the long knife of the sun rising
up the horizon and into our tired eyes
the spell of night is struck down
our second sight is bleeding out
anna. can i come and walk you home?
i?m not gonna wanna be alone
beaten up when the sunlight comes
bullied and cut by the clock on the wall
take the morning and the chlorinous light
you can have the afternoon. bury the evening too
give me gathering calm of the night
when the day is done and the rest is coming on
under the pitch and the pull of the moon
sweet silver medicine swim in my temples and
bring in the shadows to cover our flaws
when the pain is gone and the rest is coming on
you belong out of that uniform
out in the streets when everyone else is asleep
see the way the body sways
in empty air when there's nobody there
and you don?t even care if there is
anna can i be to you like that?
cover your shame with a shield of black
cover your body with my trembling hands
have you dancing while i hold them back
hold back the morning and her chlorinous light
have at the afternoon. bury the evening too
let?s have the gathering calm of the night
when the day is done and the rest is coming on
under the pitch and the pull of the moon
sweet silver medicine swim in my temples and
bring in the shadows to cover our wounds
when the pain is gone and the rest is coming on
GOLD TEETH
all this hunger and such uncomfortable thirst
son be suffering - it's the song of your birth
sonny singing now - gets me thinking how
everybody's dream is just everybody leaving
and while the mama's setting guilt trips
see all the young hearts leaping,
singing
i don't want to go back to that ( X 4 )
but all this hunger is always following us
out where we survive under poisonous skies
they're dreaming, but nobody's sleeping
just coked hearts speeding, see all their gold teeth gleaming
see the young healthy free men just move into nothing
put my body on a wagon
and carry me off to the ocean
let me float on into the eastern sun
out where tomorrow has just begun
where i used to be wild, back in my time
now just fight to sleep at night
so render me up unto the elements
lay me in a light that i can trust
lay me in the light that i came from
i want to go back to that ( X 6 )
DREAM
come now through all of it, downtown and tenement
through dark clouds. all circling our house, like a tourniquet
the front door splinters in, you come down the hall, unfaltering
your lips licked and shimmering, leaning in and i'm vanishing
i close my eyes
and you arrive
but oh it's just a dream, it's just a dream
but it's just a dream until you see it happening
in the plaza after work
i saw you rise up out of your collared shirts
on the horizon there was another world
we left the phantom hand and we ran for her
i close my eyes
and we're aligned
and that's a blinding light
but oh it?s just a dream,
it's just a dream,
but it's just a dream until you see it happening
and then it changes everything
couldn't we make, couldn't we make, couldn't we make it?
just like we wanted, just like we need it?
why can't we, just like a dream?
who says we can't. who says we can't. who says we shouldn't?
who says we couldn't make it just like we love it?
why can't we. just like a dream?
couldn't we make, couldn't we make, couldn't we make it?
just like we wanted, just like we need it?
why can't we, just like a dream?
who says we can't. who says we can't. who says we shouldn't?
who says we couldn't make it just like we love it?
why can't we. just like a dream?
but oh it's just a dream
WHAT ARROWS
it curves in through the weather
it's coming from above
and it brought us together
it guided us to touch
and it moves in a rhythm yeah
what tender tailor came
and pushed a thread through each of us?
to walk our length oblivious
but our feet fall in a rhythm yeah
it's there if you're listening
i can't believe it, i think i believe in this
i can't believe it, i think i believe in this
i can't believe it, i think i believe in this
what arrow? at what angle? and what angel?
did he wait until we met?
in that holy moment, oh, did he throw it?
to pin our broken bodies here?
to see us writhe in a rhythm yeah
it's there if you're listening
i can't believe it, i think i believe in this
i can't believe it, i think i believe in this
i can't believe it, i think i believe in this
we open the door and we're in the river
but we're not getting wet
rush hour comes and we go above their heads
we don't even fold our hands
open the door and we're in the forest
y?know we ain't getting scared
bring me the cliff, i'm going over it
let her just reel me in
PROMISE
ye lowlives
laughing too much
underslept, overdreamt
my whole life
trying to speak
that thick wind under the surface
you don't know me, or my purpose
or my promise, i got promise
your hands and feet
for all of their grief
only your elbows and knees
you go farther, you're just starting to see
and you see that red pen
hover in judgement
get those numbers away from us
cause honest, we got nothing
in our pockets but thin wrists
and promise, we got promise
i'm waking up
pull me from my sheets in the dark
as if in a dream, lifting off
let me feel it shift in my blood
let me feel like i'm rising up
out of all the ashes and dust
out of all the past - that's done
i don't need what's long dead and gone, man,
i got promise
i got promise?
KID GLOVES
when you come to
you're kinda floating
the air is full
it's like it's holding you
isn't it typical?
nobody's noticing
all that they're moving in
all that they're breathing
isn't it beautiful?
here in the thick of it?
to know that when you fall
you're just afraid to swim?
here it is
see the arches of paint
see the ocean of dust
see all the colours arranged
and hover over us
like when we were little kids
lifted into our beds
didn't we see it then?
before we turned our heads?
here it is
it's invisible
there are no words for it
i know you feel it though
you feel it lifting up, you feel the weights come off
and every cell of blood, they suddenly move as one
we were denied so much, all their religion
all for a science that i never understood
they took away my trust, maybe i gave it up
just an adolescent shrug, posture as i drop the gloves
yeah but that was years ago. i missed so many miracles
living with my eyelids shut, but now i swear that they're opened up
now i swear that they're opened up!
NEON BEYOND
baby in the basket
i saw you reaching out your hand
you were grasping at the wind
i knew exactly what you meant
i was sitting on the last train it was dragging
me home to all of that mess
and pulled over the tracks
sitting still felt more like falling back
and out come the hands
out comes the rug from underneath
and everything seems so real
til you're waking up here at the wheel
after all you've given up
every crumb they took from your tongue
after all your bitter luck
you're done. you're saying 'enough is enough'
i know it's a hard world
we're given to cling to the easier path
but this is a wrong turn
feeling that fear is the only way past
so do not be hemmed in
do not by dollar, nor doctrine, nor snow, no
don't think of small things
turn your eye to the neon beyond
after all you've given up
every crumb they took from your tongue
after all your bitter luck
all your silently swallowing's done
after all you've given up
ll your drowned and your runaway sons
now you ought to be speaking up
saying 'enough is enough' but is 'enough is enough? enough?
find the sapling
sand it smooth
sharpen the stone edge
Feather the grooves
make it sure, make it true. before you let it loose
feel the moment
see the moves
calm and focused
as you notch the wood
you put everything in. then you let go of it
all that you did, just let go of it
yeah that's how it is, you let go of it
we were looking back
we were looking down
but we're looking up
we're looking out now!
look at us! looking up!
KINTSUKUROI
bring that summer on your shoulders
bring that summer when i first saw you
and that first kiss coming, lets just freeze the frame
your blue eyes closing as mine were opening
on into the gold river
oh but i was alone come winter
oh stand in front of me
open your eyes like you know me
oh like you can see inside of me
lay your healer's hands upon me
and bring that summer sun
D, E, D,
see us stood akimbo, ever cavalier and cold
raised on pixels - in they come, in they come, in they pour like poison
all their lies and fantasy
but i want your faults aley, i want the real thing!
on into the gold river
oh where the rocks'll wreck you
oh but then the rocks'll save you
the hands will help you up
oh stand in front of me
open your eyes like you know me
oh see inside of me
lay the heels of your hands upon me
and let your fingers fall
bless the broken bowl
make it whole, make it better than it was before
make it better than it was before!
oh stand in front of me
painted gold, coming on home
and bring that summer sun
CATHEDRAL BELLS
and that's when the shadow came
and darkened your china face
the dancers still shook and swayed
but i couldn't look away
they were all in their chemicals
a hundred cars up an icy hill
and we were stood under them
grim and quietly grimacing
and you spoke with that voice i love
and love awoke in my boiling blood
where death sat a sec before
the road is lit and i'm going home
there'll be no caving in
no suicide note, no pills and gin
i'll hear your voice again
and it stirs me like a pealing bell
echoed by everything, everywhere
by every fraught fibre, and every cell
you're not the only one
you're not the only one
you're not the only one
you're not the only one
feeling this stuff
you're one of us
and that's when the shadow lifts
and the camera reveals her lips
and all the lava under your skin
you gotta always remember it
and try not to talk at all
and say all of that common stuff
no just let the lava come
and all the love you've been holding off
yeah that's when we're rising up
feel the elevator pull your guts
each floor is like the medicine drops
the only fear is the fear it'll stop
but it won't because
but it won't because
but it won't because
no it never stops
no it never stops
but it won't because
cause it's in your blood
you're one of us
yeah that's when we're rising up
out of the ashes and plastic cups
arm in arm on a dirty rug
where they're all dancing to jungle love
i don't care if a shadow comes
and covers us like a shovel of rocks
the party's still going on
and i heard cathedral bells
ALCATRAZ
i stood helpless to the threat
of a heavy lid i'll never lift
and when the gavel hit the desk
metal shut around me
marshals at my wrist
led me down the longest hall
down the darkest throat
of the hardest animal
and just listen to the wind
wailing like the wounded
over the lincoln highway bridge
down in the valley or in the street
don?t let the ad men fool you
you got everything you need
out in your sheets beside your love
recognize the instant
memorize the pose
despite all the hatred i held for you
despite all the violence i could do
just beyond, there is love
and when i'm alone with only my thoughts
and as you might know, i'm alone a lot
it's the love i'm thinking of
out in that city like a dream
see the breezes go around you
see the long grasses yield
be out there exiting the bars
at the finest hour of morning
nearly lost, but not
be warm and steady in the wind
and your soft, imperfect body
do not cover it
HARRIET
through the hem of evening
into the flesh of the night
you step out to receive them
in the bruising light
you leave your bed of novels
you leave your hovering crown
you leave your wit and your mettle
and you come down
but it's only a minute then
til the hole in the canvas spreads
and it grows til there's nothing left
so if you even remember
me after all that will come
think of all i intended
not what i've done
see me like an arrow
still upon the bow
set to the heart of the target
hanging bright above
but it's only a minute then
til the shot is released and sent
and lost to the shifting wind
(key change!)
oh they don't know you, not like i do, not like us, harriet
but they would love you, just like i do, if they could, harriet
cause what you are, and what you want, are so far apart, and they're travelling on
oh what you are is staggering drunk, but i'll pick you up and i'll carry you off
(key change!)
oh they don't know you, not like i know you, not like us, harriet
but they would love you, just like i love you, if they could, harriet
TRISH'S SONG
take your hands
your mother's hands
and fold them in your dress
all the time i've known you've had them out
flashed about
and helping where you can
oh you give and give and give and give and it's
time to rest
now you need to breathe it in
i want you to receive
and go to sleep
i will watch over you
nothing will go wrong
i won't sit until you're strong
i've got lots to give
i've got all you've given to me
all you've given to me
breathe it in
mama go to sleep.