Touching From a Distance (20 page)

Heart and Soul (1980)

Instincts that can still betray us,

A journey that leads to the sun,

Soulless and bent on destruction,

A struggle between right and wrong.

You take my place in the showdown,

I’ll observe with a pitiful eye,

I’d humbly ask for forgiveness,

A request well beyond you and I.

Heart and soul, one will burn.

Heart and soul, one will burn.

An abyss that laughs at creation,

A circus complete with all fools,

Foundations that lasted the ages,

Then ripped apart at their roots.

Beyond all this good is the terror,

The grip of a mercenary hand,

When savagery turns all good reason,

There’s no turning back, no last stand.

Heart and soul, one will burn.

Heart and soul, one will burn.

Existence well what does it matter?

I exist on the best terms I can.

The past is now part of my future,

The present is well out of hand.

The present is well out of hand.

Heart and soul, one will burn.

Heart and soul, one will burn.

One will burn, one will burn.

Heart and soul, one will burn.

Twenty-four Hours (1980)

So this is permanence, love’s shattered pride.

What once was innocence, turned on its side.

A cloud hangs over me, marks every move,

Deep in the memory, of what once was love.

Oh how I realised how I wanted time,

Put into perspective, tried so hard to find,

Just for one moment, thought I’d found my way.

Destiny unfolded, I watched it slip away.

Excessive flashpoints, beyond all reach,

Solitary demands for all I’d like to keep.

Let’s take a ride out, see what we can find,

A valueless collection of hopes and past desires.

I never realised the lengths I’d have to go,

All the darkest corners of a sense I didn’t know.

Just for one moment, I heard somebody call,

Looked beyond the day in hand, there’s nothing there at all.

Now that I’ve realised how it’s all gone wrong,

Gotta find some therapy, this treatment takes too long.

Deep in the heart of where sympathy held sway,

Gotta find my destiny, before it gets too late.

The Eternal (1980)

Procession moves on, the shouting is over,

Praise to the glory of loved ones now gone.

Talking aloud as they sit round their tables,

Scattering flowers washed down by the rain.

Stood by the gate at the foot of the garden,

Watching them pass like clouds in the sky,

Try to cry out in the heat of the moment,

Possessed by a fury that burns from inside.

Cry like a child, though these years make me older,

With children my time is so wastefully spent,

A burden to keep, though their inner communion,

Accept like a curse an unlucky deal.

Played by the gate at the foot of the garden,

My view stretches out from the fence to the wall,

No words could explain, no actions determine,

Just watching the trees and the leaves as they fall.

Decades (1980)

Here are the young men, the weight on their shoulders,

Here are the young men, well where have they been?

We knocked on the doors of Hell’s darker chamber,

Pushed to the limit, we dragged ourselves in,

Watched from the wings as the scenes were replaying,

We saw ourselves now as we never had seen.

Portrayal of the trauma and degeneration,

The sorrows we suffered and never were free.

Where have they been?

Where have they been?

Where have they been?

Where have they been?

Weary inside, now our heart’s lost forever,

Can’t replace the fear, or the thrill of the chase,

Each ritual showed up the door for our wanderings,

Open then shut, then slammed in our face.

Where have they been?

Where have they been?

Where have they been?

Where have they been?

Komakino (1980)

This is the hour when the mysteries emerge.

A strangeness so hard to reflect.

A moment so moving, goes straight to your heart,

The vision has never been met.

The attraction is held like a weight deep inside,

Something I’ll never forget.

The pattern is set, her reaction will start,

Complete but rejected too soon.

Looking ahead in the grip of each fear,

Recalls the life that we knew.

The shadow that stood by the side of the road,

Always reminds me of you.

How can I find the right way to control,

All the conflict inside, all the problems beside,

As the questions arise, and the answers don’t fit,

Into my way of things,

Into my way of things.

She’s Lost Control (extended version)

Confusion in her eyes that said it all.

She’s lost control.

And she’s clinging to the nearest passer by,

She’s lost control.

And she gave away the secrets of her past,

And said I’ve lost control again,

And of a voice that told her when and where to act,

She said I’ve lost control again.

And she turned to me and took me by the hand and said,

I’ve lost control again.

And how I’ll never know just why or understand,

She said I’ve lost control again.

And she screamed out kicking on her side and said,

I’ve lost control again.

And seized up on the floor, I thought she’d die.

She said I’ve lost control again.

She’s lost control again.

She’s lost control.

She’s lost control again.

 She’s lost control.

Well I had to ‘phone her friend to state her case,

And say she’s lost control again.

And she showed up all the errors and mistakes.

And said I’ve lost control again.

But she expressed herself in many different ways,

Until she lost control again.

And walked upon the edge of no escape,

And laughed I’ve lost control again.

She’s lost control again.

She’s lost control.

She’s lost control again.

She’s lost control.

I could live a little better with the myths and the lies,

When the darkness broke in, I just broke down and cried.

I could live a little in a wider line,

When the change is gone, when the urge is gone,

To lose control. When here we come.

Something Must Break (1980)

Two ways to choose,

On a razors edge,

Remain behind,

Go straight ahead.

Room full of people, room for just one,

If I can’t break out now, the time just won’t come.

Two ways to choose,

Which way to go,

Decide for me,

Please let me know.

Looked in the mirror, saw I was wrong,

If I could get back to where I belong, where I belong.

Two ways to choose,

Which way to go,

Had thoughts for one

Designs for both.

But we were immortal, we were not there,

Washed up on the beaches, struggling for air.

I see your face still in my window,

Torments yet calms, won’t set me free,

Something must break now,

This life isn’t mine,

Something must break now,

Wait for the time,

Something must break.

Ceremony (1980)

This is why events unnerve me,

They find it all, a different story,

Notice whom for wheels are turning,

Turn again and turn towards this time,

All she ask’s the strength to hold me,

Then again the same old story,

Word will travel, oh so quickly,

Travel first and lean towards this time.

Oh, I’ll break them down, no mercy shown,

Heaven knows, it’s got to be this time,

Watching her, these things she said,

The times she cried,

Too frail to wake this time.

Oh I’ll break them down, no mercy shown

Heaven knows, it’s got to be this time,

Avenues all lined with trees,

Picture me and then you start watching,

Watching forever, forever,

Watching love grow, forever,

Letting me know, forever.

In a Lonely Place (1980)

Caressing the marble and stone,

Love that was special for one,

The waste in the fever I heat,

How I wish you were here with me now.

Body that curls in and dies,

And shares that awful daylight,

Warm like a dog round your feet,

How I wish you were here with me now.

Hangman looks round as he waits,

Cord stretches tight then it breaks,

Someday we will die in your dreams,

How I wish we were here with you now.

Unfinished Writings

Men who forget,

As empires start to crack,

Men who forget brought up to

Men who just lack,

Any justice and

Any thoughts for

Bitter and torn,

All prejudice for the like,

Turning out one by one,

Clasp your hands, don’t forget,

Minority hold.

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Out of Touch (1977)

On the wasteline,

Heartbreak, mainline,

In a hurry to get somewhere.

Divorced from what’s real so early.

All a waste of nothing really.

Arrive too late – don’t you know you’re out of touch?

Pass the dateline,

All on your time.

In a hurry to get something.

Staring at your own two faces,

Feeding off your private crazes.

You’re out on you’re own – out – out of touch.

Nervous feeling,

No scene stealing,

Can you reach the outer limits?

Stuck inside your pen too long,

Forgotten moves where you went wrong.

You’ve lost the feeling, now you’re out of touch.

Empty station,

Too long waiting,

In a hurry to get somewhere,

Divorced from everything so early,

All a waste of nothing really,

You were never there always out of touch.

Deadline (1979)

Destinations always change,

It could be hours,

It seems like days,

Wait around as though nothing’s wrong,

But heaven knows we’ve tried so long,

To do the final breakthrough.

A choice of gifts,

With cards to deal,

A narrow table,

Legs of steel,

A window seat with views the same,

All down the line we play the game,

For two, now we are two.

Destinations never change,

It seems as though we’re days away,

And all the points that lead us to,

We never stop, just pass on thru’ again,

Do it again.

Driftwood (1979)

Moving on out in a new line,

Setting our course by the sun,

Leaving the shoreline behind us,

We’re drifting apart while we run.

Wheels are in motion above us,

Metal and power in disguise,

Scared of the danger around us,

We’re drowning in our paradise.

Wreckage and gold on the sea bed,

Souls we could never reclaim,

Grey are the skies that surround us,

Forcing us farther away.

Moving on out in a new line,

Setting our course by the sun,

Leaving it all way behind us,

We’re drifting apart as we run.

Conditioned

(an
unrecorded
early
Warsaw
song.
Some
of
the
lyrics
were
later

reworked
for
Exercise
One)
 

Sure I’ll see you drown,

You do for me, I did for you,

You’re on the rim of wheels that turn

In ignorance, no way to learn.

Cure just takes you down,

Not down for good, that’s understood,

Lights on green, borrowed times,

It’s just the same, a different name.

Conditioned – you,

Conditioned – me,

No way out that I can see,

Conditioned – you,

Conditioned – me,

Who selects your destiny?

Just who’s in the chair,

To think for me to make me care –

Turn down the TV,

Turn down my pulse,

Control my heart,

The sound’s too much.

Untitled

Just watchin’ you –

Tearing strips off just for fun to get a better fit.

All eyes on you – sex induced, the labour proves,

Just watching every drip,

Waiting for you – bought us out to close all doors with broken laws

– your laws don’t fit.

It’s all so coldly logical without a trace of fear,

Intentions, mask indifference, built up throughout the years.

Not televised, conceals the motives,

Not waiting for ease,

Till the cancer grows,

Replacing hope and you are the disease.

Just watchin’ you –

Some minor incident –

An instant eyes turn blind,

All eyes in you –

Just some kind of accident,

In God’s name, left behind,

Waiting for you –

Detroying gains,

All lost in vain, but kept in mind – you’re way behind.

Some stranger atrocity commit in silence now,

Not in these times, another world, but it’s so close somehow,

A shattered nerve, for those who serve, the reason lost its way.

In streets of fear and all those here, the internees of hate.

Just watchin’ you – tearing strips off just for fun to get a better fit,

All eyes on you – broken causes, no one knows the real cause, you’re

it.

Waiting for you – ultimatum, change it soon don’t cling to every bit

– it just won’t fit.

Secret (1978)

He desires love, in some special way,

Against all perversion,

Fed with fruits of decay.

He remembers,

How the guilty have seen,

All the pure but selfish,

Buried deep in his dreams.

He sees a vision in the sky,

Looking down at him,

Calling him by name.

Yeah he sees faces from yesterday,

Of what might have been,

But the past must still remain.

He desires love,

Not some perfect affair,

In hotels of steel and glass,

Just to cross on the stairs,

But he can still see,

All the angels in time,

As his dreams of ecstasy,

Turned to nightmares of crime.

He sees a vision in the sky,

Looking down at him,

How the past will still remain.

Yeah he sees a vision in the sky,

Staring down at him,

He’ll always see the same.

Sure I’ll see you down,

You do for me I did for you,

Cure just takes you down,

We’re down for good that’s understood.

Untitled (1978)

I can see a thousand wills just bending in the night.

And all the pretty faces painted grey to match the sky,

From a distance seeing friends just washed up on the shore,

A picture in my mind of what’s to come before the storm.

In time, we don’t belong in our own lifetime.

I can hear the voices lost in echoes as they build,

New homes to hide the sadness that the search for more had killed,

From a by road seeing friends just washed up on the shore.

Picture in my mind of what’s to come before the storm.

In time, we don’t belong in our own lifetime.

I can feel an emptiness and see heads held in shame,

Trapped inside a legacy of everyone to blame.

In the distance see myself just washed up on the shore,

A picture in my mind of what will come before the storm.

In time, we don’t belong to our own lifetime.

We won’t crawl and never show our faces,

We’ll stand firm and never show the traces,

Of the fear we knew but always could disguise,

Of this sinking feeling hid behind our eyes.

Untitled

In the back of my mind,

All I feel is mistrust,

In the back of my mind,

All I see is the dirt,

Segregation of thoughts,

Ideals turning to dust
.

Where some houses once stood,

Stands a man with a gun,

In some neighbourhood,

A father hangs up his son,

In the back of my mind.

Untitled

Don’t think I’d have stayed just for one more day,

It seems so much like home,

No room to go astray,

Don’t think I could watch – with

mindless, empty tasks,

Intake moving in, forced to walk a lonely path.

Pictures all around, of how good a life should be,

A model for the rest,

That bred insecurity,

I walked a jagged line and then came back for more,

It’s always in my mind,

An institution with no law.

Day of the Lords (1978)

We won’t forget you on the day of the lords,

When our hearts stopped,

When we put up the boards,

To relax from all this sickness of words,

To escape from the collapse of our worlds.

We won’t forget you, though in violence you go,

As the wheels turned in the theatres below,

An escape from the ends never met,

In apartments with the lives not formed yet.

You never really understood,

You never tried to change our minds,

As long as you were in control,

As long as we could spare the time,

And ‘cause you needed to win on the day of the lords.

We won’t forget you on the day of the lords,

In a new town, just clutching at straws,

With the door shut, now the running has ended,

And a last thought of the chances surrrendered.

End of Time (1978)

We resist all of times mutations,

And lose our hands for all lost creations,

We left holes in the best laid plans,

And registered every inward glance.

For all mysteries never seen and never revealed,

And the memories, always tired and never too real,

Yeah, the memories, down on paper cease to exist,

To uncover all true feelings inside just too much to risk.

We made out down the roads to nowhere,

And lost all purpose in the rush to get there,

From broken homes built on dust and ashes,

That marked the spots of last years crashes.

For all mysteries never seen and never revealed,

And the memories, always hazy, never too real,

Yeah, the memories of a future everyone shared,

But when the time came, looking over our shoulders,

Nobody cared.

Untitled (1978)

I walked out and I thought for a time I could see

No defence, and I thought for a while you were me,

We were wrong,

In our time,

Always down,

Out of line.

I relaxed from the days filled with blood sport in vain,

And returned with the knowledge that we’re two the same,

Two in Hell,

Two set free,

Too alike,

You to me.

And we watched everything pass us by in due course,

Always tied by a mutual feeling that lost,

We were two,

Two in Hell,

Two set free,

Known too well.

Untitled (1978)

Searching for some other way,

To bring some small relief,

Never to be satisfied,

And snatch at all beliefs.

Didn’t have the energy,

To make up for my part,

Everything seemed easy but

I didn’t have the heart.

Things that on the surface,

Seemed so very much the same,

But once you’ve made the move,

So long nothing else remains.

So afraid to make a break,

For fear of what I’d do,

It can cause repressive treatment,

When they put the blame on you.

I know now just where I stand,

These thoughts will never cross,

Victim of security,

Hoping to get lost.

Bet you’ve worked the whole machine,

And never missed out much,

Still staring in the mirror,

Trying so hard not to push.

Put you on a wooden cross,

Nailed reasons to your hand,

Covered in self-pity,

Maybe now you’ll understand.

Overcrowding

(written
on
the
reverse
of
The
Only
Mistake)
 

Faces pressed flat against glass windows,

Ten men in a room for two,

Censorship stops here,

No isolation,

Only detoxification.

Abnormal relationships formed,

In corners and on floors,

Breathless, breeding and cramped on all fours

No view, no sense of time.

It was a strange way to go.

Untitled (1980)

Edging towards, a child you may keep,

Retreading the boards pretty young thing

You’ll get your reward,

Permission to speak

A place to yourself,

A garden with swings,

Handwritten cards do nothing to ease,

The burden

Where is my release,

Face up to them all,

As they sway side to side,

They put me on show,

Disgusts and rewinds,

To take life away

Was life really there,

No sound, no

Untitled and Unfinished

Avenues all lined with trees,

Edens garden left for thieves,

I looked upon an empty stage,

Where all the young men once had played.

Inroads leading on and on,

Filled with strangers every one,

The arrived and here to stay,

Look then turn their heads away.

Buildings torn down to the ground,

Replaced by new ones thought more sound,

And as torches glow right thru’ the night,

A sacrifice for all that’s right.

I looked ahead an empty space,

A lifetimes erased,

and on the reverse …

hanging from trees by their necks

typecast forgotten young saviours

lost by their own grace and favours

hinder the paths of