In the shadow of your heart
MY BOY BUILDS COFFINS
My boy builds coffins with hammers and nails
He doesn’t build ships, he has no use for sails
He doesn’t make tables, dressers or chairs
He can’t carve a whistle, ’cause he just doesn’t care
My boy builds coffins for the rich and the poor
Kings and queens, they’ve all knocked on his door
Beggars and liars, gypsies and thieves
They all come to him ’cause he’s so eager to please
My boy builds coffins he makes them all day
But it’s not just for work and it isn’t for play
He’s made one for himself
One for me too
One of these days he’ll make one for you
For you, for you, for you
My boy builds coffins for better or worse
Some say it’s a blessing, some say it’s a curse
He fits them together in sunshine or rain
Each one is unique, no two are the same
My boy builds coffins and I think it’s a shame
That when each one’s been made, he can’t see it again
He crafts every one with love and with care
Then it’s thrown in the ground, it just isn’t fair
My boy builds coffins he makes them all day
But it’s not just for work and it isn’t for play
He’s made one for himself
One for me too
One of these days he’ll make one for you
For you, for you, for you
HURRICANE DRUNK
No walls can keep me protected
No sleep
Nothing in between me and the rain
And you can’t save me now
I’m in the grip of a hurricane
I’m gonna blow myself away
I’m going out
I’m gonna drink myself to death
And in the crowd
I see you with someone else
I brace myself
’Cause I know it’s going to hurt
But I like to think, at least things can’t get any worse
No hope
Don’t want shelter
No calm
Nothing to keep me from the storm
And you can’t hold me down
’Cause I belong to the hurricane
It’s going to blow this all away
I’m going out
I’m gonna drink myself to death
And in the crowd
I see you with someone else
I brace myself
’Cause I know it’s going to hurt
But I like to think at least things can’t get any worse
I hope that you see me
’Cause I’m staring at you
But when you look over
You look right through
Then you lean and kiss her on the head
And I never felt so alive
And so dead
I’m going out
I’m gonna drink myself to death
And in the crowd
I see you with someone else
I brace myself
’Cause I know it’s going to hurt
I’m going out
I’m going out
I’m gonna drink myself to death
And in the crowd
I see you with someone else
I brace myself
’Cause I know it’s going to hurt
I’m going out
I’m going out
I’m going out
I’m going out
I’m going out
I’m going out
BLINDING
Seems that I have been held, in some dreaming state
A tourist in the waking world, never quite awake
No kiss, no gentle word could wake me from this slumber
Until I realize that it was you who held me under
Felt it in my fist, in my feet, in the hollows of my eyelids
Shaking through my skull, through my spine and down through my ribs
No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone
No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world
And I could hear the thunder and see the lightning crack
And all around the world was waking, I never could go back
’Cause all the walls of dreaming, they were torn right open
And finally it seemed that the spell was broken
And all my bones began to shake, my eyes flew open
And all my bones began to shake, my eyes flew open
No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone
No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world
Snow White’s stitching up the circuit boards
Synapses slipping through the hidden door
Snow White’s stitching up your circuit board
No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone
No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world
Snow White’s stitching up the circuit boards
Synapses slipping through the hidden door
Snow White’s stitching up your circuit board
Synapses slipping through the hidden door
SWIMMING
Your songs remind me of swimming
Which I forgot when I started to sink
Dragged further away from the shore
And deeper into the drink
Sat on the bottom of the ocean
A stern and stubborn rock
’Cause your songs remind me of swimming
But somehow I forgot
I was sinking, and now I’m sunk
I was drinking, and now I’m drunk
Your songs remind me of swimming
But somehow I forgot
I tried to remember the chorus
I can’t remember the verse
’Cause that song that sent me swimming
Is now the life jacket that burst
Rotting like a wreck on the ocean floor
Sinking like a siren that can’t swim anymore
’Cause your songs remind me of swimming
But I can’t swim anymore
Pull me out the water, cold and blue
I open my eyes and I see that it’s you
So I dive straight back in the ocean
So I dive straight back in the ocean
Take a deep breath, suck the water in my chest
Take a deep breath, suck the water in my chest
Cross my fingers and hope for the best
Then all of a sudden, I heard a note
It started in my chest and ended in my throat
Then I realized, then I realized, then I realized I was swimming
Yes, I was swimming
And now I’m swimming
Yes, I am swimming
Your songs remind me of swimming
Which I forgot when I started to sink
Your songs remind me of swimming
Which I forgot when I started to sink
Oh, your songs remind me of swimming
Which I forgot when I started
Your songs remind me of swimming
Which I forgot when I started to sink
FALLING
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��ve fallen out of favour
And I’ve fallen from grace
Fallen out of trees
And I’ve fallen on my face
Fallen out of taxis
Out of windows too
Fell in your opinion
When I fell in love with you
Sometimes I wish for falling
Wish for the release
Wish for falling through the air
To give me some relief
Because falling’s not the problem
When I’m falling I’m at peace
It’s only when I hit the ground
It causes all the grief
This is a song for a scribbled-out name
And my love keeps writing again and again
This is a song for a scribbled-out name
And my love keeps writing again and again
I’ll dance myself up
Drunk myself down
Find people to love
Left people to drown
I’m not scared to jump
I’m not scared to fall
If there was nowhere to land
I wouldn’t be scared
At all
Sometimes I wish for falling
Wish for the release
Wish for falling through the air
To give me some relief
Because falling’s not the problem
When I’m falling I’m at peace
It’s only when I hit the ground
It causes all the grief
ARE YOU HURTING THE ONE YOU LOVE?
Are you hurting the one you love?
You say you’ve found heaven but you can’t find God
Are you hurting the one you love?
Bite your tongue till it tastes like blood
Are you hurting the one you love?
So many glasses on the table top
Are you hurting the one you love?
You’d like to stay in heaven but the rules are too tough
Tough
It’s just too tough
Tough
It’s just too tough
Are you hurting the one you love?
When they watched the walls and the ticking clock
Are you hurting the one you love?
And was it something you could not stop?
Could not stop
Stop
Could not stop
Stop
Could not stop
Stop
Could not stop
Stop
Could not stop
Are you hurting the one you love?
When you leave them sleeping in the middle of the floor
Are you hurting the one you love?
Are you hurting the one you love?
And if heaven knows then who will stop?
Are you hurting the one you love?
You said you got to heaven, but it wasn’t enough
BIRD SONG
Well I didn’t tell anyone, but a bird flew by
Saw what I’d done, he set up a nest outside
And he sang about what I’d become
He sang so loud, sang so clear
I was afraid all the neighbours would hear
So I invited him in, just to reason with him
I promised I wouldn’t do it again
But he sang louder and louder inside the house
And no I couldn’t get him out
So I trapped him under a cardboard box
Stood on it to make him stop
I picked up the bird and above the din I said
‘That’s the last song you’ll ever sing’
Held him down, broke his neck
Taught him a lesson he wouldn’t forget
But in my dreams began to creep
That old familiar tweet tweet tweet
I opened my mouth to scream and shout
I waved my arms and flapped about
But I couldn’t scream, and I couldn’t shout
Couldn’t scream and I couldn’t shout
I opened my mouth to scream and shout
Waved my arms and flapped about
But I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t shout
The song was coming from my mouth
From my mouth
ONLY IF FOR A NIGHT
And I had a dream
About my old school
And she was there all pink and gold and glittering
I threw my arms around her legs
Came to weeping, came to weeping
Came to weeping, came to weeping
And I heard your voice
As clear as day
And you told me I should concentrate
It was all so strange
And so surreal
That a ghost should be
So practical
Only if for a night
And the only solution was to stand and fight
And my body was bruised and I was set alight
But you came over me like some holy rite
And although I was burning, you’re the only light
Only if for a night
And the grass was so green against my new clothes
And I did cartwheels in your honour
Dancing on tiptoes
My own secret ceremonials
Before the service began
In the graveyard doing handstands
And I heard your voice
As clear as day
And you told me I should concentrate
It was all so strange
And so surreal
That a ghost should be
So practical
Only if for a night
And the only solution was to stand and fight
And my body was bruised and I was set alight
But you came over me like some holy rite
And although I was burning, you’re the only light
Only if for a night
My doe, my dear, my darling
Tell me what all this sighing’s about
Tell me what all this sighing’s about
And I heard your voice
As clear as day
And you told me I should concentrate
It was all so strange
And so surreal
That a ghost should be
So practical
Only if for a night
Only if for a night
SHAKE IT OUT
Regrets collect like old friends
Here to relive your darkest moments
I can see no way, I can see no way
And all of the ghouls come out to play
And every demon wants his pound of flesh
But I like to keep some things to myself
I like to keep my issues drawn
It’s always darkest before the dawn
And I’ve been a fool and I’ve been blind
I can never leave the past behind
I can see no way, I can see no way
I’m always dragging that horse around
All of his questions, such a mournful sound
Tonight I’m gonna bury that horse in the ground
So I like to keep my issues drawn
But it’s always darkest before the dawn
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it’s hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa
And I am done with my graceless heart
So tonight I’m gonna cut it out and then restart
’Cause I like to keep my issues drawn
It’s always darkest before the dawn
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it’s hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa
And it’s hard to d
ance with a devil on your back
And given half the chance would I take any of it back
It’s a fine romance but it’s left me so undone
It’s always darkest before the dawn
Oh whoa, oh whoa…
And I’m damned if I do and I’m damned if I don’t
So here’s to drinks in the dark at the end of my rope
And I’m ready to suffer and I’m ready to hope
It’s a shot in the dark aimed right at my throat
’Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Well what the hell I’m gonna let it happen to me, yeah
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it’s hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it’s hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa
WHAT THE WATER GAVE ME
Time it took us
To where the water was
That’s what the water gave me
And time goes quicker
Between the two of us
Oh, my love, don’t forsake me
Take what the water gave me
Lay me down
Let the only sound
Be the overflow
Pockets full of stones
Lay me down
Let the only sound
Be the overflow
And oh, poor Atlas
The world’s a beast of a burden
You’ve been holding up a long time
And all this longing
And the ships are left to rust
That’s what the water gave us
Useless Magic: Lyrics and Poetry Page 2