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1. |
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I left my home when I was a boy
Followed down the town canal
Found myself in his employ
A working man with calloused hands
On the salvage tug I paid my dues
On the trawlers I led union tunes
And with brave bold boys I started out
And ended up pacific bound
Where’d all my Johnnies go
With the chariot we roll
And the waves crash over the jib-boom
Born East End in World War II
We learnt the songs from those around
In music halls I spent a few
Freemen of the Thames we roamed about
But I settled here and made a home
And I replayed all the songs I’d known
And passed them on to home and back
Walking on the outside track
For the love of fate, I’m gone from you
My soul is hungry now, my bodies through
A blazing fire, flames and brightness, I’m gone from you
Pour l'amour, pour l'amour, pour l'amour
And with noise all around you
And nothing’s right
You’ve got to find a way
You’ve got to stand and fight
And when that darkness falls
And you can’t see left from right
You need to sing the truth
Find reasons for us all to fight on
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2. |
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Hey you, can you feel it?
When hammers come crack the sky?
When the air breathes tight, from the blinding light
And the star fades from your eye
Hey you, have you seen it?
Head hits hard to the ground?
Wave goodnight, with the last of the fight
A ring in at the lost and found
Hey you, can you hear it?
Come across from golden plains
But best laid plans, and the prime of your life
Never needed shelter from the rain
Hey you, can you tell me?
Has it all sunken in just yet?
Steady on, as you're coming on strong
A story’s no time for regret
It's a soft voice that tells you no
Go back to the drawing board
The atoms have split, but the charge ain’t there
Sorry can’t do much more
It’s a soft voice that tells you no
It’s really not your fault
Nothing to say as you walk out the door
Nothing to say at all
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3. |
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There are red lines in the sand
Total sites of state control
Rocket fuel for a just cause
Disappointment never sees parole
A shock through the central nerve
Turn down through leaded soul
Crawl forward on burning rags
Crawl back from a shallow hole
And the searchlight hurts my eyes
As they open for the first time
Cos the light wont save me now
Save me from my own
And to go back to the start
To the start where I was gold
Basecamp pointed to the stars
Basecamp far from home
On the verge of nothing
Painted statues unravel, unfold
Sealed with a kiss on paper wings
Never said I didn’t like the cold
No ground from which you came
Lets water rise, blackened fault
Memory working steel in war
Broken down by force recalled
And the sunlight hurts my eyes
As they open for the first time
Cos the light won’t save me now
Save me from my own
And to go back to the start
To the start where I was gold
Basecamp pointed to stars
Basecamp far from home
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4. |
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A short walk up the hill, a crest of brick and stone
A familiar resting place, a crest of brick and stone
There's only one way this will go, if not now then when?
Leap into faith or never know, if not now then when?
You left the brickyard cottages, a consolation in the mind
And the text etched in on life's refrain, peace after pain
Carpets in Buckingham Palace, a pattern of blue and gold
The off-cuts in the house on the river, blue and gold
And now, the factory is quiet and, the name is all but gone
Just a remnant on forgotten stone, the story of our home
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5. |
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Through a simple smile or humble nod
Our difference doesn't feel so far
A beating heart, a chase through the woods
Flight breaking free not understood
A glance to the side and rush of a crowd
Tight hands shrug off the cold
From falling down through falling in love
The fall from grace and the climb back above
Share with you a common goal
To be loud, to be free, to be sure
Trusted hand, in just rewards
Share with you a common goal
Life lived in time you hold
Simple thread of our resolve
Satellites tear right through the sky
Though static never seems very clear
The salt in the wound is hard to see
But it doesn't change a thing for you and me
Because I breathe the air and I see the stars
That will make their way in time
And as dust collects on the coming hour
Such tinted glass doesn’t feel like power
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6. |
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There I'm free in the silence bared
With the volume up on the noise in my head
And the sounds of the city all lost to me
And the wild and the dark beyond what I see
A child and the country buried deep within
The mud and the sand the rain on my skin
Alone...
Out there, Alone...
Further down in the lions’ den
With their sealed shut mouths to protect my skin
If you're walking straight then you walk with friends
But you'll pay the price if the future's lent
Further down deep in the earth
With the weight of a feather to measure my worth
The interrogator’s got a face like me
I’d rather die than let them breathe
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7. |
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I ain’t ever pacified
Sign on, edge of a knife
Never again, those days are gone
Ain’t got no reason why
The horror at my side
Never again, those days are gone
This thunder inside of me
Won’t it ever let me be me
This thunder inside of me
Every time I try, I’m gonna try again to be free, have mercy on me
A sacrificial tithe
Ever since I’m alive
Never again, those days are gone
A world of reasons why
Until this world of mine should die
Say never again, those days are gone
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8. |
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Now blooded warrior, if not peace then only war
The path and the virtue, stepping out to settle the score
Remembering the ordeal, tell me now what if you can?
Forget now all your fears, they serve no more the marked man
Who is counting labours
You'll never tire from the start
Break the chains, tyranny fallen
Clear the path, berserkers heart
With Napoleon at the gates of Moscow
Or riding past to survey his realm
The world spirit ushers in the new day
The result of heaven and hell
You modern day warrior, if not peace then only war
Disillusion, the next virtue, a sacrifice made to settle the score
Now blooded warrior, tell me now what if you can?
Forget now all your fears they serve no more the marked man
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9. |
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The horror on the threshold, descent to the abyss
Beyond another’s orders
Deconstructed life, destructive kiss
Who will be the hero fighting in the streets
One against the crowd
A quiet death, a giant leap
Cos we go where you won't go
And we do what you won't do
I'll be at your side in our fights, alone
Through the hell before the truth
In the hidden city, watch where you reside
With strangers in your heart, smaller still, behind the pride
Your path’s not finished, there’s so far to come
Your loves wallow in the pit in which you succumb
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10. |
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We're coming up
We're coming up
Don't look back at life now
It’s got nothing on me
This is what we talk about
This is why we're free
We're coming up
We're coming up
Life was meant for living
Is justice meant for me?
I'm a danger to the world
But I'll always be free
It makes me feel alright
Cannot weigh your fate tonight
It makes me feel alright
It makes me feel alright
Justice sets my hand alight
This makes me feel alright
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11. |
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Amused with hopes and fears, a dream
You come into this world of clay
And all the senses in between
You see and feel the night and day
Only dream in which we live
Only me I see your face
Don't you know that we're all
From the same, beneath the clay
Saturn’s gaze on such a clear night
Sets current running over stone
Carving worlds from hollow bones
An estate now left to hone
But getting born is the hardest part
Holding on proves slow result
Just desserts are not the sale price
The watcher knows its own revolt
Lonely dream in which we live
Hollow stream in which we lay
Don't you know that we are all
From the same, beneath the clay
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