1. HAWELKA

Red Ohama Beach is bleeding
BlackThe sky is almost burning
Too many soldiers are dead
Churchill said: ‘Peace’
Lo lo lo lo

Green The Maple Leaf is always
GreenThe grass is almost red
Too many people are dead
Hitler said: ‘Krieg’
Lo lo lo lo

In the footsteps of my father
I went all the way to Algeria
France and Holland

Why His life is such a mystery
WhenParis was his destiny

My mother says:
‘Rue des Abbesses’
Sing
Lo lo lo lo

Black coffee at Hawelka
Man smoking on the sofa
Then the waiter came
He knows my name

You
I’m talking to you
I lost his track in Vienna
At Hawelka
With a clock that always said
Twelve thirty
Death
He’s walking on a red beach


2. THE HOURS

When the hours
When the hours of the day
Grow long like shadows

Every hour
Every hour is a day
Every day is like a year

I didn’t see the darkness in your eyes
I didn’t know the road was ending
Cul de sac
The blossom
When the blossom in spring is falling
Like snow
The rain
When the rain in autumn is falling
Like diamonds

When you’re a child
Summer never ends
Frozen time of the winter

Things are old when we are young
Things are young when we are old

Then the rain falls back into the sky
Like a fountain
Then the snow falls back into the sky
Like powder

Then the years
Then the years will be days
Days will be hours
Then it’s

Gone


3. DISTANCE

I’m turning the pages
If the book that I’ve read
I was sleeping for ages
Now I know I am dead

The trees in the summer
The rivers with ice
I cannot remember
My lost paradise

Far far away
No one can say
Where we’ll be tomorrow
Far far away

A man in the distance
The darkness outside
I walk through my head
I walk to the light
Far far away
No one can say
Where we’ll be tomorrow
Far far away

Everything I love
Becomes a memory

Far far away
Nothing today
Not a thing tomorrow
Far far away

Far far away
I’ve got nothing to say
When blue turns to grey
Far far away


4. DEPARTURE

Goodbye mother
Goodbye father
I think I’ll have to go

Goodbye sister
Goodbye brother
I have to close the door
Behind me

Every day
Every night
I think of you
Not every day
Not every night
I think of you
Sometimes I do

Goodbye mother
Goodbye father
I think I’ll have to leave
Departure

Goodbye sister
Goodbye brother
I have to close the door
For ever

Strawberry wood
Norwegian fields
Are everywhere
Rainy night house
A little green
Dance me to
A river
Blue

Goodbye mother
Goodbye father
Love is a secret place

Winter and spring
Summer and fall
The circle game
I look outside
View from the house


5. NICK IN THE HOUSE OF JOHN

Invitation of a singer
To visit his beautiful house
I am walking on the driveway
I am as quiet as a mouse

In the east-wing
In the west-wing
There is plasma
On every wall

When I look at the size of his pool
Even Lake Ontario is looking small

There’s a fish-thing
In the living
There are freeze-pops
In the fridge

In the middle of his garden
There’s a pond with a
Japanese bridge

In the east-wing
In the west-wing
There’s a picture of every song
I am lost in his parlours
I feel like Nick in the house of John

He’s walking with his shadow
His shadow is walking too fast

He is smelling like my Grandma
Eau de Cologne and Eau de Vie
He is walking in his black suit
With eighty six he is still
Looking good to me

In the east-wing
In the west-wing
There’s a picture of every song
I am lost in his parlours
I feel like Nick in the house of John

I am looking at his red tail
‘My Soul is for sale’

In the east-wing
In the west-wing
There’s a picture of every song
I am lost in his parlours
I feel like Nick in the house of John


6. LA PETITE ROBE NOIRE

Ma Belle
Ma Belle
Avec
La Petite Robe Noire
La Petite Robe Noire
Je dis
O la la

Ma Belle
Ma Belle
Elle est avec moi ce soir
Elle est avec moi ce soir
Je dis
Pourquoi pas

Ma Belle
Ma Belle
Avec le grand pantalon
Avec le grand pantalon
Quarante coups de fouet
L’homme avec la barbe dit:

Elvis Presley
Cliff Richard
Johnny Halliday

Je suis
Je suis
La Petite Robe Noire
La Petite Robe Noire
Elle dit
Oh lala


7. NOW

Now don’t think twice
It’s all right as they say
Your intention is clear
Now no one will stand in your way

You got your soul
As a trustful companion
It’ll never leave you here
Out in the in the rain

You’ve been in, you’ve been out
She was a constant factor of doubt

Now you’re breaking the spell
Sharpening plans I can tell

Such a useful confirmation
When you confessed
You were lost in the dark
Each doorin the dark
The same doorin the dark
Each housein the dark
The same housein the dark
Each streetin the dark
The same streetin the dark
Each day in the dark
The same dayin the dark

Again
Now you choose
For the heat of the fire
And not for soaking away in the rain
So don’t turn back now
Now you started all over again

Now jump into the fire and your
Phoenix will rise from the flame

The second half of your new life story
Feels only half a second away

A new roomnow see the light
A new roofnow in the light
A new townnow see the light
A new waynow in the light
New friends andnow see the light
New facesnow in the light
You start yournow see the light
Own systemnow in the light

Now


8. INDEX OF FIRST LINES

He was talking
Like the index
Like the index
Of first lines
In orange sunsets
Ear smokes cigars
Fume fume
Anti-fly
One picture
Tells a thousand words

Lady of the Harbour
Frozen angel
In Jerusalem
Of the North
Smoked meat sandwich
Ben’s de Luxe
Wall of pictures
Tells a thousand words
All aboard
The Red Eye Express
Whiff of perfume
Eye, a hat, a shoe
Bring back
Vague memories
Of names
I had forgotten
Lay your sleeping head
My love
Every picture
Tells a thousand words


9. TANNENBAUM

Through a burning desert
In an ice-cold train
Tannenbaum is looking
At the endless plain

With a black suit and a keppel
He’s looking like a heron
From the heart of Montréal
A man without a skeleton
I am an old Christmas tree
With pain in kidney and liver
Soon the train goes on without me
Along this endless river

O Tannenbaum

Your branches green delight us
They’re green when
Summer days are bright
They’re green when
Winter snow is white
Your branches green delight us

O Tannenbaum

Why he is thinking
Why he is dreaming
With his eyes wide open
Like an old vampire
Burned by the light of the day
With the snowflakes on my hat
I couldn’t find the stick
Above the ghosts and the dead
In the holy ground


10. JISP

It’s a blue day
Without a cloud
Miles away
Seagulls shout

Nothing moves

Through the holes in my eyes
A once in a lifetime experience
Sometimes happens twice

Nothing moves

I almost had forgotten
How it feels

Maybe you’re right
Maybe I’m wrong
Good times are here
Bad times are gone
Maybe you’re wrong
Maybe I’m right
Bad times are gone

Beetles in the grass
Birds in the sky
Stones in the water
Spiders in my eye

It’s a green day
Without a sound
Red leaves
Falling down
No one moves

Through the holes in my head
A once in a lifetime experience
Sometimes you forget
Sometimes
I almost had forgotten
How it feels

Maybe I’m right
Maybe you’re wrong
Bad times are here
Good times are gone
Maybe I’m wrong
Maybe you’re right
Good times are gone

Beetles in the grass
Birds in the sky
Stones in the water
Spiders in my eye

Eels in the bucket
Monkeys in the tree
T-rex in the pocket
Turtles in the sea

It’s a grey day
Snowflakes


11. BAD DREAM

Once I had a bad dream
I was in a big room
With a famous artist
And his little dog
He thought he was a singer
At least that’s what he told me
His voice was everywhere
On the radio and tv
I could not hear him
Maybe I didn’t want to
Can you wake me up

Once I had a bad dream
I was on the tv
With a smiling host
He was talking to me
In fact he talked the most
I was drinking red wine
He was eating peanuts
He was very proud
Of the size of his penis
But he didn’t show us

Can you wake me up

Once I had a bad dream
I was very small
Talking to a lady
Who was very tall
And she didn’t hear me
In fact she didn’t see me
So I walked away
On a winter’s day
Buried by a snowflake
Life is just a mistake
Till you wake me up

Can you wake me up
Once I had a bad dream
I was very famous
Sitting in a car
I was even driving


12. RETURN

This house
Always
Returns
Things we lost

Not today
Sometimes
A button
Most of the time
A memory
Not today
What we lost and what we found
Lines we crossed without a sound
What is real and what is not
What we lost and what we got

A real life
A real house
A real love
A real child

I can wait
It’s not too late
To turn

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