OF SKINS AND HEART


SONG: For A Moment We're Strangers

In the empty place the soul stripped bare
Of skins and heart and I come apart
In your icy hands
I forget my role, as I stare into your soul
In the empty place you change your mind
You change your clothes you change your pose
For a perfect fit
I forget the cast, as I stare into your past

For a moment we're strangers
For a minute you look away
For a second or always
For an instant another day
Such strange things you say

In the empty place we dress our wounds
Collect our coats, a window gloats
Above a street
I prepare my case, as I stare into your face

Just one me one you
The world contains a few
Is it true, is it truly new
Are we through the stolen door once more


SONG: Chrome Injury

Cut your life into the steel
Take your place behind the wheel
Watch the metal scene just peel away
Don't forget me, don't regret me
Don't replace and don't upset me
But don't forget to come and get me someday

I was somewhere far away
But I knew I couldn't stay
German girls in an expose
Sitting on an empty train
Staring at the winter rain
Going through the scene again and again

Poor tormented automan
Giant pincers for a hand
Sinking slowly in the sand
Chrome injury on his cheek
Three days strong, four days weak
Listen as he tries to speak
If only I could feel

Falling down standing still
Always there's more time to kill
Flamingos startled in a shrill display
Don't forget me, don't regret me
Don't replace and don't upset me
But don't forget to come and get me some day

If I only wasn't steel


SONG: The Unguarded Moment

So hard finding inspiration
I knew you'd find me crying
Tell those girls with rifles for minds
That their jokes don't make me laugh
They only make me feel like dying
In an unguarded moment

So long, long between mirages
I knew you'd find me drinking
Tell those men with horses for hearts
That their jibes don't make me bleed
They only make me feel like shrinking
In an unguarded moment

So deep, deep without a meaning
I knew you'd find me leaving
Tell those friends with cameras for eyes
That their hands don't make me hang
They only make me feel like breathing
In an unguarded moment


SONG: Memories In Future Tense

Last year today seemed a long way away
And ahead of me
A new face and street, people who meet you
Instead of me
They bring you, they take you
They own you, they make you

Last year today you turn and you say
Here's a dream for me
You close your eyes, the moon starts to rise
And you scream for me
I calm you, I'm with you
What did they ever give you

Memories in future tense
Memories don't make much sense

Last year today a radio plays
Such a simple song
The music surreal and you almost could feel
That there's nothing wrong
They bought you, they sold you
And all the things they told you


SONG: Bel-Air

A palm tree nodded at me last night
Said hey you look so pale
I don't know if it was the air or the breeze in my hair
I had a feeling I had failed
So down to the beach just out of reach
The moon was being trailed
A girl and a sailor and a hot dog trailer
That's their holy grail
The sand whispered heat and burned the feet
Of gulls landing on the shore
In the motel pool the waitress cools
She doesn't ask for more
She makes a wish she takes a risk
She opens up her door
Through human eyes she's a dolphin in disguise
It's the last night of the war
Somewhere far away there's another day
And someone's getting out of bed
She put on her face in the morning space
She doesn't know she's dead
Her ruby lips can't excite me anymore
And pain sprawls on the chair, it's always there
And he descends the stairs, he doesn't see
The sunburnt landlord glares, for all the people
He can never be


SONG: Is This Where You Live

Oceanic lights are cleverly dim
Bluish features in the lower reaches
We raise out traffic flares to him
Fishnet, girlish the red ones spark
Holy arcs tracked in the dark
The more I see the less I look
Here's another name I took
Listen! In the early morning air
The remnants of their evening wear
Branching off, the road winds east
Deluxe locations just near completion
Come dine with wine and oyster feast
The pearls are real, have one for free
They're washed up by the foam waved sea
The more I look the less I smile
Never mind let's stay awhile
The fans blow secrets on the night
Out of mind but not out of sight
Is this where you live

Broken voices the nylon choir
Nothing left to stoke that fire
All they own is on their tongues
They never see or wonder if
Is this where you live

Thin dog's don't vie for bones
Why desert just to be alone
All they own is on their backs
They can't believe it's you I'm with
Is this where you live

Don't blush as I brush your touch
No need for any speed or rush
All you own is on the floor
I'm buying all you're gonna give
Is this where you live

Coffee stories the lying truth
Electric lights don't help my youth
All I owned is on my face
Urbane mirror anger myth
Is this where you live


SONG: She Never Said

I'm not exact but I'm not insane
I clutched at someone in the dark again
It's so hard to remember her name she never said

It was in a story that I wanted to write
The details weren't important, the plot was slight
No-one asked what happened that night she never said

Get out of bed, pull on a shoe
I've got a notion what we ought to do
Here's a number you can try to ring
I'm still thinking about all the things she never said

I parked my car by some memories
And told my story to the laughing trees
They don't know what's wrong with me, she never said

All the letters had the wrong address
Did you notice who cleared up the mess
What the date was is anybody's guess she never said


SONG: Fighter Pilot....Korean War

A thousand powdered parts
Past the sun and moon
The hint of timelessness splashed
On this afternoon
And they tell me I'm inside
When I run and when I hide
I want to touch you

I think my courage must
Never leave this room
It's like the history that
Hides in the monsoon
And they tell me I'm alive
But when I lean into a dive
I want to touch you

At home they think we must be fools
The sky or street, they're both as cruel
When you're running low on fuel
And I ran out books ago
Last night I overheard your prayers
It's emptiness that scares
Or disappearing in thin air
To a lost place down below

Once upon a time
In a distant land
I felt the rising sun
Focused through my hand
And they tell me I'm so changed
But if I ever was the same
I want to touch you

The action calls me away


SONG: Don't Open The Door To Strangers

Don't open the door to strangers
Don't let them in, to your heart
They only want to take you far from me
Don't open the door tonight

Don't trust the man in the windows
Don't let him buy all your dreams
He only wants to make them all his own
Don't open the door tonight

See the angry sea, it's a sign for me
There's another shore, what we waiting for
Feel the wind is sad, all the things I had
Blown away and falling around me

Don't leave your thoughts unguarded
Don't let them float where they will
They never tell me what I want to know
Don't open the door tonight

SONG: Busdriver (B-side to Unguarded Moment)

Busdriver, busdriver you have taken me too far
And I feel that I've been lost
And I don't know where we are
Busdriver, busdriver I never saw your eyes
When we left the sun was up
Now, moons are in the sky
I woke up this morning
But I don't remember how
There was nothing left to care about
Oh busdriver where are we now
Busdriver, busdriver I don't recognize this town
Someone called me miles ago
You must have heard the sound
Busdriver, busdriver there's noone else but us
And I can't picture any time
When I wasn't on the bus
I was late this morning
It was early I was sure
There was nothing left to think about
Oh busdriver there just must be more
Busdriver, busdriver there's noone else but us
And I can't picture any time
When I wasn't on the bus
I woke up this morning
But I don't remember how
There was nothing left to talk about
There was nothing left to think about
Now there's nothing left to care about