Lyrics
THE LIGHTHOUSE
I’m my father’s son
and I’m my mother’s daughter.
To the castle sands I run,
but there’s something in the water.
I built myself a boat
from the stories they once read me.
But those stories weigh me down
and the storm has come to get me.
Come take me home.
I look for the lighthouse in the darkness,
to show me what I’ve lost.
Come take me home.
Sirens call my name out in the darkness,
they pull me to the rocks.
Come take me home.
I’m my father’s son,
and I’m my mother’s daughter.
They taught me how to run,
but I’m running to the slaughter.
As I retrace my steps
through the maze of my miseducation,
holding tight my ball of thread,
looking for the monster in my head.
Come take me home.
I look for the lighthouse in the darkness,
to show me what I've lost.
Come take me home.
Sirens call my name out in the darkness,
they pull me to the rocks.
Come take me home.
Learning to live with the darkness.
Learning to love him like my own.
Learning to look him in the eye
and say “darling, darling you are home”.
Learning to live with the darkness.
Learning to kiss him where he’s sore.
Learning to take him by the hand
and say “darling, darling come ashore”.
I'm striking up a match
to set fire to my yearning.
And I’m striking up the band
to serenade me as it’s burning
Come take me home.
NORTHBOUND TRAIN
The bitter taste of city air on my tongue.
And the back of his head round every corner I turn.
How can one place carry all of these hearts?
All these futures, hopes and dreams and false starts.
Nothing beyond
sandstone blonde.
Granite and grey,
nothing to say.
Oh, northbound train.
Oh, northbound train.
Oh, I’m counting on you to deliver what stone can’t contain,
northbound train.
Show me starlight on a sky of pitch black.
Send me uphill with the wind on my back.
Oh, give me to the lochan. I am hers to keep.
And let these flashbacks slip away as I sleep.
Tenement red,
unmade bed.
Granite and grey
falls away.
Oh, northbound train.
Oh, northbound train.
Oh, deliver me please to where only my freedoms remain,
northbound train.
Oh, oh, oh.
Oh, oh, oh.
Oh, oh, oh.
Oh, deliver me please to where only my freedoms remain,
northbound train.
River Won’t Wait
Next left, straight on.
Even the lady on the sat nav knows she’s gone.
I’ve been a passenger here
so many times before, so many times.
Just fresh cut lawn.
Even the gold crest and chaffinch have prepared a song,
as the sunlight streams through the pines.
But the burn won’t wait for anyone.
No the burn won’t wait for anyone.
Family portraits on the wall,
colours and coats hung in the hall.
Medals and trophies down the stairs,
pack up your troubles and your cares.
Deep lines, wide smile.
I feel your eyes pierce me though it’s been a while.
They have seen so much
but still they’d fill with surprise at the sight of me.
Summer was late but the frost came early.
Winter’s in a hurry but we buried you in Spring
before the songs of fury that now they sing.
Time won’t wait for anyone.
No time won’t wait for anyone.
Swimming away I feel your gaze
taking you back to younger days.
Wild weekends and caravans.
Taking your one true love to dance.
Family portraits on the wall,
colours and coats hung in the hall,
and all of the things we’ll never say -
under the bridge and then away.
‘Cause the river won’t wait for anyone
The river won’t wait for anyone
The river won’t wait for anyone
The river won’t wait for anyone
No the river won’t wait for anyone
The river won’t wait for anyone
The river won’t wait for anyone
The river won’t wait for anyone
A Different Kind of Silence
I wake to thunderstorms
Like none I’ve ever heard before
Silhouettes of windowpanes
Take a breath. 1, 2, 3, 4...
And in her mother’s house
Where her mother is no more
A daughter starts to dance
And as she moves across the floor
Ooh, ooh,
A different kind of silence
takes hold of her
Ooh, ooh,
A different kind of silence
falls over her
Rolling through the willow-herb
That vivid pink against the grey
And I am going home
My heart divided by the Tay
I will love you now
Though you will leave me behind
The scent of lavender
Will always remind me of you
Ooh, ooh,
A different kind of silence
takes hold of me
Ooh, ooh,
A different kind of silence
falls over me
-instrumental-
Teach me how to dance like you do
Feet won’t move the way they used to.
There’s so much anger in this world.
Teach me how to love like you do,
Heart won’t beat the way it used to.
There’s so much anger in this world.
-instrumental-
And with the power down
So much of life is out of reach.
Was it ever even there?
…
Into the pillowcase
All my tomorrows fall away
Spirit, will you keep them safe?
I will retrieve them someday
A different kind of silence
takes hold of us
A different kind of silence
falls over us
MY BOY LONELINESS
Waiting like a shadow in the corner of my little eye, I spy him.
Waiting like a lover who’s forgotten how to kiss and touch.
Here in his embrace I hear him whisper in my ear.
He asks me; baby, is it all too much?
Does your heart hurt?
Do you need someone to lay you down?
In the morning,
when you wear upon your head that crown.
In the evening,
when into yourself you dive and drown.
Does your heart hurt?
Do you need someone to lay you down?
To lay you down?
He takes me to the city, as we walk he puts his arm around my shoulder.
Takes me to the shop and anything I want to have he buys.
But I look in the mirror and today is not my colour,
can I maybe try tomorrow on for size?
Does your heart hurt?
Do you need someone to lay you down?
In the morning,
when you wear upon your head that crown.
In the evening,
when into yourself you dive and drown.
Does your heart hurt?
Do you need someone to lay you down?
To lay you down.
To lay you down.
To lay you down.
To lay you down.
Are you my friend,
or are you just pretending that you care for me,
loneliness?
Are you for real,
or are you trying to steal the world away from me?
Oh loneliness.
Are you the one I need,
or are you leading me away from myself,
loneliness?
There is no other man who understands me like you do,
it’s true, oh loneliness.
Does your heart hurt?
Do you need someone to lay you down?
In the morning,
when you wear upon your head that crown.
In the evening,
when into yourself you dive and drown.
Does your heart hurt?
Do you need someone to lay you down?
To lay you down.
To lay you down.
To lay you down.
SKIN
The trees wear their scars on the outside
but we keep ours under our shirts.
You’ve got my tongue in your teeth now
as I show you where it hurts.
And your words leave me naked
as into the river you dive,
and I begin to remember
what it feels like to be alive.
Swing me between the branches
Then fold me into your chest.
Off road and upstream, and then
back home riverside west.
And your words leave me wanting
as into the distance you drive.
At least now I remember
what it feels like to be alive.
River boys run,
city boys swim,
and English boys keep all their love on the inside.
So show me your shame
and show me your skin,
but remember to keep all your love on the inside.
The trees keep their coats til November
but we are July and bare arms.
Leaving our clothes in the long grass,
we disable all our alarms.
Shoulder deep, we are breathless
as into each other we stare.
I can see you,
I can see you,
I can see you.
River boys run,
city boys swim,
and English boys keep all their love on the inside.
So show me your shame
and show me your skin,
but remember to keep all your love on the inside.
In the water return to wherever we began.
In the cotton we become one another.
Ever so slowly we unlearn what it is to be a man,
with skin on skin on skin.
Your words just a recall
as I see the rainfall arrive.
I no longer remember
what it feels like to be alive.
I’ve already forgotten
what it felt like to be alive.