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| 1. |
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On a Christmas cake day one
Friday in August In a bookshop in Charing Cross Road I first set eyes on a girl and at once I did know She had eyes like a poet and hair like a rainbow Reflecting the lights that did glow And the sadness she kept in her eyes Struck my senses a blow And so as by chance at the touch of a glance We could find ourselves out in the road With no crush of time to defeat us and no place to go And I couldn't say how but the coffee bar crowd Had appeared through the silence that broke And she said "Oh my father's a judge in St Albans you know." "Oh well, then perhaps I could help you You know that St. Albans is miles away And I've got a room in Swiss Cottage in which you could stay "She laughed "Oh I couldn't do that, For I've got to be up in the morning you see. "So I rang up to find out the first morning train she could take And so in the gloom of a candlelit room With spaghetti, two forks and a plate She said "Oh I really would like to be free and escape." "Oh well if it's like thatYou don't have to go back And you're perfectly welcome to stay" "But I've not finished school yet." she said as she got into bed And so as she slept and the pure morning crept Through the windows to take her away I thought you can't make people be what you want them to be I could see my self nailed to a dormitory tale Of a holiday night's escapade And just yesterday she had seemed like a woman to me And so like a child with the sleep in her eyes Where the sadness of age had once been She left on the train with a "See you again" and a smile And I couldn't say what I had won or I lost Or even just what I had seen But when I'm alone I just think of her once in awhile. |
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| 2. |
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Mr Carmichael says that he loves his wife, I believe he does
Gives her everything that a man can give But Mr Carmichael beggars himself on the altar of his love And you can tell him that that's not the way to live And oh how the wind has blown The leaves from the linden tree And oh when the night grows free Why does Mrs Carmichael come to me? Mrs Carmichael rises at ten, takes her time, is at her ease Drinking coffee in slippers and negligee Opens the door and the milkman brings her dreams, there's no-one sees Except the statue of Venus and she won't say And oh how the wind has blown The leaves from the linden tree And oh when the night grows free Why does Mrs Carmichael come to me? Oh Mr Carmichael, captain and star of his office billiards team Smiles to greet the applause as his ball goes in Hurrying back, bringing his victory home but there's no-one here And supper waits on the table inside a tin And oh how the linden leaves Lie tossed as the night wind blows And struck in his silent pose Mr Carmichael weeps and there's no-one knows |
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| 3. |
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The rain came down like beads
Bouncing on the noses of the People from the train A flock of salty ears Sparkled in the traffic lights Feet squelched soggy leaves across the grain I took my love to Clifton in the rain And all along the way Wanderers in overcoats with Collars on parade And steaming in the night The listeners in the Troubadour Guitar player weaves a willow strain I took my love to Clifton in the rain Jacqueline Bisset I saw your movie Wondered if you really felt that way Do you ever fear The images of Hollywood? Have you felt a shadow of its pain? I thought of you in Clifton in the rain |
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| 4. |
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The subway station's closed again
Sleeps beneath its veil of rain My footprints broken trail behind Steals the nightlights from my mind The dark deserted streets then clear Today has lived and died in here So I leave the chapel gloom To find the shelter of my tiny room But it's alright while the lights of the city shine so bright It's all right till the last winding train fades from sight Then alone in my room I must stay to lose or win While these wild bedsitter images come back to hem me in The paneled patterns on the door Chase shivering shadows to the floor Upon the pillow worn and thin The memories of hopes begin The carpet with its flowers in shreds Expires a foot before my bed The crack that won't return again Advancing through my broken window pane But it's alright while the lights of the city shine so bright It's all right till the last winding train fades from sight Then alone in my room I must stay to lose or win While these wild bedsitter images come back to hem me in The friends I've left back home all write With laughing words that warm my sight Saying "Tell us, how's the city life?" And I reply and say just fine And so you see I can't go back Until I either win or crack I'm standing in a one way street The stage is set The story incomplete But it's alright while the lights of the city shine so bright It's alright till the last winding train fades from sight Then alone in my room I must stay to lose or win While these wild bedsitter images come back to hem me in |
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| Disc 1 / Side B | ||||||
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
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I could have gone to Cambridge with Lionel
I think I tried to raise a pound Just to see the University And find the scenes she hung around Is your mind a menagerie Perhaps, I mean it's hard to say A pterodactyl built its nest on me I'm feeling strange but quite OK On this beleeka doodle day Archimedes and his orchestra Loudly disapprove of life Got mad when I called them unmusical Tried to land me with a wife Out in San Francisco's wonderland The purple poet kneels to pray But I just hang around your city and I don't have anything to say On this beleeka doodle day I had a week once in Italy With Mike and Robin and some songs I had a girl once in Sweden but I haven't seen her for too long I drift down to the Cousins and The usual people were all there I saw a girl in the soft red light I smiled but she looked away On my beleeka doodle day I wrote a song just before the dawn And then I lost it now its gone I spent all day playing Monopoly It seemed to feel like getting on Sometimes I wonder how it feels to be Paul McCartney or the Queen I wonder how they'd feel if they were me I think its gonna start to rain On this beleeka doodle day Oh Jack the Ripper and Hippocrates They're out to get me in the end I think they'll find me by the ruined trees Without a candle or a friend Then they'll bring me to the wizard's cave Softly mould me into clay And lock me in with no telephone And laugh and throw the keys away On my beleeka doodle day So to Avril and I would like to give My thanks for lending me your room I stayed one night, ah but I had to go I think I'll maybe come back soon Of all the girls that I have ever known There wasn't one who didn't play They came and went just like the newspapers And left me here to find my way Through my beleeka doodle day |
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