all sweet things
the run-down streets, the civil wars,
you don't go there anymore -
it's how you used to live.
the trampled hopes, the made-up laws,
the itchy feet, the pub quiz bores -
it's so hard to forgive.
weekend slimmers count their chains,
still wanting someone else to blame.
you watch them come and go.
empty nightclub escapades,
they tell you more than words can say -
that open doors get closed.
the empty rooms, the empty house,
someday soon, you'll work it out -
still finding the way back home.
the schoolyard ghosts, the playtime fears,
you take your pills, they disappear -
the people that you've known.
chorus:
all sweet things,
all sweet things will come again.
------------------------------------
when the heartbeat slows.
when the silence grows.

beautiful songs you should know
I want to play you
all the beautiful songs you should know.
I want to save you.
with the beautiful songs we can grow.
I breathe in the light.
I breathe in the life.
loving arms and cowboy guns,
mothers holding wayward sons.
breathe in the light,
breathe in the life.
I want to give you
all the beautiful dreams you can bear,
I want to show you
all the possible ways we could care.
open the door,
breathe in the light.
opening eyes
breathe in the life.
morning sunshine on the leaves
cancels out the city freeze.
loving arms and cowboy guns,
mothers holding wayward sons.
breathing
pigeon drummer
the background buzz, the lo-fi hum,
the fallen saviours beat their ritual drums.
their eyes alive with destiny -
sweet delusions, which serve to set us free.
the bar room bids for tarts with hearts,
the dumbed down kids in souped up cars.
the clapped out lovers on their guard -
smaller details written large.
her sun-kissed skin caught in your frame,
you know you'll never pass this way again.
you wash the dirt out of your hair.
you find the words you need when no-one's there.
---------
the moments lost.
the distant stars.

truenorth
you survived another winter.
you survived where nothing grew.
the days felt cold and never changing,
so you just slept the whole way through.
when you think about the future,
it’s like the past, but hard and small.
an old idea you stole from someone.
a borrowed dream that’s born to fall.
----------------------------
take a taxi through the snow
tell them you love them,
don’t let go.
through the tunnel moving slow,
tonight’s there’s nowhere
you won’t go.
you survived yourself.
you survived inside the lost world.
the dreams of love repeat.
subways sing with heated calls –
the g-string sirens walking tall.
summer fires turn winter dreams.
an old romantic’s hotshot schemes.
you survived yourself.
you survived inside the lost world.
the ghosts of harm retreat.
----------------------------
sweet surrender to the night.
sweet surrender to the light.
the dreams of love repeat.

wherever there is light
jane passes through the crowds
outside the mercury lounge.
she loves the city sounds.
she feels that she's been found.
wherever there is light,
she follows.
the bats are out again,
kids shout in Summer rain -
for real, imagined, shame,
for things they cannot name.
she thinks of all their bright
tomorrows.
wherever there is light,
she follows.
--------------------
walk in and out of rooms.
fall in and out of love.

song of the surf
self-defeat in sparkling eyes,
breaking up the family ties.
she smiles and tells another lie.
all you want to do is cry.
hopes drowning in the hurt -
song of the surf.
and as she takes the sun away,
she asks how you feel today.
the sky has turned pavement grey,
the remnants of her body spray
still lingers on your shirt.
song of the surf.
everytime you catch her eyes,
all you want to do is cry -
silence growing.
everytime you catch her eyes,
all you want to do is hide –
heartbeat slowing.
hopes drowning in the hurt.
song of the surf.
silence growing, heartbeat slowing -
we’re just going nowhere.
streaming
the music’s changed,
it’s getting louder.
by next weekend,
you’ll be gone.
the summer days
are nearly over now,
the DJ plays
a summer song.
the good-time crowd
is looking older,
their cartoon laugher
seems unkind.
the summer days
are nearly over now,
the summer rave
counts the hours and marks your time.
the summer rays
are streaming from the evening sky.
the summer says,
It’ll work out fine.

mixtaped
they came and went,
their mixtapes and their passion spent.
you stuck around,
and lost yourself in crowded worlds of sound.
you’d kill for that feeling once again,
afloat on the ocean, before the pain.
you pay the price averting eyes
in rooms where people go to die.
you’re scaling the mountains, crossing the plains
afloat on the ocean, avoiding the rain
dare to believe,
dare to believe in silence.
dare to believe,
dare to believe in noise.
you’d kill for that feeling once again,
afloat on the ocean, beyond the pain.
you’d kill for that feeling once again.

Lyrics © Tim Bowness 2008

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