Tindersticks Album

My letters sit on your window-sill
Yellowed by the sun
Written that time our love was in its prime
They just ran off my pen
My pen is broken now
Couldn’t eat a thing
Couldn’t sit next to you
For all this sorrow the joy brings
It only shows me the truth
Changing
So I fretted at you, to swallow the pill
that’s getting bitterer every day
All that joy couldn’t help the boys
But we look so ...
Just like burning up the crockery
With your fire we melt our joy
Pour in the sorrow this joy brings
Took away the doubt from me
Changing
My letters sit on your window-sill
Yellowed by the sun
LyricsWritten that time our love was in its prime
They just ran off my pen
I can’t write them now
I can’t eat a thing
Couldn’t sit next to you
All this sorrow the joy brings
It only shows me the truth
Changing
I’m changing
Changing
Changing
Changing

The sheet that was cut
Caught the blood
Was opened
The sheet that was cut
Caught the blood
Was opened and dried
Sheet that was cut and caught the blood
Was opened and dried
And stretched out
Sheet that was cut and caught the blood
Was opened, dried and stretched out
Hung on the wall
The sheet that was cut
Caught the blood
Was opened
The sheet that was cut
Caught the blood
Was opened and dried
Sheet that was cut and caught the blood
Was opened and dried
And stretched out
Sheet that was cut and caught the blood
Was opened, dried and stretched out
Hung on the wall

She sang for me, her heart on her tongue
She sang so pretty
She danced for me, her heart on her hips
She danced so fine
She said "Oh, a sweet sweet man like you,
What can I do for you?"
I said "A sweet sweet man like me
I can only bring you the misery"

Turn my whiskey into water
My cigarettes, I don’t know what they taste like
Other women seem so ugly to me now
Playthings stand dusty
Books lie open on the page where I met her
And that other life
Is just a memory to me now

Chorus:
So tell me how it feels
It feels so good
Tell me how it goes
It goes so fast
So tell me how it feels
It feels so good
Tell me how it goes
It goes so fast
So fast

I was clumsy, heavy-handed
Grown selfish, ill-tempered
But that life
Is just a memory to me now
Softly nudge toward her
Gently put inside her
And that other life
Just seems so ugly to me now
(Chorus)

Was there once something so pure
That left me whole and precious?
But now, broken, wondering
Why this new ingredient?
Everything I crave I become
Everything I left forgotten
Everything I love I become
Cos that’s what happens when you reach the bottom

Chorus:
Where does the blood go?
It runs away from broken lives
Where does the blood go?
It runs away from broken lives

There’s an ugly crowd here beside me
They specialise in violations
Once they numbered only a handful
Grew out the ashes of what we had good
There’ll be another awkward scene tonight
As we choose to ignore the obvious
LyricsQuickly averting our eyes
When we see what there is left of

Chorus

Our love hangs here beside us
From its feet, twitching, desperate
The juice that splashes our white boots
Now they’re matted and confused
There’ll be another ugly scene tonight
As we refuse to accept the obvious
We panic and jump up and down
Trying to suck those last breaths

Chorus

I’m crawling, I don’t know where to or from
The centre of things from where everything stems
Is not where I belong
I have the city sickness, growing inside me
So this is where I ran for freedom
Where I may not be free

Chorus:
I have these hands beating with love for you
And you’re not here to touch
Sent you away, what else can I do
When I need something that much?

Oh I’m hurting babe, in the city there’s no place for love
It’s just used to make people feel better
That’s not like us
I got this sickness as I got off the train
Now it chafes away at my heart
Until nothing remains

Chorus
LyricsI have these hands beating with love for you
And you’re not here to touch
Sent you away, what else can I do
When I need something that much?
That much

I’m okay afterwards
Afterwards lasts for minutes only
I’m okay during
You kind of fill up my mind
It’s just that before may last forever
It’s just that before may just fuck my mind

Chorus

I know it’s wrong
I know it’s selfish
It’s such a short life
With so little time
You know this pattern
Patchwork of any direction
Cobbled together
In odd shape and size
Take my hand, we’ll walk through this together
But my hand gets sweaty
You somehow slip away
Try to call you, but I don’t call too loud, no
Try to love, and never look that hard

Chorus:
Cos this blue’s a swirling ocean
The green: the ambition
The red is the guilt
There’s a lot of red

I know it’s wrong
I know it’s selfish
It’s such a short life
So little time
Try to call you, but I don’t call too loud, no
Try to love, and never look that hard
Chorus
The yellow is my sunshine
Comes out on odd occasion
Barely enough to keep you around

Her haircut, she looked pudgy and made-up
In that dress growing ever tighter
It was saddening the lengths she had gone to
To appear more attractive
In the process losing something
We never knew but still missed
You knew you were lost as soon as you saw her
You saw your life as a series of complicated dance steps
Impossible to learn, they had to come naturally
Together you squirmed and wriggled
And I could only jerk along behind

Chorus:
They’re going to hurt you
They always will

She is now with me, inside of you
And I could only stare wide-eyed
As everything closed in around the three of us
Things you never saw, talking of the power and rescue
That were rushing through our body
LyricsAnd it’s good

Chorus

She opened the door his face bruised and swollen
Before he knew, pushed, falling down curved stairs
Our message lost and our plans forgotten
Surrounded by men in suits, and black shiny shoes
Moving in, kicking, stamping
Bland expressionless faces
A handful of marbles thrown in a dustbin
Then released, then released (?)

Chorus

In a northern town there were amazing rows of standing stones arranged on the southern slope
They got out in the last few seconds of consciousness
Look for their inscriptions one day, the most distant ocean plains, those who make the desert island
I saw you in a tin bath in red water
Were the ones who went to Washington to do their laundry
They wanted to see the mysterious hurricane
I never believed in New York, or where you intended to stand
But we don’t actually want to see the shipwrecked
I just had to go
They came

(Instrumental)

Well you know I’m a kisser
I wanted you for that mouth
Hey you know I’m a listener
I loved you for what came out
It’s your mind and your body
That makes me feel so dirty
And it’s my mouth
What comes out
What comes out
You say you love me when I’m sleeping
It’s the sleep of the innocent
But in my sleep, I’m still faking
If you could only see what that meant
You think my body is clean now
It’s stretching out in your tub
But the more you soak me
The more I wonder what comes off
And what comes out
Yeah those teeth, they look so milky
You would trust them with your neck
Like a kitten and it’s mother
Just secure you and fear no fall
These teeth, they’ll break you
As they close around your scruff
You look my way, your smile opens
And I wonder about what comes out
What comes out (4x)

I lay awake that night, listening to her breathing
Thinking how strange it would be
If I awoke and she wasn’t there
I can feel myself, feel myself changing
No longer me, I was only a part of her

She said "Oh, a sweet sweet man like you,
What can I do for you?"
I said "A sweet sweet man like me
I can only bring you the misery"

If she’d have known
She’d have shown me in
I need to taste her pain
For encouragement
If she’d have known
She’d have shown me in
I need to taste her pain
For accomplishment
See, I can only take it out on you
There’s no-one else I can trust
See, I can only take it out on you
There’s no-one else but us around
You hide these things so well
There’s no finding
You hide these things so well
There’s no finding, no finding
And the pink runs into the blue
There are no edges
How do I know where you are tonight?
Need these paper cuts
Need those gravel grinds
LyricsNeed those pinches to wake me
Give up the drugs
Take the power I offer
Oh the deeper I go
The further I fall
The more I know
The tighter your grip around me
So easily broken
Running down your skin
And the pink runs into the blue
If there’s ever anyone else, I’ll understand
- And kill them
And I’ll overflow your every inlet
You will not cough and spit
You’ll welcome me in
And I tell you with my tongue between your toes
If there’s ever anyone else
Don’t let them do this
And I’ll laugh and revel
As you scratch and crawl
If there’s ever anyone else
Just show them the ugly mess
You hide these things so well
There’s no finding
You hide these things so well
There’s no finding, no finding

Shut up
I’m thinking
Shut up
I’m thinking
Shut up
I’m thinking
I’m thinking
So shut up

If I hold you too tight
Just say let go
I know this touch can leave you hurting
When my words clatter about your head
Don’t go to bed
Just say "shut up"

`Cos in my sleep I still clench my teeth
I’m at my strongest only when I’m weak
I can give you those bruises just by talking to you
You know I can laugh `til you’re almost through
Shut up, yeah
Shut up, yeah
Shut up, yeah
I’m thinking, oh

Shut up, yeah
Shut up, yeah
Shut up, yeah
I’m thinking, oh

The sheet that was cut
Caught the blood
Was opened
The sheet that was cut
Caught the blood
Was opened and dried
Sheet that was cut and caught the blood
Was opened and dried
And stretched out
Sheet that was cut and caught the blood
Was opened, dried and stretched out
Hung on the wall
The sheet that was cut
Caught the blood
Was opened
The sheet that was cut
Caught the blood
Was opened and dried
Sheet that was cut and caught the blood
Was opened and dried
And stretched out
Sheet that was cut and caught the blood
Was opened, dried and stretched out
Hung on the wall

Silence is here again tonight
The silence is here again tonight
Will the love ever come back?
Will the love ever come back?
I know I’ve been pushing you away
I know it’s been going on for days
Those awkward little things
So endearing
Those awkward little things
Wear on me
See, what we got here is a tired love
What we got here is a lazy love
It mooches around the house
Can’t wait to go out
What it needs, it just grabs
It never asks
We sit and watch the divide widen
We sit and listen to our hearts crumble
With our only chance to jump
Neither of us had the guts
Or maybe we’re just too proud
To say it out loud

Silence is here again tonight
Silence is here again tonight

So they put me down, back where I started from
But where I started seems so high
I start to climb

Scared of my shadow
Afraid of myself
Never thought I could be so shallow
Resort to playing a man
It’s a thin line that I walk for her
A thin line that I walk
Between myself and what I have to do
The action and the thought
Chorus:
Oh her, her her her her, it’s her
Oh her, her her her her

Feel like I’ve been dancing
The lights have finally come on
Just waiting for my eyes adjusting
To see how ugly I’ve become
She asked me for no promises
I made them to myself
I’ve given myself no choices now
It’s the only way out

LyricsChorus

She tied back her hair
Wrapped the band around
Pulled off her rings
And dropped them in a jar
I’m not there, not waving my arms round
I’ve gotten the `flu
It’s blocking my heart
To her
Chorus

(Instrumental)

(OK...1,2,3,4....)
How are you doing tonight?
Pull the blankets tight
The drunks shout outside your window
Light scrapes across your wall
Think of me
It never goes away
Think of me, I know
It never goes away

How are you doing tonight?
I don’t wanna fight
Just walked these miles
To be passing by
Just to say
That I’m okay
For you to see the state of me
I know I said
We’d better get home to bed
And I was the one
I always stayed out so late
LyricsAlways forgiving
My inconsideration
It’s a different story
When you can never go home again
I’m home, home again

My hands came back today
Finally set themselves free
No more fists on the end of my arms
Just these hands, trembling
Think of me
It never goes away
Think of me
The way I used to be
I know I said
We’d better get home to bed
And I was the one
I always stayed out so late
Always forgiving
My inconsideration
It’s a different story
When you can never go home again
I’m home, home again

It was a dream I had
This room was in the middle of a sandy plain
The walls were gone but the doors and windows remained
At the side of the bed were soft cushions
Two-dimensional ships like ocean liners sailed across this desert
As they passed, their huge bulks disappearing into a thin line
These ships were always full of people facing windows
And sometimes find their problems seem like day’s work
Following deep tracks, the boats kept passing by
Came to an unmanned sort of harbour
Stood on the sand in no water
And watch like the boat’s tail lowered its doors
And one by one the ships descended to the sand
And sailed off in different directions across the desert
The carrier was then refilled with ships arriving in perfect time

I watched seven or eight of these drop-offs
And realised the process, the ships and the people within them never differed
I thought about following any of these ships to the end of their journey
But suspected I would end up back here
Or a place so similar that I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference
Lyrics
I can’t sleep in this bed anymore
It’s like a padded cell
The sheets are too tight
[ ? ]
A man of your success
I’m tired of it
[ ? ]
Walked over to the window
Climbed on the window-ledge
And jumped out
I wasn’t scared
I know I can fly
A quiff, a whiff of smoke, an empty egg
Roses north (I don’t know how long we’d been waiting)
A front room (Endless hours, weeks, years even)
Lino, yellow formica (We didn’t know)
Lots of milky tea (Only onward, forward, inward, in, over a field) (I don’t want to do this)
Unmatched to match the unmatched plates (The sun sets in the west) (I really really really don’t want to do this)
Straight-backed chairs (This is where we started each night) (You made me do it)
Steamy glass-pane window (We could only travel at night) (Bang bang bang on the door)
Warped door, Embassy No. 6 ashtray (We would conceal ourselves in the missing light `till darkness fell) (I awoke, ran downstairs)
Chewy chop (Nobody knew where we were) (A letter dropped to the floor)
Toasted cob, mustard (Where we were going) (I bent, reached)
Crinkly-cut chips, bendy fork (A vague sense of direction) (Swung open)
Polyester, pink gingham (Cracked my head)
(Nothing told us where we were) (Unconscious fell)
(We always somehow managed to keep a straight line) (I awoke, the dog)
Licking my dick

Hey, I’ve been wondering
Where you go so late at night
And hey, I’ve been hoping
You’ll be thinking of me no matter what the time
And hey, I’m not listening
When you tell me there’s no more words to say
In your voice, hesitation
You quickly light a cigarette and turn away

I’m not crying, up inside I’m smiling
Seen that look in your eye
Jump in your stare
It’s a feeling I never saw leaving
Well it’s something I don’t deserve to have, oh no

Chorus:
The not knowing is easy
And the suspecting, that’s okay
Just don’t tell me for certain
That our love’s gone away
It’s gone away
Lyrics
And hey, I’ve been wondering
Where you go so late at night
And hey, I’ve been hoping
You’d be thinking of me no matter what the time
And hey, as our love’s flown away
Over the hills on a seagull’s wing
Our ideas were like kids in a playground
Now I’m waiting for the bell that never rings

Chorus 2x