Useless Magic: Lyrics and Poetry
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Text copyright © 2018 by Florence Welch
Lyrics copyright © 2018 by Universal Music Publishing, 2018
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Archetype, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. Originally published in hardcover by Fig Tree, an imprint of Penguin General, a division of Penguin Random House Ltd., London, in 2018.
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Crown Archetype and colophon is a registered trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.
The image credits on this page constitute an extension of this copyright page.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 9780525577157
Ebook ISBN 9780525577164
v5.3.1
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CONTENTS
PREFACE
LUNGS
CEREMONIALS
HOW BIG HOW BLUE HOW BEAUTIFUL
HIGH AS HOPE
POETRY
THANKS
INDEX OF TITLES
INDEX OF FIRST LINES
IMAGE CREDITS
PREFACE
Songs can be incredibly prophetic, like subconscious warnings or messages to myself, but I often don’t know what I’m trying to say till years later. Or a prediction comes true and I couldn’t do anything to stop it, so it seems like a kind of useless magic.
As if the song is somehow speaking through me in its own language. And I am a conduit but totally oblivious to its wisdom.
That’s why poetry, or even having the lyrics written down somewhere, is strange for me. The act of singing gives the most mundane words and phrases reverence and glory. You can make a shrine out of anything. The song has its own personality, and is bigger and stronger than I am. With more to say, to just write something down and let it stay there, on the page, seems to me an enormously vulnerable thing. And that’s why poetry has in many ways turned out more exposing.
I don’t know what makes a song a song and a poem a poem: they have started to bleed into each other at this stage.
You can have everything.
DOG DAYS ARE OVER
Happiness hit her like a train on a track
Coming towards her, stuck still, no turning back
She hid around corners and she hid under beds
She killed it with kisses and from it she fled
With every bubble she sank with a drink
And washed it away down the kitchen sink
The dog days are over
The dog days are done
The horses are coming so you better run
Run fast for your mother run fast for your father
Run for your children for your sisters and brothers
Leave all your love and your longing behind
You can’t carry it with you if you want to survive
The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Can’t you hear the horses
’Cause here they come
And I never wanted anything from you
Except everything you had
And what was left after that too
Happiness hit her like a bullet in the back
Struck from a great height
By someone who should have known better than that
The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Can you hear the horses
’Cause here they come
Run fast for your mother run fast for your father
Run for your children for your sisters and brothers
Leave all your love and your longing behind
You can’t carry it with you if you want to survive
The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Can you hear the horses
’Cause here they come
The dog days are over
The dog days are done
The horses are coming
So you better run
The dog days are over
The dog days are done
The horses are coming
So you better run
RABBIT HEART
The looking glass so shiny and new
How quickly the glamour fades
I start spinning slipping out of time
Was that the wrong pill to take
You made a deal and now it seems you have to offer up
But will it ever be enough
It’s not enough
Here I am a rabbit hearted girl
Frozen in the headlights
It seems I made the final sacrifice
We raise it up, this offering
We raise it up
This is a gift, it comes with a price
Who is the lamb and who is the knife?
Midas is king and he holds me so tight
Turns me to gold in the sunlight
I look around but I can’t find you
If only I could see your face
I start rushing towards the skyline
I wish that I could just be brave
I must become a lion hearted girl
Ready for a fight
Before I make the final sacrifice
We raise it up, this offering
We raise it up
This is a gift, it comes with a price
Who is the lamb and who is the knife?
Midas is king and he holds me so tight
And turns me to gold in the sunlight
Raise it up, raise it up
Raise it up, raise it up
And in the spring I shed my skin
And it blows away with the changing winds
The waters turn from blue to red
As towards the sky I offer it
This is a gift, it comes with a price
Who is the lamb and who is the knife?
Midas is king and he holds me so tight
And turns me to gold in the sunlight
This is a gift, it comes with a price
Who is the lamb and who is the knife?
Midas is king and he holds me so tight
And turns me to gold in the sunlight
This is a gift, it comes with a price
Who is the lamb and who is the knife?
Midas is king and he holds me so tight
And turns me to gold in the sunlight
This is a gift
I’M NOT CALLING YOU A LIAR
I’m not calling you a liar
Just don’t lie to me
I’m not calling you a thief
Just don’t steal from me
I’m not calling you a ghost
Just stop haunting me
And I love you so much
I’m gonna let you
Kill me
There’s a ghost in my lungs
And it sighs in my sleep
Wraps itself around my tongue
As it softly speaks
Then it walks, then it walks with my legs
To fall, to fall
To fall, at your feet
Oh but for the grace of God go on
And when you kiss me, I’m happy enough to die
I’m not calling you a liar
Just don’t lie to me
And I love you so much
I’m gonna let you
I’m not calling you a thief
Just don’t
And I love you so much
I’m gonna let you
Oh, I’m not calling you a ghost
Just don’t
There’s a ghost in my mouth
And it talks in my sleep
Wraps itself around my tongue
As it softly speaks
Then it walks, then it walks
Then it walks with my legs
To fall, to fall, to fall, to fall, to fall, to fall
To fall, to fall, to fall, to fall
To fall, at your feet
Oh but for the grace of God go on
And when you kiss me, I’m happy enough
HOWL
If you could only see the beast you’ve made of me
I held it in but now it seems you’ve set it running free
Screaming in the dark, I howl when we’re apart
Drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart
My fingers claw your skin, try to tear my way in
You are the moon that breaks the night for which I have to howl
My fingers claw your skin, try to tear my way in
You are the moon that breaks the night for which I have to
Howl, howl, howl, howl
Now there’s no holding back, I’m ready to attack
My blood is singing with your voice, I want to pour it out
The saints can’t help me now, the ropes have been unbound
I hunt for you with bloodied feet across the hallowed ground
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
I want to find you, tear out all of your tenderness
And howl, howl, howl, howl
Be careful of the curse that falls on young lovers
Starts so soft and sweet and turns them to hunters
Hunters, hunters, hunters
Hunters, hunters, hunters
The fabric of your flesh, pure as a wedding dress
Until I wrap myself inside your arms I cannot rest
The saints can’t help me now, the ropes have been unbound
I hunt for you with bloodied feet across the hallowed ground
And howl
Be careful of the curse that falls on young lovers
Starts so soft and sweet and turns them to hunters
A man who’s pure of heart and says his prayers by night
May still become a wolf when the autumn moon is bright
If you could only see the beast you’ve made of me
I held it in but now it seems you’ve set it running free
The saints can’t help me now, the ropes have been unbound
I hunt for you with bloodied feet across the hallowed ground
KISS WITH A FIST
You hit me once
I hit you back
You gave a kick
I gave a slap
You smashed a plate over my head
Then I set fire to our bed
You hit me once
I hit you back
You gave a kick
I gave a slap
You smashed a plate over my head
Then I set fire to our bed, oh
My black eye casts no shadow
Your red eye sees no shame
Your slap don’t stick
Your kicks don’t hit
So we remain the same
Love sticks
Sweat drips
Break the lock if it don’t fit
A kick to the teeth is good for some
A kiss with a fist is better than none
A kiss with a fist is better than none
I broke your jaw once before
I spilled your blood upon the floor
You broke my leg in return
So sit back and watch the bed burn
Love sticks
Sweat drips
Break the lock if it don’t fit
A kick in the teeth is good for some
A kiss with a fist is better than none, oh
A kiss with a fist is better than none
You hit me once
I hit you back
You gave a kick
I gave a slap
You smashed a plate over my head
Then I set fire to our bed, oh
You hit me once
I hit you back
You gave a kick
I gave a slap
You smashed a plate over my head
Then I set fire to our bed
DRUMMING SONG
There’s a drumming noise inside my head
That starts when you’re around
I swear that you could hear it
It makes such an almighty sound
There’s a drumming noise inside my head
That throws me to the ground
I swear that you should hear it
It makes such an almighty sound
Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And harder than hell
I ran to the tower when the church bells chimed
I hoped that they would clear my mind
They left a ringing in my ear
But that drum’s still beating loud and clear
Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And harder than hell
Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And harder than hell
Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And harder than hell
As I move my feet towards your body
I can hear this beat, it fills my head up
And gets louder and louder
It fills my head up and gets louder and louder
I run to the river and dive straight in
I pray that the water will drown out the din
But as the water fills my mouth
It couldn’t wash the echoes out
But as the water fills my mouth
It couldn’t wash the echoes out
I swallow the sound and it swallows me whole
’Till there’s nothing left inside my soul
I’m as empty as that beating drum
But the sound has just begun
As I move my feet towards your body
I can hear this beat, it fills my head up
And gets louder and louder
It fills my head up and gets louder and louder
There’s a drumming noise inside my head
That starts when you’re around
I swear that you could hear it
It makes such an almighty sound
There’s a drumming noise inside my head
That starts when you’re around
I swear that you could hear it
It makes such an almighty sound
Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And harder than hell
Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And harder than hell
As I move my feet towards your body
I can hear this beat, it fills my head up
And gets louder and louder
It fills my head up and gets louder and louder
BETWEEN TWO LUNGS
Between two lungs
It was released
The breath that carried me
The sigh that blew me forward
’Cause it was trapped
Trapped between two lungs
It was trapped between two lungs
It was trapped between two lungs
And my running feet could fly
Each breath screaming
‘We are all too young to die’
Between two lungs
It was released
The breath that passed from you to me
That flew between us as we slept
That slipped from your mouth into mine
It crept between two lungs
It was released
The breath that passed from you to me
That flew between us as we slept
That slipped from
your mouth into mine
It crept
’Cause it was trapped
Trapped between two lungs
It was trapped between two lungs
Gone are the days of begging
The days of theft
No more gasping for a breath
The air has filled me head-to-toe
And I can see the ground far below
I have this breath
And I hold it tight
And I keep it in my chest
With all my might
I pray to God this breath will last
As it pushes past my lips
As I gasp
COSMIC LOVE
A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes
I screamed aloud, as it tore through them, and now it’s left me blind
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I’m always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart
And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat
I tried to find the sound
But then it stopped, and I was in the darkness
So darkness I became
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I’m always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart
I took the stars from our eyes, and then I made a map
And knew that somehow I could find my way back
Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too
So I stayed in the darkness with you
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I’m always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I’m always in this twilight