Kelvingrove Baby

 

THRIVE

She stood beside me

On the empty drive

Kissed me sadly

Then waved goodbye

 

But if you find her

Let her know

Tell her I’m sorry

That she had to go

 

Just remind her

That I’m still here

On the West Coast waiting

I wear the rain like tears

 

When your heart has been broken

You’ll know better than to cry

Leave the words unspoken

Wear your latest disguise

And just you remind her

That I’m still here

Up on the West Coast waiting

I wear the rain like tears


GIRLFRIEND

Isn’t she fine?

Positively the sweetest

Of her kind

Really just you see her

And you’ll find

She gets that look

In her eyes

And you gotta see us now

We’re moving up & on

Yes up and up

Girl we’re on our way

Love is here to stay

 

She’s the kind of girl

Who will always find a way

Yes will always have her say

And I’m the kind of guy

Whose dreams will rise unashamed

Who will love you until the end

Who will love you until the end

‘Cause you’re my

Girlfriend

 

Isn’t she wild

Really just the last

Word in style

Choosing you beside her

For a while

It’s goodbye fake

And it’s goodbye hollowness

And your girlfriend knows

We’re moving up & on

Yes up and up

Girl we’re on our way

Love is here to stay

 

Goodbye fake goodbye


IF LOVE COULD LAST FOREVER

They flutter down like fireflies

Tugging at your sleeves

Somehow rise to shame you

Bring you to your knees

 

Haunt your every sunrise

Everywhere you’ve been

Always walk beside you

Haunt your every dream

 

If love could last forever

Forever and a day

And she would wake beside you

Each and every day

 

Cupid held his Psyche

Naked and disarmed

Cadmus held Harmony

Forever in his arms

 

You’re feeling none too special

Feeling all too vague

But if you could lift your head up

Show that you’re not beat

Played out beaten

Cast down broke

Heads down defeated

Lost to all hope

 

If love could last forever

Forever and a day

And she would wake beside you

Each and every day


EAST OF EAST DELIER

Could not imagine

Where I’d seen her before

Could have only

Been in a dream

One long past

Almost forgotten

One I had when I was seventeen

 

I dreamt she’d come from Copenhagen

Many miles away from here

Now I know I was mistaken

She came from East of East Delier

 

She lays her head upon my pillow

Stretches out across my chest

I don’t know about tomorrow

Tonight’s just fine

So hang the rest

 

I dreamt she’d come from Copenhagen

Many miles away from here

Now I know I was mistaken

She came from East of East Delier

 

Now her skin doesn’t tingle

When I touch her

Her pulse doesn’t race

Nor her heart miss a beat

I’m not so alone it’s just

That I miss her

Sometimes alone

Is just how you have to be

 

I dreamt she’d come from Copenhagen…

NO RISK NO GLORY

Curled uptight

On the hotel stairs

You seem to lose all shape

As your nostrils flare

She was 6ft tall

And only 17

And you’re no resistor

 

Honeymooners

Stand and stare

Is it the way you way you feel

Or the clothes you wear?

Inside your head says

“Hey now, why don’t you?”

 

But the muse you found

Back in late September

With her voodoo smile

And her sweet surrender

Don’t tell me now

You can’t remember

Just how to cry

 

You could see her dance

You could see her sway

With her whiplash smile

Your troubles melt away

Does she languish in the darkness

Imperious?

 

Yes I know that I

Wasn’t born to suffer

Wasn’t born to suffer

Yes you know that I

Wasn’t born to love her

Wasn’t born to love her

No Risk

No Glory

 

I don’t know when

I don’t know why

You were all lit up

Like a southern sky

But in holding out

For all of this

You were Tantalus

 

You could see her lights

From across the bay

With her pillbox hat

Her neat sashay

You might recall some things

She’d say

She said it’s funny how

Time reveals us

 

All caught up by mid-December

Running round

Said the angels sent her

At least there’s someone

In this world

You can depend on

 

Your safe was blown

Your garments rent

Your apartment torn

By insane events

But you had one thing

In the whole world

Self-belief

 

See her light

See her sway

Confuse her cat

Complete cachet

Pull her down again delirious

She’s the muse you found

Back in late September

Her voodoo smile

Her sweet surrender

Don’t lose the one thing

You need

That’s hope

 

Yes I know that I

Wasn’t born to suffer

Wasn’t born to suffer

Yes you know that I

Wasn’t born to love her

Wasn’t born to love her

No Risk

No Glory


ONCE UPON A TIME ON THE RAPENBURG

Along the flooded broken mansions

I did all my best to see

Her laugh in playful passion

Where once gorgeous phantoms glide

 

Among the long and soothing shadows

She gave all her best in time

And wearing oils of hypnotic sweetness

She kissed me with the moist pout of her mouth

As lightning played on the water

Laughing she muttered a soft damn

Once upon a time on the Rapenburg

I’d trade all the best in life

To hold her close in a distant season

Caught beneath a Vermeer sky


KELVINGROVE BABY

Sometimes I used to

Fly away at night

On the wings of an old love song

Somehow I used to feel that I was weak

Then I grew strong

And the funny thing was

I called your name you called my name  

Until doubt among us

Rose like provincial song

Will we be strong enough to carry on?

 

I’ll be waiting for you

Waiting ‘til you’re sure

Under the circus down by the trees

Under the august sun

If the glory of love will see us thru’

I don’t know maybe

Then you can be my

Kelvingrove baby

 

If I could reach you

I would walk all night

To hold you in the racing dawn

Someday I know that you’ll be back

I can hear you laugh in an old love song

And the funny things is

You knew my name I knew your name

Drawn to the rose thru’ the crowded thorns

Will we be strong enough to carry on?

 

Something about time

Something about loving

Send fading footsteps

Down a long distance line

Somehow desire forever flickers

In her green and cinnabar-flecked eyes

And when your girl looks at you

Then she sighs

And she moves beside you

You want the moment touched with magic

And immortality

You want rain

You want soft music

And the last words to be about love


GIRL FROM THE POLDERS

I was dreaming

Of a summer of content

Spent with you

When I was walking

Down by Poolewe

You came thru’

 

There was a songbird

Melodious and true

And you were sure

Before the water

Just so radiant in blue

When I kissed you

 

You’ve got to live for yourself

You’ve got so much to live for

 

Thru’ the autumn

As the leaves

Turned to gold

I don’t know

All the songbirds

Throw their cadence

Down the hall

There they go

There they go

 

Come the winter

Of our ragged discontent

Well you don’t know

But tell me something

Did I love you way too much?

Or well enough?

When is enough ever enough?

 

You’ve got to live for yourself

You’ve got so much to live for

 

Back to the Polders

To your own country

Across the sea

Across the devilish sea

 

But come the summer

Will I see you once again?

I don’t know

I don’t know


LOST CERTAINTIES

Will she languish

Almost feline

When the pulse is thrilling

And the heads on fire

Yes she arches

In pure desire

 

And the world has opened

For you

Has lifted you up

Has gifted you up

Sung her broken raptures

Shown her soft-lit room

Follow her laughter

In train her perfume

All her mishief captured

In a faraway tune

 

Fly if you can

Do what you must

Time and again

In tenderest love

In tenderness love


DIAL

Chained

By the window

In case you fall

Chained

By the window

In case you fall

In love again

 

There’s nothing quite as sweet

Nothing quite as sweet

Kicking off your shoes on the sand

Fingers press down hard you

Know the number dial

Caller you’re divine

Yes you’re divine

 

Change again tomorrow

Into a positive state of mind

Rise above your sorrow

You never know what you

Might find

 

There’s nothing quite as sweet

Nothing quite as sweet

Kicking off your shoes on the sand

Fingers press down hard you

Know the number dial

Caller you’re divine

Yes you’re divine

 

You use to say that

I would never lose my way

Nor betray you

Not for anything

Hang your head and sway

Hold your hands and pray

That we both will find love again

When once is a breeze

Twice is a hurricane


THE FRAGRANCE REMAINS INSANE

You were on the ice tonight

In fog and sudden shadows

And the little pearl you left behind

I kept it safe it’s here in my pocket

I hope

Something I could never give up

But just like the best dreams

Sometime you have to wake up

 

Some nights the wind caresses

Like a finely-tuned lover

And some nights distance distresses

When you’re looking for cover

And I can’t pretend that I’m not crazy about you

 

I climb to your room

High on a royal crescent

Hear a trombone caught in the heat pipes

Blow so incessantly

And on your sultry breath I taste time

I can’t believe it ran thru’ my fingers

It’s in the nature of things

The memory flickers

But the fragrance

Yes the fragrance remains insane


HELLESPONT IN A STORM

Spread your wings

Above you

You were born to fly

Away in time

I was born

To love you

But I was born to lose

In love

In time

 

But before you go

Before you go away

Whisper to me

 Whisper to me once more

Say you loved me

You loved me more

Than words can say

 

I looked into

Your laughing

Your laughing emerald eyes

They knew me too well

Tonight we’ll toast to glory

Tonight we’ll toast to joy

To my despair

 

But before you go

Before you go away

Say you’ll guide me

Say you’ll guide me once more

Thru’ the Hellespont in a storm

 

Spread your wings

Above you

The time has come to fly

Away in time

Where I can’t chose to follow

I wasn’t born to fly

Away in time


TWELVE

Yes I love you

Until the orchids

Forget to bloom

 

Yes I love you

Until the roses

Lose their perfume

 

Yes I love you

Until the poets

Run out of rhyme

 

I’ll love you

Until the twelth of never

And baby you know

That’s a long long time