Elbow

Sweet Jesus I'm on fire
She has the sweetest, darkest eyes
And when it comes into her eyes
I know iron and steel couldn't hold me
But god I'm easy bruised
But so often a moth to her flame
And the things that she's asked me to do
Would see a senior saint
forgetting his name
I have an audience with the pope
And I'm saving the world at 8
But if she says she needs me, she says she needs me
Everybody's gonna have to wait
Where could she be?
Was that a minute or an hour?
Where could she be?
She turns the hours into days.
Kill me phone, cover the cage
And wait for the doorbell to ring
Where could she be?
No she won't come running
Where could she be?
The world is turning at her pace.
Kill me phone, cover the cage
And wait for the doorbell to ring
I have an audience with the pope
And I'm saving the world at 8
But if she says she needs me, she says she needs me
Everybody's gonna have to wait

Mondays is for drinking to the seldom seen kid

I've been working on a cocktail called grounds for divorce
Polishing a compass that I hold in my sleeve
Down comes him on sticks but then he kicks like a horse

There's a tiny cigarette case
And the rest you can keep
And the rest you can keep
And the rest you can keep

There's a hole in my neighborhood
Down which of late I cannot help but fall
There's a hole in my neighborhood
Down which of late I cannot help but fall

Mondays is for drinking to the seldom seen kid

There's this whispering of jokers doing flesh by the pound
To a chorus of supposes from the little town whores
There'll be twisted karaoke at the Aniseed Lounge

And I'll bring you further roses
But it does you no good
And it does me no good
And it does you no good

There's a hole in my neighborhood
Down which of late I cannot help but fall
There's a hole in my neighborhood
Down which of late I cannot help but fall

There's a hole in my neighborhood
Down which of late I cannot help but fall

Someday we'll be drinking with the seldom seen kid

I plant the kind of kiss
that wouldn't wake a baby
on the self-same face
that wouldn't let me sleep;
and the street is singing with my feet,
and the dawn gives me a shadow I know to be taller.

All down to you, dear.
Everything has changed.

My sorriness
has made it to graffiti.
I was looking for
someone to complete me.

Not anymore, dear;
everything has changed.

When we make the moon our mirror ball
the street's an empty stage;
the city sirens - violins.
Everything has changed.

So lift off love.
(down to you, dear)
Lift off love.
(down to you, dear)

We took the town to town last night.
We kissed like we invented it!
And now I know what every step is for:
to lead me to your door.

Know that while you sleep,
everything has changed.

We made the moon our mirror ball.
The street's an empty stage;
the city sirens - violins.
Everything has changed.
Everything has changed.
Everything has changed.

Down to you, dear/So lift off love
Down to you, dear/ lift off love
Down to you, dear/ lift off love
Down to you, dear/ lift off love
Down to you, dear/ lift off love
Down to you, dear/ lift off love
Down to you, dear/ lift off love
Down to you, dear...

Drinking in the morning sun
Blinking in the morning sun
Shaking off the heavy one
Heavy like a loaded gun
What made me behave that way?
Using words I never say
I can only think it must be love
Oh, anyway, it's looking like a beautiful day
Someone tell me how I feel
It's silly wrong but vivid right
Oh, kiss me like the final meal
Yeah, kiss me like we die tonight
Cause holy cow, I love your eyes
And only now I see the light
Yeah, lying with me half-awake
Oh, anyway, it's looking like a beautiful day
When my face is chamois-creased
If you think I'll wink, I did
Laugh politely at repeats
Yeah, kiss me when my lips are thin
Cause holy cow, I love your eyes
And only now I see you like
Yeah, lying with me half-awake
Stumbling over what to say
Well, anyway, it's looking like a beautiful day
So throw those curtains wide!
One day like this a year'd see me right!

A friend of mine grows his very own brambles
They twist all around him 'til he can't move
Beautiful, quivering, chivalrous shambles
What is my friend trying to prove?
The bruise turns a tall, gentle boy to a terrible totem
And the kids gather round trying to see what's inside
I think when he's drinking he's drowning some riot
What is my friend trying to hide?
Cause it's breaking my heart, it's breaking my heart
And it's breaking my heart to pull out the rain
Brother of mine, don't run with those fuckers
When will my friend start singing again?
When will my friend start singing again?

How dare the Premier ignore my invitations?
He'll have to go
So, to the bunch he luncheons with
It's second on my list of things to do

At the top I'm stopping by
Your place of work and acting like
I haven't dreamed of you and I
And marriage in an orange grove

You are the only thing
In any room you're ever in
I'm stubborn, selfish and too old

I sat you down and told you how
The truest love that's ever found is for oneself
You pulled apart my theory
With a weary and disinterested sigh

So yes, I guess I'm asking you
To back a horse that's good for glue and nothing else
But find a man that's truer than
Find a man that needs you more than I

Sit with me a while
And let me listen to you talk about
Your dreams and your obsessions
I'll be quiet and confessional

The violets explode inside me
When I meet your eyes
Then I'm spinning and I'm diving
Like a cloud of starlings
Darling, is this love?

So I'm there
Charging around with a juggernaut brow
Overdraft, speeches and deadlines to make
Cramming commitments like cats in a sack
Telephone burn and a purposeful gait
When out of a doorway the tentacles stretch
Of a song that I know
And the world moves in slow-mo
Straight to my head
like the first cigarette of the day
And it's you, and it's May
And we're sleeping through the day
And I'm five years ago
And three thousand miles away
Do I have
time? A man of my calibre
Stood in the street like a sleepwalking teenager
No.
And I dealt with this years ago
I took a hammer to every memento
But image on image like beads on a rosary
pulled through my head as the music takes hold
and the sickener hits; I can work till I break
but I love the bones of you
That, I will never escape
And it's you, and it's May
And we're sleeping through the day
And I'm five years ago
And three thousand miles away
And I can't move my arm
Through the fear that you will wake
And I'm five years ago
And three thousand miles away

to moonn6pence from shootingstar(papayeverte)





The fix is in
There's a nag gonna dance home at Epsom

The fix is in
Can't wait to see how it upsets 'em

Too many times we've been postally pipped
We've loaded the saddles, the mickeys are slipped
We're swapping the turf for the sand and the surf and the sin
Cause the fix, the fix is in

The fix is in
The odds that I got were delicious

The fix is in
The jockey is cocky and vicious

The redoubtable beast has had pegasus pills
We'll buy him the patch in the Tuscany hills
And the Vino di Vici will flow like a river in spring
Now the fix, the fix is in

The fix is in
The snaps of the steward so candid

The fix is in
Yes, our pigeons have finally landed

The Donahue sisters will meet us in France
In penguins and pearls, we'll drink and we'll dance
'Til the end of our days, cause it ain't left to chance
That we win
Cause the fix, the fix is in

Are we having the time of our life?
Are we having the time of our lives?
Are we coming across clear?
Are we coming across fine?
Are we part of the plan here?
Are we having the time of our lives?
Are we coming across clear?
Are we coming across fine?
Are we having the time of our lives?
Are we part of the plan here?
We have the driver and time on our hands
One little room and the biggest of plans.
The days were shaping up,
Frosty and bright.
Perfect weather to fly.
Perfect weather to fly.
Pounding the streets where my fathers feet still
Ring from the walls,
we'd sing in the doorways,
or bicker and row
Just figuring how we were wired inside
Perfect weather to fly.
So in looking to stray from the line
we decided instead
we should pull out the thread that was
stitching us into this tapestry vile,
And why wouldn't you try?
Perfect weather to fly.
We have the driver and time on our hands
One little room and the biggest of plans.
The days were shaping up,
Frosty and bright.
Perfect weather to fly.
Perfect weather to fly.
Pounding the streets where my fathers feet still
Ring from the walls,
we'd sing in the doorways,
or bicker and row
Just figuring how we were wired inside
Perfect weather to fly.
So in looking to stray from the line
we decided instead
we should pull out the thread that was
stitching us into this tapestry vile,
And why wouldn't you try?
Perfect weather to fly

A sky as black as regret
Is rolling aside for the blue
Impossible face to forget
These feelings belong in a zoo

She brings the morning
She, she brings the morning sun

So lost in the sound of her voice
I don't even hear the words
When she says, come on get out the past will find us out
Come on get out please and don't breathe a word

She brings the morning
She, she brings the morning sun

But all this an imagined affair
While sitting in a bar spilling in a bar
I drink until the doorman is a Christmas tree
And my speech is just a gas leak

She brings the morning
She, she brings the morning sun

They’re pacing Piccadilly in packs again
And moaning for the mercy of a never come rain
The suns had enough and the simmering sky
Has the heave and the hue of a woman on fire
Shop shutters rattle down and I’m cutting the crowd
All scented and descending from the satellite towns
The neon is graffiti singing make a new start
So I look for a plot where I can bury my broken heart

No I know I wont forget you
but I’ll forget myself if the city will forgive me

The man on the door has a head like Mars
Like a baby born to the doors of the bars
And surrounded by steam with his folded arms
He’s got that urban genie thing going on
He’s so mercifully free of the pressures of grace
Saint Peter in satin he’s like Buddha with mace
He’s so mercifully free of the pressures of grace
Saint Peter in satin he’s like Buddha with mace

No I know I won’t forget you
but I’ll forget myself if the city will forgive me
No I know I won’t forget you
but I’ll forget myself if the city will forgive me

Do you move through the room with a glass in your hand
Thinking too hard about the way you stand
Are you watching them pair off and drinking them long
Are you falling in love every second song
..x2
No I know I won’t forget you
but I’ll forget myself if the city will forgive me
No I know I won’t forget you
but I’ll forget myself and the city will forgive me

And if it rains all day
Call on you I'll call on you
Like I used to
Slide down beside and wrap you in stories
Tailored entirely for you
I'll remind you
We exchanged a vow
I love you I always will

A call girl with yesterday eyes
Was our witness and priest
Stockport supporters club kindly supplied us a choir
Your vow was your smile
As we move down the aisle
Of the last bus home
And this is where I go
Just when it rains

Blinking and stoned
Rain in your hair
You only smoke ‘cause it's something to share
Singing bring on the night
To have and to hold
The sodium light turning silver to gold

Spitfire thin and strung like a violin
I was
Yours was the face with a grace
From a different age
You were the sun in my Sunday morning
You were the sun in my Sunday morning
Telling me never to go
So I'll live on the smile
And move down the isle
Of the last bus home
And if you're running late
This is where I'll go

I’m sick of working for a living
I’m just ticking off the days till I die
I miss you Louise
And the sickest little pleasures
keep me going in between pulling teeth

Periscope up
I’ve been looking for a ladder
I need to see THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF
And remind him what was passed onto me

Your mum don’t sleep!
The friends you keep!
I didn’t raise a thief!

But the LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD
Are just little boys throwing stones
And its easy to ignore
‘til they’re knocking on the door of your homes

My thinking isn’t driven
But the music always gives me a lift
I’m so easy to please
But I think we dropped the baton
like the 60’s didn’t happen. Oh no.

Periscope up
Should be looking for a ladder
I need to se THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF
And remind him what was passed onto me

Your mum don’t sleep!
The friends you keep!
I didn’t raise a thief!

Passing the gun from Father to FECKLESS son
We’re climbing a landslide
where only the good die young

Shifting my weight now from foot to foot
What did she see in this man
I'm not superstitious but if I can get
This ball in the basket, then he'll wake up dead

Your sweet reassurances don't' change the fact
That he's better looking than me
Yet he'd look ideal 'neath the wheels of a car
Oh Mexican standoff I wish I was hard

Your sweet reassurances don't' change the fact
That he's better looking than me
Yet he'd look ideal 'neath the wheels of a car

Well, give that girl my very best
Though it never made the grade
If it seems that it's just not enough to love
Then love lie down
And would you tell her
Not to talk as if I died
Though a tiny part just did
And would you tell her
I'm from a long line of survivors
And I'll be swinging with the kids
Keep your sympathy
Don't need the healing to start
You've gone
Gone and made a beautiful hole in my heart
In the corner of the room
In the room we used to love
Of the love we should say this
There were switches never flicked
Long away and far apart
That's how forest fires start
Start again it felt like this
Fresh and simple as a kiss
I bounce these feelings off the moon
The echoes don't come back
Keep your sympathy
Don't need the healing to start
You've gone
Gone and made a beautiful hole in my heart
Of the love we should say this
There were, there were switches never flicked
Keep your sympathy
Don't need the healing to start
You've gone
Gone and made a beautiful hole in my heart
Keep your sympathy
Don't need the healing to start
You've gone

I leaned on you today
I regularly hurt but never say
I nearly wore the window through
Where was air sea rescue?
The cavalry with tea and sympathy
You were there
Puncture repair

I leaned on you today
I regularly hurt but never say
You patched me up and sent me on my way

Artist: Elbow
Album: Leaders Of The Free World
Year: 2005
Title: Station Approach
I haven't been myself of late
I haven't slept for several days
But coming home I feel like I
Designed these buildings I walk by
You know you drive me up the wall
I need to see your face that's all
You little sod, I love your eyes
Be everything to me tonight
Be everything to me tonight
I never know what I want but I know when I'm low that I
I need to be in the town where they know what I'm like and don't mind
(repeat)
The streets are full of Goths and Greeks
I haven't seen my mum for weeks
But coming home I feel like I
Designed these buildings I walk by
You know you drive me up the wall
I need to see your face that's all
You little sod, I love your eyes
Be everything to me tonight
Be everything to me tonight
Be everything to me tonight

All my saints have taken bribes
Singing going going gone
All the angels taken dives
Leaving you the only one

If I lose a sequin here and there
More salt than pepper in my hair
Can I rely on you when all the songs are through
To be for me the everthere, everthere?

Slide into another book
Now and then, laugh out loud
Throw that very dirty look which says, 'Okay'
Stop staring at me now

If I lose a sequence here and there
Less derring do than quiet care
Can I rely on you for a good talking to
To be for me the everthere, everthere?

If I lose a sequin here and there
And take my time on every stair
Can I rely on you when this whole thing is through
To be for me the everthere, everthere?

I can't undo the day
It won't go, won't go under the rug
I pull all the stops
And you, you pull the plug

These are soberer days
And I know it can't be
But I'll miss you the way
You miss the sea

[Incomprehensible]
(Don't look down)
Keep staring like you've never seen the stars
(Don't look down)
If you need me to remind you who you are

(Don't look down)
Little blossom there's the shiniest soul
Just behind those eyes

No longer my affair
Well I can't go there just yet
So I've come to love and trust
Those friends that are holding your net

Falling off used to mean
Maybe grazing a knee
And I'll miss you the way
You miss the sea

[Incomprehensible]
(Don't look down)
Keep staring like you've never seen the stars
(Don't look down)
If you need me to remind you who you are

(Don't look down)
Little blossom there's the shiniest soul
Just behind those eyes

While I won't second guess
What you're thinking of me
I will miss you the way
You miss the sea

[Incomprehensible]
(Don't look down)
Keep staring like you've never seen the stars
(Don't look down)
If you need me to remind you who you are

(Don't look down)
Little blossom there's the shiniest soul
Just behind those eyes

What's got into me
Can't believe yourself
Must be someone else
Must be someone else
Must be...

*
Any day now
How's about
Getting out of this place
Anyway now, got a lotta spare time
Some of my youth
And all of my senses on overdrive

* Repeat (x3)

What's got into me
Can't believe yourself
[ can't believe ]

* Repeat

Don't play coltrane, you will sleep at the wheel
Eyes on horizon, don't sleep at the wheel

You're a girl in this vicinity
I'm a dog without a collar on
This cattle-market cabaret
Is the Sabbath every Saturday

I'm full of wit and chivalry
Until you've given in to me
I'm a dog without a collar on
You're a girl in this vicinity

Bitten by the tail-fly
Too many times to change
It's a silent taxi ride away
But it's everything to get you there
You'll know when you are bitten-shy
But still you will return my stare
From a crush of blushing brides-to-be
You barely have a blossom on
Your eyes betray your diaries
I'm a dog without a collar on
I'll take you home
Get you on your own
Sweetness, don't be bashful

Your eyes betray your diaries

Can't stop thinking
I won't stop drinking
I need that comfort
I don't need discipline
Twilights tailing
I had self belief (They don't compromise)
This has battered me
That's my history
Hold this shaking frame
Pull this back together

What's your story?
I want to listen.
I can't fake pity.
I may not sympathise
Twy-lights tailing.
Try my lies for size
You might swallow them
While I fantasize
Try-my-lies-for-size.
Hold this shaking frame.

Pull this back together

Found a hole and slipped on through
Kissed the stone and learnt the lines
Jumped the cue all the time forgetting you

Best dishevelled lover 3yrs running
Coming second to
A picket fence white 9-5 whos
Just alive

Beyond repair, there is nothing to say
Save some fading regrets
Yet I can't be without this
I want you to be around.

Spit-shone lies, juggled debts
Planted flags and made regrets.
Muddled through all the time
Forgetting you

Cut your teeth and breezed on to
another brothers fickle ways
So why amazed when it don't
Come/turn out your way

Don't mix your drinks
Don't mix with him.
It will kill you one day.
Good advice. Sound advice.
You need to be like him, like me.
Look what you could achieve.
I'm coming cap-in-hand.
Begging you to listen
Something draws me in!
I just can't christen it.

The whole towns slippin down a hill.
Like the spine of something dead.
Slide in shadow cobble-creep.
Burn your mark and leave.

The trench conventions yellow eyes
Follow her the local flower
The girls a priest (to me at least)
Since baptism peroxide.

And fear is not respect. Correct.
But it's the best you're gonna get
Sharp blow to the bridge of the nose
Sharp blow and anything goes.

I'll be the corpse in your bathtub
Useless
I'll be as deaf as a post
If you hold me like a newborn
Whisper what you feel
My badly strung declaration
To You
You'll spend the end of your days
Gently smiling like a newborn
Love not by degrees

Press your lips
To my eyes
Taste my tears
On your tongue,
Pull the blinds
Play our song
Nothings changed
Nothing could be wrong.

Scream in the night
Kick and skrike
Like a newborn
Holding me shaking
Awake in the dark
All of these promises
Kept and unbroken
Tracing the scars
Tracing the scars
Even and cold
As we both become older.
Your arms bound about me
The hush in your voice.
The warmth of your fingers
Entwined around mine
In the eve of our lives
Never a choice.

Your eyes are just like black spiders Your
hair and dress in ribbons. Babycakes In
despair or incoherent. Nothing in
between China white, my bride tonight Smiling
on the tiles Bring that minute
back We never get so close as when
the sunward flight begins I share
it all with you Powder blue Stumble
through the crowds together They're
trying to ignore us. That's o.k. I'm
proud to be the one you hold when
the shakes begin Sallow skinned,
starry eyed, blessed In our sin Bring
that minute back We never get so
close to death Makes you so alive I
share it all with you Powder blue

My brother fear is only natural
You need to chill your fucking bones
You will feel Christ-like
When it's breathing in and out
Right there on the pillow

Come as you are sweetheart, come as you are.
You know you've got nothing to prove
I'll put you to bed you can let it all go
You've been playing too rough lately

You burn too bright
You live too fast
This can't go on too long
You're a tragedy starting to happen
Just as you are. Perfect just as your are
I'll give you the time you deserve.
Don't make those promises
Don't tell me again.
That dust is gonna settle your nerves.

Been climbing trees I've skinned my knees
My hands are black the sun is going down
She scruffs my hair in the kitchen steam
She's listening to the dream I weaved today
Crosswords through the bathroom door
While someone sings the theme-tune to the news
And my sister buzzes through the room leaving perfume in the air
And that's what triggered this.
I come back here from time to time
I shelter here some days.

A high-back chair. He sits and stares
A thousand yards and whistles
Marching-band (Boom-ching)
Kneeling by and speaking up
He reaches out and I take a
Massive hand. Disjointed tales
That flit between short trousers
And a full dress uniform
And he talks of people ten years
Gone like I've known them all my life
Like scattered black 'n' whites?

Been climbing trees I've skinned my knees
My hands are black the sun is going down
She scruffs my hair in the kitchen steam
She's listening to the dream I weaved today
Crosswords through the bathroom door
While someone sings the theme-tune to the news
And my sister buzzes through the room leaving perfume in the air
And that's what triggered this.
I come back here from time to time
I shelter here some days.

A high-back chair. He sits and stares
A thousand yards and whistles
Marching-band (Boom-ching)
Kneeling by and speaking up
He reaches out and I take a
Massive hand. Disjointed tales
That flit between short trousers
And a full dress uniform
And he talks of people ten years
Gone like I've known them all my life
Like scattered black 'n' whites?