Marillion

[fox69]

"Slainte Mhath"

"Slainte Mhath"


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 beermat or two
And when you declare the point of grave creation
They turn round and you to tell them the story so far
This is the story so far

And you listen with a tear in you eye
To their hopes and betrayals and your only reply
Is Slainte 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, take me away, take me away

From the dream on the barbed wire at Flanders and Bilston Glen
From a Clydeside that rusts from the tears of its broken men
From the realisation that 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 but the whistle still blows
Waiting on the whistle to blow
We stand here waiting on the whistle to blow

 

[fox69]

"Somewhere Else"

"Somewhere Else"


The rock-star trip. Some serious ship
White-knuckle journey blackened my
Eye & cut my lip
Better to be a doctor or a man who
Walks the earth
Hedonistic laughing boys
What's any of it worth?..

Look at myself
Look at myself

Escaped to this car
Drove to a bar somewhere
The beautiful game
Such a thin line between love & hate

Look at myself
Look at myself

Mr Taurus ate a thesaurus
Made the girls cry & skipped straight to the chorus
Mr Taurus had a great fall
All the King's horses were no good at all
No good at all

Here's one I broke earlier
I broke earlier

Woke up in a spaceship of shimmering gold
Tutenkhamen sleeping
Should'a left him alone
Floating round in Orion
Arrow pointing to heaven
Between all the planets
Out in the cold

Everyone I love
Everyone I love
Everyone I love lives somewhere else
And I have time to look at myself
Look at myself
Look at myself

And I've seen enough
I've seen enough
Everyone I love lives somewhere else
Everyone I love lives somewhere else

Somewhere Else
Somewhere Else
Somewhere Else

 

[fox69]

"Sounds That Can't Be Made"

"Sounds That Can't Be Made"


One day I'll play you sounds that can't be made
They'll sing in you from somewhere inside your head
You'll never hear them from the earth or the air
You'll never hear them from the outside world

You'll hear it happen inside you
You'll hear it happen inside you
Silent and high
Silent and high
Sounds that can't be made

One day you'll play me sounds that can't be made
I'll feel them humming from somewhere inside your hand
I'll never hear them from the boring ordinary tawdry world
You'll never hear them from anywhere you could call anywhere
I'll make it happen inside you
I'll make it happen inside you
Silent and high
Silent and high
Silent and high
Silent and high
Sounds that can't be made

One day I'll play you sounds that can't be made
They'll sing in us from somewhere inside our heads
No one ever heard them but you and me
We'll make it happen inside us
We'll make it happen inside us
Silent and high

Like the wind blowin'
In the palms of my mind
I feel the wind blowin'
In the palms of my mind

Aurora borealis
Shimmering green and blue
Indigo and violent
Like phantoms half-imagined
Something unreal
But realer than everything
Seeing all the planet's love floating in the air
Caressing you every day

If only we can hear them
Sounds that can't be made
Sounds that can't be made

No it aint just in your mind babe
It's inside you
Dig it out, dig it out
It's inside you

Only love can stop you from merely existing
Play me sounds that can't be made

 

[fox69]

"Splintering Heart"

"Splintering Heart"


There's a hot hard hurt
Burning under her skin
And it pricks her like thorns
And it's needles and pins
And it twists in her body
And I know what it is
And I'm paying in pain
But it's the cost of the high
'Till the weight of the secret
And the weight of the lie
Makes my heart want to burst
Feel the ache as time goes by
Getting better and worse
Getting better and worse

And there's a screw that I tighten
As I dream of the kiss
And it twists and it cuts me
And you know what it is?
It's a fragment of love
From a splintering heart
And it tears her apart
But not as much as this

So you save up your tears
For the moments alone
'Till the splinters you gather
Leave you glass-hard and numb
And the same sun is shining
On the old and the young
On the saints and the sinners
On the weak and the strong

And there's a burning and freezing
And a cross for a kiss
So she learns to stop dreaming
And you know how it is

With these fragments of love
And this splintering heart
With the fragments
And this splintering heart

 

[fox69]

"Story From A Thin Wall"

"Story From A Thin Wall"


The music for this song later became "Berlin"
I heard the battle raging on the other side of the wall
Buried my head in a pillow and tried to ignore it all
Every night when I hear you I dream of breaking down your door
An avenging knight in shining armour to rescue you from it all
From the family business

When I see you in the supermarket
With sunglasses in the shade
Averting your eyes from the staring questions
How were those bruises made
It's family business

Children clutching to your legs
They've got so much they want to say
But daddy's sitting home drunk again
So they bite their lips and pray
And daddy don't like no strangers prying
And noses in his private affairs
And if anyone asks from the social
Well you fell down the stairs
It's family business

So I'll become an accessory
And I don't have an alibi
To the victim lying on my doorstep
The only way I could justify
It's family business

'Cos every day it's getting harder
Try to see to go away
To all the people that surround you
You have to sit down and explain
To be the writing on the wall inside
To be the pledge you call your own
And if you run into the day
You sure you know you'll find a home
You sure you know you'll find a home

The traffic lights shine upon
... and the broken home
Everyone could be so far away
... and the white lines lead the way

The writing on the wall
They're carving out the martyrs

Could've been the same this way
Could've been the same this way
Tell them I'm the same today
We could have been much younger
It could have been much longer
Until the real time
Too far
You run away today
Tomorrow
You take away the time
You took away a mind

Something to the light she said
Everyone's burning
We could have been much younger

 

[fox69]

"Sugar Mice"

"Sugar Mice"


I was flicking through the channels on the TV
On a Sunday in Milwaukee in the rain
Trying to piece together conversations
Trying to find out where to lay the blame
But when it comes right down to it there's no use trying to pretend
For when it gets right down to it there's no one here that's left to blame
Blame it on me, you can blame it on me
We're just sugar mice in the rain

I heard Sinatra calling me through the floorboards
Where you pay a quarter for a partnership in rhyme
To the jukebox crying in the corner
While the waitress is counting out the time

For when it comes right down to it there's no use trying to pretend
For when it gets right down to it there's no one really left to blame
Blame it on me, you can blame it on me
We're just sugar mice in the rain

'Cos I know what I feel, know what I want I know what I am
Daddy took a raincheck
' Cos I know what I want, know what I feel I know what I need
Daddy took a raincheck, your daddy took a raincheck
Ain't no one in here that's left to blame but me
Blame it on me, blame it on me

Well the toughest thing that I ever did was talk to the kids on the phone
When I heard them asking questions I knew that you were all alone
Can't you understand that the government left me out of work
I just couldn't stand the looks on their faces saying, "What a jerk"

So if you want my address it's number one at the end of the bar
Where I sit with the broken angels clutching at straws and nursing our scars
Blame it on me, blame it on me,
Sugar mice in the rain, your daddy took a raincheck

 

[fox69]

"Sunset Hill"

"Sunset Hill"


[The music for this song later became "The King Of Sunset Town"]

Everything to decide
It's time I came up with some answers before I can carry on
It's time I made my mind up before we can go along

And I thought it was so simple
And I knew that it could be so fine
I know that the places that everything comes

Rose beds scattered across the lawn
Like the squares at Waterloo
With the bayonets of thorns repelling
Small children in search of lost tennis balls
Seeing everything and giving their all

I used to be scared of heights
I used to get dizzy
I never felt safe with my feet on the ground
They said that up there the air would be clearer
They said more space and more room to breathe

Everything to the side
I knew that something would happen
It's better off than being alive
I knew the standards decline
I knew that we had to decide
All the places that all we'd ever seen
And the place that we thought about
And the road that you travel has never been seen

Rose beds scattered across the lawn
Like the squares of Waterloo
With the bayonets of thorns repelling
Small children in search of lost tennis balls
Giving everything and giving it all

I used to think everything was coming up roses
But I couldn't see the weeds that entangled my feet
I couldn't see the trees
'Cos my forest was burning
I couldn't see the bridges the fire in my eyes
They sold me the view from the hill
They sold me the view from the hill

They said that up there the air would be clearer
They said more space and more room to breathe
I used to be scared of heights
I used to get dizzy
They sold me the view from the hill

 

[fox69]

"Sympathy"

"Sympathy"


Now when you climb into your bed tonight
And when you lock and bolt the door
Just think of those out in the cold and dark
'Cause there's not enough love to go 'round
No there's not enough love to go 'round
And sympathy is what we need my friends
And sympathy is what we need
And sympathy is what we need my friends
'Cause there's not enough love to go 'round
No there's not enough love to go 'round

Now half the world hates the other half
And half the world has all the food
And half the world lies down and quietly starves
'Cause there's not enough love to go 'round
No there's not enough love to go 'round

And sympathy is what we need my friends
And sympathy is what we need
And sympathy is what we need my friends
'Cause there's not enough love to go 'round
No there's not enough love
No there's not enough love to go 'round

 

[fox69]

"Sympathy (For The Road Crew)"

"Sympathy (For The Road Crew)"


Now when you climb into your bunk tonight
And when you draw the little curtains
And eat your load-out sandwich
Just think about those out in the hot dog van
'Cause there's not enough bus to go 'round
No there's not enough bus to go 'round
And Mickey D is what we need my friends
And Mickey D is what we need
And Mickey D is what we need my friends
'Cause there's not enough bus to go 'round
No there's not enough bus to go 'round

Now half the band hates the other half
And half the crew has all the food
And half the band lies down and quietly starves
'Cause there's not enough bus to go 'round
No there's not enough bus to go 'round

And sympathy is what we need my friends
And sympathy is what we need
And sympathy is what we need my friends
'Cause there's not enough love to go 'round
No there's not enough love

"Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. If you're driving tonight, drive fucking fast!"

 

[fox69]

"Thank You, Whoever You Are"

"Thank You, Whoever You Are"


What a time this is
Everything changing
Faster than the eye can blink
Faster than we can stop & think
What will the future hold?
Well whatever..

I won't ask you to care
But say you'll be there
If you can't love me tonight
Just remember the light
Remember the light

Thank you whoever you are
Thank you whoever you are
Thank you

If we get half of half a chance
We'll party til dawn. We'll run
And dance
Sleep on a train & rent a car
We'll gamble in the South of France
We'll be a friend to this mad world
Happy together

I won't ask you to sign
On some cold dotted line
But if you can love me tonight
I'll remember the light
Only the light

Thank you whoever you are
Thank you whoever you are
Thank you