Stornoway

Curled up in the back of the car
Nine years old you don't know where you are
And your head's on the window, your eyes are just closed
There's a voice in the front and a hush on the road
You're a passenger but your mind is travelling on.

Open your eyes and you're nine years older
Hands on the wheel and you're racing on over
To lie with your first love, you can't wait to see her
You borrowed the car and you think you're the driver
But now you're the passenger to your own heart
and it takes you travelling, travelling on.

When the morning broke and the sky fell down
It went black as night and the wind blew round
And stole your directions, you lost your way home
And you felt like a passenger left by the road
But I'll tell you the reason you couldn't get home
Cause there's nowhere you've been and it's nowhere you're going
Home is only a feeling you get in your mind
From the people you love and you travel beside
You may feel like a passenger but now you're the driver
You've got to go travelling, travelling on
Because if you break down, it's a cold, hard shoulder

So fuel up your mind and fire up your heart and drive on
Drive on, drive on
And when your days are darker, put your foot down harder
Drive on, drive on.

And it's nine more years you've been driving now
But tonight you're stumbling through your old town
You met up with a schoolfriend who's still just the same
And you talked all the same shit you talked in those days
And now you're drunk and you're sad for the old times passing you by
For there's no rewind so you might as well play while your time is rolling away
And get back on the road, it's a beautiful day
Pick up all the friends you can find on your way
And if you lose direction they'll be there guiding you on
Guiding you, guiding you on.
Because we're all going the same way down this long road
Yes, we're all bound the same way down this long, long road.

So fuel up your mind and fire up your heart and drive on
Drive on, drive on
And when your days are darker, put your foot down harder
Drive on
Fuel up, and drive on
Fuel up, and drive on
Drive on.

January calls round to find me
Alone in this place where I've been living
My real home lives down the river
Where she's making circles with her tears

And February blows even colder
And I'll send my love downstream
In words and verses in plastic boxes
She's still unready to take them in
And they're bobbing underneath the bridges
Out to the ocean back
Back on the rocks

And the rain came down back in December
When you told me you were drifting
The waters rose while my door swung closed
On the circles that you lived in
We got so caught up in the swirls and eddies
You never saw where you were heading
Oh you were bobbing underneath the bridges
Out to the ocean and back
Back on the rocks

And spring is only round the corner
As I'm writing you this final letter
I'll drop it in the cool green water
At the bridge where we jumped in together
And I hope it will be carried to you
Cast upon the rocks beside you
And I hope the words serve to remind of
Someone you can leave behind you
Someone who's got a hole inside
Someone who'll be waiting here for you

To take me from this burning bridge
Before I end up back
Back on the rocks

Oh well her eyes they hypnotised
Like a pair of headlights
And I remember how she crashed
Headlong into my life
So I said now close those eyes
Stick a pin into this map
And then she said now look around
Because there'll be no looking back

Oh but I've been looking since that day
Since the day we parted
But you don't find happiness
When you're searching for it
And I might have realised
I was wasting precious time
But I never had the chance to change the batteries in my watch

Oh and it's a Monday night in June
And I should be sleeping
But it's so damn warm inside
I'm in the garden dreaming
And I've got one chair for myself
And another for my feet
But I still don't feel complete

Well she calls me every day
Just to touch base with me
And the birds upon the wire
They feel the electricity
And I watch them as they fly
And she lifts me up with them
Until I fall for her again

Oh and I've been working since that day
Since the day I left her
I'm making money watching birds
But I don't feel no richer
And I should have realised
I was wasting precious time
But I never had the chance to change the batteries in my watch

Oh and it's a Monday night in June
And I should be sleeping
But it's so damn warm inside
I'm in the garden dreaming
And I've got one chair for myself
And another for my feet
But I still don't feel complete