Official website for the band Piano Magic
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)
Crown Estate
Look at that rich girl twitch –
Like me she can’t sit still
How would you want it seen?
Just like when you were ill?
When you hear the way they talk –
The rosy cheeks of the ruling classes
You can argue all you like –
They swear by early nights
Never meant to be like this –
A lot colder but the people were warm
If anyone was coming to get you –
Armed only with a sugar bowl
Used to leave your back doors
Used to leave your back doors open
Used to leave your back doors
Used to leave your back doors open
All the houses on the Crown Estate all look the same
That nut from four doors down wandered in by mistake again
And said to your old mum,
“I think it’s best that you sit down
I’ll make a cup of tea
And you can show me what a woman looks like with her head turned inside out”
Used to leave the backdoors, etc
(Lyrics – Simon Rivers)
Crown Of The Lost
The night settles down on the water
The feathers of sun gather in
The trees wave their way to the morning
The birds think about what they’ll sing
I have dreams in which you’re a nightmare
I have dreams in which you’re unfair
But angels still dance in your garden
And flowers still grow in your hair
My tears leave a skull on the pillow
My tooth leaves my blood on the sheet
My heart sways the way of the willow
My heart sways the way of the wheat
But you are the queen of the lowlands
You have the crown of the lost
I found you broke up like a shipwreck
I found you broke up on the rocks
The horses come in from the cliff tops
Their shadows upsetting the sea
The waves swim their way to the bottom
And stay there until they’re forgotten
And you know about birds when they’re dying?
How they know that they’re going to die?
How they hide in the heart of the forest
And sleep until death chances by?
You know that
You know that
(Lyrics – GA Johnson)
Dark Ages
None of us are what we were
I know you’ve heard this all before
I know you’ve heard this all before
but none of us are what we were
But it’s a dark age, a dangerous time
I’m on the last page, the end of the line
But it’s a dark age, a dangerous time
I’m on the last train, the end of the line
Outside the bar on the road to the Madrid
A curious frost settled down on my ribs
These were the badlands, the sad lands
I wanted to leave but I wanted to give
Whispered in song in the tops of the trees
“Tears are the only rain that we see”
Whispered in song in the tops of the trees
“Tears are the only rain that we see”
I get up too late to wave off the night
I get up too late to wave off the night
(Lyrics – GA Johnson)