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Take These Pearls (Hackett/Friedman)
A song about bearing gifts.
Take these pearls from an oyster shell From the depths of the ocean bell From the bottom of the sea Like a wishing well Take these stones fashioned into jewels Like the essence of a half remembered song From the crust of the earth To the limits of the sky
Dark As The Grave (Hackett/Friedman)
A pessimistic view of the human condition.
Dark as night Dark as the grave Dark wherein my friend is laid Sleepwalkers fill the boulevards Pretty girls and backward boys All the voices can be heard An opera of the absurd Dark as night Dark as the grave Dark wherein my friend is laid We welcome you We welcome you The world of chaos far away As the crowd of mourners said Tragedy is nothing new Dark as night
Paint Your Picture (Hackett)
The visualisation of a loved one through brush and canvas or... "Here's looking at you kid!"
I'd like to paint your beauty All over the world I'd like to paint your sadness I'd like to paint your picture
There Are Many Sides To The Night (Hackett)
The story of a streetwalker and her deepest motivation.
Standing under the lamplight In one of the nicer parts of hell Behold this dreamer with rich red ruby lips Some pay for the privilege And some just pay to talk Because there are many sides to the night When Father Thomas lies sleeping His ever watchful sons Divide up the spoils of the day's takings A woman's work is never ever done She's a child a slave a teacher and a fool And then she vanishes from sight Did no one ever tell you There are many sides to the night Standing under the lamplight Selling perfume sweetcorn and lace She looks beautiful from a distance But it's too dark to see her face I do it for my child alone And who would say it's just not right Verily I say unto you There are many sides to the night
Like An Arrow (Hackett)
From an idea as old as Eros.
Like an arrow in the night Like an arrow by the day Come away from your bed at night Leave all those empty halls behind Have no fear of death Have no fear of life The taste of victory ahead The spirit never dies Like an arrow... A mission bell by the ghostly station Tolling in the wind The veins in your hand Stretch like broken trees of winter The last call the last port of entry Like an arrow...
Walking Away From Rainbows (Hackett)
Sometimes the afterglow isn't enough and we must move on.
(Instrumental)
Sierra Quemada (Hackett)
Loosely translated means "the scorched earth."
(Instrumental)
Lost In Your Eyes (Hackett/Colbeck/Degenhardt/Ball)
The harmonica has finally come out the closet - born again through the Blues!
I see the valleys I see the streams I see the mountains and what's in between I hear thunder fall from the sky I see a world Lost in your eyes In my dreams I see you smile I feel the sun I want to stay for a while I hear music just makes me cry I see a world Lost in your eyes A one horse town A dirt road Way in the desert where the cactus' grow I hear you calling me mile after mile I see a world Lost in your eyes
Little America (Hackett/Colbeck/Degenhardt/Ball)
American TV is a guest that has taken up permanent residence in all our homes.
With Lana Turner on the screen beside me The frame is hardly filled by Orson Wells We switch into a Fred and Ginger number That they're dancing oh so well Blowing the blues all night I thought I hard someone say Stars never fade And everyone's dying to play In Little America We got a chinese Elvis painted by Norman Rockwell His part tonight will be played by Richard Pryor The Mason Dixon line divides The free from all the rest so you can sell Oklahoma To Cinderella From Long Island And everyone's dying to play In Little America Lower your standards raise your prices On cable TV Pretty woman seen at the death of a salesman All covered with cream
In The Heart Of The City (Hackett)
A total experience in aural claustrophobia, man!
Standard bearers match to the tick of the clock It's a war against time when you're fronting the flock Determined resolute defiant and strong Noble and Savage know they belong In the heart of the city The battlefield of love a ruffled feathered bed From fluid moist lips the benediction's said You love them and leave them with yesterday's guilt Everything's on schedule in the empire that you built In the heart of the city You close a deal Thursday at 7.45 The train home is empty you're the only man alive You throw away your clothes in a house of clouds The window is sealed the furniture in shrouds In the heart of the city
Vampyre With A Healthy Appetite (Hackett)
Inspired by a newspaper headline about the theft of several pints of blood from a hospital in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
As New Orleans slips far away When the gas lights dim and the street cars fade When the beast within takes on a new shape The blood runs cold make no mistake You're just a vampyre with a healthy appetite And you stay awake half the night A band strikes up and they're starting to play When the sirens wail but they're way too late The crowds don't see they're drunk anyway The inquest said it was coming her way You're just a vampyre with a healthy appetite And you stay awake half the night Well you ran to ground as you always do And then they finally caught up with you Well they sent you down and Old Smokey was waiting but pressure groups being what they are these days you were released after five years at a funny farm in upstate bankrupt New York to walk the streets once more
Tristesse (Friedman)
For Roger Weil - Who knows what lies behind... "that patch of blue we prisoners call the sky" (Oscar Wilde).
(Instrumental)