About Face (LP | 2014)
My Rush
You are my rush
You are my tortured dreams
You are my fear come running on a busted knee
You’re a life raft I cling onto
I’ll keep an eye on the bottom
And my arms around you
You are the current that I can’t escape
Draw me down into your depths,
Down to your depths
A storm coming trying to throw me back
You’re the angel’s voice ringing
And the Devil in the trap
The hunter’s game and a lover’s song
You’re a hand on the trigger
And a whisper in my ear
And with a glance you turn my organs to stone
draw your eyes over my body
Let you pick me apart, let me be the toy that you can’t leave alone
I’m not the man you’ve been looking for
I’m not the hero, just a stranger knocking at your door
You are the water swirling round my feet
You’re a knife-edge that cuts to a steady beat
You are the current that I can’t escape
Pull me down, pull me down, pull me down
To your depths
So Soldier (feat. Ainslie Wills)
So you’ve been hiding
You’ve been hiding that secret under your shirt collar
You can’t breathe easy
So if he finds it
That you’re hiding that secret under your shirt collar
You can’t breathe easy
When you have to, you’ll find
When you have to, you’ll show it
Forever leaves behind
Forever is not knowing
Fearing is a feeling of mine
And everybody’s doing their time
Those shadows creeping up from behind
Are calling out your name
So soldiers
You’ve been hiding that secret under your shirt collars
You both breathe easy
So he found you out
Feel the cold, leaving you no doubt
Let the words fall
Been in her head for too long
These words fall
He’s been keeping it inside for so long
Camberwell
The morning leads me over to my window
The air feels sharp against my skin
Am I leaning out or the outside leaning in
I wonder as I listen to the wind blow
People walk past in the streets
A city that I will never meet
People in their cars and their cars in the streets
The streets in the city where I sleep
Walk down to the supermarket
Milk and bread in my basket
Chocolate on the shelf and my mind on the docket
I’m a slave to the change that’s in my pocket
Planes drawing lines in the skies
Beautiful people fill my eyes
Drawing lines now to my own conclusions
Beauty is desire in disguise
The morning leads me over to my window
The air feels sharp against my skin
Am I leaning out or the outside leaning in
I wonder as I listen to the wind blow
Return To (feat. Tom Snowdon)
I’d believe whatever comes
And rub the dirt into the cuts
And show them off to cheer you up
To say that I’m not passed away
There’s no love in the ground for me
So I kicked all this earth down stream
And lay beside where you would lay
And eat the thoughts we had of us
If there’s big blood inside your room
I hope it finds and brings you back
I’m a hundred different pieces, a million reasons, in a single knot
You’re the feat of engineering, the sunlight, give me all you’ve got
There’s no love in the ground for me
So I kicked all this earth down stream
I’m just having a hard time yeah
I’m living without you here
Nominal
In my mind
You will find
I’m no hero
All to fear
Is where my love goes
In my mind, you will find
In my mind, ones and zeros
In my mind
You’re all I see
All I think of
All I hope for
(In my mind) I got nothing but a feeling
(In my mind) I always say what I’m feeling
(In my mind) I am only what I’m feeling
Needing somebody isn’t ever something that I would say, I would say
Until one day I saw you walking my way
It’s for my broken ears
It’s for my bleeding heart
It’s for the voices inside my head
For the voices that tear me apart
But in my mind
In my mind
I’m a fighter
I’m the fight
I’m the bleeding
I’m the fuel left to ignite
For Randy Robinson and Cassidy
We’re all broke down
We’re all broke
Baby, we’re all broken down
We’ll wait for time to turn us around
We can’t back down
Imagine, everybody hanging around
Everybody hanging around
Forget me like a cheap line amongst the pages
(but) I’ll remember you, let your melody ring out through the ages
I’m not the child on your back seat crawling around
So stand up, be the myth when you can’t be the man
You know the sound
You hear the sound
It kills you a little more inside every time
But for tonight we’ll be all right
Meet me up town
For one drink, tell me why you’re feeling down
Tell me why you’re feeling down
I get you, from your feet up to your fingertips
And I’ll let you put your hands on me as I move my hips
And I’ll hurt too as you fall down, down to the ground
We’ll be the dance, and we’ll be just some people fooling around
Blood pt. 2
Open your eyes, this is a ballad without the reprise
An old wisdom lurking without the disguise
Wake you up now cos it was just a dream you were sleeping my dear
Fighting your way through your love and your fears
And everything that’s in between
Don’t tell me now, that lovers are meant to resist love somehow
That goodbye’s the letter we’ll never compose
That fortune does favor the strong and the brave
I am neither of those
Some days I feel like I am just a slave
Clicking my fingers and tapping my toes
And wishing you were here
But don’t tell me my love
We never had the time
A rhythm without rhyme
But you’re the song that’s on my mind
And in my head I’m felling forests I’m breaking down walls
Heart of the soldier but lacking the cause
A warrior’s will and a pen in my hand but no words in my head
Fooling around with my guitar instead
Cos all I can think of is you
You, you, you
God Can Promise (with Airling)
God can promise a safe landing
But can’t promise a steady voyage
Oh my son what do you hear?
Why does your heart take you into the night?
Listen as we cry ourselves, we cry ourselves to sleep
We haven’t slept a day, we haven’t slept a wink
Our boy is somewhere else, our boy in somewhere else
He does the devil’s work, he sings his praises week by week but
God can promise a safe landing
But can’t promise a steady voyage
O’er the hills and into the depths
And from the depths the devil leapt
He clung onto the landing gear
And drove us toward eternal fear
In my dreams we’re falling, ducking, spinning, diving
Life it isn’t living if it’s just surviving
Hope isn’t worth hoping for when all we have is falling from the sky
Homeward Found
You have had a better run of days
But you light me up as the sun begins to fade
You and I both
Counting on hope
You don’t know how much, how hard I try
But you have seen the hurt behind these eyes
Lend me your hand, your heart
Oh my blood you made it just like water
My savior come and hold me like you ought to
Oh these trembling fingers, the singers of a nervous heart
If love is for beginners let it win us a new start
You call me now
Oh my blood you made it just like water
My savior come and hold me like you ought to
Man of Leisure (LP | 2011)
Life, Oh Life
Hands in my pockets as I walk across the street
I’m feeling tired by my legs they feel a different beat
In my mind, and in my body and my soul
I know the path’s the same, it’s just that I am getting old.
Down to the river whose waters still flow the same
I ask the river if I’ll ever find my way again
And from her depths I hear her churn, I hear her say
‘Your path is long and you will never know the way’.
And now with bare feet and with grass stains on my jeans
I stop in front of a tree as old as could be.
I ask the tree if I will ever, ever know
When it is my time to go.
But you will know I was here:
I was swimming in your bays.
But you will know I was here:
I was singing every day
Hands in my pockets as I walk across the street
I’m feeling tired by my legs they feel a different beat
In my mind, and in my body and my soul
I know the path’s the same, it’s just that I am getting old.
And to the sky that hangs above on broken strings
Fill it with your planes, and your clouds and all your favorite things.
I ask the sky if I will ever get to see
The machinations that go on behind the scenes.
But you will know I was here:
I was swimming in your bays.
But you will know I was here:
I was singing every day
The Ocean
Found it in the ocean
You found it in the sea
In the arms of some blue breaking monster
You’re exactly where you want yourself to be
Found it in the mountains
You found it in the autumn trees
In your magazines and on your wallpaper
It will show you where you want to be, oh honey
Thoughts of places will fill this space, this space
Your thoughts of places will fill this space
Thoughts of places will fill this space, this space
Your eyes are closed now let time erase, erase
Sister
It’s been a long time coming a long time waiting for you
Sister you’ve been looking for something to hold on to
So let’s go, jump on a plane
It was a new poetry it was the English countryside
It was flying to another world just to fall in love
Seen it all now you’ve had it now you’re gonna have to wait
But you just mind your manners you’ll get more than you can take
So let’s jump on a plane
Jump on a plane
Jump on a plane
Jump on a plane
And let’s go play in
let’s go play in
let’s go play in
let’s go play in some other playground far far away
Sister I love you, know that I’ll miss you
Drop me a line when you’re down here
Floating so high but you still sink like a stone
Sister you don’t have to live by fear
He is a stolen memory and a restless heart
A photo in your hand and a fresh start
Oh you can learn life’s lessons till there’s nothing left to learn
But you’ll still break like everyone when it is your turn
And now you cannot let go
Cannot let go
Cannot let go
Cannot let go
And now you want to show it, want to tell it
Talk about your new toy with everyone one that you know
Sister I love you, know that I’ll miss you
Drop me a line when you’re down here
Floating so high but you still sink like a stone
Sister you don’t have to live by fear
Song for Two (Sung By One)
I hear you crying yeah I hear you call
I hear you calling but the sound it doesn’t reach me at all
We started shaking and the earth was quaking
You started dancing to the sound reverberating in your head
I think I like you but I’m not so sure
I think I like you yeh I think I want to know you some more
But you can’t help it cos I make you feel special
We’ll drink some tea maybe go to the movies
Today I’m waiting yeah I’m waiting for your call
So sick of waiting, how come you never call me at all?
You’ve got the history I’m the patient on your system
You’re trading lovers like nobody’s gonna miss them
You got me moving to the sound you’re humming
It’s time to move, time to hit the ground running
Cut through the symphony because you are
The only sound that’s in my head
So Long
So long I have waited I have waited I have waited
My thoughts turning back the clock at every stage
For too short I have walked my stomach tied up in knots
I feel young, feel stupid, feel our time isn’t up
I wish I could strip away your complications
I wish I could unravel your mysteries
Read you stories I would surrender myself to you
But I know I want you more because I cannot have you
So long I have waited I have waited I have waited
I’m by the phone again with nervous hands and breath baited
You’ve got me fumbling, every nervous word that I have stated
You say you want time, you say that you need space but
All I want is you
All I want is you
All I want is you, you, you
A-Bomb
In the dead of the night we will stare at the stars, at the stars
A strange light will take and will illuminate
For a moment we’ll forget who we are
In a flash I’ll be thrown left to crawl through the dark on my own
And the silence I’ll tame but keep plucking my strings all the same
When I wake you’ll be there with a smile and a hand reaching down
And we’ll go to the movies and kiss in your car, in your car
And Ill watch as you tend to your trinkets and play with your hair
We will float we will fly, it is you till there’s nothing else there
When you blink you will find she has left you behind
Swept up and away on the breeze
And you know she’ll return but you don’t know when
And you’ll know it too well, as you knew it back then
You will stop, you will pick up a pen
White Knight
Twelve months back was not the same
You barely even know my name
By and by the time did pass I waited quiet and still
Hopeless then as I am now
Not knowing when, not knowing how
Shouting every useless line I knew to catch your eye
But too short were our chances
Stolen between nervous glances
I waited by the phone and you waited in your bed
In my mind I hoped we might
From kissing in the car that night
Leave each other wondering
Leave each other within sight
Even now I forget how the stupid thoughts come running now
Overriding safe measure and all good common sense
But too long you’re in my sight, I’ll let you wait for your white night
Sleepwalking
Running on that age old feeling
Everything will be alright
I thought it all came to an end
I hoped that we could make a start
Holding back and letting go
I’m re-thinking the things I know
I’m climbing up to higher ground
I’m climbing up to look around
Drifting off these ancient shorelines
Drowning in some back water
I’m searching round for things to find
I’m knowing that we’ll be alright
Rushing in when it’s too early
Speaking up when it’s too late
We’re conquerors when we are sleeping
Sleep walking when we’re awake
