the rooftop sails Billy
A string tied to his underwear
Through cobbled stone streets a child races
And shouts "Billy, come down from there"

"My mother's calling" his voice whimpers
A string clutched in his tiny hand
Not till I've seen the sky's not lit up
In tears, child try and understand
Don't pull the string, Don't bring me down
Don't make me land

Plastic palace people
Sing silent songs, they dream too long
Their memories just stare
Plastic palace Alice
She steals the cards tomorrow deals
With deafening despair

Hurry, you've got to get in line
Your nose might start to shine
And sweat it out and dance about
The whole eternal life

A harvest of stars surrounds Billy
The night clings to his happy eyes
Asleep in town square beneath a fountain
A child murmurs a weary sigh
My mother weeps, And weaves her hair
With worries please, Come down from there

Plastic palace people
Through fields of clay and granite grey
They play without a sound
Plastic palace Alice
Blows gaping holes to store her fears
Inside her lovers head

Listen, they're laughing in the halls
They rip your face with lies
To buzzing eyes you cry for help
Like gods they bark replies

Over the rooftops burns Billy
Balloon sadly the string descends
Searching its way down through blue submarine air
The polka dot underwear
To meet the trees, In morning square
Just hanging there, Just hanging there

There's a butterfly circling the beach
Searching the rocks where you are
He chooses your hair, and that's where he belongs
For he's lost like a star
Head down, reluctant and warm
You give your thoughts to the sea
Dark rivers your eyes belong to no-one
Like a star
Like a butterfly

Mama, do you see what I see
On your knees and pray for me
Mathilde's come back to me
Charley, don't want another beer
Tonight I'm gonna drink my tears
Mathilde's come back to me
Go ask the maid if she heard what I said
Tell her to change the sheets on the bed
Mathilde's come back to me
Fellas, don't leave me tonight
Tonight I'm going back to fight
Wretched Mathilde's in sight

My heart, my heart, stop beating so
Just make as if you didn't know
That Mathilde's come back to me
My heart, I don't want you to say
She's lovelier than when she went away
Mathilde, who's come back to me
My heart, stop beating overjoyed
Remember you were once destroyed
By Mathilde, who's come back to me
Fellas, please don't go away
Tell me that I mustn't stay
Mathilde's coming back today

My hands, you'll start to shake again
When you remember all the pain
Mathilde's come back to me
You'll want to beat her black and blue
But don't do it, I beg of you
Mathilde's come back to me
My hands, remember all the years
Remember when you caught my tears
Mathilde's come back to me
My hands, you'll want to touch her now
But please try and be strong somehow
Mathilde's here, she's coming now, now

Mama, can you hear me yell
Your baby boy's gone back to hell
Mathilde's come back to me
Charley, champagne right away
I know you've been saving it for the holiday
But Mathilde's come back to me
Go ask the maid if she heard what I said
Tell her to put the best sheets on the bed
Mathilde's come back to me
My friends, don't count on me no more
I've gone and crashed through heaven's door
My sweet Mathilde's here
Once more, once more

The girls
Are as fast as a game
Are as bright as a flame
And you're always to blame

The girls
Are as pink as the light
And as dark as the night
And they're always right

The girls
Are as cold as the sphinx
Always dreaming of minks
They drive you to drink

The girls
Are as soft as a sigh
That whispers good-bye
And leaves you to cry

But the dogs
Well, they're only dogs
Just wagging their tails
As they watch it end

Oh, the dogs
Well, they're only dogs
And maybe that's why
They're man's best friend

The girls
Can make you feel cold
Can make you feel old
An antique to be sold

The girls
They play with your heart
They tear you apart
You're never too smart

The girls
They throw you from towers
They'll whip you with flowers
It depends on the hours

The girls
Will treat you like trash
Or let you be brash
It depends on your cash

But the dogs
Don't depend on a thing
They just lick your face
When they see it end

Oh, the dogs
Don't depend on a thing
And maybe that's why
They're man's best friend
___

The girls
You know that they are vain
They will poison your brain
They will drive you insane

The girls
Will laugh at your jokes
How they love the coat on (???)
But it is all a hoax

The girls
Are still making dates
they still making you wait
and they say you are late

The girls
Are yours for a throw (?)
At least you think so
Ah but you will never know

The dogs
Well you know the dogs
They lift up a leg
As they see it end

The dogs
Well you know the dogs
And maybe that's why
They're man's best friend
___

The girls
They're not what they seem
They all have a scheme
They call it a dream

The girls
Are as hot as they please
And you're down on your knees
With the greatest of ease

The girls
Say you're on the right track
Then they take it all back
Tie it up in a sack

The girls
They will give it of course
But they give with such force
That it gives you remorse

But the dogs
They give nothing at all
They just lift a leg
As they watch it end

Oh, the dogs
They give nothing at all
And that's the reason why
They're man's best friend

And yet it's because of the girls
When they've knocked us about
And our tears want to shout
That we kick the dogs out

My death is like
a swinging door
a patient girl who knows the score
whistle for her
and the passing time

My death waits like
a bible truth
at the funeral of my youth
weep loud for that
and the passing time

My death waits like
a witch at night
and surely as our love is bright
let's laugh for us
and the passing time

But whatever is behind the door
there is nothing much to do
angel or devil I don't care
for in front of that door
there is you

My death waits like
a beggar blind
who sees the world with an unlit mind
throw him a dime
for the passing time

My death waits
to allow my friends
a few good times before it ends
let's drink to that
and the passing time

My death waits in
your arms, your thighs
your cool fingers will close my eyes
let's not talk about
the passing time

But whatever is behind the door
there is nothing much to do
angel or devil I don't care
for in front of that door
there is you

My death waits
among the falling leaves
in magicians, mysterious sleeves
rabbits, dogs
and the passing times

My death waits
among the flowers
where the blackish shadow cowers
let's pick lilacs
for the passing time

My death waits in
a double bed
sails of oblivion at my head
pull up the sheets
against the passing time

But whatever is behind the door
there is nothing much to do
angel or devil I don't care
for in front of that door
there is you

The little clock's stopped ticking now
We're swallowed in the stomached rue
The only sound to tear the night
Comes from the man upstairs

His bloated belching figure stomps
He may crash through the ceiling soon
The window sees trees cry from cold
And claw the moon

But we know don't we
And we'll dream won't we
Of Montague Terrace in blue

The girl across the hall makes love
Her thoughts lay cold like shattered stone
Her thighs are full of tales to tell
Of all the nights she's known

Your eyes ignite like cold blue fire
The scent of secrets everywhere
A fist filled with illusions
Clutches all our cares

But we know don't we
And we'll dream won't we
Of Montague Terrace in blue oh in blue

-------------
Lyrics Powered by LyricFind
Written By SCOTT ENGEL
<i>Lyrics &copy; CARLIN AMERICA INC</i>

Mist falls and his voice cracks from the morning
Flowers and my body feels like lead
Someone should have stopped the birds from singing today
Hammers from striking nails into clay

Her face penetrates the blue gray morning
Her eyes pregnant pools produce a tear
Someone should have shouted you had gone in her ear
That summer was stolen away

Such a small love
Such a little tear
You would laugh so loud
If you could see us here

With my one suit
Badly pressed and worn
Like a child left
In the world alone

He speaks I don't hear a word he's saying
Hang on to the pine trees and the snow
Reach out grab the memories that are left for your hand
They'll help you get by for a while

Such a small love
Such a little tear
Is this all that's left
On your cheek so pale

His shallow half lit eyes
His rotted teeth grown on
Our drunken madman nights
Ending up in jail

Midnight mornings
Drenched in day-glo red
Words colliding
Things we left unsaid

Perfumed pillows
Girls that clung so near
Such a small love
Such a little tear

Hello Mr. Big Shot
Say, you're looking smart
I've had a tiring day
I took the kids along to the park

You've become a stranger
Every night with the boys
Got a new suit
That old smile's come back
And I kiss the children good night
And I slip away on the newly waxed floor

I've become a giant
I fill every street
I dwarf the rooftops
I hunchback the moon

Stars dance at my feet
Leave it all behind me
Screaming kids on my knee
And the telly swallowing me
And the neighbor shouting next door
And the subway trembling the roller-skate floor

I seek the buildings blazing with moonlight
In Channing Way
Their very eyes seem to suck you in with their laughter
They seem to say

You're all right now
So stop a while behind our smile
In Channing Way

Oh to die of kisses
Ecstasies and charms
Pavements of poets will write that I died
In nine angel's arms

And they all were smiling
Still seductive as sin in their eyes
The man I had been
No more hard luck stories to wear
Nothing left to give
Why the hell should I care

Ann owns my smile and Mary's my shadow
In Channing Way
And with her cellophane sighs
Celina the candle
Begs me to stay

You're all right now
So stop a while behind our smile
In Channing Way

Suffocating eyes and fast hellos and last good-byes
Surround the night of me
Mustache large like smoke from his cigar
Coughs up a joke and laughs a net of sound

Swallowing the pinwheel clowns
Consuming all the women
Like a giant sponge
Snap! The waiters animate
Luxuriate like planets whirling 'round the sun
Collapsing next to me
Shouts don't look sad
Things aren't so bad
They're just more wrong than right
His brandy brimmed voice whispers
Come with me I hold the key
The city's ours tonight

Pays the barmaid, slaps her ass
She shrieks her gold teeth flash
With rapturous delight
Earthquaking the sawdust ground
He grabs my arm and out into the famished night

Now two blazing leaves burning up ground
The tiny waltz of a merry go round
Cascading lights for every heartbeat
Tonight we'll sleep with the girls from the streets

Hurry faster don't look back
His coattails snap his laughter's burning in my ears
I ride upon this giant storm
Through rust-red rooms where shadows breathe from every
board

The world is up for auction sales
A thousand lies descend
The women's tear-tracked cheeks
Still we'll dance them on and on
We can't stop now
Not now until we reach the dawn

Quick give us your lips
Give us your thighs
Give us your sad and devouring eyes
Cascading tears for every heartbeat
Tonight we'll sleep with the girls from the streets

Over the rooftop sails Billy
A string tied to his underwear
Through cobbled stone streets a child races
And shouts "Billy, come down from there"

"My mother's calling" his voice whimpers
A string clutched in his tiny hand
Not till I've seen the sky's not lit up
In tears, child try and understand
Don't pull the string, Don't bring me down
Don't make me land

Plastic palace people
Sing silent songs, they dream too long
Their memories just stare
Plastic palace Alice
She steals the cards tomorrow deals
With deafening despair

Hurry, you've got to get in line
Your nose might start to shine
And sweat it out and dance about
The whole eternal life

A harvest of stars surrounds Billy
The night clings to his happy eyes
Asleep in town square beneath a fountain
A child murmurs a weary sigh
My mother weeps, And weaves her hair
With worries please, Come down from there

Plastic palace people
Through fields of clay and granite grey
They play without a sound
Plastic palace Alice
Blows gaping holes to store her fears
Inside her lovers head

Listen, they're laughing in the halls
They rip your face with lies
To buzzing eyes you cry for help
Like gods they bark replies

Over the rooftops burns Billy
Balloon sadly the string descends
Searching its way down through blue submarine air
The polka dot underwear
To meet the trees, In morning square
Just hanging there, Just hanging there

I've watched her from the river banks
I knew her when she danced with dreams
White doves were there to dress her hair
And so was Madelaine

At night the people's faces danced
Like pearls colliding on the breast
Of fat Marie whose thunder laugh
Was just a thread from crying

Her sailors stained her cobblestones
With wine and piss and death desire
And sometimes blood for Madelaine
Whose laughter was the night

Her girls would lift their dresses high
and breathe the stars and kiss the sky
She'd smother them with whispers then
Embrace them with her sighs

Before the bottle dulled my eyes
And made me so I couldn't stand
I'd overact and play the clown
When Madelaine would cry

And now I watch from riverbanks
I watch it weave it's memories
White doves turned gray and flew away
And so did Madelaine

Hope for me, I hope for you,
We're snowdrops falling through the night.

We'll melt away before we land,
Two teardrops for somebody's hand.

Follow me into just one more Spring.

Copenhagen, you're the end,
Gone and made me a child again.
Warmed my feet beneath cold sheets,
Dyed my hair with your sunny streets.

Children aren't afraid to love
And laugh when life amuses them.

And our love is an antique song
For children's carousels

She stands all alone
You can hear her hum softly
From her fire escape in the sky
She fills the bags 'neath her eyes
With the moonbeams
And cries 'cause the world's passed her by

Didn't time sound sweet yesterday?
In a world filled with friends
You lose your way

She's a haunted house
And her windows are broken
And the sad young man's gone away
Her bathrobe's torn
And tears smudge her lipstick
And the neighbors just whisper all day

Didn't time sounds sweet yesterday?
In a world filled with friends
You lose your way

We came through
We came riding through like warriors from afar
Our black horses danced upon the graves of yesterday's desires
Haunted by our visions framed in fire
I greet you, for you still believe in what's behind the door
You've seen the children freeze upon their knees
And praying to the wind
To send their grey madonnas back again
Fire the guns, and salute the men who died for freedom's sake
And we'll weep tonight, but we won't lie awake
Gazing up at statues dressed in stars
We won't dream, for they don't come true for us
Not anymore
They've run afar to hide in caves
With haggard burning eyes
Their icy voices tear our hearts like knives

We came through
Like the Gothic monsters perched on Notre Dame
We observe the naked souls of gutters pouring forth mankind
Smothered in an avalanche of time
And we're giants as we watch our kings and countries raise their shields
And Guevara dies encased in his ideals
And as Luther King's predictions fade from view
We came through

Anybody seen a knight pass this way
I saw him playing chess with Death yesterday
His crusade was a search for God and they say
It's been a long way to carry on

Anybody hear of plague in this town
The town I've left behind was burned to the ground
A young girl on a stake her face framed in flames cried
I'm not a witch God knows my name

The knight he watched with fear
He needed to know
He ran where he might feel God's breath
And in the misty church
He knelt to confess
The face within the booth was Mr. Death

My life's a vain pursuit of meaningless smiles
Why can't God touch me with a sign
Perhaps there's no one there answered the booth
And Death hid within his cloak and smiled

This morning I played chess with Death said the knight
We played that he might grant me time
My bishop and my knight will shatter his flanks
And still I might feel God's heart in mine

And through confession's grille Death's laughter was heard
The knight cried No you've cheated me!
But still I'll find a way
We'll meet once again and once again
Continue to play

They met within the woods the knight his squire and friends
And Death said now the game shall end
The final move was made
The knight hung his head
And said you've won I've nothing left to play

The minstrel filled with visions sang to his love
To look against the stormy sky
The knight his squire and friends
Their hands held as one
Solemnly danced toward the dawn

His hourglass in his hand his scythe by his side
The master Death he leads them on
The rain will wash away the tears from their faces
And as the thunder cracked they were gone

Wasn't it a good year
Wasn't filled with talking
It still moves through my heart
From time to time
City after city
Granite gray as morning
Heroes died in subways left behind
far behind like our love
You're on your own again
And you're your best again
That's what you tell yourself
I see it all the way as far as anyone can see
Except when it began I was so happy I didn't feel like me

You'll lose your way
A boy child rides upon your back
Take him away
Through mirrors dark and blessed with cracks
Through forgotten courtyards
Where you used to search for youth
Old gets a new life
Reach out you can touch it's true
He's not a shadow of shadows
Like you, you see
Hearts hold on holding
If you stay one, you'll stay free
Go seek the lady
Who will give, not take away
Naked with stillness
On the edge of dawn she stays
Night starts to empty
That's when her song begins
She'll make you happy
She'll take you deep within
Window lights for wanderers
Hide hard in your swollen eyes
Echoes of laughter
Hide in the cities thighs
Love catch these fragments
Swirling through the winds of night
What can it cost
To give a boy child back his sight
Extensions through dimensions
Leave you feeling cold and lame
Boy child mustn't tremble
'cos he came without a name

Moon breathin' in thru' my window
Curtains are sighing dust of the day
Still I'm not alone like all my neighbours say

Time Operator
Take the time to take the time
To come over here
We got so much in common
Seems it's hard for us to sleep
With all the razzle dazzle in the street

The man come to shut off my water
The man come to shut down my lights yesterday
I'm not one to moan
I made the bill for the telephone

Now I wouldn't care if you're ugly
'Cos here with the lights out I couldn't see
You just picture Paul Newman
And girl he looks a lot like me

Time Operator
Take the time to take the time
To come over here
We got so much in common
Seems it's hard for us to sleep
With all the razzle dazzle in the street

This is how you disappear
out between midnight,

called up under valleys
of torches and stars.

Foot, knee, shaggy belly, face
famous hindlegs,

as one of their own
you graze with them.

Cro-magnon herders
will stand in the wind,
sweeping tails shining,
and scaled to begin,

SHUTTING DOWN HERE
SHUTTING DOWN HERE ?

? to where necks
leave the air
unpossesed

and giant heads lock
constellations.

A last grain of dust
lands in the darkness
on tongues laid bare,

and turning to chalk.

Shutting down here.

Freezing in red,
bent over his ice skin,
The insomniac gnaws
in the On-Offs;

he is glazed
in the hooves
all round.

It is losing its shape.
Losing its shape,
as the heat
in your hands
carve the muscle
away.

And he grins
from a break
in a backflash.

Delivers it up
on a break
in a backflash.

Motionless brands
burn into a hipframe
As a saviour
loads sightlines
backlit by fires,

on the ridges
of the highest
breeder

The windows are ringing
shaking Night-nites for angels
rattling throats up and down on a beam.

Cooling the hearts
cooling the plasma
keeping ice junkies packed hard on a seam

The other side of a prowler
the dead still search the living.

At least there we did not not fail.

Coming to in the overcast
tracks are still flowing.

At least there he does not wail.

Psalms of your hands
sung into the lateness
move a circuit on the white
and he can't feel a thing.

Gone always alone to all you are never
he climbs into your mouth
when the windows ring.

The windows are ringing
shaking dead men for angels
Hissing brains boiling up
press't to the bone

uncoils the wire whole night long
bumping out thru the eye in knots.

Sweet hot numbers
sweet hots
bumping out thru the eye
on a wire of knots.

Sweet hot numbers
sweet hots
bumping out thru the eye
on a wire of knots.

Psalms of your hands
sung into the lateness
move a circuit on the white
and he can't feel a thing.

Gone always alone to all you are never
he climbs into your mouth
when the windows ring.

Delayed in the headlong
Resembled to breaking-point
I swear you never slept at night
when the growing is slow.

After me I'm no man's son
run out of recognize.

The blood of our
split back without his prisoner
the distance rigged in his eyes

Rock of cast-offs
bury me
hide my soul
and sink us free.

Rock of cast offs
bury me
hide my soul
and pray us free.

From the host of late-comers
a miracle enters the streets
shining with rain
he is shaking to wash
the murder away.

The shadow of the son
made the son a shadow

it's never night when I die.

That desert clouds under
and so Lord lightens
sleepers wait there
with wounds in their sides.

In the strength of the crime
you sing like a stranger
and your failure fulfills
your most secret defeat.

After me I'm no man's son
run out of recognize.

A life of it's own
lays down the horizon
the distance rigged in it's eyes

Rock of cast-offs
bury me
hide my soul
and sink us free.

Rock of cast offs
bury me
hide my soul
and pray us free.

In the time of an exile
from the jails of another
where soundings are taken
raw to his eyes.

I have walked the way from him
down to splintering bone ashes
with your voice shining sea
in his fractures and skys.

There are no voices here.

There are only confessions.
keeping him hidden
weighed out of his name

We have entered deserted.

He has gazed from my windows
as if all that replaced us
could still end in me.

For the first time unwoken
I am returned.

For the first time unwoken
I am returned.

He arrives from a place
with a face of fast sun.

Arrives from a space
his refuge overrun.

She will fold him away in his
badly changed hand.

Fold him away far behinf
where I am.

For the first time forgetting
I am returned.

As if all that replaced us
ends it again
as if all that replaced us
ends.

It's a starving reflection
if he dies in the night
listening to the increase.

It cuts out your likeness
in blood circulations
suspended beneath a release.

A low volume force feed
lower than pity
slips across under the heart
and your hostage rewinding
from every eclipse
rolls in the voltage
run-off rain on his lips.

We chew up the blackness
to some high sleep
travel a faster silence.

One to go long again
in the going ?
? gone again.

Full stare passages
striking less face;
outside on the move
a shattered heart pace
greases the fade;
sinking the blood back
breaking to where loaded icons wade.

Eyesides catch far awake
in a cols sanctuary.

Pain sonics eternities
all through themoves.

A first communication
tears loose undelivered
and swims unassigned
in your dimmed latitudes.

And the heat from the shore
melts down to recieve us;
floodlit foreheads
howled open and so nearly blessed
as they soften round dog-joys
of unfinished strangers
rubbed out on a point
afterburning

Say it got late
on that one.
That life-giver one.
Hanging weightless from the wound
in a half-light.

Taken up I could hold him
when all falls away.
Prayed into each other
you stood in the air

and the ceiling are rising
and falling.
The ceiling are shining
and slow
peeling tongues from the ice hums
and letting it go.

and the ceiling are rising
and falling.
The ceiling are shining
and slow
peeling tongues from the ice hums
and letting it go.

Stump of a drowner.
The delta holder.
Lowered up from his boulder
and riding pains
steady blowout.

All those arms in the gullys
chewed through at the wrists.
All that won't flood awake ?
? all that listens and lifts

Deserting your lead
while the figure is also carrying

Deserting your lead
while the figure is also carrying.

Your hands are drained.
Your skins are stained and heavy.

Go to ground
you are sealed against the night.
Spotted head blood head
heat up the stars.
Polish and silence away your parole.

She's a dugout;
her second sleeps
dreagging the roads.
Her fixed strays
shine from ditches

wherever she goes ?

? Deserting your lead
while the figure is also carrying

Pry open those jaws
try and hear your own way out.

Driven in deep;
you save yourself the burying.

The darkness swarms;
Try and hear your own way out.

When I crossed the river
with a heavy blanket roll
I took nobody with me
not a soul.

I took a few provisions
some for comfort, some for cold
but I took nobody with me
not a soul.

The little clock's stopped ticking now
We're swallowed in the stomached rue
The only sound to tear the night
Comes from the man upstairs

His bloated belching figure stomps
He may crash through the ceiling soon
The window sees trees cry from cold
And claw the moon

But we know don't we
And we'll dream won't we
Of Montague Terrace in blue

The girl across the hall makes love
Her thoughts lay cold like shattered stone
Her thighs are full of tales to tell
Of all the nights she's known

Your eyes ignite like cold blue fire
The scent of secrets everywhere
A fist filled with illusions
Clutches all our cares

But we know don't we
And we'll dream won't we
Of Montague Terrace in blue oh in blue

-------------
Lyrics Powered by LyricFind
Written By SCOTT ENGEL
<i>Lyrics &copy; CARLIN AMERICA INC</i>

Mist falls and his voice cracks from the morning
Flowers and my body feels like lead
Someone should have stopped the birds from singing today
Hammers from striking nails into clay

Her face penetrates the blue gray morning
Her eyes pregnant pools produce a tear
Someone should have shouted you had gone in her ear
That summer was stolen away

Such a small love
Such a little tear
You would laugh so loud
If you could see us here

With my one suit
Badly pressed and worn
Like a child left
In the world alone

He speaks I don't hear a word he's saying
Hang on to the pine trees and the snow
Reach out grab the memories that are left for your hand
They'll help you get by for a while

Such a small love
Such a little tear
Is this all that's left
On your cheek so pale

His shallow half lit eyes
His rotted teeth grown on
Our drunken madman nights
Ending up in jail

Midnight mornings
Drenched in day-glo red
Words colliding
Things we left unsaid

Perfumed pillows
Girls that clung so near
Such a small love
Such a little tear

Hello Mr. Big Shot
Say, you're looking smart
I've had a tiring day
I took the kids along to the park

You've become a stranger
Every night with the boys
Got a new suit
That old smile's come back
And I kiss the children good night
And I slip away on the newly waxed floor

I've become a giant
I fill every street
I dwarf the rooftops
I hunchback the moon

Stars dance at my feet
Leave it all behind me
Screaming kids on my knee
And the telly swallowing me
And the neighbor shouting next door
And the subway trembling the roller-skate floor

I seek the buildings blazing with moonlight
In Channing Way
Their very eyes seem to suck you in with their laughter
They seem to say

You're all right now
So stop a while behind our smile
In Channing Way

Oh to die of kisses
Ecstasies and charms
Pavements of poets will write that I died
In nine angel's arms

And they all were smiling
Still seductive as sin in their eyes
The man I had been
No more hard luck stories to wear
Nothing left to give
Why the hell should I care

Ann owns my smile and Mary's my shadow
In Channing Way
And with her cellophane sighs
Celina the candle
Begs me to stay

You're all right now
So stop a while behind our smile
In Channing Way

Voices from a photograph
Laugh from your wall
Scream through your dreams
Wake up Rosemary and wipe your teary eyes

Rise and cross the cold bare floor
And watch the moon through frosted glass
Damn that photograph
I'll have to take it down

She hears the boats as they move down the river
She sees a dog straining hard on his leash to get away
She hears the clock and it strikes like a hammer
Pounding the nails one day further in the coffin of her
youth

Evenings with your mother's friends
Pregnant eyes, sagging chins
Swollen fingertips
Pour antique cups of tea

Who are you and where you been?
Suspended in a weightless wind
Watching trains go by
From platforms in the rain

Look at the photograph
Dream back last summer
Dream back the lips
Of that traveling salesman, Mr. Jim

He smelled of miracles
With stained glass whispers
You loved his laughter
You tremble beneath him once again

That's what I want
A new shot at life
But my coat's too thin
My feet won't fly

And I watch the wind and I see another dream blowin' by

She stands all alone
You can hear her hum softly
From her fire escape in the sky
She fills the bags 'neath her eyes
With the moonbeams
And cries 'cause the world's passed her by

Didn't time sound sweet yesterday?
In a world filled with friends
You lose your way

She's a haunted house
And her windows are broken
And the sad young man's gone away
Her bathrobe's torn
And tears smudge her lipstick
And the neighbors just whisper all day

Didn't time sounds sweet yesterday?
In a world filled with friends
You lose your way

The Angels of Ashes
Will give back your passions
Again and again

Their light shafts
Will reach through the darkness
And touch you my friend

They'll fly in a mind dance
And blind you with wings
Wrapped in flame

If you're down to an echo
They just might remember
Your name

In the unbroken darkness
Where emptiness empties
Alone

There's no starting or stopping
Where there is no right or
No wrong

Well that's all right for some
Who can hang the absurd
On their wall

If your blind hands can't grope
Through these measureless waters
You'll fall

You've been following patterns
And fleeting sensations
Too long

And the fullness that fills up
The pulse of durations
Is gone

Let the great constellation
Of flickering ashes
Be heard

Let them burn with a fire
All it takes to confess
Is a word, just a word

I can recommend angels
I've watched as they've made a man strong
Oh so strong

If your humbleness shows
Then I'm sure that they'll take you
Along

You can tell them who sent you
It might help to get you
Above

You can say that he laughed
And he walked like St. Francis
With love