Polly Paulusma Lyrics, Photos, Pictures, Paroles, Letras, Text for every songs

B i o g r a p h y
(by Official Site)

Polly Paulusma’s debut album Scissors In My Pocket announces the arrival of one of the most exciting new British talents in years, a singer-songwriter whose craft belongs to a classic lineage that stretches back to the likes of Joni Mitchell and Carole King and yet brings an entirely contemporary edge and vitality to a timeless art form. Characterised by hook-laden melodies, insightful lyrics and Polly's distinctive vocals, Scissors In My Pocket is a record that has led many to describe her as a young Joni Mitchell. Anybody would be flattered by the comparison. Yet Polly is also a unique voice. Her songs demand to be heard and it’s a record she had to make. “I had this moment of epiphany when I woke up one day and realised I couldn’t wait for somebody to come along with a cheque book,” she recalls. “I knew I had to do this, with or without a record label.” With no budget and no record company, she went into a studio for one day in May 2003 and recorded a dozen basic tracks, which she then took home and worked on during one of the hottest summers in recent history in the makeshift studio of her garden shed. As chance would have it, while she was making the record, One Little Indian heard an earlier demo and approached her. “It was ironic, really,” she says. “It was only once I’d decided to make the album on my own that a record label came along.” By the time the deal was done, the album had already been finished, entirely on Polly’s own terms and without a rope. The determination and resolve that drove the making of Scissors In My Pocket is reflected in the album’s title. “When I was eight, I built a raft at the bottom of the garden from a bit of old fence,” Polly recalls. “I nagged my mum to take it down to the river. She eventually gave in but she insisted it had to be attached to a rope and she would hold on to it. So I hid a pair of scissors in my pocket. I was planning to cut the rope and sail off to London. I didn’t get very far. But I had the same feeling towards making this record. It was about defiance and taking your life in your own hands. I was a real handful, I can tell you.”

Which perhaps explains why soon after the raft incident, Polly was packed off to an all-girl's convent school. But if the sisters entertained hopes of taming her maverick spirit, their ministrations had a different effect. "They taught me how to be self-contained, how to stand on my own two feet. I also had a pretty wild time," she recalls. She also began to find her musical voice. Polly had rebelled against formal piano lessons at an early age and written her first song at ten (actually a re-write of a Paul McCartney track - “I liked the tune but I decided he’d written the wrong words, so I wrote my own. Something about swans. Much better than his”). The onset of her teens coincided with the rise of 'baggy'. She loved everything about it, learned guitar and was soon "entertaining everyone at school and showing off," as she puts it. Baggy didn't last long. But it was the starting point of a musical journey. "I began to work my way back through the annals and I came upon people like Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake. That moment of discovery is amazing. It's something you can never recapture," she recalls. It inspired her own songwriting, although when she left school and went up to Cambridge she joined a ten-piece soul-funk covers band, “a bit like the Commitments,” and suffered regular bouts of laryngitis shouting herself hoarse doing Janis Joplin impressions. After graduating, she moved to London and formed a new band doing original material. But music was still only a hobby. “I convinced myself I had to have a proper grown-up respectable career,” she remembers. She might have become an academic and began a PhD, only to abandon it after a term. She could have been a journalist, and briefly took a job at the BBC World Service as a researcher. She considered a career as a novelist, and even got as far as placing her manuscript with a literary agent. By the time she was asked to sing backing vocals on Ben & Jason’s 2001 album ‘Ten Songs About You’, she had quit the band. “It was meant to be one last hurrah in my musical career before I got a proper job,” she recalls. “Instead singing with them it became blindingly obvious I had to do music,” she recalls. “Everything else felt wrong. I realised I wasn’t facing up to the truth. I was like a moth going round a flame and I had to plunge in.”

The novel was cast aside and she began playing solo gigs at acoustic venues such as the late-lamented Kashmir Klub. Two years of gigging and selling hand-made recordings from the stage (with sleeves made with those scissors in the pocket again), meant that when she came to record her first album, she had 40 songs to draw upon. Oli Hayhurst on double bass and Rastko Rasic on drums came in “to colour in all the black and white parts”. And thanks to some tolerant neighbours, organ, dulcimer, trumpet and a variety of other textures were added in the garden shed during the summer of 2003. The basic philosophy was no click tracks, as few edits as possible and as much playing live as was feasible. On several tracks, Polly, who produced the album herself, went back to her original demos. Dark Side, the album’s captivating opener, is the original recording of the song from her first demo three years ago, produced by Ben Parker (Ben & Jason). One Day and Over The Hill are also the original demos. “There was such a vibe to them that it seemed ridiculous to try and redo them,” she explains. Together with such newer songs as the lyrical She Moves In Secret Ways, Mea Culpa and the intoxicating Anywhere From Here, the result is a debut album of extraordinary craft and imagination from a naturally gifted storyteller. It’s a record that wears its influences proudly on its melodic sleeve, from Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake to Dylan and Lennon and McCartney. And yet there’s an entirely contemporary resonance, too, that aligns Polly with the best in the current music scene, from Starsailor and Coldplay to David Gray and Beth Orton. Where do these enchanting, insightful, beautiful songs come from? She really isn’t sure. “I’m mystified by it. I’ve no idea how it works. You have to make a window of time every day and hope something comes and not allow life to get in the way.” But mystery or not, you surely won’t hear a better new singer-songwriter in the whole of 2004.

Scissors In My Pocket

Dark Side

Come and ask me if I wanna dance with you
I think you will
It gets cold and lonely on my dark side of the moon
The air thin and cill
Come and show me what the grey looks like when it's blue
I think you can
You've got golden lips and I have got a silver spoon
We don't need romance

'Cause I've danced with romeos and gigolos
Philosophers and slackers
Vagabonds and cambridge dons
The king of cool's heir apparent
Infidels and jezebels
And poets with no talent
But they've never shone on the dark side of my moon

I was thinking love was just a complicated game
You play in the dark
No-one told me strategy was only for defence
And winners thank luck
Oh take my hand and show me how to spin around this floor
I don't know how
Come unlearn me everything I've ever learned before
I'm ready now

'Cause I've danced with romeos and gigolos
Philosophers and slackers
Vagabonds and cambridge dons
The king of cool's heir apparent
Infidels and jezebels
And poets with no talent
But they've never shone on the dark side of my moon

Now that you've warmed me
I never, never want to be that cold again
Cold may be easy but nothing
Nothing comes of nothing in the end
In the end

Take my hand and lead me where the music is alive
I think you can
You've got golden lips and a whole lifetime in your eyes
We don't need no plan
Oh come and ask me if I want to dance with you
I think you will
And when a thousand moons have spun around this earth of ours
We'll be dancing still

'Cause I've danced with romeos and gigolos
Philosophers and slackers
Vagabonds and cambridge dons
The king of cool's heir apparent
Infidels and jezebels
And poets with no talent
But they've never shone on the dark side of my moon
No they've never shone on the dark side of my moon

I Was Made To Love You

In the sky I see angels
Flying all over town
they've got names in their pockets
Of lovers lost and found
If I send you my angel
Would you send yours to me
If our angels collide in the sky
You'll say it was meant to be

And days blank like they bleached them
And nights outline air like static on the phone
And you say that you feel them
But the words you picked so carefully keep coming out all wrong
So I'll write them in light
And I'll carve them in stone
I was made for loving you
I was put on this sweet earth too
I was made to love you

In the air I hear gunfire, going off in the hills
Clocks are ticking, the battle is nearing
I'm fending them off with these pills
If you're stuck in the front line
Would you charm your way out
You might like the idea of the kill
But you don't know what dying's about

When days blank like they bleached them
And nights outline air like static on the phone
When you say that you feel them
But the words you picked so carefully keep coming out all wrong
Then I'll write them in light
And I'll carve them in stone
I was made for loving you
I was put on this sweet earth too
I was made to love you

In the sky I see angels
Flying all over town
They've got drugs in their pockets
To keep us all on the ground
I won't send you my angel
Angels only deceive
Spit the pills out
Feed fuel to your fear
And fly away with me

When days blank like they bleached them
And nights outline air like static on the phone
When you say that you feel them
But the words you picked so carefully keep coming out all wrong
Then I'll write them in light
And I'll carve them in stone
I was made for loving you
I was put on this sweet earth too
I was made to love you
Yeah I was made to love you

One day

One day
I'll take a bottle with a good strong base
And a cork that fits it
No label, no marker's mark
And I'll shout the bile and anger and plain disappointment in until I've almost filled it
And then I'll squeeze the cork down hard

I'll need a boat with a good strong sail
To weather all the storms and the gales
I'll grab the bottle, grip the rail and say my prayers

And then I'll throw that bottle out
Into the deep blue sea
And then I'll sail away
Yeah I'll throw that bottle out
So far it can't hurt me
One day, one day, one day
One day, one day, one day

One day
I'll take some canvas with a good strong seam
And a hot air burner
A basket, some sandbags and rope
And I'll float above the earth in my balloon of steam Drifting further and further
Over plains and mountain slopes

I'll fly 'til I find the deepest lake
A volcano about to awake
I'll grab that bottle by the neck and say my prayers

And then I'll hurt that bottle down
Into the deep ravine
I'll never hear it hit the ground
Yeah I'll hurt that bottle down, so far it can't hurt me
One day, one day, one day
One day, one day, one day
One day, one day, one day

One day
I'll build a rocket with a thick blunt nose And a megatonne engine
A window to look at the moon
And I'll burn through the stratosphere with fire in my tail
A comet ascending
'Til I float in weightless gloom

I won't turn back 'til I see the lunar plains
The detail of the rugged terrain
I'll grab that bottle full of pain and say my prayers

And then I'll hurt that bottle down onto the arid sea
And then I'll fly away
Yeah I'll hurt that bottle down
So far it can't hurt me
One day, one day, one day

She Moves in Secret Ways

On a river of sighs
A boat came towards me
A flimsy disguise
Covered the devil
Who sang from a songsheet
Of how modern life’s a bore

In his choirboys’ attire
He sang me the life to which
Good girls aspire
Where men in white coats
Give us pills to tame the horses that stamp on our floors
And pills for when the horses have bolted out the door

It’s hard to explain
I don’t like hanging on to reins in my hands all the time
I’m running out of trails
Worn paths don’t lead to where I need to get to every time
She moves in secret ways
And there is grace and poised perfection when she takes the helm
She moves in secret ways

Now the house is on fire
The rats are all screaming
The horses are tired
They think they’re still dreaming
‘Cause the barn doors are open
The crossbar is hanging in the wind

So the devils sings higher
“Oh just look at what you’re doing!”
Yeah, he’s joined by a choir
Of doctors and statesmen Who plan their sorry lives
To the last day's end
But look at all the happy things that happen by accident.

It’s hard to explain
I don’t like hanging on to reins in my hands all the time
I’m running out of trails
Worn paths don’t lead to where I need to get to every time
She moves in secret ways
And there is grace and poised perfection when she takes the helm
She moves in secret

Days gone by I thought I had it all
Filed in little boxes.
Now I find I never had control
I just took little chances and won

Now the devil’s downstream
He’s singing to someone
My horses are free.
They answer to no-one
Unbridled, untethered
They roam on the unmarked land

In my house there’s a calm
A peace has descended
No need for alarm
It’s as she intended
I’m through with trying to fight the things I don’t understand
Accept my sweet surrender to the greater, better plan

It’s hard to explain
I don’t like hanging on to reins in my hands all the time
I’m running out of trails
Worn paths don’t lead to where I need to get to every time
She moves in secret ways
And there is grace and poised perfection when she takes the helm
She moves in secret ways
She moves in secret ways
She moves in secret ways

Over the hill

Take me back to the evening that it all began
There was you and me and some drunkards in a black London taxi cab
And we said, driver, over the hill
There's a place where time stands still
I quicken your pace there
Put your foot down, driver, get us over the hill

Though I built up a wall around me, you just blew it down
And my mother always told me that you'd come and dig me out of here somehow

She told me somewhere, over the hill
There's a place where time stands still
Follow your fate there, but don't rush it
You've got time to get over the hill

Climbing higher, got no place to rest
I'm just climbing higher, aaiming for the mountain crest
It's up there, the panacea, come and see for yourself

I've got nothing for you but kisses and a pocketful of rye
But I see our unborn children in the apple of your eye

And I say darling, over the hill
There's a place where time stands still
Let's have a race there, come on boy
I'll chase you up over the hill
Let's have a race there
I'll chase you up over the hill

Carry me home

Spin me round, I'm blindfold
Once upon a time somebody told me
I was going to be someone
I was supposed to be someone
Now one half likes to carry, wants to share
I want to hold the candle
Load the gun for you
Only load the gun for you

But the other half yearns to be living that hard life
When I'm making breaking rules that are all my own, so

Blow winds and come rainclouds
Gather over my head
Blow winds and come rainclouds
Gather over my head

Cracks keep gaping down me
Opening great halls of tug-of-war
Where no-one is the champion
Where no-one is the champion
So slice me down the middle
Keep the half that wants to be
Your eyes, your arms to fight for you
Oh baby so hard for you

'Cause this other half
Needs to be living that hard life
Can you let me squeeze the trigger
Can you give me the gun
Give me the gun, oh

Blow winds and come you rainclouds
Gather over my head
Won't you come in
Blow winds and come you rainclouds
Gather over my head

If I win, are you man enough to claim me
If I fail, will you carry me home
Blow winds and come you rainclouds
Gather over my head
Blow winds and come rainclouds
Gather over my head
Over my head, over my head

Mea Culpa

Was he with you at the railway
Did he cradle all your pain
Did he show to you the best way
To make it all right again
Now there was reason in your madness
You weighed your loss against my gain
If he was with you at the railway
Would you do it all again

Mea culpa
I can't stay here no longer
Mea, mea culpa
My time here is up
So goodbye, goodbye and good luck

Was he with you on that journey
When you could have still turned back
Did he reason with you sternly
Did he try to make your resolve crack
Did he hold the only candle
When your whole bright sky turned black
Was he with you at the railway
As you climbed onto the track

Mea culpa
I can't stay here no longer
Mea, mea culpa
My time here is up
So goodbye, goodbye and good luck

Did he guide you across the threshold?
Did he cup you in his hands?
Did he drink you down like water?
Or blow you into air like sand?
Is he standing right beside you?
Did it work out how you planned?
Is the sunlight shining on you?
Are we saved or are we damned?

Mea culpa
I can't stay here no longer
Mea, mea culpa
My time here is up
So goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye and good luck

Give it back

Can I keep my head when all around me are losing theirs
Can I keep my secrets close
Can I hold my course in this tiny vessel steady
Will I reach the farthest coast
It's rolling away from me
As far as the eye can see
But While this journey's long it's joyful
'Cause you are here with me

I've been living for tomorrow
Forgot to live today
This sweet life is only borrowed
Got to give it back some day

Can I feed this beast with everything I've got and more
Who will suffer if I don't
Who's the puppetmaster pulling me towards the shore
Do I want to cut the ropes
It's rolling away from me
As far as the eye can see
But while this journey's long it's joyful
'Cause you are here with me

I've been living for tomorrow
Forgot to live today
This sweet life is only borrowed
Got to give it back some day

It's rolling away from me
I'm sailing so fast it's hard to see the light that shines from you
Is all I really need, it's all I need

I've been living for tomorrow
Forgot to live today
This sweet life is only borrowed
Got to give it back some day

Anywhere from here

She left this morning
She left no forwarding card
I watched her pack
And without looking back
She drove out of the yard
"Friends are only ghosts" she said
"They fade and fall apart"
They never stick around
When the going gets hard-nosed, strong-boned
Stick-impervious, diamond stoned
And it's only names that really hurt

Take me anywhere from here, i'm not asking
I'll do anything to disappear from here

I don't like thinking that maybe something I did was wrong
I didn't understand her, and suddenly she didn't belong
People come and go, one day they're here, the next they're gone
Paranoia isn't pretty, but it sure makes you strong-bones
Hard-nosed, unimpressible, indisposed
So call me the names that really hurt

Take me anywhere from here, i'm not asking
I'll do anything to disappear from here

Your life is just a movie in which you wish we never had starred
But right back at the start
I bet there's scene that makes you hard-nosed
Strong-boned, stick-impervious, diamond-stoned
And it's only names that really hurt

Take me anywhere from here, i'm not asking
I'll do anything to disappear
So take me anywhere from here

Perfect 4/4

Wires fan before you, they draw you
In deep troughs and sharp peaks of green
Each cough rips through you, it wounds you
And flatlines cry wolf on the screen
If I could change the shapes of the waves
They'd all be a perfect 4/4
If I could exchange the sky for this cage
You'd walk with me straight out the door
You'd walk with me straight
Needles slip in you, they pin you
To whimpering, limping machines
Night air surrounds you, it drowns you
In billows and pillows and sheets

If I could change the shapes of the waves
They'd all be a perfect 4/4
If I could exchange the sky for this cage
You'd walk with me straight out the door
You'de walk with me straight

Wires fan before you
They draw you
In deep troughs and sharp peaks of green

Something To Remember Me By

I'll carve a song out of notes of stone
My tune-cut will last generations long
And it will be one to remember me by
When I am dead and gone
Empires may fall, and the maps might change
The oceans may boil in a fit of rage
But folks will be whistling a tune of mine
When I am dead and gone

Let me plant my pillars in the sand
I won't be here when they crumble out of the sky
Trunkless legs, that sneer of cold command
Don't you need something to remember me by
Darkness creeps quickly and strikes too hard
These songs tumble from me with their swords drawn fast
And fuelled by love, round the world they'll fly
When I am dead and gone
Let me build my castles in the sand
I won't be here when they crumble into the tide
Flag and fortress, moulded by my hands
Don't you need something to remember me by
I'll carve a song out of notes of stone
My tune-cut will last generations long
And it will be one to remember me by
When I am dead and gone

Godgrudge

Lead me out of the mountains across the plain
I can't multiply again
Oh, release me
And I will build you two towers with bricks baked in fire
And the Godgrudge they'll inspire
Oh, believe me

Tear me to pieces, cut me down
Raze my two towers to the ground
Scatter me north, east, west, and south
If my mouth lets out a Godgrudge
If my mouth lets out a Godgrudge

Between the Tigris and Pishon, Euphrates mighty giant
Where the Gihon gurgles quiet
My four streams bleed for me
My towers glint in the sunlight, they tie me to the plain
I won't lose my way again
Oh, believe me

Tear me to pieces, cut me down
Raze my two towers to the ground
Scatter me north, east, west, and south
If my mouth lets out a Godgrudge
If my mouth lets out a Godgrudge
If my mouth lets out a Godgrudge

Blood flows out of the mountain and seeps across the plain
Many people died in vain
Oh, believe me
So I will build two more towers like sundials in the west
I won't let these war dogs rest
Oh, believe me

Tear me to pieces, cut me down
Raze my two towers to the ground
Scatter me north, east, west, and south
If my mouth lets out a Godgrudge
If my mouth lets out a Godgrudge
If my mouth lets out a Godgrudge
If my mouth lets out a Godgrudge

Where I'm Coming From

We shouldn't be alone in this place
It's a big mistake, what the hell we doing together
Don't tell me it's a risk we take
My body's shaking like a leaf in stormy weather

Look up the clouds are rolling in,
Waves of soldiers marching to the broken beat of my drum
Look down, the waves are crashing in
And the water's rising, gonna cover up this thing we've done

Right here, right now
I don't know how
We kept it down for so long
Right here, right now
I don't know how
To tell what's right from what is wrong

And I don't know how I got here
And I don't know where I'm coming from
Where I'm coming from

Your fingertips are laced with gold
There's a honey magic to the way we stick together
One ripple from your mouth can hold up
The traffic, make a measly second last forever

Right here, right now
I don't know how
We kept it down for so long
Right here, right now
I don't know how
To tell what's right from what is wrong

I don't know how I got here
And I don't know where I'm coming from
Where I'm coming from
Where I'm going, where

Right here, right now
I don't care how
Just let these shackles come undone
Right here, right now
I don't know how
To act like nothing's going on

And I don't know where we're going
I don't know where I'm coming from
Where I'm coming from

We shouldn't be alone in this place
It's a big mistake, what the hell we doing together
You'll never know how close we came
As I packed my case and said, 'Hey, I'll see you later'

All the Time

I was walking for hours, didn't seem to be getting anywhere
Then I was pacing 'round my room like a caged-up circus bear
Then I was walking down the road with a thousand-yard stare in my head

Now I'm sitting in line with the paupers and the millionaires
My begging bowl ready to get my share
And I can't quite work out if I'm alive or if I'm dead

And all the posts kept moving as we got older
And all the cash I saved so hard got spent
And all the days I pissed away are over
And I can't remember where they went

Now the young ones move forward 'cause you didn't do anything
And the old at the back are getting folding chairs
And the ones in the middle with me spread out blankets and sit on the ground

And their words played out before us like pieces of a jigsaw
I see people down there acting like there's nothing to fear
As loud as I shout to them, I can't seem to get myself heard

And all the lust that burned so hot got colder
And all the rules that didn't break got bent
And all the days I pissed away are over
And I can't remember where they went

Won't somebody tell me
Where did all the time go
Won't somebody tell me
Where did all the time go

Now the line's moving slowly so I take a little wander
The lady from the car crash can keep my place
So I'm walking down the road with a thousand-yard stare in my head

Well, it wasn't hard to find you, your routine changes rarely
You plod with good intentions through time and space
But I've seen the line dividing, one left, one right, in peculiar paths

And all the things I ever held important
Are now the things I hold most in contempt
But all the time I could call mine is over
And I can't remember where it went

Won't somebody tell me
Where did all the time go
Won't somebody tell me
Where did all the time go

Day One

There's a dust bowl in here at the center of things
And the tumbleweed tumbles right through it
All the seeds that I sow, though I try they won't grow
Although God only knows how I want it

I'll keep planting away every fourteenth day
'Til there's no more seeds left in the packet
But this is day one and my old seed is gone
So today I'm right back where I started from
Yeah, today I'm right back where I started from
Today I'm face down in the dust

Day one, day one
With nothing
Day one, day one

And life leaps and springs from all manner of things
It can grow on the side of a building
Like a flower that sprouts out of cracked chimney spouts
And the crannies that nobody filled in

While the plants and the bricks make my dust bowl feel sick
In a fortnight a new seed will be planted
But this is day one and my old seed is gone
So today I'm right back where I started from
Yeah, today I'm right back where I started from
Today I'm face down in the dust

Day one, day one
With nothing
Day one, day one

I've been plowing the ground, but all these stones that I've found
Make me wonder if dust bowls are proper
But this acre of flesh where no tributaries stretch
Is the only place I have to offer

So I hope and I pray every night, every day
That God shines on the seed that I planted
But this is day one and my old seed is gone
So today I'm right back where I started from
Yeah, today I'm right back where I started from
Today I'm face down in the dust

Day one, day one
With nothing
Day one, day one

This one I made for you

Tiny heart flutters
Between my fingers and my thumbs
You're already in trouble
Before you've begun

I see your tiny heart whirring
A turning of wheels
Just grab onto something
And dig in your heels

This place is made of blood and bones
Expect you've seen some better homes
But this one I made for you
I've seen your heart, I know your name
So don't go bailing out again
No, this one I made for you
I made for you

Now everyone's forgotten
What they came here for
They were once in a garden
Now they're going to war

And while your tiny heart flutters
Between my fingers and my thumbs
There's some sporting old soldier
Laughing and joking and poking her gum

This place is made of blood and bones
Expect you've seen some better homes
This place is made of blood and bones
Expect you've seen some better homes
But this one I made for you
I've seen your heart, I know your name
So don't go bailing out again
No, this one I made for you
This place is made of hearts and souls
Of broken crowns and little holes
But this one I made for you
I've seen your heart, I know your name
So don't go bailing out again
No, this one I made for you
I made for you

Back to the Start

You've got something to hide
You can run all you like
'Cross plains and over mountains
The chains you drag behind you leave track marks in the air
You're asleep on your feet
And all the people you meet
'Cross plains and over mountains
Fooled by mirrors, think the light is shining bright in there

Come on, come on
We're going back to the beginning
I took a wrong turn
And you take it to heart so easy
When you come home
I will be waiting by the fire
And we'll take it all back to the start

What you trying to prove
If you love it then let it fly
'Cross plains and over mountains
When you left her you kept a little feather in your hands
She's your rose-fingered dawn
So why are you gone
'Cross plains and over mountains
Peering out into the dark to see what light remains

Come on, come on
We're going back to the beginning
I took a wrong turn
And you take it to heart so easy
When you come home
I will be waiting by the fire
And we'll take it all back to the start
Yeah, we'll take it all back to the start

Come on, come on
We're going back to the beginning
I took a wrong turn
And you take it to heart so easy
When you come home
I will be waiting by the fire
And we'll take it all back to the start
Yeah, we'll take it all back to the start
Yeah, we'll take it all back to the start

Fingers & thumbs

After I kissed you
A sweet darkness came down
Fingers were searchlights
Leading the way down

We talk in fingers and thumbs
In an ancient braille of daily ache and overflow
Fingers and thumbs can never lie
We talk in fingers and thumbs
With my hands outstretched I read your scars from head to toe
No need to fake it anymore
That's what our tongues were made for

I see you feelingly
And my fingers have eyes
They search for you constantly
In furrows and smile lines

We talk in fingers and thumbs
In an ancient braille of daily ache and overflow
Fingers and thumbs can never lie
We talk in fingers and thumbs
With my hands outstretched I read your scars from head to toe
No need to fake it anymore
That's what our tongues were made for

Be my translator
'Til there's no more to tell
'Til our skin turns to water
And our bones turn to seashells

We talk in fingers and thumbs
In an ancient braille of daily ache and overflow
Fingers and thumbs can never lie
We talk in fingers and thumbs
With my hands outstretched I read your scars from head to toe
No need to fake it anymore
That's what our tongues were made for

Ready or Not

I hear you thrashing 'round the bathroom
It won't be long now 'til you're done
While I lie paralyzed in the half-gloom
And dread the death-row chord of

I'm coming, coming
Ready or not
Don't make out like you're sleeping, sleeping
'Cause I know you're not
Yeah, I'm coming, coming

I lock the moon behind the curtain
Don't want it watching what goes on
'Cause if I told you where it's hurting
You'd beat me deaf and dumb with

I'm coming, coming
Ready or not
Don't make out like you're sleeping, sleeping
'Cause I know you're not
Coming
Ready or not
You act like such a sweet thing, sweet thing
But I know you're not
So I'm coming, coming

Am I the one thing you have chosen,
The only selfish thing you've done?
The bedroom door comes flying open
But I'm already gone

'Cause I'm running, running
Fast as I can
This feels just like I'm dreaming, dreaming
Please don't say I am
Coming
Ready or not
Don't make out like you're sleeping, sleeping
'Cause I know you're not
Coming
Ready or not
You act like such a sweet thing, sweet thing
But I know you're not
So I'm coming, coming
Yeah I'm coming

The Woods

The summer sun plays on the ground
I feel it in my leaves
The sap is rising up my veins
There's pollen on the breeze

I saw it all crystal clear
I know who brought those children here

The badgers tried to keep them warm
The foxes gave them milk
Woodpeckers tried to hammer a home
The spiders spun them silk

I saw it all crystal clear
I know who brought those children here

No path out marked with brown wide stones
No guardian angel to lead them home
Find them quick, research before they disappear

The bracken folds down into mush
The mushrooms sprout and spore
The berries swell and, ripe, now burst
To carpet my forest floor

I saw it all crystal clear
I know who brought those children here

Nothing moving here, all is still
If you don't take them the earth sure will
Find them quick, research before they disappear

The winter wind howls through my arms
My brooks begin to freeze
My secrets now lie blanketed
Beneath the moldering leaves

I saw it all crystal clear
I know who left those children here

Matilda

It started slowly
First a finger, then a thumb
Matilda started disappearing
In front of everyone
No one noticed how translucent she becomes
As one by one

It started softly
First a fumble, then a kiss
In all his dreams he'd never seen
Perfection like this
No one noticed her hand tug at his
As one by one
The walkers left the park, and
One by one
The electric lights went dark, and
One by one
He buried her
Down in this hole
I've got nothing to fear
Somebody knows
That I'm hiding down here
If I wiggle my toes
They're gonna come find me
If I wiggle my toes
I'm gonna get free

It started slowly
Like a joining-up of dots
A doily on a doorstep and an
Empty cardboard box
That cry out your name as the final penny drops
As one by one
We called her name out loud, and
One by one
We strained to hear the sound, and
One by one
Our torch beams shone
Down in this hole
I've got nothing to fear
Somebody knows
That I'm hiding down here
If I wiggle my toes
They're gonna come find me
Somebody knows
That I'm under these stones
Gonna come find me

Last Week Me

If I were a time traveller
I'd climb inside my travelling ship
And take a trip to find myself
A week ago

And if myself could see me
And hear what now-me had to say
I wonder how I'd phrase it all
To make me understand

Because last week me
Was a blissful bumbling idiot
Bang-crash-landing through my days
With nothing special on my mind

Yeah, last week me
Was that carefree caring safe guy
I was happy as a little mayfly
Wasn't noticing the time

Slipping by, by, by
Slipping by, by, by

And if I were a time traveller
I'd tell myself to spend some time with you
To stroke your hair and smell you for remembrance
While I still could

But then I'd have to tell me
The horror of the days to come
That happy me just living in the moment
And lying in the sun

And last week me
Was cocooned from doom-dread-brooding
Bang-crash-landing through my days
Assuming everything's fine

Yeah, last week me
Was that carefree caring safe guy
I was happy as a little mayfly
Swooping skyward in the sunshine

Oh, last week me
Didn't have a code to live by
Thought you'd always be by my side
Wasn't noticing the time

Slipping by, by, by
Slipping by, by, by
Slipping by, by, by

If I were a time traveller
I'd write myself a cryptic song
And play it on the radio
One morning

And in that song I'd tell me
To hold you tight and never let you go
To grab my gun and climb up on my rooftop
And fire out a warning

And last week me
Might have stopped washing the dishes
Might have covered you in kisses
Before I'd wiped my hands dry
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
Yeah, last week me
Might have said, Come sit beside me
Might have emptied out the diary
Sunny day, let's go outside

Oh, but last week me
Was a blissful bumbling idiot
Bang-crash-landing through my days
With life's detritus on my mind

Yeah, last week me
Didn't know your hours were counted
Took your warm fresh face for granted
Didn't stop to say goodbye

Say good-bye, bye, bye
Say good-bye, bye, bye
Say good-bye, bye, bye
Say good-bye

Blood-Red Coat

When the earth has turned to stone
And the flowers have been sleeping forever
I put on my blood-red coat
As a protest against this foul weather

And I can't keep it out
(Forever)
And I can't keep it in here much longer
Because any day now it's gonna be spring

When my heart has turned to stone
And my voice is the sound in a seashell
I put on my blood-red coat
To remind me that God's in the detail
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
And I can't keep him out
(Forever)
And I can't keep him in here much longer
’Cause my bones are growing stronger
And any day now my life's gonna begin

Like a butterfly
Shed the skin
Of this other life
It's a sin to waste a minute I've been given so begin it
Just as soon as I feel warmth upon my skin

When my eyes have turned to stone
And my memories are darkly receding
I'll take off my blood-red coat
So that no one will notice me leaving

And I won't wait it out
(Forever)
And I won't keep it at bay much longer
’Cause that bright light's growing stronger
And any day now I'll be stretching my wings
‘Cause any day now it's gonna be spring

Hallelujah

There’s an angel that roosts up on our roof
Can you see him cooing down
His comfort on our heads at night

Above his canopied wings
I hear him singing
Can you hear him ringing out
In echo 'cross the fire-flashed night

Our house is a womb, a warm cocoon
Cradling us like jewels
Right at the heart of it cupping us
Like holy water in a silver spoon
And all the half-baked beauty and truth
That's scattered round its rooms
Throb in perfect unison radiate
An undulating "Hallelujah"

I can't say if our angel's gonna stay up there forever
Who he prays to ruminating on our shiny rooftop
But I know some who would shoo away
Their feather-fettered guardian, rip the rafters
Torch the table, tear the tiles off
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
This house is a womb, a warm cocoon
Cradling us like jewels
Right at the heart of it cupping us
Like water in a silver spoon
And all the beauty and truth that's scattered round its rooms
Throb in perfect unison, radiate an escalating "Hallelujah!"
A halle-hallelujah

Story of my Life

I know you of old
You're the eye at the door of my dreaming
And every failure, each tumble in time
You've observed me unblinking
Every night you're there
Just like the one before
One before, one before

Why don't you come on in
And make yourself at home
My door is open wide
And if you sit me down
And run it back again
The story of my life
Tthen I might just see where I went wrong

Black box recorder
You've got it all locked in your memory
Every misguided side-swipe
When I was just trying to be friendly
Press yourself against the crack
It's always been ajar

Why don't you come on in
And fix yourself a drink
I've nothing left to hide
And if you sit me down
And tell me what you think
The story of my life
Then I might see where I crashed and burned
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
How could I get it so wrong
How could I
Yeah, for so long
How could I
Never knowing what was true
This time, I'm gonna listen to you
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

You're with me again
Oh that calm-centred eye of my maelstrom
You're a ribbon of stitch-sky
To lift me through turbulent rainstorms
You've seen my all
And still you choose to tag along
Tag along, tag along

Why don't you come on in
And make yourself at home
I've nothing left to hide
And if you sit me down
And run it back again
The story of my life
Then I might just see where I went wrong

Most of It

I don't know
How long we've got
So I want to make the most of it

Right here, right
Now's all that we've got
So I want to make the most of it

And every second
Every time we meet
It's like a little rosebud
Or a sprouting seed
I'm trying to bank it in my memory
Yeah, I want to make the most of it

I don't have
I don't have a crystal ball
So I want to make the most of now

The facts I have
Are incomprehensible
So I want to make the most of now

And every second's like dynamite
It's like a diamond sparkling in the morning light
So put your book down, come on, let's go outside
Yeah come on, let's make the most of it
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
I don't care if I miss out on plenty
I wanna know I made the most of you
'Cause when your chair's stone cold and empty
I wanna know I made the most of you

And every second's like a little pill
Keeps us moving forward though we're standing still
So while we think we've got this time to kill
Yeah come on, let's make the most of it
Come on, let's make the most of it

Two Houses

High on my hill
The weather is changeable
Tricky winds make forecasting
Mostly wrong

But I stand stock still
Constant, whitewashed, amiable
These four thick walls have stood here
For quite some time

Are you still awake
Can you send me a sign
Make my timbers shake
And tell the world you're mine

And high on your hill
You stand tall and well-preserved
And your days are corseted and functional
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
I wish I could fill
All your empty rooms with flowers
And light a candle on each windowsill

Are you still awake
Can you give me a sign
Don't make the big mistake
Of thinking my light's dying

'Cause I'm only on this hill
And I'm biding my time
I'm waiting for you still
To let me know you're mine

Don't Ask Me

Are you saying I've got to sit here
And watch all your lights turn cold
Pack my bag of good intentions
In the boot of growing old

Are you saying my hand can't hold back
This tsunami rolling in
The only power at my disposal
Is choose which way to swim

I'm sure I knew it on the day I was born
But time has misted up my memory
All I know is that I know nothing
So don't ask me, no don't ask me

I've been late to learn a lesson
Some things are best left unsaid
But love has polished the connection
Between my big mouth and my head
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
I'm sure I knew it on the day I was born
But time has misted up my memory, yeah
All I know is that I know nothing
So don't ask me

I've got trouble enough
Keeping my own nose clean
Each day's a twisting path
With dangers I can't foresee
I'd better mind my own affairs
Trust those I love to mind theirs
I'm going to shut my eyes and count
To one-two-three

So I'll watch the wave approaching
Rising deadly up the sands
And I'll smile in all the right places
And sit upon my hands

I'm sure I knew it on the day I was born
But time has misted up my memory, yeah
All I know is that I know nothing
All I know is that I know nothing
All I know is that I know nothing
So don't ask me

Ocean

Swim out
Not waving but drowning
I can feel you crying
Though they tell me you're fine

Swim out
Just keep treading water
If I could only see you
I could throw you a line.

And I say oh, bobbing on this ocean
You rise and fall with every ebb and flow
And I say oh, quiet in the commotion
I'll be your rock and that's all you need to know

Swim out
Out, through all my faults
And all the stupid things
That I have said and done

Swim out
Find a place to shelter
From the grilled confessional
The gilted gun

And I say oh, bobbing on this ocean
You rise and fall with every ebb and flow
And I say oh, quiet in the commotion
I'll be your rock, just hang on and don't let go
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
Oh, see it in slow motion
Warm skies above and a firm footing down below
Oh, you can be my ocean
I'll be your rock and that's all you need to know

Swim out
Not waving but drowning
I can feel you crying
Though they tell me you're fine

Swim out
Just keep treading water
If I could only see you
If I could only see you
If I could only see you

Lynch Pin

In the morning when I wake up
And remember where I've landed
I can close my eyes and visualise
Exactly what I'll see
Sheets bundled round you
The creases criss-cross your face
Like a map of your dreams
Just for a moment or two

And in the morning
As I fumble for the radio alarm clock
To form a barricade to stop the world
From flooding in our room
We reach out our feet
Legs all in a tangle
The bedclothes all mangled and strewn
Just for a moment or two

Let me love you always
Hold your hand on the warm days
Light a fire on winter evenings
When it's cool

You're my lynch pin
My soulmate
What began on that first date
It took me years to realise
It was the story of our lives

And in the evening
When I'm up the stairs bathing our children
Their tiny night-clothes lie in piles
Of pink and purple on the stairs
A hello from you
Well it's enough to make them scream and shout
And find they're caught unawares
Just for a moment or two
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
And in the night-time
When I'm lying right beside you and you're breathing
Well it reminds me of the boy you were
And what you have become
No more "if only", no more "if I could"
But only "look what I've done"
It's making a man out of you

Let me love you always
Hold your hand on the warm days
Light a fire on winter evenings
When it's cool

You're my lynch pin
My soulmate
What began on that first date
It took me years to realise
It was the story of our lives

All Is Well

Softly
Your new bed sinks into the ground
And softly
The raindrops come pattering down
And softly
The tears roll down your son's downy cheeks
As he cries for the days and the weeks
And the months and the years that you'll miss

And blindly we stagger towards the church
It pains me to leave you here and love you so much
Between the yew trees, your daughter plays hide and seek
Not counting the days and the weeks
And the months and the years that you'll miss

'Cause you're only in the next room
Drifting in a dream where we can't find you
You're only in the next room
All is well
And all manner of thing shall be, shall be
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
And silently, the snow falls on Christmas Day
She tries to be a rock but she's giving way
But faithfully you're there, though you cannot speak
You'll watch over the days and the weeks
And the years, not missing a thing

'Cause you're only in the next room
Drifting in a dream where we can't find you
You're only in the next room
All is well, yeah
And all manner of thing shall be, shall be, yeah
All is well
And all manner of thing shall be, shall be well

Wedding Day

This time tomorrow
You’ll be married to your man
Something blue, something borrowed
A glass of Moet in one hand
And under the table
You hold on as your heart begins to thumb
Like you’re going to jump
And in the flash of a camera
Your wedding day has come, come

It feels like yesterday
That we were seventeen
Posing in your soft-top
Like a pair of beauty queens
The plans that we made
Sipping lemonade and sitting in the sun
They popped like bubbles of gum
And in the flash of a camera
Your wedding day has come, come

And nothing lasts forever
It changes for the better
So grow yourselves together
Grow yourselves together
Starting from now
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
This time tomorrow
How your dancing eyes will shine
And your taxi will be waiting
As you squeeze this hand of mine

A new life awaits you
So come on now and show us how it’s done
Careful, or your makeup will run
And in the puff of a candle
Your wedding day is done, done, done

Take Me Home

Mornings wake up with nothing to shout about
No-one to make a fuss of, no-one to care about
Days wander by with no-one to share them with
Even though I hardly know you, I want to give them to you
Will you take me home, take me home
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
I'm not the kind to give my love easily
It just comes naturally
Flows from my fingers and my toes
(Toast) to the bride and groom
What a lovely couple
When this big party's over
I'll wear your jacket for you
Won't you take me home, take me home
Take me home, take me home

No pressure, no questions
Maybe I can leave my loneliness outside
Come here and pretend that
We could learn to love each other if we tried
(Maybe if I close my eyes then I won't cry)

Morning wake up with head like a rotor-blade
You never made it here
Lost you in all the crowds

Next time I won't wait
I'll say it straight out loud
Time waits for no-one proud
I'll make you shout it out
If you'll just take me home, take me home
Take me home, take me home

Fairylights

Where are you coming from
A dark pool in the sky
Thick clouds of albumen
A twinkle in my eye

Where are you taken from
Is someone else left sad
And what if you never come
Is it because I've been a bad girl
A bad girl, a bad girl

Hurry home
Come on and tell me what more
I can be doing to send up my flare in the night

Oh, hurry home
Come on and find me
When you come, I'll crown your head
With a thousand red kisses and fairylights

Why do you take so long
Is it hard to leave your home
Will you clamber in silently
Or make your presence known

Now my front door is open wide
The window's on the latch
I'll keep watch for your parachute
And when you fall to earth I'll catch you
I'll catch you, I'll catch you

Oh, hurry home
Come on and tell me what more
I can be doing to send up my flare in the night

Oh, hurry home
Come on and find me
When you come, I'll crown your head
With a thousand red kisses and fairylights

Are you following whichever way the wind blows
Are you dawdling at the corner
Getting sidetracked by some pretty shop windows
Everybody knows it
The ribbons and the bows make the ruffled robes look nice
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
But ribbons don't last long
And lightning won't strike twice
So just move yourself along

You've got lovelight in your pockets
And hazy dreams for shoes
It'll all come up roses
There's no way you're gonna lose

Where are you coming from
A dark pool in the sky
I'll wait here 'cause I'm the one
Who'll make everything just right
Just right, just right, just right

Oh, hurry home
Come on and tell me what more
I can be doing to send up my flare in the night

Oh, hurry home
Come on and find me
When you come, I'll crown your head
With a thousand red kisses and fairylights

Rainbow Eye

It's just a little dream I have
I keep it in my pocket
Like a marble with a rainbow eye

And every now and then
I check to make sure I've still got it
This little dream that's like a marble with a rainbow eye

It's not the kind of dream you'd flash about
You'd never wear it
It's more the kind you'd bury deep inside

I never thought I'd meet someone
With whom I'd want to share it
But you've got something there
That's twinkling in your rainbow eye

And sometimes I feel it burning
And sometimes it's cold as snow
I'll keep my fingers on it, turning
And when the time is right, I'll know
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
Until that day arrives
This little dream is mine for keeping
Some might lose theirs, but I'm gonna try
And every now and then I'll check to make sure it's not sleeping
This little dream that's like a marble with a rainbow eye

And sometimes it's like a burden
But I'll never let it go
I'll keep my fingers on it, turning
And when the time is right, I'll know

And sometimes I feel it burning
And sometimes it's cold as snow
I'll keep my fingers on it, turning
And when the time is right, I'll know

It's just a little dream I have
I keep it in my pocket
Like a marble with a rainbow eye

Call of the Wild

When I wake by the Wandle, I dream in my bed
That today is the day I will get ahead
And each night I can see my red Porsche with gold wheels
And someday I will know how she feels
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
How else can I prove I'm no longer a child
Here I come, it's the call of the wild
Bang, bang

My dad is a memory, a smell and a song
And he's the reason Mum tells me I'm going so wrong
But then she's a red ribbon that blows in the breeze

Each new boyfriend, she's weak at the knees
So there's no one to notice that I'm not a child
Here I come, it's the call of the wild

Bang, bang
Bang, bang
Bang, bang
Bang, bang

My hood is a force field that shuts out the sun
And it'll shield me from bullet, from knife and from gun
And I'll take what I can because all life is cheap
Like my Porsche, I'm stripped out underneath

And the men I admire show me this is the way
There ain't nothing of value if it don't pay
And I will glitter with greed as I empty the aisles
Blood's up, it's the call of the wild

Bang, bang
Bang, bang
Bang, bang
Bang, bang

I can't work my way out like your honest man would
So I've got to think lateral; ain't no prize for good
And when I'm dumped in the Wandle, there'll be nothing to grieve
All the best things got stripped out of me

If I don't have stuff, I don't know who I am
My dad's never shown me how to be a man
So tonight I will prove I'm no longer a child
Here I come, it's the call of the wild
Blood's up, it's the call of the wild
Hood's up, it's the call of the wild

Seize the Day

And I don't ever think I saw you in your own right
Until we arrived at this party here tonight
You've got the one thing I've been searching for
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
And you shine across the room like a light show
So as midnight strikes I say
"Grab your coat, come on, let's go"
They're singing "Auld Lang Syne"
And I wonder what's the time we're waiting for

This is our chance so come
Let's seize the days are far too short to waste away
On playing safe, she won't wait forever
Fortune loves the brave
So come on and seize the day

And as we huddle in the light of this doorway
And have a New Year's kiss on this new day
The fireworks 'round the town bloom just for us

And in the screaming siren of a police car
You've decided that it's now or never
I'm fumbling for the keys
When you drop down on bended knee

This is our chance so come
Let's seize the days are far too short to waste away
On playing safe, she won't wait forever
Fortune loves the brave

This is the moment, when we're gray and old
Our story started to unfold and life began
She won't wait forever
When you took my hand
And said, "Make me a happy man"

State of Mind

Sometimes I feel like an Eve in a garden
All of a sudden I've got clothes on
Aware of the trees and the turn of the seasons
Now I find I need reasons where there are none

All of my life I've been lied to
I always thought that I would find you but
How come I don't recognize you
You took years to fabricate
Now you evaporate

You're just a state of mind
Sometimes I feel like I'm nobody's daughter
Like I died in the water with Ophelia
And it's gonna hurt when the last breath disperses
And the air fills with curses from believers

All my life I've been lied to
I always thought that I would find you but
How come I don't recognize you
You took years to fabricate
Now you evaporate

You're just a state of mind
Outside there's a wild rugged country
Where no one's gonna tell me which big mountain I can't climb
And outside there are deserts and forests
And the more I explore it
Yeah, the more there is to find, to find
Rob from always on the run dot net is so bad and copy paste is a sin
Now I see what this whole place is made of
It's a ramshackle trade-off for the real thing
The trees that I climbed I see now were made of paper
And the foil rivers taper to the ceiling

All of my life I've been praying
That there'd be something here worth saving
But this garden was only some playpen
Now we've set the record straight
Open up the gate
You're just a state of mind
A creator to create
Nothing there to love or hate
You're just a state of mind