The Tear Garden Album

It was a cold November evening and I should have worn a coat.
I shivered, waiting for the ferry boat to carry me to you.
Could see you dancing in the harbour lights; your hair an orange flame.
You'd turn away, swing on a crane.
Always quite the same...

The same! The same!
It's always quite the same.
Rewind! Re-live it all again and again.

You'd tiptoe halfway across a rooftop, drop headfirst in the river.
You'd stretch out for a helping hand and once again I'd stand there, not close enough to touch, but I heard you call my name as you died.
And the ferry boat? It never did arrive...

The hunter lines his trophies up across his wall, beneath his bed...A tiger's head, a snakeskin rug, slugs in a jug, the bugs make halos 'round his phone. He'd call his friends to come around - they'd all get stoned when he pulled old Medusa moaning from a sack. She poses then she cracks their mirror shades. It's just her way. He let's her play a while then throws her back, then they all go fishing in the reservoir...
I see. I see from my room. I see from my room with a view.
My room's nothing special. All the furniture is old. They smashed up all my windows, so it's cold. I told city hall to build a wall to stop the outside coming inside but they've stalled...I'm lord of this manor but it's 30 feet across and falling fast; I sprawl in plaster, bricks and garbage - through the ceiling I see blue - I see you!

He'd seen her twice but not forgotten. She'd dabbed his head with cotton wool and pulled the sheets up round his shoulders - told him "try to sleep, to dream..." He'd dream of her in white, floating in the river, and he shivered as he swam to save her, find it's just too late and he simply lost the will to live, to love again. He had a fever... They laid him on a bed, and dead of night she'd come again and dab his head with cotton wool, pulled the sheets up round his shoulders. Told him, "Try to sleep, to dream...

Sometimes he was playful and he'd roll a ball - she'd fetch it and she rolled. They'd ball. She'd grin, she'd bear it, closed her eyes and thought of processed peas, the price of cheese, the adverts on T.V. So he squeezed a little harder - 'til it hurt. And she thought of scars, she thought of burns; a bursting heart and burning hate. There's always hate. There's always pain. A creeping stain across the linen that she'd lie in. Night out, night in. Every night the same. They'd stay in - saying nothing. She thought of knives, of paraffine around his chair and a careless cigarette. Forget it! He said how she had to keep things clean...(lick the carpet, dust the dog) You have to keep things clean! (mow the windows, shine the socks) Oh you have to keep things

You're number eight. Your name is Jane, with black hair, braids, and black lines around your eyes… Shades to hide your habit. I don't know your age, though you guessed mine… My sign. Your sign! The opening line is always just the same. The same intention, destination. You and me and rainbows.

Loaded guns attract. We know the rules, we don't react. We wait in hope, we don't expect – You and me and rainbows.

Down here everything is fine. We have a straw, we have a line. We have a bag, a rock, a mountain with a string of shepherds driving lions. Aiming skewers at the sheep… face down, asleep in onion fields. The frying fields. The worms… they peep through holes which once were eyes. They thrive… they bake although we painted out the sky and the sun. There's only thunder, and you and me and shadows.

Let's hide out in the lay-by, let the time fly by. Tonight's disguise – a car crash with our wheels like shattered stars, our dashboard charred. Our windscreen… a graveyard for the flies (we're fast!) The hungry flies are circling, mourning as the watchers squat with cameras, cakes and flasks. They're spying, spitting as the blue light flashes, axes swing. We're broken wings, but still we'll fly and we'll reach our destination – you and me and rainbows.

And if we turn the lights down low and watch the sky cry through the window… Will I watch your fingers grow and stretch like butterflies? The shadows flexing, licking toes, and blinding as slowly sun sets on the same old hill. The same red glow. We're quite alone – just you and me and rainbows.

Everything I own is in the corner of your room. It's covered with a sheet just like it died – but I will take a broom. I'll sweep it new again, arrange it… Oh, I'll grow a dozen hands. No I never will neglect my world again. I'm safe beneath my blanket. Call it home… For you. For me… and rainbows

Loaded guns attract
We know the rules, we don't react
We wait in hope
We don't expect
Just you and me and rainbows
Looking down

Somewhere in the desert there's a hole, where the water's running hot and cold and no-one ever goes there at all. We can find it if we try, we can hide out 'til the time is right to ride out. We will pour our jars in reservoirs and turn the world off - paint the sky a shade of orange - cos that's how I like sunsets. Oo-Ee-Oo...

Dead shot through the temple
In the temple heard the preacher screech
I bored you full of holes Lucretia
Saw you crease up in a ball
As if you swallowed your own poison
Followed as you crawled up to the altar
I watched the tabernacle choir
Bawling in a bath of sacramental wine
You laced it but it tastes just fine to me
Yes '89's a good year
Let's hear it now for bittersweet
Let's hear it now for good old '89
Let's hear it now for good old '89
We took our seats
We watched them stringing up a chicken
Kept on kicking
As they kicked away the chair
They fed it strychnine
We kept on staring sickened sordid
As you pulled another bullet
From my belt and fired
Count to nine
Count to nine
Count to nine
I caught it in my teeth
I licked it clean
I chewed it
I chewed it struck a match
I flew a dozen stories to my stool behind a widow
Sure I'm small but big enough
But I'm big enough to send a bullet through your head
A bullet through the center of your head
I'll send a bullet through the center of your head
Center bullet
Rent a bullet
A bullet through the center of your head
A bullet through the center of your head
Center bullet
Rent a bullet

Crawling through the minefield
We never saw the signs
The lightning flashes thunder claps
Oh is it just a dream Ophelia
Saw the dark clouds rolling
Scavengers revolving as we
Made love on a log in the fog
Is it just a dream Ophelia
There was just a hint of searchlight
It illuminates a pair of lonely souls locked together
Is it just our dream Ophelia
Trying hard to hide
To melt away but rolling for a
gallery of eyes
watching waiting
Is it just our dream Ophelia
And love is blind
It cracks its stick across our fingers
Makes us bleed It makes us sick
Is it just our dream Ophelia
Water's boiling but the need is strong
And we have to swim
Let's find an island find a log
That maybe we'll call home
Our home Ophelia
Do you think that we can make it on our own
Our dream Ophelia

Our lady on the balcony in black and red
The band plays stronger
Spinning back we tread on broken glass
Our heels dig harder
I circle round inside your belt
I felt your heart race faster
Our eyes met with the eyes fixed in the sky
All seeing, knowing, probing, to the bottom of our souls
On tear garden
On tear garden
You moaned
We shivered
We cowered in the corner
We watch the arms go flying rigid
Heard them call his name again
Again
Pressed our hands to our ears
We waited for the rain
Waiting for the gentle rain to fall on tear garden
Waiting for the gentle rain to fall on tear garden
Tear garden

A trip to the insanium in chains
They ripped his cranium
Sank wires in his brains
He stayed the same too old to change
He watched the world fall down on tuesdays
He smelled the angel trail
He kissed a snail
He counted to six hundred
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,
21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,
38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46
592,593,594,595,596,597,598,599