1. |
Try Making Me Laugh
03:37
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When I was 17 my life seemed very simple to me,
A kind of rollercoaster ride.
But now it’s not the same,
Everything’s changed so quickly for me,
I live in complicated times.
So, try making me laugh, try making me smile.
Try keeping my head on one thing for a while -
It’s much easier than it seems, am I in a dream?
I look to the waters glisten, open my heart and listen,
Put the shell to my ear, hear the sea,
I am I-N-L-O-V-E again.
I used to drift along, the happy son of little questions,
That I found easy to resolve.
Now hardly a week goes by without me finding some new problem,
That it’s impossible to solve.
So, try making me laugh, try making me smile.
Try keeping my head on one thing for a while –
Try to understand my conceits,
Try deceiving me with belief
It’s much easier than it seems, must be in a dream.
I look to the waters glisten, open my heart and listen,
Put the shell to my ear, hear the sea,
I am I-N-L-O-V-E again.
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2. |
Walkman & Bicycle
04:33
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Walkman and Bicycle –
The shops are shut and office girls are leaving
To be with boys in shiny suits
Who love their cars and buy them to be seen in.
This evening, they’ll be on the town
With a drink and ‘a new one’
And maybe later on they’ll give Lisa Bonet some.
Lights off, the traffic stops
And Ryder’s singing, “Call the Cops!’ with reason.
But speeding doesn’t help at all: when I get home
You’ll still have called up three times this evening.
But I won’t be out tonight; I’ve got something else planned.
Do I have to tell you why? Can’t you understand?
You can’t just walk through my life and expect me to fall at your feet
I can’t tailor myself to suit your every need
Maybe what you need is something I can’t be…
We’re not the people we thought we’d become
Now I can’t even see them.
Just Walkman and Bicycle, seems that is all
I’ve got left to believe in.
Believe me, I can’t come out tonight, I’ve got something else planned.
Does it really matter why? Can’t you understand?
You can’t just walk through my life and expect me to fall at your feet
I can’t tailor myself to suit your every need.
And our Lust is merely a part of what together we are -
You mean much more to me than a beautiful body.
Could be anybody lying beside me.
Maybe what you need is something I can’t see….
I don’t what to be but I just can’t be myself
When all you ever want from me is somebody else.
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3. |
Pillows
03:01
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Once there was ‘us’ and now there’s me
And though this happens regularly,
Sometimes it’s easy to imagine
That there’s no-one out there for me.
I just want someone to know
There’s an empty space on my pillows.
Does it really not show?
How I’ve waited so long for this love
And this love doesn’t know.
It can be any place or time,
Night or Day, I don’t mind.
It can be tender or removed
But please make it be soon.
I just want someone to know
There’s an emptiness on my pillows.
Does it really not show?
How I’ve waited so long for this love
And this love doesn’t know.
Doesn’t anyone know
There’s an empty space on my pillows?
Does it really not show?
How I’ve waited so long for this love
And this love doesn’t know.
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4. |
||||
And there we were lying in a field
With the sky for a ceiling
And our hometown all sleeping,
Talking of Love and Death and Friendship and Pain,
Though I like to be near her,
I’ll never tell her again.
Because I’ve pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind,
Made a Girlfriend into a girl friend
And now I think I know that she’ll never be mine,
At least not in a physical sense.
Nobody told me that love was like school,
So while some learned by hard work, I was a fool.
She was the lesson of my adolescence –
But I might have done better had I known at the time.
Now I’ve pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind,
Made a Girlfriend into a girl friend
Because I think I know that she’ll never be mine,
At least not in a physical sense.
But Oh! How the body’s demands supersede all you learn
And turn into demands.
In love or friendship we go on, never knowing where
Or how the road could be so long, maybe we don’t care.
(Lying in a field, I’m turning a Girlfriend into girl friend.)
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5. |
Different Signs
02:32
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She said
I’ve been weighed down by carrying more than my cross
and though I once wanted to be found
all I really crave now is to be lost.
He said
Lose yourself in me – I know I’m not your Sign
but I’ve been waiting patiently for you
and for a long, long time.
She smiled and it made him laugh
I’m just another victim of your spells
She said
You’ve never really understood
that I’m wary of being myself
He said
Be yourself with me – I know I’m not your Sign
but I’ve been waiting patiently for you
and for a long, long time.
He tried
It’s getting late; give me your hand, I’ll walk you home
She thought
I’m tired of talking; all I really want now is to be alone.
He said
Be alone with me – I know I’m not your Sign
but I’ve been waiting patiently for you
and for a long, long time
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6. |
100 Years
03:39
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What was it like in the war?
Did you relish it or were you afraid?
Were you worried by death?
By the noise and the lights of the air raids?
And did you ever think you’d live to ninety?
What a strange idea that must have seemed!
Do you still think of him?
In the same way you did when you first met?
Have your memories been kind and helped you
Overcome the pain of his death?
And is love stronger than time or vice versa?
Will you carry his love to your grave?
And do you understand why we are here?
Does it seem any clearer the nearer the light?
Will I be happy or sad?
Will I love someone who has all the answers?
Will I find proof of my God?
Because what little I’ve got leaves me unsure…
Will I have something to tell my Grandchildren
When they ask me how my life has been?
And will I understand why I am here?
Will it seem any clearer the nearer the light?
There are many questions
and only one hundred years.
So many questions
and only one hundred years
Will I be happy? Really happy?
Will I be happy and I mean really happy?
So many questions….
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7. |
70s Child
02:08
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Child of the Seventies, will you ever be free
Of the time your desirable life was conceived?
Wherever you go, whatever you see
You’ll never know some things about me
Because the difference is deep
And we’re not shallow.
Child, you’re a woman now
But some things haven’t changed:
A mother is crying and a father’s to blame.
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8. |
St. Machar Drive
03:01
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Back to the days when I studied for pay
and got out of my face, nine to five.
Fairly regularly,
I could be seen on St. Machar Drive.
There was a girl, Queen of my class,
I found myself asking her
“Where do you live?”
She told me
‘The room with the Catholic perfume
of Guilt, Wood and Candles”
And the days were long,
Nights full of loving
And the lights shone hazy-pale across St. Machar Drive.
Walking home late,
I would stop by the gates of New Dunbar Hall
And climb over the wall.
Trying to hide from the old Porter’s eyes,
I would knock on her window
And say, “Let me in – won’t you let me in?”
Well our love blew cold with the warm air of summer
And so I had to say goodbye to St. Machar Drive
But I’ll never forget or be slave to regret,
It was the happiest I’ve been,
Though now just memories
Of a girl and a room and the strangest perfume.
I would knock on her window
and she would let me in.
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9. |
Fortune Teller
03:44
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I’ve been waiting half my life for other people’s angels,
Never found mine – never tried.
And I’ve been saying half my prayers for other people’s angels,
Lost sight of what counts in my dumbness and my blindness
But if I can see that your soul is on fire, I will tell you,
And if I can see that out love’s on the line, I will tell you.
And I’ve been dreaming half my dreams all for other people’s angels,
I’m caught in a world that isn’t mine
And I can’t carry on, ‘cause half my days have gone with other people’s angels,
Maybe it’s time to start my life over.
So if I can see that your soul is on fire, I will tell you
And if I can see that our world’s on the wire, I will tell you
And if I can see that our love’s on the line, I will tell you.
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10. |
September
02:46
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September: sunny days
but November brings the winter back again
and the Christmas lights blink in a new year –
Maybe this one will bring me something
But today and for a few days
I have to work - those bills have got to be paid.
But days turn into years
and how quickly everything in life disappears.
I know that I’m not the same
because the Autumn adds a new year to my age
and though your picture stays,
I hardly remember how we used to lie together for days,
Now every day I have to work to keep the Taxman at bay
But days turn into years
and how quickly everything in life disappears.
I’m still working, still at the same place
I’m still dreaming of how we used to welcome each new day
Now every day I have to work to keep those bills getting paid
But days turn into years
and how quickly everything in life disappears.
I’m still working.
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11. |
For The Better
02:59
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I couldn’t wait to run away
‘cause I was smothered by despair
I hated every single day when I was there.
But here life is for the taking,
there’s a world of difference, nothing seems the same,
so here, things are looking better
and I know that I will never run again.
I was a bookish kind of sad,
immersed in words that didn’t show
that I was really, really, really mad three years ago.
But now I can feel some sense returning,
there’s a trick to this and I’m learning how to change,
so now, things are looking better,
though I know that they will never be the same.
Because it’s better,
things are better through and through,
So much better,
things are better through and through.
Here and now but with whom?
She said we must be married soon
and put your savings to good use,
well I was nothing if not amused
when I was with her
but you have helped me to forget,
I know it’s clichéd but now nothing seems the same.
And you have changed things for the better
now I know that I will never run away from
here and now with you
because here and now with you it’s cool.
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12. |
Jimmy & Marilyn
02:52
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From the first time I saw East of Eden
I was hooked on Jimmy Dean.
Gun crossed, little boy lost,
Burning up right there on the screen.
With a face full of forebodings
that didn’t augur well,
the first tortured adolescent
to crawl out of it’s shell
and he gave the world the idea
of a life inbetween boy and man
but he left just before he arrived
and I can understand.
Car crash on an Autumn highway –
Jimmy died but the image lives on
though the person’s gone, the myth is alive.
Long before I got addicted
the world was hooked on Marilyn Monroe,
whose life became blurred
and transformed into Hollywood showtime.
Arthur Miller, Joe DiMaggio, JFK and Bobby too
tried to catch her falling star
and got burned in their pursuit
because her sky was full of treasure
and no-one had given them the key.
Still most men dream of saving her:
The girl who invented sex appeal.
Bottle of pills on a bedside table –
She died but the image lives on
though the person’s gone, the myth is alive.
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13. |
Half The World
03:48
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I found some things of yours today -
threw them all away.
It’s funny how such kidstuff seems
embedded deep as grief in me
but is this shadow real or perceived?
Am I the ghost or are you haunting me?
Because each day I walk to work,
I see your face in every face I meet
and when I go to bed I dream of you,
sleeping next to me.
Does our distance help to count the cost?
I’ve been needing what I’ve lost.
I hope you feel the same way too
but I don’t think you do.
I’ve never had the nerve to feel a thing before,
now all at once I can hardly think
for each day I walk to work,
I see your face in every face I meet
and when I go to bed I dream of you,
sleeping next to me.
Half the world is sleeping now,
the other half is running round and around.
And each day I walk to work,
I see your face in every face I meet
and when I go to bed I dream of you,
sleeping next to me.
Half the world is sleeping now,
the other half is remembering how to live.
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14. |
I Know You're Waiting
03:44
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Last week I was fairly unsure
but this week I’m certain
Or I suppose I am, I don’t know.
But I’ve tried really hard to be fair,
to weigh up all the consequences
though I know you couldn’t care less
if it’s wrong or if it’s right
as long as it’s tonight.
I know you’re waiting and just what to expect
But there’s no room for shyness in your new double bed,
it’s so vast I need directions.
I can hardly breathe amongst the clothes on your floor.
Maybe what I need is just to open the door
to myself, can you help me?
Because I still feel pretty weird about you
and the strange things you’re inviting my body to do
for the sake of your favourite sport.
But maybe that’s the problem with me…
My life has been vicarious,
now you want me to change and to see
how the world has been for everyone but me.
I know you’re waiting and just what to expect
But there’s no room for shyness in your new double bed,
it’s so vast I need directions.
I can hardly breathe amongst the clothes on your floor.
Maybe what I need is just to open the door
to myself, can you help me?
Let’s just get this over,
on your Mother’s sofa,
nobody could call me a saint.
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15. |
Fear Of Flying
04:41
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I just want to hold you in my arms and never let go.
In my dreams I have seen you
now it seems they’ve all come true.
Can you see the stars tonight?
I am scarred but they are yours and mine
to follow through the sky
to somewhere we have never been before.
And I’ve a desperate need to be free;
I will be frightened, so please stay with me.
I’ve never left the ground,
secured myself, let safety tie me down
and I am still afraid of letting go
and breaking all my chains
but I’ve a desperate need to be free;
I will be frightened, so please stay with me.
Well this is our time,
Our sweet song of goodbye.
Do we have lift off?
If you want to be found then you’ve got to be sought
but in trying to be free you end up being caught,
so I’m wary of change ‘cause it’s always seemed
that being in love I could never be me.
Now that’s an irrelevancy.
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16. |
Other People's Angels
02:54
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Voice Of The Rain Horsham, UK
Faute de Mieux
1980s, 1990s, 2015.
Mainly of an acoustic bent but known
to wind up the distortion on occasion.
The further adventures of one half of the duo are linked to below.
... more
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