Jack Bruce Album

So they invented race and made themselves different
From those they banned from grace
They invented race by writing the difference in the air

They invented race and carved it in a language
Tattooed it in space and wrote it on skin
So they made up race and programmed it in their cash

And the air's dark in our mouths
It's a bitter light
And the skin fades from our sight
People's faces into forms

So they mad up exotic and wrote it in colour
On parchment backs as adventure maps

So they shattered my world to a million pieces
But I hold on to each piece ad I number them all
Won't let my children's smile be shattered into dust

And their currency's contempt
And the power laughs
And the skin fades from my sight
People's faces into form

Salt sown into day
Dark sown in the land
Blindness sown in our hopes

So they invented race divide down their grace
And made their case in fear and pain
So they invented race and we'll invent clarity again

And the air's dark in our mouths
It's a bitter light
And the skin fades from our sight
People's faces into forms
And their currency's contempt
And the power laughs
And the air's dark in our mouths
And the air's dark in our mouths

There is a love so unexpected
Defying time and its sad declines
Working in circles so interconnected
Some days it's dark, sometimes it shines
There is a sound, welcome as summer
Laughing at fate and its final fall
Dancing in daydreams and racing the runners
Sometimes it takes you, sometimes you take all

Follow the fire down highways and airways
Stopping to pick up fuel from the night
Five or six lives you know you can live with
Five or six voices still singing so right

There's a desire never gets tired
Cuts down the doom and its desert flowers
Turn up the big wheel and slide down the wires
Some days you get burned, some days save hours
There is a feeling closer than comfort
Deriding hate and its history
Turn up the big wheel and slide down the wires
Some days you get burned, some days take some hours

Follow the fire down highways and airways
Stopping to pick up fuel from the night
Five or six lives you know you can live with
Five or six voices still singing so right

There are some shows, more than together
Shaking the rainbows all their bright designs
Pack up your rucksack and head for forever
Some days you drop back, sometimes stay on line
Some days you drop back, sometimes you get back

Follow the fire down highways and airways
Stopping to pick up fuel from the night
Five or six lives you know you can live with
Five or six voices still singing so right

There's a desire, never gets tired
Cuts down the doom and its desert flowers
Turn up the big wheel and slide down its wires
Some days you get burned, some days take some hours
Some days you get burned, some days you get burned, sometimes you get burned...

Where is the way out of the night
When the dark wind's cryin'
Where is the way out of the night
Where you're lying?

Where is the time to heal the loss
When the cruel tongues cross
And the heart can't sail
Where is the way to keep it in
When the sick words win
And you grip the rails

Where is the place to lay your head
When the streets run red
And your heart's in jail
Where is the place to lay your head
When the pressure's tight
And the glare's so bright
Where is the way out of the night?

You hit the black, where you just can't hack it no more
The pain caught up and slammed you down to the floor
How can you fight with the dying of your dreams
Kelly's blue, gone with the wind
Never green

Where is the way out of the night
When the dark wind's cryin'
Where is the way out of the night
Where you're lying?

Where was the hand to soothe your brow
When the need was now
Straying off the line
Where was the friend you could not find
Tore your open mind
Wrote your name in grime
Where was the way out of the maze
When the days got crazed
All the games they played
Where is the way out of the night?

You hit the black, where you just can't hack it no more
The pain caught up and slammed you down to the floor
How can you fight with the dying of your dreams
Kelly's blue, gone with the wind
Never green
Lying, crying

Please open your eyes
Try to realise
I found out today
We're going wrong

Please open your mind
See what you can find
I found out today
We're going wrong

We were walking tall, made the world look smaller than it was
The hole was bigger than the half we gave the dogs
They just got the crumbs, now become much humbler than they thought
The loss was smaller than the gain and they got caught

Taking stock – future shock
Bull the bears – fight the fair
Take the cake and then run, hear the gun
Get the price – for the ice
Hawk the doves – kid the gloves
Have your fun and then head for the sun

Just keep running round and round
Until the final showdown
No slow down

We divide and rule, makes the place feel cooler than it is
The heat is milder than the hell we left the kids
They just got the shaft, the grade was much steeper and we laughed
The cross was smaller than Lorraine, and it won't last

Making it – thro' the shit
Fattening rats – pirate gas
Smash and grab and then run, hear the gun
Lick the boot – for the loot
Kiss the arse – do it fast
Have your fun and then head for the sun

Just keep running round and round
Until the final showdown
No slow down

Had to have it all, made the mall feel bigger than its size
The gap was bigger than the shades we gave the eyes
They just copped the dregs, left the eggs more dodgy than the birds
The boss was hauled over the coals, the crazy turd

Raking up – all the muck
In the box – break the locks
Think of just number one, hear the gun
Kill the goose – cut 'em loose
Oil the land, nuke the band
Have your fun and then head for the sun

Just keep running round and round
Until the final showdown
No slow down

We used to walk those golden streets
But where's the glitter gone?
The times we knew falling back into blue
From this moment on

We used to sail such silver seas
But they have lost their glow
The days we danced have denied their romance
Ain't nowhere to go

Looking thro' cold windows
At the autumn flying by
I wait for mem'ries to come home
All this time without you
And I search the sky
So sad the sun is on its own

Love used to wear a sapphire smile
Maybe a diamond grin
The years we played were destroyed in the raids
All the fools that we've been

Look out at the wild world
Thro' the sweet and sour rain
I wish the ache would lose its sting
All these broken chances
'Cos I missed the train
Tomorrow just don't mean a thing

We used to march against the night
Now there's so little shine
The minds we moved have slipped out of the groove
Now that you are not mine

The seasons just don't rhyme
Life is hardly worth a dime

Feel when I dance with you
We move like the sea
You, you're all I want to know
I feel free (repeat)

I can walk down the street there's no one there
Tho' the pavements are one huge crowd
I can drive down the road my eyes don't see
Tho' my mind wants to cry out loud
Yes my mind wants to cry out loud

Dancefloor is like the sea
Ceiling hits the sky
You're the sun and as you shine on me
I feel free (repeat)

Dark in the trees wind in your hair
Daylight gathering
My kid on his knees digging for gold
Daylight gathering
Green storms from your eyes transformed into air
Daylight gathering
Restless deep sky half truths are told
Daylight gathering

Clear maps of the stars in my daughter's in my daughter's smile
Daylight visible
Beautiful scars days gilded with tears
Daylight visible
Your eyes hold me deep no distance in miles
Daylight's gathering
Robbed of its sleep your touch laced with fears
Daylight gathering

Traces of dark in the sweat of my bass
Calm light gathering
Depths in her glances light from her face
Calm made visible
The moon looks for her in all the wrong places
Darkness calling
Her eyes still hold deep a love turned from sleep
Dark made audible
Clear maps of the skies in my daughter's eyes
Calmness visible

Star turning words laughing with eyes
Dark made visible
Clouds moving fast across their concrete lives
Darkness visible
We're losing the sight we're losing the light
Calmness visible
I'm losing this world we're losing this world
Skies clouded with fears scars laced with tears
Your hands on my face all's in its place
Daylight gathering

I've climbed this hill too many times
Now passion seems like it's a crime
My memories leaves dead on the line
Tomorrow's finished all that fine fine wine

I've run this road for so many years
Rememb'ring how I lived each curve
And now my screen's filled up with tears
I can't see through the pain I leaned
No future now without the fear
I'll get too near to love that burns
The night was once, the night was twice
The night was mine

I dealt in dreams until they faded
Into ghosts in headlong flight
Felt every mile that I paid
For reaching out towards the light
The dancers thought it was a raid
And disappeared into the night
That once was mine

I've sailed the storm so many ways
Desires vanish in the haze
There's only ashes from the blaze
The future's losing all those long love days

I've flown these skies both dark and light
But now my path's locked up with snow
Most moments felt so very right
But I can't break the ice that grows
No morning now without the chance
Of petals falling from the rose

The night was once, the night was twice
The night was mine

I traded steel until it fractured
Into fields of crumbling rust
All the precautions that I packed
Were colours I could never trust
The swimmer's getting out of sight,
She's disappeared into the night
That once was mine...

Each single day has just enough cruelty within
To make them perfect and right
Each single day has enough dark deep within
To make it perfect and light

Up against the sky stars crawl against the night
Each one trying to claw their way out
But each single day has just enough dark
To make me really want to stay

Each single day has just enough meanness inside
To make it perfect and calm
Each breathing day has just enough coldness within
To make it perfect and warm

Up against the night moons press against the sky
Trying to force its way (out again)
But each breathing day has just enough hurt
To make me stay

Living on cold island
Your mail comes on the wind
Messages and memories of all the things you've been
Living on cold island
You can't forget the rain
Remembering the long roads
You have to try again

And it's always on your mind
And the grinding of the stones
Never getting home

Living on cold island
The love comes second hand
Formulas with fantasies you do the best you can
Living on cold island
You can't keep out the pain
Recalling all the hard miles you have to swim again

I had too much to lose I'm telling you
I did not choose this life on cold island

Living on cold island
The radio is faint
Victories and voices keep calling you a saint
Living on cold island
You can't escape the flames
Burning up the sunset and spelling out your name

And it's always your heart
And the shining of the track
Never coming back

She leans against the wall
Just half on the bed
Half in light
Her touch much smarter than the night
Uh, oh
Up when the night was spent
You're writing your blues on her skin

Her body tell her tales with scent
With its taste with its touch
In the movement of her smile
Uh, oh
All of the hell you've lived
Replacing those tales with the blues

She won't shed them won't shed your blues
No matter how clever she tries
She won't wash her changes from her face
No matter how many tears she cries

Her body's sheer articulation
All the textured tales it tells
You'll replace them one by one
With the basic description of the blues

Her style won't go nowhere
It still shines right through
Forms a map on her flesh
But as her dark eyes lead you in
Uh, oh
Each story you've lived through
Is written in blues on her skin

All the colours deep in her stories
You can read from her face with your hands
All the endings swimming in daylight
Will soon be replaced with each fingers trace
With stories of blues on her skin

She won't shed it can't shed the skin
No matter how clever she tries
She won't wash the blues from her face
No matter how many tears she cries

All the curves that show in her stories
All her tales subtle twists and turns
Will be coloured in each cadence
With the basic inflection of the blues

She leans against the wall
Just half on the bed
Half in light
Her touch much smarter than the night
Uh, oh
Up when the night is spent
You're writing your blues on her skin

The intrigue you've learnt from daylight
All the words of bile you've heard
All the tricks you've gotten away with
Soon she won't lose what's clearly tattooed
It's written in blues on her skin

Hey now baby get into my big black car
I want to show you
What my politics are

I support the left tho' I' leaning to the right
I'm just not there
When it's coming to a fight

I'm a political man yes I practice what I preach
I'm a political man yes I practice what I preach
So don't deny me baby
Not while you're in my reach

Get baby, get into my big black car
Hey baby, get into my big car
I want to just show you
What my politics are

When I was angry as I am now
And the night was cruel as it is now

When I was young as I am now
And the city was steel as it is now

You danced for me and the world stopped
You danced for me and the truth was clear
You danced for me and the names were clean
The sweetest movement I've ever seen

There is this rhythm
It's in your dark eyes
I know this rhythm
I know this rhythm
And it tames me
It tames me
Through all the streets
Through all the steel
It's in that dark deep dance
It's in the dance you danced for me

I was lost in this city
I swear I can't remember its name
But you danced for me
And man you made it fall away

The sky was mean as it is now
And I was moving as I am now
You danced for me
And I knew