See you in the spring
Babylon Gate
Falling for free
The Red Letter
Run Down Water
Stella Marie
Evil for this land
Sunrise
The Thief
I’ll be gone
Lady Blue
Nights of the Hollywood Palace
Fighting Fit
Lesson No 9
See you in the spring
I’d fallen onto hard times
I’d crumbled round the edges
The cheques I wrote weren’t worth the time of day
A man in my position
Must listen when the bells toll through the town
A hundred get rich quick schemes
Had dried up on the table
With the dusty flowers left there days ago
I thought of my old grandpa
He never let the worst outdo his best
I still hear his words in the air
CHORUS
I’ll see you in the spring
When the lights come rolling in
A dusty road will bring us back together
I’ll see you in the spring
When the lights come rolling in
A dusty road will bring us back together
I’ll see you in the spring
My grandpa knew the pitfalls
Of life on hopes and gambles
He lived through more than you and I could guess
But with the cards against him
He never let them weigh upon his chest
Clubs and spades and diamonds
Were useful in their own way
But there’s no dearer than the queen of hearts
And that’s why my old grandma
Stuck with him through all that’s thick and thin
She still hears his words in the air
CHORUS x 2
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Babylon Gate
Take a journey with me back to May ‘38
My brother lost an eye down at Babylon Gate
They said he’d never make it - the doctors said he’d
die
But my brother looked at them out of his one good eye
CHORUS
He said ‘I will not lay down, I will not lay still
Until my attacker is struck down and killed
I don’t care about justice but I care for revenge
And always in dreams I am raking dirt over his bones.’
For years he was travelling, hunting his dreams
And he cut a lonely figure, hanging ragged at the seams
And for years I didn’t know him, until one year just passed
He sat upon my doorstep and held my hands fast.
He said ‘Brother I have sinned, I’ve struck a good man
down
I thought it was the lodgings of my enemy I’d found
But when I turned his body over, it was the wrong one
I’m so scared of what I’ve done, and of the man that
I’ve become.’
CHORUS
’But I can not lay down, I can not lay still
Until my attacker is struck down and killed
I don’t care about justice but I care for revenge
And always in dreams I am raking dirt over his bones.’
He said ‘I wish I was different, I wish I was good
I wish I loved Jesus, like I probably should.
But I chose this obsession, this lonely path to drive
And if I did not choose it, well I would not be alive.’
And sometimes I’m crying, but I don’t understand
Why my dead eye is dry and my mouth feels like sand
And the pain in my belly, like a punch - like hate
It cannons me back to Babylon Gate.’
CHORUS
‘I know that I’ll find him’, he said with a sigh
’But now if I kill him, will this hate also die?
For my abiding commitment to vengeance and rage
Has made me a dog in another man’s cage.’
He said ‘Make me a promise, give me your word’
And as I sat beside him I could hear his speech was slurred
’I want you to kill me, it’s surely my fate,
And bury my bones under Babylon Gate.’
CHORUS
He said ‘Now I’ll lay down, now I’ll lay still
Though my attacker still bears me ill will
I was blinded by hatred - destroyed by revenge
And always in dreams I am raking dirt over his bones.’
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Falling for free
Take a bit of common ground
Step right out and shake the weight from your shoulders
’Cause you and me have been around
And I don’t know if I can concentrate that long
And this time we’re falling for free
It’s not like you can fall that far
A hop, skip, a jump beyond your one and only hometown
You’re gonna be a megastar
With that magic apple you’ll leave the world in a dream
CHORUS
I don’t want to be the ratbag competition
I don’t want to be the face you knew
I don’t want to be the madman in the crowd
I’m not that proud but this time
We’re falling for free
You’re mama’s on the telephone
Those long distance calls about a distant destination
It’s sort of like a skipping stone
Throw it now and you’ll stop the time a minute later
CHORUS
You think you’re a child but your not
There’s ten thousand reasons why your tide is running high
Hold in every breath you’ve got
There’s ten thousand reasons why that’s your moon up
in the sky
CHORUS
We’re falling for free
We’re falling for free
Falling for Free
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The Red Letter
There is a tight black promise in a dead man’s
eyes
And it echoes through his ribcage, and this promise tells no lies
As his panicked breath departed I was clutched in his embrace
And I knew the man had given me this promise in his place
I wrapped my plans for the past in a sheet from his bed
And I called the walls to witness all the savage words he’d
said
I took the red paint brush from the red paint pot
And I marked the red letter on the dead man’s gut
CHORUS
Red red letter
Red red letter
Red red letter
Letter red
You know there used to be a light outside the silent gates of hell
And a keeper of the light, and of the gates, and of the bell
But the keeper’s left the gate, and the light has burned away
And now the measure of a man is just the money he can pay.
I’ve seen, I’ve seen what a boy shouldn’t see
But the reason I’m still looking is the promise made to me
If I choose the wrong blade or kiss the wrong hand
I wear the black promise like a black armband
CHORUS x 2
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Run down water
I wanted you to know x 2
Run down water on the rear window
Run down shadow on your face
Back seat lovers in your old man’s car
Back seat lovers in the rain
I wanted you to know x 2
There’ll be a time when all our troubles fall away from us
Five times lucky in the grey blue sky
Five times lucky in the dark
We’re keeping the rain off everyone
We’re keeping the sky away
I wanted you to know x 2
There’ll be a time when all our troubles fall away from us
CHORUS
Fall away from us
Fall away
Into a clear black cloudless night
With you
The sun ain’t going where the clouds still roll
The sun ain’t going out at all
Come back crazy from the road you tread
Come back crazy from the edge
I wanted you to know x 2
There’ll be a time when all our troubles fall away from us
CHORUS
Take this hurting out of old times gone
Take this hurting in your hand
We might have something that can set you free
We might have something that’ll fly
I wanted you to know x 2
There’ll be a time when all our troubles fall away from us
CHORUS
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Stella Marie
I wanted her to love me
I wanted her to care
So when she was a-sleeping
I stole a lock of hair
I stole a lock of hair
And I sewed it in my skin
I had it with me always
So her heart I’d surely win
Oh say la la la, say la la la, say
One day she was a-drinking
And she told me the truth
She said, “Floyd, I cannot love you
I was unhappy in my youth.”
“I was pale and I was sickly,
And I walked a crooked path
I thought that God was with me
But he was not within my heart.”
Oh say la la la, say la la la, say
She lived by the Bible
But she also lived by fear
And a dream began to haunt her
That the sea was drawing near
I wore the hair upon me
But her heart was harder still
She thought only of her troubles
And of the sea’s awful chill
Oh say la la la, say la la la, say
And she would cry out in the night
‘I’m Stella Marie
The star of the sea
The waves move up
To cover me.
Oh the star of the sea
Yes I’m stella marie
Stella Marie
The star of the sea.’
Oh say la la la, say la la la, say
I know she cried
And in the tide
She cupped her hands
And then she died
And through my head
I hear her words still said
I wish to god
She was not dead
Oh say la la la, say la la la, say
And when I die
I pray the sea
To take my bones
To Stella Marie
To lie beside
My star of the sea
My star of the sea
Miss Stella Marie
Oh say la la la, say la la la, say
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Evil for this land
He arrived in drunken splendour with the dusk
Like a circus clown astride a sullen mule
He said a child could conquer all within this town
But a child is always taken for a fool
He camped beneath the bell tower and the clock
He said his watch had snapped a coil the day before
And when the hours ring like thunder in your ears
The time of day means nothing anymore
He promised he would save us all from Satan
And he swore by Revelation 1:18
I know our father speaks through many hosts
But a preacher man like this I’d never seen
CHORUS
If I remember my Bible correctly
The Romans killed an honourable man
For saying things no one could understand
And that bodes evil for this land
He said: when darkness holds us all within a cage
And the moon shines a torch through the bars
The spirit hides my face behind a veil
And I know the answer’s nowhere near the stars
When the sun has pinned our bodies to the plains
And the glory of the day has burnt our eyes
A whisper plays amongst us like a ghost
And I know that Armageddon’s on the rise
CHORUS
I told him things I’d never told before
I wept within his arms and it felt good
He raised me out of ashes, cast fire upon my soul
I was saved because I trusted that he could
But a shepherd cannot lead the hearts of all
And panic hides its face in every flock
They spat upon his teachings, and tangled him in chains
And they hanged him from the bell tower and the clock
CHORUS x 2
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Sunrise
I is I and you is you and conversation’s at a standstill
Oh oh oh sunrise
Oh oh oh sunrise
she is them and he is they and what’s the time and where’s
the money
Oh oh oh sunrise
Oh oh oh sunrise
Red green indigo violet navy blue
Illumination comes but once a year long slide into the dark
Red green indigo violet stinking haze
Autumn soaks up summer’s lazy tail
For what is now and how is why into a room of darkened glances
Oh oh oh sunrise
Oh oh oh sunrise
Brick is brick and wall is wall and there’s your answer in
a sweat cell
Oh oh oh sunrise
Oh oh oh sunrise
Red green indigo violet navy blue
Illumination comes but once a year long slide into the dark
Red green indigo violet stinking haze
Autumn soaks up summer’s lazy tail
Take a point and stretch it out and bring it round and there’s
a circle
Oh oh oh sunrise
Oh oh oh sunrise
Find the time at close of day to rest a bone in blackest sanctuary
Oh oh oh sunrise
Oh oh oh sunrise
Red green indigo violet navy blue
Illumination comes but once a year long slide into the dark
Red green indigo violet stinking haze
Autumn soaks up summer’s lazy tail
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The Thief
I’m a man who does his work well
For me there’s no glory
A thief’s a figure running through the dark
I’ll tell you my story
I swear - I thought I was safe
I thought she was sleeping
But I left a little something special on the window pane
Then I felt myself falling
CHORUS
Every time I leave a home
Through a broken window or an open door
I love you that little bit more
I love you that little bit more
And I know I know I know
That by loving you so
I will lead them to me
I will lead them to me
Fate - it must have been fate
It followed my shadow
And all the keys to all the locks
Remembered me - remembered that window
CHORUS
I see my way now
I see it so clearly
One reason to live
I hold it so dearly
Night is still my companion
I can’t lose that feeling
The man has dealt me my hand
This hand’s made for stealing
CHORUS
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I’ll be gone
I’ll be gone, into the long, low pathways
of the night
Sliding down, between the broad, sleek shoulders of the dark
I will consult these unfamiliar lines
These patterned fields and hieroglyphs
That hurtle off the page into the road
I thought I’d seen this place before
It’s tattered blinds and unmarked door
But memory takes a stand in doubtful places
CHORUS
I’ll be gone. I’ll be gone. I’ll be gone. I’ll
be gone.
Stagger back, under the weight of Mother Nature’s broken bones
And all along, her crazy children flap their rags into the wind
I’ve come before this court of law
To plead my case against the poor
And no one takes the stand quite like a thief
That awful scene, I’m done with it
I know you’ll rub my words in shit
But you gave me all the lands in your domain
CHORUS
I’ll be gone, toward the long, low pathways of the night
Sliding down, between the broad, sleek shoulders of the dark
I must be blind or mad or dead
To keep these pathways in my head
My sainted father told me long ago
I can’t afford a roadside stop
To bow my head, to let it drop
The weight of all those passages of time
CHORUS x 2
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Lady Blue
Take her brothers, take her son
They’ve taken almost everyone
And evil sits beside her now
Beware this day, beware this hour, my Lady
Take these coins out of her hand
They’re taken from another’s land
She held them hard she held them tight
But fists closed in your face that night, my Lady
CHORUS
Lady, Lady Blue
Lady knows it’s true
Lady, Lady Blue
Lady knows it’s true
Forget you ever saw her face
The echoes of her voice erased
Remember nothing of her name
What’s left of you after the game, my Lady?
The nameless name their children so
The faceless stand in faceless rows
The hollow men are waiting there
Why won’t you climb this flight of stairs, my Lady?
CHORUS
Lady fell down on her knees
She asked the gods forgive me please
Who knows what tears of mourning fell
You know that river runs through Hell, my Lady
Why beat this cross into the ground?
Why hate the lost and loathe the found?
There’s reasons, child - there’s reasons, see
But what they are has beaten me, said Lady
CHORUS
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Nights of the Hollywood Palace
Bridge Road midnight
And a flickering light
Marks the door of an old wine bar
Where taxi cab drivers, and late night lovers
Eat like kings, surrounded by stars
She took me she kept me
She walked out and left me
It’s a tale I’m not too proud to tell
You can drown out your sorrow between now and tomorrow
But never dream in this Hollywood
CHORUS
I’m down on my knees to this lack-lustre shrine
With a lock of her hair in my hand
On the lino we danced out our faded romance
In the nights of the Hollywood Palace
In this has-been hall of fame
I see a poor man’s pinball game
And a juke box of faded delights
They say ‘Take the man home’, but he’s never alone
When he dines at Hollywood’s
CHORUS
BRIDGE
REPEAT VERSE ONE
CHORUS, and
FINAL CHORUS
I’m down on my knees and I’m asking you please
One more dance for the Hollywood Palace
One more dance for the Hollywood Palace
One more dance for the Hollywood Palace
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Fighting Fit
Tick tock little clock strike a note watching the world dissolve
Our time is done
Ask your god for his forgiveness
It’s on the hour
Those bombs away
Remember those who’ve gone before you
You have done them proud
You’ve led the charge on human nature pound by pound
It comes around
CHORUS
Right so many wrongs
Watch the bright lights round the airstrip rush toward you
You’re fighting fit now
You’re fighting fit now
You’ll be leaving home for life
Military hard man crackerjack crazy as noonday sun
Thy will be done
On earth that’s let its lazy life blood loose
In the end
There’ll be no end
Take these words out of your only friend’s hands
You have done them proud
You’ve led the charge on human nature pound by pound
It comes around
CHORUS x 2
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Lesson No 9
My days are numbered
I’m wretched, branded
My sun can no longer shine
Time has tricked me
You’ve tasted victory
And taught me lesson number nine
PRE-CHORUS
It was the door that you walked through
The door that you left by
A keyhole for the demons
Spying daily on my fatal mistake
You made sure I was a write off
When you left me empty-handed
In the empty-echoed schoolroom
How much more of this am I gonna take?
CHORUS
Lesson number nine
It’s the only time
I’ll be learning number nine
It’s a sin it’s a crime
To be making me a monster out of so many lies
I’ll be crying I’ll be crying I’ll be crying
Lesson number nine
You taught me well
In my schoolboy hell
One, two, three - I made the grade
That fat faced laughter
Remains my torture
My neck is bared for the blade
PRE-CHORUS
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