1. Mission of Love

Silent night, goad me to ride
All is calm, in darkness collides
And what is it to feel the wall
After endless rushing air?
It's even more important to ring true
It is now and forever shall be
A pitiful end
I'll say it again:
We've murdered the crew, we've planted the bomb
We haven't have a clue which direction we're on
Only why our name rates no mention

Don't give up, don't say "enough"
Though letters ten feet high say it can't be done,
Insidious, sweet mission of love.

High and dry, secure in their lives
All discharged and brought into line.
While the beauty of it sits appalled
That nothing jars their heads
It seems the auditor smells victory too
He totals up his fee for our unspeakable end
I'll say it again:
We've murdered the crew we've planted the bomb
We haven't a clue which direction we're on
Only why our name rates no mention

Don't give up, don't say "enough"
And when the bullwhip curls in the service of
Insidious, sweet mission of love

Imbibe your wine
Entwirl, encoil, entwine
While fraud engorges all
The poor who fall short
Relentless! Endless!
Hail! Hail! Hail!
Hail each dauntless pursuit of the pointless



2. I Stare Out

I stare out to the ocean border
The old author, the same disorder
I do not see far and I can't see deep
And I don't see why you're in love with me

I can't stay in this situation
In limbo and intoxication
Will the sun above ever bleach my hand
And will I ever stand up straight again?

I've got a leaden heart when I see you frown
A brick-wall view in a dead-end town
I tell you all my poison's too watered down
To level this addiction out

But I'll barter the whole blue sky
To bring back your opiate smile

Give me a lock that I can't prise open
Send me to swim on an endless ocean
There's nothing I can't be assigned
But baby none of them would make you mine

There's no prospect above my station
No heaven-sent salvation
I got a desperate call from the great white line
I got a patron saint I've bled stone dry

And we're both so sad that we can't stand up...
I guarantee as I down each cup
That as the wretched sea rains down from above
The only thing I'm thinking of

Is that I'll do the work of nine
To bring back your opiate smile
Bring back your opiate smile



3. This Valentine

Rio to Cairo, London to Oslo
Your letters have shown up from so many places
Gee, I don't know why you still roam
You can't pick a friend out of two billion faces

And she's the one to turn your table?
Gee, I don't know - it's your heart though
You take each streetcar that has no desire

This Valentine's not inclined
No god above is gonna take you up
Makes you wanna climb right inside oblivion
'Cos she's not in love

Most people I know, love is a straight road
They don't pick a heart so hard a jackhammer wouldn't break it.
All their days flow smooth but God knows
Why you choose your lovers on the opposite basis

The ground beneath you is so unstable
All your bar-rooms are like Juliet's tomb
And your margaritas get mixed with hell-fire

This Valentine's not inclined
No god above is gonna take you up
Makes you wanna climb right inside oblivion
'Cos she's not in love

You've got this Valentine grind
All you do is get a little more bruised
You still haven't worked out how hard
The ground is when she shoulders arms

In the deep snow, when you're so cold
You crawl back to the one place where the rats haven't been yet
A letter from Oslo still indicates "no"
And oh how you wish you were warm dry and back here

You say she needs more persuasion - No! No! No!
Castles in the air, hide your despair
Each time your happiness sinks in the mire

This Valentine's not inclined
No god above is gonna take you up
Makes you want to climb right inside oblivion
Cos she's not in love

You drive me wild...



4. Blanket Over the Sky

You know any fool can do this
Only a fool would want to
But I'm in love with you girl
There's no reign on these emotions
What have you left me to do if you're gonna sigh?
You'll pull a blanket over the sky

You gotta make an open gesture
So what if you can't raise an army?
There's a sniper on every hillside
And his aim is a quickening heartbeat
What have you left me to do if you're gonna sigh?
You'll pull a blanket over the sky

I'm simply mad on you
I watch your every motion
You make me feel I'm ten foot tall
But look what I've led you to
Crying my every ocean
I've seen every single teardrop fall.
And it's buzzing around my head like a tortured fly...

He said, "You've just gotta take the direct route
Everybody does more than they have to
You've gotta lose that non-event haircut... "
Well fuck you buddy - who asked you?
What have you left me to do if you're gonna sigh
You'll pull a blanket over the sky



5. Cathedrals Under the Sea

I see white horses charge in line
The earth repels them every time
And snow-white vultures circle wide
We quell our heads with sweet sedative wine
And when we runneth over it makes no difference why

So go one further step into the river
Feel your body roll
But if we both stay home and avoid all calls
Then it won't be long
'Til maybe neither of us will hurt anymore

I see cathedrals under the sea
The evening sky incarnadine
Your proverbs don't make sense to me
To you they all get so serpentine
And the garden of your soul's been vilified

So go one further step into the river
Feel your body roll
But if we both stay home and avoid all calls
Then it won't be long
'Til maybe neither of us will hurt anymore

Your memory misinterprets signs
Like happiness eats itself as soon as it gets in short supply
Oh these cold unfolding arms seem always otherwise employed
But don't think that I don't know

More and more I watch you lose control
The more I watch this river go
Discharge the world we've both outgrown
The tallest tales we've ever been told
Because the champagne air won't always overflow

So go one further step into the river
Feel your body roll
But if we both stay home and avoid all calls
Then it won't be long
Oh, 'til maybe neither of us will hurt anymore



6. Aches in Whisper

His body aches in whisper
He wants this curfew lifted
He wants this hopeless tide to fly in the reverse direction
And he'll walk in and he'll focus
God knows what in one glance
Just so she'll notice

Don't open the door, don't open the door to your heart
She won't let him go no matter how far gone you are

"On the lowest rung, derided from all sides at once
This job's a drudge that hides the sun
It keeps my mind from falling... "

His lot gets worse than dismal
Salvation lies in pistols
He'd seen her diamond eyes, decided to ignore the signals
And he waltzes and he polkas into a dozen young hearts
Not one's ever noted

Don't open the door, don't open the door to your heart
She won't let him go no matter how far gone you are

"On the lowest rung, derided from all sides at once
This job's a drudge that hides the sun
It keeps my mind from falling... "

The endless night reverberates
Where Charon's bark discharges freight
And diamond dust in clear blue eyes and midnight stars all hide
And you know this time... this curfew won't be lifted



7. Way Out Where

Way out where the west commences it's all cut down
And lined with fences and open road
The first-world presidents defend it
The third world holds its head defenseless but I don't know
And the ocean is rising up, the rivers are drying up
The heavens above weren't big enough
And we've woven a rope we can all swing by
Plundering under an old thread-bare sky
And we thrive

P.C. singer, oil rigger, no good lawyer
All know which fate the future holds
You don't get bread from God in heaven
But lord defend us we all depend on the status quo
And the ocean is rising up, the rivers are drying up
The heavens above weren't big enough
And we've woven a rope we can all swing by
Plundering under an old thread-bare sky
And we thrive

No control we've all but blown it
The papal state unbending still says the answer's no
And way out where the west commences the same old stars
Make up the census in heaven's roll



8. Lucky in My Dreams

You lead me in pursuit; I can't continue
Money won't buy the kind of car that you'll get into
And the moment I might choose to set on you
Is when your wealth of social tailors
Have all just slithered into view

It's how you get under my skin
It's how you sit under my fingers
If I'm lucky in my dreams I might get next to you

I can't summon no form of orchestration
I can't manufacture one good situation
You keep this stony distance in your eyes
My over-eagerness to bridge it just assists in my demise

It's how you get under my skin
It's how you sit under my fingers
If I'm lucky in my dreams I might get next to you

Why do we get stuck on one train
When the next destination never bodes well?
There's so many choices out there
Some are not half bad
Some are downright attainable

The bell bird sings 'Good Morning' at my casement
The landlord issues written ultimatums
And someone yells "Are you breathing?" through the lock
If I continue to ignore this they'll catch on to how serious it's got

It's how you get under my skin
It's how you sit under my fingers
If I'm lucky in my dreams I might get next to you

You're poisoning my world
You're poisoning my world
No, no, no, not my world...



9. Black Wings

Black wings scything through the blue
No line attaches me to you
It's not a massive lifting weight
Or a busted-open prison gate

I drink to your health - you drink to mine
Sort out the strychnine from the wine
And all the riddles in the air
Can take the devil, I don't care

You don't feel love filling in your sail to soar the midnight
You've given up on open skies
But look, yeah look
How the vulture on your shoulder grins wider

Hey what do you know - hey what do you want?
These dark fated waves come along
And they surge back and roll
When they catch you up they crash and you fold

You don't feel love filling in your sail to soar the midnight
You've given up on open skies
But look, yeah look
How the vulture on your shoulder grins wider

Black wings scything through the blue...



10. Stay Gone

Stay down and keep your heart right out of danger
Iron out each sorry sinew, keep your vision straight
With every salvo spent
Completely wasted
There's no position left to defend
And love-struck sailors complain there's
Shit around every bend
And they never see it coming to them

Have you come to tell me
You change what you hate and live with what you don't like?
Strike a chord inside of me?
The door's now a wall; I'm better off without you
Down here in hell I've thrown away the key

Buckled knees, broken shoulders heave each new day
Outside sunlight kicks - your inside feels like an open grave
And the sky won't break
No sweet deluge will come to wash your worries away
Bone cold issues continue to haunt every phrase
You were hoping they would all be erased

Have you come to tell me
You change what you hate and live with what you don't like?
Strike a chord inside of me?
The door's now a wall; I'm better off without you
Down here in hell I've thrown away the key

No respite from a child screaming
Blind-eye digs and petty stealing
Even when you're alone, you're not really alone
Worn down and borne up in one
Pray for and dread the day they'll be gone

Down here in hell... love talks to me as well
Worn down and borne up in one
Down here in hell I'm better off without you
Down here in hell I'm better off without
Even down here in hell...
I'm highly aware of all that you've said
I'm highly aware of all that you've said
I'm tired of the web you've spun through my head
Stay gone, stay gone, stay gone



11. Incarceration

Incarcerated, tarmac-bound
The tape hiss in my head's too loud
And every second doorway says
'Hey buddy come on in'

Well another failure wears you down
But she still drags my heart around
You gotta love the way light brigade
Backed second place to win
And as the cavalry charges in
It makes a whole, new, great case for breathing

Fathers know what life's about
To never live their greatness out
And in between the sheets
This buck gets shunted down the line

For every one that's lost his head
Some other half-wit strives instead
To lose his aspirations in the colour of her eyes
(They're like the jewels of heaven's sky!)
Come one and all to the grounding of sailors

An untroubled ride, golden slumbers of men divine
Deep into the night. Each time this odyssey loses height
I've got a double who kicks inside

Up here in my ivory tower
I condescended to look down
And I yelled in my defense why I sing cemetery blues
Because if Hollywood's what the world expects
It matters not what I do next
But if there's always someone else out there who's crippled more than you
You'll never know what good you'll do
So what's it all for?
As we exit this mental ward
You know whatever old man's face you wear will cry
"Damn! I wish I could have been them all."



12. Dirge

Sunken old eyes say a matter of time
For the smoke in the air is clearing the sky
The battle is lost, the battle is lost
Your smoke ring shatters

You're flogging a horse, you're beating a wall
You lie in a bed, you don't argue the point
You don't argue the point, you don't argue the point
Yeah no point matters

I'm hearing your breathing
Your last midnight flies
The heavens look wide-eyed at me
I won't cry
No point in treading water
No earth beneath this water

I can't call a truce between God and I
To believe in a place where nobody dies
You'd like to be right, you'd like to be right
Your salt tears glisten

I'm hearing your breathing
Your last midnight flies
The heavens look wide-eyed at me
I won't cry
No point in treading water
No earth beneath this water...