Let's face the truth, the deed is done
Look at me now babe, and say I'm still the one
Just who are we trying to defend
A burnt-out building should be condemned

Baby, I don't even know you anymore, do I?

Don't look forlorn, don't look so sad
Deep down you know I was always bad
You say, "I don't know even know you anymore (baby)
I don't even know if I'm sure what I want"

Maybe a better man could understand
Maybe a better man could be your friend
Maybe a better man who would hold you
Like I'll never really hold you
Maybe he could love you so that baby, I may be a better man

Yes I know, things have changed
Once we were lovers, now we ain't even friends
And maybe love, don't ask me why,
Is something for which I ain't qualified
You say, "I can't even see the boy you were (baby)
And I don't think it's good to even be here anymore"

Maybe a better man could understand
Maybe a better man could be your friend
Maybe a better man could hold you like I'll never really hold you
Maybe he could love you so that baby, I may be a better man

Maybe a better man could be your friend
Maybe a better man could understand
Maybe a better man wouldn't leave you
Wouldn't hurt you and deceive you
Wouldn't leave you to believe that someday he may be a better man

Would be your friend
And understand so that you'd never need again
A better man
A better man
A better man

a grimace not a smile

All the shakers and the movers
They are queuing up to climb
The clean white steps to the furher
Of our disinfected times

He's a Christian and a groover,
He's the silk out off the slides
He is little empire hoover
Of those willing little minds
And look their lips are mimicking his sales-pitch style
That's a grimace not a smile

So the road to hope is open
We can all be satisfied
That the dream that's lying broken
Can now just be denied
There's a spirit in the country
There's a face to fit that pride
And the mandarins aren't moping
They are grinning at his side
Yeah, look their lips are mimicking that home spun style
That's a grimace not a smile

Wish I could place this
Bittersweet taste I get each time
Those grinning faces
Reveal a trace of what's hiding behind
Those masks of mediocrity they've been wearing all the while
Is a grimace not a smile

a little luck
(Currie)

Have you not met her?
Well, let me tell ya something first, oh yes,
She arrives and your whole life hurts
And you might be forgiven for killing to be with her

Each little gesture
Each little look cuts through your heart, oh yes,
You'll be wishing you never had met
Like I keep wishing that she would ditch him yet

And I know what you're going to say, I want an impossible thing
But you never know what a little luck can bring
Yeah, you'll never know what a little luck can bring

Before you see her
Just think how he must once offend
She speaks and your day just melts
And if I wasn't so straight I would change their arrangement myself

But you get crazy
Just watch the way she says his name, oh yes,
There's only so much you can take
So call me romantic, but I got a hunch he's going out of date

And I know what you're going to say, I want an impossible thing
But you never know what a little luck can bring
Yeah, you never know what a little luck can bring

angel on the roof
(Currie)

Maybe I don't understand it
Maybe I was never meant to know
I heard he had the whole world in his hands now
But everything is still out of control

Maybe it's his way of explaining
Maybe he's just showing me the way
He gave the gift of love when I was lonely
Then he went and took that gift away

Now all the true believers say that she'll come back again
But no one ever shows me the proof
And when you hear the thunder growing louder than the rain
They'll tell you it's an angel on the roof

Maybe I'm not meant to question
How it is that this has come to be
The dream that I built at his suggestion
Has completely failed as far as I can see

Now all the true believers say that she'll come back again
But no one ever shows me the proof
And when you hear the thunder growing louder than the rain
They'll tell you it's an angel on the roof

And signs say call on Jesus, save yourself from sin
But right now I'd rather have a hangover than have to talk to him

Maybe I don't know the answer
Maybe now someday I shall be saved
But since he took her from this bed and blessed her
I see nothing but a mattress and a grave

Now all the true believers say that she'll come back again
But no one ever shows me the proof
And when you hear the thunder growing louder than the rain
They'll tell you it's an angel on the roof
They'll tell you it's an angel on the roof

another letter home
(Currie)

There's a true blue moon in the black city sky
But it looks white as an eyeball from here
And I wonder tonight, does it look white from where you are too?

And so far every morning, I wake up missing you
The sweat in my T-shirts and dust in my shoes
Reminds me that paradise is only a point of view

You know, everybody here seems to be sleepwalking
And pretending that they're free
But they are all owned by Coca-Cola and maintained by vitamin C

And there's freak shows and strip shows and theme parks and all those
Standard distractions and curiosities
So I smile at strangers like this is the place to be
But if you took away the sunshine, dirt would be all you'd see

And someone should tell me how to stop feeling small
Between sky-scraping offices and 20 ft Marlboros
The squeeze of a hand suggests love but first "How do you do?"

And it's all so sincere here it just seems insane
Last night somebody told me that there's two ways to bane:
you can kill someone or you can dress up and change your name

And you can be a has-been without having been anything
But the light relief at the end of the news when the hill of things you've thrown away
Is bigger than the things you've used
But they say you can still see your face in the polish on the President's shoes

So everyone's laughing and living in style
The bill for the dentist as big as the smile
I open my eyes and toothpaste is all I see
You know, everyone's so friendly here they just postponed WW3

april the first
(Currie)

I woke up to bells this morning, I woke up to birds
I woke up to someone yawning and that yawn was hers
I was dreaming of a scene where all my life was cursed
By the Law of Love which states that things will just get worse
When she turned 'round and said she loved me so much that it hurt
I thought it must be April the First

I put my hand upon my heart and swear I never leave
That she wanted love not just a room she could come to
I recall her asking me what I was born to do
I said, "There's no place for me, I'm simply passing through"
When she turned 'round and said she loved me so much that it hurt
I thought it must be April the First

And by the Law of Averages, this won't last long
By the look of happiness, she'll soon be gone
But by the looks of things, I could be wrong
I could be wrong

So we went down to Glittertown and bought ourselves a ring
When she announced that now she was in love with everything
But I could not unlock the pessimism in my soul
Surely scenes disasterly and rings and things get sold
When she turned 'round and said she loved me so much that it hurt
I thought it must be April the First

And by the Law of Averages, this won't last long
By the look of happiness, she'll soon be gone
But by the looks of things, I could be wrong
I could be wrong

I woke up to bells this morning, I woke up to birds
I woke up to someone yawning and that yawn was hers
I was dreaming of a scene where all my life was cursed
By the Law of Love which states that things will just get worse
When she turned 'round and said she loved me so much that it hurt
Yah when she turned 'round and said she loved me so much that it hurt
Well she turned 'round and said she loved me so much that it hurt
I thought it must be April the First

before the evening steals the afternoon
(Currie)

Lovers they walk on the bright side of the street
And the city it shines in surprise in the ice cream heat
And I want to be kissed in the haze of this hotel room
Before the evening steals the afternoon

And the traffic it shakes as my travel shaver drones
And the maid she mistakes my 'come in' for a 'please leave me alone'
But I want to be held in the swell of her sweet perfume
Before the evening steals the afternoon

Before the daylight dies and the dusty sky gets rusted up with tungsten
Before the phony night stakes its claim on walkers waiting at the junction

From the blue shade of the park, couples emerge
Dropping hands like they're still scared to get caught
But I want to be caught in their rage of embraces too
Before the evening steals the afternoon

bye bye pride
(Foster/McLennan)

The white moon appears like a hole in the sky
The mangroves grow quiet
In la Brisa de la Palma
A teenage Rasputin takes the sting from a gin
"When a woman learns to walk she's not dependent anymore"
A line from a letter, May 24
And out on the bay the current is strong
A boat can go lost

But I didn't know someone could be so lonesome
Didn't know a heart could be tied up and held for ransom

So take your shoes and go outside
Stride over stride
Walk to that tide
'Cause the door is open wide

Turned the fan off and went for a walk by the lights down on Shield Street
The birds in the trees open their wings and he goes home again
He dreams resistance, they talk commitment
Things change over long distance
Took the shirt from his back and the eyes from his head
And left him for dead

But I didn't know someone could be so lonesome
Didn't know a heart could be tied up and held for ransom

So take your shoes and go outside
Stride over stride
Walk to that tide
Because the door is open wide

They took pride
They took your pride
They took pride
They took your pride
But I didn't know someone could be so lonesome
Didn't know a heart could be tied up and held for ransom

So take your shoes and go outside
Stride over stride
Walk to that tide
Because the door is always open wide.
Bye bye pride
'Cause the door is always open wide...

canned laughter
(Currie)

I got a heart, I can't feel
Those pretty fingers could never steel
You've got a lightness in your way
I swear is just politeness these days

Canned laughter can't hide
Our weak impressions of real life
I make some gesture, you cheer
Canned laughter is all I hear

A pretty moon hangs like a light
In some ridiculous lampoon of the sky
And cute little pictures of you and I
Illicit well cued swoons of delight

Canned laughter can't hide
Our weak impressions of real life
I make some gesture, you cheer
Canned laughter is all I hear

Canned laughter is all I hear

charlie's bar
Currie/Harvie/Tolland/Tyagi

here will be snow on the highway tonight
Gonna be hard to keep them steers alive
Besides the cold I don't know
What's so special bout tonight
Just one more December 25
They call it Christmas in Milwaukee
They call it Yuletide in Oyster Bay
But right here in Charlie's Bar
We don't give it a name
Because in Charlie's it is Christmas everyday
And through the glow of my whiskey glass I see
Fairy lights and tinsel round a tree
But that child in the manger's a stranger to me
My sweet lord ain't as sweet as bourbon tastes to me
They call it Christmas in Milwaukee
They call it Yuletide in Oyster Bay
But right here in Charlie's Bar
We don't give it a name
Because in Charlie's it is Christmas everyday
And if you're tired of life
Charlie's is the place
Where you can wipe that frown away
[Merry Christmas everybody]
They call it Christmas in Milwaukee
They call it Noel in Critters Creek
But right here in Charlie's Bar
We don't give it a name
Because in Charlie's we are all too drunk to speak

cindy incidentally
(Stewart/Wood/McLagan)

Oh Cindy, ain't you noticed
several of your friends have moved on
And the street outside is just a little too quiet
And your local paper's run out of news
I'm not persuading you or disengaging you
But Cindy, you and me got to move

Can you refuse, no time to lose
We'll hit the high road early in morning
Don't be late, don't hesitate
The streets can pass just as fast as lightning
Oh Cindy, incidentally, baby I ain't puttin' you on

Can you refuse, no time to loose
We'll hit the high road early in morning
Don't be late, don't hesitate
The streets can pass just as fast as lightning

Oh Cindy, don't you worry
'Cause between us we can make it through
There ain't nothing, no no nothing, in the world I can do without you

So Cindy, get your coat on
Leave your rent with the gent up in the penthouse
Turn your music so loud
Let's attract a big crowd
And drink a round till the town says goodbye

cry to be found
(Currie/Harvie)

If you think your mind is ready
Then open your heart and let it fall
If you keep on hiding from me
You're not gonna' live your life at all

Cause' if it's love that you want
You've gotta' give me more than you've shown
Because the sweet light of love won't come down
If you don't cry, cry to be found
If you don't cry, cry to be found

So get yourself together, let it
Be something you'll treasure for evermore
Make me come out lookin' for it
And show me you're worth me waitin' for

Cause' if it's love that you want
You've gotta' give me more than you've shown
Because the sweet light of love won't come down
If you don't cry, cry to be found
If you don't cry, cry to be found

If you could give me a flag to follow
A bright shiny path toward your door
Then you might get somewhere at last
That you wanted to go, ooh yeah

Cause' if it's love that you want
You've gotta' give me more than you've shown
Because the sweet light of love won't come down
If you don't cry, cry to be found
If you don't cry, cry to be found

Cry, cry, what you waiting for
Cry, if you don't cry, (if you don't cry)
Cry, if you don't cry, you're not gonna' live your life
(Cry), you're not gonna' live your life at all
(Cry), c'mon, show me you're worth me waitin' for
(Cry,), oooh (cry), cry, cry, cry, cry, cry

don't come home too soon
(Currie)

So long, go on and do your best,
Let all France have whiskey on it's breath,
The world may not be shaking yet but you might prove them wrong,
Even long shots make it

So go then, out into history,
and show them how easy it can be,
you might not believe it yet but pretty soon you'll see,
Even long shots make it,

Just don't come home too soon,
Just don't come home too soon,

And I don't care what people say,
we can laugh it all away,
But if I have a dream at all for once you won't be on that stupid plane

And the world may not be shaking yet,
but you might prove them wrong,
Even long shots make it

Just don't come home too soon,
Just don't come home too soon,
I don't care what people say (Just don't come home too soon)
We're gonna laugh it all the way (Just don't come home too soon)
I don't care what people say (Just don't come home too soon)
We're gonna laugh it all the way (Just don't come home too soon)
I don't care what people say (Just don't come home too soon)
We're gonna laugh it all the way (Just don't come home too soon)
I don't care what people say (Just don't come home too soon)
We're gonna laugh it all the way (Just don't come home too soon)

don't cry no tears
(Young)

Don't cry no tears around me
Don't cry no tears around me
'Cause when all the water's gone, the feeling lingers on
Yeah true love, it ain't too hard to see
So don't cry no tears around me

Well I wonder who's with her tonight
And I wonder who's holding her tight
'Cause there is nothing I can say to make him go away
Yeah true love, it ain't too hard to see
So don't cry no tears around me

'Cause when all the water's is gone
The feeling lingers on
Yeah true love, it ain't too hard to see
So don't cry no tears around me
Don't cry no tears around me

'Cause there's nothing I can say to make him go away
Yeah true love, it ain't too hard to see
So don't cry no tears around me
Don't cry no tears around me

don't I look like the guy you used to hate?
(Currie)

Oh Judy do you remember me
I'm second from the left in the black hat
We gave away our innocence when we were fifteen
and since then I've been trying to get mine back

You were the cutest of the crop
I was the second biggest drinker in the whole hip flock
And everybody thought we were headed for the rocks
But I guess that I got lost

So take a look at these flash-lit photographs, you beautiful fake
Don't I look like the kind of guy you used to hate?

Well it was summer, I think, when you said to me,
"Let's just run away"
But somewhere on that road I got married to monotony
And that's what pays this wage

And these tiny symbols of success
Like my black chauffeurs forced friendliness
Are less the spoils of spiritual wealth
Then symptoms of distress

So take a look at these flash-lit photographs, you beautiful fake
Don't I look like the kind of guy you used to hate?

Now everybody thinks that it's respectable
To get up like a dog each day
But you used to say, "Just shoot me baby
if I ever end up that way"

So take a look at these flash-lit photographs, you beautiful fake
Don't I look like the kind of guy
Don't I look like the kind of guy
Now I look like the kind of guy you used to hate

drowned on dry land
(Currie)

when the world is full of strangers
and your nights are dark and dangerous
there´s a place where you can hang, just let it go

when your eyes see only sorrow
and your life seems somehow borrowed
and those long promised tomorrows never show

well come on down we´re waiting for you
we´ve got a special evening planned
we´re gonna push the boat out or ya´
might get drowned on dry land

when the road looks long and lonely
when the sky is overloaded
when you feel like your the only one in pain

when your smile gets weak and weary
when your weirded out and wary
and you long to be somewhere they know your name

well come on down we´re waiting for you
we´got a special evening planned
were gonna push the boat out or ya´
might get drowned on dry land

yeah you can try to take,and to hide and I try to fake it
yeah you can try to make a stand
but someday they will find you shaking
and holding up your hands saying
some one take me back to some way out where that I
I understand
I understand

When your will to live is choking
And your spirit has been broken
When the whole damn thing seems token and mundane

When the blackness all around you
Cramps you out and hounds you
Picks you up and crowns you king of the land

Well come on down we´re waiting for you
We got a special evening planned
Were gonna push the boat out or ya´
You might get drowned on dry land

evidence
(Currie)

Saturday night, the lights are all lit up
There's a bottle of wine beside an overfilled paper cup
And the cigarette she left lit is all burned up
But the heat from where she lay is not

Like smoke from factories, we leave our heat behind
Like wound down batteries, hearts stop sometime
And between these sheets her perfume lingers on
And in a couple of weeks all the evidence will be gone

Like a dust free patch where a magazine lay
A girl leaves a gap when she goes, but someone else fills it up someday

Like smoke from factories, we leave our heat behind
Like wound down batteries, hearts stop sometime

She took away the daydream leaving nothing but daily life
She took away almost everything but if you look you'll find
Evidence she left behind:

A blue bar of soap left on the sink
And lipstick 'round the last glass she used to drink
And those burnt-up books of matches that she kept
And heat from the mattress where she slept

Like smoke from factories, we leave our heat behind
Like wound down batteries, hearts stop sometime

fred partington's daughter
(Currie)

I was sittin' in this five star place going nowhere fast
When she caught my attention through the bottom of my glass
She was a waitress in the hotel above this smoky bar
She got up at dawn for breakfast and worked on 'til it got dark
And at six o'clock when her shift was up she'd drink the night away
Well wouldn't you if you served gentlemen all day

Well she told me where she came from was a petty kind of town
How her parents became born-agains after her brother got knocked down
And how she found the magazines in the boot of daddy's car
And he told her he was weak sometimes, just like how all gentlemen are
And in summer she'd work in his shop and then cry the night away
Well wouldn't you if you served gentlemen all day

So she left her home and family one cloudy afternoon
And she came here with her girlfriend who had found them both a room
And everyday they'd wake up early and go looking for a wage
In high-heels and makeup they would lie about their age
With her first job as a barmaid she's just dream her shift away
Well wouldn't you if you served gentlemen all day

And one day by the dole office a car window rolled down
And a gentleman asked for directions to her old home town
And it transpired he knew her family and he owned a string of bars
So he offered her a job if she would kiss him in his car
So it was that she accepted his advance of one week's pay
Well wouldn't you if you served gentlemen all day

And as she told me all these tales she picked a scab around her wrist
That she confessed it was self-inflicted with a whisky glass like this
Then she game her name and number to me -- I did not give mine
She said maybe I should call her for some fun some time

And the funniest thing was that that name stuck in my head
And eight months later it was in a headline that I read
They had pulled her out the river in that same black dress
And she lay there quite the lady for the gentlemen of the press
And her picture in the paper looked so small and far away
Well wouldn't you if you served gentlemen all day

in the frame
(Currie)

Put me in your pocket now, put me in your dress
I will remain the one you loved best
Don't try to rip me up
If I hurt you when
Everything is fowled up at the end

Let me always stay now
Laughing as you say, "How
do I always look like I'm in pain?"
And you always get your finger in the frame

Put me in your bottom drawer under old exams
There I will be always your cheating hand
Don't try to send me back in some maudlin phase
What has developed here you can't erase

Let me always stay now
Laughing as you say, "How
do I always look like I'm in pain?"
And you always get your finger in the frame

And maybe all the fights will never happen
Maybe nothing's going to change
Maybe I'll be always laughing
Nothing standing in the way
Nothing clouding up the future
Not the faintest threat of rain
Nothing clouding up the picture
But a finger in the frame

So put me in the pocket of this very dress
And I will remain the one you loved best

And I will always stay now
Laughing as you say, "How
do I always look like I'm in pain?"
And you will always have your finger in the frame

in the meantime
(Currie)

Maybe you are crying now
Or maybe you're relieved
I guess we both stopped trying Baby to believe

And maybe you are hurting badly
Or maybe you feel free
Taking one last journey with me away from you and me

But who is there to go to now
and what are we to do
Living in the meantime until we find somebody new

Maybe this will help you now
Give you room to breathe
Or maybe all the pain you feel will never ever leave

And who is there to turn to now
Who can help us make it through
Living in the meantime until we find somebody new

So you said you loved me baby
For the last time now it seems
And I said I loved you baby, but I don't know what that means

And who is there to lie to now
How do I survive this without you
Living in the meantime until we find somebody new

learn to cry
(Currie)

It's twelve o'clock, the TV's on and I'm just sittin' around
I'm restless and blue, but I can't figure out why
As the drunks on the park benches are putting their blankets down
I'm thinking boy, you'd better learn to cry

Well I could go to sleep or else recourse to alcohol
I could break up some of this room or just go outside
I could turn up some old hit so loud I can't hear it anymore
Sayin' boy, you'd better learn to cry
Boy, you'd better learn to cry

Girlfriends and wives punctuate your silence somehow
In darkened rooms in flickering black and white
She says all the actors in this movie are probably dead by now
You're thinkin' boy, you'd better learn to cry
Boy, you'd better learn to cry

A familiar face with a loving smile greets you every day
And failure seeps a little deeper through your life
Yeah sure you gave some girl your heart, but you never used it anyway
Sayin' boy, you better learn to cry
Boy, you'd better learn to cry

life by mistake
(Currie)

So you were right when you said I was just a fake
You just got used and when you're used you're thrown away
Look at me now, look at the lines upon my face
And look at my crowd, haven't we all lived like it's a race

And there are times I sense the trails of pain I leave
When over the road there hangs those springtime lynching trees
Just look around, everyone's acting the same way
In a playground town where we can all live like it's a race
Where we can all live for we can take
But haven't we all lived life by mistake

And haven't we all chased time
Like a paper cup down the street and up the stairs
And haven't we all found the door is shut
And the keys are everywhere
In this life by mistake

And there are moments when the heavens open wide
When you can hold your dreams and see your future bright
Look at me now, haven't I tried to do what's right
The way I know how, I have acquired my life like a taste
And I have tried to live the right way
But I have lived my life by mistake

lighten up the load
(Currie)

I've been waiting in this station for what seems like a year
It's midday now but I don't trust the clocks they have in here
And maybe 'round the corner you'll be stepping off that bus
And then I will remember what it feels like to be us

And now the fog is creeping 'round the factories and farms
I hope to hell you'll make it to assail me with your charms
'Cause all I want to do now Babe is hold you in my arms
So put your bags beside me Baby right here in the road
Put 'em down and lighten up the load
Put 'em down and lighten up the load

I wonder how you'll look at me after all this time
I wonder how much things have rearranged within your mind
'Cause I'll be so relieved to see you stepping off that bus
'Cause then I will remember what it fells like to be us

Will you stand here smiling with your hands upon your hips
Wearing the same lipstick I last tasted on your lips
'Cause I just want you right now Baby at my fingertips
So put your bags beside me Baby right here in the road
Put 'em down and lighten up the load
Put 'em down and lighten up the load

If what you're carrying is as heavy as my heart
You'll need a weeks recovery here within my arms
So put your bags beside me Baby right here in the road
Put 'em down and lighten up the load

So as I'm waiting in this station feeling famished and afraid
The 8:15 from London comes in 8 minutes delayed
And as I'm searching for your features I'm rehearsing what I'll say
"Put your bags beside me Baby right here in the road...
Put 'em down and lighten up the load
Put 'em down and lighten up the load"

lines running north

She didn't answer the letters
She didn't return my calls
All the sweet nothings, deep meaning and pleadings still whisper around in the lines
Running north...

She didn't come to the playground
She didn't pick up the phone
So all that I think about coming to England is lost in the humming of lines
Running north....

Can't you hear?
Can't you hear?
Can't you hear?
Can't you hear?

She's in a car in the country
I'm in a house in the town
She doesn't know of those telegram notes
Of yelling and swearing and crying

Can't you hear?
Can't you hear?
I'm talking to nothing but time
I'm talking to you in the lines
Running north...

long journey home
(Currie)

By the time you get to hear this I'll be long gone down the road
Without a toothbrush or a suitcase in a world I didn't know
By the time you get through college, by the time you learn to drive
I'll be picking thought the garbage of my life

By the time you get adjusted to your objectionable role
I'll be deleted, deselected from that very long street you know
When you've lost your sense of direction and burned every happiness you know
I'll have made my last connection on the long journey home

By the time you get to hear this you'll be completely alone
Counting down the hours to your destination on your long journey home

long way down
(Currie)

It's been a long way down
From what I was then to what I'm now
I was up there and baby you were proud
Yeah, it's been a long way down

It's been a slow road back
To having nothing again, from having that
You were mine babe, and we were right on track
Yeah, it's been a slow road back

It's been a long way down
I was high, but you were right about how
The higher you get on love
The longer it takes to forget and get out of

It's been a hard trail home
We went somewhere I've never known
From living it up Babe, to waking up alone
It's been a hard trail home

It's been a long way down
I was high, but you were right about how
The longer the dream goes on
The harder the fall will seem when it has gone

It's been a long way down
We had everything heaven would allow
From the dizzy heights to the life I'm living now
It's been a long way down

low friends in high places
(Currie / Harvie)

Suicide, still here, everybody's giving
I'm the King of cube in a town full of swinging

Will you be my guy now
Need help to find my way out

Should buy stuff from the hippie in the kitchen

I got low friends in high places
Low friends in high places

All the drones are itchin' for admission
But I cut them out quick and I give up opposition

Don't let me come down
I feel like I've always known you

Can't cut just a little in admission

I got low friends in high places
Low friends in high places

Jump in . . . j-j-j-jump . . .

Jump in, shoot out, burn up the building
Access is crowded, but the membership is filling

Low friends in high places
Low friends in high places
Low friends in high places
Low friends in high places

more than you'd ever know
(Currie)

I bet you I can tell you just how much I love you
Quicker than you'd ever know
I won't send you flowers or take you to some fancy show
'Cause I can tell you quicker than you'd ever know

I love you
I love you
See, there you go

I bet you I can tell you just how much I love
More simply than you'd ever know
I won't buy you no string of pearls, I won't follow you wherever you go
'Cause I can tell you more simply that you'd ever know

I love you
I love you
I love you
See, I told you so

no holding on
(Currie)

Look behind these eyes, honey, what do you see?
I'm not sure that I know
And if it's the man that you imagined was me
Make sure that he knows there's no holding on

I told you some secrets and I told you some lies
Just 'cause you were near
And if you didn't love me with those deep brown eyes
I might not still be here; there's no holding on

And if you had to leave me honey I wouldn't care
I put no faith in dreams
And someday you might walk away and leave me somewhere
'Cause that's what freedom means: there's no holding on

Hold onto your memories
But don't hold onto love
Love's got a knack of disappearing
Leaving you the lonely one
Leaving you still holding on

Five little knuckles holding one little hand
Just to keep it warm
So don't start thinking that I'm that kind of man
'Cause habits will get born; there's no holding on

Hold onto your memories
But don't hold onto love
Love's got a knack of disappearing
Leaving you the lonely one
Leaving you still holding on

And if you had to leave me honey I wouldn't care
I put no faith in dreams
And someday you might walk away and leave me somewhere
'Cause that's what freedom means: there's no holding on
There's no holding on....

one step at a time
(Currie)

Feel so lucky, feel so free
I got one hand around your waist,
And it feels real good to me

You've got the motion, and you've got me
And the music's slow and pretty
And we step so silently

But I don't know, where we're going
And I don't know what we'll find
But if the music's right, we'll follow tide
Takin' one step at a time

Take it easy, take it sweet
Can you feel our troubles fading
Like the graffiti down our street

So let the traffic take the strain
Let's you and I just listen
To the blood run through our vains

Cause' I don't know where we're going
And I don't know what we'll find
But if the flow is strong, we'll float along
Takin' one step at a time

And if it should fall this very day
That all we ever had was just a stupid act
Don't try to say, "baby it's fine"
Just let me watch you walk away
Honey one step at a time

Cause' I don't know where we're going
And I don't know what we'll find
But if the music's right, we'll follow tide
And if the light is lit, we'll stick within
If the stars are shining, we'll keep on climbin'
One step at a time

out in the wind
(Currie/Harvie/Tolland/Tyagi)

All I know, is that the globe is flat not round
And we are fenced in
Between these horizons lie a hundred houses
Crowded round the moon
And it seems you're in my dreams but I haven't seen
You in my room
And you and I out in the wind
Between the horizons that fence us in
And all I know that if to pray is not proud
I should be screaming out loud for you
Like the slow rolling clouds that bring the thunder From the ground beneath
But my shaking hands which were not planned gave me away
Before I could speak
So, if I could I know what I should do
I should be screaming out loud for you
All I know is that on an earth that's flat
Lost people will come back
And on top of that there's the fact
That history repeats itself
Like new clouds bring the same old rain
And I must forget how my hand shook
When I scribbled down your name
So, all I know is that on an earth that's flat
We'll meet again
So while you're stealing your wages
And doing your time
Remember, I'm stealing kisses from a bottle of wine
I know the darkness running down on me
With a fake sarcastic grin
You and I are still out in the wind
Out in the wind
So someday, where'll I be, smiling at a wife
Like she's a stranger to me
And looking back, still fenced in
We're likely wishing we were both out in the wind again
Where a star could get stuck on a mirror
Where the moon might get caught in a tree
Well anything can happen
And where everything must be
Where the thunder will go over and you'd be screaming
Out loud for me
All I know is that on an earth that's flat lost people will come by
And on top of that there's the fact that history repeats itself
Like new clouds bring the same old rain
And I just regret missing that waiting train
That someone had uncoupled again
All I know is that on an earth that's flat
We'll meet again

So while you're stealing your wages
And doing your time
Remember, I'm stealing kisses from a bottle of wine
I know the darkness running down on me
With a fake sarcastic grin
You and I are still out in the wind
Out in the wind

paper thin
(Currie)

He was a self made man
Made a killing on copper mines
He loved beautful girls
Got a taste for fancy wines
And the suits he wore were paper thin

He built a big white house
In the valley of the kings
Took a beautiful wife
Bought her every possible thing
And the silk she wore was paper thin

Well, they travelled in style
Paid cash for everything
Had a beautiful child
Had a champagne christening
But as they raised ther glasses in toast to him
He saw the crystal was paper thin

So the shadows came
Whispering words to him
He sold the company out
And cashed all those futures in
But it all still looked so paper thin

Well, it was late one night
And the rain was streaming down
He called his wife's name out
Said honey, it's over now
I'm gonna burn it all
I can't take this any more
But as he struck the match
She took a pistol from the drawer
She said I ain't going down with you
Pulled the trigger in
And the bullet it passed right through
Like he was paper thin

queen of false alarms
(Currie)

Last night I dreamt of you
You stood right here in my room
I could see you, I could feel you

Last night I swear, it was you
Right here in jeans and my old shoes
I could see you, I could feel you

So like a princess in my arms
But I wake up and I find
It's the Queen of False Alarms

Last night I dreamt of you
Under the trees and a glass-eyed moon
Last night it happened again
You were in trouble and called my name
I could hear you, I could feel you

Here at the king's side safe from harm
But I open up my eyes to Queen of False Alarms

I can't recall why you left at all
You just wait, and I'll slip the car in gear
I have nothing to fear, it was one of your charms
The Queen of False Alarms

I could feel you
Here at the king's side safe from harm
But I open up my eyes and the sun cuts through the blinds
and I go looking for a sign of the Queen of False Alarms

scared to live
(Currie)

Walk into the lightning of a midnight bulletin
Our brave new world sits smiling with egg on its chin
And love gets so lazy, love gets so slow
We stopped making love in the hours of daylight too many moons ago

But now that we've given all that we have to give
Maybe we're just scared to live

Since I go so blinkered to nothing else but you
I've been playing for each cheap reward like game show gluttons do
And love's the honest truth Babe
And love's such a beautiful lie
So don't look so confused Honey, know it's true tonight

But now that I've given all that I have to give
Maybe I'm just scared to live

Why can't I wake up and make something of my life
Why can't I wake up to this life

How can you have no faith in this your own home town?
Can't you practice a little discretion, play the whole thing down
And since you got so blinkered to the highs and lows of a hopeless thing
Maybe you can take this heart and pass it on to him

Now that I've given all that I have to give
Maybe I'm just scared to live

Maybe you can take this heart and pass it on to him

sense sickness
(Currie)

Yes you read him like an open book
A wonderful man, a sentimental bloke
You teamed him up with your silent big sister
Who needed Dutch courage just to speak a Chinese whisper
Having borrowed him a heart from the mills and blue moonglow
You saw your sense sickness to be just another way to grow

Ears
Eyes
Lips
Hands
Sound
Sight
Taste
Touch

So you can put them together
We'll be birds of a feather
Wonder whether they'll get on well together
Sing with me, sing with me
Sing my alias, sing my vanity

Now close the covers on the open book
The rawness myself, let me take another senseless look
The wonderful man's now driving a van
As fast as he can from the sign of drunk and merry men
All the eons and all the chains
Could never put my foot back in my face again
Again

sleep instead of teardrops
(Currie)

Cry, cry out your eyes forever
It won’t go away
I, I’m just a dumb observer
It’s so stupid what I say

Like everyone else will do I’m gonna lie to you
Tell you that life is cruel but some day you’re gonna wake up
With sleep instead of teardrops in your eyes

And so, nobody lives forever,
The crassest of cliches
Like time, time is the greatest healer
But it’s a murderer today

Like everyone else will do I’m gonna lie to you
Tell you that life is cruel but some day you’re gonna wake up
With sleep instead of teardrops in your eyes

You know my holding you won’t change anything
I can’t stop this whole charade continuing
As each consoling kiss remains on your face like a stain

So cry, cry out those tears
And let them succumb to gravity
And try, try as I might
I’ll never fill that vacancy

Like everyone else will do I’m gonna lie to you
Tell you that life is cruel but some day you’re gonna wake up
With sleep instead of teardrops in your eyes.
Someday you’re gonna wake up with sleep instead of teardrops in your eyes.

slowly it's coming back
(Currie)

Oh what a famous night but what a shame
The cops got called and told us to behave
But I don't mind if nothing went to waste
Memories are everything when couple's getting made
And from childish misbehaving comes the games that adults play

And I could not recall what made me feel like that
But slowly, it is coming back
And I had no luck at all, no love come to that
But luck's such a funny thing: you think you've missed the gold
When slowly, it is coming back

And I was saving for some crazy rich kid clown
In a time when the verb "to work" had become an improper noun
And everything I did just dragged me down
From allegiance and obedience comes this feeling I've been drowned
And from juvenile delinquents came the gangs that run this town

And I could not recall what made me feel like that
But slowly, it is coming back
And I had no luck at all, no love come to that
But luck's such a funny thing: you think you've missed the gold
When slowly, it is coming back

And you were like a baby in a politician's arms
I'm the floating photo that your innocence disarms

And you will leave me in the morning, that's okay
So let's just touch 'cause there's not much that we need to say
And I watch this famous night dwindle away
'Cause it's feeling like a kid again that kept bad times at bay
And from some infantile and holding comes the way I feel today

And I could not recall what made me feel like that
But slowly, it is coming back
And I had no luck at all, no love come to that
But luck's such a funny thing: you think you've missed the gold
When slowly, it is coming back

so many souls to change
(Currie)

As the sun rises over Mexico
And sets on the African plains
On a tourist jet, the in-flight magazines
Sets out your rate of exchange

While the unhealed and homeless are wondering
If they will ever feel safe again
They give you drinks and show you sailors
Dancing in the warm New York rain

So many souls to change

So mother and child while travelling to Deli
Have to jump off a burning train
While the puppet rich bible class third world society
Meets to discuss it's slogan campaign

You are complicit in this conspiracy
You are unable to get free
They send the rich ones to University
And the rest get comics and TV

So many souls to change

You are shocked with shots of corpses
And seduced by scenes of greed
So your overloaded conscience
Goes out looking for some kind of relief

And the church, the government and charity
They collectively agree
You cannot simply print more money
Just to save some poor country from disease

So many souls to change

So when you die and go to heaven
Looks like there could be hell to pay
As the saints and angels ask how anyone
Could treat mortals that way

someone else will
(Currie)

I ain't gonna laugh at this no more
Or let it just slip by
I ain't gonna watch this 'til I choke on the lie

I ain't gonna take this anymore
I ain't sitting quiet
You can tranquilize my mind with phony hope
But I don't buy it, no I don't buy it

'Cause you will kill me when you have to
And you will tie me to the table
And you will tell me that you don't want to,
But if you don't, you know someone else will

And I ain't gonna listen anymore
Obedient and polite
And I ain't letting killers so like me sleep tonight

And I ain't gonna play my part no more
Their sentence, it ain't right
'Cause you can think you're free, but I'll leave you
To serve my time, serve my time

'Cause you will kill me when you have to
And you will tie me to the table
And you will tell me that you don't want to,
But if you don't, you know someone else will
You know someone else will

spare of pair laces
(Currie)

She was seventeen
She came with a phony dream
Seeking private lives in honest faces
So she lost her heart to a careful kind of guy
Who kept his private lives in other places.

‘Cos a cautious man don’t care what kind of shoes he wears
As long as he has a spare pair of laces.

So she was drunk with desire
And in his careful way
He measured out his love and let her taste it
But as her giving grew he took from others too
And carefully erased any traces.

‘Cos a cautious man don’t care what kind of shoes he wears
As long as he has a spare pair of laces.

He’ll be prepared for any crises that occur
He’ll be prepared to lie and flat deny he ever wanted her
To chase him.

‘Cos a cautious man don’t care what kind of shoes he wears
As long as he has a spare pair of laces.

So she was twenty one when she saw the light
And left him seeking lies in honest faces
Left him with a spare pair of laces.

spit in the rain
(Currie)

You can grin but you can't hide
All the emptiness inside
Since she left you like spit in the rain

Without doubt it is true
She was the only love you knew
Now she's gone it fades away
Like spit in the rain

And you can try to find her
But you'll be looking in vain
Because love disappears like spit in the rain

You can try to figure out
Why you mean nothing to her now
But you might just as well
Just go spit in the rain

Maybe then you will find
Her sweet memory in your mind
Washed away, out of sight
Like spit in the rain

Without doubt it is true
Without her there's only you
But with a little luck and a little time
You'll pull through

talk it to death
(Currie / Harvie)

You have to laugh a lot at what we throw away that half the Earth's not got
And who's in charge when there's barbed-wire fences 'round the graveyards
And I know it's about time we got to the point we've been denying
Maligning problems of the world is fine
But I can't keep talking when it's running through my mind

So I've got the feeling and you've got the feeling I guess
It's on the tips of our tongues it's at the base of our breath
But though the night is young it will grow up before too long
So say yes.... before we talk talk talk it to death

Beneath the sewers there's stone
Beneath the stone there's the water which we pipe into our homes
So when the rich mock what's below them
They mock the whiskey and the beer and every burgundy they own
And I know now who's in love with you so let's stop the conversation and see
I don't want you to think or hesitate when I declare that who to be me

So I've got the feeling and you've got the feeling I guess
It's on the tips of our tongues it's at the base of our breath
But though the night is young it will grow up before too long
So say yes.... before we talk talk talk it to death

Okay girl, we both know outside this room there's boardrooms of creeps
Calling famine kids cannibals and killing for cameras
But tonight, it's right, and forgive me for noticing
You're wearing a dress
So let's not talk this to death

Now I'm stuffing coins into a meter
And I'm cold and I'm bored and I've wasted all my food
My mind is rotting while my eyes are glued
To the last few minutes of the flickering tube
And we know things get repeated, so no one gives themselves away
We try to disguise our feelings, but we just talk them all completely away

So I've got the feeling and you've got the feeling I guess
It's on the tips of our tongues it's at the base of our breath
But though the night is young it will grow up before too long
So say yes.... before we talk talk talk it to death

the difference is
(Currie)

Not available

heart is a bad design
(Currie)

Sometimes I think what's the point of loving anyone... In the end,
each time you finish a fight its just the start of a new one again
You put all the pain to the back of your mind
Move up close, pray it works out fine
That's when you know the heart is a bad design

Some try to go it alone but nobody wants to do that
Each time you make up your mind your heart beats it's own way back
And though it doesn't matter that love is blind
You guide it into trouble everything turns out just fine
That's how you know the heart is a bad design

You know it can't keep secrets
It only harbours regrets
You find things lying deep in your heart
Even bad jokes, slips, forgets

Sometimes I think I've done wrong but nobody ever did right
Each time some girl comes along its head over heels overnight
You put all the pain to the back of your mind,
Dive in deep and hope it works out fine
That's how you know the heart is a bad design
That's how you know the heart is a bad design
That's how you know the heart is a bad design

the king is poor
(Currie)

Unavailable

the last love song
(Currie)

This is the last love song we'll sing
Now that the death of our dreams
Has poisoned everything
The shadow of the squaw shades our door
And grayness invades our every pore

This is the last love song we'll sing
This is the last chance we have to say absolutely nothing

This is the last movie we'll see
While our country's sleep walking through every major scene
Our age of convenience becomes
A state that don't care for anyone

This is the last love song we'll sing
This is the last chance we have to do absolutely nothing

This is the last love song we'll sing
This is the last chance we have to do absolutely nothing.

the return of maggie brown
(Currie)

She stepped off the bus with a burst suitcase and a frown
And she could smell the breweries and abattoirs on the edge of town
And the man who owes her money won't even lend her an ear
When she phones to demand his answer's vague;
He says, "I'll get back to you but right now I've got to catch the plague."

Down in a bargain basement she goes to shuffle through careers
When all they offer her is friendship and peace souveniers
And the receptionist was playing with a pencil at her lip
She asked her if she knew a place to sleep
She says, "I'll get back to you but now I've got appointments to keep."

There was a shop called B.J.'s that she stepped into to get out of the gale
They sold only British manufactured, lifetime guaranteed to fail
And a store detective asked her what she had under her coat
"It's just a little something that I wrote;
It says, 'I'll get back to you unless first your girlfriend slits your throat.'"

And by the time the sun set she was penniless and frozen to the core
The Salvation Army girls refused her on the grounds they didn't know her
So she asked some wino for advice but it turned out to be..
A Sunday sport reporter who was following his nose
He said, "I'll get back to you but first we need a picture without clothes."

So she stepped back on that bus with a burst suitcase and a frown
She had come to the conclusion that this was not the place for Maggie Brown
And it was 6 in the morning when she telephoned me
Until then I'd been living on my knees
But I got back up when she got back to me

the verb to do
(Currie)

If you or I don't say it who's going to
We can dance around it or dance for truth
We sit here conjugating every variation through
The verb to do

Now I don't want to hang it all on you
If blame must be allotted, I'll take some too
But someone just say "Damn it, I need to be tonight with you"
The verb to do

If I don't seem to want it, if it won't show through
It's only because it has me paralysed for want of loving you

So if you and I don't make it, well who's going to
Why can't we just state it bold as blue
Look out over this city the first word their taught to use
Is the verb to do

the whole world is quiet
(Currie)

Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse seem stuck for what to say
Even the presence of Jesus in this house couldn't chase those demons away
The whole world is quiet

And Charlie Brown with his big baseball glove finds it hard to keep the blush upon his face
When only an uncle knows the secret of the stolen drops of pearl on your pillowcase
The whole world is quiet

Look who's got a present for sweet little you
You'd better button up about it or he'll cry
Someone's in the kitchen mixing biscuits in a bowl
You can hear it if you lie completely quiet
Just like Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse
The whole world is quiet

three little words
(Currie / Harvie)

Well I don't deny the
things I did then
but if I didn't still love you,
I couldn't say it again

And I know you, so don't pretend you're sleeping

'Cause lately you've been saying
something differently;
those three little words,
straight from his lips, straight back to me

Yeah I don't deny it,
I've been a fool,
and I might get distracted,
but I come back to you

And I want you to come back to me now

'Cause lately you've been saying
something differently;
those three little words,
straight from his lips, straight back to me

And I know you, so don't pretend you're sleeping
And I won't pretend, I don't know who's company you're keeping

Well I don't deny it,
I've been there too,
and should I think about leaving,
or should I leave that to you

And tell me, should I still believe it?

'Cause lately you've been saying
something differently;
those three little words
straight from his lips, straight back to me

Lately you've been saying
so differently,
those three little words,
straight from his lips, straight back to me

what she calls it
(Currie/Harvie/Tolland/Tyagi)

Why not come and scratch my heart
"Save me" said a losing June
"Save me" said a lonely Jane
Iain is in love again
Why not come and scratch my heart
"Save me" said a losin' June
"Save me" said a lonely Jane
Iain's fucking up again

whiskey remorse
(Currie)

There is a girl I used to know
She had a hundred ways of hurting you and so
I packed my bags and left her as she watched some TV show
There is a girl I used to know

There is a town I used to love
It once contained most everything I ever did dream of
My baby in the basement as the traffic trolled above
There is a town I used to love

There is a bar I used to know
I still sometimes drop by when I have no place else to go
It's where the kings of comedy compare their tattered souls
There is a bar I used to know

So buy me one more drink before you go
Or lend me a twenty and I'll get drunk on my own
You always find some company, come in to used the phone
Someone who can't stand to see a friend go home alone

There is a joke I used to tell
Some guy who gets three wishes ends up wasting them to hell
And in the end in misery he tells the joke himself

There is a guy I used to know
He once had everything that any man could hold
And now he sits here drinking with a tale that always goes
There is a girl I used to know...