Fish [Marillion]

Just another nigger, a spooky piece of white trash,
Just another jewboy, spic, mick, yid, raghead motherfucker living on the planet.

(USA version: Just another wake up, a hostage of a sunrise,
Just another paranoid, victimised motherfucker living on the planet.)

Just before it kicks in

Just like a silver bullet,
Take a good look at yourself in the mirror and tell me that it's worth it,
Said it'll never happen, you said you'd never get caught out,
You settled in a habit, so now you're Mr Fixit,
Just another alien, living on the planet,
Living on the planet, living on the planet.
It's just one of those days when you know that something's gonna happen.

Another betrayal, lose another friend,
You know you never need them, on your own until the bitter end.
Just another pick up, just another kill, someone else's daughter, someone else's girl,
Living on the planet.
We are in another world, Living on the planet we are, we are,
And you know there's some days when you feel that something's gonna happen,
This is one of those days which you know that something's gonna happen,
And something's gonna happen.

Somedays you just wake up and you don't have any real sense of direction, you just can't find the will to get up and go through with it all, your next allotted 24 hour slice of destiny.
There's just a bad vibe and rather than a world of opportunities, it's full of threats and just too many negative variables.
I'd noticed these houses way up in the hills and I tried to imagine what it would have been like living up there isolated from the world, every night watching the fires crawl slowly down the valley, and knowing that one night it was gonna be your turn for the visit.
I tried to imagine what it would have been like hiding in a cellar with your family and the fear hoping that when they do come, when the dogs don't bark, and the silence is around you, you hope that they burn the whole house around your ears and they don't discover you hiding in the cellar because you've got nowhere to go, and you know that one day that something's gonna happen.
There's one day, just one day.

Just another village burning in the hills,
I saw it on the TV, just another thrill,
Someone else's problems, someone else's grief,
Someone else's children, living on the planet,
We are in another world living on the planet,
We are in another world living on the planet, we are, we are.

It's just one of those places that never exist till you've been there,
It's just one of those things that you never will see till you wake up,
And you know that somewhere there's somebody that's out there who thinks like you do.
And you hope that today is the day that it's all gonna happen for you.
And you know there's somedays when you feel that something's gonna happen.
This is one of those days which you know that something's gonna happen.

Maybe it's you or maybe it's me, maybe it's just the weather.
I just can't decide I can't make up my mind,
Tomorrow seems like forever.

It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
I'm just falling apart, as a matter of fact that is all it is,
That's all it is, that's all it is. Just a change of heart
That's all it is.

Maybe it's time, it's maybe too late, I just can't believe it's over,
If you just walk away, turn your back on me now,
Tomorrow will be forever.

It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
I'm just falling apart, as a matter of fact that is all it is,
That's all it is, that's all it is. Just a change of heart
That's all it is.

As the springtides shift the sands swelled by winter snow,
And the summer green melts to autumn gold.
I'm a man for every season but I live from day to day
Is that what you want? Is that all you want?
Is that all it is?

It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
I'm just falling apart, as a matter of fact that is all it is,
That's all it is, that's all it is. Just a change of heart
That's all it is.

At the end of the day please let me stay you know we belong together
I'll promise you now as I promised you then,
Tomorrow will be forever

I was thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking I was thinking.
Contemplating situations and the visions blew my mind.
In the gutter I was crawling as the shells justkept on falling all around me.

What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?

As the library was burning and the pages kept on turning back in history.
As the doorways they were full of refugees and lonely people staring at me,
they were asking of me.
What colour is God?
What colour is God?
What colour is God?

No matter what I say or do, it never looks like making any difference.
Don't keep on looking down at me as if I don't exist as if I'm not here.
Don't focus all your anger and resentment that you have,
don't blame it on me, don't blame it on me.

What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?

Black brother in an open sports car pulled over by suspicious officer,
uniform man got a nervous partner,
weapon was pulled from a shoulder holster.
White jogger see the roadside gangsta,
heart beat just a little bit faster,
rasta man speaking in the island patios,
gonna give you the righteous answer.

Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God?

What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?

No matter what I say or do it never looks like making any difference
Don't focus all your anger and resentment that you have
Don't blame it on me, don't blame it on me

What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?
What colour is God? Why can't you tell me, can't you tell me?

Please, please, please tell me.
Please, please, please tell me.
What colour is God?

I want to be there in the morning, I want to wake up by your side.
If I can make it back I'll be there, if I can catch the early flight.
I'll bring you dragon's teeth from silver beaches, shells from Africa.
I'll give you China dolls and silken shawls, orchids for your hair,
Treasures drowned in sunken galleons, jewels from desert caves when I get there.

We'll see each other in the morning when the sun comes up
We'll see each other in the morning when the sun comes up
In the morning

I'll guard you from the monsters on the TV,
From the pirates in the corners of your dreams.
I'll keep you from the cold and safe from trolls, from the bad men while you play.
I'll hunt for crocodiles and snakes with smiles I'll keep them
Far away from your innocence in all it's wonder.

We'll see each other in the morning when the sun comes up
We'll see each other in the morning when the sun comes up
In the morning, in the morning, when the sun comes up

The car finally burned out around three. The blue beacon of a silent patrol car threw new shadows into the street turning the window into a flickering monitor screen.
I'd seen the kids torch the vehicle before I left on a nightly surfing run to a cybersex site in Chile. It wasn't as if they were getting rid of prints, everyone knew it was them. They didn't give a shit. They just wanted to see the flames, to throw a bit of light on a situation.
I looked up the hill at the spread of the estate. The streetlights glowed like campfires of an army on the eve of battle or fireflies trapped in the canopy of an immense jungle.
Jungle, young mental jungle,
Here in the jungle, in the jungle

Where men don't cry and husbands lie and you never have to justify a kickin'.
When mates jump in to save your skin if a chib is ever pulled out in a square go.

Jungle ride, jungle ride tell me when it's over.
Jungle ride, jungle ride tell me when it ends.
Oh here she comes round again, here she comes round again,
Here she comes round again, here she comes, here she comes.

The glazed eyes of porcelain clowns stare skywards at clouds of goldfish madly circling their own silent plastic worlds, high above the children who stuff ping pong balls like pills in the mouths of slowly rotating heads.

Intentions true as the arrow's flight
Wins a cuddly toy to while away an evening.
Outside this ring of light he'll claim his prize,
She'll sport lovebites just to prove to all he's been there.

Jungle ride, jungle ride tell me when it's over.
Jungle ride, jungle ride tell me when it ends.
Oh here she comes round again, here she comes round again,
Here she comes round again, here she comes, here she comes.

I crept along the edges of the parade, staying glued to the shadows where the dogs slept uneasily on their chains under the caravans.
I followed the drums and the pulsing light until I came across a clearing in the centre of which was the attraction.
And then I saw her, an angel in a chariot, her hair trailing behind her like the tail of a comet. And I knew that she was mine. I knew that we were destined to leave this place together. We didn't belong to this carnage and the knowledge of escape was the only thing keeping me sane.
But for now I could only watch and wait for this was an arena I dare not enter.

On the rim of the machine the animals had gathered.
Big cats at a waterhole waiting on the weak and wounded to stagger into their territory so they could exercise some violence and feed their starving reputations.
No climbdown in this standoff with the world.
They already know that they can never win the war but in this battle they're gonna do some damage.
The pack will follow the stragglers into the dawn. Young mental jungle.

Jungle ride, jungle ride tell me when it's over
Jungle ride, jungle ride, tell me when it ends
Jungle ride, jungle ride, tell me when it ends
Here she comes round again, here she comes round again
Here she comes round again, here she comes, here she comes.

When you're down to the last skin
And the limelight splutters to darkness in the death of a Zippo.
At the backstage door the last fan has long disappeared
With a plastic bag stuffed full of memories.
If only you'd signed them, if only to testify, if only to recognise that he existed.
That for a moment he stood there.
Side by side in the gutter on the hard cold shoulder of destiny.

You say never again this is the end and it's all gonna change you're determined this time.
Year after year you pretend it's for real and it's all gonna change you're determined this time.
Well happy birthday to me!

When you're the worm in the bottle.
You're the last one to leave and there's nowhere to go to.
And the minicab driver politely suggests you go home.
If you could only remember, just where that's at,
Just where you been, just where it went wrong.
You'll eventually find it.

You say never again this is the end and it's all gonna change you're determined this time.
Year after year you pretend it's for real and it's all gonna change you're determined this time.
Well happy birthday to me!

When you're down to the end line and they're writing you up and writing you off and it feels just like an obituary.
You feel it's all over. You want to drive on down to the beach
And just keep on swimming. But you're still treading water.

You say never again this is the end and it's all gonna change you're determined this time.
Year after year you pretend it's for real and it's all gonna change you're determined this time.
Well happy birthday to me!

Happy Birthday!

Doc: "Tattoo Shop"
Fish: "Hi Doc"
Doc: "Hey Fish, what are you doin'?"
Fish: "If you don't mind, we're gonna record this. Is that cool?"
Doc: "Oh that's cooler 'n hell. Hell yeah, 52's biggest dream man.
You know his biggest dream was, me and him go party with you."

On the trail of torn-out twisters, two angels on a mission came
Dust devils danced before them in the path of the hurricane.
On the road to Oklahoma, through the flatlands from L.A.
From the shadows in the valley, from a country where the lizards play.
While they drove they kept the radio on, why don't you singalong, singalong, singalong.

(Chorus:) Tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo Brother 52
Tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo Brother 52
I don't think so.

A man stands behind his shadow, a man stands behind his words.
These men are together with family to defend their rights in another man's world.
Most people stood against them, most people disagreed
With the need for all those weapons in our safe, secure society.
Paint the words and the pictures on another man's skin
We are lover, warrior, magician kings.

(Chorus):

Doc:"Fuckin' brilliant, man. OK, here's what happened. 52 barred the door shut from the inside. A gunfight started on the front porch. 52 shot back. You know...they come into his home with it, so he's protecting himself. The guy inside the house blew his brains out. Yeah, they made it look like he killed himself. But, no one believes he would, 'cause he's not that kind of man. That's all, I think, he wasn't afraid of death. You know, he believed in something to die for, that's what he did."
Some say he had it coming, others say he was sole to blame
But who says they've got the rights if any at all to blow the brothers away.
A man got a right to wonder, a man got a right to dream,
Without looking over his shoulder to choose the manner of the life he leads.
One man's thoughts on another man's skin
We are lover, warrior, magician kings.

(Chorus):

Doc: "What they have done, was they've come in and murdered him, for his bombs and his ammunition. Just like that Waco Texas or any of these other things, over here in the United States. Anybody that's stockpiling firearms and ammunitions is a threat to the government, so the government wages war against us. They tortured him, he went out but I'm sure he stood up like he was supposed to, you know? They smashed all the rings shut on his fingers with a hammer. It was all an orchestrated plan, man. The more.. the closer I was getting to it.. to the truth, the more they got everybody looking at me as being the guy that pulled the trigger. And what they did when they killed 52, is they broke the whole family up.
That's exactly what they wanted to do.
They wanted to break all of us up."

And then it was over and we took our applause.
We passed the peace pipe and thought no more
About the scenes that were missing, about the lines we had crossed.
And we smiled at each other and knew that the moment was lost.

I let you snuff out the candles, I let you blow out the flame,
And I knew that this time it would never be the same.
The smiles you had wavered, tears welled in your eyes
And I looked and I knew that this magic it was only a sign
For Sunsets on Empire it was only a dream.
I knew that it was broken when I heard you scream
I know you can't believe it. It meant nothing at all.
And we looked at each other and we smiled and the moment was gone.
Sunsets on Empire is this really the end
Sunsets on Empire left with a friend
Could have been a lover, could have been a wife
But when it comes right down to it all I want is a life,
Just a life.

You said it never mattered. You said it's just a thrill.
You couldn't beat it. Another bitter pill.
It never was a habit. A one off just for sure.
You never really thought it out but I hoped that one time
That you'd come back for more.

Sunsets on Empire that's where I am
Sunsets on Empire that's all we have.
To face a new beginning when you're so close to the end
And you looked at me gently and smiled,
Would you still be my friend?

You started to smile
Is this really the end?
Is this really the end?
Sunsets on Empire
The sun sets on Empire

We could talk for hours and we do about nothing,
And avoid talking about anything that could cause us problems,
that we couldn't ignore, and have to talk about, to sort something out.
We got to keep talking, Keep talking.

So we're talking, and that's something.
I'm really happy that we're talking,
It's sure to get us somewhere, make it better,
And then we're sorted just as long as we keep talking
Everything's gonna be alright.

I got secrets then you know that.
You've got secrets I want to know about.
But if you want to know what I know
That you know then, we got to start talking.
Let's be honest. We can't ignore it. Keep talking.

When I look into your eyes I don't know what to say to you,
When I'm standing face to face, I don't know what to say to you,
They said say it with flowers so I said it with flowers.
I sent you short red roses, short red roses.
Everything's gonna be alright.

We've been talking for hours, so have we got somewhere?
Can we say it's all worked out, it's all ok?
Let's go to bed, I'm tired, to be honest.
I just want to go to sleep, I'm tired.
Let's talk about it in the morning, let's talk about it in the morning.
To be honest, I'm tired.
I'm tired.

Welcome on board to those of you in transit en route from the horror
For most of you it's morning but we're really in the middle of the night,
Chasing the sun, chasing the sun.

Stay in your seats until the journey's over, follow instructions
Your fear is in the luggage secured within the hold
Do not walk outside this area, do not walk outside this area.

Here in the cabin under constant pressure, a cargo religion
Stacked in a holding pattern above the killing fields.

Do not walk outside this area, do not walk outside this area,
Do not walk outside this area, do not walk outside this area,
Chasing the sun, chasing the sun.

Way down below there are trenches carved in the hillside
Shadows on contours
Dug in with orders to fight to the last man caught in a ceasefire.

Do not walk outside this area, do not walk outside this area,
Do not walk outside this area, do not walk outside this area,
Chasing the sun, chasing the sun.

Gentlemen the briefing is as follows. At this moment both sides have withdrawn to their original defensive positions and have agreed a temporary ceasefire. I must stress that a very fragile truce exists and the slightest incident of provocation would create an extremely explosive situation.

I know they stare at the heavens where I will parley with angels,
With God's will, they will see me create another star
For my comrades in the darkness I will provide the light
With the souls of these unbelievers, I will create another star
I will create another star, I will create another star.

Chasing, we are chasing, chasing, we are chasing, chasing the sun
Do not walk outside, do not walk outside, chasing the sun.

A ragged man came shuffling through
A puppet king on the 4th of June
And butterflies from all around
Settled on his paper crown
A pretty sight it seemed to be
An avenue of eternal peace
But he said, "What is here can soon burn down..."
"I'm the king of sunset town"

Watch a big wheel turning round
Some go up and some go down
Some go thirsty some just drown
"That's the law round here"
Said the king of sunset town

And in the night he comes to me
And the square becomes a battlefield
Of staring eyes that can't explain
The insanity and the greater game

Watch a big wheel turning round
Some go up and some go down
Some go thirsty some just drown
"That's the law round here"
Said the king of sunset town

A ragged man came shuffling through
The corridors of this white place
And as he lay his body down
I saw the scars that lined his face
And injured souls came to his bed
To hear the stories he would tell
Of butterflies and summertimes
And everyone assembled here
Remembers how it used to be
Before the 27th came
This place will never be the same

He said "I'm the king of sunset town"
Watch a big wheel turning round
Some go up and some go down
Some go thirsty some just drown
"That's the law round here"
Said the king of sunset town

A ghost of a mist was on the field
The grey and the Green together
The noise of a distant farm machine
Out of the first light came

A tatered necklace of hedge and trees
On the southern side of the hill
Betrays where the border runs between
Where Mary Dunoon's boy fell

Easter here again
A time for the Blind to see
Easter
Surely now can all of your hearts be free

Out of the port of Liverpool
Bound for the North of Ireland
The wash of the spray and horsetail waves
The roll of the sea below
And Easter here again

A time for the Blind to see
Easter
Surely now can all of your hearts be free

What will you do?
Make a stone of your Heart?
Will you set things right
When you tear them apart?
Will you sleep at night
With the Plough and the Stars alight?

What will you do?
With the wire & the gun?
That'll set things right
When it's said and done?
Will you sleep at night?
Is there so much love to hide?

Forgive
Forget
Sing 'Never again'

[STEVE HOGARTH

You may not recall the moment that you asked me
But your invitation was clear
You'll pretend you've never met me but it's far too late
Now I'm here

Cause I'm the one who knows what scares you
I'm the one who loves you best
I'm the Thirteenth at the Table
I'm the Uninvited Guest

I'm the Banquo at your banquet
I'm the cuckoo in your nest
I'm you fifteen stone first-footer
I'm the Uninvited Guest

I was there when you said insincere I love you's
to a woman who wasn't your wife
And I fronted you the money that you ran away and blew
On the biggest regret of your life.

Cause I'm the one who knows what scares you
I'm the one who loves you best
I'm the Thirteenth at the Table
I'm the Uninvited Guest

I'm the Banquo at your banquet
I'm the cuckoo in your nest
I'm your New Year's resolution
I'm the Uninvited Guest

I'm the Face you hoped you'd never see
But always knew you would
I'm the on thing you knew you shouldn't do
But did because you could

I'm the evil in your bloodstream
I'm the rash upon your skin
And you made a big mistake alright
The day you let me in

And you could fly to the other side of the world
You know you'd only find
I've reserved the seat behind you
We could talk about old times

[JOHN HELMER and STEVE HOGARTH

Getting close to season's end
I heard somebody say
That it might never snow again
In England

Snowflakes in a newborn fist
Sledging on a hill
Are thes things we'll never see
InEngland?

We'll tell our children's children why
We grew so tall and reached so high
We left our footprints in the Earth
And punched a hole right through the sky

We'll tell them how we changed the world
And how we tamed the sea
And season's they will never know
In England

So watch the old world melt away
A loss regrets could never mend
You never miss it till it's gone
So say goodbye say goodbye
To season's end

[JOHN HELMER and STEVE HOGARTH

I was out in the cold of a North London street
A cog in the hurrying world
Above the walls and the gate police
I caught a glimpse of a Holloway girl
She was reachin' out of a window
From a space just a few inches wide
'Till the hand of justice pulled her back inside

One day, freedom will unlock your door
So hold on, believe on
Be who you were before
One day, freedom will unlock your door

I know how hard it can be to wait
For proof you were right all along
Self-destruction is easy for you
We know what you're capable of

But like a needle in a haystack
The truth gets so disguised
In a kingdom built on madness and on lies

One day, freedom will unlock your door
So hold on, believe on
Be who you were before
In deepest darkness, the faintest light looks bright
So hold on, hold on
It's gonna be all right

You're lookin' up at a mountain
Between you and the outside
But there isn't a mountain in this whole world
Hasn't been climbed

One day, freedom will unlock your door
So hold on, believe on
Be who you were before
In deepest darkness, the faintest light looks bright
So hold on, hold on
It's gonna be all right

One day, freedom
One day, freedom will unlock your door

The mascara'd blonde from the Berliner bar
Rises at twilight, gets dressed in a daze
Black leather crackles and cold water runs
As she touches the walls of her memory maze

And the shadows of men she has known fill her day
She's held half the world in her arms so they say
But she wakes up without them with a hole in her heart
And she puts on her clothes lives her life behind bars

The mascara'd blonde from the berliner bar
Sighs at the skylight gets lost in the haze
Black leather crackles an cold water runs
As she touches the walls of her memory maze

Someone got stranded in No-Man's land
Dancing in the spotlight to the sound of clapping hands
Nobody knows who's side he was on
It's a risk that you take in No-Man's land
Nobody knows what made him decide
To run for freedom and to certain suicide
When they turn off the guns and his fingers uncurl
He's clutching a photograph of a Berlin party girl

Come in from your checkpoints on your lonely roads
Come in from your ditches in you silent fields
Where intensified light from a rifle sight
Makes the darkness day
And the day too bright

And we wake up without you
We wake up without you
With a hole in our hearts

You mad dog shaven head bottle boy Freaks
In martens & khaki drunk on sake
You stare at yourself in the cruel flush of dawn
Terrified sunken eyed withered and drawn
The Butcher, the Baker, the Munitions Maker,
The Over-Achiever, the Armistice Breaker,
The Free-Base Instructor, the Lightning-Conductor
The Psycho, the Sailor, the Tanker, the Tailor
The Black-Market Mailer
The Quick and the Dead
The Spotlight Dancer
The Quick and the Dead

[JOHN HELMER and STEVE HOGARTH

There's a line on her jeans
That a ballpoint made
>From a careless mistake
That she can't wash away
There's a heart on her sleeve
>From a spill of red wine
There's a piece of green in blue of her eyes
She named it after me

There's a stray dog she feeds
That she found in the street
And he loves her to hold him
But he won't let her keep him
And he claws at the door
To be let out at night
And she makes do without him
and she worries about him
She named him after me

So if you ever decide
That you have to escape
And you travel the world
And you can't find a place
You could wind up believing
That paradise
Is nothing more than a feeling
That goes on in your mind
So if you ever find out what it is
There's something you could do
Cause if I ever hold that golden dream
I want to tell you
I'm gonna name it after you

'I feel so strange what's wrong with me'
You've got a problem that you can't see
But I've got a feeling that the rumours are true
I see the girl's go a hook in you

You carry on believing
That you can take or leave it
Now who are you deceiving
Cause when it's own up time
She's in the back of you mind

She's got her hooks in you

You said you'd never let it happen again
You spend your money and you're deeper in
Your fairweather friends call two by two
To let you know what's wrong with you

But now your heartbeat's thumpin'
You watch you nerve ends jumpin'
Well I can tell yo somethin'
When it's own up time
You're gonna toe the line

She's got her hooks in you
She's got her hooks in me too.

On top of the world like a flag on a mountain
Feeling so high you can feel so alone
Unable to breathe at the height that you flew
Staring on clouds with no view of below

On top of a girl like a dream in a hotel
Falling towards something out of control
Unable to miss like the man in the tram
Crashing his car in Amsterdam

He did it without knowing
Didn't feel a thing
Just wrecked it and kept going

The space around the stars
Is something that you know
A billion miles of darkness
Left you feeling low

Everything about you
So perfectly restrained
But everything inside you
Bites you

Everybody in the whole of the world
Feels the same inside
Everybody in the whole of the whole of the whole of the world
Everyone is only everyone else
Everybody's got to know
Everybody lives and loves and laughs and cries
And eats and sleeps and grows and dies
Everybody in the whole of the world is the same this time