Category: Lyrics A – G

A Book I Should Not Read

A Book I Should Not Read

All armies bear their losses, yet still they rally on
The fanfare may be muted, the spirit may be gone
And Troy was devastated by an accident of greed
I knew that you were taken; a book I should not read
But the sun danced in your shadow like the mocking of a bird
And I was dragged down to your depth
And I clung to every word
You’re a statue in my past
You are stone amongst the grass
Byzantine and cold but never growing old

And the clouds pass over Europe as the night, it battens down
I am drinking in the backroom of a bar of some renown
And I’m thinking how I lost you, how I let go of your hand
Your last words wore a sadness
You were drowned out by the band

 

 

 

(Lyrics – GA Johnson)

A Fond Farewell

A Fond Farewell

Oh lord
I lost the one I loved
I gave her all I had
But that was not enough
Oh lord
I cannot bear to breathe
Her voice is but a memory
Her kiss is but a dream

So long
I haven’t left my bed
I see no point in getting up
I wish that I were dead
So long
I bid a fond farewell
I cannot live this hollow life
I cannot break her spell

 

(Lyrics – GA Johnson)

Already Ghosts

Already Ghosts

In travel, there are traps
When I’m writing in the back
Beneath the rain, between the maps
My diary bears this out but memory has it wrong –
I loved you when you loved me and then we were done

There’s a silence on the railway
There’s a bad curse on the land
And this season writes a rainstorm like a poem in the sand
You told me I depressed you, that I withered in your hand
And that sentence cut my loveline
When you left me as you planned

In travel, there are traps
When I’m writing in the back
Beneath the rain, between the maps
My diary bears this out but memory has it wrong –
I loved you when you loved me and then we were gone
In travel, there are traps
When I’m writing in the back

 

 

 

(Lyrics – GA Johnson)

Amongst The Books, An Angel

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

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 Secret Never Told

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

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

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

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

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)

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)