Frank Turner

[fox69]

 

[fox69]

"A Decent Cup Of Tea"

"A Decent Cup Of Tea"



It hadn’t been a day when everything had turned out right –
She called me up and asked me to come over in the night,
To make her cups of tea and listen quietly as she starts
To list the latest list of bastards who have trampled on her heart.

I see her in the nightclubs, I see her in the bars,
At rooftop after-parties, or crammed into friends’ cars,
And we talk about the weather, and how she drowns her pain in drink,
And I nod and never ever dare to tell her what I think.

She summers by my seas
But winters without me,
And she cries into her tea
That she’s secretly lonely.
And oh me, what am I to do?
It’s obvious to me,
But she never seems to see
That it’s not about the days when everything has turned out right,
No it’s more about the moments when she calls me in the night
To make her cups of tea and wash the weary worries from her head
And then to draw the pain out slowly as I put her into bed.

And I slip this information
Into all our conversations
But she never seems to listen
And she never seems to see.

 

[fox69]

"A Love Worth Keeping"

"A Love Worth Keeping"



Rise in the morning at sunrise
Strangers around me sleep soundly at rest
Phones and computers become me
Signals stretch back to the lands that I've left
Oh in the quiet times
Count up the things that I love
Slip through the road lights
The trail of wandering back

Left you while you were sleeping
Left you the warmth in the bed, where I lay
You left me a love worth keeping
You left me a diary to count off the days
And so in the quiet times
I saver the things that I've lost
And slip through the road lights
And wonder how I came to this

I guess you never know
Lost until you have something to lose
Choice until you have something to choose
Choose

So give me my quiet times
To mourn for the things that I've lost
And find me on the road lights
Counting the miles and the cost
So I never knew
Lost cos I had nothing to lose
Choice cos I had nothing to choose
But all the things you do
The way that you close your door
The way that you guard your shore
Darling, I'm coming home soon

 

[fox69]

"American Girl"
(originally by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)

"American Girl"
(originally by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)



Well, she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinkin'
That there was a little more to life somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
And if she had to die tryin'
She had one little promise she was gonna keep

O yeah, all right
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl

Well it was kind of cold that night,
She stood alone on her balcony
She could hear all the cars rolling by,
Out on 441 like waves crashin' over the beach
And for one desperate moment
There he crept back in her memory
God it's so painful when something that's so close
Is still so far out of reach

O yeah, all right
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl

 

[fox69]

"Anymore"

"Anymore"



The single saddest thing that I ever heard you say
Was on the day I told you I had to go away
You said “Darling baby please, if you really mean to leave
Can't I just hold you a little while longer?”

And the single hardest thing I ever had to do
Was take your arms from round me and walk away from you
And I know I shouldn't have kissed you as a I left
Darling I should have been stronger

Not with a bang but with a whimper
It wasn't hard, it was kind of simple
Three short steps from your bed to your door
Darling I can't look you in the eyes now and tell you I'm sure
If I love you anymore

I did my very best, I've given you these years
Of love and understanding, telephone calls and tears
But now the little things you do that used to make me love you
Now just cramp my heart a little and let it slip

And we've met this sorry end from a picture perfect start
The romance and the running down to disconnected hearts
Of two people sad and free, who know they used to be
More than just a pair of sinking ships

Not with a bang but with a whimper
It wasn't hard, it was kind of simple
Three short steps from your bed to your door
Darling I can't look you in the eyes now and tell you I'm sure
If I love you anymore

I'm not drinking any more, but I'm then I'm not drinking any less
I can't do this anymore, oh you know I did my best
Oh my darling
I don't love you anymore

 

[fox69]

"Back In The Day"

"Back In The Day"



When I was just a skinny lad on holiday by the sea,
I met a girl in a Rancid shirt, and a tape she gave to me
With the Black Flag First Four Years and the Minor Threat Discography,
And punk rock saved my life.
Going down the Red Eye back in 1998,
Hanging out with Household Names and staying out too late,
This angry adolescent found an outlet for his hate,
And punk rock saved my life.

The vision wasn’t perfect and we knew it all along,
We dressed like fucking idiots and got our facts all wrong.
But everyone must needs be an extremist when they’re young –
Fucking with your parents makes you grow up big and strong.

Folding zines and record sleeves while sitting round at home,
Flicking through the catalogues and distros at the shows,
Circle pits and sing-a-longs, come on let’s fucking go,
And punk rock saved my life.

That little dream is over, it was never going to last.
Everybody’s moved along and it’s all in the past,
But when I was just 16 I pinned my colours to the mast.
And punk rock’s in the ink that’s in my skin,
The attitude in every song I sing,
And we didn’t change the world, we didn’t win,
We probably didn’t even save my life, it’s true
But I bet we had a better time than you.

 

[fox69]

"Back To Sleep"

"Back To Sleep"



Slumber-blind I speak my mind
When I'm out cold (or so I'm told)
And so I'm scared to rest my head in company.
You're not scared of words unsaid,
You close your eyes, say your goodbyes
And so I'm left to watch you drift away from me
So peacefully.

And I'm just looking for the person
Who will smile at all my questions,
Who will tell me I'm just tired, and then send me
Back to sleep.

You stole the covers in the night,
You turned away, turned out the light,
But it's OK because I'm already miles away.

 

[fox69]

"Balthazar, Impresario"

"Balthazar, Impresario"



My name is Balthazar, Impresario
And you'll find me at the bottom of the page
I have artist's hands, though I'm a working man
But my craft has been forgotten by the age
So tonight will be my last night on the stage

This is my family's trade, my father built this place
At the turning of the twentieth century
I have been working here, for some fifty years
But the young these days are glued to TV screens
And the old girl is dying on her feet

Once more to the boards
One more curtain call
Give the crowd everything they're asking for and more
Always make them laugh
Try to make them cry
Always take the stage like it's the last night of your life

My friends from theatre school all thought I was a fool
For leaving Shakespeare for the music hall
And now my son's left home, and set out on his own
And the critics think we're quaint but set to fall
But they've only seen the show from the stalls

Once more to the boards
One more curtain call
Give the crowd everything they're asking for and more
Always make them laugh
Try to make them cry
Always take the stage like it's the last night of your life

And all the things I've seen behind these tattered seams
And all the upturned faces with the lamplight in their eyes
And each imperfect turn flickers as it burns
Only lasts a moment but for me they'll never die

We are respected
We're not remembered
We are the ghosts of Vaudeville
Unnumbered

We are the fathers of the halls
Yeah but we'll never be famous
We aren't just artists, we are something more:
We're entertainers

I smooth my thinning hair in a gilded mirror
To try to hide the tell-signs of my age
My name is Balthazar, Impresario
And tonight will be my last night on the stage.

 

[fox69]

"Barbara Allen"

"Barbara Allen"



It being the springtime of the year
The flowers were freshly blooming
A young man from my home country
Fell in love with Barbara Allen

This young man took sick and went to bed
And he called out for Barbara Allen
She came to him and softly said:
Young man I think you are dying

I am not dying! the young man said
One kiss from you would cure me
One kiss from me you'll never see
Though I thought that you're heart was breaking

Or do you not remember last Sunday night
Out in the ballroom dancing
You danced all night with the village whore
And you slighted Barbara Allen

So she went back to her father's house
And she heard the church bell tolling
And each toll that the bell did ring
Called out for Barbara Allen

Now she'd not gone back so very far
When she saw the funeral coming
Lay down, lay down the corpse she cried
So that I may gaze upon him

Oh father, father, dig my grave
And dig it deep and narrow
A young man died for me today
I shall die for him tomorrow

So they both were buried in the old churchyard
But she was buried higher
And from her grave a red rose grew
And from his grave a brier

 

[fox69]

"Better Half"

"Better Half"



Oh my friend loneliness, where have you been?
You left to the lure of the lover who left me alone
But now you come crawling back, and I'll let you in
And we'll slip back into grooves that we cut in ourselves long ago

But there must be a better half, somewhere out there
She lives a better life, a life that shares
Shares with a better man
The man who is there when she calls in the night
Who says "Hey, it's alright"

And oh my dear distance, I've met you before
Longing for a lover who's lost on a far distant shore
And oh my imperfections, are all that remain
And the days when I'd love you and I'd leave you, and you'd wish that I would stay

There must be a better half, somewhere out there
She lives a better life, a life that shares
Shares with a better man
The man who is there when she calls in the night
Who says "Hey, it's alright"

I know what she looks like, her face and skin, her smell and the rest
I know the feel of her soul, but God help me I just cannot find her address
I've how I've tried but now all that's left
Is my old friend distance and sweet loneliness

There must be a better half, somewhere out there
She lives a better life, a life that shares
Shares with a better man
The man who is there when she calls in the night
Who says "Hey, it's alright"
"Hey, it's alright"
"Hey, it's alright"