A Floating Life

In your hands there's a photograph
You look up, she begins to laugh
So cold as she walks away
And you know that it's time to pay
You're caught in a web you spun yourself
Face to face with your failure this very day
You call out her name you can't help yourself
But you need love like you need a - kick in the head

You worked hard for the things you own
Fancy cars and a country home
Gave it all for a glittering prize
To be a face people recognise
On the walls of your home there are works of art
But you stare at the picture - on the floor
The face of a man with an aching heart
It's no fun to be famous anymore

(you said )
This is a sad day
And I would gladly give it all away
In exchange
For a floating life

Shed your tears for a shallow dream
Let your cry be a primal scream
A song through the mists of time
A serenade to your concubine
You were wrong to believe she could set you free
You're trapped by the trappings - of success
And you know the she'll never let you be
'til the world knows the secrets - you confessed

(you said)
I see her cruel face
My heart is nothing but an empty space
And on this sad day
I would gladly give it all away
In exchange
For a floating life

Neither asleep nor awake
Losing control you start to shake
As the day begins to break

They're gonna shoot you down in flames
When that girl starts naming names
There's nowhere to hide from your shame

A Kinder Eye

In his widowed years of longing, in his windowed room of light
He lay the oil upon the canvas, brought sweet memory to life
His speckled beard a brush of colour, his spotted hands both grace and speed
I was the boy who came with evening, to sweep his floors and bring his tea

To the world he was the master, his landscapes filled the gallery halls
But now he painted only portraits, unframed upon his private walls
Subjects sitting-walking-laughing in playful flight or soft refrain
A thousand forms and colours, but every face the same

Across the page (across the ages) the moving hand of history bleeds
... for a kinder eye to see us, not as we are, but as we dream

A winter's night when I arrived there, he looked so tired and near the end
And as I cleaned his bench and brushes, I wished out loud to be like him
He said that art was only longing, trying to do what can't be done
And though he'd signed a thousand paintings, still he'd never finished one

As I finished up my sweeping, in his sleep he spoke her name
I looked again at all the portraits, each and every face the same
Not as she was in pain or sorrow, but in timeless beauty seen
As she served his noble dream

Across the page (across the ages) the moving hand of history bleeds
... for a kinder eye to see us, not as we are, but as we dream

A Pharaoh's Dream

Last night I dreamt that ra was holding up a mirror
To my heart but all was darkness so I prayed to all the gods that I might see

And as they showed me my mortality the hidden-one
Revealed himself in voice alone and spoke in condescending tones to me

"you are the pharoah you will journey through the after-life
And he-who-looks-behind will ask the questions you must answer to be free"

Osiris weigh my soul and let me pass beyond so I may
Row the boat of ra and be as one with all the gods that set me free

A Physical Presence

I leave as I enter
Another boy caught in-between
Now all I can muster
Are whispers to your screams
Don't you remember
How you eased my disgrace
Don't you remember
The love you saw in my face

Perfected in silence
A physical presence
Perfected in silence
A physical presence

I sought affection
But now I realize
A cold rejection
The movement in your eyes
But I can remember
When you shook against me
I can remember
When I saw what love could be

Perfected in silence
A physical presence
Perfected in silence
A physical presence

Ain't what she did
It's the way that she did it
When I couldn't give
Only she could forgive it
Ain't what she did
It's the way that she did it
As long as I live
It's for me to re-live it . . .
Silence . . .

Part of the answer
Is that there's really no escape
Part of the answer
Is that life can have such perfect shape
Don't you remember
All the nights you shared in my disgrace
Don't you remember
That the love that filled this empty space was . . .

. . . perfected in silence
A physical presence
Perfected in silence
A physical presence

All She Wants

Old men were throwing dice
The night you fell in love
She walked into the light
Like an angel from above

But this girls been a block or two
Just about time for someone new
What she really means by how d'ya do
Is boy I'm gonna walk all over you

All she wants from you is a good time lover
Pretty litle boy for a week or two
Gonna break your heart and it wont recover
Leaving you all bitter and blue

You gout so much to say but
She just don't wanna hear
Shell leave you bills to pay
And you crying in your beer

Well it's no use thinking it's a honeymoon
All your gonna hear from now till noon
Just a broken man in a rented room
Keep playing that lady's favourite tune

All she wants from you is a good time lover
Gonna go right out and find some other
Do the same thing that she did to you
But she needs to know that you'll always love her
Like a harem in a desert sea
In her big black book gonna put your number
Let your love sink in a sea of dreams

Theres a place that she left long ago (goodbye girl)
Where a boy used her only for show (goodbye girl)
Came the time for the end of her world
Told her thank you but now it's goodbye, it's goodbye
Goodbye girl

Well it's no use thinking it's a honeymoon
All you're gonna hear from now till noon
Just a broken man in a rented room
Keep playing that lady's favourite tune

All she wants from you is a good time lover
Pretty little boy for a week or two
Gonna go right out and find some other
Do the same thing that she did to you

But she needs to know that you'll always lover her
Like a harem in a desert sea
In her big black book gonna out your number
All she wants


Its been goodbye all along - goodbye all along
(repeat to fade)

Almost There

Watch the paper window - see the stars
News and views to show you who you are
Keep the money moving change the scene
Open up the market with our dreams

Almost there - you and i
Catch the fall - touch the sky
Love a lot - paper view
Now's the time - make your move

Keep the money moving
As long as we are using
Almost without knowing
Getting ego's burning
Freightend they stop turning
See the judge adjourning
Play your part and don't get in their way

Black and white they say you must believe
Now they found a sound that we obey
If you wait to long the tide will turn
Then there'll be some brand new rules to learn

Almost there - you and i
Catch the fall - touch the sky
Love a lot - paper view
Now's the time - make your move

Read a million pages
Every headline ages
Nothing ever changes
There's a time for laughing
Time will soon be passing
Make your mark before you fade away

As Years Go By

Tell me how the years go by
Its been a long long time
Tell me how your plans fell through
And how you changed your mind

Tell me 'bout the hearts you broke
How many have you known
Tell me how the years went by
And left you all alone

Tell me dear
I want to hear
'bout the lost and wasted years
Tell me when now tell me why
Tell me how the years go by

Tell me how the years go by
Like borrowed dancing shoes
That gather dust beneath your ned
Mislaid and seldom used
Like a heart that haunts a phone booth
On a corner far from home
Tell me how the years went by and left you
All alone

Close your eyes
Tell me what do you see
Its an imperfect world
Still we dream perfect dreams
Its no big surprise when we're down on our knees
Truth isn't always what we will believe.

Tell me how the years go by
In seasons at your door
And how the things you left me for
Dont matter anymore
Tell me how the more we learn
The more we leave unknown
Tell me how the years went by and left you
All alone
Alone

Close your eyes (x3)

At This Great Distance

Memory
Ancient light from a binary star
Bends across a receeding tide
A single point of light st this great distance

At this great distance only the eye
Pressed against the telescope of dreams
Sees two stars
Two stars, two white hot lines on a firey white
Spinning madly on lines defined
By each others gravity.

And by the time we see
The light of memory
There is no hope
Theres no hope
Only memory

They danced to songs
Played at the speed of light
Red shifting
Untouchable
At this great distance two stars, two souls
Become one single point of light
Not hot
Not cold
Not you
Not me
Only memory

Chorus

Only memory - at this great distance
(repeat to end)

Autumn

I just can't believe it's true
Lovers never loved as we two do
Take me up one love sweet dream
Rising, falling tell me call my name

Paradise is free
It's concied by you love me
And know I'll always be here forever
Take what I can give
For a love as given with
All the love that we can live in together

Being here is all I feel
Passion striveing never seen so real
Using all to take a steer
Lying still now floating of the near

Paradise is free
It's concied by love love me
And you know I'll always be here forever
Take what I can give
For a love as given with
All the love that we can live in together

(interlude)

Paradise is free
It's concied by love love me
And you know I'll always be here forever
Take what I can give
For a love as given with
All the love that we can live in together

No more games we've seen if true
Playing all now memory used to do
Sumers made us gone away
'autumn raining' love u once again

Billy's Gone

Well I ain't come here to try to save you
I don't want you to rescue me
But you need a friend like a godsend
It's plain to see

I was watching you from my window
From 'cross the street only yesterday
You were pleading, he was laughing
He drove away

So it seems so out of place
The smile upon your face
It's the pain inside
Brings me to your door
On the day
After billy's gone

So you tell me you barely miss him
That you'll be cool now you're on your own
But you can't tell me why you're waiting
By the phone

So many people say
It's the smile gives you away
It's the dreams denied
Brings me to your door
On the day
After billy's gone

Well I'll try to keep it simple
If you need somebody there
I've got all the love you're searching for
And time enough to spare
Well you fulfilled your obligations
And baby none could ask for more
And you had good cause to hesitate
Come on and let your spirit soar
Well, I can't give if you won't take
You've got to open up the secret door
And as a matter of fact I'm not taking you back
In time you'll know for sure

After billy's gone
After billy's gone, oh yeah