Official website for the band Piano Magic
Amongst The Books, An Angel
Amongst the books, an angel I’ve not met
And time hasn’t touched her yet
From A to M to Z she swans, as if avoiding bed
Pigtails instead of wings
I strung her harp with my heart strings
And I would ask this Spring for her
If I knew what the right words were
(Lyrics – GA Johnson)
Angel Pie
There’s angel pie in the oven
And everything is ok, it’s alright
The point at which the seasons pass each other on the way out, way in
‘A Confederate General From Big Sur’ sat in my lap like a happy cat
I can sleep and read at the same time
And day and night are just words
I can live in the hills with my simple thrills
Racing clouds into town, if I like
(Words – GA Johnson)
A Return To The Sea
We sail on the bad tide
We sail on the bad sea
From your heart to my heart
With sails cut from mercy
From your heart to my heart
From Summer to Spring
We row through the Dead Sea
To the deader within
(Lyrics – GA Johnson)
A Secret Never Told
Though clouds that pass may mask the sun
Though waves, as bows, may come undone
Though Summer’s flock may not return
Though bones may crack and cities burn
Though boys may never come to men
Though letters penned may ne’er be sent
Though bare the trees through Winter’s chill
Though hard the rain and steep the hill
Though lost a kiss too sweet to hold
Though lost a secret never told
Do not suppose there is no hope
Do not forget you’re not alone
(Lyrics – GA Johnson)
Attention To Life
For once will you please try
And pay attention to your life?
You called me from the coast
A breaking, crackling line
You said your ship was waiting
But I’ve known you far too long
You know the words by heart
But you never sing the song
I have pinned you to a mattress
I sang you ‘Wild is the Wind’
Your nails, they dragged a bloody trail
Your teeth, they broke the skin
You were tattooed in a mining town
By a boy too drunk to care
You said you wanted broken hearts
And dragons everywhere
My wife, she’s never met you
But she sees you in my eyes
We’re beaten if we’re honest
And beaten less by lies
For once will you please try
And pay attention to your life?
For once will you please try
And pay attention to your life?
(Lyrics – Glen Johnson/Peter Milton Walsh)
A Trick Of The Sea
Heading South so I can go North
Guided by birds but drifting off-course
Read the tide-table before starting out
But 30 years old with chapters torn out
You, waking up from a dream of the sea,
Safe in the harbour from sailors like me
You, in the kitchen, waiting on tea,
Whilst I lose the compass to a trick of the sea
Bearing East so I can blow West
Guided by wreckage of the Marie Celeste
(Read) Sombrero Fallout whilst waiting for calm
Carved chapter 13 in script on my arm
You, waking up from a dream of the sea,
Safe in the harbour from sailors like me
You, in the kitchen, waiting on tea,
Whilst I lose the compass to a trick of the sea
(Lyrics – GA Johnson)
Bad Patient
There’s rain on the line between his ear and mine
Lost in translation, bad patient
I’m a terrier, a black sheep, half-relation
He’s French, a hack, white, Caucasian
We fuck in sadness, a cold frustration
Then we’re fine for a while, our hearts adjacent
He types, I read and we clash on the keys
He corrects, I direct the bones of the text
But he’s silent, too ill, too fragile, too still
And I’m violent and rash, slow down for the crash
(Lyrics – GA Johnson)
Certainty
There are more people alive now than have ever lived –
I read that somewhere and instantly thought it impossible
But if it were to be true, I wonder that, if we keep living this fast, no-one will have time to die
I’ve met people whose lovers died in war
And I’ve wondered what this helplessness could be like –
One minute there’s a whole life entwined with yours and the next, just a space and scattered clues
When I watch old films in which animals appear,
I get sad because those animals are certainly dead now –
And that certainty prompts my private epitaph and I have to say it out loud : “That dog is dead, that cat is dead, that horse is dead…”
(Words – GA Johnson)
Chemical (20mgs)
Don’t trust the light in here
It’s only chemical between you and me
Don’t trust the light in here
It’s only chemical between you and me
I’ve lost a lot of friends
It’s not hard to comprehend that the closer you get
The more you forget your insecurity
Don’t trust the light in here
It’s only chemical between you and me
Don’t trust the light in here
It’s only chemical between you and me
You’ve got a lot to learn but that’s none of my concern
‘Cos the closer we get, the more I forget my insecurity
Add X to Y and Y to X
Scissors shaped like swans
(Lyrics – GA Johnson)
Cities & Factories
Cities and factories spread across the borrowed map
But still I’m lost
Cities and factories spread across the furrowed land
But still I’m lost
And the soil is as cold as the moon
And the trees are as dead as a ghost
And if I never see you again
Well, I was the one who loved you the most
And the birds take a bow to my heart
Cos they’ve never seen quite one of it’s kind
It may be worn out and wasted
It may be selectively blind
But this heart, it is proud to have loved you
This heart is not cold to the touch
This heart never ran from your kindness
This heart never asked you for much
Cities and factories spread across the borrowed map
But still I’m lost
(Lyrics – GA Johnson)
Closure
Let’s get this thing sewn up
Let’s get this thing signed off
Let’s tie up these loose ends
‘Cos you say we can’t just be friends
All these people, open wounds
The English always too polite
To say what really must be said
They’d rather take it to their death
But you never get (oh-oh)
No, you never get
Closure
Let’s shut the lid on this
Let’s move this rock and seal this cave
‘Cos this show has over-run
I am done, I am done, I am done
I’d rather stick a sword in my eye
Than go through this again
I am moving to Alaska
I am moving to the moon
But you never get (oh-oh)
No, you never get
Closure
Let’s wind this up
Let’s wind this down
It’s just a ghost without a body now
It’s just hanging around
But you never get (oh-oh)
No, you never get
Closure
(Lyrics – GA Johnson)
Comets
Came to London to find myself
But in ten million people, where do you start?
Drunk at a party, you asked me if I was someone else
And I say, “Yeah, if it helps you, I won’t be myself”
Like Japanese poets who capture a Summer in only three lines,
With just one kiss, I want to tell you
But it takes all night
You just can’t wait for the right time
Because like comets, it could be the last time
You should always tell them you love them
In case you never see them again
(Lyrics – GA Johnson)