For a Rainy Day

Your absent-mindedness was foretold in retrospect.
Dealt from the bottom of the deck,
the cards you played, the favours you displayed,
all the words you phrased but never got to say.
l’esprit d’escalier.

As far as this might go this is as good as it will get:
This might go far, you really don’t know yet.
you count all your blessings and regrets,
Mesdames, messieurs make sure to place your bets.
though you’ll forget the promises you made
all those debts are never going to be repaid,
Les jeux sont faits.
just saved up for a rainy day.

And when the truth fails expectations
the best laid plans are in disarray.
Between your destiny and Lady Luck
you come in search of succour,
in search of anything to take the hurt away
now that there’s not much left to say,
holding at bay all your anxious trepidation
but the penny’s dropping anyway
you saved up for a rainy day.

Between presentience and deja vu,
cast adrift on the swell of time
the rainy day’s found you,
the rainy day’s found you.

The Wheels

Gone but unforgotten
memory plays its tricks once more
and still it sticks with me like mud,
the time before
when I was naked and down on the floor.

Just yesterday
I was rocked back on my heels
thrust under the bus
crushed, wondering however I fell beneath the wheels.

So anyway
as my torpid state reveals
I’m stuck in this gear
I’ll always be here where I fell beneath the wheels.

Long ago the moment
marked down as the dice were thrown.
I won’t think twice about the life I came to know
when I was naked and alone.

All those kicks you’ve known,
all those sticks and stones,
all those chicks to roost come home.

Just yesterday
The sticks and stones
I was rocked back on my heels
and all the kicks you’ve known
thrust under the bus
the chicks to roost come home
crushed, wondering however I fell beneath the wheels.

So anyway
as my torpid state reveals
I’m stuck in this gear
I’ll always be here where I fell beneath the wheels.

I’ll always be here,
I will always,
I will always be here.
I will always be.

Heavy Weather

Keep a close watch on your neighbours,
don’t blink in the eye of the storm
bringing rumours of betrayal.
Don’t say that you’ve never been warne

Heavy weather on its way
these are heavy weather days.
Hold together anyway that you can
and tomorrow
maybe we’ll be standing on dry land.

Gangsters in the palace,
barbarians at the gate,
a moral vacuum skews the compass.

Holding on for dear life,
hoping for the best,
knowing that
you’d better hide your sense of helplessness.

Heavy weather on its way
these are heavy weather days.
Come together come what may and then after tomorrow
settle the accounts of yesterday.

Hopiing for a miracle
coming round the bend,
Knowing that we’re closer to the start than to the end

Heavy weather on its way
these are heavy weather days.
Hold together anyway
in these heavy weather days.

Heavy weather in the skies
these are heavy weather signs.
Come together to survive
through these heavy weather times.

Angle of the Curve

It’ll all work out though it’s touch and go
and there’s still something that’s been playing on your nerves.
No, you never seemed to get what you deserved.
Everybody’s seen you barely hanging on;
there, you’re dangling on the angle of the curve.

It’ll all work out but this road you’re on
has some corners coming up that you can’t swerve
Though your tank’s near empty, you’re running on reserve.
Your conduct’s been exemplary,
credit in the bank, oh yeah, you owe your thanks
to the angle of the curve.

You can feel a pattern in the days,
you can trace the shape of time.
While you’re skittering ahead,
barely under control,
pay attention, your instincts hint to you,
concentrate on the zone.
Getting close to it,
step in close to it,
close to holding your own.

It’ll all work out, que sara sara,
your faith’s more honoured in the breach
than in the moments it’s observed.
Planned, a steady course is there for you to serve
accidental forces heavy on your hand.
Time to understand
how your future lands
on the tangent of the curve.

So Much Water

She was ever alone
in the rush of the throng,
had no sense of belonging
to rely upon,
reinventing the story,
always moving along
through the been and gone.

So much water under the bridge.

Trying to find a way through
all the lessons she’s learned
while retracing her steps
across all the bridges that she’s burned,
trying to face down her demons,
trying to trace out the curves
of all the corners she’s already turned.

So much water under the bridge.

All this time she’s been waiting for impatience to ebb and fade,
got the feeling that lately these are the doldrum days.

So much lead in the legs,
so much time that’s gone by,
all the blurring of moments
that flash past in the blink of an eye.
Don’t go jogging the memory,
no more tears left to cry,
all those sleeping dogs, you’d better let them lie.

So much water under the bridge.

Tabula Rasa

Tabula rasa
going out as you came
getting blurred, the impression in
the wax and the wane.

So the voice is broken
so the word’s unspoken
as you slur your name

Tabula rasa
this is how it began
a blank page of experience that came
in with a masterplan
and the bullet’s bitten
all the words unwritten
still you don’t understand

Tabula rasa
go out as you came in,
stark naked, your innocence wearing thin
as you count your blessings
there’ll be no confessing.
Yeah, you never bought in
to original sin.

Oh the End

Shadowed in the shallows
by a wave of jamais vu
and I don’t know where I’m going
and I don’t know what to do.
I can’t believe the evidence of my own eyes is true

Can’t believe it, don’t believe
the evidence of my senses.
Can’t believe quite what I see.

Light on the horizon
diamonds in the rough,
when I asked you for your guidance
all the love you gave was tough.
Try as I might I could never quite get enough.
I could never quite get enough of that,
no you let me down and left me flat.
Long ago and far away
Just imagine that.
right before my eyes
This will surely come as no surprise.
once upon a time I’d say
Well, I’ll eat my hat.
this can’t be denied.
This is how we reach the great divide.
Long ago and far away
you were on my side.

Where have you gone?
Oh where have you gone?
So long
you have gone away.

Red Flags (in the sunset)

Red flags in the sunset
you just got cornered in the bar,
they say there’s somewhere great to go to,
suggest you pile in to their car.

Count on your guardian angel,
hold tight and count to ten
You need to find your way out of here –
these people are not your friends.
I guess you know that you’re in trouble
by the pricking of the skin.
You didn’t pay enough attention
when you knocked back the Mickey Finn
And now you feel a little crazy,
you’re slipping out of control.

She’s all fur coat and no knickers
in the back of the Mercedes Benz.
This isn’t good for your ticker,
these people are not your friends.
He’s driving close to the limit
as he slides into the hairpin bends.
Red flags in the sunset,
these people are not your friends.

You’ll Never Know

Your secret’s safely in the grave,
nobody will remember all the damns you never gave,
but does the leave you take betoken
easy come or easy go?
You’ll never know.

Your past compadres raise a glass to absent friends
as though the good times that you had will never end
but do they still harbour some resentment
for what happened long ago?
You’ll never know.

The character you played so enigmatic,
you’re not sure what it’s all about
but when you’re gone the plot moves on
and you’ll be written out.

Your options dwindle as your lingering hopes expire;
but will some spark, rekindled, halt the dousing of the fire?
Now is the story done and dusted
or recounted blow by blow?
You’ll never know.

The Half of It

I couldn’t see the timber for the forest,
I couldn’t hear the signal for the noise.
Out of a clear blue sky the shockwave on its way
to knock me off the ledge where I was poised.

I was over-eager for the future,
I wasn’t ready for the wake-up call.
I couldn’t feel the ground ashake beneath my feet,
I didn’t see the writing on the wall.

Nobody ever knows quite what’s going to happen.
So many promises sold out on the cheap.

All the promises,
you made so many promises
that you’ll never keep.

Well I never,
no, I never did see it coming,
I never knew the half of it.

Nobody ever knows quite what’s going to happen.
No, but the speed of it still takes you by surprise.

Oh, the speed of it
Can’t believe it happened
right before my eyes.

Well I never,
no, I never did see it coming,
I never knew the half of it.
Well I never,
no I never did, never saw it coming.
I never knew,
no I never, no I never did, never saw it coming.
I never knew the half of it.

And When He Ran

And when he ran across the fields
it filled my heart with the pure
spirit of life and joy,
our lovely boy.

On borrowed time our way we wend,
knowing each faltering step
is drawing him closer to the end, our faithful friend.

His time was up a while ago,
his legs were shot,
he didn’t know quite where he was,
just how scared he was
to be left alone.
Now he’s relying on us
to see him home.

And now his ghost runs in the fields
and my heart aches for the shared times we enjoyed.
Our lovely boy,
beloved boy,
our lovely boy.