Lyrics: How's Tricks
Without a Word
Without a word
The time is mist
The branches twist against the sun
The leaves that left
Had to run
Without a word
Without a word
Without a word
Between the two
I'm losing you, losing you
In proud parades, in crowded nights
The plans we laid
We can't get through
Without a word
Without a word
Without a word
To say what's yours
I'm losing you, losing you
In racing streets, where ends don't meet
Tomorrow's train
Has closed its doors
Without a word
Without a word . . .
Johnny B ’77
He stands on the platform
Waiting to travel on
He’s ten years old
He watches the trains until they’re gone
He’s got an idea
That’s gonna go round the world
He’s only ten
But his mind flies like a bird
Waiting so long
To travel on
Don’t let anything slow you down
You’ve got the time till the leaves turn brown
Don’t let anything slow you down, down . . .
They sit on the roadside
Waiting to hitch a ride
Twenty years old,
They’re blown along in the summer slide
He’s got a feeling
He’s gonna leave her behind
He’s nearly grown, but
Loning’s gonna blow his mind
Waiting so long
To travel on
Don’t let anything slow you down
You’ve got the time till the leaves turn brown
Don’t let anything slow you down, down . . .
He waits at the airport
Waiting to catch his flight
Thirty years old
He follows the planes into the night
He’s got a guitar
That pushes and pushes him where he goes
Into the futures
Where the people wait in rows
Waiting so long
To travel on
Don’t let anything slow you down
You’ve got the time till the leaves turn brown
Don’t let anything slow you down, down . . .
Times
Times make me lonely
Tides turn so fast
Days make me wonder
Who will come last
My name was Runnin’ Wild
My heart was Fancy Free
Now I’m like a cryin’ child
Lost in a mystery . . .
Back in the old times
Used to burn slow
Now as I get there
I have to go
Times, I mean good times
They’ve blown away
Into the futures
Now called yesterday
Times . . .
Baby Jane
Standing there looking like a star
I knew that you were sure to go far
Now I know you’ve got no time for me
You took my loving and you want to be free
Keep on pushin’ on looking for fame
Keep on pushin’ on Baby Jane
When you walk onto the stage
No-one would ever guess your age
But when you wake in the morning sun
You can’t hide those lines from no-one
Keep on pushin’ on looking for fame
Keep on pushin’ on Baby Jane
Who’ll be there when the fame has passed
Which one of your friends will be last
I’ll be there right to the end
I’ll be your man, your lover, your friend
Keep on pushin’ on looking for fame
Keep on pushin’ on Baby Jane
Lost Inside a Song
Sea of faces
Looking for something warm
To take home in the cold dawn
In place of love
The webs I wove
Finding myself lost
Inside a song
Long lines of years
Queueing for calmer seas
Rhapsodies and remedies
To keep the town
From coming down
Finding myself lost
Inside a song
Diving past red lights
On bad nights
Playing crazy games
With my brains
Throwing windows from the tops of towers
People down below with broken hours . . .
How’s Tricks?
The white hand in the darkened house
Rings a bell that makes the guests drop their cases in fright
A face that seems to laugh alone
Sits in the flames that warm the frozen stretches of night
The skeleton that smokes
His head half guillotined
Sits there telling jokes
About places he has cleaned
How's tricks? How's tricks?
What kicks! It sticks.
Loud ticks . . .
The bow tie and the question mark
Set sail to beat the cards that rain around the chorus girls
The bullets from the golden gun
Appear to penetrate the flesh below the golden curls
Inside the clear white box
Lies a nervous bathing belle
She hope's he'll find the locks
That free her from the world
How's tricks? How's tricks?
What kicks! It sticks.
Loud ticks . . .
The rabbit with the faded smile
Is listening to the artist playing in the mirrored room
The albums of forgotten songs
Grow dusty in the floodlit shelves somewhwre below the moon
Owls sit on the letters
Of his last name in lights
Demons and pacesetters
Laugh into the night
How's tricks? How's tricks?
What kicks! It sticks.
Loud ticks . . .
Madhouse
You say there’s no more time to borrow
Two and two make twenty-two
Drownin’ your head in sorrow, cryin’ every day
We can help you with that prison,
Passin’ the time with a smile
Join the boys with crazy rhythm, now it’s here to stay
At the madhouse/madhouse/jumpin’ at the madhouse
Space makes roads into your hairline
Four and nine make forty-nine
Travellin’ on that long lost airline, cryin’ in your tray
When your face falls we’ll restore it
Makin’ it new with a smile
Fillin’ in the holes that tore it, now it’s time to play
At the madhouse/madhouse/jumpin’ at the madhouse
Why the busy why the lazy
Three and three make thirty-three
Future flies will make you crazy, you know anyway
You can join us where we’re layin’
We’re sittin’ back with a smile
Circus band is softly playin’, hope you’ve come to stay
At the madhouse/madhouse/jumpin’ at the madhouse
If the darkness sends you funny
Nine and one make ninety-one
Your train’s lost it’s hope in money, cryin’ in your pay
We can turn your inside outside
You’ll make it if you have to
Keep on wavin’ with our hands tied, now it’s all the way
At the madhouse/madhouse/jumpin’ at the madhouse
Waiting for the Call
Livin’ in a tower
The last one that can stand
I hold the royal magnet
I’m the king of all this land
Master of this ship
And all I can survey
If you want to join
Then you have to pay
I’m standing by the breach
Plugged in with my thumb
Still waiting for the call
Though it may never come
Sweating in the mirror
Though my head is frozen stiff
My bathroom starts to melt
And run over the cliff
The view that I command
Makes people gape in awe
My military band
Blows down the thickest door
I’m standing on the brink
Just outside the slum
Still waiting for the call
Though it may never come
Drivin’ in my car
The only one with wheels
Got the freedom of the city
You know how good that feels
There’s not a lot to see
Of what is goin’ down
I keep it under wraps
Till the night comes around
I’m standing on the deck
Swigging naval rum
Still waiting for the call
Though it may never come
Outsiders
From a star so warm
Somewhere in the maze
Blown across the dark
To carry on our days
People of the sky
People of the waves
Landing in a place
That we couldn’t save
Clues for tomorrow
Lost in ambition
Outsiders
Space riders
Outsiders
We can’t recall the time
Maybe long destroyed
And another race
Journeys through the void
People of the stars
People of the sun
Now we’ve come so far
Seems the dark has won
Clues for tomorrow
Lost in ambition
Outsiders
Space riders
Outsiders
Something to Live For
We’ve seen so many towns
Where the trains don’t ever stop
Though we hear all night sounds
There’s no side left to the shop
Nothing but changes
Of face
That life rearranges
Nothing but strangeness
That wastes
Anything it replaces
We’ve seen so many dreams
Floating out into the tide
They’re never what they seem
And there’s emptiness inside
Nothing but changes
Of face
That life rearranges
Nothing but strangeness
That wastes
Anything it replaces
Keep hustlin’ tomorrow
You might just find
Something to live for
Keep pushin’ tomorrow
You might just find
That elusive something . . .
We’ve got so many ways
To take the world apart
And almost no one stays
Of they make it from the start
Nothing but changes
Of face
That life rearranges
Nothing but strangeness
That wastes
Anything it replaces
Keep hustlin’ tomorrow
You might just find
Something to live for
Keep pushin’ tomorrow
You might just find
That elusive something . . .