Porcupine Tree

Your unpleasant family,
smashed up my car
(perfectly uncalled for)

Your unpleasant family,
how vile they are
(I crawled out of the wreckage on my knees)

Tore up my flowers


so what did we learn?
(there I found regret amongst the trees)

Snips of a life,
we had in the garden,
we tear up the flowers

Tied - tied to a time
When we knew that the sun would shine
And you were all smiles
And we could just talk for a while...

Of where we would be when the future comes
And how you would paint while I wrote my songs

If I could find you
And tell you about my life
Or maybe just write
And remind you of when we would dream...

Of where we would be when the future comes
And how you would paint while I wrote my songs

Strange how you never become
The person you see when you're young

> So I got all these things, but so what?
In the end you can't take them with you
You think you can save my soul? Well OK...
Tell me, with all your conviction
What happens now?
Well I could be boarding an aircraft
With a bomb concealed in somebody's briefcase
And my body will spread through the heavens, across the sky
And my ashes will fall through the cloudburst
What happens now?
What happens now?

Out at the train tracks
I dream of escape
But a song comes onto my iPod
And I realize it's getting late

And I can't take the staring
And the sympathy
And I don't like the questions "How do you feel?"
"How's it going in school?"
and "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Way out
Way out of here
Fade out
Fade out, vanish

And I'm trying to forget you
And I know that I will


In a thousand years, or maybe a week
Burn all your pictures, and cut out your face

The shutters are down and the curtains are closed
And I've covered my tracks
Disposed of the car
Trying to forget even your name and the way that you look
When you're sleeping
Dreaming of this

Way out
Way out of here
Fade out
Fade out, vanish

Waiting... to be born again

Wanting... the saddest kind of pain
Waiting for the day when I will crawl away

Nothing is what I feel
Waiting... for the drugs to make it real
Waiting... for the day when I will crawl away

Waiting... to be disciplined
Aching... for your nails across my skin
Waiting... for the day when I will crawl away

Train set and match spied under the blind
Shiny and contoured the railway winds
And I've heard the sound from my cousin's bed
The hiss of the train at the railway head

Always the summers are slipping away

A 60 ton angel falls to the earth
A pile of old metal a radiant blur
Scars in the country the summer and her

Always the summers are slipping away
Find me a way for making it stay

When I hear the engine pass
I'm kissing you wide
The hissing subsides
I'm in luck

When the evening reaches here
You're tying me up
I'm dying of love
It's ok

I was born in '67
the year of Sgt. Pepper
and Are You Experienced.

Into a suburb of heaven,
yeah it should've been forever.
It all seemed to make so much sense.

But after a while
you realize time flies.
And the best thing that you can do
is take whatever comes to you.
'Cuz time flies.

She said luck is what you make it
you just reach out and take it.
Now let's dance a while.

She said nothing ever happens
if you don't make it happen.
And if you can't laugh and smile.

But after a while
you realize time flies.
And the best thing that you can do
is take whatever comes to you.
'Cuz time flies.

And laughing in the summer showers
that's still the way I see you now.


How does time break down
with no marker, things slow down.
A conference of the strange
and your family is deranged.

I could tell you what I'm thinking
while we sit here drinking,
But I'm not sure where to start.

You see, there's something wrong here,
I'm sorry if I'm not clear,
Can you stop smoking your cigar?

But after a while
you realize time flies.
And the best thing that you can do
is take whatever comes to you.
'Cuz time flies.

And the coat you wore to Alton Towers
Is still the way I see you now.

A systematic killer
Returning from Madrid
Murdered Mozart in his garden
Mussolini ran and hid
He was chosen by his elders
Sitting on the shelf
They passed his heart to Satan
Who showered them with wealth

A Purple Haze crawled on the lawn
Where lonely angels played
And Shakespeare wrote of Vietnam
While a president decayed
Hollow laughter from below
Cracked the sky in two
As Manson dance inside the flames
And the yellow changed to blue

Swinging from a length of rope
Ruth Ellis blew a kiss
Merlin spoke to Norma Jean
And granted her a wish
Mark Chapman stared at fantasy
Bare wires burned his brain
As Sergeant Pepper led the band
Playing through the rain

The third eye on the surface
Opens up my mind
Twin visions in production
This long silence you will find

How many children did I bring into this world?
How many did I lose in the shopping arcade?

This is no rehearsal - play it back
and throw things at the screen
This is no rehearsal - somebody
interpret this for me

And still I remember how I dressed him this morning
And then he was gone - stolen, my only one

Hear the sound of music
Drifting in the aisles
Elevator prozac
Stretching on for miles

The music of the future
Will not entertain
It's only meant to repress
And neutralise your brain

Soul gets squeezed out
Edges get blunt
Demographic
Gives what you want

Now the sound of music
Comes in silver pills
Engineered to suit you
Building cheaper thrills

The music of rebellion
Makes you wanna rage
But it's made by millionaires
Who are nearly twice your age

One of the wonders of the world is going down
It's going down I know
It's one of the blunders of the world that no-one cares
No-one cares enough

Hear the sound of music
Drifting in the aisles
Elevator prozac
Stretching on for miles

The music of the future
Will not entertain
It's only meant to repress
And neutralise your brain

Soul gets squeezed out
Edges get blunt
Demographic
Gives what you want

Now the sound of music
Comes in silver pills
Engineered to suit you
Building cheaper thrills

The music of rebellion
Makes you wanna rage
But it's made by millionaires
Who are nearly twice your age

One of the wonders of the world is going down
It's going down I know
It's one of the blunders of the world that no-one cares
No-one cares enough

Under gas light the joining of hands
Chanting a name over and over
The table tilts, the circle is broken
Doubting no more
They pay what they owe here

Disembodied a luminous hand
Holding the air, passing the current
A voice is channeled a rope is uncoiled
Flicker the light
And someone is here

We go following sorrow to free your
Blood spilling out of the reeds there
Give me a sign I can breathe air
Blood flowing out of the stream there

(Give me something new please, something I can love)

I was pretending to be floating strong
But I was sinking
In to still water

Eyes closed
All of the rest will flow

Then out of darkness I found I could still feel
Something good
Out of the woods

Eyes closed
All of the rest will flow

One simple thing that I never could see
But now I know
All of the rest will flow

Stay with me my angel I found you
Now I don't feel low
All of the rest will flow

Eyes closed
All of the rest will flow

A Caterpillar crawled to me one day and said
"Oh what the hell goes on inside your swollen head?
I don't believe that you can see as much as I
Now close your eyes and tell me what do you say?"

"I watched nine cats dance on the moon
A flamingo stalked into my room
It bowed its head to me and knelt
To reveal the cards it had dealt
An ace, three jacks, two queens, four kings
Then turned them into burning rings
The flames jumped out and chased four mice
Caught by their tails they turned to ice

A cloud appeared outside my door
And through the window saw four more
And on the back of each cloud sat
Two rainbow smiles in wizard's hats
They threw five clocks down on my bed
The chimes danced out on golden threads
And turned to footprints on my wall
Sequined tears began to fall"

The caterpillar gasped at me and said
"My god if that's what's going on inside your head
You can see so much more than I
I think it's time to turn into a butterfly."

> At junction 8 the traffic starts to slow
Artilleries of braking lights and bluish glow
Ascending in a plumage of twisted steel
Shattered glass and confetti dashed upon the wheel
When a car crash gets you off you've lost your grip
When a fuck is not enough you know you've slipped
When the church is full it means you've just been had
When the world has gone to seed you're so detached
Got a feeling that I want you to be there
Driving by on my way to somewhere else
I fill my lungs with a noxious burning smell
There is weed and grey concrete like this for miles
Dead souls in my rear view mirror hitch a ride for a while
I want to be loved

He captured and collected things
And he put them in a shed
He raised a proper family
So he could tie them to a bed

The creator had a mastertape
But he left it in a cab
I stared into the void tonight
The best dream I ever had

He worked himself into the ground
And drove a spike into his head
A voice said "Are you happy now ?
Your sordid home is running red"

Pills and chloroform
All the pages torn

> If you wanna stay
Always here
All these years
The last frontier
It's no concern of theirs
The world outside
Corrupts my child
So trust these eyes
Faith is in your soul
But in these walls
Hormones stall
Dogs will crawl
The vices and the doubt
We resist
All this shit
So kneel submit
Free love
Free love
Feel love in all my sisters
Breathe out
Blind house
You don't need to know their secrets
Believe me
Pray and violate
Abuse your trust
False gods must
Purge their lust
A family that lies
To seal your fate
To take the weight
Of their self-hate
Free love
Free love
Bring love to all my sisters
Breathe out
Blind house
You don't need to know their secrets
Believe me
Breathe out
Blind house
Free love
Feel loved

This is my home, this is my own, we don't like no strangers
Raise the kids good, beat the kids good and tie them up
Spread it wide, my wife, my life, push the camera deeper
I can use, I abuse, my muse, I made them all

This machine
Is there to please
Strip the soul
Fill the hole
A fire to feed
A belt to bleed
Strip the soul
Kill them all

They are not gone, they are not gone, they are only sleeping
In graves, in ways, in clay, underneath the floor
Building walls, overalls, getting bored, I got faulty wiring
Brick it up now, brick it up now, but keep the bones

(Do you want a western home in the rubble?)

Ghosts in the park
Appear just after dark
Killers, children ...
But no-one has a harp
They look like tourists
It makes me want to laugh

Under floorboards
It's hard to fly a kite
Underwater
My cigarette won't light
Standing in the shade
I'm getting frostbite

Strange as I seem
I'm getting stranger by the minute
Look in my dreams
They're getting stranger by the minute

When I'm drowning
You drag me up to you
Rings in the water
My only residue
But you're just fiction
And I'm a twisted boy

This song leaks out onto the pavement
It could be a joke, it could be a statement
The more that I fake it and pretend I don't care
The more you can read in to what isn't there

Maybe it's time to stop swimming
Maybe it's time to find out where I'm at
What I should do and where I should be
But no-one will give me a map

I'll leave now this can't continue
But I forget which door I came through
And I know what the lift can be painfully slow
So I'm happy to leave by the window

You must listen very carefully to what I have to say
There isn't much time, because You Know Who has consumed all the instruments

For many eons now I have been trapped on this planet
He is keeping me here against my will
And sometimes when I press my ear up very close to the concrete
I can hear his daughters sobbing with laughter
Either I am blind, or I have been in darkness ever since the sun exploded four centuries ago

A few hours ago, He Who Keeps Me Here visited me saying,
"God, why do the millions worship you instead of I?
Am I not more powerful, more forgiving and truly compassionate?"
A black liquid was seeping uncontrollably from my mouth
And all I could do was babble incomprehensibly
About a dream I had many moons ago
In it, a clock ticked constantly, maddening my senses
That was all, but it lasted for many days
Until each tick seemed like fragments of glass piercing my scales

He Who Keeps Me Here tells me that one day I will return to earth
And then I will seek my revenge

This means out
This is your way out
Do or drown
Do or drown in torpor

Leave no trace
All my files erased
Burn my clothes
Burn my Prada trainers

Let's sleep together right now
Relieve the pressure somehow
Switch off the future right now
Let's leave forever

This is fate
This is your escape
Leave here now
Leave here now it's over

Let's sleep together right now
Relieve the pressure somehow
Switch off the future right now
Let's leave forever

At the age of sixteen
I grew out of hope
I regarded the cosmos
Through a circle of rope
So I threw out my plans
Ran on to the wheel
And emptied my head
Of all childish ideals
The sleep of no feeling
The sleep of no being
The sleep of no dreaming
I married the first girl
Who wasn't a man
And smiled as the spiders
Ran all over my hands
Made a good living
By dying it's true
As the world in my TV
Leaked on to my shoes

I need you more than you can know
And if I hurt myself it's just for show
I found a better way to curb the pain
You put a trigger here inside my brain

Mother I need her
I'm falling apart
Mother I need her
And it's only the start

I may be nothing now but I will rise
I'll have more followers than jesus christ

Through all the smashing and crashing cars
I love the ground you walk with all my heart

You move in waves
You never retrace
Your newest craze
Straight out of the Face by the bed unread

I'm left behind
Like all the others
Some fall for you
It doesn't make much difference if they do

She changes every time you look
By summer it was all gone - now she's moved on
She called you every other day
So savour it it's all gone - now she's moved on

So for a while
Everything seemed new
Did we connect ?
Or was it all just biding time for you ?

You move in waves
You never retrace
Your newest craze
Straight out of the Face by the bed unread

I'm left behind
Like all the others
Some fall for you
It doesn't make much difference if they do

She changes every time you look
By summer it was all gone - now she's moved on
She called you every other day
So savour it it's all gone - now she's moved on

So for a while
Everything seemed new
Did we connect ?
Or was it all just biding time for you ?

I don't remember
Did something in my past, create a hole.
Don't use your gender.
To drive a stake right through my soul.

I live to function,
On my own is all I know.
No friends to mention,
No destruction, nowhere to go

Shallow, shallow,
Give it to me, give into me
Scissors cutting out your anger
Shallow, shallow,
No good to me, not if you bleed
Bite your tongue ignore the splinter

This city drains me,
Maybe it's the smell of gasoline.
The millions pain me,
It's easier to talk to my PC.

I live to function,
On my own is all I know.
No friends to mention,
No destruction, nowhere to go

Shallow, shallow,
Give into me, give into me
Seasons caught in a triangle,
Shallow, shallow,
No good to me, not if you bleed,
Bite your tongue end on a splinter

Shallow, shallow,
Give into me, give into me
Seasons caught in a triangle
Shallow, shallow,
No good to me, not if you bleed
Bite your tongue end on a splinter

Telepath Carbon trapped under stone
Brother mother pale body is thrown
Only way I know to have fun
Fill up my blood, my veins, my lungs

ESP city - rainy and blue
Burn down this town, I give it to you
Aero shallow, photograph blind
Stage fright, black light, coma divine

No sense of time
Sever tomorrow
Exitless mind - ESP Sever tomorrow

School out invective, losing my voice
Film shredding on in multiple choice
America calls, I must go
Oprah saviour, I feel that low

Never want to be old
And I don't want dependence
It's no fun to be told
That you can't blame your parents anymore
I'm finding it hard
To hang from a star
Don't want to be
Never want to be old
Sullen and bored the kids stay
And in this way they wish away each day…
Stoned in the mall the kids play
And in this way wish away each day…
I don't really know
If I care what is normal
And I' m not really sure
If the pills I've been taking are helping
I'm wasting my life
Hurting inside
I don't really know
And I'm not really sure
Sullen and bored the kids stay
And in this way they wish away each day…
Stoned in the mall the kids play
And in this way wish away each day…
Sullen and bored the kids stay
And in this way they wish away each day…
Stoned in the mall the kids play
And in this way wish away each day…

You think I deserve this
You said I was stupid
All my thoughts are like coal
But Russia on ice is burning a hole

Can't stop myself drinking
Can't stop being me
If I call will you come and will you save me ?

I see the whole thing come down
I blow it to the ground
Well what the hell did you say ?
You said you hate me this way
It's just a matter of time

A drop in the ocean
A significant motion
Nothing melts in this cold
But Russia on ice is burning a hole

Run through forests on a hot Summer day
Trying to break down walls of numbing pain

Give me the freedom to destroy
Give me radioactive toy

Taste the water from a stream of running death
Eat the apple and cough a dying breath

Feel the sun burning through your black skin
Pour me into a hole, inform my next of kin

Run through graveyards on a dusty Winter day
Spit the dirt out and try to say...

You keep me waiting
You keep me alone in a room full of friends
You keep me hating
You keep me listening to the Bends

No amount of pointless days
Can make this go away

You have me on my knees
You have me listless and deranged
You have me in your pocket
You have me distant and estranged

No narcotics in my brain
Can make this go away

I'm sorry that, I'm sorry that I'm not like you
I worry that I don't act the way you'd like me to

You find me wanting
You find me bloodless but inspired
You find me out
You find me hallucinating fire

No narcotics in my brain
Can make this go away

Have we ever been here before?
Running headlong at the floor
Leave me dreaming on a railway track
Wrap me up and send me back

I don't know whose side I'm on
I don't think that I belong 'round here
If I left the stage would that be wrong?

I tried to find myself a better way
I got religion but I went astray
They took my money and I lost my faith

Rain keeps crawling down the glass
The good times never seem to last
Close your eyes and let the thought pass

I tried the capsule and I tried the smoke
I tried to aid escape like normal folk
But I never seemed to get the joke

These are my old clothes
This is a new low
This is my blood flow
This is my headstone

I spend my days with all my friends
They're the ones on whom my life depends
I'm gonna miss them when the series ends

Rain keeps crawling down the glass
(Pull yourself together)
The good times never seem to last
(You know it's not so bad)
Close your eyes and let the thought pass
(Close your eyes and let it pass)

I remember piano lessons
The hours in freezing rooms
Cruel ears and tiny hands
Destroying timeless tunes

She said there's too much out there
Too much already said
You'd better give up hoping
You're better off in bed

You don't need much to speak of
No class, no wit, no soul
Forget you own agenda
Get ready to be sold

I feel now like Christine Keeler
Sleepwaking in the rain
I didn't mean to lose direction
I didn't want that kind of fame

(Take your hands off my land)

Credit me with some intelligence
(if not just credit me)
I come in value packs of ten
(in five varieties)

And even though I got it all now
My only stupid dream
I see you and me together
And how it should have been

I remember piano lessons
Now everything seems clear
You waiting under streetlights
For dreams to disappear

Nothing like this
Felt in her kiss
Cannot resist her
Fell for her charm
? her arms
I keep a photograph
Give me a glimpse
Let me come in
Be there inside her
Here it begins
Here is the sin
Something to lie about

You think you're smart
I think you art
We agree on this
It doesn't work
Feeling like dirt
Feeling like you don't care
We get a room
And in her gloom
She lights a cigarette
Clothes on the bed
"Love me," she said
I loose myself to her

I'm getting feelings I'm hiding too well
Bury the heart-shaped shell
Something broke inside my stomach
I let the pieces lie just where they fell
Being with you is hell

Hair blown in an open car
Summer dress slips down her arm
Hair blown in an open car

Okay what's next?
After the sex
What do we do now?
Finding the time
Drawing the line
And never crossing it
Gave her the hours
Gave her the power
Cannont erase her
Gave her the truth
Gave her the proof
I gave her everything

I'm getting feelings I'm hiding too well
Bury the heart-shaped shell
(I had the feelings [inaudible])
Something broke inside my stomach
I let the pieces lie just where they fell
(I left the pieces where they fell)
Being with you is hell

Hair blown in an open car
Summer dress slips down her arm
Hair blown in an open car
On a drive out to the mall
Hair blown in an open car

Hair blown in an open car
Summer dress slips down your arm
Hair blown in an open car

We go following sorrow to feel your
Blood spilling out of the reeds there
Give me a sign I can breathe air
Blood flowing out of the stream there

(give me something new please, something I can love)

Here is my car, my phone and my TV
I've got it all but you can see through me

But am I here? It's kind of hard to tell
I do a good impression of myself
But what's normal now anyhow?

Sullen and bored the kids stay
And in this way they wish away each day
Stoned in the mall the kids play
And in this way they wish away each day

Prescription drugs they help me through the day
And that restraining order keeps me well at bay


But what's normal now anyway?

Sullen and bored the kids stay
And in this way they wish away each day
Stoned in the mall the kids play
And in this way they wish away each day

Wish I was old and a little sentimental
You gotta see the waves,
not the wine bottle.

The butterfly sailed on the breeze
Past a field of barbed wire trees
Where golden dragons chased around
Pampered poppies on the ground
Two silver trout sat way on high
And watched a royal samurai
Plant two black orchids in a box
And strap it to a laughing fox
A minstrel bought a crooked spoon
He gave it to a blue baboon
Who filled it full of virgin snow
And watched it in the afterglow

Fat toad stood in his ballet shoes
Teaching sixteen kangaroos
How to skip across a lake
They found it hard to stay awake
A pharaoh played a merry tune
And watched nine cats dance on the moon
I didn't know what all this meant
I didn't know why I'd been sent.

The Insignificance version of Nine Cats has the following additional verse at the end:

I threw 5 clocks down on my bed
The chimes danced out on golden threads
And turned to footprints on my wall
Sequined tears began to fall

All the things that I needed
I wasted my chances
I have found myself wanting

When a mother and father
Gave me their problems
I accepted them all

Nothing ever expected
I was rejected
But I came back for more

And my ashes drift beneath the silver sky
Where a boy rides on a bike and never smiles

And my ashes fall over all the things we've said
On a box of photographs under the bed

I will stay in my own world


Under the covers
I will feel safe inside

The kiss that will burn me
Cure me of dreaming
I was always returning

And my ashes find a way beyond the fog
And return to save the child that I forgot

And my ashes fade among the things unseen
And a dream plays in reverse on piano keys

And my ashes drop upon a park in Wales
Never-ending clouds of rain, and distant sails... distant sails

"This announcement will self-destruct in five seconds
One... two... three... four... five"

A tiny flame inside my head
A compromise I never planned
Unravel out the finest trends

And I'm looking at a blank page now
Should have filled it up with words somehow

I whispered something in her ear
I'd bear my soul but she don't hear
The scratching of a mellotron
It always seemed to make her cry
Well maybe she remembers us collecting space up in the sky
The scratching of a mellotron
It always seemed to make her cry
(Nothing rises from ? fingertips, heart it slips)

I lay her gently on my clove
She will leave me, yes I know

And I'm looking at a blank page now
Should have filled it up with words somehow

The scratching of a mellotron
It always seemed to make her cry
Well maybe she remembers us collecting space up in the sky

The scratching of a mellotron
It always seemed to make her cry
(Nothing rises from ? fingertips, heart it slips)
Well maybe she remembers us collecting space up in the sky
(Nothing rises from ? fingertips, heart it slips)

Don't look back into
Don't let the memory or the sound drag you down
Don't look back into
Don't let the memory or the sound drag you down
Don't look back into
Don't let the memory or the sound drag you down
Don't look back into
Don't let the memory or the sound drag you down
Don't look back into
Don't let the memory or the sound drag you down
Don't look back into
Don't let the memory or the sound drag you down
Don't look back into
Don't let the memory or the sound drag you down

Paralysed
Lips of ashes
Synchronised
Blue vein crashes

Touching you inside

Idolised
Black eyes fading
You and I
Connection failing

I drill down inside

Linton Samuel Dawson
Lives in inner space
He hangs around with a circus troupe
Outside the human race

Linton Samuel Dawson
Has just reached 25
Artists travel from outside time
Just to see his rainbow jive

He's bored, He's bored.

Linton Samuel Dawson
Yields his knowledge in a phial
A vivid play on an emerald day
I s experienced in his smile

Linton Samuel Dawson
Visits many open minds
He aids escape to tranquility
From the boredom of mankind

Boredom. From the boredom.
From the boredom of mankind.

The quickest album we ever made (in 3 months flat and within only a few months of the release of the previous one) and we all feel our best work to date. Although superficially it seems to be a continuation of "Stupid Dream" it is a much more intense work - possibly less immediate, but ultimately more rewarding. Lyrically I arrived at a point where I was no longer interested in writing about abstract concepts like war, religion, space...etc... These are very personal and emotionally raw songs. It took me a long time to have the confidence and experience to be able to write them and some of them are dripping with negative emotions (Hatesong and Feel So Low particularly). Feel So Low pleased me a lot as I resisted the temptation to refine the original stream of consciousness words and left the nerve ends dangling.

Musically we wanted to bring back some of the experimental aspects that had been to some degree lost on "Stupid Dream". Richard and I worked on creating some unique keyboard sounds for the album - e.g. the "fairground" on "How is Your Life Today ?" and the "insects" at the end of "Russia On Ice". There was also an influence from industrial and metal music coming through (we'd all been listening to Nine Inch Nails "The Fragile") - for example part of the beauty of the guitar solo on Where We Would Be (my favourite solo of mine to date) comes from the fact that it was played relatively straight but then fed through so many distortion and lo-fi processes that it began to fizz and disintegrate. The riffing guitars on Russia On Ice are pure metal and one of the solos of Hatesong I call my "Korn solo" on account of the fact that the bottom strings on the guitar are tuned down so low that the notes can be bent several tones.

On the other hand there is a whole set of songs where the pastoral sound of long-gone English summers exerts it's influence on me (not for the first time). In a song like "Winding Shot" there are shades of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Nick Drake, although the end result is hopefully pure Porcupine Tree. This effect is accentuated by the fact that many of the instruments and vocals on the album are much more up front and given less of a sheen than on "Stupid Dream" (where the "stadium" production is I think the weakest aspect). Organic is the word I like to use.

As we had on "Stupid Dream" we expanded our musical colours to include things like banjo, hammered dulcimer, the string arrangements of Dave Gregory and several African and Morrocan instruments that Colin brought back from his travels.

To date it's the only album we've made that I still rated highly by the time we'd finished it - even the B-sides and leftovers seemed too good not to be on an album, but we were determined to keep the album below the one hour mark. The only point of contention was the inclusion of the song "The Rest Will Flow". Some of the band didn't really want it on the record, but it sounded so much like possible single that it seemed perverse not to include it.

Favourite tracks - "How is Your Life Today ?", "Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth..." and "Feel So Low" (plus most of the others to be honest).

Steven Wilson


Although it appears to be a continuation of sorts from "Stupid Dream" there are quite obvious differences as well. Certainly on the production side there is a more intense and upfront sound apparent. Also parts of the arrangements are stripped down to the bare essentials. Steven's lyrics became more personal and less ambiguous and so the arrangements by definition became more stripped down and more direct. Much of my keyboard experimenting took place on tracks like "Russia On Ice", "Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth...", "Feel so Low" and "4 Chords That Made a Million"", while other tracks didn't seem to need a great deal of keyboards. I'm not one for playing all over a track if I can't see a genuine need for it.

For me this album has an honesty and emotion that places it above all the other Porcupine Tree albums, although I would also say that not every track is as strong as some individual tracks on past albums. My favourites are "Russia On Ice" and "Feel So Low".

Richard Barbieri

As the cheerless towns pass my window
I can see a washed out moon through the fog
And then a voice inside my head breaks the analogue
And says

"Follow me down to the valley below
You know
Moonlight is bleeding from out of your soul"

I survived against the will of my twisted folk
But in the deafness of my world the silence broke
And said

"Follow me down to the valley below
You know Moonlight is bleeding from out of your soul"

"My David don't you worry
This cold world is not for you
So rest your head upon me
I have strength to carry you"

(Ghosts of the twenties rising Golden summers just holding you)

"Follow me down to the valley below
You know
Moonlight is bleeding from out of your soul
Come to us Lazarus
It's time for you to go"

If you fall asleep with me
You can dream and drowse
The miuntes turn to hours

We could climb a tree or two
And watch the sun go down
Upon our sleepy town

After all the time I spent with you
Summer went away
And we just weren't the same

It's just you and me alone
Not grown ups but not kids
You kissed me on the lips

[instrumental]

Kneel and disconnect
And waste another year
Fill the application
Start a new career

Kneel and disconnect
And waste another year
Fill the application
Start a new career

Jupiter Island is full of pleasures
Glowing gardens holding hidden treasures
Luminous flowers of yellows and greens
Glittering petals that have to be seen
Here's your chance don't let it pass you by
Take my hand and we'll fly

Jupiter Island is surrounded by oceans
Majestic ballerinas with graceful motions
Magenta forests on a crimson sea
The electric clouds ar as vivid as can be
Scarlet moons in a domino sky
Take my hand and we'll fly

Come on let's fly to Jupiter Island
Just take my hand and we'll fly

Jupiter Island is full of mountains
Ruby rivers and sapphire fountains
Chessboard lawns bible black and white
The pink and blue trees are incredibly bright
An orange sunset painted on the sky
Take my hand and we'll fly

Jupiter Island is full of people
But you can't see them unless you want to
Lying in the hay on a hot sunny day
Everyone's happy so no-one's gay
Laughter from the children dances way on high Take my hand and we'll fly

Jupiter Island is full of meadows
Fertile pastures for growing rainbows
Illuminated portraits from strange orchestrations
Lost in a collage of its own creations
Never a chance to wave goodbye
Take my hand and we'll fly

I locked myself inside the capsule
And watched the planet slowly turning blue
The lights before me flashed and sparkled
Holding keys to lives I've wandered through

Circuits buzzing, visions passing
Mysterious and cold upon the screen
Glowing, flowing with the currents
Yet never knowing where I've really been

The floating seeds of timeless travel
Come to rest in planes that don't exist
Worlds of crystal beauty
Dreams so very hard to resist

I've seen the past, I've seen the future
Beyond dimension, into empty space
Finding questions, never answers
Living time behind another face

(Written by Wilson, Barbieri, Edwin and Maitland)

Instrumental

When this freedom stains my coat
With the winter in my throat
When I'm lost I dig the dirt
When I fall I drive the hearse

And silence is another way
Of saying what I wanna say
And lying is another way
Of hoping it will go away
And you were always my mistake...

Given time I fix the roof
Given cash I speak the truth

And silence is another way
Of saying what I wanna say
And lying is another way
Of hoping it will go away
And you were always my mistake...

When I'm down I drive the hearse



When this boredom wears me out
Then the sky begins to cloud
Sleeping with my ball and chain
When she cries I take the blame

And pride is just another way
Of trying to live with my mistakes
Denial is a better way
Of getting through another day
And silence is another way
Of saying what I wanna say
And lying is another way
Of hoping it will go away
And you we're always my mistake...

When I'm down I drive the hearse

The letters pile up in the hallway
Junk mail and bills from the catalogues
And the neighbours have guessed
'Cos I've cancelled the milk
And they don't hear your voice
Through the walls anymore

How is your life today?
How is your life today?

I was kissed on the cheek by a cold mouth
While the taxi was waiting like a getaway car
Each second seems like a lifetime
And the cat it's been staring at me all this time

La la la la la la, la la la la la la...

How is your life today?
How is your life today?

I pull off the road
East of Baldock and Ashford
Feeling for my cell
In the light from the dashboard

Hissing from the road
The smell of rain in the air con
Maybe check the news
Or just put a tape on

Lighting up a smoke
I've got this feeling inside me
Don't feel too good

If I close my eyes
And fell asleep in this layby
Would it all subside
The fever pushing the day by

Motor window wind
I could do with some fresh air
Can't breathe too well

(She waits for me. Home waits for me.)

I guess I should go now
She's waiting to make up
To tell me she's sorry
And how much she missed me
I guess I'm just burnt out
I really should slow down
I'm perfectly fine but
I just need to lie down

We'll grow old together
We'll grow old together
We'll grow old together....

This is a hate song just meant for you
I thought that I'd write it down while I still could
I hope when you hear this you'll want to sue

Oh it's a lonely life in my empty bed
And it's a quiet life that leaks from my head
These are the last rites
The line is dead

Yes, I'm hearing voices too
And I'm more cut up than you

God is in my fingers
God is in my head
God is in the trigger
God is in the lead

God is freedom, God is truth
God is power and God is proof
God is fashion, God is fame
God gives meaning, God gives pain

You can be right like me
With God in the hole you're a righteous soul
I got a halo 'round me, I got a halo 'round me

I'm not the same as you
'Cause I've seen the light and I'm gaining in height now
I got a halo 'round me, I got a halo 'round me
I got a halo 'round my head

God is on the cellphone
God is on the net
God is in the warning
God is in the threat

God is freedom, God is truth
For God is power, God is proof
God is fashion, God is fame
God gives meaning, God gives pain

You can be right like me
With God in the hole you're a righteous soul
I got a halo 'round me, I got a halo 'round me

I'm not the same as you
'Cause I've seen the light and I'm gaining in height now
I got a halo 'round me, I got a halo 'round me
('Cause I've got a halo 'round my head)
I got a halo 'round my head

You can be like me
With God in the hole you're a righteous soul
I got a halo 'round me, I got a halo 'round me

I'm not the same as you
'Cause I've seen the light and I'm gaining in height now
I got a halo 'round me, I got a halo 'round me
I got a halo 'round my head

'Cause I've got a halo 'round my head

A summer day
In garlands I feel secure
A useless faith
That I will get you, somehow

Reach out, I wonder where you are now

Hey, there's you
With placid eyes
Oblivious to what's to come

They locked you up
So I forgot you
Forgot your name, so strange
I wonder if you got out

Open your eyes now
Hear me out before I lose my mind
I've been waiting for hours
Let the salt flow, feel my coil unwind

Give me a smile please
Count the calm and watch
my breathing slow
Winding me up tease
Get inside my head and make it show

Gravity eyelids come down

Touching your oil skin
Slipping hands down
past your waist to find
I've been waiting for hours
Let the salt flow, feel my coil unwind
Go to the edge swim
Brown the eyes that
sleep has rendered blind

1. Gravity eyelids come down
2. Come love so young with
your gold arms so I wake her
3. Here's a will that will glow in the dark -

Feeling are you touching?
Feeling are you blind?
Feeling are you touching?
Feeling all your love

Seen it though a windscreen
Seen it through the clouds
Seen it in a pantry
Seen it in your heart

Feeling are you touching?
Feeling all your love

Feeling are you touching?
Feeling all your love

Six of one a half a dozen
Black guitars and plastic blues
Hide behind a wall of nothing
Nothing said and nothing new

4 Chords that made a million

You belong there on the cover
You are the emperor in new clothes
A man who thinks he owns the future
Will sell your vacuum with his prose

4 Chords that made a million

And then a moron with a cheque book
Will take you out to lunch who knows ?
He will tell you you're a saviour
And then he'll drop you like a stone

4 Chords that made a million

And I have tried and I have died
Trying to get through
But in the end I can't defend you.

4 Chords that made a million

I saw her footprints on the sea
I knew her eyes were watching me
So I ventured further in my mind
In the hope that I would find:

"Tangerine Trees and Marmalade Skies and
Plasticine Porters with Looking Glass Ties"

My mind had formed a mental prison
I cried aloud no-one would listen
Then floating through the heavy mist
My vision took a sudden twist

Empty people stood in grey
Children laughing far away
An empty courtyard wept alone
Rain lashed down on darkened stone

A crystal glove points to the door
A threshold I had crossed before
On turning back all I could see
Were her footprints on the sea.

Nothing is new here underneath the sun
All of the big new charlatans will sneer at us
Barely a flicker of the light to come
Only the people who always think they know best

Nothing is new here underneath the sun
All of the big new charlatans will sneer at us
Barely a flicker of the light to come
Only the people who always think they know best