Copyright © 2007 Jack Hardy Music
Twenty naked women painted on the ceiling even inclement weather has style in this town mirroring my feelings this ornate oracle elements of stories evidence of miracles on the table by the door who am I gonna pray to, what trickster of a god as I lift mine eyes unto the hills and try and lift the logic from androdgenistic lust not noticing the rust trusting in the miracle try to manifest a miracle with a sparerib in my hand One more naked woman painted in a corner soft skin of Memphis moonlight, cryptic letters on the door grateful to what deity has given me my voice and left me speechless turned a salty pillar by a burning bush who am I gonna pray to, what trickster of a god as I lift mine unto the hills and try and lift disguises from androdgenistic lust trying not to notice you did not stay till morning to manifest a miracle ribs and burning bush, soft skin of Memphis moonlight painted on the ceiling and the table by the door
I left Ireland long ago to work the mills in the Cotswolds so Nelson's tars and Wellington's guards could fight the tyrant Bonaparte every day I walked to work down past the pub and the Norman church I saw the light up in your room and through the day I thought of you for fourteen hours we toiled in gloom the water powered the broadcloth looms we dyed our wool a deep woad blue far deeper still the eyes of you one market day you caught my eye and for a moment even smiled but for that moment I scrimped and saved and dreamed how we would fly away but now they're all for steam and coal the millwork's moving to the north they cut our wages to the bone and with my brogue I was the first let go I walked down the Owlpen road past manor houses locked and sold stopped by the Old Crown for one last pint had not the heart to say goodbye
staring out the dirty window equations yellow wax on linoleum brittle voices chalk dust the white cliffs of Dover concrete and abstract battle of Britain airwaves statistics molecules German beetles Can't buy me love not payin' attention breakout writing in margins dissection diagramming good poetry garrets and gables a certain slant of light dust motes distraction breakout breakout the door the hall the spring has fallen prey breakout breakout the spring has sprung release me sweet release sweet release
and the lady turned away I could not follow after nothing more to say nothing more to ask her frozen in a play 'tween the sorrow and the laughter all answers on display with your happily ever after and the lady turned away and took the morning with her if she had come to stay she'd have found her heart I am sure her regal distance cost me far more than I could spend a thousand broken promises I could never mend (chorus:) I know who you were and I know where you've been I know who you loved and who you left and when I know how you've been hurt and the story of each scar when all I want to know is who you are who you are now and the lady turned away hair matting in the tears you said you think you love me you think too much my dear can't will it into being or will it out damn spot you cannot stop an arrow that already has been shot (repeat chorus) and the lady turned away at the very point of wonder it's the present god damn it it's not the morning after it's a long way to fly just to fly away I wont let you turn this moment into another yesterday (repeat chorus)
all the ladies of Cork are my friends if I ever just come back again so says Padraig a compadre of mine he means well but he might be lying (chorus:) all the ladies fair and blond with their gingham dresses on all the ladies dark with eyes that pierce the heart in red this time this poor heart of mine all the ladies of Cork are aroused by the tale of a desolate house and the man who stands in the door who's the woman that he's waiting for (repeat chorus) all the ladies of Cork are amused by the temptation of a man confused who thought that he'd done everything right only to find he's put out in the night (repeat chorus) all the ladies of Cork are in love with this man from New York they're in love so says Padraig about me concerned but have they no more cities to burn (repeat chorus)
the dust of Africa is still in my throat the dust of Africa is still in my throat as I follow trucks on an unpaved road many black-skinned men as part of the load through the endless miles of the barren Caru the diamond mines and the garden route there is a wealth that's there which is never shared and the women stand by the side of the road and the children know what they are not told the dust of Africa is still in my throat as I climb this mount of ancient stone and the cape the town that is spread beneath cradle of our civilization's grief and the bachelor and the bride to be the purloined fruit from the garden of Eve there is a banishment that goes unseen that rocks the cradle that rocks the boat the dust or Africa is still in my throat the dust of Africa is still in my throat in the airport lounge it is time to go and the silent sound of the shanty town is a powder keg and a thousand rounds and the children of the Brits and of the Boers are fighting over forgotten wars and I'm puzzling over pieces that overlap and a blond haired girl with a plane to catch is asking me if I have a match
winter sunlight on a red brick wall caged bird singing across the hall each of us feeling that we've missed a call for reasons we remember this season what a difference a year does make red brick tile to cold blue slate and all the ways that a heart can break when nobody can offer a reason (chorus:) oh how the needle lies low and holds against freezing oh how the people I know have chosen this season it turned cold with a vengeance this year spilling sunlight through a cracked mirror on painted floors and the cheep veneer of the desk where I shattered your picture too many photo booths in train station bars posing as heroes in some forgotten war this is the first day of the rest of your life so smile and take a picture (repeat chorus) some meet the devil and it changes their life some meet his double and call it a wife it's not that I'm against selling my soul but he better make it worth my trouble tenacious leaves clinging to that tree flaunting their own infidelities defying laws that would set them free and leave me without a shadow (repeat chorus)
came to love those sad eyes that could not hold their sorrow looking out the window for hours holding a cold cup of tea came to love those sad eyes that could not see beyond the pane the reflection of the candle wax melting into a sea far away across the ocean stones hold their history the light and airy window sash is the lie of poetry the fascists came, a sudden thud they overran Granada books and papers on the floor spectacles bent and broken came to love those sad eyes that held for us these memories of the firing squad and the warm wind blowing through the curtain cloth
they say that Rome wasn't built in a day down down down but somehow it certainly fell that way down down down fire is a hard lesson to learn down down down a few bricks left that didn't quite burn down down down king George said "everything's for sale" mercenaries bought for a little bit of tail a little bit of gold or a "get out of jail" but the empire's going down those who live by the sword die by the sword down down down whether or not they have faith in the lord down down down some have too much of what too many lack down down down you push too hard and they push back down down down king George said "I'm not as nuts as I seem I might lose a colony but gain thirteen some day they'll do my fighting for me" as the empires going down preacher blessed the heathen on the white house lawn down down down god said "man, you must be puttin' me on" down down down trying to hit the high notes with Francis Scott Key down down down while the white house burns in effigy down down down king George said "I'm a down-home boy, jumpin' Jehovah and jumpin' for joy, barbeque and Barbie-doll toys" while the empire's going down Genghis Kahn rode into history down down down but his sons carved up his destiny down down down Saladin united all the Arab lands down down down now we steal their oil and kick their sand down down down king George said "I've got a plan: we'll build a wall around the promised land" but one in the bush just got out of hand and the empires going down
little bird that sings spread your downy wings fly away fly away o'er the rolling downs far from London town fly across the sea and there you will find a girl who is blind to the roar and the smells of this street and she does not know I have nothing to show for the labors of my hands and my feet (chorus:) old love is sharp and young love is blind and all love is colored by time but the love in my heart is as clear and as fine as the day I left love behind climb the tallest hill in the morning chill haul away haul away tall ships foreign bound all their sails turned down haul across the sea some bound for Catalina and some bound for china some bound to the will of the wind but the sound of my feet pound this dark and dreary street says that some ships are never coming in (repeat chorus) on the first of May all the ladies gay say it's a lie it's a lie dressed in gorgeous lace pressed in corset stays say come and lie with me and the drink and the seedy strength of my weakness is dark and abhorrent to me and she does not know of the depths that I go with this fire that is raging in me (repeat chorus)
don't I know it now with each day passed each post- hole dug sunk in sound and fast don't I know it now wooden bolt in the door closed to that thief no reason anymore (chorus:) did a hole to china dig a hole in clay dig so deep and final I finally could say don't I know it now don't I know it now don't I know it now though you always told me I could never guess I had anything to lose or confess but don't the floorboards creak with each footfall as I pace and turn my back to the wall (repeat chorus) where a daffodil is lost in the snow it is hard to dig when the ground is so frozen and I cannot tell you how many times this time of year has sent me crying (repeat chorus)
call on that saint and the candle that burns keeping her safe until her return plaster and paint holding the fire a poor woman's saint holding all man's desire bold little bird fly away home could I but ride herd on the wind and the foam all of the souls that curl by the fire they'll never know of all man's desire watercress clings to the banks of the stream in the first grip of spring when the snow turns to green barefoot and cold and holding a lyre by the side of the road holding all man's desire call on that saint when the white candle burns keeping her safe until she returns