The body lay on fragrant earth under empty skies in an open field,
A shallow grave, unmarked, unnoticed, in crumbling furrows carved by rusted ploughs,
They will bury your empty coffin; they will raise for you a
stone,
They will know you fell in glory,
In the corner of some lonely foreign field,

Broken cloud, fleeting shadows, silhouettes are scattered
cross the sky,
The hollow laughter fills the heavens,
And echoes round a still and silent field,
Where you have climbed Jacob's ladder; where you saw the light of God,
And from the voices of his angels the Truth was heard, the Truth was heard.
I have slept in the shadows of moonstruck trees,
A mossy pillow my rock of dreams,
The wood smoke lingers among smouldering leaves,
Like my thoughts are carried away on a stiffening breeze
To the domes and spires, the glittering towers
Of palaces of kings and thrones of power,
I will climb Jacob's ladder; I will see the light of God, I will hear from the tongues of angels his Holy words,
I take the field in honest battle,
My father's sword is sure in hand,
My heart my shield, my dreams my armour,
My banners high my hopes are gathered
Fortunes home I'll surely carry and the bells will ring in
honour of my name
Should I falter, should I tarry, should I hesitate, should I
fall?
Then bury me in your memories, let our children hear the
bugle call,
Let them climb Jacob's ladder; let them see the light of
God,
Let them hear from the tongues of angels his Holy words,
Let them take the field.
				

All the way from Bucharest your skin crawled on the way to Hollywood
Through a whole in the wall
You saw the free world trading in bones
There's a guardian angel at the window
Staring at the corner
She's nowhere to go
She's in the free world trading her bones
Chorus
But if your mother didn't like it she don't need to know
As long as your sending the money home
What happened to the body of the child she bore
Answers on a postcard from Jumpsuit City
Sprayed by a moonbeam through the Linden leaves
Cast in a shadow in anonymity
He found the free world and sucked on their bones
Performing for animals he's dressed to thrill
High on a pedestal see the surgeon's skill
He lets the free world feast on his bones
Chorus
Behind the curtains there's a sanctuary
For the businessman and the refugee
This is the free world and they trade with their bones
A dead flower from a buttonhole
Lies in the gutter with a million souls
It's the free world, and they're only trading in bones
Chorus
				

Sometimes I feel I lost something
In gaining everything
But I can't put my finger on what it was
It's just one of those nagging feelings
Like sitting with your back to an open door
Waiting on a favourite stranger
I find it hard to talk about, it's not easy
As you might expect
Just sitting here, waiting, trying to accept
That there's something missing
That there's something not quite there
And that's why you're sitting there
Listening to me as I try to explain that
You're my favourite stranger
But don't read between the lines
I could say that I love you at this moment
In passing time
But I could honestly tell you
I don't know why I'm here
Sharing all my problems with you
When you've already got your own share
From favourite strangers
Maybe it's just I need an audience to
Pretend it's all an act
But all I gain is your confidence
And a number in a filo fax
On the terms that it's a first name
That'll run one day in split champagne
And I'll recollect and just accept
That you were one of my favourite strangers
You're my favourite stranger
But don't read between the lines
I could say that I love you at this moment
In passing time
But I could honestly tell you
I don't know why I'm here
Sharing all my problems with you
When you've already got your own share
From favourite strangers
Sometimes I feel I lost something
In gaining everything
But I can't put my finger on what it was
It's just one of those nagging feelings
Like sitting with your back to an open door
Waiting on a favourite stranger
				

Out the picture out the frame I took myself out of the
Game,
So afraid I ran away, I shot the craw,
I played the fool; I played the field I was seduced by other
Dreams,
I sowed my seed I flew the scene I shot the craw,
I dance without you, I dance without you, I dance without you, dance without you.
Among the voices in my soul I should have listened to my
Soul,
Realised the flight was wrong I shot the craw,
On another cloudy day so far apart so far away I have wished that I had stayed, not shot the craw.
I dance without you, dance without you, I learned to dance without you, I danced without you.
Sometimes I find myself lost in my thoughts in a crowded
Room,
Alone in a world I once shared with you, a world full of
Hope where our hearts were pure,
Where we dreamed that our lives were forever, together
Always entwined.
I thought that I could dance without you, dance without you, learn to dance without you, dance without you.
So I face another day and in my heart I take the blame, The regrets always the same, I shot the craw.
I can't dance without you, dance without you, dance without you, I can't dance without you,
Sometimes I find myself lost in my thoughts in a crowded
Room,
Alone in a world I once shared with you, a world full of
Hope where our hearts were pure,
Where we dreamed that our lives were forever, together
Always entwined.
Now I find that I can't dance without you, dance without you, I can't dance without you, I can't dance without you,
Baby's coming back, baby's coming back, your baby's coming back. Baby's coming back
				

I don't trust the government, I don't trust alternatives
It's not that I'm paranoid, it's just that's the way it is
Every day I hear a little scream inside
Every day I find it's getting louder
I just want to reach out and touch someone
'Cause I find I need a friend in this dark hour
We the people are gettin' tired of your lies
We the people now believe that it's time
We're demanding our rights to the answers
We elect a precedent to a state of mind
I trust in conspiracies, in the power of the military
In this wilderness of mirrors here, not even my speech is free
Every day I hear a little scream inside
Everyday I find it's gettin' louder
I just want to reach out and touch someone
'Cause I find I need a friend in this dark hour
We the people want it straight for a change
'Cause we the people are getting tired of your games
If you insult us with cheap propaganda
We'll elect a precedent to a state of mind
Every day I hear a little scream inside
Every day I find it's getting louder
I just want to reach out and touch someone
'Cause I find I need a friend in this dark hour
When we the people have our backs to the wall
Do we the people then assume control?
When it's too late to stop our own execution
When we're faced with the final solution
You can't elect a dream revolution
When you've a bullet in the back of your mind
It's just a state of mind
				

There's a message that's been left
In the long grass by a stranger
Who's passed this way before
Planted seed from which we reap
A bitter harvest from his long forgotten war
I left my love in a grave
And I marked it with a cross
That will stand so straight and true
It's not alone in the shade of the valley
They're what remains of the ones we once knew
Walk with me, my child, but tread softly on this earth
Keep a close eye where your feet, they touch the ground
Watch out for the signs, and heed what they say
One false step and all is lost
In the land of the tilted cross
They lie beneath the needles of the forest
In the fields, where only shadows dare to play
Washed down from the slopes of the mountains
In the spring, when the snow melts away
So be sure when you go on your journey
Carry sticks; mark the place where they are found
Make a cross, and be sure that it's tilted
So that others don't step on this ground
Walk with me, my child, but tread softly on this earth
Keep a close eye where your feet, they touch the ground
Watch out for the signs, and heed what they say
One false step and all is lost
In the land of the tilted cross
I left my love in a grave
And I marked it with a cross
That stands so straight and true
				

Rosebuds scattered across the lawn like the squares at Waterloo
With bayonets of thorns repelling small children in search of lost tennis balls
Imaginary cannonballs that were fired at the legs of galloping cavalry
Resting their dreams in the shade of the apple trees
Toy soldiers drunk on warm lemonade
And the children dream of glory and Fortunes of War
Safe in bed with stories of Fortunes of War, Fortunes of War
As the sun sets low on these playing fields
An army returns bearing swords and shields
Dustbin lids and raspberry canes they'll live to fight another day
For warriors medals, milk bottle tops
Battle flags fashioned from mother's old table cloths
Bright colours run in the summer rain
Sometimes when they fall they will pretend that their hankie is a bandage to stop the bleeding
And imagine city streets and desert storms and foreign fields
There's bullets flying, these are the Fortunes of War
I heard a wheelchair whisper across a stale, stagnant gymnasium
Trailing an ivy league jacket like a matador
Through the jitterbug steps of the night before
I followed him down to the church parade
Where he makes his peace every armistice day
I watched him fade away, melt in the autumn rain
For sometimes when they fall they can't pretend
That the hankie is a bandage that can't stop the bleeding
They're out in city streets and desert storms or foreign fields
With bullets flying, these are the Fortunes of War
While their children dream of glory and Fortunes of War
Safe in bed with stories and Fortunes of War
Of uniforms and glory, Fortunes of War, Fortunes of War
				

There's something I want to ask you
Before it's too late,
It's been on my mind since the first time we met
It scares me now more, now there's more at stake,
It seems we`re so close yet so far away.
Could you turn me down gently would I
Be out of order,
If I declared my true feelings or do I
Act out the part,
Of the father confessor of the shoulder to cry on
We're always so close yet so far away
What would you do if I got down
On my knees to you
Would you hold it against me,
Would you stand in line?
What would you do if I
Opened my heart to you,
Would I be another who's wasting his time,
Darling are we just good friends?
Do I really need to ask you
I`m sure that you know by now,
Do we just play a game where we try to pretend,
That all that's between us is all that's between us,
And all we can rely on is just being good friends.
What would you do if I got down
On my knees to you
Would you hold it against me,
Would you stand in line?
What would you do if I
Opened my heart to you,
Would I be another who's wasting his time,
Darling are we just good friends?
So are we left to chance meetings,
Is that all we can depend on?
Resigned to raise glasses in anonymous cafes,
Reciting our failures as if we needed
Proof or regret,
Over what might have
And what should have been, Darling, are we just good friends?
				

We got one hundred-forty stations on satellite
Beaming on down to our home, but I'm watching you
I've got half a million bills to pay
You never hear a word I say; I dream of you
Oh, I feel so incomplete
Oh, oh, it seems so incomplete
If we could only close the distance
If we could only cross these lines
If we could only fill the space
That's grown between us over time
You don't hear me anymore
You don't touch me anymore
You don't know me anymore
There's a wedding dress in a suitcase
Full of memories in the attic; I think of you
Where the ghosts of summer butterflies
They gather in the dust; I long for you
Oh, I feel so incomplete
Oh, oh it seems so incomplete
If we could only bring those days
Back when there were never wounds to heal
When everything was perfect
And the dream we had was real
You don't hear me anymore
You don't touch me anymore
You don't know me anymore
Oh, I feel so incomplete
Oh, oh it seems so incomplete
When there were never any questions
Over who or what we were
And the future only promised
All the answers to our prayers
You don't hear me anymore
You don't touch me anymore
You don't know me anymore
				

Maybe it's you or maybe it's me, maybe it's just the weather.
I just can't decide I can't make up my mind,
Tomorrow seems like forever.
It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
I'm just falling apart, as a matter of fact that is all it is,
That's all it is, that's all it is. Just a change of heart
That's all it is.
Maybe it's time, it's maybe too late, I just can't believe it's over,
If you just walk away, turn your back on me now,
Tomorrow will be forever.
It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
I'm just falling apart, as a matter of fact that is all it is,
That's all it is, that's all it is. Just a change of heart
That's all it is.
As the springtides shift the sands swelled by winter snow,
And the summer green melts to autumn gold.
I'm a man for every season but I live from day to day
Is that what you want? Is that all you want?
Is that all it is?
It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
It's just a change of heart that's all it is,
I'm just falling apart, as a matter of fact that is all it is,
That's all it is, that's all it is. Just a change of heart
That's all it is.
At the end of the day please let me stay you know we belong together
I'll promise you now as I promised you then,
Tomorrow will be forever
				

You should have listened to what your mother said
You should have listened to what your father told you to do
But you always did just what you always wanted to do
Now you end up here singing in a gilded cage
And for half your life you were wishing you were half your age
Lady let it lie
It's hard putting down your family roots when you're living in
A mobile home, but there's always blood even in a rolling stone
You squeezed me hard for the white collar dream
But you woke up to a tie dye lifestyle and its choking me
Lady let it lie
All the boys want to be all the girls want to be all the boys
I don't want to be me no more
All the boys want to be all the girls in this turnaround world
I don't want to be me no more
They once said I was a rising star declaring me a bright contender
When it all worked out I was just a pretender
I could never disagree if you said you were dissatisfied
But why you got to take it out on a guy that tried
But surely there's something left, something worth fighting for
Something out of all this mess that's worth building on
Maybe we can start again, maybe give it one more try
Or do we just walk away, and maybe fade and die
All the boys want to be all the girls want to be all the boys
I don't want to be me no more
All the boys want to be all the girls in this turnaround world
I don't want to be me no more
I don't want to be me no more
Me no more
				

Do you still keep paper flowers in the bottom drawer with your belgian lace
Taking them out every year to watch the colors fade away?
Do you still believe in fairy tales, in battlements of shining castles
Safe from the dragons that lie beneath the hill?
Are you still a russian princess rescued by a gypsy dancer
To anyone who'll listen is that a story you tell?
You live a life of fantasy, your diary romantic fiction.
Can't you see it's hard for me, can you see what I am trying to say?
It's a gentleman's excuse me so I'll take on step to the side.
Can you get it in your head I'm tired of dancing?
For every one step forward we're taking two steps back.
Can you get it in your head I'm tired of dancing?
I know you still like old fashioned waltzes
Your reflection in the mirror that you flirt with as you glide across the floor
But if I told you the music's over would you want to hear
That your dance card is empty that there's no-one really there?
Do you still believe in santa claus, that there's a millionaire
Looking at your front door with a key to a life that you'd never understand?
All I have to offer is the love that I have, it's freely given
You'll see it's value when you see what I've tried to say.
It's a gentleman's excuse me so I'll take on step to the side.
Can you get it in your head I'm tired of dancing?
For every one step forward I'm taking two steps back.
Can you get it in your head that from this one step forward
There's no turning back?
Can you get it in your head I'm tired of dancing?
We're finished dancing.
				

With this right of passage, cruel twist of fate
With every turn of every card I never see
Until it's too late, the deed is done and leaves me
Wondering just where our love has gone
I cannot say in honest truth
That I still trust all my feelings for you
You knew that it was wrong
And you think that saying sorry
Is gonna make it seem alright
And maybe in this song
You will hear me for the first time
And you'll start to see the light
Living with you is like being parked
On double yellow lines waiting to be towed away
I'll pay the fine and I'll be back
But I'm running out of reasons to stay
You knew that it was wrong
And you think that saying sorry
Is gonna make it seem alright
And maybe in this song
You will hear me for the first time
And you'll start to see the light
You knew that it was wrong
And you think that saying sorry
Is gonna make it seem alright
And maybe in this song
You will hear me for the first time
And you'll start to see the light
With this right of passage
I reclaim my heart
I take my leave as if on cue
I play no further part
In your self-penned dramas
Where each stolen kiss
Just goes to prove
That happy endings don't exist
				

The plot was lost or so I found, I went in search of higher
Ground
But my head was in the clouds, chasing dragons
I thought I could fly on wings of desire, didn't realise how
Far I could fall
How low I could crawl
Snakes and ladders, a world of snakes and ladders, snakes and ladders
I was shouting too loud, king of the crowd, a victim of my
Vanity, too proud
I never saw it coming
I was blinded by light but the vision had died, I'd forgotten
In time just what I was fighting for
I'd forgotten who's side I was on, the difference between
Right and wrong
I was out of my depth, going out of my mind, going down in
A field where no prisoners are taken, no quarter is given
The writing was small, it burned on the wall, I'd sold out
My soul for what it was worth
I'd lost the plot, my number was up, the game was over
Snakes and ladders, a world of snakes and ladders, snakes
And ladders
				

A hand held over a candle in angst-fuelled bravado
A carbon trail scores a moist stretched palm
Trapped in the indecision of another fine menu
And you sit there and ask me to tell you the story so far
This is the story so far
Shuffling your memories dealing your doodles in margins
You scrawl out your poems across a beer-mat or two
And when you declare the point of grave creation
They turn round and ask you to tell them the story so far
This is the story so far
And you listen with a tear in your eye
To their hopes and betrayals and your only reply
Is slàinte mhath
Princes in exile raising the standard drambuie
Parading their anecdotes tired from old campaigns
Holding their own last orders commanding attention
We sit here and listen to all of the story so far
This is the story so far
Take it away, take it away, take it away, take me away
From the dreams on the barbed wire at flanders and bilston glen
From a clydesdale that rusts from the tears of it's broken men
From the realisation that all we've been left behind
Is to stand like our fathers before us in the firing line
Waiting on the whistle to blow, we stand here waiting
On the whistle to blow
They promised us miracles, and the whistle still blows
Broken promises, and the whistle still blows
The whistle still blows
				

Catalogue princess, apprentice seductress
Hiding in her cellophane world in glitter town
Awaiting the prince in his white Capri
Dynamic young Tarzan courts the bedsit queen
She's playing the actress in this bedroom scene
She's learning her lines from glossy magazines
Stringing all her pearls from her childhood dreams
Auditioning for the leading role on the silver screen

Patience my tinsel angel
Patience my perfumed child
One day they really love you
You'll charm them with that smile
But for now it's just another Chelsea Monday

Drifting with her incense in the labyrinth of London
Playing games with faces in the neon wonderland
Perform to scattered shadows on the shattered cobbled aisles
Would she dare recite soliloquies at the risk of stark applause

She'll pray for endless Sundays as she enters saffron sunsets
Conjure phantom lovers from the tattered shreds of dawn
Fulfilled and yet forgotten the St. Tropez mirage
Fragrant aphrodisiac, the withered tuberose

Patience my tinsel angel, patience my perfumed child
One day they really love you, you'll charm them with that smile
But for now it's just another Chelsea Monday

[Hello John, did you see The Standard about four hours ago?
Fished a young chick out of The Old Father
Blond hair, blue eyes. She said she wanted to be an actress or something
Nobody knows where she came from, where she was going
Funny thing was she had a smile on her face
She was smiling, what a waste]

Catalogue princess, apprentice seductress
Buried in her cellophane world in glitter town
Of Chelsea Monday
				

Still as a breath held as a sigh
Still as a heart that denies the final truth
The breaking news, on the edge of a moment
Where we hope and we pray that there's still time
There's always time, time to look back, time to regret
Time to remember just how we met
Time slips slowly by as I stare at forever
And I wonder if we still have time?

Still after all is said and done
Still youre the only one to touch my soul

To fill my world, your magic still lingers as it did once upon a time
Would you give me time, could you change your mind?
Let me get on my knees, I'm begging you please
All I want for you to do is forgive me
Give me one more chance
Let me prove to you that I can still be true
Let me show you that the love we have isn't over
That we still have time

Let me run to you through an open field
You'll see me coming
I'll be scattering crows
Everything keeps changing
Nothing ever stays the same
Let me run to you through an open field
You'll see me coming
I'll be scattering crows
				

I want to be there in the morning, I want to wake up by your side.
If I can make it back I'll be there, if I can catch the early flight.
I'll bring you dragon's teeth from silver beaches, shells from Africa.
I'll give you China dolls and silken shawls, orchids for your hair,
Treasures drowned in sunken galleons,
Jewels from desert caves when I get there.
We'll see each other in the morning when the sun comes up
We'll see each other in the morning when the sun comes up
In the morning
I'll guard you from the monsters on the TV,
From the pirates in the corners of your dreams.
I'll keep you from the cold and safe
From trolls, from the bad men while you play.
I'll hunt for crocodiles and snakes with smiles I'll keep them
Far away from your innocence in all it's wonder.
We'll see each other in the morning when the sun comes up
We'll see each other in the morning when the sun comes up
In the morning, in the morning, when the sun comes up
				

Raw meat for the balcony
Another mugging in tin pan alley
Another heart of attack takes the centre stage
You might think I'm getting cynical
But after these years I can still pass the physical
still got my corner, still got my edge
And the waitress takes an order for another round
As I try to blend my way into the crowd
The hunter of the autograph he wants my name
And I just can't find the strength to turn him down
Raw meat for the balcony don't get me wrong
I don't need your sympathy, just lend me a needle and spare me a dime
Just a tear in the public eye
From laughing or crying it don't mean that much to me
Some sort of reaction is all that I need
The cognac goes down better in the hotel room,
When you're staring at the writing on the wall
Condemned by the critics who want to tear me down
When it's just another lyric going for a song
We're low on life on the highway in search of coin
Picking up the pennies from the road
Guided by direction in the wake of stars
We were driven by a dream that's broken down
But the bandwagon's parked up in another town
We hope tomorrow its heading out our way
To get us out the tunnel where we've paid our dues
With friends we buried there beyond the lights
Raw meat for the balcony
Is that all I am, is that all I'm going to be?
Raw meat for the balcony,
Nobody's fool but mine, is that my destiny?
But if that bandwagon takes off for another town
And the suits that buy the wine don't like my song
Though I'm playing to empty tables
Till the curtain falls
I'll always find the strength to carry on
I'll always have the strength to carry on
I'm Raw Meat!