1. to be near enough alone
blithering fool you’ll be pretend when you wish you were real beneath the bricks
and what about it all? you’ve been gone - been sad for so long
it’s been near summer full now watching shadows grow strong
have you seen how the evening slowly tires and in turn turns in to pitch before the dawn
came upon a warmth but it melted cold turned heels and went away
came upon a criss-cross of powerlines mangled mess marking clouds
and we found it wild the way the water ran down around the rocks
but all the while the sky was heavy silent somehow a hospital gown
i drove slow so’s to be near enough alone but the road was nothing close to what i need
now i’ll be bird and you be boat - your wake i’ll follow blind
you be bird and i’ll be boat - my wake i hope you’ll find
2. BRuiSED AND WOUNDED SKY
what a warm what a warm wind blew
through a bruised and wounded sky
one wonders why we bother at all
nothing stays the same way for long
there’s a colour in the light like a neon rose
that i think is the petrol stations dead glow
but i don’t know it might be god
but i suppose it’s probably not
what a warm what a warm wind blew
through a bruised and wounded sky
to remind one of what once was here
nothing stays the same way for long
3. It's been a long year
it’s been a long year dear darling
but now it’s done
they grow up slow beneath the pylons
frost upon the lawn
the road was a frozen river
january morning
before this life it wears us thin through
keep juggling those blades
and if this be the very last few words
or songs i ever make
at least i’ve said it's all been fruitless
been true if just one time
i wear this face of cold amusement
i’m honest with my friends
i’ve ones who used to do as they want
and some who still pretend
send for the coins now doctor
this ones grown thin thin
i’ts been a busy roll for murder
we’ve heard the headlines howl
and why on earth trust in one thing at all
when everything's in doubt
so gather round fill your flute proud
drink to simple times
to feel as far away from someone
autumn sun
to be as far away from someone
who once was the only one
it’s been a long year dear darling
but now it’s done
4. You Held Up Your Arms
you held up your arms - arms - held up your arms like branches on a tree
the trees roots they were your feet - deep in the ground
and yes it was me - me - yes it was me who came into this world broken
but no more broken than the rest of you look around
and how’d you like the sound of the swarm howling on the wind just off your shore
and i will be the one calling your parade a nameless piece of filth
so many town - towns - so many towns down beside the water
towns with marvellous market places faithless faceless cold mayors
so i pose a toast - toast - i pose a toast to those guilty ancestors
big bellied butchers and lily-livered old fools
one hardly likes the way their turning all the buildings into morgues or could it be the way the abattoir is slowly draining men
and when a candle shivers on the edge of where the breeze has been its really just a sinner making plans towards a win
see i liked you more - more - i liked you more when you were poor and silly
and i feel sure you like yourself more too - back then
when you held up your arms - arms - held up your arms like branches on a tree
the trees roots they were your feet - deep in the ground
5. LOOK DOWN YOUR NOSE AT THIS ONE
so here it is my new song
look down your nose at this one
its one i've owed myself now for countless moons
a kind of ode to all one ever owns is ruin
so here it is my new song
look down your nose at this one
it takes a strong man to be that sane
and yeh brave is strong sure
but strong aint brave
there is always a debt to be paid
an honest hush falls between what we say
stay up late and slake the steady silence with an uttering in kitchens all across the old world
tales told with a cold tongue to no one at all
fall asleep together with a bullet in the belly of a lamb stand tall and walk the plank proudly
as only a brave man can
so here it is my new song
so here it is my new song
so here it is my new song
look down your nose at this one