Six String Street

The lights are low in Ireland tonight
and I'm on the northern highway
the goats are in the garden
and the radio's playing My Way
my car's seen better days
none of them with me
and this fine white line's the borderline
separating you and me
welling thinking 'bout a friend of mine
he says "I've got so many strings to my bow"
I said "If you want to follow the easy road
you better follow the one you know"

He ended up in the middle of the road
I wound up on six string street
He's happy today in the middle of the road
and I'm on six string street

I worked in an office into '86
and the walls were painted grey
but I still get fluorescent flashes
out on this northern highway
not about my employment
it was no big deal
but a girl I knew was the one who
changed the way I feel
she says "I know you care about this affair
but it can't go on you know" I said
"If you're looking for your Home Sweet Home
you better just get up and go"

She ended up in the middle of the road
I wound up on six string street
She's happy today in the middle of the road
and I'm on six string street"

Rockin'

Now I've found myself in the countryside
maybe later on I'll settle down
my heart is in these fields
and my true love's still in the town
she says "I can't sort out my life
and I certainly can't sort out you"
I said "baby that's the last thing"
that I would expect you to do"

Come with me
and set yourself free
straight down the middle of
six string street

Just hitch yourself up
come with me
and set yourself free
straight down the middle of
six string street

This is the circus and this is the bell
and this is the rhythm of six string street

Rhythm!

"Protestant or Catholic" cried a voice from the crowd
"Not you again St Peter" I was thinking aloud
Should have packed my bags headed off for the coast
had my time already come
to meet the Heavenly Host?

They switched on their halos adjusted their harps
checked that the blades on the pearly gates were sharp
I asked them what they meant about religious bent
they said "that's the test"
I said "that's the test-ah-meant"

They were giving holy orders
I think you'll find
I was up against persuasion
of the religious kind

It was hailing Marys at the drop of a tract
said the 7 Deadly Sins were staying round at my flat
I pondered on the churches of England and Rome
hadn't paid the rent for my spiritual home
needed guidance from the leaders whose names I knew
Archbishop . . . and John Player Number Two
I quaked in my sackcloth threw away my joss-stick
burned my Koran and said I was agnostic
"I mean an atheist" I cried as they moved in for the kill
the walls tumbled down as they handed me the bill

They weren't impressed with my distinctions
I think you'll find
that I was up against persuasion
of the religious kind

A lamb to the slaughter a human sacrifice
I told their spiritual leader his sceptre looked nice
a hymn book skimmed my ear but I was only grazed
I dived for cover as the sawn-off Bibles blazed
in the gore I gasped "was it something I said?"
then a solid granite altar hit me on the head
a collection plate plunged into my groin
they marched off discussing the Battle of the Boyne

As I expired I was thinking
they'd been rather unkind
but I was up against persuasion
of the religious kind

Bleeding and naked I was somewhat at a loss
the Good Samaritan was drinking at the Sign of the Cross
recalling their question I felt totally alone
as I peered out from underneath
the tablets of stone
in the gutter lay the crushed remains of a Bible
it proclaimed their grievances were purely tribal
they made me see the light for that I offer my thanks
I was collared by the dogs
now I've joined their ranks

Onward Christian soldiers
I hope you don't mind
being afflicted by religion
of the persuasive kind

Now if you're visiting some Irish town
the politicians' heads stuck in the ground
and the only bell ringing has a
graveyard sound

Someone's got to stand up or
nothing's gonna change
till religion
is rearranged

So many lives were lost
I've got a photograph
lying in my bed
we were the first and last
I was an only child
it happened in the past
and after all
I've got the photograph

It makes me want to get back home
it makes me want to get back home

None of us were there
though we can feel it now
and buy the video
and play it back and stare
we can try to do it
just like it used to be
when the world was young
and we could still be free

It makes me want to get back home
it makes me want to get back home

Well I really want to know
how to get back home
I gotta get out I gotta get out of here
the future's growing clear

Now you don't love me
and I don't love you
and it makes me wonder why
what keeps the aeroplanes
hanging in the sky
well there's a time to laugh
and there's a time to cry

It makes me want to get back home
it makes me want to get back home

They said it would be hard to find
they said "you might not find it at all"
I started off in Dun Laoghaire
my back pressed against an old stone wall

In a martello tower near Sandymount
he said it was the centre of the world
that's where the great adventure started
just himself and a Galway girl

Looking for James
looking for James Joyce's grave

People say he rewrote the English language
though it was not strictly his native tongue
and many have tried since this tall skinny man put pen to paper
and confused and disturbed and delighted everyone

You know our country just couldn't hold him
Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde, Yeats and Swift too
now it's up to us to hold our own in these enlightened days
it's up to me and to you too to go

Looking for James
looking for James Joyce's grave

He travelled round Europe pursued by debt
I finally found his grave out in Switzerland
where the light was at last shut out from his eyes
in a neutral country in 1941
in a land fit for exiles

I asked at the hotel
they didn't know
told me to go to the train station
in the train station
they told me to go to information
and information mentioned a zoo
and a beautiful view of the city

On the way I saw a dog small as a mouse
I saw a dog as big as a house
I saw a puppet playing 'Lucille' by Little Richard in a market square
and hundreds of tiny black and white ballroom dancers
whirling magnetically and sporadically
in a shop window

I stopped off in a bar caf‚
brimming with beautiful tatty black-clothed syringe-stoned people
playing dice and backgammon
round splintered tables
with anarchist literature sprinkled on the floor
expressionist art on the walls and
death metal raging from a cracked speaker in the corner

Looking for James
looking for James Joyce's grave

I found his grave
high on a hill right beside the zoo
with a beautiful view of the city
first I saw the crosslegged
bookholding cigarette smoking statue
specs slicked hair the fiery wiry
keeper and crucifier of his country's conscience
and all of our unconscious
in an autumn crescent of gold green and brown
I brushed fallen leaves off the inscription plaque
which was just beside the zoo
with a beautiful view of the city

Looking for James
looking for James Joyce's grave

Now I'm standing writing this song
on the classified ads page of the evening paper
Belfast city's in the rain
lights are coming on
it's Saturday evening
and I'm ready to go drinking again

Looking for James
looking for James Joyce's grave

I'm looking for James
looking for James Joyce's grave

The soul of the country
lies in the heart of the river
and there's music along the river
for love wanders there
pale flowers on his mantle
dark leaves on his hair"

I'm leaning on a lamp post
listening to the Russian violin
Old Arbat summer '92
new sensations rushing in
and I'm talking to a man from Azerbaijan
about nothing in particular
wondering what makes me me, him him
and us individular

I could show you
shadows from afar
but right now what I prefer is
street scenes from my heart

Beautiful dark-haired girls
singing Suicide Blonde
thinking about the future
and what side they are on
now I seen it once
I seen this twice
the third time I seen it
it wasn't very nice

I could show you
shadows from afar
but right now what I prefer is
street scenes from my heart

And if you don't hear
you're not listening
and if you don't understand
well I don't care

You might have changed your trousers
changed your shoes
gone down town
cut your hair
you read a paper
you sit in a caf‚
wondering about it all
and if it'll all go away

I could show you
shadows from afar
but right now what I prefer is
street scenes from my heart

I'm leaning on a bus stop
listening to the Lavery's din
Bradbury Place spring '93
old sensations rushing in
and I'm talking to a lad from Craigavad
about nothing in particular
wondering what makes me me and him him
and us individular

I could show you
shadows from afar
but right now what I prefer is
street scenes from my heart

Open up
If you've got anything hidden
I can promise you nothing's forbidden
If you come on round here

Your velvet gloves
Take them off and turn on
Though you say nothing is wrong
Let your hair fall wrong
And why shouldn't you?
Why shouldn't you?

I've tried everything I know
To get through to you
There is something wrong
If I know you
You and your eyes so blue

I should know
When you wear your perfume fatal
And your keys fall off of the table
And you say that's life's been hateful
And the smoke curls round your temple
That it's only incidental
To you and your fateful promise

You should know
When the lines in your heart have been broken
And too many words thought have been spoken
And the world's not spinning it's joking
And if nothing remains there's still hoping
And why shouldn't you?
Why shouldn't you?

I've tried everything I know
To get through to you
And there is something wrong
If I know you
You and your skies so blue"

I'll be here in waiting
Till you've had enough of that engagement
And so-called romantic arrangements
And semi-permanent relationships
And one too many estrangements
And why shouldn't I?
Why shouldn't I?

I've tried everything I know
To get on through to you
There is something wrong
If I know you
You and your disguise so blue
And your skies
And your eyes so blue"

If Ireland is the stepmother of America
and America the crystal ball she gave away
well I must be the fortune-teller's grandson
come to polish it up in a groovy kind of way
a groovy kind of way

If words are the six strings of a guitar
and the guitar is the story of today
well I must be the dictionary's tightrope
c'mon look me up in a groovy kind of way
a groovy kind of way

You asked me what I did
and what I wanted to do
this is the only way
that I can explain to you
and it's true

If Eve was the one who bit the apple
and Adam was the one who wrote the play
well I'd rather not be Shakespeare
but the apple
and get peeled in a groovy kind of way

If Cherry has billion-dollar lipstick
and her smile is always telling me to stay
well I must be the richest man in history
in a groovy kind of way
a groovy kind of way

You asked me what I did
and what I wanted to do
this is the only way
that I can explain to you
and it's true

If Ireland is the stepmother of America
and America the crystal ball she gave away
well I must be the fortune-teller's grandson
come to polish it up in a groovy kind of way
a groovy kind of way

I'm feeling
GROOVY

The night is approaching
though some would say it was morning
the cassette clicks
the wind blows through the walls
I was captivated by the ceremony of night
you were rewriting the unwritten laws
we stepped into a doorway
I woke up in a basement

At the lovers' convention
they're professionally bluffing
you know that
you visited there last fall
you can write what they say on the wall
you can write the word nothing
it was spring when you left after all
and as the scarlet turned to blue
there was nothing really nothing that I could do

At 3 a.m. on the rooftop
watching the walls turn blue
haunted
by a vision of you

They threw a party to celebrate the procession
of a worn out tradition through the centre of town
and all the banners flags badges drums and emblems
you looked at them
they came crashing down
like lanterns on a river in summer
a testimony I can always remember

At 4 a.m. in the hallway
watching the walls turn blue
haunted
by a vision of you"

She's got a fragile smile
and an agile sense of humour
watch out or she'll call around
she'll walk in the room
the ceilings fall
the carpets bloom

At 6 a.m. in the basement
watching the flowers on your casement
haunted by a
vision of you

When you're sitting in your chair
wondering why the Street's not there
reality's a place between a man and a woman
between a man and a woman

Sunlight on the garden wall
you promised not to cry at all
reality's the space between a man and a woman
between a man and a woman

The bedroom moon has gone away
it's starless as the darkling day
I look into your holy eyes
and hold my breath and realise"

The president is counting seven
I'm upside down with babe in heaven
reality's the place between a man and a woman
between a man and a woman

The age of innocence has gone
night on earth is still too long
reality is not just made in heaven
not just made in heaven

It's between a man and a woman
between a man and a woman

You never ring
you never write
you never fax

Sara plucks her eyebrows
and steals a cigarette
from under the nose
of the one she supposes
is as good as she's gonna get
if it wasn't for her family situation
if it wasn't for his little red Corvette
if it wasn't for their forthcoming engagement
she'd be running away from him
far far away from him
forgetting they'd ever met

On her own
under the pale moonlight

Little Jimmy feels like Oliver Twist
he's on the Victorian rock'n'roll
the government have granted him
a brand new begging bowl
it if it wasn't for his scrapheap education
if it wasn't for his poverty strike-struck stroll
if it wasn't for the money dispensed on the defence of his nation
he'd be fed and clothed
and fit and well
to climb right out of that hole

On his own
under the pale moonlight

The Shakespeares have got every
bohemian qualification
they've got a photocopy
of their upwardly mobile home
if it wasn't for the advertising screening
if it wasn't for the price of a portable phone
if it wasn't for that dinner party this evening
I get the feeling
that they'd rather be
a little more alone

On their own
under the pale moonlight

Everything goes round in circles
and the ties that bind you
feel like they'll never end
this boat is sinking
you know I've heard it leaking
and this is a fine time to leave me my friend

And you're asking me when it was
that I first fell in love with you
you're asking me to tell you
and to tell you true
it wasn't for the look in your eyes that evening
and it wasn't what happened later that night
it was the sight of you
your face turned up to
that impossible blue light
the pale moonlight

The pale
the pale moonlight

I was walking through a wild borderline town
two flags on the jailhouse roof
and frost on the ground
the hotel band were singing
there were jewels in your hair
and then the smoke blew in
and made the little room an everywhere
the television man got loaded
and cried into his drink
the wallflower women they all blushed pink
and nobody there even had to think
about how far they'd got to go
to reality row

PJ walked in he'd just been stoned all day
he had some big ideas but he threw them all away
outside the crowd was restless there was no leader in sight
the funeral had been cancelled so they'd all turned up for the fight
I walked straight into the bar room and ran right into you
we hadn't met before but I always knew we were going to
you said it doesn't half show you've been too long
on reality row

The candles burned lower as the dancers looked for number 9
the streets were deserted when the drunken priest he died
and you tell me all about your marital complications
well you can save them up for your 19th century charity reservations
wrap me up in your long coat and scarves
let me take you away from this place
surrender to the stars
you said I'll have to say no
to reality row

A newsflash on the big screen
the four riders yelled IMPROVE
I thought I heard the thunder coming
but nobody moved
the whiskey flowed like water
as the ground gave way
everybody was placing bets
too busy to even pray
you shrugged your shoulders said let's go
to reality row

I was walking, well,
we were walking away
from that borderline lagoon
back to the city
and some old rented room
you asked me
who am I and
where am I and
when will we explode?
you said that's something
well I said you should know"
about the row

Once there was a boy and a beautiful girl
clinging together in a mixed-up world
hanging together through the up and down
hanging onto God's merry-go-round
they always said it made them feel like"

Everything started changing like it always will
looking around them all they could see was overkill
working for peanuts is all very well
he said I wanna do more
than ringing a bell

Everything turned green and gold
that was red white and blue
growing old together
is what they wanted to do

Don't it make you feel like"
make you feel like"

He used to say
if it all comes crashing down
what am I supposed to do?
when you come running baby
I'll come running too
I'll come running too

It makes me feel like something new
it makes you feel like something new
I know exactly what to do
cos he is me and she is you

Make me feel like
make me feel like something new

I wanna feel like lovers do

The whole thing will still go on without you
and something will still be there to move me
my own thing is always to inspire you
my own thing still comes round to you

The one that I love I dream beside
the one that I love I dream beside
the one that I love is close as I can get
the one that I love I dream beside
the one that I love I dream beside
sometimes I can't remember
sometimes I can't forget

This whole thing will still go on without you
and something will still be there to move me
my own thing is always to inspire you
my own thing still comes round to you

The one that I love I dream beside
the one that I love I dream beside
the one that I love is close as I can get
the one that I love I dream beside
the one that I love I dream beside
sometimes I can't remember
sometimes I can't forget

The whole thing still comes down without you
and it's nothing to do with all of us
our own thing was only to protect you
we didn't protect you enough

Each night in bed my dreams take me over
each night in bed my dreams take me over
each night in bed my dreams take me over
each night in bed my dreams take me over

The whole thing will still go on without you
something will still be there to move me
my own thing is always to inspire you
my own thing is always to protect you"

In the dark times
Will there be singing?
Will there be ringing of bells?
Yes, there will be singing
Yes, there will be ringing of bells

History's answers
Come free
If you're living in the river
Come down to the sea

When the vote is cast
Will there still be promises?
Will there still be wasted words?
Yes, there will be promises
Yes, there will be wasted words

Democracy's answers
Come free
If you're living in the river
Come down to the sea

In the twilight
Will there still be dancing?
Will there be romantic hours?
Yes, there will be dancing
Yes, there will be amorous hours

Deliverance answers
Come free
If you're living in middle of the river
Come down follow me"

In these dark times
What will be the singing?
What will be the ringing of bells?
The singing will be dark
And the ringing will be heard in hell
The singing will be dark
And the ringing will be
Heard in Hell

Dishonesty's answers
Come free
And the wind carries all from the river
Right down to the sea