Lyrics: Harmony Row
By Pete Brown. © Warner Chappell Music.
| Can You Follow? Hey can you follow, Now that the trace is fainter in the sand Try turning your face to the wall Can you still read me Now that the chase is wilder in your hand Try losing your place in the sun All the praises of the dream turned to tangles in the trees All yesterday's fine chariots turned to buses in the street Can you still hear me Now that the songs are moving into night Try sleeping with the dancers in your room Escape to the Royal Wood (On Ice) Come dancing on my stage / My bullets have a silver lining Wind me up and set me free / My uniform's bright . . . Trumpets blaring, princes sharing, Swords are flashing, kingdoms falling When you're dancing in the ballroom moonlight, feet quicksilver lace My Lady When you lose yourself inside the city jungle then you're pretty sure of finding a hiding place Come stepping through my head My cloak will give us both protection Set me up upon your wall / I'll dance all night long Cannons roaring, banners soaring, Lances flashing, blood is pouring When you tremble at the dragons roaring at the forest's door I'll hold you close My Lady When your house shakes at the jetplanes' howling causing mousequakes in your cornflakes, then I'll be by your side. When you're knocking on the doors of death and rocking wolves in cradles scared of losing your Secret Rose Accept my handkerchief Tears shining 'cause the show is over Take my arm and walk with me / Together we're free Brakes are screeching, statues preaching Hoardings flashing, empires crashing And the time is getting much too late for more than dreaming new schemes for making the darkness bright . . . When you're moving in the ballroom moonlight feet quicksilver lace My Lady . . . When you tremble at the dragons roaring at the forest's door I'll hold you close My Lady . . . And the time is getting much too late for more than dreaming new schemes for making the darkness bright . . . And the dreams are getting much too bad for more than trying to find a mountain to put them right . . . You Burned the Tables On Me I was born one morning / Wearing my old coat I was born to travel / So I went and got a boat Tried to cure my feet / From taking the wrong street In the Spring when they do the Thing / Oh yes they do And you burned all my tables One day I got the tie / I wore it round my neck Flashed it round at all the girls / That I was hoping to wreck Tried to point the shoes on my toes / Where the guitar grows In the Summer when they do the Thing / Oh yes they do And they burned all my tables My father said, listen, son / One day you're gonna gather juice When you soak up flowers / Don't let your leg hang loose You stirred up a hornet's nest / I hear it buzzing in your vest In the Autumn when they do the Thing / Oh yes they do And you burned all my tables My life was the table / And you have dined off of it The two-ended candle / Was the one you lit They hammered down my jail / While you held the nail In the Winter when they do the Thing / Oh yes they do And you burned all my tables There's a Forest There's a forest no one uses Where the wrecks are growing flowers O the trees they are all colours Bright scarves they wear There's a sky that is expected Where the birds are flying still O the clouds they are all colours Bright rains they wear Morning Story Running, jumping, pushing its way Mornings nighttime blends into day Can't find curtains to shut it away We were alone in the hills of the night Now the neon dawn lets in the light And the milkman that nobody knows / Leaves bottles of tears At the house full of laughter / Nobody ever hears O the grass is burned black By the ships coming back from the stars, golden stars Seas turned to steam When we boiled the dream of tomorrow, tomorrow When it gets light / Some of them always stay She's dressed in white / Till the smoke turns her grey Falling, stumbling, feeling its way Mornings nighttime moves into day Can't find warmth to keep it away Used to be alone on the waves of cloud Now the flotsam dawn brings in the crowd And the angel who sits in her car / Full of desire But the hoses who came from the town / Put out her fire O the seas have run dry And the sun's one good eye is too blind to see Sky has gone bad From the good times we had burning bright, such good times When it gets light / Some of them always stay She's dressed in white / Till the smoke turns her grey Folk Song How will I find you O my love / In the darkness of day I will look in glass forests / Where electric fish play How will I see you when I find you / In the brightness of light I will see you on the silver train / That people call night How will I know you when I see you / In the bareness of spring I will know you by starlight / Where the road's echoes sing How will I love you when I know you / In the greyness of mist I will love you forever / Where sadness has kissed Walking by the sea / See the names floating by Trying to find each other's / Trails in the sky |
Smiles and Grins The smiles on city windows, / It's only the weekly cleaner The dials on all the faces / Are gradually getting nearer So make it careful when you can / Forget it if you've read the plan Call a friend when you're in doubt Nights are hard when you're locked out Grins painted on radiators / Are only the teeth of laughter The numbers of all the victories / Are stenciled on soon after So don't regret the leaves that fall / Have a little have it all Take a bit give just as much Nights are hard without the touch/crutch The smiling suburban collars / They power the city's cisterns Whenever they pull the trainchain/They gradually start the pistons So keep your hair on if you can / When you're living in a van Call a friend when you're in doubt Nights are hoarse when you're locked out Grins painted on petrol tigers / Are only the tanks of porter Statistics of all the campaigns / Are written down on water So don't regret the cars that rust / Everything must turn to dust Cultivate and dig your croft Nights are hard when you've gone soft Lovers in the dark / Murders in the park / By the silver moon Blankets from the fear / Cars when roads are near Winter's much too soon Post War Nothing was good or bad enough / They never had enough in store When the feast was on the lawn / The birds had picked it clean And gone away We used to walk the nights of mystery Once we would swim the length of the sea No one was weak or strong enough They never had the men to do the job When the snow was in the fields / We kept our front eyes peeled For oranges We used to swim the days of mystery Once we would walk the length of the sea They took the people home in baskets Gave all the pieces to the country They told them long stories / Made the children postmen In among the chimneys Nowhere was young or gay enough They had sold out too many golden souls When the sun was in the trees / The woodmen came to take Their frozen fees We used to walk the fields of mystery Once we would swim the length of the sea They drove the broken home in cages Gave all the green paint to the railways They told them long stories / Made their children weddings In among the chimneys . . . A Letter of Thanks She wrote me out a letter of thanks I had to doubt / Waking in someone's shoes It made me feel so harried / Under her clothes she carried Proof that she wasn't married She carved herself a piece of my heart I have to starve / Walking in someone's bed Love causes such congestion / It gives me indigestion When she brings up the question I walked into a solid brick wall I felt like glue / Sticking to someone's shed My front teeth were all broken / By those doors you had spoken I wish you'd left them open Now when it's time to look for some peace I think it's fine / Practising my last stand Now that the crowd's diminished / Our hope of loud is finished I trace your name in spinach Victoria Sage Lost streets where sun once watched / Us out on the road We had to leave our place to seek The town where money never frowned . . . We waited longest / When the trains and buses Promised they would come / To the shelters made of snow In the deserts where we played / Made of hay . . . Ten pieces of sun for you / And for you only two Take care not to grow so fast / You're into the past In time you will lose them all / Sooner if you fall In markets that offer stars / No care for the stars Now/when the time is so ripe Then/in the twinkling of an eye Gone/in the drains of a world Victoria Sage wears out rage Ten fallings in love for you / And for you only two Take care not to love too much / You might like the touch Spring beckons you leave it all / Now you have grown tall Gold pavements on different stars / Watch out for the cars Ten pieces of sun for you / And for you only two Take care not to grow so fast / You're into the past In time you will spend them all / Sooner if you fall In markets that offer stars / No cure for the scars Now/when the time is so ripe Then/in the twinkling of an eye Gone/in the drains of a world Victoria Sage wears out rage The Consul at Sunset When he walks from the consul at sunset Barely remembers his name Walk is a little unsteady, sadly But he knows most of all that he's living beneath the volcano Won't be so many more days Isn't much time and it's gathering darkness, my friend He's been going too far in his drinking Running a little too fat Eyelids becoming so heavy, sadly But he tries not to sleep while he's living beneath the volcano Won't be so many more days Isn't much time and it's gathering darkness, my friend Though the fireflies laugh in the dusklight It's the Festival of Death Crowd is all laughter, it's hollow, sadly They may kill death tonight, but they still live beneath the volcano Won't be so many more days Isn't much time and it's gathering darkness, my friend |