24 P/Carrots

Running Man

Before the phone hits the receiver
You're halfway to the door
The voice said 'get out while you can,
There's just 1O minutes, nothing more'
Time only for the essentials
Better gather them and run
The false name inside the passport,
The gold bars and the gun
And once again they've come out of the past
And though your mind is cool your heart is beating fast
You've been through it all before
Each time you wish a little more that you could ask
"What do you want from me?
What do you need from me?
There's no rest for the running man
Why can't you let him be?'
It's a long and twisting journey
From the sweeping northern plains
To the outcrops of the jungle
Bowed beneath the tropic rains
In the customs hall the officer
Takes you to one side
And his eyes reveal no feeling
As you hand over the bribe
And once again you've bought a little time
And once again you're fading out of sight
Still the fox is growing older
As he calls over his shoulder to the night:
"What do you want from me?
What do you need from me?
There's no rest for the running man
Why can't you let him be?"
Here, come over here
Beneath a sympathetic moon
We'll sit and talk over old times without a fear
Another beer, from the cafes of the night
The tumbling rhythms of guitars ring loud and clear
One by one they've nailed the others
But you always got away
What it is that keeps you just that step ahead
No one can say
In one last raid the agents
Of the dawn break down the door
Of a house where you were standing
Maybe just an hour before
And still the thread continues to unwind
You take the hidden roads that only you can find
And should they come upon your tracks
There's just a question hanging back you left behind
"What do you want from me?
What do you need from me?
No rest for the running man
Why can't you let him be?"
"What do you want from me?
What do you need from me?


Midnight Rocks

You say with best intention
Let's throw away convention
Set sail across the water
To find the tides of fortune
I say please understand it
Don't let our love be stranded
Upon the midnight rocks
Upon the midnight rocks

You say there's no endeavour
We couldn't try together
No storm we couldn't weather
We'll ride the wind forever
I hear the words you've spoken
Don't let our love be broken
Upon the midnight rocks
Upon the midnight rocks

Ah, you know you know it's easy
Ah, to let it go believe me
Ah, you know, you know you feel it
Ah, don't lose it when you need it

I know that fascination
With living each sensation
In your imagination
There is no hesitation
I know your mind is turning
Don't let our love lie burning
Upon the midnight rocks
Upon the midnight rocks

I know that fascination
With living each sensation
In your imagination
There is no hesitation
I say please understand it
Don't let our love be stranded
Upon the midnight rocks

Constantinople

Across the western world
The fights are going down
The gypsy armies of the evening
Have lit their fires across
The nether side of town
They will not pass this way again
So here in the night
Leave your home it's time for running
Out of the light

I see the hosts of Mohammed coming
The Holy Sister bars her doors against the East
Her house has stood too long divided
The uninvited guests are breaking up the feast
She may not bid them leave again
So here in the night
Leave your home it's time for running
Out of the light

I see the hosts of Mohammed coming
I dreamed I stood like this before
And I'm sure the words that I heard then
Were much the same
It's just an old Greek tragedy they're acting here
Held over by popular acclaim
So here in the night
Leave your home it's time for running
Out of the light
I see the hosts of Mohammed coming

Merlin`s Time

And I think of you now
As a dream that I had long ago
In a kingdom lost to time
In the forest of evening
The archer is bending a bow
And I see you bring him bread and wine

Down the legions of years
The invaders have taken this land
And bent you to their will
And the memories fade of the ancients
And all that they had
Though the magic lingers round you still

Oh who would walk the stoney roads
Of Merlin's time
And keep the watch along the borderline
And who would hear the legends passed
In song and rhyme
Upon the shepherd pipes of Merlin's time

Mondo Sinistro

I take my troubles on a Friday night
To the heart of the bistro
Among the shadows and the low low lights
I can find a release-o

My favorite waitress will be here tonight
I love the way she wears those fish-net tights
She's so hard to resist-o
in this Mondo Sinistro

She picks a menu up and throws it my way
With a flick of her wrist-o
I'm sitting hoping that the night might take
A romantic twist-o

I order chicken and a chilled chablis
She brings me grapefruit and a cup of tea
She's a little Mephisto
In this Mondo Sinistro

I say I really love her dark brown eyes
And the way that they tease-o
I tell her everytime she passes by
I grow weak in the knees-o

I ask her would she like to come and play
She blows my candle out and walks away
I just cease to exist-o
In this Mondo Sinistro

Murmansk Run/Ellis Island

Your father sailed on the Murmansk run
To guide the flocks of the ships home one by one
Grey beneath the Arctic sun
Or the glow of Northern Lights

I see you have his photograph
His eyes are watching for dangers fore or aft
Trading days beneath the sun
For the cold and wintry nights of the Murmansk run

He never did come home to you
It's long forgotten, a childhood dream or two
But something of the cold got through
And it lingers in your eyes

On days like these you hear the wind
And feel the chill of the ice floes closing in
Trading days beneath the sun
For the cold and wintry nights of the Murmansk run

Save our souls, river of darkness over me
Save our souls, lost on the dark uncharted sea

Now you hide yourself from view
You seem to find it an easy thing to do
Trading days beneath the sun
For the cold and wintry nights of the Murmansk run

Save our souls, river of darkness over me
Save our souls, lost on the dark uncharted sea

Well you wake up in the morning on Hester street
And run to the factory, You can't afford to be late
Working every morning, every evening, every day
For your money, Yet there's nothing to save

Watching your life pass by the window
Feeling it all run through your hands
Counting the thousands behind in the lines
Waiting time for their chance

From Ellis Island, day after day
From Ellis Island, dreams slip away

Meanwhile from the market come the cries
Of every tongue and every nation
Refugeless refugees
Faces from the endless plains of Russia
Blonde Norwegian, dark Croatian
Songs in sad minor keys
Feeling the heat inside the fumace
Trying to make that break away
Reaching their hands for a grip
On the edge just to slip back again

From Ellis Island, day after day
From Ellis Island, dreams slip away

Ah well I've heard it said
If you just use your head
You can make your fortune here
One lucky break and that's all it would take

But it never seems to be near
Another day, another ship pulls into harbor
And the crowd spills down the gangway
Clutching their suitcases tight

Blinking in the sunlight at the door of the new world
They hold the handrail
With all the post thrown behind
Caught in between now and forever
Wondering just what lies ahead
Each one is waiting and hoping
The door will be open to them

On Ellis Island, day after day
On Ellis Island, time slips away

From Ellis Island, day after day
From Ellis Island, dreams slip away

Save our souls, river of darkness over me
Save our souls, lost on the dark uncharted sea

Rocks In The Ocean

On a night just like this, in a place far away
He met with a giri in the spring
And something about him just turned her around
As though she were caught on a string
And being so young they held on to each other
To see what the moment might bring
He loved her then in a secretive way
Not showing his care or his need
She stayed beside him and looked to the day
He would somehow begin to be free
In the chill of the night she would hold him and say
This is how they always should be

Rocks in the ocean, waves on the sea
Keep it in mind,
If love comes unsatisfied, don't forget me
Don't forget me

And so he come to depend on her more
Though the lesson was still to be learned,
Taking for granted the gift that she gave
As though it were something he'd earned
And she for her part growing slowly away
From a love that was never returned
Then came the day that he never foresaw
When he woke to find she was gone
He followed her then to the ends of the world
To tell her how much he'd been wrong
But the more he called her, the more she was lost
Leaving only the words of her song

Rocks in the ocean, waves on the sea
Keep it in mind,
If love comes unsatisfied, don't forget me
Don't forget me

He still listens out for her foot on the stair
As he looks for her down through the years
And the friends that he had have all left one by one
For their words weren't reaching his ears
He chooses instead now to wander alone
To a song that only he hears

Rocks in the ocean, waves on the sea
Keep it in mind,
If love comes unsatisfied, don't forget me
Don't forget me

Paint By Numbers

When all the help in the world won't get you by
When all the friends that you lean on let you down,
You'll wonder why

I see you there with your painting box
And your oils and brushes and your artist's smocks
What'll you do if the Muse gets lost
When I'm gone

You painted me in the way you said you knew
I don't believe that I saw myself
In anything you drew

I say you never quite caught it right
You say you see me in a different fight
What'll you do with your black and white
When I'm gone

You paint by numbers
I never noticed it before
You paint by numbers
It's just a closing of an open door
When you're looking round
You won't see me no more
You paint by numbers

Staying here in this room just makes me pole
I never really could fat into your geometric scale
I see you measure my profile up
And you mix your paints in a broken cup

What'll you do if the brush gets stuck
When I'm gone

You paint by numbers
I never noticed it before
You paint by numbers
It's just a closing of an open door
When you're looking round
You won't see me no more
You paint by numbers

Optical Illusion

In my darkest hour just before the dawn
There's no sound from the empty street
But sleep won't seem to come to me
All your words in my head
Linger on and on
They've come to steal my time away
Till the night is gone
I must be losing my shine
Like an old dusty Burgundy wine
In a cellar cool and damp
Dull beneath a yellow lamp
No one turning the key
To come and get me today
The more I think about you now
The more I'm feeling that way
I see you there, everywhere
Optical illusions
Telephone, let it ring
I don't want intrusions in my life
I know tomorrow I'll find
There's nothing here at all
Just some trick your mind will play
With shadows on the wall
I see you here, feel you near
Optical illusions
Nothing real that I feel
Just some confusion of my time
In my darkest hour, when all the blinds were drawn
You're just some mirage I saw
Just before the dawn