Justin Currie

My Soul Is Stolen

Silence in the house
Balanced on the balcony
Just a breath of wind could
Set it all tumbling free

Look into my throat
Whoever’s singing isn’t me
Cos I’m a prisoner of
Who all you listeners might be

Cos my soul is stolen
Taken in my shallow youth
And I’d love you all to look but
Hate if you mistook it for truth
My soul is stolen
I took it from a girl I knew
And I covered it with trinkets
So that maybe you would think it was you

Silence in the house
Wherever can I be
I’m on the rooftop calling
As all your souls are falling
Like rain into the heart of me

—More Sword

Two People

I am two people, two people, two
And if I knew people I might know who is who
And you are good people so people say, it must be true
But if I’m two people can both be good people too?

I am two people, one is warm and one is cold
I am two people, one’s mild one’s wild beyond control
Wish I could tell people who to hit and who to hold
And of these two people who this is now, I don’t know

And out across the fire escape the ragged rascal goes
Leaving you to contemplate just who it is you chose
Is he the one you love, that fugitive above
Or is it me who waits behind the door holding out a hammer like a rose?

I am two people, two people, two
Go out and ask people and they’ll tell you that is true
And I don’t like people and I don’t like what people do
So of these…—More Sword

I’ll Leave It To You

Hey, it’s alright, the world is turning still
There’s centuries of light
More time than you can kill
And everything I’ve left or left wanting to do
I’ll leave it to you

Pack it in a box, drive away from me
Some letters and a watch
The treasures of the sea
I put it all in a list, a million things to do
I’ll leave it to you

Straightening that picture
Tightening that screw
Setting light to all that shit
The world has put us through
I’ll leave it to you

Hey, it’s alright, I’m happy
I’ve lived this luscious life
So gay and free
A lifetime without kids, what’re you gonna do?
I’ll leave it to you—More Sword

I Love The Sea

The sea, the sea, I can see the sea
Shining from your eyes as he
Haunts every fathom he can reach
Hauling the pebbles from your beach

The sea, the sea, whispers tauntingly
Come on in to the hell of me
Swarming like an army through the world
Spewing up the rocks that we once hurled

Into the sea, invading so gently
Filling us with grief and loss
Squeezing our skins until we shrink
Lost in the desert of the drink

I love the sea but the sea don’t love nobody
It just swallows every swimmer it can see

The sea, the sea, it will always be
Dreaming of the death of me
Swelling like a flower in my heart
Slowly tearing evidence of shipwrecks apart
I love the sea

 —More Sword

Hey Polly

Hey Polly, are you coming to the show?
There’s a band on that I know I think you’ll love
They have got a song that goes
“I’m a wolf in kitten’s clothes”
And hey Polly, there’s something you should know

Last summer when we were lying on the bed
All the things we should’ve said I’ll say today
Half a girl and half a boy
With a whole world to enjoy
Hey Polly – it’s so stupid we’re afraid

Cos I’m not who you think I am
I’m a loose bitch passing as a straight-laced man

You’re not who you say you are
You’re a butch prick suffocating a big gay star

Hey Polly, are you coming to the show?
There’s a band on that I know I think you’ll love
Cos I love the song that goes
“I’m a wolf in kitten’s clothes”
Hey Polly, it’s so stupid we’re afraid
So hey Polly, get your claws round here today—More Sword

Abandoned Sons

Turn off the light leave it alone
It’s gonna die before it is born
Leave it to cry, let it get by on its own
You set it alight so your fight is done

I didn’t know you could blow the life out of something
That you set the spark in

Pity the string under your bow
sawing so hard that it starts to glow
Put it away, get on with your day and your night
Strain and the prey evades your sight

Cos I didn’t know you could blow the life out of something
That you set the spark in

And that’s the advice that he gave me twice
At least that’s the excuse that I always use

So put it away, leave it alone
Pick over the pain and it’ll never be gone
stand on your feet so you show you’re a man
Try to pretend that he’s done all he can

Cos you didn’t know he could blow the life out of something
That he set…—More Sword

The Dead Sea

When you go baby, I don’t know
Whether to be glad or whether to be sad
When I’m alone I am free
When I am free, baby I’m alone

So you don’t know how to be around me
Cos around me is the dead sea

So you try to find my island
Well baby I don’t even know where I am
Nothing lives in this place
No lover’s breath across my face

So you don’t know how to be around me
Cos around me is the dead sea

The dead sea protects me
From sinking in that feeling
Left by your leaving

So when you go I just float
Out in the brine with the flotsam of what’s mine
You can shout but I can’t hear
No living thing’s ever getting near

So you don’t know how to be around me
Cos around me is the dead sea

—More Sword

Failing To See

Am I cruel because I know you forgive?
Do you hurt me just cos you know that I’ll live?
Is this what falling in love was aiming to be?
Being in love and failing to see
The failings of you and me

I don’t count the wounds sustained
I don’t recognise the picture that you paint
Is this what falling in love was aiming to be?
Being in love and failing to see
The failings of you and me

Failing to see the future
Where one of us must be without the other

You can cry, babe you can scream
Blacken an eye and I’ll take one for the team
Cos baby falling in love was aiming to be
Being in love and failing to see
The failings of you and me
Failing to see…

—More Sword

Crybabies

I don’t care about anybody else
But me, I’m a liar
As I look at you I’m trying to be cool
Like I ain’t a crier
And Daddy it ain’t no use
I’m as hopeless an opener as you
We keep to the public roads
So we don’t find ourselves lost again in that country
Where the crybabies go

And I don’t care about anybody else
But you, I admire
If you pick up the stick and tap the time
I’ll be in your choir
But Daddy I ain’t no good
When I sing it’s like my heart is made of wood
I keep to what I know
So I don’t find myself somewhere deep in that country
Where the crybabies go

And I’ll be a crybaby someday
When you’re not there to follow

So I don’t care about anybody else
Cos I, I’m tired
Of watching you struggle with yourself
Behind the wire
And Daddy I can’t break in
You’re on your own inside the castle of your skin
I’m driving through the snow
Trying to…—More Sword

Sydney Harbour Bridge

I’m always dreaming, I’m never in the moment at all
I guess I’m waiting for the veil across Australia to fall
And then I sink into the seabed of my mind
Where the fishes swim the muddy depths of time
And I feel that little give when I think of you
And Sydney Harbour Bridge sinks a little too

I could be driving, stupefied and deadened by the night
When you surprise me, rolling up and looking for a light
And then I sink into the river of my bed
And I float down through the faces of the dead
And I feel that little give when I get to you
And Sydney Harbour Bridge sinks a little too

Sure I know everybody says I treated you with carelessness
But from my side of the bridge there’s nothing I can do

And when I’m soaking wet under the Caledonian rain
I find I’m floating back into that swimming pool again
And then I sink a little…—More Sword

This Is My Kingdom Now

Guess I got lucky that God didn’t take me away
I’m ministered to by flunkies and baptised every day
But I think I’ve got it figured, I’ve fallen into hell somehow
So tell those vacant visitors
That this is my kingdom now

They line the hallways, a colonnade of bones
I pull their strings sideways and wheel them about in their thrones
And I know this can’t be paradise – that much the angels will allow
So tell those shuffling shadows
That this is my kingdom now

I was sure that I could hear applause and that I should take a bow
But no one seems to care in here
That this is my kingdom now

Guess I got lucky that God didn’t take me away
I motion like a monkey and hope somebody sees me today
And the peasants from the village they have brought their horse and plough
So I turn my face to the radio and say
This is my kingdom now
And my daughter…—More Sword

Fallen Trees

I was alone and trawling through the valley for peace
When there, through the teardrops hanging in the doorway, I freeze
My kind of people, already leaning into one another
Like fallen trees

Why am I always drawn to the trough on my knees?
Broken in a way that none of us can fathom or ease
My kind of people, lying around in the wreckage of the laughter
Like fallen trees

And nothing’s gonna change the way we deal
With the ruins of our feelings by pushing on the ceiling

So as I collapse into another huddle, I see
That no one is holding any other brother but me
My kind of people, they can take the weight of any other
Like fallen trees—More Sword

My Name Is God

I’ve walked mountains high, I’ve torn across the sky
Taken life from the sun, yeah, I don’t need anyone
I don’t need anyone

And I have a goddess led into the marriage bed
Made her a fool for fun: ‘cos I don’t need anyone
I don’t need anyone

And I don’t need you my dears
I don’t need the hurting here
The murdering atmosphere –
My whole career undone
So, I don’t need anyone

And I walk mountains high, tear light from the sky
Breathe life into your lung –but I don’t need anyone

So go on the human heart, go on through the dark
Through the dead generation that don’t need anyone
They don’t need anyone
They don’t need anyone—More Sword

Falsetto

I didn’t want to be here
I never liked your dad ‘cos he never loved the fact
That you were you
And you liked to sing falsetto
Which real men shouldn’t do

I’m mumbling through the hymns
I can see him now belt that nonsense out beside you
As you try to find a way to sing
That makes this thing ring true

Jesus, Jesus I need love
Not stuff about having faith in God
And Jesus, that would be enough

Talk of doing things through duty
Did no one like this man? Even his priest seems glad he’s gone
So I watch you simply bearing it
Hoping it won’t last too long

Jesus, Jesus he needs love
Not stuff about having faith in God
And Jesus, that would be enough—More Sword

Every Song’s The Same

Let me teach you how to write a song
The first line must be brief but strong
And the second line should rhyme
With something in your baby’s heart
Something that they know but cannot name
And in that way every song’s the same

Let me show you how to write a tune
The first note should mean the world to you
And the second one should come
Like an arrow out of a dream
Something only hit by the singer’s aim
And in that way every tune’s the same

So go ahead please, throw away the rules and seize
Whatever it is you need to say
Cos I’m dying here trying to find something that I can play

So let me hear it, play it loud
Pull me into that sweet sleepwalking crowd
With that single thing
That’s everything you’ve wanted to scream
Since the obscene beginning of time—More Sword

Bend To My Will

Wheel me to the theatre, it’s gonna be a ball
That shadow that shuts on life is the greatest love of all
I calculate some way to keep it still
Make the approaching panic that’s so keen to kill
Bend to my will

Strap me in and shut me up, bring the actors in
Two pills in a paper cup, here we go again
They swing out the big light I know the drill
But I won’t slip away from them, not until
They bend to my will

So I face the gaping lion’s mouth with a little grin
And I feel my body going south so I take the scenery in
They say there is a moment when you spill
But my only confession is I won’t leave her until
She bends to my will
—More Sword

Priscilla

Have you seen Priscilla
Was she trying to look away
From the pity in the mirror
Of your eyes as surprise held sway?
And did she look delightful
In that frightful kind of way
And could you still see the girl that loved me
After all that I carved away?

A fist clenched in my heart when I heard you say
“She has gone down the road called wrong”
So go right ahead and cast the blame my way

And when you saw Priscilla
Did you finally judge me
As the jailer and the killer
Of the glory she should be?—More Sword

I Hate Myself For Loving You

I hate myself for loving you
I hate that I am such a fool tryin’
To please you all the time
Tiptoe round you like a mime
But that’s cool

I hate myself for loving you
I hate that I just hang around for
Your key crank in the door
Waiting willingly for more, I do
Hate myself for loving you

But loving you is what I gotta do
I couldn’t leave you even if I wanted to
Cos it’s the hate that feeds the fire of me and you

So I hate myself for loving you
And I know honey, you hate yourself too
So say it and you’re free, say it along with me
Like its true
I hate myself for loving you

But how I love to hate myself—More Sword

On A Roll

Twist your knuckle on the steel
My fist is buckling the wheel
Spin me deeper in the hole
I’m on a roll

Take this unwanted watch of mine
I don’t need to know the time
Everything must go
I’m on a roll

She left yesterday
I guess that leaves more time to play and forget
I’m on a roll
Yeah, I’m on a roll

I’m blessed with sevens in my hand
But she could never understand
All is lost on the cost of my next throw
Cos I’m on a roll
Yeah, I’m on a roll—More Sword

Into A Pearl

Is there a place there every morning
Where the enemy is curled
Is the dead arm a warning
Of a stranger in your world?

Then can’t you make that piece of grit turn into a pearl?

Take a taxi to the station
Take a slow train to the sea
All the broken glass is patient
It knows how smooth it’s gonna be

Then can’t you take that piece of grit and make a pearl for me?

This life never suited you
Trapped inside that shell
But whatever’s gotten into you
Can be gotten out as well

If there’s a space there every morning
Where the enemy is curled
If you feel the phantom forming
Just wrap around it girl

Cos no one knows what to make of it
We step around the rage of it
But only you can smother it
And make us all a pearl
—More Sword

On My Conscience

It’s on my conscience, I’m conscious of that now
Yes, I meant to hurt you but you deserved it anyhow
I had to suffocate the words but they just poured out of my mouth

I know you’ve got your problems, your demons and your drives
And perhaps for you to solve them you covet other people’s lives
It’s on my conscience but I’m sure that I’ll survive

I’m gonna ride you like you rode my friend
I’m gonna ride you to hell and back again

So I’ll have it on my conscience until the end of time
But whenever you think of me you’ll wonder whether I was lying
Well, I don’t really care, just so long as you are crying—More Sword

Half Of Me

Half of me is tied up in our life
But half of me keeps one eye on the knife
Called upon by spirits from the golden cemetery
I’m living in a fantasy that I’m ever cutting free

Of that half of me who is timid and afraid
But half of me wants to leave the life we’ve made
And go out blazing trails in a haze of rock and roll
But my other half she laughs like it’s a joke
Fighting for the soul

Of half of me – that is all she ever gets
But half of me knows that half of me regrets
Ripping through the years without a hope of happiness
But failure never held me any fears until I had success
But half of me deserves everything he gets

Half of me is ready to retire
But half of me is still riven with a fire
Driving me to conjure up the passions of the past
Undignified and faithless to the last and…—More Sword

Little Stars

Hold on to your hats
Dust off where you came from
Throw those cameras away
Embrace the things that you abstain from
If you could all shut up
Take a peek out from your hairstyles
God is gonna speak
Just as she comes through the turnstiles

Little stars arrayed around her head and I swear, against my will
I will be hers until the disbelieving ones are dead

Don’t look to the skies
For a sign if it’s gonna run smooth
It’s just a drop of rain
Nothing compared to what we’ve come through

Little stars arrayed around her head and I swear, against my will
I will be hers until the disbelieving ones are dead

Tripping on her train, slipping off the chairs
There is nothing happens right in some affairs
We might dance through the cake and tread it up the stairs
As the revellers retire and divide up into pairs

Little stars caught within my hair and I swear, against my will
I will…—More Sword

A Man With Nothing to Do

The lovers of the world are slaving away

But I do nothing much but breathe

When good men do nothing, it’s true what they say

The devil is rolling up his sleeve

Is God, so busy in his time, now doing nothing too?

So baby, here I am, waiting for you

A man with nothing to do

Let the years go by, let the daylight die

I can’t think of anything to be

The planes in the sky, the lines in the road

Human hands make everything you see

And if you keep busy in your mind do you think you’ll see this through?

So baby, here I am, waiting for you

A man with nothing to do

I’m a man with nothing to do

I don’t tend the fields, I don’t toil at the sea

So I am passing the time by letting time pass over me

So are you so busy in your mind that you can’t feel it too?

So baby, here I am, waiting…—More Sword

Anywhere I’m Away from You

When I’m away from home I do as the locals do

But baby, now I’m in Rome I can’t remember you

Did you used to cut me down, did you use to bury me?

Praise God for the errors of my memory

Whatever I’m coming to I ain’t running home

Cos home is anywhere, anywhere I’m away from you

Out on the road you find invisibility

And the beauty of an empty mind is its tranquility

And if the past comes up and dogs my day

I can take it on a little trip and lose it in the empty space

Whatever I’m coming to I ain’t running home

Cos home is anywhere, anywhere I’m away from you

So, baby if you want me back you don’t have to do a thing

Just stare at the wall as you always do hating everything

And I’ll come flooding back and you can treasure me

With your heart like rock and your mind so black butcher my…—More Sword

At Home Inside Of Me

Crows capturing buildings and rats camped in a drain

Fireflies caught and cannoned in the rain

Seams of secret people awaiting the shafts that set them free

They make themselves a home inside of me

Armies of children and ghosts of suffragettes

Make merry in the cauldron of my chest

Bodies dumped in ditches and stowaways at sea

They make themselves a home inside of me

They make themselves a home inside of me

A fist-fight at a wedding, a killing on the stairs

The brilliant spark at the start of love affairs

Your tenderness’s blessing and your assassin’s accuracy

They make themselves a home inside of me

 —More Sword

You’ll Always Walk Alone

Lying asleep at night under the watching ceiling light

Safe in the fortress of your home

Remember you’ll always walk alone

When you’re swooning at the sinking sun

With that special girl you string along

And from the shore you throw another stone

Remember you’ll always walk alone

Walk alone through your life and into the night

You will always walk alone

Arm in arm and hand in hand, tied together with a wedding band

Tethered to the line between the phones

Remember you’ll always walk alone

Walk alone through your life and into the night

You will always walk alone

And alone every night you walk through my mind

There we go, you and I in tandem all the time

Our cover’s blown, now it’s all talk

How you always walk alone

 —More Sword

Can’t Let Go Of Her Now

She’s made her mark on me, she’s scarred my memory

Made shallow wounds in the depth of night

Give up my liberty, that’s what she wants from me

Well, I guess I’d care but it feels alright

And if I lose my grip I won’t make it anyhow

So I can’t let go of her now

She makes my common sense come out like self-defence

She breaks my patience like a match

And when I snap in half she’ll be the first to laugh

If I’m a base hit, she’s a catch

And if I lose my grip I won’t make it anyhow

So I can’t let go of her now

Just don’t tell her I would die if I let her slip away

Let her think I’m resigned

Like those drying clothes just hang onto the line

She’s made her mark on me, those little lines you can see

They’re written through me like a poem

She makes a mockery of all I hold life to…—More Sword

The Fight to Be Human

I’m not a master of what I survey

To death and disaster I am a slave

But I am the author of the words that I say

Why do I bother – it’s all trash anyway

I try to be truthful, or I think that I try

I may not be useful but at least I’m alive

Millions of letters spilled into the hive

All of them worthless except for this line

I hate the world they gave me

I hate the world they gave me

I stand on a mountain of pitiful prose

My mind is a fountain that pointlessly flows

They give you a trophy if you make the kids scream

But it’s such a joke to me how insipid I’ve been

I hate the world they gave me

I hate the world they gave me

I dig into my past now, I dig into my wrist

To recapture the last time I felt the knife twist

I kick at the shackles and heave at the…—More Sword

Ready To Be

Ready To Be

Praise heaven, babe, it’s still alive

A good man’s just a great disguise

Look down deep in his eyes you’ll see

And your friends who say I’m bad

Why don’t you tell them all you’ve been had

Why don’t you tell them what I am is what they see

Cos I’m ready to be the devil they’ve been seeing in me

Look closer it’s still alight

That ain’t a twinkle that you see at night

Ask me again if I think they’re right, you’ll see

Cos I’m ready to be the devil they’ve been seeing in me

Whatever they’ve been seeing, I know him

He lives between the moments, when I’m an angel in silence

He’s climbing over the railway fence

Trying to dispose of the evidence

Trying to compose it so it all makes sense

Trying to get ready to be, ready to be

The devil they’ve been seeing in me

 —More Sword

The Way That It Falls

Life is wonderful, you love the days till you’re dead and gone,

The pleasures lived in the light, but I love the night, the shapes it solves

And the way that it falls, the way that it falls

And she loves everyone, so I let her burn in the sun

And then trick her into a fight, cos I love the night, the spills and squalls

And the way that it falls, the way that it falls

Falling through the morning, falling through all of space

To wipe the sunlight from her face

Like the shadow falling in this place

Life is wonderful, you hog the heat till the fire cools

And you hold on as though it’s your right, and dread the night’s

Enclosing walls

And the way that it falls, the way that it falls

—More Sword

As Long As You Don’t Come Back

Well, I’m talking to myself not you so don’t get mad

Cos I need a friend who won’t talk back

And he is letting me finally see some sense

And I know I should be mending fences but why would I do that?

When I won’t feel alone as long as you don’t come back

And I know that you’ll be picking through the bones of me

Trying to find a heart of stone

Well, if it’s there throw it at my picture

Cos I know I should be building bridges but why would I do that?

When I won’t feel alone as long as you don’t come back

Don’t come back, don’t come round crying

Whatever the angle, I ain’t buying

Whatever the accent you’ve been trying

So I’m talking to myself not you and it ain’t so bad

At least I don’t put myself down

And sometimes I even sound like you

And I know I should be making amends but why would I…—More Sword

Everyone I Love

Tonight I’m gonna hurt everyone I love just to see if they love me

I’m gonna run around running off my mouth, be as cruel as I can be

Tonight I’m gonna hurt everyone I love, give my bitter side a little exercise

Let my loathing out for a walkabout, give my jealousy a little company

Tonight I’m gonna hurt everyone I love,

Cos I’m tired of trying to keep this stuff inside of me

Tonight I’m gonna say what I never say, I’m taking everybody down

Like Dr. Frankenstein I’ll let the monster walk from the cellar to the town

Tonight I’m gonna say what I never say, every negative I can hit them with,

Every accolade’ll be a hand grenade, let my mission be catastrophe,

Tonight I’m gonna hurt everyone I love,

Cos I wanna wreck what everyone expects from me

Tonight I’m gonna hurt everyone I love just to see if they love me

I’m gonna blow apart the phoney…—More Sword

Baby, You Survived

Baby, can’t you cry, or is she ain’t letting you?

That eyelash in your eye ain’t what’s upsetting you

Though she’s dead and out of sight

She still throws your shoes across your room at night

And she still says you’re cheap and in your sleep sets the sheets alight

So baby, don’t you cry, she ain’t worth it, and besides,

You’re too old for lullabies

So baby, don’t you sink back down that corridor

Take a breath and think what you’ve been running for

Cos she can’t help you now

All she can do is sulk around your house

And show up in your eyes when you’re surprised that you’re happy now

So be glad and proud, cos, baby, you’re allowed

And her shadow disappears when you shine a light down the years

And torch that hallway of souvenirs

So lately you and I have spoken of marrying

So it’s time to say goodbye to that bag of broken things you’re carrying

Cos this time you…—More Sword

What Is Love For

What is love for? Does it wash good people ashore,

Does it keep the wolf from the door, what is love for?

What does love do, does it make life worth going through,

Keep you safe from the suicide crew, what does love do?

What is love for, who does it help?

A one-eyed king that leads everything straight into hell.

What is love for, what does it change?

Did Joan of Arc drag anyone back from history’s flames?

What does love do, does it  favour a fortunate few,

Does it step on the hearts it can’t use, what does love do?

What does love make but twenty billion perfect mistakes

Trying to figure what they can take, what does it make?

What is love for, who does it help?

A one-eyed king that leads everything straight into hell.

What is love for, what does it change?

Did Joan of Arc drag anyone back from history’s flames?

What is love for, what is love for?

What do…—More Sword

Not So Sentimental Now (Currie)

Pick up your shit and my shit too

Don’t need a T.V. to stare at or those pretty clothes to glare at

That you never put on anyhow

‘Cos baby, I’m not so sentimental now

Out with the old, out with the new

If there’s a trinket worth keeping you’d better get it while I’m sleeping

‘Cos baby, I’m not so sentimental now

Don’t think because I loved so hard

I can’t be hard when the hating starts

So take your wounded out

‘Cos I’m not so sentimental now

Take everything, take what you see

The vitamins, the drawing pins, the covers you’ve been lying in to me,

Yeh, take a bow

‘Cos baby, I’m not so sentimental now.—More Sword

Walking Through You (Currie)

In the evening when you’re blue you will feel me walking through you

When you’re crying, that’s my cue, my reminding walking through you

When you’re singing something true I’ll be listening walking through you

And those memories that you lose I can find them walking through you

When you dance and your baby’s dancing too

Then I will walk through you

In the windows in the views there’s a shadow walking through you

When you’re cold, when you’re cruel, that’s my sorrow walking through you

When you wake in the silence of your room

Then I will walk through you

—More Sword

Something In That Mess

Sometimes I love you, sometimes I hate you

I know you struggle too, it’s in your nature

‘Cos you and I were never meant to be together

But you took off your dress

And something in that mess got changed forever

Some days a breakthrough, some days a breakdown

When I fall out of love you meet me on the way down

‘Cos you and I were never meant to be together

But you took off your dress

And something in that mess got changed forever

Forever, stains and scratches written on the leather

And when the sun comes slanting in I swear it’s raining feathers

And I can’t find myself among this stuff we’ve thrown together

‘Cos somewhere here a shirt of mine is twisted in the arms of your sweater

Sometimes I love you, sometimes I hate you

I know that you do too, it’s in your nature

‘Cos you and I were never meant to be together

But you took off your dress

And something…—More Sword

If I Ever Loved You

Baby, I was not the one

I guess you know that now

But I kept you real distracted for a while.

I look back and nothing much

Ever comes to mind

Sometimes I can picture half a smile

We were thick as thieves

Hung on each others sleeves

Kissing all the time

But if I ever loved you shouldn’t I be crying

Shouldn’t I be cracking up

And drinking all the time?

Yeah,if I ever loved you how come I feel alright

How come the nights are so easy

And the mornings look so bright?

I try to figure what has gone

I seem to look the same

Maybe there’s a tightness around my eyes

Sometimes the evening comes

I think I miss someone

And then I realise

That if I ever loved you shouldn’t I be crying

Shouldn’t I be cracking up

And drinking all the time?

Yeah,if I ever loved you how come I feel alright

How come the nights are so easy

And the mornings look so bright?

Love it can make your world

Bring…—More Sword

Only Love

Only love makes killing time so cruel

The hours come and you drag them round with you

When she is gone the whole hangdog house aches

And you hum along to the sound of heartbreaks

You think you hear in every song

But only love will make you wait so long

For the little gifts that keep you holding on

A scribbled ring round the town she’s staying in,

The little dent in the bed you’re laying in,

The heady scent she leaves on you

But only love makes killing time so cruel

So many things that you must get round to;

A dripping tap, a month’s mail to sort through

If you could just get your mind to clear

But it’s only love and it keeps you waiting here—More Sword

Gold Dust

The thing that makes your eyes glitter isn’t always gold dust

The wings you think life’s given you they couldn’t lift a bread crust

A siren in the sky calls my body home

The last remaining high leaves me lowdown and alone

And maps of where you are can be found in every bar

Where those cosy little homilies hang

The thing that makes your eyes glitter isn’t always gold dust

The wings you think life’s given you they couldn’t lift a bread crust

The confidence of kings leaches from my hands

Where jupiter did sing a drunken janitor now stands

To figure who you are you look in every single car

Where they stick those tired sideways looks at life

The thing that makes your eyes glitter isn’t always gold dust

The wings you think life’s given you they couldn’t lift a bread crust

Alone; that ain’t the word

It’s just a groan in the morning nobody ever heard

—More Sword

Out Of My Control

Once I get my heart back in my hand

I’ll squeeze out every drop of love I can

To rid myself of you, I want with all my soul

But what I want is out of my control

All I’d have to do is fool around

Drag out this old carcass on the town

I know how it is done, just shake the dice and roll

But what I want is out of my control

Why can’t I free myself, climb out of this hole

Deep inside you have taken hold

I try, try, try but every time I just find

It’s out of my control

Twenty planes they leave the runway every day

Taking yet another chance away

I could cut and run, take half what makes me whole

But what I want is out of my control—More Sword

Where Did I Go?

I loved to hurt you without you ever knowing

I could desert you without you ever seeing me going

All the monsters in your nightmares showed

You could see me underneath my cloak –

Do you know, do you know?

Baby, where did I go?

In the mornings, baby, right before you woke

I would ask things that I never spoke –

Does she know, does she know?

Baby, where did I go?

Maybe I was afraid to see you cry

Maybe you didn’t need to cry

Maybe I can tell such a brilliant lie…

I loved to hurt you but you never felt a blow

I could kiss you and still you’d never know…

Baby, where did I go?—More Sword

Still In Love

Lovers leave their traces like jets across the sky

They find in others’  faces lines they recognise

My keepsakes have their places –

At the back of a drawer or slipped between pages and stuck on a shelf

But I’m still in love with nothing but myself

Yeah, sometimes I remember the way they signed their names

And always in December I feel some kind of shame

The heart it stays so tender –

I reminisce like a hangman wishing his prisoners well

But I’m still in love with nothing but myself

I know their mothers’ ages

I know all the stories so well

And I know I’ll see their faces in hell

So wipe away their traces, blow the dust off from the shelf

‘Cos I’m still in love

With nothing but myself—More Sword

No, Surrender

Big Macs for the fat, lo-cal wraps for the call centre battery hens,

Japanese snacks for the choice-spoilt citizens, caviar kickbacks for the citadel denizens.

Airport shoeshines servicing the suits among the little silver stereos and hand-rolled cheroots,

First class passengers file on last after the scum are packed in with their tax-free loot.

Checkout calamity, you’re cheated out of loyalty points, ten more years at this joint you’d be home & dry,

Beggars beat round the cash machines but you just slip between them with the usual lie.

Terrible tales of kidnapped kids keep you focused on the family and filling up the fridge,

Neighbourhood watchers shop dole dodgers, stick their semis on the market & start racking up the bids.

Should you stand and fight, should you die for what you think is right

So your useless contribution will be remembered?

If you’re asking me I say no, surrender.

Constant growth the cancerous cure, a swarming race of profiteers…—More Sword