Lyrics 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